Mu looked around with an almost starstruck gaze in his eyes. "This place is really, really, really cool. I did not even know that this much gold existed on the planet."

He, Daz, and Sir Albert were calmly ascending the steps of the only temple that still held a working Altar of Theft - as Sir Albert had named them.

Daz nodded. "It is rather crazy. It also makes you wonder if silly stories like the Fountain of Youth are actually true."

Mu seemed a bit startled at that thought. "... Certainly... Perhaps there is indeed merit in exploring fantastical rumours of old..."

His mind returned to the pyramid which they were quickly climbing as he asked, "Are there more shrines? I see lots of pyramids, so I can only assume..."

Daz wore a disappointed look on his face as he explained, "Basically every single shrine is broken and can't be repaired even with the system's help, but a bunch of them could turn moonlight into gold, others could turn that gold into items and structures. There's also a type of shrine for granting vast inspiration."

"All with the help of appropriate priests," Sir Albert added.

"... How fascinating... I wonder if Shangri-La exists," Mu muttered to himself as they reached the summit of the golden pyramid. "What a wonder to behold such a place would be..."

"Maybe," Daz answered as his eyes scanned the area near the shrine. "Where are Ak and Tek?"

"Hmm?" Sir Albert stroked his bearded jawline as he said, "They're busy in the main temple. From what they said they need to be in there to maximise whatever it is that's helping them detect the indigenous people of the Amazon."

He stood behind the golden altar and said, "Ready to steal something again?"

Daz sighed. "Please, stop calling it theft and stealing, regardless of how much the concept amuses you. Call it the Altar of Permanence and refer to the ritual as a process to imbue things with moonlight or whatever, just not stealing."

As a former Justice Reaper, even just the thought of stealing made Daz feel uncomfortable, oddly enough.

Sir Albert looked confused and couldn't tell why this bothered Daz so much but he still shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure. Anyway, King Daz, you are ready, are you not?"

Daz nodded. "My skill, Astral Crystal Control."

He had thought long and hard about which of his 33 skills he would make permanent and this was the one he had finally decided on.

Initially, Daz wanted to make his Archreaper's Aura permanent since he could use that to force the Truthians to their knees in worship, but he had been able to learn from probing the system that doing so would only be possible if he first made his species permanent which required even more steps.

Namely, he'd have to make his base species as reaper permanent, then he'd have to do the same for his next evolution of Justice Reaper, and lastly, he'd then be forced to make his current race of Archreaper a part of his being.

Almost all of his skills were impossible to give a Star of Eternity to before first giving it to something or multiple things first.

His items didn't suffer this restriction, but their skills did. To make Hamson's One Shovel To Rule Them All permanent, for example, he first would have to give a Star of Eternity to the shovel itself.

Unfortunately, Rimmy was in the same boat. While Daz could make the skill to summon him permanent, he could not do the same for his class, his current race, his skills and even his stats.

Daz smiled wryly. 'It'll take me years, decades even before I can be free of the worry that I'll be stripped of my hard-earned power.'

Daz was honestly conflicted over his decision at first. When he had learned that only a handful of his weakest skills - as well as most of his non-combat skills - could be made permanent with no need to first give a Star of Eternity to something else first, he had initially wanted to simply use the gathered moonlight on his Survivor's Instincts.

Those very instincts, however, had warned him against the move.

From what he had figured out with his own intellect and wisdom was that having extremely heightened instincts would not be as valuable as having an actual combat skill against a massive cult.

'To think that simply because they use a kind of energy that I don't naturally own, most of my active battle skills aren't valid first choices.' Indeed. He would have to make his Worldforce or his Death Energy permanent before he could even think of making a skill reliant on them all permanent.

Sir Albert nodded. "Okie-dokie. This may tingle a little. Unlike the contract, a skill is a part of you and not just something attached to you, after all."

He cracked his neck then touched the altar lightly.

The next moment, a power enveloped Daz and it threatened to crush him in both body and soul. Not a beat later and the sensation was gone.

Daz frowned. 'No ranking list... I suspected as much, but still... I certainly wouldn't have protested a few more free Stars of Eternity. I guess the system isn't keen on handing them out since they can be used against it? Without them, everything you get from it becomes leverage, after all...'

Ak had said that the system was more than happy to allow the Shrine of Tezcatlipoca to do what it was supposed to do - make things not naturally belonging to a person actually belong to them or to make something that did belong to them impossible to remove.

Daz had to wonder why it was willing to allow such a thing to happen. Perhaps it was desperate for him to successfully overcome all of the tests and come out as the sovereign of Earth?

Daz simply shook his head. There was no use speculating without further information. He instead checked his skill's information to make sure it had properly been granted the Star of Eternity.

Astral Crystal Control [S-Rank (Middle Tier)] ✧ Description

Allows the host to control all crystals and move them with but a thought. This skill also allows the host to connect to the Astral Crystal Plane and summon crystals.

It's been a minute since you last identified anything and didn't just skim it. So this little skill got a Star of Eternity, huh? Reach for the stars and all of that shit. Stay safe, Kid. Folk that can fuck with the system's access aren't to be treated lightly.

