"I do not wish to fight on my island," Hsiao-han said as she got up on her feet. "Can you fly?"

"Yes and no. It would restrict my battle potential. I can make an arena for us on the ocean attached to the eastern coast if that would better serve you?" Daz asked.

"That is fine," she replied with a nod. "Cookies are my favourite food."

"Not the healthiest of choices," Daz noted in good humour.

"Health is the least of my concerns," Hsiao-han said as she jumped up into the air then sped off to the eastern coastline of Guishan Island like a rocket.

"So she can fly now. Damn, that's a great ability to have. All of my methods to do the same thing are very... inefficient," Daz muttered.

He moved Hamson under his feet and stepped atop the tool before he controlled it to move towards Crusher. Once he'd reached her he said, "Crusher, Han and I are going to spar. Find somewhere to set up camp for the evening. It's already dusk so we're not going to make any progress on our campaign today."

"Fuck that. You and the she-devil are going at it? Like hell I'd miss something so interestin'," Crusher loudly protested. "Oi, Ahab. Do what Daz just said."

"Ha-ah... Sure, Crusher," Dorian answered a bit unwillingly.

"Thanks, hahaha!" Crusher walked over to Daz's side and said, "So, let's go, yeah?"

"I thought this would happen. Sure, Crusher, sure," Daz replied as if he were talking to a child but Crusher didn't seem to mind at all.

It took no time at all for the duo of reaper and Titan to reach the coastline where Hsiao-han was waiting.

Once there, Daz immediately began using Crystallisation on the ocean to create an arena. Crusher, on the other hand, approached Hsiao-han with a grin on her lips.

"Yo, squirt. Recognise me?" Crusher asked as she arched her back proudly and smirked from ear-to-ear.

Hsiao-han looked up at her in confusion. "No."

"I'm Crusher!... Ah! Right, last time we met I was a shrimp of a jester. Had a big ol' cock too," Crusher realised. "Anyhoo, this is what I really look like."

"You speak Mandarin?" Hsiao-han asked.

"Is that what yer speakin'? I thought you'd talk in Taiwanese. Anyway, nah, I got that communication skill thingy from the auction. Hotwheels hacked it or something and a few folk that good ol' Uriel - that's Daz, by the way - got to keep it, me included," Crusher answered with a dismissively wave of the hand.

"... Did Daz not tell you to avoid talking to me? My special... habit can be exhausting," Hsiao-han asked as she leaned against her halberd which was poked into the sand.

Crusher gave her a funny look. "I don't give a shit about that. Info for info, right? Sounds like a fuckin' normal conversation to me. Anyway, what's your weapon? You're the champion of the God of War, right? Is your weapon legit that spear?"

"It's a halberd, not a spear and no, this is not technically my predominant weapon," Hsiao-han answered. "What is your weapon?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Information exchange." Crusher pointed to the tiny hammer charm that was hanging off of her white glove. "This is. It's small now thanks to a skill it has, but yeah, I'm called Crusher for a reason."

"A hammer? I see," Hsiao-Han responded with a curt nod.

"You really don't talk much, huh?" Crusher noted with a bit of boredom in her tone.

"I do not, no," Hsiao-han answered just as boredly.

"Hmm..." Crusher extended her hammer's size and length then rested her palms atop its pommel. "So what is your weapon then? You never told me. Ask me anything in exchange. I'm pretty curious so I don't mind if you ask something juicy. Like my 3 sizes, hahaha!"

"You ready, Han?" Daz suddenly asked as he came out of seemingly nowhere.

"Holy mother of sweet baby Jesus!" Crusher yelled as she jumped in her skin. "Fuckin' hell, Uriel. Don't sneak up on me like that. Why the fuck're your footsteps impossible to hear?"

"It is likely a skill," Hsiao-han answered in Daz's place. "Yes, I am ready, and Crusher."

"Yeah?" the 8-foot-tall woman responded in interest.

"My weapon is everything. My patron god is not called the God of War for nothing," Hsiao-han said coldly. "I will consider what to ask you in exchange after Daz and I have finished our battle."

Crusher watched in silence as both the little girl and Daz walked to the centre of the reaper's self-made arena.

She chuckled and shook her head. "What the fuck is wrong with kids during this apocalypse? Hotwheels is bad enough... Why can't more of the little twirps be like Jorden was? Rest his soul. I miss that kid."

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

"So, everything, huh?" Daz noted as he cracked his neck and did some simple stretches.

Hsiao-Han did nothing more than nod in response.

"I assume that you're limited in some facet or another. You probably can't use every weapon at their maximum potential, as in, you can't get the best of the best in regards to their skills but you have some other skills that help you use weapons well together," Daz theorised.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

He then summoned the suitcase he was using to house his diamond needles before saying, "I'll only be fighting with one skill, by the way. Every time I cut you is equal to me stabbing you. You can kill me if you want. I have extra lives."

"That's a lot of information..." The girl scowled lightly. "Your idea of how my class works is mostly correct, only, I can't use more than 2 weapons at once. Why are you only going to be using one skill?"

"Because very soon it is likely that I will go to war with a cult that can cancel out all changes made by the system; skills and species included. The skill I'll use is the only one I have that can't be removed. I want to practice using it in battle and I want to get used to fighting without my other skills," Daz answered as he began controlling the needles. "Ready?"

Hsiao-han made a strange face. "That is possible?... Yes, I am ready."

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

Crusher whistled in joy as she watched Daz and Hsiao-han fight from the beach. "Dayum, he's gettin' the livin' tar beat out of him. I wonder why he ain't goin' all out like he does when he fights me?"

