The first thing Daz did after getting out of bed was sending a message through the system to all 8,593 citizens who had failed their goals.

He issued a gag-order to them to not reveal his kindness with the punishment of imprisonment should they break said gag-order.

It was drastic but it was necessary. A rumour going around about the high king saving people from not accomplishing their goals could be disastrous.

Just one person not completing their semester goal could be the difference between Daz affording to save everyone's lives from eternal enslavement and saving none at all.

Daz looked around the table at his generals, Crusher, Greg Miller, William Retford and the newly appointed Owen Murphy - Oregon's champion.

His gaze then wandered to his advisors, Lyle and Crosius. Finally, he peered down at his closest and most loyal of allies, Rose and Madison.

He gave a slow nod to the three holographic guests, King Rocky, King Pai-han as well as the former president of Korea, Queen Ho.

"Where's Mu?" Crusher asked.

Daz replied, "He's busy training. I'll brief him later."

"Huh. Okay," Crusher responded a bit coldly.

She was still a Titan which told Daz everything he needed to know about her current attitude. 'It's a shame she never could complete her semester goal despite how hard she was trying to naturally evolve.'

"I'll be frank, I had to pay over 800-billion merit points to prevent the permanent enslavement of over 8,000 of our citizens. This is unacceptable. I never anticipated I'd have to endure such an expense and it will strain me in the coming months. We need to make sure to keep the number of failed goals beneath 25,000 this semester above all else," Daz announced. "This may even be more critical than the issue with the Truthians."

Everyone paid close attention to him and many ideas were thrown around regarding the matter immediately, and from all angles.

Needless to say, no one took the situation lightly since it was such an absurd amount of money just to save the lives of a fraction of the populace.

Still, they all seriously tried their best to offer ideas on the situation, Crusher and Madison's being the most creative while Rose's were the most logical and Owen's were the most inventive.

Once they had decided on some preliminary steps to take, most of which were focused on ensuring the silence of those whom Daz had messaged.

Rose's job was to spread rumours to counter any claims that might sprout from anyone foolish enough to break Daz's gag order.

Of course, even if someone did go against Daz's orders, he had no intentions to ruin their life over it.

At most, he would imprison them for a few days before relocating them elsewhere in his kingdom with a firm warning but would leave them otherwise unharmed.

He didn't want to be a cruel leader. It would have been pointless to endure such a heavy fine if it meant wasting it by being ruthless to the would-be victims regardless just to keep them quiet.

Once the topic of the fines was dealt with, the council of New Earth's leaders continued to discuss the issue of the Truthians for a good hour before ending the meeting.

Daz spent the rest of the day going all around his kingdom using up the city and building creation tokens he'd received. Half of the building tokens went to Taiwan since it was desolate right now.

Everything else was spread evenly amongst his territories.

Once he was finished with that it was well into the morning of the following day and instead of returning home to his keep-turned-castle, he instead chose to perch himself upon one of the battlements of Fort Home's city walls.

"... Reika," he called.

The spirit raised an eyebrow in surprise before she floated down from his halo and sat down on his shoulder. 'Is something the matter?'

"Do you hold it against me that I've made no progress in my promise to get you a real body to inhabit?" he asked seriously.

'No? Why would we?' Reika tilted her head in confusion.

Daz stared off into the distance as he replied, "I thought you might be upset since we've been together for quite a while now and I ignore you most of the time. I also haven't done anything more than simply ask the system a few questions about returning a spirit to the living."

'Heh, you are suddenly feeling remorseful? Trust us, we are fine, you Insolent Fool.' She floated in front of him and stared out into the darkness of night as a hidden smile made itself known on her face, obscured from Daz's view.

'You are a high king, almost an emperor. You have so many lives resting on your shoulders and just as many causes for stress. We know you plan to help us just as you intend to help that broken man and the desperate girl,' Reika said proudly.

"Edward and Ellie are their names, but yes, I do plan to at least try to bring back his daughter and her mother," Daz answered. "if it's possible, at least."

'And that is enough. We are content with our life as it already is. Sure, we'd be happy to feel the wind on our skin again... The chill of winter is foreign to us and it intrigues us, but you need not worry over little old us. Ignore us until you have the time and room to care,' Reika said as she turned around and beamed a beautiful grin his way.

Daz was speechless. "... When'd you get so selfless?"

'Hehe, we are a perfect Demon Princess! Of course we know when to put our own wants and feelings beneath those of our pitiful subjects,' she answered haughtily.

"Hah, right. Thanks, Reika. I was a bit worried about that but you've helped ease my mind." Daz wore a friendly expression now that one of his burdens had lost some of its prior weight.

'We are happy to help. By the way, Insolent Fool, do you not intend to claim your gift from the box which gave you us?' the tiny palm-sized demon asked.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Daz nodded. "I do. I just wanted to reflect a bit and clear my mind before an insufferable letter forces me to read it. I didn't even accept my gift in semester one since the dice box is such a double-edged tool."

'Ah, yes. That did happen last time, didn't it? You use those strange dice fairly often, don't you?' Reika remarked. 'Everything you've gotten from the box has been good in one way or another. It seems foolish to us to ignore it for an entire six months.'

"Yeah. The dice are certainly helpful for making things go my way. They are a bit rigid in their use though and the risks are really high. Hopefully, Altros deems it fitting to give me a less deadly toy this time," Daz said a bit half-heartedly.

He then sighed. "I honestly don't want the interest of such a powerful player. I'm worried he'll bend me over backwards when the tests end to 'repay' his kindness."

