Once Daz opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that he was alone in his bed for a change. "Maddy actually woke up on her own? That's a surprise."

Daz wasn't overly concerned since this had happened every once in a while when the two were living together with Rose just a couple of years ago.

The young Reaper stretched before fixing his hair. After that, he got dressed and left the bedroom. Once he had reached the shared living room and kitchen, he saw Rose playing one of her computer games with a sulky expression on her face.

Daz casually sat down on the unoccupied sofa and asked, "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?"

Rose ignored his attempts at teasing her, but Madison, who was cooking something, answered in her stead. "Cooking, forbidden. Upset."

"Ah." Daz knew everything now. He smirked as he looked at Rose. "Maddy ate one of your concoctions, huh? When was the last time that happened? She's usually so careful..."

Rose avoided his eyes and her cheeks turned red. Daz laughed at this. To change the topic, Daz asked his little sister, "How's the progress of fixing your legs going?"

Rose's expression stiffened for a split-second before a heavy sigh escaped her lips. "Not incredibly. It was a wise decision of yours to buy that bank. I have a total of three-hundred thousand points right now, so I'm getting there. Thankfully the god I'm a champion of seems to dote on me. However, it's still a painfully slow process."

"Yours too? Mine gives me pretty strange messages at the end of attacks pretty often," Daz said.

"Is that so?" Rose asked in an uninterested voice.

Daz got up and approached Rose before he suddenly placed his hand on her head and rubbed her hair roughly. "You know I'll buy the fix for you if you want me to, right? Both you and Madison, you two matter more to me than upgrading this base or myself do."

Rose's cheeks flushed. "Don't be stupid. I'm not so selfish as to demand you waste your valuable points on healing my legs. It's not even that important."

Daz shook his head. "If it matters to you, then it is important. Stupid girl," Daz said with a warm smile on his lips.

Rose held back her sarcastic response after seeing the caring look in Daz's eyes. Even she knew when to be tactful.

Madison left the kitchen portion of the room with three plates in her arms filled with pancakes. "Food."

The three enjoyed Madison's cooking before going their separate ways. Madison left to help Rose down into the dungeon again while Daz went to train. Naturally, Daz had told Rose to send him a message if her god contacted her about today's attack.

----------------------------------------

The hours ticked by calmly, and soon, it was eleven in the morning, an hour before the attack.

Daz returned to his cabin and had a shower before he got dressed in his Travelling Gear of Altros.

He was now heading towards the outer Fort, and he found himself being distracted by a certain line of thought. 'Rose never got a warning today from her god... What does that mean? Is today's weather condition not going to affect us much, or perhaps were not getting one? Maybe that god was breaking the rules like mine was with the early dreamscape and he got caught? There are too many variables.'

Daz frowned before he shook his head. 'At the very least, I don't feel anything unnatural in today's weather.'

He decided to put the matter in the back of his mind. Rose had already told him that she'd get someone to give him a message if she got any new information, so there was little point in thinking over it much more.

Now in the outer fort, Daz was pleasantly surprised to see that the number of houses had almost doubled. "I guess Greg's soldiers are actually pretty good builders?"

From behind him, a large hand slapped down onto his shoulder. "Nah, I'm just a good foreman."

Turning his head around, Daz could see nothing but the toothy and tobacco stained grin of Sandy. "Is that so? When will you be finished with the construction?"

"Hmm, tomorrow morning probably? Why? Got another project for me after the houses?" Sandy asked as he matched Daz's pace and walked alongside him.

"Yup," Daz replied.

Sandy raised an eyebrow in interest. "Well, don't keep me in suspense, Kiddo."

"After absorbing Greg's people, this entire city now belongs to me according to the system," Daz said.

Sandy's face fell. "Ya can't mean..."

Daz nodded and smiled. "Not much point in being the owner of a city that's covered in rubble and ruins, now is it? The monsters sure have done a number on it, huh?"

"Ya sure are a slave driver, huh?" Sandy took out his pipe and lit it before taking the biggest puff of his life. "Fine, watch me fix the city for ya, ya little bastard."

"I really appreciate it, Sandy. I don't know what I'd do without you," Daz thanked with sincerity in his voice.

If he was the brain and part of the muscles of Fort Skip, then Sandy alone was undoubtedly the bones. Without a skeletal structure to keep the muscles in place, the whole thing would collapse. In fact, many people saw Sandy as the leader of Fort Skip due to his involvement in most projects. Daz, on the other hand, did little beyond buying stuff from the system and fighting for them.

It was true that people tended to latch onto what they could see and not just what they heard about. Thankfully for Sandy though, Daz could see his loyalty stat and was now able to detect lies as a Justice Reaper.

While he had changed over the past few days, it was impossible to get rid of his manipulative and almost inhumane core. Daz would happily get rid of Sandy if it meant bettering Fort Skip, but the old man had no plans of launching a coup d'etat from what he could see.