She thought on the matter for a few seconds and then said, "Ah, right. I haven't actually had a good smackdown from the kid in a good few weeks now. I've been too busy tryin' to evolve. He said those Truth-lickers or whatever they were called can strip you of your system shit, right? Must be preparing for that, the paranoid bastard."

Her sharp eyes followed Daz carefully though from time to time she would shift her focus onto Hsiao-han who was using her golden gauntlets and deadly halberd to essentially one-sidedly smack Daz around.

"Hmm..." Crusher pursed her lips in thought as she watched the two of them.

'Uriel evolved naturally twice, didn't he? First to a reaper then from there to a Justice Reaper. Both times involved a change in his attitude, right?' Crusher looked back on all of her attempts to evolve over the last 2-months.

"I've just been doing different stuff but thinkin' the same things, haven't I?" Crusher tapped her chin against her hammer's pommel a few times as that realisation hit her.

"I guess I should... what, start lookin' at myself or the world differently from now on? Easier said than done," the massive woman sighed.

Right then Crusher felt something... enter her, and not in the way she usually liked. Mere moments later a set of blue screens popped up in front of her eyes.

Congratulations! The host has successfully gained insight into the [Ember of Clarity].

The host has entered a new ranking list. The host is now rank #23 on the Ember Insight Ranking list.

Due to being in the top 100 ranks for Ember Insight, the host gained the right to select 3 additional entry-level Embers which the system will provide the host insight into (the host must have a very rudimentary understanding of the Ember's concept for it to be selectable).

"You have got to be fuckin' shittin' me!" Crusher roared in anger, interrupting Daz and Hsiao-han's fight.

"Is something the matter, Crusher?" Daz asked as he flew to Crusher's side with the help of Hamson.

"Something the matter? Oh, well, technically? No. Personally? Yes. Hahaha..." Crusher laughed in annoyance as she put a palm to her forehead and shook her head.

Hsiao-Han didn't want to hear any more in fears of needing to talk for a while to satisfy her habit so she sat a reasonable distance away from both Crusher and Daz.

"I'm going to need more details than that, Crusher," Daz claimed.

"I got a fuckin' Ember. Those things you were talkin' about with Mu the other day? I was just over here mindin' ma own business then boom! Fuckin' Ember of Clarity. Does reflecting on your choices really constitute getting a damned Ember? Why not a fuckin' evolution? Load of horseshit," Crusher complained as she moved her hand to rub her neck in frustration.

"Congratulations. What rank on the list are you, out of curiosity?" Daz asked.

Crusher looked down at Daz's cold and almost lifeless eyes. She considered not answering just to spite him for being such a bastard right now, but she was smarter than that. "23rd. Why?"

Daz stroked his chin in thought. "Between Mu and you getting one, 5 other people have gained Embers. You're the first of my people to do so after Mu even though I made the knowledge public..."

"Is that even important? I'm havin' a crisis here, Uriel. A bit of emotional support wouldn't hurt, would it?" Crusher asked with an exaggerated movement of her shoulders.

Daz cracked a smile. "Haha, Crusher, you are one of the most emotionally stable and grounded people I know. Your ability to adapt so perfectly is exactly why you have yet to begin evolving again. Take a look at your available choices for the additional Embers the system will help you obtain. Pick some out and use them to help change your perspective. This is an opportunity, Crusher."

Daz would have liked to have patted her on the shoulder but she was far too tall for him to do that and still look even moderately dignified. Instead, he settled for her forearm.

"No one ever said that it was Embers or evolutions. You can have your cake and eat it too. Also, now you can help me kick the shit out of a bunch of cultists when the times comes. Sounds fun, right?" Daz asked.

Crusher sighed before laughing furiously. "Right! Hahaha! Look at me getting all mopey just 'cause I got a Ferrari when I wanted a Lamborghini!"

She slapped his shoulder hard enough to plant his feet right into the ground and break several of his bones. Luckily, his Regeneration was high enough that this much damage would be healed in no time at all.

"I hope you don't do that often, Crusher. You could take an arm off if you do," Daz noted as he rolled his shoulder, ignoring the pain coming from it.

"Eh, you'll be fine. Ye'r no pansy, Uriel. You can regrow limbs, can't ya?" Crusher asked with a big fat grin spread across her lips.

"No, I can't. You know that Regeneration doesn't work that way. I can avoid fatal harm and I won't bleed to death but my limbs are very much so permanently removable," Daz stated.

"I was jokin', ya big spoilsport. Anyhoo, we're done here, right? You and the she-devil don't need to fight more, do you? Watching you get tossed around like a wet cloth has its charm but I'm starting to feel sorry for you which is wrong on so many levels, hahaha!" Crusher yelled loudly enough to force a frown to form on the distant Hsiao-han's face.

"Yeah, I guess we're done. Now, this whole 'feel sorry for you' thing... I didn't know you had a sweet heart under all of that muscle," Daz responded with a smirk.

"Sweet as sin, baby, sweet as sin. Let's go back to Ahab then, yeah? Dunno about you but that teleportin' business has got me hungry. I'd also like to fuck about with this Ember shit by the side of a nice campfire. I'd prefer to have it all sorted out before we go fight us a bunch of Asians," Crusher said as she picked up her hammer and lugged it over her shoulder.

"... I really don't like the way you put that but you're not technically wrong," Daz said with a scowl.

"They called me 'Crusher the Wordsmith' back home, hahaha!" Crusher chuckled before she turned around and began whistling as she walked inland.

"... It's so hard to read her at times," Daz mumbled as any sense of joy escaped his face. '23 people... I would bet my life that Father is among them but I am not... Is ignoring Embers for the time being a truly wise decision? Crusher got one just by thinking about something new... Damn it.'