Level 6 [+5] Abilities Grants the host the ability to telekinetically control all gems. Limit: 50 gems at once (regardless of size or weight). Grants the host the ability to summon gems and crystals from the Astral Crystal Plane. Limit: 2 times a day and this ability scales off of the luck and/or fate stats of the host.

"Huh... Well, I'll be damned," Daz muttered.

Mu tilted his head as he held his chin in his hand and his elbow with the other. "Something did not go according to plan, Brother?"

Daz shook his head. "Nah, everything's fine. Just, someone who's always an ass to me was actually nice for once. Feels... odd."

Mu closed his eyes. "I can feel that your loneliness has abided somewhat. A positive sign."

Daz shrugged then looked at Sir Albert. "That didn't 'tingle' by the way, it felt like there was a mountain on my shoulders. One on each shoulder, to be specific."

Sir Albert grinned. "Nothing a mighty ruler like you can't handle. Well, with that haberdashery out of the way, are you staying for long? I can have a house prepared for you in an hour or so if you are."

Daz, once again, shook his head. "We're busy, I'm afraid. I trust you and the mummies to keep this place from falling apart."

"Ah! Um, before you go..." Sir Albert trotted over to Daz's side and then reached over to whisper into his ear. "You haven't found any relics or anything of that sort for me to have a good peek at, have you?"

"Sorry, no. That's not exactly a priority," Daz admitted.

Sir Albert deflated a bit. "Oh well. This place is very interesting... only when bloody Ak and Tek don't answer every single one of my questions. I swear, what's the bloody point of being an archaeologist if I can't discover the history for myself with my own mind and my trusty tools?"

"Haha," Mu laughed, hearing the elderly man's outburst. "Hobbies are good, great even. Why not purchase strange artefacts from the system with your spare merit points? I am sure it will randomise them and hide their information from you should you ask it to."

Sir Albert stroked his beard in thought. "Not a terrible idea. Hmm... Yes, yes, this will do just fine! Well, since you won't be staying and considering how I now have some work to do, I won't be seeing you two off."

Daz nodded. "See you in a month."

"Goodbye," Mu said with a smile and a wave.

'System, purchase 50 diamond needles for me, please.' Since he could control up to 50 crystals or gems with ease, Daz felt it would be the wisest course of action to simply load himself with sharp and portable weapons made entirely out of the hardest crystal he knew of.

Confirmed. The desired item exists. Weapon item: [D-rank Diamond Needle Set] x 2. Price: 10,000 merit point. Confirm purchase?

'Such a cheap price... Diamond really isn't anything special to the system, huh?' Daz thought a bit mockingly. 'Conf-'

Suddenly, a rising feeling of dread rose from Daz's stomach as he was about to confirm the purchase.

His eyes opened wide as confusion filled his mind. It took him a few seconds to realise that it was his Survivor's Instinct that had acted up.

'What the... That's the strongest sense of foreboding its ever given me before... Even the inclination to save my money is just a constant tug, that... That felt like someone grabbed my soul and squeezed it until I listened to them...' The reaper frowned deeply.

'Why does buying the needles jeopardise my safety?... Does it jeopardise my safety?' Daz knew his instincts could be tricky when they wanted to be so he decided to think outside of the box a little.

'Maybe it's not the purchase itself that triggered my power but the fact that by doing so I'll be missing an opportunity to save my life further down the line...' Daz stroked his chin as he sat in thought for a few minutes.

'If I'm right and the diamond is only a factor in the equation and not the solution... then does it have anything to do with Vegas? There's the massive diamond crater nearby, after all...' His instincts immediately screamed at him to pursue that train of thought.

He sighed. "Mu, we're going on a detour."

"Hmm?" Mu peeked his eyes open to look at Daz. "Why?"

"My instincts, unfortunately," Daz answered plainly, but what he said gave Mu more than enough context to nod his head in agreement.

Daz's Ridomochi was flying straight towards the diamond crater. Oddly enough, however, despite his instincts having a hissy-fit, nothing seemed out of the ordinary from a purely visual sense.

"Something's not right here," Daz muttered.

Unsure of what to do to calm his esper power, he chose to use his Soul Vision. Perhaps that racial ability could shed some light on the situation.

"Well now... This is a surprise," Daz said with a slight hint of anger in his tone.

Mu raised an eyebrow. Out of interest, he copied Daz in using Soul Vision. What showed up in front of them was easily several hundred souls just floating there around or in the diamond crater.

"Hmm... None of them are grey so they are not dead... Some sort of masking magic?" Mu asked speculatively.

Daz nodded. "We'll soon find out. I'm gonna rip whatever's hiding them apart first. If they've been mining the diamonds then heads will roll."

"Are you not keen on being merciful when possible?" Mu asked.

"Sure, but I gave very clear warnings to the former gangs of Vegas just like I did with the ones in L.A. If they didn't follow my warnings and rules to the letter, then they would pay with their lives. The workers though? They can say hello to a nice stay behind bars. Fort Home's jail only has two residents, after all," Daz said coldly.

There was an appropriate time to be a kind and lenient ruler, however, there was also an appropriate time to show the people how frozen and firm his heart could be when the situation called for it.

If some idiot has been secretly mining the diamonds here, essentially endangering all of Nevada, then death could be seen as a somewhat merciful form of punishment when a master of souls was the one acting as the judge, jury, and executioner.