"Huh, so the king's actually stayin' put fer once?" a miner asked his friend as the two of them were taking a break in the Rob and Chris Mine.

Over the past month both Chris and Robert had spent their spare merit points on upgrading the mine - with Daz's permission, of course. As a result, they had become co-owners of the building and will remain so until they die or stop being Daz's citizens.

In light of that, they'd given it a name, though admittedly, a simple one.

"Yup, seems like it," the miner's buddy replied as he stuffed his face with a sandwich. "Seems his little sister is turning 11 tomorrow, so he didn't want to be off exploring or making new deals with other rulers and miss it."

The first miner nodded. "I can respect that. Ain't nutin' wrong with bein' a family man. Priorities an' all that."

"Speaking of family, I heard Team Leader Kabatay confessed to Bob," the second miner said in a hushed voice. "Apparently she loves him even though he's easily twice her age."

"Eh... Really? What happened?" the first miner asked.

The second miner shrugged. "Bob got all flustered and went on to explain how he's actually the old mayor of Fort Home, well, back when it was called Waterford and the world hadn't gone to shit. Seems the two of them had history. Bad history. Guy was a real asshole when this whole system shit started, or so the ol' grapevine says."

"Huh. You'd think she'd have known who he was if they knew each other. It ain't easy to forget a face, 'specially when there's bad blood," the first miner claimed.

Nodding, the second miner said, "Right? You'd think that, but seems like Bob bulked up and he's damn-near black now what with how long he's in the mines. They never meet outside of work so she's never seen him after he's had a good shower. Even then, he's still a lot darker than he used to be."

"Wait, he ain't black? Ya learn somethin' new every day. So, how'd she react? She slap the boss or sumin'?" the first miner asked.

Shaking his head, the second miner grinned. "She was shocked but immediately blushed and forgave him for being a jackass. She said 'People can change. You've changed. I... I love you, Bob.' Damn-near felt my heart pop like a balloon when I saw her swooning like a schoolgirl."

"Is. That. So?" a harsh yet calm voice asked from behind the two.

"T-Team Leader Kabatay!"

"I swears! It wasn't me talkin' poorly of ya, Miss Kabatay! It was Jim!"

"You traitor!"

"Both of you, get back to work!" the woman of Native American descent demanded in a fiery tone.

"This is nuts," Edward mumbled.

Dorian nodded and shrugged. "It is, but that's just who she is. If crazy was a person, it'd be called 'Crusher'."

"I can agree with that," Edward said with a sigh.

The two of them were in central California with Crusher and her band of misfits, now aptly named The Crushers.

Crusher was wrestling with a bear the size of a school bus only 100-metres away from the group. The monster had two additional legs and its fur was a deep shade of violet while two horns were protruding from its head.

Edward slowly rubbed his face near the eye that his daughter's soul was bound to before he said, "I mean, I get that she wants to evolve, but is it really that big of a deal? She could easily earn over 10-mil merit points to offset the fee for failing just from her bank interest alone."

"I thought it was obvious," Dorian said. "She hates to lose."

"But she loses to the king every time they duel," Edward noted.

Dorian smiled wryly. "Which is another reason she wants to evolve so badly. She can't even beat Daz in a 1-on-1 fight anymore, let alone even try to battle him with his clones and with Rimmy like she used to be able to."

"... Think she'll succeed?" Edward asked as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it via a flame that shot out of the tip of his clockwork arm's index finger.

Dorian took off his glasses and started wiping them. "I dunno. Maybe? From what's public and from what Daz says, apparently you need to change a part of yourself to evolve. You need to adapt. Crusher hasn't changed a bit since the world went to shit."

"In that case, shouldn't you be evolving? You've gone from a snivelling little shit to what you are today," Edward laughed.

"Thanks, buddy," Dorain said as he rolled his eyes. "I'm in the beginning stages of evolving. Have been for a while."

Edward shrugged at that. "Well then, good luck to both of you, I guess. I'll be leaving the group soon to search for more info on how to strengthen Jenna. I can't keep relying on the king to keep her attached to me."

"Have you told Crusher yet?" Dorian asked.

"Nah, I'd rather not get the shit kicked out of me again. I still can't believe she thinks that's a suitable thing to do to 'test' me before letting me ditch the dumb group for a bit," the former cop grumbled.

Dorian smiled. "It's her way of showing affection, as twisted and sadistic as that sounds."

Mu sat in his new home as still as a corpse.

Camp Waterford - now known as Shúzuì - had utterly transformed over the past month.

Initially, only a handful of people had joined Mu's base since he had either directly asked Daz's permission to gain lordship over them or they had joined him as a result of him saving them during a rare outing of his.

Most of his citizens were loose vagabonds or simply people of Asian descent. A good portion of the Japanese citizens sent over by Emperor Nishikawa were living in L.A. or San Diego, but 500 of them had been given to Mu on Daz's orders to help diversify Fort Home.

