10 black eyes, in five rows of two.
Eight bristly legs with thorns that could pierce even the toughest of metals.
And golden hair and skin that shone even if there wasn"t too much light.
This was the image that had made Aran faint, and even though Eloise had also gotten quite startled when she saw the G.o.dbeast that appeared in front of them, Aran"s reaction made her burst out laughing, while the others joined in.
By the time Luther and Robert returned, that spider was gone, and in its place was a large egg-shaped object made of a coiled, golden material that looked like silk.
It stood upright, with an opening in the top, and it was so large that it could fit at least two or three people inside.
Even the spider had been disgustingly huge - it had been at least 15 feet tall with each leg being double that length. It was also 18 feet long, and just by looking at it, anyone could guess that it was a top tier predator.
"Nightmare Spider. Before you ask, that is the name of this G.o.dbeast, and I"m afraid that I might have traumatized our dear commander."
Another round of laughter burst out, but after that, Elanev spoke up.
"It"s not like a normal spider, is it? Its head is much larger than normal, so I can guess that its abilities are related to the mind, too, judging from its name."
Nodding, Daneel replied, "Smart observation. Indeed, it is known for its ability to weave two kinds of webs- one physical, and one ethereal. If a prey gets caught in either, it will find that it will have no choice but to enter the Nightmare Spider"s belly and become nutrients for its children to grow. Now… When there were other options like Spear-horned Rhinoceroses and Divine Eagles, you might ask why I chose this one. This is the weapon from which I got the consciousness, by the way - it was made by using its thorns. Each arrow can pierce any and all barriers in its way, and if used properly, at the right time, it can even kill a Hero. I"m not joking - a famous Fighter back in the age of the Empire actually used exactly this weapon to kill four Heroes in his lifetime."
Killing a Hero?!
Hearing of such a fantastical feat, the sovereigns present who hadn"t fainted could only stare at the magnificent bow and the quiver of golden arrows that the king had taken out.
It was a longbow, and it was as long as a man. It looked like it would require no ordinary strength to just draw back the gleaming string, and the theme of gold pa.s.sed on from the arrows, which did resemble the thorns that they had seen on the spider earlier. The entire bow was gilded, and there were also many precious gems embedded in itscentere. It looked more like a weapon meant for vanity, but from what the king had just said, that was apparently not the case at all.
"Yes, a spear or a pair of talons does sound better. So why did you choose this? I should tell you that the old man keeps badgering me to jump into that thing beside you, and I can"t help but a.s.sume that it might also be a fetish of his."
This time, it was Daneel"s turn to laugh as he heard this.
In response, he simply spread open his arms and said, "Follow his words, and you"ll understand."
Expressions of disgust once again came on the sovereigns" faces as they heard this, because they had all seen from where the silk that had made the egg-shaped thing had come from. In fact, it was still a bit sticky, and all in all, it was enough to make anyone want to puke.
Still, after hesitating for a bit, Elanev shrugged and did so.
With a leap, he directly entered the egg from the opening in the top, and right after he did so, the spider silk seemed to come alive.
It almost looked as if a monster had woken up, causing Eloise to instantly run forward with worry in her eyes, but Daneel just raised his hand to stop her and said, "Wait."
The silk had started to writhe, and the opening had already closed completely. By now, it seemed as if this was a trap, so everyone present could only wonder why the king had asked Elanev to enter it.
What happened next drove this point home even further, because the layers and layers of spider silk started to constrict, until what was finally left behind was a human-shaped object which still shone brightly.
As soon as this happened, it looked as if Elanev"s time on this continent had come to an end, because no one could understand how anyone could even breathe as they could judge from the size of the webs that whoever was inside was definitely being squeezed very tightly.
At this point, the king made a strange gesture: from a pouch at his waist that he had collected right before coming here, he took out a few s.h.i.+ning Ker gems and chucked them at the human-shaped figure.
Incredibly, as soon as the Ker gems came into contact with the spider silk, it came alive again and swallowed them, after which the entire thing started to pulse brightly.
Slowly, the pulsing grew faster and faster, until each pulse of golden light was merely a second part.
As everyone watched on with their tongues completely tied, suddenly, the pulses stopped, and the web broke apart to reveal Elanev who had an ecstatic expression on his face.
He instantly leapt up and ran to grab Daneel"s shoulders before saying, "Do it again! Wrap me in that thing again!"
As he exclaimed this while shaking Daneel with an enthusiasm that was hard to not notice, the sovereigns couldn"t handle it anymore.
