# World Domination System - Killerhemboy - Ongoing 401 To 600

Domination System-Killerhemboy-Ongoing401To600 World

World Domination System - Killerhemboy - Ongoing 401 To 600

World Domination System - Killerhemboy - Ongoing 401 To 600

Origin: http://samlib.ru/c/chernij_a_w/worlddominationsystem-killerhemboy-ongoing401to600.shtml

Создан: 15/04/2020, изменен: 15/04/2020, 3356k

Стихотворение: Foreign+Translat

Series: @Other

____________________________________________________________

## World Domination System

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•


Description World Domination System

[*Ding*

World Domination System booting up.

Current World: Unknown

Host Status: Near-death

Current Goal: Survive

Overall Goal: Dominate and Conquer the world!]

A college student struggling for cash opted for an experiment which was advertised as safe but paid a lot of money. As soon as he was strapped to a chair and had electrodes placed on his...

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

401 Art of The Withering Leaf

The Valley of Mist's status as a forbidden zone had become all the more famous recently due to the existence of a new species of blood drinking mosquitoes that had inhabited it recently.

Before, some people had used to enter it as it looked harmless from the outside, but now, seeing the mosquitoes that were clearly visible even if someone was a kilometer away, no one dared to enter.

Hence, when a hooded man walked inside quickly, there was no one around to see him enter.

After going inside, he took off his hood to reveal a face with a bulbous nose and thin lips.

Of course, this was Daneel, who had donned a different disguise on the off chance that somebody might be watching the Valley.

However, with the system constantly scanning around, he was happy to see that there was no one.

Using the Hidden Item detection tool, he quickly made his way to the headquarters of the Withering Leaf Sect which remained untouched since all those months ago when he had come here and obtained that technique which had helped him so much in his training.

After all, he had placed numerous formations and trinkets to detect if anyone stepped within a few kilometers of it, and they had not been activated over all this time.

Preparing to upgrade them, he collected all of the ones he had laid down before on his way inside.

Passing through the library, he finally reached that spot near the sect leader's chambers where he had been stopped before.

According to the system, this was where the heart of the formation which protected the sect was present. Before, he had been told that he needed to upgrade the system if he wanted to take control of it.

Well, he had the upgrade now.

Telling the system to begin analyzing the formation, Daneel thought back to the meeting he had had with the Watcher before leaving the sect.

Ashahell. He knew that he had heard that name before, and when he had sat down later to think on it and make the decision regarding the Watcher's request to infiltrate the Big Four, he had let himself recall the moment where it had been mentioned.

A black-robed man, speaking with rage and frustration due to the fact that he was going to die soon.

Indeed, during that fight in the ancestral grounds of the Black Raven Kingdom where the Matron had intervened to protect him from that Black Robed man who had secretly been in charge, his last words had been regarding this Ashahell.

He had tried to recall the exact words, but facing difficulty in doing so, he had simply asked the system to replay the man's statements regarding.

[Affirmative. Checking memories. Two statements found. Replaying first statement:

"It's because you are foolish to think about the future when there will not be one. The Church cannot be stopped, and when they come, Angaria will bleed and die. When that time came, I wanted to go over to the other side after breaking through to a Champion so that I can have more authority. Why do you think I was fighting with Ashahell in the first place? Do you really think he just found me in that place after I had killed those 10,000 people? You fool, both of us had the same plan! He helped me, but betrayed me and fed me to the Council after sealing my mouth. If I hadn't managed to get away with this chamber and the seeds, I would have died already. Corruption has seeped so deeply into each of the Big Four that it doesn't matter even if they realize it now. Angaria will fall. Anyone who believes otherwise is just being wishful."

Replaying second statement:

"There's no chance of that. The moment I appear in front of Council, the restriction he placed will trigger and I will die. You know there is no way to stop that. Just kill me. All my life, all I wanted was power. For power, I was ready to do anything and everything. Curse my luck for being born in the same time as that man, who is a thousand times more ruthless than me but still adored by millions. He will betray the continent. If you fools continue to trust him, you will only be led to ruin. End it."]

Daneel remembered that the first statement had been said in response to the Matron asking how the man had dared to use demonic plants which would ruin the land forever.

The second, was his response to the Matron's request to testify in front of the High Council.

Going through his words, Daneel felt that same panic from before when he had heard that the Church might attack in just a year.

He knew that he couldn't trust the words of that black-robed man either, but something told him that someone like that wouldn't lie, especially when they were going to die.

After all, it fit. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill 10,000 people to break through was definitely capable of siding with the church and helping them for his own hidden motives. Also, the man had stated that Ashahell would betray the continent, just like the Watcher claimed.

Right now, Daneel was inclined to believe them both, as he just couldn't risk ignoring this threat.

The best case would be if he could somehow verify everything with his own eyes, and for this to happen, what he needed to do was clear:

He needed to accept the Watcher's request, and infiltrate the Big Four.

Actually, he also had another motive in wishing for this – data.

The Big Four would definitely be the place with the most comprehensive collection of information in the entire continent, so if he managed to infiltrate one of them, it was possible that he might be able to empower the system with the data it needed.

The way he saw it, the best decision was to trust the Watcher for now and at least go and find out for himself just what kind of man this Ashahell was and what he had in place.

However, he needed to be stronger.

Hence, he had made his decision.

He had told the Watcher that he would infiltrate the Big Four, but he needed some time before he could embark on that mission.

Time to break through to become a Warrior.

Of course, the Watcher had been more than happy to hear this, and had told him to just go and come back when he was ready. Apparently, he had been planning something like this for a long time, and had a foolproof way of sneaking him inside and giving him the opportunity to achieve what he wanted.

All in all, Daneel's excursion to the Hidden Kill Sect had been very fruitful.

Not only had he taken control of it, obtained an inheritance and upgraded the system, he had also figured out a way to possibly get the all-important data were also obtaining the opportunity to foil the Church's early attack on Angaria, if that was true. Of course, before leaving, he had also earned a fortune which would go a long way in furthering the plans he had put in motion in Lanthanor.

Now, he had just one goal: uncover all the secrets he could using the upgraded system, and rush through to the Warrior realm.

Too long had he been stuck as an Exalted Human, unable to devote too much time to training while taking care of so many vital things.

Thankfully, it was now time to change that.

Hearing the sound of something shattering, Daneel looked up to see that his way was unobstructed.

This was the highest tower of the beautiful Withering Leaf Sect, and as he entered the sect leader's room and viewed the breathtaking scenery, he smiled to himself.

The stone room had many bookcases and paintings, but using the system's instructions, Daneel walked to a specific painting of a very exquisite leaf.

Lifting it up, he punched.

The formation had already been deactivated, so all that remained was a wall stopping him from his goal.

As expected, the stones parted to reveal a hidden space, in which there was a small velvet pouch.

Picking it up, Daneel quickly opened it and saw that it contained numerous cubes, which looked like data trinkets.

Going through each one, he smiled with satisfaction due to the fact that he had found what he wanted.

[Partial Inheritance/Spell Technique: Art of the Withering Leaf found. Using the concept of a leaf's ability to sustain itself and survive despite the harsh conditions it is subjected to, the spell technique allows its user to absorb magic attacks up to a certain threshold before shooting them back with multiplied power. Because the inheritance is partial, only 2 attacks up to the level of an Exalted Warrior can be absorbed and returned. Factor of Power Multiplication: 1.5x. It is expected that the full inheritance has the capability of absorbing more than two attacks up to Exalted Champion level before returning them with a power multiplication of at least 2.0x.]

Yes!

Another inheritance, and a very practical one at that.

In fact, Daneel had seen this one at work when the vice sect leader had used it against the ex-King of Lanthanor and the Grand Court Mage. They had only been able to watch in horror as their attacks had been returned towards them, shooting past them to kill the members of the Royal Family.

Now, he was capable of such an incredible feat too.

Humming to himself merrily again, Daneel teleported away to his next stop.

Only, he couldn't have suspected that his act of breaking through that formation had alerted an enemy whom he had forgotten about.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

402 Training Begins

In the ancestral grounds of the Black Raven Kingdom, Daneel was standing at the spot where the black-robed man had placed his Natural Energized Training Chamber before.

He had definitely been a man who knew a thing or two about energy concentration, as according to the system, this was the place where energy was at its highest.

He had come here to find out the core of the formation so that he could see what he would find inside, but to his puzzlement, the core was already open.

It was just lying there-in the form of a shiny, lustrous feather that was constantly glowing.

Daneel hadn't seen this on his trip before, as it had been hidden underground.

Now, he had dug it up on the system's directions, even though it had told him that there was no benefit in finding the core and taking control of it.

He had just wanted to see it for himself.

Standing beside him, Faxul shook his head and said, "I just asked him. There's nothing inside. The Protector Raven tells me that the core was never unmastered. It's always under his control, and he's sure that his ancestor said nothing about objects being hidden away."

Right! The Raven!

The Black Raven Kingdom was unique in the fact that it's core formation was controlled by a sentient, living being instead of some inanimate formation which needed mastering.

Clearly, the parameters here were different.

However, Daneel couldn't help but feel disappointed.

3 forces, 3 inheritances.

He had hoped that he was on a roll, but that was obviously not the case.

Even now, he could wrest control from the Protector Raven, but he saw no point in it as just like it had said, there was nothing hidden anyway.

Something felt wrong. As if he was missing a piece of a puzzle.

This feeling infuriated him, but Daneel had already promised himself that he would move on if he didn't find anything, as time was short.

So, bidding goodbye to Faxul and deciding that he would get back to this matter as soon as his other pressing engagements were handled, Daneel headed to the Kingdom of the Elves.

Same as in the Black Raven Kingdom, there was practically no formation that could stop him.

By now, one thing had become clear: with the system at the Champion level complexity, he could go anywhere he wished in the Central Continent.

After all, the highest level of formation that was present here was at the Exalted Champion Level, meaning that the system could analyze and deconstruct it to find its weaknesses.

So, evading any and all manners of detected, Daneel made his way directly to the core of the formation in their palace.

Faxul was a friend, so he had given him the courtesy of calling on him when he had gone to his Kingdom.

Eldra had no such relation with him. In fact, he knew that she had even entered that oath with reluctance, meaning that if she had a chance to circumvent it, she would take it in a heartbeat.

It was unavoidable. The oath was the only way he could use to ensure loyalty, but he didn't like it at all.

So, now that he was here and because he had the capability to do so, Daneel decided to place a countermeasure, just he had done in the Black Raven Kingdom before handing it over to Faxul.

But first, he needed to check out the core.

Alas, it seemed that he was destined to be disappointed again.

So far, the cores of all the major formations he had seen so far had been in the body parts of mythical creatures.

In the Kingdom of the Elves, it was different.

The core was a fascinating cube which emanated golden light. As he heard the system's analysis of it, he grew shocked.

[A highly sophisticated trinket that was built to mimic the role of a mythical beast's body part as the core of a formation. Although the effect is not as good as the former, it comes close. With the enchantment capabilities of the current age, it is impossible to create such a trinket.]

This made him get a clue regarding what was going on.

Where the other Kingdoms must have obtained body parts of mythical beasts, the elves of the olden times must have pooled together their knowledge in order to build something to mimic those cores.

It sounded like something an elf would so, so Daneel felt that he was right.

Although he was very interested, again, Daneel left more speculation for another day. He needed to focus on getting stronger now, and that meant not going on tangents whenever he found an interesting mystery.

The disappointment was due to the fact that the system had just told him that there were no objects inside.

Another dead end.

It seemed that his luck had completely run dry, but Daneel really couldn't complain.

He had already found three inheritances that anyone would kill to have, and he had also had an ultra-high grade energy source which allowed the Natural Energized Training Chamber to chug out Ker Gems.

With all of his stops done, Daneel headed back to Lanthanor, which would be his training site.

After making sure that no one knew he was here, Daneel secluded himself in the underground room where he had found the core of the formation and the mysterious items.

Back in that spot in the ground where the Ker Gem mine had been found, the rate of production had been 1 Ker Gem every 50 days, which had already seemed like quite a good number.

After all, Ker Gems were just too valuable. He had the unlimited supply of blood of mosquitoes, so he had hoarded the gems for occasions when he couldn't use the blood.

The problem with the blood was that it was slightly slower than training with Ker Gems. He could afford for this slight loss usually, but now, he was in no mood to give anything up.

Besides, he was excited to see just what the rate of production of Ker Gems would be at this new location.

With high expectations, Daneel opened the door of the Chamber, and gawked in surprise.

It had only been 2 days since he had left.

2 days!

But already, there was a Ker gem forming on the ground.

He had observed one in this stage before when he had gone to pick up the gems from the chamber when it had been in its previous location, so he could estimate that the Ker Gem would finish forming soon.

Wait, he had the system to do these estimations, and to give him the answer he needed.

[Ker Gem production rate: 1 Ker Gem every 20 days.]

Almost a 3-time increase in speed!

It seemed that the tag 'ultra' wasn't there just for show, after all.

Seeing that he finally wasn't disappointed about something, Daneel asked, "What is my burn rate of Ker Gems? How long would I take to consume one if both me and the clone trained together?"

He knew that training along with the clone meant that he would burn resources at a much faster rate, but it seemed that he had underestimated just how much of an Energy-guzzler it was.

[1 Ker Gem every 10 days.]

Daneel had known that the rate of resource consumption would increase with his level, but he could never have expected that it would be this much of a rise.

Of course, there was also the consideration that it was said that Ker Gems were wasted on Humans, as they would only increase the training speed. Warriors were the ones who could use the gems fully.

Still, he couldn't believe that he now needed to absorb the equivalent of 10,000 Ether blocks every 10 days.

He could still remember a time when just a single Ether block could last him for hours.

Right now, he couldn't decide whether to feel happy that he had come this far, or scared just how much this rate of consumption would multiply into the more he grew in power.

Regardless, it was useless to think about it now.

As his rate of consumption of Ker Gems exceeded the rate at which they were being produced, Daneel had no option but to rely on both blood and the gems to carry out his training.

Sitting down in the center of the training chamber, Daneel asked, "System, show me my status."

It was about time he found out exactly what kind of timeline he was looking at.

[Host status updating. Please standby.

Host status:

Host Fighter Level: Human-8(54%)

Host Mage Level: Human-8(92%)

Host Body Potential: A+

Host Comprehension Level: ????

Host Condition: Nominal]

Before, the two levels of Fighter and Mage had been equal, as his techniques trained both aspects of his body equally, and he had had equal levels of talent in them both.

However, after that incident with the remnant spirit when he had broken through to some unknown level of comprehension, his mage level had started to exceed his level of a Fighter.

He had regularly been training every night, and this was the result.

Daneel was almost at the peak of the Exalted Human realm.

All he had to do now was sit down and train continuously, day and night.

No matter how monotonous or bored he felt, he had to just let the Energy flow through him, again and again, until his body couldn't take any more.

It was going to be tough. Very, very tough.

However, when had anything been achieved without going through difficulties?

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

403 2 Months

"Miss. Eloise, you're a godsend! We don't know what we would have done without you!"

"Don't thank me. Thank our King, who made everything possible. Now go home, Janice. Your kids are waiting for you. With this money, let the first meal you cook be for them. After that, I can't wait to hear great things about it from all of Lanthanor. You hear me?"

"Y-yes! Of course! Hail King Daneel! Please thank him for me!"

"I will. He is in secluded training, so that he can be strong enough to protect us when threats come our way. Go on. I'll come by to your restaurant later when I have the chance. Remember, don't trust the wrong people again. Harley, here, will help you with that. Ok?"

"Of course! Thank you! Oh, thank you, so much!"

Seeing the tears in the eyes of the woman who had been begging on the streets to feed her kids just the day before, Eloise felt happiness fill her heart.

This woman had trusted her husband with years of savings that had been earned by being a maid in various restaurants. They were all so that she could open a small place of her own, as she had always been great with cooking.

However, that man had fled with that money, leaving two young kids.

She had been found by Maria, who had been in the poorest areas of the city as a part of her efforts in uplifting those who had been dealt a bad card in life.

Her efforts had already been paying off big time, and she was called Mother Maria by all.

Mother to not just the King, but Lanthanor itself.

After tasting her cooking in her small, dingy shack without putting on any of the airs expected from the mother of a King, Maria had referred Janice to Eloise, who hadn't hesitated to give her the title of "Citizen in Need" so that she could be lent money in order to kickstart her business.

Her days were usually spent in this way- taking care of a few things which needed her attention, while carrying out inspections to make sure that all of the King's plans were going on smoothly.

Norcet was a phenomenal person who had helped her greatly in the endeavors which she couldn't pay her full attention to. While she took care of the bank, the network and the hospital, he was slowly developing the fleet of transportation units which were part of the King's plan to make a service that could deliver items to sellers in a cost-effective way.

As for the business with the IDs, both of them regularly met to see how the trial run was going.

So far, the success had been phenomenal. In a closed group, they had carried out mock scenarios where soldiers acting as those with malicious intent tried to breach the Kingdom to carry out their plans. Using the ID trinkets, those charged with defending the city could easily rule out the authorized citizens to focus on outsiders, and those who had managed to sneak in.

As for the Bank, it was seeing a record influx of money. The King hadn't expanded it to the whole continent, but Eloise had been charged with making it so that when they were ready for that stage, there would no problems such as not being able to handle such a scale.

Almost all "Citizen in Need" cases were profitable, and even in cases where the initial businesses had failed, the process of vetting individuals carefully had shown its worth. Even after failure, citizens tried again and more often than not, succeeded at least on the second try.

These were all small businesses, like the restaurant in the case of Janice. Still, the sheer number of the cases made it so that the total amount that the Bank was earning was quite sizeable.

Although none of them were at the scale of H&D, this was nothing to be scoffed at, as H&D was truly special.

Since the Olympics, they had seen an influx of orders from all over the continent. Many spectators had zoomed in to see their logos on all the clothes worn by the participants, and this had been followed by an effective marketing campaign which let everyone know just how special this brand was.

Helena and Dalia were shown as the perfect dream family who had overcome poverty through hard work, thus, they knew just how much quality was to be valued. Besides, they had many innovative and new designs, and they also seemed to have an unlimited pool of money to draw on to fulfill the orders, no matter how many came.

Of course, the last one was due to the partnership that Helena had signed with Daneel, which gave her almost unlimited funds to invest in her business.

All in all, H&D was slowly becoming THE brand to own in the continent.

Eloise was really happy for them, as she knew that this was what the King had envisioned for the company when he had thrown his support behind them.

She missed him. She really, really missed him.

Although they had never gotten as close as she wished, she had just loved to be near him. Even now, the thing which gave her the most happiness was seeing his dreams come true.

His last communication had been two months ago, when he had said that he was entering 'deep-state training', which meant that he wouldn't be able to respond to messages unless they were at the level where the Kingdom might be destroyed.

Since then, she had had a weird itch, as if she felt him close. She knew it was false, but she just couldn't get rid of it.

Every day, she took care of the Kingdom, she trained and she thought about him.

Already, she was almost an Eminent Human, and this was astonishing given the fact that she had been an Amateur one just months ago.

Clearly, the fact about her having top-grade talent was true.

On this day, more than ever, she felt that the King was near.

Little did she knew that she had just been scanned by him.

….

Get gem.

Get blood.

Train.

Absorb clone.

Rest.

Get gem.

Get blood.

Train.

Rest.

This had been Daneel's schedule, day in and day out.

2 months.

2 months of isolation.

2 months of being cut off from the world, so much so that he couldn't tell night from day.

If it hadn't been for the numbers on the status that kept going up, he knew that he would have lost himself long back.

He lived for those numbers. Those tiny percentages which meant that inch by inch, he was crawling towards his goal.

To be a Warrior.

His food consisted of bare basic bread, as his body was already getting enough nutrition from the Energy. If he had to go to the bathroom, he would use magic to construct one.

When he rested, he couldn't dream, as his mind was completely occupied by a singular feeling.

The feeling of being changed, inside out, by Energy.

He knew that if he broke off his concentration on that feeling, he might never be able to go through with such a long, continuous period of training.

He knew that if he even heard others' voices, he would be tempted to leave, and probably never come back.

He became sick of the blood that stank.

He became sick of the dust that fell on his clothes when Ker gems dissipated.

He became sick of himself.

In these two months, Daneel got closer to insanity than ever before.

If there was any other way to achieve his goal of breaking through, he might have chosen it.

However, there was none.

What he needed to do was get in a state where he would be able to keep absorbing, day and night, while taking only the briefest of rests.

And that-demanded this kind of singular isolation, which was the longest period of torture that Daneel had ever felt in his life.

Since entering that chamber, Daneel had followed his plan of pushing through. It had been so tempting. All he needed to do was think, and he could contact anyone he wanted. His mother, or his father. Eloise. Sister Xuan. Anyone.

But no, he had resisted.

Until today.

Today, he had allowed the system to scan his surroundings, and let him hear Eloise and his parents talking above him in the Palace.

Because he had hit a dead end.

[Host status updating. Please standby.

Host status:

Host Fighter Level: Human-9(99%)

Host Mage Level: Human-9(99%)

Host Body Potential: A+

Host Comprehension Level: ????

Host Condition: Nominal]

He was at the absolute peak of the Human level, but no matter what he did, he couldn't take that next step.

It was as if his body and mageroot had become sieves, which let all the Energy out, no matter how much more he absorbed.

Deciding that this approach and just sitting and training had taken its course, Daneel finally broke his self-imposed isolation.

As he listened to their voices, tears came in his eyes and flowed down his cheeks, falling on his feet, which were quivering, just like his entire body.

He was…back.

He had grown a beard, which he shaved with a flick of his finger after managing to control himself.

Right now, all he wanted to do was embrace his mother and cry. Cry with happiness that he hadn't become lost in that dark place where he had been in till now.

So, he did just that.

The King of Lanthanor, a man in command of 4 forces in Central Angaria, possessor of mage talent which surpassed that known to all in the Central Continent, Paragon, holder of a Tenebrous Flame, inheritor of the Ruler's Inheritance, inheritor of the Basilisk's Breath, inheritor of the Art of the Withering Leaf, Basilisk Rider and, last but not least, heir to the Anivron family, hugged his mother hard and found comfort in her embrace.

He was all of those things, but right now, he was just a boy who had been shut in the darkness for far too long.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

404 Befriending Isolation

"Daneel, what's wrong? Are you in trouble, son?"

Seeing her son, who was apparently supposed to be in secluded training since the past few months, appear at their door before entering and hugging her tightly, Maria was quite bewildered.

Besides, his entire body was also shaking, as if he was either crying or about to cry.

Robert, who had been in the balcony while looking at some cadets for the army, rushed into the room on hearing the commotion.

Ever since he had regained his power, he had been instrumental in taking care of miscellaneous tasks to help his Kingdom. However, 2 months ago, he had officially been assigned as the commander of the regular Fighter Army, a post previously held by Luther. On asking, he had only been told by his son in a short message that Luther had to take up other duties.

Of course, as the "Spear of Kindness" who was renowned among the regular soldiers for his caring yet strict nature even though he had departed from the army a long time ago, he had no problem taking up the post and the duties associated with it.

Yet, today, seeing his son in this state, he was at a loss regarding what to do.

Since all those months ago when his son had taken matters into his own hands and ascended the throne, he had been the proudest father in the whole wide world. He had always thought that Daneel was someone who required no help from others whatsoever, but seeing what was in front of his eyes now, he realized that he was wrong.

The expression on his son's face was…fear. Fear of something that had almost happened.

He had seen this particular emotion before-in the eyes of soldiers who killed for the first time, and had almost lost themselves in the bloodthirstiness.

Yes! It was the expression of one who had almost lost themselves.

First, he realized that they needed to stop asking questions. What he needed was their comfort.

So, he immediately made a shushing gesture towards Maria, who had just been about to ask something else.

After that, not wanting to startle his son, he made a motion of sleeping.

Sleep was the best healer in these situations, in his experience.

Although she didn't understand at first, his wife was an astute person, so she soon grasped his meaning and nodded.

Her son was still shivering in her arms, but she slowly walked towards the bedroom, leading him slowly in its direction.

After reaching the bed, she sat and made him lie on the bed, cradling his head in her lap.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten that even though her son had so many responsibilities on his shoulders, he was still barely 18 years old.

In many ways, he could still be called a kid.

Gently, she started to stroke his forehead, which seemed to have a soothing effect.

It seemed that her husband was right, as after a few minutes, the King of Lanthanor fell into a deep sleep.

Getting up and laying his head on the cushion, she closed the door silently and made her way to her husband's side.

Seeing the panic on her face, he said, "Don't worry. I think he just had some problem in training. I spoke to Kellor's master once, long, long ago. He was a mysterious old man who seemed to hold many secrets, and no one even knew why he had chosen to stay as the Court Mage then. I was still a kid then who had entered the army, unable to sit down without moving for 2 hours to absorb energy from Ether stones. He told me that mages who reached the higher levels had to befriend isolation, lest they lose themselves within it. According to him, they needed to sit with only their thoughts for months at a time, and many even crazy in that process. However, he said it was unavoidable. It was only on mastering that skill could one truly grow powerful in this continent. That tale motivated me to get through those two hours. I think our son might have gone through something like what he mentioned. He was supposed to be in secluded training, after all. But he didn't seem lost. Let's wait. If he doesn't wake up after some time is past, we can think about what to do then."

It was said that parents understood their children best. This was clearly on display here, as both Robert and Maria had managed to understand their son's situation without him needing to say anything.

Maria had also applied what her husband said to what she had seen in her son's face before, and she realized that he was right.

Trusting her husband, she nodded before making her way back to the room.

She missed her son, so there was definitely nothing wrong in wanting to take in more of him when he was sleeping, peacefully.

….

Daneel was having the most relaxing slumber in his life.

That comfort from hugging his mother stayed with him, and he felt protected, which was something he really needed right now due to the fear that had almost swallowed him before.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but if it weren't for his complaining bladder, he wouldn't have chosen to wake up.

However, when he opened his eyes, he received the scare of his life.

4 worried faces crowded his vision, and because it was a sudden image that was quite odd, he yelped and pulled the blanket close.

As he heard his father's chuckle in response, he finally regained his senses.

Right. He was the respectable King of Lanthanor!

There was no reason whatsoever to act like a scared kitten.

It seemed that he had also startled the people to whom those 4 faces belonged to, as they stepped back in shock.

Cassandra, Eloise, Kellor, and Maria. These were the four individuals who had almost given him a heart attack.

Why had they all looked so worried? Hadn't he just taken a nap?

Deciding to voice this query, he asked, "Why are you all looking at me as if I returned from the dead?"

"Son, if anyone woke up after sleeping 24 hours at a stretch, I believe they deserve to be stared at with disbelief and doubt regarding whether they are alive or dead. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Hearing this, Daneel also felt shock covering his face.

He had slept for an entire day?!

But…it had just felt like a comfortable nap!

Deciding that the system definitely had the answers, Daneel decided to ask it.

[Host's psyche was damaged due to the isolation. Host's actions and the long sleeping period have repaired this damage, and also strengthened the psyche on the whole. Such damage will not occur if host undergoes the same period of training ahead.

Achievement: Befriending Isolation obtained.

Befriending Isolation: Anyone who treads on the path of power and World Domination is destined to face the risk of being lost. To overcome it, one must constantly push themselves and eventually befriend that which threatens to destroy them. Congratulations on beginning on this journey!

2000 EXP awarded.

Total EXP: 5000.

Additional discovery found by Phenomena Analysis Module. Would host like to hear about it?]

"Yes!"

[System has found that decreasing the break periods between training sessions leads to a cumulative increase in the rate of Energy absorbed by the body and mageroot. Body and Mageroot enter a state of flux where development using Energy is easier. This was noticed after host went through one month of isolation training. It is because of this factor that host has managed to reach the peak of the Human level in such a short time.]

Yes! It all made sense!

Originally, according to Daneel's estimates, it would at least have taken a few months more in order to reach this level and breakthrough. His hope had been to do so in 5 months, so that he would have a month to train in the inheritances.

However, that had been cut down to just two months.

It seemed that hard work and dedication really did pay off, and this time, he had really reaped a lot of benefits.

Yet, if he remembered correctly, the system had said that he was stuck, and he also remembered just leaking Energy during training after a point. What was the reason behind that?

[Host has reached the stage of saturation which indicates that a "Condensation Event" is required for host to enter the Warrior realm. Data insufficient to gather the exact conditions required to undergo a "Condensation Event". Reports vary. Some underwent one during combat, and others overcame this point using years of training. System recommends host to collect more data.]

Wait…what the f@@k?

Daneel had expected before itself that entering the Warrior realm would definitely not involve just sitting and absorbing Energy. If that was the case, with the high number of High-grade talents in the Central Continent, there should have been many by this point.

However, the number of Warriors could be counted on one hand. So, there was definitely something stopped peak Humans from stepping into this incredible realm.

He had wanted to become a Warrior to collect data…but he needed to collect data to become a Warrior?

What was he even supposed to do now?

….

Meanwhile, at a spot a few kilometers away from the headquarters of the Withering Leaf Sect in the Valley of Mist.

A man stood in the foliage, wearing a green dress that allowed him to blend in and appear invisible.

He had long hair that extended to his knees, and his face looked like it had been fair once, but it was now covered in dust and dirt, as if he had traveled quickly for a long time through the forest.

Through the bushes, he could catch a faint glimpse of the sect where he had been born and raised.

Everything, everything, had been destroyed by one man.

All this time, he had been waiting.

Finally, now, it was time for his revenge.

If anyone could look at his eyes now, they would definitely have stepped back in horror, as they contained such a crazed look as if this man had long lost his sanity.

His fingers, which were covered in blood, took out a pouch of trinkets.

Slowly but surely, he started to arrange them on the Valley floor, all while smiling to himself in anticipation for what was about to come.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

405 Condensation Poin

"Sister Xuan is in seclusion training that has been ordered by the Matron. She cannot respond right now, but you don't need to bother, I know her answer. All sect members are forbidden from divulging any details regarding training techniques to outsiders. Any details. So, she can't help you in breaking through to become a Warrior. Goodbye."

Hearing this response in a slightly harsh tone from Mulan, Daneel wondered how he had pissed that taciturn woman off.

His first thought after becoming stymied due to the Condensation Point had been to contact everyone he knew who had already passed the threshold to become a Warrior.

The first one that had come to his mind had been Sister Xuan, and if she was able to help, he might also get the best possible way from her, as after all, she was someone from the Big 4.

Now, that route had been closed off with this reply from Mulan.

His next option would have been that useless disciple Percy, but Daneel knew that it would be a waste of time as all sects in the Big 4 most probably had similar rules.

This left the top assassins and the previous sect leader in the Hidden Kill Sect, but he wasn't very optimistic there either.

He knew the training techniques that they all practiced-after all, he had gone through all the archives of the sect thoroughly. The source behind the system quoting the situations regarding the Condensation Point had definitely come from there.

Still, he decided to give it a try.

First, taking out the communication trinket that he had given Luther, he contacted him.

"How is everything? Have you settled into the sect? Is anyone giving you any trouble?"

It had been two months, and he was eager to know whether everything was well there.

"It's good, Your Majesty. The tournament is to be credited for that. After seeing my performance, there have been few dissidents, and I've handled those using classic techniques from my time in the military. Of course, the top assassins are all angry at you due to the bet, and they glower whenever they are in my presence. Still, they haven't given me any trouble. Skkrag has been a big help, he has become close to me, and he insists on learning from me. We have resumed accepting contracts, but like you asked, I'm sending over a secret log to Eloise. In cases where our interests could be hurt, your instructions will be followed-either we can warn the target, or we can give an urgent contract to kill the contractor first."

Hearing this answer, Daneel nodded satisfactorily.

His estimate about the Hidden Kill Sect which had been drawn after his interaction with them after the incident with Axelor where he had been saluted was right: they respected skill.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

One other thing which delighted Daneel was that Luther was no longer that reticent man who barely spoke a word.

It seemed that resolving old problems really did have an effect on people's personality, as evidenced in both the cases of Luther and Faxul.

"That's great, Luther. Anyway, listen. I need you to do something for me. I'm at the peak of the Human level, and I've hit a wall. I need to speak with Warrior level individuals regarding how they stepped past the threshold. Tell them that the Basilisk Rider asked them to impart their experiences to me, the Basilisk Rider's disciple, as he is too busy to do so. Also, I'm in a hurry, so this needs to be done as soon as possible."

After Daneel got to the point behind him contacting Luther, there was silence from the other end.

After a few seconds, Luther hesitantly replied, "Er…My King, I don't think that would be wise. Right now, they are really angry at your other identity for 'swindling' them of their savings. They will definitely not respond well to this, and I doubt that experiences imparted in that way will be useful. I have spent time with these people, and I think I understand them more now. Could you let me try something, My Lord? I will go with your plan if that doesn't work out."

Daneel sheepishly rubbed his nose on hearing this, as what Luther said did make sense.

He had heard their curses before he left, so he knew that they were definitely very, very angry at Master Novrain.

Hence, they would definitely not be favorable towards his disciple.

Daneel was curious regarding what his ex-commander's plan might be, but he decided to ask later. So, he just said, "Carry on!"

This was the last lead he had regarding the Warrior level, so he really hoped that it would work.

Leaning back on his chair, he waved to Eloise who was standing in the balcony while looking at him.

They were in a small meeting room, and she had brought up to speed regarding everything that had been going on in the Kingdom.

Daneel had gotten some new ideas regarding how he could bring over his experiences from Earth to Angaria, but he put them on the backburner for now.

He needed to get to the Warrior level ASAP to stop that Ashahell. If not, all of it would be futile.

A few minutes later, the communication trinket in his pocket vibrated with a short message from Luther, "My King, they wish for you to come here."

…..

Reaching the foot of the Hidden Kill Sect, Daneel put on an odd expression on his face, as this was supposed to be his first time coming here.

He was wearing a hood to cover his identity, as it wouldn't be very wise for others to know that the King of Lanthanor had visited the Hidden Kill Sect.

According to his spies, already, whispers had begun which called the King of Lanthanor a mastermind who was planning the unification of multiple Kingdoms. Thankfully, they were just whispers, as none of the watching forces had any actionable intel to base their suspicions on.

After all, it was a coincidence that a long lost son of a Top Assassin had made his way to Lanthanor, right before a fleeing prince also chose this Kingdom as his destination.

Yes, it could be a coincidence, but Daneel realized how flimsy it sounded when he thought about it in his head.

It really was a coincidence!

Hell, even he couldn't believe himself.

Putting this matter aside for now, Daneel stepped back with mock shock when a reptilian appeared right in front of him, as if he had been there all along.

Disguise was one of the key skills of an assassin, and there were many mage techniques in the archives which allowed assassins to hide themselves in plain sight if they could stay unmoving for long periods of time. It was a simple, but effective method, and to any layman, it would seem quite shocking, as there would be no evidence of movements of elementary particles after it was cast once.

Of course, the system had spotted him ages ago.

"Welcome to the Hidden Kill Sect, King Daneel of Lanthanor. Please follow me. The reputable assassins of our sect await you."

Nodding, Daneel followed the reptilian and was led to that same teleportation door, after which he had to once again act startled when he saw the beautiful scenery of the sect headquarters.

However, here, there was something which made him feel genuine surprise.

5 individuals were standing in front of the pedestal which was the exit of the teleportation door with impatient expressions on their faces.

Daneel, of course, recognized them to be the 4 top assassins excluding Agmar and the previous Sect leader.

As soon as he appeared along with the reptilian guide, they rushed toward them.

"Sir, I was going to bring him to you-"

"SHUT THE F@@K UP! TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! FOLLOW ME!"

As Jaggrv shouted these words, the reptilian was shoved aside.

Bewildered, Daneel could only watch as Stefan and Jaggrv caught one hand each and started to drag him towards a location.

The other three were on the lookout, as if they were afraid that someone would come interrupt them.

Daneel could barely keep his jaw from dropping. What the f@@k was going? What had Luther done?

Were they possibly…so angry that they wanted to kill him, the disciple of the man who had cheated them?

No, it couldn't be possible.

In front of 5 Warriors, he was powerless, so he could only be dragged along like a plaything to a remote location on the mountain which was surrounded by a forest.

Here, there was a stump of a tree on which Daneel was seated. Or, shoved onto.

As panic really started to set in, Daneel was about to contact Luther or ask the system to activate the formation to save him, but he stopped when he saw all 5 assassins stare at him with manic eyes before each of them burst out with statements which shocked him so much that he almost fell off.

"You're in luck, kid!"

"We will make you a Warrior even if it's the last thing we do!"

"F@@k that cheating sect leader! Either you become a Warrior, or you die trying!"

"We have 5 different types of advice to get through the Condensation Point! There's no way you can fail!"

"HAHAHA, I can't wait to see his face after we are done!"

Wait…really, was he going mad?

So they were all impatient to help him get through the threshold?

What exactly had Luther done?

Unable to take it anymore, Daneel asked this question through the oathstone, and the answer really did make his jaw fall to the floor.

"Oh, it was nothing, Your Majesty. I…might have hinted that the sect leader, your other identity, is jealous of you for progressing so fast, and that he doesn't want you to break through so soon for petty reasons. So, I told them that he asked them not to tell you about their experiences properly. Also…I might have made it clear that you breaking through quickly before the sect leader returns will really piss him off greatly."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

406 “Need“

Watching as Stefan held an Ether block and Ker Gem in either hand, Daneel's eyes were as round as the moon.

"Ah, I see you get the general concept. Now, all that's left is the actual act of condensing the Energy. Let's get started with Jaggrv first. He has the most usual method."

Nodding, Daneel once again went through everything he had just seen.

After his surprise due to the method that Luther had used had faded, he had felt quite indignant as he felt that he hadn't done anything deserving of such malice from these top assassins.

Still, it was a fact that he was the reason behind them losing possibly decades worth of earnings.

Seeing the anger and impatience on their faces, he had actually felt a bit of pity, and had decided to do something for them in return if he had the chance later on.

Of course, only after he taught them a lesson for this.

Regardless, he decided to be like a sponge to soak up everything they had to say when he had a chance so that he could rush through to become a Warrior right away.

After all, the more time he had to master the inheritances, the better.

The first thing that had been shown to him had been these two items: the Ether block and the Ker Gem.

In Stefan's words, the change from being a Human to a Warrior was best shown in this way.

The Energy in the Ether block was in the mist form, swirling around aimlessly while confined inside the rectangular shape.

Meanwhile, inside the Ker Gem, a thicker material could be seen, which almost looked like a liquid.

It was flowing throughout the gem artfully, and its beauty was something Daneel marveled at each time he held one to train.

Condensation!

Of course!

Even before Stefan had spoken, Daneel had understood the concept by seeing these two.

It turned out that he was right.

The process of stepping to the Warrior realm meant condensing all the Energy absorbed by the body and mageroot into a higher form, so that an individual could accommodate more to proceed on his path of power.

Apparently, the Energy which was absorbed had the weird quirk that it needed some kind of stimulus before it automatically condensed.

There were conditions for the chance of this stimulus happening to occur: for one, the body and/or the mageroot had to be at the peak of the Human realm, meaning that further training was impossible.

The second condition was the most important: there had to be a need for the Energy to condense.

According to Stefan, this was where the method became fuzzy.

This 'need' was difficult to put into words to explain to an individual, but Daneel actually found himself comparing it to something back on Earth.

He had been reminded of the act of weight-lifting to gain muscle.

The human body would usually not dedicate resources to build muscle unless there was a 'need' which arose when the individual tried to push past their limits.

Of course, although there were other scientific processes involved such as the breakdown and rebuilding of muscle fibers, the essence was the same: 'need'.

Clearly, the concept was similar. However, there, what needed to be done was simple.

Here, that was not the case.

One had to find their own 'need', and this could apparently only be done with time and experience, both of which Daneel did not have.

Thankfully, he had 5 very eager individuals for that purpose.

First up was Jaggrv. Standing in front of Daneel, he folded his hands and began.

"Kid, listen up, I'll only be saying this once. My process was simple. I sat and trained. And I cursed at my body repeatedly, calling it weak. One day, I think I just made it fed up, because I felt all of the Energy converging on itself and changing into a higher state. I followed the same thing for my Mageroot."

Seriously?

As Jaggrv walked away, Stefan walked forward with a sheepish expression on his face.

"That's the usual method?"

Hearing Daneel ask this question, Stefan smiled helplessly and said, "Weirdly enough, yes. It is the method of self-motivation. By constantly scolding his own body, Jaggrv managed to create the 'need' to change."

Well, that did make sense. After all, it was said that a good pep talk could do wonders before a game.

However, Daneel got a query.

"How long did it take?"

"Er…2 years. That's why he went first. Anyway, Kerrt is next."

Kerrt was the name of the introverted reptilian.

"I…sat down with a singular goal and trained, even though the Energy kept leaving my body. In between, I slowly took contracts which tested me and pushed me a little bit more toward my limit each time. Eventually, I stepped through in a year and a half."

This method made sense, too.

By incrementally pushing himself continuously, Kerrt had become a Warrior.

However, again, it was too time-consuming.

Next up was the snivelly man who had rejected Daneel beforehand.

"I fought with a Warrior level individual, the sect master during my time, daily. While doing so, I kept trying to copy him. His movements, his speed, his actions. All of them. One day, something just clicked. I only took 8 months."

Imitation.

By watching and going through the same motions, this reptilian had instigated the 'need'.

Daneel couldn't help but be fascinated.

Clearly, every individual who reached the peak of the Human level had the ability to step through.

However, how they did so was so varied.

However, after this, the two remaining people, Stefan, and the previous sect leader, stepped up together.

The previous sect leader was the one who spoke.

"Both of us have the same method, and it is the fastest one, but also the most dangerous. After we speak, you have to make a choice regarding which one you want to follow. We will not force you to pick any particular method; whichever one you choose, we will throw our full support behind your back. Our method was dying. During the time when we reached peak Human level, both of us chose contracts which were very difficult. During their course, we endured critical injuries. Don't be mistaken-these are two separate incidents, we did not go on the same mission together. The injuries almost lead to our death. In Stefan's case, even his heart stopped beating for a few seconds before he was resuscitated. Somehow, we fought through the pain and survived. This led us to break through."

Breaking through on the border between life and death!

Of course, this made sense most of all.

An incident that almost claimed the life of the body had coaxed it towards the breakthrough.

Daneel felt excited on hearing it, but what Stefan said next after the previous sect leader fell silent sent chills through his spine.

"Don't get your hopes up, just yet. After you sent your request, I went and had a look at the medical records in the sect. Like us, there were 54 other peak Human level individuals in recent history who also sustained critical injuries before returning to the sect. I checked their cases personally; their level of injuries were almost similar to mine and his. Of them, 28 died, 10 lost their entire prowess, and except 5, the rest remained at their level. The success rate is very, very low, and we can't even judge what the criteria are for this method to succeed. It is certainly not willpower, as these individuals were each known to possess hearts that could withstand anything. So, it is up to you. In this method, time is not a factor. One individual in history broke through just a month after he became a peak Human."

Hearing this, Daneel fell silent.

Seeing that he was thinking, Stefan and the rest gave him some space.

From everything he had heard, all the clues pointed to one thing: somehow, the body had to feel the 'need'.

Time was short, but if he chose the route of critical injuries, there was a real risk of dying or losing power. After all, with the medical miracles that were possible with magic, the meaning of the word 'critical' must be terrifying.

However, the other methods were too slow.

After thinking for a few minutes, Daneel made a decision.

He had no mood to play with his life, but as he had learned during the ordeal with Skrrag when he had obtained the inheritance, hardships were necessary to step forward.

So, he settled on the plan to first try the other methods for a while, before proceeding towards the method of injuring himself, or getting injured in a fight, to try and break through.

After deciding, he didn't hesitate.

Daneel completely threw himself into the schedule prepared by the top assassins after he made his intention known.

In the mornings, he would try self-motivation, followed by a session of futile training in the afternoon, after which he would spar with the assassins in the evening.

In this way, days passed, but with each day in which there was no sign of a breakthrough, Daneel felt tempted to begin life-or-death sparring.

A week passed, and with impatience, Daneel realized that these methods were just not working.

Hence, he called the top assassins to announce that even if it meant facing death up close, he would fight with all he had and allow himself to get injured.

They agreed, and this was followed by 3 days that Daneel would never forget in his life.

Each day, he would be injured to the boundary between life and death. He had to allow this to be done while conserving his trump cards, as he couldn't let others know about them.

Each night, he would be healed, but there was no change.

Daneel was at his wit's end. But, with no other choice, he continued, as there was no other way.

However, on the morning of the fourth day, one of his trinkets vibrated.

Someone had step foot in the vicinity of the Withering Leaf Sect Headquarters.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

407 Trapped

The Withering Leaf Sect Headquarters?

Daneel had just been there 2 months back, and there had been no movements at the place for months before that. Suddenly, someone had reached it?

Due to the nature of the many traps placed inside the Valley, only someone who had knowledge about them, or someone who was powerful enough not to care about them would be able to reach the headquarters.

In the first case, it could be a member of the sect who had survived.

Back when he had forced the sect to flee, he had killed off a large part of them, but of those who escaped, only a part were accounted for. They had infiltrated the palace of Lanthanor and slaughtered innocent, before paying the price of their actions by turning into pools of blood.

The rest were still out there, and they had always been on the back of Daneel's mind. After all, the grudge he had with them was something that could only be resolved by death.

So, the main purpose of the trap was to notify him if someone came back for the techniques. If they did, he could kill them and decrease the length of his list of enemies in Angaria.

However, if it was some Champion who was there for a different reason, Daneel might well get himself killed.

Still, there was no hesitation in his decision. He had to go.

Because the system was upgraded, he at least had a hope to escape before dying in case he really did meet someone he couldn't handle. Hell, he could even call on Marcus as a last resort, as the man had promised to keep him safe for 6 months.

Besides, he was quite frustrated with these attempts to get into the Warrior realm. By all accounts, the best method was the last one, but it wasn't working.

Clearly, something was missing.

Deciding to think more on it after returning, Daneel told Stefan that he had to go handle some urgent business.

Hearing this, Stefan sighed.

"Kid, all of us like you. You have a singular determination, just like that ass-, cough, I mean, that master of yours. No matter what he did, he saved our sect. We have already given you all the information we can. The rest is up to you. If you wish to resume the attempts with us, come back any time. Here. These are our communication trinkets. If you are in danger, do not hesitate to call on us. Just…get to the Warrior realm fast, and be sure to tell your master that you couldn't have done it without us. Got it?"

Understanding that he had given these 5 some very deep trauma, Daneel nodded and accepted the trinkets.

Having a bunch of Warrior level assassins to call on was definitely a plus.

Lead out by the reptilian who had helped him enter, Daneel made sure no one was watching him before teleporting away to get to the Valley.

He had debated whether to visit the Watcher, but the man would also definitely be bound by strong oaths to not reveal anything regarding training technique. So, he felt that it was useless.

After reaching the outskirts of the Valley of Mist, Daneel felt that something was wrong.

Many times since he had transmigrated to this world, his guts had saved his life by giving him timely warnings regarding things he was going to face.

Right now, they were screaming at him to turn around and run.

The border of the Valley felt like the gaping maw of a gargantuan beast that wanted to swallow him whole, and as he took a few steps forward, it seemed to lean forward, eager to get started on its meal.

For the life of him, Daneel couldn't understand what was going on. 2 months back, he had felt no such thing, except that small tingle in his back which was probably due to the existence of very dangerous traps.

Once again, he debated whether to enter.

He had all kinds of trump cards and now, even Warriors to call on, so it seemed foolish to turn back without at least investigating.

After all, the fewer variables there were, the better.

So, ignoring his guts which were still raging at him, Daneel stepped into the Valley and asked the system to activate the Hidden Item Detection tool as usual.

However, when he saw the message it showed, he felt shocked before quickly moving forward as if everything was normal.

[Host under surveillance. Direction of surveiller: North. Method of surveillance: formation maze. 2 formation mazes discovered in host's path. First maze has been laid down for a long time. Second maze has been laid down recently. The purpose of the second maze is to alert an individual about the whereabouts of a person using their presence. Second maze is at the Champion level.]

Cold sweat appeared on Daneel's back as he realized that he wouldn't even have been able to detect the second maze if the system hadn't been upgraded.

Clearly, someone wanted to track his movements in the Valley of Mist in the most covert way of possible. Usually, this would be enough to work on anyone in the Central Continent, including the Warrior level assassins he had just conversed with.

Of course, Daneel was different.

The one watching him couldn't know that they had been found out, so Daneel acted as if everything was normal. He started to evade the traps in the Valley while moving towards the sect headquarters.

Even he didn't dare to teleport inside the Valley, as the formations here were rigged to attack the moment space elementary particles were agitated to cast a spell. With the sheer number of traps around, almost anyone would be consumed before they would teleport away.

While walking, Daneel decided on his next step.

One thing had become clear: this was a trap.

The fact that this change had occurred in the Valley only after his trip meant that someone had planned it using all this time.

Who could it be? Was it a member of the sect who had seen him?

Regardless, the fact was that he was on someone else's turf. Even though he had the system, he had to be as careful as possible.

First things first, he didn't like that he was following someone else's plan. If he continued, there would definitely be a surprise waiting ahead.

So, he started to devise a plan.

….

The sect leader of the Withering Leaf Sect had his eyes closed while controlling the formation maze which was tracking the King of Lanthanor's movements.

He had waited so long for this day. Since that fateful moment in the Valley when those who had taught and raised him had perished in front of his eyes, he had vowed to take revenge.

Now, it was finally time to appease them.

Slowly, he started to move to intercept the King.

His appearance was even more shoddy from before. What was most strange was that along with the red, bloody marks on his hands, there was a red stain around his mouth which looked eerie.

His face had an even more crazed look than before, but he was in full control of his faculties right now, poised, waiting to strike.

A single blow from a Warrior should be enough to put an end to an Exalted Human. Especially in the case of a Warrior in his present state, there was no chance of survival.

In just one minute, his target would be at the optimal distance for him to attack. However, at this point, the King of Lanthanor stopped for a moment before continuing onwards again.

Although the sect leader got a slight feeling that something might be wrong, he fully trusted the detection formation he had obtained after much difficulty. There was no way in hell that a mere Human level boy could fool a Champion level formation.

So, telling himself that the pause was nothing, the sect leader resumed waiting.

As the seconds ticked by, his heart started to beat louder in his chest, and he took out a trinket shaped like a needle before squeezing it and enlarging it.

It really was a large, thick, needle-shaped object with a sharp end. On its other end was a handle, making it appear like some sort of weird weapon.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Now!

WHOOSH!

With blinding speed, the needle glowed a faint red before being thrown in a specific direction.

In a fraction of a second, the sound of it hitting its target could be heard, making the sect leader jump forward in glee.

However, what he saw made him rip off his hair in frustration.

The needle had indeed hit its mark, but while he watched, the King of Lanthanor's body dissipated. It had a smile on its face, as if it had accomplished some sort of mission.

NO! His plan had failed!

Well, it was a good thing that he had made many, as this was his only shot.

Taking out a trinket, he said, "Plan B. Now."

…..

Meanwhile, Daneel was standing at a specific spot in the Valley with a small smile on his lips.

[Surveillance Dissonance Spell Developed to counter the Formation Maze is active.]

Indeed, he had simply used the system to fool his enemy for a very specific reason.

"Is the simulation ready?"

[Affirmative. Using the attack sustained by host's clone, system has created a simulation with the approximate power level of target. Estimated Power Level: Eminent Warrior.]

Hearing this, Daneel was surprised but not shocked.

However, just as he was about to ask the system to activate the simulation, a message sounded in his head which made slight worry appear on his face.

[System has detected that individuals have activated Champion level attack formations on the borders of the Valley of Mist. Controller of the formations must be killed for system to obtain control of these formations.]

Wait…he couldn't go out without killing the controller?!

Clearly, the enemy's planning had gone above and beyond what Daneel had expected. Their intention was to trap him inside, like a lamb for slaughter.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

408 Ambush

Usually, if Daneel were stuck in a situation like this where the only option was to put himself in life-threatening danger, he would have been panicking by now.

After all, the other party was an Eminent Warrior with unknown trump cards while he was still an Exalted Human.

However, ever since he had gotten the message that someone had stepped into the vicinity of the Withering Leaf Sect Headquarters, he had gotten a suspicion that his method of going about becoming a Warrior was flawed.

The experiences of the top assassins had been invaluable, but instead of sitting down and understanding them in-depth, Daneel had rushed into trying out a plan because of the urgency he felt.

That had been his first mistake. The 'need' varied from individual to individual, but the moment of it appearing was never perfectly planned by anyone. If so, how could he have hoped to make it come by just directly applying what the others had gone through?

Secondly, from his experience on Earth, Daneel knew that this 'need' might correspond to some evolutionary instinct of an organism to continue surviving.

Although the method varied, stepping past the threshold was all about adapting oneself into a higher realm. That was the clue: to push past.

If so, the end goal in his mind during his training had been correct, but his way of going about it had been completely wrong.

A man who was in a fight would definitely not try to push his limits if he knew that there was no risk of him dying.

It was very simple logic, but one that he had missed in his hurry.

Regardless, he would soon have a chance to test his hypothesis.

Closing his eyes, he entered into a state of meditation first, where he constantly told himself that he could rely on himself in the next fight. Either he would win, or die.

If his opponent ended up being too weak, then he would just have to look for a different, stronger one.

But if that was not the case, then he would either break through or die trying.

The fate of Angaria itself rested on his shoulders, and as he realized it, his chest puffed up with confidence.

For all those who were depending on him, he had to do it, no matter what.

This self-hypnosis worked, as he felt his heart beat rising in anticipation of a blood-boiling competition.

He would use every trick in the damn book. Nothing was off-limits.

For once, he was going to go all out.

…..

As the sect leader wandered through the Valley, he kept trying hard not to let his mind stray from his goal of killing the King of Lanthanor.

If he had succeeded before, he wouldn't have found himself in this position now, where he was constantly reminded of a few scenes in his mind.

The first was always the same: it was the one where he could only watch as the elders of the sect were slaughtered before they made their way out of the Valley of Mist.

The second, though, was very strange.

It looked just like the first one, but it was morphed.

Sect members had been slaughtered left and right, but instead of watching from afar, the sect leader was amongst them.

He could see clearly with his own eyes how each of the bodies had a disbelieving and fearful look on their faces, as if they couldn't get themselves to believe who or what had killed them.

Each body had a large hole in the stomach area, and they all also looked like their blood had been drained.

Through all this, the sect leader was constantly walking between them.

Women, children, teenagers. Whoever the culprit was, he had shown no mercy.

There was one thing which was off: no matter what the sect leader did, he did not look down at his own hands.

Repeatedly, he kept chanting the words "King of Lanthanor", the man he saw as the devil who had caused all this carnage.

At the last moment, he was just about to look down at his body in his memory once again, but the sect leader shook his head, making that scene freeze while forcefully pulling himself back to the present.

The King had done it all. He had slaughtered his sect, his family.

He would pay.

Just as he was about to contact the last few sect members alive whom he had positioned outside the Valley to activate the trap once again, the sect leader heard a few voices from a particular direction.

It had been over an hour since that man had escaped his attack, and he had been frantically searching everywhere while expertly avoiding the traps placed at every step.

It didn't make sense for someone else to have entered the Valley, and he had told his sect members not to enter at any cost. Besides, they didn't even know how to navigate through the traps, so they would have been mincemeat by now.

Maybe that King had called for reinforcements?

That didn't make much sense, as the sect leader was still constantly checking the formation. He couldn't even wrap his head around the fact that the King had escaped its surveillance, so he couldn't accept that even others in the Central Continent were capable of his feat.

Regardless, anyone he didn't know were threats, and they had to be eliminated.

Silently, he made his way through the bushes toward the source of the sounds.

However, merely a few seconds later, when the voices became clear, the sect leader froze.

They were familiar.

Hauntingly so.

"Jaqueline, run toward the front! You can get away, leave us be!"

"No, grandpa!"

"Throw all the young ones forward! They must teleport away! Even if we die, he will avenge us!"

That voice…belonged to the man who used to bring him candy late at night whenever he fought well in the morning.

As for the other man, he had carried him on his shoulders while taking him around the Valley.

No! It was impossible!

There was no method to record audio or video in the Central Continent that he knew of, so he couldn't make sense of what was happening.

Besides, these things were what these people had said before their deaths.

How could he be hearing them now?

Unless…they had found out what he had done, and had come back?

Whatever the reason was, crippling shock encapsulated the sect leader's body, making him stand still.

His mind was blank, so by the time he heard a strange noise above him, it was already too late.

Some kind of…object had floated to the spot right above him, before silently shooting forward 4 projectiles which all looked like eerie, green skulls that wanted to eat him, piece by piece.

It was a trap!

Wait…hadn't he been the one to trap the King inside the Valley? How the hell had the man laid a trap for him, instead?

There was no time to think. Thankfully, he was a Warrior, so his body responded quickly, allowing him to jump away at the last moment.

However, the 4 projectiles which looked like fiery cannon balls had been cleverly shot with the added effect of sealing off all escape routes, and they even seemed to be able to edit their paths.

2 still managed to hit him, with one brushing past his shoulder and the other hitting him square in the back, making him thud to the ground before skidding on it.

In the process, 3 traps activated, with 2 shooting ice shards at him and the third releasing some kind of poison.

Facing so many attacks all at once, the sect leader showed his experience.

First, he blocked off the air entering his nostrils before making barriers appear around him that stopped the ice shards. These were powerful traps, so he needed to conjure multiple barriers before the thick ice shards finally dissipated.

Finally, he realized that the man problem was the green fire, which was slowly engulfing his whole body.

It looked like it wouldn't stop spreading till there was nothing left of him, and it kept eating through every barrier he made.

Still, he had managed to reach an equilibrium with it, so the next step was to look for a way to purge it from his body.

His back had thankfully been protected by a Warrior level defense trinket, so he had only been hurt by the impact of hitting the ground.

That had been…scary.

However, just as he was about to snarl and look for his opponent, he realized that he had been surrounded by 4 more objects just like the one that had shot at him from above just now.

Sh*t.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As they all once again shot those devastating cannonballs at him, the sect leader at least had the chance this time to grasp a few items in his pocket.

One after the other, Warrior level defense trinkets came into being which were supplemented by his own Warrior level barriers.

As he saw the trinkets which were worth millions of gold coins that had been earned by the hard work of the sect members be burned away one by one, the rage in him once again increased.

The caster of these things must be close, and as he extended his senses outward, he realized that his opponent was being very sly: he had hidden himself covertly on top of a tree just a few meters away. If it hadn't been for his skills that had been honed in countless battles and the secret techniques of the sect which had once been part of the Big 4, he would never have spotted him.

However, now that he had, it was finally time.

BOOOMM!

At a speed that wasn't visible to the naked eye, the sect leader shot towards his target, but as he did so, the image he had been blocking in his mind finally became clear.

He looked down in the scene in his memory, and he saw his clothes drenched in blood, while his fingernails had bits of flesh still stuck in them.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

409 Who Will?

All dead.

By his hands.

The entire Withering Leaf Sect, wiped out in a single night.

For what?

For this.

As the sect leader neared his target, his veins started to pulse in a weird manner, alerting his opponent that something was wrong.

However, he didn't care. It was too late already.

If this kid had hidden in some bush while waiting for reinforcements, the sect leader might have considered changing his plan. He could have lain in wait, while carrying out a few massacres in the Kingdom this kid seemed to like so much.

However, by choosing to ambush him while being the one who had been trapped, he had written his own death warrant.

The pulsing of the veins was also accompanied by the entire body of the sect leader turning red.

As he felt his power increasing quickly, the sect leader smiled in anticipation of wetting his hands in the blood of one more person.

Along with his body, his persona seemed to shift. Before, he had at least been cautious of that memory, taking care not to focus on the truly gruesome parts.

However, now, he relished those moments when he locked all the sect members in a room after making them believe in him, before killing each one and absorbing their blood.

With each person whose blood he absorbed, he felt his power grow, leading him to break through from the Amateur Warrior realm to become an Eminent Warrior.

Of course, that wasn't the only advantage.

This 'bloodboiling' state was supposed to push his power to the peak of the Eminent Warrior level, further decreasing any chance of his opponent escaping.

He really had to thank that man who had given him technique once again.

All this seemed to happen over a long time, but the truth was, even a second hadn't passed since he had shot forward.

Even as the expression of his target changed into one of horror, he plunged his hands through his body.

Another clone.

Well, no matter.

Extending his senses in this state, the sect master quickly managed to find the real target: he was hiding in a bush around 100 meters away, and just as the clone dissipated, he took off running through the Valley.

Seeing this, he smiled in a twisted manner before giving chase.

….

Daneel's heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would hammer out of his chest at any moment.

In his mind, he was cursing at this damn guy.

He had anticipated all manners of trump cards, but a method to suddenly increase power by 3 levels was something he could never have expected.

After that attack which had been foiled by the clone, Daneel had carefully practiced his approach using the simulation feature in the upgraded system.

In it, the sect leader had been at the beginning of the Eminent Warrior level, and Daneel had devised multiple plans to kill the man.

In the simulation, his current plan had worked 9/10 times.

This was already good enough, as in that time when it didn't work, he had faced bad luck the likes of which never happened in real life.

According to the system, this was normal, as the simulation could never really simulate reality. There could always be something unexpected.

Like this.

Feeling himself targeted, Daneel briefly looked back to see two mad eyes which sent shivers down his spine.

This man had gone completely crazy. That was quite clear.

[Host's enemy is using the blood he has absorbed/ingested to burn his Energy in order to output higher power. Effect limited to Fighter prowess. Enemy's mage level remains the same as before: Amateur Warrior level.]

Well, there was the silver lining.

His opponent was not a complete Eminent Warrior through and through; if that were the case, Daneel might have given up long back.

He was still an Amateur Warrior mage, and with the system and Daneel's own power as a peak Exalted Human mage, he could at least match him and defend himself.

The problem was with the sect leader's Fighter prowess.

In the simulation, Daneel had had to go to great lengths to avoid getting into close-quarters with the man in order to kill him.

That plan had hinged on him being at the beginner Eminent Warrior level, and even then, it had required very meticulous planning.

However, that was no longer viable now.

In the Warrior realm, it seemed that the difference between each individual level was much more pronounced than in the Human realm.

Just by advancing 3 levels, this man was already moving 60% faster than in the simulation. If the same difference was there in the Human realm, he would have been at most 30% faster.

While running for his life, Daneel tried to decide what the heck he was going to do.

Fleeing was no longer an option at all; even if he called for reinforcements, he would be dead before they arrived.

He felt like he was missing another option, but he had no time to think further down that line now.

Either he came up with something right now, or he would be dead in the next minute.

No saving Lanthanor. No saving Angaria. No saving anyone.

Feeling the pressure weighing down on his shoulders, Daneel entered into a highly focused mode.

He needed allies. Desperately.

And…he actually had a ton of them all around!

"System, call all the mosquitoes. As many as can be controlled. First, have them hold him off."

[Affirmative.]

Yes! He could use the mosquitoes to level the playing field, while looking for an opportunity to strike.

Daneel knew that he only needed one chance to pierce the man so that he could send the Tenebrous Flame inside. After that, the Flame would do all the work.

It was hard enough for someone to cast a barrier on themselves, as this required very minute control of elementary particles. After all, creating a balloon was much easier than creating a pair of clothes which perfectly matched a person's body.

Hence, it was impossible for a Warrior to cast barriers inside their own body to prevent the flame from spreading and eating up their entire body.

All he needed was one breach, and victory might be his, especially with the upgraded system controlling the fire to split it into numerous small tendrils that would infiltrate his body.

Deciding on his plan, Daneel didn't hesitate.

First, he took out all the Warrior level defense trinkets he had on him.

He had won a few in his trip to the Hidden Kill Sect, and he also had others which were obtained by Lanthanor.

These would be his last defense line.

Activating them and keeping them ready, he watched as a cloud of mosquitoes quickly gathered at his area.

He wondered whether to build any more constructs, but his best construct had already failed. He had even built those with a lot of concentration and time, two things he didn't have right now. So, it would be futile to waste his energy on that option.

The Ruler's inheritance worked when he had people around him who followed him, but as he was just surrounded by mosquitoes which were only loyal to their next meal, it couldn't be used.

That left the Basilisk's Breath and the Art of the Withering Leaf.

He was going to use the former to preserve his life while looking for a chance, and he would use the latter at a critical point of time to get that chance, by hopefully startling the sect leader.

His plan set, Daneel stood and waited.

The mosquitoes were spread all throughout the Valley, and although Daneel had been regularly killing them to use their blood to train, they bred at a frantic pace. In fact, if the system wasn't controlling their rate of growth, they would definitely have destroyed the ecosystem of the Valley completely by now.

Instead of that, they had assimilated themselves to become the top predator.

Daneel didn't have to wait long. In 2 seconds, the sect leader arrived and launched an attack with a manic expression on his face.

There were actually two attacks: one was a punch, and the other was a shard of reinforced, condensed ice.

Magic attacks along with close-combat fighting: so this was the sect leader's mode of combat.

This actually worked in Daneel's favor, as it was inherently weaker than the Hidden Kill Sect Assassin's method of merging the two to make one seamless, deadly attack.

Of course, that required for the Fighter and Mage prowess to be at the same level.

Daneel didn't even bother handling the mage attack by himself. Commanding the system to cast everything necessary to counter the magic, he busied himself with dealing with the punch.

"Activate."

Time slowed down, and Daneel made a clear mental note about the trajectory of the attack, while taking care not to move himself in that split-second.

"Deactivate."

Lunging to the side with reflexes that looked like they were predicting the opponent's movements, Daneel launched his own punch-a Hidden Kill one.

It impacted the barrier surrounding the sect leader, leaving a small ripple on it.

"Left side, attack."

Before the sect leader could fight back, a dense cloud of mosquitoes attacked him from the left, making him growl with anger before casting a fire tornado to take care of them.

Daneel used the opportunity to land 3 more punches, and they seemed to have some effect.

The sect leader's body became bruised, but he seemed to have become even more angered in the process.

In this way, the fight continued.

The system would handle the magic attacks of the sect leader while controlling the mosquitoes to distract him, while Daneel would use the Basilisk's Breath to dodge and keep landing attacks.

With each attack, there was a little damage, but it was minute.

Occasionally, the sect leader would use the Art of the Withering Leaf to throw his attacks back at him, and Daneel would just have to cast more spells to counter.

With each passing second, he felt his mageroot start to ache, while his fists started to leak blood to repeated impacts with the barrier.

With each passing second, the frustration inside Daneel grew.

If only he could punch just a little harder.

If only he could move just a little faster, so that he would have more time to land more attacks.

If only his magic attacks moved faster and had more power, so that he could hope to overpower his opponent.

The frustrations built up inside him like a tower, all while he became increasingly fatigued.

After just one minute of their fight, he endured his first injury.

He had anticipated the sect leader's attack, but he hadn't been fast enough.

As a result, the sect leader's punch connected with his shoulder, making him stagger backward.

Even though his barrier blocked the majority, the impact he felt made his shoulder burn as if it was on fire.

His left hand became slower than his right, making panic appear on Daneel's face.

Still, he held on, somehow managing to dodge like the last struggles of a mouse whose eventual fate would be to be eaten by a cat.

His shortcomings stood out glaringly, making him scream at them in anguish.

His mageroot had also begun to burn, meaning that he was losing the battle on the mage front too.

The mosquitoes were running out; already, they were taking care not to step in puddles of blood so as not to lose balance.

Was he really going to die here?

Daneel racked his brain for options, but except for that faint thought that something was eluding his mind, there was nothing else.

His next injury was to his stomach, which directly made him spit out blood.

The next one hit his chest, making his whole body seem sluggish.

Slowly, the Warrior trinkets started to shatter one by one, until he was almost standing like a punching bag in front of the sect leader.

His opponent seemed to be taking great pleasure, as with each punch that landed, his smile grew wider, until it covered over half of his face, making for a very creepy sight.

With each punch and kick that hit him, Daneel raged at himself.

The thought of letting down everyone and failing haunted him, making him feel disgust and hate.

Disgust at his overconfidence, which had led him to take this fight.

Hate at his incompetence, which was leading him to lose.

And finally, rage.

So, so much rage. Rage that burned to the heavens. Rage whose only target was himself.

Why can't you be stronger?

Why can't you be faster?

He asked, but he received no answer.

Each and every part of his body was leaking blood, as lacerations had started to appear due to the repeated impact.

The blood loss was making him dizzy, and images he had long forgotten started to appear, such as the image of that smiling, kind old lady who had taken care of him in the orphanage back on Earth.

Was this it?

Was this where his tale ended?

No.

NO.

He couldn't go down like this.

He couldn't let some arrogant sect leader take his life, thereby ending the last hope for Angaria to survive the Church.

He couldn't stand the thought of his family, friends, and citizens living with the fact that their King had died because he was too weak.

For one, final time, he screamed.

He screamed at his shortcomings, his weaknesses, his fears.

He screamed at his incomplete life, his unfulfilled dreams, his inadequate power.

He screamed until he didn't know whether he was screaming inside his mind, or out loud.

Why can't I be stronger?

Why can't I be faster?

Why can't I fight back?

Why? Why? WHY?

A single image flashed in front of his eyes: the image of Angaria, which he had seen from above in his chat with the Watcher, turning completely red with the blood of the millions who inhabited it.

The images of his friends and family dying didn't need to appear in his mind's eye. They were already visible in that image of Angaria, which represented them all.

Still receiving no answer, Daneel changed his question.

This question rose up from the deepest recesses of his mind, but it resonated with his entire existence.

"If I can't save it, who will?"

As Daneel started to realize that this was the question he would ask last in his life, his screams reached a crescendo, and he saw one final blow flying at his face, while the expression of triumph on his opponent's face was clearly visible.

At this moment, as Daneel almost gave up and let the regret consume him before taking him away, something seemed to answer from inside his body.

It answered the question he had asked before, but it seemed to have awakened due to the question he had asked last.

Regardless, the moment it sounded, everything changed.

"Why? Because you never needed it, that's why."

CLICK

Raising his hand in a smooth motion, Daneel caught the sect leader's punch.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

410 Aftermath

[Host status updating. Please standby.

Host status:

Host Fighter Level: Warrior-1(50%)

Host Mage Level: Warrior-1(50%)

Host Condensation Level: Ideal(Amplification: .2x)

Host Body Potential: A+

Host Comprehension Level: ????

Host Condition: Nominal

Subroutine Primary Outcome achieved. Canceling subroutine. Deactivating tool.]

As the sect leader stared with wide open eyes, the system gave this message.

Things he hadn't been able to think of before once again appeared in his mind, making a smile appear on his face.

It was as if his persona itself had changed: from that scared King who had been running away with fear before because of going into a fight impulsively, to a World Dominator who always had everything under his control.

This was the real Daneel, but if he hadn't been the former during that fight, he would never have broken through in this way.

The sect leader noticed this, and his shock multiplied.

It was as if he was seeing a completely different person. Before, the kid he had been fighting had been a flustered and angry individual who was regretting the fact that he had even entered that fight.

Now, it was as if he was looking into the eyes of a mastermind who had engineered everything to play out in this way.

No! How could this be possible!

It didn't make sense. Was the King of Lanthanor crazy? Did he have multiple personalities?

If so, how had no one heard of it?

During the split second that the sect leader had before being blown back by a punch to his stomach, he asked these questions, the answers to which he would never find out.

One thing was clear: this was not the man he had entered the fight with.

Indeed, after catching hold of the sect leader's hand, Daneel had unhesitatingly launched an attack.

This fight was over.

Even his opponent seemed to know this, as was evidenced by the look of absolute shock and panic on his face.

Before the sect leader landed on the ground, Daneel pointed at him.

[Champion level Paragon Construct: Dragon Claw of Lanthanor forming]

The sect leader couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He remembered being witness to the image of a dragon in one of the books present in their archives, and he had marveled at their majesty and grace which somehow combined with overwhelmed power and ferociousness.

Now, as he saw a gigantic dragon claw materialize in front of him to pin him down, he once again felt that awe, which was this time coupled with fear.

Yes, maybe his opponent had broken through to the Warrior level at such an opportune time.

However, how the hell was he able to cast such a terrifying spell?

Objects like these were only said to be able to be conjured by Champions, and that too only by the most talented of them.

How the heck was a Warrior able to do the same?

The sect leader didn't understand.

And his opponent didn't give him the time to think further.

With astonishing speed, the King of Lanthanor used that second of time obtained by him using the Dragon Claw to rush forward and aim a punch at the Withering Leaf sect leader's head.

He had calculated it perfectly: the Dragon Claw attack had shattered the Warrior level defense trinket on his opponent's body, so his punch made it's way through, knocking his opponent unconscious.

Such speed and reaction time would definitely not have been capable of him just moments back.

Seeing the sect leader close his eyes, Daneel, himself collapsed to the ground.

His entire body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder, and the spot on his forehead where his mageroot was situated felt like it was being repeatedly pierced by flaming needles.

"Kellor and Cassandra, move in with the army. There should be some sect members outside the Valley, too. Apprehend them. Use the map I will transmit to you shortly to reach me. Remember: follow the instructions as closely as you can, or you will trigger the traps. Disable the sect leader, and imprison him securely. Remember: he's a Warrior, so use appropriate shackles and equipment."

By the time the last word exited Daneel's mouth, he was already half-unconsiousness. Sending the map relayed by the system, Daneel closed his eyes and crumpled on the ground, his blood pooling around him while the system continuously cast simple healing spells to keep him alive.

2 men lay side by side, but their expressions were so contrasting that anyone would gasp with surprise on seeing them.

One of them had an expression of absolute shock and fear, as if something truly unexpected had occurred.

The other: he had the expression of one who was genuinely happy and satisfied that everything had gone according to plan.

…

An unknown amount of time later.

Waking up with a start, Daneel looked around and wondered whether he was dreaming.

Everything felt…different.

Slowly, he raised his hand, awed at how…effortless it felt.

He had felt that he was quite powerful and fast while being an Exalted Human, but now, when he looked back, it felt as if he had constantly been swimming through lead then.

His bones, blood, organs: all seemed to be functioning more efficiently. In a way, it was as if he was a vehicle which had switched gears.

He had felt this once before: when he had advanced on his path as a Fighter and Mage after entering this world for the first time.

Now, he knew why it was called a different realm.

Warriors couldn't be compared to Humans in any way, and this made him chuckle at that stupid decision to take that fight before.

No matter which way it played out, he would have been killed.

Leaning back on the bed and yawning lazily, Daneel recalled his plan.

Before stepping out to face the sect leader after self-hypnotizing himself, Daneel just hadn't been able to do it.

True, the simulation had shown that he might win 9/10 times, but his guts had been screaming at him continuously that this was a mistake.

It had felt just plain foolish to ignore them.

Besides, he had been through a lot to become who he was now. His smart nature, slyness, and intelligence as a King had been obtained after making mistakes and learning, and he hadn't been able to step forward and ignore all those.

After all, this wasn't his last option. True, he had a deadline and he had to reach it, but if he died while hastily rushing to reach it, everything would be futile anyway.

He could simply wait and train and put himself through other dangerous situations. He had 4 months of time! If he still didn't succeed, after that, he could simply go seek a fight with someone else as a last resort.

Also, he had multiple Champion level trinkets on his body which he could use to take care of his opponent easily. After all, a Warrior couldn't hope to defend against multiple head-on attacks from a Champion, no matter what level he was on.

So, no matter how Daneel saw it, he couldn't justify dumbly going out to face the sect leader, especially due to fact that he could beat the man by resorting to extreme means without risking his life.

He wasn't truly trapped either. He could simply call his army, and even a Warrior wouldn't be able to defend himself against the bombardments of hundreds of soldiers.

Hence, Daneel had once again stopped and thought about what to do, and it was then that he had hit upon this idea.

The system was able to control his facial expressions by taking them from his memories. It could go through his memories to replay things, or analyze. Then, why couldn't it block certain things from him?

On asking the system this, he had received the answer that it was possible.

[Memory Smudger-1 Tool available for purchase. Cost: 5000 EXP.

Memory Smudger-1: For a short period of time, certain chosen memories/knowledge/traits/experiences can be blocked from host's active mind. Specified memories/knowledge/traits/experiences can also be imposed. Please upgrade the tool to increase time of effect.

Level-1 Time of Effect: 60 minutes.]

He had been expecting the system to be capable of it by default, but Daneel had had no problem with the fact that he needed to spend EXP. He had a feeling that it would be incredibly useful in the future too.

So, with 0 EXP in his pocket, Daneel had set about installing backup plans to save himself in place. The system was capable of carrying out simple pre-programmed orders, so he had ordered it to make a subroutine to send instructions and call the army to save him in case he was really about to die, and also to activate a Champion level trinket to stall.

Kellor and Cassandra had been called over with elite Mage and Fighter units, and they had been put on standby.

After that, it had been a simple process of using the tool to make himself think that he was truly trapped with no other way out, and that he had to fight the sect leader at any cost and win with his own power without relying on any outside help.

If it would work, it would work. If it didn't, he would at least live to try again later.

It had been close. Looking down at his body that was still laced with wounds, Daneel shuddered at the thought of going into that thought without all these preparations.

And remembering that thought of "If I won't do it, who will?", he chuckled.

Right now, he was just a nobody who couldn't do a single thing against the Church if it attacked. Compared to the many Warriors, Champions and individuals possibly above that level on this continent, he was less than an ant.

Being so, it sounded naïve and preposterous to think that he was its savior.

Of course, he was going to become someone who would save Angaria, but he was still nowhere close.

However, the thought did sound...admirable.

Just as he was about to inspect that strange line of information he had seen on the status, Kellor sent an urgent message through the oathstone.

"My King! The sect leader just collapsed! Blood seems to be pouring out of his pores! We don't know what to do!"

With alarm, Daneel rushed to the underground prison.

He had a lot of questions to ask this man, but by the time he arrived, the sect leader was writhing as blood congealed around his body.

His eyes were rolled back into his head, but he was sputtering a few words repeatedly.

As Daneel heard them, he opened his mouth in surprise.

"D-damn y-you A-Ashahell! Th-this wasn't written in t-the technique! I w-will have my re-revenge!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

411 Decision

Ashahell again!

As Daneel heard this name again, he felt as if this man was like a wraith that was everywhere.

He had already caused great trouble for Daneel once by giving that mosquito to Axelor. Now, he had given some sort of technique to this sect leader?

Daneel didn't understand at all. It was one thing if he was an evil character who wanted to end Angaria for his own selfish reasons.

However, according to the Watcher, he was the head of the High Council of the Big 4. As someone sitting in such a position, how was it possible for him to do all these things and still not be found out?

Daneel had many questions like these in his head, but first, he had to save this sect leader.

Blood was oozing out of all of his pores constantly, almost as if he was leaking like a balloon. If Daneel didn't do something, he would be dead soon, and there would be no chance to find out more about this foe.

So, unlocking the prison using the system, Daneel entered and laid a hand on the sect leader.

Due to the blood, the sect leader was sticky and wet, but Daneel ignored the gross feeling and concentrated on the system's response.

[Target is undergoing a violent reaction due to sudden catalysis of absorbed Energy. Target has absorbed a high amount of human blood, which has also made him unstable. Similarities found in target's technique with host's Blood Absorption technique.]

"All that is fine, but how do I save him?"

[All excess blood must be drained, and fresh, Energy-rich blood must be transfused, preferably from someone of similar level. Chances of survival increase if level is similar.

Probability of survival if blood of Warrior level individual is transfused: 60%.

Probability of survival if blood of Human level individual is transfused: 20%]

What? He had to give this man his own blood to keep him alive?

Daneel hesitated only for a moment, before commanding Kellor and the soldiers watching to leave.

Soon, he was going to infiltrate the Big 4 to foil Ashahell's plan. It was best to know more about him before he did so.

So, after he found himself alone, Daneel cut his arm using a wind blade and ordered the system to carry out the blood transfusion.

The man had already been leaking blood for quite some time before Daneel arrived, so he didn't have to wait long until the process started.

Sitting and seeing his blood going into the body of the man who had almost killed him, Daneel smiled wistfully before asking the system to show his status again.

This time, he noticed the anomalies.

Condensation level and amplification? What were those?

And…how the hell was he already halfway to the second level of a Warrior already?

The answer was a pleasant surprise to Daneel, and it made him feel very glad that he had taken that gamble before.

[Condensation Level: This denotes the degree to which Energy has condensed in host's body and mageroot. After host's breakthrough, system compared host's Energy to other Warriors. In this process, it was found out that the degree varies, and this degree also allows for an amplification in training speed. Further data is needed to find the reasons behind different condensation levels. There is a probability that the condensation level might be tied to the degree of 'need'. Training method also plays a key role.]

So, fighting on the line between life and death had paid off, after all.

Daneel didn't care much for the rest of the details, except noting the fact that higher condensation level meant faster training.

But, he did get a query.

"What is the highest condensation level and amplification that has been detected?", he asked, as the system had said that it had compared his to others'/

[It must be noted that only Warriors were scanned.

Highest Condensation Level: Exceptional(2 levels above ideal)

Amplification: .5x

Target: The individual known as 'Sister Xuan'

The training method of this target has brought about this level of condensation and amplification.]

Hearing this, Daneel's jaw dropped.

The top disciples from the Big 4 were able to train twice as fast as regular Warriors?

Now, Daneel understood part of the reason why the Big 4 maintained their position.

Not only did their disciples have top-notch techniques and resources, but they could also train faster!

He had to get these techniques, one way or another.

As Daneel resolved this in his mind, he heard the sect leader groan.

As the man slowly fluttered his eyes and opened them, he saw a very strange sight.

The one whom he had to sworn to kill, the one who was the reason why the Withering Leaf Sect members had been killed and drained of their blood, was sitting beside him and giving him his blood.

This situation seemed so odd and ironic that the sect leader could only laugh.

During their fight, he had come face to face with the fact that he was the one who had killed all of his fellow sect members. So, in a way, the other persona was no longer present, as its existence had been due to the fact that he hadn't been able to accept that fact.

Now that he did, pain and guilt racked him, but more than anything, there was disappointment and regret that he had failed.

Seeing him looking at him, his arch enemy turned around and…waved.

This made the sect leader want to rip his skin open, so that he wouldn't have to accept this blood.

However, suddenly, he found that he couldn't move his body, which made him snarl with frustration.

The fire for revenge was still there, but right now, he was infuriated at that man from the Big 4 who had given him that technique.

"Ya, ya, I know you don't want to be saved by me. Let's cut to the chase, as I have no time to waste. You are imprisoned here. Without my command, you cannot die, and you cannot leave. Just ask the Knight from the Church who's next door to you. The guy has happily settled in for the long haul! Of course, he's confident that the Church will come to get him. You, though, have no such luxury. So, I'll make it easy for you. Either swear an oath to listen to my orders, no matter what they are, or rot away here, waiting for a death that might never come. After all, I might find some way to control you in the future when I become a Champion. Anyway, first, if you don't want your happy stay to be marred by torture, tell me everything you know about Ashahell. I have some beef to pick with him, and I would love to know more so that he doesn't catch me off guard, like you almost did."

Hearing his options clearly laid out for him, the sect leader knew they were the only ones he had.

He had heard about these prisons that were there in all the major forces in the Central Continent.

They were some of the only remnants from the old ages which still worked fine. If a Warrior entered, they would almost never be able to leave.

Besides, even if he did somehow manage to escape, he didn't know when it would happen.

As a leader of a large sect, he knew how to prioritize. Also, he did blame Ashahell for the deaths of his sect members, too.

So, he might as well try to make it so that he could have his revenge on him while waiting for a chance to kill his main foe.

Hence, he chose to speak.

"You can forget about the oath. One day, I will have a chance, so I'll just wait for that, or I'll die in the process. I deserve to, anyway, for letting down my sect, but taking you with me would be best. About Ashahell, though, I will speak, because he is second on the list of people I must take revenge on."

Daneel felt glad that the man was speaking, so he sat and let the blood be transferred while listening.

"I met him while I was looking to buy Champion-level trinkets using the wealth of the sect so that I could trap you inside the valley. The seller was a black market dealer from the Big 4, and he asked me why I needed it. I told him the reason, as I felt that the Big 4 might offer help to me, as you are, after all, poised to possibly build something greater than a Kingdom, which is a known taboo. To my surprise, after he heard that you were my target, he told me about a discrete location in the forest west of the Black Raven Kingdom, and asked me to wait there. It was there that Ashahell came to meet me and give me this technique. I could tell that it was just his clone, as he was using trinkets to teleport instead of casting the spell himself. He only wished me good luck, and left, but I could tell that something was wrong. Yet, the technique was authentic. It required me to ingest the blood of beasts to train faster to break through to become an Eminent Warrior. It did say that human blood was best, but I had no intention of using that option. But…why did I? Why did I kill my sect and drink their blood? Something…changed after I started to use the technique. Like…I wasn't myself. Why did I do it?"

Towards the end, the sect leader was mumbling to himself, making Daneel sigh.

Clearly, this was just another pawn being used by this Ashahell to target him and spread chaos. But why? Why was he so interested in him?

Daneel had too many questions, and too few answers.

The only way to resolve them was to go to the damn Big 4 and find out for himself.

Just as he was about to get up and leave this man to his rambling, a communication trinket on Daneel vibrated.

Taking it out, he was surprised to see that it was the one he had given to Percy, that snivelly son of the Mad Doctor.

Curious as to why he was contacting him at this moment, Daneel answered, and raised his eyebrows as he heard the message.

"Master! I have important news about my father's plan to deal with my senior disciple! This time, cutting off his treasured part won't work!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

412 Information

To the west of the Black Raven Kingdom, there was an abandoned forest with dead trees that few dared to travel through in order to get to their destination.

In fact, only nothingness was supposed to be present in this direction, except for a few isolated towns which survived by themselves.

This forest was said to have been the scene of a great fight between powerful figures, who had wrecked it in the process before moving upward to clash in the sky like gods. It was said that their power still remained, ready to harm those who dare to trespass.

Standing in the middle of the forest, Daneel, who was in his persona of Master Novrain, looked around with interest.

Before coming here, he had checked the spy reports about this place, and as the system scanned around him, he was surprised to know that those rumors might actually be true.

[Remnants of Champion level energy found. Estimated time since effect: 180 years.]

He couldn't believe his ears. Champion level energy was so potent that it could still be detected after almost 2 centuries had passed?

Besides, what kind of power was it that had killed all the wildlife but not destroyed it?

All the trees were blackened, as if they had had their life leached out of them. Also, there was an eerie silence, which frankly made Daneel feel that there might be someone behind him creeping up on him.

As he heard a twig snap behind him, he hastily turned around, thinking that his suspicion was true, before seeing that it was simply Percy who had just arrived.

They had decided on this meeting place, as the information that Percy had was too sensitive to be transmitted over communication trinket.

The place had been suggested by Percy, and Daneel had agreed, as the kid had said that it was easy to get to from his sect.

"Master!"

Seeing him, Percy immediately knelt on the ground, making Daneel say, "Get up. You left without even saying goodbye to your master?"

Standing up swiftly, Percy awkwardly looked to the side before saying, "I apologize, Master. We were all called back, as our leaders said that it is not safe for core sect members to be outside especially when there was nothing for us to do. After I went, I had to go through a session of closed-door training as was mandated by the leader. It was during that training that I got to know about this information, and I contacted you as soon as I could."

Whatever this kid's intentions might be, Daneel needed to know this information as the first fight he would have after the six-month period was with the son of the Mad Doctor.

Nodding, Daneel said, "All right, spit it out. If it's actually valuable, I even have a small gift for you."

His eyes widening at the mention of the gift, Percy said, "My father is putting them through a forbidden training technique which pushes them to the peak of the Warrior level if they can endure the pain, while cutting off any hope of getting to the Champion level. It is forbidden not because it has side effects or that reason, but because it uses just too many resources which can be much better utilized in other ways. There are supposed to be other side effects, such as people going mad due to the pain, but pain is something that my father is very specialized in, and I suspect that he used some of his tricks to make sure that my brother and the others don't go cuckoo. Master, I would really like to suggest that senior disciple should hide, as someone who is not even a Warrior cannot hope to defeat a peak Warrior, that too from the Big Four."

Raising an eyebrow, Daneel said in a displeased tone, "Really? So you doubt my ability in picking a disciple, and you think I'm not good enough to teach or instruct him to survive such an engagement?"

Raising his head in panic, Percy shook his head hurriedly and said, "No way! Master is all-powerful, and I'm pretty sure that senior disciple will be given some method or idea to help him overcome this trial. I… Just hope that I can also get a part of that method."

Seeing his shamelessness appear again, Daneel smiled before saying "Good job," and throwing a data trinket at him.

Surprised that his master hadn't berated him and had instead actually given him something for the first time, Percy almost missed the trinket but got it using a spell before quickly examining it with excitement.

"The – the Art of the Withering Leaf?! This is a tier 2 inheritance! Even though it's incomplete… It's something I definitely wouldn't be able to access anytime soon… Thank you, master! Your disciple is very, very grateful!"

Saying these words with a tone of deep gratitude, Percy knelt on the ground once again, and to Daneel's surprise, tears actually came out of his eyes.

What? Why was this slimy kid crying?"

"Get up. This is nothing worth crying about. If you keep helping me, there will be many better things for you. Now, I need something from you."

Nodding, Percy quickly got up and tried to wipe away the tears.

If he was acting, that he was definitely a very good actor, at least as good as Daneel.

After taking a few seconds and stopping the tears, Percy said, "Sorry, master. It's just that… No one has ever appreciated me or given me anything for my efforts. I was always the bastard son who had talent but who could be kicked around by all those with background. Thank you. Tell me what it is. Whatever it is, I'll do it even if it costs my life."

Wait… Wasn't this a bit too soon to pledge his life?

Either this was a very emotional kid who really had had a sad childhood and wasn't loved by anyone, or he was trying to get into Daneel's good graces to find out his plans.

Daneel couldn't help but suspect him. No matter how sincere this kid acted, he just couldn't trust someone from the Big Four, which was supposed to be completely corrupted. For that matter, he didn't really trust Sister Xuan and Molan either.

He had needed to give this kid something to string him along and make him want to be of service, and this something had to be quite valuable, as regular techniques definitely wouldn't interest somebody from the Big Four.

The Art of the Withering Leaf was a game-changing inheritance in many ways, but it was nothing compared to the other two inheritances that Daneel had.

So, he had decided to give it up to obtain something much more valuable.

Information.

"I need to know exactly where your elder brother and the others who had their organs severed by my disciple are training. And I need to know a way to access them. Are they training in the sect?"

Hearing this, Percy nodded and said, "Yes, master. But I don't know where they are training. My father doesn't trust anyone, least of all the sect. He has important hideouts all over the sect grounds, and I know for a fact that he's using one of those to use the forbidden technique on all of those guys. The only reason I got to know about it is that my elder brother was given a break recently and he used it to come gloat at me before going off to find some maids for himself. No one knows where these hideouts are."

This made Daneel frown and look down, as it put a wrench in a plan that he had just made. This plan was the reason why he had decided to use that inheritance in the first place, and he wondered now whether he had made the wrong decision.

Percy seemed to understand this, as he quickly said, "Master, leave it to me. Like I said, I am ready to risk my life. I don't know what you have planned, but I'll help you no matter what it is. I'm confident that I can gain access to that hide-out by telling my father something or if necessary, begging him to take me there. He is always the one who teleports other people there, so we can't really tell its exact location. However, I will sneak in a locator trinket with me so that you, or anyone else can find out the location using it. However, it can only be detected inside the sect, as we have a formation which blocks such trinkets' signal outside. I'll think for some way to overcome this, too. Just give me some time."

This made Daneel raise both his eyebrows in surprise, as it essentially meant that this kid was putting his life on the line to give Daneel what he wanted.

He wasn't dumb. He must have guessed why Daneel was asking for it, but he still gave this option, which made Daneel admire him.

Walking forward, Daneel put a hand on the kid's shoulders and said, "Good. I wasn't wrong to count on you. Don't bother looking for ways to overcome your sect's formation, leave that to me. Just get me their location."

"Yes, master!"

Seeing the smile on his master's face, Percy stepped forward to hug Daneel.

Yup. Definitely emotional.

Just before he touched his body, Daneel teleported away, making Percy lose balance and fall on the ground, face first.

Appearing a little distance away, he said, "Kiddo, I'm not a hugging master. Get it done in a month."

Leaving these words, Daneel again teleported away, this time leaving the location.

Appearing back in Lanthanor a few seconds later, he had a wide smile on his face due to the plan he had just set in motion.

He was going to infiltrate a sect anyway. Why not infiltrate another and kill those scum before they reached Peak Warrior level? A bunch of peak Warriors really would be very, very difficult to deal with even if he used all of his trump cards.

After all, he wasn't a dumb hero in some story to train in the time he was given and meekly wait to fight.

Chuckling, Daneel made his way to a training chamber to begin training in the inheritances.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

413 Discovery During Training

BOOM!

"The King is at it again."

As the security guard patrolling the corridors of the Palace said these words to the one beside him, both of them simultaneously closed their ears to brace themselves.

BOOOOOMMMM!!!

Just like the last time, a single, loud sound was accompanied by a much louder one that almost seemed to shake the entire Palace.

This had been going on for a month. Actually, in the first 15 days, it had mostly sounds on the lower end of the octaves, but with each day, they got louder and louder, as if the King's intention was to make the loudest one possible.

Afraid that their supervisor might berate them for putting on this unprofessional sight, they both removed their hands and quickly left the corridor, hoping that they could make it before it began again.

Inside a large meeting room that had been cleared of all objects, Daneel was lying on the ground, sweating.

However, his face had an expression of triumph on it, as he had finally done it.

For a month, he had been putting himself through the most grueling of trainings, as he knew that he had to get as proficient with the inheritances he had as possible.

He had targeted all three inheritances, as although the Ruler's Inheritance felt like it was useless when there wasn't anyone who was loyal to him nearby, he had found out that it still amplified his magic output by a not insignificant amount.

According to the system, this was the 'passive amplification' that was accorded to him due to there being so many people following him in one way or the other.

Of course, compared to the actual multiplication when he was in Lanthanor, it was quite minor, but it would still make a difference in the fight.

If he had known this, he might have chosen to use it in his fight against the Withering Leaf Sect Master, but he was actually thankful that he hadn't done so as it still affected his mind.

Only, instead of directly hearing the thoughts of those near him, they were like murmurings, as if he was surrounded by a gaggle of ghosts intent on entertaining him.

If Daneel hadn't spent long amounts of time getting used it, he might have gone crazy again if he used it in a fight.

Even now, he wasn't proficient in using the actual inheritance in Lanthanor for the 5x multiplication. The best he could do was keep it active for 1 minute, before the voices would become too much.

However, at least now, he could keep the passive inheritance active for 30 or so minutes, before the murmurings would start to creep over him.

All in all, he had gotten another power boost.

As for the Basilisk's Breath, Daneel no longer had his arms and legs flinging around like a puppet every time he used it.

After obtaining the full inheritance, there had been clear instructions regarding how to train oneself to make sure that that didn't happen.

It all had to do with familiarizing oneself with the slowed down time, and to realize how each command to the body interacted with the different parts of the body.

To learn this, Daneel had to spend hours and hours with the Basilisk's Breath activated while he tried to do the simplest of things normally: such as walk or punch something.

Initially, it had been very frustrating, with him constantly tripping or hurting himself in just a few minutes.

Yet, now, after a month, he could keep it active for 30 minutes, after which it became too taxing for his mind.

After all, living in that state caused a dissonance with the normal state of existence, which might lead to serious problems if one stayed in it for too long.

As for the Art of the Withering Leaf, he was much more adept at it now, capable of using it in the middle of fights to surprise his enemies.

It was time to test it all.

"Bring him in."

As Daneel sent this message to Kellor, the Grand Court Mage who was waiting outside the cell of the Withering Leaf Sect Master opened it and lead the man out before he was trapped in a Dragon Claw immediately to prevent him from taking revenge on his captors.

Of course, he had expected this, but he still grumbled repeatedly.

Slowly, he was led to the room in which Daneel had been training all this while.

As Kellor and the Withering Leaf Sect Master entered it, both of them astonished to see deep crevices in many areas all around, as if they had been bombarded by some sort of cannonball.

Kellor could tell that this must be the reason behind the loud sounds that had been disturbing the sanctity of the Palace for a month, but he hesitated to ask the reason behind them.

Instead, he asked, "My King, would you mind if I stayed to watch? It might help me in my attempts to break through to become a Warrior."

Indeed, in all the time that the King had been absent from the Palace, he had been diligently training so that he could be powerful enough to help the King achieve his lofty aspirations.

Just recently, he had reached the peak of the Human level, and he had begun the process of becoming a Warrior with instructions from Daneel.

"Of course, I was going to tell you to do the same anyway. Stand to the side; I'll use a Dragon Claw to protect you."

"I can use my own barrier, My Lord, it's all right."

With a chuckle, Daneel said, "Oh, trust me, you need the claw. Go."

Puzzled, Kellor nodded and went to a corner before a Dragon claw materialized around him, leaving a gap for him to see through.

Why did the King think that he wouldn't be able to use a barrier to withstand just the aftershocks of the battle? After all, no one would be attacking him directly.

"Sect leader. Care for a little spar? I gather it must be quite boring just sitting in the cell all day. Of course, if you swear that oath to me, you can live a much better one! What do you say?"

In response to the King's words, the sect leader spit to the side, which made the King smile before making the Dragon claw disappear.

As the sect leader fell to the ground with nothing constricting him, his first thought was to run.

However, he knew that another claw would just trap him again.

So, the best option was to fight and hopefully kill this King, so that the formation would become unmastered.

Well, it was a long shot, but it was worth a try, along with the fact that it was much better than being cooped up in the cell all day.

Besides, he wasn't injured now like before, so he should stand a much better chance at winning.

Thinking this, the sect leader leaped forward with his hand extended backward.

A large ice shard materialized beside him, ready to plunge into the King's body if there was an opening.

However, what happened next made both the sect leader's and Kellor's jaws drop.

The King moved after the sect leader had almost reached him, but in 2 seconds, the sect leader dropped to the ground, wincing.

His ice shard had already fallen to the ground and started to disintegrate, as the sect leader was busy trying not to scream out loud from the pain.

Watching the sect leader's body, Kellor could tell that he had been hit in 15 different places: all in the span of a fraction of the second, while the man was shooting through the air.

He had no chance to retaliate!

The King had moved so fast that the word "blur" wasn't enough to describe it. It was like he was in a different dimension of speed altogether-one which they could never hope to reach or even see.

3x amplification. This is pure 2x amplification of Fighter power, mused Daneel, watching contentedly as the sect leader tried to get up.

"Again."

Gritting his teeth, the sect leader got up and launched forward again, but this time, the King stood still.

A web of interlocking metal links materialized in front of the King, wrapping around the sect leader who looked around in horror.

No…the speed of making something so complex and so strong was definitely not something capable of a Warrior!

As the sect leader thought this, fire appeared on the cage of metal he was caught in, along with revolving metal cutters that would tear him to shreds.

Right before they impacted his skin, they stopped, making him sigh in relief.

"Again."

It went on like this, with the sect leader being beaten down repeatedly, as if he was merely a kid trying to fight an adult.

If anyone saw the fight, they would be unable to believe that this was an Eminent Warrior fighting against an Amateur one that had just broken through a month ago.

Be it as a Fighter or a Mage, the sect leader was completely outmatched, and he could only fall on the ground, defeated before rising again because he couldn't stand the condescension with which the King said the word "Again."

Finally, after half an hour and over 100 defeats, the King clapped his hands and said, "All right, final time. Let's get this over with. Come."

The sect leader and Kellor both had a bad feeling, but the former leaped forward anyway.

Finally, the reason behind the loud sounds that had shaken the palace became clear.

With an expression of deep concentration on his face, the King Of Lanthanor raised both one hands with his palm facing up.

A small particle of fire came into being, before enlarging quickly as more and more fire elementary particles were pulled towards it.

As Kellor watched, in barely a second, a globe of the most concentrated fire he had ever seen came into existence above the King's palm.

It was at such a high temperature that the air seemed to be warping around it, making it difficult to see.

At the last moment before the sect leader reached him, the King seemed to take something red out of his pocket and drop it into the globe.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!

An explosion larger and louder than any he had seen in his life erupted in the room, and if it weren't for the formation protecting it, it might have made the Palace collapse.

The King had made a Dragon claw appear around him at the last moment, so he and Kellor were safe.

However, the poor sect leader endured the brunt of the bright explosion.

A second later, he thudded to the ground, completely burnt black and barely breathing.

While Kellor rushed to him to check if he was OK while wondering just what the King had done, Daneel had a complicated expression on his face.

He wondered if this was how those scientists on Earth must have felt, when they saw the nuclear bomb they had built work for the first time.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

414 Setting Off

10,000 Ether blocks. Gone, just like that.

Indeed, Daneel had just used a Ker Gem to power the explosion. The results were impressive, to say the least, but the burden they put on his pocket was too much to bear.

After Kellor checked the poor sect leader's body, he looked up to say, "He's barely alive, My Lord. Can I ask what that was?"

"Oh, nothing. Merely a trump card I plan to keep for extreme circumstances. Take him to the cell and heal him there. We can't afford to take chances with him."

Understanding that the King was unwilling to say more, Kellor picked up the sect leader's body using telekinesis and led him outside.

Sighing, Daneel looked around at the destruction that had affected the room.

It had a taken a full Ker Gem to get this much power, but it had still been insufficient to kill an Eminent Warrior level Fighter at close range.

Over the past month, he had been experimenting with parts of Ker Gems and Ether blocks.

This had been his final test.

This discovery had been the result of a small experiment that had been born after Daneel remembered a thought he had had long back.

Ether blocks and Ker Gems were stored forms of Energy, which were found in nature.

The principle of exploding trinkets was that Energy from mages was used to draw a special enchantment that made it so that this Energy was released explosively.

This had made Daneel curious, as these forms of Energy reminded him of the explosive materials used back on Earth.

Radioactive materials were just sources of immense energy which needed the right conditions to be set off to result in an explosion. If used correctly, they could generate energy to be used.

Why couldn't Ether blocks and Ker Gems be the same?

Hence, he had set out experimenting with the simplest method that was also used on Earth: using extreme amounts of heat to result in the explosion.

Initially, there had been many failures, as he had been repeatedly trying things such as increasing the temperature while the Ether block was inside the globe of fire, etc.

This had been his fascinating side project which he spent most of his time on when he wasn't training in the inheritances.

In fact, it was during a session of training the Basilisk's Breath that he had noticed the method to excite and erupt the Energy stored inside the items.

Using the Basilisk's Breath, he had utilized the slowed-down time to carefully examine each and every minute change in the swirling Energy in a Ker Gem while increasing the temperature around it.

While doing so, he had noticed that the swirling waves tried to exit the boundary set on them by the gem as a reaction to the increased temperature.

Only, the waves moved slowly, which Daneel figured out to be because he was gradually increasing the temperature around the Gem.

It was like a wave of water whose power was higher the more acceleration it managed to achieve.

And in this case, instantaneous acceleration was needed.

After figuring this out, it was simple.

Using the Basilisk's Breath, Daneel focused his mind to create a globe of compressed fire hot enough.

Then, he created a hole to its center and threw the Ether Block or the Ker Gem inside, resulting in the explosion.

Of course, the first time it worked, he had gotten his face completely blackened in the process.

Still, his eyes had been shining bright with the delight of discovery.

This whole process of finding something out by himself had been very rewarding and enlightening.

All in all, it had made it so that his training wasn't monotonous in any way, and that he now had a very powerful, albeit expensive trump card tucked up his sleeve.

Daneel didn't dare call it an "invention", because it was definitely possible that others might be aware, even though he was pretty sure that the inheritance was required to notice the minor changes.

All in all, he decided to only use it in the direst of circumstances if he had no other option.

As for the results of the training of the Ruler's Inheritance and the Art of the Withering Leaf, he was very satisfied with them as he had managed to beat the sect leader quickly before the man even managed to reach him.

With everything almost set in place, Daneel set about finishing the last thing on his list before proceeding to infiltrate the Big 4.

….

As a sudden announcement that the King would be addressing the people of Lanthanor after a long time became known among the public, it caused a furor the likes of which hadn't been seen in quite some time.

Many rumors started spreading, ranging from the one that stated that the King would be announcing his marriage with the fair lady Eloise, to the one that warned everyone that the King was going to march on the other Kingdoms to wage war and conquer them.

However, those in the know had already found out that this was regarding the recent changes and new policies and schemes that had been put into effect by the government.

So, even though it wasn't as exciting as those two rumors, many still flocked to the front of the Palace as this announcement would set the tone for the near future of Lanthanor.

At the point when the sun was highest in the sky, the King of Lanthanor appeared in the air with a smile on his face.

Large display trinkets had already been deployed to aid the at least 2-million strong, so when they all shouted as one, it was as if their cheers could rend the sky itself.

"All hail King Daneel!"

Daneel had already solidified his standing in their hearts, from all of his actions for their good.

Also, with his recent 'noble' act of saving everyone during the Olympics, he had also started to build an image for himself in the other inhabitants of Angaria.

"My dear citizens! I trust you have been well!"

Hearing the positive cheers below him, Daneel couldn't help but smile even wider.

This, this was why he had become King.

It all went back to that moment so long ago on the library steps, where he had been cheered for the first time for bringing justice to the commoners.

That same happiness that had suffused him then coursed through his body now, energizing him and making him look forward to doing his best to make sure that he did everything in his power to ensure the happy lives of these people.

It wasn't pleasure that came from being in control of them, or that which arose from a thirst for power.

No, it was a humble feeling of joy seeing the smiles on so many faces.

"Great! I'm here before you today to announce some very exciting things! First, I trust you all have heard about the Bank of Angaria?"

"YES!"

Almost everyone had heard about this mystical place which doled out money at very low interest, overall.

Nodding, Daneel pointed to the side, bringing attention to around 100 individuals who were standing in the air with Kellor.

"I trust you recognize these people? They are ones who have been uplifted with the help of the bank! And first and foremost are, of course, the continent-wide stars of our Kingdom, Helena, and Dalia!"

This small family had changed so much since when they had initially forayed into the capital with the intent of finding revenge and closure.

Helena looked mature and elegant in a flowing green dress, while Dalia was the very picture of youth, with her vibrant, red cheeks highlighted by her maroon dress.

The best way to highlight any scheme was to show success stories. So, taking a page out of the most effective advertising strategies on Earth, Daneel had these now well-off citizens speak very favorably of the bank.

By the time they were done, the eyes of the commoners in the crowds were wide open with dreams.

"Today, I would like to happily announce that we are opening the bank to the entire Kingdom! Anyone can come in to apply for a small loan, and after a small selection process, they will be enabled to pursue their dreams! My fellow Lanthanorians, if you wish to fly, Lanthanor will give you wings!"

As the cheering rose to a new level, Daneel swelled with happiness.

He had high hopes for this scheme, as empowering the poor was the best way to uplift an entire nation.

Only-such schemes were usually beset by cheats and crooks.

Well, it was time to remedy that.

"That also brings me to my second announcement. The bank is open to all, but only those who are verified and given IDs by the government of Lanthanor will be eligible to draw funds. Yes, you heard me right. The ID system that has been tested extensively will now be rolled out nation-wide. No more trespassers with malicious intentions will be tolerated! With this system, all outsiders can easily be caught, and all citizens will be protected! All hail Lanthanor! All hail Angaria!"

Seeing the millions of citizens jumping on the streets, Daneel knew that things were progressing well for the Kingdom.

Now, all that was left was to look for an opportune time to unite the Black Raven Kingdom with Lanthanor.

Of course, everything was in place for that move, so it wouldn't take a lot of difficulty.

After the grand success of this public address, Daneel had one last meeting with Eloise and Norcet to finalize details for their further plans, such as the one to set up a delivery system for the entire continent.

Finally, with all his affairs set, Daneel secretly made his way to the Watcher.

Sitting in that stone room facing that floating head, Daneel said, "I'm ready."

Nodding, the head replied, "Good, the earlier you go in, the better. Be careful, young King. This will be your most dangerous travail yet. The name of the sect you are going to is 'The Hedonist's Abode'."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

415 The Sect of Hedon 1

The Sect of Hedon.

The name itself caused an unpleasant feeling inside Daneel, making him wonder whether it was tied to the word "hedonist".

Hedonists were those who prized pleasure over everything else, while also being ready to do anything and everything in order to get that pleasure.

In other words, it could also be construed as those who were willing to stop at nothing to reach their goals.

Seeing him ruminate over the name, the Watcher paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"Your disguise is that of a disciple who was sent out on official sect business for a regular check on what is going on in the Central Continent. Here he is."

Once again, a flick of a finger sounded in the room even though the Watcher had no body.

An unconscious male appeared in the room, crumpling on the ground with no support to keep him up.

He was blonde, with a slim build and freckles on his nose.

"Meet Travis Eclair, your new identity. Just like you, he has also recently broken through to become an Amateur Warrior. It is best to not fake things such as power levels, as they can be easily monitored. I have a special spell which makes people lose their memory, so it is your duty to wake him up and find out everything about him so that you can impersonate him perfectly. Take special note of the mannerisms, so that those who are skilled in noticing such things will not see anything amiss. You depart in one week. Just like you, even I think that the sooner you go in, the better."

His eyebrows twitching, Daneel got the feeling that this man had planned everything and kept it ready even though he had only confirmed now.

"How did you know I was coming now? You couldn't possibly have kept this kid locked up for months altogether right?"

Chuckling, the Watcher replied, "You should really think about putting in some sort of countermeasures to stop people like me from knowing almost everything that is happening inside your Palace. Of course, this time, I didn't even need to use the spies inside your Palace. I saw the proclamation, which was quite grand by the way, and I could tell that you would be coming soon. So, I took the liberty of nabbing this little kid. After you're done, come back here."

Shaking his head, Daneel felt weirded out by this happiness that shone in the Watcher's eyes when he spoke about his actions of watching everything while sitting in his room.

Clearly, he was someone who took pleasure in what he did.

Taking the kid, Daneel headed back to Lanthanor, as he didn't want to risk someone finding him out in the Hidden Kill Sect.

He didn't even know why he was calling him 'kid', even though they were both almost the same age.

The Watcher had already given his word that this kid wouldn't remember anything, so Daneel just went ahead and directly woke him up.

"Who – who are you? How dare you apprehend one from the Big Dour? I will make sure that everyone you love die a horrible death! Let me go right now!"

Daneel had initially been planning on going easy on this kid, as he was probably just some innocent bystander that had gotten involved in this mission.

However, hearing this clichéd line of someone who was definitely used to using his power for ill means, he decided otherwise.

Unlike on Earth where there was no magic, special tools and skill weren't required to torture in Angaria.

He simply flicked his fingers, and the kid started to scream out loud, as he was being subjected to the feeling of having his entire body being pricked by needles continuously. With each second that passed by, the needles moved further and further into his skin, until it was apparent on his exposed arms that they would soon break the surface and make the man bleed like a pincushion.

It seemed that the kid also understood this, as he hurriedly said, "Stop stop stop, I beg you! I'll do anything you want that isn't forbidden by the oath! Anything! Please!"

Stopping the spell, Daneel stared at the kid with a smile on his face.

He had had the suspicion before that this was someone who had been sheltered all his life, so seeing him break already in such an easy manner, Daneel confirmed it to be true.

"Oh, don't worry, you don't need to tell me anything that is controlled by the oath. Just… Tell me about yourself. Your hobbies, your pleasures, your life in the sect,…"

"I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way! But I definitely know some of my brethren who do! I can get them outside if you want!"

Hearing himself interrupted in this way, Daneel's lips pressed into a thin line as he realized that he had just been mistaken as some pervert.

Of course, in a way, that conclusion made sense, as he was asking all these personal things about the kid.

However, this knowledge did nothing in decreasing his irritation due to it.

Without a word, he put on a bristling expression on his face and started the spell again, making the kid scream out loud, "Alright, alright! But please, consider the others, I'm sure they'll love it more! My hobbies are…"

Marveling at this kid's ability to rat out his friends at the blink of an eye, Daneel shook his head and conjured a chair quite a distance away from him to not cause any more misunderstandings before settling in and starting to learn.

…

To the west of the Black Raven Kingdom and the north-west of the Kingdom of the Elves, there was a particular location where one would feel as if they were passing through some sort of veil when they progressed on their way towards the endless sea.

Angaria was a landlocked continent with a stormy sea all around it, preventing ships from sailing and fishing, as the waves were too strong and would easily break any civilian boat.

The only ones capable of traversing the sea were mages, but even the strongest mage had had to give up and come back due to a lack of seeing nothing no matter how far he went.

Of course, they had to fly manually, as teleportation was very dangerous above the endless sea, due to the countless thunderstorms that would both interfere with teleportation and also add high risk to it as a mage could simply teleport into one and be burned to a crisp.

And if they teleported too close to the surface of the sea, they might be dragged under.

Even Champion level mages might not be able to withstand the full fury of nature if they weren't sufficiently prepared.

All in all, all the general public knew was that the ocean was untraversable.

Still, many loved to make their way to the scenic spots above the sea where the land ended, to gaze out at its endless lengths and wonder what was out there.

As such, there were small autonomous villages and towns on the coastal areas, but there were no kingdoms.

This invisible veil was something that all travelers went through on their way to reach the coast, but Daneel was now standing in front of it and pondering.

He stepped forward, and back, multiple times, marveling at the smooth effects of the formation that was present here.

The truth was that each and every traveler who passed through here was teleported more than a hundred kilometers forward, directly reaching the coast, after crossing the area where one of the Big Four was present.

This was definitely one of the most ingenious hiding methods that Daneel had ever seen, and although he wanted to examine it more, he stopped himself as he might alert those who were usually on guard at the borders of the sect.

Taking out a strange trinket that looked like a face with its mouth wide open, Daneel held it forward before using blood to draw some symbols.

This part had been given by the watcher, as this was information that was hidden by the oath.

Of course, the blood he was using was from the real Travis, who had become a veritable blood bag and had had multiple bottles of his blood drained just in case Daneel might need it when he was inside the sect.

After doing so and seeing the symbols vanish into thin air, Daneel stepped forward and saw a different sight.

A sprawling area with rich forests, with a singular tower far away in the distance reflecting the sun like a lighthouse.

He couldn't see many buildings, but from what Travis had said, he knew that they were all spread out in these forests, which reminded him of the style in which the Withering Leaf sect headquarters had been constructed. Could these two forces be related in some way?

Hoping that he would find the answer to this question and many more in this trip, Daneel nodded at a short watchtower nearby, where two mages were eyeing him idly.

Walking forward to a stone slate, Daneel once again showed the trinket and said out loud, "Travis Eclair, returning from a routine investigation of the Central Continent."

His voice was low but strong, and as the trinket touched the stone slate, a voice said, "Report your findings to the sect mission headquarters. This is your payment."

A pouch appeared on the slate, opening which Daneel found five Ker Gems.

Already, he saw the disparity between the Central Continent and the big four.

A simple, routine job of touring the Central Continent and making sure that no major threats were present was given a payment of five Ker Gems which equaled 50,000 Ether Blocks, a staggering amount of wealth that he could only dream of back when he was a normal boy.

Excited, Daneel stepped forward but was confronted by a familiar figure.

"You-how's the situation in the Central Continent? Has there been anything happening in Lanthanor?", asked Percy, in a tone which made it clear that he was talking to someone inferior than him.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

416 The Sect of Hedon 2

Percy was here? Then this meant that… The Mad Doctor was also in the same sect as Ashahell?

Initially, Daneel rejoiced as he realized this fact.

His plan before had been to find a way to also infiltrate the sect that the Mad Doctor was in, in the case that it was different from the one into which he was going in as Travis.

However, now that that wasn't in the case, he would be able to finish all of his objectives in one fell swoop.

However, after that, as he heard the kid talking to him in his irritating tone, he almost felt like taking off his disguise then and there.

Of course, this was only a momentary thought, before it was replaced by the action that Travis would usually do if he was confronted by someone of higher social standing.

"Lanthanor? Everything remains the same, senior brother. If you wish, you can tell me what you want me to find out, and the next time I go there, I can definitely make some inquiries. After all, simple missions like these are best suited for weaker junior brothers like us. We are all depending on you to help us, so this is the least we can do to make sure that you can focus your time on training and becoming stronger."

If he hadn't become quite an accomplished actor after coming to Angaria, Daneel would definitely have had great difficulty in reciting this line in front of the individual with the most punchable face in the entire continent.

"Humph. If you get any news regarding the King of Lanthanor, just let me know."

Leaving these words, Percy thankfully trudged away and teleported, leaving Daneel alone.

Sighing with relief due to the fact that his disguise seemed to be perfect, Daneel started to make his way to where he was lodged.

The Sect of Hedon was a very peculiar place due to the fact that it had no specific direction like the other three, at least according to what the Watcher had told him.

The other three of the Big 4 either worshipped some specific entity, like the Goddess's Sanctum, or had a specialty, like one of the other big four which was apparently focused on only the path of Fighters.

As for the Sect of Hedon, they only prioritized power.

Their motto was "Power is King", so the entire sect functioned in this way.

Incidentally, this was also the sect behind Axelor, because the long-standing wish of the Sect of Hedon was to conquer the Central Continent and take it under its wing.

This was simply to satisfy the thirst for conquest in the leaders of the sect, and also apparently due to the fact that this sect had once ruled the entire continent for a time before crumbling upon itself due to various reasons.

This was all based on the information that Daneel had gotten from the Watcher, so he decided to head to the library first in order to understand everything about the sect clearly.

The Watcher had said that this was all hearsay that he had obtained from his colleagues, as he had never been very interested in finding out more about the outside world, instead focusing on 'Watching' Angaria on the whole in his post from which he had been kicked out mercilessly.

This was a sect that reminded Daneel of the novels he had read when back on Earth, with a contribution points and mission system which allowed disciples to take on tasks to earn resources and give contributions so that they would be considered for more advanced training.

The criteria to enter was also simple: one simply had to have high-grade talent in either the path of a Fighter or Mage.

Daneel was quite happy that everything was progressing so smoothly, but he still kept his guard up as he never knew when something might occur which would risk him exposing his identity.

In fact, he had already been scanned once by some sort of device which originated from the central tower of the sect, but because his camouflage technique had been upgraded along with the system's upgrade to be at the peak Champion level, he hadn't been detected.

Teleportation was allowed in specific spots in the sect, which were indicated by podiums with teleportation doors on which one could stand and transport themselves to a different podium in a different area of the sect by selecting their destination from a floating stone slate beside it.

If anyone teleported to anywhere else, they would immediately be apprehended and fined heavily.

Although Daneel was quite impressed by this smart system, he found the first incongruity in the sect when he approached the podium and saw a kid around 17 years old sitting in front of it and barring everyone's way.

"1/8 of a Ker Gem, you know the drill."

Nodding, Daneel conjured a knife and carefully sliced off a part of his newly earned resources and passed it on, before being allowed to get on the podium.

Here, strength reigned supreme, and only the strong could hope to retain all of their resources.

People like these, who were usually on a higher level than the average sect member, would use their hard-earned power to run side operations like these where they could get extra resources to further their training.

The one who had just taken the part of the Ker Gem was apparently an Eminent warrior who was known for his mastery of metal and gravity elemental particles. Travis had practically been the bottom feeder of the sect with his level as an Exalted Human before his recent breakthrough, and he had taken this mission right after as it was only allowed for Warrior level individuals.

He hadn't had a chance to show his power yet, so he could only still act meekly in front of people like these.

Besides, Daneel had no intention of drawing more attention to himself than necessary.

His clothes were dusty from the travel, so Daneel first made his way to the dormitory where all sect disciples had single rooms.

He was supposed to have quite a few friends, but thankfully, they seemed to have gone out to attend some lecture or the other.

Lectures were frequently conducted by the senior officials of the sect, who expounded on the tricks and tips to manipulate elementary particles to output the best result.

Of course, contribution points were needed to pay for these lectures, but according to what Travis had told him, there was a sort of black market where those with connections used communication eyes to transmit the lecture to display trinkets so that those who didn't have the cultivation points could still watch and listen after paying a small amount of money.

Here, money meant resources, and the most common denomination was fractions of Ker Gems.

Daneel was starting to get more and more surprised by this internal structure of this sect, where corruption was rampant everywhere. All of the core functionalities of the sect seemed to be compromised using such underhanded means, so how did this sect even function?

Deciding to find out, Daneel headed to the library, where he once again had to pay 1/8 of a Ker Gem to access something that was supposed to be free for all disciples.

As a warrior, he now had access to both the first and second levels of the library, with the second holding techniques to augment a warrior's output of strength.

Daneel had already obtained many techniques like these, which was similar to the hidden kill fist technique that he had gotten so long ago. They all used one principal or the other to make it so that Warriors would not waste their strength when fighting opponents.

For example, Daneel had just seen a fist technique called the "Dragon's Fist", which apparently used the concepts of a dragon's movements to make a Warrior punch with extra power by using a different kind of stance.

Just as he was going through it, he heard a voice calling him.

It had already called three times, but because Daneel still wasn't used to being called Travis, he had had to take this long to notice it.

Now that he did, he looked up and saw a round individual with chubby cheeks and short hair striding towards him with a wide smile.

This was Grod, one of Travis's closest friends.

"There he is! Became a Warrior and set out without telling any of us? We of the 'Shameless Sect' were all going to have a meeting the night you left! We had to carry on without you."

The 'Shameless Sect' was something that Travis and his friends had formed, as they were all background-less people who had entered the sect through their talent alone.

Only, they didn't have very high talent, so they were used to being kicked around by those above.

So, these 5 students had banded together with a single motto to help them meander through this sect:

"When you can, bluster. When you can't, be shameless!"

Clearly, this was exactly what Travis had been doing when he had been interrogated by Daneel before.

"Oh? Yeah, I was completely out of resources, so I took that mission. So what did you discuss in that meeting, anyway?"

Sitting down on a table nearby, the fatty gestured at him to come.

Putting the technique book back, Daneel walked to the table and sat down, grimacing at the strong oily smell that was coming from the fatty.

"This is top-secret! With you, we have 3 Warriors now. It's about time we set up our own side operation! There aren't that many gigs left, you know. Our goal is to get more resources and contribution points so that we can access more parts of the library and hidden areas of the sect! Do you have any?"

Hearing this, Daneel was really taken aback.

The things that the fatty had mentioned were exactly what he wanted.

So, pondering after a while, he said, "Yes, but not here. I'll tell you when we are alone."

While he was saying this, Daneel had a mischievous smile on his face.

Corruption? Well, as someone from Earth, he was the forefront authority on the matter.

It seemed that this trip might end up being much more fun than he had thought.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

417 Mea

Promising to come to a meeting of the Shameless Sect that was scheduled that night, Daneel shooed the fatty off before picking up the technique book again.

Indeed, it was a very interesting concept to use a stance to output more power, but Daneel realized that his own fighting style of using the Hidden Kill Fist as a foundation was too familiar to him.

He had no idea whether changing Fighting technique would have any effects on his overall power output, so he decided to try it after compiling everything in the library.

The ideal thing to do would be to collect everything at once, but Daneel decided to act tactfully.

After all, it would be strange for anyone to run their fingers on all the books, no matter how much they tried to make it look like a quirk.

With no intention to court disaster, he partitioned the library into 8 zones, with each floor divided into 4 zones. It was a very large library, so this was necessary.

Each day, he would be able to cover one zone.

However, Daneel noticed a problem.

If he had to visit the library 8 times, he would have to give up an entire Ker Gem as fee!

As someone who had grown up from a frugal background, Daneel was loth to waste money. Even that experiment with the Ker Gem before had really hurt his heart.

No. There was no way that he could allow this farce of collecting fee, at least from him, to continue.

There were only two ways to get out of paying such fee: One, have a high enough social standing either using background or personal power.

Two, have a side business whose services can be exchanged.

The former was not possible right now, as a sudden growth in power from Travis Éclair would definitely result in scrutiny from higher-ups.

So, the latter was the only option.

Deciding on it, Daneel took his time and covered the first zone on the second floor, which had many techniques.

Sadly, he did realize one thing: in the entire library, there were very few history books which pertained to that mythical time when the Sect of Hedon had seemingly ruled over the continent.

Either the information was lost, or it was hidden to all but the higher echelons.

Daneel had been really looking forward to finding some clues regarding the connections and similarities between the kingdoms in the Central Continent right away, but it seemed like he would have to wait.

Nevertheless, the King of Lanthanor smiled to himself, as his opportunities felt almost limitless here.

Corruption was truly something that he had seen a lot of back on Earth, so he felt like a fish in water in this place. Even though he abhorred it, he had to admit that he had a flair in getting ideas to carry it out, probably because his mind had been constricted all this while, only being able to think of 'good' solutions and ideas for the most part.

Hence, looking forward to the meeting, Daneel spent his time taking out random books or touching them in one way or the other so as to feed their information to the system.

….

A few hours later.

As Daneel finally exited the library, he found that he was famished.

Their meeting was two hours from now, so he had enough time to eat and explore a bit more.

While heading to the cafeteria of the sect, Daneel asked the system, "Let me know if any important data is collected."

A while back, he had already sat down with the system and clearly tagged all matters that he deemed "important", such as information relating to his talent in magic which exceeded the known grades, or anything related to the Central Continent.

The objective of collecting as many techniques as possible was to later have the system extract the best parts to make something which suited him, so he didn't need to ask about it.

The walk to the cafeteria would take 40 minutes, or he could pay an eighth of a Ker Gem again to teleport.

Of course, as a newly ascended Warrior who closely guarded his resources, and as someone who just couldn't justify spending thousands of precious Ether blocks to just save himself some effort, Daneel chose the latter.

The moon was out, so the surroundings of the sect were suffused in a warm light that brought out a unique beauty the likes of which Daneel had never seen before.

The layout of the Sect of Hedon was in the form of wide walkways paved in among the grass amidst the vibrant trees that were everywhere. The walkway seemed to be made of some kind of marble, as it shone in the moonlight with a soft glow.

Each walkway could accommodate at least 20 people side by side, so this made Daneel understand that the Sect must have once had a very large population.

Buildings were in the style of the Withering Leaf Sect: with creeps gracefully augmenting their appearance, making them blend into nature.

Daneel couldn't believe at all that such a beautiful place could be home to such a rotting sect.

Shaking his head, he finally arrived at the cafeteria and saw to his surprise that no one was asking for a fee here.

Well, it made sense. If even one's basic sustenance was denied, it was very possible for mass riots to occur.

Only, when he entered, he saw that he had been mistaken.

Thankfully, it was only slightly.

There were 3 different queues for food, with the first having the most members.

There was no one near the first queue, but from the envious gazes that were shot by those in this one towards the sect members in the other two queues, Daneel understood what was happening.

Back during the episode with the Black Raven Kingdom, Daneel had reared a wondrous type of wheat in the farms in his Kingdom. Apparently, eating them would result in a boost in power, giving the effect of training for a period of time.

Only, of course, the adverse effect of that plant had been that it ate away at the soil and made it barren.

This was only one variety of the crop, so it only made sense that there might be others with lesser side effects.

The second queue seemed to be the living proof of this: along with the food that was served in the first, a perfectly square shaped piece of bread was also given here to each member.

Only, unlike the first which needed no authentication, each member of the queue in the second needed to show their trinket with the face and the open mouth.

Seeing this piece of golden bread that seemed to shine, Daneel salivated, even though he didn't understand why he was doing so.

He had a hunch that this bread was made of some type of Energy-rich plant, and he could tell that he was right.

Wait, if this was already being served in the second queue, then what was being served in the third?

Bending his head, Daneel noticed a strange metallic box beside the serving table for the third queue.

The third queue had the fewest members, but each time someone approached the serving table, the metal box would be opened for the briefest of moments to remove a square-shaped piece of meat.

It looked like it came from some kind of fish, and from the steam that escaped each time the door was opened, Daneel could tell what the cooking method was.

He was completely entranced by this piece of meat, as it was the most perfect piece of food he had ever seen since coming to Angaria.

He hadn't been that much of a foodie back on Earth, so this trait had carried over the Angaria. However, he really did enjoy the general cuisine in the Palace, which involved dousing meats from various beasts in flagrant sauces before serving them on a bed of bread or vegetables.

This meat definitely wasn't from the beasts found on Angaria, as it was a fact that the meat of wild beasts had no beneficial effects for humans. Only their other body parts, such as their teeth and claws, could be used to make weapons or trinkets.

It was pink in color, but it's hue looked so brilliant that one would feel like staring at it as long as possible, feeling reluctant to spoil its perfection by doing something as uncouth as cutting it apart.

It shone with a bright luster, as if it were absorbing all the attention and light in the room.

His eyes followed a woman who had just been served the piece of meat, who sat down at a table and picked it up before admiring it for a while.

Yes, this was what it deserved.

Daneel appreciated the woman, but after that, he felt horrified when he saw her swallow it whole.

The juices flowed from the corner of her mouth as she munched on the meat with an expression of extreme delight, but suddenly, she looked at Daneel who stepped back with shock, as he had just gotten the feeling that someone had tightened their hands around his neck.

His step back made him bounce on something soft, making him turn back and notice the fatty who was also looking at the woman eating the meat.

Only, he was stealing glances instead of abjectly staring like Daneel.

"The day I get the meat of the fish from the endless sea, I'll save it and eat it bit by bit, for a month. No, make it 6 months. A year it is! No one would be foolish enough to waste food that has more Energy than 100 Ker Gems combined."

As the fatty smacked his lips while saying this, Daneel's eyes widened.

…..

2 hours later, in one of the rooms in the disciples' dormitory.

Smacking his hands on the table in between the 5 people, Daneel, as Travis, said, "All right, we have to get an awesome side business to eat that meat! If any of you slack off, I'll bash your heads in!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

418 Plan

Seeing the enthusiasm of their friend, all the members of the Shameless sect were quite surprised.

