Daz frowned as he felt the sunlight pierce through one of the few windows his workshop possessed.

"... 7-hours of training for no results... Damn it. Are Embers linked more to emotions than to experiences? That's the only explanation I can think of..." He rubbed his short stubble in frustration.

"I guess all I can do is keep trying, but not now. I have wasted enough time on this subject for the meantime. I need some fresh air to clear my mind. I could also go for doing something else to preoccupy myself," he sighed.

Not long after that Daz found himself sitting under the central tree of the keep's rooftop garden terrace, the very same one where he had found Fiona drawing over a month ago.

"This place boost creativity if I recall correctly, so perhaps I can gain some inspiration into Embers while training my internal energy," Daz thought aloud.

Reika nodded as she languidly lay on his halo. 'Two demons one sword.'

"... Weren't you a demon princess? Seems a bit out of taste to talk about your own people being cut up in a metaphor," Daz noted.

Reika shrugged. 'We were, yes, but we were also imprisoned in a human hero's sword for many, many, many more years than we had spent as a living being. That was one of his favourite sayings.'

"The more I learn about this hero over time, the less I like him. Anyway, on Earth, the saying is birds and stones, not demons and swords," Daz explained as he assumed a cross-legged position and closed his eyes.

Reika, likewise, closed her eyes and responded, 'We shall keep that in mind, Insolent Fool.'

Daz would no longer entertain a response and Reika had decided to pretend to be asleep, what with her light snoring and all.

With that in mind, Daz gave all of his attention to his internal energy and the pathways in his body which he recognised his internal energy could flow through.

'2 pathways and a single branch... Shouldn't I have 3 pathways?' Since he had 3 esper powers it only stood to reason that he'd have a pathway for each.

He identified the shaky and unstable looking branch as the one he had technically killed himself to create, giving him a new application of Survivor's Instinct.

'Are they bloodlines, maybe?' Daz wondered.

He still didn't really know that much about bloodlines since Rose hadn't thought it to be overly important to go over during their discussions regarding espers.

'Well, let's give it a test. Assuming these are bloodlines, not pathways, then perhaps they have compatibility with my powers and maybe I can use them more efficiently if I channel the internal energy through the correct pathways when using them,' Daz thought.

With that in mind, he used the only active feature of Survivor's Instinct that the power possessed - ignoring the one he had forcefully made, of course - Future Vision.

He had no real need for the skill so he simply chose to use it while thinking of how things would develop in Arizona with Rocky and Adam.

Daz felt the internal energy in him stirring. With what little experience on manipulation internal energy which he had, he tried to push the gathering internal energy into one of the two bloodlines.

This one was tall and thin. It was also golden in colour. It was the one which had the silver unstable branch he had created attached to it like some sort of parasite.

Akin to water in a river, the energy flowed uninterrupted and peaked at the top of the bloodline where it met his eyes.

A vision of struggle, death, but ultimately success greeted him. If the vision was to be believed, then Rocky and Adam would successfully gain full control of Arizona if given enough time, though not without bloodshed.

"Okay... That went well. I did use almost all of my internal energy and, like usual, I'm sweating rather heavily, but it wasn't a struggle to activate manually instead of letting the energy do what it wanted to do on its own," Daz mumbled to himself.

'I'd like to help Rocky with taking control of Arizona but I simply do not have the time. I need to focus on permanent powers to fight the Truthians with. It's not ideal that people will die for it, but Rocky will succeed. I cannot afford to step in during every little problem. Sooner or later I will need people who I can rely on to do that for me. Rocky should be one such person,' Daz thought resolutely.

He then silently began meditating on the subject of Embers as he waited for his internal energy to recover.

The sun was setting by the time Daz had finished all of his tests.

What he had discovered was that Survivor's Instincts' Future Vision failed when he tried to push the internal energy through the second bloodline - a webby pathway of black that felt rather eerie to him in contrast to the radiant golden one.

He simply did not have enough internal energy to force it to work through that bloodline. The energy he did have only reached about a quarter of the way through the bloodline, meaning it was at least 4-times less efficient than the golden one for using Future Vision.

Unfortunately, Soul Collector couldn't be adequately tested since to use it Daz needed to rip a soul out of its body which was not something he felt comfortable doing solely for the sake of testing.

Gravital Body, on the other hand, could be tested.

Unlike Survivor's Instincts' Future Vision, Gravital Body required a constant flow of internal energy to work.

With his current reserve of internal energy, Daz could float off of the air for exactly 32-seconds with the golden bloodline and 4-seconds with the black bloodline. If he let it work as it pleased without focusing on the bloodlines he could only float for 14-seconds, under half of the duration he was capable of with his golden bloodline.

The secondary application of his Survivor's Instinct that he had created himself, Success Sight as he had named it, could only trigger if he pushed the energy through the golden bloodline and then divert it to the attached silver branching path.

It failed if Daz attempted to fill the golden or black pathway with energy to activate it. It did, however, activate without focus but it cost him double the internal energy.

"Hmm..." Daz stroked his jaw in thought. 'Well, what would make the most sense is that the golden bloodline is the Hamilio bloodline and the black one is the Crowthorne bloodline. I guess I wasn't born with the Ho bloodline. Is that why my body shut off my emotions? Would I have been fine if I had been born with 3 bloodlines?'

He tapped his cheek a few times as an idea came to his mind. "... Can I... create bloodlines?"

It sounded like an insane idea. Even the system had no information of esper powers and their bloodlines. Messing around with something like this could easily kill him, he knew that, but he had a feeling it was possible.

