After sputtering out those words, Daneel groggily looked around, before finally spotting Faxul who was looking at him with a very weird expression on his face.
At first, he didn"t understand why, but after remembering what he had just said, a blush crept into the King of Lanthanor"s face, while he straightened himself and wiped the drool off of his mouth.
The headache was manageable, as it looked like he had slept for 2 hours. Although it still felt as if someone were constantly dropping hammers on his head, it was much better compared to before, when he hadn"t even been able to get up.
Thinking about hammers, Daneel touched his forehead to find an imprint which was already healing, and in the air, he could see the remains of the spell that Faxul had just used to wake him up.
Initially, on realizing what it was, Daneel was going to "politely" ask his friend why he had resorted to that method, but after remembering how he had used the same before, when Faxul had fainted due to the bloodline awakening in his body, he put away the question and simply decided that he would just use the next opportunity to use not one, but two hammers.
"1000 year virgin?"
As Faxul asked this with one-eyebrow raised, Daneel turned to the side to hide his expression before blurting out, "Never mind that. What"s up? Why"re you here?"
Although the memories were a mess, the one where that nickname had come from was clear.
It was quite shocking that coincidentally, the Emperor had followed a similar path as him.
Although they were differences in the ways they had obtained power, one thing did match: both of them had taken control of a single force first, before expanding to grow larger and larger.
At that time…the Emperor had stood out as one of the only people who were in charge of a force, but didn"t have a harem of at least 2 or 3 women.
Even the women used to mock him, who typically had harems of men ranging from 2-100.
Even then, his talent had been known among all, so he had been called the "Thousand Year Virgin", to refer to their supposition that even if he lived to be a thousand years old, if he didn"t change his ways, he would always be a virgin.
This actually reminded Daneel of that moment with Senior Fists of Justice, when the latter had said that he was similar to Daneel in this matter.
Daneel felt the pressure again, now, but he now knew that that old man…was wrong.
The Emperor hadn"t died a virgin.
Daneel didn"t know the details, yet, as the deep a.n.a.lysis wasn"t done, but he could tell that this was the truth based on the overall view he had of the man"s life.
Deciding to reflect on that later, he waited for Faxul"s answer.
"Er…the Council, Daneel. Remember the plan? You have to come convince them."
Daneel turned around with a start as he heard this. Indeed, right now, that was supposed to be going on, and he really hadn"t expected that this trip to the stone pedestal would take so long.
After all, who else but he would choose to do something like that during the vision?
Nodding seriously, Daneel said, "Right. Go call for the meeting in 10 minutes. I"ll be there."
Faxul was initially about to confirm this, but seeing the furrowed eyebrows of his friend, he knew that he would be there.
So, nodding, he teleported away, following which Daneel folded his arms behind his back and addressed the other issue that had been revealed to him before he had fainted.
"Drakos…did you allow me to withstand that flood of information knowing that it would make me faint again? Did you do that for revenge because I was rude?"
Daneel deeply respected the Ancient Dragon, but at that moment, he had just been a tad bit impatient. He couldn"t even be blamed, as he had been looking forward to this for a long, long time.
Still…the fact that the "innocent" dragon had done this was quite surprising.
After a few moments of silence, Drakos answered, knowing that he had nowhere to hide.
"Umm…yes, Young King. I apologize. I don"t know what came over me, but I felt that doing that would feel good. And it did. Afterward, I realized that it was wrong."
Hearing this, the King of Lanthanor adopted a serious expression.
The innocence of this Ancient Dragon was a very important matter, and it could not be ignored.
Thinking for a bit, he asked, "Did you feel anything similar to how you felt before, when you were about to give in to your race"s instincts of destruction?"
After pausing for a few seconds, Drakos answered.
"No, Young King. I promise that no such thing happened. It was more like…I imagined what you would do in that situation, and I just…did it."
Daneel couldn"t help but gape as he heard this.
The Ancient Dragon…had been imitating him?!
On Earth, there was a famous saying often used by the kind old lady who had raised him. She had had it read off of a newspaper by a gentleman who had visited the orphanage, and after mugging it up, she had always used to repeatedly say it even if it didn"t fit the occasion.
"a.s.sociate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company."
Here, Daneel was the bad influence who was slowly corrupting Drakos even though he had been trying not to expose the Ancient Dragon to too many of his schemes.
Alas, most of his schemes had required for the Ancient Dragon to be present, and even in those cases, he had asked Drakos to go to sleep whenever the main event had been about to go down.
Still, it looked like just a little bit of his scheming mind had seeped into Drakos, and Daneel had no idea whether this was a good thing or bad thing. If it brought him closer to that "snap", then it was definitely terrifying, but if that was not the case, then Daneel wondered whether it was possible for the Ancient Dragon to unleash his true power by changing bit by bit, without completely snapping and turning into a bloodthirsty monster who craved destruction.
Either way, Daneel was in no position to make a decision regarding this right now. So, regarding this, too, he decided to peruse the Emperor"s memories when they were available to him.