What had gotten into Travis today?

The fatty, being the one closest to Travis, asked.

"We really admire your drive, but do you think we were just sitting around twiddling our thumbs in all the time you were gone? All the side businesses are already taken!"

Hearing the fatty say this, Daneel came back to his senses.

He couldn't help it; for the first time, he had a very strong craving to eat that meat.

Of course, he kept telling himself that this was because he wanted to see if it would help in him training as a Warrior faster.

Before, when he had been training as a Human, both the blood of the mosquitoes and the Ker Gems had accelerated his training greatly, as they were Energy materials used by the next level usually. When used by someone below the requisite level, even though some of their efficacy would be wasted, they provided a considerable boost in training speed.

Now, having become a Warrior, Daneel no longer had that advantage. His progress had slowed down by quite a lot, so one of his other objectives had also been to find out what the next, higher grade of Energy was.

After all, there were no Champions in the Central Continent unless one counted the Watcher, so there was no need at all for information about this Energy resource to be present here.

Of course, just like the bread which was only a secondary item to increase training speed, the fish, which was miraculously from the endless sea which Daneel had thought to be uninhabited except by the corpses of those who had tried to cross, was definitely also a secondary item for Champions.

Sadly, none of the others in the Shameless sect knew the resource for Champions, as they had no reason to know about it. They only needed to concern themselves with knowledge on their level.

The other members of the Shameless sect were Clyde, Henry, and Jarred.

Clyde was a lanky youth with short hair, while Henry was of a normal height with bushy eyebrows.

As for Jarred, he had black hair and a short nose coupled with a double chin.

These three were also from simple background just like the Fatty and Travis, so they were all united in the fact that they had clawed their way up the ladder.

Clyde was a timid youth, but according to Travis, he was the first to become a Warrior among them, and he was also known to be ferocious when fighting.

Jarred and Henry were both the only remaining Exalted Humans in the group, and they were apparently brothers who loved to do almost everything together.

Seeing Daneel just sit and observe them weirdly after giving a statement like that, the fatty continued.

"From the most profitable side business of reselling parts of Energy food given to stronger members of the sect, to the most despicable one of always interrupting youths during…ahem…special activities and demanding money, all of them are taken. We are called Hedons for a reason. We take pleasure in obtaining stuff, no matter what the route to obtain it was. We are the Shameless sect, but even the shameless side jobs aren't left for us."

Hearing this, Daneel felt like gagging.

Such a ridiculous side business existed?

Daneel knew for a fact that the Sect of Hedon only accepted male disciples for some reason. As such, there were a large community of physical help, forest caretakers and maidservants which had sprung up around the sect.

Some of the favorite past times of the active youth of the sect were to travel to these sections to partake in 'special' activities, as the fatty put it, but someone's side business was to interrupt even these moments of sacred pleasure?

Despicable, indeed.

Of course, on seeing this form of arrangement, Daneel had gotten the doubt whether the sect members might use force to solicit the services of the normal humans.

However, apparently, such things were strictly forbidden, which made Daneel understand why the Mad Doctor's son must have been admonished when he engaged with the maids in unwanted advances, from what Percy had told him.

All this was fascinating about the sect, but Daneel decided to get back to the topic at hand.

Now, he had four goals:

1) Find a way to access more information restricted to Amateur Warriors to find out the history of the continent.

2) Find out Ashahell's plans to deliver something to have the Church come early, and find a plan to thwart them.

3) Find where the Mad Doctor was training his son and the others, and kill them(this had to be done last, as a chase would definitely follow)

4) Finally, find the resource that was a higher grade than Ker Gems, and find out the taste of the meat of the fish from the endless sea.

Whew. Listing it like this, it felt daunting, but it all came back to utilizing the atmosphere of corruption to obtain resources and contribution points to be noticed by the higher echelons.

So, coming back to his senses, Daneel banged on the table again.

According to Travis, he was a spirited lad who rarely controlled his emotions.

Daneel acted the part.

"Shameless sect! How could you give up on such an important matter so easily? This concerns our future! Because we have given ourselves this name, then we must adhere to it faithfully! Tomorrow, we will take a complete tour of the entire sect and the sect rules to figure out whether my plan will work. I will only tell it to you after I confirm it. So, have a good night's rest, because we have our work cut out for tomorrow! Get out!"

This was his room, so Daneel threw them all out with magic before they could respond.

Banging the door on their faces, the King of Lanthanor smiled to himself, feeling happy that this was a day well spent.

Meanwhile, outside, his fellow sect members grumbled that their friend had gotten even more insufferably dramatic after his breakthrough.

….

The next morning, just like he had told them, the 4 gathered at the entrance of the dormitory before setting off on the walkways.

They walked to each and every important part of the sect, and as the sect spanned over a hundred kilometers in area with a lot of empty space in between, they would all have dropped dead if they weren't at least Exalted Humans.

Still, the Warriors in the group started to feel slight fatigue, while the Humans had already given up halfway through their quest.

Of course, the most energy-filled one was Daneel, who actively led them everywhere.

Each and every side business was analyzed and listed, along with the prices and the power levels of the individuals manning those side businesses.

In some cases, even 'official' corruption was seen, like in the case of the sect member assigned to handing out tasks who reserved the easiest ones to those who paid the most.

Before the real Travis had set out, he had apparently paid all of his savings to get that task.

Finally, as the day neared evening, Daneel bade the tired fatty and Clyde off before heading to the library.

Even though his heart hurt again, he paid the eight of the Ker Gem and covered another zone in the library.

Finally, going back to his room, he assembled his thoughts for a few minutes, taking his time.

When he was done, he called the four to his room using their communication trinkets.

With an expression complete seriousness, Daneel began.

"I have a series of plans for side businesses laid out, but they are in the increasing order of difficulty. In fact, if you hear the one on the top of the list, I guarantee that you will faint with shock. Anyway, we will start at the lowest and work our way up-"

…..

The next day, Percy was walking around the sect as usual when he saw many sect members whispering amongst each other.

He had a weird habit of walking the entire length of the sect at a blazing speed each day, as he claimed that this helped him to increase his control over his power of a Fighter along with regular sparring.

So, when he saw these murmuring sect members in a remote corner of the sect, Percy followed them silently without alerting anyone.

On the way, he caught snippets of conversation.

"Imagine it! If it's true, I can soar into the heavens at once!"

"Exactly! And it's just 5 Ker Gems. It's not like we can't earn that back by working hard."

"You heard him. It has all the right signs! Besides, he even guaranteed a refund! Even if there ends up being nothing there, we can just get our money back!"

Getting more and more puzzled by the second, Percy noticed that the students were now coming out from somewhere inside the forest, off the walkway.

Knowing that he had to satiate his curiosity, he covered his face and made his way inside, following the clues left behind by the excitedly chattering sect members.

Finally, he came across a clearing where 5 sect members were sitting underneath words written in flames, answering questions from the crowd that had gathered.

"Secret expedition to a place where I observed a phenomenon and got hints about a (possible)core inheritance! To follow, pay 5 Ker Gems! Refund if there's nothing there, but don't blame me if you aren't talented enough to comprehend the intricacies! Only for Amateur Warriors!"

As Percy gasped on seeing this, Daneel, who was sitting below the words, smiled at the box in front of him which was filling up with Ker Gems.

If there was one thing he had learned from the corruption he had seen on Earth, then it was that 'scams' were the most lucrative methods to earn money!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

419 Percy“s Stinginess

5 Ker Gems to be taken on an expedition to possibly get hints or clues about a core inheritance?

In many ways, it was a steal, which was the reason why almost all the Amateur Warriors flocked here.

Only, the problem was if this became too famous and alerted the higher-ups.

The truth was that this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened.

Many students had tried to scam out the resources from large groups of people, but their problem was that the group would end up ganging on them, making them cough back everything they had obtained.

Everyone knew this fact, so there was little inhibition in taking such an opportunity.

Besides, the person responsible for the operation himself was promising a refund, so it was unlikely that there would be a problem.

As for the matter with the higher-ups wanting to investigate as core inheritances were essential resources for any sect, they had tried before in secret when the first scams had come up.

However, seeing how things played out, they had started to ignore them, as if the expedition turned out to be a success, then they would be notified about it anyway.

So, all in all, this was a perfect plan, if the scammer wasn't being disingenuous.

All these thoughts passed through Percy's head, which made him walk up to the blonde kid who seemed to be in charge.

Of course, this was Daneel.

"Oh, it's you again. Sign me up, too."

This was the attitude that someone just a step away from being an Exalted Warrior had to have.

Only, after a pause during which the kid waited for payment but didn't see any gems, Percy could swear he saw an irritated and cunning expression on his face for a fraction of a second.

"What's the matter? You dare to ask me for payment?"

As someone who had clawed his way up from the bottom just like the Shameless sect, Percy's shamelessness was on a whole other level. He was stingy to the extreme, so he had no intention to pay.

This slightly angry statement made alarm appear on the kid's face, before he said fearfully, "Not in a million years, senior brother! It's just that…this inheritance is weird. All those above the level of an Amateur Warrior get adversely affected on trying to obtain it. I know this, because when I first found it, it was along with another disciple from one of the other Big 4 who seemed to have arrived coincidentally. He gloated about his strength and tried to make me leave, but he immediately left after trying to understand the inheritance while saying weird things. I had already been comprehending it without any problems, so I realized that this might be the case."

"Humph. You let me worry about that. I'm no ordinary Eminent Warrior. Just get me there, and maybe I'll help you and the others out with what I comprehend. Of course, if it turns out to be a scam, I'll be expecting additional payment from you."

"How generous of senior brother Percy!"

"Thank you so much, senior brother!"

"You are a real role model!"

As statements like these echoed from the Amateur Warriors nearby, Percy raised his head and stared into the distance as if he was some venerable sage who had descended to help others generously.

So, he missed the expression of absolute mischief that passed across the blonde kid's face.

After a few seconds, the kid replied, "Thank you, senior brother! We set off tomorrow at noon. Please meet me at the south exit 7 of the sect."

Nodding, Percy left while maintaining his attitude.

Seeing this sight, the fatty asked, "Travis, you're sure right? We will have to pay back everything with interest if you're not. Damn that 'senior brother'. He's just taking advantage of us."

This made Travis chuckle slightly before replying, "Let me worry about that. Let's see who takes advantage of whom tomorrow."

Leaving these cryptic words, Travis ordered the others to take down the banner as almost all the Amateur Warriors had already been tapped.

While leaving to the library, he had a sinister smile on his face.

Daneel was really looking forward to tomorrow.

….

Meanwhile, at the very top of the tower in the center of the Sect of Hedon.

To those inside the sect, it looked like this tower ended at a specific height in the sky.

Very few that this was an illusion. In reality, the tower penetrated the clouds, coming to a stop at a dizzying height of 15,000 meters.

At this altitude, only clouds could be seen all around, while the temperature also plummeted to such low levels that the real top was always coated by ice.

Staring out at this endless sea of clouds at the top of the tower was a man wearing a peculiar attire.

He had a small, globe-shaped earring on one ear, which was barely visible due to his long brown hair that fell to his shoulders.

His clean-shaven long face had a calm expression on it, while his thin lips were pressed together.

His black robes that had a gold trim in a few places such as the shoulders and the chest area glinted due to the light, and he seemed to be frozen in place, as if he wouldn't move no matter how many eons passed.

Feeling a communication trinket vibrate, he sighed and teleported, reappearing in a grand hall on the lower level of the same tower.

Around him were all the Champions of the Sect of Hedon, sitting in silence with respect.

As someone who had shown enough talent and power to become the youngest leader of the High Council, he was their pride.

However, all he felt was disgust when he saw them.

"This is the routine report on the sect, my Lord Ashahell."

As a Warrior-level scribe handed over a data trinket, Ashahell gave it a perfunctory glance before going through it idly.

Most of the information was normal, pertaining to the recent breakthroughs and the general situation in Angaria.

For some reason, when he saw the news about the King of Lanthanor's grand announcement to his people, he smiled, but that smile looked like it had no ill intentions.

Instead, it was almost like the man who was known for his cold countenance was happy.

Finally, he stopped on the news of the scam expedition that was going to set out the next day.

Indeed, although it seemed to everyone that the sect was frivolous in nature, in truth, they kept a close watch on all the activities.

News concerning an inheritance, even if it might be a scam and might not be a core one, had to be passed up all the way to the sect leader.

Lounging idly in the high throne made of stone that looked like it had been made for a giant to sit on, Ashahell recounted his days in the sect when he had similarly gone on a scam like this.

He had later been found out and reprimanded by his teachers who felt that it was a waste of time given his incredible talent, but it was one of the fondest memories of his life.

Handing it back, he said, "Everything looks fine. As you were."

Saying so, he teleported back to the top of the tower, leaving a host of Champions who all bowed reverentially.

While gazing out once again at the clouds, he only had one though: Angaria was…so beautiful.

Alas, what had to happen, had to happen.

Taking out a communication trinket, he said, "Is the delivery on schedule?"

"Yes, My Lord Ashahell. All will definitely go according to your plan."

Nodding to himself, he let silence regain its hold on the room.

If anyone saw this sight, they would remark on how lonely this individual looked.

It was as if he was a lone boat struggling along in the middle of a calm sea, with nothing but water in sight.

Waves of sadness and regret radiated from him, but there was an underlying sense of duty that could be detected.

As he continued watching, he once again became frozen in place.

…..

That night.

The Shameless sect had a lot of things to do to prepare for the excursion the next day. The 4 members were in charge of something…special inside the sect, while Daneel headed outside.

He had expected that the exits might have some of the Amateur Warriors making sure that the 5 wouldn't run away with the gems, but seeing that there was no such thing, he let out a relieved sigh.

Little did he know that the fate of someone who had tried that stunt the last time had ended in a desiccated corpse that couldn't even be recognized by his closest friend.

Sect members were allowed to leave for a short period of time, but if it crossed the threshold, they would be called back forcefully using the oaths they had sworn.

The threshold was one day, but Daneel only needed to be out for an hour.

The Sect of Hedon was surrounded by a rich forest, so Daneel didn't have to search long before finding an underground cavern with a waterfall.

Squatting in front of the surface of the small lake that had formed due to the waterfall, Daneel cast the spell he had prepared.

A mysterious series of lights appeared above the lake, swirling around in random patterns and at times passing through the surface of the water.

Checking 5 times to make sure that everything was all right and that he wasn't being spied on, Daneel smiled mischievously.

It was almost time to watch a great show.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

420 First Act of Corruption: Scam 1

"Oh my god, he wasn't lying!"

"Incredible! This is worth those Ker Gems!"

"Everyone move away! I'll be going first!"

"Travis, I'm sorry I doubted you! From now, I'll tell my big brother to give you free passage to the transportation door that leads to the dormitory!"

As sentences like these resounded in the scenic cave, around 100 individuals were all milling around the lake above which bright lights were swirling around calmly.

They had excitement in their expressions, imagining themselves comprehending a core inheritance and soaring to the sky in one go.

Core Inheritances also had very strict criteria for one to comprehend them and be able to use them in battle, so all those with the capability to do so after reaching a certain level were treasured by the sect and given a high status almost equal to the Champions in the sect.

So, seeing that their dreams might become true, some even started shoving forward.

However, the by-now renowned Shameless sect, which had thankfully chosen not to disclose this name, had prepared for this.

Magnifying his voice, Daneel spoke, the sound reverberating throughout the cave.

"Everyone, listen up! I have done my part, now it's all up to you! Let me give you some warning beforehand: only one person can try to comprehend at a given time! So, I suggest that everyone form a line! When it's your turn, submerge yourself in the water and wait! Remember, pay utmost concentration!"

These words calmed everyone down, making them assemble into a line.

Some adopted a cautious attitude, as it was possible that there might be danger involved.

Others were enthusiastic, as they believed that Travis had already entered the lake and received something or the other.

So, after a little jostling around, the first one to enter was chosen.

He was the person who had promised Travis that perk from his big brother before, and he was supposed to be one of the most talented Amateur Warriors in the sect.

Only, both he and his big brother came from modest backgrounds, so they worked hard to gain power and use it to earn as much as possible.

The difference between these brothers and the Shameless sect was that the latter were supposed to have lower talent than that duo. Also, pride had gotten to their heads, so they constantly liked to speak as if they were superior compared to those who came from completely normal backgrounds.

Even before, when he had made that promise to Daneel, this kid had had a gloating expression on his face, as if he was doing him a great favor.

Daneel observed this, and actually felt happy.

It was time for the scam to begin.

He was already 500 Ker Gems richer, so his first plan of corruption was already a success. Now, all that remained was to not arouse suspicion and ire.

The best kind of scam was one where those being scammed had no idea that they were being scammed.

So, he smiled and magnified his voice once again before saying, "One final reminder. Different people comprehend this phenomenon up to a different level. I would suggest that your specific level of and type of comprehension be kept secret. After all, there is no sense in helping others without profit. I can give one hint though: this inheritance has the miraculous effect by making one hyper-aware of their surroundings. Enemy attacks will seem clearer for a brief period of time, and one can use this time to counter-attack effectively. It needs great concentration, and it only works for very brief moments, but when used properly, it can tip the scale towards your victory. All right, good luck!"

These words made the faces of those standing in queue heat up.

An inheritance to become hyper=aware?!

Such a thing existed??

If so, then it was definitely a tier-0 inheritance, something so precious that only one who had given countless contributions could access.

Today, they had the chance to learn it for a paltry 5 Ker Gems?!

This was their chance!!

But wait…how could they believe what this kid was saying? He could be lying, right?

Daneel had already planned this part. After all, a scammer had to be prepared for moments when his prey might question him.

As thoughts like these went through his head, he realized that he, himself, might have gotten corrupted by the environment.

But…hadn't he been the one to burn food stores to eventually take control of the Hidden Kill Sect?

Maybe a scammer had been there inside him all along!

Chuckling softly to himself at this, Daneel took it in stride.

Well, if saving Angaria required a few scams and a lot of cheating, he didn't mind.

Besides, it was actually very fun.

Daneel was only in the sect to quickly finish his objectives and leave. So, he was going to exploit the heck out of this corruption-fueled environment when he could.

"I know what all of you are thinking. So, let me demonstrate to you all what I learned. Senior brother Percy, if you please?"

Originally, the plan had been to use some 3rd level Warrior sect member. However, now that there was an Eminent Warrior present, this was the better option, as it would go a long way in convincing the others.

Percy had been standing to the side and calmly observing everything as though he had something on his mind.

Hearing his name called, he frowned and looked up to see the blonde-haired kid waiting for him.

Reaching the raised stone podium-sort location where Daneel was standing, he waited for the kid to speak.

"All of you know senior brother Percy is a peak Eminent Warrior. I'm just a 1st level Amateur Warrior, I stand no chance against him. Senior brother, as someone who has been an Amateur Warrior, you must know about the limits of our reaction speed, right? Could you please humor me by punching me fast enough that there would be no way for me to avoid it with my current level?"

Hearing these words, the sect members looked on with interest in their eyes, waiting for the outcome.

With a nod, still slightly annoyed at having his thoughts interrupted, Percy swung his fist and hit Daneel squarely in the jaw.

He hadn't expended too much force, but his jaw still hurt like hell.

Massaging it, Daneel grumbled inwardly that he would soon take back payment in full before closing his eyes and entering into a deep state of mock thought.

He could feel their eyes on him, as they waited with bated breath to confirm that he wasn't lying.

All of them had seen the speed of that punch: there was no way that any one of them could have dodged it.

After taking 30 seconds, Daneel opened his eyes, which now looked like they shone.

"Again, if you please, senior brother."

Gasp!

As they saw Travis lean back with panic on his face at the exact moment when Percy's fist had been about to hit him, they realized it: it must be true! With his hypersensitive sense, he had predicted the attack and dodged! Incredible!

Similar thoughts went through the minds of all those present in the cave, including Percy, who was staring with shock at Daneel and the lights.

This was a real core inheritance! This act alone would be enough to make the sect classify this spot as top secret!

No, they couldn't know about it right away! First, he had to have a chance!

He was just about to turn about and frantically run into the water to try and comprehend the inheritance first, but he was shocked when he heard a 'splash!' from the direction of the lake.

This made Daneel smile surreptitiously.

Scam: success.

Saying that his job was done, he seemed to leave the cave along with his colleagues.

…..

After that demonstration, everyone was happy to see Travis and the other 4 leave.

They had paid for this, so they were going to obtain it!

However, no one knew what lay inside the lake and the swirling lights.

Thankfully, the frontmost member had jumped forward.

His name was Fryre, and he came from a relatively rich merchant family which made constant donations to the sect to procure their son better treatment.

He had been completely amazed by Travis's performance, so he had directly jumped into the lake.

Floating in it, he looked up to see the lights.

Noticing their dizzying patterns, he suddenly felt drowsy, and entered into a half-asleep state.

In his blurry vision, a figure materialized before shooting towards him at blinding speed and throwing a punch.

"OW!"

Fryre had thought that he was leaving, but he screamed with pain when the punch impacted hi stomach.

However, looking down he saw no damage.

Emboldened, Fryre tried to fight the figure, but no matter what he did, it was always one step ahead.

His attacks would be dodged in the blink of an eye, and he wouldn't even be able to see when the other party swung their sword.

After a point, bloodcurdling screams started to emanate from his mouth, as he had started to bleed in his half-dream state.

The pain was too excruciating! What the heck was all that stuff about the inheritance? This was just plain torture!

How was he supposed to leave?

Thankfully, the moment this thought came in his head, everything vanished, leaving his body the same way it had been.

That's it? He was supposed to get beaten up to learn the inheritance? What kind of sick joke was this?

He wanted a refund!

However, just when he was about to say something, Travis's voice echoed in the cavern again.

"Your experiences in the dream-like state that you enter are the key to understanding the inheritance. The more pain you suffer, the more you might be able to understand! Good luck! I was able to only grasp a little, but all of you with great talent might be able to get so much more!"

"Haha, we definitely will!"

"You just meekly watch over there, Travis. Don't feel bitter later when you see us shine!"

"Hehe, 5 Ker Gems was really cheap. I would have paid 50 for this!"

Hearing statements like these, he suddenly wanted to go back in, but remembering the excruciating pain and shuddering, he gave up.

As he got out of the lake and heard more excited boasts of his colleagues, he shook his head with a mysterious expression on his head and stood to the side when he was asked what he experienced.

After all, why should only he have all the fun? They had to enjoy too.

Besides, they had even made such proclamations. Surely, they didn't need a warning.

At this moment, one of the most harrowing experiences that these sect members would ever go through began.

The irony was, they had paid for it themselves.

Watching this scene, Daneel laughed to himself again, feeling happy that things were going the way he had expected.

However, when his gaze turned towards Percy, a slightly cold look entered his face.

Now, how was he going to take revenge on this snivelly bast**d?

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

421 First Act of Corruption: Scam End

As the gears in his mind turned, one sect member after another entered the lake and tasted the baptism of pain.

Without fault, none of them managed to understand anything, but they still stood to the side in deep thought, as if they had comprehended something amazing and needed time to process it.

After all, no one had asked them to make those statements before.

Each sect member took around 2 minutes or so, so the line was moving quickly.

One option for Daneel was to reveal his identity, and make the kid prostrate on the ground to his "Senior Brother", or even his master.

However, he discarded this, as it was too risky.

No matter how the kid acted, there was no reason to trust him completely yet. Hence, exposing the fact that he had infiltrated the sect might bring him trouble so immense that he would have no time to regret later.

So, he had to do something else.

After a few seconds, Daneel hit on an idea.

Percy had been observing the proceedings in the cave with a frown. Although he also felt very excited about the inheritance, he calmed himself and chose to see how the others were doing before entering by himself.

Yet, no matter how much he watched, he couldn't understand.

All of them winced, and then acted as if it had been very 'enlightening'.

After around 20 people were done, he couldn't control himself anymore and decided to cut the line to find out what was going on for himself.

However, he found his way blocked by the blonde-haired kid.

"Senior brother, your status is above us all. Why do you need to cut through these normal sect members? If you could wait till the end, you can spend as much time here as you want. Besides, whenever this phenomenon appears, it lasts at least for a day."

Hearing this, he did agree that with his status, there was no meaning in taking the same time as everyone else.

When such an easy fix was around, it didn't make sense to insist to make the others wait and grumble.

So, nodding with an expression of dignity on his face, Percy walked to the side and leaned on a wall before closing his eyes, as if he was some cool master who had entered meditation.

"Senior brother is so kind!"

Even as Daneel said these words, he gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to punch this kid in his guts right away.

With one thing ticked off his list of things to do, Daneel climbed on top of a rock from where he could view everything happening in the cavern.

30 people were already done, so the next problem should be arising soon.

Sure enough, the 33rd sect member, who was a large kid with bulging muscles, exclaimed, "What is this bullsh*t? I just got beaten up! There's nothing to learn in this! I still think you're scamming us! Maybe you learned that inheritance in some other way!"

It was about time.

Hearing this, the others who had been acting so far also started to erupt in protests.

"Yes! This is still a scam!"

"Out with it, Travis! How can getting beaten up help us to learn?"

Hearing the commotion, Percy opened his eyes and glanced up.

They were getting beaten up? How?

Although he didn't understand, he decided to wait and watch like the 'dignified' senior he was.

As Daneel was about to open his mouth to respond, one of those who had already gotten into the pool walked forward.

He had stayed silent till now, but after stepping in front of the crowd, he hit his right palm with his left fist and exclaimed loudly, "I GOT IT!"

This shout stopped the others, who were puzzled as to what was going on.

The kid who had walked forward was named Keefer, and he was one of the more talented ones in the Amateur Warriors of the Sect of Hedon.

After a pause, he continued.

"Guys! Don't blame Travis, it's you all that need to change your perspective! When you are getting beaten, focus on how the opponent is doing it! I did that, and I think I almost grasped something! I'm not lying! Travis, this the correct method, right?"

With a sigh, the blonde haired kid glanced at everyone and replied, "You are too impressive. I was hoping to hide this and charge extra for it. That is the correct way. Just focus like that, and you should be able to grasp something."

As if on queue, 2 of the 30, who had been shouting before but had apparently sunk into deep thought on hearing Keefer, clapped their hands and thighs respectively as if they had realized something.

"He's right! I realized something, too! That's the right way! I want to go again!"

This settled it. As one, the others quieted down and began pondering again with renewed enthusiasm, while those in queue smacked their lips as if in anticipation and looked forward to their turn.

Meanwhile, Clyde, who had been prepared beforehand, stood to the side and said, "If you want to go in again, pay 5 more Ker Gems here. You can try to say no, but if you do, Travis knows a way to make this entire thing disappear."

This made everyone exclaim in shock, before they glanced at Travis as one.

"Yes. I didn't mention it before, as you all needed to see that it existed in the first place. Please pay up. It's not like you aren't charged extra to enter the library even if you go out for lunch and have to go back in. Besides, the benefits are too amazing!"

With this, it became clear that the crowd had two options: either risk it, or follow along.

With the allure of the possibility of entirely changing their future, they chose the former.

As they grumblingly nodded, some in the initial 30 started to walk up to Clyde to pay.

"Great! Remember, use your time carefully. This phenomenon is somehow sentient- it appears and disappears in random places. That was why I advertised this expedition with caution, saying that it's only 'possible'. Who knows, this might be the last time it graces us."

As a sense of urgency appeared in everyone's face, they started to try to spend more and more time in the lake.

Percy was watching everything, but he chose not to comment.

However, he was slightly impressed with Travis's tact which enabled him to milk this as much as possible.

It was mostly the case that he was bluffing, but it had worked.

As everything settled down once again, Daneel shared a look with the other 4 from the Shameless Sect.

All of this was scripted, and it had gone beautifully.

Last night, this was what the other 4 had been doing: they had approached those in the list of people who had signed up who were known for being opportunists.

These people were charged to fake this, and they were promised simplified explanations of what Daneel had learned, and 20 Ker Gems.

With such a large reward, and the possibility of succeeding using the explanation that had agreed.

This was his second phase of the scam: when doubt arose, he would use it to convert it into more earnings.

There were no risks, as it was impossible for these kids to comprehend anything without being beaten to an inch of their lives.

As for those who had been charged to act, Daneel would be giving them a different technique altogether which had been created by the system.

Only, it was barely on the level of an inheritance, which they would realize later and find out that everyone, including Daneel, might have been mistaken.

All in all, everything went smoothly until everyone gave up all the Ker Gems they had.

The actors were still posing, while the others were still puzzled.

Of course, the actors were staggered, so new ones arose with time so as not to arouse suspicion.

With everyone's pockets empty, Daneel was wondering just how to dismiss them so that he could end this first operation of his successfully.

Thankfully, Percy helped him in this regard.

Stepping forward in a stern voice, he said, "Everyone, go back to the sect. You can get more Ker Gems and come back later. Comprehension also takes time, so think hard and rest. According to Travis, this will stay here for a day, so you can come back."

Hearing Percy say this, all of the sect members, who were already very mentally exhausted due to being beaten up continuously, nodded and made their way out.

Daneel was delighted, but he kept it to himself.

With an expression of reverence on his face, he gestured to Percy, who started walking to the lake.

However, on the way, he said something that surprised Daneel.

"I know that you bribed those few to act as if they understood. In truth, it takes a lot longer, right? You must also have promised them detailed notes about your experience. Hehe, don't be surprised. I've done my fair share of scams, so I know how things work. Good job. I think you'll definitely get away with this, until the sect seniors clamp down."

Daneel was honestly surprised, so he hadn't hesitated to let it show.

Following it up with an expression that made him look like all of his secrets had been exposed, he accompanied Percy to the lake and waited in silence.

"I beseech you one last time, Senior Brother. I don't know what adverse things might happen. Please reconsider."

In response, with a humph, Percy entered the lake.

He knew what was going to happen: he was going to enter a dream-like state, and he would be attacked, but the pain would only be illusory.

He was ready to endure as much as was needed, so he braced himself when that figure appeared in his vision after he felt drowsy on entering the lake.

Initially, he wanted to just experience the blows and try to investigate using that, so he just waited.

When the figure shot forward and punched him in the chest, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Pain! Waves of pain racked his body, but weirdly, it stayed.

The others had been talking that the pain usually faded after the first hit, so what was this?

Bang!

The next punch was to his face, and it made his jaw sting like it was on fire.

Again, the pain stayed.

With a horrifying realization, Percy fought to regain consciousness, and when he did, he looked down to see the imprint of a punch on his stomach.

He tasted blood, which meant that his body had suffered it too.

What the f**k? He was being hit in reality?!

As he tried to understand what was going on, he felt someone watching him and turned to see Travis standing on the shore and looking at him with an innocent expression on his face. He looked like he had just moved to somewhere else and gotten back, but Percy dismissed this.

No. This needed to stop! Each punch hurt like hell!

However, just when he was about to call out to Travis or try to exit by himself, he felt himself being dragged back into the illusion, where the punches and kicks resumed with full force, even as he started to beg for them to stop.

Finally, 2 minutes later, he clawed his way to the shore and looked up at Travis, who was standing there with surprise on his face.

As Percy heard him speak with innocent shock, he felt like crying.

"Senior brother! Heavens! These are some REALLY adverse effects!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

422 Interrogation

The next day, when Percy got up, he grimaced fiercely, feeling his entire body burning with pain.

Looking down, he saw that he was in a healing solution special to the medical bays of the Big 4.

Even though his flesh seemed to be slowly knitting itself together, it's mangled remains made him wince visibly and look away.

What god had he offended to undergo this kind of torture?

The last thing he remembered was hearing some word, which had made him feel so frustrated that he had promptly passed out.

He was in a solitary room, so, with nothing else to do, he thought back to what had happened.

Yes! He had been assaulted both in body and mind, and he had even been dragged back into that phenomenon!

Hadn't that blonde-haired kid said that one could willingly leave it if they wished?

Wait…he had also cautioned him not to go.

As his thoughts turned awkward, he left that line of reasoning and shifted to the memories of being beaten up.

There really had been…something peculiar in the way the opponent had moved.

A secret seemed to be hidden behind a veil, and all he had to do was reach forward and remove it.

Alas, no matter how much he tried, he got nowhere close to accomplishing that.

He still kept at it, and just when he thought he was going to understand something incredible, a nurse walked in holding a data trinket in her hand.

Rather than her appearance, it was what she said that affected him.

"Percy, right? Due to the injuries you suffered, your body had an adverse-"

ADVERSE!

Yes, it was that damn word uttered in that damn innocent voice!

Endless frustration blanketed his mind, making him faint once again and enter the land of dreams, where he, for some reason, dreamed of being beaten up by someone with blonde hair.

…..

Meanwhile, in the tower so high in the air that no living creatures seemed to be able to live around it.

Ashahell was still frozen in place, as if he had become a statue that would only rouse itself if there was an absolute need.

As he felt his communication trinket vibrate, he moved his hand, making dust fall to the ground before he answered.

"Sect leader! There is an urgent report that that scam actually wasn't one! There are hints of a core inheritance of unknown level!"

A core inheritance?!

Suddenly, his countenance changed as he vanished from where he stood.

Appearing in the lowest floor of the tower, Ashahell only paused for a second to get the location before setting off once again.

The entrance to the cave that was referenced by the report made him pause, as it brought back many memories.

10,000 people, most innocent, herded inside like lambs to the slaughter.

A black-robed man, prepared to kill them to obtain absolute power.

Him, arriving just a little too late to stop the massacre.

So many dead bodies, littering the cave like they were nothing but useless garbage.

Husbands holding wives, parents holding children, children holding their siblings.

All lifeless- to result in that golden globe.

In his fury, he had apprehended the black-robed man, but the power was just going to go to waste.

So, because he had to give meaning to all these lives that were lost, he had taken it for his own, and it had changed his life forever.

However, that was all in the past. Many things had happened since then, and he was now preparing to bring to Angaria a massacre the likes of which it had never seen before.

Alas, if only it weren't necessary.

Not letting himself be shackled by his memories, Ashahell put on a stern expression before entering.

Inside, he immediately reached the lake using his advanced elementary vision to pinpoint all the historical changes that had occurred in the elementary particles.

Indeed, there had been some kind of phenomenon here, and it was very likely that it was a remnant from the old ages.

There had been more than a few inheritance sites found where those who had left them behind must have certainly been eccentric, as all of them had certain rules that had to be followed.

Also, it wasn't strange to find inheritance sites that moved around.

More than anything, the thing that convinced Ashahell that this was an inheritance site was the presence of hints of magic that was at the peak Champion level.

Surely, no one could fake something like this, that too just to scam a few hundred measly Ker Gems.

"Keep an eye out for the inheritance site. Take a full report of the one who found it. If he looks like he's lying, use the oath. But if he's not, leave him be after taking the report. Also, take detailed reports from everyone who was here."

Sending this message, Ashahell sighed and looked around once again.

Flashes of dead bodies once again appeared in his mind, but they were nothing compared to what was going to happen.

Right now, the only thing he wished was that this would be over soon.

"Send me the routine report on the King of Lanthanor."

Sending this one last message, he traveled back to the top of the tower.

….

As Daneel and the rest were happily recounting the Ker Gems they had obtained, they were shocked when they heard hard knocks on the door of the single room before hearing the words, "Travis Éclair? Open up! We are here representing the sect leader!"

As all of their expressions first turned into those of thieves who had gotten caught counting their loot, the shameless sect initially tried to hide the bundle of Gems somewhere.

Finding no suitable hiding place, they simply shoved it into a pile of worn laundry, hoping that no one would want to go through the stink.

When the door opened, a strict man with buzzcut hair came into their vision.

"Travis Éclair? Follow us to give a detailed report regarding the inheritance site you found. You can keep whatever you earned. The sect leader simply wants a full and truthful account of everything you learned. You will be compensated in return, too. As you know, you will be sitting in the 'Chair of Truth'. Lie, and we will have no choice but to use your oath to force you. Understood?"

When the other 4 heard only Daneel's name being called, they initially felt relieved before feeling guilty due to this.

However, before they could regain their worry and show their care for their friend, Travis replied in a strong voice, "Of course! Please lead the way!" before walking out without hesitation.

Only, before he left, he left one line.

"Touch my share, and you'll suffer the fate of Percy."

With a gulp, none of them dared to touch the Ker Gem pile.

….

Being lead to the tower in the middle of the sect, Daneel's eyes lit up with excitement, but he tried to cover this up.

He had been hoping that this incident would make a situation for him to arrive here, as this was the destination he had to arrive at sooner or later if he wanted to fulfill his goals in the Sect of Hedon.

That entire scam beforehand had been set up by having the system develop a spell for the simulation that it was now capable of. Any capability of the system could be made into a spell, and this had come in very handy for Daneel many times before, too.

Because of the system's upgrade, the complexity of the spell was pushed up to peak Champion level, which actually made it feasible that there was no foul play on Daneel's part involved.

As for the little fun he had with Percy, it was simply by manipulating the spell to trap him while happily going gung-ho on him with his fists.

Entering the tower, Daneel asked the system to scan as much as it could.

However, he was stumped when he heard its reply.

[Complexity of formation exceeds system's complexity. Please upgrade system to rectify. Upgrade Cost: ????]

Another upgrade!

As the one who had been charged to bring Daneel saw the blonde-haired kid get an expression of deep frustration and hopelessness on his face, he wondered whether he was guilty of something.

However, Daneel was just devastated due to the fact that another upgrade had popped up.

And-it seemed that even the system wasn't aware of the upgrade cost.

[Pre-requisites haven't been met for host to be allowed to upgrade the system to the next level. The upgrade is locked.]

What the hell?

Seeing that he was entering the tower, Daneel forcefully put thoughts like these aside.

In a way, it actually made sense. He had needed an upgrade to take full control of the formations in the Kingdoms, and because the Big 4 were organizations one step above, it was logical that it might require another upgrade.

However, he was too moody to notice this now.

After being led to a solitary room, he was sat down in an ancient-looking stone chair.

Thankfully, as he had expected, the system could control his heartbeat and other aspects about him so that the Chair wouldn't pick up that he was lying.

After he was done giving a fictitious report about how he had found that spot by chance, he was made to wait in a room that reminded him of the interrogation rooms back on Earth.

He asked who he was supposed to wait for, but those who had brought him didn't answer.

A few minutes later, a man with a long face wearing black robes with a golden trim opened the door and sat down in front of him.

Daneel didn't know why, but the hairs all over his body stood up in alarm when he looked into this man's eyes.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

423 Meeting Ashahell

A feeling of being threatened wrapped around his whole body, freezing him completely and even making him stop breathing.

Only resuming after the man took a seat and looked at him, Daneel felt like he was between the crosshairs of the most deadly predator in the world.

Thankfully, this faded away after a few seconds, after which the man smiled slightly and said, "I am Ashahell, your sect leader. I usually don't make public appearances, so you might not have seen me. However, I trust that you heard of me?"

No. He had to control himself and act.

Quickly, Daneel realized that he was in the most dangerous situation yet right now.

Even though that feeling of being targeted had left his body, there was still a prickling sensation in his spine, as if he was staring down the barrel of a gun.

The system's notification didn't help.

[The person sitting in front of host is at Peak Champion Level. An attempt to check for disguise techniques was made, whose level came close to the system's.]

Great. He was a peak Champion to boot!

With all his might, Daneel assembled his thoughts and managed to make small changes to his facial expression so that it would only look like shock.

After all, everyone had heard of the great Ashahell, who was said to have been born to save Angaria.

Tales and legends were still told about him by the lecturers, with all of them regarding him as someone who had directly stepped down from the heavens to grace the Angarians.

Thankfully, it seemed to have worked, as Ashahell only stared at Daneel with that small smile, not showing any sign that he was suspicious of anything.

After a second or so, Daneel's spoke in a quivering voice.

"S=sect leader! It's an honor!"

Quickly, he stood up and prepared to bow.

Of course, as this was the man who might potentially be the one who would cause the destruction of all of Angaria, Daneel had no want to give him any honor or respect.

However, he wasn't foolishly proud to refuse to bend the knee even if it meant that his cover might be blown.

Any sect member, especially someone like him who had no background, would prostrate on the ground if necessary when they were spoken to by the sect leader.

However, just when he was about to complete his bow, a formless force seemed to hold his shoulders and make him stand up straight.

"A member of the Sect of Hedon must always stride forward to take what he wants from life with a straight back. You don't need to bow to me. Sit down."

His voice was genial, and if Daneel had had no prior impression of the man, he would definitely have been quite impressed by the wisdom and experience that it seemed to carry.

However, all he felt now was wariness. Extreme wariness.

He had expected Ashahell to be someone like the King of Axelor-proud, arrogant…basically like a typical evil character in a book or movie.

Yet, the man in front of him looked completely normal, and even likable and followable, because of what he said next.

"On behalf of the Sect of Hedon, I would like to thank you for being a part of us. By finding that inheritance site and letting us know about this particular inheritance that has never been seen before, you have done us a great service. Henceforth, your status will be upgraded to that of a 'Benefactor'. In essence, what that means is that you will be eligible for treatment that is one level higher. Do you have any questions for me?"

Honestly, Daneel was pretty stunned on hearing this.

He had been expecting suspicion and all kinds of questions, but all he was getting was a pat on the back.

Also, from his words, this Ashahell appeared to be someone who was humble and honest.

He still had to keep up his act, so stuttering with surprise, Daneel once again tried to bow while saying, "Sect leader! I am honored! Thank you so much!"

Once again, that formless force stopped him, while Ashahell sighed and said, "Like I said, no bowing."

Standing up, he laid an arm on Daneel's shoulder.

This almost made Daneel flinch, but thankfully, he controlled himself at the last moment.

Looking deep into Daneel's eyes which had varying amounts of relief from not being suspected and joy at being able to access better resources, he said, "Train well. Tough times are coming. It is likely that the war that everyone is preparing for might come sooner than anyone expected. When it comes, there will be many chances to grow exponentially. You must train well now, so that you can stand in front of our enemies later to defend Angaria."

Leaving these words and sighing once again, Ashahell walked out, while Daneel was left just standing there, awestruck.

The man had been talking sincerely: when he said the words 'defend Angaria', Daneel had seen a resolve that seemed no weaker than what he possessed.

What the hell was going on? Wasn't this supposed to be someone who was hell-bent on destroying Angaria? Why did he seem so passionate about saving it?

Such sincerity and passion couldn't be faked, in any way.

His mind completely muddled, Daneel had to be called twice before responding and being lead out of the room.

After exiting the tower, he couldn't resist but look up at it again.

His clarity about what he was going to do was gone, replaced by a nagging curiosity.

As his thoughts swirled, a horrifying possibility came to mind.

Were…the Watcher and the black-robed man wrong? Were they framing this man whose only purpose seemed to be to save Angaria?

Daneel had never really trusted those two's words, but he had been inclined to believe them due to the supposition that Ashahell had been the one to give the doom mosquito to the King of Axelor.

However, this was also said by the Watcher.

Which version was true? Which was false?

He had no idea, but after a few seconds, one thing became clear:

He could only continue his plan and strive to get more data so that he could find proof to confirm either possibility.

….

After Daneel arrived at his room, he found it empty.

Asking his neighbors, he found out that his friends had also been hauled away for questioning.

He wasn't really worried about this, as he had only told them the 'truth' that he had reported during his interrogation, which was that he had only managed to comprehend what he did because he spent a lot of time alone at the site while being repeatedly beat up and enduring it.

He had hit a dead end, so he had hatched this perfect plan to scam out Ker Gems.

Since they weren't there anyway, he searched under the bed, and to his delight, found the sack with the Ker Gems.

As he plunged his hand into it and felt the rough edges of the gems, he smiled with the happiness that came from accomplishing something.

Hence, putting all his uncertainties and doubts out of his mind, he focused on the counting once again.

The total came out to be a whopping 1250 Ker Gems, which was more wealth that he had ever seen or heard of in his life.

Equaling 12,500,000 Ether blocks, this fortune might be enough to boost Lanthanor's growth enough to directly let him reach the next milestone for gaining EXP.

Only, he faced the same predicament as the diamond merchants on earth: the risk of disturbing the fine line between demand and supply.

Just like diamonds, these Ker Gems were rare and sought after. However, if they suddenly flooded the market, their price would definitely fall.

So, stealing these away before leaving the sect wasn't an option.

However, he could do one thing: buy that fish.

The fish from the Endless sea was known for its exquisite taste whose intensity didn't recede no matter how many times one had it.

One of the known ways of corruption was for those eligible to save away the fish they were given to sell them later for double the price.

Hence, even though a single piece of fish only contained the Energy equivalent to hundred Ker Gems, one had to pay 200 Ker Gems to obtain them through other means.

Quickly grabbing 200, Daneel made his way to the dorm of those who were close to becoming Champions.

These were the only people eligible to get that meat for free.

It was a pretty standard process, so by the time Daneel was back in his room, he was trying hard not to sniff that heavenly fragrance again and again.

Closing the door, without any preamble, he dug in.

Instead of the woman he had seen in the cafeteria, he took a bit, and he understood why she had eaten it whole.

Juices which seemed to have been trapped inside the meat using some method flowed down his cheeks, falling on the floor.

However, Daneel was too busy being lost in the explosion of flavor that was assaulting him.

Sweetness, spiciness, tanginess, all flavors seemed to cycle through his mouth, making his mind go blank.

It was like he was eating many courses at once, instead of only having a single piece of meat.

By the time he swallowed, he opened his mouth with alarm to see the juices that he had wasted.

Still in a daze due to that taste, without thinking too much, he bent close to the ground and looked for the drops to see whether he could still salvage them.

Bang!

When the door swerved open due to being kicked, his 4 friends found him in that position: his ass in the air and his nose to the ground, ready to lick the top of a thick drop of the juice which had a jelly-like consistency.

If they could know that this was the honorable King of Lanthanor who presided over millions of citizens, they would definitely have made the news public, which would have become the talk of the continent.

However, acting in a tactful manner, Daneel sat straight as if nothing had happened and said, "Our first scam was a great success. It's time for our second: create a problem, sell the solution."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

424 Second Scam

After hearing Daneel say these words, the 4 who had appeared at the door stared before breaking out into bouts of laughter.

However, this laughter immediately stopped when they saw the piece of fish in Daneel's hands.

It couldn't be mistaken for normal food in any way: the fish steak shone lustrously in the light, as if it were a treasure instead of food.

The fatty was the first one to run forward and point at it before stuttering. "I-is that…"

"Yes. Here."

Sighing, even though he felt reluctant, Daneel handed over the piece of which he had only taken a small bite.

After all, they had all worked together for it, and he actually liked these 4.

They were simple, honest teenagers who just wanted to find ways to lead life more easily.

With a flash, the fatty snatched it away and bit, but before he could eat more, he, too, entered a trance just like Daneel, savoring the incredible taste.

This resulted in the fish switching hands to Clyde, who had the same reaction, and then to another one, before finally being finished by the last.

As Kator saw his empty hands, he couldn't help but glare at the others while chewing.

He had had the smallest piece!

Seeing that they were done, Daneel said, "That price of that piece, we will cut equally from our shares. Like we discussed: I get 50%, and the rest of you share the rest among yourselves.

Daneel had established this beforehand, as this entire thing wouldn't be possible without his involvement.

If he wished, he could turn his back on the Shameless Sect and set everything up by himself, but he hadn't done so.

So, they appreciated it and also respected him due to his decision, but that respect had mostly gone after the scene they had witnessed.

Still, they held on to the agreement, as even the dumbest among them could guess that their friend had changed into a golden-egg-laying goose.

After all 5 resolved to get more pieces of the fish soon, Clyde asked, "Why don't we take a break? We might draw too much attention to ourselves after this if we start a new gig straight away."

The other 3 nodded, but Daneel frowned.

He didn't have time.

In the Sect of Hedon, everything was corrupted.

So, there was also a price to pay to enter the secret archives of the Sect, which were located in the Central tower.

No core inheritances could be obtained, but some very high-level techniques, along with the books regarding history which were locked to regular sect members, were available.

This had raised a red flag in Daneel. How could the sect allow for something like this to happen? The secret archives must have had a reason to be…well…secret.

Apparently, the one who facilitated this was a sect member who had entered the Central tower as the one who took care of the library.

He needed a lot of resources, and according to him, getting access to techniques was hardly enough to reach the peak of one's realm. As for the history, his opinion was that what was dead and forgotten wouldn't affect the present too much.

So, he allowed anyone in for a whopping fee of 10,000 Ker Gems.

His customers were usually peak Warriors who hoped that learning a high-level technique which they would only be able to access when they reached the Champion level(which was whom this archives room was meant for) might help them in some way to either advance or fight better.

Mostly, his constant customers were those who were stuck at the peak Warrior level, looking for any and all ways to find a chance to make themselves break through.

All in all, it sounded legit in many ways, and even though it would be strange for someone as weak as him to spend everything to access the library, weirder things happened every day.

As for finding out Ashahell's plans, Daneel had a plan for that too: infiltrate the tower first, and try to find a way to uncover what he was doing.

All in all, he needed 10,000 Ker Gems, which was no small number.

This scam had been wildly successful, with more gains than he would ever have expected. However, he only had around 700 Ker Gems now.

"Pfft. Only."

Hearing himself use that word to describe that many Ker Gems, he could only chuckle with resignation, as a change in the living atmosphere really did bring a great change in one's worldview.

"No. We should do this now, before someone else thinks of it. Come on, where's your spirit? If we delay, who knows whether someone else will get the same or a similar idea and ends up eating our revenue…"

As Daneel's sentence trailed off, the 4 looked at him with wide open eyes.

He was right! They couldn't delay if it was that kind of idea!

So, putting on ingratiating expressions on their faces, they said as one, "We are at your command! Shameless sect, arise!"

…..

The next morning, Percy had just returned to his dorm after spending 2 days in the medical ward of the Sect.

He still had pain all over his body and his face had a haggard look, but he had insisted on leaving and taking bed rest instead of being in the sick bay.

The problem with the sick bay was that there were just too many people who kept coming up to him to ask questions.

He had always hated others snooping into his business, so this riled him up enough to decide to go home.

His 'house' was on the top floor of the second dormitory, as he was the one right now with the most chance of breaking through to become a Champion.

All he wanted to do was sleep, so that he could rest and get back on his feet as quickly as possible. After all, he still had that task he had to accomplish for his master.

So, imagining himself being worshipped by millions of people, he closed his eyes with a smile.

BZZZZZ

A weird buzzing noise woke him up, making him look around with a puzzled expression before falling back asleep.

It had stopped when he opened his eyes, but when he closed them again, it resumed.

Once again getting up, Percy activated his elementary vision this time, ready to catch the culprit in case they were foolish enough to prank him again like this.

However, a few seconds later, after he dozed off once again, that same BZZZZ sound woke him up, this time seeming like it had grown in intensity.

Again he went out to check, and again, this time, he found absolutely nothing.

Thinking that it must be some low-level insect which couldn't be found, he went back to what he was doing.

This continued for a day, before a select few in the dormitory opened their eyes with huge bags underneath them.

One such victim happened to be the one inhabiting the floor right below Percy, so he quickly walked up to him and asked whether he was experiencing the same things as me.

However, finding out that the timings of hearing the noise and a few others were different, he kept quiet.

The meeting was to discuss what to do about this menace, as this place was something run by the sect.

After a discussion, it was decided that a peak Warrior level guard will be posted for an entire night.

Hoping that it would make a difference and having a nagging feeling that it would not, Percy went back to his room and hesitantly tried to sleep once again.

Yet, sadly, the buzzing was there to welcome.

It didn't leave no matter what he did: stuffing his ears, begging, threatening-nothing was effective.

He went and complained to the Sect, who assigned someone else, but they had the same report.

All in all, this turned out to be the gossip of the sect.

What was causing this?

How did it choose its targets?

How was one supposed to make it stop?

All kinds of 'solutions' popped up, but nothing seemed to work.

Finally, 2 days later, when it looked like all those affected might die at any point due to lack of rest, someone looked at them with a gleam in his eyes.

This blond-haired kid smirked to himself before saying to the room he was in, "Watch and learn, boys. Watch and learn. Remember, be sure to cover your identity when you set up the stage. Go."

….

Back at the top of the tower, Ashahell was standing while holding a data trinket in his hand.

In it, detailed information about the King of Lanthanor's last seen action, which was the grand announcement to the people, was written.

After that, it was reported that there were many eyewitnesses who had seen the King of Lanthanor enter his Chambers and stay there, as teleportation was impossible in the Palace.

The King of Lanthanor could only at most be an Amateur Warrior. So, Ashahell believed this report as no one at that level would be able to master the teleportation of the Palace completely in order to be able to teleport out.

While he flicked through the data, his usually deadpan expression was replaced by one of excitement, as if he had a great deal of interest in what he was doing, or what he was going to do.

As many possibilities surged through his mind, he finally selected one before saying to himself, "King of Lanthanor, it's high time you know who I am."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

425 Eavesdropping

"Get your spell to sleep tight here! No refunds, but it has worked for 3 people!"

"This is the real spell! You-you look like you haven't slept in weeks! Buy this now, or you just might die from sleep deprivation!"

"Cheap solution: knock yourself out using this drug!"

Shouts like these could be heard on the large walkways of the Sect of Hedon as students shuttled back and forth between the vendors, trying to decide which one to buy.

This issue of not being able to sleep had started to affect the whole sect, but the problem was that none of the solutions seemed to be working properly.

Among those walking around with red eyes and haggard faces, Percy was the one who looked most miserable.

He had just gotten healed and needed rest, but the heavens had, for some reason, chosen him as the butt of all the misfortune that one could unluckily find themselves enduring in the Sect.

Off to the side, under the shade of a tree, Daneel was standing while viewing the chaos with happiness.

His second scam: "Create a problem, then sell the solution" was going well.

It was inspired by many scammers from Earth, who used this same concept to steal millions of dollars yearly from rich, hapless citizens.

For example, one could call someone rich, who had engaged in corruption, and tip them off that the government might be on their way to seize certain assets.

At the same time, a solution could miraculously appear, which would seem trustworthy despite its timing.

Using the rich person's fear, the scammers would manipulate him to accept this solution by only giving him little time to accept.

After that, it would be discovered that it was all a ploy, with the solution being flawed in such a way that it stole away the rich person's wealth.

Scams like these were very common, but Daneel had needed something he could affect the whole sect with.

Thinking along these lines, he had ended up remembering that illustrious person who interrupted people

's…special time to demand money so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

Basically, there, he was taking advantage of an essential process that a sect-member engaged in.

Thinking of other essential processes, he realized that sound sleep was something that was so crucial for a sect=member that it couldn't even be put in words.

Absolute concentration was necessary for a mage to be able to manipulate elementary particles properly to cast spells, so they had to be at their top-state-well rested and well fed.

The former mattered more than the latter, as most sect members were still Warriors who needed sleep much more than Champions, who apparently began to become people who did not need to satisfy basic, human needs to survive.

So, after choosing sleep, it was simple.

With the upgraded system, Daneel made a spell at peak Champion level which would make a buzzing sound effect anyone who was asleep.

Then, he chose targets at random, targeting around half the sect's population.

After all, if he went overboard and targeted everyone, it might bring down the higher-ups, which was something he didn't want.

Right now, this was the second phase: allow others to make bogus products to rectify the buzzing, when only he had the real solution.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, except for the small hiccup where he hadn't expected the sect members to be so capable of such out-of-the-box thinking as to suggest knocking oneself out using a specific kind of drug that was quite dangerous.

Thankfully, this was only a temporary stopgap, as it would cause many physical and mental problems in the long run.

All in all, when he would introduce his solution, which would simply just be a spell to differentiate people, he would ask the system to stop affecting those people with the spell.

He had patted himself on the back for such a simple yet ingenious plan, but he also felt ashamed a tiny bit, wondering what his parents would think if they knew what he was resorting to.

Just when he was going to return to his room to train with some of the Ker Gems he had acquired so that he would let the sect get more desperate, he saw something which startled him.

2 black robed men with golden buckles, who signified the section of the sect in charge of keeping everything running smoothly, approached the walkway he was on before stopping an especially droopy sect member who looked like he might fall unconscious at any time due to exhaustion and sleep-deprivation.

With stern expressions, they began asking him some questions, which made Daneel panic slightly.

If someone sent over Champion level individuals to investigate, there might be trouble even though he was confident that they wouldn't be able to detect a spell made by the system.

Deciding to find out what they were saying, Daneel asked if the system could eavesdrop, but he was told that he had to move closer.

Mixing himself in the crowd, Daneel started to walk towards the two, but they seemed to have been done in merely a few seconds.

Still, they were talking among themselves, so he decided to tail them anyway.

After walking a bit more, although they were quite far away from Daneel, the system managed to pick up what they were saying as they weren't using any special means to hide their communication like anti-eavesdropping trinkets.

"Figures. Whoever is doing this is quite smart to only target a few. Last time, that guy who did something similar chose to target everyone, and he paid for his greed."

With shock, Daneel almost froze, but he continued walking so that he could keep hearing.

"So what do we do? Should be trouble that old guy?"

"He might be listening! You want to do solo training for a month?!"

"Meh, I know he's heading out of the sect on some business-he's discussing with some other senior sect members about it now. Someone said he was headed to Lanthanor, that village in the Central Continent. I wonder what work he could have there. Anyway, you know the rules."

"'Anything goes, as long as the core functionality and direction of the sect to obtain resources and grow stronger isn't disturbed'. Let's give it some time. If the one responsible is smart and has learned from his seniors who have done the same, he will stop the whole thing soon and get as much profit as possible so that we won't have to intervene. Let's come check again tomorrow. Wanna go grab some wine?"

"It's the middle of the day! So, perfect time for wine, I suppose. Let's go."

The conversation ended with them teleporting away using a podium, leaving Daneel with a stunned expression on his face.

First and foremost, he quickly took out a communication trinket and said, "Cancel the wait! Begin selling the real solution in 6 hours! We have to cash in as much as possible by tonight! No questions, just do it!"

Ignoring the fatty who started asking all kinds of questions, Daneel made his way to a teleportation podium.

Although it made his heart hurt, he paid up so that he would be able to get to the podium which led outside the sect.

The Sect of Hedon was covered by a very powerful formation which blocked all transmissions. This was why Percy had needed to exit the sect before to contact him.

The news that Lanthanor might be visited by a senior member of the Sect of Hedon…was terrifying.

Senior members were all Champions, and Lanthanor could practically be destroyed overnight if one really wished it.

Trying not to panic, he tried to apply to go outside but learned that he had completed his opportunities to go out for the month, due to the expedition.

Sect members couldn't roam in the outside world willy-nilly: occasionally, they could go out to look for inspiration or to try their luck for inheritances, but only once a month.

Hearing this answer, Daneel felt so frustrated that his face became red, making the sect member in charge of approving requests ask if he was all right.

Replying that he was fine, he first walked into the jungle, afraid that he might cause suspicion.

After walking for 30 minutes and finding himself completely surrounded by vegetation, Daneel started pacing around and thinking.

It was possible that it might be due to what had happened with the mosquitoes, as according to what the Watcher had said, Ashahell was responsible for giving the doom mosquito to Axelor.

Or, it could be something more sinister.

The problem was that he didn't have data. Realizing this, he looked up to see that tower which made him wish that he could smash through the entrance to find out more.

No. He needed to enter through the proper channels, and he had to trust that that High Council or whatever it was that had the rule that people shouldn't be slaughtered, would stop the worst case scenario from being carried out.

This scam would have to suffice! No matter what, he had to get enough gems to enter the central tower so that he could try to find clues in the archives to find a way to gain at least rudimentary control over the formation so that he could find out what the plan of those secret members was.

This was his only hope, so he would have to step it up.

The best way to do this was to jack up the prices, but this needed some kind of example to spur people to desperation, to buy the real solution no matter what.

Going back to the walkway, Daneel looked around before focusing on Percy, who was still staggering around, looking exhausted.

Well, he would have to do.

Although Daneel felt a bit sorry for the kid, he hardened his heart, deciding to award him with something or the other later.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

426 “Panic“

A few hours later, in the early evening.

As Nate walked to a specific house in the Sect of Hedon while hugging his arms for warmth, he wondered why he had gotten stuck with this duty.

Every month, on a specific day, one of those who were employed by the Sect to handle miscellaneous matters had to stand outside this certain house and make sure that no one entered the vicinity.

It was a boring job, but it paid well. All he had to do was stand, and shoo away the sect members.

If he had known that it was the sect leader who was inside the house overgrown with creepers, he would definitely have taken the job more seriously.

Ashahell was kneeling on the ground in front of a painting.

'Photos' weren't a thing in Angaria, but top-level mages with their amazingly sharp brain could reproduce any sight in minutes on a canvas, provided they were at least a little talented in the area.

In the photo were a smiling couple holding a baby boy, who was wrapped in a red blanket.

Both of them had very proud expressions on their faces, as if they had accomplished something amazing.

The woman had a long face, but she was very pretty.

The man had long, brown hair, which almost looked to be moving due to the way the light fell on the painting through the window.

The house all around looked like it hadn't been touched in ages, but there wasn't a single mote of dust anywhere. It was only the creepers outside which were an incongruity, as one wouldn't be able to make sense of how they had grown so much if someone was taking care of the inside of the house.

With his eyes closed, Ashahell thought back to the only happy memories he had of his life.

Rather than happiness, it was the feeling of…having someone who understood him.

As his parents, these two were the only individuals in the world who loved him unconditionally and would have been on his side, together with him, no matter what happened.

However, in a fluke accident during an exploration for a Ker Gem Mine, they had both passed away.

Since that day, his solitary life had begun.

This day was his birthday, and his parents had always made a point to celebrate it, no matter which month it was.

Going through his memories, all Ashahell saw was him, standing alone.

His training speed and comprehension made it so that he was lauded as the one prophesized to save Angaria, so he always had this halo about him which prevented anyone from getting close to him.

Even if they did, they would soon leave, seeing how despite all the talent, he was just a quiet kid who pined for his parents.

His ambitions, his actions, all construed the image of someone lofty, undeserving of nothing except praise and jealousy.

He could find no one like him, no matter where he looked. So, he just slogged away at his goal all alone, disregarding everything that changed and always ready to do everything that was necessary to help him achieve his goal-to save Angaria.

Usually, he stood this night vigil alone.

However, right now, there was a small painting beside him.

Of the King of Lanthanor.

….

As Percy trudged through the street constantly cursing the heavens for causing everything that had happened to him, he saw the blonde haired kid who was partially responsible for everything that had happened in the cave approaching him.

He knew he shouldn't blame him, as he had already warned him, but in his state, Percy wasn't thinking right.

He started to head to the blonde-haired kid by himself, but to his surprise, he saw that the kid was approaching him.

After he reached within earshot, he raised his hand and pointed a finger at him, before opening his mouth to rain down a hailstorm of curses so vile that it would definitely make him cry for his mommy.

However, he suddenly felt woozy for some reason.

His eyes spinning, his finger shifted towards the air before he swooned and landed on the ground.

He could almost swear that he had felt that infernal buzzing briefly again, but that didn't make sense=the buzzing only came when he was going to sleep.

"Someone help over here! Our respectable senior brother has collapsed!"

This was the last thing he heard, before blackness covered everything in his vision.

Meanwhile, after hearing the shout, a large circle formed around Percy and Daneel, who had run forward and bent to check with 'care'.

"His breathing is shallow! He might be dying! Damn that bastard who caused him to be sleep deprived! It's all because of that! Damn him!"

As Daneel repeatedly cursed with passion, the medics who had been alerted quickly reached.

It wasn't safe, usually, to teleport someone sick, as the transfer through space could exacerbate any existing conditions.

So, it was always best to wait for a medical professional to give the OK.

In Angaria, that meant healers who had studied the human body.

The healer who arrived first was a black-haired woman, who immediately bent and laid a hand on Percy's forehead.

"He has fainted from exhaustion, but I don't know if he's completely all right. He's ready for transport. Let's go."

"Miss Healer! Will he be all right!"

"It's tough to say now."

Leaving these chilling words, the healer teleported away with Percy while everyone watched in shocked silence.

Everything had worked out like it was an orchestrated play, so Daneel was very happy inside.

Fighting the urge to smile, he got up and left in a hurry, as if he was intent on following his senior brother.

Of course, he had been the one to cause the fainting through the system.

It wasn't easy at all to make such a strong Warrior faint.

However, when said Warrior was already close to passing out, all it needed was a…push.

Daneel had just made sure that that push came at the right time.

Panic. All he wanted to cause was panic.

It had already been a few hours since he had eavesdropped, and he had spent them setting everything up for this.

As soon as people started to recover, as if on cue, one sect member shouted, "Guys, head to Clyde's stall over there! His solution worked, I just took a nap and came here to tell you all!"

This was a true sufferer, who had been given the 'cure' by Clyde, the tall member of the Shameless Sect.

He had timed this whole incident to make sure that it coincided with this sect member's return, and even if he hadn't exclaimed like this, he would have been manipulated into doing so by Daneel soon enough.

Thankfully, that hadn't been necessary.

The problem had been created, and it was now time to sell the solution and…profit.

As everyone flocked to Clyde, who had surreptitiously set up his stall at a place quite a distance away so that it would be able to accommodate a large crowd, they were startled when they saw a weird signboard outside.

"500 Ker Gems for the cure. Pay first. If you don't, I can just give you a fake one."

After seeing the state that Percy had fallen to, all many did was glare before forking out the amounts.

No one carried so many Ker Gems, so they exchanged anything they could: trinkets, contribution points, sometimes even free passage in some side business they owned.

Daneel had mainly chosen Eminent and Exalted Warriors, with a few Amateur Warriors thrown in there to avoid suspicion, so that they would have the ability to pay such a sum.

The first one who bought the 'cure' actually walked into the jungle and slept there after casting the spell, before coming back out and shouting, "IT'S GONE! IT WORKS!".

After this, he promptly ran back to his room to sleep.

As the boxes started filling up, Daneel left the scene, satisfied.

Other people might steal the 'cure' and start selling it soon, but he wasn't very concerned about such bottom feeders who resorted to piracy.

They were scum that would lower themselves to do anything anyway, so it was just a waste to try and stop them.

SO, Daneel was only concerned about being the first mover and tapping the market as much as possible-something he had learned back on Earth.

While walking to his room, he was reminded of a certain tech giant which created problems with its products which only it solved, while making a tidy sum in the process.

Where he had used 'panic', that tech giant used 'need'. By making society think that those who owned their products were of a higher class, they successfully created the 'need' before fulfilling it.

All he could do was try to take hints from such 'geniuses'.

After reaching his room, Daneel laid down on the bed, trying not to fret about Lanthanor.

He knew that he couldn't do anything before he got to the tower, but he felt restless.

So, he started pacing back and forth again, while resisting the urge to go count the Ker Gems in the stall even while sales were going on.

….

Meanwhile, in the sky directly above Lanthanor.

2 individuals teleported to a certain location almost at the same time, before looking at each other and nodding.

If Daneel were here, he would have recognized both of them: they were Marcus and the Matron, who had 'interrogated' him before.

With panic, the Matron clutched Marcus's arms and said, "It's Xuan. She sensed something. She says Angaria is in grave danger, but she can't get anything else. She says…that all she sees is blood, with not a living soul left on the entire continent."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

427 Windfall

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 glass and poured in the wine before bringing it towards his face.

However, instead of drinking it, he merely smelled the wine and threw the glass 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 assemble 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 Ashahell 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 passed 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 Ashahell 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 embarrassment.

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 accomplishing your goal using it, you have become eligible for this title! 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 embarrassment 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 embarrassment aside, he kicked the kneeling fatty in his shin 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 snatched 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 quantities.

14,674 Ker Gems.

Such a massive 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 hell 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 surreptitiously, 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 scraps. 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."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

428 Entering the Central Tower

Walking to the central tower, Daneel was trying hard to curb his excitement.

He had actually spent a bit of time with those 4 after glaring at the fatty with embarrassment and ignoring that...mishap again. They shared a bottle of wine, before he set off with the gems.

He was finally going to uncover something that had been hidden from him for ages, and he was trying hard not to let his eagerness show.

After reaching the central tower which went high up into the sky, Daneel went to the right, entering a secluded walkway that was smaller than the rest.

These were the instructions he had gotten regarding the man who allowed people to peruse the secret archives in exchange for money.

Walking towards the end, Daneel first saw a dilapidated house with creepers growing everywhere, but weirdly, it was protected by one of the strongest barriers he had ever seen.

Through his elementary vision, he could tell that even a peak Champion might require quite a few strikes to get through it.

What could such an old house be hiding for it to be protected with such extensive resources?

Although Daneel was curious, he set it aside, as he needed to focus on his own matters.

On reaching a small, single floored house a little distance away, he knocked three times-1 long, 2 short.

After that, he directly made his way to the back of the house, where there was a small semicircular hole in the wooden wall, which almost looked like something a counter at some place which accepted customers would have.

Surely, this wasn't designed for that, right?

Proving his words wrong, a hand suddenly shot out of the hole, startling Daneel and making him take a step back.

He had never been a fan of horror movies back on Earth, and such sudden things were still uncomfortable to him, even though he now had the means to protect himself.

After extending outside till the elbow was exposed, the wrinkled hand which looked like it belonged to a man beckoned and made the universal sign for money-he rubbed his thumb and index finger together.

Taking the cue, Daneel walked forward and slowly handed over a large bag, which was immediately grabbed.

How was the hand going to fit the sack of Ker Gems through that tiny door?

He received the answer soon enough: after hefting the bag 3 times as if checking weight, the hand dropped the bag, but before it hit the ground, it disappeared.

[Based on speed of space elementary particle manipulation, the person in the proximity of host who has cast this spell is at least an Eminent Champion]

Well, it made sense that someone in such an important post must have the power to back it up.

It also explained why such an exorbitant fee was being charged: although it felt very high for them, it was pocket change for a Champion.

After this, the hand returned inside the hole, which made Daneel a bit nervous, making him wonder whether he was scammed in return.

Thankfully, a few seconds later, the hand returned, this time holding a key that looked special.

When Daneel held out his hand to take it, he felt a small prick in his index finger, which made a drop of blood land on the key.

"It'll work only for you, and you can stay inside for 24 hours at most. Use the back entrance. Pay 10,000 more to extend your stay. Get out before 24 hours, or the sect officials will throw you out."

A gnarly voice said these words, before the hand disappeared after which the sound of footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door.

Taking the key, Daneel noticed that it had changed color. Clearly, it was some kind of trinket.

Wondering why this man seemed like such a weirdo, Daneel headed to the tower, as he had gotten what he wanted.

The tower was made of grey stone blocks, which seemed to be melded together with almost no perceptible gap. They were rough on the outside, like regular rock, but according to the system, this was some kind of special material which was a lot more durable.

The tower was at least a massive 30 meters in diameter, as it did contain the entire official wing of the sect. The front door was made of wood, and it was carved with flowers to lend it a touch of grand beauty.

There were many other entrances to the side too which were also decorated, but the back entrance was just a plain door.

It was hidden away from the others, and the back side of the tower had a jungle which made it easy for Daneel to make sure that no one was looking/

Besides, he also had the system to check for eavesdroppers.

Putting in the key, Daneel entered it just like a normal door, but the color of the key, which had been silver before, started changing slowly to green, which was what it had been when the man had held out the key.

Understanding that this was some sort of countdown, Daneel put it away before heading down the stone passageway that he found himself in.

The passageway was quite wide, and although it had chattering officials walking around, no one took notice of him.

On the way, he saw quite a few interesting rooms, one of which was the armory.

However, when he tried to enter, a formless force seemed to stop him from doing so.

[The Sect of Hedon core formation is stopping host from entering places which host does not have permission to enter. Should the system begin to look for vulnerabilities?]

Yes!

Daneel had been very worried that the system might be completely powerless inside the central tower, but thankfully, it seemed that the situation wasn't that bad.

"You said before that the formation can't be controlled right?", he asked, wanting to know everything the system could and couldn't do.

[Core formation is already under the possession of an individual. Thus, brute force possession is impossible with system's current level. Vulnerabilities can still be found and used in certain areas that aren't prioritized very highly by the core formation.]

This made Daneel rejoice, as it meant that he had a way now to try and find out what he wanted.

If what he was thinking was right, then the core formation definitely only protected a certain core part, like in Lanthanor where the coiled dragon with treasures inside had been protected until Daneel managed to take full control of the formation.

Giving up on trying to enter rooms where he didn't have the authority, Daneel headed inside the one that was titled "Secret Archives".

Rows and rows of bookshelves greeted him, and as he counted, he realized that there were at least a thousand books here.

It would take a long time to touch all of them.

Also, there were people around, who glanced at him and got back to their books, so they would definitely notice when Daneel did something that ridiculous.

Just as he was about to try and decide his next step, he spotted something familiar: a podium, which a sect member was holding with both his hands.

Yes! It was a sect interface trinket, just like the one in the library of Lanthanor!

After waiting for his turn, Daneel walked up to it and held it tight, as if nothing in the world could dislodge him.

[1132 books found. Assimilating data.]

As the system started absorbing all the information, Daneel looked around, wondering why no one was asking any questions even if he was someone new in the central tower.

Everyone was busy with their own work, but Daneel saw two bearded men sitting side by side while talking to each other.

Eavesdropping was something that had helped Daneel time and time again, so while the system carried out its task, he asked it to magnify what these two were saying.

It turned out that they were talking about food.

Well, not every conversation he eavesdropped on could be vital.

Next, still bored, Daneel asked the system to magnify each and every conversation in the room while giving each 5 seconds.

Most were casual, about the principles of elementary particles or the difficulties faced in breaking through a level.

Some were talking about the menace gripping the dormitory, and how they would have to step in soon if it didn't get resolved.

As he was flicking through conversations like this like one flicked through channels on a TV back on Earth, one caught his attention.

"Yes, I'm not kidding! The 'seer' from the Goddess's Sanctum saw something. Their Matron is here to have an audience with our sect leader, as he is the leader of the High Council. Let's hurry, it's happening in the Main Audience Chamber."

Daneel couldn't believe his ears. Hurriedly, he asked the system just where this conversation had been eavesdropped from.

After finding out that it was between two people who had just passed the door, without caring about whether the data collection was complete, he hurried out while trying hard not to run.

After exiting the secret archives, Daneel looked around before finding two people in black robes heading somewhere with quick strides.

Following them, Daneel made it to a large door which was slightly opened.

Each door was at least 20 feet wide, so that sliver was enough for people to enter through.

As he tried to walk inside, Daneel was once again stopped, but this time, he asked the system to find the weak point before using it and casting a quick spell to enter.

As soon as he walked inside the large, crowded room, he heard a statement spoken with such passion that he would never forget it.

"This continent is my home, and I will definitely do anything and everything in my power to save it. Trust me. I. Will. Save. Angaria. No matter what it takes."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

429 Ashahell Speaks

If the room weren't so crowded, Daneel would definitely have been found out by now, due to how wide open his eyes were.

The reason behind him being startled wasn't the content of the statement from Ashahell. After all, he had seen his intention to 'defend Angaria' before, during his first meeting with the man.

No, his shock came from Ashahell's expression and the determination he heard in his voice, which made him understand that this was truly a feeling that was erupting from the bottom of his heart.

Before, Daneel had at least doubted whether the man had been putting up an act.

However, now, he was pretty sure that it wasn't.

No one could be this good an actor. It was impossible!

The room was circular, with gaggles of people standing all around while the central area was left empty.

There was only one chair in the entire room: and it was very much like a throne.

It did not have any decorations in the shapes of mythical beasts like what Daneel had seen in the other Kingdoms, but it was beautifully carved with flowing designs.

The back of the chair made it stand out: it was at least 20 feet tall.

The room itself had a very high ceiling at at least 50 feet, which gave it a very grand feel.

After the impassionate statement, a brief silence had fallen over the room, during which Daneel continued to stare.

His mind was muddled, and his thoughts were moving slowly, as if they were being dragged through thick mud. If Ashahell wasn't acting, then it meant that he truly wanted to save Angaria. Did that mean that the Watcher really was lying about everything, along with the black-robed man?

No. Before he decided either way, he needed to observe more.

The reason Daneel held off on making a decision was that his gut was telling him that there might be more to this man than what meets the eye.

Back when he had met him, his entire countenance made him appear like someone who was…sad.

He hadn't noticed this then due to the shock of meeting him, but when he thought back, this was what he felt.

As Daneel finally began to return to his senses, he noticed with alarm that Ashahell was turning towards him.

Due to long practice with the Basilisk's Breath, he had learned to notice moments where it was crucial that he use the inheritance.

Like now.

Quickly activating it, he ordered the system to change his camouflage to one of the bearded sect members he had seen in the Secret Archives.

At the same time, he ducked, and because there were at least 3 rows of individuals in front of him, he went out of the Sect leader's line of sight.

By the time he deactivated the Basilisk's Breath, Ashahell was already frowning slightly while looking at the position where he had been before, as if he had felt something and turned around, but there was nothing there.

With sweat appearing on his forehead, Daneel realized just how much of a close shave this had been.

The only way for a non-sect official to enter the central tower was through bribing that archive keeper, but that only allowed one to enter the room which held the Secret Archives.

If he was found here, it would become clear that he had some method to circumvent the sect's formation, which would make him a prime target.

Thankfully, his quick thinking had saved him.

Also, he had been quite impulsive.

What if entering the room had drawn the attention of everyone inside towards him?

What would he have done- waved and said that he was looking for the bathroom, before walking out?

Yeap. That would definitely have worked.

Berating himself and making a mental note to think and act even if the stakes were high, Daneel blended in with the crowd and finally noticed that the Matron and Marcus were standing in front of Ashahell.

The whispering from two individuals in front of him filled him in on the situation.

"I heard that seers appear only when mass casualties are about to occur on the continent. That damn Church is invading anyway, so that's pretty obvious."

"This seer is supposed to be pretty too. Her actual name is Xuan, but she is called 'Sister Xuan' on the orders of the Matron, 'cos she wants to protect her from distractions."

"Do you think she's exaggerating when she said that there wasn't a soul alive on Angaria in her vision?"

When Daneel heard this part, he couldn't help but take in a sharp breath, which interrupted the conversation briefly.

Thankfully, they resumed after glancing at him.

"Definitely. If it was that bad, the other sects wouldn't be so relaxed. They couldn't possibly send us all to our deaths, right?"

As one of the two in front of him said this, weirdly, the other didn't say anything, leaving the first chuckling nervously before the conversation ended in this bizarre fashion.

What could it mean?

Putting that aside, Daneel focused on the information he had acquired.

Sister Xuan, that bold girl, was some sort of 'seer' and had predicted something related to Angaria.

The system had been gathering data for quite some time, so he asked it what a seer was on the off chance that this information might already have been absorbed.

['Seer's appear when Angaria is in grave danger. 5 seers have appeared in the history of the continent…]

As the information about this ability flooded into his mind, Daneel realized why this news had warranted such a major gathering.

Only, he was puzzled why this hadn't sent the entire continent into a frenzy.

A few seconds later, he got the answer to this question.

"As per your request, I have conferred with the other members of the High Council. They have denied the motion to upgrade the danger level of the continent to the highest level. The reason being recorded is that no prediction in the history of Angaria has ever been accurate, at all. Final vote: 7-2."

Hearing this, the shoulders of both the Matron and Marcus slumped.

From their expressions, Daneel could tell that they expected this, but it still came as a disappointment.

However, the others in the room actually let out sighs of relief.

"The High Council knows best! If they say that it's not necessary, then it means that they must be confident of protecting all of us, at least. If we don't die foolishly during the war, that is."

"Although I doubt that, there is no way that I would train with those wenches from the Goddess's Sanctum. I would rather bend them over my leg than form a team with them. I can only say that I hope you are right."

As Daneel heard these two statements from the two in front of him whom he had eavesdropped on before, he was trying hard not to make judgments without knowing all the information.

He was the type who would consider a threat real and to be planned against if there was even a 1% chance of it happening, that too when the threat was on such a massive scale.

So, from his viewpoint, it just seemed foolish for the Big 4 not to escalate their 'danger level', whatever that was.

[Danger Level: 4 states of danger level have been decided on by the High Council-Yellow, orange, red and black in ascending order. Yellow is for situations where moderate loss of life is possible in the Central Continent. The rules state that secondary forces must be sent out to stop the threat. Orange is for threats to the stability of the Central Continent, which might lead to massive loss of life. All active duty personnel can be deployed. Red is for an active threat to the entire continent, which will definitely cause loss of life in both the Central Continent and the Big 4. Aggressive member hiring, trinket production, and strategical planning must be carried out. Black is for threats which will most possibly wipe out the entire continent. All of the Big 4 must unite, form combined armies, plan combined defense strategies and resort to extreme measures(including forbidden ones) to save Angaria.]

As this long explanation rattled through Daneel's head, he got a better understanding of why the two in front of him had spoken in that way.

Clearly, all this information was from the secret archive, which made Daneel feel relieved that the decision to gamble everything on coming here for data hadn't been wrong.

As the whispering resumed, Daneel assumed the meeting was over, as the Matron and Marcus were just standing there, looking down with defeated expressions on their faces.

However, Ashahell spoke after a little while, and what he said made both of them snap their heads up as if they had been electrocuted, while Daneel even had to bite his tongue hard so that he wouldn't exclaim due to finally uncovering a mystery that had plagued him quite heavily since he had taken full control of the formation in the Hidden Kill Sect.

"Don't lose all hope like that. I already expected this response from the High Council. Although I am its head, it's sad that I am powerless in the matter of forcing them to do anything. So, I plan to take things into my own hands. We all know the hidden history about of the Central Continent: the strongest inheritance and the strongest trinket that has ever been developed on Angaria was made by the largest empire which once sprawled across the entire continent, in all 4 directions. This was their greatest achievement, but this also led to their ruin. Hence, the Kingdoms and forces were broken up, and the inheritance and the trinket were broken apart and distributed among all of them in case Angaria ever faces a threat which will certainly destroy it. The reason behind their ruin is why we do not allow empires on Angaria, even today. I plan to collect them all and try to create a way where they can be used without danger. It is our last hope."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

430 Revelation

Ignoring the pain that came from biting his tongue so hard that even blood appeared, Daneel tried to comprehend what he had just heard.

This was the mystery surrounding Angaria that he had been trying to uncover since a very long time.

The history of this continent was something that none of the forces on the Central Continent knew. Either the Big Four had made sure that this would be the case, or all those forces that were now in the Central Continent had come into existence after whatever had happened to the Empire, meaning that their history started when the true history of Angaria ended.

This proclamation was met by silence, so Daneel used this opportunity to think about this revelation that had shocked him to the core.

As he listed all the facts he knew so far, he realized that it all made sense, more or less.

It was an unspoken rule that Empires were forbidden on the Central Continent, and many had even suspected that this wasn't just because no force on the Central Continent wanted others to gang up on them.

The Empire spirit was something most probably left behind by that glorious Empire which had spanned across the entire continent, possibly as a way to resurrect themselves.

As for the vision he had seen when he had unlocked the first layer of the Empire spirit, it was most probably what had let to their destruction.

This meant that… He had already collected two parts of the inheritance, and two parts of the trinket that Ashahell had spoken about?!

Of course, Daneel was referring to the strange objects that he had found inside the core formations of the Hidden Kill Sect and Lanthanor, that the system had said were very similar.

If they were part of the same trinket that had been broken up, it would only make sense that the system would be able to analyze this.

Only, the level of the trinket was apparently something that even exceeded the present level of the system.

Did that mean that… The trinket could be at the Hero level? Or even stronger?

Daneel already knew from Sister Xuan that the condition for a force to be considered part of the Big Four was to have a Hero-level individual with them.

He had already deduced that these people must be the ones hidden away from the sight of common sect members, busy defending the continent in secret.

Now that he thought about it, Daneel even got a suspicion that they made up that High Council that Ashahell had just conversed with.

Of course, it didn't make sense that the head would be just a Peak Champion while the others would all be Heroes, but still, Daneel did not discard this possibility as for some reason, his gut told him that there was some truth to it.

The arrogance of the Empire spirit also made sense, as compared to an Empire that sprawled across the whole continent, the present forces were nothing but mere villages.

As a mystery that had been plaguing him for many years was finally uncovered, Daneel felt relief flooding through him, but it was also accompanied by even more questions.

If such a powerful inheritance and trinket existed, why hadn't more people sought to possess them over all these years?

What exactly had led to the collapse of that glorious empire?

How did the existence of that empire tie in with the mythical beasts that all made up the cores of the formations of the various forces in the Central Continent?

Why had he found nothing in the Black Raven Kingdom and Eldinor?

Even though these questions revolved in Daneel's mind, he felt energized and ready to uncover them, because of the satisfaction that came from having uncovered this earth-shaking truth through his own efforts.

Right now, with all seriousness, Daneel considered something: if Ashahell was truly an honorable man who wanted to protect Angaria at all costs, should he consider giving up what he had to help the man?

His goal was to save the people of this beautiful continent that was his home, and although doing it himself would definitely give him such a great amount of satisfaction and joy that he wouldn't be able to put it into words, if there was someone else more equipped to do the same, he realised that he wouldn't mind letting them proceed.

After all, he wasn't an egoistic, selfish ruler who wanted the credit at all costs and wanted to dominate and rule the entire continent no matter what.

The answer to this question would dictate his whole plan while moving forward, so Daneel decided to think more on it. First of all, he needed to make sure beyond any doubt that Ashahell was the man he appeared to be.

This was because no matter how much he tried to ignore it, he felt that something was off about this prophesized savior of Angaria.

"Has the High Council approved this?"

It was Marcus with his deep voice who asked this question, and it broke the silence and whispers that had filled the room till now.

"Yes. Because of the prediction, although they are not prepared to raise the danger level, I just convinced them that this must at least be tried. That is why I am announcing it in public now. The seer's prediction was useful, after all, Matron. Of course, they will do everything in their power to make sure that history doesn't repeat."

The very mention of "repeating history" caused a shudder to pass through many in the room, as just the thought of something like that cataclysm happening again was very scary.

Hearing this, both the Matron and Marcus nodded, before the Matron said, "We wish you luck on this quest, and we really hope that you find success. Still, we can only beseech you to please try and convince the elders in the High Council to agree to increase the danger level. Xuan says she is sure about what she saw, and I believe her."

"Very well. My first stop will be Lanthanor. I'll be doing this through the proper channels, so I'll be sending a senior sect official after an initial scouting of the area to initiate conversation for meeting the King of Lanthanor by myself later on. When I meet each ruler, I will also emphasize about the threat that our continent is going to face soon, and I will ask them to prepare in the best way they can. Farewell."

When they heard this, both the Matron and Marcus bowed slightly before disappearing from the spot.

"I'm still going through some tests to formulate an initial plan, so we will be carrying this out in a month. After I obtain the first part, I will be convening a physical meeting of the High Council at our sect to discuss the plan and finalize it. Let it be written in the record that this became privileged knowledge in the sect on this date, at this time. The sect meeting ends here."

After nodding to a man standing beside the chair who had a data trinket in hand and who was clearly noting down everything to store it in the official records of the sect, Ashahell also disappeared, after which people started to move towards the door.

Taking this opportunity, Daneel made his way out and headed back to the secret archives while in deep thought.

He had gotten his answer regarding what the Sect of Hedon wanted to do with Lanthanor, but he still didn't know whether it was the full story.

He couldn't help it. Whenever he thought about such meetings and matters which were recorded, he couldn't help but think back to Earth, where politicians would announce one thing and carry out their own hidden agenda under the guise of acting with everyone's best interests and heart.

Before he made a decision on what he would do next, he knew that he had to finish absorbing all the information first.

Right before he entered the secret archives, Daneel chose a moment when no one was looking at him to change back to the blonde haired kid before walking up to the podium again.

After five minutes, with all of the information in the secret archives completely assimilated in the system, he made his way out and headed to a bathroom.

While washing his face using a faucet, Daneel looked around.

He already had all the information, so there was no urgency to leaf through it. He had already asked the system whether there was anything in the secret archives that required his urgent attention that was related to what was going on right now, to which the system had answered that the main info was already known to him.

Right now, there were only two possibilities: either the Watcher was right and Ashahell was evil, or he was wrong and this entire thing was only to take revenge for being kicked out for some other reason.

According to him, Ashahell was going to deliver something to the Church which would allow them to invade sooner. What he needed to find was simple: if there really was something like that which when delivered, could destabilize the entire continent and make it ripe for invasion, then it meant that the Watcher was right.

Taking out the key, Daneel checked how much time he had left.

From the gradually changing color, he could tell that he had used up around one hour of his time, which meant that he had 23 hours to search throughout the entire Central Tower.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at himself in the mirror.

This was going to be very grueling.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

431 Last Hope

23 hours later.

As Daneel walked out of the Central Tower while holding the key that was about to completely turn black, he couldn't help but bite his lips with frustration.

Each and every part of his body was aching, and he even had a very bad headache due to constantly changing camouflages and having his mageroot overly taxed for quite a long time.

Using various disguises, he had searched through almost every nook and cranny of the entire Central Tower, save for the core spot on the ground which the system couldn't infiltrate into, and a few other places.

Besides, he knew that there was probably nothing there except the core control mechanism of the formation, which was actively in the possession of someone.

At least three times, he had had very close shaves where the person he was disguised as had almost walked into the room he was in and realized that there were two of him.

At the last moment, using the Basilisk's Breath, he had been able to change disguise and avoid suspicion.

In this process, the only consolation was that he had come across various bookshelves in other parts of the sect which he had run his fingers over and collected information regarding the finer workings of the sect.

At one point, he had even infiltrated the living quarters of the sect leader himself, but what was strange was that the bed looked like it hadn't been slept in in a very long time.

It was then that he had heard while eavesdropping on the maids in the central tower that the sect leader very rarely spent time here, instead opting to disappear somewhere.

There was one other thing – when Daneel got to the top floor of the sect, the system had notified him that there was actually a camouflage formation which was making it appear to everyone outside that the Central Tower only had eight floors.

Apparently, there were many more floors, but the system couldn't push through as this was also another area of priority by the Hero level formation which made it so that the system's level wasn't enough for it to find vulnerabilities which Daneel could use.

Basically, he had exhausted each and every place he could look inside the Central Tower, but he had found no indication whatsoever about the true nature of the sect leader.

With his time up, he had no option but to give up and go out, lest he risk being discovered by the sect officials and being fined and thrown out.

As soon as he walked out, the key crumbled into ash before being swept up by a breeze.

While Daneel watched the ashes floating away, it was as if he was also watching his last hope of finding the truth leaving him.

He didn't know what to do. Even the Watcher had had no concrete plan – he had trusted that whatever the sect leader wanted to deliver, Daneel would be able to find it and identify it for what it was – an element which could be used to destabilize the continent.

Regretfully, there was no such thing.

Although the possibility was there that it might be stored in the higher portions of the central tower, Daneel had no way of ascertaining whether this was true.

What was he supposed to do now?

It would take at least three and a half weeks for him to exit the sect again, and by that time, if the Watcher was true, then it was very possible that the end of Angaria might come to be.

Hopelessness and desperation surged through Daneel, but no matter how much he tried to find a way, he really couldn't see any hope.

Besides, there was also the nagging feeling that the Watcher might be false all along, and that he might be better off handing over whatever he had to Ashahell.

However, whenever he thought about this, a chill would creep up his spine, as if to warn him not to do anything hastily.

Walking back to the dorm, Daneel asked the system to tell him about any information that he needed to know from all the data that had been gathered inside the central tower.

[High Council: The High Council consists of all the Hero level elders of each member of the Big Four. The number of elders from a sect determines its position in the hierarchy of the Big Four. A force can only be considered to be part of the Big Four if they have at least one Hero level individual on the High Council. The leader of the High Council is the only one not at Hero level – typically, the leader is chosen from the Peak Champions in all of the Big Four, with the objective being that the one who is most likely to become a Hero next should be in possession of the role of 'head' whose responsibility it is to act as a bridge between the regular sect members and the members of the High Council.]

Well, that was established. So that was where all the Hero level individuals of the sects were.

[Hero Level: The level that is beyond Champions. The key to becoming a Champion is to choose some aspect which resonates with the individual, and either being capable of casting spells related to that aspect without using a Mageroot(in the case of a Mage) or being capable of exerting power and affecting reality without using their body(in the case of a Fighter). This is the information pieced together from the journals of those who have already become Champions. As for the Hero level, it has only been written that an additional aspect is needed, and that the difference between Champions and Heroes is much more than that between Warriors and Champions. Core information about reaching Champion or Hero level is exclusive to the core inheritances of the sect, which is not included in the data that has been gathered.]

This made Daneel stumble slightly, as he finally realized the meaning behind the system's notification during the Olympics when it had said that mageroot-less spell casting was key to becoming a Champion.

He had already expected that the most important inheritances wouldn't just be lying around the Central Tower for him to gather. The formation would definitely prioritize such information, so it would only make sense that he hadn't been able to access them.

Although all this stuff about the Hero level was very interesting, he knew that it was very far from him right now.

Too far to think about, especially when he considered that if he didn't accomplish something soon, it was very possible that Angaria itself would not exist for long.

Again and again, Daneel couldn't help but think this and frown with extreme frustration.

[Comprehension and potential levels: Unlike in the Central Continent where comprehension and potential levels are capped at top grade, according to the information that has been found in the secret archives, there are two additional levels, denoted as "S" and "SS". Comprehension level and body potential level dictate the farthest power level that an individual can train to. Top grade comprehension and body potential means that an individual can become a Warrior without too much difficulty, given the right resources and training method. But beyond this, it is almost impossible for them to move forward, unless external mechanisms are used to increase their comprehension and body potential level.

S level means that one can become a Champion.

SS level means that one can become a Hero.

Very few people are born with S level comprehension or body potential. One example of those born with S comprehension and body potential level are 'seers'.

Since the collapse of the Empire of Angaria, no individual has been born with SS level comprehension or body potential.]

His head reeling with all this information, Daneel realized that he had finally found out just what kind of level his own comprehension had reached after that experience so long ago with the remnant spirit.

On a whim, he asked the system to show him his status.

[Host status updating. Please standby.

Host status:

Host Fighter Level: Warrior-1(67%)

Host Mage Level: Warrior-1(84%)

Host Body Potential: A+

Host Comprehension Level: S

Host Condition: Nominal]

Clearly, whatever he had been through when he was attacked by that remnant spirit had in some way changed his comprehension level and improved it. If he remembered correctly, it had all been about pressure.

Right now, he could bet that whatever the sect members of the Big Four went through to become a Champion was definitely closely related to what he himself had gone through.

Again, another mystery solved, but this time, it gave him no satisfaction.

Reaching the dorm room, Daneel fell on the bed.

There was still no new news about the Mad Doctor, as it seemed that Percy was still searching and trying to find out just where his father was hiding his brother and those cronies. Of course, he had been waylaid by Daneel.

Daneel slowly realized that there was only one thing he could do- a last hope of sorts: Ashahell was going to meet with him, and during the conversation, he would have to try his best to find out something or anything about the man's real motives.

There had been instances before when a personal meeting had helped Daneel and allowed him to understand the other person, so he could only hope right now that the same would repeat.

He threw himself into training, waiting for the three and a half weeks to end, so that he would be able to leave while also hoping that Ashahell wouldn't move his schedule forward.

Thankfully, no such thing happened, and after 25 days, Daneel made sure that Ashahell was going to come to Lanthanor in five days before leaving the sect.

As he stepped out of the barrier, he took a deep breath.

These past few weeks had been very tough on him, as his anxiety regarding the future had reached new peaks, not even allowing him to get a good night's sleep.

The stakes were just too high.

As he had just exited the sect, he could choose to contact the Watcher if he wished, but Daneel held off on doing so and also made sure to disguise himself as someone else, as that guy must definitely be watching right now.

Without being sure, he couldn't risk going to the Hidden Kill Sect again.

In five days, Ashahell would be appearing in Lanthanor, and that meeting might well decide the fate of Angaria itself.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

432 True Intentions 1

On the day that Daneel was set to leave the Sect of Hedon, Ashahell was standing on the real top floor of the Central Tower with his eyes closed.

However, unlike his usual countenance, his eyes were flickering, and there was a strange golden halo around his long brown hair.

In his mind's eye, he was currently in a place that looked like it was in the sky.

All he could see were clouds all around, along with 8 massive chairs on which hazy humanoid figures were seated.

He was his normal size, so all of these individuals looked like giants that were at least 20 feet tall.

"What is it now, Ashahell? Another plot to 'save' Angaria?"

These words were said in a languid tone by the figure to his right, and the hazy figure in that chair seemed to be casually lounging on it, with one leg over the armrest.

Chuckles sounded across the area, with only 2 individuals not joining in on the laughter.

"Yes, I hope that is not the case. If I need to hear one more time about how the Energy on the continent is decreasing and how we need to stop mining Ker Gems from its core, I'll revoke your privileges to call for a meeting."

"Halfax, come on! Ashahell has a point. You know how hard he has tried over the decades to find a way to stop it. He only wants to save Angaria!"

The one who said this was clearly female, and she was to Ashahell's left.

More laughter erupted from the others as they heard this.

"All right, all right, enough. Don't take this to heart, Ashahell. You are prophesized to save Angaria from the Church, not from itself. You will be leading the charge against the Church when the time comes, so I hope you haven't been neglecting your training even though we can't give you all the resources you want. Anyway, what is this meeting for, again?"

Usually, if Ashahell heard such statements which belittled his sincere efforts and passion to save this place that he considered his home, he would have felt frustrated.

Since his parents had died, that had been the only motivation that had pushed him forward.

It was a known fact that Energy resources were decreasing throughout the continent.

The average power level of people in this era was a far cry from those in the ages past, where Heroes had been as common as Champions now.

In his investigation, he had found that it was because the inhabitants of Angaria were ruthlessly mining away all the Energy resources, leading to such an overall decrease.

If this continued, the continent itself would surely die.

Since he had discovered this, he had made it his life's work to save his home, as he believed that that was his purpose.

No matter how lonely he felt on his path, or how much resistance he faced from these old geezers, he had strode forward with his head held high.

However, after that incident where he had absorbed the power of those 10,000 people, he had started to realize that his method had been wrong.

Since then, he had devoted himself to finding a way to save his home, no matter what he needed to do in the process.

Finally, he was at the last step, and although what he was going to do made him sad, he told himself that it was necessary and looked up to meet the gazes of the 8 in front of him.

All of his efforts would come to fruition soon, and all he needed to do was go through with his plan.

Taking a deep breath, Ashahell began to speak.

"I called this meeting to submit my plan to unearth the lost inheritance and trinket from the Angarian Empire. I set off in 5 days to meet the King of Lanthanor, and obtain the first parts of the trinket and inheritance. After that, I will be bringing them back to the Sect of Hedon, where I humbly request the physical presence of all the members of the High Council, as per the ancient rules."

"Oh, it's that. Well, that didn't require this meeting. Sure thing, we will be there. If that's all, I need to get back to my maidens."

As more laughter was heard, Ashahell nodded, and when his consciousness returned to his body, no one saw the despondent smile that appeared on his face, accompanied by a sigh that was filled with regret that there was no other way.

….

Five days later.

Daneel was sitting all alone in the Royal Court, mulling over a data trinket in his hand.

It held the information about the power levels of the Domination Corps, more specifically, of all the individuals who had gone to the Hidden Kill Sect for training.

This was practically the most powerful and effective group of soldiers that he had, and he had no intention of leaving them alone and letting their power dwindle.

After coming back to the Kingdom, Daneel had made simplified copies of both the Art of the Withering Leaf and the Basilisk's Breath before passing it on to the Domination Corps.

These were individuals who had already sworn an oath to not disclose any information about the training techniques that they had, but there was still a risk that someone could notice them when they were fighting and identify the inheritances they were using.

However, Daneel didn't really care about this, because if the time came when they really had to go all out and use these techniques, it really wouldn't matter who was seeing them, as everyone would be too busy trying not to die.

Of course, he hadn't really been able to completely hide the news that he had exited the sect, and the Watcher had been repeatedly trying to get in touch with him using the communication trinket.

Daneel had been ignoring the man, but he knew that he couldn't do that much longer, as this was a Champion level individual and he might resort to doing something extreme if he saw that he had no other option to talk to him.

Thankfully, that hadn't happened yet, as it seemed that even the Watcher had gotten wind of the meeting that was going to take place soon in the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

Three days ago, the senior official of the sect had arrived at the Kingdom of Lanthanor and asked for an audience with the king.

When Daneel had talked to him, the man had been very polite, which had been quite surprising.

After telling him that he was from the legendary Big Four, he had simply notified him that the leader of the High Council and the sect leader of one of the Big Four wanted to have an audience with him, as he needed to discuss some very crucial matters.

Of course, Daneel had readily agreed, after showing the appropriate amount of shock by using the system.

The meeting was set for today, which coincided with the schedule that Ashahell had initially announced.

He was nervous, to say the least, as there was a lot riding on this meeting.

Even in these past five days, he had been very distracted, and he had even repeatedly gone over everything he had seen inside the central tower to no avail.

The meeting was supposed to happen at noon, and to make sure that he wouldn't arouse any suspicion, Daneel had even asked the system to relinquish control of the Court formation of the Palace of Lanthanor after putting back the items he had found reluctantly.

After all, a Champion was required to take control of it, and there was no such individual in Lanthanor.

If Ashahell discovered that there was nothing inside, suspicion might fall on him, and he was not ready yet to face up against a bunch of Heros and a Peak Champion, especially when he didn't even know what a Hero was capable of.

As soon as the clock struck 12, a man appeared in the center of the Royal Court.

He was wearing the same black robes with a golden trim that Daneel had seen him in during the audience in the Sect of Hedon, but that genial nature that had been present in him both when he interacted with Daneel and during the sect meeting was absent.

Instead, his long face was set with an expression of indifference, sadness, and…hope?

The last part confused Daneel, but he discarded it, thinking that he had seen wrong.

This was clearly a show of force, as the formation of the Palace which was supposed to stop teleportation had been broken through in merely a fraction of a second.

Of course, if Daneel were in control of the core formation of the sect, he could have redirected resources to stop this, but he would obviously not do so.

Instead, all Daneel did was appear as if he were seeing one of the most shocking things in the world, before controlling himself and bringing back the dignity of a King.

Even though he was much less powerful than the individual in front of him, he decided that a King like himself would definitely protest at least a little bit at having his Court intruded on in this way.

The proper method would have been to appear at the entrance, before being led the Royal Court.

However, as Daneel was about to open his mouth to speak, he realized that he had lost all control of his body.

Only his eyes could still be moved by him, and they widened with genuine shock when he saw Ashahell folding his hands and looking at him with an indescribable expression on his face.

Daneel felt his skin crawl when he looked into Ashahell's eyes, and he already realized that things were developing in ways that he could never have foreseen.

He had expected for this to be just a normal meeting, but that clearly wasn't so, as he had just been bound to the throne and rendered immobile.

With growing horror, Daneel wondered whether he had been foolish and naïve in even accepting this meeting.

This was because his gut was repeatedly screaming one thing at him, and it had been a long time since he had felt hopeless in changing what was going to happen using his power.

It was screaming that he was going to die.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

433 Ashahell“s Ultimatum 1

Just the concept of having one's control of one's own body taken away was a horrifying thing to think of.

Daneel could feel everything: from the invisible ropes that were binding him in place to the air that brushed against his skin.

Only, it was like he was a passenger in his own mind: only able to move his eyes while the rest of his body refused to follow his orders.

"System, is there nothing that can be done?"

[With clone body, no action can be taken. With original body, time to disable spell: 10 seconds.]

That was just great.

Using simple common sense, Daneel had chosen to meet this man using his clone, but his guts had still begun warning him about his impending death, which had made him panic the most.

Even if it was his original body, in 10 seconds, he could possibly be killed countless times before he even mounted a resistance.

However he thought about it, if this man wanted to kill him, he was doomed.

At this point, Daneel truly understood just how much farther he had to go if he wanted to be anything greater than an ant in this continent.

True, he was a once-in-a-millennium genius who could match an Exalted Warrior even though he had just stepped into the Warrior realm himself, using all the inheritances and tricks he had.

However, standing up against a genius who had apparently been born with more talent than him, he could do nothing.

The man in front of him was a Peak Exalted Champion, but he could tell that even if he was just an Amateur Champion, Daneel wouldn't be any better off.

With panic surging through him, he began running from his personal chambers, where his original body was.

He had already shifted his consciousness, but because he wasn't in control of the core of the Palace's formation, he couldn't disable the anti-teleportation part of the formation and immediately leave.

Only, as soon as he raised his foot, he felt the same thing happen to his original body.

He hadn't even wasted any time: as soon as he had felt the warning from his gut and as soon as he had lost control of his clone's body, he had shifted consciousness, but apparently, Ashahell was even faster.

"You're cautious. I like it. But that's useless."

As Ashahell uttered these words in a cold voice, the chill that was creeping up Daneel's back only grew in intensity.

The next second, all three bodies vanished from the Palace, and because both his personal chambers and the Royal Court were sealed off on his orders, no one was none the wiser.

Something even more horrifying was that he couldn't even send any message through the oathstone. In all the situations he had been in on Angaria so far, the mystical oathstone's connection to all those who had sworn oaths to it had never been cut off.

As he realized this, he finally understood that all routes of escape were completely sealed off.

His last hope had been to contact the Watcher with the hope that the man might be able to help, but clearly, that was no longer possible.

The clone disappeared as soon as Ashahell attempted to teleport it, as during the teleportation, the distance between it and Daneel easily exceeded the limit in which it had to stay in.

So, when Daneel opened his eyes, he only saw Ashahell beside him, whose arms were still folded.

Looking around, Daneel realized that they were actually in the area outside the Valley of Mist.

Barren ground was all around them, and this was coincidentally near the spot where Daneel had first stood and wondered why the Valley was the only place inhabited by plants when the area all around it was almost completely devoid of life.

He was propped upright like a robot, with stiff limbs, but one thing had changed: he could move his neck around.

However, the rest of his body, including his lips and mouth, were still the same.

Hence, twisting his neck, Daneel looked all around before finally focusing his gaze on Ashahell after realizing that there was no one and nothing else around them.

"Have you never wondered why this place is so peculiar?"

Daneel was still in a major panic due to the fact that his life might end soon, but he still chose to answer.

Back on Earth, he had seen TV shows where it said that in the presence of a crazed killer, it was always better to follow their instructions and not infuriate them, as that would only lead to a quick death.

Of course, he had no idea whether that applied here, but Ashahell really did seem like a maniac, for some reason.

As Ashahell saw him hurriedly nod, he smiled slightly before saying, "Don't worry. I won't kill you…yet. At least, it'll be your decision regarding whether you live or die. For now, just enjoy the ride. So, you did wonder about the reason?"

Daneel didn't know if that statement was meant to calm him, but it definitely managed to do the opposite.

However, he had been in many high-risk situations so far since he had transmigrated here. So, drawing on all that experience, Daneel assembled his thoughts and nodded slowly, knowing that if he at least wanted to keep the possibility alive that he could get out of this unscathed, then he had to keep a rational and quick mind.

"That's better. This place is of special importance to me. 20 years ago, when I was a little kid, I used to play here. You wouldn't be able to believe it: that Valley stretched many hundreds of kilometers out, and there were many animals that became my companions. Whenever I got too bored of training, they would accompany me. There was one bear in general which loved it when I patted it on its head."

A lush forest here? Just 20 years ago?

Daneel hadn't really gone through a detailed report of the area, so he had no idea whether this was true.

However, from the way Ashahell was speaking, he could tell that the man wasn't lying.

After a pause, when Ashahell resumed speaking, his tone had a cold edge to it, like a blade that had just been unsheathed.

"Everything was fine…until one day, when I saw a red rock shining in the sun. I was so naïve. I just reported it to those who had escorted me, and I saw as their eyes went wide open. Like primitive beasts, they pounced on the rock and clawed it with their hands before remembering their powers and breaking apart the rock using magic. They pocketed all they could, and when they reported it to the sect, many, many mages descended here.

"Did you know that a red rock peeking out of the ground meant death to the land? I didn't either, and I learned this fact on that day.

"There was apparently a massive Ker Gem mine underneath, which drew the attention of even the Hero level elder of our sect.

"In one night, it was all over. By the next morning, everything still looked the same from the outside, but no one could have guessed that a cave tens of kilometers in width and height had been dug out in a single night. All the Ker Gems were emptied, and from then on, the forest began to die."

As Daneel listened to the tale, he couldn't help but notice that Ashahell's voice was getting colder and colder by the second.

"The animals became listless. The plants started to wilt. The very air felt like it was rotting, as it had lost that which had sustained it. You see, Ker Gems energize elementary particles for a large area around them, allowing nature to thrive. When they were suddenly removed, it caused too catastrophic a change which ended up…killing everything. That was just in one area; one forest. Imagine what would be the effect if this happened all over the continent. Have you never wondered why those in the ancient times seemed so much more mighty compared to us? Why we can only learn from them and pick up their scraps with lofty aspirations of reaching their heights? IT'S BECAUSE OF OUR GREED!"

As the last sentence was shouted out, Daneel flinched, but that was completely in his mind.

He suddenly thought back to his first days on Angaria, when he had learned from the library about this very thing: that the general Energy level of the continent was depleting, and no one knew exactly why.

Of course, immediately, Daneel drew a parallel with Earth.

Even these, excessive consumption of natural resources had led to a global crisis, but no one was ready to seriously face it and look for solutions on a global level.

Clearly, that was also the situation here. The Big 4 had mined away all the major deposits of Ker Gems and possibly other materials, which explained why they had so many resources in abundance while the Central Continent fought over scraps. They had only been left with the most basic of resources, barely enough to sustain them.

There, it was the global leaders and massive corporations which only cared about themselves.

Here, it was the Hero-level individuals of the continent, who, for some reason, didn't care at all.

Of course, at this moment, Daneel felt very angry.

As that anger became reflected in his eyes, Ashahell actually…smiled.

He had been observing Daneel closely all this while, so when he saw the expected reaction, he felt happy that he hadn't been wrong.

"I was right. You are angry, too, just like I was when I found out! You are someone who cares about the continent. I saw all of your efforts in saving your people. I even tested you using those doom mosquitoes, to see just what you were capable of. King Daneel, people like us, we just want what's best for the continent. For too long, I have been walking alone on this path. I ask you to join me. Join me, and I will show you what you have been doing wrong. Join me, and I will show you the right way. Join me, and…we will save Angaria together."

As Daneel finally realized why this man had taken a special interest in him, he heard one last sentence.

"And, oh, yes. Join me…or die."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

434 Ashahell“s Ultimatum 2

As soon as Daneel heard the last part, he regained control of his mouth.

First, he coughed to make sure that he could speak again.

After that, seeing that Ashahell was looking at him with an expression of hope on his face, he really felt like laughing at his own situation.

Here was a man who had taken a special interest in him because he thought that he wanted to save Angaria, too. And if he didn't join him, he would die.

What was he supposed to say now? That's great, let's be brothers and let's go save this continent together?

No!

Daneel could tell that there was a lot here that he wasn't being told.

However, he had no idea how to ask.

This wasn't a multiple choice question: if he said no, he would most probably die.

As the gears in his mind turned, he tried to find a way out where he could live and find out more.

After a few seconds, he finally got an idea.

"If we are truly going to save all the people of Angaria together, then I would not hesitate to join you."

In response, Ashahell shook his head, and Daneel felt as if his heart had dropped like a rock.

"No, King Daneel. I never mentioned the people. No matter when I talk about my mission, I only talk about saving Angaria. Angaria is the land we live on- the land we take for granted. The people are just insects who happen to be on it. For Angaria to be saved, they have to be eliminated. I know it's sad, but sometimes, we have to do what is necessary to get what is needed. This land gave birth to us and allowed us to gain power using its breath and soul. In return, all we do is plunder. That has to end. Angaria will be rid of all that plagues it, and there will be a fresh start under my helm, and yours, if you agree."

There is was.

Hearing this, Daneel sighed inwardly.

There was the typical extremist.

At this moment, he fully understood this man, and he also understood why he had even gotten that doubt in the central tower before, about whether he should follow him.

Ashahell truly believed in his cause to save the continent. In fact, when Daneel thought about it, he realized that he really hadn't heard him ever mention the inhabitants of Angaria whenever he spoke about saving it- not once.

He should have picked up the clue then, but it was too easy to miss.

Right now, Daneel saw an extreme "Save the planet!" protestor from Earth inside Ashahell- only, it was one who was insanely powerful and also had the means to get what he wanted at all cost.

What was he supposed to do now?

He could tell what was going to happen if he chose to follow Ashahell: at best, he would have to swear an oath, which would definitely be binding enough that it would take a lot of time to find a way to circumvent it. By then, Angaria would mostly be lost.

In the worst case scenario, Ashahell might even have something even more binding, which Daneel would have no hope of getting out of.

And if he chose the other option to refuse, he would simply die.

It was a lose-lose situation, and Daneel cursed himself for even getting into it, even though he saw no way in which he could have done things differently.

All too often, one would only find out one's true nature when it was too late.

Wait…was it too late?

At this crucial moment between life and death, his mind worked faster than ever before.

All of his experience, drive and urge to save the people who believed in him transformed into a singular need to find a way to get out of this predicament.

Suddenly, he got an idea.

"I refuse."

As these words sounded over the empty plane, the expression of hope on Ashahell's face disappeared and was replaced by one of disappointment.

"That's a foolish decision. It's just too bad. I was really looking forward to finding someone else to save from Angaria, so that they can help me when it is time to rebuild. You could have saved your family and friends too. Now, along with you, all of them will also die. King Daneel, goodbye."

As he said this, Daneel once again started to lose control of his mouth and throat, but before it left, he quickly shouted, "WAIT!"

Thinking that he was changing his mind, Ashahell paused and gave back control of the ability to speak.

"Why are you killing me? Don't you have a policy to not involve yourself in the Central Continent? How will you explain yourself to the High Council?"

This was what the young King wanted to say?

Frowning, Ashahell just took it as the last struggles of someone who was about to die.

"I'll just place a clone in your place. It really doesn't matter; all life on Angaria will end soon. All I need to do is not let anyone get suspicious for a little while. Originally, this was going to take some time. However, a certain prediction allowed me to move all of my plans forward. I assume that you got this information from that Xuan. You have to thank her for dying so soon, too. If that's all, we can proceed."

"WAIT!"

When Daneel once again felt control leaving him, he shouted just like before.

With a deeper frown, Ashahell asked, "What?"

"Let me speak like one who wants to save this continent to another. You and I want the same things, but in different ways. So, you and I understand each other. I only have one wish. I want to die with my people, along with the knowledge that I did everything in my power to save them and reach my goal. I think you can understand just how much I want that. You, of all people, should. You said that it doesn't matter. Isn't there any other way for me to live, but not hamper your plans? Any way? As a King, it is not right for me to beg, but if necessary, I'll do just that."

As Daneel spoke these words with such passion that even tears appeared in his eyes, Ashahell's frown lessened, but he furrowed his brow.

Seeing this, Daneel rejoiced that his plan was working.

This was a man who strived for his goal more than anything, so he was just appealing to that very strong part of him that knew how it felt when one walked forward on the path to fulfilling their dream.

Ashahell was, indeed, moved by this speech.

He liked to think that he was a very reasonable man. In fact, before that incident where those 10,000 people had died, he had even been very kind and fair to others.

Of course, after that incident, his thinking had changed, but he had still refrained from causing unnecessary deaths for the most part.

He could understand this last wish of this King who really did only want the best for his people. He was right: they were the same, and that was why he had hoped to recruit him.

So, he thought for a moment whether there was a way to fulfill his wish without taking risks.

He was also someone who pursued perfection, so there was no way that he would leave loose ends.

"Isn't there a way to wipe my memory, maybe?"

As Ashahell heard this, he realized that there was, indeed that method that he hadn't thought of.

Only, many said that it was worse than death.

"Now that you mention that, there is a way. If you completely relinquish the defenses around your mind, I can use my mageroot to enter your consciousness using an advanced spell to wipe away this meeting. I can even replace it with a fake meeting where I would only tell you about the Church's threat and ask for permission to examine your core formation-that's what I'm going to do with the other rulers, anyway. You were just...special."

"Then I chose that!"

"Don't be hasty. If you let me do that, it means that I will have access to all of your innermost secrets. I will be able to go through each and every moment of your life, starting from birth. You will feel as if your mind has been…violated. You will feel that something is wrong, but you wouldn't be able to explain it, and you would eventually go crazy. Of course, if you don't die first, that is. Many prefer death. It's your choice."

Hearing this, the King in front of Ashahell shuddered, which was the typical reaction.

However, after a few seconds, resolve shone in his eyes.

Yes, this was someone that he had chosen as worthy to follow him.

It really was a pity.

"Do it. You said everything will end anyway, right? If I'm going to forget this anyway, can I know when and how that is?"

"I have no need to answer that. Let's just say that I'm looking forward a lot to a very important meeting. Brace yourself. This is going to hurt a little at first, and a lot later. Goodbye, King Daneel."

As screaming started to echo throughout the barren area, blood started to flow from the King of Lanthanor's eyes, nose, and ears.

….

An unknown amount of time later.

"Thank you for your cooperation, King Daneel. I hope you take my advice to heart. The Church is no small enemy. We will need all the help we can get."

"Of course. Farewell, and good luck with your quest."

As Daneel saw off the very respectable sect leader from the Big 4, he clutched his head, feeling that something was wrong.

The man had already disappeared, so he was now alone in the Throne Room.

Looking back in his memories, he felt that something was…wrong.

He was just a regular boy on the streets who had worked hard to become King, and had found a lucky inheritance which aided him on his journey.

Crack!

As a sound akin to a glass being broken appeared in his mind, he felt memories flood back into him, making him collapse on the ground while howling in pain.

A few minutes later, he raised his head and eyed the space where Ashahell had disappeared from with bloodshot eyes.

Due to the pain, he had bit down so hard that his entire mouth was filled with blood, so when he grinned, a visage of one who looked like a ghost with bloody teeth could be seen.

In the empty room, he exclaimed, "Who's foolish now, you f*cking bastard?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

435 Counter-Plan

Taking large breaths, Daneel slowly rose up from the ground using one hand while he used the other to check whether there was any remnant blood on his face.

His skin was a pale white, as if he had just had all of his blood drained out of him.

Wiping away the blood on his teeth using the sleeve of his red robe, he hobbled to the throne before sitting on it, using its back for support.

Although he seemed very pathetic right now, his eyes were shining with the glorious light of triumph.

This had definitely been the closest shave of his life yet, and when he thought back to just how even a small mistake would definitely have lead to his death, he couldn't help but shudder.

Still, the smile didn't leave his face.

When he remembered the way in which he had panicked, he actually scolded himself.

From all he had been through, it should not have been that a mere face-off with death caused such fear to attack him.

How many dire situations had he gotten out of using his wit and skill?

Daneel made a promise to himself: from now on, no matter what he faced, he would keep the cool head of an experienced senior who had seen the passage of time filled with enough awe-inducing events to numb him to any and all fear.

With that out of the way, Daneel still couldn't make that remnant chill in his spine leave.

If he hadn't gotten that idea to use what he had heard from the Watcher in passing, a clone would definitely have been sitting in his place on this throne right now.

The Watcher had said that he had a way to make the real Travis forget everything that he was subjected to. This meant that there was definitely a technique in the Big 4 to alter one's memory.

Using that crucial hint, Daneel had asked the system and rejoiced when he heard that there were records of a technique which bared all memories and left one scarred.

Choosing this option like a man clinging to the last vine left before he fell into a ravine, Daneel had ordered the system to make a fake life for himself.

His memories from Earth had been replaced by those of the original Daneel from Lanthanor, and as for the rest, each instance where he used the system had been tweaked to show that he had only achieved everything using hard work, perseverance and a little bit of luck.

All of his original memories were locked up by the system using the tool that had already paid off its cost many times over, and even he had assumed that that had been his life for a second after Ashahell left.

After finalizing this plan, his mission had been to manipulate Ashahell towards 'allowing' him to choose this option, and for that, he had appealed to the man's passion which clearly meant a lot to him.

When Daneel had been giving that speech, he hadn't even had to use the system to make those tears appear. All of the passion he had shown had been genuine, which led him to feel joy that he had reached new heights as an actor.

Of course, he had acted from his heart, but Daneel didn't consider this fact.

After a minute passed, Daneel finally prepared to put the harrowing experience before him so that he could decide what to do next. After all, time was short.

Yet, before he did so, a single question appeared in his mind which refused to leave.

Ashahell was a Peak Exalted Champion, and an individual at that level would definitely be able to detect anything at the upper boundary of the Champion level in complexity.

However, he hadn't been able to detect the system at all.

Daneel had considered this possibility, but he had just put it aside as if that happened, then it would mean that all was lost anyway.

Thankfully, it hadn't come to be.

However, the doubt that he now had was this: just what level was the system at?

For a second, Daneel wondered whether to ask the system regarding this, but he discarded this thought, knowing that it would definitely just say that he wasn't eligible to know the answer yet.

Taking a deep breath and using a mirror conjured using water to check his appearance, Daneel finally started thinking about what to do next.

First and foremost: the Watcher was right, and Ashahell really was delivering something to the Church which would allow them to invade earlier than expected.

What could it be?

When he had asked, the man had simply said that he was looking forward to a meeting…

The meeting!

With all the knowledge that Daneel was in possession of due to infiltrating the Sect of Hedon, it didn't take a genius to figure out Ashahell's plan.

In the sect meeting room, Ashahell had announced that he would host a physical meeting with all the members of the High Council after obtaining the first part to ascertain ways to move forward in this project.

The Watcher had been wrong in one thing: he had assumed that Ashahell was delivering some "Thing".

No, what Ashahell was delivering…was the heads of possibly all the Hero-level individuals of Angaria.

In that meeting, he would definitely somehow kill all of them, which would leave Angaria completely defenseless.

After all, these Hero level individuals were definitely the last bastions of defense that must definitely be the ones stopping the Church from merrily marching in.

This was a guess which Daneel made when he thought about all the facts, but he knew that he was right.

It all fit! Ashahell had used the excuse of Sister Xuan's prophecy to suggest his plan to try and use the forbidden inheritance and trinket left behind by the last Empire on Angaria.

After they agreed, he had proposed this meeting, which needed to be carried out anyway.

If Sister Xuan's hadn't seen that vision, he would mostly have had to use more time to convince the High Council about his plan, which would make his "delivery" coincide with the timeline that the Watcher had told him.

With growing conviction, Daneel immediately regained full control of the core formation of the Palace of Lanthanor before disappearing from his place.

Before leaving, with a sigh, he saw that the items he had placed back were gone-taken away by Ashahell, but he had really had no choice.

This also made him curse that madman one more time. He was definitely more intelligent than any foe Daneel had ever faced, and something even more terrifying was just how driven he was. His goal was a noble one, but it was just his method that was evil.

When this thought appeared in Daneel's head, he grit his teeth and crushed it before using a few choice words to curse the man, as he was still very disgruntled about how close he had been to death.

No matter how smart he was, Daneel would have to be smarter, or Angaria was truly doomed.

….

10 minutes later.

In the hidden underground room of the Hidden Kill Sect, a very peculiar sight could be seen which would definitely shock anyone who happened to walk through the door.

A head, with nothing but air from the neck down, was madly hopping around the room and destroying various things while repeatedly berating a man who stood to the side with a sheepish expression on his face.

The head's favorite move was head-butt, which made sense because…that was the only move it could use. Apparently, it had forgotten that it could also use magic.

The headbutt destroyed almost each and every piece of furniture in the room before finally pausing and returning to the podium in the middle which was the only untouched item.

"All right, all right, I know I was wrong! I couldn't help but doubt you, OK? We can argue about this later! For all we know, Ashahell might be hosting that damn meeting right now! What do we do to stop it?"

Hearing the sense of urgency in Daneel's voice, the Watcher finally fumed before swallowing down the remaining curses that he had been about to hurl at the King of Lanthanor.

This kid had had the audacity to doubt him and ignore him for days, even choosing to meet the prime threat of the continent in secret without informing him!

Daneel had only told him about the fake meeting that had occurred, deciding not to say anything about the truth.

As for the part about figuring out Ashahell's plan, Daneel had said that he had noticed the man's special attention to the meeting, and had put two and two together.

Even then, the Watcher kept saying that it had been very foolish and dangerous, which Daneel couldn't agree with more.

"We have a day. It's 2 PM right now, and the physical meeting is scheduled at noon tomorrow. I still have some contacts inside the sect, you know. I heard this from a maid inside the Sect, who passed it on to her sister who left the sect and then talked to her husband about it. It will happen in the hidden floors of the Central Tower."

Daneel thought whether to ask just why he was watching every random maid's family, but he chose not to, knowing that the man greatly loved his job. Besides, it had shown admirable results.

"How do we stop it?"

Looking straight into Daneel's eyes, the Watcher replied, "You have to figure something out, kid. You will be the one returning to the sect, and you are the one with the most clarity about everything inside the sect. Force is obviously out of the question. A direct warning is also useless, as no member of any sect will choose to believe you. They might bring it up covertly with their sect leader, but Ashahell must definitely have countermeasures in place to make sure that he detects any and all potential danger to his plan. He can kill you before you blink if he wishes."

Hearing this, Daneel fell into deep thought.

He had indeed been thinking about all the possible routes to stop the man, and he had also discarded the choice of directly telling the Matron or Marcus.

He couldn't risk it. If it caused suspicion to arise in Ashahell, he truly would be killed, and that smart-ass would definitely even find some way to proceed.

No. There had to be some other way, which did not put him in risk, but would still get the job done.

Ideally, the plan would be foiled, and Ashahell would be caught red-handed.

As Daneel racked his brains for a few minutes, with a flash, an idea finally appeared to him.

Immediately, he took out a communication trinket to find out where Sister Xuan was.

That bastard had used a prediction from a seer to push forward his plan, and Daneel was going to use the same to put an end to it.

Only, this one…would be fake, but no one would know.

"System, begin to create a simulation where 9 people are lying around a table, dead, which is followed by the Church invading Angaria and killing everyone on it. Retrieve information regarding how a seer actually engages in visions, and begin the development of a spell to make a seer think they are really experiencing one."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

436 Vision

"Sister Xuan, can you come to Lanthanor at 11:30 AM tomorrow? It's really crucial that you do. I have something very important to tell you."

As Xuan got this sudden message on her communication trinket from the King of Lanthanor, she froze for a few seconds, as her mind had gone blank.

The King of Lanthanor was definitely the most interesting man she had ever met. Even though she hadn't met that many men in the first place during her life, she could tell that there was something…special about him.

She had first gotten interested in him when she had gone on that journey in Lanthanor to find out his past.

His struggles, his achievements, his dreams-all of these resonated with her on some level or the other.

She had also been an outcast, and she had had to grow up alone while scorned by her entire village as they were all afraid that she was the incarnation of something evil.

She had never been able to help it. Whenever her ability acted up, her vision would first go dark, before she would realize that she was floating in the air, as if she were some ethereal spirit.

She would always look at a scene from above, and whatever she saw would always be hazy.

However, she would be able to make out a few details.

Also, whenever she focused, one or two very specific details would always appear much sharper than the rest, differentiating themselves and standing out to her, as if to inform her that they shouldn't be ignored.

Only, many times, even these sharp images would flicker and shift between multiple things.

One dead body could become 5, or 5 could become one.

Lastly, according to what she had been told later by the Matron, every seer would enter a half-asleep state during their vision during which they would continuously recite what they were seeing.

She had been told that seers came to aid the land in dire times, and that this was a mechanism set in place to make sure that the visions would never be forgotten or mistaken for something they were definitely not.

She had always had many questions. What caused seers to be born? Who put these mechanisms in place? Why did they do so?

Sadly, no one knew the answers.

Hidden under her skin, she would always carry a special trinket that was able to identify when she was having a vision by checking for signs.

When it did, it would immediately float out and broadcast her image and voice to the Matron, who was always in possession of the receiver.

This was something devised by the sects of old, where the belief was that every vision was crucial to save as many lives on Angaria as possible.

Many said that she was blessed to have this ability, as it meant that she was talented enough to smoothly become a Champion. Unlike those with Red and Gold comprehension level who were said to be able to become Champions, but were in fact, only eligible to increase their comprehension through the right means to become capable of reaching the Champion level, her path was smooth, like a river that flowed through the land with no obstructions. She would just have to absorb Energy, and she would automatically grow stronger and stronger.

It was only after a few seconds that Xuan finally regained her senses and quickly replied, "Yes! I mean, y-yes, I'll be there, King Daneel."

She had been itching to leave the sect and stretch her limbs anyway, and she had already gotten permission from the Matron for a brief excursion.

With her heart fluttering, she wondered what the reason could be for the King calling her.

The Matron was the only mother she had ever had, and she had taught her that those of the Goddess's Sanctum would always ask for what they want boldly, instead of feeling shy or awkward.

Hence, she had gone ahead and told the King of Lanthanor how she felt about him.

Could it be that that method could actually have worked?

….

The next day, at sharp 11:30 AM.

Standing outside the main gate that led to the Palace of Lanthanor, Xuan couldn't control her excitement.

For this meeting, she had even dumped Molan by trapping the woman with a pile of Ker Gems and a promise that she was just training in the next room over.

She had even worn the best dress she had: it was an enchanted gold gown, with embroidered birds that looked like they would take off into the air at any moment.

"Sister Xuan! Thank you so much for making it!"

Seeing the King of Lanthanor walking out of the large main entrance with a smile on his face, Xuan was just about to smile and go forward before she felt that something was wrong.

For a split second, she felt as if something was trying to invade her mind.

In fact, if she hadn't been distracted by the appearance of the King, she was pretty sure that she could have defended against it.

However, the feeling left as soon as she felt it, leading her to think that she might have imagined it because she was quite stressed right now.

Yet, when her vision suddenly began to go dark the next second, she finally realized that she was having a vision.

