"Well, considering the rule of the auction constantly refreshing cooldowns on skills, I should be able to abuse this, right?" Daz asked himself more so than he did the system since he knew he'd get no answer to such a vague question.

He used his new class skill, Astral Crystal Control. Immediately, he felt himself being connected to the Astral Crystal Plane. Seconds ticked by as he felt several presences brush up against his soul, but they all lost interest after some time.

Maybe three or four minutes later - Daz wasn't sure which - a presence stuck to his soul and was excited to have the chance to leave the Astral Crystal Plane with him if he was willing to take it.

Not hesitating in fear of the presence changing its mind, Daz stopped using the skill and pulled the being out of the plane with himself.

Floating happily next to his head was a pink cube which was glowing lightly and it was clearly some sort of jewel. "Higher Identification," Daz said to find out exactly what it was.

Old Pink Spinel [Small Cuboid] Description

This gem is over 10,000-years-old and it has basked in a strong source of magic power strong enough to give it sentience.

It was a lonely gem until it made contact with the Archreaper Daz. It is now filled with excitement at the prospect of serving a host and experiencing life outside of its prior home - a cave on the monster-ruled planet, Howda.

Poor thing. It's under the false assumption that living with you will be fun.

Abilities Can use its stored magical energy to heal the host 500 lifeforce points once per minute. If destroyed, it shall return to the Astral Crystal Plane to recover (only applicable if it is contracted to a host).

"Oh... Interesting. Do you want to make a contract with me? If you do, what kind?" Daz asked the happily levitating pink cube.

It bounced about in the air excitedly before a system message blocked Daz's vision.

The [Old Pink Spinel [Small Cuboid]] wishes to form a master/slave contract with you.

It wishes to take the role of a slave while you act as its master. Its only request is that you make sure to use it a lot and allow it to see the world(s) that you travel on/across.

Do you accept?

Y/N

"Of course I can accept a contract like that." After saying those words, both Daz and the spinel shined brightly for a moment before returning to normal.

When Daz glanced at the pink cube, he felt like it was a part of his own body, which was a little bit odd.

Regardless of that, he checked his Astral Crystal Control skill and was very happy to see that it had refreshed his daily uses from one out of two back to two out of two. As an added fact, it now had a list stating which gems/crystals were under his control.

"Perfect." He took out his auction phone and began writing a text to Madison. "I... will... be... arriving... in... a... few... more... hours... than... I... expected. Sorry... I... found... a... good... method... to... increase... Rimmy's... and... my... own... strength... by... exploiting... the... auction's... skill... cooldown... nullification. I... love... you. See... you... soon. Heart."

He read his message over a few times and then nodded before sending it. Literally only a mere three seconds had passed before he got a reply of, 'Okay. I miss you and I love you too.' Followed by a string of emojis.

He laughed softly before he started using his Astral Crystal Control repeatedly. The sooner he was done here, the sooner he could return to Rose and Madison.

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

Floating behind Daz - either off of their own accord or because he was directly controlling them since not all of the gems possessed the ability to fly on their own - were exactly ten jewels.

Four of these jewels were spinels like the first one he had summoned from the Crystal Astral Plane. Three more were peridots - one of which was the size of his head, and the last three were all tanzanites - none of which were bigger than Daz's fist.

Ancient Lime Peridot [Large Ovaloid] Description

This gem is over 1,000,000-years-old and it has basked in a strong source of magic power strong enough to give it sentience.

The gem has existed for a very long time, and due to the Archreaper Daz's class ability which grants him a high base affinity with sentient gems and crystals, it has decided to follow him.

Is it wrong of me to think that it's hilarious that the only way you could contract an ancient gem was to rely on your class ability? Either way, I'm still going to laugh at you.

Abilities Passively increases the host's regality by 20% in all situations. If destroyed, it shall return to the Astral Crystal Plane to recover (only applicable if it is contracted to a host).

This was the oldest and largest gem that Daz had managed to summon from the Astral Crystal Plane. Its unique ability wasn't particularly useful in battle, but its large size made it a great blunt weapon since he could control it perfectly with his mind.

The two other peridots were classified as young and only gave him a one-percent increase in his regality. They were also only the size of pebbles, but Daz figured that they'd be perfect for harassing enemies by forcing them into ears, noses, mouths or even eyes.

Old Aqua Tanzanite [Small Sphereoid] Description

This gem is just over 10,000-years-old and it has basked in a strong source of magic power strong enough to give it sentience.

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This gem was afraid of the Astral Crystal Plane's ten kings, and thus took the first chance it could to weaken its connection to that dimension by contracting with the Archreaper Daz.

Hahahahah! I'm dying here! Not a single one of these gems genuinely just wants to serve you! They all have ulterior motives! Bwahahahaha!

Abilities Passively makes merchants more likely to offer discounts to the host by 3%. If destroyed, it shall return to the Astral Crystal Plane to recover (only applicable if it is contracted to a host).

