"Xuan, you -"
"Oh, calm down, Molan. It"ll be fine. You know just how much the Matron and everyone else value me, now that I was able to use the G.o.ddess Champion Path to become a Champion. You should have seen their faces when they saw me do it - the Matron"s master was so happy that she even stated that she would be going to the Head to tell him about this right now, as it was unprecedented that such a young person was able to connect with such a high level Acquired Champion Path in one go. Well, it was pretty shocking to me, too. Anyway, come on, Daneel. Oh, can I call you that, by the way?"
As she asked this in a sweet manner, Daneel was once again reminded of what had just happened, but he forcefully eliminated that from his mind and nodded, as a Champion didn"t really need to call him by his honorific.
Also, he noticed that she was also bolder than before, when she had been quite hesitant for the most part. It was like she was more…confident, in herself.
Besides, if what she said was true, then he would definitely owe her a favor which he wouldn"t be able to forget.
The secret archives of a Sect - which would definitely contain information that Daneel had not had access to, yet, and was probably stored within the third seal.
From Daneel"s understanding of the Big Four so far, he knew that they had acquired certain records from the Empire which they kept sealed in their most guarded vaults. Daneel hadn"t even considered trying to break into those, as he knew for sure that they would be protected using formations that, even though he might be able to break with Drakos"s help, would definitely bring down the wrath of all the Heroes of the continent on him as soon as he did so.
Right now, there was no way that he would be able to handle something like that.
So, he had thought that all that was left for him was to wait patiently and break through the third seal using whatever method he could, but he could never have expected that he would get a back door into one such archive in this manner.
So, as his eyes s.h.i.+ned, he tried to hide that before saying, "Of course! There are many things about this continent"s past that I"ve always wanted to find out, and I even feel that having these questions answered will really help a long way in me deciding what I want to do regarding various matters. Sister Xuan, you don"t know just how big a favor you would be doing for me, if you really do give me access to those archives. But I also don"t want you to get into trouble, so only please do so if you"re confident that there won"t be any problem."
Daneel felt that he had to say that last part, as he didn"t want her getting punished in some manner for this. Although it was very important for him to get access, he didn"t want to do it at the cost of something like this.
He was also trying hard to act as if that moment before hadn"t happened, and so far, he felt that he was succeeding, to a certain degree.
Yet, it looked like Xuan was h.e.l.l-bent on not letting him do that.
"I"m calling you Daneel, so I won"t accept it if you call me Sister. Just call me Xuan. Don"t worry, I know for sure that there won"t be any trouble. Besides, this is not the archive which holds Inheritances and Champion Paths, which is the main one that is forbidden to all without permission. The one that I"ll be taking you to only contains the records that the Sect has kept since the time of the Empire, and I expected that you would be interested in them, seeing how you were so excited and happy before to find out more about the Big Four, when I told you. Come on. What I was saying before is also linked to that place, too."
That last part almost made Daneel stammer, as he remembered that she had said that she had planned a "get away" for them.
If everything stood the same way as it had before this meeting, Daneel would have been confident to go to any place with her, knowing that he would not be swayed in any manner, no matter what.
However, he wasn"t so sure now, after losing control like that before.
In fact, it was so bad that questions like why he was controlling himself so much, and why he was being such a fool in not using opportunities like these when they presented themselves even after he knew about the Emperor who had died alone started to appear in his head, which he had only weak answers to, such as that there was no pressing need, and that his main focus was on getting stronger and saving the continent.
Again, the argument could be made that those things weren"t connected, but Daneel managed to control himself at this point.
That was also because he had just remembered whom he would be leaving behind if he went with Xuan right now - his friend, who was probably close to dying in that underground room, fighting against a fake version of him.
So, Daneel asked, "Will it be that if I go once, I won"t be able to come back before I go through all the archives and libraries you have? You should know that that will take time, but I have some things that I need to check on here, and come back to immediately if need be."
"Oh, that won"t be a problem. Our Sect is… unique among the others, in the fact that it is divided into two parts - one which has the general areas, and the other, which is in a different location, that holds all the knowledge and core facilities. The segregation was made long, long ago as the founder of the G.o.ddess"s Sanctum believed that attaining knowledge is a sacred and holy process that must be done in the purest and most undisturbed of places. Her philosophy is what directs the sect to this day, so even this is something that has been maintained for so long. Basically, because they"re in different places, it is no ha.s.sle at all to have you enter and leave as you please because you won"t be disturbing any of the sect members in the process."
This made Daneel smile with relief. He only knew that Faxul"s baptism would take days of time, and during all that time, he was pretty sure that he might be the same way as he had been today - languid and distracted, mainly due to the worry.
However, if he managed to absorb himself in something, it would be a great help.
So, he had to say that Xuan definitely had impeccable timing, and he also had to thank her for giving him a way to stop worrying so much.
