The Legacy Battle would take place outside the Fortress in an unknown location, and all the partic.i.p.ants would directly be transported there, together.
They had only been intimated the day before that they were to gather at the same place where those three had given the announcement. The arena in that location was so large that it could easily accommodate all 300 of those who would be partic.i.p.ating, as it was part of a formation which allowed it to increase or decrease in size as needed.
As soon as Daneel got to the place, the buzz of conversation that had been present until then ceased, as almost each and every one lay their eyes on him.
It had been amusing at first, but by now, he was tired of it.
Well, that would all change by the time this battle ended anyway, so he just ignored them and looked around, waiting for his elder brother.
In his mind, he was thinking of all the kinds of transformations that could have happened to Elanev.
He might have grown bigger. Or leaner. Or there might even be something else that he couldn"t expect.
In the meanwhile, he checked each and every pocket in his clothes thoroughly, to make sure that all the trinkets he had placed were present. Of course, the system was monitoring them all, but it still felt good to feel them and know that they were there.
He had gotten very used to the theme of the Dragon, so before leaving to the sect, he had had the Royal Tailor make him a special set of clothes with high-quality materials that were meant for Fighters. He was wearing a s.h.i.+rt that perfectly fit his figure - which was actually the same type as those three who had looked impressive on the stage. He didn"t have bulging muscles, but what he did have were framed clearly, with his broad back standing out prominently. He was also wearing pants which reminded him of the cargo pants back on Earth, as they had multiple pockets in which he had stashed his many trinkets. His s.h.i.+rt also had many hidden pockets, too.
A Dragon was embroidered on the back of the s.h.i.+rt, and it glinted magnificently in the bright sun.
Recently, he had found out the reason behind the strange garbs of the sect members.
Even now, most of those around him wore weird s.h.i.+rts and pants made out of animal hides that looked like they had been made by amateurs, and although some of them were peculiar as they seemed to be enchanted, most were just meant to cover the important areas.
Apparently, this was because the sect emphasized on each and every person being completely responsible for themselves before they became Champions. So, whenever someone entered the sect, they would be thrown naked into a forest on the mountain on which the Fortress was located. This was both a test and an opportunity to get some clothes. As most beasts were only at the Human level, the forest was relatively safe for talented people, and they would fas.h.i.+on their clothes out of the hides of the animals that they killed. According to the system, this was also to pay homage to the origins of the sect, which had been born out of the ashes of the Empire in a time when humanity had had nothing.
Achievements could be racked up in the sect by pa.s.sing various training exercises, and these achievements could be exchanged for enchantments that gave protection to sect members.
The sect also had a debt system, where sect members could take things that they wanted such as resources for a small debt that could be cleared by using those resources to grow stronger and pa.s.s tests.
All in all, there were many systems in place which offered each and every sect member all the chances in the world to achieve whatever they wished. At least, according to Daneel, this was much, much better than the Sect of Hedon, which emphasized strength over all else.
As an outsider, he wasn"t subjected to these rules.
Daneel"s musing was interrupted by a strange sight that even many of those around him were gawking at.
On a path that led up to this arena, a man was walking towards them. He looked so peculiar that even sect members who were headed in the same direction paused in order to look at him and wonder why his appearance was so weird.
He was completely covered, from head toe, with not even an inch of skin visible to the outside. This was mainly because of some kind of black cloth that was wrapped tightly around his hands, legs and face. It might be present on the rest of his body, too, but that was covered by some garments the looked like they had been through a grinder. There were many, many tears on them, and many even felt strongly that they might fall into pieces when the slightest pressure was applied to them.
It was these clothes and the eyes of the man that allowed Daneel to identify that this was his elder brother. Completely bewildered, he asked the system to scan him, and the response he got made him gasp with shock.
[Target is in a state where his blood and flesh have observed a huge amount of Energy. Target has already reached the peak Warrior level using a method that is similar to the one utilized by host. However, there is a difference as double the energy that is required to typically ascend from being a Human to a Warrior has been used. All of this Energy has caused all the parts of the body of the target to be completely oversaturated, which has resulted in a state where they are constantly recoiling and, even in some cases, exploding, although the latter effect was restricted to small amounts of blood. The effect is also most apparent on the skin, which is continuously being subjected to damage and then regrowth.]
What the f*ck had his brother been through?
Puzzled, Daneel immediately asked the system, "What technique does this correspond to?"
