"You haven't even put your seatbelt on yet..." Daz sighed as he admired the cuteness that was the softly snoozing Madison.

As soon as she had made contact with the extreme comfort that the Ridomochi Final Model's passenger seat offered, Madison had dozed off.

Daz leaned over and buckled her belt for her before he kissed her forehead. "How can someone be so perfect?" he whispered.

Mr Barrier saw that Madison was cuddling her Daz backpack, so the curious creature chose to seat itself on the reaper's lap.

It appreciated its master, naturally, but her lover never squeezed it with the force to bend metal, which it appreciated a surprising amount for an indestructible creature-turned-item.

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

"This is weird," Daz noted while the Ridomochi hovered over the city of gold.

Unlike Atlantis, El Dorado and the lake it was atop of weren't hidden behind some sort of illusion. The city of gold was tucked away deep in a winding and marshy jungle, yes, but even still, it should have been discovered a long, long, long time ago by Daz's thinking.

However, regardless of this curiosity, something else was absorbing the reaper's attention. "Why can't I drive right into it?"

Not only would the Ridimochi simply not pass over the city's walls, but he could barely even make out the shape of the buildings housed within just lying in wait to be explored. "Is this a hallucination of some sort, system?"

Silver-level system access is required for that knowledge. Confirmed access level of the host to be emerald-level.

Denied. The host is not seeing anything unnatural nor is the host's mind somehow trapped. Normally, a being will not notice the existence of this mythical city nor its surrounding body of water. The host is only able to do so due to the host's ability to see souls. Activate [Soul Vision] to enhance the host's view.

"Huh. Soul Vision." Upon activating his racial ability, everything became clear.

19 pyramids - each at least 200-feet tall - filled the city. Daz couldn't tell their colour, but he hankered a guess at them being golden. They surrounded a central pyramid that was easily 3-times as tall and 3-times as wide as these lesser structures were.

Hundreds of far smaller buildings littered the surroundings of the temples, all made of carved gold.

"Is the city... alive?" Daz asked himself.

The fact that he could see it clearly with Soul Vision made him suspicious. That would indicate that it had, well, a soul, would it not?

However, what was even more peculiar was that this apparent soul covered every inch of the city, pyramids, walls, and buildings included.

When it came to people, they generally had a small orb inside of them near their heart.

From Daz's research up until now, a good person had a white soul while a morally questionable person had a dark grey or a black soul - the distinction between the two was still a mystery to Daz.

All souls of the dead still lingering on Earth were a very faint grey with no exceptions.

El Dorado, on the other hand, had a massive soul that covered every inch of its existence. Not only that, but it was a strange shade of purple, not white, grey, nor black.

"Hmm..." Thinking wouldn't grant him any answers. He was not Rose. Instead, he asked another question. "System, why can't I enter from the sky?"

Bronze-level system access is required for that knowledge. Confirmed access level of the host to be emerald-level.

The host has not cleared the [20 Trials of El Dorado]. The host must enter the city like any other worthy challenger would.

"Oh? That sounds interesting..." Daz, liking the idea of these '20 Trials of El Dorado', flew his car to what was clearly the entrance to the city - a massive gate made of pure gold which was covered base-to-finials in jewels and gems.

Said gate and the wall it was attached to were the only things that Daz could actually see clearly of the city.

Mr Barrier purred strangely as the car descended. It was normally impossible to tell when the mystical vehicle was moving physically, but somehow, the blue ball of fuzz was acutely aware of the inertia it wasn't actually being subjected to.

Not a moment later, Daz had landed the Ridomochi at the outskirts of what seemed to be a campsite that surrounded the 40-foot tall gate.

He stepped out of his car and walked around to Madison's side. People had started crawling out of the tents that surrounded the wall and gate.

These people were looking at Daz in both suspicion and worry. No one on Earth didn't recognise the famed Archreaper at this point after the auction, so not a single person approached him. They would rather ask him questions when he had first opened a dialogue.

