After leaving the Order in pin-drop silence, Daneel first checked with Eloise and the rest of his sovereigns, who were already hard at work to bring his dream to reality.
This was something that he couldn"t believe that he hadn"t addressed for so long, but it was better late than never.
In a way, it could be said to be a lurking enemy which could rear its head in the ugliest of ways if it was not dealt with at some point or the other, and if he hadn"t done anything about it, it would definitely have destroyed Angaria in the future, or at least brought it to ruin.
Since the beginning, he had always had the long term welfare of the continent at heart, and if he succeeded in what he was going to do… He knew that his actions would definitely benefit many, many generations of Angarians to come.
The way in which it had revealed itself to him was also strange. He had started to do something almost unrelated, but as if it was a jigsaw puzzle which he had started to solve without even knowing about it, the last piece had fallen into place due to his recent actions, and its ident.i.ty had been revealed.
In fact, when it had happened, he hadn"t even known what it was clearly, and hence, as things had been moving quickly, he had not taken the time to ruminate over the topic.
But after spotting what it was and instantly seeing its true form, he had decided that no matter what, he would address this first.
Even then, his original intention was to use a long-term plan, and it was only a few days ago that he decided he would bring it forward, mainly because of what he had seen in the sects of the Big Four that he had gone to.
He had allowed it to stay in the back of his mind even then, but now… He was finally acting on it.
The sovereigns, too, had been shocked when they had found out, during a brief meeting that they had had after his trip to the Eternal Blossom Sect.
He had only told them what they were going to do, and not his reasoning behind it, but even then, they were smart enough to see an inkling of what he was going up against. He had decided that he would leave the main explanation to a later date, when he could hear their thoughts, too, but now… It was time for action.
After confirming that everything was going well, Daneel still decided to fly over the Central Continent, in which a lot of changes had taken place in the past day.
First and foremost, many of the empty swathes of land which had been present between the cities and towns were now covered with conjured tents which hid what was happening beneath them from view, but as the system was the one which was maintaining their form through a continent-wide network of trinkets, he knew exactly what was going on.
Many of the settlements in the Central Continent were also empty, with only the elderly people staying behind to take care of the children, who had been told that their parents were going to shoulder a very large responsibility, and that they were doing it for their future.
Of course, the children didn"t understand much, but they did gather that they had to be good, and although there were quite a few naughty ones, they all managed to be reined in by the elderly folk who had volunteered to take care of large numbers of children.
Also, it wasn"t everyone who had left, and there were still a few families here and there, which made up a portion of each settlement. But slowly, as time pa.s.sed by, they would see all of the empty houses and marketplaces, and they, too, would be swayed from their decision to stand by while others went to risk their lives.
Even after this, there were a considerable portion who remained, but these were individuals who simply could not take that step forward due to multiple reasons. Either it was a scar from something in their life before which had damaged them too much, or it was fear that was born after seeing someone close go to war.
As he flew over these individuals, Daneel actually did not begrudge them, as it was foolish to think that no matter how much sway he held over the continent, and how important what was going to happen would be, that he would be able to call each and every individual to action.
Perhaps, in a fictional place, or in a story being spun from nothing, reality might have been warped to make it seem as if he could influence all of the people of the continent, but sadly, that was not the truth. The truth was that there was no possible way for anyone to be that successful in anything due to the way in which sentient minds worked, and perhaps, it could be summed up by saying that even if 1000 people were told that a flood would soon inundate their homes, 10 or even 50 would stay behind, either not believing that claim, or believing that their house would be strong enough to withstand anything.
Such was the way of life, and Daneel had no problem with it- and in fact, he was actually very happy, as the numbers who had turned up to heed his call had exceeded any and all reasonable expectations that they had placed.
Many violent surges of elementary particles could be seen all over the place, but they were being carefully monitored by mages who had been placed at regular intervals, whose duty it was to make sure that these surges would not end up damaging any of the structures nearby.
The last place that Daneel flew over was the Kingdom of Arafell, and surprisingly, this was the place that had the highest turnout. The Queen had more than kept her word - she had made it clear that she trusted him, and hence, at just a moment"s notice, more than 90% of the inhabitants of the cities and towns of Arafell had marched out while chanting her name.
In a way, it could be said that the entire continent had ground to a halt, and even though this would have caused many problems economically, they were all being taken care of by the armies of the Alliance, which used magic to perform essential tasks, such as managing the vast farms of Angaria, or the mining of Energy resources, which would soon become crucial resources in the battle that was to come.
