"It seems the only joint missions at mark-1 are subjugation missions, huh?" Daz noted as he held his chin in his hand curiously.
Master Merit nodded. "Such is the case for a very long time, Your Majesty. It's very rare for a more complex mission to appear on the boards at this level. Subjugations, collection, or inspection. That roughly sums up all of the missions we'll ever see at this level of the guild."
Daz nodded. "Seems so. Give me a second, I want to try something real quick."
"Please, be my guest. I'm in no hurry," Master Merit said, though Daz could tell it was a lie.
The portly man clearly wanted to finish as many missions as he could before more and more people wandered into the guild and signed up.
There were already 5 new faces who had entered the building since they had started talking. They had politely greeted Daz upon noticing him then went to ask questions at the counters.
"If you want to go do your own thing, we aren't stopping you, Master Merit," Daz said coldly.
Madison nodded. "Is, okay."
Master Merit wore an awkward expression. "No, it's quite alright."
Daz shrugged. "If you say so."
The reaper then closed his eyes and tried to move his internal energy into motion, though this time with a different intent and following a different pathway than he had done so when using the Future Vision of his Survivor's Instinct.
The tiny concrete-like ethereal substance inside of him was stirred to life. Sweat began dripping down Daz's face, worrying Madison and fascinating Master Merit.
Not minding his spectators, Daz tried to move the energy to his eyes with a very specific thought in his mind. 'Which missions guarantee success?'
It felt like an eternity as his internal energy crawled through his body. This was different from activating his golden eye, quite clearly.
There was already an existing pathway specifically meant for that. What Daz was trying to do was manipulate his internal energy to use his Survivor's Instinct in a more... specific manner.
He was sure that he could get a vague sense of which missions were safe to go out on with his passive instincts, but that wouldn't be 100% accurate. What Daz was trying to do was learn how to properly visualise dangers with his esper power, not just get a feel for them.
It was a fleeting idea and one that seemed to have some merit. Eventually, the internal energy had made its way to Daz's right eye. He'd tried to channel it to both, but oddly enough it all funnelled into his right eye as if the left one didn't even exist. Opening said eye, Daz could see something new.
Of the roughly 120 listings on the board, 9 of them were shrouded in a black and musky fog while all of the other ones were shining with a bright golden light.
"Guh!" Daz hastily closed his eye as he felt it expanding unnaturally. His internal energy rampaged around in his body before finally settled back to its home just next to his heart.
Worry immediately flashed through Madison's eyes as she put a hand on Daz's shoulder. "Okay?"
Master Merit looked perplexed. "Your right eye just turned silver for a moment there, Your Majesty."
Daz nodded a bit grimly. "What I just did... I think I would have died on the spot if not for my halo. I just consumed one of my daily lives and used up over half of my Lifeforce on top of that."
"How startling." Master Merit was incredibly interested now. No doubt his brain was working its hardest to figure out if what Daz had done held any exploitable potential. "I presume there was a reason to injure yourself like that, Your Majesty?"
"Yeah," Daz answered then began pointing at missions. "All of these, we'll probably fail these missions if we try them, though they are solo missions. I was trying to... detect danger, but it looks like I somehow detected the successful and unsuccessful missions instead. Or at least, the ones more likely to fail."
Madison followed Daz's finger and then cocked her head to one side. "Gathering, missions?"
"So it would seem, Miss McArthur... What a peculiar power. What skill is that, Your Majesty? I would love to invest in such an ability if what you said is true," Master Merit asked. "Of course, I'll pay for such information. I am a fair merchant."
Daz shook his head. "It's hereditary, not given to me by the system."
"Oh..." Disappointment and confusion filled Master Merit's voice as he played with his grand moustache. "A shame. I wonder why only the gathering missions you suggested are likely to fail..."
Daz shrugged. "Maybe because we'll ruin whatever it is we're meant to collect? Could be very fragile plants or materials. I doubt anything's a real danger given Maddy's and my strength. Anyway, we've wasted a lot of time already. Let's just pick the hardest looking subjugation mission and get to work. I've yet to actually fight any of these new monsters that started to appear, so it should be mildly interesting."
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Madison nodded fervently. "Mmm, look, forward!"
"Of course, Your Majesty." Master Merit was eager to complete a quest with the two to finish socialising and strengthening his bond with them - Daz particularly - so the sooner he could get that done and move on to more lucrative matters the better.
They ended up choosing a mission that required them to wipe out a small leaderless group of Red-toed Fury Chimps.
It promised a reward of 10,000 merit points to each participant and the mission had a team size-limit of 5 mercenaries. The request also noted that to earn a full credit for the mission completion to go towards a promotion, one had to at least contribute 20% towards the mission's success.
All fairly standard stuff as far as Daz could tell. He, Madison and Master Merit officially accepted the mission then they set off.
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During the journey and even the subjugation of the Red-toed Fury Chimps Daz was distracted.
He couldn't help but think over his recent newly discovered application of Survivor's Instinct. It was like he had bent the power to do his bidding... not something easily done nor something he assumed was actually possible before the system's coming. He was just experimenting and was just as surprised as Madison and Master Merit when something had actually happened.
Rose had never mentioned that it could visualise the success or failure of things, nor did she mention his eyes - or eye - being able to turn silver.