That seemed smarter than initiating a conversation only to be met with his ire. No one was aware of how irate he could actually be, and every single person at this campsite was an intelligent person filled to the brim with curiosity and ample amounts of caution.

He opened the Ridimochi's passenger-side door and shook Madison awake. "Hey, Maddy, we're here."

"Mmm...?" Confusion filled the girl's eyes as she slowly opened them.

A long yawn escaped her lips before she slowly nodded. "Thank, you."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

She took his hand as he helped her out of the car. Once on solid ground, she equipped her backpack then carefully took Mr Barrier from Daz's head. "Cuddle."

The fluffy being happily accepted. It preferred to be in contact with the passive Daz, but it still didn't hate its master's affection.

Daz smiled warmly then took out the Ridmochi's key and thrust then twisted it in the air, resulting in the magical car disappearing. With that done, he turned his attention to the wary 20 or so individuals who had gathered in the camp not 30-feet away from them.

"Do you guys have a leader?" Daz asked in a soft and friendly tone after he'd approached them. He needed these people for the seal's mysterious phrase if nothing else, so being rude would do him no favours, that was for certain.

A light-skinned elderly man with slicked-back grey hair and a pair of rounded glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose stepped forwards a bit hesitantly. "Can we help you, Mr... Daz? Is Mr Daz correct? I do beg your pardon, but I'm unaware of your family name."

'A Briton? Here? In the middle of Brazil during the apocalypse? Well, that's a surprise. He at least sounds polite, so this should be a pleasant discussion... At least, I hope it will be,' Daz thought after noting the man's distinctly sophisticated English accent.

"King Daz," he answered. "I don't have a family name, so call me by my correct title, please."

'I have no family name that I acknowledge, at least.' Daz sighed mentally. 'It feels so... weird calling myself a king, but Crosius and Lyle are right. I need to show my majesty to people otherwise I'll unintentionally diminish my image as a ruler. Such a petty thing, really, appearances.'

"Ah, King Daz then," the elderly man dressed like a tomb raider said with a warm smile on his face. Clearly, he was rather relieved by Daz's jovial tone. "Is there something you need here? If possible, I'd love to help you."

The reaper nodded. "Well, 'need' is a strong word. It'd be more accurate to say that we're here for my own benefit. I happen to own a mythical city already and gaining it had come with some perks, so I'm hopeful for a repeat of that."

"Ah," the old man stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "The heart of an explorer, hmm? It's always a pleasure to meet like-minded fellows."

He stepped forward and offered his hand to Daz, who, naturally, shook it. "I'm sorry for our prior... prudent behaviour. You must understand that we're not warriors like you no doubt are. We are but seekers of lost knowledge."

"Don't worry about it. Nothing shy of a knife to the gut can rile me up. I'm not here to, let's say, kill you all and steal whatever knowledge you already have about this place." Daz meant that as a joke, but from the horrified looks on everyone's faces, apparently, it hadn't been received too well.

"Aha... ha... ha... I'm very thankful for that," the camp's leader said with a cramped expression.

He then steeled himself and asked something... unexpected.

"Um, you don't mind me inquiring as to which mythical city, exactly, you happen to own?" There was a deep hunger in the man's eyes. A hunger for knowledge and exploration.

"Atlantis," Daz answered honestly and plainly.

"The city of mer and myth! The sunken legend of old! How my heart yearns to study every inch of such a pl-"

He suddenly stopped when he felt the very pointed looks of his companions stabbing into his back.

"Ahem. Ah, look at me. I've only gone and forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Sir Albert Guildrose. You may have seen me on the tele. I'm a famous archaeologist mostly known for my work on the great Egyptian pyramids," the elderly man claimed.

Madison tilted her head. "Normal, call, self, famous?"

Sir Albert's expression faltered slightly at that while some of his fellow campmates snickered.

