"Are you confused about your Species now that it's saying that you've entered the beginning stages of evolving?" Daz asked Lyle with a serious expression.

"As expected of my Lord. You truly do know everything. Indeed. I'm unsure of what this change signifies. Would you perhaps have some knowledge regarding this, my Lord?" Lyle asked with a reliant and expectant tone to his voice.

"Well..." Daz then went on to explain his own racial change and how his enlightenment on his views of neutrality helped him evolve as well as how important a strong racial change was needed to help strengthen him and how helpful it had been thus far.

"I see..." Lyle muttered with a somewhat dazed expression. "So, my Lord, your hair and eye colour is a result of your Reaper Species?"

"That's right. I think I got quite lucky. From my understanding, quite a lot of the species won't even look remotely Human, which would make people hesitant to change into them even if they are more powerful than the Higher Human Species which I assume will be an option for anyone when they get the chance to change," Daz said with a stressed look on his face.

"I'll talk to Heather and Crusher about this too since both of them are also in the beginning stages of evolving," Daz said as took out his hand shovel and started to fiddle around with it.

"Don't worry, my Lord. If it would aid you, I would be more than willing to turn into a monster!" Lyle said with passion in his voice. 'If it's for him... I can do it...'

"Thank you, Lyle," Daz smiled. "For now though, it'd be best if you figured out how to spend your points in the most efficient manner possible. Also, you have permission to look at all of the possible base upgrades. I trust you to give me some good recommendations again like yesterday."

"Of course, my Lord! I won't disappoint you!" Lyle exclaimed in joy. He was overjoyed Daz had trusted him with even more responsibilities than he had done so yesterday.

After all, if there was one thing that Lyle wished for, it was to be trusted and properly used by Daz.

Once they'd shared a few more words, Daz left Lyle and headed towards the centre of the base. Once there, he called for all of his citizens to come to the base's centre since he had a few announcements to make.

It took roughly thirty minutes for all of his citizens to gather, Lyle included, so Daz cleared his throat and started to speak.

"I can see that a lot of you are still afraid. You're scared of the attacks, of this situation... of me," Daz said to which almost everyone lowered their gazes in shame.

It was true. Although Daz had saved all of them and taken them in, they had still seen him mercilessly slaughter thousands of enemies and then go on to kill today's enemies, who were Humans, without a shred of hesitation.

"And I understand. You do not need to be ashamed. Raise your heads." One by one, they did and looked at Daz. The light was angled just perfectly to make his grey eyes seemingly shine.

"I may be brutal and it's more than okay for you to fear me for that. But please know one thing... I will only ever be brutal for your sakes! We will survive and I will happily die before a day comes that I don't protect you, my citizens, with every fibre of my body!" Daz shouted passionately.

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Many of the gathered people lost their breath as they gazed at Daz. In this very moment, he looked like a dashing prince swearing an oath to serve and protect each of them for eternity. This was the value of Daz's charm stat. So long as his words aligned with the worries of who he was talking to, they would easily put their faith in him.

"However! I won't demand you to blindly believe in me without any reward! I will be setting up a simple taxation system today that will take ten percent of your merit points every day, but in exchange, you will be allowed to live your lives in comfort!" Daz's words sent the crowd into a wave of murmurs.

"How is that a reward?"

"Isn't he just demanding us to give him our points?"

"That isn't fair! Even if we don't fight, you can get a lot of points for doing other things!"

"Yeah!"

"We should have another leader!"

"Right! This Daz guy, even if he saved us, he's too violent! What if he suddenly decides to kill us?"

Sandy had a slight frown on his face as he watched these few citizens get more unruly as every second passed. 'I wonder how you'll deal with this, Kiddo? I'll speak up for you in a second if this continues much longer...'

Lyle's fists were shaking from anger and blood dripped from his lip which he had bitten too hard from frustration. 'These ungrateful peasants! How dare they look down on Lord Daz like this! This can't stand! They have to be punished!'

A slight smile crept up onto Daz's face and he raised his uninjured arm. Slowly, but surely, the few nay-sayers quieted down to hear what kind of excuses Daz would come up with, but suddenly, Hamson, Daz's blood-red root slayer shovel, appeared, and he grabbed it before saying, "I can hear your worries and I'm more than willing to concede my rule of Fort Skip, however, not to the weak."

His eyes scanned over the six or so citizens that had just mumbled about their dissatisfaction of Daz's rule and he continued with, "Anyone who can beat me in single combat, feel free to take my position. I'm a fair ruler, and you all deserve that much."

He then stood still and waited. Only silence reigned. An awkward atmosphere permeated the air and the earlier men and woman who had voiced their complaints regarding Daz had their tongues tied.

Who could possibly defeat Daz in single combat? None of them had the confidence to beat him even if they ganged up on him, let alone one on one. The only person who was even remotely close to Daz in strength was Crusher, however, everyone was aware that she supported Daz's rule rather openly, so they had no choice but to be quiet.

"No challengers? Great. Now, as I said a moment ago, you will be rewarded. I plan to go down to the city and look for other survivors later today and perhaps I can loot particular items or trade equipment with other survivors, and using that, we'll create a reward system for those that contribute to Fort Skip's development," Daz said with confidence. He stored Hamson again since his presence wasn't needed any longer.

"I also plan to build a few facilities to help us grow and to allow those that don't wish to explore their classes and grow via the system, to work. For example, things like a mine, an infirmary, a research centre, all sorts of occupations will open up for those willing to help! I won't exploit any of you and even if you chose not to contribute, you shall still be housed, clothed and fed, so please, help me in creating a new future for us in this broken world of ours," Daz said passionately.

Mave's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when Daz mentioned building a research facility and her loyalty to him had skyrocketed instantly. Her only desire was to research and Daz knew this.

Naturally, Daz knew mostly everything about all fifty-two of his citizens, so he would cater to their desires as best as he could. Having lived the life he had, he was more than aware of how valuable people's trust and favour could be to him, so even if he had to sacrifice a few things to gain that, he was willing to.

Thankfully, afterwards, there were no more complaints and everyone, even if not entirely convinced, had to nod their heads and agree. Shortly after his speech, Daz created a new bulletin board and started writing on it. The nearby people who had stayed at the centre were quite surprised by what this board said and another commotion soon broke out.