'Maybe it's always been possible but people who tried it in the past exploded? If it weren't for my reliance on Lifeforce and my halo constantly restoring it, I very well would have died doing what I did...' Daz stroked his chin as he, Madison and Master Merit returned to the Mercenary Guild.
'This has me wondering now if more experiments like this have taken place in the past? Would such things be recorded, and if so, where? The Hamilio ancestral home, maybe? Where would that be? Italy? What about Soul Collector and Gravital Body? Can I force them to do other stuff too if I direct my internal energy a certain way?' Endless questions filled the reaper's mind with no discernable answers to be found.
Daz sighed softly. 'That's not a concern for now. I should avoid moving my internal energy in strange ways in the future. I could kill or cripple myself if I'm not careful.'
"Yes, it's rather frustrating that the guild is already so full of people, isn't it, Your Majesty?" Master Merit asked, assuming the reason behind Daz's sigh.
Raising an eyebrow, Daz shrugged, not caring to explain why he was disappointed.
The three of them approached an open counter and gave their proof of subjugation to the employee as well as the details of their mission and how they completed it.
The employee was taking a few notes and mumbled, "No additional help was given, Daz's contribution was 45%, Madison McArthur's 35%, Master Merit's 20%. Looks like everything's in order. I'll add one mission completion credit to each of your Mercenary Licences now."
A few moments later they were given their licences back, each having a '1' next to the 'Missions Completed:' on the back.
"Here is where we shall part, Your Majesty. It's been absolutely thrilling to spend so much time with you and Miss McArthur today. I hope to have similar such opportunities in the future," Master Merit politely said with a nod of his head.
'Always looking to strengthen connections to the powerful and wealthy, huh? At least he has the soul of a merchant. I still have no clue if I can trust him though,' Daz thought as he nodded. "Likewise. I'll see you soon. Remember to arrange that meeting with Lyle in regards to the local currency."
"Of course, Your Majesty," Master Merit replied.
Madison slowly raised one hand and waved it softly. "Bye."
The portly man smiled at her then walked over to one of the less crowded notice boards to take a new mission, presumably.
Madison clung to Daz since the lobby was a bit congested with curious folk interested in making some quick money. She turned to him and asked, "More, missions?"
Daz shook his head. "I have something else to do. Do you wanna stay here and work on your merc rank?"
Madison put one of her dainty fingers on her chin as she cocked her head to the side. Mr Barrier acted like he was glued to her head and didn't fall off despite the awkward angle. "Hmm... Yeah. Stay, need, merits."
Daz smiled. He held the back of Madison's head and kissed her forehead. "Okay. I'm gonna be busy for a while. I want to gain an Ember. You don't have a high enough access level for me to describe what that is but I'll be training my internal energy at Mu's while trying to get one. So come get me at his home if you need, me, okay? I'll be meditating for at least a week and a half."
Madison frowned with her eyes. "Danger?"
Daz nodded. "Remember our trip to New York?"
Madison nodded. "Mmm."
"Well, I'm preparing for that," Daz said, trying his best to give Madison all of the information she needed without stepping on the system's toes since she didn't have the right access level to directly learn more about Embers from him yet.
She creased her brow cutely in thought. "Hmm... Can, help?"
Daz smiled wryly. "Maybe. Try your best to think about the essence of your sword, or, like, sharpness or something akin to that. You need something very specific to help me when I go assist New York in a little over a week."
Madison looked a bit confused, but not lost. "Mu, has?"
Daz nodded. "Yeah, he has what I need to help me over there. Not even Crusher has it, so don't worry if you can't get it. If you want more details, just focus on doing the missions here. More merits directly translates into more system access, right?"
Madison slowly nodded. "Mmm... Will, think."
Daz smiled and then kissed her lips tenderly. "I love you. Look after the fort while I'm acting like a tree, yeah?"
A happy look entered Madison's eyes. "Mmm, will."
"Oh, and also look after the esper kids. They'll need you if any of them awaken," Daz instructed.
Madison nodded enthusiastically. "Children, cute. Will, save. Heal."
"Haha, good. Seeya later, Maddy," Daz said.
"Bye," Madison responded and then gave him a warm hug.
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"Mu?" The young reaper slowly opened his eyes and looked at Daz in surprise.
"I didn't hear you approaching, Brother," Mu said as he wore a friendly expression on his face. "What brings you to my humble home?"
"I wanted to meditate and try to earn an Ember. Also, I want to ask for your help with something," Daz said as he took a seat next to his fellow reaper, crossing his legs as he sat on the wooden porch of the small Chinese-styled home.
Mu raised an eyebrow. "You are always welcome here, Brother. The land belongs to you, after all. What do you need my help with?"
Daz nodded softly. "I'm going to be assisting my allies from New York deal with a religious group of aggressors. They have a strange ability to suppress system-related things as well as esper powers. I'm fairly confident that only things with a Star of Eternity attached to them won't be affected."
"Like my Embers," Mu said.
"Embers? You chose your reward ones?" Daz asked.
"Indeed," Mu nodded. "I'm more than willing to help you, Brother. Let's talk first, though. I have much to say in regards to the Embers now that I have been blessed with the time to ponder over them."
'The more he masters English the more mystical what he says sounds... Is that an effect of him gaining control of his fears through his Ember of Fear, maybe? Or was he always this... serene?' Daz wasn't sure, but regardless, he was happy to talk with the man. That was one of his goals in coming here, after all.