'Nice job, Maddy. I was wondering how to loosen everyone's tension a bit after my failed attempt at humour. Your adorable innocence continues to provide miracles, it seems,' Daz praised as he gave his girlfriend a loving look.

"Sorry, no, I've never heard of you. I never watched T.V. before the apocalypse began," Daz honestly replied.

"Ah." Sir Albert seemed a bit disheartened by that. "W-Well, regardless, I'm happy to see that you seem to be a man of good repute thus far. We actually haven't encountered any other survivors since the system sunk its fangs into our humble little planet, so you not being a ruthless barbarian is definitely the highlight of the day."

"Were you already here?" Daz asked. "When this all started."

"Indeed! It took over 15-years for me to accurately find the lost city of gold. My crew and I have been here researching the city for over 2-years now," Sir Albert happily divulged. "Though, admittedly, with little success..."

Daz wore a look of intrigue. "If you were here since the system arrived, then how did you all survive the first 2-cycles? Didn't you say that you weren't warriors?"

"Ah, right, right. Of course. Well, it seems that we're all participants in the 20 Trials of El Dorado. Being as such, we were exempt from the wave-like cycles. Unfortunately, we were all tasked with clearing said trials when the recent semester began," Sir Albert Guildrose expressed sadly. "Unfortunately, we're all positively doomed, so do please forgive the pessimistic mood, if you could."

"Doomed, why?" Madison asked as she squeezed Mr Barrier curiously.

"Because they've already been here for 2-years," Daz answered in their place. "You can't enter the gates, can you?"

"Aha! Rather quick-witted, aren't you, King Daz? Indeed, Young Lady, it's like he says. Not long ago we foolishly sent a priceless relic to one of our investors - before this system nonsense started, of course - and, well, shortly after doing so we realised it was the bloody key to the entire city!" Sir Albert's face turned bright red with anger at the thought of his younger self's actions.

"Why'd you do that? Did you need funding or something?" Daz asked as his mind worked in the background. 'So Aston didn't steal it? That's a bit... boring.'

"Well, yes. Not only were we running out of money and supplies, but whoever touched the key's box ended up dying a week or so later and it felt... creepy, for a lack of better words. It seemed like a good decision to dispose of it as soon as possible if I'm being truthful," the elderly man said with a sigh. "However, without it, we're stuck here. If we try to leave the lake, we drown. El Dorado doesn't want us to leave, I swear it on the queen's good name."

"Speaking of, 'Sir'?" Daz asked.

"I was officially knighted for my historical discoveries 19-years ago." A proud smile was on the roughly 70-year-old man's face.

"Hmm..." Daz's expression remained mostly passive, but his eyes flickered with a peculiar sense of expectation. "I think I know enough, thank you."

He then reached into his Industrial Item Box and retrieved Ometeotl's Seal. The black smoke emitting from it seemed to kill the very air itself.

Reika and Mofolo were both allowed to exit Hamson and the two spirits happily gobbled up the excess deathly energy, allowing everyone to relax now that the feeling of the Grim Reaper's scythe on their necks was no longer as strong.

"That's... but... How do you have that, King Daz?" Sir Albert questioned a bit nervously as his hands almost instinctively reached for the gem-encrusted golden box, but he managed to avoid doing something so foolish as he waited for the young man's answer.

Shrugging, Daz replied, "Aston gave it to me. Simple as that. Anyway, with this, we should be able to swing open those gates now, right? I don't know about you, but I'm excited to challenge these 20 trials."

At that exact moment, a quest notification filled both Daz and Madison's vision, though the rewards differed slightly.

Quest Title: The 20 Trials of El Dorado Quest Type: Side/Required Quest Difficulty: S-rank Quest Goal Complete the 20 trials of El Dorado via any means at the host's disposal. Quest Rewards 10,000,000 Merit Points. +200 to all stats. 10 random gems. 50kg of pure gold ingots. An A-ranked shovel, necklace, anklet, or ring. An Upgrade to the host's [Ore Collection] skill.

"Wow," was all the young reaper could say in response.