Also, the philosophy of learning being sacred was something that Daneel admired - he knew many on Earth who had the same opinion, and it gave him a good feeling of the sect in general, as someone who thought like that would probably not create a sect that was in the style of the Sect of Hedon.
Most of all, although he didn"t want to get his hopes up, Daneel was really looking forward to having some mystery or the other revealed in those archives.
Right now, it felt as if mystery after mystery was being thrown at him at a breakneck pace, without giving him the opportunity to uncover at least one of them.
This was definitely pretty d.a.m.n irritating, and his main wish was that that would not be the case, soon.
So, with rising expectations, Daneel nodded and said, "Alright then. Let"s go."
…
Meanwhile, Faxul had just seen his entire life pa.s.s in front of his eyes five times, which was an exhausting process that had taken hours and hours, but it looked like there would be no end to it.
Each time the present approached, his vision would clear to give him the image of Daneel, in front of him, laughing coldly and holding a sword of blazing fire which looked as if it was meant to be used to impale him and end his life.
As the cold laugh bored into his ears, he would be pulled into that river of memories, where he would once again experience all those twisted moments where he would be shown to be the most pathetic being on the continent, using the help given by others and living a life so wretched that it didn"t deserve to be lived.
Each time, towards the end, the urge to kill himself and end it all would grow stronger and stronger, and by now, Faxul had realized that the whole objective of this was to make him give in.
But this realization didn"t help him in any way. All it did was make him feel helpless, instead, and as he kept witnessing them, his own memories which he knew to be true also started to get twisted as he kept seeing them in a different light over and over again.
The only sign of hope that he saw in all this was that there was some corner of him which was still standing in defiance, telling him that he had done the best he could in every situation, and that he should not, at any cost, succ.u.mb to these false memories and give up.
That corner was like a bastion that protected him from everything that sought to vanquish him, and with each second, he tried to make it stronger and use it to stand against the crippling darkness of self-disgust.
However, at this moment, it was still being battered continuously, and Faxul didn"t yet know if he would be strong enough to endure in the end.
So, as settled in for another replay of his life, he told himself just one thing.
"You"re not worthless."
"You"re not worthless."
"You"re not worthless"
"You"re not…"
As he chanted this to himself, the attack resumed.
…
A few seconds later, Daneel was standing at a location he had seen before, but had never felt curious about as it was just one of those places on this continent which was marked as untrespa.s.sable for various reasons.
Right below where they were standing in the air, there was a ma.s.sive, 50 km long crack in the earth, which was also a kilometer wide, showing rocky depths that looked like they would devour anyone who dared to step foot inside.
It was almost as if that crack into the earth was hiding an insatiable monster that only existed to swallow whole all those who came near.
In fact, what was reported wasn"t too far from that - those who entered the vicinity of this crack would often find themselves either in a place where they hadn"t walked to, instantly, or they would be lost forever.
Hence, any travelers between the Hidden Kill Sect and the Endless Sea to the east, where this area was located, would take a wide berth in order to keep their life safe.
Daneel had a.s.sumed that it was just like the Valley of Mist, where there were numerous formations of the older ages which still continued to function and keep away intruders.
Disabling all those formations was something which would take too long, so they were often left like that and marked as untrespa.s.sable zones so that there wouldn"t be too much loss of life.
Only, now, as he saw Sister Xuan and Molan plunge into the crack without hesitation, he realized that the zones probably held other secrets, too.
Without any more hesitation, Daneel jumped inside, too, taking great care to stay within a meter of them, as that had been the instruction given to him. If he strayed outside that range, he would be affected by the formations too, and would definitely have a very unpleasant experience.
The system kept telling him that it was detecting formations left and right that were at Champion level and Hero level, which made him gasp with disbelief and wonder why there were so many.
This was a generally rocky area, so all around them, there were only various stones that seemed to have been cracked apart by the impact of some sort of… Blade.
Daneel was unwilling to believe this, as he couldn"t imagine just what kind of blade would be needed to create a chasm this large and this deep.
After flying for 10 minutes and possibly over 3 km, they finally approached the destination.
And as Daneel saw it, he couldn"t help but hold his breath.
At the base which expanded into a large cavern, there was a gigantic 10 kilometer tall sculpture of a lady, meditating with her legs folded and her hands forming a bowl in front of her abdomen.
On top of that bowl was a ma.s.sive dome, and as they approached, a hole appeared in the dome which they entered.
Inside was a large, open area which seemed a world unto itself.
As they flew around, Daneel saw various buildings built in more of a modern style, but he still couldn"t get the image of that edifice outside from his head.
It was only after seeing a small alcove did Daneel drive away all other thoughts, as there was a plaque on the alcove on which the name "Secret Archives" was written.