No! Not now!

She complained inwardly, but as always, her sight went dark before the eye-shaped trinket at her waist lit up and floated into the air before pointing at her.

….

Meanwhile, in a room in the hidden levels of the Central Tower.

The Matron of the Goddess's Sanctum, a person whose post was equivalent to that of a sect leader in other sects, was currently standing respectfully with her hands joined together in front of her navel.

Her head was slightly lowered, and if anyone from the Goddess's Sanctum, or for that matter, from any of the Big 4 saw her at this moment, they would shudder with shock on seeing an Exalted Champion, a woman who stood above all, bowing in front of someone.

That someone was sitting in a royal manner on a chair that looked more like a throne.

She had a glittering tiara made from what looked like Ker Gems on her head, and although she didn't look old, one would be able to tell that this was someone who had experienced the passage of many decades of time.

Even though her skin was smooth like that of a 20-year old's, it was her eyes which gave away her wisdom and age.

She had a beautiful countenance, but the frown on her face was enough to signal that she was in a very bad mood.

"Damn those old fogies! Why can't they just put their differences aside and increase the danger level?! Isn't age supposed to give one more wisdom? Why is it always like the opposite has happened to them?"

"Mother-"

"Quiet. I really thought the vision from Xuan would be enough. Actually, maybe I was just hoping for it. Damn them!"

As the Matron shut her mouth and looked down again, the room became filled with the grumblings of the seated woman, who was not acting at all like someone who had lived for over 300 years, and had at least 300 more to experience.

Beep!

As this sound suddenly echoed in the room, both women widened their eyes before looking at the triangle-shaped trinket that floated up from the Matron's waist and expanded to become a display trinket.

It showed the image of a beautiful girl wearing a pretty golden dress, and she was held in the arms of someone who was wearing red robes.

The girl's eyelids were closed, but her eyes could be seen rolling around and pressing on the eyelids occasionally, as if she were having a very bad dream.

As the two women waited in silence with expressions of slight fear mixed with hope for good news instead of bad, the girl began to speak in a halting voice.

"….a round stone room with no windows, no! There's one window, through which I see the sky…"

Between each utterance, there was a pause that varied between 3-5 minutes.

"…9 hazy figures…what are they doing? Are they sleeping?...No! They're dead!..."

"…No, no, I see one who is still alive, a man with long, brown hair…he's looking around the room and…smiling? I think? He did it! He did it!..."

"…the Church-descending on the sect…the Church! They're killing everyone! Rivers of blood! Headless bodies! Limbless children! Everyone, dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! Dea-…"

As the girl kept repeating the last word over and over again for at least 10 times, with the strength of her voice going down with each iteration, the 2 women in the Sect of Hedon stared at each other with horror on their faces.

Taking out a communication trinket, she was about to send an urgent message, but she realized that there was a message waited for her, that she had ignored because she had been too caught up in the vision from the seer.

"We're beginning 20 minutes early-this kid is being too impatient. Come at your leisure."

What?! How could Angaria itself be so unlucky at this moment?!

There was no more time for messages. Gritting her teeth, the woman in the chair closed her eyes for a brief moment.

The stone floor that was below the chair cracked, and a heavy pressure enveloped the entire room, making the Matron fall to the ground.

Outside the sect, a pink aurora appeared, and all those who were near the Central Tower got an odd urge to kneel and worship that they couldn't resist.

Crack!

With a sound like that of a wood beam being cracked in two, the Hero-level anti-teleportation broke, letting the woman vanish from her place and reappear in a round room with a single window.

"STOP AND GET OUT OF HERE! THIS MEETING IS A TRAP TO KILL US!"

Hearing this loud proclamation, various reactions could be seen from all of the people in the room, but none was stranger than that of the person sitting at the head of the table, Ashahell.

A frown which contained deep anger and desperation flashed across his face for the briefest of moments, before it was replaced by one of determination.

There were tea glasses present in front of all those in the room, and it seemed that his was the only one that was untouched.

Taking advantage of that split second of time when the others were busy teleporting away, he raised the glass and drank half of it.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

437 Ashahell“s Foiled Plan

1 hour before the meeting.

Glancing at the clock on the mantlepiece in his quarters that he seldom visited and seeing that it was 11 AM, Ashahell once again sighed before hearing a knock on his door.

"Come in."

Heeding the command, a man entered the door.

He looked just like one of the regular folk who serviced the Central Tower, but when he entered the room, he looked around carefully before closing the door.

He was holding a tray that had a teapot and many teacups. Setting it to the side, he touched the spot near his stomach.

On the surface of his body, Ashahell saw a bulge appear which moved eerily, as if it were some kind of worm that had been trapped inside the man's body.

After a few moments, he said, "It's clear."

"Yes, I know. I checked with the sect's formation."

"But my orders are my orders. The item you asked for is in the teapot."

Nodding, Ashahell carefully walked towards the tray that had been set down before.

The man had been carrying it casually, but when Ashahell neared it, he gingerly lifted the lid of the teapot to look inside.

Instead of tea, the pot only had a few tea leaves which looked ordinary.

They were the most expensive sort which were grown in the east of Angaria especially for consumption by the rich and influential, and many liked them because of the tea's incredible aftertaste.

Not even he could guess that these were actually objects which had been transported from thousands and thousands of kilometers away, from a distant land where those with his talent and power would be considered just slightly worth paying attention to.

There, according to what he had heard, even reaching the Hero level was just the first step to entering the higher levels of society.

Apparently, the cost of these tea leaves itself was something that couldn't be estimated in Ker Gems, as the number would easily reach terrifying heights in the range of tens of millions.

"You don't need to be so careful. I was told that they are effectively bound for one and a half hours more. After that, when their essence is released…"

Instead of continuing, the man only smiled sinisterly.

Nodding again, Ashahell picked up the tea leaves and carefully adjusted them in his sleeves.

Seeing him do so, the man walked forward and laid an arm on Ashahell's shoulder before saying, "Your cause is noble. Just march forward without a doubt. You know this is necessary. Purges are the way of nature. I don't think I need to give you a speech regarding them now. Just drop the tea leaves in the pot, and at 12: 30 AM, anyone who has had more than half a cup of the tea will die, even if they have somehow managed to reach the Exalted Hero level. This plan was completely designed by you; have more confidence in it."

It seemed that the man had seen the slightly glum expression on Ashahell's face, which must have led him to speak in this way.

Indeed, he, himself, had been the one to design this entire thing.

The Hero-level individuals of Angaria were elusive individuals who always secluded themselves in some or the other corner of the continent; reluctant to show themselves lest they be attacked by the Church or anyone who is capable of ending their long life which they had come to enjoy.

For a long time, he had been looking for a good enough excuse to host a physical meeting. He had slowly started to increase the pressure placed on the continent by the Church so as to make them panic, even going to such lengths as to have the Church invade those Olympics, even though they had been convinced that it would be a waste.

Ashahell had continuously persuaded them saying that it would all be worth it in the long run, and now was the time for all of it to pay off.

This trinket and the item which purportedly contained the inheritance were items that had brought the ruin of the continent before, so although these geezers were confident that they could find a way to use them properly, they still had to all appear physically.

As for the fear of dying, it didn't exist right now as they were confident that no one would be able to do anything when all of them were at one place.

In a way, a physical meeting would even force reluctant individuals to appear, as they would fear even more that they might be targeted if all the others were busy with something.

Hence, all in all, he had needed a proper, solid excuse to host one to get them all in place, and after doing so, he had chosen the simplest method to kill them: poison.

He knew for a fact that due to living for so long, all of these geezers had gotten used to the comforts of life, which included this tea which apparently also had some narcotic addiction effects.

So, he would just add in these tea leaves with the pretense of 'checking' the tea, and watch as the first step in the saving of Angaria began.

He didn't even need all of them to die. Within half an hour of the meeting, whoever had drunk more than half the cup would perish, and even the others who had had a little would be incapacitated. Hell, even if one or two didn't drink at all, the next step, which involved the Exalted Hero of the Church who was permanently posted on the continent arriving with deadly trinkets in two, would definitely be enough to allow him to reach his goal.

Everything had gone without a hitch. He had even started the meeting early so that there would be more time for them to have the tea, and although one of the newest additions to the Council would be arriving late, the others had already almost drunk more than a half-cup.

However, everything had been ruined when that woman appeared with that warning.

If she had chosen to at least use communication trinkets to send the message, he could even have tried to allay suspicion on her. However, her sudden appearance and the expression on her face had caused everyone to leave without hesitation.

In that split second, he had vowed to find the one responsible for foiling his plans, no matter what it took.

As for the decision to have the tea himself, it was to make sure that he wouldn't be suspected. He had known that it would be like going to hell and coming back, but he hadn't hesitated, as he knew that it was crucial that he retain the trust that the others had in him.

After taking this step, he, too, teleported away, reaching his quarters before sending a quick message to the man who had come before that the plan had failed, and that it was time for backup measures to remedy the situation.

With his countermeasure in place, Ashahell added mock panic to his voice before using the oathstone to communicate with the others.

"What's the matter?! What news do we have of the trap?"

He heard only silence in return, which made him worry a bit.

Still, he repeatedly kept sending messages before he finally received an answer that made him narrow his eyes.

It was from the actual head of the High Council, who was the strongest Hero-level individual on the continent.

"Ashahell, stay where you are."

….

Around 30 minutes later.

The woman who had warned everyone before was currently standing in front of a man with a short, grey beard and crafty eyes.

He had very handsome features, and one would be able to tell that he must definitely have been a lady-killer in his youth.

His grey hair was curly, and he was wearing the latest fashion on Angaria: a double-breasted vest over a white shirt.

In between them was the sect leader of the Sect of Hedon and the leader of the High Council of Angaria, who had been knocked out minutes before being teleported here.

Unlike what he thought, he actually wasn't the one in full control of the core formation of the Sect of Hedon.

The bearded man was poring over a data trinket, while the woman was looking at Ashahell with disgust on her face, as if she was resisting the urge to attack him.

"This rat! We gave him everything he wanted! Well, almost everything! But he still decided to side with the Church!"

"Calm down, Halle. This is only the interpretation of that girl. Yes, she may have seen him being alive while all the others were dead, but it may have been due to other reasons too. She can't be sure he's smiling. I don't even think that she can be sure that he was alive. The main thing that can be taken away from the vision is that we were all in danger, and you were right to warn us like that. However, I still don't understand what that threat is. That arrogant prick from the Church is still twirling his thumbs on the shore, and there are no signs of any attack, anywhere. We shouldn't act hastily-"

Mid-sentence, the bearded man's cut off as he clutched his heart in a quick motion.

His face started to turn purple, and he gagged as if he couldn't breathe.

Ashahell, who was on a podium in the air, also began to writhe violently, while foam started to appear at his mouth.

Similar scenes occurred all over the continent, but the bearded man was the first to recover.

With a quick motion, he changed his hand into a claw and struck his chest, extracting a beating mass of blood and flesh that was completely purple.

As he crushed it, noxious fumes perfused the air, while his skin turned back to normal.

Although he was slightly pale, it looked like he was going to be Ok.

Seeing Ashahell in that state, he quickly reached the kid before encasing him in a block of ice to stop the progress of the poison.

Glancing at the woman who had a shocked and worried expression on her face, he said, "Another reason not to suspect him. This poison is so potent that I doubt that he will survive. If he is the perpetrator, he would have fleed by now, as that prick can definitely save him. Let's not jump to conclusions regarding the vision. Go help the others. Leave the kid to me."

….

2 hours later.

Back in Lanthanor, Daneel was striding to and forth in his quarters with his brows furrowed.

As he finally got a message from the Watcher, an expression of relief came on his face, but it was replaced by one of frustration.

His main fear, all along, had been that Xuan's vision might be suspected to be fake. If Hero-level monsters came investigating, he knew that he would be found out, and that was a risk he hadn't been willing to take.

Hence, he had told the system to be subtle, as, per the records, visions could only show one thing clearly, while the rest were only half-truths.

The main goal was to save the Hero-level individuals, and catching Ashahell would have been a bonus.

Gritting his teeth, he couldn't help but applaud the determination of the man to swallow poison to absolve himself.

Shaking his head and realizing that this battle between them was going to be very, very tough, Daneel started to decide what his next step would be.

Whatever it was, it definitely had to involve that bastard getting his comeuppance in a way that he wouldn't be able to dodge this time.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

438 Aftermath

1 day later.

As Ashahell stood at the same spot as always on the top floor of the Central Tower while looking out over the sky, his mind was a mess for the first time in years.

As someone who pursued perfection, he was always used to seeing his plans working out exactly as he imagined them.

However, what happened yesterday kept reappearing in his mind.

That damn vision! If it weren't for that vision, everything would definitely have gone without a hitch.

Suddenly, his heart completely stopped beating, making him fall back into a chair that had been placed there before.

Pain the likes of which he had never even imagined to be possible racked his entire body, making him almost wish he were dead.

Yet, knowing that his purpose had still not yet been fulfilled, he held on with all of his will.

A trinket at his waist suddenly rose into the air, before shooting towards the veins on his arm and shooting a solution into them.

This made the pain worse, and Ashahell gasped silently while his vision blurred.

This had been happening less and less frequently as the cure given by the Mad Doctor's master was working, but this pain still appeared at least twice an hour, leaving him dripping with sweat.

He had had to cling on to something so that he could retain his sanity, and he had chosen it to be the thing that had made him drink the poison in the first place without giving up and escaping: the need to save Angaria.

He didn't know for sure whether anyone had been responsible, directly, for the failure of his plan.

It had all been the fault of that vision and that seer, but Ashahell wasn't some foolish, vengeful idiot who would go after her because of something even she couldn't control.

No, if he wanted to blame someone, he could only blame providence and the heavens for making that vision appear in the first place.

If there had been any foul play involved in that vision, those in the High Council would definitely have sniffed it out, but apparently, it matched all the signs that had been left behind by their ancestors.

As the pain finally started to recede, Ashahell stood up again and looked out over Angaria with bloodshot eyes.

In the corner of his vision, he could see a tiny trinket that had been tied to him to ensure his "safety".

Of course, he knew that the real reason was because many on the High Council suspected him because of the vision, even though the actual head had said that it was most probably just a vague conclusion that should not be given much import.

The problem was that this meeting had only come about because of him, so there was a possibility that he was the culprit. In fact, if it weren't for him drinking the poison and the countermeasure he had placed, he might have been arrested already to undergo an 'investigation' by the member of the High Council who specialized in torture.

Thankfully, his meticulous planning had paid off, but this had been a very large setback.

However, there was a silver lining.

Two Hero-level individual had had almost the required amount of tea to kill them, but due to the quick help given by the others, they had survived, but gone into a coma from which they could not be awakened without killing them.

According to estimates, it would at least take 20 years for them to get healed and wake up, so they were definitely out of the fight.

Angaria had been significantly weakened, but it was not enough.

Caressing his chin, Ashahell began planning again with renewed vigor, thankful of the fact that no one knew with certainty about his true goal.

….

Meanwhile, in the Palace of Lanthanor, Daneel sneezed, and wondered just who was thinking about him.

In front of him were seated Kellor, Robert and Eloise.

Daneel had spent the day before with his parents, after finding out that Angaria had at least been saved.

Of course, the nagging frustration that Ashahell was only a suspect was still in his mind, but he was ignoring it for now.

His mother had been ecstatic on seeing him arrive, and she had even cooked all the favorite food that he had used to love when he was a kid.

When Daneel had seen his mother bustling about in the kitchen, he finally remembered something about the Warrior level that he had forgotten.

"Humans perish, Warriors march on."

This had been the slogan told to him to symbolize that only Warriors and those above could enjoy a longer lifespan, while the others would only have to let death take them after their time was up.

He was now someone who would live for at least 300 years, but his parents would be long gone by then.

Could he do nothing to stop that?

On asking the system, Daneel had found out that the only way was to have them train.

Although he still had a lot of core inheritances to go through, any method to solve this problem would definitely involve someone having an adequate power base first.

His father would be no problem, as the man was actually an Exalted Human already due to that bizarre ritual with that deserter's mark on his forehead, which Daneel now knew that it had been passed down from the Empire itself.

His mother had been born with minimal talent as a Mage, but she had never trained a day in her life.

Hence, he had entrusted his father the mission of having his mother train using the technique he gave, which would allow one to increase their mage comprehension level slowly.

Robert had already been using it since long.

His father had initially been quite startled, but he had nodded after that, while an unspoken communication passed between their eyes.

Mary Anivron was the most important woman in both of their lives, so they would do everything to make sure that she would live for as long as possible.

"My King, the Bank is running briskly, but I still believe that we should expand faster. Even though we are getting new customers from all over Angaria, there have been many frauds, as expected. Still, instead of steady growth, I would really prefer some sort of an explosion."

As Daneel got pulled back into the present with Eloise's words, he nodded before saying, "I'll think on that. Meanwhile, pump more money into the Network. In the near future, it might convert into something else. What has happened to the assignment to bolster our assembly line of mages and blacksmiths?"

Kellor answered.

"My Lord, we have basically exhausted our Kingdom. We have begun sending invitations to the other Kingdoms, too, but as you know, all mages, even if they are just poor citizens, are assets for a Kingdom. There is resistance, in particular from the Kingdom of Arafell. That also reminds me: the Queen of Arafell has requested a meeting with you to discuss some arrangement that you promised her during the Olympics."

Hearing this, Daneel sank into deep thought for a moment before saying, "Turn down the Queen for now using polite words; I don't have the time to deal with her. Eloise, how is our transportation network developing?"

"Quite well, My King. Norcet is in the Black Raven Kingdom as we speak, hiring a crew and quarters in anticipation of the launch."

Nodding, Daneel replied, "Good. Nothing says that our transportation work should only transport things. Tell him to speed up preparations in Arafell. If they don't want to let their mages and blacksmiths go even if they want to, then we'll just…help."

As Daneel said these, all three individuals in front of him stared at him as if he were a madman.

"But the inter-Kingdom tensions…"

"Leave that to me. If the tongue doesn't work, then we will use gold. From now on, our plans cannot stop. Even if we have to stoop to very low depths in order to make them happen, we must do so. Kellor can tell you two later why that is so. I'm getting back to training. Eloise, keep an eye on H&D, we don't want them to be targeted out of jealousy. Father, please keep checking Axelor. I feel they might move soon. This meeting is dismissed."

Saying so, Daneel nodded at the three and walked out of the room before teleporting away.

After a minute or so, he appeared in the underground room in the Hidden Kill Sect.

"Great job, kid. I still don't know how you did it, but I won't ask. Instead of killing at least 5, only 2 were disabled. That's a loss we can live with, but any more, and we might have to resort to desperate measures. That rat Ashahell got away, yes, but the High Council doesn't believe him blindly anymore, at least. So. What do you plan on doing next?"

Daneel had already prepared his answer.

"What happened to the plan to use the parts of the inheritance and trinket left behind?"

"Discarded for now, as they don't have a hope of getting it done with just 6 Heros. These things were supposed to be able to slaughter Heros with impunity before, after all. Instead, there is chatter that the danger level might be upgraded. Why do you ask?"

Daneel didn't answer, but he had just decided in his mind.

He was going to try and assemble this trinket and inheritance himself, and if that meant that he was going to turn into a burglar, then so be it.

As for Ashahell, Daneel had already started to cook up a plan that would hopefully see him exposed once and for all.

As long as this man remained freely breathing on the continent, Daneel could never sleep soundly.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

439 News

"Nothing. First things first, I'll be going back to the Sect of Hedon. How's Travis doing?"

As Daneel asked this after coming out of his thoughts, the Watcher actually smirked before saying, "See for yourself."

After he uttered these words, a door on one side of the room, whose grooves were hidden, opened to reveal a comfortable room, complete with a bed.

As Daneel glanced inside, he saw a bookshelf and a blonde-haired kid enthusiastically poring over a particular book.

Beside him was a cloth bag, in which Daneel could see shining Ker Gems.

As he raised an eyebrow at the Watcher, the bodyless man chuckled and said, "What can I say? I took a liking to him! If it weren't for the oaths he swore to the Sect of Hedon, I might even have taken him under my wing to groom him as the next Watcher. I like the way he sucks up to me, so I'm allowing him to read through some of my experiences of training to become a Champion. He won't remember any of this anyway, when we decide to erase his memory and send him back to the Sect."

As the Watcher said the last sentence, Daneel senses sadness in the man's tone.

Why was he feeling sad?

As Daneel wondered this, he saw the Watcher turn towards the door, which appeared to be the type where the person inside wouldn't be able to know if someone were looking at him from the outside.

Noticing the way he saw the kid, Daneel understood after a few seconds.

Loneliness.

It was actually a loneliness that was similar to what he had felt from Ashahell.

It seemed that every Champion level individual he met was lonely for some reason or the other.

It was a known fact that the path to power was a solitary one, and that an individual had to be prepared to spend a lot of time alone if they wanted to reach the peak.

Back on Earth, he had been a loner, but Daneel had gotten used to company after being on Angaria for so long.

Whether it be the stoic Robert, the loving Mary, the enthusiastic and shy Eloise, the ever-loyal Kellor or the understanding Faxul, he loved spending time with them, and couldn't imagine living for so long that they would all return to dust, while he might still be moving forward, with no one near to talk to.

This was why those who had life companions on their path to power were considered very lucky, but usually, the problem was that those with the fortitude to reach the peak either as a Champion or a Mage would have very individualistic personalities, making it hard to sustain a relationship for a long time.

Hence, true relationships between those on the path to power which lasted against the test of time were rare and treasured.

Daneel had almost gone crazy when he had had to spend just 3 months in complete isolation. How could he even imagine living in that way for years, or even decades?

Besides, he wasn't someone who could quickly build relationships.

Should he seriously start considering the offers from Eloise or Sister Xuan?

As this question appeared in Daneel's mind, he shook his head before being surprised at the route his thoughts had taken just by seeing the sad gaze of the Watcher.

Well, he did understand the man.

So, getting an idea, Daneel asked, "Do you want to find a way to rid him of his oath so that he can become your disciple, if he wishes?"

As if the Watcher had heard his wish being uttered, he turned towards Daneel with a hopeful expression at first, before it turned into a neutral one due to realizing just how impossible of a task that was.

Noticing this, Daneel said, "I'll see if it can be done. Anyway, I'll be going back to sect. The Mad Doctor is also a part of it, and I plan to go kill the ones he wants to send after me before they prepare and start planning to kill me. Also, I'll keep looking for ways to incriminate Ashahell. I'll contact you if I need anything."

"Pulling out the weeds before they sprout! Good idea, kid, but be careful. Your safety should come first. Good luck. And don't bother about the oath thing. If it's meant to be, it'll happen."

Nodding and waving at the Watcher, Daneel teleported away after checking that all was well with the Hidden Kill Sect.

Contracts were coming in at a steady pace, and Daneel had already told Luther to try to reject contracts that targeted good, innocent people as much as possible.

Luther also seemed to be doing a great job of managing the sect, and it looked like the help from Skrrag was instrumental.

After leaving, Daneel took out the communication trinket that had vibrated when he had been talking to the Watcher.

Initially, his plan had been to spend a little more time in Lanthanor to launch another of his grand plans which would go a long way in mimicking one of the most effective means of propaganda on Earth to achieve the effect of building support and goodwill for him on Angaria.

On Earth, there were at least a host of regulatory boards and experienced people to notice the effects that entertainment channels had on people, and these people would fight and bring attention to such attempts.

On Angaria, as there was no such thing and no such people, Daneel had a free rein, and he intended to make full use of it so that when the time came, things would move smoothly.

However, this plan had changed after the realization that the communication trinket that had vibrated was the one that he had given to Percy.

If the kid was contacting him, then it meant that he must have some information about where the Mad Doctor was storing those disgusting cretins.

Hence, Daneel had announced this plan and left.

After reaching a point halfway beneath the Hidden Kill Sect and Lanthanor, Daneel teleported into the air and contacted Percy.

"Master! I can't stay outside for long. Please come quickly! I've completed your assignment, but my father is acting very suspiciously!"

Hearing the urgent tone in Percy's voice, Daneel quickly changed into the disguise of Master Novrain before heading to the same meeting place as before.

However, before he reached, he carefully used the system to check if there was a trap waiting for him.

Although he was impatient to get Ashahell acquitted for his crimes, he had already learnt from his mistakes so far that hastiness would only lead to ruin.

So, after checking that it was just Percy pacing around with a worried expression on his face, Daneel appeared in front of him silently before saying, "What did you mean by 'suspicious'?"

Startled, Percy almost tripped and fell before righting himself and saying, "Greetings, Master! Regarding that, something has recently occurred in our Central Tower. Yesterday, the Tower was sealed and all those inside were thoroughly interrogated. After that, all the Champion level elders in the Sect have been hurrying here and there with worried expressions on their faces."

"What does this have to do with your father being suspicious of you?"

"I was getting there, Master. 2 days back, I begged my father to take me to where elder brother and the others are. I had gone through some…events, and I was very pitiful, so I used that opportunity to appeal to his sane side. Luckily, he agreed, and as we discussed, I placed a locator trinket there covertly, in a place where no one would ever be able to find it. His 'suspicion' started with that event I told you about in the Central Tower, and because I don't know what other reason he could have, I think it might be me. He threw me out while shouting that 'Nowhere is safe'."

Hearing this, Daneel was quite surprised to see that two events instigated by him had led to him finding the location of those bastards.

First, he had targeted Percy using his scams, which had allowed the kid to use his pitiful appearance.

Second, he had caused Ashahell's plan to fail, and the repercussions must have ticked off the Mad Doctor, as someone had infiltrated the Central Tower and poisoned the tea.

Daneel knew that the suspicion was definitely not on Percy, but he couldn't tell the kid the same.

However, he decided to use the opportunity to bluff.

"Don't worry, kid. I'll protect you if you're outside even if that Mad Doctor tries to kill you. Great job with the trinket. After the deed is done, you'll get your reward."

Percy's face lighted up when Daneel said these words, while Daneel scoffed inside that he was only saying this because he knew for sure that the Mad Doctor wouldn't come after Percy right now.

"Thank you, Master! Here is the accompanying trinket. Please ask eldest brother to be careful."

Handing over a small button-shaped trinket, Percy bowed before disappearing, and his last words indicated that he was trying to show his intelligence.

Chuckling lightly, Daneel switched disguises before heading to the Sect of Hedon behind Percy.

Coincidentally, they both entered the Sect at the same time, but Percy was too busy praising himself for a job well done to notice Daneel.

Getting back to his dormitory, Daneel noticed that things did seem stricter, and although it meant that his next mission was going to be harder, he looked forward to it.

The items were definitely inside the Central Tower, and there was no way that he was going to accumulate and pay another 10,000 Ker Gems to enter it.

So, it was time to use true corruption to worm his way into the upper echelons of the sect, while waiting for an opportunity where he could be sure that the Mad Doctor wasn't around so that he could go pull out those proverbial 'weeds' before they sprouted.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

440 Worming In

"We…are going to get posts inside the Central Tower."

"Nope."

As Daneel made this announcement in his dormitory room where the Shameless Sect was gathered, their reaction was something he couldn't have expected.

After exchanging glances between each other, all 4 of them said that word in unision before walking out the door.

Finding himself alone in the room and still staring at the door, Daneel couldn't believe what had just happened.

As the fatty's head popped into his vision, he realized that he wasn't seeing things.

"Hey, no hard feelings, but success has gotten to your head. We have no intentions whatsoever of flying too far into the Endless Sea and dying. In fact, you don't even need to repay those Ker Gems you owe us! If you need any other help thought, feel free to ask. Bye!"

As Daneel heard the fatty's words, he felt a vein throbbing on his head as he realized that this sect was living up to its name.

They really were shameless!

Well, looking at the facts, he had to admit that they had their own reasons.

The minimum power level required for someone to enter the Central Tower was to be an Eminent Warrior, but some of them were still only Exalted Humans.

Besides, there were stories about how some people had overestimated their abilities and challenged posts inside the Central Tower, which led to their ruin.

There were only two methods to get such a post: one, the challenger had to defeat the one holding the post in direct combat or two, the one holding the post had to willingly hand it over.

All jobs inside the Central Tower paid very well, and there was also special access to a host of techniques which would send any Warrior drooling.

Finally, it was said that those who showed promise in their posts might be selected to receive Tier 3, or even Tier 2 inheritances.

In the Big 4, inheritances were separated into three Tiers in ascending order of importance.

Tier 3 meant those inheritances which gave the user a significant boost in combat potential.

Tier 2 covered the inheritances which gave even more of a boost-categorized as those which would allow one to jump over their power level to fight opponents.

And lastly, Tier 1 inheritances were those which fundamentally changed the working of the body or mageroot to give a boost that was incomparable to the other two tiers.

Typically, Tier 1 inheritances were all 'core' inheritances, such as the Basilisk's Breath.

In a challenge for a post in the Central Tower, although killing one's opponent wasn't allowed, forfeits were also forbidden to dissuade those not serious, and to make it so that those who had the posts wouldn't be pestered by challenges all the time.

Some sect members who pitied their opponents might leave them after a beating, but other, more twisted ones would opt to severely disable their opponent to the farthest extent that the rules allowed.

Although healers would be able to get such people back to their prime, it would require time, during which the individual's peers would cross them in power level.

All in all, it was a very serious and risky business, so there was a valid reason for Daneel's 'friends' abandoning him.

They were only a group of people who had banded together because of their common origin and for their common good, so when a task came along which involved too much risk, then they had no obligation to stay, even if Daneel had made it possible for them to earn more than they ever could have alone.

Should he call them ungrateful? Cowardly?

No, Daneel just decided to call them 'shameless' and let it go.

After all, self-preservation was one skill crucial for all those on the path to power.

Besides, he had no more debt to pay!

As he arranged his thoughts in this way and leaned back on the chair with a smile, he noticed a conundrum he had overlooked.

He also had no Ker Gems to train with!

He had dumped everything he had for the key to the Central Tower!

With one eyebrow twitching, Daneel considered going to these 4 and using emotional blackmail to get more Ker Gems, but he was a King! He couldn't possibly lower himself to such levels…

Still, he fondly stared at the door as this was the easy way, but he finally gave it up after a little while and got off his ass to go earn some Ker Gems.

….

4 hours later, Daneel was happily munching on some Energy infused bread, that tasted excellent.

Due to his increased status that Ashahell had been so kind to grant, he was allowed to eat this food that was usually reserved only for Eminent Warriors.

Of course, his side dishes were the many jealous glares from the Exalted Humans and Amateur Warriors that were also having their meals.

He had spent the past 4 hours finishing up some simple tasks, such as checking on the quality of trinkets and ensuring that formations weren't being worn down.

All formations, unless they reached the level like those that protected the Palace of Lanthanor, were subject to being ruined by time, hence, this was a daily sect mission, as there were numerous formations all over the sect for miscellaneous purposes like plumbing, etc.

The pay wasn't much, but it was an honest day's work.

Daneel had basically been scrounging up enough Ker Gems to visit a very special place that one could go to to acquire information in the field he wanted, so although he had grumbled a bit and wondered just why he had let his 'friends' off so easily, he had continued his work.

Besides, it felt like a nice change of pace compared to all the hair-raising action he had been going through lately.

He could have sold this meal for Ker Gems, too, but he had chosen not to as he realized that he had truly become a foodie for Energy infused foods.

According to the secret archives, these were plants that required extensive resources and care to grow, but unlike the demonic plants that had been grown on the land of Lanthanor, these didn't destroy the earth.

After having a hearty meal, Daneel made his way outside and headed to a remote corner of the sect.

It was a 3-hour walk or 2 teleportations for an eighth of a Ker Gem each, so he chose the former, also using the time to recall all he could about corruption on earth to give him ideas.

The main thing he remembered about corruption was that it was all about greed. On Earth, greed had shown that it could bring down entire organizations and countries, if one man became prepared to do anything and everything necessary in order to get what he wanted.

Also, Daneel was reminded of the importance of keeping the hierarchy of an institution in mind before trying to infiltrate it.

Of course, there was still the route of directly challenging someone above his level, but Daneel didn't want to take such risks and draw attention.

Besides, there were records of Amateur Warriors gaining places in the Central Tower through their enormous contributions, or their wit.

Only, it was so rare that it had been deemed important enough to be written down in the secret archives, which was how Daneel knew about it.

The place he was going to was a 2-story villa overgrown with creepers which looked abandoned.

After reaching it, he knocked twice on the door before scratching it with his nails.

This…was the weird secret signal that was recorded in one of the journals he had recorded during his extensive sweep of the Central Tower.

He had donned a typical black mask, and when someone opened the door 15 minutes later, he noticed that the other party was masked too.

This 15-minute wait was the second secret signal: if someone stayed in place without leaving for that long, then it meant that they had the right to enter.

After entering, Daneel saw 5 people, who were also masked, with the one who opened the door simply waiting with an outstretched hand.

After handing over all of his hard-earned money, Daneel heard a scoff from the man as he said, "This much only gives you 1 minute. Good luck memorizing more than 10 of the over 500 sect members who work in the Central Tower. Be careful: you don't want to jumble up information and bring disaster upon yourself."

In response, Daneel nodded before entering the room and reaching a large, 10-foot wide display trinket on which faces and names, along with various information was written.

Indeed, this was an underground information dealer who specialized in providing information to those who wanted to challenge or obtain a seat in the Central Tower.

Each person was described very extensively, from their likes and dislikes to their weaknesses in combat.

Only, because there were so many people, the flashing and changing, making it so that one would have to examine for a long time if they wanted to get all of the information they wanted.

Also, the one in control of making the letters appear was carefully watching each person's eyes to make sure to make things difficult for them so that they would fork out more Ker Gems to stay longer.

1 minute of time required payment of 15 Ker Gems.

This was why the two in the room looked at him like a madman, and when they saw him vaguely glancing at the list without paying too much attention, they became convinced that this guy was here to either cause trouble or fool around.

Well, if he wanted to stay longer, he would have to pay.

However, to their surprise, the blond-haired man walked out even before the one minute was up.

Of course, with the system, Daneel had no reason to be confused like the others.

Simply ordering the system to list prospective subjects, Daneel started walking back to the dormitory.

After thinking for long, Daneel had realized that he had two ways to reach a top position that would give him free rein in the Central Tower:

One, he had to convince someone to give up their job willingly after either making them commit a crime and ensuring to cover it up, or two, he had to give them enough reason to leave their post.

Either way, this was going to be fun.

…..

Meanwhile, in the covert underground room where Percy's elder brother was advancing quickly to become an Exalted Warrior.

Everyone was bored while just enduring the pain and waiting for themselves to grow stronger, so they had gotten to talking.

Right now, the topic they were discussing was quite strange.

It was the topic of why Percy had spent so much time in the bathroom, when he had come here accompanied by the Mad Doctor.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

441 The Red Herring

The next day.

A stout man with a bald head and a long mustache that he was repeatedly twirling with his hand was walking along the large pathway that led to the Central Tower.

Around 200 meters away from him, a blonde haired kid could be seen following him while trying not to attract attention to himself.

This man was an Exalted Warrior who was just one step away from becoming a Champion, and as such, he was already in possession of a little of the advanced 'sense' that only a Champion had.

Hence, he glanced back, ready to catch whoever had been tailing him for the past one hour.

However, to his surprise, the spot where he had locked on to his follower was empty, and even though he looked around, there was no one to spot.

Grumbling, the man entered the Central Tower to get back to his training.

Meanwhile, Daneel was hiding around 50 meters away from that spot, thanking the heavens that he was in possession of the Basilisk's Breath that had enabled him to make this escape.

This was the target he had chosen: Alfonso the Wrangler.

Indeed, the man was known by his nickname even though the two didn't make a name which sounded very well, as this was the thing he was most famous for.

He was in charge of making the payments to the normal humans who lived on the borders of the sect who were responsible for mundane work, and he was notorious for not just shaving off a little of the money, but also withholding it to gain unwilling favors.

Apparently, he was also the father of one of those who had accompanied Percy's elder brother in those dastardly acts in the Black Raven Kingdom.

Like father, like son.

Daneel frankly hated such scum, and after seeing the characteristics of this man, he only looked forward even more to wiping away those 'weeds' as soon as possible.

Regardless, he was going to handle this man first.

His was a very high post that had been previously held by an Amateur Warrior many years ago, due to that Warrior somehow accomplishing the feat of subjugating the actual one in the post and even having him fight his battles for him.

If something happened once, then there was much less chance that it would draw a lot of attention if it happened again.

After seeing Alfonso enter the Central Tower, Daneel started to walk towards his second stop: the back of the mountain.

When he arrived, he was quite surprised to see that it was not at all like what he had expected.

In Daneel's mind, he had been thinking that the Border Village, as it was called, might be a destitute den of filth, like the camps which used to accompany armies in the history of Earth.

The Sect of Hedon was an all-male sect, and as such, there was an official brothel set up here to enable those who had distractions to eliminate them to focus on their training.

This aspect of this world was something that Daneel had only heard about before, but not seen.

In his Kingdom, and all the others around the continent, brothels were officially recognized by the governments and there were set rules which protected the interests of those who engaged in this business.

For example, there was a fast track court for those who resorted to force or excessive violence during said acts.

Also, anyone who dared to push women into this trade was given the death sentence without fail.

Thus, Daneel had heard that low-grade brothels were inhabited by those who had no other job to choose, whereas high-grade ones earned enough money to put most medium enterprises to shame. Hence, those who were employed in high-grade ones were even respected in society to some extent.

Back in Lanthanor, apparently, the previous king had loved to go to the best brothel in the city to choose his concubines.

Of course, since becoming King, Daneel had been too busy running around to save the continent to pay attention to such things.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Daneel had expected the Border Village to have mud roads, depressing thatched houses, and dreary inhabitants.

However, when he reached it, he found neat, tiled roads, professionally-constructed stone houses, and happy children running around and playing.

This was the regular section of the village, so thinking that he might find what he had been expecting in the section that housed the brothel, Daneel walked there and saw that he was wrong.

There were no scantily clad women or raunchy boards, either. Instead, there was a plush entrance through which Daneel could see a woman sitting in what looked like a reception desk.

Well, this was definitely a pretty posh setup.

In the underground information room, Daneel had seen that Alfonso loved harassing women in this institution in particular.

The sect had a population of around 2000 members, and the border village was inhabited by at least 3000 people.

Hence, as it was a pretty big village, there were multiple establishments like these.

After double checking the address, Daneel walked to the reception.

With a warm smile, the woman who was wearing a blue chiffon gown greeted him and said, "Welcome to the Red Herring! What are you here for today?"

"I'm-I'm looking for Jessica.", stuttered Daneel, surprising even himself.

Oh, yes.

He was from Earth, where there was a certain stigma about going to places like these, that wasn't helped along by the fact that they were illegal in most countries.

It seemed that that memory had surfaced, along with a nonsensical thought that Eloise and Sister Xuan might tear him apart together if they found him here.

"First time, dear? Did you recently join the sect, or did you only now manage to scrape together enough money?"

Hearing the question which had multiple meanings, Daneel stuttered a reply, deciding to keep up this 'act' as it had already started.

"I just became a Warrior the-the other day and managed to get some mo-money."

"I knew it! As they say back in the sect, distractions must be fulfilled, not ignored. It seems that Jessica is in. 20 Ker Gems, please."

If Daneel hadn't already heard about this price before, he would definitely have been sputtering in rage by now.

Apparently, this high price was to dissuade sect members from indulging too much in things like these, and it scaled according to the level of a sect member.

Wondering who the heck had thought up such a weird system, Daneel handed over the pile of gems with a breaking heart.

He had worked all day yesterday after getting the information and deciding on this plan to obtain these Ker Gems, and they were gone, just like that.

Well, it was necessary.

In Daneel's plan, the woman he was going to meet was instrumental, and although he could have chosen to covertly find her house and try to talk her there, he did not want to risk being seen and getting suspicion thrown on him after everything was done.

Instead, just meeting like this was the best method.

The woman handed over a key that had the letters 54 written on it, so Daneel went up the stairs and reached the room with the same letters before knocking.

"Come in."

As a sweet voice replied from inside, Daneel entered and closed the door behind him, using the lock to do so.

This lock also activated a formation around the room, preventing all sound inside from being heard outside.

Daneel didn't know what to feel about this perfectly thought out system.

Jessica was a pretty woman with brown hair. With a few freckles near her nose, she was actually pretty attractive, and she also seemed to be well-endowed which allowed her to be a popular draw in this institution.

She was wearing silk robes that she prepared to take off when she saw Daneel locking the door, but she stopped with a puzzled expression on her face when she saw the blond-haired kid raise his hands and shout, "STOP!"

She had seen all kinds of men, but this must be a first-seeing someone who wanted her to stop, instead of going faster.

"Shy? I heard this is your first time. Don't worry, I'll be-"

"NO!"

Shouting again, Daneel took a few deep breaths.

Things were already going out of control.

Calming down, he returned to a calmer state, putting aside the slight panic before when the woman had almost exposed her entire body.

"I came here to talk about Alfonso."

When Jessica heard this, a deep frown appeared on her face and she prepared to pick up a communication trinket beside her, which must be how she had heard that it was his 'first time'.

"Hear me out. I want him to get his due, but I need your help."

This made Jessica hesitate, but it was only for a moment.

Why should she believe this kid? After all, he might just be someone here to take advantage of her by telling her that he would fulfill her dream.

Seeing this, Daneel sighed and said, "Look, I'm telling the truth. I'm not even being selfless. I found a way to make him give up his post to me, before having his life destroyed. I know the way he threatens to withhold your son's wages to have his way with you, and others around the village. I know what he does to you women, and why you don't dare expose him. I can help you all, but I need your help. Just come to this spot at midnight with the others. That's all I need. Bye."

Saying so and putting a communication trinket on the desk beside him, Daneel turned around and walked out, leaving a gawking Jessica.

To Daneel's surprise, he found the woman from downstairs waiting at the edge of the corridor near the stairs.

Looking at him come out with a slightly flustered expression on his face, she exclaimed, "That was even faster than I imagined! So it really is your first time!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

442 Midnight, at the Hemeris Tree

As Daneel heard her words, the blush that had been creeping into his face ever since that incident inside the room finally broke through, making his face go red as he looked away.

Although this woman looked gentle, she let out a roar of laughter which startled even those inside the first two rooms beside her, making them come out and ask what was going on.

"Travis, here…"

Crap! She even knew his name!

Having no interest whatsoever in being laughed at by even more women if he tried to explain, Daneel realized that this was actually good for his plan and made a quick escape.

Of course, as soon as he made his way out, more laughter erupted behind him, and this time, even his ears turned pink.

He could just imagine the next headline on the Network of Angaria.

"Honorable King of Angaria-out in 30 seconds!"

Of course, as he owned the network, he would never let such news circulate, but that didn't stop him from imagining it and berating himself more.

His reaction had been pretty…pathetic, so Daneel resolved to at least not act so weird the next time he was faced with such a situation, even if he did feel very embarrassed.

Repeating to himself again and again that he would only focus on his training for now, he made his way back to the sect and picked up more odd jobs to earn a few Ker Gems while waiting for night to fall.

At sharp midnight, Daneel reached a large tree which was surrounded by many smaller ones, as if it was monopolizing the nutrition that was supposed to go them all.

This was apparently a special tree that was almost extinct on Angaria. It really was capable of snatching nutrients consciously from trees surrounding it.

Of course, there existed many species, like weeds, which did this anyway. However, the peculiarity of this tree was the reason why the word 'consciously' was used when describing it.

The Hemeris tree, which was named after the first scholar to have discovered its properties, only took enough nutrients to ensure that it would grow the most, but it would always limit itself to make sure that the plants and trees around it wouldn't die. They might not grow as well, but unlike weeds, it did not absorb so much as to kill them.

Many said that this was how one on a path to power was supposed to be: they should strive to grow strongest, but they should also not endanger others' lives for that purpose.

There were only 5 such trees in the Sect of Hedon remaining, and Daneel had set the meeting at this one, which was distinguished by it's proximity to a small stream that was one of the many that were present in the expansive forests that were a part of the Sect.

Seeing that there was no one here, he sighed with disappointment.

Alfonso was responsible for forcefully taking advantage of over 110 women, as he delighted in switching around and having favorites.

If Jessica had heeded his communication and alerted the others, a crowd could have formed here by now.

So, it was clear that she hadn't done so.

Still, Daneel asked the system to check if there was anyone monitoring him in the darkness, and to his surprise, he found that there were actually 4 pairs of eyes on him.

4 people were watching him and he hadn't felt anything?! After becoming a Warrior, his senses had grown sharper, so Daneel actually felt a threat now that there seemed to be someone who seemed to be so adept at hiding themselves. Chances were that they all might be stronger than him.

However, a few seconds, Daneel gaped as a kid ran towards him.

He was around 2 feet tall, and he had plump cheeks, although the rest of his body was lean.

Where did this kid come from?

Seeing the kid raise his hand before opening and closing his fingers, Daneel understood it as a gesture for him to bend.

When he did so, he heard a cute, innocent voice utter words which chilled his spine.

"Harm my mother, and I'll definitely kill you."

As Daneel froze and wondered whether he had heard right, he heard Jessica's voice saying, "Jake, why did you go there? I only told you to look and tell us if he came alone! Get back here!"

With these words, 3 other little figures stepped out of bushes and off of branches in a 100-meter radius around him.

These…were the threats that Daneel had thought must be above Warrior level?!

They had been so still that Daneel hadn't even been able to sense them with his Warrior level senses, which made him feel shocked that they seemed like assassins who had trained in the Hidden Kill Sect.

With a sweet smile that made the hairs on Daneel's arm stand up straight, the kid ran to his mother who was walking forward from quite some distance away.

Along with her, a host of women were making their way forward.

They had hidden themselves in the darkness, which was why Daneel hadn't been able to see them.

He hadn't expected them to be this cautious, otherwise, he wouldn't have felt disheartened before when he had seen no one here.

But when he thought about it, it did make sense.

These women were being prosecuted by one person already, so it must be that they didn't want to be blackmailed by another, who might bring a group to force them to do something.

The worst case was that they might even be called here to be killed so that they would be made to shut up, as Daneel had heard dark stories about incidents like those where the perpetrator even managed to escape charges if they had connections in the top brass.

All systems looked ideal on the surface, but incidents like these were common, as there was almost no system that could run perfectly.

Sighing, Daneel raised his arms and said, "I promise I have no ill intentions. I just want to help."

"Good. If anything happens to us, there are people waiting who will report everything to the Sect. Kids, get out of here."

With an obedient nod, the 4 kids left silently in the night, not even making a single sound.

Daneel couldn't help but stare at them, and when Jessica noticed that he was doing so, she said, "These kids are orphans whose parents died due to…you know what, I can't tell you that. Either way, the story goes that they lived for 1 month in the forest, while being chased by those who killed their parents in front of them. During that, they learned to stay silent, and many other things that they refuse to talk about. The culprit was killed, and we adopted these kids. Now, tell us why you want to help us, first. If that isn't genuine, then we have no intention to hear what you have planned."

Daneel felt like asking and finding out more, but he resisted the urge.

"I have a plan to take over a high post in the Central Tower so that I can train faster with more resources. I could have chosen anyone else, but I chose Alfonso, as my plan works best against him. Of course, the fact that he deserves this was also a factor in my decision. I come for a normal family, and I really do think that he is scum for doing everything he did to all of you. If you choose to believe me and follow my plan, you will be rid of him, and no harm will come to you. I promise this."

As Daneel gave his speech, he looked out at all the women who had gathered.

They were all different, with varying heights, skin tones, body structures, and hairstyles, but one thing was common: they were all gorgeous.

Back on Earth, they could easily have walked the runway as models.

After his speech, they all stared at him in silence, before Jessica slowly raised her hand and said.

"I believe him. I want to give it a try."

A woman beside her, who had ebony skin and frizzy hair, asked, "The speech did sound sincere, but what makes you so sure, Jessica?"

Her answer made Daneel's ears burn again.

"Oh, nothing. It was just his face when I almost took off my clothes. He's definitely never been with a woman before, and he could definitely have slept with me before giving this offer. But unlike all those horny boys from the sect, he actually shouted 'NO!'. I choose to believe someone who is that innocent and has that sort of mental fortitude. Besides, his speech sold me! All of you know it's genuine!"

Daneel had spoken with passion, as he really did want to give justice to these poor women.

However, he could never have expected that that 'incident' would be brought up.

On hearing these words, the other women actually stared at Daneel, before breaking out into chuckles that were accompanied by gleaming eyes from some of them.

Wait…why were they looking at him like that?

Without saying anything, woman after woman raised their hands.

After waiting a few seconds and seeing that all of them had done so, Jessica smiled and said, "Ok, we're in. What do you need us to do?"

Great!

Feeling happy that his plan was taking the best route, Daneel said, "Your role is simple. I will be visiting many of you over the next week, but only to stay for a little while and leave. After that, when Alfonso returns to any of you, you must tell him about a certain thing that I boasted about. I came across a large Ker Gem mine outside the sect, and I'm secretly extracting Gems bit by bit."

"But isn't withholding information about locations for Ker Gem mines a crime that can land one in prison?"

"Exactly. Just leave the rest to me. Alfonso will soon be rotting in prison."

As the women started whispering amongst themselves, Daneel smiled slyly.

He was going to use the classic method of scamming people by making them give up what they have, with the allure of giving them something many times greater. In other words, he was going to be Alfonso's "Prince from Nigeria".

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

443 Will you take it, Sir?

4 days after the midnight meeting.

Alfonso was lounging on a soft bed with one of the women from the Red Herring, who had a reluctant smile on her face, as he was known to be capable of using magic to cause pain if the women didn't appear 'happy'.

If Daneel were here, he would have recognized this woman as the ebony-skinned one that had stood beside Jessica and asked her that question.

With one hand over the woman's shoulder and idly groping her assets, Alfonso closed his eyes and thought about the vicissitudes of life.

Although he had been never that talented, he had always been capable of doing everything that was necessary to move forward. This differentiated him from his peers, allowing him to obtain more resources in order to gain power faster while leaving them behind.

Never one to not resort to underhanded tricks in situations where they would work, he had used a perfect plan to get this position that he was proud of to this day.

By accumulating piles and piles of money and using it to ask a Champion whom he had picked due to their ruthless nature, he made sure that his opponent got injured because he had 'disrespected' that Champion.

Although fights between sect members were banned unless it was in the official dueling ring which was also used for challenges for posts in the Central Tower, such matters where a valuable Champion and a mere Warrior were involved were usually ignored.

Hence, when he fought his opponent, the man could only output half his strength and had been beat.

After that, Alfonso had madly trained in order to become strong enough to beat that man a second time when he had come back for revenge, by using his rage against him and continuously taunting him using personal matters.

In other words, Alfonso wasn't someone who would only rely on others. Instead, he prided his own power over all else, but wasn't against using any and all means necessary to get what he wanted.

Right now, he was just one step away from being a peak Warrior, which would allow him to claim the special resources meant for nurturing those who might become Champions.

He had been stuck at the Warrior-8 level for far too long, and the problem was his talent.

Talent allowed one to get more done with fewer resources, and because he didn't have that luxury, he had always had to scrounge for each and every bit of money in order to push himself forward.

There were only two things he loved: power, and women.

In fact, no, he only loved the latter: the former was just a means to grow strong enough to protect himself, while also obtaining a longer lifespan.

He knew that the woman he was groping was uncomfortable, but he liked that.

Hence, he began to do so harder, but to his surprise, the woman let out a chuckle before frowning deeply in pain.

Why had she chuckled?

"Margeret dearie, why so happy, all of a sudden? Did Sammy get a raise or something?"

Sammy was her brother, whose fee Alfonso was withholding in order to have his way with her.

"N-no."

Wait…she was hiding something.

Alfonso could tell. He had once been in the torture wing of the Sect, and he had seen the way people spoke when they didn't want to reveal something they were holding deep in their heart.

"Tell me what you chuckled about, or I'll make sure Sammy also gets fined a few Ker Gems, which you don't have."

This usually made the women beg, but he looked on with startled eyes as Margaret just felt afraid for a second or so before appearing to remember something.

"Pl-please don't."

No. She was only begging as that was what she was supposed to do. There was no real fear in her voice.

Over the years, Alfonso had gotten addicted to the cries of mercy and the desperate begging from people whose fate he held in their hands. Hence, when he saw that it was missing, it infuriated him to no end.

Casting a spell that used both metal and fire elementary particles, Alfonso conjured a red-hot metal rod before pressing it onto Margaret's hand mercilessly.

As she screamed in pain, he immediately made the rod vanish and cast a healing spell, while Margaret watched with tears as her skin slowly began to heal itself.

If marks were left, it was always possible that someone might be able to testify against him to the Sect.

This wasn't the first time this had happened, and as Margaret still kept her mouth shut, Alfonso repeated this for 4 more times on different places before she finally shouted, "PLEASE, ENOUGH! I'LL TALK!"

"That's more like it. Why did we need to go through all this? I really do like you, Margaret."

As Margaret shrunk into the bed like a defenseless new-born turtle, Alfonso chuckled and resumed his groping while using his other hand to twirl his mustache.

With a stutter, Margaret said, "Th-there was this kid who came in yesterday to me. He visited a lot of women in the past 4 days. He's just an Amateur Warrior! We couldn't figure out how he had so many Ker Gems! We finally managed to worm the information out of him after a lot of coaxing. He found a large Ker Gem mine outside the sect, bigger than any discovered in recent years. He knows it's a crime to conceal the information, b-but he said that they wouldn't notice a few missing Ker Gems, so he plans to mine a few hundred before reporting to the Sect. 4 days ago was his first time with the new-found money…and he will be a regular customer, and he pays a lot, that too, directly to us. Th-that's why I…Please don't do anything to him!"

By the time Margaret was done, Alfonso was almost foaming at his mouth with excitement.

Could he…really be this lucky? To have found out about something like this before anyone else?

No. He had to stay calm and verify it with the other women. What if she was just saying things to escape?

Without a word, Alfonso took the key and unlocked the room.

However, just as he was about to step out, he calmed himself due to a thought.

If he went around to all the women now, it might arouse suspicion. He had to do it slowly.

So, walking back in, he said in a threatening tone, "Speak with no one else about this. If you do, I'll know," before leaving while whistling a tune, as if everything was normal, and as though he wasn't planning to kill all these women after he confirmed everything.

Margaret heard these words with an expression of fear on her face, while her frizzy hair was in disarray.

However, as soon as his footsteps faded away from her earshot, a proud smile came on her face as she relaxed and lounged back on the bed, stretching her body while putting on her clothes.

She was just slipping on her dress when Jessica appeared at the door, asking, "Is it done?"

Gesturing at Jessica to close the door, Margaret waited until she was done to laugh out loud before saying, "Of course! The pig bought it. He only sees us as nitwits who are only good for one thing. I bet he can't even imagine that we are all very good actors. We need to act when we get nice boys like Travis in here, after all."

As Margaret said the last sentence with a chuckle, Jessica smiled and replied, "Good. And I'm glad you and the others didn't go through with your plans. I knew what you were thinking the minute I saw that gleam."

This made Margaret frown slightly before saying, "We just wanted to tease him! You know, see if he cracks when he gets a real, hard look at what he's missing? A slip here, a tear there…it would have been so much fun! You're such a spoilsport."

"No. He's sure about what he wants. Maybe it would have been fun for us, but it definitely would not have been for him. Instead, it might even have driven him away. All right, I'll go tell the others to prepare themselves. Take care."

Saying so, Jessica was about to leave, but she turned around when she heard Margaret ask a question in a tone unlike the confident one before.

"Hey…do you think he'll really do it?"

Seeing her shoulders shake, Jessica could tell that she was probably crying.

That confident side was just a veneer that all of them put up in different ways, just to mask their suffering to the outside world.

"I sure hope so," she replied, before praying to the heavens and closing the door.

….

3 days later.

As a blonde-haired kid walked into a remote clearing inside the Sect of Hedon where an anti-eavesdropping formation was set up, he frowned and saw the bald man in front of him and said, "I'm here, Mr. Alfonso. Why did you say you wanted to meet me?"

"Travis, Travis, Travis. You've been a really naughty boy. You-"

"Is this about the Ker Gem mine?"

What the heck? Aren't you supposed to deny all knowledge of it?!

Having his 'you have no way out, reveal the truth' speech ruined, Alfonso sputtered for a bit before regaining his calm.

"Yes, I wanted to-"

"Oh, I was going to report it to the sect anyway. I guess you can do so, sir-"

"NO!"

As Alfonso shouted this while imagining his riches going away, he realized how implausible this situation was.

Why wasn't this kid clinging on to such a massive amount of treasure?

He got the answer in the next second, and when he heard the kid's response, it was accompanied by the strange feeling that nothing was going as he had expected.

"I'm not confident at all in keeping it a secret, I'm too afraid. It's also a pity to tell it to the sect. Wait…here's an idea! Will you take it, sir? There must be, like, 200,000 Ker Gems in there, at least. In return, can I have your post in the Central Tower? I can't do it for free, right."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

444 Scamming Alfonso 1

200,000 Ker Gems?!

After getting rid of that strange feeling, these were the words that got stuck in Alfonso's mind.

For a second, he became distracted as he imagined what he would do if he had such a fortune.

Getting to the Champion level would no longer be a pipedream!

The older one was, the harder it would get to absorb Energy, both for the body and the mageroot. So, he had always been hoping that he would come across some opportunity to obtain enough in one strike so that he could just go into secluded meditation to reach the peak.

This was his chance!

As Alfonso was busy daydreaming, he didn't notice the flash in the blonde-haired kid's eyes.

Suddenly, he felt a prickling at the back of his head, and a vague feeling that something was trying to…invade his mind.

This was something that he had never felt before, and with a start, he quickly scanned all around him, wondering whether someone was trying to eavesdrop.

The feeling had vanished, but unlike Sister Xuan who discarded it thinking that it was a figment of her imagination, Alfonso clung to it and checked the formation he had set up for blocking outsiders from listening in.

The formation was controlled by him, and it was said that when someone with a higher skill in formations tried to take control of one that was already being controlled, the one who was controlling the formation would feel as if their mind was being invaded.

The core of his formation had been covertly placed in a tree to the side, so as he walked towards it with a deep frown of suspicion on his face, he didn't notice that for a split second, the blonde-haired kid had narrowed his eyes.

However, after that, an expression of happiness replaced it, but again, this was very brief.

Right before Alfonso reached the core, he once again felt that prickling, and although it wasn't exactly the same as before, it was similar enough for him to think that he had been right.

Moreover, as he saw the core of the formation which was in the form of a triangular metal trinket that had various patterns embedded on it, he noticed that a small crack had appeared on one side of it.

Yes! Someone was trying to eavesdrop!

Immediately, he said, "I like your proposition. We can talk on it tonight, and we can also go out to verify whether what you are saying is true. For now, it seems that someone is trying to listen in. I'm leaving. Meet me at midnight in the glave 200 meters south of the 3rd northern exit."

Saying so, Alfonso didn't give a chance for Daneel to reply. Picking up the core, he deactivated it and left swiftly, while glancing around and trying to spot the 'enemy'.

After waiting for a moment and checking with the system that no one was watching him, Daneel smiled wide.

He was very happy with the way this meeting had gone.

The prickling, of course, had been the natural defense of one's mind against invasion by the system, which wanted to hijack its inputs and show it a false image, just like with Sister Xuan and that vision. This was a very advanced spell, and even though the system was at the peak of the Champion level, only using it on a Human would allow it to proceed without giving any indication to the target.

Also, Daneel had to make sure that the target was distracted when the spell was cast, as someone who was completely in control of the faculties of their mind would be able to notice the invasion faster and try to resist.

If they were distracted, it would be over before they realized it.

Daneel had worried a bit when he saw Alfonso get suspicion on his face, but when he saw him walking towards the core of the formation, Daneel had quickly asked the system whether there was any correlation between anti-eavesdropping formations and spells like these, where the objective was to send a simulation to one's mind.

After finding out that an attack on the formation would have the same effect, he had immediately made one, which resolved the situation and sealed Alfonso's fate.

However, Daneel realized that he had landed himself in a small dilemma.

Alfonso wanted to go today, itself, to check out the mine. Initially, Daneel had planned to delay the man until the time when he could leave the sect so that he could set it all up before they went.

Even now, he didn't panic too much, as if worst came to worst, he could simply knock Alfonso out.

With his inheritances, he would definitely be able to take on this Exalted Warrior. A prolonged fight might be a bit difficult, but Daneel was confident of winning a short engagement.

The limitation of the "Mind Control" spell, which had been ambitiously named by Daneel after being derived from the ability of the system to simulate scenarios for him, was that a single 'invasion' could only result in one simulation.

For example, he had 'invaded' Sister Xuan's mind, and played that vision for her to see. If he wanted to do so again, he would once again have to distract her and let her feel that sense of being invaded again, and the chances were also high that she would definitely notice something amiss, as she would be familiar with it from before.

Still, if there was no other way, Daneel didn't mind using his 'invasion' before to make it appear to Alfonso that he had been knocked out by someone or something else while he left to make the fake Ker Gem mine.

After that, he could wait for the man to use a formation again so that he could 'invade' his mind again without arousing suspicion.

Only, Daneel preferred if his plan didn't have variables. If Alfonso somehow had the means to escape his clutches, then he would be placed in a very dire situation.

Hence, Daneel fell into deep thought, wondering what to do.

Getting no solution after a few minutes, he first made his way to the Border Village to thank Jessica and tell her that it had worked.

When he reached the Red Herring, he saw with relief that there was someone other than that woman who had laughed at him before. Still, she giggled when she saw him, which meant that he had already become famous for his 'endurance'.

Sighing and feeling happy that he was in a disguise, Daneel reached Jessica's room and knocked before entering.

Seeing that it was him through the peephole, Jessica immediately opened and closed the door behind him before asking in an excited voice, "Did it work?!"

When Daneel nodded, an expression of relief came on her face.

"The first part worked, and the second should go without a hitch."

Even though this was happy news, Daneel was still frowning slightly.

Noticing this, Jessica asked with a frown, "What's the matter? I thought it went well?"

"Oh, I was thinking about a small problem that I have. I need to go out of the sect today, but my monthly leave is done."

"That's it? Why didn't you ask me before? We have a special way in and out which doesn't require anyone to be allowed to leave. Just leave it to me."

As Daneel heard this, he looked at her and beamed.

He had been hoping that she might have a way because of how resourceful she seemed, so seeing that he was right, he felt really glad that there were no more problems.

Now, all that was left was to put Alfonso behind bars due to his greed which made him dumb enough for sending all the money he had to the 'Nigerian Prince' with the belief that he would get much more in return.

As Jessica saw him smile, she felt glad after seeing that everything was going smoothly.

"You're very cute, you know," she said, making Daneel's smile freeze.

This made her chuckle softly before saying, "Don't get me wrong. I just wanted to tell you that we all really appreciate what you're doing for us. We could say lofty things like 'We are willing to follow you anywhere', but we know we are just powerless humans who can't be of much help to you."

Daneel immediately started to shake his head, but she continued.

"You don't need to refute this. We will always be in your debt. You can never know all the horrible things that pig put us through. By the way, I really think it's commendable that you weren't tempted to go about this a different way. I can tell that that part of life is not on your mind right now. Still, I've heard of many who went mad with grief later on because of decisions like these. Rumors say that something like that happened to the Mad Doctor, too, but I don't know if they have any truth to them. I just wanted to say that if you do find someone you like, don't hesitate to do everything you can to make them a part of your life. You'll know that that someone is special, don't worry- I've heard that Warriors and Champions have a special sense in this matter. Anyway, that was just my advice. Now, get out of her if you don't want it to become known that you've suddenly gained a lot of endurance. Here are the instructions for the secret exit."

As Daneel heard the last part, he did feel embarrassed a bit, but he stored the rest in his heart. She definitely meant well, and he even felt that there was quite some truth to what she was saying.

Still, it was true that he shouldn't arouse suspicion. So, getting up and taking the trinket, he just said "Thank you. I'll be back after it's completely done," before walking out, only to find a gaggle of women at the end of the corridor all staring the door to Jessica's room.

As soon as he walked out, some cheered and others got sad expressions on their faces.

Daneel wondered why that was, and he got the answer a few seconds later, when he saw money being passed around.

They were all betting on how much time he would last inside!

Sighing and feeling pity for Travis, Daneel followed the instructions to leave the sect, so he could set the stage for Alfonso.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

445 Scamming Alfonso 2

Midnight. Near the glade indicated by Alfonso.

Alfonso was already waiting there, having reached 20 minutes before to stake the location out so that he could make sure that whoever had been eavesdropping before, hadn't managed to follow him here too.

He had thought long and hard about who the culprit could be, and in the end, he could only conclude that it was someone who was interested in a cloaked conversation that was going on not too far away from a central walkway.

At around 11:55 AM, the blonde haired kid that he had been waiting for finally arrived, with a smile on his face.

Seeing that smile, Alfonso really wanted to punch him, as it reeked of innocence and naïveté.

Why was it that someone like this had come across such a valuable treasure? Why had it not been him?

Of course, arguments like these were irrelevant, but he still engaged in them so that he could calm himself and not blow this deal.

"So. You want me to hand over my senior post, which earns me 50 Ker gems per day, and that has always been held by an Exalted Warrior, to an Amateur one like you?"

In response, Travis nodded and folded his arms behind his back before saying, "You can't say it's not worth it, Sir. Doing something like this was on my mind before itself, but I just didn't find someone that I could trust. You found out about it anyway, so I just chose you, and when I asked around, I found out that you are someone who keeps your word. You must have asked about me, too, right? I've already given one very useful information to the sect, and I wouldn't mind giving them another, but I really do feel that it's a pity. I should focus on my path to power too, after all."

Hearing this, Alfonso nodded.

He had indeed investigated this kid called Travis, and had found out that he had a special status directly granted by the sect leader because of his discovery of an inheritance site. Although it could be said that he had not done so willingly, it was obvious that by doing that business with taking so many sect members to the site, he had already anticipated that this would be the result, and had been prepared to give it up to the sect.

Many times, Alfonso had seen that luck always favored those who didn't deserve it, and that too, in amounts which would make others cry.

This kid had already found out an inheritance site, so it wasn't even that implausible that he had also found such valuable treasure.

Besides, his greed seemed to be getting the better of him, and there even seemed to be something whispering in his mind that he should take this chance, as another like it might not come along in his lifetime.

For a second, he wondered why he was having such strong feelings about this deal without being objective, but right at that moment, those suggestive thoughts vanished, making him discard that line of thinking.

"I need to see it first, of course. You might just be lying."

"I'm not that dumb, Sir. If I show it to you, you could kill me afterward. I want you to swear an oath to me right now, that if you do find that the mine is real, you will promise me three things:

1. You will give me your post in the Central Tower, and also never challenge me again for it, while helping me to keep it.

2. You will not harm me in any way, directly or indirectly, regardless of what you find.

3. You will never speak anything about me to anyone, or give any indication directly or indirectly that you know me."

As Alfonso saw Travis say these three things with great concentration, he chuckled.

Clearly, this kid had put a lot of thought into this.

Maybe he wasn't that naive after all.

This wasn't really a bad thing, as if this was all fake, the kid would definitely not take this many precautions.

Taking a moment, he pondered over the three conditions.

Oaths could be made without oath stones, but the limitation was that the oath would be tied to the person, making it so that if the person died, the oath would vanish. If there was an oath stone, the oath would be passed on to the next inheritor.

Also, facilities like communicating with the other person through the oath stone were absent.

Clearly, the kid had thought about the possibility of him hiring somebody else to bring harm to him so that he could rid himself of the oath, which was why the second clause said: "directly or indirectly."

In fact, all Alfonso cared about right now was getting to the peak of the Warrior realm, obtaining the special support of the sect, and shooting forward to become a Champion so that he could triple his life span yet again.

Compared to that, these three things felt trivial.

Only the third clause seemed a little bit strange, but Alfonso just assumed that it was there because the kid was scared that he might use other means to bring harm to him.

Yes. This was a good deal, definitely.

The suggestive thoughts returned, but in his daydreaming of becoming a Champion and having hundreds of years to enjoy all the women he wished, he didn't notice it this time.

Although he would be giving up what he had – the post in the central tower which earned him 1500 Ker gems a month, he would be getting so much more.

As he finally nodded in reply, he saw an expression of relief come on Travis's face.

"Of course, you also have to swear that you will never disclose any information about the mine to anybody else, and that no one else but you knows about its whereabouts right now."

This was just basic common sense. He couldn't risk this kid getting greedy later, and telling others for more profit.

Also, he had to make sure that he would have the mine to himself, instead of having to share with anyone that this kid might have blabbed the information to.

As for all the women on the Border Village, Alfonso wasn't really worried about them right now, as no one else could make them talk like he had done, and they wouldn't be dumb enough to go against his words.

Still, he began planning a way to make them all… Disappear.

"Of course. Let us begin."

…

20 minutes later.

After swearing the oaths, both of them made their way out of the sect using a secret exit that only Alfonso, and a few other senior sect members knew of.

Clearly, anyone who had spent a long time in the sect would find ways to go around the rules imposed, in cases where the rules weren't too strict and were meant mainly to make sect members focus on training more.

After teleporting four times, the two of them reached an unmarked spot in a forest east of the Sect of Hedon.

This area was completely unremarkable, with even the trees not being lusher than those around them, which was usually a dead giveaway for the location of a Ker Gem mine, especially of this size.

As Alfonso saw this, he started doubting whether he was being led into some trap.

He had already prepared himself for that possibility – checking his pocket, he made sure that the defensive Champion level trinket, the single most expensive item he owned, was ready to be deployed to protect him.

At least there was one good news: if there really was a mine here, it would be impossible for anyone to find it, as this was just one random spot in an area of hundreds of kilometers that was filled by forests.

They had teleported in the air, so after landing on the ground, Travis first looked around carefully to make sure that no one had followed them.

After that, he went to a nearby bush which looked completely normal and plucked it after deactivating a formation.

Below that bush, hidden expertly, was a small hole through which only one person could fit.

"After you," said Alfonso, not intending to walk into a trap if there was one.

However, the next second, his eyes became as wide as saucers when he saw a red mist float out of the hole.

There were two main indications of a large Ker Gem mine – one was obviously the large amounts of red gems that would be found inside, and another was the red mist, which meant that this was an area which naturally condensed Energy. This was why Natural Energized Training Chambers also condensed this red mist while absorbing Energy from their surroundings.

As his breathing hastened, he watched as Travis nodded and entered the hole, after which Alfonso followed, barely able to contain his excitement.

The hole had no ladder, but as mages, they could simply fly through it.

After descending around 800 m into the ground, the hole finally ended, widening into a large, block-shaped cave that had an area of at least 1 km².

Sensing no threats, Alfonso conjured a globe of light, and as he saw the red glimmers all around him, he staggered back and had to take support from the wall behind him.

Yes! Ker gems! Thousands and thousands of them!

There was also the red mist, which was faint, meaning that this mine had formed long ago.

It all made sense now. The vegetation above must have been lusher many, many years ago, but because of some reason, no one must have noticed it. After that, the extra Energy had been sapped away by the mine, so the plants above were normal. Although it meant that there would be no additional gems being added to the mine, the ones that were already present would easily be enough to tide him over for quite a long time.

There was only one question – how did this kid find it in the first place?

Without asking, Travis answered.

"On a routine examination of the continent, I came across a woodcutter who spoke about a single plant he had seen during his journey through this forest which looked like it was blessed by the heavens. Because the mine is so deep underground, the additional Energy only affected one plant above, and when I dug and found this mine, I immediately killed that woodcutter and burned his body. No one else knows. Is our deal done?"

As he heard this and realized that it did make sense, Alfonso only nodded, too busy admiring the beautiful prisms around him.

Of course, this was why he didn't notice the gleam in Travis's eyes.

…

One hour later.

[Preprogramed protocol being activated. Sending pre-recorded message anonymously to Central tower.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

446 Scamming Alfonso 3

The next day, as per the deal, Alfonso handed in a formal resignation and recommendation for Travis, quoting that he saw himself in his earlier days in this kid.

There had been such strange requests before, and the job of those in the administrative department of the Central tower was just to approve the requests after checking that all the proper channels were being used.

Everything looked fine, and by the end of the day, Travis Eclair had a post on the Central tower, where he was in charge of handing out the payments for all the normal humans in the sect.

Mundane posts like these in the Central tower were mostly overlooked, and were only favored because of the easy pay. However, there were many better ones, and because this job involved doing some legwork, powerful and talented Warriors actually avoided it as they didn't want to waste their time. Instead, they would rather prefer to find something else to grow stronger, faster.

As Alfonso had never been someone too talented, he had been happy with this job, but the main reason was that he simply loved everything he could do to all the women in the Border Village.

Still, he had decided to give that all up to increase his lifespan.

After his end of the deal was done, he simply shook hands with Travis and left to go to the mine, trusting in the oath which could not be broken in any way. Although there were rumors that Champions and those above might have a chance, that was, of course, too far away from him.

The next two days passed peacefully. Instead of beginning to mine the Ker Gems immediately, Alfonso decided to absorb all of the mist first, so he simply sat inside and trained all day long.

On the morning of the third day, everything still seemed fine, but he suddenly felt someone trespass over the formation that he had set up in the direction of the sect.

He initially ignored this, thinking it was just some woodcutter, but when the second formation that was placed after it also got triggered, he panicked and got up.

The blonde haired kid could definitely not have told anyone else about this, so he wondered whether he was just unlucky.

Of course, they were definitely just passerbys, and there was no way of them knowing that he was here, underground.

Only, he had placed one final formation right beside the Bush which had the entrance to the mine, and when he suddenly felt it triggered too, he quickly tried to teleport away.

However, to his shock, he realized that an anti-teleportation formation had been set up at some point without his knowledge.

He was an Exalted Warrior! For a formation to activate without even him knowing about it… It had to mean that it was at least at the Peak Champion level!

As he realized this horrific fact, he decided to leave.

Until now, he had been sitting at the front of the mine which was in the form of a long corridor, and he had been training with his eyes closed.

During his panic, he had only looked up at the entrance. Now, when he decided to escape, he turned around and was about to cast the spell to burrow into the ground, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw a sight that was even more horrifying than the knowledge that the sect had caught wind of this mine.

All of the Ker gems were gone!

All those shining prisms had disappeared, replaced by faint fragments of Ker gems here and there, as if they had been dug out extensively.

Only the smallest amount of mist was left, as he had been busy absorbing it all this time.

What the hell was going on?

No… It didn't matter! He had to get out of here first!

However, the pause due to his shock was enough for the Champions who had been sent by the sect to descend into the hole and find Alfonso standing there like a statue.

Noticing that he was just about to cast a spell, the two Champions immediately cast anti-spells.

If Daneel had been here, he would have been startled to see that their way of spell work was very reminiscent of what the Domination Corps had used in the Olympics to shock everyone.

"Enough. Resist, and we won't hesitate to tear you apart. Just come quietly. If you're innocent, nothing will happen to you."

As one of the Champions said this while casting immobilization spells by making the air around the target heavy by using metal elementary particles, Alfonso only nodded, knowing that the jig was up.

He couldn't even take on one Champion in direct combat- there was simply no hope of going up against two.

Three hours later, when he found himself in a cell underneath the Central tower, he only had one question in his mind.

How in hell had this happened?!

…

The news that a member of the Central tower had been arrested for committing one of the few crimes that one could get jailed for in the Sect of Hedon spread like wildfire.

Hiding information of Ker Gem mines from the sect was something that even the bravest of sect members wouldn't do, but it seemed that this particular one had a nasty streak of doing anything and everything to gain power.

Because he was jailed now, all of his past got dug up, including the cruel way he behaved with all the women who were actually sweethearts of the sect members who regularly visited the Border Village, and the way he had gotten his post using underhanded means.

Normally, such things were common and remained hidden, but now that the perpetrator was behind bars with no hope of being released for a long, long time, everyone began to talk.

Of course, his appointment of Travis in his post also became known, but a rumor soon started to spread that explained this.

Apparently, Travis had found out about the mine, and he had been about to go to the sect to report it. However, Alfonso had threatened him and had made him swear an oath that he wouldn't tell anyone, also going so far as to give him his post so that they would be known to be accomplices together if it ever got out. Also, Travis was under Alfonso's control, and Alfonso needed to go into closed door training for a long time to take that last step towards becoming a Peak Warrior. So, he had appointed Travis so that he could simply take back his post if he wanted, after he was done.

This made perfect sense!

No one knew where the rumor started, but it kept spreading and spreading until it even got into the ears of the sect officials who was placed in charge of investigating the cover-up of this mine.

From the indications of the mist that was remaining in the mine, it became clear that it had existed since a long time, and the extra Energy in that land had already been sapped dry.

Alfonso had always had more Ker gems than he was supposed to, and many had always thought that this was because he shaved off a small amount from all of the payments he was supposed to make. However, now, it became clear that these extra gems came from the mine, and when the humans of the Border Village were asked about this after being told that they needn't fear retribution from Alfonso, they answered that they got their pay in full, although the man regularly delayed payments so that he could do whatever he wanted with those related to these poor people.

As all the facts started to add up, the case against Alfonso became clearer and clearer, and it no longer remained a doubt whether he needed to be imprisoned.

It was a pity to lose an Exalted Warrior like that, but punishments like these had to be carried out, lest others repeat such infractions without being afraid of repercussions.

One day later, the sect leader passed the final verdict – Alfonso would be imprisoned for a period of 50 years.

He kept claiming that this was all a scam, but of course, no one believed him.

The night that he was incarcerated, the entire Border Village lit up as if there was a festival going on.

By all rights, Travis should have been the chief guest, but because it was better not to arouse any suspicion, the women settled with profusely thanking him and telling him once again that they would forever be indebted to him.

Many actually walked up and gave him hugs and kisses on his cheek, and when they saw him blush a little from time to time due to this, they laughed gently, but didn't mock him.

As Daneel walked back to his dormitory with many marks of lipstick on his cheeks, he couldn't help but pat himself on his back.

The Nigerian prince plan had worked perfectly, and it also felt great to have helped out so many sweet women.

The image of the mine being full of Ker Gems had been an illusion using "Mind Control", but the mist had been real: Daneel had covertly transported it over from his own Natural Energized Training Chamber, which was why the sect hadn't suspected that the entire mine might be fake. Daneel, had, of course, dug out the mine and placed those fragments of the gems to make it look real.

To escape the oath, the key had been the system – although he had sworn not to tell anything to the sect, he had already done all the preparations and preprogrammed them into the system before asking it to execute all of the tasks, like sending the tip to the sect.

The sect was still puzzled as to who sent that tip, but because of all the facts, they let it go, thinking that it might just be someone who had picked up on some clues, or might have a vendetta against Alfonso.

Also, he had used a special spell that worked similar to the one which made simulations appear, albeit being simpler, to introduce those suggestive thoughts in Alfonso's mind so that he wouldn't question anything too much and go along with it.

And of course, the rumor was his work.

[Achievement unlocked: Crusader of Justice.

Crusader of Justice: By going out of your way to help those who couldn't help themselves, you have shown the attitude that a person on the righteous path of World Domination should have. They will forever remember you, and if the need ever arises, they will not hesitate to follow you. It is events like these that build up the support that every World Dominator must have. Congratulations!

5000 EXP earned.]

A nice bonus on top, too!

With his smile widening even further, Daneel got to his dormitory and fell on the bed.

One job was done, and although it had been very fun and gratifying, it was now time to get back to his main goals.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

447 Entering the Hidden Vaul

The next day.

As Daneel walked to the main entrance of the Central Tower, he saw many sect members whispering among themselves while looking at him.

The large, wooden double doors which were artfully ingrained with gilded patterns were open. The last time, when he had entered with the key that he had used 10,000 Ker gems to buy, he had only been able to use the back entrance, which was much less glamorous.

Using the system, Daneel eavesdropped on one of the conversations between two people who were shooting glances at him while talking between themselves with low voices.

"All those missing things from Alfonso's case still bug me. Who sent in the tip? Why hadn't that mine been found all this time? How did Alfonso not cause any suspicion over all this time? Why are all the regular humans claiming that he hasn't been mooching off of their income? And this mop-haired brat. I don't know. I just feel like he is at the center of it. And it's not just me, you know. The others let it go as he can't be touched according to the rules, but I'm not prepared to."

Daneel's heart skipped a beat as he heard this, but the reply from the other person calmed him down.

"Too bad the challenge for his post was taken just three days ago. We still have to wait 26 days to get someone to challenge him, so that we can beat him up to get answers. I already contacted some people who are interested in getting the post. Let's just wait. He'll definitely be careful, so it's not worth plotting against him. He can't run anywhere, anyway."

With this, the two stop looking at him and walked inside the Central tower, after shooting glances filled with derision, making it clear that they didn't believe that he deserved a place inside.

The reason behind Daneel calming down was that he was safe for almost a month.

He had no intention of staying that long, because if he did, he would have to either be beaten up to a pulp or reveal his power, and he was definitely not going to do the latter.

He hoped that a month was more than enough to finish everything he needed to do inside the sect, and he had no time to waste.

Just like they said, conversations like these were everywhere, and he had a large target painted on his back. After all, he was an Amateur Warrior who was in a post which paid enough to entice Exalted Warriors.

Getting to his office which was a small pie-shaped stone room with one window, he saw that all of Alphonso's things were still here, such as a few of his clothes and some trinkets.

Obviously, the man hadn't been given enough time to clean them out.

Claiming them all for his own shamelessly, Daneel sat down on the chair in front of the small desk in the room and first used the key he had been given after obtaining the official post to open a hidden compartment, in which there were pouches of Ker gem shavings.

These were all of the pending payments that Alphonso had been holding back, so the first thing he did was pick them all up and go to the Border Village.

As he saw each of the honest workers almost cry as they received what they were due, he truly felt glad from the bottom of his heart that he had targeted this bastard for his plan.

After being done with this and making sure not to visit places like the Red Herring again, he once again reached his office and set about his first task: to find the objects that Ashahell had taken from Lanthanor.

Instead of using the same method as before and risking being found out to be someone who was also present at a different place, Daneel did his homework and only chose the identities of those who were training.

Also, he tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible, so that his face wouldn't be remembered by anyone.

To this purpose, he used a Champion level spell which had been developed by the system to make a faint blur appear on his face.

It made it so that if he was viewed in a group, he wouldn't draw attention, but he also would not stand out.

It was similar to the effect that came over humans when their eyes glazed over due to seeing too many faces at once.

By using such a foolproof method, Daneel began a very thorough sweep of the entire central tower.

He had already guessed that these items were placed in the most secure location inside the tower, but the problem was that this location was also hidden.

Hence, his objective was to find out where it was, so that he could start to plan what he would do to get inside.

Right now, he had three things to accomplish in the Central Tower, and in the sect:

1. Get back the items that Ashahell had taken from Lanthanor and look for clues regarding the remaining parts of the inheritance and trinket left behind by the Empire of Angaria, so that he could try and obtain them himself.

2. Finalise and set in place the plan to show that Ashahell was guilty of aiding and abetting the Church.

3. Kill all the scum who were going to be sent after him soon for revenge.

He could only wait to accomplish the third and hope that an opportunity arose before he left, but the first two had to be finished ASAP.

Daneel also had to be quite covert during his operations, so that he wouldn't risk drawing too much attention to himself. It didn't help at all that he was in the spotlight right now, due to Alphonso's case.

Before, during his search, Daneel had only covered everything briefly, but now, he spent his time in each area, allowing the system to deeply analyze the formation while looking for clues regarding exactly what was inside, and whether there was a way for him to sneak inside without trying to controlling the Core of the formation.

Time passed in this way, with him spending most of the day loitering around different areas of the sect in different disguises, while collecting Ker gems for his post and training in the remaining time.

After reaching the warrior level, Daneel felt as if his progress had slowed down, and that was mainly due to the fact that Ker gems just weren't good enough resources anymore. He needed something of higher quality, but the only one available to him was the fish from the Endless Sea, but that cost too much.

His progress had really slowed down and this frustrated him, but he couldn't do anything about it and only resolved to find ways to solve it after all of his present predicaments were behind him.

One and a half weeks later, he finally got a break – the system had identified a method through careful analysis for Daneel to infiltrate the hidden, higher portion of the tower, where all of the important areas were.

The method was that these areas needed maintenance weekly, and when someone used teleportation to reach them, the core Hero level formation of the sect would allow it for a split second.

Using another Peak Champion level spell developed by the system which enabled him to follow that someone by fooling the Hero level formation to think that he was an insect on the man's skin, Daneel finally accomplished his first objective.

Apparently, the higher areas of the Tower were divided into sections, and this maintenance man was only here to service one.

He had teleported into a winding stone corridor with a single on one side, and luckily, he had teleported right behind the man.

His appearance was distraction enough, so using the "Mind Control" spell, Daneel made the man think that he had been mistaken, and that there was no one else here.

Shaking his head, the man, who was an Exalted Warrior, used his blood to open the door, and Daneel sneaked in behind him.

He had entered a large room which had many bookcases and podiums everywhere. There were at least 50 stone podiums, but the items on top of them were shrouded in white mist.

Sadly, these seemed to be the sect-preserving trinkets, which were being actively protected by the core formation.

It was the same with the bookshelves, which definitely must be holding the core inheritances of the sect.

Daneel was about to be disappointed, but to his surprise, he spied a section to the side which seemed forgotten.

There were multiple podiums here, too, but they were all empty.

Wait, no-one wasn't.

It contained the items Ashahell had taken from Lanthanor, and there wasn't even any white mist covering them!

Rejoicing, Daneel walked to that area silently and saw that there was also a single bookcase here, which were similarly not being treated with the same importance as the others, like in the case of the podium.

Clearly, the sect did not attach that much importance to just one part of that legendary inheritance and trinket, and had hence opted not to spend valuable Energy to actively guard this area.

After all, it was true that they had always known of the existence of these things, but they had allowed them to stay inside the core formations of the forces in the central continent, or in the other locations.

But why were there so many podiums here in the first place?

He was about to get more questions, but hearing the maintenance man finishing going about his work, Daneel realized that he had to hurry.

If he hadn't spent so much time to study each and every aspect of the Central tower, he would never have found this opening. Hence, satisfied that his hard work had paid off, Daneel completely utilized the opportunity and absorbed all of the books on the bookshelf, while staring fondly at the items from Lanthanor and wishing he could take them right now.

He had a few seconds, so Daneel took out one book and read the first page.

The information about the book recorded on the first page hit him like a lightning bolt, and almost made him drop the book.

It was a journal written by a scholar of the Sect of Hedon who had gone to all of the forces of the Central Continent to study the parts left behind and the Empire Spirits!

This meant that…he could finally find out just where the heck all the parts were!

However, a sentence written in large font on the second page stood out, and as Daneel read it, his eyebrows rose to the top of his head, while his hands started to shake.

"Beware of Empire Spirits! They are the remnant consciousnesses of Heros from the Empire of Angaria which want to revive themselves and their Empire by enticing people to train in their inheritances!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

448 Pile of Information

Daneel had to re-read the line 3 times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but by the time he was ready to form any thoughts about it, he heard the maintenance man walk towards the door.

If he left, Daneel would be trapped in here indefinitely, as the core formation would 'lock up' the room.

So, quickly putting the book back and taking one last glance at the items from Lanthanor, Daneel quietly made his way back to the door and exited along with the maintenance man.

After that, he went back in the same way: making the formation think that he was an insect.

It was only after he finally got back to his dormitory did Daneel sit down and revisit the revelation he had just been subjected to.

His fingers forming a tent, he placed them below his chin to prop his head up before closing his eyes.

The Empire Spirit…was not a sentience, as had been indicated by the system when he had first come in contact with it.

If he thought about it, the system had never actually said that it was artificial; only, no one could have made the connection that it was the remnant consciousness of Heros.

If what he had read was right…then Daneel had conversed with someone who had been dead for tens of thousands of years.

For someone like that, the only desire would be to leave such confinement, and apparently, he was supposed to be the route for it to accomplish just that.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel first thought back to every interaction he had had with the Empire Spirit.

Now that he thought about it, all the Kings before him had been fascinated with the knowledge that was supposedly stored inside it.

Each and every one of them had even made it their goal to find out just what amazing techniques and secrets the Empire Spirit was hiding, but none of them had succeeded, except for him.

It was so obvious!

Even from the Empire Spirit's attitude!

That aloofness, arrogance, and pride would make one think that it truly was some wondrous man-made sentience left behind to be inherited by future generations, but the truth was that it was all an act to draw them in and give birth to interest, and need.

The 'satisfaction level' was definitely to bar entry to all but those who were most talented, and it was also possible that it was important for some other reason, like, for instance, mastering the Ruler's Inheritance, which clearly depended on having people loyal to oneself around them

To think that he had been so excited when he had finally been able to unlock its first level and obtain that inheritance.

He had even done so much keeping this objective in mind!

At this moment, Daneel felt a sheer mass of frustration overtake him.

All this time, he had thought that the Empire Spirit had rewarded him for accomplishing something so significant, but instead, it had only been judging whether he was good enough, while encouraging him to fatten himself up for slaughter.

He felt like clapping at the intelligence of whoever the Empire Spirit was a remnant of. All this time, it had simply been sitting and waiting for the perfect body and mind to come along, and it seemed that it's wish had finally come true.

Immediately, Daneel said in his mind, "System, is there any backdoor in the Ruler's Inheritance? Any side-effect, which can enable the spirit to take control of me if I become adept enough in it?"

[Negative. System has found no such mechanism.]

Great. Then that just meant that whatever was hidden inside was beyond the level of a Champion.

Daneel didn't even doubt for a second that the information in the book could be wrong. It had been stored in the most secure vault in the Sect! Just him being able to reach it was a miracle, so the information contained in it was definitely very important, and very true.

Besides, all the facts just added up! It was like a jigsaw puzzle falling in place, but the problem was that Daneel hadn't even known that he had a puzzle in his hands for the first time.

This really taught him not to believe anyone or anything on this land.

The only one he could trust was himself.

Of course, this didn't mean that he would go around suspecting everyone.

No, Daneel decided that he would just take everything with a pinch of salt, even if it came from someone very close to him.

He knew better than anyone just how powerful spells like Mind Control were, and he knew for a fact that Champions were capable of casting spells like those, let alone Heros, whose means were mysterious, but definitely much more frightening.

With a sigh of relief, he felt really glad that he hadn't placed too much focus on the Ruler's Inheritance before going to the Sect of Hedon.

It had been dumb luck!

Daneel had had a mission to go out of his Kingdom, so he had abandoned it temporarily while resolving to come back to it when he had the time. After all, a 5x amplification wasn't a joke.

Instead, if he had chosen to stay and master it, he couldn't even begin to think about what might have happened.

Wiping the sweat that sprang up on his forehead at this thought, Daneel sighed with relief and asked the system to relay the other important information that it had recorded from the other books in the Vault.

It turned out that he had struck the motherlode.

[The data collected is about the travels that scholars from different generations embarked on to discover more about the Empire spirits and the parts of the inheritance and trinket left behind by the Empire of Angaria. System has noticed a general trend in their discoveries, and this has been remarked upon extensively, being the basis from which the line that host read was derived.

The information can be summarised in 5 important points.

Empire Spirits are not named so because they can only be found in the present 'Empires', as some believe. Instead, their name is derived from the fact that they are the living remains of the last Empire of Angaria. They exist in all of the forces in the Central Continent, but one by one, they started to cease to exist. There have been cases of them finding suitable hosts in the past, but the Big 4 have always been able to find these hosts and kill them before they got too powerful. Once, this even resulted in the decline of a then-powerful part of the Big 4, the Withering Leaf Sect, as their Hero-level elder and several Champions died during the battle to stop the Empire Spirit from accomplishing its goals.

2. All the information found in all Empire Spirits is the same- they entice people with authority using top-notch Core Inheritances. The specific one chosen to give to an individual varies. The method and the checklist of things that need to be fulfilled for the Empire Spirit to take over a person are unknown.

3. The most popular theory regarding Empire Spirits was that there were many more of them even outside the main forces of the Central Continent, but they were the remnants of weaker Heroes. Continuing to exist as an Empire Spirit requires an iron will to not succumb to boredom due to the passage of time, which is not capable of all individuals. Only the strongest remain.

4. There are 4 Empire Spirits left on Angaria: one each in the Kingdoms of Lanthanor, Arafell, Eldinor, and Axelor.

5. There is a prominent theory with proof that the Core Inheritances contained in the Empire Spirits are lesser versions derived from the Root Inheritance which was split apart by the Empire.]

As Daneel slowly digested this pile of information, he once again reaffirmed his decision to not touch the Ruler's Inheritance again, no matter what.

But…what if the Basilisk's Breath was also something like that? What if it had been given by the Empire Spirit to the founders of the Hidden Kill Sect to be used on those who wanted to learn? After all, only one with true talent could comprehend it by being beaten up, which sounded just like another test to choose a suitable host for an Empire Spirit.

Those bastard Heroes.

Why couldn't they just die in peace and leave the future generations alone?

And wait…the Kingdom of the Elves had an Empire Spirit? Why hadn't he found one?

Oh, yes. He hadn't looked for one, and he hadn't exactly been interested in finding other Empire Spirits-that thought hadn't crossed his mind, as he had been too busy busting his ass trying to satisfy the one he had, while it kept watching on as the chicken it was going to cook and eat paraded around, getting fatter and marinading itself for its pleasure.

Well, he still couldn't get over this frustration!

Calming himself down, Daneel asked the system whether there was any information regarding the locations and number of the other parts of the inheritance and trinket left behind.

He hadn't given up on finding those: in fact, Daneel would be lying if he didn't admit that he hoped that finding them would allow him a way to use the Inheritances without running a risk of becoming a sacrificial goat.

[Affirmative. There are 6 parts. Their locations are the 6 major forces in the Central Continent.]

Wait..what the hell?

So it was as he had imagined?!

Then where had the parts that were supposed to be in Eldinor and the Black Raven Kingdom gone?!

Who the hell could have taken them?

Suddenly finding his quest much harder than he had imagined it to be, Daneel was going to sigh in exasperation when a communication trinket vibrated in his pocket.

It was the one he had given Percy as Master Novrain, which meant that the Mad Doctor had left the sect, giving him the opportunity he had been looking for.

Finally, at least something was going his way.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

449 Percy, Again

Leaving the sect through the secret exit he had been shown by Jessica, Daneel made his way to the forest with residual energy for the third time to meet with Percy.

Just like before, he first made sure that Percy was alone from a distance before teleporting to him.

As soon as Percy saw his Master appear behind him as usual, he exclaimed, "Master! My father has left the sect on some important business! He won't be coming back for a day… It's the best time to strike!"

As Daneel saw the enthusiasm on Percy's face, if he had been the man before this revelation with the Empire spirit had taken place, he might have been inclined to directly believe the kid because of all the interactions they had had so far.

However, right now, he just couldn't do so.

For some reason, he felt that something was off, and this wasn't even any sort of paranoia that might have formed due to his recent experience and frustration.

Still, how was he supposed to verify what was true and what wasn't?

First, not wanting to arouse any suspicion in Percy, he grabbed the kid's shoulder and said, "Good job! I'll set my plan in motion… Don't worry, come dawn tomorrow, your brother will be no more. Just relax and go back to the sect. Your rewards will also soon reach you."

At the mention of the word 'rewards', Percy's eyes twinkled, just like they normally would.

Everything definitely looked normal on the surface, but again, Daneel wasn't convinced.

"Thank you, Master! I'll go back to the sect then, before anyone notices that I'm missing!"

Saying so, Percy was just about to teleport away, but Daneel tightened his grip on the kid's shoulder.

A cold look came on his face, and his eyes turned razer-sharp.

"You aren't leading me or your senior disciple into a trap, right?", he asked suddenly, making fear appear on Percy's face.

He had been smiling genially just a second ago, so such a sudden change in attitude startled Percy, resulting in him needing a moment to assemble his thoughts.

After he did, he immediately fell on his knees.

Lowering his head, he spoke in a grave voice.

"I am ready to swear any oath you wish from me, Master. I have no ill intentions against you. All I want is the end of those disgusting scum who don't deserve to live. Master has been very kind to me. Even if I have to give up my life, I am ready to prove my loyalty."

Not a hint of panic had flashed across his face, even when Daneel had enacted his plan of trying to eke out a reaction using surprise.

The fear had only been that which had formed because of the knowledge that he might have lost the trust of the Master whom he 'adored' so much.

Even his speech had been told in an even and serious tone, with all the signs of being from someone who really was ready to do what they were saying.

After a pregnant silence came over the forest for a few seconds, it was broken by Daneel laughing out loud wildly.

This was his Master Novrain laugh, and hearing it, Percy looked up from his position on the ground where he had been kneeling.

"Of course I had to ask, kid. Get out of here. You'll hear good news tomorrow."

As Percy heard this, he rejoiced in his heart before beaming.

Yes, indeed, such a figure would definitely at least consider the possibility.

Besides, he might just have brought it up to warn Percy never to even think of doing anything like that.

Getting up, he smiled at his Master and lingered for a moment, his gaze taking in the man's figure, before teleporting away.

This location was quite far from the Sect of Hedon, so even a Warrior needed to teleport multiple times to get to it.

His first teleport took him to a random spot between the forest with the Energy remnants and the Sect.

Without continuing to teleport again, Percy carefully descended to the ground while looking around to make sure that no one had followed.

After landing, he did another round of checking, this time using Champion level trinkets that were supposed to be quite expensive. Usually, Warriors seldom possessed trinkets of such value.

Seeing that the coast was clear, he first put the trinkets away before leaning on the trunk of a tree for support.

Closing his eyes, he remembered the image of the arrogant, yet fair man that he had just met.

He went through each and every interaction he had with him, from his first 'acting' episode, to the situation when he had had to get inventive to deliver wine bottles.

Sadly, come tomorrow, the man would mostly be no more.

At least, even if he wasn't the one to die, all relations he had with him would be severed, which would effectively mean the same thing.

His snivelly appearance was gone, replaced by one of extreme sadness, grief, and frustration.

Sinking to the ground, he bent his legs and hugged them before starting to rock to and fro.

If anyone happened upon him right now, they would definitely think that he was a child who had been kicked over and over again.

As Daneel watched him while standing right in front of him, he felt such a sheer amount of pity that he had to resist the urge to go forward and console the kid.

Even though Percy had shown no reaction whatsoever due to his sudden question, eking out the truth using that method hadn't been his main objective.

Instead, it had been to use that moment after distracting him using the sudden question to use the Mind Control spell on him.

Using the spell to make Percy think that he was alone, he had followed the kid to this place.

Daneel had already had experience fooling trinkets like those which Percy had used, so the system had taken care of them.

After that, he had watched as the kid's mask collapsed, resulting in him crumpling to the ground.

He looked so…wretched. Pathetic. Miserable.

Clearly, his childhood had been much worse than he had let on.

Daneel was still unclear regarding the exact reason behind him choosing to collapse now and go into this state.

However, he could tell that his suspicion had been right.

Something was wrong.

Frankly, he was also quite shocked at the kid's acting abilities.

There hadn't even been a single hint before!

Of course, even now, it could be that this collapse was only something Percy allowed himself to have whenever he exited the sect, and that it had no relation to Daneel's plan.

Just as he was about to wish that there was some way to confirm the exact reason, he heard a low voice chanting something in the clearing.

Percy's head was between his legs, while his hands were hugging them. Obviously, the sound was coming from him.

Wanting to find out what it was, Daneel tiptoed towards him, even though he knew that the spell would make it so that Percy wouldn't notice him even if he stomped around.

As he got close and finally heard the contents of the chant clearly, he stepped back with his mouth hanging open with shock.

"My Mother, Kelsey. My best friend, Bonnie. My half-brother, Bruce. My half-sister, Overa. My…"

This list went on and on, spanning over 40 names, but what had shocked Daneel so much was the last one, and what followed after.

"…My Master, Gonver. My Master, Novrain. He killed them all. I must live long enough to kill him."

Over and over again, this chilling chant reverberated in the clearing.

With each time it repeated, his tone seemed to get stronger and stronger.

Finally, when he stopped the rocking along with the chant, his eyes when he looked up were bloodshot.

He seemed to be imagining an image, and his expression was filled with such bloodthirstiness that Daneel wondered just how this kid was even sane.

This only lasted for a second before vanishing, replaced by that same punchable, snivelly kid that Daneel knew.

No…that Daneel had thought he knew.

Calmly getting up and dusting off his clothes, he took out a communication trinket and said, "It's done, father," before taking a deep breath and teleporting away.

Daneel didn't follow him this time. Instead, he stayed in that glade as he sank into deep thought.

Either the Mad Doctor had found the locating trinket that Percy had left behind and threatened him to do this, or this entire thing had been a plan by the Mad Doctor to draw him to the Sect.

Both possibilities had reasons for being correct or wrong, but Daneel decided not to dwell on that now.

No, he first had to decide what he was going to do. Should he skip this mission as the Mad Doctor was definitely waiting for him?

As Daneel thought about it, he remembered what he had promised himself after that close shave with death from Ashahell.

He was equipped with a system that had Peak Champion complexity level. He wasn't even walking into a trap. If he still decided to act safe, then he would just be an undeserving coward.

As Daneel made his decision, his eyes seemed to shine like two torches of blazing fire in the darkness.

Those scum were going to die, but the Mad Doctor wouldn't know what hit him.

As for Percy, a strange thought appeared in Daneel's mind regarding him, and he couldn't even tell where it had come from.

Even though he had only taken on the kid as a disciple on a whim, maybe it was time to really act as his Master.

A Master who treated his disciple's problems as his own.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

450 Justice

{WARNING: GORE TOWARDS THE END OF THE CHAPTER.}

After thinking for a good while what he was going to do next, Daneel teleported back to the sect.

The main issue he had right now was whether he could pull this operation off without using the Basilisk's Breath, which he had gotten quite used to after utilizing it almost daily since he had obtained it.

After the disturbing revelation regarding the Empire Spirit, Daneel couldn't discount the possibility that there might be a backdoor in the technique which could leave him wide open for possession.

Yes, he had started to call it 'possession' in his head, as he had started to treat the remnants of those Heroes as pesky but dangerous demons that he had to get rid of if possible.

As there had been cases before where the Empire Spirits had almost succeeded in taking over someone's body, Daneel had asked the system to look for information regarding this process, and whether it was possible for it to happen even if one was far away from any Empire Spirit.

After all, it made sense that the poor individuals who had been trapped by the Empire Spirits must have trusted them fully.

[All reports point to the victim being in close proximity of the Empire Spirit, and even continuously having to be in contact with the physical container of the Empire Spirit during the transfer. Usually, the guise of opening the last level and giving the strongest inheritance in Angaria is used.]

Those sly assh*les.

Well, this was good news, but still, Daneel decided to only use the inheritance if he had no other way. After all, just because something hadn't happened before didn't mean it couldn't happen now. Besides, according to what he had heard, the Spirits that had survived to this day were the strongest of those from that era, and that might mean that they had far more tricks than the others.

With this thought, Daneel was once again reminded of Eldinor, and his decision to pay a visit to that place to check for the Empire Spirit.

However, he needed to take care of this matter first.

Taking out the other part of the locator trinket given by Percy, Daneel checked it and saw that the location it was pointing to was near the south border of the Sect.

The south of the Sect was mainly overrun by forests, unlike the other three sides which had more inhabitants and important structures set up.

It was said that this area was meant to be the place where resting areas and homes would be built and assigned to the Heroes of the Sect.

However, with the decline of Energy, Heroes had become few and far in between and this area was just a forgotten landscape with occasional ruins of grand mansions that had once existed there.

These structures had all been ignored for the past few hundreds of years, so nature had taken its course and reclaimed those areas for its own.

The locator trinket was indicating that the place where the Mad Doctor was waiting for him was at a depth of 1400 m under the ground, at a spot that was marked by the remnants of a large mansion.

Daneel was surveying the place from high up in the sky, while making sure with the system that no one was surveilling him.

He had come up with a simple plan: somehow pull the Mad Doctor away, so that he could step in, kill them all, and leave.

However, this plan had a major flaw: the Mad Doctor's secret bunker would definitely have advanced teleportation detection formations that even Daneel would need a few seconds to fool completely.

The moment the Mad Doctor got the signal that he had arrived, he would teleport back, meaning that Daneel would have less than a second to kill all of the scum.

These were all Warriors, with tough bodies that would require Daneel to cast a strong spell in order to kill them all in such a short span of time.

Hesitantly, he asked the system whether it was possible.

[Negative. Host's speed of casting at Amateur Warrior level is insufficient according to the projections.]

There it was.

The limitation of his damn power!

Although Daneel was equipped with a Peak Champion complexity level system, he was only an Amateur Warrior.

It was exactly like back when he had had the system at the Peak Warrior level: although he could cast spells at that complexity, he just couldn't do it as quickly as an actual Warrior.

In other words, he was like a horse carriage being steered by an F-1 driver.

The driver wanted to go fast, but the horses just couldn't oblige.

So, that plan was out of the question.

However, as Daneel stood in the air and thought among the swirling clouds, he suddenly got a brainwave.

He had been considering all of the tools he had, so he had managed to hit upon an idea.

"System, is it possible to combine Mind Control with the Basilisk's Breath?"

….

In the underground room which had various pits scattered around.

All of those who had been involved in that sensational activity in the Black Raven Kingdom were still here, submerged in the various liquids with only their head on the outside.

Meanwhile, the Mad Doctor was sitting in the center of the cave on a throne made of skulls that he loved to conjure when he was alone.

With his eyes closed and his head resting on his left hand that was propped up on the armrest, he looked like he was sleep, but the reality was that he was patiently waiting for his prey to arrive.

To think that that kid had thought that he would get away with placing a locator trinket in a place that was covered by a Champion's domain.

He had always thought that the kid didn't have enough backbone to even think about taking revenge on him.

Hence, he had ignored him, but this blatant action had made him focus on him again.

After flaying him alive and using all of his favorite torture methods, he had managed to make the kid swear to obey everything he said, effectively wiping away all possible risk from him.

Still, he had been able to see it in his eyes that the kid had only agreed to swear because it would mean staying alive to try again later.

Seeing this, he had rejoiced that his blood flowed in this bastard's veins, after all.

Well, he could knock himself out.

Instructing him to tell that ex-sect member of the Goddess's Sanctum that the coast of clear, he waited, looking forward to see who would appear.

It would either be the King of Lanthanor, or the ex-sect member himself.

Either way, the Mad Doctor would have a new plaything to pass his time.

Just as he was thinking whether he should send a clone to grab some food, he heard a sudden message in his ears.

"Breach has been detected in the Central Tower! All Champions, assemble with your true bodies!"

It was a direct order from the Sect master himself, so the Mad Doctor was just about to teleport away, but he paused as a thought occurred to him.

Could this be a ploy to pull him away so that his son and the others could be targeted?

He was an old monster that had lived for hundreds of years, and he was even known for his wicked cunningness.

So, it was natural that such a simple ploy which was at the level of a child occurred to him.

Hence, even though there was no time, the Mad Doctor left behind an Amateur Champion level clone of his before teleporting to the headquarters of the sect.

His opponent wouldn't have chosen such a simple plan, right?

Wrong.

As soon as he teleported away, he felt the teleportation detection formations go off, which made him shift his consciousness to his clone with a cold smile on his face.

As soon the image in front of his eyes shifted from the corridor in the Central Tower he had teleported to to the underground cave, he saw a man with a broad back standing in front of him.

"Hey, guys! Happy deathday!", he shouted, drawing the shocked attention of all the submerged sect members in the room, who saw him and widened their eyes.

By this time, the Mad Doctor had already lunged forward at a dizzying speed, moving so fast that only a blur could be seen.

His hands were stretched out like claws, and in a moment, he would tear through his opponent.

However, just before he got his hands on the intruder, the man vanished, leaving behind nothing but empty air.

Dammit! He had gotten away!

Although the plan had been simple, it was effective: all Champions were required to definitely report to the Central Tower as quickly as possible when summoned by the Sect Master.

Immediately notifying the Sect Leader that there was an intruder in the sect, the Mad Doctor turned to his son and the others to make sure they were Ok.

Although their faces seemed frozen due to the shock, they looked all right.

The enemy had gotten away, but he had not accomplished his goal.

It did feel very, very frustrating, but the Mad Doctor still took solace in this fact.

Well, all hell would break loose soon anyway when the news about the inheritance that belonged to the King of Lanthanor would get out, so he could use that opportunity to target both that bratty King and his master once again.

Closing his eyes, he was just about to disperse his clone and shift consciousness back to his main body, when he suddenly felt that something was very, very wrong.

By the time he opened his eyes again, it was too late.

"AAAAHHH! FREEEE-"

"NO MORE! NO MORE! NO-"

"HAHA! YOU CAN'T CHASE ME NOW-"

As loud screams like these reverberated in the cave suddenly, they became replaced by gurgling sounds, due to the fact that each and every one of the teenagers in the pools had killed themselves.

Some had cast spells to behead themselves. Others had plucked out their hearts and crushed them with their hands. One had even cast a spell to mince his own body in little pieces, which floated in the liquid.

Frantically, the Mad Doctor looked towards his son's pool.

Drawing in a sharp breath, he saw that his son had chosen to gouge his eyes out. Wait, no, it wasn't just his eyes…all of his organs, including his manhood that had grown back, had been separated from his body by himself and were floating beside his lifeless head.

As the Mad Doctor took in this sight, he raised his head and roared in agony, while veins popped up on his forehead, looking like they would burst at any moment and unleash hell on this world.

Meanwhile, the one responsible for this unbelievable occurrence had just lied down on the bed in his dormitory, his eyes shining with the light of one who had just meted out justice while simultaneously also pulling out weeds that would have bothered him later.

As a notification sounded in his head, a small smile came on his face, while he ticked off an item on his list.

[Newly developed spell "Eternity in a Breath" deployed successfully. All traces of the spell's execution have been erased.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

451 Aftermath

As Ashahell glanced at the Mad Doctor, who was leaning against a wall with his eyes closed, he sneered secretly before putting on a face of sympathy.

All around them, the gory scenes that were visible in the pits looked like they had descended straight from hell.

An anti-degradation spell had been cast in the area, so that investigation wouldn't be hampered, which meant that all the people in the cave right now could see exactly what state the enemy had left these sect members in before leaving.

All around him, sect officials who were experienced in decoding a battle scene were pouring over the grisly contents of the shiny liquids, trying to ascertain how this deed had taken place.

Ashahell, on the other hand, was bored.

Ever since the incident in the Central Tower due to which suspicion had fallen on him, he had been under close watch by the head Hero-level figure of the High Council.

That damn old man wasn't even letting up his surveillance when he was in the bathroom!

It seemed that he wasn't prepared to take any chances, even though he had mostly shown a lackluster attitude until now regarding the threat from the Church.

If it weren't for the special high-level inheritance that Ashahell had been given by the Church, he wouldn't even have been able to tell that he was being spied upon.

This inheritance was stronger than any that existed in all the Big 4, and when he had asked, he had been told that it was just one step away from being as strong as the one left behind by the Empire of Angaria.

Either way, his actions were completely stalled for now, and it seemed that he would have to wait for an opportunity to strike.

This Mad Doctor had once been one of the fiercest deniers when he had pitched his plan of slowing down the mining of Ker Gems in the continent to save it in a general assembly that had been attended by all the Champions and Heroes of Angaria.

Frankly, if it weren't the case that it was his duty as the sect master to investigate happenings like these personally, he wouldn't have bothered coming here, and he might even have thought that Angaria itself was taking revenge on those who didn't care for it.

If the stories he had heard about the man were true, then the word "Mad" didn't even come close to accurately describing just what kind of mentality he had.

Walking up to him, Ashahell laid a hand on his shoulder before saying in a sad tone, "I'm sorry for your loss. I heard that this was the son whom you trusted to take forward your legacy. It is really a pity. To think that they were in so much pain that they even broke apart the restrictions of the legendary Ambrosial Fluid…I can't believe it. Even though it wasn't true Ambrosial Fluid as written in history, it's still shocking! You have my full cooperation!"

The Mad Doctor, himself, couldn't tell whether the sect leader was mocking his situation.

Honestly, he didn't even care.

He was too filled with rage in order to think about anything beyond catching the one who had dared to kill his son.

So, he just nodded.

The sect leader looked like he was about to leave, but in the last second before he did, he paused and looked at him with a serious gaze.

"Remember the rules. The High Council has an eye on the Central Continent now, after the events during those silly games. Anyone who threatens any of the key figures in the Central Continent will be dealt with by the harshest means. Don't throw away your life. Just wait for a chance."

Leaving these words, the sect leader teleported away, leaving a shaking father who had lost his son, but couldn't do anything to take revenge.

"AAARGHHH!"

After letting out another scream of frustration which startled the other sect officials still in the room, he considered whether he should just take the chance and go kill that King. If the culprit was the master behind him, then he would definitely show himself.

However, remembering the last time he had foolishly feuded with a Hero, he let go of this thought, knowing that it really would be futile to just throw away his life, like the sect leader said, thereby letting the culprit off scot-free.

No. He would lie in wait, and he would strike.

Before that, he had to take out his frustration on someone.

Was there someone else responsible for all this happening?

Of course. The kid who had thought that he could get away with hiding a locator trinket in the bathroom.

…..

Percy was walking along the large walkway that led to the Central Tower with his head bent.

He had heard the news: somehow, someone had infiltrated the sect, triggered an alarm in the Central Tower and then gone to the secret bunker of the Mad Doctor to slaughter all of those who had been training to become peak Warriors there.

Usually, if such a thing happened, sects would band together to curse the perpetrator, showing the unity that a sect should have.

However, in the Sect of Hedon, which was practically known for its unconventionality, many rejoiced in the misfortune of the Mad Doctor.

All of those who were killed were notorious for bullying those weaker than them and using their background to escape scrutiny from those stronger than them.

They had been a stain on the sect who regularly terrorized the inhabitants of the border village, who were looked upon favorably by the vast majority.

Hence, news that they had been killed was welcomed.

Even the reason for the news leaking out was someone among the sect officials who had been happy about the incident.

When he had first heard it, Percy had rejoiced, as it meant that whoever had infiltrated the sect hadn't been killed, be it his master or his eldest disciple brother.

However, he then started to wonder just how they could have pulled it off. Could they have known that he was acting as a double agent?

Even if that was the case, how had they managed to breach the Central Tower- the most secure location in the Sect of Hedon?

All these questions pointed to the possibility that his Master was much more powerful than he had let on.

Alas, he had blown the chance to stick with the man and obtain revenge.

He would be naïve if he thought that he could just go back to his Master, claiming that it was just a coincidence that his father had been on alert for the attack.

Whatever the case was, his relationship with his master was done.

Putting aside these matters, he started considering what all of this meant for him.

With this question, he realized that he was the one who would be blamed by his father for the death of his elder brother.

That would mean…another round of torture. A much longer one this time, mostly, as the man must be fuming.

Well, at least there was the consolation that he wouldn't be killed, as the number of sons still alive were quite low.

Gritting his teeth, Percy closed his eyes and flipped through the images of all those he had to take revenge for.

This had always been the one thing that kept him sane through the many rounds of torture inflicted on him by his father.

He hoped that it would be enough this time too, but he had to admit that he was scared.

Scared that his journey might end here, leaving behind many, many regrets.

Sighing, he felt a communication trinket vibrating in his pocket, which meant that his father was summoning him to begin.

With a bitter expression of hopelessness, Percy took out the trinket linked to the one to his father, but was surprised when he saw that there was no incoming message.

If it hadn't been his father, then who else had messaged him?

Quickly, he flipped through all the trinkets he had on him, before finding an unfamiliar one with a strange symbol on it.

Communication trinkets were mostly plain slips of parchment, so this one stood out.

It was the image of a man sitting on a throne, with his palm outstretched.

Above that palm was a strange shape, and as Percy looked closer, he realized that it was Angaria, from above.

Marveling at the exquisite artwork, he touched the trinket, wondering how it had gotten in his pocket.

"Hey, kid. Did you think you could get rid of me that easily?"

M-Master!

It was the voice of his Master!

As his jaw dropped in shock, Percy quickly made his way to the forest on the side of the walkway.

It was only after getting to an isolated area and checking that no one was around him did he touch the trinket again to let the message continue.

"If you did, then get ready to be sorely disappointed. When I accept a disciple, it's for life. Even if punks like that retarded Doctor come in the way, your Master will handle them for you. Although it is true that I can't kill that cretin right now, be rest assured that it will happen. Till then, just live. I promised you a reward, right? Well, here's one. I think it'll be useful to you. Don't risk death by trying to contact me. When the time is right, I'll find you. Till then, take care."

As Percy walked with shaking steps to a tree nearby for support, he replayed the message.

Using the tree as support, he sunk to the ground, holding the trinket close to his heart, as if it were his most prized possession.

Again and again, he listened to the message, because it was proof of something he had never even dreamed would happen.

Someone…cared for him.

Truly cared for him.

As tears started flowing down his cheeks, Percy heard the message for the 50th time.

However, at that moment, a communication trinket vibrated again, and this time, it was his father.

If this message had come before he had received word form his Master, he would definitely have been very afraid.

However, now, just the knowledge that someone was out there who was thinking about him was enough to reinvigorate his zeal to stay alive.

He didn't ask useless questions such as how his Master had found out everything. No, they were irrelevant.

All he needed to do was live.

Just as Percy was about to leave to the teleportation platform, he realized that he had forgotten something.

His Master had said that there was also a reward!

Checking the trinket, Percy saw that there was an additional, smaller trinket underneath it, which he touched to make a sentence appear in his mind.

"Pre-Cast Spell-Pain blocking self-hypnosis: Allows those who have pre-cast this spell to feel no pain for a pre-set time period."

More tears started to flow down his cheeks, but this time, they were due to happiness.

Now, he understood why his Master had said that it would be useful to him.

…

Meanwhile, after dropping that trinket in Percy's pocket and seeing his reaction, Daneel had returned to his dorm room and asked the system whether there was anything he had missed, as had become his custom since the last time when he had missed an important notification.

When he heard the system's reply, he couldn't help but go into a daze.

[Phenomena Analysis Module has analyzed Ambrosial Fluid through the floating moisture that came into contact with host's skin.

Ambrosial Fluid: A solution that allows a Warrior to reach the Peak Exalted Warrior level through forceful reconstruction of body and mageroot.

Drawbacks: Limits power to Peak Warrior Level.

Drawbacks can be eliminated by modifications to the fluid.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

452 Ker Roo

Breathing heavily, Daneel got up in a flash and asked the system to repeat the notification.

Am-ambrosial fluid?

What the heck?!

How the hell could such a thing exist?!

Daneel had already known that the Mad Doctor was doing something to push the levels of those scum to the Peak Warrior level.

However, he had just thought that they were a few levels away, as he had had no way to find out their exact power levels during his short confrontation with them.

Now, hearing that this method was so magical that it could actually let an Amateur Warrior become a Peak Exalted one in a matter of months…he couldn't believe it!

Why the heck wasn't the sect practically filled with Exalted Warriors then?

There must be plenty of Warriors who only broke through due to sheer effort!

Why weren't they given this option, so that the Big 4 could grow powerful with leaps and bounds?

As he asked the system this, Daneel got his answers.

[Ambrosial Fluid requires top-grade materials that are rare in Angaria. Hence, the effective cost of setting up the fluid comes out to be in the hundreds of thousands of Ker Gems.

Also, the process of destruction and reconstruction is excruciating. Any foreign drugs or spells during the working of the Ambrosial Fluid results in abnormalities forming, so one can only handle the Fluid using their own fortitude. Hence, it has been recorded that many ingredients always used to get wasted because those undergoing the procedure would break in the process, critically injuring their consciousness.

Finally, those who are ready to leave behind any chance of advancing to the next level after working so hard to reach the Warrior level are few and far in between.]

Hmm…since when had the system started to reason?

Chalking it up to the recent upgrade, Daneel thought about the reasons listed, and realized that it made sense.

Still, one doubt appeared to him.

"Why was I not informed about a method like this if it was recorded before?"

[System has not been instructed to relay information on this topic. Also, in the data collected, it has been written that the ingredients for this process are extinct.]

Berating himself for not doing so before, Daneel immediately said, "Always prioritize information which can help me advance faster, and relay it to me as soon as it is recorded."

[Affirmative.]

Setting the alert now and feeling a little at ease, Daneel pondered over everything he had heard so far.

Clearly, this process must still be available to the higher ups of the sect. Still, the third point of the system did make the most sense: no one would be willing to give up the chance like that.

Putting aside the matter as he didn't have enough information, Daneel took a deep breath to ready himself for the bad news.

The good news was that he had a method to race to the Peak Warrior level. However, whatever material the system had said was needed to counteract the drawbacks must definitely be either extinct, or very hard to get.

Since coming to this world, he had almost never been directly handed things like the protagonists in many of the novels he used to read when he was back on Earth.

Instead, he had always had to claw his way to whatever he wanted to accomplish, and although he didn't regret this, he sometimes found himself wondering how it would be if he were like the overpowers characters in those stories.

Shaking his head to get rid of stray thoughts like these, Daneel finally asked, "Which item is required to counteract the drawbacks?"

[Ker Root.]

As Daneel heard these two words, he felt his heart drop, simply because of the fact that he had never even heard of them before.

Bracing himself, he asked the system what a Ker Root was.

[Ker Root: Ker Roots are one of the energy sources that used to be used by Champions in the ancient ages.

According to the data collected regarding Energy and Angaria, the occurrence of high-Energy areas across the land is random. The level of higher Energy also varies.

These high-Energy areas result in mines.

The two known levels of Energy result in Ether mines and Ker Gem mines.

Ker Roots are abnormalities which form during the conversion from a high-Energy area to a Ker Gem mine.

In 10 occurrences out of 100, part of the high Energy is converted into a red-colored heart-shaped object called a Ker Root. The other part results in the formation of the Ker Gem mine.

The Ker Root also constantly releases it's Energy to the Ker Gem mine, which means that by the time the mine reached full potential i.e the extra Energy vanishes, the Ker Root vanishes too.

Ker Roots have the property of releasing Energy peacefully in such a way that the one absorbing feels no discomfort whatsoever. The drawback of having one's path cut off to becoming a Champion while using Ambrosial Fluid is due to the repeated remolding, which results in a body lacking the ability to fulfill the conditions required to break through to become a Champion. A Ker Root's higher grade Energy would protect the Warrior's body and Mageroot, resulting in the elimination of the drawback.]

As Daneel took in all this information, he felt as if his head were reeling.

Some times, he felt as if the system was like those old men in the stories, whose only purpose was to spout exposition.

Finally digesting everything the system had spewed at him, he let out the breath he had been holding.

Great! Now, he had to find something that was rare even during the ancient times!

Calming down, Daneel first realized that he had no reason to complain at all.

Even having the possibility of using just months to do what others needed years for was a dream come true, so it would only make sense that it required something that was so rare.

So, now what? He was supposed to find a Ker Gem mine that hadn't been completely found yet?

Great.

Still unable to stop himself from grumbling a little as he had had his hopes up that it might be something easier to obtain, Daneel lied back down on his bed and started thinking about what to do next.

The scum were all dead, but the Mad Doctor was still alive. Heck, he was probably happily torturing Percy by now.

The spell that Daneel had given him was derived from the system's capability to control his face when needed. According to the system, it was a sort of self-hypnosis, and this was great as if Percy cast some spell while being inflicted with horrible weapons, the Mad Doctor would definitely notice using the movements of the Elementary Particles. With this spell, all Percy had to do was pre-cast it.

Feeling happy and proud that he had come up with that idea to help his disciple, Daneel got back to the matter at hand.

If he thought about it, even training every day felt futile next to the possibility of finding a Ker Root and somersaulting to become an Exalted Warrior.

Sill, Daneel didn't even know if one could be found in this day and age.

Whatever the case was, it seemed that he would have to break into the Central Tower again in order to visit more rooms in the floors which were hidden in the hope of finding more information he could use, and to look for ways to incriminate Ashahell.

Deciding to do this next, Daneel went to sleep.

….

Meanwhile, at a particular location on one of the rocky beaches surrounding Angaria.

This was a place that was frequently visited by the locals, as it had an incredible view, but none of them knew that this had been the base of operations for the Church of Rectitude for quite a long time.

Hidden using a 'Confounding Formation' that hid all traces of a base from those around it while also having the capability to constantly shift around if needed, the base of the Church comprised of a single tent, inside which was seated a man wearing purple robes.

The robes were similar in style to those worn by the members of the Church who had invaded Angaria, but it seemed to be made of a better material.

At the moment, this figure seemed to be in a deep sleep, but when a high-pitched alarm of sorts started to reverberate in the tent, he woke up and looked around.

His facial features were mostly unremarkable, except for his eyes.

His eyes seemed to be like two blinding torches that would scorch anyone that dared to look into them, and just a glance of them would definitely make one wish to bow down and pray that the one in possession of these eyes did not decide on a whim that they no longer needed to breathe.

Finding the source of the sound, these eyes dimmed, before the man stood up and shook off the dust that had settled on top of him during his long 'nap'.

Walking to an apparatus in the corner of the room that looked like a wooden table on which lay 3 shining human skulls that had patterns etched on them, the man placed his hand on the skull in the center and closed his eyes.

"Incoming Directive from the newly ascended Bishop who is in charge of foreign activities."

Raising an eyebrow in surprise due to the unexpected news, he asked, "Newly ascended Bishop? What happened to Bishop Francis?"

"He was killed in cold blood by an unknown assailant. Stand by for transmission."

Compressing his lips into a thin line due to the news, the man waited patiently, before hearing an authoritative female voice.

"As per my analysis of the Church's handling of the island-continent known as Angaria, the Church has been too soft. We need to increase our efforts and move forward the date of the purge, lest we risk the TriCobra Sect reinvoking their efforts on that continent after all the efforts which were made to drive them away. For this purpose, a Deacon of the Church, who was originally born on that continent but has now seen the Truth, will be sent."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

453 Archpriest Kolean

When the phrase "seen the truth" passed through the man's ears, his lips curled, as if he was resisting the urge to laugh out loud.

Taking a second to calm himself down, he said, "Directive acknowledged, your Holiness. I shall be waiting for the arrival of the Deacon."

As soon as he said this, the air around him started crackling, as if a thunderstorm was imminent right above his head.

Realizing what that meant, the man got an expression of panic on his face for the first time in a long time before running out of the tent, with a speed that made it look as if he had teleported.

Boom!

From the clear sky in the direction of the Endless Sea, a thunderbolt as thick as the waist of a man struck down at the tent, obliterating it and wiping it off the surface of Angaria.

The thunderbolt was so bright that it blinded the man, who hadn't been quick enough to close his eyes.

When he opened them after a few moments and blinked, he noticed that there was someone standing in front of him, where the tent had been, with an expression of peace on his face.

The heat of the thunderbolt had even melted the stones on the beach, turning it into a circular, solid mess that had strange designs etched on it.

Beside the man was the table with the three skulls, which seemed to have been unharmed, even though that thunderbolt had been strong enough to directly kill a Hero-level figure.

Taking a deep breath and immediately folding his hands in front of him near his stomach, the purple-frocked man bent low.

As his upper body became parallel to the ground, he bent one knee, lowering himself and placing both of his hands on the knee before placing his head on the hands.

This was the unique sign of respect in the Church, and it was said to have been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years.

"Archpriest Kolean greets the arrival of the Deacon. Praise be to the Almighty Saint Rectitude!"

"Praise be. Rise."

Hearing the calm voice of the man who was definitely not a day over 20, Kolean got up from the bow.

Still keeping his arms in front as a sign of respect, he observed this new Deacon that had been sent by the Church at such a great expense.

Teleportation over such a large distance was no ordinary matter, and it was said that it needed the will of those above Heroes for it to happen. Clearly, the new Bishop who had risen to power seemed to have quite a few connections, in order to make sure that her directive had been carried out as soon as she made it.

This new Deacon reminded him of someone he had seen before, in one of the briefings that he had had before attaining his post.

Right! He looked a lot like the previous King of Lanthanor, who had been killed recently!

So that meant that…

"I see you've made the connection. Yes, this body belonged to a sinner from this land who has seen the Truth. Haven't you?"

As soon as the last word left the lips of the newly arrived man, something very strange occurred.

Except for his face, the rest of his body seemed to freeze.

As for the face, it morphed into such an expression of fright and panic that it even made the hairs on the back of Kolean's hand stand up.

Looking around with confusion, the Deacon, or his face, at least, screamed in a voice filled with horror.

"NO! I LET YOU IN, I SAW YOUR DAMN TRUTH! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T PUT ME TO SLEEP AGAIN! NOOO! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT-"

"Ahem."

Suddenly, that scream was cut off, as the face of the Deacon once again relaxed into that peaceful expression.

Righting the collar of the red-colored cassock he was wearing, the Deacon spoke in an idle tone.

"I guess he needs more time. Time that we don't have, unfortunately, due to the new Bishop's orders. The original plan was to wait at least 5 more years before beginning full-scale deployment after looking for a way to weaken these heathen's defenses. Now, her Holiness wants it done in 3, or even 2 years."

Hearing this, Kolean raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

As the one posted here, he knew exactly how strong this continent was.

Hence, the best approach had been to take things slow, otherwise, their purge might end up bringing more loss to the Church than profit.

What reason could there be for the Bishop wanting to hurry along things?

Alas, he had no authority to ask, so he just nodded and took out a capsule-shaped trinket from his pocket.

"Stop. I brought my own arrangements."

Seeing him do this, the Deacon raised his hand and took out a similar capsule.

Only, where the Archpriest's capsule had been a dull bronze, his was golden.

As he threw it into the air, both of them watched as a 2 story villa made of shimmering stone appeared in front of them.

The Archpriest was trying hard not to drop his jaw. Just how rich was this damn Deacon!