'I technically did die when I made that silver branch for Success Sight, sure, but my halo saved me. I should see if I can alter that branch. I have no idea how esper powers work though... What if Father can somehow control me through my bloodline?' The idea sounded crazy but equally plausible in Daz's paranoid mind.

He nodded, coming to a decision. 'If I can't trust the bloodline then I'll just get rid of it. If it's possible, I'll make my own bloodline. This silver pathway... I'll make it perfect for Survivor's Instinct. Once I've done that I'll try to destroy the golden bloodline.'

'The powers themselves should have no real need for a bloodline since people like Rose and the dormitory kids have them, so the chances of that being manipulable by Father are more than minimal. Besides, I can't affect my own powers themselves beyond levelling them up so worrying over them isn't very productive,' Daz concluded.

With his mind made up he focused himself once more and began gathering his internal energy towards the silver branch with one single purpose - to detach it from the golden bloodline.

His intention was to separate it then nourish it with his energy to allow it to grow stable and independent of the presumed Hamilio Bloodline.

He moulded the energy into a knife of unparalleled sharpness and then moved it in a swift motion to sever the branch, however, something he hadn't expected happened.

"Ngh..." A low groan escaped his lips before he violently started coughing blood.

His internal energy had been completely obliterated by the golden bloodline and a small crack had appeared at the connecting point from it and the silver branch.

Daz collapsed as he grasped at his chest where the remaining fragments of his internal energy had fled to.

"Damn..." He glanced at his status and at his spares lives only to see that both of his free escapes from death had triggered, all of his extra 200,000 lifeforce had been drained and he was now left with only a quarter of his original lifeforce.

"That didn't go as planned..." He slowly and very carefully pushed himself back up and rested his back against the tree.

Reika looked down on him in worry. 'What just happened? Are you okay, Insolent Fool?'

Daz nodded sharply. "I'm fine. I just made a slight miscalculation while training my esper powers. It's more complex than that but I assume you're happy with that explanation."

'Hmpf! Do not worry us again like that. Coughing up blood is never good,' Reika grumbled as she settled herself back on Daz's halo.

"I'll keep that in mind," Daz answered half-heartedly as he wiped his lips with the sleeve of Altros' Travelling Gear.

'Clearly the branch is far too weak to be separated from the golden bloodline. Hmm... If the golden bloodline will lash out and attack my silver branch then the only thing that makes sense to me is to grow the branch until it dwarfs the bloodline in size so it can aptly fight back as I sever it,' Daz concluded.

His instincts were screaming at him to ignore such a line of thought, showing him that the chances of death were great.

'Of course I'll die if I do this. I need more preparations before even trying to forcefully turn my silver branch into a bloodline of its own, but I will do it regardless of how much you scream and shout at me, instincts,' Daz said internally in defiance.

He glanced down at his hand covered in blood. "After all, if I can do this then who's to say I can't make bloodlines in other people as well?"

Rose's face appeared in his mind. Slowly the pained and confused expressions of the children living at the dormitory also popped up in his head. "They all deserve better. All of those shitty esper families of old... They'll see how stupid they were."

Daz raised his head and looked to the east. "Father, I am better than you."

"How impressive, Giacomo," Davido praised his son.

The now 6-year-old boy appeared out of thin air with a wide smile spread across his lips and he quickly ran over to his sitting father and hugged his leg. "I did it!"

"Yes, you did, Giacomo." Davido leaned down and scooped his youngest child up into his arms. "Papà's very proud of you. To have reached the second level of World Assimilation at such a young age is simply incredible, my boy."

Something in Davido's tone gave his closest servant, Giacomo's nanny Aurora, a strange feeling in her gut.

What he had said seemed genuine of course, but something deep inside of him gave off an oppressive feeling of... disappointment.

'Is Young Master Giacomo lacking in some regard?' she thought to herself.

She'd never considered speaking out of turn. While she suspected Davido's affectionate words she would never question the man as her loyalty to him was far too great. After all, questioning him was akin to questioning all of the Hamilio Empire.

Surely he had his reasons. That was the only explanation that made any sense to the nanny.

"... Papà," Giacomo called as he lay there nestled in his father's loving arms.

"Yes, my boy?" Davido asked all the while wearing a picture-perfect smile.

"... Can you tell Gia more about Gia's brother?" The child cast his eyes downwards. "The one you talked about at the fancy hall."

"Ah, you mean Darenzo?" Davido nodded softly and sat back down next to the fire in his luxurious leather chair.

He settled Giacomo on his lap before saying, "He is every bit the man I could have ever dreamed he would become. No doubt you will meet him one day, my boy. I so very look forward to that day, for a great day it shall be."

"Okay, Papà." Giacomo didn't seem best pleased by how happy his father was talking about a son that wasn't him. 'Stupid Papà... You never talk about Gia like that... Is he really that much better than Gia?'

Aurora wore a wry smile on her lips as she stood by the door. 'Poor Young Master.'

It was no secret that Emperor Hamilio dearly loved his eldest child, Darenzo. It was public knowledge that he supported the young king in his endeavours overseas, even to the point of sending aid and even reuniting him with his childhood sweetheart, Aila Bristle.

She shook her head very softly. 'As impressive as Young Master Darenzo is, I will always be on your side Young Master Giacomo. Don't you worry. I'll raise you to be every bit as successful and impressive as your older brother is!'

Davido spoke more of Daz and his exploits as the ruler of New Earth, however, oddly enough, he never once mentioned the existence of Rose to his youngest child.