With this settled, he finally came to the goldmine waiting for him that he had had to crawl to to obtain.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "System, give me the list of types of items received after breaking the third seal in order of importance as set by previous commands."
It was the moment of truth, and Daneel felt like a little kid who was unwrapping his present during Christmas while hoping to all the G.o.ds there were that his parents had bought him the gift that he had begged for.
After hearing the answer from the system, he really did smile wide like a happy little kid.
[Affirmative. a.n.a.lysis has been put on hold as previous a.n.a.lysis task is already under progress, but categorization has been completed. Please note that this is a macro level categorization. List in order of host"s preferences is as follows:
1. Information regarding the Hero level, and how to reach it
2. Information regarding all Bloodlines available in Angaria, and theories about how to obtain one even if one is not born in the line of the G.o.dbeast
3. An exhaustive list of High- and Medium-Tier Champion Paths
4. Exhaustive list of Hero-level formations and spells
5. Exhaustive list of Hero-level Fighter and Bloodline Techniques
6. Speculations regarding the history of Angaria before the Empire by the Emperor, and miscellaneous data.]
As he had 10 minutes, just for enjoyment"s sake, Daneel asked the system to repeat this list 5 times.
Each time he went over it, he beamed so happily that anyone would wonder just what the King had obtained that was making him so happy.
If they knew that it was a treasure trove of information which basically made him the strongest person on this continent if he used it wisely, they would understand, and smile alongside him.
At this moment, the main emotion that Daneel was feeling was…extreme relief, and a strong sense of expectation.
Until now, in his journey on Angaria, for the most part, he had always been playing from an underdog position. Although he had used hard work to sometimes ensure that he was dominant, when he looked back, all he saw was a struggling ant in the face of individuals who were far more powerful than him.
Now…that was no longer the case.
True, he was still a Peak Warrior.
But, he was now a Peak Warrior armed with such an extensive wealth of information that it would definitely put all of the Secret Archives of all the Big 4 to shame.
If he was on Earth, this was basically like him being handed the launch codes for all the nukes on a planet. True, he still may be someone inconsequential, but that didn"t mean that he didn"t have ultimate power.
Besides, with so many Champion Paths, Daneel was sure that he would choose his own, and break through to become a Champion soon enough.
Even if that wasn"t the case, even as a Warrior, he could use all these things to do anything he wished on this continent.
Angaria was now his playground, and if he moved carefully, he was sure that he could achieve each and every thing that he wanted.
The journey so far had continued in one way. From now, it would be different, and much more fun, as Daneel was now truly equipped to put the "Domination" in "World Domination".
The only thing that could result in his downfall…was if he got c.o.c.ky. And from everything that Daneel had learned, he was sure that he wouldn"t be a victim of that simple, yet powerful flaw that had seen the ruin of many, many before him.
Taking another deep breath and holding it for a few moments to calm himself down, Daneel disappeared from Lanthanor.
Following his instructions, Faxul had called for the Council again, and because they knew that the King of Lanthanor would be coming, varied emotions could be seen all around.
Some looked forward to seeing him.
Some loathed him, and wished that he would die on the way.
And some were looking forward to using their dumb arguments to deprive him of what he deserved.
Yet, all of these people stood up in shock, as they could never have expected that the King would enter in this way.
His arrival was heralded by a loud and familiar "SQUAWK", and when they looked out the window, they witnessed the King of Lanthanor riding in on the Protector Raven.
It alighted in the middle of the Throne Room and menacingly looked all around, as if threatening them that if they even thought of opposing the one it had acknowledged, then they would be exposed to the true fury of the Almighty Black Raven.
Since childhood, all of these old-timers had grown up revering their deity, and this living embodiment of their Almighty Black Raven whose wish was absolute.
And now, when they saw this and realized what it meant…they all bowed without hesitation, as was their duty.
Faxul was actually the most shocked. During their fight with the Black Raven Empire Spirit, the Protector Raven"s consciousness had gotten gravely injured because Daneel had wrested control of it from the Empire Spirit, which had caused it harm. Since then, it had been in a coma.
This was why Faxul had had to act like the Protector Raven before, during their fake connection ceremony.
Yet, now…this was the real deal!
How the h.e.l.l was this possible? Even Drakos had given up, saying that only a Hero-level healing spell, which he didn"t know, could save it!
Before he could ask anything regarding this, though, Daneel did something which set the Alliance in stone and bypa.s.sed all the problems that they might have faced in one go.
While they continued to kneel, he regally jumped off the Protector Raven and walked to Throne, which Faxul respectfully vacated.
Sitting on it as if it was his right, he spoke in a tone that made almost everyone in the room feel a chill up their spine that made them shake in their boots.
"Council of the Black Raven Kingdom. I have been acknowledged by your people. I have been acknowledged by your King. I have been acknowledged by your Deity. Now, I will be frank in saying that I no longer give two sh*ts about you lot. If you don"t wish to support me, the Protector Raven wants me to tell you that it hasn"t feasted on human blood in a long time. It will be a fitting sacrifice to begin a new age for the once Mighty Black Raven Kingdom. Any takers?"