"I don't have time to waste on you," Daz coldly declared to the good-looking man that had approached him after having spoken to Aila.

"Well too bad, 'cause you're gonna have to make time," the man replied as a pair of boxing gloves materialised around his fists and he then swung for Daz's face.

Easily dodging the admittedly rather fast and powerful blow, Daz summoned Hamson and immediately used it to smack the back of the man's head like a baseball with its flat side.

Like a comical ragdoll, the man spun and spun as he flew off before violently crashing into a wall. Daz wandered over to Aila and asked her, "He'll be fine, right?"

Aila shrugged. "He won't die and loads of people are watching you from the windows. Everyone knows he approached you and attacked first."

"That's good," Daz said as he took a seat and leaned back to catch his breath. He'd been practising his shovels arts for a little over 3-hours without pause, so, understandably, he was a little bit tired.

Aila fidgeted with her fingers as she asked, "Did you get any new skills?"

"Nah," Daz answered. "One of my skills got a few new applications though."

Shovel Arts [A-Rank (Lower Tier)] [Growth Skill] [-Basic] Description

A skill created by the former Shovel Knight, now Crystal Digger, Daz.

This skill required little to no practice to be created due to how simplistic it is.

It has naturally ranked-up once.

This is an uncommon battle skill created with the purpose of allowing a more fluid and better usage of the combined skills when using a shovel as the primary weapon.

Kehum, let's see here... Ah, poor bloke. Gardener Joe only went and got himself arrested for breaking the noble girl's nose and jaw when he slapped her silly with his shovel. Good story, this, I tell ya.

Level 3 [+2] Abilities Shovel Art: Shovel Control. Shovel Art: Shovel Attack. Shovel Art: Shovel Dance. Shovel Art: Shovel Earthquake. [New!] Shovel Art: Shovel Defense.

While he was overviewing the skill and ignoring the running story-gag of the description's apparent editor, something unexpected happened.

Congratulations! Due to your skill [Basic Shovel Arts] ranking up to the skill [Shovel Arts], and due to the host having learned 5 unique shovel arts of different natures (Control, Form, Finesse, Damage, Defense), all shovel arts shall merge.

"T-That's good." Aila wasn't used to Daz talking to her in a normal and casual manner, so she was taken off-guard a bit by his honest response.

Daz didn't reply to her this time nor did he further the conversation in any way whatsoever. He was far too distracted for that right now.

He immediately pulled up Shovel Arts' information again, however, he omitted the description. Daz was quite done with reading the 'epic tale of Gardener Joe' from the creative and colourful person writing him snide messages via descriptions.

Shovel Arts [A-Rank (Lower Tier)] [Growth Skill] Level 2 Abilities [New!] Quintessential Shovel Art: [Unnamed].

'Unnamed? Can I name that, system? And if so, how? Does it work like Rimmy and Hamson? I just decide on a name and it'll stick?' Daz asked the all-knowing being.

Bronze-level system access is required for that knowledge. Confirmed access level of the host to be emerald-level.

Denied. The host can only name the quintessential shovel art once the art has taken form and become specialised.

'Okay, and how will it take form and specialise, exactly?' Daz questioned.

Gold-level system access is required for that knowledge. Confirmed access level of the host to be emerald-level.

Confirmed. The host must naturally use shovels in combat or to aid themselves with daily tasks for exactly 100-days. Once that period is up, the art shall manifest itself.

Daz frowned. 'What happened to the old shovel arts? Can I still use them?'

Confirmed. The host may, however, any that are not incorporated into the quintessential shovel art shall become unusable by the host until they are relearned.

'I see. So depending on how I use the old arts, they'll shape the new one... Well, for a start, I should focus on one or two arts, not all five of them. For sure, I need to heavily use the control shovel art - the one that lets me move shovels with my mind.' In his opinion, that was easily the most useful shovel art.

'As for the others, the martial arts one was pretty valuable too, so maybe have that as a lesser focus and abandon the other three? I can focus on them later for future quintessential shovel arts. I'm assuming the ones that don't get incorporated are lost, but I can just get them again with the help of Beta...' Daz's mind was running wild with possibilities.

Aila smiled wryly as she sat next to him. 'I've never seen him so focused before... He really is a different person with emotions, huh? It's so easy to tell what's going on with him... Does he trust me so much that he can comfortably act like an open book near me, or is he just not used to hiding things that he thinks aren't important yet?'

Regardless, he wouldn't be talking to her anytime soon, so she chose to go to the local system-run convenience store to buy some snacks and a refreshing drink for him instead of staring at his face and wondering this or that.

The next day, after a long two-hour meeting of back and forth negotiations and in-depth discussions about the distribution of forces to best aid each other with their goals, Daz finally stood up and shook Emma Cromwell's hand.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement." Everyone else in the room was glad as well. They were all rather annoyed at how each and every attempt to lie or manage the truth in a way that was more favourable to them continued to get shot down by Daz or his sharp-tongued little sister.

Emma smiled delicately and replied, "I'm happy as well. I'll make sure to have your permanent oxygen supply ready for you to collect by your next visit."

She glanced back at the deadly serrated edge of the crimson-red shovel that was just lifelessly floating in the air behind Daz's shoulder with his retinue of gems. She and several other of her confidants had asked why he had come armed, but he had insisted that he was just training by having it out and that they should pay it no mind.

