'Hi. I just want to say that I'm not a player, I'm a testee. I want your car because, not only will it be useful to me, but my little sister loves technology, so I'm pretty sure she'll be over the moon to ride in it. Ah, it is a 2-seater, isn't it? If it's not, I can't really impress her since it's a bound item,' Daz honestly said.

'What? You're a testee? No, that's not possible! How can you afford my final model then? Hachoo! Urg... I only made it so expensive to ward off those parasites sitting on the top! You gotta bust your ass off to earn enough solar credits to buy my life's work, Kid!' Ridomochi claimed before she sneezed again.

'What? Is it not normal to have ranking lists as a testee?' Daz wondered.

However, he quickly noticed that he only had 15-seconds left to speak with, so he shelved his curiosity and replied, 'My planet has a ranking list system as a part of its tests. I assumed that was normal, but I guess it wasn't. For ranking second on the merit ranking list, I was awarded with an SSS-ranked Item Token as well as with emerald-level access to the system and its shop.'

'Really? Wow. That's rare. I haven't heard of a planet with a ranking list in- Hachoo! In forever. Hmm... Well, in that case... Okay. You can buy my final model, and yeah, it's a 2-seater. However! If you turn out to be a money-grubbing mogul like those idiots running the show, then I swear on the system that I'll repossess my car no matter how strong you grow, Newbie!' Ridomochi declared commandingly, although, her high-pitched voice killed a lot of the impact that her threatening words contained.

'Thank you. My sister can't walk, you see, and she's very smart for her age, so I'm sure she'll love to ride around in such an amazing vehicle.' Greasing the wheels of someone so apparently influential while telling God's honest truth came almost naturally to the young reaper.

'Can't walk? That's a shame. I'd get that fixed by the system were I you if you want your sister to live through your planet's tests. Anyways, I'm b- Hachoo! Damned allergies... I'm not used to being near such dense starfields... Anyway, like I was saying, I'm busy working right now. I'm on the 74th lap of the Centennial Star Cruiser Gala Race, so have fun with my final model. Also, it's not a racing model, so while it's slowness may seem frustrating, don't you dare go faster than Mach-4! If you blow it up for no good reason, I'll kick your ass! Bye.' And with that, the telepathic conversation was ended.

"What an interesting person," Daz muttered as he watched his SSS-ranked Item Token shatter and be replaced by a very sleek and rune-covered key-chain that had a single key attached to it.

"Hmm? I wonder how I use this?" Daz asked himself before he said, "Master Identification. Secret Override."

Ridomochi Final Model Key [SSS-Rank (Higher Tier)] Description

Thrust into the air and twist to summon your Ridomochi Final Model.

Ah, thrusting. That's one of your few talents, now isn't it?

Stats Durability: ∞ Skills Vehicle Storage and Summon Bound Randomly selected [Ridomochi Final Model Key] secret: A little over half of the time spent on creating the [Ridomochi Final Model] was spent designing this key and getting it to work as intended.

"Huh, sounds simple enough," Daz muttered as he flipped the key around in his hands.

At that moment, a side door to the throne room was opened by a servant who held it ajar for the person entering. Rose rolling on in as she typed away on her laptop. When she came within a few feet of Daz, she raised her head and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked with some rare childish excitement in her tone.

'Heh. I knew she'd be interested in it,' Daz thought as he nodded. "Yup, it sure is. Well, that is, if you think it's the key to one of the most luxurious vehicles available from the system."

Rose stared at the key like it was a holy treasure. "For once, you actually made a decision that I wholeheartedly agree with."

"Wanna take it for a spin?" Daz asked with a grin.

"Of course I do, but not now," Rose replied with a disappointed sigh. "I came here to collect you. It's time to summon our fellow espers."

"Ah, right. Sure. You're confident that you can keep them in line? Even if they all have crippling disabilities... well, just look at yourself. You're one of the most dangerous people in Fort Skip in a sense," Daz said as he stood up and stored his new car key in his Lesser Item Box.

Rose rolled her eyes then willed her chair to spin around. "I'll take that as a compliment, and yeah, it'll be fine. Just make them all promise to never work against your interests with a system-enforced contract. Those're free most of the time, so it's no skin off your back."

Daz followed his sister and frowned lightly. "I'd love to, but isn't that a bit too restrictive?"

Rose shrugged. "Not at all. They're all used to being tossed in a room and forgotten for their entire lives. Some of them only got fed once every 2-days and some were forced to live without access to a bathroom. Trust me, treat them like people, treat them like equals, and they'll happily sign any contract you ask them to."

"Huh... That has to make you wonder, why weren't their families exploiting their powers and treating them right, even if only under a pretence? I understand that the system couldn't be predicted - well, by most people. I have my suspicions about Father, but anyway, yeah, seems counter-intuitive to throw away espers just because they are guaranteed death upon their first awakening," Daz commented as they left the throne room.

Rose shrugged. "I'm an exception. My power mutated and only affected my brain but on an amplified scale, remember? As far as I'm aware, I'm the only person alive to have a mutated esper power that was actually beneficial. Most of the time, it results in grotesque deformation of the body to compensate for the incorrectly formed power. Lacking a bloodline to guide the power is crippling beyond belief."

"Are any of the people you scouted like that?" Daz asked.

