Behind him, the leader of the group who was staring at him as if he was a monster as he had effortlessly dealt with the fatso"s attack was puzzled when he saw this King from the Central Continent pause right at the entrance of the room in which there was still pin drop silence, except for the low moaning of the guy who had been stomped into the ground.
Expecting some sort of dramatic dialogue just like the one before which had actually stung quite a bit and made him admire that someone was capable of coming up with such a witty remark in such a short amount of time, the lean man whose chest was still burning as if someone had made him swallow fire waited with bated breath, although he wasn"t as worried as before that a fight might break out.
As one of those who could be called a middling level leader in the factions that were present in the Fortress of Unyielding Might, he knew that this was someone special who was regarded highly by the Chief. This had been derived from the fact that the Chief had personally given him an audience, and had even called him back today, which was actually partly the reason why he hadn"t insisted on keeping him for long. Such news always made its way to him and the other leaders as soon as a messenger was sent, so his aim with calling that fatso before had only been to impress this King, and then deal with him later if the best case where he was awed came to be.
That had been how he had won over most of his group. Initially, he had just been a normal sect member until he had had to go through a very harrowing experience during training where he had almost been killed because of a malfunctioning trinket that had caused attacks at a level much higher than his own to rain down on him and almost pummel him to death.
Even those in charge of training had been astonished that he had survived, but although he had done so with a lot of injuries, something which wasn"t visible on the outside had also been affected, and no matter how much he searched, there seemed to be no cure for it.
He had developed the paranoia that the world was out to kill him, and even though he knew that this wasn"t true and it was just his delusion that now existed because of that experience, he just couldn"t shake it off.
That was also when he had begun to form this group, as he had wanted a bunch of lackeys whom he could throw at threats as sacrifices if he needed to run away. He had awed each and every one of them using the ruthless methods that he had developed due to the creativity that he always depended on, and they had chosen to follow him as the big groups didn"t have much interest in them anyway.
Now, he had seen this as an opportunity, but it looked like it would slip out of his hands.
However, he suddenly felt a strong sense of hope when he saw the King turn around and run toward him with a zealous expression on his face.
He had no idea regarding the reason, but when the man caught his shoulders and frantically said, "Take me to your secret archives!", he realized that he might not be completely out of chances yet.
Unlike most people, he didn"t have any prejudice against those from the Central Continent, as he was from there, too. He was someone who had experienced just how widespread this prejudice was, and how many took pleasure in showing him his place and telling him that he would never have a meaningful future in the Big Four. He often felt like telling them that they were the same, but had only been born in different circ.u.mstances, but knowing that such statements might well lead to his death, he would keep his mouth shut and wait for his time.
Nodding and sending a silent signal to the group that they should disperse, Snake, which was the name he had taken for himself after coming to the sect as per the tradition in the Fortress, led the way outside.
The group was slightly puzzled, but they had full confidence in their weirdo leader who had directed them well for more than a year and had already brought them a lot of benefits that they had never thought that they would experience their lives.
Their whole anger from before had been due to the orders given by their leader, and they had followed them even though they knew that it was a weird order as most of them were all also mostly from the Central Continent and thus actually respected this man who had accomplished so much and even managed to make the high and mighty members of the big four jealous. Of course, they would never accept that last part, but the way in which they acted made it clear just how much they resented him as he had what they might never have.
These were some of the few who hadn"t been corrupted by the ideology and become sycophants who licked the boots of those with background so that they could obtain some or the other benefit, and this was actually a prerequisite to be taken into the group in the first place as those who didn"t have at least a few ideals weren"t welcome.
In other words, this was a close-knit group who wholly trusted their leader, and this was actually the only thing they had going for them when compared to the other groups.
Murmuring among themselves and walking away, they didn"t notice that this had all been spotted by the King of Lanthanor who had managed to control his enthusiasm by this point.
Right before Daneel exited the door along, he had turned around casually and seen all these people dispersing while looking more or less normal.
This made him see the guy beside him in a new light, as being able to command such unwavering loyalty wasn"t a very easy thing.
Indeed, the news about Hidden Bloodlines had almost driven him crazy with excitement, as he knew that information that warranted such actions must really pack a kind of punch that just wasn"t present in the normal list of bloodlines that Daneel had obtained from the system.
After all, those had been from the third seal, whereas this information was from the memories of the Emperor.
This also made him aware that he had been ignoring this goldmine of information even though he had the means to easily process it completely. He knew the reason behind this was that he still respected the memory and didn"t want it to dissected clinically, but he didn"t hesitate anymore when he saw that he had almost missed out on this piece of amazing information by forgetting to ask about it before.
So, he had already told the system to run a process where all of the information in the memories of the Emperor would be tagged and be ready for access whenever any topic was asked about. At least, this way, he wouldn"t need to remember every time to ask the system what the emperor"s personal thoughts about something where.
As for the smart way in which the Emperor had tackled the ego of hi subordinates…Daneel admitted that there might be stuff that he could learn from the Emperor, too.
The reason he had ran back to get this guy in order to have someone lead him to the Secret Archives was that Daneel had also asked the system to tell him about the other hidden bloodlines.