"Why the h.e.l.l would you want to go back in it?", Eloise asked finally, to which Elanev answered, "Because it"s awesome! You should try it!"
With a laugh, Daneel slapped his own hand on his elder brother"s shoulder and said, "He"s right. If you try it, you"ll find out the reason."
Right away, all those present except Kellor and Robert took a step back.
Chuckling, Daneel continued.
"Alright, fine, I"m joking. The Nightmare Spider is famous for its ability to create special webs which absorb Energy and then make it easier for someone to consume. When using Ker gems to train, haven"t you all felt that even after you break through to become a Warrior, it takes a slight effort to handle the pressure of the Energy which wishes to just flow freely?"
Eloise and the rest nodded, and in fact, Eloise was the one who knew about this the most, because she was still just a Human. As for the rest, as Warriors, they had always thought that this was something that all those at their level should endure and handle while training, and it was almost second nature now for them when absorbing Energy.
Was it possible that that might not be the case?
With a nod, Daneel confirmed their suspicions.
"When one is inside the spider webs, Energy is… Well, it can"t be explained properly in words, but let"s say its "softer". Unless you experience it yourself, you won"t understand. I guess one a.n.a.logy that can be used is that it"s akin to cooking vegetables and eating them as opposed to just chomping on them raw. Unlike in that a.n.a.logy, though, absorbing Energy in this method gives slightly better results for the same amount of resources, and I don"t think I need to explain just how valuable that is."
Raised eyebrows greeted Daneel from all around him, and this had actually been his reaction, too, when he had gone through the list given to him in the secret treasury to find this specific weapon that had given him this specific G.o.dbeast"s consciousness.
He hadn"t even been able to believe that it was really possible, but it was. The Nightmare Spider was one that could even kill a fully grown Dragon, and it was actually one of the Gotbeasts that accompanied the Dragons in their war against humans. It was a ferocious creature and if it was left to itself, it would occupy large s.p.a.ces of land and keep multiplying. The spider webs allowed it to help its offspring to grow even faster, and there was even a legend from back in the age of the Empire where a single Nightmare Spider had been imprisoned foolishly by a Kingdom. It had been left unattended, and in the span of two nights, it had managed to create an army which destroyed the entire kingdom.
Daneel"s main reason behind choosing it was, of course, because of its feature to speed up training. He had many, many subordinates who could all do with a boost in power, and if he could really somehow transform this ability of the Nightmare Spider into a formation or an object, then it might immensely help the entire continent itself in the upcoming war.
When he had spoken to Faxul, he hadn"t elaborated on this topic- even though personal power was necessary, the power of an army was one which could potentially trump any personal power, and he wanted to build an army that Angaria had yet to see.
It was another far-fetched aim, but Daneel was quite emboldened by his recent success in trying to do things which hadn"t been possible during the age of the Empire.
It was now apparent just how great an effect those successes had had on him, because he might never have chosen this weapon and given up a valuable spot if he didn"t have the confidence that he had gotten from them.
He now knew that he could aim for things that had only been dreamt of in the Empire, so once more, he hoped to create history.
Putting these lofty thoughts aside, Daneel dismissed the sovereigns once again. Only Eloise and Luther stayed, because they would be the ones helping him out mostly on this latest endeavor.
They teleported back to the podium in the sky, and on the horizon, the sun had just started to rise.
While those first rays bathed his body in light, Daneel finally expressed his plan.
"In the libraries of the Big Four, I read a book about a fict.i.tious place called Earth. In it, the author made many fantastical remarks and wrote many tales, and he seemed to be a brilliant individual, because everything felt so vivid. Anyway, in it, he wrote about a particular scam by a family which managed to engulf the entire world and change an entire generation"s habits to make it more profitable for itself. This family had a monopoly on a certain resource that was valuable, but the problem was that even though the high-cla.s.s individuals in that world indulged in that resource, those sales weren"t enough. So… They got an incredible idea for a marketing scheme. In that age, the inst.i.tution of marriage was something precious, so they chose it and connected it with their product. They aggressively marketed to everyone that if their resource wasn"t given as a gift in conjunction with a proposal, then it was simply deplorable, and that the woman wouldn"t even be blamed if she chose to reject the man. You wouldn"t believe the way it caught on, because by using multiple clever methods, they drove this point firmly into the minds of each and every one of that generation. The result… Was that the family became one of the richest in the world, and until the present date, the tradition still continues. Even though many think that it is ancient, if they found out that it was actually only started by this family, they would definitely be pretty d.a.m.n shocked. My dear sovereigns, in Angaria, we are going to make our black money white by doing something similar. Oh, this…is going to be fun."