A grim look took hold of the young girl's face. "Yes. A handful. They were the ones that were made to feel... less than human. They were treated worse than animals. Looking into it, I found out that most non-bloodline holding espers like that are killed shortly after birth to 'spare' them, but on the odd occasion, they are kept around as 'pets' to serve as stress relievers. If their deformation was a very small and unnoticeable one, well, let's say that their scarring runs further than just on an emotional level like with the rest of them."

Daz frowned. "Are there any good esper families out there? Fucking degenerates. They're all rich, are they not? Would it really hurt them to just employ someone to look after them? For fuck's sake, a bloodline or not, deformations or not, they're still their children."

The reaper now felt deep sympathy for the people he and Rose were about to summon. 'Were Father not the twisted and manipulative bastard that he is, and if Rose didn't have such an abnormal mutation in her power, then she might have ended up the same as them...'

"Thanks...," Rose whispered as she smiled weakly. Naturally, it was incredibly easy to see what her brother was thinking just from the anger that could be seen in his expression.

The two then moved in silence as they moved through Fort Skip.

Before they left the central fort, they made a quick stop at the bank first. Daz now had over seven merit stars in his main account, so he withdrew the excess 20-million merit points then converted a single merit star into merit point and withdrew that too.

The total merit balance of the host is now: 120,010,000 [+120,000,000].

With this much money as today's budget, Daz was confident that he could upgrade Fort Skip, Fort Sky, and Waterford appropriately if their individual merit point allowance wouldn't cover their intended upgrades.

After that, the two resumed their journey from the central fort to Fort Skip's entrance. Something about the rare wind and the cool air calmed Daz down during the long walk from the central fort to the external gate of the outer fort. His mind had relaxed and he was now far more collected then he was when discussing the distressing espers.

'It's not so noticeable when I can move so quickly, but with Rose, it's pretty clear to see how large Fort Skip now is. I mean, most of the outer fort is empty, but I should think about setting up some sort of transport system for easy travel between the central fort and the outer fort, especially when Waterford's rebuilding is on-going. Teleporting between the bases is one thing, but moving around within a single base or city should be made easier as well.' On that topic, Daz planned to do some more base and city-building as soon as he was finished with Rose here.

As the system had said, all territories would receive their separate merit and base points once a week every Monday, and today was the first Monday where that rule was in effect. it would be foolish not to invest early considering what he was planning to purchase.

Particularly in the cases of Waterford City and Fort Sky. He currently had a minimalist plan for Fort Skip to save up for some substantial upgrades.

"Here'll do. Should I start summoning them, or is it not time yet?" Daz asked.

Rose looked at the bottom corner of her laptop's middle screen then shook her head. "A couple more minutes."

Rose tapped away on her keyboard a bit then turned it to face her brother. "These are the people you need to summon. The ones in red need a forceful summon since they have difficulties talking to the system."

"They do? How'd you contact them then?" Daz asked curiously as he inspected each of the names - he took particular note of the girl called 'Lindsey Blanchard'. If she was who he thought she was, then he'd have a couple of questions for her in regards to her family once she was settled in.

"I linked my mind with theirs via my VR machine, duh. Don't you remember that Ellie couldn't buy the system upgrade that lets you talk to it until she was able to speak fairly clearly? The system isn't fair to everyone," Rose said with a bit of condescension in her tone.

"Right. I hadn't forgotten, I just wasn't sure if this was an apples to apples case or not," Daz replied with a shrug.

"Whatever." Rose sighed and then cracked her neck. "Anyway, you can start now. I'll do all of the talking since I'm sure some of them will be a little bit wary of you. I'll focus my efforts on getting them settled. Some are very close to awakening though, so make sure that Crusher, Madison, Mave, or Ben are in Fort Skip for the next few weeks. Mave and the awkward cosplayer shouldn't leave really, but Madison will likely want to follow you as you deal with your goal, and we all know how much of a wildcard that overgrown Russian can be."

"Sure. I can do that. Well, with Crusher, I can certainly try," Daz said confidently then began invoking his right as a lord to offer out invitations to serve under his rule as well as forcefully summoning those who could not respond on their own.

"System, forcefully summon Miguel Garcia," Daz requested as he used his authority as a king for the last time today.

Being the system, it naturally knew exactly which Miguel Garcia Daz was referring to, so it did what the reaper desired.

Confirmed. The total merit balance of the host is now: 119,997,000 [-1,000].

Daz had only needed to spend 25,000 merit points to summon all of the 64 disabled espers lacking bloodlines, which, in his opinion, was an absurdly cheap price to pay considering the potential these children and young adults held.

A juvenile Latino boy who was roughly 11 or 12 appeared and fell over immediately. He was wearing nothing but rags and his body was covered in filth. On top of that, his hair was very patchy and had clearly been ripped out in places. His eyes were also damn-near lifeless, but deep within those brown irises of his could be seen a small glimmer of hope.

Clearly, the boy needed a wheelchair since his legs didn't seem to work, so Daz walked over to Miguel and helped him sit on the ground properly. "I'll get you a chair in a minute, okay? We just need to go through some formalities first," Daz said with a charming smile.

He wasn't the first one in need of a chair, so this wasn't Daz's first friendly greeting like this today.

Miguel looked surprised at the kindness flowing out of Daz's every word. He started tearing up unexpectedly, but he still silently nodded his head and supported his own body with his arms so he wouldn't fall over.

Smiling again, Daz stepped away from the young Mexican boy.

Now with all of the crippled espers summoned, Daz placed himself behind Rose who had turned her laptop around to face the summoned youths. It was time to give them all their induction to Fort Skip.