Of course, people who continued to live for hundreds and hundreds of years while switching bodies really would accumulate a lot of wealth, but it was the first time he was seeing someone splurge like so.

"Isn't one of the directives of Saint Rectitude that one must be humble and satisfied with what they have?", he blurted out, unable to control himself.

The villa even had a balcony, a lawn and a rectangular box on the lawn meant for grilling food.

It was occupying an area of at least 500 sq.meters, which, when compared to his measly tent that used to occupy a mere 50 sq. meters, was quite gargantuan.

The specialty of his tent before, and the house in front of him now, was that they had the ability to shift around from time to time, avoiding detection, and even having defenses that would keep a Hero level individual out.

His tent, alone, would easily cost millions of Ker Gems, if judged in the general currency of this continent.

Hence, he couldn't even imagine how much this house would have cost.

"Those are the old rules. With the help of our new Bishop, the Church is preparing to cast off its old, conservative self to become an organization that will defeat all. Many great things are going to happen under this Bishop, Kolean, mark my words. You would be wise to throw your lot in with her. Anyway, come on. You don't need to salvage the tent that was destroyed. You can lodge with me."

C-casting off its old self?

Quite shocked by such momentous news, Kolean had to take a few moments to assemble his thoughts, and by the time he had done so, the Deacon had already entered the house, leaving the door ajar.

As Kolean followed and entered the door to see the spacious interiors that had all the amenities that he had only been able to dream of during his extended stay here, the house vanished from sight, erasing the marks left behind by the thunderbolt along with it.

Seeing the Deacon sitting on a sofa near the fireplace, Kolean walked forward, and sat down in front of him before asking respectfully, "What do you have planned, my Lord?"

"I see you still need time to make such a decision. Well, take all the time you need. The reason I was sent with this body is that it is a native of this continent, and as such, its original inhabitant will be instrumental in helping us look for more ways to break down their defenses. I've begun looking through his memories, and I've already found some interesting things. For instance,-"

As the two continued discussing the plans to bring Angaria to its heels before the appointed date, the one who had made it his mission to put a stop to them was currently pacing around in front of a bathroom in the Central Tower of the Sect of Hedon, as if he really had to go, but had no opportunity to do so as the bathroom was full.

His face even had an expression of constipation, but the truth was that he was trying hard to make a decision.

Finally, shrugging his shoulders, he asked the system to proceed.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, all the plumbing in the bathroom started to shoot out water explosively, badly scaring all of those who were relaxing inside.

The Central Tower had been on high alert ever since that incident before, so the moment something amiss was discovered, the alarm of the Central Tower started to ring.

Immediately, those in the bathroom ran out of the door with fear, with some even half-naked, as they had been instructed to gather at the safest core areas of the Sect as soon as they heard the alarm if they wanted to be safe.

Scrambling to pull their robes up, they ran to the Sect Meeting Place, which was the designated 'core area' of this floor.

Meanwhile, Daneel was shaking his head, cursing at the things he had to do in order to save this continent.

[Cloaking commencing.]

In the next moment, he found himself back in a corridor similar to the one which had contained the vault.

Only, this one contained more than one room, and the one he was looking for was coincidentally right in front of him.

"Records of Official Studies on Angaria."

As the room which was supposed to store all the journals of the high-level scholars of the sect who had undertaken extensive studies on the continent, this was the place with the highest possibility of containing clues on how to find a Ker Root.

So, tapping the one who had come to guard this area on the shoulder to initiate Mind Control, Daneel proceeded to infiltrate the room with the hope of finding a way to realize his dream to shooting forward to become a Peak Warrior.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

454 Planning

10 minutes later.

After the alarm died down due to the discovery that the incident in the bathroom had been due to a small malfunction in the plumbing formation which was actually common, everyone started to return to their duties, including the ones sent to the hidden floors of the Central Tower to guard them.

In the crowd of those going back to their offices was a blonde-haired kid, whose head was bent low, as if he was in deep thought.

After getting to his small office, he first checked if there were any more payments to be made before sinking into the chair and propping his chin on his hands.

Closing his eyes, he asked the system, "Repeat the notification about the tips to find Ker Roots."

[Affirmative. According to multiple scholars who have studied the continent of Angaria, when Ker Roots are formed, the area above that spot becomes deprived of Energy, resulting in the sudden death of greenery. Unlike the formation of Ker Gem Mines, where the indication is lusher greenery due to the higher amount of Energy, Ker Roots first absorb high amounts of Energy in a short span of time, resulting in the sudden drop. However, the indication can vary from the size of a single plant to a large glade.

Also, Ker Roots draw the attention of beasts, which tend to loiter around such places more, as it is beneficial to their power.]

Great.

Before, Daneel had thought that it might be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

No, although the size of the haystack had decreased, the difficulty more or less remained the same.

More than once, he had considered just sweeping through the entire continent, using the system to scan everything below him.

Of course, unlike others who had to split their concentration between flying and looking for the signs, the system was best equipped to give him an accurate appraisal of what was going on below in a timely fashion.

However, Daneel did not want to this unless it was the last option.

How would it look if someone suddenly decided to go on a blanket flying mission which would take him all over Angaria?

Suspicion was the first thing he would face, and after that, he might even be hunted by the Big 4 on suspicion of working for the Church to scout out their competition.

Although he could carefully do it, slowly, without arousing any suspicion, this would take months, and by then, it would already be time to face all the lunatics who could come after him due to the news that he had high-level inheritance.

Indeed, even though the Mad Doctor's son and the other scum were dead, this threat still remained.

Originally, Daneel's plan had been to lure them to Lanthanor being using the Ruler's Inheritance to scare them away once and for all.

Yet, now, that was no longer an option due to the fact that he might be consumed by the Remnant Hero that was the Empire Spirit right after that.

What other option was there?

As Daneel started to think about those who could look for something like this, a name appeared in his mind:

The Watcher.

Of course, that bodyless head would definitely have the spell to view the entirety of Angaria from above!

Not intending to waste any more time, Daneel proceeded to the exit from the Sect that he had been told about by Jessica.

It was in the form of a hidden pathway in the forest that led to a 'breach' in the formation, but when he reached it, he realized that something was wrong.

There were sect officials barring it.

Initially, he hesitated, wondering whether to go forward and show himself.

However, recalling that he was an official member of the Central Tower after all, he walked forward and asked, "Could you let me pass, brothers?"

Travis and his mop of blonde hair were famous among the sect right now because of the way he had obtained his post, and because everyone was waiting to see his ass handed to him in a few weeks, when there came the time for him to be challenged again.

So, seeing him, the sect officials, who were at least 30 years old, sneered and said, "Sorry, this path is closed, as are all the others which lead out of the sect unofficially. We are under high alert, you know."

"Oh, is that the case? I'll take my leave then."

Answering casually, Daneel was just about to leave when he considered whether to Mind Control these two to bypass them.

However, from further inward, he could sense 3 more pairs of eyes on him.

Clearly, the sect was making it a priority to not let anyone leave through indirect channels.

Knowing that this was his doing, Daneel grumbled under his breath while heading back to his dormitory.

What was he supposed to do?

How was he supposed to leave the sect?

It looked like this damn alert wouldn't die down any time soon, at least until they caught the culprit behind the events on the day the Mad Doctor lost his son.

Wait…the culprit?

Could it…be possible for him to pin this on Ashahell?

He had been looking for ways to increase the suspicion on the man anyway.

As far as he had seen, there was no effective way of completely changing the attitude of the High Council from 'suspicious' to 'he's a part of the Church, kill him' with one plan.

So, why not adopt the strategy of slowly accumulating suspicions until they became too many to be ignored?

After all, Ashahell didn't know who his opponent was. He was just sitting in the tower, unaware that he was within Daneel's sights.

If Daneel did more and more suspicious actions in the Sect of Hedon, and even Angaria, after he got out, and found a way to pin them all on Ashahell, he could imagine the High Council changing their attitude.

So, setting a new short-term plan with his primary one still being the goal to obtain the Ker Root so that he could advance, Daneel smiled sinisterly while walking to his office, thinking exactly what to do to make everyone think of at least the possibility that it was their own sect leader who had distracted everyone in order to facilitate the death of the son of the Mad Doctor, among others.

After all, as someone from Earth, he was well-versed in the techniques used to throw blame on someone and completely ruin their public image, even if they had done nothing wrong at all to deserve it.

…..

Meanwhile, in the Black Raven Kingdom.

In the Palace of the Black Raven, in a room reserved for the King's training.

As Faxul punched a bag filled with sand, he couldn't help but feel frustrated, as he had been stuck for far too long.

Ever since that moment when something had awakened within him to allow him to rush through the levels to become an Exalted Human, he had been stalled at the last step that separated him from the Warrior realm.

As theirs was a Kingdom that also had a long history of Kings, many of whom had reached the Warrior level, Faxul had a lot of information to draw on.

After researching thoroughly, he had found out about the method of breaking through using 'need', or constant accumulation.

Knowing that a war was coming soon, he didn't even consider doing the latter, as no one knew just how much time that would take.

As for the former, he didn't know how to proceed.

He had been thinking about 'need' extensively, all the time.

What did he need to do with the power he would obtain?

What was his goal?

If there was only one thing he could accomplish before dying, what could it be?

Questions like these revolved in his mind all day, but sadly, although he was getting closer to figuring out the answers, he had nowhere near the amount of clarity that his friend always seemed to have.

He had considered whether he should contact Daneel to ask for help, but he had hesitated.

Even though Daneel was his best friend whom he could even trust his life with, he had already helped him so much, in so many ways.

Hence, unless there was no other option left, Faxul had decided to forge his own path ahead.

"You're too impatient. Black Ravens wait for the wind to fly them to dazzling heights. We don't flap our wings impatiently."

Hearing the wise voice of the Protector Raven in his head, Faxul smiled slightly before replying, "I know. But you know why I want to break through so badly."

In his mind, Faxul shared a connection where only the thoughts he wanted could be shared with the Raven.

However, it seemed that the other way around wasn't true.

He could sense most, if not all, of the Protector Raven's emotions and thoughts, and right now, he could tell that it was hesitating whether to tell him something.

Knowing that there were some things he couldn't rush, Faxul patiently waited while punching the bag in front of him with all his might.

"Come with me," it said, before flying to the balcony outside the room in which Faxul was training in.

The huge Raven was flapping its wings a small distance away from the balcony, and as Faxul leaped off the railing in a practiced motion, he landed snugly on its back, as if this was something they did often.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Nodding and closing his mouth, Faxul set his gaze on the landscape while he was flown out of the Black Raven Kingdom, to a random forest east of the Palace.

As he felt the Protector Raven descending, he noticed that they had reached a large waterfall.

"Go in there.", said the Raven, prompting Faxul to enter the curtain of water that had been gestured at by it.

Using a simple spell to repel the water, Faxul walked in and was surprised to see an ancient stone podium that had beautiful patterns carved on it.

"What is this?", he asked, and when he received the reply, he couldn't help but gasp with shock.

"Something that claims it can help anyone reach the Champion level directly."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

455 A Reckless Plan 1

Off the top of his head, Daneel could remember two major ways to incriminate someone: either spread a rumor about their involvement in a particular event, or plant false evidence to make others think that they had done something they hadn't in reality.

Usually, the Sect Master was one of the most respected figures in the entire Sect.

However, just like everything else, this wasn't the case in the Sect of Hedon.

Either due to the fact that the one who was in control of all of them wasn't that much older than the average Warrior, or due to the reason that the Sect Master was an aloof person who didn't spend much time in the Central Tower, the general opinion on Sect Master Ashahell was mostly neutral.

Very few disliked him, but there were also only very few who liked him a lot in his post.

In such cases, the best thing to do was to find a rival who could take their post, and empower them with tools that they could use to take their rival, who would be, in this case, Ashahell down.

Here, Daneel hit a snag.

"A rival for Sect Leader Ashahell? Are you kidding? Do you think Peak Champion Level powerhouses just pop up wherever you want like cabbages?"

"Sect Leader Ashahell isn't the most charismatic of people, but he is the strongest amongst us all."

These were the typical answers that Daneel received when he casually brought up the topic over lunch with a few people that Travis was supposed to be acquainted with.

Everyone knew he was dead meat in a few weeks anyway, so they had begun to pity him.

Ignoring this annoying attitude, Daneel continued his investigations.

He knew that somewhere, there must be something that he could use to bring suspicion and blame on Ashahell.

For this purpose, he had even tasked the system with actively eavesdropping on all conversations around him, 24/7, looking for clues.

Although this put a strain on his mageroot due to the fact that the system had to develop a spell to make this happen, he didn't mind, and put up with the slight throb in his forehead.

Finally, 2 days later, Daneel caught a break.

"The Sect Leader was definitely gloating over the Mad Doctor's misfortune. I was right there! On the surface, it looked like he was consoling him but I could tell that he was happy! The Mad Doctor could, too! He screamed with frustration after the Sect Leader left!"

"Really? Can't that scream be because hundreds of thousands of Ker Gems, the Mad Doctor's lifetime accumulation, were wasted due to that culprit's actions? From what I heard, it was only his son who had the actual solution. The others only had lesser ones, and their fathers paid for it! Although those people are just a bunch of retired Warriors, it was their life savings too! Apparently, they all formed a group which has sworn to take revenge!"

"Nah, I know it for sure. That scream was because of whatever the Sect Leader told him. I bet they must have had some disagreements before."

"Might be. It's a pity that solution couldn't be purified. What a waste of resources."

"Meh. What do you know. This happens all the time with the top levels of the Sect. They spend hundreds of thousands of gems, like obtaining the solution for their sons, but they just turn out to be whiny brats! Now THAT is a waste."

"Sigh."

That last sigh was definitely to lament over the disparity between themselves, who were regular Sect Officials that were at most at the Eminent Warrior level, and the higher echelons of the Sect.

Daneel had had to put up with a very irritating headache for 2 days in order to finally obtain this very valuable information, so he felt really glad that he had taken the decision to persevere.

Hearing them, he couldn't help but think that there was definitely a parallel between Earth and this Sect.

Even on Earth, the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world would never hesitate to spend bucketloads of money, that would count as a treasure and lifetime sustenance for most of the rest of the world, for trivial reasons.

Of course, the argument could be made that these people had the right to do so as they had worked hard to obtain that money, but similar to the case in Angaria where the saving of those Ker Gems might result in the decrease of the rate of overall Energy dispersal over the centuries on the continent, those people could act to save the planet they were on before it became too late, even though there were many warning signs.

This line of thought led Daneel to once again think that Ashahell's purpose really had some merit to it. He just wanted to save the continent, and he saw no other way to do so.

However, killing millions of people was definitely not the way, and Daneel would put a stop to him.

Yet, when he asked himself what he would do regarding saving the continent from the fate of completely running out of Energy, he could only say that he had to take things one at a time.

Ending this inner monologue, Daneel concentrated on the other important information that had just surfaced.

The Mad Doctor had some kind of feud with Ashahell.

What could it be?

Personal things such as these definitely wouldn't be lying around randomly for him to read and find out.

Also, it wouldn't be wise to ask around specific stuff like this. If word got to anyone in the higher echelons, it would definitely arouse suspicion. Just asking about people's opinion of the Sect Leader, and possible rivals had already been pretty risky.

Sinking into deep thought, Daneel finally hit upon an idea that was bold, and frankly, a little bit reckless.

However, it had the most chance of succeeding.

Deciding to act immediately, he exited his office and made his way to the infirmary.

The Mad Doctor had that moniker for two reasons: One, of course, was because he was pretty mad, but the other was because of the fact that he was one of the most accomplished healers in the entire Sect.

Such mastery of healing spells required detailed study, as one would have to watch for themselves exactly what kind of effect elementary particles had on the skin and tissues of a human in order to learn and figure out ways to heal life-threatening injuries.

He officially held the post as Head of Medicine, and according to the rules of the sect, all 'Head's had to entertain requests to pick disciples who would continue their craft.

This was to make sure that a post wouldn't stay vacant when the time came for the one possessing it to step down.

The infirmary occupied an entire floor of the Central Tower, mainly filled with strange solutions of various colors in which injured people were placed, and beds where those who had gotten out of the solution was resting.

As he paused, he saw with his own eyes how the index finger of someone who had crushed it during training regenerated from the stump, albeit at a slow pace.

On one corner, there was a room titled "Head of Medicine", which Daneel headed to.

However, he was stopped on the way by a man who was wearing blue robes, which meant that he worked as an official healer in the Central Tower.

"Whoa, whoa, do you have a death wish? Where are you going?"

"I wanted to apply to be taken as an apprentice with the-"

"Oh, so you're definitely mad! The Mad-, err, I mean, the respectable Head has just lost his son. He is in no state to take requests. Instead, you might find yourself become the unwilling test subject for a radical healing approach! If you want to live with all of your limbs, I suggest you leave, right now."

Daneel smiled ruefully at first, as he was actually counting on the fact that the Mad Doctor would be unstable.

Yet, so as not to appear odd and make this man suspect that something was going on, he got an idea and said, "That's where you're wrong! Yes, the respectable Head lost a son, but I think this is the best time! Think about it! Isn't there a chance that he might pick me as a replacement to train?"

Hearing this, the man looked at Daneel with pity.

Shaking his head, he said, "Ah, I see you have the incurable disease of stupidity. Carry on. It was nice seeing you. If you need a message passed on to your next of kin, you can tell me now."

"Pfft. Just watch me."

Shrugging off the hand laid on his shoulder for consolation, Daneel proceeded to walk towards the office of the Mad Doctor with confident strides.

Knocking on the door, he heard a guttural voice say, "Come in."

As he entered under the pitying gaze of the man, Daneel froze, as he was quite shocked by the sight of the Mad Doctor.

The man's veins were jutting out all over his body, and his eyes were so bloodshot that Daneel could barely make out the whites in them.

His hands were covered with blood, but Daneel couldn't tell whose it was.

Seeing someone he didn't know enter, he bellowed, "What the f*ck do you want?", while the anger of a Champion sent the surrounding elementary particles into a tizzy, making random lightning and fire appear across the room.

This sight finally made Daneel wonder whether he had been just a bit too reckless.

…

Meanwhile, inside the waterfall at an unmarked spot east of the Black Raven Kingdom.

As Faxul hesitantly walked forward and touched the stone podium, a voice reverberated in his mind, making him step back with shock.

"Hehe, kiddo, it's your lucky day. Are you ready to become a Peak Champion? And oh, by the way, your closest friend used one of my brethren to grow that strong, too. How else do you think he was capable of all those wonders?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

456 A Reckless Plan 2

As Faxul stood in the cave, frozen, with the sound of the waterfall behind him, he didn't know what to think.

Daneel had accomplished all those wonders with the help of a stone podium like this one?

At this moment, Faxul had a choice.

He could play it completely safe-he could contact his best friend, ask him if what the podium was saying was true, and consider what to do next.

If it really was true, maybe Daneel might even share whatever he had obtained

But…why hadn't he done that yet?

The other choice was to step ahead and explore this by himself, so that he could find out more before taking a decision.

As someone who had never hesitated to take risks on the path to power to accomplish what he wanted, Faxul considered both choices very seriously.

Before, his motivation had been to obtain revenge for his parents' death. That singular motivation had led him to take the risk with that technique to grow stronger, even though his friend had strongly advised against it.

Now, his main motivation was to be a good King-one that his father would have been proud of.

For that purpose, Faxul knew that the best thing he could do for his people was to get strong enough so that he could at least hope to defend them when the time for the war came.

Although it was what his entire life was about right now, he was also indebted to his friend, who had made it possible for him to ascend the throne in the first place.

Knowing this fact, doing something like choosing the latter option would really make him someone who didn't deserve Daneel's attention at all.

Even if it was true that Daneel had used the podium, or something like it, to go stronger and had hidden this fact for reasons that were his own, Faxul found no logic good enough to make him want to hide this from Daneel-the one person in his life who had done so much for him.

So, without any more hesitation, Faxul was just about to take out the special communication trinket, that was shaped in the form of a special coin carved with the Lanthanorian crest, when he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Usually, when one touched a trinket, all it would require was a conscious thought to activate the formation and send the message.

However, right now, Faxul felt as if his mind was completely cut off.

With growing horror, Faxul tried again and again, but the communication trinket did not respond in any way.

Finally, realizing that he was in danger, Faxul turned around and started to run.

The thing that had finally let him realize that fact had been his failed attempts at contacting the Protector Raven.

Somehow, he had been completely cut off from the world.

He hadn't had to walk in a lot to reach the podium, so the curtain of water was just a few meters away.

If he could reach it, he could simply indicate to the Protector Raven that something was wrong, and it would definitely save him.

However, strangely, the distance between him and the entrance of the cave hidden by the waterfall seemed to be widening.

Every step he took seemed to take him farther away from the exit, instead of closer.

This incongruity in what he was trying to do and what was happening made him puzzled, before he started to understand that he had entered some sort of bewilderment formation.

Calming down, he was just about to cast a spell that would allow him to find the correct path out, when he found that he could no longer feel his Mageroot either.

What the…hell?!

Cutting off someone's mind, even though it sounded very mystical, was something that wasn't unheard of in the Central Continent.

Often, magical prisons would have complex formations like these, supplied by Eldinor, to make sure that no communication would happen with the outside.

However, the ability to make one feel as if they had no mageroot at all-this, this was impossible.

Who the hell was doing all this?

At first, Faxul focused on the podium, but he saw that it had been inactive from when he had touched it.

Who, else, could be responsible for all this?

Faxul got his answer a minute later.

From the distance, he could see the shadow of a meandering giant, which was at least 7 foot tall, walk forward with loud thuds.

As his heart started to beat faster, Faxul watched on, powerless to do anything as doom walked toward him.

When the shadow turned a corner, Faxul realized that it was just a man.

The shadows had made him seem much large, and the echoes of his footsteps had made it seem as if he were a giant.

However, just as he was about to feel relieved, he saw that something was wrong.

The man was wearing ragged clothes, which looked as if they had been on his skin for years and years.

A stench floated into Faxul's years-that of someone who hadn't bathed in decades.

Wrinkling his nose, Faxul noticed that these weren't the most disconcerting things about the man.

No, it was his face, and the way he walked.

If Daneel were here, he would have recognized that this man looked like he was wearing a straightjacket.

His arms were tightly pressed to his body by invisible forces, and his knees were twisted inwards, making it so that walking was probably the only thing they could do.

As for his face-it was one straight out of the darkest of nightmares.

Hair matted with mud and other fluids framed it, and through the gaps that were present, Faxul could see that the man's eyes were wide open.

His eyeballs were rolled back so that only a small part of his pupil was visible, and his head also moved from side to side as he walked towards Faxul.

The unknown was often the most terrifying thing, in most cases.

Even now, it was the same.

Faxul found himself rooted to the spot: unable to move as he saw the monstrosity approach closer and closer.

With each meter that was covered between them, he could see more and more details.

For instance, he could see that this man was wearing clothes that had been royal once, but he couldn't tell which Kingdom they were from.

His features were bold and striking, but the crazy look on his face would never let anyone focus on them.

His teeth were shut tight, but he seemed to be moving his lips up and down, as if he wanted to talk, but couldn't.

All in all, Faxul prayed with all his might that this was just some dream he was trapped in.

However, the stench, and the danger, were all too real.

He had thought that he at least his strength as a Fighter left to defend himself, but he felt that sapped from him too when the man reached him.

Raising his right hand which had been pressed tightly on his body all this while, he tapped Faxul's forehead, which made the latter's eyes roll up into the back of his head before he fainted.

The hand had been shaking, as if there was someone trying to stop it, but failing repeatedly as the will of the force driving the hand was too strong.

After Faxul collapsed into a heap, a voice could finally be heard from the figure.

"Heehee…

A new host?!

A brother to suffer with me…

No, he shouldn't have to suffer like me…

But I was so lonely all this time!

That doesn't mean…

Shut up! He's staying with us!

Oh Almighty Lord of…

Screw your Almighty Lord who has forsaken you! First, he will fulfill his duty outside! Then, we must make the assimilation with that bastard Hero in the stone fail! IT MUST FAIL, AND HE MUST BECOME LIKE US!

You idiot, that Hero is listening…"

In the beginning, it was as if two voices were conversing with each other alternatively.

Towards the end, the first voice completely took over, and it had such hints of madness that it would have driven away anyone who heard it.

Only, the last sentence was spoken by the second voice, which seemed more or less sane.

After the last statement reverberated in the cave, the figure ducked down and looked around, as if trying to see whether anyone was watching it.

It was a childish gesture, but it showed just how far gone into the depths of madness that first voice was.

After making sure that it was alone, the figure grabbed Faxul's arm and dragged it to the stone podium.

Laying it on the top, the figure retreated into the cave, with its hands completely immobile again.

By the time the sound of its footsteps faded, Faxul woke up with a start.

Wait…why am I on the ground? And what's that smell?

The last thing I remember was…trying to decide what to do.

Did I faint because of something this podium did?

Should I tell Daneel about it?

As Faxul asked himself the last question in his mind, a different answer than before sprang from its depths, its origin unknown.

It was very different from the voice that used to be in his head before, when he had transplanted that other consciousness into his body to gain power faster.

It was of a much higher level, and it felt indistinguishable from his own thoughts.

Oh, yes. His friend had been very distressed when he hadn't followed his advice before, regarding the other consciousness.

What was to say he would share what he knew now?

Why wouldn't he keep it with himself in the hopes of becoming the strongest alone?

Yes, maybe contacting Daneel would be a bad idea.

Maybe he could try this thing out first.

As thoughts like these started to revolve in Faxul's mind, he considered whether to touch the podium and talk to it again.

….

Meanwhile, in the office of the Head of Medicine.

After being screamed at by the Mad Doctor, Daneel closed the door behind him and abruptly sat down on the seat in front of him.

The Mad Doctor looked absolutely ready to slaughter him, so Daneel got straight to the point.

"Sir, I know what happened to your eldest son. I was a staunch supporter of his. My blood is boiling for revenge. Please let me help you in your quest for revenge."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

457 Unexpected Outcome

The Mad Doctor was a loner-used to people staying away from him in general due to his disposition and image, he was quite surprised when he saw someone say that they wanted to join him in something.

Of course, there were always requests to learn medicine under him, from those who prepared themselves to ignore his 'madness' if he was willing to teach them.

He was usually inclined to say 'f*ck off' to them, so the only ones he taught grudgingly right now were those doctors in the room outside, who had been assigned by the sect to ensure that his post wouldn't remain empty if he perished.

Hence, hearing someone say something like this, he couldn't help but pause.

As the fluctuating elementary particles in the room died down and started to return to normal, Daneel heaved a sigh of relief, feeling glad that his plan had worked.

This reckless plan was due to a supposition that had occurred to him about the Mad Doctor before: usually, people who were highly affected emotionally about a matter would connect with someone who showed that they were being affected in the same way, albeit to a lower extent.

Not everyone could show true sincerity in emotion, either. It would require a certain level of ability to show empathy, which Daneel had due to his experience in acting.

Just like he had imagined, finding someone who shared the same emotion as himself made the Mad Doctor feel relieved for once.

His anger at the kid in front of him vanishing, the man redirected it to the culprit.

"If I don't bathe in that scum's blood, then I will renounce my name and my life. I am surprised to see someone who was close to Henry when he was alive. How did you two meet? Tell me about him. I was mostly busy with my work, and I neglected to spend time with my son. I want to know more. Tell me."

Daneel had initially been rejoicing after hearing the first part of the Mad Doctor's statement, but the second stumped him.

He had only hoped that the shared 'pain' would allow him to coax the information regarding the conflict that this man had with Ashahell out.

However, now, he found that he was in a dilemma.

The Mad Doctor had spoken in a dangerously low voice, so Daneel knew that rejecting was not an option.

Creating stuff out of thin air and telling it was also not advisable at all, as if it was later found out that none of the stuff he had told had happened, he would definitely face death, or worse.

Now, how the heck was he supposed to answer about that disgusting cretin?

Thankfully, the system came to his rescue.

[Certain conversations which were eavesdropped on during the time that host was searching for information before relate to the activities of the Mad Doctor's eldest son. Would host like system to replay those?]

"Yes! Yes!"

Fighting the urge to smile due to the happiness that he had been saved, Daneel waited as those conversations replayed in his head.

However, after that, he had to work hard not to let disgust show on his face.

Most of the conversations were about the way that kid had used to take advantage of those both in the Sect and in the border village using his almost untouchable background.

Others were about how that bunch of bullies would have been brought to justice long back if it weren't for their backing.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel realized that he would have to foul his mouth if he wanted to keep the ruse up.

He hesitated for a bit, but proceeded, as he knew exactly what hung in the balance- it was the fates of millions of people.

More and more, Daneel started to realize that he was getting prepared to do anything to reach the goal.

If this kept continuing, was it possible that he could become someone like Ashahell who wouldn't hesitate to commit mass genocide?

No. They were unrelated things. Surely, he was only having these thoughts as he was in a panic.

Telling himself this and taking a deep breath, Daneel started speaking.

"Of course! Henry was always the leader to follow. His ideas were legendary! Once, we went to the border village to a certain woman's-"

20 minutes later, the Mad Doctor's mood shifted somewhat to one of grief.

It seemed that until now, the man had been holding onto his anger and thirst for vengeance, but listening to some stories about his eldest son, who really had grown up to become just as despicably horny and detestable like himself, he couldn't help but begin the process of grieving.

Only, even his method of grieving was, well, 'mad'.

Standing up abruptly after Daneel's stories were done, he walked to a cupboard and retrieved a painting of that cretin.

After doing so, he sat back down and kept staring at the picture, while steam appeared near his eyes from time to time.

It seemed that he was crying, but as he was too proud to let anyone see it, he was evaporating the tears with magic.

Finally, after a few minutes, he set aside the picture and sat in deep thought.

As this continued for an unbearable amount of time, Daneel even began to wonder whether the man had fallen asleep or something with his eyes open.

However, after what felt like an eternity, the Mad Doctor finally looked up, and his eyes had a shine in them that hadn't been visible before.

"I will find a way to kill those two bastards, even if I end up dying after that."

W-what? Seriously?

As Daneel heard the Mad Doctor say this under his breath with a tone of bloodthirsty determination, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He was exactly the one that this Champion level powerhouse had sworn to kill, and at his level, he couldn't even hope to resist.

It seemed that his reckless plan had completely backfired and taken him from the frying pan into the damn volcano.

Before, he had known about the special decree that the High Council would be watching over the Central Continent, which had made him feel relieved that the Mad Doctor would at least not march out for revenge without any hesitation.

Somehow, he had made the man decide to do just that.

Well, when madness was involved, outcomes seldom fit the norms.

One step at a time.

He had created a disaster for himself, but before he could begin thinking about what to do to solve it, he had to first finish what he had come here to do in the first place.

As if he hadn't heard the Mad Doctor make that proclamation, Daneel spoke out hesitantly.

"S-sir, I didn't know whether you knew of this, so I wanted to bring it to your attention, as I couldn't bear to hear people speaking like this about my idol's father. They said that the Sect Leader was gloating due to your misfortune! That can't be true, right, sir?"

Although Daneel felt like washing his mouth with disinfectant due to using the word 'idol', he felt relieved when he finally received the answer he had been looking for.

"Humph. I never expected that he would still hold a grudge because I rejected his plan to decrease mining. Screw that obnoxious kid. Just because he has talent, does he think-"

As the Mad Doctor went on a rant about how the Sect Leader was the worst one to occupy that post in the past 100 years, the gears in Daneel's mind started to turn.

Now, he knew about the grudge, and knowing what he did about Ashahell, he could understand why that had affected the man so much.

With a twinkle in his eyes, Daneel began planning how he was going to use the conflict between these two, so that it could result in the High Council suspecting Ashahell more and completely putting a stop to his actions by imprisoning or killing him, instead of just keeping a watch over him like now.

Was this plan immoral? Yes, of course, as he was going to plant false evidence and take advantage of someone whose confidence he had won by exploiting his grief.

However, Daneel felt no qualms at all, as he knew that sometimes, actions shouldn't be looked at on the surface. Instead, what should also be taken into consideration was whether the targets deserved it, and whether the end result would be beneficial on the whole, while not violating any inviolable bottom lines.

After the Mad Doctor stopped speaking, Daneel just said, "Please do contact me, sir, if I can be of any assistance to avenge the man I looked up to most. I'll take my leave then."

As a grunt came in reply, he hurried out, and when he closed the door to the office behind him, he came face to face with the healer from before whose jaw dropped on seeing that Daneel didn't have a scratch on him.

"Wh-what?! Don't tell me it worked!"

"Why don't you go find out for yourself?"

As Daneel said this, the healer sputtered for a few moments before rushing to the office, as if he didn't want to let this opportunity slip.

Chuckling to himself in a rare moment of amusement, Daneel walked to the door.

Bang!

The next second, the healer found himself skidding across the hospital room, with his face having an extra addition of a bootprint.

When he tried to search for the blonde haired kid who had almost caused him to be skinned alive, he was nowhere to be found, which made the man scream with frustration before admitting himself and starting to treat himself in the medical ward, all the while grumbling about how he was going to make sure to have his revenge when he got his hands on that obnoxious bastard.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

458 Change of Plans

Meanwhile, Faxul had been standing at the same spot in the cave for 10 minutes, trying what to do next.

Every time he thought about contacting Daneel, doubts would appear in his head, making him think more and more that that would be a bad idea.

He even felt a sense of…déjà vu. As if…he had been agonizing over this before, but had made a decision.

However, he didn't remember doing it.

Attributing it to the strange atmosphere in the place, Faxul took a deep breath and berated himself for dillydallying so much.

Yes, he could tell Daneel later after finding out more.

The moment he had this thought, the feeling that it was right appeared inside him.

Hmm? I was unsure about this, right? Then why do I feel so sure now?

Rhetorically asking himself this, he walked forward and touched the podium.

Unlike before, when he had heard the arrogant voice, all that was transmitted to him now was a technique.

At first, Faxul thought that it was a spell model, but slowly, he realized that it was so much more.

It was…an inheritance-a treasure that had been quoted often in the records in the Kingdom, but hadn't been seen for many years.

"This is your birthright, Black Raven King. It is called the 'Raven's Might'. It will allow you to harness the power of the Protector Raven, and the other Ravens in the Kingdom to push yourself forward on the Path to Power. All Ravens are magical beings which absorb Energy in their own way. This technique allows you to tap into those reserves, and although that means that the Ravens will lose a part of their power, they can simply gain it back over time. I must warn you, King. If anyone else knows about me or this technique, they will try to snatch it away. They will even quote that I only mean harm, or that this technique has some trap. Do not listen to them. If you need reasons to trust me and believe in what I'm saying, then simply ask the Protector Raven outside how it knows this place. I will not even argue my own case. For now, farewell, King. If you do believe in me, I urge you to return, as there are any more techniques that I can pass on, which will aid you in your quest to help the people of the Black Raven Kingdom."

As Faxul heard this speech which sounded inside his head with a noble tone, more and more thoughts started appearing that whatever was inside this podium could be trusted.

No. Why should it be trusted? He wasn't dumb enough to take everything he heard at face value.

But, no! All he needed to do was ask the Protector Raven outside for proof!

What if the risk was present that he could be prosecuted for possessing this treasure? After all, it wouldn't be the first time it was happening on the Continent.

In this way, each and every one of his qualms repeatedly got answered by an inner voice, which, of course, he assumed to be his own.

Finally, he decided that the best thing to do might be to put the technique aside for now until he found out from the Protector Raven just how it knew about this place.

Leaving the stone podium while in deep thought, Faxul walked towards the curtain of water and exited it, all while being stared at by a pair of rabid eyes from the inner parts of the cave.

After he passed through the waterfall, he saw that the Protector Raven was basking in the sun with its massive body, while idly munching on some animal it seemed to have picked up as a snack.

"What happened? Did you obtain it?", it asked, which made Faxul frown slightly.

"How did you know about this place?"

On being asked this question, the Protector Raven hesitated, and Faxul could tell through the bond he shared with it that it was deciding whether or not to answer.

Finally, it seemed to have decided to tell him what he wanted to know.

"I only know of this due to the memories that are passed down from Protector Raven to Protector Raven. According to them, the stone podium inside was once in our Kingdom. At that time, the most talented King of that time managed to pass the stringent conditions of the podium and attained unbelievable techniques."

After pausing to prune it's glossy, black feathers, the Protector Raven continued.

"At the time, the King managed to shoot forward in power, but the Big 4 intervened. In my memory, the Protector Raven of that time only saw the King trying to protect the podium at all costs, while those from the Big 4 besieged him from all sides. The wondrous thing was that even if he was outnumbered, he still managed to kill many of his opponents, and even managed to escape. However, the King told my ancestor that the Big 4 had interrupted and ruined a very important process that would have seen him become one of the strongest beings on the continent. After faking his death and hiding the podium, he made the Protector Raven swear that this matter would be kept a purpose. At the same time, a bond was formed between the podium and the Protector Raven, which was passed down to me. I felt that bond calling to me, when I saw you pushing yourself so much to gain power. We both know war is coming. The Big 4 must be preoccupied with that, unlike then. So, I decided to heed that call and bring you here, at least to see whether the podium finds you worthy. My King, whatever you obtained in there, I strongly suggest that you keep it to yourself. Wars have been fought over even less valuable things."

The Protector Raven almost seemed as if it had prepared this speech the moment Faxul had walked out, as if it knew that he would have this question.

He had read about an ancient Black Raven King who had been persecuted by the Big 4, but in the records, the reason was unknown.

It did make sense now.

Faxul knew clearly that such a magical technique would definitely garner attention from the highest echelons of this world.

However, why would his best friend, who had only helped him till now without even expecting much in return, covet it?

Again, like clockwork, answers appeared in his mind which refuted this.

Everyone could change according to the situation, his inner voice said.

So, it was probably best not to take a chance.

Besides, the technique might not even work. Why not try it first?

In this way, Faxul's thought to contact Daneel was postponed yet again.

Getting on the Protector Raven, he prepared to go back to the Palace, but he couldn't shake the thought that something was wrong.

…

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

The guard that had been posted 24/7 in the Library in the Academy that the present King had studied in had just been about to get off his shift.

He only had one duty, and it was pretty boring: sitting in the hidden and forbidden highest floor of the library, he had to keep watch over a door and notify the Grand Court Mage if there was any change.

For months now, there had been nothing, and this had become one of the shortest straws that could be drawn by those who were assigned for general guard duty.

However, today, it seemed that things were going to be different.

A red light started to shine from under the gap of the only door in the corridor, and it grew in intensity until it became so bright that the guard had to blink in order to see anything.

Shocked by the sudden event, he even fell on the ground, as he had been in the middle of the process of getting up to walk around before his replacement arrived.

Hurriedly, he took out a communication trinket and contacted the Grand Court Mage.

Receiving the message, Kellor immediately contacted the King, but he received no reply.

The King had instructed them that this red light was of the utmost priority, and that he should definitely be intimated if it appeared.

Yet, the King had been in complete closed door training for weeks!

Wondering what the heck he was supposed to do, Kellor started pacing around, while repeatedly sending messages through the communication trinket of the King and the oathstone, hoping that whatever the significance of that red light, it could wait until the King received the message about it.

….

Meanwhile, Daneel had just been on the way to his dormitory so that he could plan exactly how he was going to plant evidence.

Suddenly, he stopped in the middle of the Central Walkway due to a message from the system.

[One of the alarms set down using the system has been tripped. Unable to ascertain exact alarm due to interference from Sect Formation. Please exit the formation if host wishes to identify which alarm it is.]

As his heart started to beat faster, Daneel realized that something must definitely be wrong outside.

The 'alarms' he had placed were all highly important: they ranged from the one he had set up to identify trespassers in the Withering Leaf Sect, to the one he had placed in Eldinor, near the core of the formation, to try and find out who might have taken away the items.

There were many more which were equally crucial, so Daneel knew that whatever it was, it needed his immediate attention.

But how was he supposed to go out?

Gritting his teeth, Daneel decided that it was time to take dire measures.

Walking to the mission office, he saw that there were missions to the outside which were under the supervision of an Exalted Warrior.

Looking for the shortest one, he saw that it was one week long, and the mission was to travel to all of the 'no-trespasing' and forbidden regions on the continent to check whether the formations that had been placed there were secure.

It was monotonous work, so there were not many people interested.

However, Daneel signed up without hesitation.

A few hours later, he set off with 3 others, and the moment he exited the sect, he was inundated by messages from Kellor that the Empire Spirit in Lanthanor was shining red, indicating that something had happened to it.

The last time that had happened, he had 'unlocked' one of its levels.

This was already shocking in itself, but the message from the system that sounded in his head made the rest of his thoughts disappear.

As he stopped in the air with his eyes wide open, he hoped that he was dreaming.

[Alarm placed inside target 'Faxul's' mind to identify interference from secondary consciousness has been triggered. The alarm has been wiped away. However, from the information received, system has been able to identify the source. Target 'Faxul' has come under the effect of a Hero-level Mind Control Spell, which is directing his thoughts subtly.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

459 Going to the Black Raven Kingdom

After having the notification repeated to him multiple times, Daneel felt a sense of urgency rise within him.

This was his closest friend in the world – the one who had been with him each and every step of the way, no matter what they had had to go through.

Who the hell was targeting him?

Could it be to get to him?

And to think that it was actually a Hero level individual! What could they be hoping to gain?

Multiple questions like these flashed through his mind, but Daneel decided that he should stop thinking too much until he went by himself to verify what was going on.

The thought that he should be afraid and consider staying away because a Hero-level individual might be waiting to smash him into oblivion didn't even cross his mind.

No, he was going to be cautious, but there was no way that he would abandon his best friend.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team members were staring at him with irritated expressions on their faces, wondering why this kid looked like he had seen a ghost.

These were going to be two very grueling days, and their moods were already bad because they had had to choose this mission, unless they wanted to go without Ker gems for days.

The leader seemed the most annoyed – as an Exalted Warrior, usually, he would never undertake such monotonous and low-paying tasks. However, because of the state of high alert the sect was in, each and every team that was going out had to be escorted by a trusted Exalted or Eminent Warrior, so that they could keep an eye on the sect members when they were outside, while also ensuring that additional attacks could be thwarted.

"We don't have all day! Come on!"

As he snapped at the blonde haired kid, he seemed to come back to his senses.

After looking around and getting an expression as if he had decided on something, the kid nodded and apologized, saying, "Sorry about that. Let's go."

With a humph, the Exalted Warrior led the way, flying through the air for a little bit of time until reaching a certain spot from which they would teleport after making sure that they weren't being followed.

These were all steps that had been implemented for the safety of the sect members, and they had to be followed rigorously.

The first stop was coincidentally the spot where Daneel had broken through to become a Warrior.

Apparently, areas like these which still had remnants of formations from the ancient ages that were very dangerous even to Warrior level individuals had formations laid down by the Big Four which would prevent regular humans from entering them and being killed.

If this hadn't been the case, the number of deaths would have been a lot more, which was detrimental to the continent as a whole.

Hence, even though most of the Big Four didn't care much about the regular humans except treating them as livestock from which they could pick out talented individuals, they had taken the duty together to maintain the formations in these dangerous areas.

As soon as they reached the valley, the blonde haired kid among them suddenly shouted out, drawing all of their attention.

Pointing behind them, he exclaimed, "What's that?!"

His expression of extreme fear made the others panic too as they turned around with alarm.

However, seeing nothing there, they turned back, with the Exalted Warrior glaring at the blonde haired kid and saying, "What the hell did you see?"

"Oh, nothing. I thought I spotted enemies. My bad. I'm feeling a little sick. Could you all please take over my workload, too? Of course, when we get back, please tell them that we all shared the work equally, and forget that I asked you this. You would do that for me, right?"

"Of course!"

Everyone replied together, as all four individuals' minds told them that this was what they were supposed to do.

"Wonderful. So even if you don't see me, assume that I'm following you. Don't wait for me when teleporting. I'll find you on the last leg of the task."

"Very well! Have a good rest!"

The Exalted Warrior who had been grumpy all along now had a smile on his face as he said this, even waving at Daneel who immediately teleported away to "rest".

It seemed that he was getting better and better at mind control, as it had been very easy to even bring that Exalted Warrior and the others under his control simultaneously without letting them identify that anything was wrong.

They might have felt that prick in their consciousness due to the invasion of a foreign one, but they must have discarded it right after the "suggestions" started, as the distraction was enough for the spell to completely engulf them.

After a few seconds, Daneel were standing in the air above the Black Raven Palace.

Getting into the kingdom had been quite easy, as he was now in possession of a Champion level system that could let him infiltrate without triggering any alarms.

This was why a Champion, or in most cases, even a Warrior could have free reign over the entire Central Continent if they were allowed to let loose their power.

It was only the core formation of the Palace that he needed to worry about, but right now, he was not in its sphere of influence.

Unlike the Palace of Lanthanor which reminded him or of the Victorian era structures from Earth, the Black Raven Palace emphasized openness over all else.

In the center of a large open space with sprawling gardens, the central building was surrounded by many spires, all of which were supposed to contain areas where Black Ravens could rest and recuperate when not training.

The throne room was located right in the center of the Palace, which coincidentally happened to be right below him, but Daneel hesitated, wondering whether he should barge in.

He had considered whether to contact his friend and asked him to come out, but if it really were a trap for him, or if the influence of the mind control denied that request but also got suspicious that he was onto it, Daneel knew that he would cause more harm than good.

He had rushed over in a hurry, but right now, he was stumped regarding what he was supposed to do.

The system was only at Champion level, and he doubted whether it would have any effect on a damn Hero level spell.

Just to confirm, he asked the system regarding it and got the answer that it needed to be upgraded, which was definitely his least likable sentence uttered by the system by now.

The biggest problem was that he didn't know who the hell was responsible for all of this, so he couldn't act recklessly.

In fact, even him standing here might be a big risk, but Daneel had been assured that there was no one keeping an eye on him right now.

Of course, there was the possibility that someone at the Hero level might be watching him, but if that were the case, there was really nothing he could do.

Heck, if a hero level individuals wanted to, Daneel could bet that they would easily be able to kill him in a breath no matter where he was, as that was the maximum level on this continent.

Besides, for his friend, he was ready to take any risk.

"Argh!"

After standing in the air for five minutes without finding any method to best handle the situation, Daneel was just about to give in to his frustration and barge into the Palace.

However, suddenly, a notification from the system sounded in his mind again.

[Phenomena Analysis Module has scanned target "Faxul". Because of host's repeated usage of the Mind Control spell, system is capable of analyzing similar spells with greater ease. System has been able to identify that a source which is near to the target is handling the mind control spell. However, this source appears to be a formation which is receiving instructions from somewhere else and relaying them to the target. System has been unable to deduce the original location of the consciousness that is sending the commands and handling the mind control spell. System has only been able to find the general location of the formation. Would host like to know where it is?]

"Yes!"

[The source of the formation is the large Black Raven statue in the throne room. System suspects that this formation is also capable of surveillance. As system was not the Champion level when host was last at this location, this formation hadn't been detected.]

As Daneel heard this, he did a double take.

His damn gut had been right!

All those times when he had been in the Black Raven throne room, he had felt as if he were being watched by something.

In fact, it had even felt as if that Black Raven statue was real, and was watching him all the time.

It turned out that he was right, although in a roundabout way.

Along with this discovery, Daneel began to string together the other mysterious occurrences in the Black Raven Kingdom that he had had no option but to brush off before.

Faxul's sudden increase in power, the subtle change in his consciousness, the gut feeling that he should place backups in the Kingdom just in case – all of them must be because there was someone targeting Faxul from the very beginning, listening in on everything happening in the throne room, and even possibly in the entire Kingdom.

This was… A little too much to take in.

At this point, Daneel couldn't guess who could have the motivation and means to carry this out.

Whatever the case, swooping in to try and help his friend right now was definitely not the answer.

Understanding this, Daneel was just about to turn around and teleport away when a sudden chill made him freeze.

At the same moment, the system spoke in his mind with urgency.

[Space has been locked! A Peak Exalted Warrior has teleported to the location 100 meters behind host!]

A stench reached Daneel's nostrils first, which made him wrinkle his nose before turning around to see just who had managed to find him here.

It was a man whose arms were pressed against his body as if he was wearing a straightjacket, with his face hidden behind a curtain of dirty hair matted with mud.

Only his eyes seemed to shine, and the madness inside them made Daneel feel unsettled.

Staring into Daneel's eyes, the man spoke in a very strange manner.

Each alternate sentence seemed to be spoken by an entirely different person, with even the mannerisms, expression and tone changing.

"Hehe...Finally broke free of that damn bird-wait, why was I here again?

Please kill me!

Oh, who cares...I think I'll kill you for fun...I miss the taste of blood...

Please, you must do it before I go under its control again!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

460 Fighting the Crazy Man 1

[Hero-level Displacement Formation detected.

Displacement Formation: A formation which completely 'displaces' an area. This means that any fluctuations of elementary particles in this area will remain hidden to any and all surveillance spells at or below the Hero Level. In the displaced area, space is locked down, and a barrier is also in place which prevents those inside from exiting unless the formation is deactivated. Communication is also blocked.]

As this message echoed inside his mind, Daneel realized that he was well and truly trapped.

He had heard of Displacement Formations before. They were ultra-rare formations which ensured that no one would be able to interfere in a fight, while also ensuring that the vibrations from high-level fights, which would usually be able to be detected from hundreds of kilometers away would stay hidden.

In essence, it was something used when one wanted to kill their enemy after abolishing all outside factors.

Looking at the crazy man's chest, Daneel noticed that he was wearing a black circular amulet that had the image of a Raven engraved on it. It had shining feathers placed artistically around it, and it was especially eye-catching right now due to the fact that it seemed to be shining.

Noticing his gaze, the crazy man spoke once again in that strange way.

"This is just something I stole from the bird to make sure no one can interfere when I…play.

You need to kill me if you want to get out!

Oh, shut up and go back to your hole. Let's see who kills who."

Suddenly, before Daneel could make heads or tails of the situation and decide what to do, the crazy man shot toward him with a sonic boom.

Alarmed, Daneel could only deploy a simple magical barrier before impact.

Boom!

As a fist ruptured the barrier and impacted his chest, Daneel was blown back, somersaulting in the air multiple times before coming to rest and wiping blood that had appeared near his lips.

It seemed that he needed to fight first, before doing anything else.

Now that he thought about it, Daneel couldn't even remember the last time he had had a good fight.

It had just been too long.

So, as he felt the heart-pumping excitement that could only be experienced during a high-stakes fight, Daneel pulled back a fist and shot it forward to meet his opponent who had zoomed forward again for another attack.

"Heeeheheeee! That's it! No fun slaughtering an innocent lamb! A struggling pig that tries to run away is so much tastier!"

Shouting insane statements like these, the crazy man's fist met Daneel's, but once again, it was Daneel who was blown back, and this time, even his shoulder had gotten dislocated due to the force.

At the point of impact of their fists, another sonic boom had appeared which drove the clouds away in an arc all around.

All right. Time to get serious.

This was an Exalted Warrior, after all, and Daneel was just an amateur one. It was suicide to face him head on without using the tricks up his sleeve, but Daneel had done just that to get his head into the fight.

He had been considering whether to hold off on using the Basilisk's Breath, but that was no longer an option, as only death awaited him if he chose to discard this trump card of his.

What use was there fearing possession if the other alternative was death?

Besides, the main confirmed threat was the Ruler's Inheritance, which Daneel couldn't use now anyway as he was in the Black Raven Kingdom.

So, taking a deep breath, Daneel pulled back his fist a second time.

His opponent was already approaching him with the intent to kill, all the while laughing creepily as if this was the most fun thing he was doing in decades.

However, this time, right before the fists connected, Daneel activated the Basilisk's Breath and blinked.

Time slowed down.

The clouds that had been dispersing at a fairly fast pace due to the speed of the crazy man slowed down to a crawl, and Daneel could fully see the maniacal expression on his face which craved blood.

It seemed that it was destined to be disappointed.

Boom!

At the last moment, Daneel's fist bypassed the crazy man's, shooting toward his chin.

The opponent's fist flew harmlessly over Daneel's shoulder, but the force of the wind still hurt his face.

The first two strikes had only been at the level of an Eminent Warrior, which had allowed Daneel to get away with minor injuries that were already being healed due to his ability to passively launch healing spells using the system. Any other opponent would have to put their full head into the fight, unable to do such a thing as they would be too busy fending off their opponent.

Clearly, the opponent had been warming up during those two, and this third one had had the full strength of an Exalted Warrior.

If it had hit, Daneel's arm might have gotten torn off, as there was, after all, a difference of 2 major levels between them.

It seemed that his opponent had also been expecting this, as Daneel could see the expression of surprise on his face when his fist didn't connect.

This time, it was the crazy man who did the somersaulting, and Daneel flew forward to continue the fight.

However, to his shock, he felt something prick his brain, as if someone was using a needle on his scalp in an attempt to get inside.

"YAAARGH!"

Immediately stopping, Daneel screamed with pain while he fought madly to stop that needle from going any further.

A second later, it disappeared, but he had already lost his window to attack.

[Host is under the attack of Hero-level Mind Control spell that has been cast by a Warrior. Due to the lacking power and complexity of the caster, the spell has been weakened. Host has thrown off the attack. System is in the process of analyzing the spell.]

"Hmph. Seems the trick I picked up from that bird is useful after all."

Spitting out this sentence, the crazy man took the initiative again, and this time, it looked like he was pulling out all the stops.

Two knives made of metal appeared in his hands, but strangely, Daneel could see the air deforming around the edges of the blades.

Quickly, he understood.

This was an Exalted Warrior-level combination spell that used metal and gravity elemental particles in a unique method to create a whirling blade that could cut through anything.

The intricate blade was designed like a chainsaw, and gravity was lowered at one end and heightened on the other to make it whirl.

This required a level of complexity and control that an Exalted Human, or even an Amateur or Eminent Warrior was capable of.

The most important thing was that in battle, this spell needed to be maintained.

This was how Warrior who were both mages and Fighters usually fought: using magic, they would give themselves an incredible edge which they would use to cut down their opponents.

If Daneel was even touched by one of those blades, it would be his end.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his arms and kept the Basilisk's Breath activated, while commanding the system to stand by for spell commands.

Whoosh!

"Enough games. Time for you to die before that bird comes back."

Bam!

Breaking through the barrier that Daneel had conjured to slow his opponent down, the maniacal smile returned to the crazy man's face as he swung down with his right arm, intending to cut Daneel in half.

Just in time, Daneel moved back, and as the blade swept past only an inch away from his skin, he felt his enchanted clothes, that were supposed to block the strike of an Exalted Human, tear apart.

An angry red line also appeared on his chest in the path of the blade, as the whirling serrated edge was just too dangerous to handle even if it didn't impact his body.

The air that was expelled at high speed, itself, was enough to cause injury.

Thus began the cat and mouse game between Daneel and the crazy stinking man.

Daneel only used rudimentary magic to slow the man down, while he dodged for dear life using the Basilisk's technique.

His main trump card was the Champion level system, and his status as a Paragon who could wield all elementary particles.

Behind him, a massive missile-shaped object started to come into being, which Daneel didn't bother to hide as there was only open space around them.

When it was finished, it would move at a speed faster than an Exalted Warrior to pierce the opponent and put an end to him.

At the Champion level, there were certain spells which resulted in explosions using the concept of making opposite elementary particles react in a controlled manner after accelerating them.

This wasn't capable of Warriors, as their mageroots wouldn't be able to handle the complexity of controlling the particles effectively at high speeds to result in an explosion of force.

However, according to the journals Daneel had read, this wasn't used by Champions as it would take too long on a battlefield.

He wasn't a fool to sit around twiddling his thumbs and hoping that a fight with those above his level would come to him. No, every day, Daneel would spend some time making plans to handle such opponents, and this was one of those which leveraged the system in an efficient manner.

The 1.5-meter long missile had two parts: a 0.5 meter long exploding mechanism in the back, and a 'blade' of sorts made of condensed metal and fire elementary particles.

He had named the spell "Paragon Missile", and it would rend his enemies before they knew what hit them.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

461 Fighting the Crazy Man End

Daneel's strategy was simple: he was going to avoid the attacks from this crazy guy until the missile was ready before getting the hell away and letting it pierce through him.

He would just have to see if that smile still remained after a whole meter of blazing steel pierced through the crazy man's body, burning up his insides while making sure that he wouldn't die.

Yes, Daneel didn't want him to die. All he wanted was that the man had to be incapacitated so that he could find out his origin and just what the 'bird' was that he was referring to.

This man was an Exalted Warrior, and by all rights, using Mind Control on him should work.

However, Daneel's gut told him that that would be a bad idea.

His Mind Control had to work the first time, or it would definitely fail if he tried again. This was someone who knew the spell, and hence, Daneel could guess that he must be guarding against it, even if he didn't know whether Daneel was capable of using it.

With that being the case, Daneel couldn't take the risk.

After he had been pierced through, Daneel would try the mind control, and if that didn't work, then he would just have to improvise.

Other than this, there was no other way to stop the man from killing him.

12 seconds had passed since that first strike by the crazy man, and Daneel's clothes were already in tatters.

Multiple strikes assaulted him in each second from various directions, and if it weren't for the Basilisk's Breath, Daneel would have been mincemeat by now.

"Heeeheeeeheee! Dodge all you want, my blade will f-i-n-d youuuu!"

The crazy statements hadn't let up: instead, at the sight of the angry red lines that appeared all over Daneel's body, they increased in number and volume.

He felt as if he had been lashed by a flaming whip over and over again, and his face was set into an expression of pain.

However, 15 seconds were all he needed to create the devastating missile.

At the 15th second, Daneel finally smiled triumphantly before kicking away in the air suddenly.

Yet, things didn't go as planned.

The crazy guy had been ignoring the missile till now, and Daneel had just thought that it must be another mad tic of his-to ignore everything else besides his opponent.

However, it turned out that he had been wrong.

Very, very wrong.

As Daneel kicked away, the crazy man smiled sinisterly and said, "Oh, so you wanted to kill me with that, mighty Paragon? How cute!"

"YAAARGHHHHHH!"

The prick in his mind reappeared, and this time, it's intensity was greater than before.

What the hell?! Wouldn't Mind Control spells lose effect after a target shook them off for the first time?

Instead of a single needle, Daneel felt as if his entire scalp was under attack by a bramble that just wanted to rake its way in.

As he put up a frantic resistance, he let everything else go, and apparently, this included his mageroot, which the system had been using to cast the Paragon Missile spell.

Tsssss.

Instead of the fearsome explosion, a sound akin to a fire fizzling out emanated from the missile, as it fell apart as the numerous elementary particles were no longer under tight control.

Daneel once away shook off the attack, but it was too late.

The missile had begun to disappear, and the whirling chainsaw blade of his opponent was right in front of his face.

At the last moment, Daneel leaned backward, but it wasn't enough.

Sllickkk.

"ARRRGHHHHH!"

The blade didn't penetrate Daneel's face, but it had passed within a centimeter of it.

That was enough for the mini-wind blades to do their work.

As blood flew in the air and was accompanied by Daneel's scream, the King of Lanthanor lost vision in one eye while a deep cut appeared on one side of his face.

It was in an oblique direction, running from his chin to his forehead on the left side.

Frantically clutching at the wound, Daneel flew back.

The left side of his face felt like it had been dipped in molten lava, and the unique pain that came from one losing their eye was driving him crazy.

Yet, at this moment, the system finally gave him some good news.

[Hero-level Mind Control Spell analyzed. Mind Control spell has been upgraded. Multiple attempts are now possible. Effectiveness of the spell will not decrease with failures.]

At this moment, a madness overtook Daneel, making him smile as he looked at his opponent who seemed to be surprised that he still hadn't succeeded, despite the sudden attack.

The bastard had been fooling him along! By pretending that he was completely crazy, he had let Daneel believe that his attack would work while concealing his trump card.

Well, now, he wasn't the only one in possession of said trump card.

As the healing spell quickly went to work on Daneel's eye, he wiped away the blood quickly using a spell as the crazy guy once again flew forward to attack, this time with frustration.

Suddenly, before he could come close to the kid whose eye he had taken, he felt a prick in his own mind which made him pause.

Wham!

As a fist connected with his stomach, he was pushed back with a dazed expression on his face while the blades in his hands disappeared because he, too, had lost the ability to control his mageroot during the attack.

Looking down, he saw a bloody imprint of a fist.

Wh-what?! How the hell had an Amateur Warrior succeeded in hurting him, an Exalted one?!

And how the hell was an Amateur Warrior in possession of this spell, that was considered a treasure even during the time of the Empire of Angaria!?!

He only received the answer to the first question, and it was when he saw the next fist that impacted him: this time, on his chin.

Behind the elbow of his opponent, there was a golden boosting spell that seemed to be accelerating the punches to a terrifying speed.

No! Such intricate and instantaneous control of elementary particles to adjust the thrust multiple times in each second…was only capable of a Champion! How! How was this kid capable of this?!!

Indeed, Daneel was pulling out all stops.

This was another attack he had developed: "Heaven-shattering Punch".

Daneel had given the lofty name due to how impressed he had been with the performance, and he now saw that he had been right to do so.

With this and the continuous mind control attempts, victory was in his hands.

However, he had forgotten something.

"DAMMIT! ARGH!"

His opponent could do the same.

As the pain in his mind assaulted him again, the crazy man took the opportunity and attacked.

Thankfully, the Basilisk's Breath saved Daneel's ass again, but this time, his waist had gotten injured by the opponent's punch.

In this way, they went back and forth, distracting each other and landing attacks. Only, neither of them were able to hit critical spots, as the other always managed to recover enough to block and take the attack with a different body part.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The clouds completely scattered, as sonic boom after sonic boom rocked the area, while two figures shot all around, turning each other into a bloody mess.

Magic became meaningless, as in that moment of Mind Control Attack, the mageroot would let the elementary particles go.

Soon, Daneel realized that if this continued, he would lose.

Although he was fighting on par with his opponent, his endurance was definitely lower than a true blue Exalted Warrior.

Soon, his body would run out of Energy and he would have no choice but be minced into nothing.

Frantically, Daneel got out of the mindset of going blow-for-blow and considered what he could do.

One by one, he discarded all the spells he could deploy, as none of them would have much of an effect here.

Of course, it didn't help that he was continuously losing his line of thought due to the Mind Control Attack.

Wait…Mind Control Attack?

As a bulb seemed to light up above Daneel's head, he finally got an idea.

Mind Control attacks were all about distractions.

For his to take effect, he had to do a better job of distracting his opponent.

How to do that? Well, the best method of distraction was making someone face their worst fear.

Again and again, this crazy man had mumbled that he had to finish before that 'old bird' came back.

Picking up the clues from the engraving on the pendant that was responsible for the Displacement Formation, Daneel took a chance and rolled the dice.

Calling on his prowess as a Paragon, Daneel made the image of a gigantic Black Raven, much like the Protector Raven he had seen in the Black Raven Kingdom but much larger, appear behind him.

It was a fake apparition using magic, but for a millisecond, it looked real.

"No! You damn old bird! Don't take me away just yet! I need to have more fun!"

As the crazy man shouted this in fright, a smile lit up on Daneel's face.

He had succeeded.

[Mind Control Successful. With the upgraded Mind Control, host can give multiple commands which the target will be forced to heed.]

As these words echoed in his head, Daneel watched as the crazy man froze in the sky with his fist halfway toward his face.

Although Daneel wished he could revel in his victory, he knew that he had no time. That 'old bird' could come at any moment, so he had to make it quick.

"First tell me who you are, what happened to you, and whether you know anything about the mind control spell on Faxul."

The response startled Daneel, making him take a step back in the air with an expression as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt.

"I was the King of the Black Raven Kingdom 178 years ago-and I was the most talented one to have ever been born in the Kingdom. I passed the test of the Empire Spirit in our Kingdom, but the Empire Spirit was an ancient Black Raven which used to serve the Empire of Angaria and who had reached the level of a Hero and had had its remnant bound to the stone podium. During the process of possession, we were besieged by those from the Withering Leaf Sect, and although the Empire Spirit took full temporary possession of me, thereby raising my Exalted Warrior self to become a Hero before slaughtering multiple Hero-level entities and fleeing, the overall process failed, leaving my mind in a broken mess. The Empire Spirit was also weakened, so it decreased its criteria before slipping into a slumber. It awoke 20 years ago, and after that, it has been watching the Kingdom for a chance to take control of a talented Exalted Human Black Raven citizen, who turned out to be your friend. Now, it intends to wait and recuperate fully, which needs a month's time, before beginning the possession process. You cannot save him."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

462 Decision

As Daneel saw the mystery of the origins of this crazy man be revealed in front of him, he couldn't help but shake his head with pity.

He had heard the way the man had spoken when he had been lucid, and it had been very reminiscent of a king.

Watching the fate of this person who had definitely once ruled over millions of people, Daneel shuddered with fear, wondering if something similar might have happened to him to if he hadn't found out about the dangers of the Empire Spirit.

Thankfully, with all the means available to him, he had.

Coming back to this matter, the most worrying thing was that the Empire Spirit had managed to kill multiple Hero level entities in its heyday.

Right now, it was a very reasonable guess that it would definitely not even flinch at killing him, who was just a Warrior.

Besides, that last proclamation about him not being able to save his best friend had sounded ominous, and because he knew for sure that the one in front of him was telling the truth due to the Mind Control spell, Daneel felt worry clouding his mind.

The only good news was that the Empire Spirit was still currently weakened, and he still had one month of time.

Of course, in one day, he would have to return to the Sect of Hedon, but Daneel would try to figure out how to escape from that later on, as first, he needed to decide what he was going to do with this abject man.

"Why do you think I cannot save him?"

As Daneel asked the obvious question, he almost felt as if the crazy king in front of him had just scoffed.

"Even though you are in possession of a Hero level Mind Control spell, you cannot cancel out another, especially when it is in full effect. Whatever you do, you cannot break your friend out of that spell, and the Empire Spirit would just drive him crazy if you tried anything else. You can't hope to trick it either: it is something that has existed for thousands of years, and its intelligence surpasses almost everyone alive. I suggest that you forget your friend, or if you have the guts, kill him to save him from that plight."

As the chilling words entered Daneel's ears, an intense frown came on his face, but he decided to move on for now.

"Why are you so afraid of that bird?"

"This is not the first time that I managed to escape. Sometimes it even lets me escape so that I don't devolve completely into madness. The second side in me get satisfied when it drinks someone's blood, so it engages in that activity while the first has no option but to watch on with horror. That is why it has been imploring you to kill it. After a little period of time, which typically ends 10 minutes from now, the Empire Spirit reactivates the Mind Control spell on this body, making it return to where its corporeal body is."

The crazy man was in a state where his inner consciousness seemed to be talking, so he occasionally referred to himself in the third person.

At the mention of the corporeal body, Daneel recalled what he said about the Empire spirit – that it was bound to the stone podium.

"Will destroying the stone podium kill the spirit?"

"Yes. But it cannot be destroyed using any means that are available right now. The only other way is to absorb all of the Energy inside the stone podium, which is the source of the Spirit's continued existence in this world. This option is only possible for Spirits which have been ripped from their original place, which, in itself, takes a massive effort, and is only possible during an attempt of possession. When the stone podium was being carried away on the orders of the Empire Spirit for safety, I noticed that there were misshapen branches of red material inside which constituted it."

As Daneel heard this, his eyes widened with surprise.

Could it be…?

After hearing about the Ker Root, Daneel had asked the system to show him what it looked like, just in case he came upon one by chance.

Quickly, using his Paragon powers, he made an image of the Ker Root that he had seen in the book appear in front of the crazy king.

It was almost exactly like the root of a plant, except if the root were made up of the shiny material that glowed a dark red.

Daneel was just about to rejoice, but the answer from the crazy king made a crestfallen expression appear on his face.

"No. It was much thicker, and it was a much darker color. It was almost black."

At this moment, the system spoke in his mind, making him smile.

[The person in front of host is referring to the ancient form of the Ker Root, when the Energy level of the continent was much higher. Descriptions of the material were found in one of the journals of a scholar who extensively studied the age of the Empire of Angaria.]

Yes! That meant that the crazy plan that had appeared in his head might work!

However, now was not the time to think about it. First, he had to decide whether he was going to kill this King.

If he did, then he would be granting the wish of someone who might have only wanted to grow stronger in order to help his people.

Yet, he would be taking a very big risk, as the Empire Spirit might be able to detect that something was wrong.

However, if he didn't, he would be left with the guilt of ignoring a helpless man's plea just to keep themselves safe.

Also, killing someone in cold blood just because they asked for it and needed it was still not something the Daneel was sure that he could do.

Sure, he had gotten a lot more bloodthirsty than before due to everything he had been through, which had especially been on display when he had slaughtered those scum in the Sect of Hedon without flinching.

Only, then, he had been imagining what they had done to those poor women in the Black Raven Kingdom, and he had let the anger take control.

Now, with this man pleading in front of him, Daneel was hesitant.

Did everything always have to be so black and white? Couldn't there be better, easier ways to do things?

Before, in the fight, Daneel had at some point decided, without even knowing why, that he would defeat his opponent directly, matching fist with fist and blood with blood.

Thankfully, he had snapped out of that after realizing that that would only end in his room.

After that, he had managed to find a solution through his wit.

Could he do that now?

Asking himself that, Daneel sank into deep thought, and a few minutes later, he realized that there really was a way.

To confirm, he asked the crazy king, "Can the Empire Spirit detect that you were under the effect of a Hero level Mind Control spell?"

"No, because it is at the same level. Spells at the same level cannot detect things about each other. They can only do so with those of lower level. Right now, its Mind Control spell is still on me, but it is in a dormant stage. You were not able to detect it."

That was right. Daneel had guessed as much, and had also been hoping that this would be the case, even though this wasn't always how spells worked.

"Good. First, tell me the location of the Empire Spirit, and answer a few more questions of mine. Then, listen. This is what happened…"

…

A few minutes later.

At the waterfall where Faxul had interacted with the Empire Spirit, the crazy man had just returned and was blabbering to himself while he walked inside the cave.

The stone podium was unmoving, but if one closed their eyes, they would be able to feel that there was something inside that podium that was keeping an eye on the blabbering man.

Inside the crazy king's mind, the Empire Spirit rummaged around, as since the man had come back, it had only heard from the crazy side of him, with the lucid side nowhere to be seen.

A few seconds later, it understood what had happened.

This old friend of its had gone and slaughtered a few people from his own Kingdom, and after so many years, it had finally been the last straw. The lucid side had completely snapped and lost itself to the crazy one, resulting in the man now truly deserving the moniker "crazy"

Well, this didn't change or modify its plans in any way.

Changing back its focus to the Black Raven throne room, it observed as the body that it was going to inhabit and rule the world with went about its daily routine, sitting in on a boring court session while wondering when it could get back to testing out that incredible inheritance that it had received from the mysterious stone podium inside the waterfall.

The doubt regarding whether it should contact its best friend still remained, but the Mind Control spell was more than enough to stop the body from doing so, all while fattening itself up to be ripe enough to be plucked by the Empire Spirit when it was done recovering.

That was why the Empire Spirit did not even consider the person who was inside the body presently: it only referred to the body as "it", as it saw itself inside the body soon, at which point the original owner would be irrelevant.

Waiting for that day when it could finally free itself from this damn podium, the Empire Spirit chuckled to itself sinisterly.

…

Meanwhile, Daneel had reached the Kingdom of Lanthanor and was standing in the library, where the red light was still shining from under the door.

For the life of him, he couldn't decide whether he had to go in, or whether he should just ignore it completely, just to be safe.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

463 Talking to the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor

Daneel had felt much calmer after arranging everything with the crazy King, as he was at least starting to form a plan to save his best friend.

Although he didn't know the details and whether it would work or not, it was a start, and it was much better than his position before where he had been clueless about everything that was happening.

In this regard, he had to thank that crazy King for choosing him as an opponent.

Not allowing himself to dwell on everything he had learned right now, Daneel decided to take care of the other pressing matter first.

The matter of the red light that had been shining from under the door behind which the Empire Spirit of the Kingdom of Lanthanor was.

He had had to think long and hard before coming to the decision to go and check it out, as there was a small possibility that the Empire Spirit could find out that he was ignoring it even though he knew that it was giving an indication that something about it had changed.

He had been so excited to unlock its level before, and if nothing had changed, he would have joyfully run to the library to find out if he had unlocked another level so that he could get more benefits such as the "awesome" Ruler's Inheritance.

However, now, he was well aware that Empire Spirits were backstabbing as*holes who just wanted body bags to inhabit.

The only consolation was that one needed to use the techniques given by the Empire Spirit repeatedly in order to get possessed, and he had done no such thing with the Ruler's Inheritance.

Hence, the chances were low that there was any danger to him, especially if the Empire Spirit still believed that it was successfully deceiving him.

Daneel had found out just how Faxul had become infected with the Mind Control spell, and he wasn't afraid of that either, as the system had assured him that if the same scenario played out, it would be able to hold off the attack until he managed to extricate himself from the situation.

So, all in all, considering the different risks between ignoring the call and heeding it, Daneel chose to go and check it out, as it seemed to be the safer option.

Besides, who knew, maybe he would be able to find some clue which would allow him to better make a plan to save Faxul.

However, after arriving at the door inside the library, Daneel started to hesitate again.

He was currently still blind in one eye, but the camouflage spell made sure that no one would be able to observe that the King of Lanthanor had had his ass handed to him.

According to the system, regenerating the eye wasn't a big deal, and it just needed a lot of Ker gems for it to happen. Hence, he had left that task until the time when he returned to the sect.

The Empire Spirit could know what he was thinking, so he acted as though he was talking to someone through a communication trinket, while trying to control the frustration that had appeared inside him at the thought of talking to that arrogant bastard who had led him around by his nose like a damn circus animal.

That was also partially the reason why he had paused here.

Every time he remembered just how pitiful he must have looked when he acted so excited at receiving the Ruler's Inheritance, curses came to Daneel's mouth which he had to swallow down with great difficulty.

Again and again, this inculcated the lesson inside him that he had to be very careful about what or whom he trusted.

Finally calming down, he was about to enter, but he decided to take another precaution – the ultimate one.

Using the memory editing feature of the system, he made sure that he was the same king from before the trip to the Sect of Hedon, who was very excited that there was a change in the 'hidden treasure' of the Lanthanor Kingdom.

The memories of this encounter were definitely going to make him want to puke in his mouth, but he would just have to live with them.

A second later, all he remembered was training for the past few months rigorously with the goal of obtaining as much power as possible, quickly. Right now, he was just here because he had received a very urgent communication about the red light.

Walking in, an expression of excitement came on his face as he hurried forward and placed his hands on the sides of the stone podium.

Immediately, a voice sounded inside his head which would have shocked him very, very badly if he hadn't taken that step to edit his memories.

"King Daneel! Your friend, King Faxul is in danger! Someone who was once a brother of mine will soon take control of his body! You must put a stop to him!"

"What? Faxul's in danger? And what do you mean a 'brother' of yours?! I thought you were just an artificial intelligence placed inside to guard the secrets!"

As Daneel asked in a naive manner, the Empire Spirit seemed to sigh with frustration.

"It seems that you really don't know what I'm talking about. You were not supposed to find out about this now, but I guess there isn't much of a choice. I am not an artificial intelligence. I was once a Hero who defended the Empire of Angaria from the hordes who sought to invade this great continent. By the request of the Honorable Emperor, I chose for a part of my consciousness to be interred in this stone podium so that the descendants of our glorious Empire will have the means to defend themselves if there was a threat and rebuild the Empire after learning from the mistakes that were committed which led to the catastrophe."

"You mean a hero, as in, you did a heroic deed?"

"No, you…never mind! A Hero, as in, someone who has advanced to the next level after the Champion level, which is the Hero level!"

"Whaaaaaat?"

Daneel made a sound as if his mind had been blown.

This self of his had heard vaguely that the level after Champion was Hero, but the main thing that had startled it was the revelation of the origin of the Empire Spirit.

However, this story was completely different from what he had seen.

Of course, he didn't know this.

With his eyebrows raised so far that they had nowhere else to go on his forehead, Daneel continued listening to the Empire Spirit.

"Sadly, the Honorable Emperor seemed to have miscalculated the greed of his descendants and the rate at which Energy would decrease in the entire Continent. It became harder and harder to find suitable candidates due to the strict criteria that had been set down, but the main problem wasn't even this. No, the problem that he foresaw, but didn't seek to solve was the effect of time. With time, the consciousnesses started to lose their purpose due to the boredom. We are all connected, so when the first of our brethren turned into a sinister lunatic who only wanted to possess someone in order to leave the confines of our corporeal body, we were all shocked. Together, with what little power that was available to us, we made him perish, but more started to follow. One by one, like leaves on a tree, the Noble Heroes of the Empire Of Angaria became lost. Only I and one other remain, while the rest just lie in wait for a host to inhabit. One such brother of mine has managed to trap your friend. In one month, he is going to possess him and become the strongest being on this continent. You must stop him if you want to save this continent, and your friend."

As Daneel heard this fascinating tale, he couldn't help but drop his jaw with awe.

Noble Heros beset with a purpose, but corrupted by time.

It all sounded like a fantasy, but something inside him, which had changed so deeply due to the revelation of the 'truth' behind Empire Spirits, wondered why he should believe this whole story.

As if sensing his feelings, a sign echoed inside his mind, before Daneel found himself pulled away from reality, just like before, when he had witnessed that scene of the figure massacring thousands of innocent people.

After the scene became clear, Daneel realized that he was in a very strange room.

It was circular, and instead of stone or typical materials, the room seemed to be made of gold that shone in the light that looked like it was emanating from everywhere.

Glass windows were set all around, and the intricate pattern etched on them depicted fantastic sights of mythical beasts that Daneel had only heard of.

However, Daneel quickly realized that he wasn't alone, and that something was wrong.

Everything seemed…bigger.

It was as if he had shrunk…or had entered the abode of a giant unwittingly.

As he finally placed his focus on the only figure in the room, he understood that it was the latter.

This man was at least 9 feet(2.75 meters) tall, and his back seemed so broad that Daneel felt sure that it could encompass the length of his own body.

He was wearing regal light-gold colored robes on which the designs looked like they were moving, and his white hair that reached his shoulders was neatly combed back.

Daneel was in the center of the room, and when he heard a door opening behind him, he turned around.

Unlike that other vision where he had interacted with everyone, in this one, it looked like he was just here to watch, as he wasn't paid any attention by anyone.

Numerous individuals entered, and many of them weren't even human.

After a few moments, the door closed, and the man who had been looking out all this time finally turned around.

He had a chiseled face, but the thing that would strike anyone first was his eyes.

They contained such dignity, such presence, such wisdom that anyone would want to just bend the knee and bow down out of sheer respect and reverence.

This urge to kneel seemed to be born from the very soul of a being, and although he was only here to watch, Daneel couldn't resist. He knelt along with all the others in the room, but as he did so, he realized something.

This wasn't his first time seeing this man.

No, he had seen him before.

However, it made sense why it had been difficult to identify that as first glance.

It was because the last time Daneel had seen him, he was busy carrying out a terrifying slaughter.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

464 Prioritizing

As Daneel tried hard to control his shock at discovering this fact, the regal man began to speak, and his voice carried a certain weight that would make anyone take what he was saying very, very seriously.

"Nobel Heroes of the Empire. Rise."

As one, everyone stood up, and when Daneel looked around, he could see that each of their eyes contained a solemnity that spoke volumes about their emotions right now.

"You all know why you are here. You have heeded my call to take up the sacred duty.

Your names will be etched into the Wall of Grand Heroes.

Your deeds will be sung in the everlasting halls of the Heavens.

For hope.

For honor.

For Angaria.

FOR THE ETERNAL GLORY OF THE EMPIRE! LET US MARCH FORTH INTO THE VOID WITH OUR HEADS HELD HIGH!"

"FOR THE ETERNAL GLORY OF THE EMPIRE!"

Although the speech was short, it set Daneel's heart ablaze, and it made him feel like screaming out like the others, even though he didn't know exactly what was going on here.

After the screaming died down, the man spoke again, but his tone seemed to contain sadness now.

"Let us depart. Apocalypse approaches, and only we can save the future of this bountiful continent. You have been briefed about your duties. At no point must you give in to the decay of time. At no point must you relax your criteria. And at no point must you let down your guard. Farewell, friends."

Suddenly, Daneel got the scare of his life when he felt someone laying a hand on his shoulder.

He had merely been a spectator till now, and the others had even passed through him as if he were just a ghost.

Hence, when this implausible event occurred, he almost jumped up in fright.

Looking around, he noticed that it was the Empire Spirit, who was in the form of that rugged man he had seen in the last vision.

"Let's go."

As Daneel felt himself yanked out of the vision, his consciousness returned to his body while he couldn't help but reel from the shock.

"W-wasn't he the one who…"

"Yes, it was him. But the reasons behind that happening are not for you to find out now. All you must know is that your friend is in danger, and he must be saved. Now, do you believe me?"

Although that doubt due to the innermost changes in him did exist even though his memories about everything he had learned were sealed, it had been rocked by everything he had seen right now.

The Daneel right now had no strong reason to think that the Empire Spirit was out to get him. So, at least momentarily, he shook his head, intending to find out what it had to say regarding him 'saving' his friend.

This was also a matter of high importance, so Daneel didn't really want to take chances.

"Good. I see that you still have some doubts, but you seem to be ready to at least listen. Let me repeat, and reiterate. Your friend, Faxul, has come under a 'Mind Control' spell, which allows that Empire Spirit to control his mind. It was through this that it ensured that he didn't contact you. You have a month's time. After that, his body will come under the possession of the Empire Spirit, and he will rise naturally to the Hero Level, at least as a Mage. I know with certainty that his plan after that involves teaming up with the Church of Rectitude. This is because corrupted Empire Spirits only want to grow stronger, and the path to power beyond the Hero level is cut off to the Angarians. Only the Church has information about it, so he intends to trade this continent for that chance to ascend beyond the Hero level. It is up to you to save your friend and this continent itself."

As Daneel heard clearly the grave implications that could become reality if he acted too cautiously, he stood up straight and asked hesitantly, "Wh-what do I need to do?"

"Kill him. Kill Faxul, at the exact moment when he is going to be possessed. This will injure the Empire Spirit and put it into a slumber it will not be able to awaken from this time."

Silence.

As Daneel heard the answer from the Empire Spirit, it was as if they echoed in his head, with him refusing to comprehend and accept what they meant.

He…was supposed to kill Faxul? His closest friend and brother?

"But I thought you said that I should save him!"

As Daneel asked this with frustration in his tone, the Empire Spirit answered with a sigh.

"Young King. By killing him, you will be saving him. The fate that awaits him if the possession succeeds is a life of imprisonment in his own body. He would only be able to watch while the Empire Spirit commits untold sins with his face. He will curse you for not saving him. He will wish for death, but there will be no one to grant him his wish."

No.

That couldn't be!

Unwilling to believe it, Daneel removed his hands from the podium and stepped back, taking the support of the wall behind him to stand upright.

It was as if all his strength had left his body, and what was left was just the frail, powerless shell.

This reminded him of how he had been when he had met Faxul in the training hall: each fight of theirs, each plan, each dream-had enabled him to rise to this position today.

And he was supposed to just kill the guy?

Furious, Daneel walked forward and put his hands on the podium again with the intension of demanding for a different way to resolve this matter, but the Empire Spirit spoke first as if it had read his mind.

"There is no other way. I don't expect you to come to terms with it right now. Take some time. Think. Reflect. But whatever you do, DO NOT contact Faxul to find out if what I'm telling is true. That would be the dumbest thing you can do. The Empire Spirit would become aware of my plan to use you to stop it, and it would take precautions. Go. The fate of the continent is in your hands, and yours alone. Even the bigwigs in those puny sects that call themselves the 'Big 4' can't stop it. Only you can. I hope you make the right decision. If you do, come back here in 3 weeks. If you don't…"

Suddenly, Daneel felt his surroundings blur, as he once again found himself being transported into a vision.

However, this time, it was very brief, but also very vivid.

It was that image of the figure he had seen just now slaughtering people left and right without mercy.

"The agent of destruction might be different, but the result will be the same. I hope you do not repeat the mistakes that we made. Now, leave."

With this, the Empire Spirit completely sealed itself off, not responding at all no matter how many times Daneel tried to call upon it.

With a hopeless expression on his face, Daneel teleported away and arrived at his quarters.

There was a large, wall-length mirror on one side of his quarters. There, he paused to look at himself.

[No eavesdroppers have been found. Unsealing memories.]

Gasp!

In the mirror, Daneel could see as the blood completely drained from his face when all the things he had learned about in the Sect and from the talk with the crazy king reappeared in his mind.

With staggering steps, he stumbled back and fell on the ground near the bed, using it to take support while viewing everything he had been shown by the Empire Spirit by Lanthanor in a new light.

At this point, he only had one question in his mind.

WHAT THE F*CK?!

For once, the King of Lanthanor was well and truly flummoxed.

The Big 4's opinion was that all Empire Spirits were evil, and just wanted to possess a body.

This Empire Spirit, on the other hand, wanted him to believe that it was only a few that had gone mad to due to boredom.

Whom was he supposed to believe?!

Running his hands through his hair, Daneel felt as if he were going mad.

The statement regarding the fact that killing Daneel was the only way to 'save' him didn't simplify matters, either.

All in all, Daneel found himself overwhelmed.

It was as if was a poor college student who had been studying for 2 exams which, in his case, were the problems of the impending invasion of the Church along with his quest to incriminate Ashahell, and the issue regarding how he was going to deal with all the hidden experts and the Mad Doctor when it was revealed that he had a powerful Inheritance.

However, now, another mad professor had come along and said that he had a third exam, too!

'Really, what the f*ck, man? Don't I have enough on my plate?', he would have asked, if he could find someone to blame for everything that seemed to be happening at once.

No. He couldn't let himself be overburdened like this, as it would definitely lead to him committing mistakes, which might spell doom for the entire continent itself.

Once again, just like when he had become King and had been overwhelmed by all the things he had to take care of, he had to learn to prioritize.

Taking a deep breath and running his hands one last time through the mess that was his hair, Daneel thought about everything, and realized that if he handled things properly, those second and third 'exams' could be taken at the same time.

As for whether the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor was lying or not, and all the conspiracies that could be derived from the visions he had seen about the truth behind the Empire, Daneel realized that it really didn't matter right now.

All he knew was that his friend was in danger, and he was going to save him.

No matter what it took.

And in the process, he might just shoot forward to become a Peak Warrior, while also putting an end to that goddamn 'bird'.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

465 Risk

Meanwhile, in the Black Raven Kingdom.

In one of the training halls that existed exclusively for the King to use, Faxul was standing in front of a Black Raven with his hand outstretched.

The bird was looking at him intelligently with questioning eyes, as if wondering what this man was doing.

A few seconds later, it felt a certain…weakness, as if it had just gotten injured and had its blood taken away.

Over the course of its growth, it had been in much tougher situations. This minuscule feeling of weakness and pain was nothing to it, so it just squawked, indicating its displeasure that the treat it had been promised to come here hadn't been given to it yet.

With complete seriousness, Faxul was examining the Raven, trying to determine whether it was hurt in any way.

He went so far as to ask the Protector Raven to connect with it and check, as he wanted to make damn sure that this technique wasn't doing something untoward to the birds.

As a Black Raven of a higher tier, the Protector Raven was capable of connecting with normal Black Ravens just like humans did. All it needed to do was be in the target's proximity.

Heeding his call, the Protector Raven landed on the large balcony to the side before entering and doing what he had asked.

It was only after it told him that the Raven was just hungry, did he heave a sigh of relief and throw the piece of special meat that he had placed to the side to entice the Black Raven to stay still.

Thanking the Protector Raven, Faxul walked back to his room while in deep thought.

Inside his body, he could feel a pocket of…something, and as it dissolved slowly, he felt energetic and lightly, as if he had just been through a long training session.

Clearly, the technique was working, and he could even tell that he had pushed himself closer to the Warrior level.

A month. A month was all it would take for him to take that step across. Till then, he had to keep this under wraps, as he could just surprise his friend with after that by showing him the result and even offering the technique to him so that he could see whether he could learn anything from it.

This thought appeared in Faxul's mind all of a sudden, and it got stronger and stronger, as if there was a person inside his skull shouting with his full might, making the sound reverberate all over his body, forcing him to acknowledge it.

To him, it felt more as if he was so sure that this was the right thing, that he, himself was impatient that he should decide to do it.

Finally, after getting to his dormitory and locking his door, Faxul agreed, as the repetitions of the statement in his mind had started to make him believe that it really was the best thing to do.

However, he got the faint feeling that something was wrong.

As if it were a proof that an alien hunter had gotten on Earth which validated his life's pursuit, Faxul clung to that feeling, but try as he could, he couldn't hold on.

Again and again, he was forced, or he was forcing himself, to think normally. Rationally. Intelligently.

Why would anything be wrong? This was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to him, and it was even going to help Daneel after that surprise.

As that feeling disappeared, Faxul felt as if he had lost something-some…hope?

No, he must be wrong.

Yes, about a month from now, he was going to give his friend a great surprise.

However, he would go to the waterfall first on that day, so that he could set everything up.

Nodding to himself, Faxul got up and resumed his daily activities.

….

After successfully prioritizing and deciding what he was going to do, Daneel paced back and forth in his quarters, etching out all the details of the plan.

There were many variables that he had to eliminate, but he had a month to work on them.

However, try as he may, Daneel couldn't shake the feeling that ignoring the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor might not be so wise.

He needed information, and he needed all the help he could get to carry out this plan, as it had a very large rate of failure if even the smallest thing went wrong.

However, how could he guarantee that the Empire Spirits weren't working together in some way in order to trap and possess him, too?

This was a very real risk, but Daneel was considering whether he should take it, as all indications from everything he knew told him that even if that were the case, the system would be enough to help him escape.

Besides, he had been thinking about this, and he had to admit that the scholars of the Big 4 had quite a huge chance to be wrong.

Also, he had seen that…man for himself. That weight, that regality- it couldn't be faked.

At this moment, he had to admit that there was a chance that the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor was right.

However, trusting that chance was a very foolhardy thing to do, and if it were for almost anyone else, Daneel wouldn't even be considering it.

But this was his friend, who was closer than a brother. For him, he would do it.

So, without any more hesitation, the next day, he walked to the library where the Empire Spirit was located and repeated the action of editing his own memory.

Only, this time, he replaced his memory with that of brooding on the matter for a long, long time, before deciding that he needed to do it to save the millions of inhabitants of Angaria.

With red eyes that spoke volumes about the pain, sadness, and frustration he was feeling, Daneel walked up to the podium and grabbed it before shouting in his mind, "I'LL DO IT!"

After a brief silence, the Empire Spirit answered.

"Good. I knew I wasn't wrong about you. Now, listen up. This is the plan. About a month from now, the Empire Spirit will begin the process of possession in a location that I will give you. During the possession, both it and your friend will be vulnerable. That is when you must strike. I will secure you entry. After that, it is up to you to find the best moment to strike. It will be quite easy to spot, so don't worry about that. Do you understand? Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, I have one. During that window of opportunity, won't the corporeal body of the Empire Spirit also be vulnerable? Why not target and kill it instead of Faxul?"

"That's a smart question, but sadly, it's not possible. You are the only one whom I can secure entry for. And an Amateur Warrior like you does not have the means to destroy a Ker Root structure in that limited period of time. Trinkets are out of the question, too, as you'll have to go in without any. I've thought about everything, young King. This is the only way."

Although his memories had been edited, Daneel had made sure that he would ask this question by…mind controlling himself.

Hearing the answer, he only sighed and said "All right" before leaving, but after getting back to his quarters, a smile lit up on his face on replaying the answer with his memories intact.

The decision to take the chance with the Empire Spirit had already paid off in a major way, as his plan was almost now concrete.

He had been hoping that the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor's plan would make use of the moment of vulnerability which he needed access to, and it had done just that.

Feeling happy that something was finally going his way, Daneel had a talk with Eloise and Norcet to set up something before heading back to his 'team', who had been toiling day and night in order to cover for him and finish the job.

Eloise had seemed…different, in some way, but Daneel hadn't been able to identify how, and he had had no time to ponder on the issue. Hence, he had only ensured using the system that there was no threat to her life from any source.

After rejoining the team and returning to the Sect, Daneel collected the pay, for work that he hadn't done at all.

However, in the days following that, he worked his ass off.

From morning to night, he would always be doing some job or the other, and often, he took dangerous ones, which paid much more than any scam he could have done.

Time lost all meaning, with Daneel only focusing on job after job, accumulating as many Ker Gems as possible.

The matter with Ashahell had been placed to the side for now, as he needed to finish this first.

Finally, after 27 days, the auspicious time arrived.

On this day, Daneel's haggard face was smiling as he checked all his pockets, making sure that he had everything.

Without further ado, using another team mission, he set off on a small but very important detour before heading to the Kingdom of Lanthanor, and when he arrived, he went straight to the Empire Spirit.

When he grasped it, it asked, "Ready?"

For once, Daneel had all of his memories intact, so he was tempted to say, "More ready than I'll ever be" with a hopeful tone.

However, he was setting off on a sad mission to kill his best friend.

So, to suit the atmosphere, Daneel said "Yes," in a pained voice.

Yet, this atmosphere was completely broken when the Empire Spirit replied in a hesitant voice.

"Good. So…I need you to let me possess you. Only for a brief moment, I promise."

As Daneel heard this, he couldn't help but curse inwardly, finding the first wrench in his plan that had been going smoothly till now.

Really, what the f*ck? How the hell am I supposed to believe that it'll only be for a brief moment, huh? You think I'm a kid?!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

466 Possession 1

This 'just the tip' situation really stymied Daneel, but the Empire Spirit continued.

"Look. I know that you don't trust me. I am actually glad that that is the case. It shows me that you are someone cautious. But I really don't have a choice here. I need you to believe me. My method of securing entry for you is that I will pretend that I turned, just like the Black Raven Empire Spirit. After turning, I will claim that I managed to take control of you, as you are, after all, a once in a century talent. You rapidly used the technique I gave you and mastered it, so I managed to complete the possession very fast. In reality, the technique I gave you has no such backdoor, unlike the one the Black Raven Empire Spirit gave your friend. Again, I can't make you believe that, but that isn't important right now. What's crucial is this chance. The Black Raven Empire Spirit will believe this and let you in, as I'll be claiming that I'm there to protect it during its possession."

Daneel pondered on this for a few moments, before a question occurred to him.

"If this was your plan all along, why didn't you choose to deceive me that there really was a way to save Faxul, so that you could kill Faxul using my body yourself after entering its abode?"

This made the Empire Spirit chuckle, before it replied in an amused voice.

"That's quite cunning of you to think that up. But, that isn't possible. Temporary Voluntary Possession, which is what I'm going to do, will result in you still retaining the power to push me out using sheer will. If you see me using your body to kill your best friend, you would rebel, which would reveal everything to the Black Raven Empire Spirit and result in the entire plan being wasted. You must do it yourself, King. There is no other way. This is why I told you about this on that day, so that you could make a decision."

Again, Daneel was caught in a dilemma regarding whether he should trust this Empire Spirit or not.

Repeatedly, he was getting the feeling that everything it was saying made sense, and that he would be foolish to ignore it just to be too cautious.

However, Daneel needed proof.

So, after thinking hard, he got an idea.

"System, can it be identified whether the Empire Spirit is using a Temporary Voluntary Possession technique like it said, or a permanent one, like the one used on the Crazy King?"

[Affirmative. Possession is an advanced form of Mind Control. Due to system being in possession of the Hero-level Mind Control spell, system is capable of this task, as the same data can be used to check. Data collected by observing the target 'Crazy King' will also be used.]

That was good news. So, Daneel asked the most crucial question.

"If the Empire Spirit is attempting the latter after I give permission, is it possible for me to throw off the attempt and escape?"

[Negative. Host will be in a state of semi-slumber after giving permission, so this is not possible.]

Hearing this, Daneel frowned, but he felt like cursing the system after that when it continued, almost as if it had a sense of wit with which it was playing with Daneel.

[However, this can be ensured using a pre-programmed protocol to close off the consciousness and cancel the attempt if a Full Possession is detected.]

Of course-he had already used the pre-programming function of the system to excellent effect, and it seemed that it was going to help him again.

So, with this back up in hand, Daneel was much more agreeable to the Empire Spirit's plan.

Yet, he couldn't show that, so he acted as if he were very frustrated.

He first walked around the room with his face set in deep thought, before even banging on the walls, as if he was torn regarding a very, very critical decision.

Finally, satisfied with the frustration and hopelessness he had shown, Daneel walked up to the podium with a resigned look on his face and said, "Fine. It seems I don't have a choice, anyway."

"You won't regret it, Young King. Perhaps, with this, you will see that I mean you no harm, and that everything I've told you is the truth. I will begin right away. When you feel a prick in your mind as if you were being poked by a needle, please do not resist."

Nodding, Daneel took a deep breath and closed his eyes after confirming that the protocol was active.

Soon enough, he felt the prick, and although every fiber of his being told him that he should resist, Daneel relinquished all his defenses with great difficulty.

Slowly, he started to get sluggish, after which he felt a foreign presence in his mind.

Frankly, this made him feel…violated.

As he tried to push away this feeling of disgust, he slowly started to lose control of his limbs, one by one.

The sensations remained, but he could no longer move them with a thought.

This was followed by his heart, his organs, his throat, and finally: his face.

Daneel was now a passenger in his body: he could see everything, hear everything and feel everything, but he was not the one in control.

"Young King, shall we proceed? Notice that at any time, you can take back control. Why don't you try it now? Try to control yourself again."

Nodding but not feeling his head move(which was a very strange and horrifying feeling), Daneel willed himself to take back his body.

There was a small struggle, after which something seemed to give way.

Instantly, he could move again and do everything else again, but that foreign presence was still there.

"Now I am trapped with you, instead of the other way round. This is very dangerous, you know, for this exact reason. Anyway, let's go. It is time."

….

Meanwhile, in the cave behind the waterfall where Faxul had first come into contact with the Black Raven Empire Spirit.

Flying here with the Protector Raven again instead of teleporting, Faxul alighted on the ground and put his hand on the head of the Protector Raven.

These past few weeks had been fully filled with training and handling court matters, such as the deal to unify trade that was progressing briskly, and a few other requests that had been sent to him from Lanthanor for approval.

Today was the day. Today, he was going to break through to the Warrior level here, and he would be surprising his best friend with a means which they could probably use to grow strong enough to protect this continent, together.

This thought sounded great in his head, but day by day, as this date approached, Faxul had been feeling as if something was leaving him.

He had been using the technique to obtain power using Ravens, and each time, the feeling of digesting that globule of Energy was so addicting that it was almost like a drug.

Now, as he laid his hand on the glossy feathers of the Protector Raven and leaned his head on it, he felt as if he were saying…goodbye?

What? Why would he be doing that? No, he must be mistaken.

However strongly his mind persisted in making him think that everything was fine, it was as if something inside him knew that soon, everything was going to change, and not in a good way.

Only, that something was powerless to do anything.

With the gait of one walking to their death, Faxul and the Protector Raven entered the cave together this time.

According to the technique, this final step to the Warrior level and beyond needed him to use it on the Protector Raven, but it needed to be in the presence of the source of technique, as this was a dangerous step that would require the 'help' of the source to finish smoothly.

Entering, Faxul noticed that the podium was nowhere to be seen.

Looking around with puzzlement, he noticed that there was a path leading inwards.

Following it with the Protector Raven beside him, Faxul came upon a large, open area with stalagmites and stalactites filling the ceiling, which was illuminated with a soft glow.

The sight was beautiful and serene. There was even a calm lake to the side, where Faxul could see a few fish swimming around, minding their own business.

The only incongruence in this sight was the stone podium, which was perched in the center of the open area at an angle.

Before, the podium's base had been hidden underneath a few rocks, but now, he could see that it seemed as if it had been broken off quite crudely.

In a few spots, Faxul could notice thick branch-like structures of a dark red, almost black material, that seemed to be faintly glowing.

While he took all this in, he walked to the podium and put his hands on it without even thinking about why he was doing it.

His mind told him that it was just the natural thing to do.

"Wise King! You have progressed far with the technique, but it is time that you took the final step! From now on, a new age will unfold with you at the helm! Let us-"

"Hey, old bird. I beat you all those ages ago at each and every game the Empire held. Did you really think that you could beat me at this?"

As these words echoed in the open cave, a figure appeared at the entrance through which Faxul had just walked through.

The figure's hand was raised, holding the neck of the Crazy King who seemed to have been incapacitated without even landing a single blow.

His regal clothing that made him look like he had a Dragon perched on his shoulder only served to accentuate his Royal air, which was coupled with an expression of one who was like a force of nature: something that no one could stop.

"Long time no see, old bird. Now, were you fond of this mutt? Or can I snap his neck?"

As the crazy King's eyes widened due to the possibility that this man seemed crazier than him, Faxul's jaw dropped as he realized something.

This…was not his friend!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

467 Possession 2

As this realization swept through Faxul's mind, an ancient voice reverberated through the cave.

"Drakos. So you finally turned? Humph, took you long enough. I can just imagine what our Emperor must be feeling from above when he sees that even his most trusted general has become 'lost'. That's how he would put it. I call it becoming 'awakened'. Welcome to our circle, and congratulations for being the first to succeed. I guess that it is because of the exceptional talent of that King? And spare that mutt. I still have use for him."

"Humph."

Squeezing slightly and cutting off the air of the crazy king, Daneel, or Drakos, as he had been called, watched on as the man's face became purple before fainting.

Throwing him to the side as if he were garbage, Drakos walked forward before conjuring a throne that seemed to be made of dragons.

At the arms, the legs and even the back, ferocious dragons with realistic expressions could be seen, giving off a vibe of splendid, yet dangerous glory.

Idly taking a seat and putting one hand under his chin, Drakos answered.

"You guessed right. His talent was his undoing. Now, get on with it. I'll make sure there are no interferences. After you're done, we can discuss the future of this continent."

"What's there to discuss? I'll just share the Church's help with you. What use is breaking free from the constraints of our prison with so much difficulty just to perish in a few hundred years? Besides, it'll be easier to hand over Angaria on a plate to them if there are two of us. All right, I shall begin."

As the voice replied in this way, a change began to come over Faxul, whose hands seemed to be glued to the podium at the center of the open cave.

Faxul, on the other hand, had just had the Mind Control lifted.

Everything was already over! Right now, there was no more meaning in concealing the truth from him. Soon, he would just be a trapped consciousness that would slowly go crazy with time, stuck in an eternal prison that was his own body.

As soon as he had seen his friend's body being controlled by someone, he had understood that something was gravely wrong, and that was when the veil had been lifted.

In a flash, all of it became clear to him: from his failed attempt at contacting Daneel, to the forced Mind Control spell that took effect on him due to the crazy man.

Of course, at that moment, all the thoughts that had been crushed due to the Mind Control spell also stood out in his memory. With growing horror, Faxul viewed all of those times when his gut had told him that what he was doing was wrong, but it had been strangled and thrown to the side where it could no longer be viewed, so that Faxul would still carry forward with his goal.

All this time, he had just been fattening himself up, just like a sheep before the slaughter. The Black Raven Empire Spirit wanted someone as close to the Warrior level as possible, so he had been doing just that: growing in power, so that it could reap the rewards.

The whole thing about stepping to the Warrior level itself had been false! It had all been just a ruse for him to arrive here today, when the Black Raven Empire Spirit recovered, so that he could be possessed.

As for his friend, the same fate had clearly befallen him, too.

At this moment, Faxul felt…pity, towards himself.

From ever since he could remember, he had just been a burden to Daneel. Discounting the minimal and forgettable help he had done for him, he had just been someone who held on to his coattails while being shown the world.

Even his revenge couldn't have been possible without Daneel. Although he, himself, had played a large part, he knew that he would definitely be dead without his best friend.

Once, just once, he had been looking forward to it being the other way around. He would help Daneel, and they could do something together.

Alas, it seemed that fate only wanted to show him the heavens while dooming him to hell.

As he involuntarily started to lose control of his body, Faxul fought with all high might to no avail.

It was as if the world's strongest drug had been injected in him. Try as he might, he couldn't shake the foggy state that was chasing him.

Soon enough, he was half-asleep, and his body was no longer in his control.

A shiny, black glow enveloped his body, and it connected to the podium, covering it too.

The black glow over the podium seemed to…coalesce, turning into something solid while it started to move toward Faxul.

At the same time, in the exposed spots through where the branch-like structures could be seen, their glow stopped, leading them to become dull.

"Go now! It's time!"

As the Empire Spirit, or Drakos, as he had been called, shouted this in his mind, Daneel immediately regained control of his body.

All this while, he had been watching and observing while his body had been controlled.

He had noticed and learned many things, but it was time now to carry out his plan and save Faxul.

Teleportation had already been sealed inside the cave, so the only option was to run forward.

The whole show with the crazy king before had been to make sure that he wouldn't interfere at this moment.

As the throne disappeared underneath him, Daneel took a step forward before pushing off on it and running toward his friend.

However, suddenly, a low laugh appeared in the cave.

"Hahahahaha! I knew it, Drakos! You never were good at scheming, what with all the high and mighty attitude you had! Did you think I would be so foolish as to trust you if you randomly appeared and said that you had turned? Did you think I would be so foolish as to leave the one vulnerability in this process unprotected? You fool!"

As soon as the statement which was spoken in a confident, scoffing voice ended, a circular, transparent barrier appeared around Faxul's body, shielding him from all harm.

Inside Daneel's mind, Drakos started to panic.

"No! This can't be! He should have trusted me! That's a Hero-level barrier! We are all…doomed!"

In this moment of hopelessness, instead of being forlorn or despondent, Daneel actually…smiled.

In his mind, he said, "Oh, shut up with your dramatics, and just watch. THIS is how you scheme against someone."

As Drakos shut up with shock, Daneel leaped forward, covering that last distance between himself and his target in one go.

"You fool! It's useless! Nothing can get through that barrier! Nothing! NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU MAD?!"

Initially, the Black Raven Empire Spirit scoffed even more, seeing the young King of Lanthanor leap to 'save' his friend even though there was no chance at all of him breaching the barrier and harming him, in order to put an end to the possession.

However, that gloating turned into terrified panic, when after reaching the spot where the stone podium and Faxul were, the King of Lanthanor ignored his best friend and clasped his hands around the stone podium with a vice-like grip.

In a smooth motion, he lifted the podium up before banging it down the ground.

BOOOMMMMMM!

In an instant, the floor caved in, resulting in Daneel, the stone podium and Faxul free-falling for a few seconds before landing in another cave that seemed to have been excavated not long ago.

All the while, Faxul's body flopped lifelessly along with the stone podium as if he had been glued to it.

In a practiced motion, as soon as they were close to the ground, Daneel used the podium to cushion his fall and roll forward.

He didn't need to worry about Faxul at all, as he was being protected quite efficiently by the barrier.

After the roll, he thrust his hands forward, letting go of the podium and watching it fly through the air before it landed in a square pool in the floor.

SPLASH!

As some of the liquid inside it, which was grey and glowing with a few specks that looked like silver stars floating around, flew out and fell on the cave's floor, the stone podium became completely submerged, sinking to the bottom while taking Faxul along with it.

Standing up on seeing this sight, Daneel dusted his hands, happy that the pitching skills he had learned yesterday had served him well.

If Drakos, the Empire Spirit had a mouth, he would definitely be frothing at it right now with shock, while he moved his jaw up and down with a confused expression, wondering when the heck this 'kiddo', as he had once called him, had set all this up.

With confident strides, Daneel walked to the pool with the thick, grey liquid before raising his palms and putting them over it.

Instantly, the stars in the liquid seemed to grow brighter, as they started to absorb the now-vulnerable Energy present inside the ancient Ker Roots in the stone podium.

"B-but this is a lost formula that only the most talented of Champions can use! H-how are you-"

That voice from before interrupted Drakos's sputtering query in Daneel's head.

"YOU FOOL! YOU SCHEMED WELL, BUT YOU COULD NOT HAVE KNOWN THAT-"

"That you will temporarily raise that crazy King to become a Hero-level mage, before using him to cast Hero-level Mind Control spells all over again, just like when you escaped from the Withering Leaf Sect after making their Heroes kill each other?"

Right on cue, the crazy King who had been made to faint woke up like a robot and headed to this inner cave.

However, Daneel's response had made the Black Raven Empire Spirit sputter, but it regained its confidence the next second.

"So what if you know? You cannot defend against it! The only way to defend is if you know a Mind Control spell yourself! Even if Drakos gave you one now, you're just a puny Amateur Warrior! You can never hope to face against one cast by a Hero-level mage alone!"

"Who said I was alone?"

Saying this, Daneel raised one corner of his lips before casting a simple spell to make his voice much, much louder.

At this instant, a hint of the regal air that belonged to that Emperor seemed to emanate from him.

Taking a deep breath, he shouted.

"PEOPLE OF LANTHANOR! HEED MY CALL! COME TO MY AID!"

"FOR KING DANEEL! ONWARD! ONWARD!"

As the sound of 1000 people rushing into the vicinity of the waterfall and the cave began to be heard around them, Daneel spoke in his mind.

"Activate Ruler's Inheritance: Second Layer."

[Activating. 10x Amplified Spells ready to be deployed.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

468 Possession 3

1000 people.

Soldiers, merchants, farmers, citizens.

Different vocations, different lives.

All: united with one cause.

To rise and help their King, who had done so much for them.

One month ago, they had been contacted covertly by Eloise to move gradually into the Black Raven Kingdom under the guise of setting up the uniform trade route which would unite the two Kingdoms in trade.

Permission had been obtained from Faxul, who hadn't suspected anything because this was a plan that had been in place for a long time.

In turn, the Black Raven Empire Spirit had also not been alerted to anything.

Even now, this contingent had just 'happened' to be passing through this forest while being disguised by a Warrior-level trinket, just in case.

So, when they suddenly rushed in, both Drakos and the Black Raven Empire Spirit could only watch with dazed expressions, which would have been visible if they had faces.

"FOR KING DANEEL!"

"DEATH TO THE ENEMIES! DEAAATHHHHH!"

"FOR LANTHANOR!"

Various slogans, all with a singular passion that could only be born for a true King who cared for his citizens.

As the cacophony of 1000 voices assaulted Daneel's mind, he felt as if his head had been hit by a truck.

Subject to a throbbing pain unlike any he had ever experienced in his life, Daneel was almost at the state where he might take the decision to just rip off his own head in order to get rid of it.

Thankfully, he had prepared for this.

Gritting his teeth so hard that blood appeared from his mouth, Daneel spit out one sentence in his mind.

"Begin pre-programmed scenario."

[Activating pre-programmed scenario.

Identifying target.

Target found 458 meters north-east of host.

Target is at an elevation of 645 meters and closing in fast on host.

Waiting for target to reach optimal location.

Target has reached the optimal location.

Launching 10x amplified restriction spell.

Objective: Repeatedly cast amplified spells threatening the mage root of target so that his Hero-level Mind Control cannot be utilized without dying, while also using host's own 10x amplified Hero-level Mind Control to combat target's attempts.

Executing.]

BOOM!

While the system rattled off its actions inside Daneel's head, a gigantic hand which was at least 20 meters in length and 10 meters in width had appeared in the cave before slamming into the crazy King who had just descended to attack his target.

The hand was cut off at the wrist, and although it looked like it was made of stone, the truth was that it comprised of various elementary particles that enabled high strength while also allowing the welder to use it as comfortably as his own hand.

This was the Champion level spell Daneel had learned during his foray in the Sect of Hedon: God Hand.

The name was quite ambitious, but it couldn't be denied that thoughts about deities really did appear in one's mind when seeing such an awe-inducing weapon of destruction.

Each finger of the hand could change into any element as required, and when someone was caught in their grasp, they would also deploy a space-locking spell, although that wasn't required in this situation.

In many ways, it was very similar to the invincible Dragon claws conjured by the core-formation of the Kingdom of Lanthanor, which had made Daneel think that the Dragon-claw might be a more advanced application of God Hand.

The crazy king's eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was twisted into one of madness. No semblance of either personality from before was left: instead, there was only the desire to bathe in Daneel's blood after controlling his mind.

Alas, it seemed that he would never have his wish.

As soon as the God Hand slammed into the crazy King's body, an insanely strong Mind Control spell struck his mind, making him use the Hero-level mage powers he had been granted to just defend himself without moving any closer to his goal.

"Yeargh!"

Shouting with frustration, the crazy King threw off the Mind Control attack using his own. Although the spell had been amplified by 10 times, it was still not an equal match to one cast by a true-blue Hero mage.

After handling the more dire threat, he cast a simple unraveling spell to take care of the God Hand in the most efficient way possible.

However, just as he was about to leap forward once again, 2 more God Hands came into being, pommeling toward him in his path, along with a thick bolt of lightning-fire that had ultimate destructive properties.

As if that wasn't enough, he was also inundated by another prick in his mind, which meant that his opponent had launched another Mind Control attack.

Feeling vaguely as if something similar to this had happened before, the crazy King, or more accurately, the Black Raven Empire Spirit which was controlling it had to set time aside once again, lest the mage root of its host be destroyed, which would mean that its last hope of escaping its predicament would be gone.

How?! How the hell had this brat who wasn't even as old as the moss on its side set up such an immaculate plan which was being executed so well?

How had he managed to master the Ruler's Inheritance to such a high degree that he was able to have enough strength to keep his trump card at bay?

Even as the Black Raven Empire Spirit asked itself these questions, it felt its consciousness getting sluggish, as a feeling of weakness had started to spread through it.

It was as if something was being…sucked away from it.

When the Black Raven Empire Spirit turned its gaze to the pool it was submerged in, it noticed that the depths which had been murky after its arrival had started to acquire a glow, with light emanating from everywhere.

WHAT?!

Even if he was fighting at such a dizzyingly high level that was beyond him, he was still maintaining the spell to extract energy from the Ker Roots present in its corporeal body?

What was he, a machine? How the hell was he doing all this?

If it had known that its guess had been pretty close, it would have been pretty damn surprised.

The system was carrying out all the attacks meticulously like a machine, while maintaining the spell on the pool of liquid.

All Daneel had to do was handle the voices in his head from the 1000 Lanthanorians who were still marching to his exact location, but this was easier said than done.

When the Black Raven Empire Spirit turned its attention to the King of Lanthanor expecting a cool image of someone who had everything under his control, it was quite surprised to see him kneeling on the ground, holding his head with both hands and screaming soundlessly, as if he was close to going mad at any moment.

Yes! He wasn't managing the side-effects of the Ruler's Inheritance very well!

This was its chance!

There was a very precarious balance that was being maintained right now, what with the attacks from the King of Lanthanor and the attempts to close the distance by the Crazy King.

If it could just introduce a small factor to tip the scale in its favor…it would win!

Instantly, the Black Raven Empire Spirit was reminded of the Protector Raven, which was lying upstairs, unconscious, as it had decided that the Raven might interfere if it saw its master coming under someone's control.

It also had a Mind Control spell on the intelligent beast, which had enabled it to bring the kid to this place that first time. However, it couldn't control both with its limited power right now. Yet, a workaround could be found for that easily.

Yes! This would work!

Without hesitation, and without dumbly proclaiming its intentions to alert its opponent, the Black Raven Empire Spirit chose a moment when the crazy King had just thrown off a Mind Control attack.

Letting him suffer an attack by a God Hand, it shifted its attention to the Protector Raven.

Mind Control only allowed one to control a target when the target was conscious. It wasn't possible for it to magically wake up those who were unconscious, or incapable of doing so.

However, since the unconsciousness of the Protector Beast was induced by the Black Raven Empire Spirit, it was able to command it to wake and attack the King of Lanthanor, in an attempt to foil his plan.

He definitely must not have prepared for this!

With eager anticipation, the Black Raven Empire Spirit watched as the Protector Raven stood before jumping forward and leaping down to enter the cave.

Still clutching his head in his hands, the King of Lanthanor seemed oblivious to his surroundings, as he did nothing to defend himself even when the Protector Raven entered the inner cave and headed toward him to run him through with its sharp beak.

It had held in its glee at outsmarting its opponent till now, but at this moment, where the beak of the Protector Raven was just about to end this whole farce, the Back Raven Empire Spirit decided to speak with euphoric joy.

"DESPAIR! HOW DARE YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD OUTWIT AN EXISTENCE LIKE ME, WHO HAS LIVED FOR THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS! DIE-wait, what?"

At the last moment before impact, something hidden inside the Protector Raven's mind came into effect, knocking it out and making it skid on the floor harmlessly.

[Backup Disabling Switch placed in Protector Raven by host has been activated.]

This statement was heard in Daneel's mind, but he was too busy trying to keep the voices from devouring him.

However, it seemed as if it was the Black Raven Empire Spirit who seemed like it had had its pride devoured.

In thousands of years, even when it was alive, it had never felt this helpless. This pathetic.

Bully! This guy was just a bully! Here it had just wanted to get out of its prison, and this guy had come along with everything in his grasp! Dammit!

Brought close to tears, the Black Raven Empire Spirit could only ramble like this before deciding to do the last thing it could do in this situation.

"All right, Young King. I admit that you planned everything perfectly. I know that you based my abilities on what you must have found out in the Big 4, through some means. Regardless, there is one thing that I made them think I am incapable of."

Even though Daneel was oblivious, he opened his eyes now a little bit, as he had just managed to more or less reach an equilibrium he could maintain for a few seconds.

So, when he did, he was shocked to see Faxul's upper body emerge from the pool, while the Black Raven Empire Spirit made a proclamation.

"Stop this whole thing, or he dies."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

469 Possession End

The moment Faxul's upper body emerged from the pool, the crazy King went still, flopping to the ground lifelessly.

[Target found to be incapacitated. Deactivating Ruler's Inheritance as per program.]

As the voices suddenly disappeared, Daneel finally got up from the floor, dusting his knees in the process.

Tasting blood in his mouth, he couldn't help but spit out before wiping the rest away, before looking around and seeing the mayhem that had been wrought when he had been busy trying to ignore the voices.

This waterfall and the cave seemed to have been covered by an impassable barrier for weaker humans, so there was no risk of his citizens marching in and finding this scene. So, Daneel got back to the urgent matter at hand.

The Black Raven Empire Spirit seemed to know just how jarring the Ruler's Inheritance must be, so it had waited silently while Daneel returned to his senses.

However, seeing him look around idly, it couldn't help but feel infuriated, as time was running out for it. Its Energy was being sucked away, and soon, it would have no option but to go into an endless slumber.

Compared to that, anything was fine.

It knew that its corporeal body, the stone podium, was invincible when an active attempt at possession wasn't being made.

So, if worst came to worst, the Black Raven Empire Spirit was prepared to kill this host it had worked so hard to acquire, as the alternative was much more horrifying.

True, it would be trapped in the damn podium for a long, long time again, but that was still better.

Still, it still wanted to make one last-ditch attempt at using the life of this brat's best friend to achieve what it wanted.

"Are you really prepared to see your friend die? At least, if I possess him, he will still be alive. Who knows? In the future, if you grow strong enough, you might find an opportunity to abolish my consciousness and give him back his body. I'm even prepared to be agreeable to that, as I can just shift to a new body then. Think about it, young King. You will not get a better offer. Refuse, and your friend dies. Because of you."

Indeed, Daneel had been dazed after that horrendous experience of having 1000 people inside his head.

If he hadn't broken through to become a Warrior, he would definitely have succumbed and gone mad.

All aspects of a Warrior were upgraded when compared to an Exalted Human, so it only made sense that this had been a deciding factor.

His plan had been going pretty smoothly till now. He had indeed obtained clearer information about exactly what had happened when the Heroes of the Withering Leaf Sect had been killed, so he had been able to program the system to take care of the situation.

Everything had worked out beautifully so far, including the usage of the failsafe he had placed in the Protector Raven when he had cured it of the inability to connect with Faxul.

He hadn't known what situation he would have to use it in, but he had to admit that it had definitely paid off in a large way.

Only, now, it seemed that there was finally a snag.

According to the reports, the Empire Spirit shouldn't be able to control someone without temporarily possessing them, like it had done the crazy King all those years ago.

Both he and the Black Raven Empire Spirit knew that it was a dumb thing to do, as it would just mean that Daneel could use the same method as before to keep Faxul at bay while the solution continued to extract the Energy, as it would still be vulnerable during a temporary possession. Also, this would result in Faxul becoming crazy again, and the Empire Spirit becoming injured, which might land it in a permanent slumber this time.

So, right now, Daneel found himself a bit flummoxed, but thankfully, his habit of placing failsafes everywhere just in case looked like it would pay off once again.

When Faxul had decided to use that technique of placing a secondary entity inside himself to increase his training speed, Daneel had placed a failsafe through a technique that he had given to him.

Although his friend had stopped using the technique long ago, the failsafe still remained, and using it, he could knock out Faxul just like the Protector Raven so that he could not come to harm.

Feeling very weary due to the exertion he had been through just now, Daneel decided to just end it.

"Young King, I told you that you do not have a lot of time. It is a very reasonable offer. You must consider it."

In the stone podium, there was a certain Energy level that had to be maintained in order to keep its Hero-level consciousness at an active state.

Slowly, that limit was being reached, and after that, the Black Raven Empire Spirit would enter a dormant state that might last till eternity.

So, the Empire Spirit spoke with panic, before using a different form of possession that allowed it to control Faxul and his power, without injecting its own power into him.

This would not result in Faxul going crazy, and neither would it be hurt like before.

In order to hasten the brat further, it made a metallic knife appear in midair using Faxul's mageroot before making it float in front of his chest, point first.

The only vulnerability with this would be that the brat might try to overpower its target, but the Hero-level barrier which was still active took care of that.

Yes! This time, it was definitely going to work! Besides, it was prepared.

Seeing this sight, Daneel nodded decisively while telling the system, "Activate the failsafe inside Faxul."

[Activating]

The King of Lanthanor was just about to sigh in relief due to everything being resolved, but instead, he gawked as he saw nothing happening.

[Hero-level interference detected. Failsafe has failed to activate.]

As this message echoed in Daneel's mind, the Empire Spirit spoke in a gloating tone, and this time, Daneel really did get an expression of slight panic on his face, as he wondered about what he was going to do.

"Hahaha, I was right! You did fool me once, but were you really so naïve to think that it would work a second time? I am a millennia-old Mage, you fool! You caught me off guard then, but I was prepared now! You have no more avenues to explore! Decide! Kill your friend, or save him later! It's an easy choice!"

…

Meanwhile, after being placed in the slumber, Faxul had been watching in a half-asleep state as all the events in the inner cave unfolded.

When he saw his friend regally call on the people of Lanthanor, he had felt himself boiling with excitement and pride.

Yes, this was his friend!

Someone who had risen up from being a commoner to become a King, and who would surely march forward to become an Emperor.

Hell, he could even see hints of that now.

Alas, his fate wasn't anywhere as good.

Along with those feelings, regret and shame had kept washing through Faxul's consciousness.

Again, his friend was here to save him. Again, he was going to live by his grace.

There was nothing wrong about it but…it just seemed so pathetic.

A burden.

That feeling from before returned, and once again, Faxul found himself remembering how he had done nothing, ever, to help Daneel, at least not in a way that was not even close to being compared to what he had done for him.

Useless. That was what he was.

Still, pushing all these feelings aside, Faxul had watched on, and when he saw the Protector Raven almost pierce his friend, he had been so afraid.

Thankfully, the Protector Raven stopped at the last moment, which made Faxul think that his friend really had grown into becoming a perfect planner, or, in this case, schemer.

Although thoughts like these gave him brief moments of brevity, again and again, Faxul couldn't help but return to the bottomless pit of self-pity and regret that he wallowed in.

Once. Just once, he wished he could help Daneel.

He had gotten used to this feeling of not having control of his body at all, but suddenly, when the Empire Spirit took control of him to create that blade, everything changed.

Why did it seem as if…he had felt this before?

Yes! He definitely had!

Back when he had fought off that entity, Faxul had felt like this then.

That feeling of a foreign consciousness invading him, trying to take over everything.

Only, now, that foreign consciousness had succeeded, but Faxul suddenly realized something.

If he tried, he believed that he could take back control, at least for a moment!

Yes, with all those hours spent pushing against that entity, Faxul was confident that he could accomplish this.

However, what use could it be?

While he asked himself this question, the Empire Spirit spoke that statement which finally made the confident expression on Daneel's face crack.

As his closest friend, Faxul could tell that Daneel had finally hit a brick wall. He didn't have a plan to handle this.

Realizing this, Faxul went into a mode of panic, looking for a way to perhaps make his wish of helping his friend come true by using that moment for something.

Hastily, he went through the two options given by the Black Raven Empire Spirit.

The first would mean him dying, and although Faxul didn't want to die as he had so many things left to do, he wouldn't have a say in that matter.

The second meant him being trapped in his own body for a long long time, while he could only watch as the Empire Spirit committed untold and unmeasurable crimes against the people of Angaria.

No! He didn't want that!

Not to mention, in that case, his friend would have to train hard and look for ways to 'save' him again.

Again, he would be a burden to be borne.

No. He was sick of it.

Time seemed to pass slowly in the state he was in, so Faxul thought long and hard about what he should do.

He considered everything, from using that moment of control to have Daneel snatch him away to somehow extricating himself from the barrier in order to help Daneel.

However, he knew that none of them would work.

Only one option remained, and no matter how sad it made Faxul, he chose it with determination.

And when he made that choice, he felt relief and even slight happiness spread through him.

For once, he was going to be useful.

For once, he was not going to be a burden.

And for once, he was going to be…a good friend.

…

Along with the slight panic, Daneel had begun to quickly run through every option in his mind with the system.

Alas, most of them were made moot by that damn barrier, and the others would require time which he didn't have.

In fact, at one point, Daneel even started to consider whether he should agree and let the possession continue. Maybe he could alert the Heroes of the Big 4 and fight with them to stop the Black Raven Empire Spirit. He could definitely find some way to stop him, right?

However, his gut told him that this would be a bad choice, as the damn Empire Spirit had already shown its intelligence. No way it would be foolish enough to fall for such things.

So, what then? He was supposed to let his best friend die?

No, it would be like he was killing him!

The one person who had been with him from the very start. The one who had helped him in every step, while also being a moral and emotional support which Daneel relied on unconsciously.

The one he considered as close as his kin.

How could he do it?

Yes, it might save a lot of people in the long run.

But could he get over the pain that would come from this?

As Daneel's expression started to twist, the Empire Spirit got even more impatient, as the limit had almost been reached. In 12 seconds, it would be sent into the slumber. So, it spoke again, and this time would be the last time.

"Enough. 10 seconds. In 10 seconds, extract me from this solution and be on your way, or your friend dies, and I become invulnerable again. Choose. 10,9,8,7…"

As the countdown began, each number seemed to bombard against Daneel's chest, making his heart beat faster while a tornado seemed to be swirling in his head, making a mess out of his thoughts.

On one side was the survival of Angaria itself, while on the other, was his best friend's life.

'I shouldn't have to make this choice!'

He screamed this in his head, but it was futile. He had to make it, and it had to be now.

"5, 4, 3…"

As the end of the countdown approached, Daneel felt as if he were going mad for real this time.

Just as he was going to make the toughest decision in his life, something changed.

"On-No! How did you-"

Right before the countdown ended, Faxul's eyes, which had been half closed till now, suddenly opened.

Seeing this, Daneel felt as if he had just been struck by thunder.

Those eyes. That expression. That smile.

It was Faxul!

But how did he-

Before he could even voice this question in his mind, Faxul spoke in a voice that was filled with regret, but also…joy.

"Daneel. Thank you for everything. I wish I could repay you many times over, but alas, this is all I can do. Know that I am doing this of my own volition-you are not at fault. I wished to see the day when you would become an Emperor to rule over Angaria. Although my road ends here, I will be watching from above: make sure you accomplish it, and more. Farewell, my friend."

As the last word left Faxul's mouth, he grasped the blade that had been floating in front of his chest and plunged it right into his heart.

At the same moment, the voice of the Black Raven Empire Spirit reverberated in the cave for the last time.

"NO! YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE CAPABLE OF THIS! I WILL NOT BE DRAGGED INTO SLUMBER! I AM THE IMPERIAL BLACK RAVEN OF THE EMPIRE OF ANGARIA! I WILL NOT-"

As Faxul's lifeless body plopped into the pool, the Empire Spirit's voice also got cut off, before the barrier that was around Faxul became deactivated.

Instantly, Daneel flew to the pool in a mindless frenzy as he extracted Faxul's body and grasped him in his arms.

"System, heal him!"

[Target has deceased. Cause: Extensive damage to the heart. System cannot hea-]

"I DON'T CARE! HEAL HIM! NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!"

[Target has deceased. System is currently incapable of curing such a state.]

"NO! SHUT UP! JUST HEAL HIM!"

As Daneel continued to hug the lifeless corpse of his friend, he kept screaming at the system hysterically.

Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't Faxul have just kept himself alive? WHY?!

Slowly, as his eyes started to turn bloodshot, the rage that had begun to grow inside Daneel started to warp him in irrevocable ways.

However, just as the King of Lanthanor was about to become someone completely different, the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor, Drakos, who had been silent all this while spoke in his head, making him pause and see hope.

"Young King, I have a way to help your friend."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

470 Drakos

"Young King, I have a way to help your friend."

At first, Daneel didn't want to believe that he had heard right.

He had been in such a pit of hopelessness and despair that if he were given hope and pulled up before being plunged into it again, he didn't even want to think about how he would take it.

Besides, the one who was responsible for his friend dying was from the same lot as the one who had just spoken to him. Even though he claimed that not all of them were evil, Daneel hadn't really been ready at all to believe him.

However, now, after everything that had happened, he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, Drakos might not be lying.

Or…this could be another scheme to take advantage of him in his darkest moment.

Maybe Drakos's 'help' would require Daneel giving over his own body in some way.