Daz really didn't like the footnote on this one, but the ability was very nice. With the addition of the two other tanzanites - both of which were young, he had a total percentage of five-percent. It wasn't very applicable right now, but he was sure it'd be very helpful in the long run once Earth's tests were over. Of course, that was assuming he didn't swap them out for better jewels or crystals later on. He could only control fifty at once, after all.

"It's a real shame that no more will answer my calls," Daz muttered to himself.

He had tried several times to reach out to the other jewels that reacted to him, but none were willing to answer him after the final young tanzanite had contracted with him. Also, not a single non-gem had reacted to him at all, nor had any mythical or magical gems. Only normal ones that could be found on Earth had contracted with him.

"I guess it really is scaled off of luck and/or fate, huh? Well, Rimmy. I'm gonna try something potentially very stupid right now, so be ready to consume anything that comes out of the Astral Crystal Plane, okay?" Daz requested.

"Rimmy!" the happy golem responded.

Daz nodded and took out Altros' Unlucky Dice Set. He very cautiously opened the box and took out a small dice. Each side was covered with skulls numbering from one to six on each side. He took off his Holy Earring of Tranquility and his Gambit's Signet before he checked his status to make sure that the dice was working.

Host's Status Basic Information Name: Daz Species: Reaper Race: Archreaper Age: 20 Sex: Male Class: Crystal Digger Affinity: Lawful Neutral Energies Lifeforce: 7,000/7,000 Death Energy: 20,000/20,000 Worldforce: 500/500 Stats Strength: 1,100(1,650) Dexterity: 1,000(1,500) | Item Boost: +50 Constitution: 1,100(1,650) Agility: 800 Charisma: 680 | Item Boost: +15 Ingenuity: 840 Defense: 1,600 | Item boost: +3,000 Immunity: 316 Soul Power: 6,000 Luck: 1,000 Justice: 140 Corruption: 0 Combo: 200 Wisdom: 700 | Item Boost: +250 Regeneration: 1 | Item boost: +100 Patience: 200

"Huh. No change in luck besides the loss from removing the accessories. Ah, right. I need to actually use the dice, not just hold it." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I guess I should hope for an amazing gem or crystal to answer my summon, right? Then if I roll this dice, the opposite should happen. I'm really hoping that it doesn't just end in nothing happening, but my Wisdom and Instincts agree with my theory, so here goes nothing."

Daz connected himself to the Astral Crystal Plane once more and then immediately rolled Altros' Unlucky Dice.

A gripping fear overcame his very being the second the dice had stopped spinning. Daz felt like his soul was being suffocated as a mass of black rolled through the plane and approached him. Sweat covered his body as his soul was trembling.

He reminded himself that he couldn't be hurt by soul attacks as a reaper, and thus, endured as the dangerous being approached him.

It felt sticky and gross as if the weird thing was licking his soul as it wet its proverbial tongue. The minutes rolled by before the evil thing decided to answer Daz's summons. Instantly, he cut his connection to the Astral Crystal Plane and stared at the crystal in front of him.

It was easily twenty-feet-tall and it was shaped like a very jagged and rough rhombus. The thing was gushing a black and vile smoke which shrouded its centre. A low humming could be heard from the entire training room as a very frightening system notification appeared in front of Daz's eyes.

Warning! [The Third King: Melophadite] of the [Astral Crystal Plane] is attempting to expel your soul and overthrow your body!

You have resisted, but your soul's control of your body has temporarily slipped by 5%!

"RIMMY!" Rimmy's main body charged forwards as it waded through the dark-as-sin fog before he wrapped his arms around the massive crystal.

A dangerous hissing sound could be heard from the thing as it struggled against Rimmy's tight and crushing embrace.

A massive burst of cyan-coloured energy was flushed out of Rimmy's main body, but his core poured its own back into his main body to supplement the loss.

This cycle of struggling continued for five minutes until finally, Rimmy emerged victoriously. His main body was covered in cracks and most of it was pitch-black now, but the third king of the Astral Crystal Plane had been consumed in its entirety.

"Rimmy..." Rimmy's core weakly said.

Mere seconds later, his core was back at full power, but the main body could hardly move. "Rimmy?"

"Uh, sure. That was... That was very stupid of me," Daz admitted as he unsummoned only Rimmy's main body. "I need to learn how to ignore my instincts sometimes now. You know, filter it even if it's telling me that I'll succeed."

Rimmy's core floated over to Daz and put his fist on the reaper's chest. "Rimmy."

"Yeah, I know. Your main body will get a lot stronger once it fully absorbs that... thing, but still. It was a risk that I didn't really need to take," Daz explained as he scratched his head lightly. 'I've got a bit of a headache... From my soul's control slipping temporarily?' he assumed.

Rimmy shook his head. "Rimmy."

"... Thank you." Daz hugged Rimmy's core.

"Well, now that we're done here, wanna come with me to the casino where Rose and Maddy are? Crusher should still be there too with Dorian and a girl you haven't met before, Vanessa," Daz offered. "We could stay here and grind my skill levels, but I honestly don't want to do that right now."

"Rimmy!" the human-shaped golem replied as he excitedly bobbed his head up and down.