'A fair worry, we suppose,' Reika commented before slinking back up to her halo bed.

Limited were Daz's interactions with the mysteriously powerful player, Altros, though he still had a good idea of what kind of person the player was and he was anything but a fan.

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

Daz had long since moved the safe which held the Box of Wonders from the old metal shipping container it once lived in to the castle vaults.

'What do you think you'll get?' Reika asked while she watched him step past the mountainous piles of stacked crows - New Earth's brand-new physical coin-based currency.

Daz shrugged as he got to work unlocking the safe at the end of the treasure chamber. "A pissed off letter."

'We meant the item,' the demon princess spat out with a roll of her eyes. 'You really do lack a good imagination, Insolent Fool.'

"Like a strong imagination is all you need to predict whatever crazy thing Altros deems to give me," Daz scoffed as he pulled out the old-timey-looking suitcase.

'We hope it's a pet. Mofolo is boring and Rose's pet dragon is beyond adorable,' Reika commented. 'We want a dragon of our own.'

Daz sighed. "I already have a pet. It's talking to me right now."

Ignoring the now-offended demon princess spirit, Daz unclasped the box and opened it in one fluid motion.

He reached in and found a cluster of strange little star-shaped objects. Laying next to them was an orange wax-sealed letter.

Resigning himself to just get it over with before the letter could attack him and demand it be read, he pried it open and began scanning it with his eyes.

'Hello, hello. Good to write to you again, Young Reaper. It's been too long. Almost like it's been more than one cycle since I last wro-... You're a dirty little gremlin for ignoring me!

Yeah, I know! Powerful as I might be and small and insignificant as you are, that doesn't mean I've lost interest in my most mentally deranged toy on Eart-'

Daz stopped reading and controlled Hamson with his mind, fully intent on cutting the letter up into ribbons. The words morphed and changed as he did that so he reluctantly returned his attention to the paper.

'Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Don't rip up the letter, please! I'm worried you might actually be able to keep it destroyed this time...

Ahem, anyway, my emotions now being out of the way... You may be confused by the 5 little jagged things I've left in the box for you this time. I know you're not the brightest of people. It's okay to admit stupidity...

Hey! Seriously, don't destroy the letter! I'm just fucking with you. I'd be surprised if you actually did know what these were. To boil it down for you, these little suckers are physical Stars of Eternity.

I'm sick of my toys dying, ignoring me or getting themselves killed. Use them wisely and get rid of those Aren-worshipping snots, yeah?

With love,

Your best buddy and life-long guy who would pretend to be your big brother to beat up your bullies,

Altros

<3'

Something caught Daz's attention enough for him to ignore the annoying tone and words of Altros. "Aren... That's the second time a player has told me about 'Aren'."

The last time it was Big Bo and the system refused to speak on the subject when questioned. Even Rose was clueless beyond having a few guesses which indicated that it was related to the Truthians.

"I suppose this confirms it since he said 'worshipping snots'. Context would suggest he certainly means the Truthians," Daz muttered.

Meanwhile, Reika floated down to the Stars of Eternity. 'What are these? They look tasty..'

"If you somehow manage to eat one I will destroy you," Daz barked.

Reika shivered a bit at Daz's coldness. '... We forgot you could be a real bastard... Fine, don't tell us. We were only joking anyway.'

The upset soul flew straight into her representative skull on Hamson's shaft, entering the dimension there.

Daz shook his head and sighed lightly. "I wasn't really being serious I just wanted you to know not to even consider it since these could save my life."

Reika didn't care for his explanations and stayed in the shovel's dimension. Daz shrugged. She had thicker skin than her attitude would suggest.

"Crystal Digger's Master Identification. Secret Override," Daz invoked on the supposed Stars of Eternity.

Star of Eternity [Eternal-rank] Description

A fragment of eternity ripped from the fabric of existence itself. It is extremely fragile and any sudden impact has a high chance of making it implode, creating an explosion akin to a supernova that will tear reality and the fabric of space apart.

I'd be careful were I you, pal. Hey, is that a bug on your hand I see? Best not drop those super bombs while you scream and piss yourself at the poor little spider, huh?

Stats Durability: 1/1 Skills Granting of Eternity

Daz's eyes opened wide and his palm holding the tiny stars broke out into a cold sweat. "... Holy fuck. Altros, you crazy son of a bitch... S-System, can I really destroy the planet with these?"

He completely ignored the trivial secret he'd been given via Secret Override as he was consumed by the most amount of fear he'd ever experienced in his entire life.

Was he really holding five little items each of which could easily kill every living thing on Earth?

Considering the possibility of him slipping and letting one hit the floor only to result in the death of everyone and everything he loved, himself included, sent chills of terror up his spine.

Denied. [Earth] is still in its testing phase. Were any of the 5 [Stars of Eternity] gifted to you to break, the system would divert the explosion and consequential effects to a dead player zone in its territories.

"And can I safely store and retrieve them from my Industrial Item Box?" Daz asked, still not relaxing yet.

Confirmed. It would take an impact of 1-ton of force to break a [Star of Eternity].

Perhaps sensing his unusual discomfort, the system gave him a bit more information than he'd asked for but which it knew he wanted.

Daz slowly nodded then put all five of the stars in his storage skill. Once he was sure they were gone, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Fuck you, Altros! Fuck you, description writer! Fuck all of you!"

He used Hamson to violently smash a pile of crow coins, sending thousands of the things flying around the room like ping-pong balls.

Of course, he was happy to gain five Stars of Eternity for free but the scare that came with them would likely haunt him for the rest of his life.