If that was the case, would he be ready to do it?

No, before he made hasty judgments, Daneel decided to at least listen to what the man, or, the Spirit had to say.

Even while pushing down the hope that had been born in him after hearing Drakos's statement, Daneel replied, "How? That knife was carrying a special spacial blade on its edges. His heart and even the organs surrounding it are completely destroyed: mangled into a heap of flesh. He was beyond saving by the moment I touched him. No healing spell that I can cast can do anything, and we both know that you can't cast Hero-level spells now. How can you help? HOW?"

Indeed, after the pause in his descent into darkness that had come about due to Drakos's statement, Daneel had become aware of the facts surrounding his friend's death.

Usually, even if a strong Exalted Human was pierced in the heart by a normal blade, he could be saved by a skilled healer.

However, in this case, to make the threat real, that damn Black Raven Empire Spirit had conjured a special blade that was designed to kill if it managed to hit a vital spot.

If Faxul was a Warrior, maybe there might have been a little chance. Alas, he was only an Exalted Human, so there was nothing the system or Daneel could do.

"You are right, Young King. His body is beyond saving. But the same cannot be said regarding his mind, I mean, his consciousness. His consciousness is lingering in his mind right now, and if we wait for longer than 5 minutes, it will disperse. If you choose to, you can make your friend become someone like us: a Spirit bound to a corporeal object, capable of taking control of a suitable host in the future."

As Daneel heard this, he could only stare into the distance, dumbfounded.

Yes! That was right!

The consciousness was a mystical object that even the system did not seem to completely know about. However, for those from the Empire of Angaria, who had made these things called Empire Spirits, it must be a subject they excelled in.

If Faxul's consciousness could be saved, then there was hope for the future. Daneel was confident of his potential and how far he could go. He knew that if he was given time, he would definitely be able to obtain anything and everything needed for his friend to revive.

With this, the darkness inside him receded even more, but some of it still remained, as if it were still hoping that the hope he had been given was false.

So, Daneel decided to be rude in order to find out clearly whether his suspicions had been right.

"What do you need in return? Possession of my body? Or some process that involves possession of my body?"

"Uh…yes?"

There it was! All of these Empire Spirits were the same! Just like the one that had caused Faxul's death, even this one just wanted to scheme and use any opportunity it had to take control of him!

"I KNEW IT! DAMN YOU EMPIRE-"

As frustration and rage swept over him, Daneel started to shout at the Empire Spirit in his head.

The darkness swept over gleefully to consume him again, but it stopped in its tracks when Drakos spoke, interrupting Daneel.

"Young King, I think you misunderstood. I just need to take control of your body here, just like before, so that I can cast the spell to save your friend's consciousness. You'll still be able to take back control; just like you were able to before. And, oh yes, I need you to take the podium out of that solution quickly, before it becomes too weak to even hold an Exalted Human's consciousness."

As Daneel heard this, his eyes widened, before he hastily cast a spell to lift the podium out of the pool and set it on the ground beside him.

After that, he pursed his lips and actually felt a little embarrassed.

It seemed that he had really jumped the gun here.

However, no one could blame him, as he was quite a bit unhinged due to what had just happened.

"The sooner the spell is cast, the lesser the chance of there being damage to the consciousness. I suggest you hurry, Young King, and I'm doing that out of good will, so that we can better help your friend. Not to hasten you so that you can take a decision that would benefit me."

Hearing this, the King of Lanthanor didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He could hear chagrin in the tone of Drakos, which apparently stemmed from being screamed at even though he just wanted to help Daneel.

"I apologize. Please proceed."

Daneel's hesitation and doubt before had been that Drakos might want to do something that would involve taking Faxul to his own corporeal body before giving instructions that might involve more of himself coming into Daneel.

However, if it was the case that everything could be done right here, then Daneel didn't have to worry anymore.

After all, he had already been possessed like that once, and he was 100% confident that he could get out of it easily.

So, he didn't hesitate anymore to apologize and ask Drakos to go on.

"Good. Now, brace yourself, and relinquish your defenses once again."

As Daneel nodded, he went through the same experience as before when the control of his body had gone over to Drakos.

After the process was done, Drakos let go of Faxul's body before getting up and walking to the podium.

Touching it and closing his eyes, he said under his breath, "Old bird, you always did like to fly too high, too confident in your power and wit. Look where that got you. Of all the Imperial Beasts, you were the first to slip into endless slumber. However that may be, you were once my comrade, so I offer a prayer to you. May you be released from the slumber as soon as possible."

Imperial Beasts?

Right…hadn't the Black Raven Empire Spirit referred to itself as the Imperial Black Raven?

Did that mean that…

As Drakos started to cast a spell, Daneel's stopped that line of thought and focused on Faxul's body, as a change had just come over it.

Daneel's left hand was touching the stone podium, while his right hand was raised, with his palm pointing at Faxul.

The moment Drakos began casting his spell, Daneel was amazed at the way he handled the elementary particles.

Mages usually coaxed, prodded and poked elementary particles into doing their bidding to become formations that would result in spells.

However, Drakos didn't need to do any of that.

With a touch here, and a touch there, he would make the elementary particles flow naturally into the formations he desired.

Even the complexity of the formations was dizzying- far beyond the level of anything Daneel had ever seen.

Slowly, a hue started to form around Faxul's mind, which was what Daneel had noticed before.

As that hue began to grow brighter, Daneel could see that something seemed to be dissipating from Faxul's head before it was absorbed by that hue.

This something was like a white mist, but it seemed so alive. It frolicked in the air, moving side to side as if it were intelligent before finally being absorbed.

With each absorption, the hue grew brighter until finally, the light around Faxul's head was so bright that Daneel, or Drakos, who had turned Daneel's head toward Faxul, had to squint his eyes lest he be blinded.

This seemed to be some signal, as Drakos changed the spell and made the hue form a globe before traveling in the air toward the podium.

At this point, Daneel's mageroot started to hurt, as it was already very taxed due to the fight before.

Ignoring the pain, Drakos persisted, not pausing at all until the white, shining globe came into contact with the podium after which it was instantly sucked away, causing darkness to once again befall their surroundings.

The next moment, Daneel felt control of his body being returned to him, which made him squint his eyes to adjust them to the light.

"It's done. This stone podium now contains both the consciousnesses of that old bird and your friend. The old bird's consciousness is at Hero level, and as the level of Energy inside the podium cannot support him, he can only sleep and remain in a dormant state. Your friend, however, will be up in a few hours. It will be very jarring and confusing for him, so you must be prepared to ease him into his present state."

As Daneel heard Drakos speak, he realized that he sounded weary, as if something had been taken out of him.

Yet, in his state of worry for his friend, Daneel ignored that and asked, "It's really done? He will live on in the consciousness form? And if he finds a host, he can inhabit him to live again?"

"Yes, Young King. This is a very effective way to cheat death. Hence, it was always guarded as the heirloom spell of the Empire of Angaria. Many wars have been fought to defend it, and many lives have been lost. Yet, the Emperor instructed it to use it for those who showed potential. That should show how much he valued you."

Daneel couldn't believe it. No, he was too scared to.

Yet, the notification from the system confirmed it.

[Target Faxul's consciousness has been shifted to the Ker Root structure. This deduction can be made from the data that was collected on analyzing the two Empire Spirits that host has come into contact with.

No damage has been detected.

Complexity of spell observed is beyond system's complexity. Please upgrade the system to analyze.

Complexity of spell model/inheritance observed is beyond system's complexity. Please upgrade the system to analyze.]

Daneel was almost ready to believe it, but he decided that he would wait till he heard from Faxul personally before completely letting himself feel relief.

So, to pass the time, he decided to ask Drakos about the thought that had appeared to him before.

"Thank you. Oh, yes, I heard you refer to yourselves as Imperial Beasts? So the Black Raven Empire Spirit once served the Emperor? Does that mean…"

"Yes, that does mean that I am the Dragon who served by his side. It is my heart which you see every time you enter your chambers. Pleased to meet you. Now, instead of wasting time, why don't you use that pool and become a Peak Warrior before its efficacy is lost?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

471 Soaring to the Peak

"Uh…ok?"

Daneel honestly didn't know what to say to reply to such a statement.

So that enormous Dragon heart that graced his sight every day in his chambers belonged to this guy?

He couldn't even begin to imagine why that was, and what other connotations this information meant.

For example, did all the Empire Spirits comprise of the Imperial Beasts?

If so, what beast was the one that was supposed to be there in Axelor?

At least in the Black Raven Kingdom and Lanthanor, there was a clear indication about what beast it could be. Even for the Hidden Kill Sect, it could be supposed that the Empire Spirit was a Basilisk. But what about the others?

Regardless, Drakos was right in one thing. The efficacy of the pool was wasting away by the second while Daneel idly stood here discussing historical matters.

But wait…how did the guy know about this in the first place?

Oh, yes, he had mentioned it before…but did that mean that he knew about Daneel's secret, the system?

This was Daneel's most valuable trump card, and if anyone got wind of it, he was sure that the entire continent would be after him.

So, with a hesitant tone, he asked, "How do you know about it?"

As if the ancient dragon could sense the slight panic in the King of Lanthanor's voice, he chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Young King. I know that you have some Inheritance, or some means which is somehow allowing you to utilize the complexity of a Peak Champion even though you are only an Amateur Warrior. It makes sense, in fact. Maybe this was what you used to accomplish many of your incredible feats. Regardless, it is yours, and I will never ask about it, nor speak about it to anyone. Such Inheritances actually aren't completely rare: it was said that the Emperor was in possession of one, but no one knows for sure. Anyway, this solution's roots can be derived from the Empire, where we perfected it to be used to save time if someone was truly talented- like you. The drawbacks of cutting off the path forward only came to be because of the lower efficacy of the Ker Roots from the present age. You have already overcome that limitation. Now, go. Become a Peak Warrior before your friend wakes up. With the original Ker Root's usage, even the time has shortened enough that one wouldn't require to soak in the solution for months at a time. Of course, remember, you must submerge your head if you wish to advance as a Mage, too. Typically…"

"Umm…wouldn't it be better if I start, first?"

Daneel couldn't help but interrupt the ancient Dragon, as he was going on and on with no end in sight.

It seemed that eloquence seemed to be a habit for him, and as he heard Daneel interrupt him in this way, he sheepishly said, "Oh, yes, yes, go on. We can talk later. Go."

Nodding, Daneel jumped into the pool without hesitation.

It was a very strange liquid: Daneel felt as if he were wading through mud, and the stars that were floating in the solution constantly blinded him. His skin felt as if it were being set ablaze, and his head, especially the spot in the center of his forehead, felt like it was burning furiously.

Dammit, why did it always have to be a burning pain?!

As Daneel complained in this way, he ordered the system to activate the spell to let him breathe even though he was submerged.

After that was done, Daneel sank to the bottom and sat with his legs folded, as if he were some hermit who hadn't bothered to move when a flood passed through his abode.

With each second, the pain grew, but it was offset by a wonderful feeling inside Daneel's body.

It felt as if…each cell of his body was being rejuvenated and reborn into a higher state, which would allow them to hold and output so much more Energy.

As for his Mageroot, it constantly expanded, letting him reach complexity levels that he could only dream of before alone.

The larger a Mageroot, the more complexity it could handle: this was a fact that made Daneel think of the RAM in computers from his home planet.

Distracting himself with idle thoughts like these, Daneel tried not to focus, which helped him to avoid growing crazy from the pain.

Slowly, his clothes got burned off, as if they stood no chance even though they were supposed to be strong enough to defend a blow from a Warrior.

"Maybe you can distract yourself if I speak? The pain you are feeling right now is because of the speeding up of the natural process of growing in power slowly to become a Peak Warrior. In fact, using Ker Roots for this purpose was frowned upon in the age of the Empire, as a lot of the Energy in the Ker Root is wasted in the process. Instead, a Champion absorbing that Energy would be much better off. Also, those whose Mageroots were expanded, making them capable of higher complexity but not having a very strong grasp of the interaction between Elementary Particles, as would be expected from someone of their level, would have a difficult time taking the step toward becoming a Champion as that step involves the understanding of…"

"IT'S NOT HELPING! SHU-! I MEAN, PLEASE BE QUIET!"

On one side, Daneel was busy trying not to let the pain get to him, but when he focused on the words from Drakos, it seemed as if the pain doubled in intensity.

So, he could only shout like this to stop the man.

After a brief silence, another sheepish reply was heard in Daneel's head.

"Um…sorry about that. It was really lonely these past few thousand years, you know, having only myself and the limited bits of intelligence stored in the podium to talk to. Makes me understand why the others went crazy. Yes, I'll stay quiet."

Oh, great.

Now he felt sorry for the guy.

Was he the villain here? Stopping a poor old ma-, no, Dragon from speaking his heart out after having been trapped inside a stone block for millennia?

Ok, whatever the case was, right now, Daneel needed to concentrate and not let the pain invade his mind.

So, resolved to apologize later, Daneel adopted the tactic he had learned during that fight in the Hidden Kill Sect where he had traveled to the very depths of the hell that was pain.

Ignore it, like it was a buzzing bee in his ears.

Of course, the more the intensity was, the more difficult it became to do this.

However, that feeling of rebirth in his body, and especially at his forehead, made it so much easier to endure, just like the motivation then to obtain that Inheritance.

As the seconds ticked by, Daneel became more and more like a worm that had entered into a cocoon and would soon emerge as a glorious butterfly.

No matter how much he felt like giving up and rising to the surface, he endured, knowing that he had to do this.

Finally, 5 hours later, a notification that sounded oh so good sounded in his ear.

[Host's body has reached Peak Exalted Warrior level. Host's Mageroot had already reached Peak Exalted Warrior level 45 minutes ago.]

Splash!

Not even willing to spend a second more in this damn burning pool of fire, Daneel leaped out before landing on the ground haphazardly.

If any of his citizens saw him now, they would definitely not recognize him.

He was lying stark naked on the ground, but the main difference was his skin.

Instead of the skin of a Warrior who had been through trials and training, thus tanning and scarring himself, Daneel's skin looked as if he were a baby who had just been born.

Toward the end, Daneel had been very close to just saying 'F*ck it' and giving up, as it had really become unbearable. To put it in perspective, it had felt as if someone had cut him into tiny little pieces before roasting each part, eating it and then digesting it in acid, all while he was still feeling every sensation.

It was a very gruesome thought, but there was no better way to explain it.

Power really did not come easily to those who sought it.

Coughing, the King of Lanthanor got up and dressed himself using a spell to conjure clothes using his Paragon prowess.

Using his knees for support, he took a deep breath before finally getting up and asking the system to show him his status.

[Host status updating. Please standby.

Host status:

Host Fighter Level: Warrior-9(100%)

Host Mage Level: Warrior-9(100%)

Host Body Potential: A+

Host Comprehension Level: S

Host Condition: Fatigued]

Finally!

Daneel could never have expected that he would be able to cross the chasm that was the Warrior level in this manner, in just one go.

Unable to control himself, he whooped in the air.

Boom!

A sonic boom was heard, while his punch in the air which had been casual actually caused the wall in its path to be damaged, resulting in him being showered by a mound of dirt.

Oh, yes. He was a Peak Exalted Warrior now, and he would have to adjust himself to that power, lest more mishaps like these happen.

Still, the incredible way in which his body moved so smoothly and the amazing clarity and quickness of thoughts in his mind were intoxicating, making him feel that it was all worth it.

"Bleuh…dhals….wuijf…wjef"

With his reverie interrupted by strange sounds, Daneel looked around before focusing on the crumpled figure of the Crazy King.

Puzzled, he walked to him, and when he saw that the lax expression of the man who was drooling from one corner of his mouth while making unintelligible noises, he understood vaguely what had happened.

"Congratulations on being just one step away from becoming a Champion! As for this King, it is regrettable. Being controlled like that by the old bird again has driven him completely crazy."

Nodding, Daneel felt sad for the man, whose only downfall had been his ambition.

However, turning to the side, as the image of the podium came into his sight, he got an idea.

Even though his spirit was completely broken, why not at least allow his body to once again be a King and rule his people?

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

472 Faxul“s Rebirth

Pain.

Horrendous, soul-tearing, mind-numbing pain.

The moment Faxul plunged that knife into his chest, that was what he had felt.

The feeling of having one's organs destroyed inch by inch by a force that just wanted to turn everything it passed through into a mangled piece of undistinguishable flesh was something that couldn't be described in words.

The worst part was that as an Exalted Human, he had more endurance than the typical individual.

Hence, even though almost all of his vital organs had been destroyed, he had been clinging on to life, all while the pain threatened to destroy his mind.

Wasn't death supposed to be peaceful? Why was his like this?

When his best friend ran up to his body and caught him, Faxul had been able to feel it, but he hadn't been able to respond at all, as his mind was in an extreme state of shock.

Slowly, as the seconds passed by, the blood which had no more means to be pumped stopped where it was and caused his body to rot, while the sudden lack of oxygen in his brain made every thought blurry, bit by bit, until he slipped away into an eternal slumber that he would never wake from.

Or…so he had thought.

Even before slipping that slumber, Faxul had been hoping that his friend might have some miraculous means to save him, as he really didn't want to die.

However, when he had seen Daneel's expression through his vacant eyes, he had understood that that wasn't the case.

Hence, with mixed emotions of joy from being useful and regret at leaving without fulfilling so many wishes he had had, Faxul had slipped away.

After that, there was nothingness…until he felt something calling to him.

It was like he was a lost traveler that had been about to step into the maw of a terrifying beast that wanted to devour him, but a good Samaritan had lit up a lantern at the last minute and had allowed him to escape it.

Bit by bit, Faxul started to return to a state of 'awareness', and the first thing that he felt was…a stink.

To be more specific, it was the stink of someone who hadn't bathed or washed themselves for months, or maybe even years.

Was this hell? Had he committed so many sins that outweighed his good deeds that he had been sentenced to a life of torture?

In Angaria, the concept of Heaven and Hell did exist in the general populace, but it was said that it was only a vague thing that had been proliferated to hopefully keep people in check.

The Heavens were constantly prayed to for good luck and fortune, and everyone knew that sinners would go to hell, where they would face torture.

It could be said that the unique aspect of Angaria was that there was no specific dominant religion and deities for people to pray to, except in cases like the Black Raven Kingdom, where people prayed to the Ancient Black Raven, and the Kingdom of Arafell, where the giants prayed to the first Lady Arafell who had supposedly led them here.

Even in those cases, there were no specific rules as such, and it was only a vague prayer.

All in all, the rankness of the stink made Faxul wonder whether the first torture he was being subjected to was to live in a place of filth.

Wait…he could feel that he had no body, but somehow, he had the sense of smell.

How?

As Faxul wondered about this, suddenly, he realized that he wasn't alone.

It was as if he were in a dark room where there was no light, but near him, he could feel another…presence.

Faxul felt that he could reach out and touch it, so he did.

However, the next moment, he recoiled as a feeling of chaos pervaded him.

Yes, that presence was completely filled with chaos, as if it had gone mad from being subjected to something abhorrent.

If this was hell, maybe that would be his state, too, after the torture?

"FAXUL! Can you hear me? FAXUL, WAKE UP!"

Huh?

Wasn't that…Daneel?

Slap!

Just as Faxul was about to muse once again about whether his friend had followed him, he felt a sharp feeling of pain that raced through him, along with the faint sound of a slap.

Yet, they only lasted for a moment before fading away.

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!

As if whoever had caused it the first time had some score to settle with him, the same sensations repeated again and again, and with each time, the intensity seemed to grow.

Slowly, Faxul started to realize that he actually had a body, which seemed to be injured in multiple places, but it was rapidly being healed.

And…he was pretty sure that it wasn't his body, as the feeling of strength that came from it dwarfed his body by multiple levels.

Soon, the slaps stopped, and although Faxul almost felt as if he could move the body, it was as if there was some final barrier that was stopping him from taking full control.

However, the faculty of hearing had been returned to him, so he could tell that it was Daneel.

This made him rejoice, and then feel very puzzled, as he didn't know what the heck was going on.

Yet, suddenly, Daneel grumbled something under his breath, and when Faxul heard it, a feeling of horror passed through him.

"So something even more painful is required? Fine, guess I'll go all out. Sorry, my friend."

Crack!

The next instant, that veil that had been stopping Faxul was completely shattered, and all of the senses were returned to him.

Only, he really wished that that wasn't the case because of a particular feeling that was radiating from his lower body.

His best friend, the man whom he had chosen to 'save' from a life of pain due to choosing something he didn't have to even if it meant his own death…had just kicked him in his balls.

Unable to say anything, the first thing that Faxul did after coming back to life was clutch his crotch and roll around on the ground as pain that was only second to what he had felt before dying radiated throughout him.

"Hey! It worked! Welcome back, Faxul!"

Really, dude? This is how you welcome someone back from the dead? By kicking them in their balls?

"Err…sorry about that. Apparently, intense sensations needed to be felt in order to 'connect' you with the body. But don't worry, Drakos here has a healing spell that'll fix those balls in no time. And all the other injuries."

Oh, really?! Then why don't you get your balls shattered and then healed, just for kicks?!

Cursing like so, Faxul had to roll around on the ground for a minute or so even while the healing spell went to work, mending the damage.

Meanwhile, Daneel was watching on sheepishly, rubbing his nose and wondering what his friend must be thinking.

A broad smile was on his face, as everything had seemed to work out.

Finally, Faxul got up and looked around in a daze before spotting Daneel.

In a flash, he walked to his friend and grabbed his shoulders with an expression as if he was going to hit him.

However, instead of doing that, he hugged him tight, truly happy due to the fact that he was not dead.

Questions could come later, but first, he was really grateful, despite what had just happened.

"Thank you," he said, to which Daneel replied, "No, I should thank you. But first, you stink."

Laughing, Faxul stepped away before conjuring a globe of water and dropping it on himself.

When he did, he noticed just how…easy it was.

It was incomparable to when he had been an Exalted Human. Hell, if the two were compared, then it would be like a little kid going up against an adult.

It was then that he realized that he recognized this body and this stink, and this made him conjure a mirror using water to see his face.

When he saw the crazy King looking back at him, he screamed, unable to control his shock.

As he looked to the side, he saw his own lifeless body which lay unmoving on the ground.

"Sorry, we had to make do with what we had. This is the gist: Inside me is Drakos, the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor, who is good, unlike that Black Raven Empire Spirit. He cast a spell to make you like them:a spirit who is bound to a corporeal object, and in your case, its that stone podium that the Black Raven Empire Spirit was previously in. It's still in there, but it can't wake up because I leeched too much Energy from it. Instead of keeping you in that thing, I decided that you would be better off in a body. The crazy King had completely gone crazy, so we used him. It won't be permanent: Drakos says that since you are only an Exalted Human, the criteria for you to enter a body are much lower, unlike how it is for them. Ok, that's the important stuff."

Hearing Daneel give this speech and take a deep breath, Faxul once again looked in the mirror, unable to believe it.

So…he was a spirit now? Who was inhabiting this body?

But what about his own body?

"Why didn't you just…heal my own body and put me back in it?"

As he asked this, Daneel shook his head and said, "Drakos says that's impossible. If that were the case, death would have no meaning at all! Apparently, when someone dies i.e when their body and mind completely stop functioning and their consciousness leaves their body, a core aspect of a living being that enables a consciousness to reside in them also dies, and it is impossible to reverse that. A consciousness cannot inhabit anything that is 'dead'. The crazy King, however, is alive, so you are inside him. And he's a Peak Exalted Warrior, so…you've got that going for you. Now, what do you say we get out of here? I've got some…people I need to take 'care' of."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

473 The Path Forward

As Faxul heard this, he couldn't help but once again turn around to look at his new face in the mirror.

Now that a bucketful of water had been poured over him, a lot of the grime had been washed away to reveal the features of the crazy King.

They were sharp, with a slightly flat nose and a pointed chin.

Why did he look familiar?

"Drakos just asked me to tell you that that body is of the former King of the Black Raven Kingdom. That means that…he is your ancestor. This was, apparently, also a factor that helped with you inhabiting it. First, let's go to your Kingdom. I'll tell you the rest of the important details there before departing. I really have some important stuff to take care of."

Unable to say anything, Faxul just nodded, as this was all just a little too ethereal for him.

After all, how was one supposed to react to the revelation that they were just a spirit that was possessing someone for the time being?

In a slight daze, Faxul nodded and was about to fly up the cave, but feeling Daneel's hand on his shoulder, he stopped.

Daneel had noticed the state of his friend, so he decided to take a moment and console him even though he was short on time.

"Look, Faxul. You gotta admit that this beats death. You aren't evil like that f*cker who just wanted a body so that he could sell Angaria to live longer. I know that what you really want is to help your people, and those of this continent that we were born in. This way, you will be able to do that much easier. Also, Drakos just told me that if you wish, you can start to…'devour' the consciousness of that Black Raven Empire Spirit that is slumbering in the podium. Even though you are possessing a body, you will always be tied to that podium as that was where your consciousness first inhabited. You can move between this body and the podium at will. From time to time, you can travel to it and try to obtain some of the power of that Hero-level bird, which will apparently greatly increase your prowess as a mage, and even help you in that final step to become a Champion. You will also be taking his memories, and becoming more and more cognizant of the Empire. Don't worry, there's no risk of him resurrecting himself in that way: Drakos says that's impossible, but you should just take it slow. All in all, this is good. There's only hope for the future. Hell, who knows, maybe you'll even cross me in power, and I might have to come to you for help! It'll all depend on you."

Each word Daneel said seemed to pull Faxul away from that mist of confusion that had congregated around Faxul, letting him come to terms with what had happened, and making him look forward.

Now…he had the means to possibly help his friend for real?

And he could devour the memories and power of a legendary Hero-level creature?!

Hell yeah!

As a smile cracked on Faxul's face, Daneel chuckled, happy to see Faxul return.

That was his iconic smile, which was apparent even though the face was different.

Nodding at Daneel, Faxul also slapped a hand on his shoulder before grinning and walking to the stone podium.

Lugging it up on his shoulder, he said "Let's go," after which he teleported away.

Daneel first teleported to the spot where all the Lanthanorians were gathered.

They were still being stopped by the formation, as that was not an active one, unlike the space-locking formation which had been deactivated as soon as the Black Raven Empire Spirit went into a slumber.

Each of them had weapons raised high up in the air, and this included even a few children who had come over as a family.

Eloise hadn't given them any details except that their King needed them, but they seemed to have assumed that he needed them in a fight.

The little kids held their dolls and toys in the air, ready to smash them into an enemy at a moment's notice with a ferocious expression on their face, while the adults who weren't soldiers were holding pots and pans and kitchen knives in the same way.

Seeing this, Daneel felt truly warm, knowing how much he meant to these people, and understanding that they were ready for anything just to be of service to him.

Even those with no Energy-those who hadn't started on the path to power were so ready.

Why shouldn't they get the chance to defend themselves, and grow in power, even if they didn't have the talent for it?

As the seed of an idea began to be born in Daneel's mind, he appeared in the air, visible to all of them.

"FOR LANTHANOR! FOR KING DANEEL! Wait, isn't that the King?"

As the furor started to die down on noticing that the one they were marching for was standing above them in the air, the citizens of Lanthanor started to kneel to show their respect to the man who had changed their lives for the better.

He had enabled them to send their children, regardless of potential, to an institution which trained them and gave them hope for the future in something they were talented in, instead of them having to resort to depend on their parents to acquire a craft.

He had set up a Healer's academy which healed people for practically no cost, thus decreasing the overall number of people dying from treatable diseases because they couldn't afford treatment.

He had set up a Bank where many of them had acquired loans which they had used to full effect to sustain their family.

All in all, they revered him, for if not for his grace, they knew that they would definitely be rotting in the ground by now.

"Rise, brave people of Lanthanor. The battle here is done, and you were instrumental in my victory. You must all visit the Bank of Angaria when you go back: you have a hefty award waiting for you. Your King thanks you for your steadfast support and bravery even in the face of danger. Long live Lanthanor!"

"LONG LIVE LANTHANOR!"

Initially, everyone cheered, but then, the doubts began to emerge.

"But, My King, we didn't do anything! How were we-"

"The threat of you marching in and rending my enemies in two helped me in my victory, dear citizens and soldiers! Now, I must depart!"

Hastily, Daneel fled the scene, knowing that he wouldn't be able to answer any more questions, unless he resorted to lying.

Even if he lied, there would still be doubts, so he decided that it was best to leave.

Seeing their King disappear, the people of Lanthanor scratched their heads, but finally, they just shrugged and began their journey back to their Kingdom.

Meanwhile, in the Black Raven Kingdom, Faxul had just taken a very thorough bath to finally wipe all the mud away.

The Protector Raven was still lying unconscious in the cave, so he had left it there, knowing it would make its way back when it was ready.

As Daneel appeared behind him, he said, "That's better. Here, take this technique. It'll let you look like your original self, and even a Champion won't be able to distinguish that anything is wrong. You're a Warrior now, so using it all day should be no problem. Remember: devour that bird slowly, and if you feel that anything is wrong, contact me right away. Got it?"

Seeing Faxul nod and smile, Daneel grinned and said, "Good. I'm off, then. When some pressing matters have been attended to, I'll be back."

Saying so, Daneel disappeared and returned to the group with which he had come out for a mission.

Seeing them busily doing their work and his, he chuckled, and returned to the Sect of Hedon before collecting the reward for the work he hadn't done.

Finally, as he sat in his office once again, he placed both hands on his chin, pondering about his next step.

Tomorrow would be the day where he would have to face a challenge for this post. Initially, his plan had been to finish all his work in the Sect of Hedon by now so that he could leave, but that was definitely not possible.

Ashahell was still free, and the Mad Doctor was still a major threat.

He would have to stay, but he wasn't willing to be beaten into a pulp.

So, Daneel decided that whoever was unlucky enough to challenge him tomorrow, they would be the first prey to his Peak Exalted Warrior strength.

Of course, it wouldn't appear like that, as he had to keep up appearances that he was still an Amateur Warrior.

Still, it was going to be fun, so Daneel looked forward to it.

After that, Ashahell and the Mad Doctor were going to be pitted against each other, so that he could get rid of both threats at once before leaving back to his Kingdom, to continue his plans for the continent.

Just as he was deciding on his next course of action, a voice spoke hesitantly in his head.

"Er…you do know I'm still here, right? You didn't go back to Lanthanor to put me back in the podium."

This made Daneel chuckle and say, "Of course I do. You're going to be instrumental in my path forward. You think I'll let a treasure trove like you lie around and go to waste? No chance! Mr. Ancient Dragon, you're going to help me, and believe me, it'll definitely be more exciting and fun than what you've been doing for thousands of years. Let's get started."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

474 Meanwhile

Meanwhile, in the topmost hidden floor of the Sect of Hedon.

Ashahell stood in front of a window like always, looking out over the expanse of Angaria while thinking about how this beautiful continent had been laid waste by the greedy Big 4.

However, now, he had to deal with the knowledge that there was someone watching him 24/7, trying to catch him in the middle of 'activities' that might incriminate him.

He was a Peak Champion, and if it weren't for a very special trinket that had been given to him the moment he had colluded with the Church, he wouldn't even have been able to detect those sets of eyes on him which were a level above him.

Recently, his life had been completely dreary, and he hadn't been able to help but curse that seer, even though she couldn't really be blamed completely for getting the vision that had foiled his plan.

Occasionally, he also thought about the King of Lanthanor, and their little talk and his peek into his memories.

With nothing else to do, he would even imagine how it would have been if that King had joined him. He had always longed for someone to share his passion, but it seemed that fate had decreed that he would be alone in his pursuit of justice for the continent that had given birth to him, and named him its 'savior'.

Suddenly, he felt that something had changed.

That set of eyes were gone! No one was currently observing him!

Wait…why was no one observing him? Had they taken some decision regarding him? Or had the Church somehow advanced their date of purging despite the failure of his efforts?

As numerous questions surged through his mind, he heard a knock on the door.

Quickly running to it, he opened it to see a server holding a tray with a glass of chilled wine.

Without thinking, he first took the glass and was about to close the door before happening upon a very crucial question.

He was in the topmost floor of the Central Tower where entry was forbidden to all but a select few! How the hell had a waiter appeared here!

Even as this question flashed across his mind, the server cracked a smile before taking back the glass, setting the tray to the side and taking a sip from it.

"How have you been, Ashahell? Is it fun being watched even when you're in the loo?"

Finally, his Peak Exalted Champion level senses picked up on the dissonance in the brain waves of the server.

Usually, he would have noticed this right away, but the skill of the one who was causing this was so high that it had escaped his level of detection.

The only reason he even saw it now was that the one who was really behind this had allowed it to be seen.

Conjuring a chair, the server sat down before taking two more sips and frowning.

"Where I come from, each sip of wine transports one to a land of pleasure and bliss from which one wishes there is no return. Compared to that, its as if I'm drinking horsepiss. Now, sit down. We don't have long. We need to talk."

Nodding, Ashahell also conjured a chair before sitting in front of the server and saying, "I trust you have been well, Koleos. How are you doing this? Aren't you on the same level as those watching me?"

Chuckling with a confidence that bordered on arrogance, the server replied, "Of course. But a man wielding sticks and stones is incomparable to one who has forged sharp weapons of steel for himself. I'm using a special trinket made by the grace of one beyond the Hero-level, but even then, this can only last for a few minutes before they notice that something is off. I came here to give you a message."

The-the level beyond Hero-level?!

So far, Ashahell had only heard empty words and claims about how the man in front of him, who was the member of Church that was positioned here, was associated with those of that level.

It was only now that he was seeing hard proof, and this made Ashahell's eyes blaze with a longing for strength.

If his primary goal was to save Angaria, then his secondary one was to go as far as possible on the Path to Power.

It was not because he lusted for power, or because he reveled in the feeling of having more strength than others.

No, it was just pure curiosity.

Curiosity about what lay at the end, and whether he could reach it.

Yet, this wasn't the time nor the place to ask about it.

So, Ashahell just said "Speak," and folded his hands, after which the servant smiled and said.

"Sit tight."

"Sit tight?"

"Sit tight."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, just sit tight."

Frowning, Ashahell wondered whether there was any hidden meaning, but the servant just chuckled and said, "Don't think too much into it. Sit tight. Things have changed. You'll know how soon enough. Suffice it to say that the one in charge of the expedition to Angaria has changed, and she wants it to happen faster. Thus, she's in the process of siphoning more resources and personnel here, after which you will be better equipped to help us. Until then, just don't try anything that will get you caught. Just sit tight. Got it?"

After sinking into deep thought for a few moments, Ashahell nodded, after which the server got up, took back the tray, and placed the wine glass on it again.

Nodding at Ashahell, he opened the door and left, after which Asahahell couldn't sense him anymore.

The server wouldn't be remembering anything, and he would be left wondering who might have consumed the wine which he must have been taking for someone else.

As soon as AShahell took his typical position again, the feeling of being watched resumed, which made him understand that whatever the Hero from the Church had done, it had stopped.

So he just had to sit tight? He could do that.

Resolving not to plan anything actively and just wait, Ashahell closed his eyes.

Unless someone specifically targeted him, nothing would make him move.

And who could be capable or daring enough to target him in this entire Sect?

….

Meanwhile, in a private training room in the vast underground area of the Lanthanor Kingdom.

Recently, a close friend and confidant of the King, whom apparently the King used to call as his own brother, had taken up a room here, and whenever a servant passed it while going on their way to get something, they would always hear loud thumps, as if someone was in the middle of a fight.

None of them would enter, but if they did, they would have been shocked to see the sight of two people, who looked exactly the same, fighting each other.

If two people looked the same, one would expect them to be equals, but instead, in this case, one side seemed to have a definite advantage, whether it be in terms of skill or strength.

The other side was bruised and bloody, with blood even streaming down their fists where the skin had been cut to expose bones.

The other figure, who looked fine except for a few small patches of dirt and blood on their clothes, was standing with an expression of slight vexation and arrogance on their face.

"Stand up, boy. Or do you want to bend your ego and beg? When you found me in the woods, I was hopeful, thinking that I had finally found someone talented enough to take forward my legacy as one of the few pure Fighters who reached the Hero level. I even saved you from the mutated bear that was about to maul you to death! If I had known that you would turn out to be so worthless, I would have-"

"YAAARGHHH!"

Before the figure could complete his sentence, the bloody one shot forward and launched a punch, which impacted on the chest of the other figure.

Strangely, at the point of impact, a small balloon seemed to have formed, which burst the clothes open, but there was no damage to the underlying skin.

"Not bad. Your Hidden Kill Fist is progressing well! You can even use it when you're close to death! But that's not enough. If you don't feel like you 'need' power, then nothing is enough. Get up! Fight! Kill me or be killed, dammit!"

After the punch, the bloody figure had fallen to the ground unmoving, and even though the other figure screamed in this way, there was no movement.

Sighing, the figure was about to disperse its own figure, but it heard a low whimpering coming from the body lying on the floor.

Walking forward, the figure bent, but it suddenly went flying as a fist had just impacted its jaw.

Standing up like a spring, the bloody figure shuffled on two legs before saying with an exasperated tone, "'Need' this, 'need' that, what's so important about this 'need' anyway? Huh? Why does nothing hurt anymore? And why did you fly when I hit you? Was it to encourage me?"

Massaging its jaw, the other figure got up and grumbled for a bit before shouting, "THAT'S BECAUSE YOU JUST BECAME A WARRIOR, YOU NINCOMPOOP! THIS IS A HUMAN LEVEL CLONE, SO OF COURSE I WAS SENT FLYING! WHO WANTS TO ENCOURAGE YOU, EH?!"

"I-I'm a Warrior?!"

No matter how much the other figure shouted, the bloody figure seemed fixated on this statement, as he repeatedly looked at his arms with an expression of disbelief on his face.

Finally exhausting himself and noticing that it was all useless, the other figure panted for a while before grudgingly saying something, which lit up the eyes of the other one.

"Yes, you're a Warrior. Now, you can finally begin training in my true legacy, and not these parlor tricks. But prepare yourself. This will be painful. Nobody ever got power by twiddling their thumbs. But you-you will reach the lowest depths of hell, but when we are done, no Fighter on this continent will be able to face you and live to tell the tale."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

475 Mystery

Meanwhile, Daneel was still sitting at his desk, conversing with the ancient dragon who had never expected to find himself in this situation.

"So…you want to use the Mad Doctor to blame Ashahell and put him behind bars, and in the process, you also want to remove the Mad Doctor as a threat?"

"Yes. What do you think?"

"That it's impossible!"

As Daneel heard this response, he chuckled, as it really would appear that way to anyone who heard such a crazy plan.

However, with time, he had to say that he had grown into quite the talented schemer.

It was his scheme which had allowed him to more or less win the fight against the Black Raven Empire Spirit, and it was going to be a scheme which was going to help him now, too.

So, he just replied with a confident voice, saying, "Just wait and watch. You'll see. But first: are there any secrets you want to reveal because I trust you now?"

Daneel had been looking forward to this the most, but when he heard Drakos's answer, he had no option but to be disappointed.

"Er…nothing that would be very useful to you. I am bound by very specific rules, you know. You still have to increase the Satisfaction Level if you want to unlock more seals."

Daneel was just about to curse, but Drakos continued.

"However, I can help you with a few things. For example, I could help you with my personal knowledge of formations, and non-essential lore regarding the Empire. And I can also identify the locations of the other Empire Spirits for you. Dragons are beings of honor, Young King, and I intend to earn my keep in your mind."

Hearing this, Daneel couldn't help but silently grumble to himself that his head had become a hotel.

First, it had been the system, and now, it was Drakos.

How many more 'guests' was he going to have before he was done?

…

As Elanev heard that statement from the figure in front of him who looked exactly like him, a fire lit up in his eyes, before he nodded, looking forward to whatever was in store of him.

Ever since that moment when he had left the Kingdom of Lanthanor in the pursuit of power, he had decided that he would never, ever feel weak and worthless, like he had felt in front of his junior brother.

Now, he must be stronger than him, right?

As if reading his mind, the figure in front of him spit out, "Wrong! I know what you're thinking, boy! But it's not possible! I bet that kid is at least an Eminent Warrior by now, or even an Exalted one."

Hearing this, Elanev opened his eyes wide, unable to believe it.

He had been training so damn hard! Ever since he had stumbled upon this weird guy in those woods by chance, he had resolved that he would always keep moving forward in order to be more helpful to his people, and his younger brother.

If anyone on the Central Continent knew that he had been just an Eminent Human a few months ago, they would definitely be shocked and say that he was spouting tall tales.

Yet, this old man was saying that his younger brother had surpassed even his speed?

How was that possible?!

Again, the old man replied to his thoughts.

"I don't know how it's possible, but I do know that it's true. That lad has…something inside him which is benevolent. I cannot compare to it, and if it weren't for the fact that he trained in one of the techniques I left behind, I wouldn't even have detected it. Whatever it is, it means no harm, and it just wants him to be stronger."

Frowning deeply, Elanev looked at the figure and said, "Are you sure you aren't reading my thoughts, old man?"

"No, you're just an open book. I was called Senior Fists of Justice in my time, you know, because I always did what I said."

"That name sucks, by the way."

"Humph. Not as much as your talent. If you're done bantering, go get healed before your wounds start to fester."

"Not so fast. You said you would tell me what that threat to the continent is if I became a Warrior."

Saying this, Elanev sat down on the ground with a determined expression on his face.

Seeing him sit like that, the figure sighed before starting to speak.

"Uh, first, can you change into your true form? It's kinda distracting to see myself. I know you told me it was for some symbolic method of beating my own self to become stronger, but that's hardly necessary now, right?"

Interrupting the figure, Elanev said this, which made the figure say "Fine," before changing form.

A moment later, an old man with a shining head was standing in front of him.

He was wearing a coat of sorts which was open at his shoulders, exposing his chest, and he had a long, white beard along with a drooping mustache.

He looked frail, but he was anything but that in battle, and Elanev had found this out painfully on one occasion when he had mocked the old man's figure.

Using a wooden walking stick that seemed to have been carved from wood that was at least a thousand years old, the old man bent forward and began to speak.

"The threat is the Church of Rectitude, boy, and all it wants is to make this entire continent flow with blood. Why they want to do that: I have no idea. But I do know one thing: they've been trying to accomplish this for many, many years, but this is the first real opportunity they've gotten."

"Flow with blood meaning, they want to kill a few people and take over all the forces?"

"No. They want to purge Angaria, which means killing all those on the continent except for a very, very select few. Think apocalypse, boy."

Elanev sucked in a deep breath as he heard this, unable to believe that those people whom he had seen in the air during their invasion in Lanthanor had such cruel intentions.

"But…why?"

Shrugging, the old man said, "Beats me. Maybe they gain something from it. Or maybe its just for kicks. Who knows? The point is that they've done it to many continents before us, and each time, only a few hundred or so live to tell the tale. Now then, there was one more thing I wanted to tell you after you became a Warrior. Do you really think that it was just luck that you found me in those woods when you were in such a critical condition?"

Frowning, Elanev asked, "Yeah, what else could it be?"

This made the old man furrow his eyebrows before saying, "For once, use that head of yours, boy. Don't you think too many 'coincidences' have been happening around this Kingdom in particular?"

This made Elanev feel quite confused, but he still closed his eyes and started to think about everything he had seen and found out recently.

Slowly, with shock, he started to understand what the old man meant.

In all of his life, he had never been very lucky, but the moment he had been about to die, he had happened upon a strange stone structure that had been covered by vines which had saved him after telling him that the he was the true ancestor of the Fists of Justice Training Hall.

This had utterly shocked Elanev, and he hadn't been willing to believe it until the man, or spirit, or whatever it was had given him an advanced form of the Hidden Kill Fist which he had used to high effect during the Olympics, and during his travels through the continent.

It was so much of a coincidence that Elanev wondered how he had been so dumb as to not notice it.

Thinking about the other things he had found out or seen, he realized that the old man was right.

Tracing them all, Elanev started to make a list.

First, he, a member of the Fists of Justice Training Hall, had by 'chance' found the spirit of the real founder and ancestor of the Training Hall, who had taken him on as a disciple after entering his head.

Second, his younger brother Daneel had some fantastic kind of help along with him that was much more potent than the one in his own head.

Third, Faxul had turned out to be 'real' King of the Black Raven Kingdom, and he had taken the throne.

Fourth, Luther was revealed to be the adopted son from a prominent figure in the Hidden Kill Sect, and he had become the sect master of that sect with the help of some mysterious figure.

How were so many miraculous things happening around those from Lanthanor?

"You're right! So how are so many coincidences happening?"

"So you've finally realized it? The answer is…"

Unable to control his curiosity, Elanev leaned forward, waiting to uncover the truth.

However, suddenly, he found a wooden walking stick flying toward his face, which made him jump to the side with panic.

Rolling on the ground and wincing due to the injuries that were already present, Elanev shouted, "What the f*ck was that for?"

In a flash, the wooden stick flew back to the old man, who leaned on it again before answering with a wise tone.

"That, boy, is why the coincidences are occurring."

As Elanev took on an even more confused expression on his face, the old man chuckled before continuing to reveal something that would have shocked Daneel to the core if he had been present in the room.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

476 Mystery Revealed Challenge

His tone seemed to take on an air of mystery, and Elanev's eyebrows went as far up as they could on his forehead when the truth was finally revealed to him.

"Angaria knows what is coming, or at least, it can sense it. I cannot give you the details, because I don't know them myself, but you should understand that all beings have sentience, more or less. Even a plant would strive to move toward sunlight in order to grow. Angaria is doing the same. It can sense that a great danger is approaching it, so it is doing everything it can to brace itself, and find a way to avoid that danger. The other 4 coincidences, excluding the one about your friend, can be explained with that. But him…I don't know, my gut tells me that there's something more to him. A Fighter should never ignore his gut. Meh, whatever it is, it doesn't matter to you. What is it, boy? Is your gut telling you something? Maybe you've learned something unconsciously after interacting with the great Senior Fists of Justice for so long?"

The latter part of the old man's statement was due to the fact that Elanev had put a hand on his stomach with a very serious expression on his face.

However, the next moment, a loud growling sound was heard in the room, which was accompanied by Elanev saying, "Nope, just hungry."

….

The next day, the stadium that was located to the west of the Sect of Hedon was completely packed to the brim with sect members who were waiting for a great show.

Today, that upstart, Travis Éclair, was finally going to be challenged and beaten into a bloody paste.

Jealousy was a vice that all creation suffered from in general, but it seemed to be all the more present in the Sect of Hedon, especially in this case where an Amateur Warrior had taken a position that only an Exalted Warrior was supposed to have.

For an entire month, Exalted Warriors had had to control their anger, while Amateur Warriors had had to control their angst at seeing one of their own getting something none of them could ever hope to achieve.

So, today, both sides were cheering for the lucky one who would be challenging that upstart and finally putting him back in his place.

If there were multiple challengers for a post, the rules stated that a random draw would be used to select the one who would fight.

Meanwhile, in the waiting room meant for the one being challenged, Daneel was sitting on a chair with his legs placed on another chair that he had pulled up.

His hands were behind his head, and he was whistling a merry tune while deciding about exactly what he was going to do to instigate the Mad Doctor.

Hearing a knock on the door, he wondered who was brave enough to come to meet him.

After all, if someone was seen entering his room before the fight, they would automatically be associated with him and they would have to share the hate.

Opening the door, he was very surprised to see 4 people wearing thick black clothes that completely covered their face, leaving only a small slit for the eyes.

"Travis! It's us!"

Hearing the fatty's familiar voice, Daneel raised one eyebrow and let them in.

After entering, all of them stumbled twice due to not being able to see much through their disguises.

Finally removing the cloths, the 4 members of the Shameless Sect took deep breaths, because they hadn't been able to breathe much due to how tightly they had tied those things around their faces.

After finally regaining his breath, the fatty spoke first.

"Travis, we're here to-"

"Encourage me? That's really nice of you all! Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

Daneel was in a good mood because of the fact that he had obtained a trusty Ancient Dragon who would be an immense help in everything he was going to do, so he said this after interrupting the fatty.

However, hearing what he said, the 4 looked at each other with sheepish expressions before the fatty spoke, making Daneel's smile freeze.

"Um…not really. We came to pay our last respects to the Lord of Shamelessness. Boys, let's do it."

As Daneel watched on with chagrin, the 4 joined their hands together, closed their eyes, and chanted a pre-planned chant.

"May the heavens have mercy on the soul of our dear friend, Travis Éclair. Even after his demise, we will always remember him for the epic shamelessness he was capable of. May he rest in peace!"

Daneel honestly didn't know how to respond. He must be the first man who had had to hear a chant that assumed that he was dead while he was standing right in front of them.

He thought they were done, but when a sly expression appeared on the fatty's face, he realized that he was wrong.

"So…we know you must be crying under that façade. It's all right! We, your brothers, will never forget you! See, were so thoughtful! So…we were wondering where you stash your Ker Gems?"

Wow.

These 4 really did live up to the sect they had made for themselves.

Daneel had heard a lot of implausible requests, but this one definitely had to take the cake.

Seeing the expression of rage that had begun to come on his friend's face, the fatty gulped before saying in a high-pitched tone, "Only if you die, of course! If you die, they shouldn't go to waste right? I mean, you're an Amateur Warrior going up against an Exalted Warrior who wants to kill you!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

With 4 kicks, 4 people flew out of the room before the door banged shut behind them.

The tall one among them grumbled before saying, "I told you it wouldn't work!", but before the fatty could reply, he realized something that terrified him.

Their 'friend' had taken care to keep the black pieces of cloth that they had used to disguise themselves with him before kicking them out!

While Daneel smiled on the other side of the room and burned up the pieces of cloth, the fatty cursed, knowing that they were quite thoroughly screwed.

All he could hope for now was a miracle.

Little did he know that that was exactly what would occur that day.

….

Hearing the bell ring, Daneel was about to walk out of the door when Drakos stopped him.

"Young King, you should activate your cloaking spell now. It's safest that way, instead of activating it on the field."

Flummoxed, Daneel asked, "What cloaking spell?"

As an awkward silence ensued, Drakos hesitantly asked, "The…cloaking spell to hide the fact that you're an Exalted Warrior?"

"Why would I need a cloaking spell for that? If I don't display anything at that level, it should be fine, right?"

"No, Young King. Although the chance is slim, it is possible that a Hero might watch the match, and if they do, they will be able to tell at a moment's glace that you aren't what you claim to be. I assumed that you had already obtained one from the other inheritance you seem to have."

This time, it was Daneel's turn to speak hesitantly, after rubbing his nose with embarrassment.

Now that he thought about it, the Watcher had mentioned before his infiltration that it would be best if they chose someone with similar level, as the Sect had means to find the true power level of a person.

Clearly, these were those means.

From the silence and Daneel's embarrassed pose, Drakos could tell that Daneel had no knowledge about such a thing.

"Here: use this. It's just a small trick, so it isn't classified as essential information. So your inheritance isn't all-powerful, I see."

"Not-. I mean, nope."

Daneel had been about to say 'not yet', but he had thankfully managed to control himself at the last second.

As the system was still at the Peak Champion level, it was obvious that it wasn't aware of these things which were at the Hero level.

Clearly, he needed to begin thinking about how he was going to upgrade it again.

Putting it to the side for now, Daneel wiped off the sweat that had come on his forehead due to the close shave and thanked Drakos before telling the system to activate the cloaking spell.

As far as he was concerned, this ancient dragon had already earned its keep many times over.

"So how are you going to defeat an Exalted Warrior without arousing suspicion?"

To this, Daneel replied without thinking just as he was walking through the door.

"I'm just going to act like David, to kill the Goliath."

"Who?"

Stumbling, Daneel quickly replied, "Err, nothing. I'm just going to act like an underdog before using a weakness to win surprisingly."

…

That day would be remembered by all as the day on which an Amateur Warrior would shine to beat an Exalted Warrior, who was poised to grind him into dust.

In the records, it was noted down in this way:

"The one who won the lucky draw was known as 'Ferocious' Saul, known for his intimidating strength which surpassed his own level. However, it soon turned out that it had been back luck for the Exalted Warrior. The opponent, Travis Éclair, had by chance chosen 'speed' to his focus, reaching great heights in that aspect, that allowed him to evade and dance around the field, not letting even a single attack fall on him. Whether it be magical attacks or fists and kicks, Travis would escape them all, tiring out Saul and making him more and more frustrated. Apparently, this Travis had always had a talent in speed, which had allowed him to learn a skill beyond his level that just happened to target the weakness of his opponent. Toward the end, Saul's rage had made him expend too much energy, and Travis was able to obtain victory amidst shocked silence from the onlooking crowd using simple attacks, which showcased his own weakness of having very low power for someone at the Amateur Warrior level. This kind of imbalance is actually a fatal weakness, so Travis was not singled out for special focus by the sect. Yet, he would go on to keep his post."

…

After the fight, Daneel was back in his office, chortling to himself remembering how good it had felt to defeat that Exalted Warrior.

"So you used speed to overpower someone who specialized in strength. What would you have done if it were someone who specialized in speed?"

"I would have used strength, and shown my weakness to be speed, before winning using a 'lucky' fluke."

"And what if they were all-rounded?"

"Then I would have feinted weakness, before using a surprise attack to take them out in one go, which would again look like luck."

This made the Ancient Dragon sink into deep thought for a few moments, and when he finally spoke again, he made Daneel grin.

"Young King, I should have realized how schemi-, I mean, intelligent you are after I saw the way you defeated that old bird. Well, I am now completely convinced that you will definitely succeed in that plan of yours to pit the Mad Doctor and Ashahell against each other. So, what's next?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

477 Deciding the Plan

The next few days, Daneel had a halo about him, with almost everyone looking up to him and even admiring him wherever he went.

However, that all went away when someone jealous leaked the fact that his 'specialty' in speed was actually a crippling weakness, instead of an advantage as it had looked like.

The true experts had already known this, and they started to gloat, saying that he had cut off his future for some temporary strength.

All in all, everyone's attitude went back to before: they felt that he didn't deserve his post, and they would wait a month for the next challenge, during which only those who also specialized in speed, or who were balanced would be the ones fighting.

This time, Daneel certainly had no intention of staying till then. He had gotten away temporarily, but he would definitely not be able to use the same trick twice.

So, Daneel started to carefully watch the Mad Doctor along with a very enthusiastic Drakos.

When he had asked Daneel about his plan, Daneel had told him that he was still forming it, and that it would require a lot of work.

To this, surprisingly, the Ancient Dragon that was supposed to be millennia old had asked if he could help, just like a kid who wanted to help the plumber because plumbing seemed so interesting, as he had never been exposed to it before.

This made Daneel agree with gusto, as there could be nothing better than an idle Hero helping out.

This also made him understand Drakos's personality a bit better: the man, or in this case, the dragon was interested in learning how to 'scheme', and he seemed to be convinced that Daneel was a master at it.

Daneel didn't know whether to feel proud about that or ashamed, but he had to admit that it worked, so he was happy.

So, both of them had started to keep a close eye on the Mad Doctor.

According to Drakos, even if the Hero-level members of the Sect of Hedon took casual looks around the Sect, they wouldn't be able to find evidence of him poking around, as a Hero couldn't detect another Hero, especially in this case when the Dragon apparently outclassed them by quite a bit.

So, Daneel now had an omnipotent watchman who could practically invade anything.

'This is awesome!', thought Daneel, when he found out from Drakos that Ashahell was calmly brooding on the top hidden floor of the Central Tower while being watched.

As for the formation, Drakos had called it a 'toy', saying that the formations he had seen and built in his heyday were so much more complicated and powerful.

All in all, Daneel now had the ability to keep a close watch on both his targets, and also find out where they were at all times.

The only place that Drakos couldn't breach was the core-most region of the sect, which was apparently something that was still simple, but would require more of an effort from him to break through undetected, which wasn't possible with the small part of him that was present with Daneel. Even with the large part, Drakos could only ensure that he would break through, as, after all, he was just a spirit right now.

Daneel didn't really care much about that, as this was more than he had wished he would have, and he was very happy with it.

Feeling very glad that he had allowed Drakos to 'possess' him, Daneel got down to carefully studying the Mad Doctor's movements, as Ashahell just seemed to stand there eternally, even letting the dust settle on his clothes.

The Mad Doctor's schedule was simple: in the morning, he would go to his son's grave, which was in a formation-protected glade to the east of the Central Tower.

While at the grave, he would vow daily that he would have his revenge, and that it would start with Daneel.

This only served to increase Daneel's wish to get rid of him somehow, quickly.

Then, the man would go to his office in the health department and brood while training, occasionally taking the time to shout at a few healers just for kicks.

After that, he would sleep, and his dreams would be filled with nightmares where he would repeatedly curse himself for being too weak to save his son.

And, oh, one other favorite past time of his that he occasionally engaged him had made Daneel want to burn his eyes out, as Drakos had been using a Hero-level spell(which the system had used the opportunity and copied) to view everything the Mad Doctor was doing.

He should have stopped when the woman undressed, but he had been a heartbeat late, which led to him seeing the Mad Doctor's…

Yeah, he didn't want to think about that, at all, ever.

Surprisingly, the Mad Doctor didn't kill the women after the act, almost as if he was currently…laying low, and trying to keep the attention off of him.

This was evident from the expressions of extreme relief on the faces of the women who were unlucky enough to find themselves in his clutched, and when they saw the pile of Ker Gems they were given each time, they were even downright shocked.

That was basically it. For 10 days, Daneel used all of his time to nail the Mad Doctor's routine down to the tiniest detail, just to be sure that whatever plan he came up with wouldn't hit any snags.

On the 11th day, Drakos spoke to Daneel in the morning with joy in his tone, as if he was happier than he had been in a long time.

"So what are we going to do today, Young King? More tailing? If so, we must hurry! The Mad Doctor must already have finished his morning routine by now!"

"No, Drakos. We are done with the tailing. It's time to decide on the final plan."

"Great! Err, I mean…Interesting. What are you considering, Young King?"

The tone of excitement was hard to miss, and Drakos was now exactly like a little kid who had found a new toy.

Sighing, Daneel asked, "You do know of the classic method of framing someone, right?"

"Yes, you use a complicated spell to weave their tapestry and…"

"No, I mean frame as in make them look like they committed a crime they didn't!"

It wasn't even a good joke, thought Daneel, as he ran his hands through his hair.

"Oh! No, I do not. Like I told you, dragons are…I mean, were, just beings that were the most righteous of all. The Emperor even took special care not to expose us to any of the flaws that were inherent in the characters of other species."

This was the first time Daneel was hearing about this, so he was quite puzzled.

Why had the Emperor taken such a special interest in that aspect of the dragons' lives?

To Daneel, it felt like…the dragons were the Emperor's children, whom he wanted to protect from all the wrongs of the world.

So, he hesitantly asked, "Were you…somehow related to the Emperor?"

"Of course! I was his vassal! He trusted me more than-"

"I meant physically."

"Physically? What do you mean?"

How should he frame it?

Sighing again and complaining that he didn't have time for this, Daneel said, "I meant to ask if you were related by blood!"

"By blood? You mean to ask whether I am a product of his copulation? No!"

Ew.

That was what Daneel thought when he heard Drakos answer, and he actually felt glad after hearing the answer for some reason.

However, it seemed that Drakos wanted to continue.

"Although we were a liberal empire that allowed relations between those of all genders and species, copulation between humans and dragons was impossible, mainly because of the size diff-"

"ALL RIGHT, STOP! I got it, ok?"

"You were the one who asked, Young King. What made you think of that, anyway?"

Even more flummoxed than when he had started this conversation, and quite a bit creeped out, Daneel said, "Forget it. The classic way is to put evidence in the other person's abode, before giving a tip to the concerned party about that evidence. It is always harder to prove that one is innocent when one is caught red-handed, and the evidence would pit our target against anyone we wanted. Yet, that's too simple to use here. I need to get creative."

After a few seconds of silence, Drakos spoke in the tone of one who had had their minds blown.

"Incredible! Such a cun-, err, I mean, witty way to trap someone! I don't see how anyone would escape from that! Why would you need something better, Young King? I would definitely be incriminated easily if someone used that against me! I wouldn't even be able to claim that that evidence wasn't mine, as it was found in my home- a place that I frequent. Amazing!"

Tuning out Drakos, Daneel started to think hard, going through every detail he remembered from Earth, along with everything possible he could do, especially with Drakos, the innocent Dragon's help.

His objective was for the Mad Doctor to fight against Ashahell, and either get the former injured or killed, while putting the latter away for clear, verified suspicion of colluding with the Church.

Ashahell was smart enough not to leave any evidence. But how would he contest against fake evidence?

As for the Mad Doctor, Daneel decided to take an approach he had already used once.

The best way to deceive someone or manipulate them was to make them think that it was their own idea.

With his decision made, Daneel chalked out the details, all while Drakos continued about how 'smart' he was.

However, when he was about to interrupt the innocent Dragon to tell him the plan, he felt like a senior in school who was being a bad influence on a cute, young schoolmate.

Taking a deep breath and ridding himself of that image, Daneel proceeded.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

478 Implementing the Plan

3 days later, the Mad Doctor was following his routine as usual.

He had just been to his son's grave, and he was currently on the way to his office.

Over the past fortnight, each day, he had only been able to stay sane by imagining and dreaming of the moment that would soon come when he would crave the flesh of the King of Lanthanor and make him beg before finding out the location and identity of his master from him.

And if he didn't have the answer the Mad Doctor sought, then it was just too bad. The Central Continent would lose a valuable King, but a part of the Mad Doctor's revenge would at least be fulfilled, as he would be able to make that master feel a little of just how it was to lose a son.

However, until then, he had to stay out of sight of the Hero level members of the Sect of Hedon, who usually kept an eye on him due to some…activities that he had gotten up to a few decades back, which had partly given him the nickname he carried now.

After reaching his office, he suddenly noticed that something was amiss.

A Champion's senses couldn't be compared to those of a normal human: they could sense even the smallest changes in places they regularly frequented, purely due to the familiarity they obtained after staying in a location for an extended period of time.

Thinking for a bit, the Mad Doctor walked to the cabinet to the left of the room which contained the important records of the Health Department of the Sect of Hedon, such as core healing methods and records of injuries, which was actually a very valuable resource because of the fact that each injury caused by magic was unique, leading to different healing methods, where one method may be more effective than other.

All in all, this cabinet was protected by the core formation of the Sect itself, and although it wasn't as prioritized as the areas where the true treasures of the sect were stores, it was still quite strong.

However, he could tell that someone had opened it.

Frowning and wondering who it could have been, the Mad Doctor opened the cabinet to view the rows and rows of cubical white crystals, which were memory trinkets, that were placed inside.

Scanning each row carefully, the Mad Doctor finally spotted the incongruency: it was one of the cubes in the back of the 6th row, whose position had changed by a millimeter since the Mad Doctor had last seen it.

Wait! That wasn't the only one!

In the 9th row, there was one more cube.

Picking both of them up, the Mad Doctor sat down at his desk and went through them carefully.

Everything looked fine, but his gut told him that something was off.

A Champion's instinct could never be doubted, as it was only with harmonizing ethereally with themselves did they even cross that chasm that separated the Warrior and Champion realms.

Frowning even further, the Mad Doctor quickly left the office and went back to his room.

Inside, he opened a secret compartment in the wall which he had hidden using a Hero-level formation that he had obtained with great difficulty.

Here lay piles and piles of Ker Gems, and also a thin, branch-like substance that glowed red.

Yes, it was the inferior Ker Root that he had used partially for the solution that was supposed to have advanced his son to the peak of the Warrior stage.

As for how he had obtained it: that was a secret that only he knew.

Not just that, even this compartment's existence was definitely not known even by the Hero-level sect members of the Sect of Hedon. Unless someone was capable enough of watching him every day, after evading the detection of the only other Hero-level trinket he had that alerted him to being spied on, could they even find a hint of this compartment, and even then, he would definitely have been alerted if someone disturbed the foundation.

No Hero-level individual alive was capable of tampering with this vault of his.

With a small smile of confidence, the Mad Doctor reached inside and traced his fingers across the rows of data crystals that were arranged here.

Indeed: these were the illegal copies he had made of the ones in his office, for his own personal use, in case he ever needed to flee the Sect. Although they contained trivial information such as the records of all the people who had been healed in the Health Department, the core data about healing they contained would ensure him amnesty if the day ever came when he did something horrible enough that he would be hunted by the Heroes of the Sect of Hedon.

Who knew? That day might come very soon.

Discarding these thoughts, the Mad Doctor took out the corresponding cubes that had been moved in his office.

Going through them, he realized that it was the data of the records of those healed in the Health Department that had been made.

There were two records that had been deleted, with one each in each cube.

In the first one, on the same day that his son had died, someone had been admitted to the health department with a wound in their back, that seemed to have been sustained from a Champion.

On asking, the recipient of the wound had just claimed that it was an Exalted Warrior who was trying out a new attack. As the wound wasn't very serious, not many questions were asked.

With this itself, the Mad Doctor started to shake with anger.

On that day, he had been sure that the attack of his had grazed the person who had killed his son.

Apparently, the culprit was in his own sect, and he had dared to get healed in the department he was a head of!

Such audacity!

Controlling himself, the Mad Doctor viewed the second one, and it made him stand up with absolute shock.

On the day when the tea that was served to the Hero-level individuals of the continent who had gathered for the meeting, someone had been admitted in the health department showing symptoms similar to those that came from drinking a little of that poison.

As the concentration of poison was very low, and because that person claimed that it was from ingesting some herb outside which was apparently his weird habit, only a record had been made.

However, no one had made this connection- that it was the same poison.

Perhaps…the one who had transported/administered the poison had ingested it by mistake? And was still at large?

And the person who was responsible for intruding in his office wanted to cover this up?

Wait…then didn't that mean that…the one who had killed his son, and the one who had colluded with the Church, were one and the same?!

With completely bloodshot eyes, the Mad Doctor rushed to his office again, where he pulled aside a healer to ask who had gone into his office when he was absent.

There was only one person, and the answer completely shocked the Mad Doctor, making him look as if he had just been electrocuted by an attack from a Hero.

It was a staff member of the Sect Leader, who had come with the Sect Leader's permission to check on the formations inside the room.

If it wasn't for his paranoia of making backups which no one knew about, this would have been a perfect plan.

However, now, that activity of his had resulted in him finding out the killer of his son, and as it was someone whom he had suspected before, he had no suspicion at all. Thus, he let rage consume him again, while he started to rapidly change his plans.

…

Meanwhile, in the chambers of the Sect Leader, Ashahell had just received a report from a few sect members from other members of the Big 4 whom he had contracted to keep an eye on the general Energy levels and concentrations in the continent.

It was his attempt at finding Ker Gem Mines which could be protected from the Big 4, and these sect members were people who shared his zeal, albeit to a much lesser extent.

The report made his eyes furrow, before making him show a hint of anger, that anyone would be very surprised to see, as the Sect Leader was always a man of few emotions.

If any emotion was being shown on the outside, then it definitely meant that it was present in considerable amounts in the Sect Leader's mind.

The report stated that the Mad Doctor had engaged in planting Devil Crops secretly, not caring for the fact that they rendered the land barren for years, in order to obtain enough resources to make those pools which were designed to push those sect members who had died to the Peak of the Warrior level.

Since the incident in Lanthanor last time, the Big 4 had cracked down on all such activities, even putting in place the law that those found to be engaging in these activities would be killed directly.

This man had already opposed him vehemently once, when he had proposed his plan to save Angaria.

This time, for once, Ashahell seriously considered giving in to his emotions, and killing that Mad Doctor, lest he finds an opportunity to take shelter behind some Hero.

…

Meanwhile, the one responsible for all of these actions and reactions was slowly savoring a piece of Fish from the Endless Sea while smiling to himself.

"Young King, you said that framing someone means planting false evidence in their abode. But you planted false evidences in both of their abodes! Why?"

"Two reasons, but you should be able to guess the first as its obvious. Try, Drakos."

After a few moments of thought, Drakos replied, "I got it! So that they would be instigated to fight against each other!"

Sighing and thinking that Drakos still had a long way to go, Daneel spoke.

"Yes. But the second reason is that I planted false evidence about a false crime in one case, and false evidence of a real crime in the other. Even though a lot of care has been taken to cover up that real crime, if investigation starts in the earnest, don't you think that some or the other clue might be uncovered? After all, no crime is perfect, at least, not when there's someone like me to help the investigation. What do you say, Drakos? It's like a thief who has stolen something accusing and being accused by another thief who is innocent, with both thieves finding false evidence which lead to the accusations. If you are the investigator, don't you think that you have more chances of finding some clue to prove the crime of the first thief, because it really has happened, and because although the evidence is false, it points to that crime?"

"Yes! Of course! Brilliant, Young King! You're using his crime against him! Wonderful! Deceitful! Shamele-..Err, I mean, Amazing!"

As Daneel accepted the praises, he finished the piece of fish before buying another, deciding to splurge in celebration of a successful start to his plan.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

479 Champion Deathmatch 1

Standing idly in a grove near the Central Tower while leaning on a tree, Daneel was watching the actions of the Mad Doctor who was in his office, and Ashahell who was in his quarters.

The report about the Mad Doctor giving Echer Plants to the Black Raven Kingdom was false: he had only made a fake one up after finding out Ashahell's contacts so that he could infuriate the man using the one thing which affected him the most: the condition of the continent.

His hope was that due to this and their earlier altercation, Ashahell would be inclined to kill the Mad Doctor.

But…this was only a hope, and he needed to make sure it would happen.

He knew that the Mad Doctor would soon target him to kill him as soon as Marcus's favor of 'protecting' him ended, and Daneel just didn't want to handle someone at his level while being just a Warrior.

He had asked Drakos about the Champion level, but he had been told that this was essential information which could not be revealed unless he took the satisfaction level of the Kingdom to another peak.

Resolving to get on that as soon as this little assignment of his was done, Daneel refocused on the Mad Doctor, who had begun to break the things around his room in anger.

The man never had been that good at controlling his rage, and that seemed all the more apparent now. However, what Daneel wanted him to do was report this to the Heroes of the Sect before going on the warpath.

Handling Ashahell would be harder-the man was the one of the smartest that Daneel had ever seen, so it would be unwise to try and manipulate him in simple ways. No, Daneel needed to be careful and thorough.

At this moment, he was like the master of a maze which had two entrances. Into each, he had put in an ant, and now his job was to poke and prod them to reach the center where they would kill each other.

Meanwhile, the Mad Doctor was trying hard to act rationally.

If he gave in to his rage, he knew that he would foolishly go face the most talented and powerful Champion of the Sect without preparation, which would definitely result in his death.

He had never particularly believed that the latter was true, and although he was willing to try and kill the man himself, he didn't want to risk the possibility that he would be killed in return.

Inside his room, to the side lay a healer whose mind had just been flicked through by the Mad Doctor.

For his consent, he had promised him various things, but it wasn't necessary that he had to deliver them.

This was the healer who had written the report, and in his memory, the Mad Doctor had found that the one who had been injured bore a lot of similarities to the Sect Leader.

If he had had a smidgen of doubt before, it was completely gone now.

Clearly, Ashahell must have used the name of that master of the King of Lanthanor to commit this crime and take his revenge.

After finally smashing things for 5 more minutes before calming down, the Mad Doctor made his decision.

Taking out a data cube, he started recording something.

…

Viewing this, Daneel was happy.

Of course, he had used Mind Control on that healer to place that fake memory in his head.

"Young King, how could you guess that he would make a backup like this before attacking the other man?"

"It was an educated guess, Drakos. He makes backups of everything else, and he's also paranoid. So, I was just hoping that that habit of his would act up again. Thankfully, it did. This part is going well. Now, on to Ashahell."

Saying so, Daneel's gaze shifted to Ashahell's quarters.

Through Drakos's spell, it was like he was right there in the room.

Currently, Ashahell was pacing around with a deep frown.

Clearly, although he had felt very angry before and had been tempted to go and directly kill the Mad Doctor, he had now controlled himself.

He was a formidable foe, indeed.

It seemed that he needed another…push, so Daneel pondered on what he was going to do.

Almost mimicking his pacing unconsciously, Daneel thought hard for a minute before finally getting an idea.

For a solution, he had placed himself in Ashahell's shoes, to think about what would work on this man the most.

This had led him to one answer: other than the condition of the continent, the only other thing of large import to him was probably his secret- that he was an agent of the Church.

Yes!

His lips curling, Daneel started to instruct Drakos about what they were going to do, before marching toward the Central Tower.

One hour later.

Ashahell was still in his quarters, which was quite uncharacteristic of him. This would definitely be the longest time he had spent here in recent times.

He had nothing but time right now, so he had decided to spend as much time as needed in order to reach a decision instead of rushing into one.

He had been told to sit tight, but that didn't necessarily mean that he couldn't rid the continent of a pest that only wanted to exploit it.

However, although it was possible that he would get himself pardoned, it might be safer to wait and collect more proof.

These were the two paths he was thinking about, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Frowning and wondering about who could know that he was here, he opened the door to find a shaking servant holding a tray with a few wine glasses on it.

"S-Sect Leader! Y-you're here! I…I just wanted to try b-before I went to the ad-administrative department. Can I please speak to you?"

Seeing the man's heightened state of panic, Ashahell nodded, gesturing at him to come in.

This wasn't the first time he had taken sudden audiences in his quarters. The last time, some sect members had confessed some crimes directly to him in hopes that he would be lenient, instead of doing so at the administrative department, where they would try to give the worst punishment possible.

Thinking that this servant might be the same, Ashahell closed the door but he froze in his tracks and widened his eyes when he heard the man speak.

"S-sir, I just heard the M-Mad Doctor screaming something about finding proof that y-you're an agent of the C-Church, Sir. It's so preposterous! B-but he has connections in the administrative department, so I didn't want to report this there, as he will definitely try to kill me. St-still I thought you should know, Sir. It s-sounded like he would do something r-really bad, so I wanted to help stop it like a dutiful s-sect member."

The Mad Doctor had found proof that he was a part of the Church of Rectitude?!

On the outside, Ashahell looked fine, but tumultuous waves of thoughts were churning inside his head.

What could it be? He had been so thorough!

No, it wasn't the time to think of that now.

"Well done. You will be rewarded handsomely. I'll take care of this- you know how he is when he gets mad. He's been unhinged ever since his son died."

"Th-thank you, Sir."

"Tell no one of this. I will reward you later, myself. Got it?"

"Yes, Sir. I'll take my leave then."

Nodding in reply, Ashahell opened the door, but just when the servant was about to leave the room, he asked, "Does anyone else know about this?"

With a start, the servant stopped and answered in a quivering voice.

"N-no, sir. I was alone when I walked up to his room to offer refreshments."

"Good. Go."

As soon as the servant left, Ashahell frowned deeper than ever.

Something about this didn't seem right.

However, he had to consider whether he could take the risk.

If there was proof, everything, all of his efforts, would go to waste.

Why not just kill the man and give the report of him breaking the rule as a crime?

Regardless of whether he had proof or not, it would solve all problems.

At the same time, Ashahell received a message through his communication trinket.

"Sect Leader, the Mad Doctor has requested for your presence at a location outside the sect. He quotes that it is because he has some important information he needs to convey."

Really? His madness was acting up again? He actually wanted to confront him?!

Perfect. This would be the perfect opportunity.

Thinking so, Ashahell carefully stored the report to show as proof for his actions later, before embarking to that spot.

A Hero was still watching him, but that could be remedied temporarily when the time came.

…

Heaving a huge sigh of relief on seeing Ashahell set off to the location where the Mad Doctor was waiting for him, Daneel wiped the sweat off his brow.

Finally!

"Young King, I must say that I've learned a lot. With such fine ski-"

While Drakos droned on in his head, Daneel felt that although this had been very hard, it had all been worth it.

From taking the time to find each person's weaknesses and contacts, to using Mind Control discreetly without anyone noticing.

He was in the final lap, so without delay, Daneel immediately rushed to the missions section before finding another team, Mind Controlling them and teleporting away to arrive at the spot where the Mad Doctor would be confronting Ashahell, after taking care of a little errand.

As soon as he arrived, he saw nothing, but Drakos asked him to move forward.

As he did under the Hero level camouflage spell that Drakos was casting, he saw the Mad Doctor waiting in the air.

Apparently, Ashahell was taking a longer route: he must be tying up loose ends in the Central Tower before coming.

Regardless, Daneel waited with bated breath.

A deathmatch between Champions was going to break out soon, and he was the one who had merrily arranged for it to happen.

Just as he was settling in, Drakos spoke, making him enter a state of high alertness.

"Young King, pay very close attention. In the time of the Empire, spars between Champions used to be held in public tournaments for the benefit of the people. It is said that even if one hasn't embarked on the path to power, the power of Champions is something they must learn of, and for that, witnessing them in action went a long way into understanding how they did what they were capable of. This was all the more important for Peak Warriors like you. Witness the power and glory of Champions, and try to find clues about what being a Champion means. Maybe, that way, you can find clues about how to cross the chasm yourself."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

480 Champion Deathmatch 2

The Mad Doctor looked livid: his face was completely red like a tomato, and veins were throbbing on his forehead.

However, what Daneel found strange was that he wasn't laying any traps for his opponent.

Daneel had no idea exactly what level the Mad Doctor was at, but he knew for sure that he was not a Peak Exalted Champion like the Sect Leader.

Thus, he was the weaker side. With his level of cunningness, wouldn't it make sense to set up traps put the enemy on the back foot?

As he voiced this question to the Ancient Dragon, he got the answer.

"Young King, I cannot tell you much due to the rules laid down by the Emperor. But I can give you a hint. If this man did arrange traps, no Champion would be foolish to march into such a place. The only traps he can use are those at the Hero level, and apparently, he is not in possession of such means. Anything below that would be futile, as he would just tip off his opponent."

Right!

The Mad Doctor was only calling the Sect Leader here to convey some information. If the Sect Leader managed to detect something like a trap, he would definitely be tipped off.

Of course, the Mad Doctor didn't know that the Sect Leader was also coming with hostile intentions.

Exactly one minute later, the Sect Leader of the Sect of Hedon appeared in the air opposite the Mad Doctor.

An expression of eerie calmness was on his face, and his arms were folded behind his back.

He was wearing a high-collared gold robe, while the Mad Doctor was garbed in black robes that covered his entire body except for his face.

"Sect Leader, I wanted to-"

"Cut the crap. Do you deny your crimes?"

"Wh-what crimes?"

What the hell? This wasn't the script!

By now, even the Mad Doctor could tell the Sect Leader was here with some other motive.

"It's just like you to feign ignorance. Enough!"

Saying so, the Sect Leader took out a trinket shaped like a strange hourglass.

As he broke it, the hourglass disappeared into the air, instead of breaking into pieces and falling down.

Instantly, Daneel felt as if he had just taken a cold shower.

"A rare Hero level trinket. I wonder where he found it."

"Oh? What does it do?"

"It distorts the time for whoever is watching him. At this instant, it will appear to them as if these two are just standing there. After two minutes, what has really happened will be transmitted to them. Basically, they will not be able to appear instantly to break up the fight. By the time they understand what is going on, it will be too late."

Hearing this, Daneel's eyes widened.

Such a miraculous trinket existed?

However, Daneel got a query.

"2 minutes? Isn't that too short for a fight, though?"

After a brief silence, Drakos replied, "Young King, a single second is often enough to decide the victor, especially when the fight is at the Champion level. 2 minutes is a stretch. I suspect that he plans to use the rest of the time to change the scene to appear however he likes."

A second?!

Daneel couldn't believe his ears, but he realized that it made sense.

Even Warrior level fights rarely stretched on for very long, but for some reason, he had assumed that the stronger one was, the more time would be required to breach their defenses and land a fatal attack.

Wherever did he get that idea?

As he asked himself this, he realized that he had been using the animated fights he had seen back on Earth to compare, which was obviously, not very wise.

But what was so special about the Champion level?

From the system, he knew that the key lay in Magerootless spell casting, but he didn't know anything further.

He already knew that there wasn't much information in the system about it: most of the journals and data that had been recorded pertained to the Warrior level, with Champions not even having residences in the Central Tower. Even if they did, he didn't know where they might be storing their most secret information.

All in all, Daneel was due to get his first clear view of what the Champion level was right now, and he was ready for it.

As soon as the trinket dissolved into space, the Mad Doctor got a ferocious look on his face.

"So you knew why I called you. How did you have the audacity to-"

"Oh, just die."

As Ashahell cut him off in this way, the elementary particles around the Mad Doctor started fluctuating wildly.

Random flashes of lightning, fire, ice, and earth started to appear around him.

The lightning was in the form of snakes which would pierce through any Warrior easily, and the fire appeared in the form of clumps of such high temperature that any Warrior would be roasted alive if they came into contact with them.

Along with ice pricks which threatened to destroy everything they attacked, and massive boulders of earth which were ready to crush anything to oblivion, it was as if nature itself was showing its wrath.

These were only the visible elements: through his elementary vision, Daneel could tell that so many more elemental attacks were also appearing at random, such as drops in gravity, space rips, and ultra-sharp wind blades.

In a way, it was as if nature had gone…mad.

Yes! That was it…nature had gone mad!

Each attack varied in intensity too, but at minimum, they could kill a Warrior.

As Daneel focused his eyes on Ashahell, he was surprised to see no change take place near him.

He had been expecting some kind of impressive change in the area around Ashahell, but the Sect Leader of the Sect of Hedon was just standing there idly.

Compared to the maelstrom of furious destruction that had sprung up around the Mad Doctor, he seemed weak. Powerless.

[Champion level display of powers being analyzed. Consolidating hints from thousands of sources using analyzed metrics.

Champion Paths identified.

'Mad' Champion Path analyzed.

'Mad' Champion Path: Those who choose this path come into touch with their inner madness, projecting it outwards through their Mageroot/body to make the world transform into a deathtrap where random elemental attacks with high frequency and power attack trespassers.

Current Form of Champion Path On Display: Domain/Projection

Note: It has been written that this Domain must not be confused with a Hero's Domain, which is something that all Heroes possess. This Domain is a projection of one's path into the world, which is a Form of attack as opposed to attacking in different Forms.]

Huh. So the system did know quite a bit about Champions.

As Daneel asked the system to repeat the information, he realized that a few journals that the system had recorded from the Central Tower might be from Peak Exalted Warriors who must have been doing their own research into the Champion level.

Discarding these idle thoughts, Daneel was about to completely focus on what he had just learned, but he stopped when he saw Ashahell move.

"Come! My Madness Domain has made many Champions flee with terror! Show me that 'Sense Distortion' Path that was touted as that which can only be trained in by one in a million!"

As the Mad Doctor shouted this, a small smile appeared on Ashahell's face, which made Daneel's skin crawl.

This man had been creepy enough with his intense expressions, but this smile took that to a whole other level.

It wasn't the meaning of the smile which made Daneel feel this; no, the meaning was clear: Ashahell was scoffing at the Mad Doctor.

Most of all, it was how unnatural that smile looked, as if it was something that had never graced that serious face for years.

Even the Mad Doctor felt a chill creep into his spine when he saw the Sect Leader's smile, but he just focused on his rage.

He knew for a fact that the Sect Leader was notorious for being able to kill someone without them even realizing anything. He was capable of taking away their sense of pain, touch, sight, and hearing, and then returning it to them after he was done.

No one knew exactly how it worked, but the Mad Doctor had long prepared himself for this battle using an obscure phrase he had read somewhere about this Champion Path.

"Cut off a few senses and focus on the ones remaining, and no Sense Distorter can affect you."

Slowly, Ashahell began to walk toward the Mad Doctor idly.

At the same instant, the Mad Doctor felt a vague fog encroaching on his mind.

However, he held firm because of his preparations, and when he did, Ashahell frowned.

This made the Mad Doctor rejoice.

"Hahaha, your Sense Distortion is useless! I've cut off my own feeling of pain to take full control of the others, so you cannot do anything! Come, Sect Leader! Die to my Madness! Haha-No…what?!"

Toward the end of his speech, just when he had been about to laugh again, the Mad Doctor was interrupted by something rushing up his throat.

Making gurgling and coughing noises, he spit it out, before seeing that it was blood.

With an expression of extreme alarm and shock, the Mad Doctor looked up to see that the Sect Leader wasn't in front of him while walking toward him, as he had thought.

Instead, as he looked down to see the massive hole in his upper body where his organs used to be, he heard a calm voice from behind him.

"Hmph. You were mistaken, Mad Doctor. It is not just your 5 basic senses that I can distort. You forgot about your sense of time, and your sense of space. Goodbye."

Meanwhile, Daneel was gaping at the scene, with his jaw hanging open.

He had been able to witness what had truly happened.

When Ashahell started to walk toward the Mad Doctor, everything had looked normal, up until that frown on his face after which the Mad Doctor had begun his gloating.

After the first word had left the Mad Doctor's mouth, it was as if time had…completely slowed down for him.

His body movements were very, very slow, and each word that he said was stretched out, almost as if…time was passing differently for his own body.

After seeing that whatever he had done had taken effect, Ashahell simply strolled forward again, before being attacked by the wild elemental attacks.

Here, he faced a little difficulty: hundreds of attacks bombarded him, reducing his trinkets to dust, making him resort to defending himself actively, and he was also slightly injured in the process.

However, the Mad Doctor was still staring at some distant spot where Ashahell had been a minute ago, and his speech was still coming out slo-o-o-o-wly.

After reaching the Mad Doctor, with one punch, Ashahell caused a large bloody hole the size of a man's waist to appear in his chest, before quickly leaving that domain under the attacks and standing behind him with his back turned.

After he replied in this way, the Mad Doctor finally seemed to come back to his normal senses, looking down and wondering what the heck had happened.

Seeing this whole thing, Daneel's back drenched with sweat, and he could only think of one word to describe both of these Champions.

Terrifying.

Utterly, insanely, terrifying.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

481 Champion Deathmatch End

['Sense Distorter' Champion Path analyzed.

'Sense Distorter' Champion Path: Only those who are capable of perfectly controlling their own senses can even begin to embark on this path. This is an 'Acquired' Path, instead of an 'Original' one.

Current Form of Champion Path On Display: Domain/Projection

Note: It has been written that this Domain must not be confused with a Hero's Domain, which is something that all Heroes possess. This Domain is a projection of one's path into the world, which is a Form of attack as opposed to attacking in different Forms.]

While the message sounded in Daneel's mind, the King of Lanthanor tried to close his jaw which was still hanging open after seeing such a breathtaking display of power.

However, he quickly realized that something was wrong.

By all assumptions, someone who had a hole that was large enough for a fully grown man to fit through in their stomach should be dead.

However, the 'Madness Domain' was still active, crackling with energy and threatening to decimate anyone who entered.

After spitting out blood, the Mad Doctor's eyes had also closed, and he appeared dead.

Then why was his domain still active?

Ashahell seemed to have noticed this too after turning around. As an expression of extreme vexation appeared on his face, he prepared to go back in disregarding any injuries he might sustain, but suddenly, Daneel saw a sight he would never forget.

The sun blackened out, as if someone had stretched their hand over it, and everything became still.

"Young King, a Hero approaches, and he is a powerful one. We must leave here, at least. Although my spell will hide you, a true Hero might be able to sense something if you are so close. Quickly start moving east. I'll still be able to transmit what happens, so don't worry."

Hearing this, Daneel got an expression of slight panic on his face before he slowly started to move away.

Still very dazed from the display of power, he was keeping a close eye on Ashahell, so when the man turned toward his direction, Daneel froze as sweat suddenly appeared all over his body, completely drenching him and making his heart beat out of his chest.

"Drakos, you said he can't detect me, right?"

"He can't! This man is no ordinary Champion. Still, Young King, disregard his gaze. You must leave. NOW!"

Since Daneel had taken that portion of the Ancient Dragon's consciousness into his body, this was the first time that he was seeing him actually serious.

As he screamed the last word, the majestic roar of a dragon seemed to be echoing in his mind, making him enter a state of high alertness that allowed him to cast off the panic that had arisen due to the possibility that the man, no, insanely powerful monster that was just a few hundred meters away from him might know of his presence.

Heeding Drakos's words, Daneel briskly walked away, taking care not to disturb a single twig on the forest floor.

Finally, when he got the get-go from Drakos, he teleported a short distance away before taking in huge gulps of air.

Daneel had been holding his breath this entire time, hoping that nothing would happen.

He had thought that he was some hotshot who could defend himself because he had reached the Peak Warrior level, but he realized just how much of an ant he was after witnessing that display of power.

Although Ashahell had used it against him, too, before, this was nothing like that.

No, Daneel could tell that it wasn't some simple spell that could be avoided using some kind of means. It was something so much more, and even though Daneel couldn't tell exactly what it was, he knew that he stood no chance.

So, right now, he threw away all remaining thoughts he had about probably facing Ashahell.

Using someone else to remove this threat was best.

Calming down, Daneel realized that it had already been 10 seconds since that moment when the sun had blackened, so he quickly asked Drakos to use that spell to let him eavesdrop again.

As he blinked, the image around him changed, and it as if he was back at the same spot he had been 10 seconds ago.

The Mad Doctor was still floating in the air looking like a corpse, and his Madness Domain was still active.

However, Ashahell seemed to have cleaned up. The wounds he had sustained were no longer visible, and he also seemed to have had a change of clothes.

Everything else looked the same, and Ashahell seemed to be waiting for something.

3 seconds later, a figure appeared between him and the Mad Doctor.

At the same moment, Ashahell turned around and kneeled to the figure.

This was an old man who was wearing maroon robes. He had a short white beard which seemed to be immaculately trimmed, and his white hair fell to beneath his shoulders.

His robes were old school, reminding Daneel of the Kings he had seen in a few textbooks on Earth. There was a scarf of sorts which was around his neck, with his left hand raised to chest level on which the long end of the scarf was draped on.

All in all, he looked to Daneel like one who had just walked out of a court a few centuries ago.

He had an ancient look to him, as if he had existed for a very long time, and this was exacerbated by his eyes, which spoke of such wisdom that couldn't even be fathomed by mortals.

However, now, those eyes were filled with disappointment.

"Ashahell. Why am I not surprised?"

His voice was deep, and when Daneel heard it, even though he wasn't at the location, he felt as if it had some kind of hypnotic tone to it, almost as if it were designed to make anyone who heard it obey and go along.

"He broke the laws, so I was just meting out the punishment. I received-"

"A report from one of your contacts. I know. But he was wrong. The Mad Doctor wasn't the one who gave the Echer seeds before, and he certainly isn't using them now."

"What? How? He is trustworthy! I was just-"

"He received information from someone else, and because of a few coincidental reasons, the report was sent forward to you by a mistake by one of his staff."

"A mistake?! But I didn't know! I just wanted to-"

It seemed that interrupting someone was the favorite pastime of this aged man, as he continued doing it without giving any hint of stopping it.

"Mete out justice. Child, the age of a single hair follicle of mine is longer than what you've spent on this continent. You knew that you would not be blamed too much if you did things in this way, as everyone already knows about how…sentimental you are about the continent. I've traced everything that's happened, even though you went to great lengths to hide the traces. You destroyed the Mad Doctor's backups, so there is no concrete proof about anything, and especially about those incidents that you covered up. Your aim was to get away with killing him, after making sure that there was no proof against you to further increase our suspicion that you've struck a deal with the Church. You think you've succeeded, right?"

With everything exposed, Daneel could see Ashahell hold his breath.

Clearly, this Hero, whoever he was, had been able to find out everything in minutes.

Daneel thanked the stars that he had a Hero-level Mind Control spell that couldn't be detected by this man, because if that were not the case, even more stuff would have been revealed by now which would definitely have led to his capture and eventual death.

Daneel had been the one to make that 'mistake' happen coincidentally by Ashahell's informant using Mind Control, in the same way that he had set everything else up to make this fight happen.

After giving a pause, the Hero continued.

"Wrong! I knew that you might try something like this, so I set up special formations to detect trinkets like these. That's how I was able to come so fast. The Mad Doctor will live, and although he will be in a coma for a considerable amount of time, he will still be able to serve this continent when the time comes. You, though. You thought you were so smart. But for once, the Mad Doctor was smarter than you. You deleted his backup, sure. But you couldn't find this."

As the Hero unveiled a data cube from beneath his robe, Ashahell's eyes widened oh so slightly, displaying his shock for the world to see.

Impossible! That guy had made another backup?!

Seeing this, despite the tension of the situation, Daneel couldn't help but snicker.

It was he who had made that backup and placed it in such a way that the Hero would be able to find it.

After all, if he had started scheming anyway, why not see it through to the end?

Of course, the Mad Doctor would be the one taking the credit, but the end result was what was most important.

Especially after that incredible power display, Daneel really, really wanted Ashahell to be put away.

Thankfully, for once, it seemed that his schemes were going to pay off in the way he had expected them to.

"It's over, Ashahell. I've seen what coverups you've done. The only reason you're still alive is that some on the council have stated that you might be being framed. Only because of that possibility, you will be locked in the best prison we have, until such a time when your guilt or innocence can be proven. Don't bother wasting your breath. The decision has been made. Let's go."

With the last sentence, Ashahell was forcefully dragged away in an instant by that Hero, who vanished too, letting the sun shine again.

As for the Mad Doctor, he had been taken away too, but in a much gentler manner.

As the Madness Domain finally disappeared, Daneel heaved a huge, huge sigh of relief.

Well, the Mad Doctor wasn't dead, but he had practically gotten everything else he had asked for. Ashahell was going to rot behind bars, so he would no longer have to worry about that pertinent threat at least for the time being.

However, right now, as the Mad Doctor would be in a coma anyway, it was time for some good ol' looting.

Regaining his enthusiasm, Daneel chuckled and made his way back to the Sect before discreetly entering the Mad Doctor's house again.

If the kind woman who had raised him in the orphanage back on Earth got to know that he had become someone who delighted so much in looting, she would definitely have been quite disappointed.

The guy was in a coma, so he wouldn't miss them. Even if he did, Daneel could handle that later, as Drakos had just told him that with that amount of injuries, it would definitely be at least 6 months to a year before he got revived.

First, Daneel packed away the piles and piles of Ker Gems and the Ker Root, before getting to the really good stuff.

To the back of the vault was a mottled diary, which seemed to have been written by a madman.

Oh, right- that madman was the Mad Doctor.

As he quickly touched it, Daneel got a notification from the system which made his face light up with a smile.

['Mad' Champion Path Obtained.

Type of Champion Path: Original

Level Limit: Peak Eminent Champion

Achievement Unlocked: Large Strides.

Large Strides: By obtaining your first Champion Path just months after advancing to become a Warrior, you have qualified yourself to receive this achievement which commends you for the quick progress that you are making. Congratulations!

10,000 EXP Awarded.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

482 The Fruits of Labor

Sweet, sweet EXP.

After upgrading the system to the Peak Champion level, Daneel had been disregarding EXP for the most part, both because he was able to make do without spending them for the available tools, and because he had thought that he wouldn't need to upgrade it any time soon again.

However, being a witness to that fight had changed his opinion.

The sooner he was able to upgrade the system, the better it would be, but he honestly didn't want to find out the upgrade cost right now.

If he did, he might keep stressing about it, so he decided to accumulate EXP for now and ask the system later, when he felt that he would be able to take the blow.

After going through the description of the 'Mad' Champion Path in his head, he was tempted to ask more, but Daneel decided to first get out of here.

Taking care to record each and every backup the Mad Doctor had, including the ones of the medical techniques of the Sect which were practically priceless, Daneel left, leaving everything as it had been.

This had truly been a bountiful harvest, he thought, as he lugged the bag of Ker Gems and walked to his dormitory.

Thankfully, Drakos had given him a Hero level spell that made it so that he wouldn't be paid much attention by anyone who laid eyes on him.

This enabled him to make a clean escape without drawing attention, and as he reached his dormitory, Daneel felt like jumping up in joy.

Jackpot, jackpot, jackpot!

Many said that there was a certain 'kick' that was felt by every schemer and thief when they succeeded in looting something very valuable, and Daneel was feeling that now.

Euphoria washed through him as he sat down on his bed and looked at the enormous bag of Ker Gems.

It would have been impossible to lug it here without Drakos's help, so he thanked the Ancient Dragon, who strangely stayed silent.

Shrugging, Daneel began to count, and with each second, his joy grew by leaps and bounds.

He could have asked the system to give him the number, but he hadn't done so as he wanted to have the satisfaction of finding it out himself.

After a few minutes, the final number shocked him so much that he could only stare into space in a daze for a few seconds.

168,516.

WOW!

Remembering that moment when he had been loath to use just one Ker Gem because they were so rare, Daneel realized that he had really come a long, long way.

Besides, he had seen the size of the Mad Doctor's vault. There used to be so many more Ker Gems, but Daneel could guess that he must have used them for the solutions in which those sect members had been training.

Of course, the true prize was still the Ker Root, which was in the form of a hand-sized knotted twig-like object which seemed to be made of the same material like the Ker Gems, but was much darker.

Opposed to what he had seen in the corporeal body of the Black Raven Empire Spirit, this one looked undernourished and decrepit, but he knew that its value was so many times higher than even this huge pile of Ker Gems.

Grinning so wide that his cheeks hurt, Daneel immediately took a Ker Gem and was about to train for a bit, but he stopped when he remembered that he was at the Peak Warrior level, both as a Fighter and a Mage.

Training now would only be throwing the Ker Gem into a bottomless well with no benefit being derived from the act.

Putting the gem back on the tall mountain of Ker Gems that he had fashioned from all of them, Daneel sighed and shook his head, lamenting at his fate.

When he had needed Ker Gems to train and buy that key to enter the Central Tower, he had had to undergo so many risks and hardships.

However, now that he had more than he would be able to use in the short term, he practically had no use for them.

Still, it felt so good to look at, and Daneel started dreaming about what he could do for the Kingdom of Lanthanor with so much money.

After all, one of the primary aims after getting out of the Sect would be increasing the satisfaction level even further, so that he could earn exponentially more EXP from the system.

While his thoughts drifted, he suddenly heard Drakos speaking, but something seemed different.

"So using underhanded and cunning means can bring this much profit? Why even be righteous then? Why didn't the Empe-ROOOAAARRRR!"

Drakos's voice had always given Daneel the feeling of honor and righteousness, but this time, it was almost like he was a different person.

Even before he could react and do anything in response, Drakos's sentence got cut off, and was replaced by a savage and guttural roar that Daneel would remember forever.

It was the roar of a Dragon that was ready to kill, and its will was something that no one could stop.

Immediately, Daneel felt himself pulled into a vision like the one that he had been shown by Drakos before.

What the hell was going on?

Looking around, he realized that he was in that same circular spire again, and that that large and regal man was still standing in one corner, looking out over the impressive expanse of his Empire.

Was the vision replaying?

Puzzled as to why such a thing would occur, Daneel was about to ask the system his query when he received the scare of his life.

"Young man, I believe that you have exposed my closest vassal to corruption and deceit?"

Turning around, that regal man whose grandeur once again made Daneel feel like kneeling said these words, with his eyes fixed squarely on him.

What the…f*ck?!

How was the dead emperor talking to him?!

As Daneel's heart started to beat faster, the Emperor's serious face continued looking at him for a few seconds more, before finally breaking out into a chuckle.

"Relax. This is just a pre-recorded message that I stored in Drakos's mind without his knowledge. It was set to play when drastic changes appeared in his consciousness, and it will also revert those changes, which will certainly end up saving your life."

Still unable to believe it, Daneel moved from side-to-side before finally confirming that it was a message.

The man's eyes hadn't moved.

So the Emperor had a sense of humor?

With his heart finally calming down, Daneel looked again at the Emperor, who seemed to have entered into a river of his memories.

His eyes were glazed as if he were reliving some moment, and a wistful smile was upon his face.

Still, Daneel couldn't help but realize something.

Even in the last vision, Daneel had been able to see this, but it was even more visible now that he had more time to think and analyze.

Above all, one emotion seemed to dominate the Emperor, and it was as if it was the undercurrent of his mind which affected everything he did.

That emotion was…sadness.

An extreme, unfathomable and mystifying sadness.

"He was just the size of a palm when I first came upon him. Dragons were vicious and selfish creatures, which were blessed with terrifying power that defied the Heavens themselves. Although their numbers were few, their wishes were endless. So much so that they set out to destroy all other races or subjugate them, in order to let their own species reign supreme. I killed so many of those majestic creatures with these hands, but when I saw this little one, I just…couldn't. He had just been born, and he looked at me with such adorable eyes that had nary a hint of the evil that I saw in his parents. I took him in, and raised him in a sheltered atmosphere. I was told by a Seer that prolonged exposure to the types of wishes his species had might lead him to awakening the legacy of his forefathers, giving him unparalleled power. But that would also turn him into someone to be targeted and killed. Why not be weak, if you can at least be alive?"

As the Emperor spoke while looking at his hands, Daneel could almost imagine it.

A small, palm-sized creature that looked a little like a scaled bird, but its unique eyes and innocent face must have been so enchanting.

Taking a deep breath, the Emperor continued.

"When the time came to call for those who would take up the duty of serving this continent even after this Empire's demise, he turned out to be the one whom I placed my hopes most on. His innocence would allow him to hold on to sanity much, much longer than all the others. Thus, I gave him the most valuable of techniques and secrets for safeguarding. If someone earns his approval, then I know that they must be worthy.

"But I also know that one being worthy does not mean that they are completely righteous. As humans, our advantage is that we are capable of being many things, unlike the Divine Beasts which mostly have a single-track mind. Young man, my main message is this: Please do not expose Drakos to direct acts that might corrupt him. Him knowing about them, or hearing about them is fine, as that's taken care of. But I cannot do anything if he witnesses them himself. If my seal on his power breaks…I dare not imagine the consequences. Of course, I have placed a lot of countermeasures, but it is best to be safe. Just follow this simple rule, and everything will be all right. Oh, and, congratulations. The reason for me congratulating you will be revealed when it is the right time. For now, fare thee well."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

483 Leaving the Sect of Hedon

"Young King? Young King, what happened to you? Are you all right?"

As Daneel was immediately thrown out of the vision right after the last word exited the Emperor's mouth, he heard Drakos's concerned voice in his head.

Heaving a sigh of relief on seeing that his voice no longer contained that change form before, he said, "Oh, I must have just overexerted myself and fainted. What was the last thing you remembered me doing?"

After a pause, Drakos said, "Me? I remember that you were counting something, and then…you must have fainted, because I don't remember anything else. After all, when your consciousness is not awake, I cannot do anything either. Was I saying something befo-"

"NOPE! Err…nope. You weren't saying anything. Now, let's go out for a stroll."

Just as Daneel was about to head to the door after interrupting Drakos in this way for safety, he came upon the large pile that he had been counting before.

As he did, he cursed inwardly while hearing Drakos say, "I remember! You were counting Ker Gems! The loot from that Mad Doctor! And, oh, I wanted to tell you that your method was very effective. In fact, I-"

"DRAKOS!"

As sweat appeared on Daneel's back after remembering the dire way in which the Emperor had described Drakos's species, he shouted in his head to interrupt the Ancient Dragon again.

"Umm…yes, Young King? Is there something urgent for you to scream to like that?"

Without answering, Daneel first exited the dorm room before heading to a walkway.

When he had safely put some distance between him and that shining pile, Daneel said, "Yes. I wanted to tell you something."

Sensing the seriousness in Daneel, Drakos replied, "Go on, Young King. Is there any threat to your life?"

Yes, and to Angaria if you're corrupted!

Daneel said so to himself, before thinking for a bit and saying, "Nothing like that, Drakos. But you need to understand something. Those methods are…wrong. One must never use them unless there is no other choice. The righteous path is the best path, and one must always choose it. I just had to use those methods because I was weak. I didn't even gain much in the process! All in all, devious methods and schemes are…not things that you should think about. Definitely."

As Drakos paused on hearing this, Daneel wiped the sweat on his forehead while continuing to walk.

All this time, it seemed that he had been carrying a nuclear warhead in his mind without his knowledge.

"You sound like the Emperor, Young King, which is quite strange. But you were so ecstatic when you saw your plan work! Why-"

"I was desperate, and I shouldn't have felt happy. I was wrong. Drakos, a King must set the example for his people. What example would I set if my people found out about the things I did? They would all become thieves and scammers. I'm a changed man. Henceforth, I shall only be righteous. No underhanded schemes at all."

Never had Daneel thought that there would come a day when he would be scolding himself while having no other choice.

His cheeks burning while he felt chagrin, Daneel waited for Drakos to reply, and when he did, he finally calmed down, convinced that the crisis had been averted.

"You're right, Young King. The Emperor was also very adamant about this. Both of you must be right. I was wrong to feel attracted to those kinds of methods. Maybe I should enter meditation to ponder on my mistakes."

"Hmm? Meditation? What's that?"

"It was a technique given to those of us who chose to become Empire Spirits in order to help us to remain sane. It cuts us off from all external inputs, but when called, we can respond. During the meditation, our consciousness slows to a crawl, and we can ponder on anything we want with leisure."

"Perfect!"

After Daneel exclaimed like so by mistake, he sheepishly added, "I mean…you do that. I'll definitely call upon you when I need you. Happy meditating, Drakos."

"Sure, Young King. Be aware that short spans of time, such as those below 10 years, will feel like nothing to us when meditating. So even if I might appear to be, well, not here, please do not hesitate to call for me when you need me. I-…Never Mind. Fare thee well for now, Young King."

Giving the same address as the Emperor before leaving, Drakos stopped speaking, and after a few moments, the system chimed in Daneel's head.

[Target Consciousness 'Drakos' has gone into a dormant state. Analyzing technique being used. Technique's complexity exceeds system's complexity.]

So even the Meditation Technique was at Hero level? What was so special about it?

Striding off the walkway, Daneel took support on a tree as he leaned down and let out a few breaths.

That had been a close call.

Even now, he could remember that roar clearly. It had the power to rend the Heavens and the earth in two, and he had almost set it free.

No matter what, he was not going to have Drakos witness anything 'bad' from now on.

Of course, doing small bad things wouldn't count, as the main problem came when he saw the outcome.

So, like the Emperor had said, Daneel just needed to be careful.

Thankfully, his main objective in the sect for which he had needed Drakos had been completed.

Although the most ideal situation would have been for one of those two to die, Daneel wasn't too disappointed.

The vitality of a Champion was said to be terrifying: thus, it was a pipe dream to wish for one to die, especially when Ashahell had had such a short span of time to work with.

Given more time, Daneel was sure that Ashahell would have completed the task, but things were still great as they stood now. Ashahell was imprisoned and could no longer freely plot the downfall of the continent, and the Mad Doctor was in a long, long coma.

Going back to his dorm, Daneel once again viewed the pile of Ker Gems and realized that he was in a dilemma.

How was he going to transport them out now?!

Thankfully, the next day, there was good news.

The super-strict lockdown on the Sect had been lifted.

The reason hadn't been released, but Daneel knew why: apparently, his action of framing Ashahell had also resulted in this, which made him feel quite happy before he felt his face burn again on remembering what he had had to say about himself in front of Drakos yesterday.

Apparently, the truth was that there had been a lot of displeasure due to the lockdown, mainly from all the Warriors who had been assigned to keep an eye on those who went out.

Now, there was no such thing bothering anyone.

Using the secret exit that he had used before, Daneel began to smuggle out the Ker Gems carefully to Lanthanor's vault.

It took many, many trips, but by the time he was done, Daneel felt greatly satisfied.

Right now, Lanthanor was the richest Kingdom of the Continent.

Gone were the days of poverty when he had had to scrounge up the money by taking loans.

Now, he had all the money he needed, and because there was nothing like the "Tax Commission" in Angaria which would have asked questions if he suddenly showed so much wealth, Daneel was going to be able to implement more and more of his plans for the welfare of the people.

Of course, if he showed too much wealth at once, it would be an obvious incongruency that would call the Big 4 down on him, so he would still have to be a bit cautious.

With his work in the Sect of Hedon done for now, Daneel headed out, looking forward to finally returning to his Kingdom.

The only thing that was left in the Sect was to re-obtain the parts of the Inheritance left behind by the Empire that had been taken away by Ashahell when he had visited Lanthanor.

He would definitely have to come back for those.

After exiting the Sect, Daneel first headed to the Watcher's place, as the original Travis was still being held there.

However, when he reached, he saw something very…strange.

Travis was just standing there, without any bindings, and the Watcher had a sheepish expression on his face.

"Umm…I took him in as my disciple. He knows everything. Don't worry, he's sworn an oath. So, he's ready to take your place in the Sect again, and you can even switch out with him whenever you want if you need to go back inside. Win-win, right?"

Daneel had seen hints of this the last time he had met the Watcher, too, but he couldn't have expected that the bodyless man would take the plunge.

Still, he had to admit that it was convenient.

So, walking up to Travis, he patted his shoulder and said, "Have fun," before leaving.

Travis asked the Watcher what Daneel might have meant, but he wasn't aware of the answer either.

Little did he know that there was a huge roster of Warriors just waiting to kick his ass to a pulp for his post as soon as he went back.

…

After getting back to the Palace without telling anyone, Daneel lied down on his bed, thoroughly exhausted.

He was just about to take a nice nap, when the system suddenly sounded in his head, making him snap his head up with shock.

[Warrior-level display of power has been detected in the Palace. Location: South-east of Host.]

When the hell had a Warrior invaded Lanthanor?!

With alarm, Daneel teleported to that underground room, intending to find out who had the audacity to enter his Kingdom.

Without hesitation, he used his full strength to kick open the door, only to find his elder brother figure, Elanev, training in the room in front of a punching bag.

There was no one else here.

Daneel was about to ask the system whether it was Elanev who had been the one to display that power, but the man spoke out by himself with an expression of extreme frustration on his face, which made Daneel take a step back with surprise.

"I didn't want to believe it. I was so ready to gloat that I became a Warrior so fast…and you became a damn Exalted Warrior already?! I mean, COME ON, MAN!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

484 Race

Daneel could only gape at his elder brother for a few moments, before looking around the rest of the room to notice the extreme level of training that had gone on here.

There were multiple strange apparatuses which seemed to have been constructed to train punching and kicking, and all of them were stained with blood.

Even Elanev was practically wearing rags: it was as if explosions had rocked his body, making him look like the survivor of some terror attack.

By the time Daneel managed to completely comprehend his words, he heard a wise voice coming from behind him.

"I trust that my clone technique served you well?"

How the hell had someone managed to evade his Peak Exalted Warrior senses to appear behind him?!

Turning around with an expression of extreme seriousness, Daneel came upon the visage of an old, bald man with striated muscles and a long beard.

Huh? Why did this guy look so similar to a very sleazy character in a very popular show back on Earth?

This was the first thought that went through Daneel's mind, but he discarded it, knowing that it must be a coincidence.

He would have cause to be truly puzzled if this man also turned out to be sleazy, so he hoped that that was not the case.

When Daneel finally focused on the words said by the man, he immediately understood who he might be.

"You…are you the one who established the Fists of Justice Training Hall before leaving?"

A proud grin came on the mottled face of the old man as he heard these words, as he puffed out his chest and said, "The one and only. The moment I stepped foot in this Kingdom, I could tell that someone had taken the secret techniques I had left behind for those who proved themselves to be worthy. And of that caliber, only you exist in Lanthanor."

"Hey! What about me?!"

Hearing the old man praising his younger brother, Elanev spoke out with exasperation, but the old man's merciless reply shut him up.

"Be quiet while those superior to you are talking."

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Elanev just stood there, but he reacted when he saw Daneel walking toward him.

Daneel had already made certain shocking deductions which made him wonder whether he was dreaming, but first, he decided to support his elder brother, whom he valued highly for various reasons.

After reaching him, Daneel took him into a bear hug which made Elanev's face soften.

This reminded him of that time which felt so long ago, when this kid had looked up to him for guidance.

It was actually partly that feeling that spurred him on in his pursuit for power: under no circumstance did he want to be left behind by his younger brother.

His father, the Righteous Hawk, had brought him up with core values that emphasized the importance of one's origins, and their duty to serve it.

True, he had never listened to his father's admonishment about how it was best to enter the administrative wing in order to fulfill his duty, but he had still instilled those teachings deep into his heart.

Now, he had been prepared to finally aid his younger brother for that end, but it seemed that he had been outstripped yet again.

After the strong hug, Daneel held Elanev by his shoulders and asked, "How've you been? Things just got very…hectic after the Olympics."

Laughing, Elanev clapped Daneel on his shoulder and said, "Of course I understand. Well, this old man has been putting me in the grinder day and night after I became a Warrior to train me in what he claims to be the 'Best Fighter Inheritance on the Continent'. It sounded like a load of hogwash, but since I've started training in it, I gotta admit that it's pretty powerful. Maybe we can have a spar later!"

"I'm right here!"

As the old man bristled with anger on being ignored by both the people in the room, Elanev secret smiled before winking at Daneel.

Daneel had ignored the man because he would always support his elder brother over someone he didn't know, and it seemed that Elanev was following his example, and finally taking some revenge by making him angry.

Daneel had been able to guess the old man's character the moment he had seen him puff his chest up like that: he was clearly very prideful, so being ignored was definitely something that would sting heavily.

"It's been hell, I tell you. I haven't been with a woman in months! Damn, whenever I think back to what a colorful life I had before I left on my trip, I just feel like cursing…"

Daneel knew about his elder brothers varied 'exploits' in the Kingdom, which had made him quite famous as the playboy of Lanthanor. So, puzzled, he asked, "Why? Is it a prerequisite for your training?"

Shaking his head, Elanev answered, "No, but how would you feel if you did it while having an old man in your head who's watching everything all the time? He says that it helps in training as a Fighter, but I call bull! I bet he's satisfied that I can't do it, because he hasn't done it in thousands of years!"

Umm…that's too much information.

His face burning slightly, Daneel looked to the side before confirming something.

This old man…must be another Empire Spirit!

As he asked the system to make sure, he got the answer.

[Affirmative. System has detected similarities between the changes in the minds of host, target 'Faxul' and target 'Elanev'.]

Even though Daneel heard this, he was puzzled.

First, how was it possible that so many people from his Kingdom were coming into touch with Empire Spirits?

If it were just Faxul, Daneel could ignore it as a coincidence, but now that Elanev had also been added to the list, he felt that he could no longer ignore it.

Second, what kind of relationship did Elanev have with this old man?

So far, he had seen two extremes: one was Drakos, who had been willing to put himself at risk to enter Daneel's mind.

The other was the Black Raven Empire Spirit, whose only aim had been to fully take control of Faxul's body.

And third, if he was an Empire Spirit, how the hell had he come to Lanthanor to establish the Fists of Justice Training Hall? Daneel knew for a fact that the Training Hall had been set up in the past few hundred years, instead of existing for thousands of years.

What was going on here?

He had many questions, and he realized that he would have to talk to the old man if he wanted them answered.

Slowly, Daneel realized that he was starting to hate questions.

The Emperor had already left him with one: the man, or, the giant of a man had congratulated him for something, but he hadn't told him what it was for.

Daneel had considered asking Drakos, but the priority then had been to have the dragon go into meditation as soon as possible to avert disaster.

In the end, Daneel had had no option but to put it to the side along with the others, which included the major question about how that regal and sad man had turned into the crazy figure that had carried out that massacre.

Right now, he could only tell himself that each question would be answered with time.

After all, if he spent all day dwelling on all the mysteries that were still hidden from him, he wouldn't have time to do anything else.

Now, looking at Elanev who was sadly shaking his head due to his 'regrets', Daneel wondered whether to speak freely.

Thankfully, the old man resolved this dilemma.

"All right, that's enough."

As he raised one hand, Elanev plopped to the ground, which made Daneel frown.

So the old man could forcefully control Elanev?

This was definitely something to worry about.

It looked like he had made Elanev faint, but when Daneel looked at his Elder Brother's face, he saw that he was smiling wide, while drooling from one side.

Also…why was there a-

"Don't worry, I just put him to sleep. And I think you can imagine what he's dreaming about."

Eyeing his elder brother again, Daneel sheepishly nodded before turning around to see that the old man had appeared in front of him.

"He can't be awake during this discussion. He has enough distractions as it is: I don't want to add another by having him listen about things which currently don't concern him. I see that you have some questions. You can voice them first, before I speak."

Folding his hands, the old man said this with a pensive expression after meeting Daneel's gaze.

Oh? That was quite generous of him.

For once, Daneel felt happy that he had an opportunity to have things answered directly.

"What are you? Are you an Empire Spirit like Drakos? If so, in what way are you inhabiting my elder brother's mind? And if you are an Empire Spirit, how were you able to travel to Lanthanor to set up the Fists of Justice Training hall?"

"Most pertinent questions first, I see. So you know about Drakos? I was one of the few who supported that guy in his decision to not kill the cute little thing. Anyway, do you recognize …this?"

In an instant, the old man changed into a middle-aged giant, with a top-knot and bulging muscles.

Wait…Daneel had seen him before!

In that vision, he had been one of those who had been addressed by the Emperor!

Seeing Daneel's eyes widen, the old man turned back into the same form as before and said, "So Drakos did show you that vision. To answer your question: yes, I was an Empire Spirit. To be more specific: I was one of those who were placed in a Major Sect at the time, which was subsequently wiped out later. You see, each and every one who became Empire Spirits chose different ways to remain sane. For Drakos, it had already been chosen: it was his innocence, which allowed him to stay in a meditative state for longer. For that snake, it was to pass time by training assassins. And for me: it was to do everything I could to foster power and lost techniques in the world. As I am a pure Fighter, my consciousness is different: my criteria are much lower, and I have the ability to clone a part of my consciousness and enter someone's mind without harming them. It was one in one of those forms that I entered Lanthanor and set up the training hall. With time, I learned a few tricks, which is how I was able to put that boy to sleep. Now, let's put all that to the side. What are your plans for the race?"

Daneel had been listening intently, but this last question threw him off.

What was the guy talking about?

"Race? What race?", he asked, and as the old man answered him, Daneel's jaw couldn't help but drop for the second time today.

"Why, the race to become the successor of the Emperor, of course, and to gain possession of the source of his incredible power. The prerequisite is to gain the approval of an Empire Spirit, and the goal is simple: assemble all the parts scattered around the Central Continent by the Emperor. If that guy were here, he would be congratulating you on being able to enter, but you look like you haven't even heard about it?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

485 Nine

So this was what that Emperor had congratulated him about?!

His mind rocked by waves of shock, Daneel only shook his head before taking a step back.

Raising an eyebrow, the old man said, "So you really don't know anything about it? That's really strange…"

Folding his hands and putting one hand on his chin before stroking his beard, the old man pondered for a few seconds before saying, "Did you, by any chance, expose Drakos to corruption?"

So this old man knew about that too?

Still quite dazed from the fact that he was in a race, which meant that there might be competitors, Daneel only nodded, which made the old man slap his fist and palm together before saying, "now it makes sense. Even though Drakos is accepted you, I guess he must be too busy meditating to tell you about it. Besides, he is limited to the information he sees around him, so he doesn't know about what's going on in the rest of the continent, as I do. For example, I know that the race has started, and that one competitor has even assembled two parts."

"Who?!", Daneel asked hurriedly, wondering which king was capable enough of increasing his own Kingdom's satisfaction level without it being noticed by Daneel.

"The Kingdom you call Axelor. Not all Empire Spirits need satisfaction level to be increased for approval to be gained. According to what limited investigations I was able to carry out, that King fulfilled some other criteria in order to enter the race, and he was guided by that Empire Spirit, who is a vile, bloodthirsty madman by the way, to acquire another part. I guess he's the one who is leading right now, as I can sense that you only have one part with you, which is not even from Lanthanor. So, are you ready to tell me what's going on?"

Axelor!

Due to him being recently busy with the Sect of Hedon, Daneel had had no option but to turn a blind eye to this Kingdom which had tussled with him for quite a long time.

Although he had disqualified Axelor in the Olympics, Daneel still intended to take revenge for the act of releasing the mosquitoes in the first place.

Now, he was supposed to believe that that King was in possession of two parts??

Seeing the disbelief in Daneel's eyes, this old man who seemed to be used to reading people's facial expressions in order to find out their thoughts said, "I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth. Of course, I have no proof to show to you, so you'll just have to take my word. Anyway, before that kid wakes up, you just need to tell me one thing: whether you're in possession of another part."

Daneel was still a bit indecisive about whether to trust this old man, but he decided that it wasn't that harmful to answer this question.

"The inheritance parts of Lanthanor have been taken by the Sect Leader of the Sect of Hedon, and they're currently stored in their Treasury. Yes, the ones I have are from the Hidden Kill Sect."

Raising an eyebrow again, the old man said, "From the Hidden Kill Sect, you say? I wonder what that snake is doing. Anyway, I guess that that part is safe and sound for now. At least, no one from the Central Continent can get to it. Now, I've been observing the continent, and from some clues, I know that you control a lot of things from the shadows, at least much more than how it appears on the surface. For now, my only advice for you is to focus on finding your own path to break through to become a Champion, while also looking for the other parts of the Grand Inheritance. Yes, that's what he named it – I told him it was tacky. But don't dally too much – the Church is coming, and although the estimates I've received say that we should have a few years, something tells me that we shouldn't trust such numbers too much. For now, I would suggest that you focus on the former most, as the game completely changes as soon as one becomes a Champion. Remember: there is no weak or strong path, there is only a path that you are weak or strong at. Good luck, and farewell for now. If you need me for anything else, do not hesitate to find me."

Hearing the speech, an expression of seriousness came on Daneel's face as he pondered on the statement from the old man about the Champion Path. He had never heard it before, but he could tell that it was a very important clue.

As for the rest, he was going to do these things anyway, while concentrating on implementing more schemes in Lanthanor to increase the satisfaction level, especially now that he had almost an unlimited amount of money to tap into.

Nodding, Daneel watched as the old man slowly started to fade away, but he suddenly became corporeal again before saying, "Oh, one last thing. The Big Four was given misinformation about the number of parts of the Grand Inheritance. As you must know, on Angaria, the number nine is paramount. To suit that, the Emperor also made nine parts, which are all scattered around the continent. Goodbye, now."

Dropping this last bomb, the old man faded away, leaving Daneel with his drooling elder brother whose dreams seemed to be getting more and more wild.

In the silence that followed, strange grunts started to come from Elanev, which made Daneel shake his head and leave the room to head to his quarters.

So there were nine damn parts, not six as the records had shown?

Why had the Big Four been misinformed, and who was even responsible for it?

As for the number nine, Daneel had noticed that when he came to Angaria itself, but he hadn't thought that this little fact would come into focus now.

Nine parts: two with Axelor, if the old man was to be believed, one with Daneel, and one in the Sect of his Hedon.

Where were the other five? And who where the other contestants in the race?

And finally, what was his Champion Path going to be?

These were the most burning questions to be answered right now, but Daneel could only shake his head once more and lie back down before closing his eyes.

One thing after another kept hitting him, but nothing said that he couldn't just sleep to forget about everything for the time being.

So, the King of Lanthanor drifted off to his own, tamer dreams, accompanied by the constant beating sounds of Drakos's heart.

The next day, Daneel woke up with a fresh mind and smiled before freshening himself up and walking out of his quarters.

The moment he did, he bumped into Eloise, who seemed to be waiting at the door for some reason.

"King – I mean, Daneel! You're finally out of closed-door training?!"

With a broad smile, Daneel said, "Yes, Eloise. And I must say that it was very fruitful. How is your training going?"

Saying so, Daneel glanced down to see that she was holding a tray filled with breakfast items that had been freshly cooked.

Famished, he had just been about to go grab a bite, so he asked, "Is that for me?"

Hearing him say this, a slight expression of panic passed through Eloise's face for some reason, before she said, "Yes, Daneel! Tuck in! It's so good to see that you're back! I'll go assemble everyone else… We should have a meeting!"

Saying so in a high-pitched tone, Eloise pushed the breakfast tray toward Daneel who caught it before she turned around and started to quickly walked away.

Munching on a piece of bread, Daneel first attributed her actions to perhaps feeling shy due to seeing him, before finally realizing something.

Wait… She couldn't have known that he would come today, right? Then how was she standing outside while holding a breakfast tray?

A second later, he got a possible answer.

He knew just how much Eloise cared for him, so he sighed, thinking that she must be bringing meals to him each and every day in the hope that he would come out.

Seeing such pure love and care made his heart feel warm, as he once again wondered whether he had made the right decision to say no to her as he hadn't felt anything special.

As Daneel began to think about the two gorgeous women who had both shown interest to him, but whom he had literally friend zoned – an act, by the way, which would definitely have made him a target of many beatings by many frustrated men back on earth, he saw someone appearing from the other end of the corridor toward which Eloise was running.

It was his elder brother, Elanev.

There was a big swelling on his face, so it seemed that he wasn't able to see very clearly.

Eloise had been in a hurry, so without noticing him, she had bumped into him which made Elanev realize who it was and say, "Hey, Eloise. Weren't we supposed to grab some breakfast together? Should we go to the Palace grounds, or should we take a walk like last time?"

Seeing him, Eloise froze like a reindeer in front of headlights, before she started cursing inwardly about this man's timing.

Meanwhile, Daneel had heard everything, and his eyebrows were twitching as he realized just how wrong he had been.

So… Eloise and his elder brother, huh?

It seemed that the King of Lanthanor had quite clearly overestimated his own charm, and as he remembered the thoughts that had just passed through his mind, he blushed crimson, feeling thankful that no one was here to see his awkward plight.

However, the next moment, he felt a tap on his shoulders before a snickering voice floated into his ears.

"You thought it was for you, didn't you? Ho Ho Ho, for some reason you remind me of that Emperor, who was so focused on his 'Divine Duty' that I'm pretty sure that he died a virgin. Something tells me you're going to have the same fate!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

486 Misunderstanding

Leaving another annoying snigger, the old man disappeared, not allowing Daneel to say anything in response.

Of course, his words had been branded into Daneel's mind.

Meanwhile, Eloise hurriedly turned around to see the King of Lanthanor standing there, thunderstruck.

"This isn't what it looks like! Elanev and I are childhood friends: his father used to bring him to court many times when he was a kid, and I was the only member of the royal family that he talked to. We maintained our relationship through the years, so that's why he just…"

Seeing Eloise's expression of extreme panic, Daneel's expression softened, as he realized that he had misunderstood.

As for Elanev grasping her hand, even that was explained the next second when Elanev said, "That's true, but who are you explaining yourself to? Is your mom here? And where's the breakfast tray? I'm starving!"

Indeed, it seemed that his elder brother had stretched his hand forward to grasp the breakfast tray, not her hand.

Ignoring Elanev, Eloise walked up to Daneel as tears started to swim in her eyes.

She had missed him dearly all these days, so the fact that this happened when she finally got to see him made her feel like crying.

"Nothing has changed in what I feel for you. I really missed you. Will you be staying for longer this time?", she asked, fighting the tears.

Seeing her up close and hearing what she said, Daneel regretted his action of jumping to conclusions even more.

In her eyes, he could see the same emotions that had quite shocked him on that day, when he had told her that he couldn't promise her anything.

Smiling, he said, "I know. It was my mistake. Yes, I should be here for quite a long time from now. So you and Elanev are childhood friends? How come I've never heard of this?"

Even though the distance was quite large, Elanev's sharp senses of a Warrior picked up their conversation, making him realize who the third person in the corridor.

With stumbling steps, he walked toward them while saying, "So there you are! I was meaning to talk to you, anyway. Well, you didn't hear about it because you never asked, and 'cos I was gone for quite a long. Even after I came back, I was quite busy. When she was imprisoned, if Faxul hadn't said anything, I was going to. I know all about what happened between you two, by the way: she is my best friend, you know. You really shouldn't leave a gal hanging like that, even if you are the King…Ouch!"

When Elanev had started to say the last sentence, Eloise had started to blush a lovely pink, and as she saw that he had come close, she stamped her foot down hard on his to make him shut up.

Yelping with pain, Elanev started jumping around, but because his vision was limited due to the large swelling of his face, he collided face-first with a wall before promptly falling down.

Still holding his foot, he exclaimed on the floor, "Eloise! I told you that you aren't a normal human anymore! Take care of how you apply your strength, woman! Ow! This leg was already injured during the damn training! F-"

As Elanev started to curse, Eloise blushed even more and looked down.

Hearing this, Daneel asked, "So your training is going well?"

"Yes, I've been using every opportunity I got. I'm just a step away from becoming an Exalted Human."

This made Daneel raise his eyebrows, as it had only been a few months since her 'rebirth'.

This speed was, to say the least, quite astonishing.

It seemed that Sister Xuan hadn't been joking when she said that that sect-preserving treasure was worth more than a Kingdom.

As for Elanev's and Eloise's 'friendship', Daneel was surprised, but he took it in stride.

It was true that Elanev had been absent for quite a long time, and even after his return, he had been quite busy.

And of course, nothing needed to be said about Eloise's very demanding schedule, especially before Norcet had come along to share the load.

So, all in all, it wasn't too surprising to hear of this, but it had given him quite a sheer shock when he had seen those things before.

"Elanev, I'll catch you in a bit. You, too, Eloise. Go on, grab some breakfast, you two. I'll be calling for an official meeting anyway, but before that, I should at least go see my parents."

Eloise was still shooting fearful glances at Daneel, as if she was afraid that he was still taking what he had seen in that sense.

She did not want that at all, but she knew that she couldn't do anything about it right now.

So, resolving to stamp Elanev's other foot too when she got the chance, she nodded and walked in the opposite direction from where she had been going last time.

Hearing her footsteps, Elanev exclaimed, "Hey, wait for me!"

"Humph! Elanev, next time I catch you flirting with some maid in the palace, I'll be sure to tell your father!"

"Huh? B-but why? Dad would kill me! Hey, wait up!"

Quickly getting up, Elanev started to chase after Eloise's voice, and the two started bickering even before they turned the corridor.

Seeing this, Daneel once again felt that they really did look like childhood friends.

Still, he found himself thinking back to what he had felt before, when he had thought that they were together.

