This particular bloodline had captivated Daneel"s mind the moment it had been listed by the system, as his dream had always been that he would never have to choose which bloodline he wished to have. After all, wasn"t it best to be able to s.h.i.+ft into whichever one he wanted, instead of being limited to just one of them?
However, he had also figured out right away that there must be some caveat or the other, just like with all the other Hidden Bloodlines that had been chosen by the Emperor.
Sure enough, the drawbacks made it clear why this G.o.dbeast had not been the most powerful one on the continent.
In fact, it was ironic that it was actually one of the weakest.
The main drawback was that although it could take the form of any G.o.dbeast it wished and even fool the Will of the world to an extent in order to wield the powers that were exclusive to those beings, there was no way for a Shapes.h.i.+fter to actually display the real strength of those attacks.
For example, if a Shapes.h.i.+fter s.h.i.+fted into a Black Raven, it might be able to make black holes appear, but they would have no attractive power at all.
At the end of the day, all it was was a trickster, and it sought to survive by making its enemy have to guess whether they were facing off against a real G.o.dbeast, or one that was just pretending to be the awe-inspiring Dragon which was ready to form a hurricane with a single flap of its wings.
Typically, predators would not want to take such risks, so they would leave it alone and let it live on.
Hence, Shapes.h.i.+fters had some of the highest survival rates among all other G.o.dbeasts, although they were practically at the bottom in all other aspects.
After a lot of investigation, the Emperor had apparently found out that the reason behind this was that the Will of the world could not be completely fooled no matter how much anyone tried.
Still, although he had found no way in which this could be countered, he had gone ahead and hidden it after having someone obtain the bloodline as he knew that if one really did manage to overcome this drawback, then they would practically be unrivaled.
The Emperor couldn"t possibly have predicted that someone like Daneel, who had the magical system that could eliminate the drawbacks of any technique given that it had enough information, would come along. Finding himself having a moment of respite, Daneel took a deep breath and asked the system whether the drawbacks of this bloodline could be eliminated in some way.
Alas, the answer gave him flashbacks of what had happened when he had asked it regarding the "Hopeless" path.
[Drawbacks cannot be eliminated with the current level of the system. Please upgrade the system if host wishes this task to be accomplished.]
Well, almost nothing had ever come to him easy, so he just told himself that he was already more than halfway to the amount of EXP needed, which had seemed so unreachable just a few weeks ago.
There was a cause for celebration, though: slowly, Daneel could feel the path forward for him becoming clearer and clearer, as if a fog that was present all around him was being lifted, bit by bit, by the light of all the knowledge that he kept gathering.
Knowing that his time was limited out here, Daneel bent forward and quickly summarised to himself what had happened regarding Ca.s.sandra, as he had had enough time to think on it and let it register in his mind.
Basically, there seemed to be a village somewhere where a Hero was present, who had erased Ca.s.sandra"s memories and put her in Lanthanor. He had no idea how these events had played out, but this was what had happened.
For some reason, Ca.s.sandra was capable of locating this village, and she had set off to do so as she wanted to find out just where she was from, and why she had been left like that.
Overall, one thing was clear: this was all beyond him right now, so he could only focus on what he had going on at the moment while keeping this matter in the back of his mind. He had strictly told Ca.s.sandra that she should only look for the village, and then retreat and contact him so that they could decide what to do in case she succeeded. Until then, Daneel was going to focus on getting that d.a.m.n scroll.
This led him to the other tasks that he had set for himself to finish now that he was outside the sect.
First of all, Daneel wanted to check on his commanders.
Ca.s.sandra and Kellor had succeeded, so that left Luther and Aran.
If possible, Daneel wanted to finish this before he the time came for him to be gone for a month, as it would give him less cause of worry.
He had recently gotten an idea where he had decided to set down multiple formations around Lanthanor that could be used in the case of an emergency. His objective was to use formations that could be hidden, unlike those that he had been able to detect in both the previous Axelor and Arafell.
The whole point was that if there was an attack of some sort, or if there was a situation where Lanthanor needed to defend itself, these formations could be used to tackle any threat.
The problem with this plan had been that all the formations he had in mind needed at least Warrior level individuals to control them.
There were formations which could be controlled by Fighters, too, which needed the one controlling them to have a certain power level. For example, one that had really been attractive to him was called the "Fighter Transformer Formation", which conjured a construct around the Fighter"s body, which was very similar to the case where Faxul had turned himself into a Black Raven. Then, that had been incited by the Bloodline within him, but here, it would form due to the formation.
The construct would strengthen the one controlling it and offer them various weapons and a whole load of strength to stomp to death any foe that still dared to attack it.
Of course, seeing its 15-foot frame, he doubted that anyone would wish to come forward, anyway.
The problem was that the construct would place a ma.s.sive strain on the controller"s body, and strength was also needed to make it move, as it attached itself, like a second skin, to the one who was in control.
Again, the Warrior level was required, which led Daneel to want to focus more on his subordinates" breakthrough.
As for the Domination Corps who were also pursuing the same end underground with the help of his resident Champion: they would still need time to grow strong enough, so his commanders were his best bet.