According to him, he wanted all races to get along since he planned to become Earth's sole ruler and any inner turmoil when they were done with the system's tests simply would not be tolerated by him.

Mu didn't really care about that though. What he did care about, however, was the constant itch in his mind that originated from when Daz had forced him to see the deaths of his thousands of victims through their eyes.

Practically every time he fell asleep he had been kicked out of his dreamscape by a nightmare which had awoken him in the middle of the night amidst a bout of screaming.

Thanks to this he had opted for his lord's residence to be a simple wooden and bamboo Chinese-styled home that was at the heart of his base. It had a pond and small garden by it but apart from that, not a single building could be seen within 100-feet of the little structure.

"I don't get why you're trying to understand the voices," Esmerelda - Mu's pet skull - commented. "They're just echoes of your memory. The king's skill is strong, yes, but you were hit by it before it was upgraded to what it is today. You should just purchase something from the system to rid your mind of them."

Mu ignored her as he sat there on his porch cross-legged with his eyes closed. He had been locked in deep contemplation for over 6-hours now.

"Eh?" Esmerelda felt something... strange. Something new to her. It was radiated from her master.

A whirl of energy that seemed to contain nothing but fear within it flowed out of what appeared to be the multiverse itself and then embedded itself deeply into Mu.

Congratulations! The host has successfully gained insight into the [Ember of Fear]. The host has entered a new ranking list. The host is now rank #17 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).

Mu could feel something welling up near his liver. It was a foreign power unfamiliar to him but at the same time, it felt like he had been born with it.

'This... This is unexpected. System, may I see what other Embers I have the potential to learn?' Mu asked.

Confirmed. The host has a rudimentary understanding of these entry-level Embers: The Ember of Loneliness, The Ember of Suffering, The Ember of Betrayal, The Ember of Sweeping, The Ember of Respect.

"So many to choose from..." Mu muttered.

"What the hell just happened? Did you... get stronger?" Esmerelda asked as she floated around her master curiously.

Mu nodded softly. "I believe so. I am uncertain of how to utilise this power yet, but it seems I have gained access to an additional one of the system's power-systems like evolution."

"Well, come on then, Master. Show us this 'power' would you? Give it a go. See if you can use it. It felt very... ominous when it was merging with you," Esmerelda requested.

Mu shook his head. "Later, Skull. I need to tell Daz about this and ask him some questions."

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me by my name?" the fleshless head asked sadly. "Reduced from a once all-powerful sorceress to some foolish reaper's pet... How the mighty have fallen..."

"Embers? This is the first time I'm ever hearing about this," Daz said.

Mu had approached the young king while he was practising his shovel arts in the keep's personal training area.

Mu nodded. "I was not working towards it, but it simply happened while I was contemplating what I had forced those innocents that I killed to feel. I think it is similar to the power of daos that is often spoken about in Chinese legend. Are you familiar with that?"

Daz shook his head. "Nope. Never heard of it until now. Is it special in some way?"

"I believe it is, yes. I'm unsure why, but there is a peculiar star in the title of the Ember I have gained an understanding of. From what I know, daos are like concepts that cultivators drew power from. Admittedly, I had limited access to the internet when I was studying in Beijing and none when I was living in the countryside, so I didn't really read many stories involving such things," Mu said.

"A star?" Daz's eyes narrowed. "Mind if I identify this 'Ember' of yours?"

Mu smiled. "Please, be my guest. My goal in telling you this is to help not only you but also to help me understand what it is that I have stumbled across."

"Thanks. Master Identification," Daz replied.

Ember of Fear [Entry-level Ember] ✧ The host [Shen Mu] has come to gain some insight into the concept of fear, and thus, can draw on the power of its Ember. Mastery

Initial: 1%

"Huh, no snark," Daz muttered. "Yeah, that's definitely a Star of Eternity."

"Star of Eternity? I have never heard of that before," Mu said.

"Not surprising," Daz replied with a shrug. "I only just learned about it a few days ago myself. Basically, what it means is that you will still have the Ember of Fear even if your access to the system gets cut off. It's a part of you now. Do you not have platinum-level access to the system? It would have told you that if you did and you asked it."

"Ah, no. I am rank 139 for merit points, so I still only have gold access," Mu confessed.

"Huh. Speaking of rankings, you're rank 17 on this 'Ember Insight' list, right? And with only an entry-level Ember... Makes me think that you're the 17th person on Earth to gain insight into one, not the 17th best in the world," Daz said.

Mu nodded. "I agree. I would suggest that you try your best to gain an Ember yourself, Daz. Being in the top 100 on the ranking list has allowed me to gain 3 more for free, however, I have 5 to choose from, so I was hoping you would help me decide, my friend."

Daz shrugged. "Sure. I've got nothing else better to do right now. After you've picked, let's try testing them out, shall we?"

"Gladly," Mu replied with a warm smile on his handsome face.