If she really did change all those deep feelings she had for him in a matter of months, should he be really surprised?

After pondering on this for a bit, Daneel realized that if he thought about this with the view of a new-age earthling, then he really shouldn't find it strange.

He had, after all, given her no promises and hadn't spent any time with her. In his absence, it would make sense for her to develop feelings for someone else, especially if that someone understood her heart.

However, he knew that Eloise was an old-school girl. She was the kind who wouldn't fall for someone easily, and her feelings were so deep that she had put them as her priority even when she thought she was dying.

So, for someone with her personality, it wouldn't make sense to pivot those feelings so easily.

Wait…why was he even making such a detailed analysis of this?

As Daneel asked himself this, he realized that he had taken that old man's words quite seriously.

He had no intention of staying alone forever, so maybe, he should just make up his mind instead of constantly searching for that special 'something' which he thought he was supposed to feel if he wanted to be with someone.

The major influence on him in this topic was the kind old lady who had brought him up when he was an orphan: she often told them stories about true, pure love, and as he remembered them, Daneel realized that those incidents, and his parents' advice were directing his thoughts, but maybe it was time to change them.

Still, it was a major decision, so Daneel decided to put it aside for the time being. However, it was a fact that this incident had changed him: first, the old man's words had affected him like so, and second, his misunderstanding about Eloise had informed him that the woman who were showing interest in him now might not wait around forever, which might actually be the true reason behind the doubts and line of thought that had just appeared in his head.

Shaking his head, Daneel did what any normal son would do when his mind was troubled: he went to spend time with his parents.

Mary was ecstatic to see him out of closed-door training, and she took him into a bear hug before sitting him down and telling him about everything that she had been up to.

His father was seemingly out training the troops in his new charge as the commander who had replaced Luther after his departure, so Daneel told her that he would come back at night before leaving to call that meeting.

A few minutes later, Daneel felt nostalgic as he sat in the seat with the tall back, while facing all of his key personnel.

Eloise, Kellor, Robert, Elanev, Cassandra, and Aran were in front of him, eying the king and wondering what kind of breakthrough he might have had after his closed-door training.

The meeting did seem a little off with Faxul and Luther's absence, but Daneel knew that they would just have to get used to it for the time being.

Looking at the commanders and his father, Daneel saw one thing: their power level was still more or less the same, so he immediately decided that this would have to be verified ASAP.

But first, he decided to speak about what he had in mind for this meeting in the first place.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel said, "Everyone. First, allow me to say that I am greatly pleased with the way you all have handled everything in my absence. I consider it my honor to have such capable people by my side."

As they heard this, smiles broke out on their faces, but when Daneel changed his tone into a more serious one, all of them leaned in a bit with stoic expressions.

"Now, it is time to take everything up a notch. First things first: the Network of Angaria has been a grand success, but haven't you ever imagined how it would be if instead of just voice, we could have a method to capture the attention of almost each and every citizen by giving them something they cannot turn away from? This will be our main focus for now, and it will change Angaria forever."

Everyone's eyes widened as they heard this, wondering what the King meant exactly, but before they could ask, Daneel continued to say something which made all the people in the room except one collectively drop their jaws.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm a Peak Exalted Warrior now."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

487 The Walkou

"Pfft. Showoff."

As everyone else stared at the King of Lanthanor as if they were seeing a ghost, Elanev couldn't help but say this under his breath even while hiding his own shock.

The old man had only said that Daneel was an Exalted Warrior, but that was leagues different from being a Peak Exalted Warrior- a being just one step away from becoming a legendary Champion, which was a level that had never been seen in the Central Continent.

Usually, he was used to being the center of attention in a room due to his fast training speed, but in front of his little brother, all he could do was bow and accept defeat.

Eloise was the first to recover. After all, she was someone who had full confidence in the King's abilities to repeatedly awe everyone, so this only served to increase the adoration she felt for him.

Kellor was next. With a wistful expression, he leaned back and caught his chin with his hand before shaking his head.

He couldn't believe that this was the little kid whom he had awed all those years ago, in the National Academy, when he had shown up to kill that spy from Axelor.

It felt like it was just yesterday when Daneel had been looking up to him for support, but now, he had surpassed him and gone so far that he was merely an ant that could be crushed with a thought.

At this moment, he could only feel shame that he was still stuck at the peak of the Exalted Human level, and extreme curiosity as to just how the hell the King had managed to cross everyone in the Central Continent itself, just like someone who had come to participate in a running race with a super-fast Ether-driven carriage.

As for Aran, Cassandra, and Robert, their shock was the most pronounced.

Cassandra was like Elanev in the sense that she was also someone who was proud of her training speed.

However, now, seeing someone who had broken all the norms known to her, her jaw just wouldn't close, and she could only keep staring with wide open eyes, while wondering if this was a dream.

A damn Peak Exalted Warrior!

That meant that…the person in front of her was the most powerful man in the entire Central Continent!

She was a fiery woman who had never felt any kind of feelings for any man, but now, such an ultimate level of power suddenly made the King look quite attractive.

If Daneel could hear her thoughts, his face would once again be burning by now.

Aran, on the other hand, began to chuckle and laugh as if he had gone crazy.

Here he was, busting his ass each and every day just to reach the Peak Exalted Human realm for years, and their King had gone into closed door training for a few months and come out as a Peak Exalted Warrior?!

I mean, come on, man, should you be so domineering that you make the rest of us feel worthless?

His laughter seemed to be just one step away from turning into crying, and this broke Robert out of his shock.

He had just been feeling quite proud of his own training speed after recovering the ability to train, but he had never expected that his son would eclipse him like so.

Seeing the others who reacted in different ways, Robert first stood up and said, "Son, it is not good to show off like that." Before walking away, unwilling to let his son see his reaction.

"Exactly!"

This was from Elanev, who had actually been hoping to get the same reactions from everyone by revealing that he was a Warrior.

Hearing his admonishment, it was Daneel's turn to not know whether to laugh or cry.

He had just wanted to inform them, and to be honest, he hadn't intended to drop it like a bomb like that, thus eliciting such intense reactions.

However, now that he looked back, he realized that maybe…he had done so unconsciously just for this.

Well, he had gone through untold difficulties to get to this level, so he was very proud of that and seeing the shock and dropped jaws had felt quite fulfilling and satisfying.

Yet, now, understanding that he needed to offload some of the attention, he blurted out, "It's not just me, Elanev is a Warrior too!"

"WHAT?!"

If it were the King of Lanthanor, who was said to be the most talented person to be born in centuries, then the others could at least accept that he was someone capable of such feats.

But Elanev? The playboy who had once been famous for being chased around half the Kingdom for bedding the daughter of a very powerful Fighter when he was just a teen?

They couldn't believe it. No, they didn't want to believe it.

Even though it wasn't as shocking finding out about the King, everyone in the room except Eloise had had enough of shocks for now.

"Nope," said Cassandra, getting up and throwing her hands in the air.

"Uh-uh." This was from Aran, who mimicked Cassandra and stood up while shaking his head.

"…"

As for Kellor, he didn't say anything, but his emotions were clear: he wasn't ready to believe that the kid who was constantly accused of stealing the undergarments of women had surpassed him.

Robert also didn't say anything, but he shot a glare at his son, and the King had understood by now that he had made things worse.

These were all people who had been struggling for power for years! And now, all of their struggles had been made to feel useless due to these revelations.

Only Eloise, who already knew this, sat in her seat with a small smile on her face.

"Son, come to our room later. We should talk."

As Daneel heard this and scratched his head, Robert staged a walkout, and as the King of Lanthanor watched on helplessly, Aran, Cassandra, and Kellor followed him, all while still showing disbelief.

"Hey, why are you-"

Hearing Elanev say this, all of them turned around and shot such an intense glare toward him that he promptly shut up and remained seated.

At the door, only Kellor turned around and weakly shrugged after glancing at the King before exiting too before shutting the door.

As for the reason behind this walkout, it was simple: they just needed some time to wrap their heads around the fact that the Kingdom which had just recently been targeted and mocked for having no Warrior level individuals at all, now suddenly had 2, with one even being a Peak Exalted Warrior.

Inside the room, Daneel's eyebrow twitched while he spoke in a tone which made him look as if he were trying to cling on to his authority as the King right now.

"You're all dismissed…I-I guess?"

Finally, this made Eloise break out into laughter, and as this tinkling sound echoed across the room, Daneel and Elanev also cracked smiles before beginning to chuckle.

However, while laughing at the absurdity of the situation, Daneel decided one thing: he was going to make all of those people Warriors as soon as possible, as he had no intention whatsoever of letting them waste their potential at their current level.

It was not just them; he had decided that all those who were qualified, such as the previous Grand Court Mage who was silently training, would be given opportunities to break through.

Lanthanor was soon going to be the center of a lot of attention, so the more Warriors they had, the better.

As for the plan he had stated, he was truly looking forward to it: the television was one of the most world-changing inventions back on Earth, and it was high time that it was implemented here, so that Daneel could reap the benefits.

One thing was for sure, though: he was going to have this little incident of his own commanders walking out on him scrubbed from the records.

…

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of the Elves.

A court session had just been adjourned, during which Eldra had heard a report that she was currently the Queen with the highest approval rating in the last few hundred years.

She had only cracked a small smile and said some perfunctory words about how that was possible only with the continued support of all those in front of her, but inside, she had been scoffing about it.

After the court, she headed to the underground room again where she spent the majority of her time.

This room was quite small: it was made of yellow-colored stone, and some simple necessities such as a bed and a basin were placed to the side.

One wall was left completely bare, and as she closed the door, activated the formations which hid her presence from all those below the Hero level and knelt before placing her palms on it, as if she were praying, she heard a voice in her head.

"Well done, Eldra. You are progressing well. Your mother was right about you."

Eldra frowned as she heard this, but she put away her emotions before asking the question she asked each and every day, whenever she came to this room.

"How close am I to breaking the oath?"

"Have faith, dear. The technique I gave you is one which is highly effective. Now, have you completed your assignment?"

"Yes. I have gotten close to a maid. Like you instructed, I let her become my true friend. I speak to her about almost everything. She is an orphan, so she has started to treat me as family. I, too…"

As the Queen of Eldinor showed a small moment of vulnerability, the voice in her head said, "Treat her as the same? Good, that was exactly what was supposed to happen. Now, call her here."

With shock, Eldra asked, "Here? B-but why? I thought you said this room had to be kept secret from everyone!"

With a laugh, the voice responded in a chilling tone.

"From everyone alive, child. Everyone alive."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

488 Decision

As Eldra heard the voice inside her head, she immediately dropped her hands from the wall and stared at it with wide-open eyes.

It was cold and empty, just like the voice which had just commanded her to kill the only person she had ever had the grace of calling a friend.

Ever since she had had that conversation with her mother before she died, she had been fixated on this idea of getting rid of the oath.

She had worked tirelessly toward that end, as she hated the feeling of having to answer to someone.

Yet, to have to kill someone so close in order to accomplish this?

Was it worth it?

As soon as this thought appeared in her head, she felt the urge to stick to her decision of ridding herself of the status of a puppet, no matter what it took.

Where was this urge coming from?

She asked herself this, but, of course, there was no answer.

All she could feel was that it was getting stronger, and she even started considering whether to do it.

However, she suddenly remembered that moment of clarity, when she had freed the elf children from their captivity.

Their expressions of pure joy had become one of the major motivations for her, and now, if she chose to kill the elf maid who had actually had a similar past, it meant that she would be defiling that memory forever.

That…would basically mean that she would become an entirely different person, which was the objective of the spell that that voice in her head had told her about in the first place.

An internal turmoil started at this moment, and if anyone looked at her face and her twitching ears whose sharp ends looked like they were quivering wildly, they would know just how torn she was.

Two opposing forces fought, and each seemed to be equal for quite a long while, until finally, a single realization made one side win.

If she did this, she would be no different than her mother.

This thought was so revolting, so vile, so horrifying that Eldra immediately recoiled, making the side that didn't want to kill her friend win.

At the same moment, the other side disappeared, and because it was all in her own mind, she didn't pay much attention to it, assuming that it just might be because of her decision.

With the same determined expression she had had when she had ordered the execution of her own mother, Eldra put her hands on the wall and was going to say something, but she was interrupted by the voice which spoke in a pleasing tone.

"My child, why did you sever the connection so abruptly? I was still speaking! I was going to say that if you want the spell to finish right now, then you must do this. Otherwise, there's a different way. An oath binds the ethereal consciousness of a person, so the only way to break or bend one is to bring a drastic change in that consciousness, which would allow one to 'loosen' the binding. Killing your friend will result in the most abrupt change, which would allow you to break free right away. But if you do not wish to do that and follow in your mother's footsteps, then you simply need to insult that maid using all the personal things she told you. Twist them to make sure that they will break her, and when you succeed, although the spell won't finish, you will be just one step away. Choose, my child."

Hearing this, Eldra's eyebrows rose.

"It did not seem at all that you were going to continue."

"You are mistaken, my child."

Something was wrong here.

The phrasing and the tone had been very clear before, so now, seeing the complete 180 by the voice, Eldra started to suspect whether there might be something going on that she didn't know about.

However, those whispers returned, and this time, they were successful in allaying her suspicion.

As for the choice regarding whether to follow the second path, although Eldra wished that there was a different way, the desire inside her to get away from the control of that man was too strong. Besides, the whispers were pushing her a lot, too.

Finally, she decided, and left the room to carry out the deed.

However, as soon as the door closed, a vase was thrown across the room, which smashed on the door and broke into pieces before magically coming back together and floating back to its space.

A sound of extreme vexation and frustration was heard, before silence returned, resulting in the room becoming calm once again.

…

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, Daneel was in the treasury, gazing at the enormous pile of Ker Gems in front of him.

He had a very difficult decision to make: he could directly use these resources to hasten the training of key personnel in Lanthanor, but if he did that, he would be running a very big risk.

Ker Gems were highly coveted resources that would make any Kingdom go crazy. With that being the case, if someone found out that the Kingdom of Lanthanor was handing out Ker Gems freely for soldiers and commanders to train in, then there would definitely be a continent-wide riot that might result in a joint invasion of his Kingdom.

Of course, that was the worst case, but he couldn't rule it out.

Besides, this would also draw attention from the Big 4, who might start questioning him, which was something that Daneel didn't want to handle at the moment.

All in all, it would be a bad idea, even if he invested heavily in putting a clamp on all information. In some or the other way, it would definitely leak out and bring him a host of problems.

So, after sinking into deep thought, Daneel finally got an idea.

With the system's help, Daneel began a small project that took him a whole day.

After he was done, he was quite proud of the result, and as he stood there smiling to himself, he realized that he was slowly becoming quite the narcissist.

Chuckling at the notion, Daneel headed to his parents' room.

His father had asked for him anyway, and he might as well begin his explanation from there.

As soon as he entered, however, he found a very angry Mary waiting for him.

"Daneel, did I raise you to be a show-off? I heard from your father that you upset so many people today! Son, humility is the best policy! No one likes a braggart!"

As he heard his mother admonishing him in this way, the King of Lanthanor only hung his head and didn't say anything.

Emperor, King or even a damn Hero- no matter who they were, they would only find themselves undertaking similar actions in front of their mothers.

Thinking like so and smiling slightly, Daneel said, "I'll take care, mom!" which quietened her complaints and made her lead him to where his father was sitting.

It was the balcony, and as he saw his son approaching, Robert got a stiff expression on his face.

"Dad, I just wanted to casually tell you all about it. I had no intention to-"

Raising his hand, Robert interrupted his son and shook his head.

They were in a balcony which overlooked the sprawling grounds and the Inner City beyond the high walls, which was a breath-taking view that was only reserved for the best rooms.

Daneel could tell that his father was in a very pensive mood, so he just stayed silent and waited for Robert to speak.

After looking at Lanthanor for a few minutes more, Robert spoke with a wistful tone.

"I know, son. It was just that…after I regained my powers and found out that I had become an Exalted Human, I was excited because I thought that I might be able to help you, as your equal. I know, I know, it was preposterous. But it was just a small wish which took ahold of me. Fathers are supposed to protect their sons- it's not supposed to be the other way around. I guess you could say that I was clinging on to what little pride I had left, after subjecting our family to such wretched conditions. Finding out that that will never be possible was just a blow that I need time to recover from."

As Daneel heard this, he sighed.

In the memories he had acquired from the original Daneel, he remembered just how proud a man his father had been. He was never too arrogant or overtly egoistic, but he took pleasure in being powerful enough to protect everything he held dear.

Right now, in front of him was a man who had been beaten down one too many times.

He knew that his father was proud of him for achieving everything so far, but he could also tell that he was a man who had his own wishes.

What was wrong with wanting to fight beside his own son, or to be his equal so that he could protect him if the time came?

What was wrong in being heartbroken after finding out that he could no longer aspire for such a thing?

"Follow me," said Daneel, before leading his father to one of the bathrooms in the large room that his parents were staying in.

Before Robert got any strange notions, Daneel raised his hands on top of a washbasin for a few seconds before opening the tap.

With a gasp, Robert watched as a thick, white mist gushed through the tap instead of water.

"Father, this is your opportunity to achieve everything you want. This is a special Energy which will hurt when absorbed, but it will greatly hasten your training speed, allowing you to reach the peak of the Exalted Human realm as fast as possible. Who knows? Maybe, in a few months, you, too, could become a Warrior like Elanev! And after that, believe in your son to find ways to both increase your training speed, and to increase mom's longevity. You and Mom are the reason that I was able to become who I am. Without your support and upbringing, I might never have dreamed about stepping forth and becoming the King at all. Now, please do not feel ashamed to accept everything I give you. No matter how much I repay you, it will never be enough."

Daneel had taken inspiration from many of the speeches he had seen on TV, but his emotions were true.

He wanted to do these things, and he hoped that his father would accept.

Thankfully, after thinking for a bit, a smile broke out on Robert's face before he stepped forward to hug his son.

However, at the same moment, a notification sounded in Daneel's mind which made him raise his eyebrows in surprise.

[Minuscule modification of Oath-link between host and target 'Eldra' has been detected.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

489 Back to Eldinor

In a village on the outskirts of the Kingdom of the Elves.

"Olfax, how have you been?"

When the middle-aged man with a sharply trimmed beard who was sitting in the room heard this, he stood up with a start before immediately kneeling on one knee and bowing low.

"My King! It is an honor to meet you after so long!"

"So long? To me, it just feels like yesterday that we put Eldra on the throne. I trust that everything has been well with you?"

Saying so, the King of Lanthanor waved his hand which made a force raise Olfax from the ground.

Taking a seat, the king gestured at the one in front of him, on which the loyal spy sat before smiling and saying, "Of course, Sir. The Voice of Eldinor is now the leading news organization in the Kingdom. Investing in it in an early stage has reaped me a lot of profits, making me one of the most respected humans in the capital. Of course, this was all just to keep a close eye on the Queen, as instructed, My Lord."

Nodding, Daneel smiled before gazing into the distance, lost in his thoughts.

Now that he was back in the Kingdom of Eldinor, he couldn't help but think back to everything that had happened the last time he was here.

As those memories flashed through his mind, he tried to think about what motive Eldra might have had for doing something to escape the oath.

He had suspected that something was off from the reports, but he couldn't have guessed that it would be this. After all, it was definitely suspicious for the Queen to be spending such long amounts of time in some area of the Palace, after closing herself off from everyone.

Daneel had trusted the Oath and the Oath Stone, as until now, except his Master, he had never seen anyone successful in breaking or bending one.

Now that the truth about her actions had been revealed, Daneel had to admit that he was quite unhappy.

He had given this woman a fair deal: she had had nothing going for her, and he had worked so hard to help her rise to the throne.

Yet, this was how she chose to repay him?

He hadn't even asked anything of her Kingdom or her except a few inconsequential little things. This had simply been because he didn't want to draw any more attention than necessary, so was it that even those little things had been too much for her to do?

Now that Daneel thought about it, he realized that ungrateful people were some of the most irritating beings in the world.

Shaking his head, he said, "Give me another full report of everything the Queen's been doing recently. I trust that your spies inside the Palace are discrete?"

Nodding vigorously, Olfax said, "Of course, my King! I took great care to pick them out from those who were close to dying from starvation due to having no money for food. I raised them, and made them believe in me, before sending them on their missions. There is no possibility at all that they would betray me. For the most part, the activities of the Queen have remained the same, but something that has changed is that she had started confiding in a specific maid for the past month or so. I sent a report about this to the Kingdom, too. However, what I've just found out today is that that elf maid was seen leaving the Palace with tears in her eyes. The others heard that she had handed in her resignation, and after a lot of digging, what I found out was that the last thing she did before leaving was to meet the Queen. I don't know yet what to make of this, My Lord."

Hearing this, Daneel frowned deeply.

He had talked to the system after the notification, and he had found out that such minuscule changes in the Oath- link was something that couldn't even be detected by a Champion. It was only because the system was constantly monitoring each and every oath link, had it been able to analyze the change in real time in order to notice it.

As for what could have caused it, the system had no idea, but it did say that there were obscure sayings about how such changes would be the premise to the breaking of an Oath link, if it were even possible.

This research had apparently been done by a sect member of the Big Four who had been charged with finding out whether Oaths were truly as dependable as all those in the continent considered them to be. His results were mostly theoretical, but according to the system, his methods of research were quite thorough.

All in all, this meant that Eldra might have somehow found a way to break the oath, and that she was well on the way to doing so.

Daneel had been meaning to make a trip to Eldinor for two reasons anyway.

One, he wanted to make sure that there was no Empire Spirit here even though he had found nothing on his last trip, and also to once again look for the parts of the Grand Inheritance that he hadn't found here.

Two, for his plan to make the television come to Angaria, Daneel needed a lot of Enchanters as the assembly line he had in Lanthanor would simply not be enough.

Display trinkets were a luxury in Angaria for a reason: only highly talented Enchanters could create them, which resulted in a huge supply and demand problem.

However, Daneel had already made a plan to circumvent this, but he still needed to enlist more Enchanters for the task, and there was no better place than Eldinor for this task.

So, it was quite a coincidence that he had received this notification about the Queen right at this moment, which made it so that he could look to accomplish all of his objectives at once.

Yes, in his head, Eldra had already become an objective instead of a follower.

After all, why would he still care about someone who apparently wanted to renege on such a fair deal?

Standing up, Daneel said, "Lead me to that maid."

He needed to find clues about just how Eldra had managed to change the oath link, so Daneel decided to start with that maid.

"Yes, My Lord."

A few minutes later, Daneel was in a village that was much further inside the Kingdom. Still, it was quite a distance away from the capital, which made him wonder how this elf had managed to get a job in the Palace if her home was so far away.

"My King, she was one of those who was saved from the elf slavery ring. She was given a residence here after she gave in her resignation, as the Queen has laid in place a program to help all those who are integrating back into society after being enslaved for elongated periods of time."

That was definitely quite thoughtful.

If anything, Eldra had definitely shown herself to be quite a capable leader. He had read all the reports about her governance before coming here, and he had seen that she had implemented many plans for the welfare of the people which had resulted in her being voted the most approved leader in the past few centuries.

He still hadn't decided about what he was going to do, but Daneel realized that at least one plan was going to be very difficult: if he chose to switch her with another puppet, then it would be an uphill task, as unlike her mother, it seemed that she had left no areas for him to exploit in order to make her popularity plummet.

At this moment, Daneel realized that his whole psyche was quite disturbed.

After thinking for a bit, he understood the reason.

This Kingdom had been his first conquest after becoming the King of Lanthanor, and as such, it held a special place in his heart.

To see that that achievement was sullied…was definitely very dissatisfying.

Resolving to keep a clamp on his emotions, Daneel made his way inside the maid's house directly, while Olfax tried to keep up on foot.

When Daneel arrived, he saw that the maid was simply sitting in a corner of the house and crying her heart out.

Looking around the small house, Daneel saw that it looked like she hadn't eaten in days, and her sunken eyes and pale face told him that this was definitely not the first tears she had said, nor would they be the last.

What had happened to this woman?

"Excuse me," he said, which made the elf snap her head around before her eyes lost focus.

Sitting in front of her on the small wooden table, Daneel ordered, "Tell me everything that happened that resulted in you entering this state."

As the elf started to talk, Olfax slowly opened the door and crept in before reeling from shock on seeing the way the elf was pouring out her innermost secrets without any hesitation.

He had thought that this would be the most difficult step, as elves were very proud creatures who normally wouldn't talk about their problems with anyone, least of all some humans like them whom she didn't even know.

However, he realized that he had forgotten just what kind of man the King of Lanthanor was.

He was someone capable of miracles, and this was probably just a small one that he happened to be witness to.

A few minutes later, everything became clear to both of them.

A month ago, just like Olfax had said, the Queen had taken her into her retinue and given her the task of tending to her personal needs.

Day by day, she spent a lot of time with this elf, telling her about all of her true feelings and becoming very close to her.

There was nothing of import in what she told, as it mainly consisted of her difficulties in finding the perfect plans that would allow her to help her people, and her internal turmoil due to the one being responsible for her mother's death.

However, just the act of spending so much time with someone and sharing each other's innermost secrets had apparently made them become as close as family, with one other important reason behind this being that both of them were orphans.

After that, just yesterday, the Queen had called her to her chamber and said many hurtful things which had damaged this poor elf and broken her heart into millions of pieces.

After all, having one's trust broken in such a manner was truly something that few could recover from.

Towards the end, Daneel asked one thing: he asked exactly at what time this had happened.

And to his surprise, he found out that this coincided with that exact moment when he had received the notification from the system.

Sighing, Daneel realized that he had no other option but to do something he hadn't wanted to.

"Drakos, I need you," he said, and after a few seconds, the Ancient Dragon replied.

"Young King, as I promised, I'm here. Oh? I see you're in the presence of an Oath-breaking object?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

490 Dinora

"An Oath-breaker object? What's that?"

"Why, isn't it obvious? This woman was an object in helping someone break an oath. It doesn't mean that the oath is broken, but the process has definitely started. It might actually be at the last phase, in fact. Such a task leaves behind elemental vibrations that can be spotted by a Hero, you know."

"Tell me everything you know about this. Aren't oaths supposed to be fool-proof? What kind of level of a spell is required in order to break one?"

"That… Is a good question. They are supposed to be fool-proof in this age. Young King, the spell to break an oath is at the Hero level, which means that there is definitely another Empire Spirit active here. Judging from the sharp ends of the ears of the individual in front of you, I gather that we are in the Elf Kingdom?"

Daneel only grunted in response, to which Drakos replied, "Oh. Then this is definitely very troublesome."

Hearing this, Daneel frowned even further but decided that he would continue this discussion in a more discreet place.

Instructing Olfax to leave, Daneel lifted the Mind Control spell on the elf maid before teleporting away.

After a few teleportations, he finally stopped when he was in view of the tall mountain on top of which the Capital of Eldinor, Elfaven was situated.

Gazing at that city which was vaguely visible, Daneel asked Drakos to continue.

"Young king, you must already be aware that there are three different paths to follow to gain power. The lone Mage path, the lone Fighter path and the hybrid path – which includes training in both areas. As a Dragon, I trained in the equal hybrid path, which means that I was just as powerful as a Fighter as I was as a Mage. Many chose this path, mainly because it offers the most flexible form of combat and the most options when one reaches the chasm that separates them from the Champion realm. Yet, there are some who choose the other two paths, either because of higher talent in those areas, or some specific interest. You must already know about elves; they are strong in magic, but weak in body potential. As such, even during the Age of the Empire, the strongest Mages of the armies were mostly elves. Following the same trend, the elf who was chosen to become the Empire Spirit for the Elf Kingdom was also a pure Mage, which turned out to be a problem. You already know that our corporeal bodies need a certain level of Energy in order to maintain our consciousnesses, and the Mage level of one decides the size, or power of one's consciousness. Although that doesn't mean that Fighters have much weaker consciousnesses, it is definitely a fact that their power doesn't affect the size of their consciousness too much, as opposed to how it is in the case of Mages."

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop for a bit. Drakos, you really need to learn to break up your long speeches, or otherwise, no one would be able to hear you out."

Daneel was already reeling from this long block of text, so he had to take a moment to assess it carefully before asking Drakos to continue.

"I'll keep that in mind, Young King. I was approaching the end anyway. As a pure Mage, the Empire Spirit of the Elf Kingdom could not be stored in a normal stone podium like the rest of us. Instead, the Emperor had to use a special construct made out of her own corporeal body. I guess that you must have checked the Kingdom for the parts of the Grand Inheritance, and must have failed because you found nothing in the core of their formation?"

As Daneel nodded vigorously, Drakos continued, saying, "That's because that part was stored along with her body that went through a special transformation in order to hold her consciousness even after her death. This was the only possible method, as transporting her consciousness from her body to the stone podium in the process that you saw was impossible. The idea is that if someone gains approval, they will be given access to the true location of her body, which was hidden away in a location even I cannot find. The Emperor had to take these measures, as he did not want it to be too easy to finish the race. The one who did finish had to be worthy. Now, the reason I said that this is troublesome is because she was one of the first to turn – even though the Emperor made many plans, he could not have accommodated for the changes in his vassals. Or maybe, he intended his inheritor to tackle these problems too."

Toward the end, as Daneel heard Drakos speak in a melancholy tone, he was reminded once again of that giant figure who had spoken to him in the message.

Indeed, he had to agree that that man did look like some legendary grandpa in those novels who would place multiple hoops in order for his inheritor to jump through to test whether they were worthy.

"Drakos, the history lesson is fine, but I want to know about the oath."

"Young King, the best method is to directly come into contact with the person who is in the process of breaking the Oath. Do you know who that is?"

"Of course. Get ready to deploy spells to hide us."

A few moments later, Daneel was strolling the streets of the capital city of the Kingdom of the Elves while looking around at all the development that had happened in his absence.

It was quite impressive: new areas of gathering had been built for people with like-minded interest to gather and share knowledge, there were more parks for kids to play in, there were advertisements for schemes that would reward parents for having more children which was to combat the declining elf population, and there was even a more robust policing force that was patrolling the streets and making sure that there would be no delinquents.

Just like he had thought, this Queen was quite capable.

Wasting no more time, Daneel directly teleported inside the central palace and was soon standing in the middle of a court session that was going on.

This was the true power of a Hero – nothing and no one could stop one in the Central Continent. If it were a Champion, the core formations of a few kingdoms might at least hope to detect one, but a Hero was just too much to handle.

This was why Daneel had awakened Drakos, and he was glad that he had done so.

The throne room of the Kingdom of the Elves was smaller than that of Lanthanor: apart from the central, large throne, there were only around 20 seats on which the ministers were seated.

Although there was empty space behind the seats for spectators to stand in, currently, there was no one there.

Setting his eyes on the Queen of Eldinor, Daneel saw that she had changed.

When he had first met her all those months ago, she had still had the naïveté of someone who had led a sheltered life, despite the fact that she had been doing the dirty work of her mother.

That Eldra had been filled with hopes and dreams even though she didn't let them be displayed outward, but this one… This one seemed to be a cold, dead husk.

Her face was set in a rigid expression of seriousness, and it didn't change no matter what news she heard. She ordered welfare plans and executions with the same tone, almost as if nothing mattered to her anymore.

It was as if someone had leached the life completely out of her, leaving behind an empty shell of the person she had once been.

At this moment, looking at her, Daneel couldn't help but actually feel pity.

What had she been through to turn her into someone like this?

The last time he had come here, he had been in a hurry, so he hadn't called on the Queen, which was something he regretted now as he wondered whether he might have been able to change anything if he had noticed this earlier.

This had definitely been an oversight on his part: just because he was confident in the oath, he had neglected to go see how his 'puppets' actually were, even though he had reason to believe that they might be doing something which they shouldn't be.

This… was definitely one of the banes of having too many things to do.

"This is the individual, yes. I can see that… She is in the final phase! Dinora has been busy…"

"Dinora? That's her name?"

"Yes. It was where the name of this kingdom was derived from. I knew her quite well, in fact. But even then, she always had something… crazy about her. I still remember when she chased me to – ahem, a story for another time."

[Target "Eldra" has been found to be under the effects of a weak Mind Control spell.]

Daneel had just been getting curious due to the almost fearful tone with which Drakos had just talked about the Elf Empire spirit, but the message from the system made him furrow his eyebrows.

An Empire Spirit was not supposed to be able to cast spells without taking control of one's body!

This was true in all the cases he had seen so far, including that old man.

Did that mean that…

"Young King, you must realize that this woman is under a Mind Control spell. But it is very weak. Dinora was the best Mage among us all, and as such, it is possible that she must have learned how to cast low powered spells during her long millennia of solitude. If anyone is capable of it, it would be her. The only consolation is that the Mind Control spell is very weak, so much so that the target can break through it if they try hard enough. Young King, whatever this woman has done, do not take it at face value. She has definitely been influenced by that crazy elf. Oh, and by the way, she is definitely not temporarily possessed, as the special process in which she is stored makes temporary possession, like I'm doing, impossible."

Yes, there had definitely been something between this ancient Dragon and that ancient elf.

Putting that to the side for now, he continued looking at Eldra, trying to decide what to do.

There was a major problem here – how was he supposed to decide what he was going to do with her if he didn't know which decisions of hers were her own, and which had been influenced by the Mind Control spell?

He couldn't just indiscriminately decide to kill her, if she wasn't the one responsible.

"Drakos, I need to know since when this woman has been under the influence of the Mind Control spell."

"Hmm. I have a suspicion, Young King. Does this woman perchance have kin who might have done some bloodthirsty acts which might not have made much sense?"

"Yes, but that person doesn't exactly fit your description. Her actions were justified by herself for her own means."

"Good. Take me to her body, or whatever remains of her."

Puzzled, Daneel teleported to the grave of Eldra's mother, which was quite grand despite all of her wrongdoings.

After a few moments, Drakos spoke in a grave tone.

"Young King, this elf… reeks of blood. If I'm not wrong, she has killed hundreds of her own species. I know now how Dinora is casting spells. Now, to answer your question – the elf above came under the effect of a Mind Control spell when she spoke to this elf last, right before her death."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

491 The Truth, Revealed

Okay, this was just too many revelations for one day.

In the underground crypt where the former Queen was interred, Daneel took a step back and had to take the wall behind him for support as he tried to understand what Drakos had just told him.

After he thought for a bit, the pieces finally started to fall into place.

The matter of the elf slave trade in Angaria had made many waves at the time when it had been uncovered, but the most mysterious thing was that even after a lot of money had been burned to search for the elves who had been sold, none of them had been found.

After all, if it was true that the slave trade had gone on for a long time, it would mean that at least one elf out of the hundreds who had gone missing might have surfaced somewhere or the other, which would have given some clue.

Instead, it was as if they had all disappeared into thin air.

Now, it was obvious that they had all been killed.

But why?

And since when had Drakos become some kind of supernatural forensic investigator that could gather so many things from the ashes of the former Queen?

As if anticipating this question, Drakos said, "Even after a consciousness leaves one's body, there are… signs left behind about the changes that happened to one when they were still alive. Along with that, it is also possible to identify the last spell cast in the proximity of one, as signs are left behind in one's mageroot when it responds unconsciously to remain ready to take control of elementary particles when called for. Both of these signs can still be analyzed even if the body has changed form. Of course, this can only be done by a few Heros, and one of those Heros is me. The Emperor taught me this personally. However, I can see that only a very weak spell was cast, which meant that Dinora was still a few steps away from breaking free."

"Drakos, slow down. Tell me everything. You can't just spout out things which don't make sense and think for yourself out loud."

As Daneel said this an exasperated tone, Drakos hurriedly replied, "Apologies, Young King. It makes sense now. At some point in the recent history of this kingdom, were there a large number of missing elves?"

"Yes. And I guess from what you said that she killed them. But why?"

"A blood spell, Young King. A blood spell to rebuild a new body for herself, so that she can be born anew, with the full Mage capabilities of a Hero. Dinora was always very ambitious, so much so that I can't even remember one instance when she backed down from something ruthless if it meant that she would benefit from it. I always wondered why the Emperor chose her, and I still don't know the reason behind that. However, one thing is for certain: if you do not intervene, Young King, this kingdom itself might cease to exist, and from its ashes, a Mage stronger than any this continent has seen in millennia will be born who will effortlessly defeat those Big Four and take control of the continent. You must stop this, Young King. When she is done, she will have the same goal as that bird: she will offer up Angaria for information on how to reach the next level. She must be stopped. She must!"

Hearing Drakos say this in a very chilling tone, Daneel shook his head while trying to make sense of everything.

This was not the correct method. Drakos was just dropping facts right and left, but there was no clear idea about what exactly might have happened.

So, Daneel decided that he would first list everything using a timeline, so that it would all be clear.

Conjuring a chair in front of the large crypt, Daneel leaned back and closed his eyes before thinking about everything that he had just learned.

By asking Drakos and the system a few questions, he finally started to piece together the true history of everything that was going on in the Kingdom of the Elves.

It must have started with the greed of the former Queen. According to Drakos, only those with intense needs could be communicated with by Dinora, which apparently had something to do with her Champion path.

Queen Eldra must have been looking for a way to fund her campaign so that she would remain in her post. In the process, she must have come across the Empire Spirit, which should have spoken to her through some means.

This was where the tale got a bit tricky. In some manner, the Empire spirit, Dinora, must have exchanged the blood of the elves for money.

As for exactly how, even Drakos couldn't guess. One possibility was that Dinora might have given the locations of Ether deposits in the underground of the Kingdom, which might have come into existence due to the discharge of the excess Energy from the Ker Roots which were preserving her body and consciousness that had been arranged by the Emperor.

Regardless, Queen Eldara, in her thirst for power, must have chosen to kill all those elves. After all, one who was ready to thrust them into slavery and a life of torture, wouldn't hesitate to just kill them.

From what Drakos said, Daneel gathered that the elves of today had very diluted blood as compared to the original elf race which was due to the result of the depleting Energy on the continent. Of course, time was also a major factor here, as repeated generations had become weaker and weaker, thus diluting the elf blood in the process.

Using the blood of those elves, Dinora must've started casting the spell to recreate her body, which should have lent her the power to cast some very weak spells.

It seemed that it was most probable that this was when the event where Eldara was killed happened, but using the power she had gained, Dinora must have cast that Mind Control spell on Eldra.

As for the need she had exploited – it must be the one to be free from being a puppet.

Since then, Eldra must be training in a special technique that was apparently designed to modify the basic components of one's body so that it would facilitate a change in the consciousness too, which would result in one becoming eligible to try and break or bend an oath.

The final step was to do something that went against the very core beliefs of that person, so it became obvious that the action of hurting that elf maid must have been for this purpose.

All in all, this was one huge clusterf*ck of manipulation that Daneel hadn't even spotted during his last foray in the Kingdom of the Elves.

It was a pretty complex map of things, but it made sense now.

Now, the burning question was back: what was he supposed to do?

"Young King, as I mentioned before, Dinora needs to sacrifice the entirety of the elf population in order to successfully rebuild her body. The reason why she must've spent so much time helping the elf above to break the oath is that you would have been able to stop her as soon as you found out about this, which would have ruined all of her plans. For her, the best case would have been if that elf maid had been killed, but instead, I think that she must've fought against the Mind Control spell and chosen the other option so that she could at least save the life of that elf. Still, Dinora's objective has been fulfilled: a crack must've appeared in the oath which no one should be able to detect, and using that crack, she will be able to forcefully disable the oath for a period of time in the future if needed. In essence, she is ready to proceed with the plan of sacrificing all the elves in this kingdom. Wait… How did you appear here at such a crucial time in the first place?"

This made Daneel scratch his nose, as he couldn't reveal that he had the system which had thankfully detected that crack in the oath link.

"Err… Luck, I guess. I had to come here for a few tasks of mine anyway, so I was able to notice this incongruity. Put that to the side. What kind of spell could that Dinora cast to fulfil her goal?"

As he quickly changed the subject in this way, Drakos paused for a few moments as if he was suspicious, but the good old Innocent Dragon let it go and answered, "I don't know, Young King. But I do know that it will definitely involve gathering all of the elves, or at least most of them, in one place. That will be the main clue for you."

"Alright."

Nodding, Daneel first made his way out of the crypt before teleporting to the throne room one last time and taking a glance at Eldra, who had simply been manipulated all her life.

First, it was her mother, who had controlled her and made every decision in her life.

Next, it was that Empire Spirit, which was still directing her actions.

Yes, this was definitely quite a pitiful elf.

His next stop was the mansion where Olfax was waiting for him – this man had made quite the fortune for himself, and as Daneel looked around the spacious halls and the servants who were going about their tasks, he smiled, thinking that Olfax definitely deserved this for all the service he had done to Lanthanor.

Olfax tried to insist that Daneel should take the master bedroom, where he was currently living, but Daneel denied and took residence in the best guestroom there was.

Lying down on the bed, he once again closed his eyes.

He had already instructed Olfax to keep an eye out for any announcements that would result in the gathering of elves on a large scale, but when he heard a knock on the door, he couldn't have expected that this was the reason behind Olfax disturbing his rest.

At the door, Olfax was holding a conduit for the Network of Angaria, in which an announcement was taking place.

"To all the elves listening: the Queen has called for a major festival to honor the history of the elves! 10 days from now, in the large open ground east of Elfaven, the largest festival to have ever graced our kingdom will begin! All are welcome, but all elves must definitely attend! In the words of the Queen: "On the hallowed ground we have chosen, all elf kind must unite to take forth our Kingdom and return us to glory!" Stay tuned for more announcements!"

His eyes widening, Daneel realized that it was already happening.

10 days from now, if he didn't do anything, Eldinor would cease to exist, and there would be a new Hero level mage who would apparently be the biggest threat to Angaria yet.

At this moment, one thought radiated throughout Daneel's mind, and even though it was nonsensical, Daneel found himself encouraging it for once:

F*ck Empire Spirits.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

492 A Meeting In The Clouds

After taking a moment to curse these things which felt more like they were out to destroy Angaria rather than help save it as the Emperor had originally intended, Daneel nodded at Olfax and close the door.

At least, now, there were no more mysteries about Eldinor. Everything had been revealed to him, and all that remained was to figure out a plan to stop Dinora.

Sitting on the bed, Daneel placed his head in both of his hands before closing his eyes and beginning to think.

There was one obvious plan: he could simply kill Eldra, which would bring an end to the Empire spirit's plans.

After all, it needed someone with need and authority to manipulate, so if its main chess piece was removed, it wouldn't be able to do anything except once again begin a long wait for an opportunity.

However, Daneel kept this as a last option, as if possible, he didn't want to do it.

First, there was the possibility that most of Eldra's actions might have been dictated by the Mind Control spell. Although he didn't know this for sure, he had to give her the benefit of doubt.

Second, the Big Four were keeping an eye on all the rulers of the Central Continent. Wiping out a ruler would definitely make them focus their attention on him, and would also result in turmoil that might end up in riots that could cause a lot of loss of life.

This was, of course, something that he wanted to avoid. Just because Angaria had to be saved, it didn't mean that thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people had to be sacrificed for that.

If he did that, he would practically be no different from Ashahell.

He was already toeing the line he had set for himself by the recent actions he had taken, but he had had no other choice. However, something like this went against his beliefs so much that Daneel recoiled against the idea.

What else could he do?

Could he possibly… Talk to Eldra to tell her the truth and try to work with her to get out of this situation?

"Drackos, is Dinora actively monitoring everything that Eldra sees?"

Daneel asked this, as if that Empire Spirit was capable of casting a damn Mind Control spell without even inhabiting someone's body, then it might be capable of other things too.

"Yes. Surveillance should be possible quite easily. But if you wish, I can cast a small spell to cut whoever you want from Dinora's view for a limited period of time."

Hearing this, Daneel saw that this plan was still viable.

However, he remembered the last time that he had worked with Eldra.

Once again, he thought back to how fair the deal was, which made him realize that Eldra was just the sort of person to not see these kinds of things.

She was prideful like any other elf, and it seemed that her pride would definitely get in the way of the thought of once again becoming Daneel's "slave".

Although that wasn't the case, he could tell that that would definitely be how she would see it.

With this in mind, Daneel concluded that it would just be foolish to once again make plans with her. Something like this might end up repeating, or he might even find later that he was stabbed in the back just because she was someone who couldn't set aside her prejudice about being under someone else's control.

That was her nature, and Daneel was not ready to bet anything that it would change.

So… Was there perhaps a plan which would keep Eldra on the throne, save the Kingdom of Eldinor and Angaria, and also make her follow him willingly without feeling any resentment?

Oh, that was definitely a tall order.

But that was exactly what he needed to do.

However, no matter how much he rummaged in his mind, he couldn't come up with something foolproof that would accomplish what he wanted.

Leaning back on the bed, Daneel ran his hands through his head and felt…alone.

All the schemes, all the plans, all the dealings-everything had been done by him alone, for the most part.

He had never thought about this much, but at this moment, he didn't like it.

Why should he do everything alone?

This question appeared in his mind, but unlike all the times before when he had had answers for it, he realized with a start that right now, it might be possible to change those answers.

Immediately sitting up, he asked, "Drakos, is there a Hero-level spell which will shield people's minds from Mind Control? Or, at least, if someone tries to go through their minds using the technique in possession of the Big 4, can their memories be altered in order to hide certain things?"

Daneel asked this question twice, once to Drakos, and once to the system.

Drakos took some time to ponder, but the system answered first.

[Negative. This aspect of the system to edit host's memories on demand cannot be made into a spell with system's current level. Please upgrade the system if host wishes to carry out this task.]

He had already thought as much.

All this time, he had been turning the capabilities of the system into spells for him to cast.

However, this was just too advanced a case.

After a minute or so, Drakos finally spoke.

"Young King, it might be possible through a hidden trinket that they can hide on their bodies. When the trinket detects that its wearer is under the effect of a spell like what you mentioned, it will enable them to choose what memories to hide and which to show. It might be crude, but it will get the job done. There is one catch, though."

A broad smile had started to spread on Daneel's face as he heard this, but that last sentence made him frown.

However, when Drakos continued, he laughed out loud when he realized that it was quite an inconsequential catch.

"This will only work on the simple consciousnesses of Humans and Warriors. When one becomes a Champion, their consciousness undergoes a change. You can say that it becomes…refined. In that refined atmosphere, the crude actions of the trinket will stand out like a flame in the darkness. Only in the cases of Humans and Warriors will the invading spell make it appear that the crude changes are all just a part of the 'simple' consciousness of that person."

"That's all right! What do you need to make them?"

"A tiny part of a Ker Root."

This made Daneel gape, before he exclaimed, "And you didn't think that THAT was the catch?"

"No, Young King. You are already in possession of one, right?"

"Y-yes, but it's very precious…is there no other way?"

"None, Young King. All complicated trinkets which relate to the mind require Ker Roots as materials. It will only need a very small part, though."

With a sigh, Daneel realized that this innocent dragon was not even exposed to the human emotion of greed.

It wasn't even greed. It was more like…a habit Daneel had acquired from hounding materials and EXP all his life. Just the notion of such a precious material being depleted caused his heart to hurt.

However, he knew that this was very important.

So, he just sighed and said, "All right, fine. Make them."

"How many do you need?"

"Eight."

…

A few hours later, at a spot in the clouds above the empty area that was between Lanthanor, the Black Raven Kingdom and the Hidden Kill Sect.

Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the Continent of Angaria, a very historic meeting was about to take place here.

In fact, later on, it would be known that this was the meeting which had set the course of the future of Angaria.

First, Daneel appeared here with a neutral expression on his face.

He was looking forward to what he was going to do, but watching the small Ker Root being shaved had been quite painful.

Ever since coming into possession of such a wondrous object, Daneel had decided that he would hold on to it until he became a Champion, but it seemed that that was not the case.

Still, putting it out of his thoughts for now, Daneel first asked Drakos to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on them.

After that, he stated a strange request.

"Drakos, I need you to go into meditation for now. I'll be sure to call you again if I need you."

"Why, Young King?"

Hearing the innocent question, Daneel hesitated, wondering whether he was supposed to lie.

Thankfully, after seeing that he was silent for a while, Drakos just said, "I am glad that you did not decide to directly lie to me about such an important thing. I know everything about my race, Young King. I understand. Just call on me if you need me."

The tone he used was more serious than any Daneel had ever heard from him, so for once, Daneel felt glad that he just hadn't gone ahead and found an excuse.

Sighing as the system confirmed that Drakos was meditating, he sent a message to Kellor, who teleported over along with a few people in two.

They were: Eloise, Elanev, Aran, Cassandra, and Robert.

Daneel had already conjured 9 thrones that looked like they were made out of clouds.

Four were on one side, and four were on another, with a large, very distinct throne fashioned from dragons in the center.

It looked like they were standing in some Hall of the Gods, from where otherworldly beings might be looking down at mortals to decide their fates.

He had just told them that he needed to talk them, so they had puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Sit. We have two more people coming."

Hearing the King say this, the 6 people sat down and started to whisper amongst themselves.

Soon, two more figures teleported over.

The first was Faxul, who had strangely come with a large, decorated box which he placed to the side before greeting everyone and sitting.

Second came Luther, who also did the same, before taking his seat.

With everyone assembled, Daneel smiled and walked to the Central Throne before sitting down.

As soon as he did so, he flung his hand out, making eight non-descript gold coins fly out and float in front of each of those present.

"Drop your blood on them. Trust me when I say that they are more valuable than you can ever imagine."

Nodding, all of them did so, and watched as the coins melted into their palms.

In a solemn voice that reverberated through the sky, the King of Lanthanor spoke.

"It is said that 9 is the holy number of our continent, and by chance, 9 of us have gathered here. Each of you know bits and pieces about the true happenings in our continent, but it is high time that you know the truth. Listen, and brand everything into your memory."

After saying this, Daneel proceeded to speak for a long time.

His narration was punctuated by many gasps and shocked mutters, but he plowed on, as if unaware.

He told them the truth about everything: about his actions of taking control of other Kingdoms, his motives behind doing so, the threat of the Church, Ashahell's actions, his exploits in the Big 4.

Only the truth about the system was hidden: instead, Daneel stated that it was because of an inheritance he had found buried under his house.

To those present, it was as if they were listening to some epic tale that would do well as a novel, instead of being told as reality.

Toward the end, Daneel stated his dilemma, and although he didn't ask, it was clear that he needed their help.

Faxul was the one who knew most of the story, and although he was very shocked by the rest, he recovered first.

After thinking for a bit, he spoke, giving Daneel an idea that blew his mind.

"Daneel, you've been going around making puppets. You made me one, too, and although I'm not complaining, don't you think that it hasn't worked out very well? Despite your efforts, you still have not united the Kingdoms. Maybe…it is time for you to walk out of the shadows, and begin conquering Kingdoms out in the open. After all, you are powerful enough."

Yes!

Daneel had been continuously thinking about how he was supposed to manipulate stuff from the shadows. He was just too used to it!

Hence, he hadn't considered this.

Now that he was alerted to it, the cogs in his brain started to turn, and his eyes started to shine.

The best way to conquer someone…was to save them.

What if he just so happened to be a King who ended up saving the entire elf species?

Wouldn't it be natural for them to follow him?

Slowly, a bold and daring plan started to form in his mind.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

493 The Prerequisites of The Plan

"Well done, Faxul. I was right in deciding to set up this meeting. For too long, I've been doing everything alone. I realized that a fresh perspective would definitely help, and I see that that objective has already been realized. For now, let us disperse. Those 8 trinkets can also be used to contact me directly: they have a lot of tricks hidden in them, so keep them safe at all times. Ruminate on everything you've heard, and if you have something to say, we can speak away in the next meeting. Goodbye."

As Daneel said this, the others who were still blinking their eyes and trying to wrap their heads around the fantastic tale nodded, deciding that it really might be best to just take some time.

Kellor teleported those from Lanthanor away, and Faxul and Luther left on their own after nodding to Daneel.

Finding himself alone in the sky surrounded by empty thrones, Daneel grinned.

The meeting…had been a grand success.

There was, of course, the tip from Faxul which had already been a game changer…but what he hadn't mentioned was that he felt freer than he had in ages.

Having such a heavy burden on his shoulders had been slowly burying him into the ground, inch by inch, but this action of laying everything out had resulted in him becoming capable of digging himself out from that desolate, suffocating hole of darkness.

Just before he, too, teleported away, a thought came to him.

He had to give some cool name to this meeting.

The Round Table of Angaria sounded good, but Daneel decided that it reminded him of the original too much. Besides, he did not want to end up like the head of that table.

So, deciding to think on this, Daneel dispersed the clouds before heading back to Olfax's mansion.

Once he was there, Daneel woke up Drakos again.

The reason he had asked the dragon to meditate was that there were quite a few instances of scheming being beneficial in his tale that would definitely have risked history repeating.

Now that that was done, he could safely call upon his trusty friend again.

"Drakos, I've decided on a plan. It's not a scheme. It's just…a method of using circumstances to get what we want. Is that clear?"

As Drakos heard this right after waking up, he said, "Of course, Young King. I'm not totally unaware of myself. I can tell if I am being affected by something I see or hear. If that is the case, I will go into meditation immediately. It was the dying wish of my f-I mean, the Emperor that I stay as myself instead of invoking the memories and instincts of my race. I intend to follow that directive to my death, whenever that may be."

Hmm? Then why weren't you able to detect anything last time, when you almost lost control?

Daneel heard Drakos speak in a serious tone, but due to that incident, he wasn't really ready to take Drakos up on his word.

Still, he needed the Dragon on this task, and he had analyzed this quite carefully. It would definitely be exactly as he had just stated: just an opportunistic usage of circumstances to get what he wanted.

So, simply giving out a sound to indicate that he understood, Daneel sat down and started to chalk out the finer details of his plan.

In essence, it was similar to the one he had used in the Hidden Kill Sect: by upping the danger and becoming the way out there, he had taken control of the Sect.

Here, though, the first part wasn't needed, as the danger was present all on its own.

All he would have to do was make sure that the latter was done as flashily as possible.

After all, there was nothing like publicity in order to turn public opinion towards something.

As for whether it was too risky to openly ally with/take over a Kingdom, he knew that the High Council was busy with its own matters, especially due to the fact that it was short-handed right now. He didn't even need to worry much about the Central Continent, as he was already a Peak Warrior, which was almost definitely the strongest level here.

The only worrying thing might be the actions of the other active Empire Spirits, but Daneel couldn't possibly accommodate into his plan.

So, hesitating no more, Daneel called for Olfax and said, "Sit down, Olfax. It's time for another major operation in this Kingdom."

As he said this, untold excitement shone in the old spy's eyes.

Almost as if he were resisting the temptation to break out into a jig, the loyal citizen of Lanthanor sat in front of the King, who opened his hands wide and said in a grand gesture, "We are going…to save Eldinor, and make the elves beg to fall under the rule of Lanthanor."

No matter how much of a miracle-worker the King of Lanthanor, this was just too much of a farfetched claim.

Olfax could only drop his jaw and stare, wondering whether he had heard right.

The history of over-ambitious Kings was clear: the entire continent would ally against them, and their Kingdom would be slaughtered before being split apart and absorbed by the rest of the forces.

As he voiced this concern after taking a few moments to calm down, Daneel chuckled and said, "Don't you worry about that. I'll handle it."

The Hidden Kill Sect and the Black Raven Kingdom were both under his control, more or less. From where would an alliance come to threaten him, if these two chose to stay out of it?

This was also one of the other major reasons why Daneel liked this plan so much. Unwittingly, he had already destroyed the age-old tradition of forming an alliance to stop Kings who tried to take control of more than one Kingdoms, making it so that it was no longer possible for that to repeat.

However, if he said this out loud, Olfax would, of course, look at him as if he were crazy.

So Daneel just said this cryptic statement, before proceeding to chuckle mysteriously, as if he was some mastermind who had everything under control.

Sadly, the truth was far from that. He was just scrambling to do his best, but so far, it seemed to be working.

Discarding these useless thoughts, Daneel said, "All you need to know is that in 10 days, there will be a major threat to all elves in this Kingdom, which we will help avert."

"…"

After revealing this plan, Daneel had expected some kind of shocked expression from Olfax.

However, the man was just sitting there and staring at Daneel, as if waiting for him to continue.

What was going on?

Breaking the awkward silence, Daneel said, "That's it."

Noticing his mistake, Olfax looked to the side sheepishly before coughing and saying, "Apologies, My King, I thought you were continuing. With all due respect, saving the elves will not result in them begging to be under your rule. Elves are the proudest sons-of-…Sorry, sir, I mean that their pride will never allow them to agree to be under anyone's rule."

Daneel thought for a bit after hearing this. Indeed, just a simple act of saving them might not be enough.

He had already considered this, and Daneel had just thought that making it as dramatic and grave as possible might result in him succeeding.

However, he realized that he had unconsciously been thinking like a human.

Olfax, due to his prolonged exposure to elves, had been able to pick up on this.

All in all, this made it clear to Daneel that it would be a mistake to carry out something which related to a different species without having a member of that species on hand in order to test whether his plan would be successful.

Yes, although Olfax was experienced, he wouldn't be enough.

At this moment, the dragon spoke up.

"Young King, I know a thing or two about elves. Although their pride dictates their lives, there is something they value even over their pride: their love for magic. Also, they are not completely ungrateful being; from what I remember, elves do not like to keep debts."

Right!

Daneel knew exactly just how much they loved magic. It was one of the few things that almost all members of their race had in common.

For this love, many talented elves spent their lives in solitude, choosing the embrace of the myriad elementary particles and their study instead of doing anything else with their time.

Yes…he would definitely have to use these, too.

However, he found himself once again going back to the thought that allying with an elf might be best.

Eldra was out of the question, so who else could there be?

Suddenly, he remembered a very strong elf who was one of the few he truly respected on this continent.

…

In Elfaven, in a large house with an artistic exterior made of stone.

This house was famous in the capital for the renowned artwork on the exterior which set it apart from the neighboring villas. Meandering fish, drifting birds, sprawling vines- all of these and many more had been carved into the stone outside, resulting in an impressive mosaic which made many stand and stare.

It was only at night that the inhabitants of the house were left alone, and as Katerina sat on the balcony of the villa and looked out at the capital city, she once again cursed that fling with that very handsome human who had done this in an attempt to woo her.

He had succeeded, but their relationship hadn't lasted.

Suddenly, the senses that she had cultivated during her long years in the army warned her about a presence that was standing behind her in the balcony.

Taking a deep breath, Katerina readied herself before swiftly turning around with a flash with a dagger in each hand.

However, there was no one there.

Snip!

At the same moment, she felt something sharp at her throat that cut into her skin, making a line of blood appear.

The intruder had somehow moved to the position behind her!

Was this really going to be her end?

Boom!

In the most amazing burst of complex elementary particles that Katerina had ever seen, an object thundered through the head of the figure who was about to sink his knife into her neck.

At first glace, she thought that that…object, whatever it was, had hit him, but seeing no blood, Katerina realized that he must have escaped.

What was that? She had never seen something so delicate, yet so destructive.

With a start, she turned around to see that there was another man behind her, beside whom floated another of those…bullets that were as large as a dinner plate.

"Hello, Miss. Katerina. I would like to have a chat with you," the figure said, before making the apparatus beside him disappear.

A Warrior level P-Paragon?

Just which talented member of the Big 4 had come to save her life?

Wondering along these lines, Katerina nodded, but rubbed her eyes as she heard what the figure said.

"In 10 days, all elves will cease to exist. I need your help to stop it. Also, your Queen is one step away from unleashing something that will destroy the continent itself. Follow me, and I'll show you."

Sometimes, there was no stronger weapon than the truth, mused Daneel, as he saw the shocked expression on Katerina's face.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

494 Blood Purifying Formation

Daneel had always known that his Paragon spells were the most impressive in his repertoire. In this day and age where Energy levels had depleted, Paragons were nowhere to be seen.

As Drakos had said, that was not the case in the ancient times, but right now, Daneel was going to use this skill of his to 'woo' Katerina, the elf.

He had to admit that she was one of the most heavyset women he had ever seen. She was wearing pants made of a material that looked like cotton, and they emphasized her thighs, each of which were as large as a man's head.

However, this didn't take anything away from the inherent, rough beauty of the woman. In fact, it even added to it, giving her a unique vibe the likes of which he had only seen in Cassandra, although she wasn't nearly as muscular.

For this instance, Daneel had chosen one of his first Paragon spells- it was the one which utilized the concept of how a gun worked.

He had only refined it further, before making it into something that was quite impressive to see.

When he saw Katerina's wide open eyes that stared at the cannon-shaped Paragon construct beside him, he felt happy that it had worked.

"Please. Take a seat, first. I don't know where that assassin was from, but I think I'm right when I say that his objective must have been to stop this meeting."

With a flick of his finger, he made the Paragon constructs, including the large 'bullets' which were comprised of a delicate mix of elementary particles to simulate piercing metal and gunpowder, disappear.

This made Katerina snap out of her rapture and see the man who had arrived.

She's only now noticing me?

Seeing this, Daneel couldn't help but remark about just how these elves' love for magic seemed to cloud all of their senses.

"You…I know you…"

She said, before remembering where she had seen his face before.

It was in one of the briefings she had received as one of the valuable mages of the Kingdom. This man was the King of Lanthanor, and the report had said that one should be cautious of him.

The reason behind that hadn't been written, but just the meticulous planning of this King whose most famous feats of fighting the Withering Leaf Sect and taking the throne of Lanthanor which were told in households today as bedtime tales were enough to warrant caution when dealing with him.

"Yes, I'm the King of Lanthanor, but I assure you that I mean you no harm. Please, sit."

Daneel repeated his request, after which he fashioned his own chair from the air and sat down.

As someone from the army, Katerina was used to high-stakes situations, so she quickly calmed down and first looked around before sitting down, too.

"I presume that the assassin teleported away. Now, I would first like to ask you one thing: when was the last time you spoke to the Queen."

Of course, you won't find that 'assassin', as he was my clone!

Daneel had been standing in the shadows of the balcony using Drakos's Hero-level concealment spell which had even hidden him from Ashahell and the Mad Doctor. He had first conjured a clone behind Katerina, dispersed it, and then conjured another one on the other side to give the image that the clone was really powerful. Of course, she hadn't been able to detect it, as the clone had literally come into being in both spots, as opposed to teleporting there or walking there.

Nodding her head with a pensive expression on her face, Katerina caressed her high cheekbones before thinking for a bit and replying, "Yesterday, when she called everyone for the special briefing regarding the festival. Wait…you said 10 days, right? Do you mean to say that…"

"Yes, Miss. Katerina. The festival will be the location of the massacre."

"How do you know of this?", asked Katerina, her face set into an expression of disbelief.

Sighing, Daneel said, "It is a long tale, but…"

"That's fine, I'm all ears."

Seeing her interrupt him in this way, Daneel saw that she wasn't someone who would be led around by his air of mystery.

So, he just remained seated, and told her everything about the Empire Spirits and their goals.

He didn't tell her about how he had rigged the election using publicity, as she was the kind of righteous elf who might leave the other facts and focus on this, as it had resulted in her defeat, too, when she had stood in the elections.

However, when he reached the part about how the elf queen must have been killing the elf children, her eyes lit up like a lighthouse.

"Yes! That makes sense! I searched for months, but I found nothing!"

Seeing her say this, Daneel leaned back with satisfaction, knowing that his tale already had a seal of approval, more or less.

When he was done, though, she asked, "How do I believe you?"

To which, Daneel replied, "Just think about everything you've heard now. Soon, I will be able to show you the proof, when the Queen speaks to that spirit again. At that time, I will come to get you. Is that all right?"

After hesitating for a bit, Katerina nodded, following which she saw Daneel disappear from in front of her.

Smiling to himself, Daneel appeared back in the mansion before standing over a desk he had chosen to plan.

It had the map of Eldinor laid out on it, and the spot where the festival was about to take place had been marked with a big, red circle.

The population of the elves wasn't too large; at most, there might be a million or two of them.

Still, Daneel had marked quite a large area.

If it were the case that all of these elves were equally talented in magic, then they would have bowled over Angaria long ago.

Thankfully, although almost all of them were capable of becoming reaching the Eminent Human Mage level easily, those that could surpass that were few, but this number was still greater than all the other Kingdoms.

So many Eminent Human Mages. How terrifying would it be if they all cast a single spell?

As this thought came into his mind, Daneel couldn't help but pause, but he put it to the side as the main reason behind Eldinor not trying something like that was the individuality of the elves, which did not allow them to play well with others.

After all, he had seen the ragtag groups of army regiments that Eldinor had sent long ago in the dispute for the Ker Gem mine.

If they were united, they would definitely have been a truly game-changing force.

Shaking his head, Daneel refocused on the map.

Olfax was here with him, and so was Aran, who had just been called over for his skills.

It had even surprised Daneel to find out that Aran, the guy with a fashionable bowl haircut that reminded him of a very hated singer back on Earth, who wore casual clothes and loved to tease Cassandra, was a master in army formations and deployments.

Hell, apparently, during the war before, Aran had been the main one to propose deployments which had been sent to him as suggestions from the commanders as a whole.

The man's eyebrows were creased as he stared at the map. The King had given him a tall objective: the army had to be able to move in at a moment's notice, but it had to be hidden from the view of the Kingdom of Eldinor, or other Kingdoms.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he was startled, as he hadn't even realized that the King had arrived due to him being too absorbed in the map.

He was just about to kneel, but Daneel waved his hand, gesturing that it was not necessary.

So, Aran made do with a bow, before saying, "Apologies, My King. I am still…"

"Take your time. I know it's a preposterous request. But I'm confident you can think of something. Have you been speaking to Luther, too?"

Aran had been taught by Luther, who had picked up his own experience from fighting for his life on the battlefield.

"Yes, My Lord. He's not that busy for a Sect Leader…"

Laughing, Daneel replied, "Yes, well, the Hidden Kill Sect is a unique sect. Just let me know when you're done."

Nodding, Aran got back to the map, while Daneel left to a different room which he had requested from Olfax.

Here, there was a forge on one side, and complex tools lay on the other.

It had been quite a long time since he had gotten down to enchanting, but it was time to dust off those skills and get started again.

…

5 days later.

Eldra, with the cold expression that had become fixed on her face since that moment when she had seen the emotion of being betrayed in that elf maid's eyes, was walking to the secret room underground while trying not to think too much.

The voice in her head had just told her that all elf kind needed to be gathered for some final step after which she would be free of her oath.

She hadn't even suspected that there might be any danger to her people. After all, who could imagine that there was even a spell capable of killing millions instantly?

So far, except for that time when she had been told to kill that maid, the voice hadn't shown any bloodthirstiness or the like, which made it so that Eldra didn't even consider that something might be off about this whole thing.

As usual, she kneeled in front of the wall and placed her hands on it.

"Reports say that the festival will be a success. Imploring them to come by using the statement that it was for the benefit for all elves was a major factor in this. According to estimates, at least 95% of all elves will be present."

"Good. Now, did you bring what I asked?"

Nodding, Eldra took out a round, flat bronze plate.

"Follow my instructions carefully. Carve these formations into the plate. You will need to make 6 of these which you will bury in at the edges of two triangles, one inverted, one straight on top of each other. Understand?"

"Edges of two triangles, one inverted, one straight on top of each other. I got it."

"Good. Let us proceed…"

An hour later. In an abandoned shack on the outskirts of Elfaven.

Katerina had just been witness to the Queen placing her hands on a wall, as if she were worshipping it, before she carefully started carving formations onto a metal plate.

Clearly, she had been making a trinket, but what could its purpose be?

And why had she made 6 of them?

As the entire conversation had gone on in the mind of the Queen, she had only been able to see, but not hear.

"All of your questions will be answered. Now, would you please give me a bowl of your blood?"

"W-what?"

"A bowl of your blood. I'm afraid it's necessary."

As the King of Lanthanor said this and shoved a bowl toward her, Katerina started to wonder who the bloodthirsty one was.

However, she obliged, cutting the veins on her wrist before letting the blood flow into the bowl.

After the bowl was full, she looked up to see the King of Lanthanor fussing with 6 identical metal plates.

He was carving the same formations.

When he was done, he seemed to be puzzled for a moment, as if he didn't know what to do with them.

After a moment, he looked like he had gained clarity, as he quickly bent and scooped out the earth before placing the 6 on the edges of a 6-point star.

Taking the bowl, he smiled at Katerina before placing it at the center.

What happened next was something that Katerina would never forget.

When the King took out Ker Gems and placed one each on top of the 6 spots, the blood in the bowl started boiling, before beginning to evaporate.

Through her elementary vision, she could tell that he was doing nothing; it was the work of the formation.

All it took was a few seconds. After the red steam dispersed, all that was left was a pale-yellowish substance that was barely 1/100th of what had been there before.

"And that is the true plan of that Empire Spirit. I just want to save-"

Thud!

Suddenly, Katerina fell on her knees.

Although Daneel was startled, he just grinned when he heard her say what he had been hoping for.

"King Daneel, I implore you to help save the people of Eldinor from this threat! If you do, we will forever be in your debt- and you must know that an elf always pays her debts, no matter what."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

495 The Elf Carnival 1

"Aren't elves supposed to be proud creatures who are known to never bow to anyone?"

Of course, Daneel had to act like he was surprised. After all, he wasn't supposed to know so many deep facts about elves.

Still kneeling, Katerina said, "Yes, we are proud. But we are not blind creatures who cannot recognize good and bad. And it is that pride that does not allow us to ignore debts. It would eat at us, day and night, until we choose to fulfill it. I think I speak for all elves when I say that the debt of saving our species is something worth bending our knee to."

Even though Daneel had been hoping for this, hearing the sincerity in Katerina's voice, he couldn't help but smile even wider from the bottom of his heart.

Wait…why wasn't Eldra like this?

Wasn't giving her the throne also a debt?

After a moment of thought, Daneel realized what the answer was and felt like slapping his head with frustration.

A choice, or a promise would always have more value in one's mind when one wasn't forced into making it.

He had given Eldra no other option: as he knew almost nothing about elves then, he had insisted on her swearing the oath in order to ensure that she wouldn't backstab him.

Ironically, that might be the thing that resulted in the present situation.

Would it have been different if he offered her the throne with sincerity and just asked for her word that she would follow him?

Looking at Katerina in front of him, Daneel knew the answer.

Definitely.

However, how could he have chosen that? He had just become King, and he had wanted to be as cautious as possible.

Yet, if he could go back in time, he would definitely have done things in that way.

Being forced to follow someone, and choosing to do so out of one's own accord were completely different things, so much so that the prejudice against the former might eclipse the value of the debt itself.

Now, Eldra's actions made more sense, and Daneel became even more confident in his present plan.

Also, he had learned a very strong lesson: different species could be different in entirely novel ways that he should learn about before dealing with them, if he wanted a long-lasting deal.

Yes, if Eldra hadn't been forcefully shackled, maybe she wouldn't even have had the 'need' which the Empire Spirit had manipulated.

So, in a way, even he was responsible.

Sighing softly, he said, "Rise. I will not say empty words. I will do everything in my power to save your species, and after I am done, you can choose your own method to pay off your debt. But for now, I need your support and help."

Standing up with a determined expression, Katerina pressed her lips into a thin line and said, "Of course. Anything."

"Good. This is what I need you to do."

…

5 days later, Daneel was standing in the sky above the large gathering area where over a million individuals could be seen.

According to the estimate given by the system based on visual data, the number was close to touching two million.

In other words, it was one of the largest crowds Daneel had ever seen in an open area.

Of course, the area wasn't completely open. Countless, colorful tents had been set up, with some offering food and others putting magic-based games on display that amused all those who passed them.

For example, there was the classic game of hitting a balloon with a gun that Daneel was familiar with from back on Earth, but it had been changed here to become a game of skill.

Balloons made of water elemental particles floated erratically in an area, and it was the task of the challenger to hit as many as possible using an arrow by using magic to alter the arrow's path during its flight.

Raucous applause always sounded whenever a challenger managed to hit more than one, and they were cheered by the watching elves and humans alike.

Yes, quite a few humans had gathered here, too, and although the majority were still elves, they couldn't be ignored.

There were always moderately well-off citizens of various Kingdoms across the continent who liked to travel to visit exciting places. Seeing them, Daneel was reminded of those from Earth who tagged themselves as having "wanderlust".

If Dinora's original plan proceeded as she wished, all of these humans' blood would just boil away and leave nothing behind.

In other words, they were the unwitting useless sacrifices that had come here for fun, but were actually in danger of losing their lives due to getting caught up in something that wasn't even related to them.

In fact, Daneel was partially responsible for this, too: the event was highly publicized using the Network of Angaria, which was how all these humans had found out about it in the first place.

It seemed that Dinora just wanted to make as flashy an entrance as possible onto the land of this continent.

Shaking his head, Daneel messaged Kellor and Cassandra, asking if everything had been prepared.

Receiving the reply that everything was in place, Daneel sighed deeply as a grave expression appeared on his face.

This was definitely the most complex plan he had deployed yet since coming onto this continent. There were many steps which all needed to go perfectly in order to achieve what he wanted, and if even one got messed up, the entire thing could fall apart.

However, Daneel was confident in his power, and his planning. He hadn't even slept properly over these past few days: almost each and every second had been spent meticulously thinking about and simulating each aspect so that it would be the best version possible that would definitely lead to success.

Finally, it was time.

Feeling like a student who was just going to attend a very important exam, Daneel said, "Get to your positions. It's showtime."

…

Maylana was the name of the elf whose heart had been shattered by the Queen of Eldinor.

The words that had been thrown at her abruptly, out of the blue still revolved in her head to this day, making her burst out crying at random times even though all she wanted was to forget this whole ordeal.

Why was her life so unlucky?

She had had a simple, but happy childhood.

Her parents were part of the few elves who loved to farm. Elves were known for their varying interests, and it just so happened that she, too, inherited that interest and excitement that came when looking across a field and knowing that it was her handiwork.

Like all elves, her parents were moderately talented in magic, which allowed them to even research and create spells to better till the soil or reap the crops.

Of course, the bane of the elves was that few liked to share, instead just receiving happiness from the knowledge that they had accomplished something on their own. This was in stark contrast to humans, which was a species in which many only received happiness from their accomplishments when they received praise from others.

Her childhood had gone on happily, until that incident which had changed her life forever.

They lived in a remote area, so the kidnappers just strolled inside to grab her.

Her parents, of course, tried to stop them, but she could only watch as their heads rolled on the ground, cut off in a flash by the kidnappers who seemed to be powerful mages adept in combat.

She spent a year enslaved, fighting for food, light and even the right to use the bathroom.

Finally, when she was set free, she had thought that she could calmly continue with her life.

Using the scheme implemented by the Queen who had seemed fair and just then, Maylana entered the Palace with the plan to work a few years and accumulate some money so that she could go back to her village and buy some land to resume her family trade.

However, everything changed once again when she was joined in the personal retinue of the Queen.

Slowly, they grew close, until one day, Maylana cracked and just poured out all of her deepest, darkest secrets, such as her guilt that she was the one responsible for her parents' deaths.

The Queen had comforted her and helped her immensely, until that fateful day when she had been called to her room and scolded without reason.

She had been told that it really was her fault, and that she should be ashamed that she hadn't been able to help.

This broke her completely, and it was only now that she had recovered a semblance of sanity.

Today was the day of the Elf Carnival, as it had come to be called, and although she had intended to sit in her house and mope all day today, too, the neighboring family, who took pity on her condition forced her to come in the hopes that the festive atmosphere might lighten her mood.

She had arrived at 9 a.m using the special teleportation doors that had been set up in a lot of villages, and she actually had to admit that it was a good decision.

She had the company of a small elf child called Martina, who had been left in her company to cheer her up.

The cute little child tugged her here and there, wanting to take in all the sights.

When the little elf urged her to play with 'Balloon and Arrow' game with pleading eyes, she did so, and actually won due to the skill of carefully controlling elementary particles which she had learned from her parents, as it was essential when farming.

The little elf's eyes went as wide as saucers, which made Maylana laugh for the first time in what felt like ages.

Just when she once again started to think that her life would go back to normal, she started to hear screams from somewhere nearby.

They were near the outer border of the carnival, as this was where the stalls for the poorer people were located. Further inside, she had heard that top-class magic exchange stalls and expensive trinket sellers had set up shop.

Maylana's first instinct was to go help out. She had been taught by her parents to help those in need when she could, so she followed that now.

Keeping a tight clamp on the little elf's hand, Maylana headed further outward to the border, which was when she saw a horrifying sight.

A thin, curved, red veil had popped up at some point, and it seemed to be slowly moving toward her direction.

The veil was transparent, so, behind it, Maylana could see hundreds of people on the ground.

They were motionless, which made her assume the worst: they were dead.

Suddenly, she felt something behind her, and for the briefest moment, when she turned around, she felt she saw someone familiar.

That feeling passed away instantly, and as she turned back around thinking that it must have been her imagination, she saw something that made the hair all over her body stand up.

One of the elves among those hundreds on the large field suddenly turned red, and before she could say anything, the body burst like a tomato, with the blood evaporating into mist, leaving behind a few gristly remains, among which she could also see some kind of yellow substance.

With a shriek, she stepped back, before she was accompanied by many similar sounds from those around her.

As a primal fear encroached on her mind, she started to run backward, with tears appearing on her face.

The little girl was confused; although she had been standing facing the same direction, it looked like she hadn't seen the grim sight that Maylana had just been subjected to.

Thinking that she must be in shock, Maylana picked the cute elf up, who asked innocently, "What's wrong, Sister Maylana?"

Even while running for dear life, Maylana sighed heavily and wiped the tears from her eyes before saying, "I'm sorry, little one. It seems that my bad luck has affected you, too. Just close your eyes and hold me. The Queen will-"

Just as she was continuing, she saw people around her looking up, and as she did so too, she saw the one she had just been referring to.

The Queen of Eldinor stood in the air, completely petrified, while a voice continuously cackled in her head.

"YOU DID THIS! HEHE, TO THINK THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO KILL ONE LITTLE ELF? NOW GAZE AT YOUR HANDIWORK! YOU HAVE FINALLY SET ME FREE!"

At the same moment, a notification sounded inside Daneel's mind, but it only made him smile.

[Oath-link with target 'Eldra' has been broken.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

496 The Elf Carnival 2

Maylana could only stand in a daze for a moment, along with the others who saw their 'just' and 'righteous' Queen get a guilty expression on her face, as if this were all her fault.

No…that couldn't be the truth, right?

Almost each and every one of them thought so, but they didn't have time to stay and ponder on this as the death veil was getting closer and closer.

Jostled by someone from behind, Maylana also came to her senses and started to run forward again.

She had thought that seeing the Queen would awaken her own memories which she had shoved to the side with great difficulty, but instead, all she had seen was a broken elf.

However, she had no time to wonder why this was.

The screams started to get louder, and as she turned back, Maylana saw that more and more elves and humans were falling to the ground.

Thankfully, they just lay there, motionless, instead of bursting into a bloody mess like the one she had seen.

Yet, she could tell that that would be the fate of them all sooner or later.

Desperation clouded her mind, but she didn't know what to do.

All she could do was keep running farther inside, with the hope that the army or the policing force that was present there would be able to do something to help.

The area beyond the veil was exactly like a graveyard, and it felt as if that veil was death personified.

The only advantage was the fact that it was a very large open space, which gave people enough time to run to the center.

Finally, when she got there, she saw chaos.

The more important or well-off elves were demanding that they wanted to go further inward, while the army of 10,000 fighters and mages that had been stationed here were trying to explain that the space inside was full.

All in all, this did not look like an organized operation at all.

Was this really how the great and proud elf race was going to be wiped off the face of the continent?

As such thoughts started to come into Maylana's mind, she suddenly saw someone rise into the air and speak with a booming voice.

"Eldinorians! Please do not panic! Retreat to the center in an organized manner! Our best mages are in the process of figuring out a spell to neutralize that red veil from reaching us! But until then, we must huddle inside a limited space so that we can give them as much time as possible! Just follow the instructions of the soldiers around you!"

It was Madam Katerina, the elf famous for her tenacity and bold attitude.

No matter how many times she lost in the elections, she would keep participating, as it had always been her life's goal to help the Kingdom that had nurtured her.

As a decorated war veteran, there was no one more qualified than her in this situation to take control.

The Queen was outside, and it seemed that she either couldn't reach them, who were inside the red dome, or she wasn't even trying.

Although quite a few ministers were present, they, too, had been absorbed in self-preservation, with none of them taking the initiative to lead.

Now, with Katerina stepping up, a semblance of order finally started to return to the area.

Although many were still panicking and screaming due to the horrific sight in front of them, they were helped by those around along with the army of Eldinor to move inside.

A few powerful mages started to build air blocks, on which people sat, so that they would take up even less space.

All in all, at this moment, with Katerina's urging, the elves of Eldinor showed remarkable solidarity that had almost never been seen before.

After all, there was nothing like the threat of extinction to bring a race together.

As for the humans, they started to gather in one place, but they were shown no prejudice.

They, too, were given spots to stand in and wait, and they felt glad that the elves weren't ignoring them completely in this time of crisis.

Finally, when the around 1.5 million people who were still present inside finally turned around after taking their assigned spots, they breathed out a collective gasp of horror.

The sight of hundreds of thousands of motionless bodies just lying there, on the ground, as if someone had put them to sleep, was something that they would never forget.

It would haunt them in their dreams and during their waking hours, reminding them of just puny they had felt when they saw that humongous dome march forward relentlessly like the grim reaper.

Feeling the atmosphere, Katerina spoke again.

"Fret not, everyone. Our mages are close to figuring out a counterspell which should let us stop that thing until help arrives. Do not panic; that is the one thing that will be most detrimental to us right now. You can see that there is a lot of empty space in front of you: we have time. Just take deep breaths, and wait."

After sending this message, Katerina entered a special tent that had been set up as the operations center.

Inside, more than 50 senior mages were sitting huddled together, studying an elemental construct in front of them.

It was a replica of a barrier that was specially being designed in order to stop that veil of death.

Seeing her arrive, one of them stood up to give her an update.

"Miss. Katerina, like we told you before, the space is locked with a spell of such complexity that we cannot even hope to break it. None of us have even seen such a spell before. Also, one strange thing is that the domed veil is one-way. If it passes through someone on the inside, it will cause them to fall to the ground, into a state we haven't been able to assess. But if someone crosses inside from the outside, they would be fine. This means that of backup arrives, they will have to risk their own death if they want to help us. As for communication, it is also still blocked, and the worst thing is that there is even an illusion formation, which makes it look like everything is normal from the outside. In other words, this is a very elaborate plan which has cut us off from the world completely. No one knows we are all dying here, and no one will know."

Nodding with a grave expression, Katerina sighed and said, "Yes, but we cannot let those outside know that, or many will lose their lives in the stampede itself. Proceed with your task of finding the counter-spell. I pray that you succeed soon."

Folding her hands, Katerina saw the elf get back to work, but she kept checking the time on the clock on the tablet near her.

Any time, now.

Any time, now, the one who had promised to save them would arrive.

Until then, she could only maintain the calm, and hope that he would come soon.

…

Gawain was one of the Eminent Human Mages in the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

Born in the slums, he had depended on his own hard work and talent to get a seat in the academy and train as if his life depended on it.

Still, his life had been filled with many, many instances where he was 'shown his place' by the aristocrats.

He had thought that he would be stepped down on forks long as he lived, but everything had changed due to one man.

King Daneel.

After he became the King, new norms had been passed down for recruiting, and that was how he had gotten this spot, even though he had been rejected multiple times before because of some inconsequential reason or the other.

His pay had allowed him to shift his parents from the horrid living conditions of the slums to a decent apartment where they would have no want for necessities.

Just the smile on their wrinkled faces had been enough for him to swear undying loyalty to the King in his heart.

He was just one of those who had benefited immensely from the King; many, many others had sworn the same, for various reasons.

Each and every scheme implemented by the King had touched the hearts of each and every one of them, making them aware of just how much the King cared about them.

So, why should they hesitate from giving him their all when he requested for it?

This had been a regular training exercise in hostile territory: 800 mages and 1500 Eminent Human Fighters, which was actually the majority of the elite army of Lanthanor, had been deployed with orders to covertly reach this location that was just a kilometer away from the east border of Eldinor.

The Grand Court Mage, Kellor, was with them, along with the Mage Commander, Cassandra.

It was the latter who had become aware of the strange anomalies in elemental particles around them, which was a sign that a major formation might have come into effect closeby.

For instructions, she had messaged the King, who instantly arrived, which elicited silent cheers from all the soldiers.

The King had left to investigate, as everyone knew that he was the most powerful mage in Lanthanor.

A few minutes later, he came back, but he had a very grave expression on his face.

First, he isolated the area where they were using a spell, so that no one outside would be able to hear what was being said.

Standing in the air and pondering for a few moments, he finally looked at them with a pained expression on his face.

"Soldiers of Lanthanor, I'm afraid that there is something I must ask of you."

This was the reason why Gawain had gotten that thought. This man had given them all so much. What couldn't they give in return?

Whatever it was, he was ready.

Taking a pause, the King of Lanthanor continued.

"A few kilometers away from here, a massacre on a scale that has never been seen in this continent is taking place. More than a million elves, and at least a hundred thousand humans, are all trapped in some kind of formation which is killing them. Besides, I have reason to believe that their own high command cannot be trusted, so they cannot be contacted for help. We are their only hope. I will not sugarcoat this. If we go to help them, it is possible that most, or even all of us, might lose our lives. We have the option to either march forward to uphold our morals and save innocent lives, or we can turn a blind eye and return to our Kingdom."

After speaking till here, an expression of clarity seemed to come on the King's face.

Straightening his back, he stood in the air with his hands behind him, looking into the eyes of all of his soldiers with a scorching gaze.

With a chuckle, he said, "Call me foolish, but I, for one, cannot imagine sleeping in my bed tonight with the knowledge that I did not go forward when I had the chance to save so many people. They might not be my citizens, but they sure as hell are citizens of this continent. I choose to march to their aid. If any of you wants to leave, you're welcome. But if you don't, then know that I cannot guarantee your lives. Make your decision."

Saying so, the King of Lanthanor turned around to face the direction of Eldinor.

In his broad shoulders and straight back, the soldiers of Lanthanor could see the confidence and righteousness of one, who was worthy of being called a King.

Would it not be the greatest honor to fight by his side?

Would it not be an honor to die for him?

In their minds, there was no hesitation.

"King Daneel, I shall march with you!"

"So shall I!"

"And I!"

"For the glory of Lanthanor, and Angaria! King Daneel, I am with you!"

As shouts like these started to reverberate around the area, the King of Lanthanor couldn't help but grin.

From the bottom of his heart, he felt joy and happiness gushing through him, making him proud of himself for garnering such support that transcended even death.

His people were ready to give their lives for a cause they might not even believe in, just because he had asked. What else could a King wish for?

Taking a deep breath, he once again vowed to never do wrong by these people.

Now, it was time for the final, but most important step of his plan.

Turning around, he magnified his voice and said:

"If that is your decision, then I am honored to be your King! Ready your spells!

"Today, we march for justice!

"Today, we march for our place in history!

"TODAY, WE MARCH FOR ANGARIA! GO FORTH, BRAVE SOLDIERS OF LANTHANOR!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

497 The Elf Carnival 3

Back in the tent that had been designated as the operations center, Katerina was trying hard not to pace around while she waited for the Mage scholars to come up with the spell.

It required special experience in spell creation to even be able to analyze something and devise a counter-spell, but thankfully, all of those who were capable of that feat in this Kingdom were here. They had all gathered here for the high-level information exchange that had been arranged, which turned out to be a stroke of good fortune for the elves of Angaria.

Finally, one of the elves stood up with an expression of pride on his face.

"That's it! Just reverse the affiliations of the particles here and here, and you have a barrier which will stop and eventually neutralize the veil! It's perfect!"

Hearing him, the other 49 elves also broke out into hurried discussions, following which the one who had spoken to Katerina before walked up to her and said, "Luca was right. We were all looking for some instant way to disable the formation, or whatever it is that is causing that red veil to continue killing. But this is the best, and only method. A modified, much more complex version of a barrier. It will slow down the progress of the red veil while also eating away at its core base. Think of it like rust coating an iron sword; after enough rush accumulates, the sword will break. However, there are a few problems."

Katerina had been about to feel relieved on hearing the explanation from the senior elf, but on seeing his grim expression when he said the last sentence, she braced herself for the worst and asked, "What are they?"

"Two main ones. One, those who take part in setting up the barrier are susceptible to the effects of the veil. It will mostly happen at random, because the veil has random surges of Energy which seem to be some sort of defense mechanism against a countermeasure just like this. This can at least be overcome if the soldiers are willing to sacrifice themselves for the people. But the second is the most worrying. Due to the immense size of the veil, large barriers need to be put up. This will require teamwork and coordination in spell casting, and as you know…"

"We elves are deplorable at that."

Katerina breathed out the sentence under her breath, with her face set in an expression like she had seen a ghost.

Teamwork: this was a quality that had never been present in the armies of Eldinor. Many, many times, she had advocated the fact that if elves put their egos aside and worked together, the strength of their army would rise manifold.

However, peaceful times had resulted in a mentality where measures like these were scoffed on and rejected, with the reason that was stated being that it wasn't possible.

After all, how could it be possible if no one was willing to try?!

Unwilling to lose hope, Katerina asked, "Can't we have some short exposure to teamwork now, so that we can…"

Shaking his head, the senior elf interrupted her, saying, "Impossible. Only those who are used to casting spells with coordination can make large enough barriers. You are welcome to have some of the most talented ones try, but I'm ready to wager my life that they will not be ready by the time that darned veil kills us all. Curse the one responsible for it!"

The fingers in the senior elf's hand wound up into a tight fist and shook as he said the last sentence, while his eyes turned red.

No elf would want to die like this. Just like in life, even in death, elves wished to choose whatever they liked.

Katerina knew the one responsible, but she did not dare say a word about it, as she knew that she might just lose the authority that had been granted to her due to her actions before.

For her plan with the King of Lanthanor, retaining this authority was essential.

Suddenly, an elf ran into the tent, interrupting them.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he screamed, "An army approaches!"

Could it be?!

Katerina was not ready to jump to any conclusions, so she just exhibited alarm, just like all the elves in the tent.

They knew just how much of a perfect trap this was; there was no way that those were reinforcements.

Still, they found themselves hoping against hope that word had somehow gotten to the Palace.

So, as one, they all flooded out of the tent.

Accompanied by a retinue of soldiers, they headed east, where the report had come from.

As they neared the spot where the rows of gathered people ended, they noticed that all those around them were whispering amongst themselves, while their faces were filled with astonishment.

With each step, the confusion inside the elves grew, until finally, they broke the last line and lay their eyes on the gigantic red veil that was still moving toward them.

Just like the report had said, there was an army on the other side, but they couldn't recognize who it was right away. The veil blurred the image outside, so these elves also started whispering among themselves, wondering who it was.

Only Katerina got an expression of relief on her face, as she could recognize the man standing at the head of that army anywhere.

His stance would look normal at first glance, but she knew that it contained a certain grandeur to it that couldn't be mimicked by anyone.

At the same moment, he seemed to make some gesture to the army behind him, which resulted in a large banner unfurling in the hands of the soldier.

A golden, majestic 'L', around which was coiled a Dragon.

"The Lanthanorians!"

"Why are they here? How did they know about this?"

"Will they enter?"

"Don't be a fool! Even an idiot can tell that that veil will kill anyone who crosses it. Why would they do something so foolish?"

"Then why are they standing there?"

The whispers got louder, but they suddenly got cut off when a booming voice reached them.

"Lanthanorians, this is the point of no return! It is not too late yet to turn back! If you cross this line, then there is no going back! Your lives will definitely be at risk!"

As it finally dawned on the elves why these Lanthanorians were here, they couldn't believe their ears.

Was it that there were a lot of Lanthanorian citizens inside? Had they come to save them?

As many questions started to appear in the minds of the Eldinorians who were watching, they watched as not one Lanthanorian stepped back.

What a splendid display of foolishness!

This was what some people thought, but many others were only awed, unable to imagine what it must take to follow someone's orders so absolutely.

As elves, they couldn't even comprehend this feeling completely.

However, the reason was still a mystery.

As if understanding their main question, the King of Lanthanor spoke again, dispelling all of their doubts.

"Very well, then. Remember this moment, for it will be sung by bards until eternity as the moment when Lanthanor did not turn away when it saw that many, many innocent lives were at risk. We may not have any link to those we march forward to save, but we do have an obligation to this continent that we were born on. Let it never be said that we are not proud Angarians. Onward!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of drums could be heard, as if giants had come to walk the earth, which accompanied each step that the 2300 brave souls put forth.

The elves of Eldinor could only watch on in shocked silence, while those whom they had always looked down upon rose up today, as if to say that despite their feelings or affiliations, when the time came, they would not hesitate to stand on the side of the just.

It was over in a minute, but to the elves, it felt like an eternity during which all of their preconceptions were shattered.

Here was an army that had put aside their own lives to help them.

Could there be a more selfless gesture?

Meanwhile, Katerina had done the one thing that had been asked of her.

While the attention of everyone around her was focused on the army of Lanthanor, she had deployed a communication eye, and 3 large display trinkets that had been given by the King.

This seemed to be an improved design; earlier, such trinkets were only capable of transmitting images. However, this one could receive the sound, too.

The 3 trinkets had floated to the three other directions where the elves and humans were huddled together, fearing the death and their fate.

They, too, saw and heard the actions of the Lanthanorians, which was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of jaws dropping on seeing something so marvelous, so unbelievable, that it would definitely go down in the history books as the moment when an entire nation stood still and admired another, which it had treated with scorn till now.

Of course, some thought that they were being dumb and throwing their lives away, and a few others even considered whether this was some act of publicity. However, the overwhelming emotion was that of…gratefulness.

After all, the one who sent wood during a blizzard was given more value in one's heart than someone who sent blankets in summer.

In their time of need, Lanthanor had not turned away even if it meant that they would lose their lives. Despite whether this gesture would end up bringing results, the act had been engraved into the minds of almost all Eldinorians.

It was only when the King of Lanthanor reached the delegation of senior mages did they finally snap out of their shock.

Katerina was the one who walked forward to address him.

"We do not how we can thank you, King Daneel, for not leaving us to our plight. We elves always pay our debts, so let me say now that I, for one, already consider myself indebted to you for coming to help us. This is because I know, for sure, that with your help, this calamity can be averted."

The communication eye was still switched on, so everyone heard these words and watched as the King of Lanthanor smiled graciously in return.

They were going to be saved!

Now, even those who were skeptical and saying that the Lanthanorians had only come to throw their lives away shut their mouths, gulping with shock.

The elf scholars had noticed the display trinkets and the communication eye, but they hadn't asked before. Yet, now, they understood.

Lanthanor was the Kingdom that was known on the continent for their teamwork. This was exactly what they needed at this moment to defeat the veil and save themselves.

As a decorated war veteran, she must have spotted this and deployed those trinkets so that she could offer peace of mind to the scared citizens.

Smiling, they, too, began to thank the King of Lanthanor and say similar things, but he spoke with a confident voice, interrupting them and making them nod as they split apart for him.

"I have assessed the rate with which the veil is moving: it's speeding up. From your words, I see that you have a plan. Let us hurry to a more closed location so that we can discuss this."

A few minutes later, Katerina watched as he studied the spell that had just been given to him.

"Yes, it shouldn't be a problem. Just give me a few minutes. You should consider yourselves lucky that my elite mages are all here."

In the tent, silence reigned as the elf scholars- who were those with the most authority in the entire Kingdom, heard the King say this.

They knew about the strength of the mage army of Lanthanor- they could tell that most of that army was here.

Was this man…truly going to sacrifice them, and the future of his Kingdom in order to save them?

They did not speak out this question, but it was apparent in their eyes.

His answer was simple, but it would become a quote that would spread across the continent and be used in various situations by many, many people across countless generations.

With a heavy sigh, he said, "Sometimes, you might have to burn your own house down if it means that you can save someone who is dying from the cold, even if you bear no relation to them."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

498 The Elf Carnival End

"Martina, we're saved! The Lanthanorians have come to save us!"

The display trinkets went blank after the King's statement, but the images they had seen stayed in the eyes of the watching Eldinorians and humans.

After a few moments of shocked silence, Maylana hoisted Martina in the air and said these words, echoing the thoughts of many around her.

Some were still skeptical, as they didn't want to get their hopes up, but many were simple citizens like her, who trusted Katerina because of the many times they had seen her campaigning to become the Queen.

"Really, Sister Maylana? My parents, too?"

As the little elf said this with hope in her eyes, Maylana's face hardened.

Her parents…had been among those who hadn't been able to get inside before the red veil crossed them.

Still, she didn't want to break that news to the little elf just yet.

She had been crying non-stop since hearing the scary things said by those around her, and she had just calmed down.

Maylana couldn't possibly put the little elf under any more grief right now.

So, she chose to lie.

"Yes, of course! I didn't see them, but they must be somewhere inside!"

As she saw tears of happiness come in the little elf's cute, large eyes, she felt guilt racking her heart, but she put it aside.

Turning around, she saw the red dome again, from which she had averted her eyes till now as she didn't want to see it's inexorable advance forward.

Now, finally, with hope and gratitude filling her, she waited to see that veil disappear.

Just like her, many had turned to the veil, thinking that there might be some spell cast that would neutralize it.

While they did so, they couldn't help but think back to the solemn faces of the Lanthanorians, which made them applaud that gesture even more.

So, when they saw those same Lanthanorians fly into the sky from the central tent after a few minutes, all of them looked up to see what they were going to do.

Among the Lanthanorians, there was just one team of elves, who were the misfits of the army.

They were the weakest regimen, and they were actually constantly mocked for their choice to work together after forsaking the individuality of elves.

No one knew that this would be the day they would rise to fame.

800 Lanthanorians and 200 elves split apart into 10 teams of 100 each before heading in the direction that had been assigned to them.

With bated breath, all the Eldinorians followed the team that was closest to them.

Those who were inside the circle and couldn't see anything cheered when the display trinkets flew into the air again, showing the scene of a team approaching the veil.

The cheering continued when each team spread out after their arrival, before raising their hands and closing their eyes with expressions of stern concentration.

Initially, nothing happened, or at least, nothing was visible in the trinkets.

However, if someone with elementary vision could view the area near each of these teams, they would be able to tell that the elementary particles were slowly being molded into something huge.

Nothing needed to be said about the teamwork of the Lanthanorians. The defining factor of their Mage army- the Mage constructs required hundreds of hours of time to be spent honing the skill of a Mage to do their own part in casting a major spell, without interfering with the others.

If it was simplified, then it was a lot like rowing back on Earth, where each member on a boat had to train for long hours in order to be able to match the timing of all the others.

Initially, the spells sputtered and faded, making those watching panic a little as they saw the veil inching closer to all of those soldiers.

However, the cheers suddenly surged when a sound was heard through the trinkets, accompanied by a sight which made some rub their eyes and hope that they weren't dreaming.

Scwing!

A tall golden barrier sprung into existence in front of a particular team of Mages from Lanthanor, and it shined so bright that those on the borders who were watching that spot directly had to close their eyes and turn away.

This wasn't even what shocked people the most.

No, the most miraculous thing was that as soon as the barrier went up, the red veil that hadn't paused since it had come into existence finally halted.

At least, in that area, it did not move forward, and as over a million people watched, the veil even started to grow slightly faint in that spot.

Yes! It was working!

The cheers which had paused resumed with vigorous intensity, but just as it seemed that everything was going to be ok, a scream sounded from the trinket which made horrified silence return.

It was the scream of one of the mages in that team, who had just fallen down with a contorted expression on his face.

"Jimmy? Jimmy, get up!"

The Mage beside him, who seemed to know him, abandoned his post without thinking and bent to touch the man.

As soon as he did so, that contorted expression relaxed, and the man went still.

With shaking hands, that Mage checked the pulse of the one on the ground, and from the shocked expression on his face, the fate of that man became clear.

At the same moment, the squadron leader of that team shouted, "Gawain, get back to your post!"

As if he couldn't believe it, that Mage, whose face had become white after having the blood completely drained from it, screamed, "He's dead, sir! He's dead!"

"I KNOW! WE KNEW WHAT WE WERE GETTING INTO! WE WERE TOLD THIS MIGHT HAPPEN! IF YOU'RE SCARED, YOU SHOULD HAVE TURNED BACK WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE! NOW, GET BACK INTO YOUR DAMN POSITION! DON'T YOU DARE DISGRACE OUR KING IN FRONT OF SO MANY PEOPLE!"

Each word seemed to thunder into the young Mage, but it looked like it was the last line which had the most effect.

Slowly, he rose up from the dead body and raised his hands again, which made the barrier that had dimmed before get slightly brighter.

The people of Eldinor had thought that they had had enough shocks today that nothing would be able to surprise them again.

They now realized that they had been very wrong.

The cheers did not resume. Instead, grave expressions appeared on those watching when another display trinket showed something similar happen in a different team.

How could they cheer when they were seeing people unrelated to them giving up their lives for their sake?

At this moment, the silence seemed loud, as if it were boring into the ears of the Eldinorians and humans while they witnessed the sacrifices of the Lanthanorians.

By now, 10 barriers had gone up, but around 10 Mages had already fallen.

9 from Lanthanor, and one from Eldinor.

As the seconds ticked by, more and more started to fall, while the Eldinorians' wide-open eyes were witness to the heartbreaking expressions of loss and desperation on the faces of all the soldiers.

Their friends, whom they considered closer than family, were dropping like flies, and they could do nothing to stop it.

Hell, they might soon be subject to the same fate, which made them curse whoever was the one responsible for this abhorrent deed.

With each second, the way the Eldinorians viewed Lanthanor changed.

First, it had just been gratitude.

Then, it was shock and disbelief, as they couldn't believe that these soldiers had signed up for this willingly.

Finally, it was adoration, which was the point at which the cheering resumed.

"Hail Brave Lanthanor!"

"Hail our saviors!"

"Hail King Daneel!"

Everything was visible in their eyes. Those eyes which had once held scorn, were now blazing with admiration, while the figures they were seeing became idolized in their hands.

Watching everything from the air, Daneel folded his hands.

He was smiling inwardly at the fact that his plan was going brilliantly, but he only had a grim expression on the outside as he was, after all, a King who was seeing his soldiers die.

In all the spots where the barriers had sprung up, the veil was beginning to thin, and this seemed to be having an effect on even the parts of the dome which weren't being obstructed.

Still, those parts were quickly approaching the spot where the border line of those gathered was, which added a hint of panic to the cheers.

By now, over half the soldiers had fallen, and the other half had very fatigued expressions on their faces.

It looked like they would give out at any moment, but they were holding on by sheer will, just like a candle which would blaze the brightest before going out.

After shooting one final look at all the people and judging that it was enough, Daneel sighed, drawing Katerina's attention to him.

"I did not wish to reveal this, but it seems to be the right time to do so. Besides, how can I let my people die without fighting alongside them? Go down to your scholars. There is something I must do."

Boom!

As soon as the last word left his mouth, a loud sound that was akin to that of a thunderclap echoed throughout the area where everyone was gathered.

As one, they all turned to the source of the sound, which was a spot in the air right at the center of the circle they were huddled in.

A single man stood there, and as almost everyone watching had been thinking about his figure which they had seen in the display trinkets when he had arrived, they recognized him.

His hands were outstretched, and his palms were facing up, where a blazing, golden sun had come into existence at some point.

Curious, all those present who could do so switched on their elemental visions, and let out a collective gasp as they marveled in the complexity of that spell.

Katerina had floated down to those 50 elf seniors and ministers, and as she turned around to gaze at that sun, she, too, felt more shocked by its sight than anything else she had seen before.

"H-he put together layers and layers of barriers…so many of them! Such beautifully complex spellcasting…only an Exalted Warrior can be capable of this! The Central Continent…has given birth to an Exalted Warrior level Mage! I cannot believe it!"

Awe filled the minds of those who could understand just what this meant, while the rest just gaped, unable to even comprehend what level of power this was.

However, all of them had the same reaction when that sun moved upward, to the center of the dome and began to melt the veil that had already gotten quite transparent.

They were all…stupefied.

One man was doing more than hundreds combined, and it seemed that this was the last push that was needed.

Puchi!

The veil broke, letting the sunlight that had been dimmed till now fall on the awestruck elves and humans of Angaria.

That man was still standing there, and right now, he looked like some God that had descended to help them.

"We-we're saved?"

"We have been saved!"

"WE WILL LIVE! THANK YOU, KING DANEEL!"

Tears flooded the faces of many, as they let themselves finally feel relief.

One thing was clear: on this historic day, that man and his actions, had forever been branded into their hearts.

Each and every action of his would be replayed millions of times all over the continent, while thousands of versions of everything that had happened would proliferate, with some even claiming that he really was a God who had reincarnated into that form to fight evil.

Yet, at that moment, the one who was responsible for it all was completely tongue-tied, due to a voice that had just sounded in his head.

[Achievement Unlocked: Out of the shadows, into the light

Out of the shadows, into the light: By saving over a million individuals who have all begun to idolize you as a deity, you have stepped out of the shadows into your true role of rising to become a World Dominator. Congratulations!

50,000 EXP received.]

5-50,000?! What the heck!

However, Daneel had no time to dwell on this. The steps of his plan here were done, but there were still things he needed to do.

Just for safety, he patted his pocket, inside which were hidden 6 trinkets.

These 6…were the real trinkets that Eldra had made.

"System, prepare to awaken those put to near-death sleep using Drakos's fake blood-purifying formation, and make sure that the Mind Control spell on Eldra is still making it look like the real spell has killed everyone here. She will soon be lead to the real location of the Empire Spirit's body, which is when we should be ready to swoop in and acquire the Grand Inheritance parts. Time to make that bi*ch, Dinora, pay."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

499 Aftermath

Eldra, the Queen of Eldinor, was currently screaming with all her might.

There was only one problem: no one could hear her.

She was locked in her own body, unable to move a single inch, while that voice kept laughing continuously as if the enjoyment it was receiving was something that couldn't be summed up into words.

She was still in the sky above the dome, but after that moment when she had seen that horrifying sight which still tormented her, the voice that had only used to come when she went to that room had exploded in her head.

Her heart had completely been shattered into bits, and her mind had gone into disarray when she saw the full might of the blood-purifying formation.

Unlike what was really happening, she had watched while all those who were affected by the red veil had instantly burst into a shower of blood before leaving behind some sort of substance.

Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands and finally over a million people had been wiped out in the short span of less than a few hours.

Each and every face and voice that had screamed for mercy still flashed through her consciousness, making her want to claw her eyes out if she could just move her body.

However, she was just a disembodied being who could only look out of her eyes and do nothing else.

Since that moment when that voice had triumphantly screamed inside her mind, she had been locked in this cage in her own mind, and there was no way out.

So, motionless, she kept watching and watching, while the laughter went on and on.

In fact, with each minute, the laughter seemed to grow in intensity, until it was so loud that Eldra was sure that if she were hearing this from outside, her ears would have burst.

The laughter kept bringing forth her guilt, which was the thing that was consuming her the most.

Just a few hours ago, everything had been normal. She had gone to place those 6 trinkets, with the only thing to remark on being that she had almost felt as if someone had teleported in front of her for a moment.

Yet, she was pretty sure that that had just been her imagination. After that, she had gone and placed those trinkets, before waiting for the appointed time.

As soon as the sun was at its highest point in the sky, she had placed a mysterious red-branch like material that had been placed in that room by that voice for her to collect on each of the spots, just a few meters below the surface.

That was when the terror began. The veil popped into existence and began killing everyone in sight, and now, everything was over.

Even though the blood of each person had burst into a substance like steam, there was just too much.

That blood started to precipitate, and as she watched, it looked exactly as if it were raining blood.

Finally, after a few minutes after the almost 2 million people had passed away, the laughter receded, before stopping.

The silence actually seemed more deafening, until that voice spoke again while urging her to go to the ground and collect something.

"To think that your mind would be so shattered that my weak mind control spell is enough to control you so much. Well, this was more fun than I've had in thousands of years. So, let's get this party started, shall we? You just need to do a little something for me, and we can meet and become best friends after that. Go. I'm waiting."

As soon as the voice said this, Eldra felt that something was different.

Wait…she was back in control of her body?

But…she had already killed everyone.

What else was there for her?

She should just kill herself.

But before that, why not do this small task and find out what the origin of that voice was?

The Mind Control taking full effect, Eldra just floated down to the ground she saw.

Casting a spell, she watched as all of the yellow substance that had been left behind by most of the bodies of those that had died collected together into a large orb, which rotated in the air slowly before becoming compressed into a palm-sized ball.

This was it? Over a million elves had died for this?

Even as this question came in her mind, Eldra found herself reaching for that ball even though she hadn't meant to. There was something she couldn't stop that was pushing her, but the main fact was that she didn't want to stop it.

She was just…utterly defeated. She had no more purpose to live, so why fight anything?

As soon as she grasped the ball, a location appeared in her mind.

It was a specific spot about 4000 meters below the Palace of Eldinor. If someone wanted to find it by manually searching through all of the ground below the Palace, then it would be harder than endeavoring to find a needle in a haystack.

Dinora was simply ecstatic. If she had a body, she would be jubilantly smiling right now, although many had told her when she was alive that that smile terrified them.

Happily controlling the mind of the weak little elf, she awaited her resurrection.

That spell had been cast with the power of the blood of just a few hundred elves, and it was so simple that it could barely be considered to be at the Warrior level.

She had had no choice! If she wanted to have her true power, she needed millions of elves, not hundreds! That was why she had had to decrease both the complexity and power of the spell just to be able to cast it.

Well, that was all in the past. Soon, she would be whole again, and Angaria would feel her return.

Resisting the urge to cackle again, Dinora watched as Eldra clumsily chose a spot in the Palace and began to dig.

As a Peak Exalted Human level Mage, she wasn't too weak, so in a few hours, there were mountains of dirt behind her as she finally reached the spot.

After all, it wasn't possible for her to blindly teleport forward when there were obstacles there, unless she had some sort of method to scan it beforehand.

Finally, as a bright light shone into Eldra's eyes, making her stop the digging and shade her eyes, Dinora's excitement rose to palpable levels.

She was going to be free!

This was where her true body had been placed all those years ago by that Emperor.

Hidden from all means of detection, there was even a cage made of Ker Roots that only she knew how to open.

And right now, it was finally time to open it.

For her to move her consciousness from her dead body, which was in this place, to her new one, she needed the purified blood essence to come into contact with it.

So, she gave the instructions for Eldra to open the cage.

The bright light had been from the Ker Roots of old, which still blazed with the Energy that was singular to them. That was why they had been used; Ker Roots were some of the few substances which were capable of absorbing Energy on their own over a long period of time if they were left alone without moving.

The Energy they gave off was enough to maintain her, while they absorbed Energy from Angaria to sustain themselves.

It was a perfect cycle, and when she had seen its design in the Emperor's hands, she had even thanked the guy personally, thinking that it was her key to breaking through the barrier which had stopped her.

That fool had thought that she was doing this for his 'Grand Plan'. If he could have known that these were her true intentions all along, she wondered how he would have felt.

Regardless, that wasn't important now. Eldra had just cut her wrist and was drawing a secret formation on the Ker Root in front of her. Her small cage was entirely made up of them, so it didn't matter on which spot she drew.

The Emperor had taken precautions to make sure that she wouldn't be taken advantage of by using two key pieces of information that he told noone: her exact location, and this key.

She did not even hesitate to reveal them both now; after all, it was impossible for anyone to take advantage of her.

All the Empire Spirits were accounted for, except for that old bird, who might have gone completely senile, and that dragon that she had so many memories with.

The former was definitely not a threat, and the same could be said about the latter, too, as everyone knew that if that innocent thing was exposed to scheming on this scale that it could fool her, then Angaria would have been doomed by now.

So, there was no danger whatsoever.

Crack!

As a small opening appeared in the thick web of Ker Roots in front of the elf, Dinora refocused and felt like jumping with joy, now that her rebirth was close.

Watching those 2 million people die had been fun, but the real fun would begin soon.

The crack widened enough to let in one person, and as Eldra entered with that same defeated expression, she came upon a small space which was mostly occupied by a large body that was curled up into a ball.

It took up the least space in this way, and it seemed to be floating in the air. When the body floated around to expose its face, Eldra was quite surprised to see just how beautiful it was.

Slightly upturned nose, high cheekbones, and a sharp chin complemented long, blood-red locks of hair.

The peaceful expression of the sleeping figure would never be able to do justice to the true bloodthirstiness inside her.

"Go! Go touch that ball in your hands to my body! Do it!"

Unable to control herself any more, Dinora spoke in Eldra's mind, who was so pitiful that even she wasn't sure whether she was just following orders like a meek little dog because of her nothing-matters-anymore attitude, or the Mind Control.

Regardless, she stumbled forward and bent, pressing the ball to the forehead of the curled up, floating giant.

Dinora had just burst out into a loud laugh as she saw the yellow blood essence go nearer and nearer, but that cut off when she realized that she felt nothing with her true body.

Wait…what the heck was going on?

Like other Empire Spirits, she had the ability to 'see' or 'feel' the things around her corporeal body.

Right now, she had two differing sights: one showed that the Queen of Eldinor was bending and pressing that ball on her forehead, while the other, which was her own, showed that there was nothing in the Elf Queen's hand.

NO! SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY WRONG!

As this realization started to dawn on her, she seemed to hear a sound coming from the crack through which Eldra had just entered the Ker Root cage.

It was the sound…of someone clapping.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

With each clap, the source was getting closer, and as Dinora finally saw a man she had never seen before enter her private abode, panic finally started to appear in her mind.

He had a mocking expression on his face, and even though he had stepped inside, he had still not stopped his clapping.

It was only after he walked forward and stood a few inches from her original body did he finally stop clapping and speak.

"Good plan. Hell, it almost worked, too! Too bad I was around. Poor Eldra here has been seeing everything you wanted to see- a very handy application of the Hero level Mind Control spell that you weren't able to detect. When I saw her gathering air in an empty field, I actually felt like laughing! Well, I would have, if you weren't such a crazy bi*ch."

As these words reverberated throughout the cage, Dinora finally became aware of what had happened.

He had cast a Hero level Mind Control Spell!

B-but how?

As if sensing her question, the man raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh, so you're wondering how? An old friend of yours sends his regards. He regrets that he can't greet you by flapping his wings."

By now, because of the close proximity and the direct contact with her, Dinora had been able to cast a full Mind-Control spell, and as a Mage who was more powerful than even Drakos, her Mind Control was almost like possession. Whatever commands she gave, Eldra obeyed.

At this moment, anger clouded Eldra's face before she began to scream, "DRAKOS! NO! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN UNLEASHED BY NOW IF YOU WERE A PART OF THIS!"

"He just says that he was meditating, and he doesn't know what has happened up until this point."

Instead of that sentence clearing things up, it only made the puzzlement Dinora was feeling increase.

"NO! MEDITATION DOES NOT CUT YOU OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD! YOU STILL SENSE EVERYTHING, EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO! Unless, the Emperor…"

With this, the truth of the matter finally seemed to dawn on the man.

"Well, then I guess the Emperor gave a few special tricks to the one he considers his son. By the way, keep this a secret, would you? I don't want the other Empire Spirits to know about this…if they knew I was coming for them, they might do something I wouldn't like…"

The man spoke in a completely casual manner, as if he were taking a stroll in the park.

Of course, this only further infuriated Dinora, who couldn't believe that she had just been schemed against by a puny human who wasn't even the age of her toenail.

That damn Emperor's hand was also in this, but he was dead, so she blamed this man.

Hysterically, she started to scream through Eldra.

"NO! JUST YOU WAIT! I'LL MAKE SURE THAT…"

"That the others find out? Oh, I was hoping you would say that."

Suddenly, the smell of burning flesh appeared in the closed space, and a scream came from Eldra's mouth.

However, her body was fine.

It was the leg of the floating giant that was burning, and as the man flicked his finger, the fire went out.

"Good old Drakos is meditating again, but before he left, he told me about how you, unlike the other Spirits, are vulnerable because your consciousness is still in your true body. So you took so much delight in killing millions of innocent people? Well, then, I'll take delight in watching this. Time to burn, you crazy b*tch."

"YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!"

With no other option, Dinora made Eldra lunge to attack, but with a simple wave of his hand, the man made the elf faint.

After all, a Peak Exalted Human who wasn't even temporarily possessed was no threat to a Peak Exalted Warrior.

Although the space became silent, Daneel could swear that he was hearing silent screams, as he set fire to the body of the elf who could have been killing the entire continent by now if he hadn't stepped in.

At the same time, a notification sounded in his head.

[Higher-tier Lifeform analyzed. Gathering Data.

Achievement Unlocked: Empire Spirit Reaper(1)

New Acquired Champion Path "Hedonist" analyzed.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

500 Treasure

Another achievement?!

Unable to believe it, Daneel waited with bated breath for the description.

After all, if there were multiple announcements, the system would often bundle the main parts of them together before elaborating on the specifics of each.

He was still reeling from the shock of obtaining 50,000 EXP in one go. After all, this was a windfall the likes of which he had never seen.

[Higher-Tier Lifeform: Through analysis, it has been found that host's current body is a lesser version of this lifeform. Data suggests that aspects such as longevity, potential and comprehension level are all a step above the norm that is seen on the continent today. Further analysis is in progress.

Empire Spirit Reaper(1): Others might feel lucky to just come into contact with one, but you have actually succeeded in ending the life of an Empire Spirit through meticulous planning and perfect execution. Congratulations!

10,000 EXP awarded.

Subsequent iterations of the same achievement will have multiplied rewards.

This is a dual-path achievement: Bringing an Empire Spirit into host's complete control would also have qualified host to receive the reward. As such, the same will also count towards the rewarding of the subsequent iterations.

'Hedonist' Champion Path: A Champion Path for one who is capable of doing anything and everything in order to fulfill their desire. Power of this Champion Path varies according to the desire chosen. The target from which this Champion Path was analyzed had chosen the desire for 'Blood', which allowed her to gain ultimate proficiency in using blood-related spells. Also, because the general path is that of a 'Hedonist', the Path also gives the ability to manipulate other people using their desires to those who choose it.

Type of Champion Path: Acquired(Special)

Level Limit: Depends on the desire chosen.

Form of Champion Path On Display: Domain/Projection, Ability Augmentation.]

Well, although it was no windfall, 10,000 wasn't bad at all.

As for the other data, Daneel mulled over it in his mind.

He wasn't really surprised that the system had tagged this giant as a higher-tier lifeform, neither was it a shock to find out that normal humans were lesser forms of that lifeform.

After all, it was pretty obvious.

As for this special type of Champion Path, Daneel was most intrigued by its name.

Could it be connected to the Sect of Hedon in any way?

After pondering over this question for a few seconds, Daneel decided that he would ask Drakos about it as soon as he woke the dragon up.

He didn't want to do so now, until this grisly deed was done.

Although he had become someone who would kill indiscriminately when it was needed, he wasn't a huge proponent of torture.

So, if it weren't for the system telling him that the best method to analyze the body of the giant in the quickest manner possible was to burn it, then he might have chosen to directly chop off its head or something.

Apparently, the burning was to see the root constituents of the body, and assess just how his own body had been derived from it.

It was an unorthodox method for sure, but it wasn't that novel for someone like him from Earth, where combustion analysis was a thing to understand more about certain substances.

Daneel had thought that the best method would be dissection, but he had been told that the system would be able to obtain the same results because of the high level of the Phenomena Analysis Module, which had led him to choosing this method as it would mean that he would be taking some revenge on the bloodthirsty elf, too, by subjecting her to pain the likes of which she would have inflicted on millions if she had been set free.

While the body continued burning, Daneel turned to the side and observed Eldra, whose face still contained a hint of the misery and despair he had seen in her before.

He had already asked Drakos how Dinora could have taken control of Eldra if the Mind Control spell was so weak, so when he had found out that that would only be possible if her mind was completely shattered by what she was seeing, Daneel had decided that she wasn't someone who deserved to die.

True, she had her negative aspects, which had resulted in this whole mess in a way. However, after understanding the true method in which an elf's mind worked after seeing Katerina, Daneel had realized that he might be partly responsible, too, even though there could have been no way in which he wouldn't have insisted on an oath at that point.

But that didn't mean that she didn't have her own redeeming qualities too. She had the talent to understand the needs of her people and devise plans and schemes to address them. She also seemed to have the charisma needed to make others follow her.

Sighing, Daneel decided that he would just leave it up to her.

The best case would be if she, too, recognized the debt that she now owed Daneel because of everything he had done. If she did, and if she chose to follow him whole-heartedly, then he would be happy to leave her be.

Only after placing some good old countermeasures, of course.

However, if she relapsed to that haughty elf who still saw him as a ruthless slaver, he would have no option but to remove her from her position.

Turning back to the giant's body, Daneel watched as the flames rose higher, turning the entire body to ash.

What was most surprising was the amount of Energy that had to be consumed in order to make that happen. Asking the system, he found out that if he were burning a normal, human body, a 10th of the Energy would have been enough.

So, it was clear that the higher-tier lifeform, whatever it was, was also 10 times sturdier at the least, as he didn't know exactly what the Fighter level of the Empire Spirit was.

Finally, unable to ignore it anymore, Daneel glanced up at the complex, interweaving web of Ker Roots that made up this small cage.

S-so…many Ker Roots!

Drool almost appeared at the King of Lanthanor's mouth when he devoured them with his eyes.

He had been consciously ignoring them till now as he knew that if he got fixated on them, he would never be able to let them go.

Now that he was focusing on them, he felt the urge to crazily grab at them and tuck them away in a safe place, just like a money-grubber who had just laid his eyes on a large pile of diamonds.

He couldn't help it! Scrounging for resources and EXP had been just that much of an integral part of his growth. After all, it was true that one never outgrew their roots. Well, not completely, at least.

Now, the biggest fear that Daneel had was that he couldn't use these Ker Roots to absorb Energy.

He couldn't blame himself for getting this fear. It was just too good to be true!

Just days ago, his heart had been stinging on seeing tiny parts of Ker Roots being shaved away to make those trinkets.

Now, he was suddenly eyeing over a 1000 of them?

Taking in deep breaths to calm himself down, Daneel waited for the giant body to completely burn down to ashes, before stepping forward on seeing something shining among the black pile.

There were two items: one that looked like a round ball of metal, with the other was a simple, unengraved red-colored coin.

However, Daneel didn't even have to wait for the system's analysis to know what they were.

[Unknown item detected. Material matches the item that was discovered in the Hidden Kill Sect.

Unknown item detected. Material matches the item that was discovered in the Hidden Kill Sect.]

These…were the parts of the Grand Inheritance.

Yes!

Holding them in his hands, Daneel could hardly suppress the feeling of pride and joy that gushed up in him.

The news that Axelor was the frontrunner in the 'race' had been quite sudden, but also worrying.

Now, he was in possession of two parts, too, so it could be said that they were neck and neck.

From here, it would only take a single step to move up and take the lead.

Yet, Daneel had to handle the aftermath of his plan first.

Tucking away the parts safely, Daneel finally awakened Drakos.

"Young King. Where is Dinora?"

"Oh, I dispersed her body. I figured that it might be best if you didn't see it. Did you know that the meditation technique given to you is different from the one that others have? And it also seemed as if she didn't know about the Emperor's countermeasure."

After pondering for a few moments, Drakos spoke in a pensive voice.

"I didn't, but I do remember something. My f-, I mean, the Emperor did say once that he was taking special precautions for me. I thought he just meant that countermeasure with the message. I guess he took additional steps, too…"

As Drakos's voice stretched to indicate that he was thinking, Daneel couldn't wait anymore and blurted the question in his mind.

"So…can all of these Ker Roots be trained with?"

"Hmm…what? Oh, the Ker Roots that constitute this cage? Yes…but that would be a waste, I tell you."

At first, Daneel had been about to jump in joy, but he paused when he heard the last sentence.

"What do you mean?", he asked, hoping that the answer wouldn't dash all of his hopes and dreams.

"Well, this is one of the most ingenious designs of the Empire of Angaria. Because all of these Ker Roots release some of their Energy anyway, the one inside can absorb that Energy indefinitely, as the design allows the Ker Roots to replenish themselves from the surroundings. Basically, it is a…"

"A Natural Energized Training Chamber!", exclaimed Daneel, his eyes shining.

"Yes, Young King, but one of the highest level. The level of Energy that one can absorb inside is higher than any naturally occurring Energized Training Chamber- it will be just like one is absorbing Energy from a Ker Root directly. Besides, it does not cause too much of a strain on the land because of the property of Ker Roots to absorb small amounts of Energy from vast distances. The land of the Elf Kingdom is one that is devoid of Ether deposits. This allowed this Ker Root Energy Generator, as it was called in the ancient times, to function for so long. Of course, the negative was that any Ker Gem/Ether mine that could have appeared didn't. But…."

As Drakos droned on about how Energy Generators had their pros and cons, Daneel phased him out, as he was too happy imagining all the things he could accomplish with this…Energy Generator.

Yes, he liked that name!

EXP would be spent. But this…this was definitely his greatest reward.

The only con he had to think about was that only one person could train inside at a time, but if the cage was disassembled, then a 1000 individuals could use these Ker Roots to quickly replenish their Energy. Of course, after that, there would be jack squat left.

In essence, it was just like a wind turbine from Earth. In times of crisis, one could disassemble the parts of the turbine and sell them to obtain temporary wealth that would be gone as soon as it was used. However, if the turbine was allowed to operate, it would keep generating electricity, and in turn, wealth. Of course, in the short run, this wouldn't compare to the other case, but it would be very beneficial in the long run.

With everything settled, Daneel first ensured that no one else would be able to find this treasure of his before leaving.

There were still a few things to take care of…such as awakening all those who were thought to be dead.

It was time for the last sweet, sweet drama of Eldinor to unfold, and this one…was going to change the face of this continent forever.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

501 The Plan, Revealed

The first thing that Daneel did after leaving the Energy Generator was that he chose a spot in the sky before casting a Hero-level anti-eavesdropping formation and fashioning a wooden chair out of thin air.

Dumping the Queen of Eldinor in that chair, Daneel folded his hands and cast a spell to awaken her.

He had knocked her out using a pretty strong and sudden blow to her head as he hadn't wanted to take any chances, so he had to wait for a few seconds while she woke up and looked around groggily, trying to understand who and where she was.

Before he proceeded to do anything, he first had to get the answer from her regarding what her choice would be.

So, he had no option but to wait while she gathered her bearings.

While waiting, he couldn't help but think back to the plan, and the amount of work he had to do.

Since the start, the goal had been simple: simulate a fake threat which will bring the elves together in idolizing Lanthanor, and him as their selfless saviors to whom they owed an inestimable debt to.

Initially, he had considered using the original blood-purifying formation given by Dinora to Eldra, but he had instantly discarded that after finding out that its true potency would result in all the bodies that were affected by the veil bursting into showers of blood instantly.

He needed something…less grisly. And he also needed something whose effects wouldn't be so…permanent.

After all, he wasn't a madman who would consider just letting countless people die just to further his plans and power.

There had been many in history, both on Earth and Angaria who had tried to use devilish plans which sacrificed many, many lives in order to set up a scenario where they could swoop in and save the day in order to reap the support or rewards from many, many more.

Yet, very few of those actually had good endings. At least, even if there were those who got away with it, it was most possible that they were few and far in between.

Daneel's plan revolved around creating an authentic scenario which was reversible, but also real.

And as such, there had to be at least a modicum of real consequences, which was integral if he wanted to lend authenticity to the whole thing.

He had already known that there would be naysayers who would definitely accuse Lanthanor of setting it all up, so his job was just to make sure that those people wouldn't have any believable facts to back their story up.

Whether he liked it or not, naysayers like these were integral to society, and he just had to deal with them.

Besides, Daneel had had no intention of doing a half-assed job anyway. This was going to be in an integral turning point in the history of this continent, and if there was even a hint of a chance through which the truth could be exposed, then everything would be for naught.

His grand plans would all go up in flames, and it was very possible that there might even be an all-out war.

So, Daneel had been determined to be very, very careful.

In essence, his plan was a double-layered deception.

The first layer of deception involved deceiving the elves and humans who were attending the festival that there was a very real threat to their lives, while the second involved making Eldra, and in turn, Dinora think that they were seeing the real effects of the blood-purifying formation.

The latter part had actually been the most simple. He had simply intercepted Eldra on her way when she had set off to bury the formation trinkets, and as the Mind Control spell cast by Dinora was just too weak, she hadn't been able to detect anything amiss.

After a simple switcheroo, Eldra had set off with the fake formation trinkets which would activate the fake blood-purifying formation that Daneel had designed with Drakos in order to carry out the most visceral scene of a savior descending to save the damned possible.

Now, the main problems with the first part were threefold.

1) Some people had to die. There was no way around it. If the only thing that those inside saw was people falling to the ground, then they would have no reason to believe that they were dead. Even if they looked motionless, there would be no method to make sure. However, if some people just so happened to see a few of those motionless bodies exploding into showers of bloody mist, then it would create the chaos and panic he needed to make the nightmare come true.

For this, pure Mind Control was not an option. Later on, investigations would be made about who had died, and if it was found out that everyone was fine, then everything would be revealed to be fake right away.

It was also not possible to simply resurrect those who had died. At least, the ones collapsed on the floor could be said to have gone into a near-death state, which could just as easily be mistaken for death. The same was not possible in the other case, though. So, all in all, people really did have to die.

2) The Lanthanorians couldn't be in on it, as that would be too much of a liability.

3) There had to be major consequences for Lanthanor, too.

4) And finally, the three problems above had to be solved in such a way that even if the Heroes from the Big 4 came to investigate, they shouldn't be able to find any smoking gun that would reveal the truth.

It was only after seriously considering these problems and weaving them into his planning had Daneel managed to come up with something that felt like it would work.

The first problem had actually been the hardest to overcome, but he had done it in an interesting manner.