Daz shook his head and smiled wryly. 'I really am a sick bastard, aren't I? Sandy has done nothing but help me, and here I am justifying why I don't need to suspect him of any wrongdoings...'

Sandy put his pipe away after snuffing out its flames before he rubbed his nose. "That sappy shit doesn't suit ya, kiddo. I told ya I'd build for ya, so build for ya I shall."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Sandy suddenly grinned before his eyes sparkled. "Well, would ya look at that. The second I accept it, the system jumps in an' give me a quest to repair Waterford. I'm not a big fan of the system, but y'know what? The damned thing sure doesn't skimp out on excuses to give ya free shit, huh?"

"It's the system's only redeeming feature," Daz joked.

Sandy slapped Daz's shoulder once more before he said, "Well, I'll let ya go about yer business, Kiddo. I've got some last minute work to do before I head down to the bunker."

"Seeya," Daz said.

"Catch ya later, Kiddo." Sandy waved goodbye as he strolled away.

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Now on top of the walls, Daz called upon the system, and after several minutes of filtering out options, he had chosen what he wanted to spend his points on today.

First, he checked exactly how much he now had after taking them out of the bank.

The total merit balance of the host is now: 604,649 [+11,855].

It was far less than the amount he had earned on the first day of this cycle, but Daz was happy about that. He had gained almost six-hundred-thousand points without having to rely on a citizen dying and gifting them his points. This was definitely something to be proud of.

While he was at it, Daz decided to check his rankings, even though he was fairly sure that he hadn't gained any new rewards.

Your overall Lord ranking is #1, your overall Point ranking is #126 [-26], your overall Kill ranking is #195 [-61], your overall Evolution ranking is #32, your overall Skill Creation ranking is #51 [-6], and finally, your overall City Owner ranking is #19.

"Yup, no new rewards. Guessed as much," Daz muttered. "Oh well, system, please show me how many base points Fort Skip has."

Confirmed. The total base balance of [Fort Skip] is 252,500.

[Day 1 of Cycle 2] 110,300 base points were awarded. These points were awarded due to a [Little Base] having survived an attack, granting 100,000 base points, and 100 base points were awarded for each surviving citizen.

[Day 2 of Cycle 2] 142,200 base points were awarded. These points were awarded due to a [Little Base] having survived an attack, granting 100,000 base points, and 100 base points were awarded for each surviving citizen.

"More than I was expecting. I guess size upgrades really matter, huh? While I'm at it, system, please show me my city stats and city points, assuming the city gets its own points," Daz asked.

Daz hadn't bothered to check the city out yet since it was practically unlivable. Not to mention the fact that he had far too few people to effectively defend them during an attack if he assumed control of his city as opposed to his base, Fort Skip.

Confirmed. The total city balance of the city is 500,000.

[Day 2 of Cycle 2] 500,000 points were awarded due to an [Average City] having survived an attack.

[Waterford] F-Rank Average City City Name: Waterford City Owner: Daz City Type: Military City Size: Average Base Stats Health: 200,943/5,105,000 Offence: N/A Security: N/A Defense: N/A Citizens: 422 Political Power: N/A City Bases [Fort Skip] C-ranked Little Base [Camp Waterford] E-ranked Tiny Base City Facilities Facility Number Owned Description Bonus F-rank Production Factory [Inoperable] 7 A simple building designed for mass-producing merchandise. [Not available] E-rank Transportation Production Factory [Inoperable] 2 A simple building designed for mass-producing vehicles. [Not Available] C-rank Weapon Production Factory [Destroyed] 1 A simple building designed for mass-producing weapons. [Not Available] Reserve Power Generator [Inoperable] 3 A complex machine/building of Earth designed to power a city in emergencies. [Not available] Sky-rise Hotel [Destroyed] 12 A masterpiece of modern building techniques designed to allow hundreds of people to live with maximum comfort. [Not available]

Daz swept his fingers through his hair and dissipated Reika's body as a result. The angered Demon Princess flew through his head several times, but Daz simply groaned in frustration.

"Isn't Waterford a total piece of shit?" Daz grumbled. "Just how much damage did the monsters do? I'm pretty sure most of it came from Ellie's Automaton Tank, didn't it? Those damned lasers..." Daz was very annoyed.

Initially, he had intended to at least buff up Waterford's defenses a little bit today, but now it felt like a stupid thing to even bother trying to do considering the state the city was in.

"Fuck it. Another day, I suppose," Daz sighed.

"System, show me the taxes from the past two days, please," Daz requested.

Confirmed. The taxes of [Fort Skip] amount to 873,780 merit points from day 1 and day 2 of cycle 2.

"That's more than I expected. With this, I can really improve Fort Skip. Perfect." Daz smiled. At least Fort Skip wasn't a disappointment like his crummy city was.