And that was when he had found out that there was actually one that was only for Fighters, and this meant that records about it would be present in the Secret Archives of this Fighter Sect that had survived since the time of the Apocalypse itself.
Daneel knew that he could directly ask the system all the details he wanted to know about this specific bloodline, but he was more interested in what had happened after the Empire collapsed, as he now knew that incredible things were also possible during that time after finding out about the achievement of the founder of the sect which was what he was yearning to obtain in the first place.
Sensing his urgency, the guy who seemed as though he was still in pain sped up.
Daneel took pity on him, but he couldn"t do anything to help as his Mageroot was sealed off.
It had been obvious that that group had dispersed on his orders, but it was probably true that they had also a.s.sembled and been like that after being called by him, instead of just looking to get revenge for their leader which was the impression that they had been trying to give.
Once again, after being in the Central Continent and dealing with Empire Spirits which were much more adept in scheming, all of these little things seemed so childish and simple that Daneel could identify them right away.
It looked like they had a few moments, so he asked, "Hey, what"s your name? I just really needed that pod, so I chose you as you were the strongest of those who were present in the room at that time. I didn"t want to be interrupted, so you kinda became the scapegoat."
This was as close to apologizing as Daneel was ready to get, and this, too, was only because this guy was doing a favor for him by leading the way. In situations like these when excitement was at the peak, being stalled by stupid reasons such as not knowing the way was something that would be really irritating.
"Call me Snake. That"s alright. I apologize for calling all those guys and telling them to curse at you, but I only did that because I wanted to find out how capable you were. We all heard rumors, but we don"t really know just how capable the two of you are. I am thoroughly impressed, and even though I might not show it, I would really love to work with you if we have the chance."
That last part was said because even though he was leading the way, this guy was still cautiously keeping an eye on Daneel as if he was expecting an attack at any moment. His hand was also back on the knife, and he was also maintaining enough distance where it would be easy for him to run if he wished.
As for Daneel, he was surprised that he hadn"t even been in this Fortress for a day, but he had already gotten two offers to work with someone. This was in stark contrast to what he had expected the treatment to be like when he was in one of the Big Four, and even though that aspect was still present, he could never have guessed that there would be so much interest in people to work with him. After thinking for a moment and realizing that this was probably because they had also seen his display where he had beaten a newly-ascended Champion, Daneel chuckled, but didn"t
say anything in response as he felt the same about this offer as what had come into his mind after getting that offer from Tall.
It would be dumb to believe someone in the first encounter, and it would also seem fake if he agreed right now, as no one in their right mind would take decisions regarding such important things right away.
Seeing this, Snake didn"t remark, but he felt really glad that there had at least not been an "no". Their interaction had really started off on a bad foot, and he had been hoping that this wouldn"t affect the decision of this King. He pondered whether to explain that he would not have reacted that way if not for this paranoia that he couldn"t control, but he let it go as that would be too much information which didn"t necessarily need to be shared.
Soon, the two of them reached a gigantic building that was built into the central part of the fort. This was one of the few places which was accessible even by normal sect members, unlike the rest of the central portion which only housed the administrative members and champions of the sect.
The King of Lanthanor immediately rushed forward, and it looked like he would be stopped by the gatekeeper. However, nothing happened, as it looked like this place had already been intimated about their guest and the access that he now had.
Immediately, Daneel walked to the secret archives where the time after the Empire"s collapse was doc.u.mented. She wasn"t looking for important information, as that would definitely be under lock and key just like that scroll. Instead, Daneel simply wanted to find out if there were any mentions of the bloodline that he had just found out about.
A few moments later, he found what he was looking for.
[Gentle Giant Bloodline: A Bloodline whose name refers to two things: one, the gentle nature of the possessor, and two, the nature of a location after it feels the wrath of the possessor of this Bloodline.
Allows one to grow exponentially stronger when compared to normal means.
Allows one to grow larger and take up the body of a Giant.
Side-effects include damage to intellect. Reasons unknown.
Only those who had simple minds of children in the first place due to some or the other ailment were given access to the Bloodline, and the results were astonis.h.i.+ng.
New information found in Secret Archives suggests that this Bloodline had a comeback during that time of danger.]
Yes! He had known it!
So far, Daneel hadn"t known the reason behind the increased strength and size of Bam, but it had now been revealed to him.
That guy had definitely awakened this Bloodline, even though he didn"t know how.
Just as he was going to go into a long reflective session, he heard his guide speak up behind him.
"The Chief is still waiting for you."
Dammit! He had forgotten about that!
Well, he couldn"t be blamed as one wouldn"t find out about hidden Bloodlines each and every day.
Daneel was also really excited as he had found one among the hidden ones which really caught his eye.
However, that would have to wait until after the meeting, so Daneel waited to speak to the Chief.
Soon, he was in front of the man who looked the same, and before he could ask, he gave his answer.
"I"ll take part in the Legacy Battle. And I"ll let this thing stop me from using my Mageroot. So watch out, and get ready to forget that scroll. Before that, though, do you think I can make a quick trip back to my Kingdom. If I"m going to be Fighting, then I need my weapon that I left behind..."