Just like the elves whom he had chosen to be killed during that time when he was in the Hidden Kill Sect in order to make Eldinor march on them, he had decided to choose those who deserved it, without any doubt.

Of course, Daneel didn't feel good about it, but if people had to die, then it was much better for scum like that to go instead of those who were innocent.

The problem was that those influential elves had been easy to identify: they had been avoiding the punishments for their crimes for ages, which made them stand out distinctively.

What Daneel needed to find was elves who were equally guilty, but not anywhere as influential.

This was mainly because the outskirts of the festival would mostly contain common people, who would be the ones that appeared to die.

Thankfully, it was a fact that he had a large, large pool to search in.

Almost all elves had chosen to attend this carnival, and it was even one that had been advertised as being for the 'good of their race'.

So, it was easier to find the ones he needed.

With the help of Katerina and Drakos's spells, Daneel had looked for and collected the lists of reports to authorities which involved gruesome crimes but went unsolved due to lack of evidence.

To his surprise, some of the main crimes involved those committed due to the feeling of bigotry.

It seemed that the individualism of elves also had this kind of consequence. In many instances where the personal opinion/belief of an elf was vehemently challenged by someone else, deadly fights ensued, which would usually result in lifelong vendettas.

In these cases, Daneel looked for repeat offenders who had happened to be skilled in magic and were able to remove all traces of the crime.

The other major crime was acts of planned violence against humans.

Some humans who didn't have much for themselves chose to settle down in border villages in Eldinor with no other choice. Yet, here, they would come under the effects of being those who belonged to the minority.

Besides, it seemed that there were always some elves who didn't want to get rid of the feeling that they were superior.

Rapes, murders, and in some cases, even torture were crimes against humans which were reported but not handled that seriously, as there were often those even in the policing force who chose to turn a blind eye. In many cases, the acts were even against human children by elf children who were generally more skilled in magic.

The only consolation was that these acts were in the minority, and mostly only in the villages and towns of Eldinor instead of in the capital. Otherwise, Eldinor would have long been tagged as a place that was hostile to those of other races.

All in all, Daneel had made a list of those who were charged with multiple crimes multiple times but weren't convicted, before making trips to them and using Mind Control to find out whether they were really guilty.

In the process, he had been exposed to some truly horrifying stories which once again made him understand just how cruel one could be.

Darkness really seemed to be something that lurked in all living creatures' hearts, regardless of race or gender.

Finally, those who were revealed to be guilty became the chosen ones who would die, exploding into a bloody mist so that they would let others know what fate awaited them if they did not run from the red veil.

Even in this, he made sure that there was no pattern, by also finding a few criminals who hadn't even been charged using their wit. As for the source from where he found them, it was the whispers he heard in each village or town he went to.

This was the thing that had taken up such a major chunk of his time, but Daneel had fulfilled it to perfection.

The second problem was resolved by using Aran to create a 'training exercise', and the third's solution was to have Drakos modify the formation he was making so that those who wanted to stop it would also be affected by that near-death condition.

As for the fourth, as Daneel hadn't hesitated to take even drastic measures, he was sure that even a Hero from the Big 4 would find nothing.

Also, he had added an additional trick to the solution of the third problem, which was going to come in very handy soon for his endgame in regards to Eldinor.

When he had seen the families of those who died crying, his heart had hurt, as he was the one responsible for their tears. Although the profiles of those who were capable of such horrific acts were such that not many of them had close family members, there were still quite a few exceptions to this rule. However, when he imagined just how many tears those people had caused, he tried to harden his face and turn away, but the memory of the pain of those families still got engraved in his heart. Yet, he couldnt help but think about how many more tears might have been shed if those families had found out the reality of the numerous horrific acts that had been secretly committed by the ones they were mourning. Still, did that make it right for him to kill them like this? Definitely not. This wasn't even the first time he was responsible for making a family cry. Back when he had killed those scum in the Hidden Kill Sect, he had known that their parents must have shed many tears, too. However, for some reason, this felt different...and as he thought about it, he had realized that it was probably because he now had faces to associate that fact with.

He knew that he was no perfect good Samaritan who could get things done magically with no morally ambiguous side-effects like these, but he also knew that that was impossible in the real world. In the real word, things couldn't be so black and white.

This plan needed to work for the future of Angaria, so he had just done his best. He just had to be satisfied with that, while being capable of dealing with his own feelings about himself, which he couldn't even figure out at the moment.

"Y-you! King Daneel! Wh-what happened?"

Finally, as Eldra woke up, Daneel shook his head to get rid of these sordid thoughts and said, "Queen Eldra, I gave you a fair deal and put you on the throne, but you repaid me by doing everything you could to weasel out of your end. By all rights, I should just kill you."

The words shocked her to complete alertness, and as the memories of what she had witnessed popped up into her mind, tears started to flow from her eyes before she screamed, "THEN KILL ME! I DESERVE IT!"

With a sigh, Daneel said, "Watch this, and tell me if your wish remains the same."

With a simple flick of his fingers, Daneel made the clouds below them part, which resulted in the sight of the area of the festival where hundreds of thousands of people were frantically running around while clutching the motionless bodies of their loved ones.

"Wh-what?! They're all not…"

"Dead? No, they're not. What you watched was an illusion. Basically, it's a long story. Even those whom those people are shedding tears for will come back to life soon. But what you saw would definitely have become reality if I hadn't stepped in. That was the true purpose of the formation you activated, after all. Basically, I saved your people. Again. Now, then, you have an important decision to make. You must already know that the oath between us is broken. I understand how abhorrent it is for an elf to pledge themselves to someone using a magical oath. So, I will just ask for your word that you will still heed my or-requests. If so, I will give my blessings to your continued reign as the Queen. However, if not, then you will be made to step down by force. Choose."

The words hit the Queen like thunderbolts, but Daneel had also dispelled the Mind Control spell on her, which allowed her to look back on the real memories, not the fake apparitions that she had seen due to the Mind Control spell, and see that what he was saying was true.

After taking a minute, she got an expression of pain mixed with determination on her face before she looked straight into Daneel's eyes and gave him an answer.

Hearing it, the King of Lanthanor raised his eyebrows, and internally, his impression of this elf also rose along with them.

With this, the rest of his plan was finalized. The stage was set, and all that remained was for the actors to take their places and begin the show.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel went over everything in his mind again, before telling Eldra what she was going to do.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

502 The Queen Speaks

Back in the field where the festival was supposed to have become one of the proudest moments in the history of the Kingdom of Elves, the anti-teleportation and anti-communication field had been dispelled, which finally allowed those inside to communicate with the outside world.

However, Katerina and the other scholars had initiated a lockdown on information, as they did not want to discount the possibility that the culprit might still be among them. Still, word had gotten to the palace which led to the remaining army of the Kingdom and the ministers who had stayed back to immediately make their way over.

One very disconcerting thing was that the Queen was missing. She had last been seen heading to this area, but after that, communication had completely been cut off and nobody knew where she was.

It was only after asking around was it discovered that the Queen had been seen right around the time when the veil had come into existence. At that moment, many of those in the central areas had been busy trying to rush to safety, so it was only a few on the borders who had been able to spot the Queen.

In the hut that had been expanded to seat the newcomers, Katerina stood at the head of the table while hearing the bickering of those in front of her.

"We should find some way to communicate with the Big 4!"

"Why? They've never cared about us, so I doubt that they would show any interest now!"

"What if all of this was a scheme by our enemies?"

"Yeah, right. As if our enemies could be capable of mustering a formation that baffles even us."

Theories, suspicions and even war threats were being thrown around casually, and Katerina was trying hard not to lose her temper.

At the same time, she received a message through the communication trinket that connected her to the King of Lanthanor.

Bang!

As she banged her fist on the table and cracked it in the process due to her Fighter strength that she was known for, the voices finally stopped, while the 83 elves in the tent turned around to look at her.

Among the newcomers, some had had scorn on their faces after seeing that she had taken the role of the one in charge, but after finding out just how integral she had been in handling the whole situation, they had shut up.

Still, she saw no ardent support in the eyes of these elves, who were, practically, the strongest in the Kingdom, either in the terms of strength or influence, and in many cases, both.

However, that changed when she spoke.

"The King of Lanthanor approaches. As you all know, he left to check the formation in the hope to find some clues about who might be responsible."

"The King of Lanthanor!"

"If it weren't for him, we would all be doomed!"

"But how did he become a Peak Exalted Warrior so quickly?"

"He's the strongest mage on the continent right now! And to think that he's a human!"

"Human or elf, what does it matter? He saved us, and soon, this is going to make waves across Angaria!"

Whispers sprung up, while Katerina observed the absurd amount of respect and admiration that shone in the eyes of everyone around her.

Apparently, it had been pretty strange that no one had been able to contact anyone inside the area of the festival for an extended period of time. Many had just thought that it must be because everyone got too engrossed in magic theory exchange, but they had still had their attention on the area, which resulted in them seeing the apparition of that awe-inducing blazing sun that had broken the veil.

Such a level of complexity and power…was something that fascinated and captivated all elves, regardless of age or position, because of their inherent love for magic.

So, those emotions were seen even in the newcomers, as after finding out that the one responsible for the sun had been the King of Lanthanor, they had only been able to give grudging, yet genuine praises.

And after hearing about and seeing the many soldiers who had lost their lives while defending the Eldinorians, that respect had gone to a whole other level.

At this moment, while Katerina waited for King Daneel to arrive, she couldn't help but get a small suspicion in her mind.

That man had already known about the blood-purifying formation before. Yet, he had told her that he had no idea about exactly when it would activate, before promising that he would arrive to help save them.

Could it be possible…that he had planned all this in order to elicit such emotions from all the high-ranking elves in the Kingdom?

After all, it was the perfect opportunity, as most of them had gathered for the festival.

But…no. Surely, no one could be capable of something like that, right?

For once, even her gut failed her, so she just put the matter aside.

"Eldinorians."

A calm, graceful voice suddenly appeared from beside her, and as she turned to her side, she realized that the man she had been thinking about was already here.

How the hell had he…

Oh, yes. He was a damn Peak Exalted Warrior! Surely, bypassing their security and appearing without alerting her must be a piece of cake.

"King of Lanthanor!"

"We cannot thank you enough!"

"I apologize personally for looking down on your Kingdom!"

"Eldinor will never forget the debt we owe to you! You are a true friend of the elves!"

As phrases like these showered down on him, the King of Lanthanor actually hardened his face and raised his hand to stop all of them, instead of basking in the praise.

"Come with me," he said, in an iron tone that brooked no argument.

Without even waiting to see whether they were following, the King of Lanthanor turned around and walked out of the tent.

"King Daneel!"

"There's King Daneel! Our savior!"

"King Daneel Thank you so much for saving us!"

Without responding, the King continued walking in a specific direction with a stoic expression on his face.

All those in front of him parted due to an invisible force, but as they saw who it was, no one complained.

Instead, a large group started to gather, which followed him to see where he was going.

The cheers and praises continued, but again, he didn't pay them any heed.

After a few seconds, the crowd behind him had swelled to encompass most of those who had stayed in the central area because they hadn't lost anyone.

After the veil had been broken, all of those who had had to leave behind their loved ones had immediately rushed out, leaving behind these people.

Now, the crowd, with King Daneel at the head, was passing through the area where motionless bodies were being clutched by grieving families who couldn't stop crying.

Children, wives, and husbands kept staring at the peaceful expressions on the faces of those they loved. They couldn't believe that they were dead, but they had no choice but to accept it.

By now, even though it was a large area, all of those who had seen their family members collapse due to the veil had already gone back and gotten reunited with the lifeless bodies that had been left behind.

As for those who couldn't even find that, their cries were the loudest, as they understood that it meant that their husband, wife or children were no more.

On seeing the crowd and the man who was leading them, even these grieving families chose to follow, as that moment when he had saved them all really had become engraved into their minds.

Besides, on Daneel's request, Katerina had also deployed those display trinkets again, which meant that the rest of the people also started to watch and wonder where the King was taking them.

Finally, he came upon an area where a long row of human bodies could be seen.

Their hands had been laid on their chests, and although they looked like they were sleeping, those watching knew that these were the ones who had given up their lives to save them.

However, something was wrong.

Why…did the mages who were alive look so…defeated?

It would have made sense if they were looking at their fallen comrades and lamenting their deaths. Yet, that was definitely not the reason.

The Mages of Lanthanor were either sitting on the ground or standing haphazardly while looking out into empty space.

Repeatedly, they ran their fingers over their foreheads, as if looking for something they had lost.

Even the arrival of such a large crowd did not affect many of them. Only a few glanced in their direction to see that their King had arrived, which made them slowly stand to attention.

Finally, it was only when the Grand Court Mage and the Mage Commander called out an order did they respond and turn around before assembling into ranks.

Still, they walked as if they had heavy loads on their backs, and anyone watching could tell that all the glory and honor they had seen before was gone.

What was wrong? What could be worse than losing so many of their brothers-in-arms that they looked so devastated?

The two senior Mages had grave looks on their faces. They had been seen fighting alongside the soldiers while leading two individual teams on their own, and although they didn't look as desolate as the soldiers, one could tell that they were mourning something. In fact, the red-haired woman even looked angry.

As the King left the crowd to stand in front of his soldiers, the elves finally stopped but continued to stare, eager to find out the just why everyone from Lanthanor looked like they had lost much more than just those soldiers.

Taking a deep breath, the King spoke, after looking deeply into the eyes of each and every soldier in front of him.

"Brave soldiers of Lanthanor, I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done. Look around you. All of these people…all of them- are alive because of your sacrifice. I-"

"SO WHAT?! ALL OF THESE SOLDIERS HAVE LOST THEIR MAGEROOTS BECAUSE THEY PUSHED THEMSELVES TOO MUCH WHILE TRYING TO STOP THAT DAMN THING! THEY CAN NO LONGER BE WHAT DEFINED THEM FOR SO LONG! THEY ARE EMPTY SHELLS OF THOSE WHO MARCHED FOR YOU, KING! YOU-"

"Cassandra, stop."

Wh-what?!

As shocked silence appeared among those who had been saved, they finally realized the reason behind the crazy grief they were witnessing.

All of these glorious and honorable mages…had had their mageroots burned out because of overexertion.

They had pushed themselves too far, for too long.

All…for what?

For them.

But…wasn't this the main Mage army of Lanthanor?

Didn't that mean that…

"My King, we must depart. Already, word that Lanthanor is no longer in possession of our iconic Mage Construct regiments is spreading. Axelor will be the first to mount an attack. We must…make preparations."

These words from the Grand Court Mage, who had stopped Cassandra in her tirade before, confirmed everything.

It seemed that he didn't even bother to make it secret, as everyone could derive this simple conclusion.

It wasn't just that a few mages had died for the Kingdom of Lanthanor. No…almost their entire Mage army was, more or less, 'dead', which meant…that the Kingdom itself was doomed.

"I know. Even if I can bring all of those who are lying motionless back to life, I cannot reverse this. Lanthanor…must brace itself for a storm that it mostly cannot survive from."

Wait…what?

Y-you can resurrect all of those who we thought to be dead?

Why didn't you lead with that?!

This question popped up in many minds, but after thinking a bit, it did make sense that the worry about his Kingdom being destroyed probably trumped everything else.

The man who had done so much for them…was mostly going to have to see his Kingdom destroyed and annexed, all because he had chosen to save them.

He could have simply ignored it all and even waited to storm a defenseless Kingdom to raid their treasures after they were all dead, and many elves could tell that many rulers would have chosen to do just that.

But not him.

No, he had made the choice to stand with them, and for that, he was going to lose everything.

Ever since they had seen him, the one thing they could think of that defined him were those broad shoulders and that straight back which spoke volumes about the confidence that the King of Lanthanor had in himself.

However, at this moment, his shoulders were slumped, and his back was bent. More than his grim expression, it was these two little details that got stuck in the minds of those watching most, making them feel waves of emotions that they couldn't make sense of.

"No!"

Katerina had her mouth open, as it was her cue to speak. When they had spoken, Daneel had told her that there might come a time for her to speak about how she felt.

However, before a sound appeared out of her mouth, someone else said this word that was echoing in the minds of the hundreds of thousands who were watching.

The source was from above, and as they looked up, they saw someone descending from the sky.

It was…the Queen of Eldinor.

Even before anyone could react, she alighted in front of the King of Lanthanor and actually…knelt.

Yes, an elf, and that too, an esteemed Queen, had bent the knee to a human, which was definitely something that hadn't happened in written history.

This was just too many surprises from one day.

Reeling from shock, the elves of Eldinor heard the Queen speak, and as they comprehended her words, a blazing emotion of shame, which was followed by overwhelming support engulfed them, making most of them cheer with all of their hearts.

"We, the people of Eldinor, have accrued a debt with Lanthanor that cannot even be fulfilled by giving up our lives. We proud elves have never been known to default on any of our debts. We always pay what we owe. And now, when you are in need, if we do not step forward, then we would only be worthy of calling ourselves the most despicable and shameless race in history. King Daneel, I kneel to you to show my willingness to follow you. In this way, I can at least rest assured that I am paying off my debt in some way. I propose an alliance between Eldinor and Lanthanor, with you being the main leader of our combined forces. Even if you hadn't been capable of miraculously resurrecting all those for whom tears have already been shed, you have already proven yourself worthy of this. I do not know if my people will follow, but I, for one, choose this path, as I do not want to die and be cursed at by my ancestors for bringing disgrace to my race. I, Eldra, Queen of Eldinor, swear to follow till the Endless Sea lays claim to my soul. Who's with me?!"

When she spoke the last sentence, she looked up straight into the eyes of the King, and at that moment, even though she was kneeling, Eldra looked more prideful and dazzling than any elf that had been seen by anyone present.

Her words were enough to give birth to the seed of this idea in most of the minds of the watching elves, and as they thought about it, they felt that it was how it should be.

The Lanthanorians had already elevated their status to the heavens through their gesture. Now, it was the opportunity for the Eldinorians to do the same.

Happiness and anticipation that most of them were going to see their loved ones walk and talk again mixed with the satisfaction and relief that came from knowing that they had a chance to pay back what they owed, which resulted in such jubilant screams that they echoed for many miles around.

Even though it didn't become official right away, the thunderous cheering was enough to signify just how much support there would be for this decision when the time came to stamp it into reality.

And so, while King Daneel suppressed the urge to break out into a broad smile, the First Alliance of the Present Age was born.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

503 Purge

In the Kingdom of Axelor, a certain section of the capital city was roped off, while a barrier prevented those inside from going out.

Those from the outside could still enter it if they pleased, but no one was ready to do so.

However, there was one old man who was looking around and searching for something within the barrier.

The roped off section was a small area, but as it was a low-income section of the capital city, a lot of people lived inside it.

Hence, even though only 4 4-storeyed apartments were the ones that were inside the barrier, there were at least 500 people inside who had just been informed something horrific.

This area…had been chosen to be purged because evidence was found that it was inhabited by heretics.

In the morning, everything had been normal. The old man had woken up, and seeing that his wife was peacefully sleeping, he had planned to go to the market to buy her her favorite buns in order to surprise her. Even though 40 years had passed since their marriage, he loved surprising her occasionally, as the smile that came on her face each time she saw how much he loved her even after so many years was just too beautiful to forget.

They had been simple farmers, but their sons had joined the army. Being in the army was the most respected profession in the entire Kingdom, and as such, the perks were also outstanding.

The monthly pay, itself, was quite high, which led to their sons insisting that their parents should move into the capital where it would be easier for them to live. After all, living by themselves, they had to take care of everything by their own effort, which wasn't very preferable due to their old age.

Here, they had been assigned maids to help them in their day-to-day lives, and whenever their sons got some free time, they would visit and feel happy that they were doing something for their parents.

However, it seemed that fate…had different plans for them.

By the time the old man came back, the barrier was up, and although he had started to hope that it was nothing too serious, the whispers of those watching had been enough to confirm it.

Heretics.

Those crazy bastards who chose to speak ill and distribute misinformation about their glorious Kingdom and divine ruler.

Every time a heretic was found, the general area where they lived would be purged to warn those who might consider going the same route, and also to make sure that the ideas of those heretics wouldn't spread.

The old man had always been a devout believer in King and Kingdom. Yet, right now, as he stared at all the people who were hammering on the barrier and pleading that they had done nothing wrong, he wondered whether those heretics were right when they said that their Kingdom was just a brainwashed place with one of the cruelest Kings in the entire continent.

After all, why else would innocent people be chosen to be killed just to stop a few ideas from being shared?

He even knew who the heretic was. It was a young man who was in possession of a strange device from which voices appeared, and he had even talked to the man and seen that he was quite rational.

Yet, it was his fault that his wife was going to be killed.

Even though he had seen in the newspapers that the number of purges had been increasing steadily in the past few months, he had never thought that he would be affected by them.

Obviously, he had been very, very wrong.

"Ready the spells!"

The eeriest thing about this whole situation was that those inside the barrier were muted so that no one could hear their begging and crying voices, but the same spell seemed to have been cast on those outside, too, as none of them dared to speak a word and stand up to the army.

Instead, they just stood witness, while whispering amongst themselves about how 'sad' this was.

The old man just continued to search with his eyes, while hobbling toward the barrier slowly.

Finally, he found her: she was standing at a specific empty spot on the other side of the barrier, and she, too, was searching for someone.

The moment he lay his eyes on her, she seemed to sense him, too, as she turned toward him and smiled.

There were no regrets on her face. At this moment, she was just happy…that she had been able to see her husband again.

Bam!

Just as the old man was about to run in the direction of his wife, a loud sound made him turn around and look at the spot where the 4 mages from the army were situated.

A body had just been slammed onto the barrier right in front of the lead soldier, and it was that of that kid who had had that device.

Clearly, he had been ratted out by someone else.

He had already been stamped on and beaten to death, but even though the people kept gesturing at him and saying that only he was responsible, the soldier didn't listen.

He raised his hand, which made a whooshing sound appear from the top of the large rectangular barrier that had been erected.

Wind blades. Visible, revolving, shining wind blades, which looked like they were ready to descend and turn all those inside into slices of flesh and blood.

The panic in those inside the barrier increased, making them take out their anger more on the young man who was already dead.

The woman was one of the few who was unperturbed. What a purge meant was clear to all Axelorians, so she had no disillusions that she might be saved.

She only kept her eyes on her husband, taking in his visage one last time before her journey to the heavens, where she would await him.

As she saw him reach the barrier, she suddenly realized something and was going to speak, but she could only watch as he entered without any hesitation and held her hand.

Tears streaming down her face, she squeezed his hand tight and said, "You should have stayed outside. Our sons-"

"Are old enough to live even if they don't have us. Did you really think I would let you leave alone?"

"Begin!"

At the same moment, this word was shouted by the soldier at the head of the 4-person team, and as his hand swiftly cut down in the air, the air blades started to descend.

Not bothering to look up even now, the woman just hugged her husband, who kissed her forehead and returned the hug.

He felt complete now, and he didn't really care anymore.

Yet, he did feel sorry for all the other people who were being killed indiscriminately.

Would this never stop? Would innocent people continue to be sacrificed just because of the insecurity of their ruler?

He didn't know the answer, but he did wish silently that someone could change the fate of all those who had been unlucky enough to be born here.

In life, they were isolated and controlled, while being brainwashed completely that the King was the Supreme Divine Ruler who needed to be worshipped as their god.

Only in death did it look like they would have an escape.

Screams started to be heard all around the man, but he ignored them and continued hugging his wife.

However, the blade above him paused, unlike the rest which went ahead and did their job.

Seeing this, he turned toward the 4 soldiers whose faces were covered by masks, as they were part of a special team in charge of purging.

As he focused his aged eyes, he finally saw that one of them, a tall man, was shaking, while his head was turned toward him.

As their eyes met, the old man recognized who it was, and it was at that moment that real sadness appeared in his heart.

He hadn't been sad about dying, but being killed by his own eldest son?

Now that…was something that he couldn't put into words.

For the first time, the old man cursed at the man who was behind all this.

"I damn you to the most painful death possible, King of Axelor!", he screamed inwardly, and as he looked up to the sky, he could almost swear that he saw a few people standing there.

Already, the other 3 soldiers were getting ready to take over the spell and continue.

Ignoring whatever he thought he saw in the sky, the old man chose to help his son one last time.

"My love, don't open your eyes. Just trust me. Move with me," he said, before leading them both away from where they were standing.

Seeing this, that soldier collapsed, but he watched on and branded the image into his mind when his parents walked into an area where the wind blades were revolving at the height of one's waist.

Just before he stepped into it, the old man waved at his son as if to say goodbye, and this, more than anything, broke that soldier's mind and heart into countless unsalvageable pieces.

The old man continued hugging his wife even after they entered that field of spinning blades, and as their upper bodies separated, they continued hugging each other, ignoring the pain and focusing on the warm feeling that came from being in a loved one's embrace. Even while the life slipped away from their bodies, the smile remained on the face of the old woman, as she did not need to embark on this last journey alone. It was only the old man who had an expression of grief and frustration before his death, but even that relaxed into one of peace in the last moments before he slipped away because he could tell what his wife was feeling, and he felt the same.

The soldier saw this sight, and fainted.

As this extremely disturbing scene came to an end in this way, if one were present in the sky above the area, they would hear a rambunctious laugh echoing all around from a man who was sitting in a chair and watching everything.

Right now, he was clapping his hands and moving back and forth as if he had seen some great scene in his favorite television programme, while the man who was standing beside him was looking at him with a veiled expression of disgust and fury on his face.

"Did you see the looks on their faces? That soldier thought he could stop it! And that old man, hugging his wife even after there was only half of him left…priceless! Placing his son on duty during this purge was a masterstroke on my part, I tell you!"

While laughing, the man in the chair said sentences like these, praising those below as if they were 'actors' instead of real people who were dying for his entertainment.

Finally, unable to control himself anymore, the standing man spoke in a frustrated tone.

"My King, weren't you the one who…"

"Yes, I was the one who let that communication trinket that is connected to the Network reach that guy's hands. I can't call for a purge with 0 proof, can I? He had the chance to turn it in, but he didn't! I should thank him, though. If he had turned it in, I wouldn't have had such a good show!"

As his laughter resumed, the standing man's fists closed and began to shake, but he said nothing.

Ever since that incident when they had been defeated and had had to call their troops back after canceling the attack on the Hidden Kill Sect, the King had…changed.

For one thing, he had relapsed to become a Peak Exalted Human again, because of the timing of the news from the Hidden Kill Sect that had caused his return to his power as a Warrior to reverse.

Since then, the King seemed like he had become infected with some sickness, as he spent most of his time planning stuff like this and relishing in the 'performances'.

"Oh, Minister. I know you think I'm crazy, but everything has a purpose. This is just preparation for my Champion path. Even if I explained, you wouldn't understand. Now then,…"

The King was about to continue, but suddenly, a message reached them both, making them stare at each other with shock.

The King was the first to react.

"Get the troops ready! We march on Lanthanor as soon as possible!"

Yes!

No mages meant…that there would practically be no defensive magic to worry about!

Yet, the piece of news that reached them next made them pause again, before their jaws dropped together, unable to believe that what they were hearing was true.

The Kingdom of the Elves…had allied with Lanthanor, and were bolstering the Kingdom with their mages?

What the f*ck?!

However, once again, the King was the first to recover.

"This is still a golden opportunity! Contact the other Kingdoms and the Big 4! We should quickly start the plan to destroy them! No alliance can stand on Angaria!"

Nodding, the Minister disappeared and began to do so, while the King returned to the throne room.

He waited with bated breath, while trying to not let excitement take over his mind.

Was this finally it? Was it finally time for him to take his sweet revenge on that bast*rd King?

His face was filled with a hopeful expression, but one hour later, when he re-heard the replies that he had just gotten from the other Kingdoms, fury ate up that hope while he began to spit curses without abandon.

The Hidden Kill Sect and the Black Raven Kingdom had sent the reply that although two Kingdoms had entered an alliance, their overall strength was still that of only a single Kingdom, as Lanthanor had lost its Mage Corps that it was most famous for.

So, the two rulers had said that there was no need to hastily form plans that would only result in useless loss of life, as that alliance had no power to take over anyone else, anyway.

He had actually expected this from these two, as they were both connected in one way or the other with that bastard King.

His main hope had been the Sect of Hedon and the Kingdom of Arafell, so when they sent the same reply, although he knew that they were right, he just couldn't accept it.

Somehow, the first alliance that was going to stand had been made, and it had been done in such a manner that for the first time in the history of Angaria, it was going to be unchallenged.

The more he thought about it, the more did one sentence start to revolve over and over again in his head, until he finally shouted it out, startling the minister in front of him.

"SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE F*CK?!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

504 Resurrection

Maylana would never be able to forget this day in her life.

After the veil had been broken against all odds, she had finally told the little kid the truth.

Her wailing had been one of the loudest in the entire area, and Maylana had had to resist the urge to cry, too.

She even felt partly responsible. Maybe, if she wasn't there…her bad luck might not have rubbed onto this little elf who looked so adorable even when she was crying her heart out.

Maylana tried and tried to help her calm down, but she knew just how it felt to lose parents at an age when a child could understand what it meant. She had gone through the same thing, but she still didn't know what to say to console the little elf.

There really was nothing that could be said at this moment to ease her suffering.

It was only after the little elf saw the stoic face of the King of Lanthanor, their savior, did she pause her crying and stand up from the side of the bodies of her parents.

Till then, she had been holding one hand each from her mother and father while crying on them.

Seeing this change, Maylana had felt happy, and she chose to follow the King after succeeding in dragging the little elf away from the macabre scene of the two most important people in her life lying motionless.

Would she have done the same if she had known that the Queen would be appearing there?

Probably not.

When the revelation that the soldiers of Lanthanor had lost their mageroots dawned on her, she, along with almost everyone near her, had felt emotions of such sadness and guilt that they threatened to eat her up.

When the Queen appeared, though, Maylana closed her fist and resisted the urge to cry again.

She had to be strong for the little elf.

Yet, when she saw the proud and arrogant Queen kneel, she was more shocked than anyone else.

She was the one in the Kingdom who understood the Queen most. So, she knew exactly what her kneeling meant.

It signified…that a major change had come upon her.

As the Queen spoke in a tone that commanded the hearts of all of those who had been saved, Maylana couldn't believe it, but she, too, started cheering in the end.

Yes! This was how an elf was supposed to be.

Never hesitating to pay off a debt, never thinking twice before helping someone who had done so much for them.

It was only after she saw the little elf's shining eyes did she remember that the glorious King, who had already caused so many miracles, was going to bring all the dead elves and humans back to life!

Was that even possible? Was he a god?

Such questions ran through the minds of all those present, but when the King started the process of 'resurrection', they understood the truth.

All of these people had been placed in a near-death state, almost as if they had been frozen solid.

All it required was a simple spell to kickstart them to life.

Yet, that spell was so blindingly complex that many Human level mages actually had to switch off their elementary vision as they became subject to splitting headaches.

He walked from grieving family to family, touching the foreheads of those affected and making them wake up, like a Deity that had descended to give back life to those from whom it had been unjustly taken.

Each and every family cried and thanked him profusely, yet he only gave them a small smile and told them that it was his duty, and that he was thankful for their support in supporting the step the Queen had proposed. After all, it would save his Kingdom, and the people he valued so much.

As the Eldinorians heard this, they once again felt happy that they had gotten this chance, as they started to truly believe that just as the Queen had said, he was worthy of being someone to rule them. Just the love he showed for his Kingdom was enough to indicate how well he would take care of them, too.

With each resurrection, positive thoughts and support like this got reinforced more and more into the minds of thousands of Eldinorians.

Before, some could at least doubt that the resolution to ally with Lanthanor would gain the approval of the Court, and the people with ease.

However, after seeing this, that doubt started to vanish, and soon, it became a foregone conclusion that it was definitely going to happen.

Maylana watched this, and realized just how much this incident had changed the elves.

Before, their individualism and ego would never have allowed them to think in this way about a 'mere' human.

Yet, the shock of almost dying, the grief of losing someone they loved and the relief of having that someone brought back were all life-changing events that served to change the general mindset itself.

Even though all elves weren't subject to the latter two events, they could definitely see and understand how it must be when they gazed at the many families, and in turn, they were affected by those emotions too.

All in all, Maylana could tell that the race of the elves of Eldinor had been changed forever.

All, because of one man.

As the sun started to set, that man finally reached them.

He patted the little elf's head and whispered words of comfort to her, which made her smile cutely and hug his head.

This wasn't the first time that the norms of 'societal interactions' had been broken. He hugged back, before touching the foreheads of both of her parents behind her back.

When the little elf stepped back with a shy expression on her face, to her surprise, she bumped into someone's legs.

Turning around, she first froze for a second, before squealing in joy and running into her parents' embrace.

Maylana, herself, smiled on seeing this, and so did the King before moving on.

By the end of the day, only a small portion of those who needed to be resurrected had been visited, so the rest were told to wait for the assistance of soldiers who would transport those bodies to the Palace, where this activity would continue.

Daneel was exhausted, but he was happy that his plan was working.

This one-to-one interaction with so many people had been set up for the exact purpose of solidifying the idea of allying with him and coming under his rule.

This had been his second objective behind the modifications to the formation.

As he now had a moment of respite, he was about to rest to recharge his Mageroot, but he found Katerina and Eldra walking toward him side-by-side.

They seemed to be arguing, but Eldra was having none of it.

As they neared, Daneel heard what Katerina was saying.

"But that's not how it's supposed to be! You can't just give your post to me! Elections need to be conducted!"

"I've decided, Katerina. In times of war, there is a clause that states that this is possible. This is such a time. I have decided to step down, as I believe that I am not worthy of the post. Besides, I want to concentrate on my training, too. Just come to the Court. You'll find out. King Daneel, I've called for an emergency Court, like we discussed. Shall we go?"

Toward the end, the two reached him, so Eldra addressed him while speaking.

Hearing this, Daneel took a deep step.

Indeed, this was the decision she had taken before when he had asked her in the sky.

Nodding, he said, "Let's."

A few minutes later, he was standing in the Royal Court of Eldinor for the second time, but, of course, no one could know that.

That was because the first time, he had sneaked in here without anyone's knowledge.

The Court was full right now, with many aged elves who had extremely serious expressions on their faces.

A few even seemed furious, but they were hiding it well.

Daneel was standing in front of the throne, and the strange thing was that the throne was empty.

The Queen was standing beside him, and she had just begun to speak.

"In many ways, I am partially responsible for this extremely horrendous act. I've already explained to you about the culprit, and about how that glorious act of King Daneel's when he broke apart the veil caused a backlash which made the Empire Spirit burn up and die. I was being Mind Controlled, but that is no excuse. For this reason, I have chosen to step down and give my post to Katerina, the one who saved the day when there was no one else to take charge. I hope and pray that I can still stay on and advise the Queen about certain schemes that I've put into effect, as I've gained a rather clear understanding of our Kingdom during my time as the Queen. However, if that is not preferable, then I have no problem in leaving the Palace altogether."

Hearing the determination in the Queen's voice, many shook their heads and some even looked like they were ready to curse.

The main reason for the latter, though, was what she addressed next.

"As for the resolution to ally with Lanthanor, I propose an urgent national vote tomorrow. This matter cannot be delayed. Let this be my last official act as Queen."

In Eldinor, important decisions needed National votes in order to be passed.

This was put in place so that rulers wouldn't lead the Kingdom to ruin by doing whatever they wanted.

The Queen had the authority to call the vote, so everyone knew that it was up to the people.

Hence, they stayed silent, but while he observed the haughty expressions which were mainly on the elves who hadn't been in the festival, he knew that there would be pushback.

However, he trusted Katerina to handle that.

More than anything, right now, he was waiting for the alliance to go official, which was when he guessed he would receive more EXP.

As for Axelor's attempts at building a counter-alliance to attack Lanthanor and Eldinor, he had laughed before directing Luther and Faxul about what they should do.

Yet, he had been pretty surprised on hearing the Arafell's decision.

The Sect of Hedon's decision could be understood, as the High Council was low on Heroes and they had other priorities.

Still, of course, it had turned out in the best way for him, which was how he had been hoping everything would pan out in the first place.

If Lanthanor was still at full strength, maybe Arafell would have felt differently, which would definitely be a problem. Also, the other two Kingdoms would also not have such a solid excuse.

All in all, this episode had come to an end, with the only thing remaining being the official ceremony when the alliance would form.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel waited till the Court was adjourned after it was decided that the vote would be held at noon.

After this was done, he made his way to a makeshift barracks that had been constructed near the border of Lanthanor.

As the mages of Lanthanor who had had their mageroots destroyed couldn't teleport anymore, they had to take the long way back.

Many mages from Eldinor had offered to teleport them back, but as one, they had rejected, as if the trek of hundreds of kilometers back to the capital was some sort of pilgrimage that they had decided to take part in.

It was around 11 PM, but when Daneel reached the barracks, he saw that no one was sleeping.

No…they were all drinking.

Crates and crates of cheap beer were placed beside the door of the large open warehouse-style room, and the hundreds of mages were all either standing or lying on the ground while continuously gulping down the unpleasant drink.

Boom!

Sighing, Daneel made a loud sound which brought them to attention and made them aware that their King was here.

Hastily, all of the soldiers dropped the bottles and got into ranks, but some stood facing away from the King, as they were too drunk to tell which direction was which.

Daneel waited for a few moments while Cassandra and Kellor made their way here. As able mages, they had taken part in the operation to transport the thousands of bodies which needed to be resurrected to the palace.

However, now, when they arrived and saw the haphazard ranks where some soldiers had even started to puke on those in front of them, they sighed with sadness.

"Are these the brave soldiers of Lanthanor who made history by saving over a million innocent souls today?"

Daneel's voice reverberated through the room, but the only response he got was a few hiccups.

Shrugging his shoulders, he turned around and said, "Oh, well. Here I had wanted to tell you that there might be a way to become mages again, and even increase your comprehension level in the process. I guess you're all too defeated to want that. You'll be receiving hefty pensions anyway, so have great lives."

"…"

Silence.

Pin-drop silence appeared in the room, before frantic shouts started to emanate from the soldiers.

"No, My King! I'll do anything!"

"Me too!"

"Even death can't stop me! Please, My King!"

Well, there was nothing like hurting the ego of a soldier to rile them up.

Smiling, Daneel turned around and spoke in a dead serious voice.

Seeing him do so, the soldiers quieted down, but the content of his statement left them speechless, making them wonder whether they were dreaming.

However, that was followed by a brilliant shine which couldn't be hidden even in the darkness of the night.

"I like the enthusiasm. But this will be a walk through hell. Gentlemen and ladies, I guarantee you that if you pass, you will become some of the strongest mages on this continent. But there is one caveat. To the outside, you will still look like mageroot-less veterans. You will have to be fine with hiding your strength, as I want to mold you into a knife in the dark that will dazzle everyone when it is revealed to cut the throat of the Chu-, I mean, our enemies. You have been warned."

.....

TIME FOR THE 500 CHAPTERS CONTEST!

It's simple: write a spin-off story about WDS!

Either choose your favorite character and write something about their exploits, or choose an event in the book that has happened so far, that you wish happened in a different way.

In essence, just write a story based on WDS. Judging will be based on a voting system!

Mail in your stories to: worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Prizes: 1st Place - 500 SS!

2 Runnerups- 200 SS Each!

3 Consolation Prizes - 100 SS Each!

Get writing!

(Note: this doesn't cost SS)

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

505 A Visi

Meanwhile, at a specific spot in the area where the event which would be later known as the 'Spark that lit the fire of the Alliance' had taken place.

A man with a short, immaculately trimmed beard wearing court robes that looked a few centuries old was bent over a piece of land while staring at it with complete seriousness.

Beside him stood a beautiful woman with long, brown hair that cascaded down to the small of her back.

She had a stoic expression on her face while watching a man walking around and 'resurrecting' people.

As for the old man, he looked like he was pondering about something.

Whenever someone walked in the direction they were standing, they would find themselves being unconsciously led elsewhere so that they would sidestep the exact spot of that piece of land.

Finally, shrugging his shoulders, the old man clenched his fist, which made two items jump out of the land in front of him, which had become a hole in an instant.

They were a rather dull but large Ker Root, and a round dinner-plate sized metal piece.

Taking the metal piece into his hands, the old man closed his eyes and began to analyze it, but after a few seconds, a vein started to throb on his forehead before he had to stop, forcefully.

Shaking his head, he stood up and said, "A Hero-level formation trinket. There is no Hero alive on this continent who is this capable in formations."

Hearing this, the woman raised her eyebrows with a start.

"Then…"

"Yes, the Empire Spirits are growing restlessly active again. The last time they did, we were almost wiped out. But this time…the threat is so much larger. First, let us leave this place. I do not want to risk the Church mounting an attack that would level this whole place along with us. Heh, I thought that kid King was doing something special, but he's just using a simple Warrior level wakeup spell. I do wonder how he got to the Peak Exalted Warrior level, though. Later on, maybe I'll have a talk with him, but for now, he's not the priority. We have bigger things on our plate."

Nodding, the woman flew up, while the man followed.

They stopped in a specific spot in the air, and although it looked no different than the vast sky around them, expressions of relief came on their faces as soon as they crossed some sort of invisible line.

"Ok, we're safe now. I ascertained that the goal of that formation was to make the bodies inside undergo some sort of process. We've examined the dead bodies, so we know that the objective was to 'purify' the blood. That should be the biggest clue that it is the Empire Spirit. Now that that's sorted, let's call in our main witness."

Saying so, the man flicked his fingers, following which Queen Eldra, or at least, the former Queen of Eldinor, suddenly found herself yanked from where she stood.

She had never even known that such a spell was possible. How was someone forcing her to teleport without even being there?!

Knowing that this might be what she was warned about, she steadied her heart and prepared to tell the story that she had discussed with King Daneel.

The old man saw her expression which didn't contain all that much surprise, which made him furrow his eyebrows and ask, "You look like you were expecting this. Do you know who we are?"

"Yes. When I was Mind Controlled by the Empire Spirit, Dinora, I was still aware of many of her thoughts as she liked voicing them out loud for me to hear. She called you…the 'monkeys' who are currently inhabiting the continent and will be wiped off first as soon as she regained her body."

Hiss!

Taking in a fast, deep breath, the old man looked at the Elf Queen with shock.

So this was that damn Empire Spirit's goal!

Resurrection using blood essence!

He had only been able to figure out the purpose of the formation, but he had no idea about what the other steps should be.

So, this thoroughly shocked both him and the woman standing beside him.

"Where is she now? What happened?"

The woman asked the Elf Queen this hurriedly, which, for some reason, made Eldra feel as though that voice sounded so pleasant to hear.

Shaking her head to get rid of that feeling, she said, "I don't know. I heard screams inside my head as soon as the veil broke…I mean, when the formation shattered by the heroic actions of King Daneel. I think…it might have been some backlash due to that."

This made the two look at each other, before the old man shrugged and said, "I can't gather much from the formation trinket, but I think that's possible as it looks like it needs an active connection with a consciousness in order to function. The result of the formation being forcefully stopped could result in a recoiling force that would definitely be deadly to an Empire Spirit. Oh, how the high and mighty have fallen."

As the old man said the last word, he was smiling wide.

Empire Spirits were practically the bane left behind by the Empire of Angaria that kept giving the Big 4 problems which they couldn't even handle appropriately with the power level they had right now. That incident where the Withering Leaf Sect had been wiped out because of the Black Raven Empire Spirit was just one of the many instances where the Big 4 had had their ass handed to them by the spirits.

They couldn't even do anything to stop them. It was impossible to move them, and 24/7 surveillance to stop people from accessing them wasn't feasible as one couldn't discount the possibility of even that surveillance being influenced for power.

Also, there was that damn statement left behind by the Emperor about Empire Spirits and about how they should take no actions that will limit the access of them by those who were worthy. It was said that that would be what would definitely lead to the true end of the Continent, so there were quite a few Heroes who believed in it and wanted to do nothing proactive. Instead, they wanted to 'hope'.

"So should we begin searching for those parts of the Grand Inheritance?", asked the woman, which made the old man frown and stop his ruminations.

"No, leave it be. When and if it is needed, it can be found easily. Until then, it is best not to waste our resources. Queen, you can leave. Just don't tell anyone about this conversation, or I would have to do something very…unpleasant to your mind. Got it?"

"B-but…"

The woman behind the old man tried to interrupt him, but he only raised a hand to stop her before addressing the Queen again.

"Got it?"

As soon as the Queen nodded, she was teleported back to where she had been.

"But the Ker Roots!"

The woman exclaimed this as soon as they were empty, which made the man stand up from the chair he had made for himself before.

"You think I don't know? We're scrounging for each and every Ker Root, and here we have a huge mine of them! But it's risky; I'm not aware what kind of formations might be left behind even if the Spirit is gone. Deploy a few Champions to begin a thorough search of each inch of the space below their Palace."

"Then why did you…"

Raising a hand to stop her again, the old man folded his hands behind his back and looked out over Angaria for a few seconds before speaking.

"Recently…I've begun to detect a force that is moving behind the shadows. There are too many coincidental things that don't make sense. For example, someone caused that false report about the Mad Doctor and the Echer seeds to be sent to Ashahell. I found no exact clues, but it was definitely not a simple clerical error. And I don't even believe that Ashahell was the one who killed the Mad Doctor's son and the other Sect Members. I know the kid. He wouldn't do something like that, even if it meant he could get away with it. Still, I went ahead and imprisoned him because I also know that he's capable of allying with the Church."

After pondering for a bit, the woman asked, "Could it be that the continent is…"

"No, this is not the continent. At least, I feel that that is not the case. I feel there is…someone or something behind the scenes, pulling the strings and manipulating us all with hidden motives. I just hope I'm wrong. Still, to be safe, in case that someone is capable of getting to the Queen, I told her that we're dropping the matter. It is best to keep our moves hidden from as many people as possible, and it wouldn't hurt to leave behind false information here and there to see if anyone falls for it. Let's go. We shouldn't leave our posts for too long."

After the man said this and left, an expression of disbelief appeared on the woman's face, before she teleported away, too.

For a few seconds, the sky returned to normalcy, with just a few birds here and there making a few sounds.

However, after that, a different man appeared here.

He was wearing maroon robes with a Dragon on each shoulder that looked like it was sitting there, and he had a small smile on his face.

Indeed, it was the King of Lanthanor.

"Young King, it was inevitable that you would leave behind some clues, but it looks like you are safe. What would you like to do next? I believe that your objectives in this Kingdom have been more or less fulfilled?"

Daneel looked down in consternation for a few seconds before replying. He did notice the palpable excitement in the Ancient Dragon's tone, so he knew that it was once again having fun by tagging along.

He had known that the Big 4 would arrive, and everything they had seen was what he had wanted them to see.

However, it seemed that a few other actions of his hadn't escaped their notice.

Still, as Drakos said, he was safe right now.

As for those Champions who would be searching through the area below the Palace of Eldinor, they would find nothing, as he had just transported the Energy Generator to a safe place below Lanthanor.

Finally, after thinking for a bit, he answered.

"To be honest, I didn't imagine that I would be in control of this many forces so soon. Still, there's no reason to slow down. I have three priorities now, Drakos: finding more Champion Paths so that I have more options before choosing my own, finding ways to control the other two Kingdoms, and winning that Race. Right now, we're free anyway, so let's get started on the second objective. Like you said, a Hero is uncontested in the Central Continent. So, let's make a visit to Arafell and Axelor and see what they're up to."

He was supposedly 'resting his mageroot' now so that he could resurrect more people, so he was free for the moment.

First, Daneel headed to Arafell.

He could still remember that seductive Queen who had tried to captivate him during the Olympics. Looking forward to finding out some inside information about her Kingdom, he was about to teleport inside their borders, but stopped when he heard Drakos's scream.

"YOUNG KING, STOP!"

Jerking to a halt in the air, Daneel wondered what the heck was wrong.

"There is a Hero-level formation here which I cannot hide you from. If you choose to enter those borders, the one in charge will know, and they will also find out that I am with you."

What?!

Daneel froze in shock in the air for a few moments, before hastily teleporting in the opposite direction first for safety.

It was only after he was hundreds of kilometers away from their border did he pause and take a deep breath.

Never before had Drakos's Hero-level anti-detection/camouflage spell failed him.

Now, he was supposed to believe that Arafell was somehow in possession of a formation of that level?!

Putting it to the side for the present, Daneel got a stinking suspicion.

To confirm it, he went to the border of the Kingdom of Axelor, before hearing the same message from Drakos.

With extremely furrowed eyebrows, Daneel tried to understand what was going on.

Both the Kingdoms of Arafell and Axelor…were in possession of Hero level formations that surpassed even the Big 4.

Did that mean that…the Empire Spirits there…?

No.

Deciding to not jump to conclusions, Daneel took a deep breath.

Whatever the case inside those Kingdoms was, one thing was clear.

He was definitely not as 'uncontested' on the Central Continent as he had thought he was.

....

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

506 Uncovering Truths

In the quarters of the King in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, Daneel was sitting and staring at Drakos's heart while being completely flummoxed.

Its rhythmic beating seemed to give a semblance of calm to his tumultuous mind, and as time passed, he finally took a deep breath and tried to voice his thoughts.

"So...In both Axelor and Arafell, Empire Spirits are in contact with the respective rulers, and they have deployed formations which will detect if anyone else at their level enters their borders. Did I get that right?"

After a pause, Drakos answered.

"It appears to be so, Young King. Even though the information and techniques contained in each of us is different, this formation is common as it is something basic, but also undefeatable by anyone at that level, which makes it incredibly precious. All it does is detect if anyone at and below the level of a Hero is covertly entering the areas which have been designated. This was originally intended as a safeguard against the Church or other enemies in case of an attack, but clearly, it works against each other among us, too, especially in this age."

"So…why haven't we deployed one on the borders of my Kingdom?"

This was the first damn question that appeared in Daneel's mind.

Those two were aware of all of those who entered their Kingdoms. What about him?!

Drakos had been in his head for quite some time already, but he still hadn't mentioned something so crucial?

An awkward silence followed, during which Daneel could easily guess that Drakos was trying to form an answer that would address the frustration in Daneel's tone when he had asked.

"Err…the answer is that you haven't unlocked it yet, King Daneel. This is one of the formations that is explicitly locked behind the second layer. You don't have enough satisfaction level in your Kingdom for you to unlock it. You can, still, enlist my services as a Formation Master, just like you did before, but certain formations, techniques, and information cannot be given by me unless you unlock them. "

Oh.

Right.

But…How the hell had these two managed to do something which was taking him so long to accomplish?!

Daneel couldn't believe it, but as he thought about it, he realized that he partly knew the answer.

This news actually wasn't that surprising in the case of the Kingdom of Arafell, as it was well known that the Queen was loved by all. Since as long as anyone could remember, not a single incident of someone showing discontent had become known.

This was an almost eerily perfect record, and although Daneel had wondered about it before, he had just assumed that it might be that all incidents like those were being hidden away.

However, now, he realized that that might not be the case.

Maybe…the satisfaction level really was that high?

But how?

This was a question for which he would have loved to find the answer by going to Arafell using Drakos's Hero level spells, but obviously, that wasn't possible anymore.

Still, what about Axelor?

Everyone knew about the famous brainwashing regime of the Kings of Axelor. Rumors about horrific events called 'Purges' were also always abound in the continent.

How the hell could a Kingdom like that have such a high satisfaction level?!

As Daneel asked Drakos this, he got the answer.

"Young King, satisfaction level is a criterion which can be achieved in many ways. The best way, and the way that was intended by the Emperor, is what you are on. It is by doing good to the people and making them feel glad that they are being governed by you. The other way is to use forceful methods. You must be aware that there are different criteria for different Kingdoms. It might be that…whatever criteria was given to the Empire Spirit of Axelor, is being fulfilled very well by what their King is doing."

Right.

Taking another deep breath, Daneel tried to order his thoughts.

The old man in Elanev's head had mentioned this before, but in his shock from having all of his plans dashed, Daneel hadn't been able to remember it. Still, he couldn't have expected that an additional tier would have already been unlocked by that crazy man.

However it had happened, it was done.

Cursing at it would bring no results. Instead, all he could do was amend his plans to accommodate for this fact.

Initially, he was going to take the easy way: he would infiltrate them both using Drakos's spells before finding ways to usurp those leaders or bring them under his influence using something he might find by snooping around in their Kingdoms without their knowledge.

Clearly, that wasn't possible anymore.

So, it was time for a new plan.

Yet…he was blank.

He knew that his spies were practically ineffective in these Kingdoms, and going in by himself using a camouflage spell was out of the question, as there was quite a big risk that he might be spotted by the ruler and caught.

After all, even though covert ways of entry were being blocked, it didn't mean that the formation could check each and every person entering the Kingdom after obtaining proper permission.

After asking Drakos and finding out that this was true, Daneel heaved a sigh of relief before once again starting to consider what he was going to do.

If camouflage was out of the question…then what?

Normal means of concealment using physical props was also too risky, and he knew that he definitely did not want to get caught inside their Kingdom without Drakos. That would definitely be the worst thing that could happen, even if he was a Peak Exalted Warrior at the moment.

So, while Daneel pondered, he was quite surprised when he heard Drakos speak up.

"Young King, I think you are overlooking something."

Raising an eyebrow, Daneel wondered what he could have missed that the innocent Dragon hadn't.

"What's that?", he asked, slightly hopeful that it was something important.

"They do not know that you have reached the requisite satisfaction level and taken me into your mind. Yet, because of their formations, you know that they have definitely at least reached the second tier. And we can also ascertain that both of them are, most probably, those who haven't gone insane, as if they had, they would have attempted full possession by now, and Angaria would have been doomed. This means that they are in the Race, and they want their 'contenders' to win."

"…".

For once, Daneel was stupefied.

Right!

By putting up those formations, these two had practically exposed themselves for the sake of safety. They were like fearful humans who lit a fire for light, but had indicated to the animals around them about their location through this action.

He was just like one of those predators in the darkness. No one knew that Drakos was in his mind. Even if it was now public that he had become a Peak Exalted Warrior, he had a reason for that which wouldn't bring the suspicion on the Empire Spirit.

In other words…if he managed to infiltrate them, they would never know what hit them.

Yes!

Finally, Daneel saw a ray of sunshine in the darkness. This was good news. Even though he didn't know exactly how he was going to do that, he now at least had an advantage that he wouldn't be foolish to throw away.

Yet, as he ruminated over Drakos's words, he suddenly got a doubt.

"Why are they so interested in this Race, by the way? What do they get if their 'contender' wins? Don't tell me they, too, revere the Emperor like you?"

"That…is also locked information, Young King. But I can give you a hint. It has everything to do with the Grand Inheritance. Whoever assembles it, will be capable of doing something that will highly benefit the Empire Spirits."

As Daneel heard this, he couldn't help but smile at the corner of his mouth.

Clearly, Drakos was getting better at becoming, well, 'human', but Daneel didn't know if that, too, would count as risking him going berserk.

He really hoped that that wasn't the case.

After all, Drakos had just given Daneel all the clues. Even though he didn't spell it out loud, the answer was clear.

Apparently, the Grand Inheritance would allow its wielder to free an Empire Spirit from their captivity.

This only made Daneel feel curious and excited about just what the Grand Inheritance was.

He knew that each part came in pairs, and that there were 9 of them, meaning 18 total individual pieces.

He had 2 parts, and so did Axelor.

Arafell had at least one part, but for some reason, Daneel suspected that it might have more, simply because of his suspicion that there was more to the Kingdom of Arafell than met the eye.

Wait…hadn't that old man been the one who sensed the parts and said that Axelor was leading?

Wouldn't he know how many parts Arafell had?

Getting a brainwave, Daneel immediately rushed to that training room where Elanev was still pounding himself bloody against all the training apparatus there.

Whatever the purpose and goal of this training was, Daneel could tell that it was very excruciating, which made him slightly pity his brother.

Yet, it was his choice.

As soon as he entered the room, Elanev swooned to the floor without even greeting him.

The old man, who had appeared behind him again, said, "He was already dead tired. What do you need me for, boy?"

Not in the mood to banter, Daneel directly asked, "How many parts of the Grand Inheritance does Arafell have?"

For the first time, Daneel saw the old man with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

Scratching his smooth, bald head, he said, "The ruler of that dump with those so-called 'Giants' is in the Race? How do you know?"

So-called Giants?

Anyway, that wasn't the important point right now.

"Yes…I tried to enter their Kingdom, but Drakos said that there was a detection formation there that can only be accessed by someone who's unlocked two tiers. That means that the Queen must have unlocked the formation in her Kingdom and gotten the part, right?"

Hitting his palm with his other hand, a look of realization came on the old man's face.

"So that's why I always had a prickly feeling whenever I entered that Kingdom! I was being watched! Dammit!"

Daneel patiently waited for the old man to continue, as he had begun using some very choice curse words to refer to the Queen of Arafell.

After a few seconds, the old man finally said, "Anyway, the answer is that I have no idea. I'm a Fighter, you know?! I can detect the parts of the Grand Inheritance if they aren't being concealed, and if I'm near them. That's how I found the parts on you. Clearly, that bitch in that Kingdom must have concealed it. My clones have gone to both Kingdoms, but I got no feeling like that in Axelor. Did Drakos say that that formation is up in Axelor, too?"

As Daneel nodded, the old man continued, saying, "I knew it! I felt that there, too. And here I thought the Race has just started. Clearly, there are others on the track, but they're so far away from you that you can't even see them!"

Ignoring this jab, Daneel asked the doubt that he had just gotten.

"If you can't detect the parts of the Grand Inheritance when they are concealed, and if someone who can conceal them can also cast that anti-detection spell…then how were you able to detect the pieces in Axelor?"

As this realization dawned on the old man, too, his eyes widened, before both of them blurted out the answer together.

"It means that Axelor was deliberately not concealing the parts!"

That was the most obvious conclusion. If the King of Axelor was able to put up that formation with the help of his Empire Spirit, then it meant that he could cast that concealment spell, too.

Yet, he had chosen not to.

Daneel wondered why, and as he reached an answer, his eyes lit up with enthusiasm.

"Maybe…it's a trap? Maybe the Axelorian King wants to lure the other participants in the Race to his Kingdom by not concealing his parts? It's not a very hidden trap, but what's to say that some cocky contender might not choose to march in anyway…"

If this was the case, then a plan slowly started to form in Daneel's mind.

Yet, he had to finish his present pending jobs first.

Letting it ruminate in his mind, Daneel spent the next two days 'resurrecting' all of the elves, following which his status in their hearts became more solid than it could ever be.

The vote had passed smoothly, and although those elves in the court looked like they would cause trouble, nothing had happened so far.

The morning of the next day, the auspicious time of officially signing the alliance approached.

Under the gaze of the court and the blessings of the citizens, Eldra finished her last official act as the Queen.

Yet, just as Daneel was about to sign the document, too, with his blood, a loud sound interrupted him.

Looking up, he saw with shock that a hole had just appeared in the Palace, outside which stood two figures who were looking at him with scorn.

Before they said anything, Drakos spoke in his mind, making Daneel's heart skip a beat.

"Young King…the two of them are Heroes."

....

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

507 Attack 1

The King of Lanthanor's jaw dropped as he viewed the two figures standing in the air and looking at him as if he were an insect.

Their emotions were quite clear in their eyes and their expressions. It was apparent that both of them thought that they were highly superior to him, and that it was quite a boon for him to even look at them.

The one on the left was a tall, thin man wearing very tight-fitting black clothes with a robe underneath. His eyes had an additional aspect of rabid craziness, almost as if he were a mad dog that had been released from its leash. He reminded Daneel vaguely of the Mad Doctor, but that man's madness couldn't even come close to what he was seeing here.

As for the other figure, he was quite strange.

He was very short. According to Daneel's estimation, he was definitely not taller than 3 feet.

He wore a top hat as if to add more height to his figure, and he was wearing a very old-fashioned three-piece suit complete with a monocle.

All in all, he seemed to be some high-class noble that had mistakenly walked into this scene.

The thin man's lips curled as he observed the King of Lanthanor viewing him, following which a loud sound appeared greeted Daneel's ears.

Boom!

Crack!

The first was a sonic boom, as the thin man had just shot toward Daneel at a blinding speed.

As for the other, it was the sound of the many glass windows in the Palace breaking at once due to the vibrations of the man's movement.

Actually, he wasn't moving that fast, and if Daneel activated the Basilisk's Breath, he was pretty confident that he could hope to dodge the blow.

Of course, Daneel did no such thing, as no one could know that he was in possession of such a high-grade inheritance.

Boom!

A foot landed squarely in the middle of his chest, making him fly back due to the momentum and crash through the throne before exiting the palace itself.

Instead of landing the kick and stepping back, the thin man had followed along with Daneel while the latter flew, keeping his foot in contact with Daneel's chest.

Only when the King lost momentum and was about to fall to the ground did he finally move a little bit back, before launching another kick from above that shot Daneel to the ground, instead of letting him fall freely.

Thankfully, they were still in the area of the Palace, which meant that there was only soft ground below Daneel.

With another loud sound, he landed in a large crater and coughed out blood.

Daneel wasn't even faking it. He really was pretty injured, as he had neglected the system's warning which had been given right before impact. If he wanted, he could have asked the system to deploy multiple levels of barriers which would have easily decreased the amount of damage he would take, but again, it would expose that he was in possession of so many more tricks up his sleeve than he let on to the outside world.

So, he took the full brunt of this attack and was a little surprised when the system told him that it was merely at the Amateur Champion level.

Wasn't this man a hero?

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

As soon as this question appeared in Daneel's mind, he felt that same foot on his chest again, which seemed to be the favorite spot of this man. He pressed down right above his heart, making Daneel scream out with pain while trying to use both his hands to get that foot off the top of his chest.

"Hello, King. Am I addressing you with enough respect?", he asked sarcastically, while pressing down more and more and making Daneel continuously cough up the blood that had appeared in his throat due to his internal organs getting severely damaged.

It was nothing life-threatening as he was, after all, a Peak Exalted Warrior, but it was definitely tremendously painful.

Again and again, Daneel was tempted to just use everything he had and escape. He was definitely capable of that, even if there was a Hero level formation here which was negating teleportation.

However, where would he run to? These two would simply redirect their wrath towards Lanthanor, which was something that Daneel couldn't afford.

So, hoping that this man would get to the point after this 'activity' which was clearly just a show of force in order to make him understand that he was beneath them, Daneel continuously screamed with pain, acting as if he was too distracted in order to cast a spell to put up resistance.

He had already told the system to let him know if he needed to do anything to make it appear as if he was just a normal, hapless Peak Exalted warrior, but it seemed that he was already acting quite well.

Crack!

After 10 seconds, the constant pressure made his ribs crack even though they were quite strong due to his Fighter body, which resulted in him starting to wonder whether this guy really wanted to kill him and wasn't just playing with him for fun.

Anger kept trying to rise up inside him, yet Daneel kept squashing it down.

He knew that this was definitely not the time or place to give in to his emotions, as he was in a very precarious position. He didn't even know what these two Heroes were here for, so he had to be as careful as possible in order to not give away any secrets that would definitely put him in trouble.

That anger kept roaring that he was a King who should never let anyone step down on him like this, yet he reigned it in. He didn't try to completely abolish it. Instead, he only kept telling it that he would have his chance, but until then, it would have to control itself.

By this point, a bloody imprint of that foot had already appeared on his chest, and he had already screamed himself hoarse. That damn foot would soon make contact with his heart, after which things would start getting serious.

Typically, the pain should have been the hardest thing to endure, but this wasn't that much of a problem for Daneel who had gone through so much more in his prior experiences. His repeated fights in the Hidden Kill Sect, themselves, had been more painful than this.

Besides, he could even ask the system right now to switch off the sensations, but he didn't do this for two reasons: one, he couldn't guarantee that his acting would be genuine enough, and two, he wanted to feel it all so that he could inflict so much more when it was his time to take revenge.

So, the King of Lanthanor held on, right until the point where that short man appeared floating above him and tapped on the other man's shoulder before saying, "Enough. We can't kill him yet."

With a snarl, the thin man stepped back and angrily threw something into the open, bloody cavity on Daneel's chest.

All this time, he had been reveling in the screams of pain and the expression of agony on the King of Lanthanor's face. Each scream seemed like it was music to his ears, and Daneel had even gotten the feeling that he was trying hard not to break out into joyous laughter.

If it hadn't been established before that this man was mad, then there were no more doubts now.

That something was a green ball of goo, and just as Daneel was about to suspect that this might be another torture device, he was told by the system that it was some sort of freezing agent that would more or less freeze the wound and make it become harmless. Healing spells could heal that injury at their own pace, while not fearing that the injury would obstruct the remaining process of the body, as this green goo also seemed to be able to mimic the anatomy of a human and replace whatever was broken temporarily.

Whatever this was, it was definitely so much more advanced than all of the healing techniques in the Central Continent and even in the damn Sect of Hedon. However, when Daneel asked, he was told by the system that the Mad Doctor had written down something about this vaguely in the data that he had collected from his house. Apparently, it was a signature technique of a different member of the Big Four.

Regretfully, he had neglected to mention the name.

Right now, only a few vestiges of that pain was left, which made Daneel understand that it was finally time for words and not screams.

Staggering to his feet, he clutched at his chest where the green goo had become rock hard. Raising a shaking finger, he asked, "W-Who are you?"

His dignity as a King was still present, but it was apparent that it was quite shaken.

As he saw the reactions of the two Heroes, he understood that this had been their objective in the first place.

"Not so regal and grand now, are we? Now that we've established that you're just a fly that I can stamp on whenever I wish, let's have a discussion, shall we?"

Once again, the thin man spoke. His voice was raspy, almost as if it was being forced out of someone who was very sick. Flicking his finger, he bound Daneel's hands and legs with invisible cords before making him float up into the air and follow them as they flew back to the Palace.

The scene at the Palace was very strange. At least 30 seconds had passed since the attack, and usually, one would expect that there would be panic or at least some action being taken by all of these premier elves of the Kingdom of Eldinor.

Yet, they were all frozen, as if time itself had stopped.

"Young kKng, this is the formation which freezes the bodies of those below the Champion level. It was typically used when high-level beings wanted to have a chat at a place where those of lower power also present. To them, after this is lifted, it will seem as if no time has passed, when in reality, they have been made to stand like puppets who are at the whim of whoever activated the formation."

So that was what this was.

Well, it was definitely much less impressive than something which might really stop time, but it was still pretty marvelous.

Of course, Daneel made himself look astonished, as if he couldn't comprehend at all what was going on.

"These primitive monkeys always think that we stop time. Hey, puny King. They've just been frozen solid. Look."

Saying so, the thin man walked up to one of the elves and pushed him at his forehead with his finger.

The elf fell back, causing a domino effect where all of those behind and around him also started to fall, looking as if they were just stone statues.

This made the thin man chuckle, before he walked forward and stamped his foot down on the face of the elf that he had pushed first.

Squish!

Only a blurry mess was left, which made Daneel understand just how much this man had been holding back before when he had had his foot on his chest.

Turning around and seeing the round eyes of the King of Lanthanor, the thin man said, "Don't be so shocked. He is actually the reason we are here. One of them, at least."

With another flick of his finger, 15 elves suddenly un-froze and looked around with stupefied expressions on their faces.

As Daneel viewed them, he finally understood what was going on.

These were the 15 who had had very disapproving expressions back when the alliance had been proposed.

Clearly, in an attempt to stop it, they had contacted the Big Four, which had brought these two down here.

But if so, why the hell had they attacked Daneel? To stop the alliance?

The next second, Daneel got the answer to this question, as the short man seemed to have lost his patience.

Adjusting his monocle, he spoke in an impatient tone.

"Cut the bullshit, Kojak. You know we don't have much time. We're just here using the alliance as an excuse. Just make him hand over his inheritance, and we can leave. I'm very curious about how he went from being a normal Human to an Exalted Warrior in a matter of years."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

508 Attack 2

As soon as Daneel heard that sentence appear from the mouth of the short man, relief flooded through him.

That was it?!

In the worst case, Daneel had been expecting that maybe his collaboration with the Empire Spirit might have gotten exposed, which would definitely lead him to be subjected to many awkward questions, before probably getting killed. Of course, the chances for this were slim, but he couldn't rule it out completely.

Next to that, his other biggest fear was that they had gotten to know that he was in possession of some very top tier inheritances such as the Art of the Withering Leaf and the Basilisk's Breath. He knew just how much the Big Four valued inheritances, so he had no wish whatsoever of having their greedy eyes fall on him.

Or, it could also be possible that some of his schemes might have been exposed, which would once again lead to some very unneeded suspicions.

Thankfully, none of these were the case.

Ever since that moment when he had exposed his power when pushing away and abolishing that veil of death, Daneel had been prepared for someone to come along like this.

After all, it was pretty incredible when one thought about it. It had only been a couple of years, but he had somehow risen from being a normal Human to a Peak Exalted Warrior.

He knew that ever since the Olympics, many people must have already been keeping an eye on him due to that spell he had used which had saved the day. Just like Marcus and the Matron had said, he was already under suspicion of having a very high-level inheritance, and the only reason he hadn't been bombarded by stray individuals on the Path to Power was that Marcus was supposedly protecting him in return for him saving his son.

Now, with this very grand exposure of his baffling strength, Daneel knew that he would definitely be under their scopes so much more.

Yet, what he didn't understand was why this was so appealing to those from the Big Four, who were in possession of inheritances that must definitely have similar methods of making something like what happened to him possible, even though they might need a lot of materials in the process.

Knowing that he would soon find out the answer for that, Daneel feigned panic.

Seeing this, the thin man started to laugh loudly, while the 15 elves who had been frozen finally gathered their bearings.

However, instead of kneeling or showing some sort of respect, one of them asked, "Are you from the Big Four?"

Bang!

The next second, a hole appeared in the head of the elf, making him slump to the ground lifelessly while the other 14 watched on.

"That is not the tone to use when you are speaking to someone whom you should pray to as God. Kneel, you monkeys."

Surprisingly, it wasn't the thin man who did this. It was the short one, who had gotten an expression of extreme irritation as soon as he heard the tone of the elf.

Daneel had been hoping that at least one of them might have a clearer head which he could appeal to, but seeing that that wasn't the case, he sighed, realizing that this was probably going to result in so much more pain for him.

Well, there would just be that much more pain to inflict when he got his chance.

Hearing this, the 14 elves initially panicked but let go of their egos.

They kneeled low, but the short man raised one hand and made force bear down on their backs, making them kneel even lower, until their legs finally gave out and made them lie on the floor on their stomachs.

This made a smile finally appear on his face, as if he was happy that their heads were no longer above his.

From this, Daneel could gather that the short guy was definitely very touchy about his height.

"Which of you drafted that request that you sent to the Big Four?", asked the short man, while the thin one just folded his arms behind his back and kept watching while standing beside Daneel.

"Pray that you never get on his bad side. Later on, when we ask, you better give the right answer, or he will be giving you the full course of the King of Torture."

Hearing the thin man say this, Daneel raised an eyebrow, as he had been thinking that if anyone could hold that title, then it would be this guy who had been taking so much pleasure in inflicting pain on him.

As if reading his mind, he chuckled and said, "Hey, I just like seeing others squeal! But that guy… that guy lives to cause pain. For me, it's just a pastime."

By this time, the short man had reached the 14 elves

"A-All of us," answered one of them in a shaky voice, which made the smile on the face of the thin man extend even further.

Daneel got a bad feeling, but even before he could form another thought, loud screams suddenly started to reverberate in the Royal Court of the Palace, following which a very disgusting smell of burning flesh reached Daneel's nose.

With horror, he saw that these 14 were being roasted alive.

"That's what they get for impetuously demanding the Big 4 to step in and stop the alliance. Cretins should learn to beg, not demand."

The thin man said this under his breath, which made Daneel finally understand the whole situation.

These 15 stupid elves must have known about the unspoken rule in Angaria which stated that alliances shouldn't be formed. With their puffed up egos, they must have somehow obtained a method of contacting the Big Four and used that to send an impetuous request that brought these two here.

It was quite obvious that what these Heroes hated more than anything else was having to see people who they considered to be much lower than them acting as if they had any value in front of them.

After an entire minute, the screaming finally died down before stopping. Daneel had been observing the short guy, and just like the other one had said, he could tell that the exultation and pleasure that he was receiving from hearing the screams was on another level.

In the case of the latter, it had just been leisurely enjoyment, but for the former, it seemed to be like a drug with which he could not live without.

Yes, the shorter one was definitely the more deranged of the two.

Why were so many Champions and Heroes so f*cking crazy?

This question appeared in his mind, and Daneel resolved to ask Drakos about this later as it looked like his interrogation had just begun.

This time, he was supposed to be prepared, so as he saw the short guy cast the spell to cause flames to appear around him just like he had done with the others, Daneel immediately conjured a barrier which protected him.

However, with a frown, the short man waved his hand, following which the flames grew to a blinding intensity for a brief second thereby shattering the barrier before returning to a more normal temperature that started to make Daneel sweat.

"Resist, and you'll regret it. You already heard the question. Answer."

The temperature constantly increased, which was indicative of the sweat on Daneel's body that soon started to have to run through multiple blisters that appeared on his skin due to the heat.

He was gritting his teeth hard in an attempt not to scream, but he couldn't resist anymore.

Once again, he told himself the same things as before, while his screams reverberated in the room, replacing those of those elves.

"Alright, I'll tell you!", he said finally, just as some of his blood started to evaporate from the heat.

He had judged that this might be the level of pain at which people usually cracked, and it looked like that was the case, as a smile appeared on the face of the short man as soon as he heard this.

Stopping the flames, he once again adjusted the monocle and waited for the answer.

"I… found an inheritance on the grounds of the Academy by fluke when I was studying there. I didn't use it until it became King, as I was simply not in possession of enough resources. It was in the form of a square block of stone that had strange inscriptions on it, and I didn't even know what it was until a Ker Gem fell on it by chance.

"After that, a lot of information entered my mind as I touched it, and in that information was a specific location east of here where I found a pool that had some sort of shining liquid inside it. I entered that pool and almost went crazy because of the pain, but I endured and walked out a Peak Exalted warrior. The slab is even on my body! Please take it, and leave me!"

Daneel made sure that when he spoke, the answer still contained just a tiny bit of pride, as a King would definitely not completely break down even in the face of agonizing pain.

Both of these Heroes spotted that, but they ignored it for the moment after hearing the answer.

They started to whisper among themselves, but Daneel could guess what they were talking.

He had spun the story and also gone to huge lengths in order to make it look authentic, going so far as to even make that fake pool and leave behind the residue of the same liquid that had caused him to jump forward in power in that cave where the Black Raven Empire Spirit had been hiding out.

Of course, he had worked with Drakos while coming up with this, and according to the Ancient Dragon, there were a few eccentric people who left behind locations like these. Apparently, many of them should have been found in the history of this continent, so it wouldn't be too surprising if one more was unearthed.

As for the stone slab, again, it was made with the help of Formation Master Drakos who assured him that it would definitely fool any Hero alive.

A few seconds later, the thin man walked up to Daneel and searched his body before extracting that stone slab with glistening eyes.

"For your sake, I hope that at least a little of the Ker Roots or materials that were used are left behind. Otherwise, our trip would be for naught, which would make us VERY pissed."

Hearing this, slight alarm passed through Daneel's mind, as he finally realized their goal.

It was so god damn simple! It was just simple greed!

By now, he knew that Ker Roots were very rare materials that would even be lusted aster by Heroes. Hence, it really was a mystery regarding how the Mad Doctor had obtained one, but that question was something he would have to leave for another day.

According to Drakos, Ker Roots were so beneficial that both Heroes and Champions could use them effectively to train, which meant that these two simply wanted resources for themselves, instead of coming here after discovering something earthshattering such as some of Daneel's true secrets.

The thin man immediately teleported away, and returned after two minutes with a deep frown on his face.

Looking at the short guy, he shook his head, which made the flames return on Daneel's body.

Of course, there was no residue of Energy left at all, as Daneel had absorbed it all during his breakthrough. If there was any left, there was no way that he would have left it lying around in that location.

What now? Surely, they weren't contemplating killing him, right?

The sentence uttered by the thin guy under his breath confirmed Daneel's suspicion, and made him wonder whether he would be really exposing some of his secrets today after all.

"Screw that mandate. Let's just kill them."

The short man nodded, following which the flames started to increase to that blinding intensity again that would definitely result in Daneel's body turning into ash.

"STOP!"

A voice suddenly interrupted them, while a barrier appeared around Daneel, protecting him.

A man with broad shoulders and bulging muscles appeared in front of him, and as the two Heroes saw him, anger appeared on their faces.

"You two have already established that there is nothing for you here. Leave him be. If not, I, Marcus, will have to step in."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

509 Attack End

"Pfft. You? A mere Peak Champion wants to fight against two Heroes? You must have a deathwish!"

An expression of amusement appeared on the face of the thin man, before he cackled wildly.

Saying these words while laughing, he wiped the tears that had appeared due to his abrupt laughter.

Marcus glanced back at Daneel, and as he did so, Daneel saw an expression of resolve on his face.

"Yes. A debt is a debt. You'll have to go through me if you want to kill him."

"Enough."

Boom!

A blazing inferno suddenly came into being around Marcus, and just the residue heat that got through the barrier made Daneel's skin blister even further.

He could imagine the immense temperature that Marcus must be being subjected to, so when he saw the man just thrust his hands out and form a solid white barrier which managed to resist the fire, he was pretty surprised.

"Hmm. A pure Fighter. Impressive."

Drakos said this in his head, which made Daneel raise both his eyebrows.

So Marcus was a pure Fighter, too, just like that old man?

"Does that make him stronger or something?", asked Daneel, which made Drakos ponder for a bit before answering.

"Not always. But in this case, this man's path is oriented toward defense, and defensive Fighters are some of the toughest beings to deal with. Back in the Empire, they were called 'cockroaches', which wasn't an insult in any way as the term was used to refer to their attribute of surviving no matter what was thrown at them."

As realization flashed across Daneel's face, he suddenly felt glad that he had unwittingly saved this man's son during the Olympics. He would have done that even if there was no reward associated with it, so it was quite surprising to see someone like this who considered it a debt and was also willing to go so far in order to repay it.

Such people were rare.

"Humph! Quick! He must have informed the Head! Just kill them both before he comes!"

Nodding, the thin man extended his hands, too, which made a strange change come over the inferno.

Until now, it had been in the form of a globe of white flames around them that had already melted everything, including the walls and the floor. They were floating in space while those flames were pushing ever inward to devour them, with only Marcus's barrier in the way. Daneel had considered whether to add his own barriers in order to help, but he rejected that as he could detect that they would be pretty useless.

This temperature…was just a little bit too much.

A Hero wasn't someone to be scoffed at, after all.

The change that came upon this globe of fire was that large, barbed thorns had appeared around it. They seemed to be made of a strange purple material, and as Daneel viewed them with his elemental vision, he saw that the sheer complexity of the elemental make up of that material was dizzying.

Right after the thorns appeared, they were given way by the flames, and as they came into contact with the barrier, a very weird phenomenon was seen.

As they latched on to the barrier and pulled, small holes started appearing, almost as if the thorns were capable of pulling away the Energy that Marcus was using somehow without having a Mageroot.

The holes were tiny, but they were enough to cause the temperature inside to rise abruptly.

Marcus screamed with defiance. He had stretched his arms outward to conjure the barrier, and he pushed forward with them now, willing the barrier to become whole again.

Yet, no matter how many times he did that, the thorns kept poking holes.

Thankfully, Daneel's barrier was still fine, which meant that although the temperature he was being subjected to had risen to a level where he had no other choice but to deploy his own barrier to make sure that he wouldn't burn up to a crisp, it was still nothing compared to what was outside.

Even Marcus's Champion level body seemed to be unable to resist. His skin started to blister and crack before falling off, yet, miraculously, Daneel watched as new skin popped up quickly and tried to cover up his flesh and muscles.

However, there seemed to be a limit. After 5 times of this happening, no new skin appeared, which meant that Marcus's naked body soon became devoid of skin, leaving behind a grotesque figure of just flesh, muscles and bones.

The clothes which looked precious had melted away long ago, and there were only a few shreds of skin left.

At this moment, Daneel's anger reached a level where he couldn't control it anymore. This man had come here to protect him, yet he was being roasted alive in front of him.

If it weren't for Drakos and the system both telling him that Marcus's vitality was still strong, he would have stepped in long ago.

It felt as if a long time had passed since Marcus arrived, but in reality, barely 2 seconds had elapsed.

Yet, Marcus was at his limit. It seemed that facing 2 people who were a major level above him was no joke.

Daneel had observed that even though his skin was gone, there was some sort of invisible layer which was protecting the rest of him. Even that started to fail now, as even the flesh underneath it had started to melt.

Enough was enough.

Taking a moment, Daneel first imprinted the faces of these two Heroes into his memory. Fury consumed him, while he resolved that he would definitely get his revenge on them.

"Drakos, prepare to teleport us away.", he said, as he had decided that he wouldn't let someone die for him.

He would never be able to live with it.

The reason he was concealing Drakos's existence was that historically, no matter what type of possession it was, the Big 4 would always hunt those that got the approval of Empire Spirits.

Yet, it didn't matter to Daneel anymore. Whatever would come, he would just handle it rather than regret later that he had let someone die while defending him when he had the ability to stop it.

Such was his bottom line, and he wasn't willing to cross it.

"A moment, Young King. I sense someone approaching."

As Daneel heard this from the Ancient Dragon, his tense mood finally relaxed, but he didn't let that show on his face.

BAM!

With a loud sound, another hole appeared in the Palace of Eldinor, and this time, it was caused by an immaculately dressed man with a neat, short beard.

"Enough, you two.", he said, and his words seemed to contain a power that immediately made the two Heroes drop their hands.

They appeared extremely agitated for a second, but following that, they nodded, which made both the globe of fire and the thorns disappear.

Marcus collapsed to the ground, while Daneel did the same, as he, too, was grievously injured.

Yet, he suddenly experienced a familiar feeling go through him.

It was as if light had somehow turned solid and entered his body before going through it and healing him in the process.

He felt rejuvenated, as if he had just had a great night's sleep.

The goo turned to liquid and fell away, while Daneel slowly stood up and took a deep breath.

This….was a true healing spell.

From the Mad Doctor's journals, he knew that it could only be cast by those highly talented in healing skills. The last time he had experienced it was when the Matron had used the spell to heal him when he had been close to death due to the actions of the black-robed man in the Black Raven Kingdom.

Marcus, however, didn't get the same treatment. He was enclosed in a white, glowing ball before he floated in the air and appeared beside the newly arrived man.

"I've got my eye on you two now. You dared to try this stunt because the punishment was just a century of isolation, right? Well, I'm changing the rule. Henceforth, the mandate will state that if anyone lays a hand on an integral figure in the Central Continent, or goes on a rampage for any reason, their resources will be cut away for 10 years, and they will also be locked in my house. You two know how much I like to entertain my guests with my flute skills."

As soon as that old man said the last sentence, shudders of fear passed through both the Heroes.

Huh? Why were they scared of a simple flute?

"Get out of here. I'll clean up. And spread this to the others."

Nodding, the two Heroes shot a glance at Daneel before teleporting away.

Their expressions said that this wasn't over, and Daneel agreed.

The most frustrating thing was that he didn't even know why they had wanted to kill him so much. It had looked like it was just irritation that they hadn't been able to obtain what they came for, but something told him that there might be more to it.

Still, whatever it was, he would find out when the time came for them to bear the full wrath of his fury.

After the two disappeared, the old man sighed as he saw the 15 dead elves.

Pointing his finger at each of the three holes, he made them go back to normal using a spell that looked like it was reversing time.

From Drakos, Daneel found out that this was a high-level Hero spell that could detect the previous state of something and return it to that status.

After the Palace returned to normal, the old man looked at Daneel and said, "Finish your business here. If someone notices that those elves are missing, tell them that they were killed by the Big 4 because they plotted against their own Kingdom's wishes. I'll come back later to talk to you. They will be un-frozen in 1 minute after my departure."

Seeing the King of Lanthanor nod dazedly, the old man turned around and was about to fly away, but he turned his head and left one last sentence before leaving.

"One last thing. His debt to you is cleared. You're on your own from now."

This time, Daneel nodded firmly.

Yes, his debt was more than cleared.

After he watched the old man and the glowing white ball which contained Marcus fly away, he turned back to the court and saw that everything had been frozen from the moment when those two had appeared.

So, the document of the alliance was still on the carved table in the center, and Eldra was still waiting for him to sign with a smile.

The only difference was that 15 elves out of the 100 or so in the room were missing, but that wouldn't be noticed in a short period of time.

So, Daneel just took his place again. Exactly after a minute, time seemed to resume.

Daneel signed the document, and history was made. The First Alliance came into being, but little did the others know that such a dangerous event had taken place right before this consequential event.

What followed was the official process of Eldra surrendering her post to Katerina, stating that she felt guilty that something like this had occurred without her being able to stop it. The people implored her to stay, stating that they didn't blame her even though some had seen her like that on that day, but she just told them that she would still help them in every way she could.

Katerina was welcomed as Queen by all, mainly because of the right chords that she had struck in all the elves of the Kingdom by taking up charge in those horrific moments. Everyone remembered her as the resourceful leader who had stood by them even though they were all scared, and this was exactly what Daneel had wanted.

Finally, a few hours later, he was sitting in a room with the two beautiful elves in front of him.

First, he recited the truth behind the deaths of those 15 elves, which had caused a stir that had been put on hold due to all the events.

As shock flashed across the faces of both the elves, Daneel stated the thing that he had been waiting to say for a long time.

He had been looking forward to this eagerly, and now that it was here, he couldn't control his excitement, which was already high because of the rewards he had obtained from the system after the signing which he had put away to explore again carefully later, after this day was done.

"I need all the Enchanters you can muster for a very, very ambitious project of mine that will change the face of this continent, forever."

....

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff - can be anything related to the events/characters of this book

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

510 A Night Under the Stars

[Achievement 'Building Blocks of An Empire' unlocked.

Building Blocks of An Empire: Few Empires rise from nothing. By openly allying with a Kingdom, you have gotten yourself your first vassal state! Congratulations on showing your true colors as a World Dominator! Now, all that remains is to gather enough blocks and dominate the world!

100,000 EXP obtained.]

For the 5th time, Daneel asked the system to repeat the notification.

A lopsided smile was on his face, while he sipped spiced wine from a crystal glass.

It was night time in the Kingdom of the Elves, and because of the elevation, he had to admit that it was truly beautiful.

After a long meeting with Katerina and Eldra who had needed to take time even to comprehend the scale of what he was talking about, he had hashed out a lot of details with them before they chose to return for the night.

He had had the option to go back to Lanthanor, but he had chosen to stay, as he still had matters to settle here. Hence, he had been given the grandest guest room there was which had a large balcony in which he was now sitting.

100,000!

Now that was a damn windfall!

It had taken this much EXP to upgrade the system to its present level. Yet, he had just earned this much in one go.

He couldn't believe it, but he really felt happy.

The matter of those two Heroes was already tucked away in his mind, not affecting him anymore. At the end of the day, they were just pesky flies whom he would squat as soon as he had the ability.

Daneel wasn't the kind to go into an intense vengeful wrath, especially when they hadn't even done anything except cause a little pain, which was only comparable to a pinch when he remembered what he had been through in the pool during his breakthrough.

However, Marcus's actions stayed back in his mind, making him understand that there were also such noble people among the Big 4. Sometimes, he had no option but to wonder whether the Big 4 was completely filled with psychotic lunatics.

Yes, the man's debt was more than paid, and Daneel even felt that he might be in debt, himself, especially if that fight caused any long-lasting damage to the noble guy.

He was slightly worried about what that old man might want to talk to him about, but Daneel was pretty sure that it might just be to explain something about the Big 4, or to warn him about the alliance.

He had been expecting this, too, which was one of the reasons he had chosen to 'weaken' Lanthanor.

A full scale, open alliance would have really brought a ton of problems which he didn't want to handle at all right now.

Taking a few more sips, Daneel was about to ask the system how much EXP he had in total, but he was interrupted by Drakos's voice.

"A sky like this reminds me of my childhood, before I was found by the Emperor."

This made Daneel choke on the wine.

Before the Emperor found Drakos…wasn't he living with those ferocious beings that brought ruin to the continent? Why was he remembering that now?

As if sensing Daneel's panic, Drakos continued to say, "Don't worry. Then, I only remember lying on my mother's broad head and staring at the stars. She used to point at each and tell me its name in my tongue. I forgot those exact names, but that moment remains with me."

Such an intimate memory was something that Drakos remembered?

Then…wasn't he angry at the Emperor for killing his parents?

Daneel hesitated for a bit, but decided to ask anyway, as Drakos seemed to be in a chatty mood.

"No, Young King. I feel no resentment for my father."

Father?!

Daneel had guessed that this was what Drakos had been about to say all those times when he had had to fumble while addressing the Emperor, but hearing it confirmed was still pretty shocking.

So, the Emperor had…adopted him?

"Yes, my father, Young King. I would not like to hide that anymore. He raised me, taught me everything and made me who I am. What…do you think about the Emperor, Young King? I've noticed that many on this continent treat him like some greedy monster who destroyed his Empire due to his lust for power. That is not the case! To answer your question, let me tell you about one incident that happened when I was, say, 20 years of age when considering that as a Dragon, my lifespan and maturation speed was very different from a human. So, even though I had lived for longer, assume that that was my age."

Refilling his glass, Daneel sat back and stared at the endless sky again, which was probably why this Dragon had entered that melancholy mood.

After a few moments, he continued.

"At that time, I had just come of age, so, as per the rules, I was tested for my specialties before being given an option to choose my career according to my interests and strengths. Yes, even though my father was the Emperor, he wanted me to lead a normal life.

"After I chose the path of a Formation Master, he lead me into a vast forest where the traces of a high-level battle could still be seen even though decades had passed. I asked him where he was leading me, but he wouldn't tell me.

"Soon, we reached an area that looked more devastated than all the others. There was a small stream running along in the ground, but apart from that, each and every rock and plant looked like they had been bombarded with high-level Energy. Again, I asked him where we were, and this time, he told me."

Here, the Ancient Dragon paused, as if what it was going to say was taking a toll on it.

From Drakos's tone, he could tell that this was something very important to the Dragon, so he had already decided not to soil that in anyway.

Hence, he just kept sipping and waited.

"He told me that that was where he killed my parents, and that I had a choice. By that age, I had already learned right and wrong. He told me that I had a choice. I could give in to what was left behind my parents and become a true member of my race, or I could stay with him, as his son. He said that he would honor either decision. He even said that he would help me out even if I chose the former, but if I really did reprehensible things, he would have no option but to hunt me. Yet, he told me about reformed Dragons who fought every day and didn't lose when it came to battling their own instinct to destroy. Young King, you know what I chose. He loved me, with all of his heart, like I was his true son. I had already heard about the disasters wrought by my people, so I had no intention whatsoever of following in their footsteps. I chose him, and for the first time, I saw the mighty Emperor, the man who was revered by millions…shed tears, as if he was nothing but a mortal who was happy."

A mortal man.

For some reason, this story resonated with Daneel, making him, too, get a positive impression of that giant of a man even if he was the same person whom Daneel had seen massacring countless innocent citizens.

Of course, it didn't make him idolize the man, but it did make him wonder whether there really was more to his tale than what was known by everyone.

All in all, Daneel entered a reflective mood which led him to just want to sip more wine and stare out at the sky.

It tasted good, and he had a great view. Sometimes, such little things were enough to satisfy someone.

A few minutes later, Drakos spoke again.

"That is why I get angry when I see him being mentioned by so many in the Big 4 with scorn. He was greater than any of those people can ever be, but they dare to sully his name. He did always say that he didn't care what others thought about him, and that I shouldn't either, but it's hard. You reminded me of him today, Young King. You never flinched once due to all that pain. Not once. Yes, it might look like you were being tormented on the outside, but in reality, you were just calm. I know it."

Raising an eyebrow, Daneel simply nodded, while Drakos continued.

"He told me about many times in his life, too, when he was subject to pain, but he just took it and didn't complain. Each instance taught him a lesson, and gave him the motivation to stride forward. He learned and improved himself with each lesson, until there was no one who could cause him pain, even if he wanted. I believe you two are alike in many ways, Young King."

Daneel knew that Drakos was probably only saying this due to the mood he was in, where he must be missing his father.

So, he just took it in stride and smiled, not saying anything.

Drakos fell silent, too, and Daneel could tell that the overall mood of the Ancient Dragon was better, as if this talk had gone a long way in helping him…mature.

Regardless, Daneel retired, as he knew he had a busy day tomorrow.

The next day, in a large warehouse which was ironically near the spot where Daneel had saved the elf slaves, around 4000 elves were standing and whispering among themselves.

These were some the best of the best Enchanters in the whole Kingdom, and they had been told that King Daneel wanted a word with them.

Most of them had been in the festival, so they had been witness to the glorious feats of the King. Hence, they had been happy to oblige.

They had thought that it might be something random, but seeing that it was only fellow Enchanters who had been called, and that there was an Enchantment table laid down in the center of the warehouse, they understood that it must have something to do with their specialty.

The appointed time came and went, but no one appeared, which made a few grumble slightly.

Around 10 minutes later, when people had just started to get pushy, a display trinket enlarged itself right above the enchanting table.

"Hello, Enchanters of Eldinor. This is King Daneel, and I apologize for making you wait. I'm just dealing with something more…important. That's not to say this meeting isn't important. No, it is very close to my heart, as I have an extremely important task to give to you all. I need you…to find a way to mass produce this trinket. That is the goal. No par on materials, but the time matters. I shall be taking no questions. Just know that…those who succeed, and thus, win this competition will be designated as team leaders in this prestigious project that will make you all famous, as they will have proven that they are better than the rest. Good luck!"

By the time the last sentence was said by the King, the elves in the warehouse were bristling with anger and irritation.

First, it had been communicated to them that they weren't that important.

Then, they had been given a task where, if they lost, it meant agreeing that those who won were superior to them.

To an elf, and to especially these elves who were proud of their craft, both of these were insults which they wouldn't take lying down.

No, they would fight with all of their skill…to win.

As Daneel saw the mad fights filled with enthusiasm that broke out in the warehouse, he chuckled and idly had breakfast in the company of the Queen and the former Queen.

Seeing their looks of puzzlement, he explained, "I've found that nothing makes an elf perform like hurting their ego. So, just a little white lie to spur them along."

The two elves' faces burned as they saw the King's 'white lie' working to great effect, as it made them feel slightly embarrassed that their race could be manipulated so easily.

After he was done with his breakfast, Daneel got started on his agenda for the day.

"So, our first item is to leak news about the expansion of the Network of Angaria."

"What?! Why would we do that? Wouldn't that cause…"

"Pressure on us? Yes, that's exactly what I want. Pressure is…publicity. And whether it's good or bad, publicity is publicity. You two need to understand this. The more people start to talk about this, the more of a success it'll be. So, let's make a plan to perform a successful leak that will cause no suspicions."

Daneel said this and got down to business, but his mind was buzzing with the many ideas he was waiting to implement for this special project of his.

He had neglected to mention one little thing- who they were going to leak it to.

As someone from Earth, Daneel knew about the importance of opposing views in any topic. Competition was crucial in this industry. If there was just one source, then it would be cause for people accusing him of being partial.

So, the solution was to have competitors.

However, what if these competitors…were also secretly controlled by him?

What if he leaked the technology of transmission to only those who were in his control, giving the illusion that there would be competition, whereas, in reality, he would be running the whole show?

Sometimes, Daneel realized that his ideas frightened even him.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

511 Interlude

In his 20 years of experience in running a successful newspaper business, this was the most excited Magnus had ever been.

In his hands was a trinket that he had paid his entire life savings for.

In the Black Raven Kingdom, his office was located in a remote street in the capital which almost no one frequented. Still, because he had always kept his costs low while only publishing the most interesting news, the sales of his newspaper had allowed him to lead a comfortable life while also saving quite a bit of money due to his frugal nature.

Yet, all that had gone into the trash with the advent of the Network of Angaria.

People no longer wanted to buy newspapers daily to read the local news when there was such a convenient one-time payment method to find out about everything happening throughout the Kingdom.

Besides, whoever was the one heading the Network was definitely a genius. Each and every program, be it the audio skits that were often hilarious or the story narration that many who liked hearing to bards tuned in to, was geared toward a large subset of the audience, meaning that there was always something for everyone.

In other words, he had been on the verge of bankruptcy, even though he knew that he could take money out of his own pocket to make more newspapers.

Yet, who would buy them except the limited few who still wanted to feel parchment in their hands while finding out about the news?

So, Magnus had been prepared to close down his business and look into investing everything he had saved, which was quite a hefty amount, into another business.

Yet, yesterday morning, he had received earth-shattering news from the professional spy whom he had placed in Lanthanor.

After all, the Network was placed in Lanthanor, so he had been hoping that he might obtain important news from the spy about some method with which he could rejuvenate his business.

Never could he have expected that this would pay off in ways that made him wonder whether he was dreaming.

The spy had managed to unearth a very important report, which he claimed would make Magnus one of the richest people in the entire continent. In fact, he had also claimed that he was tempted to sell it to others, but he had no option but to give it to him first because of the oath that had been sworn between them.

Yes, Magnus was also a Mage, albeit just an Amateur one who hadn't been able to progress. Unwilling to enter a dangerous life in the army, he had set up the business which he had hoped would tide him over for his whole life.

The spy was so sure about this piece of news that he had threatened that he would rather not earn anything from it if Magnus didn't agree to the rise in price. Their oath had only been that the spy would give the news to only Magnus, and not to the competitors who might also benefit.

So, Magnus had agreed, forking out his entire fortune and placing it on the table to the side before inviting the spy over.

While the spy bent over his shoulder and waited to see the expression of satisfaction on Magnus's face, the latter unfurled the parchment and went through everything that had been recorded on it.

Each and every word hit him like a blow in the stomach, making his eyes water with excitement as he couldn't believe what he was reading. He even had to wipe them hard to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

The Network of Angaria…was going to undergo such a tremendous improvement that small businesses like his would soon become completely moot. It would be different if they could afford to place people in all Kingdoms to obtain intercontinental news instead of just local, but because no one was that wealthy or had that kind of power, they would definitely be phased out when this update went live.

After all, who would want to read a boring parchment about just local news when they could watch someone talk about it and even show certain images that would make them feel as if they were at the scene?

Besides, nothing even needed to be said about the entertainment factor. All he could do with his paper to entertain people was write a few jokes which few laughed to. On the other hand, this new Network would have live-action plays for them to watch! Comedy, action, romance, mystery- no matter what genre one liked, they would be able to watch things related to it with the press of a button!

This seemed too fantastic to be true, but Magnus trusted that if anyone could pull it off, then it would be Lanthanor, which was home to such innovative and grandly successfully schemes such as the Bank of Angaria.

And to think that he now had a method to take part in that initiative, with them being unable to even do anything about it!

Yes! This was his opportunity!

But…if he was bankrupt, how would he bankroll the plan to capitalize on this opportunity?

"I told you it would be worth the money, right? I'm amazed that I even obtained it. It was sheer luck, but also hard work. You know that Lanthanor is out of Mages, right? So this thing was being transported by an overworked Fighter who knelt over and fainted near me while holding the scroll. I saw that it looked important, so I made a copy of it before placing it back where I found it! No one will know! Heh, I bet you're glad that you employed me-….kkkggghhghh!"

The last word coming from the spy's mouth had been cut off due to the fact that his head had just been separated from his body.

He was just an Amateur Fighter adept at concealing himself, so he had no way to detect the invisible wind blade that Magnus had conjured with great difficulty behind the spy's neck.

Even while his head rolled on the floor in his own blood, the last thing that appeared was a dumbfounded expression, as if the spy couldn't believe that someone who looked as innocent as Magnus, who was just a bald, thin, hunched over old man with a beard, could be capable of such a feat.

Yet, the last moment before he closed his eyes forever, he saw a man step out of the space behind this treacherous old guy who had a smile on his face on seeing the lifeless body of the man who had almost taken away his entire fortune.

Magnus felt the presence of someone behind him, too, but when he turned around, there was no one there.

Shrugging, he got back to the parchment.

Bringing up some estimates, Magnus realized that the amount of money he had wouldn't be enough to enlist an Enchanter to make what he wanted. So, it looked like he would have to take a loan.

Initially, he was going to just take some money from the local moneylender, but an idea appeared in his mind out of nowhere.

It was almost as if someone had whispered it into his ear, but as it appeared in his own mind, he didn't doubt that it was his own.

What he was going to do would make Lanthanor very, very unhappy. He was looking forward to that, as they were the reason behind his decline in business.

Yet, he wanted to make that revenge feel even better.

What if…the money to bankroll this plan of his came from them, too?

Sure, they would earn interest on it, but wouldn't the fact that they had given the money in the first place make their faces burn?

Yes, it would feel so good to see that!

"Bank of Angaria, here I come!", he muttered under his breath, before getting up and leaving the room after locking the door carefully.

Even though it looked like there was only a severed head and a lifeless body in the room, a chuckle soon echoed inside, before it disappeared along with the man who had been standing in a corner while watching everything.

Of course, this was Daneel, and he was truly amused that the first 'competitor' was actually going to take money from his Bank, thereby letting him earn more money.

It was the work of the Mind Control spell he had just placed on the man, but he still had to admit that it was pretty funny.

Straightening his back, Daneel made his way to his next stop, where another 'competitor' was waiting.

An hour or so later, with this task done, he had accomplished two things: one, there were going to be multiple competitors from various areas which would make it look authentic, and two, the Bank of Angaria was soon going to give out a few massive loans that would earn it a lot of money.

All in all, it was a win-win situation for him.

Reaching Eldinor, Daneel took a peek into the warehouses where thousands of Enchanters were hard at work making display trinket after display trinket.

From time to time, many of them would glance at someone particular near them, who was designated as the one to 'lead' them as he or she had proven themselves to be more talented than the rest.

The rule had been laid down that if someone beat their time, then they would take their place.

This was the best motivation for these elves. Unwilling to be under someone who had been their equal until recently, they pushed themselves to work as fast as possible to make more and more portable display trinkets as per the King of Lanthanor's design in as less time as possible.

As Daneel saw the frenzy with which each of them was working, he thought to himself that, maybe, this plan of his to motivate them was going a bit too well.

If he didn't step in, he was afraid that all of them would burn themselves out, which wasn't a good thing at all.

So, putting in place a few countermeasures that would mandate the elves to take periodic rests on a compulsory basis, Daneel made his way to Lanthanor, where he dropping in on Eloise who showed him the grand project that she had embarked on.

Her chest was puffed up with pride, and he had to admit that she was doing a phenomenal job.

The entirety of the underground tunnels of the Lanthanor Kingdom which spanned over hundreds of kilometers were being remapped and repurposed with a very important goal in mind: to make a place which was conducive to recording all sorts of programs that would soon regale the entire continent.

Daneel had been tempted to name it "Hollywood", but he had resisted, knowing that it would make no sense whatsoever.

So, he had left the naming to Eloise, who did a pretty good job.

She named it "Fantasyland" as, in her words, this was a place where the fantasies of everyone in Angaria would take place.

Seeing that everything was progressing smoothly, Daneel made his way to his quarters.

There was still quite a bit of time until the trinkets would get ready to be distributed, and he had already set in progress a plan to market them in as effective a way as possible.

So, for the moment, he was free.

The Kingdom of Arafell came to his mind once again, as he had been ruminating upon it for the past few days.

Again and again, he had been asking himself whether he should take the risk and just go talk to the Queen without Drakos. After all, he had promised her a visit, and she wasn't aware that he wasn't just a normal King.

Finally, after being reminded of the last time when he had decided to play safe, Daneel decided that just a visit, where he would try to unearth things discreetly with just the system, wouldn't be too much of a life-threatening risk.

So, acting decisively, he sent a message to the Queen, who replied right away with much enthusiasm, which did seem a bit suspicious.

Still, pushing that suspicion aside while humorously thinking that she probably just wanted to meet him again so eagerly because she missed him, Daneel gave the orders to publicize the visit, as he wanted to give himself as many methods of safety as possible.

Drakos just told him to be careful, before entering his stone pedestral again.

So, the next day, Daneel found himself at the border of the Kingdom of Arafell, where he had turned back due to that shocking discovery just a few days ago.

Taking a deep breath, he readied himself to finally pry into the mysteries that surrounded this Kingdom of Giants.

....

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff - can be anything related to the events/characters of this book

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

512 Visiting Arafell

With the booming of large drums which was so loud that it felt as if the earth, itself, was shaking, a large retinue made its way towards Daneel.

He had chosen a simple 2-row formation of soldiers, with a small, newly added unit at the back.

It was the elves, who had already begun their integration into his army.

These elves, in particular, were the elite ones who were usually in charge of protecting the Queen. Yet, Katerina had insisted that he should take a part of them, as he currently had almost no mages to field.

So, Daneel had obliged, and he had also been quite happy on seeing the graceful attitude of the elves, who seemed genuinely happy even if they were powerful members of their species who were being commanded by him.

The Queen of Arafell, on the other hand, seemed to have chosen quite the method of pomp.

There was a large, open palanquin which was floating in the air, with two long lines of giants who each stood 8 feet tall banging the drums which had been hung around their necks.

They had proud, smiling expressions on their faces, as if they were truly happy that they could be a part of this retinue.

The rest of the procession consisted of artfully dressed humans, who were all mages, which was indicated by the fact that they periodically raised their hands and made flower-like magic structures appear on the large carpet above which the palanquin that held the Queen was floating.

As for the Queen, she was dressed in a dazzling pink dress that once again exposed her perfect curves while leaving little to imagination. Still, somehow, it only dangerously teetered on the line between decency and indecency, even though the dress looked like it would tear if the Queen breathed too much.

Her features were as extraordinary as he remembered, and her luscious lips glistened in the sun, almost as if she was wearing lipstick, a product he had never seen on Angaria.

This time, he wasn't that weak Mage who had almost fallen prey to the Queen's bewitching spell which would make anyone gazing at her feel attracted and attached to this breathtaking woman. In fact, Daneel guessed that a normal human might even agree to throw away his life at a moment's notice if he asked.

He was a Peak Warrior now, so even though the Queen didn't appear to be using that spell right now, he knew that he could have resisted without the system's help if she even thought it.

Her dress also had a cape, which was held by two rows of women behind her.

As soon as she laid her eyes on the King, she broke out into a pure smile which made Daneel's heartbeat quicken slightly.

Yes, this was definitely one of the most stunning women he had ever seen, even if he counted all the supermodels and actresses he had seen back on Earth.

When her procession neared the massive gate that was on the border of the Kingdom of Arafell, it slowed before finally coming to a halt.

Soon, the drumming stopped, causing silence to befall this area.

The walls weren't as tall or strong as those of Lanthanor, but Daneel knew that the Queen didn't need them. No, with that Hero-level formation available to her, no wall was needed at all.

"Welcome, King Daneel, to my humble Kingdom! Arafell is graced by your presence! The last time a King from Lanthanor visited us, he was gifted a Warrior level weapon. However, you are a Peak Warrior! Hence, I have decided to break the rules and give you one of our most precious weapons. Bos?"

Daneel felt quite shocked when he heard this statement from the Queen.

Ever since he had arrived on Angaria, he had noticed something: weapons weren't as valued here as he had read in all of those novels back on Earth. Even though there were a lot of weapons for specific levels which worked in such a way that only those at the corresponding level could wield the weapon to its full potential, he had seen few who truly showed astonishing power while wielding an inanimate object.

In his view, he had felt that it was because an inanimate object would pale against the creative, mind-bending constructs that a skilled mage could whip up to aid them in battle.

So, weapons were reduced to objects which were most appealing to Fighters, but again, although they would be effective against other Fighters, Mages would be able to kill them from a long distance away before any weapon could reach them.

Only Archery was effective, but even that could be nullified using barriers.

Yet, he had heard mention that a proper weapon made by the legendary weaponsmiths of Arafell using the exclusive techniques passed down for generations was capable of substantially increasing a Fighter's strength.

Only, Daneel hadn't seen many fights yet where weapons figured into the equation substantially. Of course, during the Olympics, it had been different as the rules stated that only standard items could be used.

He had already examined the Warrior level sword given by Bos when he had become King, but he had found it to be limiting when compared to a flaming sword which he could conjure.

So, Daneel was pretty excited to see whether a Peak Warrior level weapon would be any different.

Also, he was pretty surprised that the Queen was doing something so momentous, as this was the highest level of weapon that they could make. It was rumored that the failure rate was very high, so, limited numbers of these weapons existed, which weren't even sold unless there were special circumstances.

Bos, the familiar giant who had made the trip to Lanthanor back when Daneel had become King, walked forward and whipped out a strange weapon that made Daneel raise his eyebrows.

It…looked like a trident, but it was more unique than any trident Daneel had ever seen in his life.

The 'trident' part was normal- it included a three-pronged end to the weapon, with the center prong sticking out farther than the rest. Silver in color, the three tips glinted in the light, making it clear that they would cut through anything that stood in their path.

The strange thing was that it almost looked as if two long swords, which ran along the length of the body of the Trident had been attached to it.

At the top of the bottom where the prongs ended and the bottom, these blades seamlessly attached themselves to the central staff using bent blades.

In other words, there was a space in the middle where the staff of the trident could still be grasped, but on both sides of where one's hand would be, there were single-edged swords that shone dangerously.

The angular connections and the blades, together, formed a 6-sided prism that was actually quite impressive to look at.

It was definitely a unique weapon, but what was its purpose?

"Behold the 'Dual-Blade Trident', King Daneel. You might now know that we Arafellians are not just weaponsmiths. We are also weapon designers. This is the weapon I wanted to show off during the Olympics. It is our latest creation: an offensive and defensive weapon which can switch between its present form and a bow. Bos?"

Hearing himself called, the gentle giant smiled wide before pressing something hidden on the 5-foot tall trident.

Twang!

A bowstring appeared from inside on the staff area of the trident.

Whipping out an arrow, Bos slammed the bottom half of the trident into the ground before affixing the end of the arrow to the bowstring.

As he pulled back, strangely, the entire staff of the trident bent.

Boom!

The arrow, itself, had been 3 feet long, but it looked normal in the giant's hands. As soon as Bos released its end, it shot forward with a loud sound and collided with the stone wall, leaving behind a solid indentation even though the giant hadn't used much force.

Grinning on seeing the result, Bos pressed that mechanism again, which made the bowstring disappear. Picking up the trident using the staff area in the middle, the giant which had seemed as if it was just a dumb being moved like an expert, hacking and slashing with the two blades in the air while using the three points for stabbing attacks that would rend any opponent in two.

Watching this, even the soldiers in Daneel's retinue gasped silently on seeing just how useful it was.

"The bowstring is made of a special material we designed which becomes rigid when it is stretched too much. When it is inside the staff, it is stretched, lending stability to the trident. When it is exposed, it becomes tensile, allowing an expert archer to use it like a longbow. This is a perfect weapon for both long range and short range. Although this particular one was made out of materials which make it suitable to be used by a Peak Warrior, I think that it will be very suitable for the armies of the continent when mass produced. Besides, it can even be compressed into a foot-long baton. What do you say, King Daneel? Do you agree?"

Oh.

So that was the case.

Daneel had thought that this was some display of R&D capabilities, but hearing the last sentence, he realized that it was…a pitch.

The Queen was pitching her product to him in an attempt to make him buy it to outfit his army.

Why…did he feel like he had become some sort of unwitting Venture Capitalist who was being pitched to?

Shaking his head slightly to get rid of his weird thoughts, Daneel smiled slightly and said, "Definitely impressive, Queen Arafell. I'll definitely give it some thought."

Although the Queen's expression remained unchanged on hearing this, a large smile lit up Bos's face. On seeing this, Daneel wondered if the Queen was even trying to guilt him into making the deal, as it really did feel like it would be such a pity to ruin an exceptionally innocent smile like this one.

"Of course, of course. Come on in! Why have you stopped at the border, itself? We are allies!"

Right. As if you didn't want me to stop here so that you could make that pompous grand display and showcase your weapon.

Daneel didn't say anything. He just folded his hands and walked forward, following which a white-clothed mage walked out of the procession and came near him.

When he was halted by the soldiers who were standing in a square formation around Daneel, the Mage bowed slightly and said, "Follow the mark I leave behind when I teleport," before disappearing on the spot.

Turning to the elf unit and indicating them to follow, Daneel disappeared, too, following which only the Fighters were left behind. All of his trusty commanders had had jobs assigned to them for the upcoming launch of the next phase of the Network of Angaria, so he had brought no one along. Also, he had no intention to put them at risk.

Daneel directly reappeared inside a large hall, and as he looked around, he saw that it was the Royal Court.

There was a giant-sized Throne on one end, while two giants clad in metallic armor with visors covering their faces were standing on both sides of it.

All around, there were chairs, making it look like a typical Court except for the fact that a lot of the chairs were also giant-sized.

This was definitely quite unorthodox- leaving open such an important spot in a way that anyone could teleport in.

Turning to the Throne, Daneel saw that Queen Arafell had just appeared on the raised platform there.

His 50 elf strong team appeared next, but they were asked to wait outside. With a gesture, the two giants also left, leaving the Queen and Daneel alone.

Daneel was about to say something, but a startling change appeared in the Queen in the silence which made him stare at her while his jaw dropped.

Her shoulders which had been slightly slumped to make her appear demure straightened and her more or less innocent expression was replaced by one of wisdom.

Her eyes were most apparent. Previously, they had been blue, but now, they changed into a very distinct red.

Opening her mouth, she said something that made Daneel's heart begin to thunder in his chest.

"Now that we're alone, it's time I reintroduce myself. I am Queen Arafell: the original Queen that served under the Emperor as the Warrior Queen who led his armies. Ever since the beginning of this Kingdom, I've been the Queen. Oh, my body might change, but as you must know, my name doesn't. I couldn't give a clearer clue for those who wanted to look! Now, I don't know whether you've met my old friend or not, but regardless, I have a proposition for you that I need you to consider very carefully. The Church is coming to kill us all, and I consider it my goal to fulfill the duty which we were made for. I intend to protect this continent he loved so much. I don't know how many other Spirits are left without losing their sanity, but I cannot depend on them. For the good of Angaria, to help me save it, you must ally with me, and swear allegiance by bending the knee. I will not force you in any way. But I want you to listen, and agree. Millions of lives are at stake, and I am the best chance they have for their survival. If you truly love your people, you will put aside your pride and kneel."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

513 The Queen Speaks

For a few seconds, Daneel just stood there, unable to believe what he had just heard.

First of all, he had gotten this slight suspicion after reflecting on the fact that the name of the Queen didn't change no matter how many times the actual Queen changed.

From this, one could understand that it meant that although the body might change, the Queen remained the same.

Yet, from everything he knew about Empire Spirits so far, Daneel had concluded that this must be impossible, as it wouldn't make sense for a spirit which was capable of this to just sit quietly in its Kingdom and not try to rule the continent.

After all, it was an established fact that each Empire Spirit had enough ability to stomp over the Big 4 and become the Supreme Ruler. The Black Raven Empire Spirit and Dinora would both have accomplished this easily if they had been given a chance to fully possess someone.

Yet, he was supposed to believe that this spirit only had good intentions?

Fat chance.

There was no way in hell that Daneel would trust any Empire Spirit other than Drakos.

On seeing the expression on Daneel's face, Queen Arafell sighed.

"You aren't as shocked as I imagined you might be. This means that through some means or the other, you are already aware of Empire Spirits. Maybe you found out after your foray in Eldinor. Or maybe that cute Dragon has already formed a bond with you. I don't know, and I won't ask. You must be wondering how it's possible for me to be sane when so many Spirits have gone insane, right? Let me explain."

Saying so, the Queen first stepped down from the raised platform on which she had been standing on that contained the Throne.

Daneel looked at her with caution, but she only smiled slightly at him and conjured two chairs before sitting in one.

"Sit. Although I ask you to bend the knee, I have no intention of demeaning you in any way. Even though I am a few millennia older than you, I consider you my equal because I am truly impressed by all of your feats. Sit."

Not bothering to hide the hesitation on his face, Daneel took a seat and waited for her to talk.

He would wait and listen to everything she had to say before forming any conclusion.

"Good. First of all, yes, it is true that Empire Spirits which have gone insane seek to fully possess bodies so that they can rule over the continent. However, in their insanity, they forget something. Would you fancy some wine?"

As Daneel watched, the Queen made a bottle of wine that was placed in a cupboard in the corner of the room float to her along with two crystal glasses.

Holding it in her hand, she opened it and started to pour it into the glass in front of Daneel.

Yet, even when it became full, she continued pouring, causing the wine to overflow and fall on the table that she had conjured.

"When something which is larger than a vessel seeks to enter that vessel, things might look fine in the beginning, but the truth is that eventually, the vessel will burst as it cannot hold on any longer. That bursting won't be as peaceful as this wine overflowing. After all, it is a Hero level consciousness which is trying to enter the weak mind of a Warrior, at most. After the vessel bursts, the consciousness will have no choice but to return to the corporeal body, or find a new vessel. You already know that finding another vessel is no piece of cake. You might wonder why I'm telling you this. It is to first let you know that I am not fully possessing this body. No, it is a voluntary partial possession. Priscilla is the name of the woman whom this body belongs to. Here, she wants to say hi. Oh, and, by the way, she thought you were quite handsome the first time she saw you during those games of yours."

Daneel gulped with surprise when he heard the last part.

Yet, what happened next made him cough and look to the side.

Right after the last word exited the Queen's mouth, her posture changed again.

She had been sitting straight up with the confidence of someone who had the world in their hands, but now, her shoulders slumped forward and a beautiful, breathtaking blush appeared on her face.

Demurely shooting a glance at Daneel, the Queen, or, Priscilla, said, "Th-The Queen has a sense of humor. Hello, K-King Daneel. Nice to meet you."

She looked so pretty when she blushed that Daneel was sure that if anyone from Earth who didn't have the mental fortitude he had obtained from training to his present level was here, they would definitely be falling head over heels in love with her.

Yes, this was clearly a voluntary possession, just like the way Drakos had entered his mind.

This made the suspicion he had of this Empire Spirit decrease slightly, as it at least meant that she wasn't some vile being who was forcefully controlling woman after woman to do her bidding over the years.

As the posture switched back and the Queen returned, a tinkling, mature laugh sounded in the room, which was definitely something that would never have come out of the mouth of the woman who had just blushed on seeing him.

To get rid of the slight blush on his own face, Daneel reached for the glass of wine and took a sip.

Mimicking him, the Queen said, "Now that that's established, let me come to the main point. The kneeling part. Look, King Daneel. I'll be frank with you."

The amusement left her face, and was replaced by that same deadly seriousness as before when she had implored him from atop that platform.

Sharpening his eyes, Daneel leaned forward, too.

"The Emperor used a very unique method to make sure that whoever obtained the Grand Inheritance that he left behind, they would be someone worthy who truly cared about the people, instead of someone who might want to use it for their own gains. You are already familiar with it. Satisfaction level. Although there are some exceptions, for the most part, we Empire Spirits are bound in the matter of how much information and knowledge we can reveal by this satisfaction level."

Daneel didn't show any signs outside, but he nodded inwardly. Indeed, this satisfaction level played a major role.

"My goal is simple, King Daneel. I wish to assemble all the parts of the Grand Inheritance and lead the charge against the Church. I believe that there is no one more qualified than me for this purpose. I was the one who fought war after war under the Emperor's orders. There is no one more knowledgeable than me about the various ways in which Fighters and Mages can be deployed to maximum effect. If the Grand Inheritance is also in my hands, I can guarantee that I will be able to beat back the Church to whatever hole they crawled out from with minimal casualties in even the Central Continent."

This sounded like another pitch, but it was a bold one, for sure.

Basically, the Queen was claiming that she could help Angaria win the war single-handedly.

Daneel just waited for the catch. In matters like these, there was always a catch.

He was right.

"But there is a problem. The Grand Inheritance needs to be assembled first. The parts of the Grand Inheritance were made in such a way that if more than one pair is together, they will give off a detectable signature. This can be hidden if there are only two pairs, but the more pairs there are, the more it gets difficult to hide them. Also, the one who manages to obtain more than 7 pairs will be able to detect the rest, no matter how deeply they are hidden. This was a mechanism put in place to make sure that someone wouldn't try to hide away one pair just because they do not want the Grand Inheritance to be completed. Assuming you have broken the first seal, you would have learned of this if you broke the second one."

Speaking until here, the Queen placed her hand near her waist, where a hidden pocket came into being.

From it, she took out 4 pieces.

Seeing them, Daneel fought hard to stay calm, but the shock was already pervading his mind.

These were…two pairs of the Grand Inheritance!

Placing them casually on the table as if they were nothing, the Queen said, "I have two parts, and I need to assemble the rest. I only found these two parts after searching discreetly for centuries. However, the time of the invasion approaches, so I no longer have the luxury of dallying in this duty of mine. The bad news is that all of the parts are scattered. The King of Axelor has two parts, and I suspect that he is letting them be detected because he laid a trap for whoever goes to retrieve them. As for the rest, I have no idea about their location."

Hearing this, Daneel heaved a sigh of relief.

He had left behind the part of the Grand Inheritance he found in the Energy Generator with Dinora in Eldinor itself in a very safe place, which meant that the part that was there in Lanthanor also stayed secret. If he had hoarded them both without having the concealment spell, which was also apparently locked behind the second seal, he might have faced invasion from this Warrior lady by now.

Sighing, she continued.

"There is good news, though. There is a spell which is locked behind the last seal that would allow me to detect the rest of the parts even if I only have 4 of them. Also, I know the Empire Spirit who is in Axelor. He was my Vice Commander, and no one understands him better than me. I know the trap he must have laid, so I am confident that I can evade it and snatch those two parts using another spell locked behind the last seal. Alas, the satisfaction level required for this seal is just too high. The Giants in this Kingdom follow me wholeheartedly, but although it looks that way on the surface, the same cannot be said about the humans. This…brings me to the kneeling part."

Putting down the glass of wine, the Queen looked straight into Daneel's eyes as she uttered the last part of her speech.

"There is a loophole in the bindings placed by the Emperor. When measuring satisfaction level, the level needed goes down the more people there are. If you have broken the first seal, then I bet that you are very close to breaking the second because you allied with Eldinor. Yes, alliances are the method to make the number of people increase! But, the alliance needs to be headed by one person. You command Lanthanor and Eldinor. If you bend your knee to me, I will be in command of three Kingdoms, which should be enough for me to break the last seal. When I do, I will use the spells that lie there to assemble the parts of the Grand Inheritance and beat back the Church. King Daneel, this is a sure fire way of saving the continent. In case you are in the Race and are someone who also aspires to save the continent like me, then I urge you to choose this option. Whatever other methods you try will never have as much guarantee of success as this one. It is your choice. You can either choose a method where you have to kneel but by doing so, you will be ensuring the continued lives of millions of Angarians. Or, you could try to continue on whatever path you are following, thereby placing all those lives at risk. Please consider this carefully."

Hearing her phrase it in that way, a tiny seedling of doubt took root in Daneel's solid intention to not trust the Queen.

What if…she was right?

Would he be willing to bend the knee if it meant that he would definitely be accomplishing what he had set out to do in the first place?

Before Daneel even began thinking about everything she had just said, a question appeared to him.

Without hesitating, he asked.

"Why do you consider it your duty? Why do you want to save the continent so much? Why do you want to save what the Emperor 'loved so much' with so much passion?"

The question seemed to throw off the Queen, but she answered after taking a moment.

"Because…I loved him. He never loved me back, but I loved him with all my heart. Now, even though he is gone, I wish for his wishes to be fulfilled. I wish for Angaria…to be saved."

....

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff - can be anything related to the events/characters of this book

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

514 Decision

Whoa…that came out of nowhere.

Quite taken aback, Daneel had to take a moment to gather his thoughts while the Queen looked down for the first time since he had come here.

That confident woman who was ready to rule the world was gone, replaced by one who had her heart broken millions of years back but was still pining after the man whom she had loved.

Wait…why did she seem a bit like Eloise?

Shaking his head to get rid of that thought, Daneel focused on the matter at hand.

Her reason was definitely something that would lead one to want to save Angaria. Daneel was mostly basing his supposition on the movies he had seen back on Earth, where endless love, even after death was a thing.

He assumed that that was what was going on here.

Yet, even though he could give her the benefit of the doubt in the motivation department, the rest had a bit too many incongruities.

For example, the Grand Inheritance itself.

From all the clues that Daneel was able to piece together regarding it, he understood a few things.

For instance, the Emperor's action of letting the Grand Inheritance be possessed by only those who had a satisfaction level definitely wasn't some arbitrary test.

He had seen what had happened to the man during the apocalypse-type event that had resulted in the fall of the Empire. From that, Daneel could guess that there was some danger in that Inheritance, just like with the Ruler's Inheritance where one could go crazy and lose their identity if they allowed too many thoughts to enter their head.

As for the link between the core formations and the Empire Spirits needing satisfaction level to have their seals broken, Daneel had already gotten an answer regarding that from Drakos.

Apparently, he was a special case.

Typically, one would have to break at least the second seal in order to obtain a spell that would allow them to unlock the core formations of their Kingdoms.

After all, not everyone could have a Peak Champion level system that could just easily unlock the cores and let them obtain the parts of the Grand Inheritance.

So…everything was linked to satisfaction level. The Grand Inheritance, the techniques the Empire Spirits could give, the cause behind the fall of the Empire…Daneel suspected that all of these were linked.

Hence, it just wouldn't make sense for the Queen to find a 'loophole' like this.

Besides, from what she was saying, she had worked with the Emperor closely. So, she should know about all these things. Yet, she was pushing this agenda of 'saving Angaria' toward him in order to guilt him into kneeling.

Yes!

That was definitely how it felt like.

Also, she reminded him of Ashahell quite a bit.

That man, too, was so righteous in his cause, but the reasoning behind it was something twisted and horrific.

What was to say that that wasn't the case here?

The Queen had regained her composure, and she was sipping wine while waiting for a response from Daneel.

Daneel took his time. Yes, through various clues, he had found a clue that she might be duplicitous, but he had to be sure.

After all, the stakes were abnormally high.

If he refused now and later on caused the deaths of many more people than was necessary, he would never be able to forgive himself.

There was one more thing.

Why…didn't the Emperor just give the Empire Spirits the power to rise up and save Angaria by themselves when it was needed?

Why were there so many steps and failsafes to make sure that that wouldn't happen?

And finally, why had he insisted on this Race which was obviously designed to be won by a human from the present Age?

Daneel pondered deeply about this matter. Something told him that there was another clue here.

The Emperor must definitely have had some objective to want to make sure that Empire Spirits would only be an aid. He had wanted the living humans to be center stage…but why?

Oh, how he wished he could have a chat with Drakos right now.

He had thought that the system might be enough to help him no matter what dilemma he fell in, but he couldn't have expected that this would be the sort of situation he would be in.

The only thing the system could do to help now was maybe cast Mind Control on the Queen, which obviously wouldn't work because of her power.

[System has detected traces of a Hero-level spell similar to the one used on host during host's first interaction with target 'Queen Arafell'. These traces were found on the giants that host encountered so far. System was only able to detect this due to prolonged exposure to Hero-level spells.]

What?!

It was almost as if the system had spoken out at this moment after detecting the fact that he had just called it useless.

Well, regardless, this changed everything.

The Queen was using some sort of spell to exert dominance over an entire race!

However Daneel imagined it, he couldn't think that this was something good.

She seemed to have practically…taken away their free will!

Free will was something that was supposed to have been given by God to all living beings.

Wait…God!

A God complex!

As the gears in Daneel's head turned, he got the clue about why the Emperor might not have wanted Empire Spirits to be center stage in the activity of saving Angaria.

It was their God Complexes!

Except Drakos…No, in fact, even Drakos had one to some degree. It was only his innocence that covered it up.

All the Empire Spirits he had met so far considered normal humans to be insects.

In fact, in that first speech of hers, the Queen had also spoken about it as if she was doing some big favor to the continent.

She said nothing to that effect, but now, Daneel realized that something about her tone or posture definitely gave him this impression.

All in all…what if there was some flaw in all those chosen as Empire Spirits which resulted in the Emperor not wanting them to be the ones who lead the charge against the enemies of Angaria?

This supposition definitely seemed to have quite some merit to it.

Besides, as Daneel thought about it, he realized that there was one last catch here.

True, if he ended up not kneeling now, there was a risk that a lot more people than what he could have saved might end up dying.

Yet…if he did kneel, and if the Queen turned out to have ulterior motives, then all of Angaria would definitely be doomed.

That…seemed like a much greater risk.

Especially when there were these many worrying factors about the Queen's claims.

Clearly, in her way of phrasing, she had been hoping that he would only look at things in the way she was showing them.

Yet, this facet changed everything.

Daneel hadn't even gotten to the part where he should think about whether he would be willing to kneel in case everything she said was true.

According to the system, his destiny was to become a World Dominator. Was a World Dominator someone who would bend the knee and allow others to take the helm?

Definitely not.

For a moment, Daneel looked back at everything he had accomplished.

Hey, his track record wasn't perfect, but anyone would have to admit that he was getting better and better.

At this moment, Daneel realized that he should have more confidence in himself.

Just because someone claimed that she wanted to save Angaria and that she was best equipped to do so because of her experience, it didn't mean that he had to get doubt in himself.

After all, on the surface, he hadn't done much. Yet, in reality, all of his schemes and plans combined would definitely give him a sizeable wealth of experience to call on.

Where there had been turbid confusion before, clarity returned to his eyes, which made the watching Queen understand that he had reached a decision.

Yes, in the last moment before his deep foray into logical reasoning had ended, Daneel had come up with one, final question.

And that question had led him to form a small plan.