[Scanning list of techniques. Identifying similar points. Shortlisting based on power level. One technique found: "Overdrive" Inheritance. By ingesting large amounts of Energy far beyond the limits of one"s body, a Fighter can be forcefully pushed into a state where he builds reserves that can be called upon as needed. These reserves can also be replenished, but the difficulty lies in forming them in the first place. This was a theoretical inheritance that was put forward and then banned because of the terribly low success rate. In 100 people who attempted to use this inheritance, 99 of them had to experience their own body exploding from the inside. As for that one person who succeeded, he showed tremendous potential and was able to amplify almost all of his attacks to at most four times of his power, which was the main "holy grail" of any top-tier inheritance. It was even projected that this advantage would carry forward to the Champion realm, which would allow him to stand supreme among all others at his power level. However, in the first serious fight that he partic.i.p.ated in, he lost control of the power reserves that were forcefully created due to the oversaturation, resulting in him meeting the same fate as the other 99. This led to the complete sc.r.a.pping of the Inheritance, and the disgrace of its founder.]
Just the initial description of the technique had been enough to make the negative feeling take birth in Daneel"s mind that it was too risky. The rest of it confirmed his theory, and by the end of the system"s explanation, he felt the worry inside him bubbling up into anger.
What kind of maniac would even think of such a technique, and why had that old man made his elder brother train in it?
That was when he got a suspicion, causing him to ask the system: "Who was the one who formulated the technique?"
[A fighter called d.i.c.k Venore. However, he went by the moniker Senior Fists of Justice.]
Oh, jolly. Now it all made sense.
A scenario appeared in his head. Would an Emperor spirit as proud as the old man wish to see this technique succeed, no matter how many years pa.s.sed?
And after finding such a suitable seed, wouldn"t he immediately think about giving another go at it?
Daneel"s mind was purely fuelled by the overwhelming worry that he felt for his elder brother. He just couldn"t imagine someone he cared so much about exploding randomly in the pursuit of power.
His anger showed on his face, too, making Daneel glare at Elanev who continued walked forward until he came face-to-face with the king.
When he finally did, he raised one hand to stop Daneel from saying anything and said, "The old man wants to talk to you first, before you make any judgments."
Daneel nodded, after which Elanev"s voice changed.
It was impossible for the Empire Spirit to personally appear here, so it looks like it had taken over the body of his elder brother to deliver whatever it had wanted to say.
Daneel doubted that there was anything that could make up for risking his brother"s life like this, but he paused and decided to listen away.
"King. I can tell that you know what technique this is. I wanted to speak first, because I want to eliminate any suspicions that you might"ve gotten. Yes, this is my technique that failed spectacularly. You must have gone through the report regarding it, but do you know that that last person who succeeded in it was actually my son? He saw those 99 failures, and he stepped up and forced me to give him the technique as he wanted to be the one to succeed and prove everyone that my technique did have the potential to stand out among all others. Initially, everything looks perfect, but during that battle… I recognized the flaw that I had to fix in my inheritance. Alas, it was too late. He pa.s.sed away, and the technique was permanently banned. King, I feel the same way about your elder brother. I am 100% confident that this will give him the power that he yearns for, and I am even prepared to bet my life on it. You can ask him and verify it later - he had the same misgivings, but I convinced him to train in this by transferring most of my consciousness into his mind. If he dies, I will drift away into an eternal sleep. So, just trust me for once, and you"ll see soon why there is no reason to worry."
The one who had died… Was his son?
Daneel asked the system to verify, and when the system told him that it was true, he saw the senior in a new light.
Calming down, he thought about it, and realize that even if he did he feel anger, there was nothing he could do as the technique had already started.
Besides, before, he had ignored all the other things that the Emperor spirit had done. All other signs pointed to the Emperor spirit actually being a good one who loved Angaria just like the Emperor, so it made sense that he wouldn"t be lying now, either.
Yet, it was still a fact that Elanev"s life was still in danger, but after realizing that the man had made the decision to train led by himself after being told the risks, Daneel completely calmed down, as he had formerly been afraid that Elanev might have been forced into it somehow.
Before he could say anything, though, a loud gong interrupted both of them, and a voice was heard throughout the area.
"The Legacy Battle begins. All of you already know the rules. Good luck."
A flash of light blinded them both, and after a moment during which they felt weightless, they blinked and regained their vision to find that they were no longer standing in front of each other.
It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, but when he peaked beside a tree, he found someone who looked very similar.
They were in a forest filled with trees that stretched at least 30 feet in the air, and in front of Daneel, he saw a small trinket which glowed faintly.
Clearly, this was the teleportation trinket that they had been promised.
Picking it up, Daneel put it in a pocket and set off in the direction of the guy who had just looked at him.
Seeing this, that Sect Member stood his ground with determination on his face. He had been ordered to regroup, but now that he was facing their enemy already, he would stand his ground.
Daneel reached him and admired his courage.
Yet, sadly…this day was destined to end in blood.
"Your shoelace is untied."
"Huh?"
As the sect member looked down due to the weird statement and realized that he wasn"t even wearing any shoes, he felt something really heavy hit his head from behind.
The last thing he saw was the King happily storing away the hammer he had just used to knock him out, before lugging him on his shoulder and setting off to somewhere while humming a happy tune.