Daneel"s whole idea was to use what he had gotten behind the third seal to full effect. If he didn"t, he would really never be able to face himself if that resulted in loss of life that could have been prevented.
Multiple such formations, and others, could be laid down, but there needed to be personnel to command them all.
His almost month-long trip would feel much better if he could rest a.s.sured that there were enough Warriors present defending Lanthanor. So, he had set this objective for himself, too, on this trip.
Aran was apparently still in the illusion state, which wasn"t too worrying as different people needed different amounts of times to overcome their darkest fears.
That left Luther, whom Daneel decided to contact.
In order to not waste too many resources, and also to make sure that those present could keep their eyes on those going through the Road at all times, Daneel had only constructed two paths, which meant that only two people could simultaneously go through the Road at the same time.
Right now, a spot was vacant as Ca.s.sandra had already "graduated".
"Luther, how are things in the Sect? And have you broken through, yet?"
As always, his trusty commander replied right away.
"My Lord, they have been…busy. We are thoroughly weakened compared to the power that our Sect had had before, so I, along with Jaggrv and the others, are trying to implement plans to make our a.s.sa.s.sins grow stronger. I"m also trying to actively change our business structure so that we don"t accept all kinds of a.s.sa.s.sinations. There are problems, though, but there"s nothing that I can"t handle. And although I"ve been training with my father, I haven"t broken through yet, as I devote too much time to this managerial stuff. I don"t envy the previous Sect Leader right now. His son is a great help, but it"s still pretty hectic."
If Luther had been the same as before, his reply would have been "Busy, My Lord. No, My Lord.".
Yet, the man had spoken at length, which made Daneel happy as it showed him that he had been right: reuniting him with his father and the sect he loved had really gone a long way in letting him heal and become someone more normal.
"All right. I need you for a few days."
"I"ll be right over, My King."
Daneel had been about to say that it was necessary, but he smiled to himself satisfactorily when he heard Luther"s answer.
This was a kind of loyalty and reverence that just couldn"t be bought by anyone. No, it needed to be earned.
Soon, enough, Luther arrived outside the Palace with a mage from the Hidden Kill Sect in tow, who departed on his Sect Leader"s orders after he was told not to let the interim Sect Leader get too complacent.
He owed the King everything. So, when he had heard the words "need you", he had unhesitatingly dropped everything and arrived.
Finding himself teleported, he prepared himself to greet the King, but the moment his destination began to become clear, he felt that something was wrong.
Instead of seeing the King, he saw someone unfamiliar, and then there was only darkness as he felt himself knocked out by a hammer falling on his head.
…
Back in the reconstructed Road to h.e.l.l, Kellor, Faxul, and Daneel were sitting in front of a large display trinket that was showing the image of an unconscious man lying in the middle of a room that was filled with all kinds of attacks and traps.
There was still a moment for the man to wake up, so Faxul said, "I bet that he will break through in 2 days. At most, 3. He always was the most mature, so finding that "push" shouldn"t be a problem."
"Ca.s.sandra and Aran took weeks. No, I think even Luther will take a week."
Hearing them, Daneel smiled at the corner of his mouth and said, "I"ll take both of you on. I think he"ll just need a day. Ready to bet? The winner gets a High-Tier Champion level technique. And if I win, both of you need to be quiet and follow what I say in a certain matter. I know you would anyway, but this makes it more fun. Alright?"
The words "High-Tier Champion level technique" made a fire light up in both Kellor and Faxul"s eyes. They looked at each other for a moment, and then nodded in Daneel"s direction.
True, they would do what Daneel asked anyway as they respected him that much, but they could, on occasion, be cheeky, and they couldn"t be so if they lost.
His smile broadening, Daneel eyed the display trinket and said, "He"s getting up. Let"s see what happens."
If someone froze that moment, they would be able to see three emotions on the three faces of those present.
The King of Lanthanor looked confident, as if he was sure that nothing would happen out of his expectations.
The Grand Court Mage looked expectant, as he looked forward to the technique which he wanted to study even if he couldn"t use it.
And finally, the Black Raven King looked serious, as he really wanted to win. He was a Champion, so the technique promised by Daneel called to him even more.
However…if that scene was unfrozen, then it would be followed by all three expressions changing into one- that of extreme surprise, that was accompanied by three jaws dropping together.
The reason behind this…was that the ex-commander of Lanthanor and the present Sect Leader of the Hidden Kill Sect defied all expectations when he woke up.
He looked around, and when he received the message which said that he needed to be a Warrior to break out of where he was, determination appeared on his face as he closed his eyes.
The next moment, the barriers blocking those inside the Road from going out deactivated, as they had detected that the one inside them was no longer just a Human.
Of course, this was followed by Daneel receiving a message through the Oathstone.
"My King! I was kidnapped by someone who is inside the Palace! Please be careful! I will stealthily enter and try to capture him. If he"s more powerful than me, I"ll use the special crotch-severing a.s.sa.s.sination move that Jaggrv recently taught me! It has a hundred percent effectiveness on enemies who are unaware, and if I"m careful enough, it should work! Until then, please stay behind barriers! It is best for you not to expose yourself!"