As Marcus saw the Matron utter these words in absolute panic, he widened his eyes before pointing in the air with his finger three times, making three consecutive anti-eavesdropping barriers appear around them.
When talking about such important matters, there was no such thing as too much caution.
Only after this did he relax, before taking a deep breath and sitting down on a chair which looked like it was made of the clouds surrounding them.
The Matron had already let go of his arms, so when he pulled out a bottle of wine from thin air, she gasped and said, "Marcus, your addiction!"
Raising another finger towards her to make her stop speaking, he conjured a gla.s.s and poured in the wine before bringing it towards his face.
However, instead of drinking it, he merely smelled the wine and threw the gla.s.s in the air, setting the wine on fire.
As the Matron watched this bizarre display from one of the strongest Champions on Angaria, she understood just how much this news had affected him.
She, herself, had had to take quite a lot of time to a.s.semble her thoughts before contacting Marcus and making her way here.
After a few moments of silence, Marcus asked, "What do your records say about her ability?"
"But don"t you already know.."
"Repeat it, please, for my sake."
Nodding, the Matron replied, "When the "seer" ability appears, it usually means that the land is in danger. It has appeared 5 times in the history of Angaria so far, and all 5 times, millions of people died. Seers have the ability to smoothly become Champions, regardless of what path they choose. No prediction made by a seer has ever been wrong: if they see something, then it is definitely something they will experience in their life. There are two problems with seers: one, it is difficult to ascertain exactly when the prediction will come true. Two, specific details are never visible in a prediction: only general details can be glimpsed. One seer"s prediction came true 234 years after it appeared to him."
As the Matron recited these facts with a single breath, Marcus stared aimlessly.
The signs that Angaria was in trouble had been appearing for a long time, and this had already caused the Big 4 to aggressively recruit individuals even if they didn"t meet the criteria.
Regretfully, that was one of the only countermeasures that had been taken, as there was too much infighting between the members of the Big 4.
All of them had different paths, so it was natural for them to have differences.
Still, one would expect that they would put them aside in the face of a continent-wide catastrophe.
Yet, the old geezers who had lived comfortably for hundreds of years had grown over-confident, and with the birth of Ashah.e.l.l who was prophesied to save Angaria, their thought that drastic changes weren"t required had been bolstered.
So, this was the current state: all of the Big 4 were preparing for war individually, when what was needed was a joint effort.
"We must take this to the High Council!"
As the Matron said this, Marcus scoffed and replied, "You already know what they will say. The last time when a seer"s prediction was not heeded, millions who could have been saved lost their lives. This time, we are already aware of the threat, and we are preparing. Those geezers who have gotten too comfortable will simply say that the prediction of many dying is true, and that the part about "no living soul left alive" must be an exaggeration, as seers can only get general details regarding their predictions. It"s useless."
The Matron opened her mouth as if she were going to refute what Marcus said, but she closed it soon after, as she knew that he was right.
Far too much time had pa.s.sed since Angaria had had to rouse everything it had to defend itself.
Almost all of those in the higher positions were in favor of using the Central Continent as fodder, and some were even suspected to be planning to escape.
To where- no Champion knew.
She knew that there was a different, very important reason for this, but she had yet to ascertain exactly what that was.
It seemed that the longer one lived, the more they became prepared to do anything necessary to cling to their lives.
Grimacing with frustration, the Matron almost shouted, "Then what are we supposed to do? Just ignore it?! They don"t care about the Central Continent, but we do! It is just foolish to abandon it!"
Marcus"s response made the Matron get a hopeless expression on her face, before she also conjured a chair and sat down, as if she needed to rest to come to terms with what he was saying.
"Abandoning the Central Continent means abandoning Angaria itself. We can only trust Ashah.e.l.l when he says that he will save Angaria, and hope that all those rumors are false. There is no one else we can stand behind."
….
In a particular room in the dormitory that housed the Amateur Warriors of the sect, the sunlight that was spilling through the windows had turned the walls red, because it was being bounced off a large pile of red objects in the center.
Of course, they were Ker gems.
All 5 members of the Shameless Sect were standing around it, staring with wide-open eyes, unable to believe that they had earned this in just 3 days.
As one, 4 of them turned towards their friend who had made all this possible.