They hadn"t plunged into this without preparation - each and every thing had been carefully thought of, and after today, the people would be called in s.h.i.+fts, so that even if a portion of the population was absent, the rest would be able to manage, while they waited for those people to come back and take their place.
Right before leaving Arafell, though, Daneel found himself wis.h.i.+ng that he could have officially finished the Alliance and the creation of the Empire, as that would almost definitely have resulted in the upgrade of the system. With that, he knew that he would pretty much be invincible on the continent, but alas, things had not transpired in a way that would make it suitable for him to take that step right now.
He just couldn"t wait to be freed up so that he could use whichever module of the system he wished, without having to worry about holding experience points so that he could perform the upgrade as soon as possible. Many more modules would definitely also be unlocked, but even now, there were many useful things such as those related to Kingdom management which he really could have used. However, currently, the upgrade was too important.
Thankfully… It was not a long way off, so taking a deep breath and letting it out in antic.i.p.ation, Daneel finished his trip and began traveling to his next destination, where he would kick off the next step in this phase.
This took him to a very remote location in one of the forbidden areas of Angaria, which was located smack dab in between the Endless Sea, and the now-empty Eternal Blossoms sect.
It was a place that was just outside the borders of the sect, and apparently, it had once been inhabited by a large family which had been run by the firm hand of a tyrant who suffered from a very serious case of paranoia.
If it weren"t for his power which was known far and wide, he would just have been an old grandpa who was afraid of everything, but because that wasn"t the case, all of those who had the misfortune of being born to him were forced to live with him, because he was afraid that they would be used by his enemies to take their revenge on him by putting him in a weak position.
His paranoia made it so that he poured all of his wealth into fortifying his place of residence, and with each year, he kept adding more and more defensive and offensive formations that at one point, it was such that only he knew the way in and the way out, making it a situation that was very similar to how it had been in the case of the sect which had been situated in the Valley of Mist, which Daneel had destroyed all those years ago.
It was a forbidden area as no one really knew the way in, and it was too dangerous and too time taking to dismantle all of the formations. Besides, there wasn"t even anything of value inside, so it was simply cla.s.sified as a place that should not be entered unless one wanted to die.
The one he was looking for was, for some reason, in the very heart of this place, so Daneel summoned his Heroes, and the sight of them smas.h.i.+ng through formation after formation was a pleasure to see.
He made no attempt to hide his movements, so he knew that all of the Heroes from the Order were definitely watching him and gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth with anger, and that actually made his smile even broader.
These formations were of the sort that would recover after he was gone, so all he needed to do was smash his way through.
A jungle had grown in this place, so, soon, when he came near the center of it, he was surprised to see that there was actually a large waterfall which reminded him of a very famous tourist attraction back on earth.
It fell from a peak which rose more than a kilometer into the air, and as the mist which rose due to the impact buffeted his face, he took in an exultant breath while admiring the scenery.
When he was done, he directly shot into the waterfall, which parted to reveal a cave in which a man was sitting.
It was a strange scene which he came upon- two identical men were fighting in front of him, but where one had a neutral face, the other seemed desperate, as if he was fighting for his life.
They were using the same Mage Path which seemed to be related to the earth as chunks of stones were constantly being ripped from the ground around them to be used as weapons, but it was obvious that the one who was desperate was winning.
The other was clearly an apparition that was clumsily trying to imitate the Path of its opponent, but with every second, it was getting better and better.
Daneel stood and watched while hiding his existence, and as the apparition finally triumphed after perfectly imitating a move of its opponent, he strode forward, clapping.
The man instantly got up and dispersed the apparition as he saw the intruder, but after recognizing who it was, a broad smile came on his face.
As for the opponent who had been waiting for a killing blow after being defeated, he raised his hands to beg the newcomer for help, but with a simple gesture, the man made him disappear.
Finding themselves alone, Daneel directly walked in front of him and hugged him tightly, before stepping back and saying, "Thank you."
The words were spoken with heartfelt grat.i.tude, and hearing them, Percy beamed and replied, "It was my pleasure, senior disciple brother. I would never have been able to face master if I had failed you in your time of need."
Hearing this, Daneel thought for a moment, and taking another step back…he transformed into the "master" that they shared.
He expected Percy to step back with shock, but surprisingly…he chuckled, and then bent on one knee.
"If I still hadn"t figured it out, my father"s words about how I was a "useless good-for-nothing" would have turned out to be true. I owe my life to you. I do not know if I am worthy of it, but until the day I die, you will always be my master…and my King."