Regardless, its presence certainly helped keep the more hot-headed people in the room from trying to challenge Daz's decisions during the conversations. Emma assumed this was a calculated move by him or by his sister, Rose. No doubt, the Cromwell heir would certainly be disappointed to learn that Daz was, in fact, doing it solely to train his quintessential shovel art.

"Great, and I'll be sure to help you personally with establishing order in rural New York just as soon as I've taken control of California and managed a few other minor things. I expect your troops will have no issues making their way to San Jose to help my men there, will they?" Daz asked.

Emma shook her head. "They'll be fine. I've heard reports of wild monsters spawning in isolated areas recently, but if my soldiers couldn't handle at least that much, then what good would they be for helping you?"

As she had said, starting from 4-days ago, monsters of nightmares had begun appearing out of thin air all over the world in the least populated spots. Daz had his suspicions as to why this phenomenon had spread from the oceans and the upper atmosphere, but he felt it was wiser to keep such information to himself. Namely, his current theory was that a sovereign-candidate had changed the world to do this.

"Right. Well, we'll see ourselves out. It was lovely meeting all of you," Daz politely said with an expressionless face as he bowed his head slightly.

"Ah, please. Stay for a few days. Enjoys the sights. I've focused a lot of the city's city points on militaristic endeavours, but I've also invested a decent amount into the entertainment industry," Emma offered.

"Thanks, but we have some important matters to attend to back home, and while I'd love to stay, I can't imagine the people here are all too happy with Rimmy standing out there beyond the walls like an ominous statue." Everyone agreed unanimously.

Shortly after Daz and Rose had left, Emma creased her brows. "My power didn't work on him at all."

One of her confidants shrugged. "He's a Hamilio. His instincts must have been working 'round the clock to steer him away from your misdirections."

She slowly nodded. "It's frightening that he's already progressed so far into the third level. Stewart, how much progress had he made, to be exact?"

A man with messy white hair and round glasses perked up upon having his name be called. "23%, but you know what's really concerning? Rose, she's at 99% progress. I wouldn't be surprised if she levelled up today or tomorrow, but I think she's been sitting on that cliff for months now."

Emma frowned. 'Personally, I'd rather such a dangerous girl died from the process, but knowing the Hamilios, there's no way that His Imperial Majesty will allow his daughter to die so pointlessly like that...'

Despite her conflicting thoughts on the matter, Emma just sighed and then looked at her confidants and said, "Well, let's get to work on putting this info to use," as she held the USB drive containing all of the information on her rivals that Aila had given to her a few days ago.

"You've confirmed that he's moving towards Las Vegas, not Waterford?" a man in a business suit and with slicked-back grey hair and wrinkles asked of the person in front of himself, a middle-aged man dressed in a U.S. Army lieutenant outfit.

Nodded and saluted while clicking his heels together, the man answered, "Sir, yes, Sir! Our nationwide radar is displaying that his mysterious flying vehicle is moving in a straight line towards the capital of Nevada!"

"Perfect," the old man responded. "Set up the information decoy for the brat then. Prepare the suicide troops for long-distance teleportation as well. Today, we grab our bargaining chip. Remember, we only have an estimated 5-hours until the brat will notice what we've done, and we can't risk having our disposable forces fight codenames Chinese and Russian. They'll be wiped out. Quick and efficient. You understand, Lieutenant Anders?"

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Lieutenant Anders responded.

"Good. This plan has cost us a lot and we only have a single chance, so if you somehow ruin this, we will all die, without a doubt. You've read Darenzo's file as well," the old man warned.

"I have, Sir!" Lieutenant Anders duly responded. "I've read it over a dozen times, Sir! We will, without fail, retrieve Codename Sword."

"Unharmed. You will retrieve Codename Sword unharmed. Darenzo is still mostly emotionless, yes, but his feelings for Codename Sword are exactly why she makes for the perfect bargaining chip, as well as why she is the perfect catalyst to panic him and force him to act rashly, which is the last thing we want to happen," the old man claimed as he got out of his chair and walked up the sole window in his office. "You're dismissed. Bring Codename Sword to me as soon as you've obtained her."

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Lieutenant Anders responded then left after saluting once more.

The old man stared out of the glass down at the city beneath him, his city, Los Angeles. "I will not lose what took me over two decades to rightly earn, Darenzo, regardless of your goals," he muttered before he pulled up the information of his own goal this cycle just to reconfirm mentally that what he was doing was right.

Semester One Status 5-months and 20-days remaining. Timothy Marglow's Goal For Semester One Prevent the host [Daz] from gaining control of [California] at all costs. Optional Goal Create an alliance with the host [Daz] where you are the greater party and he is the lesser party, or, successfully declare [California] to be an independent country with you as its ruler using your former authority as the [Governor] of [California].

He tapped his fingers against the window slowly with his bony index finger thoughtfully. "Don't blame me for being cruel, Darenzo. It is your fault for personally leaving your city for so long."

Timothy Marglow was somewhat worried about the man's clones, but, from his intel, Daz himself had no skills designed to find people unless he was specifically looking for them, so, as long as his hidden infiltration troops who were already acting as Daz's citizens could successfully kidnap Codename Sword before the diversion assault designed to aid their escape began, then he could finally sleep peacefully.