The fatty, whose eyes were as wide as saucers, stepped towards Daneel before raising his arms and saying, "Never has there been anyone as shameless! You are henceforth declared the leader of the Shameless Sect! Your shamelessness knows no bounds! We hope that it flourishes forever, so that we can keep obtaining such shamelessly bountiful harvests! All hail the Lord of Shamelessness, Travis!"
As Daneel heard this pretentious speech, he couldn"t help but rub his nose with slight embarra.s.sment.
What would the honorable citizens of Lanthanor think if they found out that their King had just been crowned the Lord of Shamelessness?
Well, his public favor would plummet for sure, so there was no way that all of this could ever be made public.
For a second, Daneel even waited for the system to award him something, but when it didn"t, he sighed with relief.
After all, at least it hadn"t acknowledged his scamming nature-
[Achievement Unlocked: Dominating Scammer
Dominating Scammer: A World Dominator must always be prepared to use any and all means available to him to reach his goals. By choosing the route of a scammer and successfully accomplis.h.i.+ng your goal using it, you have become eligible for this t.i.tle! Congratulations!
2000 EXP Awarded.]
"…"
There is was.
It was almost as if the system had chosen that exact moment to announce it, so that his embarra.s.sment would grow manifold.
Well, it was right. To reach his goal of saving Angaria, he was ready to do anything, so he had to own up to it.
Putting his embarra.s.sment aside, he kicked the kneeling fatty in his s.h.i.+n and said, "Shut up, and let"s count."
As if they had all been waiting for this, the 4 ravenously fell on the pile and divided it before starting to count with the expressions of those who were afraid that their newfound wealth would be s.n.a.t.c.hed away.
It barely took 10 minutes, but the final figure astounded them all.
Of course, no one was as shocked as Daneel, who had come from the "backward" Central Continent and had hence never been used to hearing about or seeing Ker gems in such large quant.i.ties.
14,674 Ker Gems.
Such a ma.s.sive amount would definitely be enough to serve them even when they became Champions.
Of course, in a way, this wasn"t a very large amount, as just the piece of fish that Exalted Warriors were eligible to eat 2 times a day would bring their monthly expenditure to 6000 Ker Gems per individual.
Reflecting that the disparity between Energy materials in the Central Continent and the Big 4 was so exponentially high, Daneel wondered why it was so, but his urgency to find out what the h.e.l.l the Sect of Hedon wanted to do with lanthanor overrode all other thoughts.
"Everyone, I know we initially agreed that I"ll take 50%, but please let me take 10,000. I"ll tell you why later, and I"ll also be sure to pay an interest of an eight of a Ker gem for every gem I take from you."
Hearing this sudden proclamation, the 4 who had repeatedly been going through the gems to make sure that they weren"t dreaming looked up.
After a few seconds of silence, they glanced at each other before shaking their heads in unison.
Seeing this, Daneel sighed with sadness.
It seemed that he might have to resort to force, as they looked like they were definitely going to reject his request.
The Sect of Hedon really was a dog eat dog world, and no one completely trusted anyone, especially when the matter was related to such wealth.
He had hoped that it wouldn"t come to this, but he had expected it. He had almost been seeing these 4 as his friends, but that was clearly wrong.
Just as he was about to ask the system to knock them out surrept.i.tiously, the fatty opened his mouth and spoke with a smile.
"Just take how many ever you want, you idiot. We know that we would have nothing if it weren"t for you. We were only helpers, and if it were someone else, they might just throw us the sc.r.a.ps. You don"t need to pay any interest, and you don"t even need to pay us back. Just promise us that you won"t forget us when your shamelessness allows you to soar in the sect."
As Daneel heard this, it was his turn to open his eyes as wide as saucers.
Hurriedly asking the system to stop, he stared at all of them with shock as they smirked.
He…had been wrong.
Due to the impression he had gotten about the Big 4, he had unconsciously held a negative impression in his mind regarding its members, especially when this sect was the one which was being Axelor.
However, clearly, these were just honest sect members looking to grow powerful for their own individual motives-they deserved to be trusted, and saved.
Being King and suspecting everyone had clearly taken its toll.
Realizing this, Daneel sighed and nodded, but as he was about to thank them, the fatty said, "At least now, stop licking fish off the floor."