"What have you decided, King Daneel? I hope you considered everything while keeping the good of the continent in your mind."

"System, stay prepared to capture her micro-expressions. I want to know every reaction she has to what I am about to say."

[Affirmative.]

Picking up the crystal glass and swirling the wine inside, Daneel took a leisurely sip and spoke after furrowing his eyebrows, as if there was something bothering him.

"Queen, I had a small query."

"Of course. Anything. Ask away."

Taking a deep breath, Daneel spoke.

"On the way over, near the border, I ran into two of your human citizens. They had some very…glowing praises about you. My question is regarding what you would say about those praises."

"I don't see the relevance of this when there are millions of lives at stake, but, please, carry on, ask. I would be happy to answer."

"They said that the Queen is an uptight bitch who only knows how to sit in the Palace, and that she's done nothing whatsoever for the welfare of the people."

"…"

Silence.

The Queen's expression hardened, but Daneel wasn't able to detect any micro-expressions by himself. He was looking for these micro-expressions because he knew that the first true, honest reaction from someone regarding something would be reflected in them, and not in whatever reaction they had after that, as the latter could just be acting.

He could have used the Basilisk's Breath to analyze the same thing, but Daneel had decided not to do so as he couldn't risk it being detected by the Queen.

[Microexpressions detected and segregated. Would host like them to be displayed in the Heads Up Display?]

Oh, yes, he had a heads up display which he hadn't used in a long time. Thinking about it, Daneel surmised that this might be best, as it was most preferable if he analyzed the expression himself.

As soon as he said 'Yes' to the system, three faces appeared in three directions in front of him.

He started from the left. The first face showed shock in the Queen's face, as Daneel had purposefully called them 'praises' to lull her into a false sense of pride.

The middle one had anger, and maybe even fury.

Well, that was a bit unusual, but many rulers would feel angry if someone talked about them in that way.

Yet, the last…was what Daneel had been looking for. Gazing at it, he made his final decision.

This last face depicted…disgust. The disgust that could be seen in the face of an Earthling kid before he stepped down on and destroyed an ant colony, just because one dared to climb up his hand and disturb him.

Could someone who didn't love and value the people of this continent, no matter how they were, ever hope to keep its best interests at heart and save it?

If it was just this matter, then it would be different.

But with everything combined together…there wasn't a chance in hell that Daneel would choose to kneel.

He didn't even listen to her answer, and as he asked the system, he found that she had said something along the lines of there always being detractors who could never be satisfied.

Seeing her expectant eyes, Daneel put down the glass and stood up.

"The answer is no, Queen Arafell. I cannot give you my reasons, but my answer will not change. Good luck with the Race."

Hearing this, the Queen's eyes popped, while her jaw almost hung open.

Standing up, Daneel took decisive strides toward the door. All the while, he waited for an attack or some attempt to stop him, but nothing came.

His straight back showed the confidence he had in himself, and that, more than anything, made the Queen understand that he wouldn't change his decision.

Still, right before he reached the door, she said, "You're making a big mistake, King Daneel."

This made Daneel turn around, with the door right behind him.

Folding his hands behind his back, he asked, "Maybe. By the way, if I give you the same reasons and ask you to kneel, would you? I already have two Kingdoms, and I am much more capable than what you think. I'm confident that I can save Angaria. If you kneel, you will be fulfilling your wish, too. So, what do you say? Would you, an Empire Spirit, kneel to a mortal?"

This time, Daneel didn't even need the system.

That last sentence made an expression of consternation appear on the Queen's face, while she chose to say nothing.

Her answer was clear.

Not a chance.

"I thought so. If you change your mind, please do not hesitate to contact me. See you later, then. I've got two Kingdoms to run."

Saying the last sentence just because he felt like rubbing it in her face for some reason, Daneel opened the door behind him and exited before hastily closing it.

He must have appeared quite grand when he boldly walked away, but now, a small sheen of sweat appeared on his face while he began to run in the direction of his soldiers with all of his regal nature gone.

Yet, it would definitely be dumb to stay here even a second longer when there was a super-infuriated Hero-level Queen right behind those doors.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

515 Escape

As soon as Daneel took a few steps toward the room in which he had left those elves, he heard a loud sound from inside the Throne Room which meant that he was right.

Yeah…she was definitely very pissed.

'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'

Even though it didn't really apply, this phrase popped into Daneel's mind while he increased his pace and ran frantically.

"System, is there a way to break the space-lock formation here by using a spell which is only at the Peak Warrior level?"

He had no intention whatsoever of giving away any secrets about himself, so Daneel didn't want to use anything above his power level.

[Affirmative. A simpler version of a Hero-level spell that was examined can be used. The space-lock formation…]

"No time for that! Just prepare to use it!"

He could tell that the system was about to launch into some explanation about why that spell could be used, but Daneel had no intention of sitting around and listening. It was a given that the Queen must be in full control of her formation, so it was pretty surprising that this was even possible. Still, Daneel had no time to ask any questions, as, for all he knew, she might already have teleported ahead to kill his soldiers.

Such a bloodthirsty move would definitely change her image on the continent, so there was a chance that she might not choose to do that. Still, Daneel wasn't willing to take any chances. All he wanted was to get the hell out of this crazy b*tch's Kingdom.

Right now, he even felt like kicking himself for coming here, even though it had resulted in him finding out some very crucial information.

Not two seconds after his quick exit from the Throne Room, Daneel reached the waiting room where his squadron of Mages were waiting.

Yet, to his horror, he found that the Queen was already here.

She smiled at him, but thankfully, the elves were fine. In fact, they had just begun the process of slightly bending their heads to show respect to the ruler of a Kingdom.

The Queen's 'kind and noble' image was gone. All Daneel saw now was a vengeful woman who wanted to kill his soldiers and probably even him because he didn't want to kneel to her.

She didn't give any indication of that on her face, but this was the vibe he was getting from her. It was oh, so negative, and actually, pretty deadly, too.

"Queen! I didn't fancy that I would see you here. I'm afraid there's an emergency in my Kingdom. I really need to leave. Soldiers, gather in ranks."

Hearing this, the elves quickly returned to a tight-knit formation, but the Queen just stood at the other end of the room, behind the soldiers while looking at him with an indiscernible expression on her face.

Yes…she was definitely controlling her fury.

Wait…why was she doing that?

Looking around, Daneel noticed that there were quite a few Arafellians here. Humans and Giants were both present, and it looked like they had all come here to offer refreshments to the soldiers, as they were the hosts.

So…the Queen didn't want to ruin her image?

Yes! For the satisfaction level to be high, her image must be something that she valued highly, as an impressive one would mean that more people might be willing to follow her.

The next second, Daneel's suspicion got confirmed.

Starting to walk toward the door, the Queen spoke.

"Oh? Then I'll help you to teleport myself. Fellow Arafellians, please leave the room. I have something important to tell the King before he departs."

Seeing nothing amiss, the giants and the humans started to make their way outward, while Daneel took the opportunity to inch closer to his soldiers.

He had already formed a plan in his mind, so all that was left was to wait for an opportunity.

By the time all of the servants and guards left, Daneel had reached the head of the unit of soldiers.

With a broad smile that looked like it was filled with evil intentions, the Queen said, "I'll see where you go to, now. I guess I was too light-handed in my convincing. Allow me to be more firm."

Saying this in a way that only Daneel could hear it, the Queen turned around to close the door.

Whoosh!

"Maybe next time. Like I already said, I'm much more capable than you might think. Contact me if you wish to kneel, I'll drop by at any time. But, for now, goodbye!"

A bold voice reverberated in the room, and although the Queen instantly turned around, there was nothing but empty space left.

The King of Lanthanor had disappeared, along with his soldiers.

First, wrath mixed with frustration appeared on her face, but it was followed by a small smile.

She had kept her space-locking formation at the relatively low, Peak Champion level so that she wouldn't arouse suspicion in the Big 4. Clearly, that had worked againt her.

Still, she had obtained valuable information herself. She knew that the inheritance the King of Lanthanor had obtained was either atleast at the Peak Champion level, or that he had, indeed, formed a bond with Drakos and accepted a few simple spells from him.

Either way, he was right: she had definitely been underestimating him.

Even if he left now, where could he go? There was no method to leave the continent, so there was practically nowhere he could hide.

So, although the Queen was thoroughly angered, she didn't resort to any drastic measures such as an open chase which would draw the kind of attention she had been avoiding for the past few millenia.

Still, the valorous back of the King appeared in her mind, along with the memory of that moment when he had firmly answered.

Fixing that image, the Queen smiled to herself, and if Daneel were here, his skin would definitely have crawled on seeing this smile.

Yet, after a few moments, her anger subsided, following which the smile disappeared and was replaced by one of utter seriousness.

And along with that seriousness…came worry- the same worry that had shone on her face when she spoke about saving Angaria.

Turning around, she left the room, following which the sound of something turning into dust echoed in the emptiness.

…

Back in his retinue that was quickly heading back to his Kingdom, Daneel was viewing a small display trinket in his hand.

Yes, in fact, he had been watching.

Recently, he had figured out one thing: if he was discreet enough, he had realized that he could hide trinkets effectively, especially in cases where the one he was hiding them from was merely a Warrior.

Daneel had taken a gamble before leaving. He had suspected that even if the Queen was lying about a lot of things, it was possible that she wasn't lying about the temporary possession.

According to the system, there was data in the journals he had collected in the Sect of Hedon about consciousnesses which were too big for a body causing that body to burst.

So, if that was the case, a voluntary possession wouldn't give the possessor the senses which belonged to someone at their level.

All a voluntary possessor could do was cast spells of their level with the limited Energy available, while controlling the body. Yet, because it wasn't a full possession, they wouldn't be able to access all of their powers. Their senses, for instance, might be dulled.

So, the gamble was to hide a tiny communication eye there which through which he would be able to assess the reaction of the Queen and decide whether she was truly crazy or not.

However, with frustration, Daneel realized that the results were once again inconclusive.

Although it had looked as if she was angry, but then genuinely worried about the continent, he wasn't sure whether she had detected the communication eye and was acting.

So…all he knew was that she had two pairs, and that her plan was to break the last seal somehow so that she could have access to spells that would allow her to win the Race.

Oh, and there was one last thing: there was no way in hell that he would kneel to her.

As for repercussions that might occur because of the fact that the two of them fallen apart, Daneel wasn't too worried about them.

If the Queen of Arafell was capable of moving ruthlessly and doing whatever she wanted, she would have done so long ago.

Something was stopping her from doing that. And that something would also stop her from taking revenge on Lanthanor, if she had that idea at all.

Still, he would definitely have to keep an eye on her. If there was even the tiniest clue that Arafell might move, then he had to be alert in order to counter it.

But first, he needed to have a talk with Drakos.

After carefully watching his back multiple times during the trip, Daneel relaxed on seeing that the Queen wasn't going to pursue.

Something about her had just given him the feeling that she might be someone who holds grudges, so, he had decided to be safe, rather than sorry.

It was only after reaching the safe border of Lanthanor did Daneel feel completely safe. Heading to the Palace, Daneel immediately made his way to the room above the library.

"Drakos, get in here."

Saying this as soon as he touched the pedestal, Daneel waited as the Ancient Dragon separated his consciousness and entered his mind again.

Even before he had a chance to say anything, Daneel spoke.

"All right, what's the deal with the Empire Spirit over there?"

Beginning with this, he went over the details of their discussion, following which there was silence from Drakos.

What was wrong with this guy?

It was only after a minute or so that the Dragon finally replied.

"Young King…this is troubling news. The Emperor warned us all against this. He said that if we try to rise to the top instead of following the path he set for us, it might result in another catastrophe like the one that brought down the Empire. He never said that it would definitely happen, but it is definitely possible. I believe…that you made the right decision, Young King. I think she should be stopped."

Hearing this made Daneel sigh with relief. Well, he had at least been right about something. The Emperor did want those of this Age to be the ones who saved the continent.

"Don't worry, she isn't going anywhere in order to be stopped. For whatever reason, she's acting very cautiously. Is it true that she was the commander? And that she loved your father?"

"Err…I don't know. They did spend a considerable amount of time alone, but I never heard Father mention her in a special manner. But she was the commander. She was an expert in troop deployment, and, in fact, she was the one who taught my Father military tactics in the first place. Before that, my Father was only focused on building his own power."

Well…if it was a one-sided love story, this answer from Drakos would make sense.

Sighing, Daneel prepared to momentarily put this matter to the side after ensuring that the number of people tracking Arafell's movements was increased.

Without understanding her weakness clearly, Daneel had no intention of making any moves against her. Besides, this was a very important time for him.

Shaking his head, he was just about to throw himself into the preparations for the launch of the next phase of the Network of Angaria, but he paused when he saw something flashing in the corner of the room.

The flashing was from the table which held the communication trinkets of all the Kingdoms in Angaria he was in contact with. Of course, among them, there was also one which would allow him to directly contact the Queen of Arafell.

Right now, that was the one which was flashing.

After hesitating for a bit, Daneel picked it up and read the message anyway, telling himself that she couldn't harm him through a communication trinket.

Yet, after he was done going through it, he gritted his teeth with even more frustration.

"King Daneel, this is Priscilla. Queen Arafell wanted to apologize. She says that her feelings got away from her. Even if you stayed, she says that she would have done nothing except ask again. She promised when you came that she wouldn't force you to do anything, so she sticks by her word. If you change your mind, you can contact us at any time, too. At the end of the day, she says that all she cares about is the good of Angaria. So, she will keep trying to work toward her goal. In the meanwhile, she says that the relationship between our Kingdoms shouldn't change. I hope you reconsider."

As the message cut away, Daneel asked Drakos, "Was Arafell known for her anger?"

Hearing Drakos's answer, Daneel felt like throwing the communication trinket at the wall.

He had never expected that he would miss straightforward enemies like Ashahell whose motives were clear, but right now, he felt just that.

"Yes, Young King. In fact, she was even famous for it. Once, she was said to have entered a battle against a Hero because he said 'No' when she asked him something very trivial. I do not recall…Oh! Yes, I remember. He said 'No' when she asked him to dance with her at a ball, and she was going to destroy the entire venue. In fact, that was when the Emperor met her: he stood up to stop her, and defeated her in combat, which was when she knelt and swore to follow him till eternity."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

516 The New Network

Yes, thinking about her any longer would just make him lose his mind.

Drakos's reply only made it worse- it gave him the additional possibility to consider that she might have done those actions out of anger at being denied something, and that she might actually care about the continent in her heart.

Regardless, Daneel was done thinking about her.

Choosing to not reply to the message, Daneel first lied down and took a nap.

His mind just felt a bit too cluttered, so the idea had been to relax before throwing himself into work.

Yet, the dreams he got of being chased around by the Queen who was strangely riding on the shoulders of a giant didn't help.

Getting up, the King of Lanthanor decided that it was probably best if he let the work distract him.

So, he first made a trip to Eldinor to check on the display trinkets.

Budget was not an issue at all, what with the fact that he now had access to the treasuries of two Kingdoms. That had actually been one of his biggest shocks after becoming the head of the Alliance - he had been taken to the treasury, which was so filled with Gold and Ether Blocks that it made Lanthanor look like a piss poor backwaters village.

Well, that was if one didn't consider Daneel's windfall in the Mad Doctor's home.

Even though the Bank was steadily giving loans and earning interest, the income wasn't too much.

For one thing, the fact that the Bank was based in Lanthanor restricted those who wanted to avail its services.

So, Daneel had already planned a way to make sure that the Bank would also see a huge boom after the new and improved Network was up. After all, if he didn't benefit from his own plans, then what was the use?

After checking in on the trinkets which were slowly being packed into boxes for shipping, Daneel left to Fantasyland, where he found Eloise running around everywhere while coordinating the programs.

Daneel was quite excited about what was going to air in the Network. He had actually been about to give a list of all his favorite TV shows and movies from back on Earth, but he had hesitated as it would be a bit too…strange. After all, how could he have so many ideas while busily governing multiple Kingdoms?

So, Daneel decided to first wait and see what the native Angarians would come up with. After that, maybe he would have…epiphanies, here and there, which he could write down and give to Eloise to have them made.

The main factor which excited him here was magic. Back on Earth, creative people were bounded by the resources that were needed to make their creations come alive on the screen. For example, some obscure novel writer who could only afford to write and post his book online would never be able to afford the money needed to hire a film crew, a CGI artist and all the odds and ends that went into converting a book into a TV show or a movie. At least, on Angaria, that middle part was covered. Where there was magic and a talented Mage, insane amounts of money would never need to be forked out to create fantastic illusions and images.

All in all, Daneel waited to see what Eloise and the rest of the bards who were already hired by Lanthanor would do with this opportunity.

After this visit, Daneel headed to his 'competitors'.

First, he went to that old man who hadn't hesitated to kill the spy he hired so that he wouldn't have to pay up the money for the information that had been obtained.

The man had already obtained the loan, and was busy hiring an enchanter to build the transmission trinket.

These were all the main facets of his plan, but now that he had a little time, Daneel also began started on the other methods he had devised based on his experiences from Earth which would result in the display trinkets selling like hotcakes.

Yes, giving out the trinkets for free like what he had done with the first Network just wouldn't cut it at this point. Although he had simplified these display trinkets a lot with the help of Drakos, they were still expensive to make.

So, while keeping track of all his enemies and all the factors that could go wrong, Daneel took personal care of each and every step. This was like his baby that he would give to the continent, and sometimes, he even wondered whether he was bestowing a boon upon this land, or a curse.

Only time would tell.

…

Finally, the auspicious time arrived.

On that morning, the Network of Angaria had a very special announcement to make.

From morning to evening, the same announcement inundated the heads of everyone listening, filling their minds with its content and making sure that even if someone didn't own a trinket which connected to the Network, they sure would have heard about it from someone else.

"Tomorrow, history shall be made in Angaria. For the first time ever, a trinket which was meant for Royalty shall be available the common public. With this trinket, all of your dreams, aspirations, and desires will come true. Each of you will live lives of power, wealth…or romance. Whatever you want, you can choose, and become lost in the phenomenon that will sweep the continent. Angaria will never be the same. But to experience it first, you must be chosen. The Heavens were the ones who chose those who would be experiencing this, first. If you are chosen, look to the Heavens, and you shall know. A miracle will unfold. Until then…let your dreams stay as dreams, before they fly forth and become reality."

The over-the-top way in which this was marketed turned a few people off, making them say that they weren't children.

Yet, most only felt awe, looking forward to just what the mystery was.

Most of these people were the ones who remembered that just a few short months back, there had been no method whatsoever to find anything about the outside world besides their own house and street. The Network had changed all that, and opened up a world which they could know about.

So, everyone started to look forward to what this new development would be.

Some spread rumors that it was some sort of hypnosis, that would make one enter a living dream of their greatest desires.

Others underplayed it, saying that it might just be a simple product like a cheaper network trinket which one might be able to place in their ear.

Even others said that there might be a completely new trinket that might allow them to look into worlds which were beyond them, but this one, along with the first, was dismissed immediately by most.

Such mystical things were reserved for the rich. Surely, there was no way that common folk could be exposed to them, right?

In this way, even though there were attempts made for lies and tall claims to spread along with rumors which were close to the truth, none of them managed to gather a great following, especially because of the fact that there was only a day before the reveal.

The next morning, the citizens of 4 Kingdoms stepped out of their houses at dawn, itself, with eager expectation lighting up their faces.

Yet, the people of Lanthanor, the Black Raven Kingdom, Eldinor and Arafell were in for disappointment, as they saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Yes, even Arafell had been included in this list, as those who came representing the Network hadn't been blocked and thrown out, much to the pleasant and suspicious surprise of the King of Lanthanor.

Most waited for a few minutes before going back inside, while some even chose to stand in the sun for an hour.

Finally, everyone went back inside after realizing that the announcement hadn't contained a time.

It was at dawn that a miracle happened.

Certain families all over Angaria heard a 'THUMP' on their roofs, and as they went out and looked into the sky, shock assaulted their hearts because of the fact that there was a Mage standing in the air in the sky.

In most places, it was an Elf, except for a few humans here and there. In the Black Raven Kingdom, there were even a few strong Ravens who greeted the families of those who were 'chosen'.

On looking for the source of the sound, the families would find a carefully wrapped parcel. After ensuring that the parcel was taken, the Mages flew away.

Just like the announcement had said, the miracle had happened in the Heavens above them.

One out of every 50 families received the parcel, and as they opened it, they first saw a letter congratulating them for being the 'chosen ones'.

This made many swell up with pride and joy, before taking out the trinket inside.

Wrapped in a transparent material that was keeping it safe, this trinket was in the form of two narrow triangular blocks, with one facing up and the other facing down joined to each other.

The larger block, which was 5 times bigger than the other, was the upturned one. It's singular point which faced the ground connected with the smaller triangle, whose base made for a solid part which would allow this trinket to stand anywhere.

The narrowness was because the breadth was small, but this lent to the stylish nature of the trinket, which was pretty good to look at.

Yet, what happened next made the families jump back in fright.

The upper part of the trinket which was the base of the first triangle was 15 inches long, and as they watched, it folded open twice on either side to form a strange shape while elongating its length to 45 inches.

The next second, a large screen appeared, and as it was a glass-like material, the stupefied expressions of the family members were visible.

Floating text appeared on the edges of each screen, accompanied by an arrow which pointed at them.

"Congratulations on being chosen! Now…get ready to experience the new Network!"

With that shape of two triangles as the backdrop, the letters 'NOA' appeared in a colorful font, which were then replaced by the stoic face of a man.

"My father abandoned me. My mother…"

He began a sad story, and because each of the citizens of Angaria were already captivated because they could never have imagined that they would have their own display trinket which they had only seen used by militaries for special purposes, they watched on, spellbound.

"But they all underestimated me. Today, I found something that will let me become the strongest on Angaria."

Boom!

The image changed from that man who looked poor and destitute, to that same man flying in the sky while casually flinging colossal attacks at an unseen enemy.

The marvelous power awed everyone, making them even feel afraid that such a destructive display might be taking place near them.

Yet, the next second, that image changed again to his face, as he looked out from the screen into the eyes of the common men and women and said, "This, is my story. Journey along with me as I gain power and take revenge. Only on the Network of Angaria. Ha!"

It ended with a punch in the direction of the viewers, which made them jump back with surprise before exciting discussions began about what this trinket was…and what it meant.

Meanwhile, Daneel was watching a particular family on a display trinket on his own along with Eloise.

After the family started discussing in enraptured tones, Eloise jubilantly turned to Daneel and asked, "How was it?!"

"Cheesy," was what Daneel wanted to say, but as he saw the reactions of many of the families who had been 'chosen', he gulped it down and said "Amazing!" instead.

It was pretty amazing. He had forgotten that on this continent, power was everything. The strong were revered, while the weak were considered to be nothing. So, it was probably best if the Network started with shows like these which would immediately attract everyone's attention.

As for the 'choosing' thing, it was Daneel's idea.

Anything which was shown to be 'exclusive' would give birth to a thirst in others to own it for themselves, too, and enter the 'elite' club. He was just going to use this to build up the hype, before beginning the sales with another ceremony that would go off with a bang.

And maybe…he might also be having his first 'epiphany' soon.

As for the competition, now that the trinkets were distributed, they, too, would start making a fuss, as Daneel had leaked the transmission technology to them. With that technology, they could broadcast their own 'channel', thus increasing the options on offer while also giving the Network that much greater publicity.

All in all, the Network was off to a great start, and Daneel was satisfied. There was still a lot more to do that he was looking forward to, but, for now, he was happy.

Now, all he wished was that no one would come throw a wrench in his plan.

Yet, he couldn't have known that wishing for something like that would often end up in resulting in it becoming reality.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

517 A Meeting

Unbeknownst to the King of Lanthanor, at the same moment, a meeting that concerned him was going on on a barren mountaintop west of Lanthanor.

This area was filled with rocky peaks, so if one wanted to identify this specific peak just by looking from above, it would be impossible.

Inside this peak, a room had been hollowed out which had no door that led in or out.

A man wearing the garb of a farmer was calmly arranging a long wooden table which could seat 30- 15 on each side. He first put down plates from the stack in his hands, before picking up a bunch of spooks and forks and starting to place them neatly everywhere.

While he went about his work, people began to teleport into a certain spot in the room before solemnly walking forward and sitting in the chair which had their name engraved on the back.

None disturbed the silence, and, if one observed, they would be quite surprised to notice that each individual was appearing in the room exactly 45 seconds after the previous one.

They were all teleporting into the same spot, so if even one person made a mistake, it would result in a bloody mess.

Yet, none of them seemed concerned about that fact, until the 23rd individual appeared and looked around before cursing under his breath.

"Damn those timings! Almost missed my window."

As one, everyone present turned toward him, which made him feel conscious and stammer, "Err…apologies."

His face turning red like a potato, he started to search along the table for the chair with his name. Yet, even after 10 seconds, he didn't find it.

The solemn atmosphere made it so that he hesitated even to breathe loudly. So, asking about this seemed to be out of the question.

As for the man who was arranging each spoon and fork meticulously, his reputation preceded him. There would be nothing dumber than disturbing him and thereby looking for his death.

Finally, after a few more minutes, the teleportations ceased. 29 people were seated, whereas the last one, who had disturbed the peace as soon as he came, was standing to the side while scratching his head.

He had never been very capable of social interactions. Hence, in this situation, he had resorted to being silent and waiting for the issue to be resolved instead of doing something about it by himself.

If Daneel were here, he would have been amused thinking that this man was acting exactly like an introvert from Earth who didn't want to talk to anyone, even if he was facing a major inconvenience which could be solved by words.

There was an empty spot on the table, but it didn't have the man's name, but he knew better than to take someone else's place in this gathering. It would practically be the same as signing an agreement to take part in a life-or-death match.

After placing the last fork, the one who looked like a farmer sighed, which made the room look at him.

First, he flicked his fingers, which resulted in his garb immediately changing from the mud-stained, dusty, faded shirt and pant of a farmer to a royal robe made of the best materials in the Central Continent that had an image of a traditional weighing scale which was balanced perfectly in the middle of his chest.

The robe was black in color, while that scale shone with a silver hue.

As the scale came into existence, the entire atmosphere of the man, itself, seemed to change.

Rather, the way the others looked at him was what changed.

This…was Raul. The strongest rogue Mage in the entire Central Continent who was just a step away from becoming a Champion.

His was the path of balance, and it was rumored that if one managed to use this path to become a Champion, the power they would wield would be on par with a Champion who reached that realm with an Acquired Path of the highest caliber.

A throne-like chair that had weighing scales carved into the back and sides fell with a 'THUD' at the head of the table, where he sat and let out a deep sigh before glancing at the man who had started to sweat.

He spoke in a deep voice with a flat tone that reverberated in the cave.

"All of you know how much I despise things which are out of balance. Out of order. Out of proportion. A few of you must be familiar with Gondar, here, a rogue Eminent Warrior Fighter who was invited to this meeting. Even though I explicitly gave orders that this meeting had to be kept secret, he went ahead and blabbed the details to a certain spy of the Big 4. If I hadn't been keeping an eye out for imbalances such as these, this meeting would have been graced by the heads of each Sect who would happily have 'welcomed' you back with open arms."

The last sentence caused a shudder to pass through most of those sitting in the room. Except for a select few who only shrugged and looked as if they didn't care, the rest laid their eyes on the man who had started to sweat buckets by now.

Feeling the palpable tension in the cave, he stammered, "I-I was drugged! And she was…showing interest in me! I just wanted to impress her!"

"By selling all of us out. Bravo."

By now, the Fighter's shirt was thoroughly drenched. His muscles spasmed as if he was having convulsions, and finally, after a few seconds, he said, "I-I would like to leave. Any member of the gathering can leave at any time, right? I want to exercise that right."

For some reason, this statement resulted in a smile appearing on the face of the man who was sitting at the head of the table.

Waving a hand, he said, "Of course. Feel free to go ahead."

Nodding, the Fighter began walking toward the spot where all the teleportations had occurred so far. The rest of the room was space-locked, so that was the only exit he had.

On the way, he kept glancing at the others on the table, who had expressions of scorn and ridicule on their faces.

Some even looked at him as if he was a dead man, which made him decide to take an extended vacation in some remote forest after cutting himself off from all sorts of communication methods.

Just as he was about to take the last step toward that spot, he felt something amiss.

Slick!

By the time that feeling appeared in his mind, it was already too late.

"Oh, I misplaced a few space blades of mine. Please do watch your step."

This spot was right behind where the chair at the head of the table was, and as the man with the scale, who had been called Raul, said this in an idle tone while still looking forward, the Fighter…fell apart.

Not even a single sound escaped his lips, with the only reaction that appeared in him being a shocked expression that could still be partially visible, as his body had been cleanly sliced horizontally from head to toe into 20, equally proportioned pieces.

With a flick of his finger, Raul made fire spring into existence that ate away the body before leaving behind a large, long pouch that seemed to have been hidden very carefully on the inside seam of the Fighter's pants.

Making that pouch float into his hands, Raul examined the insides. The pouch was mostly crammed with Ker Gems, with a few occasional odds and ends here and there.

Shrugging and placing it in front of him, he said, "I took the liberty of inviting a different rogue Fighter who has left his sect recently."

The moment he said this, a man teleported into the room.

It was as if…somehow, this man had scheduled everything so that it would take place in this manner.

After this last one took a seat, Raul said.

"Let us begin the gathering. You all know of the agenda, today. A few months ago, the King of Lanthanor displayed a feat of magic which let us get a hint that he was in possession of a top tier Inheritance that wasn't in the control of the Big 4. However, Marcus, whose son had been saved by said King, declared that he would be actively protecting him for a period of 6 months. I gave you all the order to stand down, and you did, as none of you were foolish enough to step out and be clobbered into meat paste beneath Marcus's famous fists. The situation has now changed. A certain event has resulted in Marcus becoming temporarily…indisposed, and it has also reached my attention that his debt has been cleared. All of you know what this means."

Raul didn't need to say anything further. Anticipation started to shine in the eyes of almost everyone present, as they leaned forward with attention and started to make plans in their mind.

Yet, Raul remained calm. Continuing in that same flat tone, he made the faces of the 30 individuals freeze with what he said next.

"Before all of you march to your deaths, I guess I should remind you that just a few days ago, the King of Lanthanor displayed power at the peak of the Warrior level. How many of you are confident that you can handle someone at that level?"

Pindrop silence pervaded the room, as many sat back with frustration apparent in their eyes.

However, that excitement soon returned to them when Raul said, "I thought so. What we need is a quick operation, as the Big 4 are still mandated to keep the top rulers in the Central Continent safe. Even I, a half step Champion, do not have the confidence to defeat him in one blow. So, I have devised a plan where we can all work together to grab him in the span of a second. Not even a Hero will have enough time to save him. The Inheritance that we obtain will be shared among all those who participate. How many of you volunteer?"

Initially, almost all the inhabitants looked like they would stand up and follow Raul, but a few started to hesitate, as doing this would definitely place them on the shit-list of Heroes.

So, after a few minutes, only 19 individuals raised their hands.

Only, this number seemed to infuriate Raul, whose composure now broke. One by one, he stared at the 11 who remained, until one of them finally shrugged and raised their hand, bringing the total count to 20.

Regaining his sage-like appearance, Raul said, "Good. The attack will be inside Lanthanor, near a populated town, so that we can threaten to kill his citizens if he does anything funny. We set out in 2 days. I want him distracted, so that he won't be able to put up a strong resistance. I've noticed that he's launching some sort of ambitious product, so, I've planned a nice surprise for him with regards to this…'Network' that will lead him right to us. All right. Here is what each of you should do…"

…

Meanwhile, in the Royal Court of the Kingdom of Lanthanor, Daneel was madly scribbling something on a piece of parchment while Eloise watched on with an expression of anticipation on her face.

A few minutes ago, he had called her to the Court saying that he had had an 'epiphany' regarding what kind of program should be made to be broadcast on the New Network.

A few seconds later, with a drained expression on his face, the King handed over a thick stack of parchments which were all scribbled with details.

Reading the heading, Eloise felt like rubbing her eyes.

"A daily show with an entertaining host who breaks down the actions taken and schemes implemented by each ruler, humorously putting them in simple terms for the people to understand."

...

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff - can be anything related to the events/characters of this book

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

I've looked over the entries so far and they're awesome! Keep it up!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

518 Lesson

One day later.

"Next!"

In Fantasyland, Daneel was currently sitting in a closed room with two large display trinkets in front of him.

Eloise, who was sitting beside him, touched the communication trinket in her hand when she heard Daneel say that word in an exhausted tone.

They had been at this for hours, and Daneel was close to his limit.

Right after Eloise sent the message, the images on the trinkets changed. The scene was the same: on the first screen, there was a wooden table with a mug on top, behind which there was a seat where the host was supposed to sit.

The second screen showed an empty area with a wooden pedestal, which was supposed to be the place where the monologue would take place.

Back on Earth, Daneel had always enjoyed a good, smart Late Night Host who put his spin on news to make it both simple and digestible for normal people. Even if there were crass jokes, the relevance that was lent to them due to the issue they represented made it so that even they were accepted to be good comedy.

He wanted something like that here.

His main motive with the new Network wasn't money, or anything else.

It was simple: using the Network, he wanted to build his own brand, which would come in very handy when there came the situation where he had to take over the continent.

Both to earn extra EXP from the system and break the seals on Drakos, satisfaction level was key. And for satisfaction level to rise, people had to be happy with their ruler. No…it had to go beyond that.

People needed to be joyful, lucky and proud that they were being ruled by a said ruler.

Daneel wanted to have that kind of image in the minds of many Angarians as possible. He wanted to inculcate the idea in everyone that he was the one who should be the one ruling Angaria.

When phrased like that, it did sound a little like he was a nefarious villain out to dominate the world, but at the end of the day, that was his end goal.

Regardless of whether it sounded evil or not, Daneel wanted to fulfill this goal, as he knew clearly that that was what made him happy.

Of course, if he was truly nefarious, he could begin running bogus shows about how great he was.

Yet, Daneel had no intention of doing that. He wanted to win people over with the truth, and the Network was just a tool which he was going to use to get that truth across as effectively as possible.

"Hey, folks! Have you heard of the latest news from the Black Raven Kingdom? Apparently, there's a rogue Raven flying around the capital whose past time is to drop its 'goods' on unsuspecting netizens. Reports say that with constant practice, it has mastered the art of even assessing wind direction and speed to make sure that its payload lands directly in the…you know what, I'll leave that up to you."

Pulling his attention back to the second screen which was showing a guy wearing formal black robes reciting this sentence that had been written with Daneel's inputs, the King of Lanthanor shook his head.

"My King, if you're listening, I would really suggest arranging a new game in the next Olympics with this Raven as the star. I'm telling you, no other format can even come close to the level at which such a game would test someone's skill in dodging."

This was supposed to be the punchline, but no laughter was heard from the audience.

'Flat tone. No charisma. Dammit, he even sang the last verse.'

This was the thought that came in Daneel's head before he once again shouted 'Next', making Eloise flinch.

Seeing that, Daneel sighed and said, "Sorry, Eloise. We've been at this for too long. I think that the crowd must also be tired. Let's take a break."

Saying so, Daneel got up while Eloise let out a breath and smiled at him briefly before getting up, too.

Her face had a frustrated expression, which made Daneel understand that she was treating this as her failure.

"No, don't blame yourself. I just had…something different in my mind. Don't worry, we'll find it. Go on, grab some snacks, I'll be right there."

Patting her shoulder gently, Daneel said this.

Watching as her smile spread to her cheek this time as it was a real one, Daneel smiled in return before following her with his eyes as she started to walk toward the door.

Turning around, Daneel viewed the guy who had just been booed out by the audience.

His testing method had been simple: with the help of the writers who generally wrote comedy scripts for plays, he had gotten that line written, which was being given to those who had come to audition for the role of becoming 'Angaria's Sensation'.

That was how it was being advertised among the artist community, and although it had generated quite a lot of buzz due to the opportunity for exposure and the hefty salary, all of the applicants so far had been unsatisfactory.

Each applicant had to walk up to the pedestal and simply utter the sentence in a way which would make the live audience, who had been sourced from all walks of life, to laugh.

At least, even if they didn't laugh because they had already heard it a million times, the audience would score it according to how much they were amused.

Some were too over-the-top, choosing to utter each word in a grandiose tone that was suited to be in plays rather than a show that would air every day.

Some were too low-key and flat, as they were used to having weeks and weeks of time before a show to practice their lines, tone, and actions.

Again, that would simply be impossible for a daily show.

Although Daneel had kept his expectations low, he realized that he should probably push them lower.

Maybe the one he wanted was out there, but it would take time for the community to develop and for talent to emerge.

Until then, it looked like he would have to make do with a more mediocre host in order to get the genre popular first.

Yet, Daneel wasn't happy with that, at all.

The best way to make a genre a hit was to put out the best content possible. So, if he couldn't accomplish that, he didn't know how he was going to make this take off.

Yes, he would stop expecting a Stephen Colbert or a Trevor Noah to magically appear in Angaria and audition for him. Those people had their own style, so he would have to find someone who also had a style that was as entertaining.

Alas, it was easy said than done.

Eloise came back from her break, and they resumed auditions which lasted for a few more hours before ending for the day.

Frustration was building inside Daneel, as this felt like one of the days that was more wasted than any in recent times. He had deemed this to be important, hence, he had allocated a lot of time to make it perfect. Yet, it had all been wasted.

Just as he was about to bid Eloise goodbye and say that he hoped that they would have better luck tomorrow, she froze while touching the communication trinket.

Looking at him, she said, "There's one last applicant, but he came late. You want him to leave and come back tomorrow?"

On a whim, Daneel threw his hands in the air and said, "We're still here. Why inconvenience a citizen? Let him do it."

After all, the entire day had already been taken up by this. What difference would an additional few minutes make?

Sitting down, he watched as a man wearing the formal black robes, which was the standard 'uniform', took the parchment with the line and walked up onto the pedestal.

He read through it three times, before looking into the communication eye with a hesitant expression on his face.

"Err…are small modifications ok?", he asked, which was a first so far.

Play actors, who had been the main applicants so far, were only used to following instructions. So, asking something like this wasn't something that would occur to them.

Intrigued, Daneel told Eloise to tell the one directing the shot to say "Yes".

Hearing the answer, a broad smile spread on the man's face, and as Daneel noticed his features, he saw that although the man wasn't that handsome, he seemed to have a certain…hue to him that made him pleasant to look at.

Putting away the parchment, he first took a moment to think, before spreading out his arms.

What happened next made Daneel's jaw drop.

A transparent Raven appeared out of thin air, before flying into the area above this man's head.

The Raven didn't look that perfect: it had blocky edges and blurry features, which was the sign of weak complexity. This man was definitely just an Eminent Human Mage.

As if forgetting that he had done that, he said, "I'm ready," and looked at the communication eye.

"In the Black Raven Kingdom, a beast is terrorizing the citizens. It…Oh, look! What's that in the sky? Why's there an omelet …oh."

Splat!

A pail of thick, white liquid, which was obviously just water elemental particles that had been made to look like that by manipulating light hit his face, while the Raven he had conjured swooped down and made a laughing sound while pointing at him.

For the first time in hours…the audience burst out into peals of laughter.

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen. No orifice is safe. If you're traveling to the Black Raven Kingdom, I would suggest you carry an umbrella. Well, maybe don't if you want to participate in the next Olympics, where I will personally advocate for a game that involves running away from this uncultured beast. Heavens help us all."

Eloise, who was sitting beside him, was holding her mouth as if she was resisting the urge to burst into laughter, too.

Meanwhile, Daneel was just sitting there, his jaw hanging open, viewing the man who looked genuinely happy but also a little bit shy that he had made so many people laugh.

Yes! This was what he had been looking for!

Yet…his methods had all been wrong.

In an attempt to copy over things from Earth, Daneel had almost caused a disaster. He had forgotten that Angaria was unique in itself: he might be able to carry over a general idea, but the general implementation was best if it was left to Angarians.

With this performance, he had been taught that lesson thoroughly.

Artistic, casual magic that was fun to look at, with a dose of silliness.

This was an act that would definitely be a huge hit here.

Most likely, his vision of a simple host wittily speaking on the podium might have been a flop!

Yes, at least this time, Daneel resolved to remember this lesson. He had to let go of any notion to bring things over exactly as they were. Instead, it might be more fun to see what the Angarians would do with them after he gave them the general idea.

Just as he was going to think on this further, Drakos and the system both spoke in his mind.

"Young King, trespassers!"

[Multiple individuals have trespassed on the Champion level formation that had been set up recently by host.]

His face hardening, he said, "Finalize him. I'll be back," before disappearing from the room.

A few seconds later, he was in the air, protected by Drakos's Hero level formation.

21 individuals led by a dark-skinned man who looked like a farmer were discreetly heading into Lanthanor on foot so as not to trigger the teleportation-detection formation.

Really? Did they think he was that weak?

After Daneel recent foray to Arafell where he had seen that there was a Hero-level detection formation set up there, he had immediately implemented the same in Lanthanor. After all, it would be extremely dumb not to do so after being alerted to it.

Although Drakos couldn't give him the formation that could detect even Hero-level individuals, he was happy enough to offer up the one which could alert him if anyone below the level of a Champion intruded into his Kingdom.

In fact, Daneel had even set up that formation in anticipation for people like these.

Clearly, these were the rogue cultivators whom Marcus had been keeping at bay. Now that he was out of the picture, Daneel had suspected that they might make their way.

Still, he was pretty surprised that they moved so fast.

After analysis, Daneel found out the power levels of this group, and honestly…he wasn't really worried.

The strongest one might be a problem, but with Drakos and the system, Daneel was sure that it wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

If he wished, he could swoop in right now and engage, and this seemed very enticing as he realized that he was itching for a fight after that incident where he had had to run with his tail between his legs from the Queen.

A good old beatdown was just perfect to get rid of frustrations like those, after all.

Yet, Daneel suddenly got an interesting idea.

With the night sky behind him, he watched as the 21 people carefully moved through the terrain of Lanthanor with a destination in mind.

Touching the communication trinket in his pocket, he said, "Eloise, prepare a large, discreet crew for an outdoor shoot. I want all the communication eyes we have. I've just had another epiphany."

Daneel had been trying to figure out what exciting show he would add to the new Network which would quickly make it a household name.

Before the full launch, his goal was to make it a commodity that would be sought after by all.

Now, he realized that he had gotten the perfect show to fulfill that goal.

Also, this would be the start of the ascent of his fame in the minds of the Angarians.

As Daneel flew after the intruders and started to finalize the plans in his mind, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Reality TV was, after all, one of the hottest and most successful genres in the TV industry.

Now, it was time to bring it over here…in Angarian Style.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

519 Mercy for the Wicked 1

"Something feels…off."

Hoisting the short plow in his hands onto his shoulder, Raul said this and stopped, making those behind grind to a halt.

Their cover was that he owned a farm in Lanthanor, and that these 20 were the help that he had hired from outside the Kingdom.

From the beginning itself, this plan had faced obstacles that made Raul appreciate just how…creative the King was.

He hadn't paid too much attention to the ID system before, but now that he did, he saw that there was practically no way to defeat it unless he enlisted a bonafide formation master.

Each ID was bound to an individual by blood. Even a camouflage technique would only change the outward appearance, making it so that if someone did carry out a search, the mechanism of the ID where it would stand out if it was not in the proximity of the person it was tied to would result in them being caught red-handed.

As for trying to enter normally, that was impossible, as it would be foolish to dump away all their trinkets and weapons. Raul hadn't been willing to take that risk, so he had only cursed the advanced trinket-checking devices that the King had deployed at the borders.

In the end, he had decided that this would be a quick Guerrilla strike. They would enter the Kingdom and try to reach their destination as quickly as possible, and if anyone intercepted them, they would just kill the soldiers.

So far, they had faced no obstacles, but Raul just couldn't shake that feeling.

At the moment, it had just peaked, so he had ordered a halt.

Using the scanning formation that he had acquired which was able to spy out any being at the Warrior level near them, he tried to see if they were being tailed, but sighed when he saw the same output.

There was no one.

"What is it, Raul? Any change of plans?", asked the woman behind him, who was garbed in the clothes of a peasant which she kept pulling at as she was used to wearing only the softest of fabrics which were sold at a premium that only the privileged could afford.

"No. Just a feeling. I guess I'm just being paranoid. Let's go over the plan while we walk."

If he knew that his target, the King of Lanthanor, was currently standing right in front of him and looking at him with an expression of scorn, Raul would definitely have turned back right now and raced away with all his might.

After all, someone capable of that…was clearly not an individual he could mess with.

Indeed, Daneel had been closely following this group while they traipsed through his Kingdom, unaware that their mission had already failed.

He could guess that their objective must be to take him by surprise, but those roles had switched.

Just now, he had been considering whether to go ahead and engage, but hearing this sentence, he stopped.

"Eloise, stay on standby. Move forward when I give the signal."

Sending this message, he prepared to find out what the exact intentions of this group were.

He had prepared multiple plans regarding how he was going to use this opportunity to bring Reality TV to Lanthanor. Some of them were simple, such as the idea to have the communication eye follow him while he infiltrated the group and began slaughtering each with the rest being unaware that they were being slowly picked off.

This would make for a great show, but was it Reality TV?

Not really.

Other plans were a bit extreme, so there was still a little bit of hesitation in Daneel regarding whether he should choose them.

He had been hoping that they would talk about their plan, as it would make it much easier for him to choose.

If they were just here to target him by just attracting his attention and attacking him when he least expected it, he was ready to consider even not killing them. After all, Warriors were a rare commodity in the Central Continent.

Yet, if they had planned something more nefarious…then the extreme plans would be much more enticing.

Hearing their leader, the woman nodded and began to speak while the rest resumed their brisk walk forward.

"We're heading to a town called Kasar which is populated by 2000 citizens. In this town, 50 people have a Network trinket. We will be posing as a rogue Axelorian unit who will kill these people and use the ability of these Network Trinkets where they can also act as communication trinkets to send the message that more will die unless the King arrives…"

Interrupting the woman, the leader, Raul, said, "Killing them isn't necessary. Knocking them out is fine."

"There he goes again…caring for these useless cattle."

A scoffing voice was heard from the group, but when Raul turned around to see who it was, no one spoke.

Aiming to defuse the situation as fury was slowly starting to appear on Raul's face, the woman said, "Yes, we will disable them, and wait for the King to come. He will only be thinking that he will have to deal with a squad of Humans, but we will deploy the Champion level space-lock formation and barrier that we will have laid beforehand to trap both him and the town. He's only a Peak Warrior, so he will be powerless in front of the Peak Champion level formations. After that, he will be given the choice between handing over his inheritance or watching thousands of people die, painfully. He's known to care for his citizens, so he will hand over the Inheritance, as Bors, who is an expert in torture, will begin torturing and killing a hundred people for every 5 seconds that pass without the King handing over what we want. After obtaining the Inheritance, we teleport away, and if he tries to stop or pursue us, we will threaten to detonate the Explosive Formation that will also be laid down."

While Daneel's eyes slightly reddened, he watched a Raul sighed and said, "For the sake of those innocent people, I hope that he hands over the Inheritance right away."

Right after he said this, he didn't notice one of the 20 nudge the woman who had just spoken about the plan.

"Err…Raul? The others wanted me to ask something."

"What is it?", he asked, while keeping a careful lookout.

His eyes darted around, carefully examining each and every part of the terrain around them, but when he heard the question, he couldn't help but press his lips into a thin line.

"They wanted to know whether you'll hesitate if the time really came to kill all of those townfolk. Some say that we should do it anyway, despite the King's actions, so that he wouldn't dare to pursue revenge."

Initially, it looked as if anger would cloud his face, but Raul controlled himself and spoke in a stoic voice.

"That would be a bad idea. You forget his talent. If we do that, we will be creating a vendetta that will result in us having to run throughout the rest of our lives with the fear that the King of Lanthanor might be around the next corner, waiting to end our existence."

His voice caused silence to descend over the group, as they all knew that he was speaking the truth.

Meanwhile, Daneel was looking at this leader of theirs with both of his eyebrows raised.

A previous member of the Big 4 who cared for the people of Angaria?

This was pretty hard to believe, but he knew that this man had no reason to put up an act.

Besides, from the way the others were talking about it, he could tell that this was something that must be famous about this man in their circles.

Still, it wasn't as if he was willing to do anything to make sure that those citizens lived. It was quite clear that although he might care about them, that care only extended till the selfishness of his needs, as it looked like although he would feel that it was regrettable, he wouldn't really hesitate to let them burn.

With this, Daneel's plan was finalized. It looked like 'extreme' was the way to go, as these people definitely deserve any mercy.

Giving them one last look, he prepared to tell Drakos what he needed.

If any of those 21 could see him now, they would definitely have rethought this strategy of infuriating the King of Lanthanor.

That look…belonged to one who had decided that he would play with his prey before tearing into their throats and crushing their hearts.

With a small smile on the corner of his mouth, Daneel ran ahead to a location he had chosen on the way so that he could wait to 'welcome' his guests to the show that would soon become the phenomenon of the continent.

…

In the town of Kasar, little Ophelia was arguing against her mom who was insisting that she should go play outside, as she had been cooped up in the house for 3 days ever since that Network Trinket had landed on their roof.

"Mom, that's unfair! You and dad are not leaving, why should I?"

Her face flushing as she heard the question, her mother answered, "Ophelia, stop asking questions and go, this instant! You'll understand when you grow up!"

Grumbling under her breath, the 11-year old left the house, following which her mom closed the door and ran into their living room.

The Network Trinket was affixed to a wall which had been cleared, and her husband, who was twiddling his thumbs while waiting for his wife, said, "She finally left? Great! Come on, I can't wait to see whether Gerard will kill those arrogant pricks who insulted his mother, or show mercy! I, for one, hope that he cuts them in two!"

Nodding with glee, Ophelia's mom snuggled into her husband while the man used a small, palm-sized trinket to change the channel to one which was meant for adults.

Filled with gore, cursing, and supposedly even explicit scenes, this show was one which could not be watched when there were kids around.

"Last time on…SKKKRR!"

A sudden, harsh sound made the two close their ears reflexively, while the screen went blank.

"You broke it! Damn it, Howard…"

"I didn't do anything!"

Ophelia's mom automatically started to hit her husband, who had a penchant for breaking things, but while he began to hastily defend himself, the screen cleared to show someone very familiar to them.

It was the King of Lanthanor.

"Good evening, viewers of the Network. For those of you who might not know of me, I am the King of Lanthanor. I am interrupting all of your shows right now for a very important announcement. As I speak, 21 Warriors are headed to the town of Kasar in Lanthanor, where they plan to launch a terrorist attack. Listen to them yourselves."

With pulses racing, the duo watched the conversation between Raul and the rest, and when the contents of the plan became clear to them, shudders of fright passed through both of them.

Without saying anything, Ophelia's mom started to run toward the door to get her daughter. Yet, she stopped in her tracks when the King's confident voice was heard through the trinket once again.

"First of all, I would like to urge all viewers not to panic. The situation is under control. If you don't believe me, see for yourselves!"

As the King waved his arm, his surroundings, which had been dim till now, lit up to reveal a stage, on which the 21 individuals who had been seen before were sitting with all of their limbs tied up by thick ropes.

Near the stage, the King conjured a large Throne for himself before taking a seat.

Gesturing at the unconscious Warriors, he made a proclamation that would never be forgotten by all who were watching.

"If it were up to me, I would kill them all, or at least imprison them for life. However, I realized that this is a special opportunity to show you the potential of the New Network. Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight, you all will be part of a show called…'Mercy for the Wicked'! Soon, each of these…contestants will be pitted against their teammates. Each fight will be more exciting than the last! And at the end of each fight, you will be posed with a question. Which of the two would you wish for to be given a second chance, so that they can swear to follow me? You can vote through your control trinkets! Choose the most dazzling one, or choose the one whom you think will be of service to Lanthanor the most! Either way, you are in charge! Let's…begin!"

The best Reality TV was, after all, that which involved 'Real' participation by the audience.

On Angaria, where power was supreme, Daneel wanted to give the people the chance to experience power, themselves, by being in the judging seat.

At the end of the day, the success of a show was dependent on how much it connected to the audience.

And on Angaria, what could connect more to its inhabitants than a show about which they thought about the most?

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

520 Mercy for the Wicked 2

With his head pounding as if it had been bashed in by a hammer, Raul woke up to find himself tightly tied to a chair.

Wh-what the f*ck was going on?!

One moment, they had all been on the way to Kasar, and in the next, a sudden, bright light had made them all close their eyes before darkness covered their visions.

Now…he was bound and gagged, and he couldn't even move a muscle.

All around him, he could see his comrades who were still unconscious, but in the corner of his eye, he could see a Throne on which their target was sitting.

The King of Lanthanor was leisurely resting with his head propped on one hand on the arm of the Throne, while sipping a glass of chilled wine.

His pulse racing, Raul got a heavy feeling in his stomach as he started to realize what had happened.

They…had apparently underestimated this monster.

Somehow, the King of Lanthanor who was supposed to be weaker than him, a half-step Champion, had apprehended and bound them all without even giving them a chance to put up a fight.

Raul was confident that with this Champion Path which was considered to be quite powerful, he would even be able to put up a fight against an Amateur Champion for a time. Yet…here, he had been rendered completely powerless.

Was this man, somehow…an Eminent or Exalted Champion?

Impossible!

Blinking his eyes, he didn't want to believe it, but he had no choice.

Either that was the case, or the King had someone with him at that level.

Either way…they were f*cked.

Completely, utterly f*cked.

Laying his eyes again on the King, Raul stared at him disbelief, wondering how a man who had been a regular human just a couple of years ago could have grown to this stage in such a short period of time.

'Monster' couldn't even begin to describe it. Even those privileged young masters in their Sects didn't have this kind of talent and speed in training! And those arrogant guys had the resources of the entire Continent at their back and call.

But…what was going to happen now?

Why were they still alive?

As he continued to stare at the King, his target suddenly looked in his direction.

That look, in itself, carried an inherent commanding might that made Raul realize something.

His feeling before must have been right…they had been in the palm of this man from the moment they had entered his Kingdom.

The 'how' was a mystery, but Raul could tell that it was true.

This plan of his…had definitely been f*cked from the start.

His face flushing, he started to feel regret, thinking of all the things in his life that he had promised himself that he would accomplish, but wouldn't be able to do so all because of one man.

The King was still looking at him, but Raul didn't care. He defiantly looked back, but the next moment, a flick of the King's finger caused his chair to disappear from where he was and appear on the spot right beside the King.

Smiling genially, the man said, "Do you know why all of you are alive even though your plan was to torture and kill thousands of citizens just for an Inheritance?"

As Raul heard this, shock coursed through his veins while his jaw dropped.

H-he even knew their plan!

Seeing the shock, the King said, "Yes, I was within arm's reach during your little 'discussion'."

Within arm's reach.

Within arm's reach?

WITHIN ARM'S REACH?!

Repeating that phrase within his head, Raul saw that he had been right: they had been played around with by this monster of a man, just like how a panther would stalk its prey and make it bolt in different directions for its amusement before finally going in for the kill.

His eyes started to water, and he weakly started to laugh.

Seeing that confident man break down like this in front of him, Daneel was actually a bit surprised.

Like in the movies he had seen back on Earth, he had been expecting defiant spit in his face which he had been ready to evaporate using a spell.

Yet, instead of that, this man looked…defeated.

If he had known that that was because Raul could accurately guess the power level needed to accomplish something like this, and thus, also knew that someone who was capable of that could crush them all like they were nothing, it might have made more sense to Daneel.

Yet, at the moment, the King only found this man intriguing.

Someone who cares for normal people, and also someone smart who knew the gig was up.

Without doing anything else, Daneel said, "Drakos, you might want to…"

"No, I'll be fine, Young King. There's nothing nefarious here. These people deserve this kind of treatment. My father always despised this kind of scum, but he would never have done something like this. Some called him soft because of that. I'm actually happy to see that you are not the same, Young King, as he always said that a ruler had to be capable of doing things decisively. I've guessed that this is also so that you can send a statement to the other rogue Warriors. Am I right?"

This made Daneel smile wistfully and exclaim in his mind, 'Hey, hey, I'm not being that ruthless here!'

Well, regardless of that, Drakos had guessed right.

"Exactly. The best way to strike fear into the deepest recesses of someone's heart is to make them see for themselves what fate theirs will be if they dare to enter my Kingdom."

When Daneel thought this in his mind, his eyes sharpened, causing them to look like those of a wrathful God who was ready to smite the mere mortals who had dared to defy him.

Raul, who saw this, wondered whether his time had come.

Yet, when the King looked at him and spoke, he blinked, thinking that he must definitely have heard wrong.

"Don't worry, you aren't going to die. Yet, anyway. I guess you've been too shocked to look at the screens near you? You're a star in Angaria's latest hit show! Hell, you're even the main boss! Go on! Look!"

Indeed, when Raul looked around, he saw that there were three display trinkets floating in the air in front of them.

The first contained a list with their pictures that had been assigned numbers.

The second contained two columns labeled "Votes for A" and "Votes for B".

And the third, was showing himself.

Gaping at his own image, Raul tried to comprehend what was going in.

Yet, suddenly, a mage teleported to a spot near the King and said, "My Lord, we're ready to begin."

With a smile that sent a chill down his spine, the King replied, "Yes! Let's do it!"

…

Meanwhile, Ophelia was fighting with Jennifer, her friend who lived in the house beside theirs over a pillow that the former had been using to lie on the ground.

Their house was completely packed to the brim with 50 people who all had their eyes glued to the display trinket on the bare wall.

Some were sitting on the ground, some were sitting in other people's laps, and some were even looking in from the open windows.

One phrase was on all of their tongues as they excitedly discussed among themselves.

'Mercy for the Wicked'.

Ophelia's father and mother were in the seats of honor, and their faces were beaming with pride as they were now the most popular family in their entire street. Ophelia had even watched while her mother cashed in on the opportunity, taking favors such as discounts on common trinkets from their neighbors who were trinket sellers or free food for a week from the family which owned a restaurant.

Right now, everyone was waiting with bated breath for the show to begin.

After 15 seconds, the trinket which had been displaying the words 'Mercy for the Wicked' in an artful format with a sword underneath the words and a spear passed through the 'o' in 'for' changed to once again show the King.

"Everyone, welcome to the show! Time to bring in our first contenders!"

As the image switched to the stage where two chairs had been teleported into the midst of the area which looked like a large dueling ring, 'ooh's and 'aah's sounded in the room, followed by shushing sounds from those whose attention was fully on the screen.

The chairs they had been bound to disappeared, along with the bindings, and at the same moment, a transparent barrier flashed for a moment as it came into existence before disappearing, looking like it wasn't even there.

Of the two inside, one was wearing a sleeveless shirt while the muscles on his arms rippled with might.

The other looked more delicate: he had slicked back hair and a high nose, and his posture of holding his head high made him look as if he was constantly looking down on something.

The instant they found themselves free, the two rushed toward the outside, but as their heads hit the barrier and made them fall back, the watching audience chuckled.

"Contestants 5 and 15, you have been chosen for the first round! Let me tell you the rules! In a moment, your power will be restored to you! Hundreds of thousands of citizens of Angaria are currently watching you, so straighten those backs and lift up those heads! Your objective is to fight, and impress your spectators to make them vote for you!"

"WHAT BULLSH*T IS THIS?"

"Let us out, this instant!"

The first was a shout from the muscular man, while the second statement was from the other one, whose voice was also delicate.

As if he couldn't hear them, the King continued.

"The winner moves on the next round, where he will face off against another opponent! The loser goes into the loser's pool, where he will have a chance to redeem himself if he climbs up again! But the winner and loser aren't decided by whether you defeat your opponent...No, it will all depend on the number of votes each of you accrue! As for the grand prize…"

Speaking till here, the King stood up from his Throne and walked toward the stage.

Each step of his seemed to strike the hearts of the spectators with various emotions of awe, reverence, and respect.

The moment he reached the spot where the barrier began, he folded his hands behind his back and looked straight into the eyes of the two inside the ring.

"The Grand Prize will be the chance to not be slaughtered like the 'cattle' you are for planning to kill my citizens. Now, fight!"

With stupefied expressions, the two inside the ring stared at the man who was supposed to be 'just a Peak Warrior'.

A sudden burst of fear struck their minds when he looked at them with those eyes which were oh, so cold, but the moment they felt their power return to them, they automatically launched attacks in his direction after sharing a look.

The barrier was of such a high level that they couldn't even detect its existence, so it was their small hope that the King might be caught off-guard.

The bulky man shot forward a punch that caused the apparition of a blazing fist to appear, while the other conjured a tornado filled with thunderbolts.

Yet, before they could release either attack, the King flicked his fingers once.

BAM!

BAM!

While the citizens of various Kingdoms watched on with expressions as if they had seen something straight out of the stories that bards sang, two humongous, glowing hammers appeared out of thin air above each 'contestant'.

With a resounding boom, the two individuals were crushed to the ground while their attacks dissipated.

This act was so impressive that those watching wondered whether the two in the ring had been crushed into meat paste because they had defied the King.

Yet, when the glowing hammers dissipated, they saw that the two looked fine. They were collapsed on the ground, but there were no obvious injuries.

However, on closer examination, everyone noticed that their eyes had rolled into the back of their heads, and froth was coming out of their mouths.

They were also shaking minutely, and their expressions…were those of two men who were going through the most painful torture imaginable.

With another flick, the writhing stopped.

With that same, cold voice, the King said, "Disobey, and you get another taste of those 'Hammers of Agony'. I'm told that three strikes from these Hammers result in even a Peak Exalted Warrior becoming a blabbering mess who can never recover. If you don't want to take part in a test to see whether that's true, fight. Good luck. Your fate will be decided by those people whom you had been about to kill without a second thought."

Leaving these words, the King walked back to his Throne, where he sat down with a flourish.

Waving one hand in the air, he shouted, "Let the match begin!"

While the spectators all over the continent erupted into cheers of excitement, two figures teleported into the air right above where this 'show' was going on.

Daneel would have recognized one of them: it was the regal old man who had said that he would have a chat with him.

The other man was shrouded in darkness despite the bright sunlight, but when he looked down to see the barrier and the 'contestants', his eyes shone red.

"Shouldn't we interfere? Isn't that what we're here for?", he said in a raspy voice, which made a chuckle appear from the old man.

Conjuring a comfortable chair, he sat down and said, "Why in the world would we do that? I'm just here to watch the show! No one knows that they are from the Big 4, as, in the eyes of the people, the Big 4 doesn't exist. If we step in, that will change. This kid has planned it perfectly. The moment we step in, we will also be exposing our location to the Church, who are definitely watching. Both of these things, we must avoid. All we can do is watch, and regale ourselves!"

Although the man said this, the figure in darkness didn't respond.

But, when the man spoke again after a few seconds, the figure turned around and glared.

"I know about your bastard son who's down there, but I cannot let you interfere. That's why we're here, by the way. If you try to step in, I'll stop you. You're also not going anywhere, so why not sit and watch? That guy should have been killed a hundred times over because of his crime. The only reason he's alive and only exiled is you. Who knows, maybe its finally time for him to pay his dues…"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

521 First Match

5.

That was his name now.

Born as the son of a simple woodcutter, Morgan had been delighted when he had been picked to enter one of the Big 4.

Aiming to reach the top, he had mixed with the sons and daughters of the higher-ups, who treated him like trash even though he tried to suck up to them as much as possible.

His thinking had been simple: coming from a normal life, his main goal was that he should never have to go back to having nothing. He wanted power and more resources, but because he didn't have any background, he was treated the same as everyone, which wasn't enough for him.

With the idea to become indispensable for this gang of arrogant, spoiled brats, he had become the one to do their dirty work.

Initially, it had been fine. As he was a gifted Warrior, and because he would never hesitate to resort to dirty tricks no matter what the situation was, victory was easy when he was dealing with those at his power level, especially if the opponent was someone who had grown up in the sect and, thus, didn't have much exposure to the outer world.

His mage skills were lacking, but he had still found a way to incorporate magic into his style to make sure that he could do as much damage as possible.

Most of his 'work' had involved beating up those who weren't like by the arrogant brats discreetly, so that they could gloat in the misfortune of others while not being scolded by their powerful parents.

However, it had all gone wrong during a certain exploit into the outside world.

They had gone to a village which wasn't affiliated to any Kingdom or force, and there, one of the gang had gotten carried away.

He ended up killing a family, but the Mayor of that town revealed that he was someone who had a connection with a different member of the Big 4, as the latter usually came to this town for supplies and recruitment.

The Mayor was going to send the report and condemn the gang to be reproached by their parents, which was when one of them had the brilliant idea to have Morgan slaughter the entire village.

He was hesitant at first, as the punishment was very severe. However, he was promised something that he had been looking for for a very long time: a proper Warrior Inheritance that gave him a method to strive to become a Champion. These were few and far in-between, so he had gone ahead and done the deed after taking payment preemptively, just to be safe.

He was found and sentenced to death, but that was when Morgan threatened that he would tell all of the gang's dirty secrets if he was killed.

The gang panicked, and his sentence was changed to exile.

This was just a typical story which had common elements with other stories of other rogue Fighters and Mages, but his had a twist.

He had been the one to make that member of the gang kill that family, after making sure that what he wanted was in the possession of one of them.

After that, even their actions had been choreographed by him by dropping subtle hints.

The problem had been that no longer how much dirty work he did, those arrogant sons of ******* would never hand out anything more than scraps.

So, he had created this elaborate plan, and the end result had been that he had been able to make a clean exit from all the politics and constrictions of the Sect with a big bag of Ker Gems, an Inheritance that included and Acquired Champion Path and the freedom to do whatever he wanted.

In other words, he was someone who was ready to do anything to live and prosper.

That hammer had made it very clear that his life was now in the hands of this King, who had somehow risen from being a target to a shark that was ready to devour them.

So, to live, he would win in this show, and do whatever it took to reach that goal.

Meanwhile, Daneel had sat back down with Raul, who was tonguetied.

"Come on, talk. Who do you think will win?"

Meanwhile, in the ring, the two seemed to have reached the same conclusion that they didn't want to have another taste of the hammer. They were circling around each other carefully, and because they hadn't had much of a feeling of camaraderie before, either, there wasn't that much push needed to make them turn on each other.

There were a few among the 21 who had known each other for a long time, but that definitely did not include these two.

Raul had just recently recovered from the shock that he was in this situation, so he had just been interrupted in an introspection of all the choices that had led to this moment by the King's question.

Well, what did he have to lose?

For someone who had pursued balance all his life, this was the most imbalanced thing he was seeing.

"Mor-"

"No names. Numbers. That's all they are to me, and the spectators. Well, except you, at least. But we'll get to you later. Answer."

Gritting his teeth, Raul said, "5 will lose, for sure. He's just an Eminent Warrior who has broken into that level very recently. He's even just an Exalted Human Mage. His opponent is an Eminent Mage who has quite a few killing moves up his sleeves."

"Oh? Let's see if you're right."

Watching as they circled for a few more seconds, Daneel got irritated and made his voice reverberate inside the ring, while making sure that this wasn't broadcasted.

"Stop circling and fight. If either of you is close to death, I'll intervene and save you, as I've decided that you will die by my hand if you lose. But if you win, you should be alive to claim your prize, right? Nothing is in your control, except for the chance to impress as many people as possible. Fight, or the hammers will descend again."

Nothing was more effective than the thought of having that body-shattering pain lace through their bodies again.

So, the two inside the ring conjured the same attacks which they had been about to launch at Daneel before, and…launched them toward each other.

…

"WOW! DAD, VOTE FOR 5! FLAMING PUNCHES ARE COOL!"

"NO, TORNADOES ARE COOLER! VOTE FOR 15!"

"It's simple logic! A tornado will blow fire out!"

Among excited cheers, the match that had started was now being heavily commented on by the children.

Meanwhile, the parents were having more of an…intellectual discussion.

"The muscular man looks like an honest Fighter. Look at his flaming punches…they embody the manly power of youth."

"Pfft! 'Manly Power'! Your wife should talk about that, not you! The delicate one is so much nicer! He looks like one of those nice kids who can take your daughter out!"

"Both of you, shut up! We need to analyze their attacks, not their appearances! Now, look, the fire punch is strong, but it pales in comparison to the versatility of the tornado."

"Yes, but look at the delicate guy running around while trying to avoid getting close to the other one. He definitely looks pathetic!"

"But the hefty guy is running away from the tornado, too! All of his punches are getting extinguished!"

Each turn of the battle was dissected into multiple components in this way, before each was judged thoroughly using what limited knowledge the citizens had.

They had been right, number 5 was constantly on guard against the tornado, which was being actively controlled by 15 to get near to his opponent's body while he either dodged 5's attacks using barriers or ran away.

Finally, the tornado with lightning bolts reached its target, which resulted in the hefty man being flung across the ring.

Hitting the barrier, he slumped to the ground, while Daneel prepared to pick him out.

The pure Mage was quite talented, and there even seemed to be a difference of two minor levels between him and the Fighter. The latter couldn't even get close enough to use his Fighter attacks, which had resulted in this loss.

Just as he was about to intervene as the tornado was nearing 5 and would soon kill him, he saw something that made both his eyebrows rise high up on his head.

"No! For my father, I must survive! I need to fulfill his dying wish!"

With acting that would have won an award back on Earth, the hefty man valiantly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and shakily stood up.

The sound from inside the ring was being transmitted to the Network Trinkets for realism, so the spectators all heard this line.

Silence shrouded over the houses where boisterous discussions had been going on till now, while citizens gazed as number 5 heroically launched one last punch before disappearing from the ring, right before the tornado madly collided into the barrier at the spot where he had been.

This made many scream with fright, wondering whether that 'poor man' who needed to fulfill his father's dying wish had died.

However, the screen flashed once and went blank, before changing to show the two contestants standing on two wooden podiums.

It seemed that barriers had again been set up to stop them from moving, which became evident when the delicate man launched a punch and shook his head when his hand collided with the transparent membrane.

For the spectators, numbers appeared below each podium indicating the contestant's identity, while Daneel's voice reached them through the trinket.

"Press the 'left' button on the trinket to choose 5! Press 'right' to choose 15! Their fate lies in your hands! Choose wisely!"

No one even heard Daneel, as most were busy viewing the hefty man again, who had fallen to the ground after 'realizing' that he wasn't dead.

Daneel's instructions that he would save them hadn't been broadcast to the people, so they didn't know that number 5 could have known that he would live.

So, seeing him collapse on his knees and cry while looking as if he was ecstatic that he was still alive, it looked like he really had been ready to let death take him valiantly with that last attack.

"Daddy, 5 should live to fulfill his father's wish. Vote for him."

"Yes, we should vote for him!"

"Now that I think about it, he was pretty impressive. And the King did say that victory and loss doesn't matter. All that matters is whether he impressed us. 5 impressed me!"

"No, how can you believe that he's not acting?!"

"Did you SEE him cry? It was so honest!"

Although few were still skeptical, many had been bowled over by this 'performance'.

The votes started pouring in, and Daneel watched as the 'bucket' which indicated the number of votes for 5 started filling up.

Right now, he was…pretty irritated.

He hadn't expected that these Angarians would adapt so fast!

The hallmark of any reality show contestant was his/her ability to enter the hearts of the spectators through their performance. Clearly, the hefty man had aimed for that, and had succeeded, despite the fact that the other was more impressive than him.

This was an aspect of reality TV that Daneel had always hated. So, seeing it enter his show so soon, an expression of exasperation was visible on his face.

Even Raul seemed to agree.

"Heh. His father? What a joke. Morgan is known to be one of the most cold-blooded guys in the rogue circles. His father was killed by some human robbers, but I know for a fact that he didn't even bother to go for the funeral as he was too busy sucking up to others. The only one he values is himself."

This made the irritation in Daneel grow to new heights.

It was one thing if a person was being dramatic using the truth.

However, if someone was being someone they were not just to win, that…was someone Daneel wanted to squash.

Sadly, he could only bide his time. Forcefully putting on a fake smile, he spoke when the screen shifted to him.

"The people have spoken! 5 advances, while 15 enters the loser's pool! We will be having a 5-minute recess before the next match! Get some refreshments, but don't. Go. Away!"

In Ophelia's house, many shouts of happiness were heard, as most of them had gotten what they wanted.

As for the rest who had been skeptical, they could only grumble.

Just like them, Daneel was the one grumbling the most.

However, suddenly, it was as if the Gods above had heard his 'prayers'.

"Young King, I understand your frustration. But I think you have a chance to make it right. Focus on the spot where number 5 is sitting."

After the proclamation of victory, 15 had had a baffled look on his face while 5 had jumped into the air with joy.

After that, they had both been bound again and placed along with the other captives.

As Daneel followed Drakos's instructions, he smiled after a few seconds.

Immediately contacting the Network Crew, he prepared for a…'special' broadcast.

…

Back in Ophelia's house, people were chatting happily about how they had done the right thing. It was almost as if they had forgotten that that man had been about to kill them, which was something that those who hadn't wanted to vote for 5 repeatedly tried to remind them about.

Yet, that was shrugged away, with the reply being that 'Even the Wicked should be shown Mercy, sometimes'.

Ophelia didn't want to leave even to the bathroom, so her eyes were glued to the screen, which was blank.

When the screen suddenly flashed and showed a picture of two people, she yelped and shouted, "Look, it's back!"

Hurriedly, all the people assembled again, with some even buttoning their pants in the process as they had been in the bathroom.

They were all expecting another show, but it was number 5's voice which floated through the Network Trinket.

When they heard his words, shock, disbelief, and anger started to shine on the faces of those who had voted for him, while those who hadn't prepared to utter the biggest 'I-told-you-so's of their lives.

The beginning part of his conversation with the one bound next to him had been cut off, but the remaining was enough for everyone to understand the truth.

"-knew it! I guessed that those stupid sheep would fall for whatever sob story I spouted! They're only fit to be slaughtered! Hehe, my dad's only last wish was to never see me again because I stole his life's savings when I left! Well, in a way, it's true, cos I would have seen him if I died! HAHAHAHA!"

.....

Final 20 hours to send your entries in! All entries will be up for voting by Sunday's Powerstone reset!

Final details of contest:

Theme: WDS Spinoff - can be anything related to the events/characters of this book

Submission: Mail to worlddominationsystem@gmail.com

Last Date: 30th March 2019

Prizes: 1200 SS

Minimum Word Count: 500

Method of deciding winner: Voting

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

I've looked over the entries so far and they're awesome! Keep it up!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

522 Just Desserts

The smile on Daneel's face couldn't get any wider while he watched the broadcast of 5's real nature which was being witnessed by all the spectators all over the continent.

He hadn't expected that he would be getting a chance to get back at this guy so soon, so he was both pleasantly surprised and extremely happy about it.

However, it didn't make that much sense. If someone was sly enough to be able to figure out this loophole this quickly, then he didn't understand why he would resort to boasting in this way which was both risky and unnecessary.

Regardless, Daneel knew that he would find out everything soon, as he didn't intend to stretch it too.

He knew that shorter shows were always better, as it would be tough to keep excitement and anticipation up for hours and hours on end, continuously.

That was also why TV shows on earth ran in the form of episodes instead of dumping everything in front of the spectators' eyes in one long broadcast.

Even here, the best case would have been if he could have made this play out over the span of five or six episodes, but he couldn't afford to do that as Daneel didn't want to risk unknown factors entering into the fray and messing with his plans.

Coming back to the broadcast, he knew that this was the kind of rude awakening that the people needed so that they wouldn't fall for such tricks and would vote according to the criteria he had given them.

His whole objective with this show was that he wanted them to feel how it was if they had the power to judge the fates of those who had set out to vanquish them. He was practically making them the judge, and he knew that few things were more exhilarating than that for these common people whose lives were spent only looking up at people of power like these Warriors.

Also, of course, the main objective was that his face and his image had to be etched into the minds of the people of this continent as firmly as possible through this show.

Hence, Daneel had already planned it with the crew and Eloise that there would be as many appearances by him as possible during the course of the show. Between each match, during each recess, during each announcement, and during each time that he stepped in to save either contestant from dying, his image would flash across the screen, highlighting his grandness and royal attitude when he dealt with these powerful people who were nothing like ants to him.

At least, that was the image they were going for, and it worked pretty well, especially considering the fact that Daneel's real power really did eclipse that of these 21 individuals by a large margin.

The second match was between two Mages, who had to run around the ring incessantly while dodging the other's attacks as they were both quite weak in body potential. All of their trinkets had been stripped from them in order to make for a level playing field, so they could only resort to conjuring barriers that were usually ineffective in fights of this level as it would take too long to cast the spell for a strong enough barrier to stop a Warrior's attack. It was much more easier just to run while making sure that their own attacks were on track to hit the opponent, which made for a cat and mouse game that wasn't that entertaining, at all.

However, the effects of the first match were apparent. Taking a cue from 5, these two also tried to put out sob stories that were even cringier then 5's, but they failed as the voting was almost dead even with one of them eking out a victory just by pure luck and a little bit of skill. They had already put on display the most dazzling spells they had in their possession, so it could be said that they had done everything they could do.

…

Ophelia had a very serious expression on her face throughout the second match, just like the many other adults who had advocated for 5 during the first match. The only ones smiling were the skeptical individuals who had tried to dissuade these people from falling for those tricks.

In fact, they had been gloating all this while, but a snap from the majority who couldn't take it any longer had made it so that those people could only sit by themselves and gloat silently while the rest tried to forget what had happened.

The whole time during the second match, silence had mostly pervaded throughout Ophelia's household with only a few gasps of shock on seeing the dazzling displays of magic on the screen.

However, there were no excited cheers like during the first match, as it seemed that even the cheering would make them remember how they had been made fools of.

Many had even resolved to wait for the next match in which 5 would take part, so that they could vote against him even if he turned out to be the most dazzling one.

As for when they saw the dialogues of the two Mages just before the match ended which were clearly attempts to swing the audience towards them by making themselves look more pitiful than the other, scorn and derision appeared on the faces of the spectators while they closed their ears completely and refused to believe anything that these two were saying.

At the end of the second match, the good spirits of the people finally returned a little as they saw that the victor this time was the one that most of them had chosen, as he had seemed just a bit more dazzling than the other due to his spells which used ice and fire in a beautiful and artistic manner.

He had also won that match, which had served to increase the good opinion that they had had of him.

All in all, the judging took place in a much more fair manner due to the incident of the first match, and this was something that Daneel also commented on and felt glad about. Hell, he even wondered whether he should thank number five for educating the citizens of this continent about the fraudulent ways in which people in reality shows could gain favor.

After all, there was no awakening better than a rude one.

The next two matches after that also took place in a more normal manner, with the cheering slowly starting to make a return because each time, the citizens were happy that they weren't falling for the inept and sometimes even disgusting attempts by these Warriors to make them vote for them.

Some quoted a dying wife, others copied 5 and spoke about their parents, and some even resorted to saying that they just wanted to take care of their kids.

Of course, all of these fell on deaf ears, and each time, more votes went to the one who managed to strike a better impression of his or her power in the eyes of the citizens.

In the four matches that followed the first one, three of them went in the favour of the one who won the match, while the fourth was an exception as the winner in question was a lady who displayed a very mesmerizing style of magic which involved flying around the ring serenely while trying to avoid the strikes of her opponent, who was a Warrior just like 5. Towards the end, she failed and was almost about to be struck down which would have resulted in possible death, which made Daneel step in. She ended up being the victor in votes, with a majority higher than those that had come before her.

This also happened to be the woman who had stood beside Raul and spoken for the group before, and when he saw her fighting, Daneel had noticed that Raul had a regretful expression on his eyes.

After the match, he was going to ask why that was, but he let it go as he once again got busy in appearing in front of the people and making grand gestures.

Next up was 5's turn, again.

When Morgan went into the ring the second time, he was ecstatic.

His plan was progressing beautifully, and he even glanced toward one of the communication eyes and winked, as if he was some sort of favorite who had returned in front of the eyes of the spectators to regale them with his performance.

Of course, he had no idea that his true colors had already been broadcasted to his fans.

He couldn't have known that the king eavesdropped on him during a normal discussion between him and the other Warriors, which had actually been part of his plan.

While he was stepping down from the podium after his victory, he had gotten this idea.

He had seen the expressions on the faces of his opponent and the other Warriors who were spectating the match, so he knew that they would definitely copy his tactic and attempt to win over the hearts of those watching.

If that was the case, then he couldn't guarantee that he would have the upper hand in his own next match. After all, he even knew that he couldn't compare in acting skills to a few of his fellow Warriors.

The matches after his had cemented that opinion in his mind, as everyone put on performances. Yet, as he didn't know that he was the reason why the judging had changed to become fair, he assumed that it was still based on who performed better in both the battle and the drama.

So, he went forward with his plan, even going so far as to make sure that his statement about him stealing his father's savings would spread throughout the Warriors so that no matter who became his opponent, they would definitely know about it.

Sure enough, his opponent was another Fighter who had a mocking smile on his face, as if he was going to end his progress by uttering the truth.

Well, that was exactly what he wanted.

The moment the match started, just like he had expected, his opponent stood where he was and shouted out, "Morgan – number five! The people need to know just how much of a fraud you are! I heard you telling everyone outside and gloating that you fooled all of the citizens using your statement when in reality, your father never wanted to see you again because you stole all of his life savings!"

Only, instead of panicking, Morgan just chuckled, as it was time for the final part of his plan.

"You think all of these people are foolish to believe whatever you say? They saw me facing death itself when I said that. I'm not the kind of vile character like you to say whatever is needed just because I want to live. Besides, the citizens of this continent are smart. They will only judge based on how good we are, not on what we say. Fight me, you fool. If you are better than me in impressing the great citizens of our continent, then I will admit defeat by myself and cut my throat. So, stop this kind of underhanded behavior."

This left his opponent gaping, while Morgan continued to laugh inside his mind.

He always liked to be one step ahead of his opponents, just like in the case with that gang from the sect when he had led them to kill those villagers.

He had expected that he would be targeted in this way no matter who his opponent was, so his objective had been to remove that from the equation and praise the spectators so that they would be more inclined to vote for him.

He could almost imagine those foolish creatures' faces – they must be beaming that he, a great Warrior, had praised them for being smart.

Still, just to be safe, Morgan put on the best performance of his life. Luckily, his opponent was also a Fighter who was much less dazzling than him, so he even started to feel regret that he should have saved this for another match as he knew that he would have won this one anyway even if the judging was fair.

However, when he stood atop the pedestal and waited for the results, he saw the King smiling at him in an odd way.

He didn't understand why that was, but when he heard the King's proclamation in front of the screen, his jaw almost dropped to the floor.

"What a historic decision! For the first time, I'm seeing the biggest difference in votes yet. I didn't even think of this was possible! I can only comment that all the citizens have become very cognizant about how they should make their decisions. The winner is number 19, with an astounding majority of a ratio of 98:1. Onto the next match!"

Morgan started to stutter, raising a finger pointing at the King, as he wanted to ask whether this was all a mistake.

Meanwhile, smiles of joy could be seen on the faces of Ophelia and the rest, as they felt that they had finally set right the mistake they had done before.

Daneel chose to clear the man's doubt. Flicking his fingers, he made Morgan appear beside him, before he said, "Your plan was good… But you should have thought about it a bit more. What do you think the people will feel if they see you calling them cattle right in front of their eyes?"

Everything fell into place in Morgan's mind. He had been… Doomed from the second he made that plan.

Right now, he could only stare at the King, whose gloating smile made him flush and look to the side while anger and frustration dominated his mind.

Yet, when he looked to the side, his eyes fell on the screen denoting the votes, where he saw that his 'bucket' was almost completely empty.

'Damn this King! This isn't fair!'

He shouted this in his mind, but he knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

He had tried to be smart, but it had ended up stabbing him in the back.

Daneel had to say that he was very, very satisfied right now. The citizens had been educated in the correct way, and this guy, who had attempted to hoodwink him and live, had also had his just desserts.

The shock on his face had been one of the most fulfilling things that Daneel had felt in a long time.

Now, it was time to bring an end to this show.

Turning toward Raul beside him, Daneel said, "Get ready. You're the final boss. You'll be going up soon."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

523 Unexpected Developmen

The completely shocked expression on 5's face when he saw that he lost was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

All of the cheers and excitement that had disappeared from the people returned, making them jump with glee along with those smiles of joy that just wouldn't leave their faces.

This would definitely be a lesson that they would remember forever, and when the King made that comment, his words also got branded into their minds.

Throughout the show, his repeated appearances really had gone a long way in making him feel more and more familiar to all of the people who had used to think of him as some distant figure whom they didn't know much about.

Familiarity always bred comfort, and when they viewed how impressive he looked as he was in control of everything going on even though he was dealing with people of this level which was supposed to be undefeatable on the Central Continent, their impression of him started to grow more and more. At least, in those who hadn't felt much about the king except knowing that he was someone famous, Daneel had succeeded in building the foundation of the image that he hoped would grow into something so much greater.

Meanwhile, after hearing Daneel's comment, Raul remained silent, just like he had been throughout the show so far.

He only observed everything as if he was a spectator himself, while he repeatedly went through everything that had happened in his whole life until now.

He didn't think much about winning, as something told him that even though the king had stated that he would let the victor go, things definitely wouldn't be that simple. After all, why would this man give someone the opportunity to target him again by letting them go, now?

Along with being the most powerful, he was also the oldest among all of the rogue Fighters and Mages, and because of his special position beside the King, he could tell that this was all just a choreographed play whose only objective was to further some goal of the King's. As for what the specific goal was, although Raul had a few suspicions, he didn't know the answer exactly.

He had already assessed that all of the formations and spells binding all of them were at the Champion level, which made him wish that he could cross the final step stopping him from becoming a Champion and breaking out of the bindings in one go.

All he needed to do… Was understand what the essence of balance was, and cast a Mageroot-less spell that would result in the advance of his Mageroot to the next level.

That had been his whole objective behind targeting the King in the first place – the King had awed everyone by casting a Mageroot-less spell during his Olympics, which had resulted in a fire being lit up in Raul to find out just how he had done it.

If he could receive even a few tips regarding the process, then he was confident that he could finally achieve what he had been trying to reach for the past 10 years.

Accompanied by the King's smile, the contest continued for another hour during which those in the loser's bracket also fought with everything they had in an attempt to get more votes.

The exception was 5 – initially, he tried to put on dazzling performances in the hope that he could overturn the impression that he had given to the people, but each time, he lost without fail.

In his last match, he didn't even bother to put up resistance, resulting in a forfeit.

In the end, the victor was quite surprising – it was the woman who had that mesmerizing style of magic.

She wasn't the most powerful, but there was just something about her that made the people want to vote for her. One thing was for sure – she always put forward the best effort, and she was always graceful when she saw the result, no matter if she won or lost. In fact, she had lost once with a very small difference in votes to a Fighter who had managed to strike her down in a very short span of time, but she fought her way through the loser's bracket and even won the semi-finals, as she seemed to have a towering advantage over all Mages.

Her battle style was peculiar – she seemed to be an expert in nullifying the spells of her opponents, which obviously didn't work against Fighters as there were no spells being cast.

Also, her own attacks didn't use any of the typical elements – instead, they employed some sort of sound based medium that sought to lull the opponent into a dizzy state in which they could be defeated.

All in all, she stood out, which was a major factor in her victory.

After the end of the semi-final match during which he emerged the victor, Daneel walked onto the ring where so many fights had taken place.

Seeing this and knowing that it might be time for the most brilliant fight yet, everyone in Ophelia's household held their breath, looking forward to what the King would say.

First, Daneel gestured toward the woman who had won, who was standing beside him in the ring.

She was wearing a white dress with many tassels around her hands and legs, which artfully flew around her even when she was standing still.

"Number three, congratulations on reaching the finals. I must say that for someone who was about to take part in an act that would have gone down as one of the most horrific in the history of my Kingdom, you really managed to turn your impression around and strike a chord in even the people whom you would have killed if you hadn't been stopped. Really, this show is more of a grand success than I could ever have imagined, and I think the citizens all over the continent agree when I say that I have shown them fully just what my Network is capable of. What do you all say?"

The final question was, of course, addressed toward the communication eye. In Ophelia's house, everyone stood up with broad smiles and even started to applaud, even though they knew that the king couldn't see them.

They were just too…moved. This was definitely the best show they had ever seen in their entire lives, and it had all been made possible by the man whom they saw in the trinket. The way in which he had stopped this threat and even made it into such an exciting show for all of them was something they would remember forever, and in their hearts, the image of the King of Lanthanor started to solidify into something that wouldn't budge no matter what anyone said about him.

"I can hear the applause even though I'm not with you, and I can only say that I am humbled. However, like all good things, this must also come to an end. It is time for the final match – between the victor, number three, and their leader who put this entire operation together. I have chosen to give him the special Number zero. He is special… Because he is the most powerful man to have ever set foot in my Kingdom. He is a Peak Exalted Warrior- just one step away from becoming a Champion – and I don't think I need to tell you all just how legendary a level that is."

Gasps of surprise and shock sounded throughout all the households who were witnessing the show, as they had only heard about Champions in stories. Just like the King had said, that was a level that was legendary. In the stories, such people were capable of rending the earth and splitting the heavens if they wished, and many had even thought that the Champion level was just a hoax.

Anticipation grew to the next level when they heard this, making the people move even closer to the trinket so that they wouldn't miss even a single move.

"Still, I implore you all to judge in the same way that you have been judging so far. You will be the ones to decide the fates of these two people – one will live, and one will not. Let the match… Begin!"

As the king said this and disappeared from the ring, the eyes of the spectators sharpened as they prepared to take part in the final judging.

However, even though seconds passed one after another, both individuals just stood on two corners of the ring and looked at each other without doing anything.

Daneel was also perplexed. He wondered whether he should step in and threaten these two again, but he had set the stage so beautifully that doing something like that would spoil it.

He had referred to these people's initial objective so that he could remove any impressions of favor that might have formed for the woman by making the people remember that she had been about to merrily kill them all just a few hours ago.

He wasn't too worried about the fight being one-sided, as he had noticed that this woman's peculiar style would let her stand up to Mages who were more powerful than her. So, he was looking forward to a good fight, even though he knew that Raul would most definitely be the one winning.

After a minute, he finally chose to intervene.

"The hammers will descend in one minute. Begin the fight," he said coldly, which did not elicit any response from either contestant.

Well, if they wanted to feel pain, then he couldn't do anything.

Meanwhile, Raul was staring at the woman whom he had known for more than two decades.

How could he rais his hand against someone like that?

Unlike the rest who were just acquaintances with each other, the two of them had always been close. In fact, she was the one who had introduced him to the circle of rogue Warriors after he had been exiled from the sect.

He had been pursuing balance all his life… But he had now reached a position of such imbalance.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't imagine this going in a different way. In his pursuit of balance, he had thought that he had already taken care of all aspects, but there was no possible way in which he could have known that the King's inheritance was something much more powerful than he had thought.

Wasn't balance all about considering all factors and placing them on either side of the scale?

He had done that, but failed spectacularly.

What if… That wasn't all that was there to balance?

What if… True balance wasn't actually impossible in this world, where there was chaos and uncertainty everywhere?

If that couldn't be taken into account, then what was the point of trying to achieve equilibrium?

But… If he incorporated imbalance as a factor, then wouldn't the entire pursuit become moot?

Complex thoughts revolved in his mind, as realization slowly started to dawn upon him.

He couldn't get rid of the chaos, and the chaos would cause imbalance.

Then what was the only solution?

Once again, he remembered the powerless feeling that had filled him when he viewed all of his comrades fighting each other. He went over this entire experience, and what he had learned from it.

His pursuit had always been to find balance in everything, but he had never accepted that that was impossible.

True balance… Was only possible when he accepted the universal fact that nothing could be completely certain.

He could only seek to measure what was visible in front of him, while being cognizant of the fact that the chaos was something he couldn't quantify or take into the equation. His pride, his power, his magic… All of them were useless in the face of that chaos.

At this moment, he understood that he had been seeing it in the wrong way.

His whole pursuit of this Champion path had stemmed from one sentence he had found in the records of the sect: "The path of balance can only be sought after by those who tread on it while trying to keep away from the shadow that is imbalance."

He had assumed that this meant that everything had to be in his control so that he could achieve balance… yet, a shadow was something that was always present, no matter if it was visible or invisible. Hence, he could only know of its existence, and move on.

The moment he understood this, his Mageroot started to go through a metamorphosis that allowed him to view the world in a different way.

He raised his two palms, and when a fireball appeared in one, another fireball came into existence on the other palm even though he hadn't cast the spell for it.

This fireball… Had appeared because of his understanding of the concept of balance, instead of being conjured by his Mageroot.

So this was the power of this Champion path.

It was the power to influence the world itself to be in equilibrium, by making it move in order to set right any imbalances that he created.

In essence… All of his attacks would spawn copies.

When Daneel viewed this, a chill passed through his spine, as he could see with his Elementary Vision that this man hadn't cast the spell for the second fireball. No… His surroundings had moved by themselves.

The next moment, the barrier broke, as he had only been using an Amateur Champion level barrier given by Drakos so that he wouldn't set off any suspicions in the eyes of those who might be watching.

Of course, that bit him in the ass, now, as Raul had become a true Amateur Champion who broke through everything in a flash.

Initially, Daneel frowned, wondering what he should do, but he suddenly got an idea.

After asking Drakos a question and receiving the answer he had hoped for, he messaged Eloise, saying, "Keep it running. I wanted the show to end with a bang, and it seems that the heavens have answered that prayer of mine. No matter what happens, don't let the broadcast stop."

Saying so, Daneel rose into the air to face the man who had been his captive till now.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

524 The Moment Angaria Stood Still

Meanwhile, at the location in the air where the man shrouded in darkness and the Hero from the Big 4 were sitting.

On seeing the sudden, unexpected development below, the former stood up with shock, while his eyes started to glow brightly.

The bearded, regal man also stood up, with his eyes sharpening.

Yet, after viewing the scene for a second, he sighed and said, "So he really did achieve it. I must say that I'm surprised. However…"

That last word of his spoken in a strange tone. It made visible reverberations appear from his mouth, which bounced infinitely on invisible surfaces before coalescing into a solid, transparent cage around the man shrouded in darkness.

All of this happened in the span of less than a second, and even though the other man was about to retaliate, he found himself trapped before he could even conjure an attack.

This man…wasn't the head of the Big 4 for nothing.

"It's sad that we cannot interfere even if he becomes a Hero. An exile is an exile. He bears resentment toward us. True, he is talented, but he isn't talented enough to warrant a departure from the customs which have allowed us to exist to this point. You know as well as I do that we cannot step in. So…just sit, and hope that he can escape. His chances do look better, you know."

As soon as he said the last sentence, a formless force made the other man enter a forced sitting position, while the glow in his eyes took on a dangerous aspect while he looked at the Head of the Council.

Chuckling, the Head said, "Don't look at me like that. You know I'm doing this for a reason. Come on, let's watch the show together."

…

Meanwhile, the system had just sent a message in Daneel's mind which made him smile with delight.

[Champion level Paragon Constructs analyzed. Ready to deploy.]

"Young King, as you've asked, I've given you the copy of the Champion level inheritance that definitely exists somewhere in this world. That man was my disciple…he told me that he would place it at a place where only those with determination could find. I assure you that it is at a similar level to those that must have been found by the Big 4 so far. You won't arouse any suspicion even after you defeat this man. It will be a bit tough, though."

"Oh, that's all right. It has to be tough so that our spectators believe that it's all real."

Replying in this way, Daneel first made sure that Eloise and the rest of the crew were at a safe distance. After that, he checked on the communication eye that he had placed on his chest so that it could have the best view.

Any communication eyes floating around in the air would definitely turn to dust due to the aftershocks of their fight. So, placing one on himself, where it would be protected by the barriers protecting him, was best.

After all his checks were done, he laid his eyes on his opponent, who was just looking at him with an indecipherable expression in his eyes.

He spoke after a few seconds.

"Must we fight? The objective that I came here for has been fulfilled. If you allow it, I'll just take all of these Warriors and leave."

As soon as he said this, hope appeared in the eyes of all those who were still bound below.

However, following that hope…was fury, which made it clear that these weren't the sort of people who would just let this humiliation go.

They had been put on display like circus animals to produce tricks for the amusement of those whom they considered to be insects. Till now, because they had thought that they had no way out, all the Warriors had put that to the side and focused on the attempt to win and live.

Yet, now that they saw that there was an opportunity, they could only think about one thing: revenge.

In fact, some even planned on going on a killing trip where they would seek out and kill all those who had done the voting.

All of this was clear in their expressions, even if they tried to hide it. Many didn't even try, as they knew about the gap between a Peak Exalted Warrior and an Amateur Champion.

It was such a qualitative leak in power that there was almost no match between the two, and, besides, they had all seen the incredible ability that Raul's Champion Path had made him capable of.

So, they looked forward to when they would be free.

The only exception was the woman who had won the semi-finals- she was only looking at Raul with eyes that contained awe, with none of the bloodthirst that was apparent in the others.

Daneel didn't even need to give an answer. There was no chance that he would let them go, especially after they had made their intentions clear.

This became clear to Raul, too, who sighed again and said, "All right, then. You were right to defend your Kingdom's citizens, but putting us all on this kind of show really is inexcusable. I'll give you a swift death. Let the vendetta between us end with this. All of you- if you target the innocent people even after I kill this King, then I will come after you. Understood?"

That last sentence made Daneel raise an eyebrow, while the 19 Warriors tried to curb their anger and nod.

It didn't look like Raul bought it, as he had a sad expression on his face when he said, "Let's get this over with."

At the end of the day, Raul knew where his allegiance lay. These were only a few of the rogue Warriors on this continent: he knew for sure that there were many more.

He had his own goals, and for them, he had to stay on the side of these people even if he didn't like most of them.

Daneel, on the other hand, was just smiling when he watched this whole show.

At this moment, he truly understood why an Empire Spirit was considered to be the ultimate treasure trove, and why the Big 4 feared those who connected with one so much.

Apparently, the seals were ordered in such a way that the first seal, which he had already broken, was meant to give access to myriad Champion-level techniques, spells, and information.

The second seal was meant for Hero-level, and this was what the Queen of Arafell and, supposedly, the King of Axelor had broken.

As for the third and final seal, it seemed that even Drakos didn't know what was behind it.

Of course, there were loopholes, such as simple Hero-level spells that Drakos had been able to give him.

Yet, Daneel felt as if what he had just received surpassed everything that Drakos had given him so far.

In fact, he even felt like kicking himself for not telling Drakos to dump all the Champion-level stuff he knew so that the system could record it.

Regardless, Daneel decided that that was what he would do as soon as this fight was done.

With his hands behind his back, he watched as Raul conjured one barrier, which made another appear.

Even if it was the second time he was viewing it, Daneel was thoroughly impressed.

This was different from the Champion abilities that the Mad Doctor and Ashahell had displayed, but he could tell that each had its own advantages and drawbacks.

In succession, Raul deployed an array of barriers around him, before raising his hands.

Between his palms, a small, fist-sized glowing ball of light appeared, which started to grow brighter and brighter as time passed.

At the same time, a similar ball came into existence beside it, which also started to grow brighter at the same pace.

"Young King, this is the Warrior-level spell 'Sun Ray'. By concentrating light elementary particles, a destructive ray of energy is shot at an opponent at a blinding speed. Now that it is being channeled by a Champion, it is even more powerful, and the effect of his Champion Path doubles its power. If you were just a normal Peak Exalted Warrior, you would stand no chance at all."

Nodding inwardly, Daneel only chuckled in response.

Raul couldn't understand what was the reason behind the King's confidence. He had been a Peak Exalted Warrior himself, so he knew that this attack would definitely have killed him.

Looking around, he noticed a few Paragon constructs coming into being, but he was confident in the defensive power of his barriers. Besides, it was known that the King was a Paragon, but he was sure that no Paragon construct could even come close to defeating him.

So, he just shrugged and continued gathering power to make sure that this would be a sure-fire kill.

Daneel, on the other hand, had even conjured the Throne on which he had been sitting while watching the show.

After a few seconds, the system sent a message, which was accompanied by a shocked remark from Drakos.

[Anti-Mage Ultimate Paragon Quagmire "Starry Skies" ready to deploy.]

"Amazing, Young King! I didn't know that your learning ability was so quick! If my disciple were here, even he would be amazed! Back in the day, each and every Mage, even if they were at the Eminent Champion level, would flee as soon as they saw these Paragon Constructs form. The most horrifying thing was that my disciple used these even when he was just an Eminent Warrior! True Paragons really are that scary. But it is just too difficult a path. I confess that even I tried it, and failed. My disciple could also not cross the chasm that separates a Champion and a Hero because he chose to be a Paragon. But he had no regrets."

Hearing this made Daneel almost rub his nose with embarrassment, as it was the system that was responsible for this feat.

While Drakos continued his recounting of the memory of his disciple, Raul had become ready to fire.

Daneel had been prepared for a slugfest, just like the one when he had fought against the mad Black Raven King.

However, he really had to thank Drakos for giving him a way to win while putting on a show that would give the best ending possible to 'Mercy for the Wicked'.

The moment Raul fired his attack, Daneel waved his hand and said in his mind, "Deploy".

At that moment, it was as if the world, itself, stood still, while the spectators witnessed the most glorious scene of their lives.

Raul's attack was in the form of a thick, burning jet of light that wanted to reduce the King of Lanthanor to dust.

It shot out at a blinding speed which made it look as if it would have no problem accomplishing its task, but after it got to the halfway mark between them, it…halted.

The reason was that multiple stars had come into being at some point behind the King, who was royally sitting on his Throne. All of these stars were shooting similar attacks back at the opponent's Sun Ray, effectively nullifying Raul's attack by using quantity over quality.

Meanwhile, the King looked like he was just taking a random stroll in the park, and everyone could see this clearly as Eloise had made sure that there was an additional Communication eye broadcasting the scene from a third person's point of view even if it was from far away.

They really did look like stars- glowing in the night sky, eclipsing the real ones which seemed to dim as if their light had been stolen from them.

They were arranged in some sort of pattern which made it look as if the hand of a giant was gently cupping the King's Throne from behind and protecting him, and as more and more 'stars' came into being, Raul's attack even started to be pushed back, despite the fact that his Champion Path had allowed him to layer both of his attacks into one.

This sight- of the King sitting casually while handling a Champion's attack as if it was nothing, made hundreds of thousands of people wonder whether they were dreaming.

As for Raul, he simply couldn't believe it. His eyes were open wide, and his face was fixed into an expression as if he had been struck by a Champion level thunderbolt.

Each star was comprised of many, many elementary particles seamlessly joined to create the construct, which actually seemed to be…feeding off the energy of his attack to grow stronger.

Wh-what the heck kind of Godly attack was this?!

Even as he asked this question in his mind, the two Heroes from the Big 4 stood up with astonished expressions on their faces.

The man shrouded in darkness remained silent, but the other one couldn't help but speak.

"A Warrior-level Paragon, undefeatable even by Champions! H-how did this kid find THAT inheritance?!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

525 A Message

"Wasn't that a lost Inheritance?"

"Yes…it was listed in the archives we retrieved, but it was never found. Many assumed that it was lost in one of the devastating battles that followed the collapse of the Empire. Apparently…that is not the case."

"But what kind of talent would be needed to train in it, and even deploy it to this level?"

"That's…immeasurable."

Even the two Heroes had to take a few seconds to recover from the massive shock that had flooded their minds the moment they understood just which Inheritance this was.

The path of a Paragon was both the most sought after, but also the most frowned upon path, even in the Big 4.

The reasons for the latter were numerous. The speed of growth was agonizingly slow because of the time period needed to understand and master each and every type of elementary particle, and even though there was an insane power boost even in the earlier levels where a Paragon was capable of battling against opponents of higher levels, it just wasn't worth it when one considered that it was very possible for one's optimal training age to pass by while foolishly pursuing this path. Others would have soared to reach greater heights where they would have elongated lifespans, while bones or dust would be left behind for these people who would be remembered as those who had burned bright, but only for a small period of time before getting extinguished.

So, at least in the Central Continent, the negatives greatly surpassed the positives.

However, in the Big 4, there were a few additional reasons that were known which made a Paragon path so much more enticing.

The main reason was this: in the archives of the Empire, there were multiple mentions about how a Paragon, even at the Warrior level, when paired with the correct spells and Inheritance, was capable of standing undefeated no matter how many Champions assaulted him.

Of course, this kind of invulnerability didn't last forever, but when one thought about it, this feat of a Warrior standing against multiple Champions was so astounding, so magnificent, and so unbelievable that many had assumed that it must be an exaggeration.

Yet, that had just been proven wrong in the eyes of the whole continent.

Indeed, even though only these two Heroes had appeared here, the rest were also watching from their own abodes.

The King of Lanthanor hadn't shielded the spot of the contest from viewing in any way. His whole objective was to warn the rest of the rogue Warriors and Mages, and that wouldn't have been possible if he went for secrecy.

So, it wasn't just the spectators who were awed. Even the top-most individuals in the entire continent would never be able to forget this scene which made them rethink all the evaluations they had had of the King of Lanthanor.

Even in the archives, there were few mentions of Paragon paths that were capable of this. And of those people, only 3 were known to have left behind their Inheritances for future generations.

When considered the sheer number of Warriors that had existed during that time, this was a pitifully small number, which showed just how rare it was for even a Paragon to be talented enough to invent something like this.

In fact, some estimations even said that the number of Warriors in that age was comparable to the number of Humans in the present age- which was such an inconceivable notion that many could only scoff at it.

All in all, the Head's mind was completely blown. When he sat back down, he shot a glance at the man beside him, whose eyes had begun to shine with that dangerous light again.

So, he employed the same spell as before to make him sit, which made the man look at him with fury.

Shrugging, the Head said softly, "I'm sorry. It seems that fate has other plans for your son. I'm just here to stop you. Even if he ends up dying, you can only pay your last respects. An exiled member cannot be shown any consideration, even at the time of his death. Sit."

While the other man's fury made even the darkness near him look like it was changing into something much more sinister and dangerous, the Head let out a breath and looked down again.

Viewing the Sun Ray which was still being pushed back, he decided one thing.

His visit should definitely take place soon, and, no matter what, he had to try and pull this kid into the Big 4. Perhaps, even the secret disciples of the Big 4 who were being explicitly trained for the invasion might not be a match for him, if they were made to fight at his level.

Regardless, he knew what he should use to entice him: a library of the myriad Champion Paths known to the Angarians, which was the thing most sought after by someone like him who was at that level.

A few rules might have to be broken, but he was the Head, after all. If even he couldn't break rules for the good of Angaria, then what was the point?

Of course, he just couldn't do that in the case of the man beside him, as it would cause a civil war.

Such a talented Paragon just couldn't be allowed to waste away in the desert that was the Central Continent.

Hell, at this point, he even regretted the fact that this kid's talent hadn't been noticed sooner.

If that had been the case, he would have definitely led him down a normal path, as, with this much potential, it was possible that this kid could have become even a Peak Champion if all the Big 4 poured their resources into him.

Yet, he had wasted time with this Paragon Path. True, it caused heads to turn and was breathtaking to watch, but, at the end of the day, there were no Paragon Heroes even during the age of the Empire. So, it was a futile endeavor.

Still, all was not lost yet. If he could grab him now…maybe, he could still make something of this kid.

With the gears in his head turning, the Head once again laid his eyes on the King, whose idle expression, as if he was squatting a fly that had wandered to the wrong location, was something that greatly impressed him and made him smile.

Such grandeur was absent even in many of the Heroes he knew. Yet, this kid who wasn't even a century old was capable of such a sight?

'The wonders of Angaria are truly endless', he mused, before going back to the task of making sure that no one from the outside would interfere with what was going on below.

…

"Making a sky of stars appear…is-is he a God?"

In Ophelia's house, there was not one person who remained seated on seeing this awe-inducing sight.

The Throne of the King stood defiant and proud against the attack, and although the scene was tense and filled with danger, the expression of the King resulted in a contrast that made the minds of the hundreds of thousands of citizens blank.

As one of them said this, the others started to nod. For them, a God was someone who could command their fates with impunity.

If so, wasn't this a God, who deserved worship?

Even though their minds told them that this man just still a mortal who had ascended from a background where he had lived in the slums to the position where he was in, their hearts said otherwise.

Their hearts…told them that they were witnessing something so great, that it could no longer be explained in human terms.

Even if the term "God" was wrong, there was practically no difference between what they associated that word with, and what they were watching.

Hence, even though none really bowed down, the image in their hearts that had formed over all this time changed again, for one last time.

For Lanthanorians, who already had the strongest and most favorable image possible, it reached oh, so near to the level where they would want to bow down right away.

For the Eldinorians, who were next if a list was made on how well a specific group thought about the King, the image changed from the kind Warrior with immense talent who had saved them all, to that of someone who surpassed even this level and had to be praised as the strongest Mage they had ever seen, which was something that meant more to them anything else.

As for the rest, King Daneel became a figure to be admired, and not just respected, like before.

When they thought of him, they would think of this moment, and remember the way their hearts had stopped as if to pay obeisance to the glory of the King.

…

In the Kingdom of Arafell, the Queen was also one of the spectators who was silently viewing this image that would soon become tantamount to a legend on Angaria.

She was in the Palace, but she was somehow in possession of a Network Trinket that Daneel had distributed only to citizens.

She could tell what kind of effect this would have over almost all citizens, regardless of nationality. Angarians valued power, and there probably no scene that displayed power better than this one in any of their living memory.

Her expression alternated between one of gushing veneration and acclaim from Priscilla, and one of anger laced with frustration which belonged to the Queen.

Yet, slowly, with each switch, that anger seemed to diminish and slowly be replaced by a different emotion.

The Queen, herself, didn't know what that emotion was, but, for some reason, she was reminded of the memory of when she had first met the Emperor.

She shook her head to get rid of that, but one thing was now clear to her:

The King of Lanthanor had been right. She had definitely thought much, much less of him, and, right now, he looked like a juicy onion whose layers she wanted to peel away, one by one, to get to the center.

If Daneel were here, the hair on his hands would definitely have stood up straight, while his skin would have been crawling on seeing the way the Queen was looking at him through the display trinket.

…

["Starry Skies" has reached the optimal level needed to break the opponent's attack. Would host like to activate this effect?]

"Meh, let it continue. Why cut the fun short? Let them all see what will happen if they dare to make plans against me again."

Unaware of all these reactions, Daneel was idly enjoying the feeling of making a Champion feel helpless.

This spell also had negatives: for example, it depended a lot on the opponent's strength.

If the opponent was weak, then this spell would also look weak.

As the lengthy name suggested, it was designed to be a 'Quagmire' which had the same properties as the word. The more one struggled, the more one would be pulled in.

Thankfully, there was no one in this age who knew that little tidbit, so he guessed that they must all be amazed.

Which was exactly what he wanted.

After this, any Warrior would have to shake in their boots if they even thought of stepping inside his Kingdom.

Judging that it had gone on long enough, Daneel prepared to order the system to 'break' the spell, which would result in a backlash that would momentarily leave Raul defenseless. Initially, he had planned to let the man go due to his inclination to care for normal people, but after seeing the way in which he had been about to kill him, Daneel decided to end his life.

Also, it would make for a fitting end to 'Mercy for the Wicked'.

True, a Champion was valuable, but with all the stuff he was soon going to 'download' from Drakos, Daneel was pretty confident that he could boost some of his own to that level through acquired paths.

Besides, when even Oaths couldn't be fully trusted when it was related to Champions, why would he want to trust someone like this who could backstab him at any time.

Daneel had made his decision. However, just when he was about to command the system to go ahead, it sent a message in his mind.

[Incoming voice transmission from unknown source. Source is at Hero level, which has been judged from the complexity of the spell that was used.]

Hmm…that was odd. Which Hero wanted to talk to him?

Thinking that he had nothing to lose, Daneel told the system to let the transmission in, but when he heard the contents of the message, he couldn't help but frown.

"King Daneel, I am one of the Heroes of the High Council of Angaria. The man you are about to kill is my son. I ask you to let him live. The only reason he was exiled is that when he was given the order to kill 10,000 citizens to save the lives of 200 important members of the Big 4, he chose to save the citizens. Even though he was my son, I had no other option but to allow him to be exiled as the sons and daughters of other members of the High Council were among those who were killed. He is a good man. If you let him go, I shall be in your debt. But if you go ahead and kill him, I will make it my life's goal to end your life and lineage. If you were a father, you would understand my anguish. I hope you choose the right path."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

526 Mercy for the Wicked End

With furrowed eyebrows, Daneel looked up, as that was where the transmission had come from.

He had guessed that a couple of Heroes might drop in to watch the show, but he could never have expected that his target would be the son of one of the Heroes of this continent.

Initially, although Daneel had been surprised and skeptical of the story, it was still believable. It fit with Raul's nature of wanting to save citizens.

Of course, the question regarding how it was even possible for such a scenario to occur had to be placed to the side. After all, it sounded pretty absurd.

Still, Daneel had been ready to accept that there might be strange inheritances or whatnot that he might not be aware of.

However, it was the latter part that left a bad taste in his mouth.

Clearly, it was a threat from an all-powerful Hero who saw it to be beneath him to ask politely, even though his son's life was at risk.

Such an attitude was something that irked Daneel to no end.

If he agreed, it would seem as if he had gotten scared of the threat. True, it might not be known to many people on the outside, but Daneel didn't care about that.

HE would know, that even after accomplishing so much and having a Hero-level Ancient Dragon in his head, he had practically bowed down just because he didn't want to make an enemy.

Wait…was this pride? The same pride which led to the deaths of many powerful individuals, because they wouldn't be willing to let certain things go even though there were more benefits in doing that?

This thought made Daneel enter a deep period of thought. He had seen this pride in various forms, and, in most cases, it had led to the deaths of whoever let their pride dictate their actions.

At the same moment, he also realized that he had changed. Being powerful, doing powerful things had changed him in ways that even he couldn't comprehend.

He was no longer that scared Human in Lanthanor who wanted to be absolutely safe in all the things he did, even if it meant killing his dignity in the process.

Slowly, he had grown into someone who was worthy of sitting in his seat. And…that worth was also attached to the self-respect and self-confidence that he had built.

If that weren't the case, he would never be capable of the gravitas with which he was sitting on the Throne right now, which had become engraved into the minds of all those watching.

It just wouldn't be the same! If his regality all stemmed from someone who was still that kid who valued safety over all other things as he was too weak, then it would just never seem real to those who were watching.

It was just like they said on Earth: a fox could don a lion's skin, but it would never be able to imitate the grandeur of a true lion.

That didn't mean that he could be overly cocky like all those pig-headed protagonists or young masters in stories that he used to read on Earth.

No, he just had to know when to choose which path. Where cockiness and the will to never bend was needed, it had to be there. And where it might be necessary for him to take a step back, he had to be ready to do so.

Even if it was best if the former eclipsed the latter, he had to be ready for both.

And right now, Daneel was leaning toward the former.

It wasn't the foolish pride of an arrogant King who didn't want it to look like he was capitulating to a threat.

No, it was the pride of a World Dominator who had no intention of doing so, especially when he had enough tricks up his sleeve to make sure that he wouldn't regret it.

Still, Daneel was moved by the Hero's story. What if it was true? Would he still want to kill Raul?

If he removed that threat from the equation, what would his decision be?

Right now, he had two options: One, he could kill Raul just to make the statement that threats wouldn't work on him.

Or, two, he could let Raul go and live with the fact that he had given in to the threat.

When Daneel pondered on them, he realized that he didn't like either of them.

Although so many thoughts were going around in his head, in the real world, not even a second had passed.

Just when Daneel was about to reluctantly choose one of them, an idea struck him.

If he didn't like the options, why not…create a new one?

After all, when a chess board wasn't to his favor, the best thing to do was flip the board itself.

This idea captivated him, resulting in him quickly forming a plan and asking Drakos for the tools which he would need to implement it.

Thankfully, Drakos delivered.

As soon as everything was finalized, the idle, royal smile appeared on his face again.

Looking up at the spot in the sky where the transmission had come from, Daneel…winked.

It wasn't the playful wink of one who had agreed to the option set forth.

No…it was a wink that said 'kiss my a*s'.

As soon as the man shrouded in black understood this, a very bad feeling engulfed his heart.

Sure enough, the next second, the stars around the King grew even brighter, becoming so bright that they seemed to inundate everything around them in a flash of light.

At the same moment, the King's Sun Ray suddenly underwent a qualitative change.

Where before it had been slowly eating away at the enemy's attack and getting stronger, now, it started to devour the Sun Ray in front of it with gusto.

It was almost as if the combined rays which were impacting the opponent's attack had opened their maws to rout their opponent in one go.

The moment this happened, Raul screamed while clutching his Mageroot.

All the elementary particles that he had been controlling had been forcefully wrenched away from him, and before he could even comprehend how this was possible, the King's Sun Ray shot toward him with unimaginable speed.

"NOOOOOO!"

In Kasar, and the other towns which were near the area where the contest was taking place, citizens looked up in the direction of the sky as the powerful sound of a thunderclap reached their ears. The reverberations of this thunderclap even caused all of the houses to shake, as if an earthquake was affecting the area.

If they knew that all this was just the effect of a scream of fury from a Hero, they would definitely have been shaking in their boots.

Indeed, when he saw the Sun Ray shoot toward his flesh and blood of whom there would be nothing but ash left soon, the man shrouded in darkness let out a scream of rage that resulted in the thunderclap naturally forming in the air around him, even though his Mageroot was tightly bound by the Head. In vain, he tried to break through the barrier that was stopping him, but the Head was just too powerful.

He was in a transparent cage while watching the demise of his son in slow motion. Even though it only took a few seconds, it seemed as if eternity was passing in front of his eyes.

What was the point of all his power if he couldn't even save the only one he was supposed to protect?

The darkness he was shrouded in surged, seeking to break apart the barrier, but it was all in vain.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Losing hope, he even started to bang on the barrier with his bare hands, while his whole body shook.

Beside him, the bearded man only sadly shook his head, and then, it was all over.

The moment before the King's Sun Ray met Raul's body, a bright flash of golden light obscured the vision of all those watching, including even the numerous Heroes, some of whom were watching with glee while the man who was responsible for the deaths of their sons and daughters was brought to' justice'.

Even the Head and the man he was stopping from wreaking havoc unto Angaria had to look away, following which they saw only ash remaining of the man who had broken through to become a Champion in such a spectacular method.

Alas, he had met the wrong opponent.

"Humph, this kid really loves being flashy…"

While the Head said this under his breath, the spectators all over the continent started to cheer on seeing such a show-stopping grand finale to an event that would definitely be talked about for decades.

Meanwhile, the man shrouded in darkness just stood there silently, watching as the King made a gust of wind disperse even the ash, leaving him with nothing to remember his son.

Momentarily, he regretted that he hadn't chosen to leave his dignity behind and beg. Perhaps…things might have been different, that way?

He had seen no reason to do so when dealing with a puny Warrior who he thought would be ready to give anything to hold a debt with a Hero.

Yet, he had been wrong.

That regret…gave way to an all-encompassing wrath that made his eyes go completely red.

However, when he turned those eyes toward the King, he heard the Chief speak.

"Surpsising. I thought he might take your offer, after which I could have placed both you and your son in Heavenly Confinement for breaking the rules of Exile."

Wh-what?

He had been sure that he had succeeded in sending a message without the Head finding out!

As the wrath turned into shock, the Head chuckled and said, "You thought I didn't see you send it? Humph, how naive. If that kid agreed, it would have counted as you stepping in - which would allow me to imprison you both. Well, this works, too."

Looking at the Head, the man was reminded about what other Heroes usually said about him.

'The old monster who always wins.'

Yes, that fit him perfectly.

All along, everything had been in the palm of his hand.

The Head was one of those whose son had died at that time. And…Heavenly Confinement was an area that only he had access to.

The man didn't even need to imagine what they would have gone through if the other scenario had taken place.

Still, his son would have been alive.

This time, the fury that erupted was targeted toward both the King and the Head, but because the latter was untouchable, he focused it all on the King.

"I'm afraid I can't let you have revenge on him, either. But I also can't imprison you without any grounds. I'll be keeping a watch on you, though. And I'll be placing a formation in Lanthanor so that you won't target the King. Come on. Let's go. We can head to your place, where I'll help you cool off before leaving. I heard you acquired a very special bottle of 230-year old wine? Let's see how that tastes."

Without giving the man any chance to respond, the Head teleported them both away after sending a message to the King of Lanthanor.

…

Meanwhile, Daneel was giving his show the fitting end that it deserved.

For a grandiose scene, he ordered the system to let the stars remain even though they had no job to do except stay there and look great.

A communication eye flew up to his level, where he paused to make sure that it encapsulated the entire scene of the shining hand of a giant made up of stars which was cupping him.

Waving his hand as if to signify the end of something, Daneel said, "Well…that was unexpected, but I bet it must have been entertaining. What you saw was a fight between an Amateur Champion and me, a Warrior. If I were just any Warrior, it would be my ashes spreading in the air. Thankfully, I managed to withstand the onslaught because I am a Paragon."

"Daneel, you're tooting your own horn too much."

Receiving this message from Eloise who always transformed into a different woman when she was working, Daneel paused and cut his speech short, deciding to end it with a flourish.

"The winner chosen by you is Number 3, the lady with the mesmerizing style. Her life will be spared, while the rest will meet the fate they are due. You've been a wonderful audience, and I can only hope that I find more chances to put on such shows. But, that's all for now. Once again, I, King Daneel Anivron of Lanthanor, thank you all for watching. Good night, Angaria!"

With another bright flash, the Network Trinkets went blank, while cheers louder than ever resounded throughout the continent.

Meanwhile, Daneel heard the other message he had received from the same spot.

"Kid, this is the old man who saved you from those two Heroes. I'm honestly and pleasantly surprised that you stuck to your guns and went ahead. If I were you, I might have chosen to have a Hero in my debt! But I guess this is the kind of single-minded determination that is required to progress on the legendary path of a Paragon. Still, you've made quite a powerful enemy. I've laid down a formation along the borders of your Kingdom using which I can get to you and save you if needed. For a period of time, until the Hero in question cools down, do not exit your Kingdom. I'll come talk to you soon."

Instead of making him panic, this message made the smile on Daneel's face grow wider.

A second after he received this message, he sent one of his own to Eloise.

"Eloise, pack up and start making the highlight reel."

"But you said you would join me?", asked Eloise, to which Daneel answered:

"Yes, I'll see you soon. But, before that, I need to take a small stroll on our border."

...

THE ENTRIES ARE IN! PLEASE GO THROUGH THEM AND VOTE! I PROMISE YOU, YOU WILL BE ENTERTAINED!

https://forms.gle/LGarJmYw41bjiN3V7

For those who don't want to create a google account, I'll try to post all of these as a free auxiliary chapter here so that y'all can also vote in the comments. But, before that, do head to this link.

(If there's an entry that isn't here, leave a comment)

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

527 The Hero Who Choked

At an unknown location hundreds of kilometers beneath Angaria's surface, the man shrouded in darkness had his eyes fixed on the Head, who was carressing the wine bottle that he had unearthed after great difficulty.

They were currently sitting in a large, open room with a high ceiling which was filled with bookshelves everywhere.

If anyone looked into this room, they would never be able to guess that it was underground.

That was because there were multiple, huge windows which showed different scenes around Angaria.

One showed the image of the Endless Sea, where the furious waves were crashing against the shore, warning all those who dared to enter that their only fate would be to be overwhelmed by the silent might of the water.

Another showed a forest much like The Valley of Mist, complete with trees which reached the skies and beasts that were going about their lives.

All of these were views from above, which was something that would shock all who viewed them except Mages.

A Mage would be able to tell that all of these were teleportation portals that were actively being maintained at the expense of Ether blocks.

Such extravagance…was only possible in the abode of a Hero.

After looking at the bottle from all sides, the Head expertly removed the seal, took away the cork, smelled the aroma that was peachy yet laced with a spicy scent, poured it into a glass and finally swirled it before taking a gulp and exclaiming in satisfaction.

Filling up the other glass on the table, he said, "Drink up."

Of course, currently, the man didn't care about the wine, or the fact that he was forcibly under house arrest.

Flashes of memories of his son kept revolving in his mind, fanning the flames of his fury which demanded blood.

However, he had already used a clone to scout Lanthanor. Just like the Head had said, there was a formation all around the Kingdom which would detect if any Hero-level individual or clone stepped foot inside.

All he could do was circle the Kingdom like a helpless, starving dog whose food had been placed behind an impassable cage.

At least, that was how he felt.

With a knowing smile, the Head poured himself another glass and said, "You can put those clones away, and relax! That kid definitely won't leave his Kingdom. Just take a sip, or it's all going to be over!"

With frustration, that was exactly what the man did.

He knew that the King wouldn't be foolish enough to appear outside even after being warned explicitly by the Head.

Even though the Head was powerful, it was impossible for him to constantly monitor large tracts of land for something specific like this. All he could do was lay down a formation the size of a Kingdom, and keep an eye on it while handling all the other responsibilities he had due to his role.

If the King put even a foot outside, the man was confident that he could end his puny Warrior life even though his main body was under lockdown.

Yet, it was ridiculous to hope for something like that to happen, unless one was suici-…Wh-what the f*ck?!

Choking on the mouthful of wine, the man watched as the King calmly appeared on the border wall of the Lanthanor Kingdom.

"What's wrong? Too bitter for you? Want me to break out some of my stock?"

The Head had too many things he was handling at once, so he wasn't paying any active attention to Lanthanor except for maintaining that formation. So, he wasn't seeing the same image that his 'companion' was gazing at with an incredulous expression on his hidden face.

Yet, the shock soon gave way to even more fury, as the King looked up to gaze at the stars casually.

This f*cker was taunting him after killing his son!

And to think that he had gotten all excited on seeing the King appear on the border…Of course he wouldn't be dumb enough to step outside!

Making elaborate plans about how he would torture this pompous runt when he got his hands on him, the man completely dispelled the excitement and just shook his head before swallowing down the wine accompanied by a cough.

"All right. Have another, then."

Saying so, the Head refilled his glass, which the man took into his hands again while cursing under his breath.

However, when he threw this into his mouth, too, he couldn't help but choke again.

"Ok, really, Rayen? Don't waste this bottle because of your anger…let me get one which is dispensable."

This time, even the Head frowned and said this, as it obviously wasn't normal to choke not once, but twice on a swig of wine unless one was going crazy due to strong emotions like anger.

Understanding that that might be the case even though it was strange, the Head disappeared and reappeared with a silver-colored glass bottle.

Yet, the man was still in a daze.

"You look like you're seeing either your worst nightmare or your greatest hope appear in front of you. Surely, you can't still be thinking that you can reach that kid, right? If this daze is because you came up with something…"

Hearing this, Rayen, as he had been called, snapped out of the daze with a start and said, "No! No, its nothing like that."

He was trying hard to act normal, but his mind felt like it was being battered by those same waves of the Endless Sea which were visible in the window behind him.

That was because…the King, who had looked as if he would taunt Rayen and then leave, had just stepped out from his border and was now standing, unguarded, in an area which wasn't under the eye of the Head.

What the f*ck was going on?

Surely, he can't be looking for a way to reconcile things, right?

Even then, why would he give up the safety of his Kingdom and throw away all the chips he had?

It just didn't make sense, and this had been the reason why Rayen had had to fight to not let his jaw drop, lest he alert the Head.

That couldn't happen at any cost. So, after taking a sip of the second grade wine that the Head had brought, he came up with an excuse.

"I-I just remembered something I always wanted to tell my son before he died. Now, I no longer have the opportunity. Curse you, Head."

Yes, this was definitely a normal reaction.

Throwing back his head, the bearded man whose age couldn't be deciphered by any known means laughed uproariously.

"I've lost count of the people who said that. Curse me all you want, but you won't be getting your way. I'm bored. Wine should be enjoyed with tales of intrigue and mystery! Why don't you tell me about your son?"

This made red hot anger explode again inside Rayen, which wiped away all the disbelief and caution that he had felt after seeing something that was so absurd.

Screw all that. He would just kill him, and ask questions later.

So, gritting his teeth, Rayen split his consciousness. Most of it stayed in his main body so that the Head wouldn't be alerted- but the rest took active control of the clone.

While he began telling the story to the Head, the clone shot in the direction of the King like a comet.

…

Meanwhile, Daneel was covering his mouth with one hand and yawning.

Where was this guy? He had more important things to do, but he was being held up by this vengeful Hero.

Your son was killed! Shouldn't you be abandoning all notions of being safe?

Well, this was really important, too, but currently, Daneel's main focus was to get out that highlight reel of the show as quickly as possible.

It would be replayed at night every day, so that those who might have missed it would get a chance to be influenced, too.

Besides, he was pretty damn confident in the plan he had made with which he would handle the conceited Hero that had threatened to kill him if he didn't do what he said.

Right when he started to wonder whether he really should shout out some inane things like "HAHA, I KILLED YOUR SON, BUT YOU'RE A SPINELESS FOOL WHO WON'T EVEN DARE TO ATTACK!", he saw a large, arrow-shaped projectile heading in his direction at a startling speed.

This thing was strange: wherever it passed, it caused the darkness in those areas to become even darker, which made for a pretty breathtaking scene that would have given birth to terror in most men.

Of course, Daneel wasn't most men.

Knowing that the Hero could hear him, he yawned again and said, "Yeah, yeah, I killed your son, I can't do anything that'll change that, you'll chase me to the ends of the continent if I escape, your thirst for vengeance can only be quenched by my blood. Have I covered everything?"

Viewing the cavalier attitude of the King which was something that no one had dared to adopt in front of him in centuries, Rayen couldn't help but skid to a halt.

His senses told him that something was off, so he first sealed off the area they were in completely.

Even the Head wouldn't be able to see them now if he threw a cursory glance in this direction.

Now that he was completely certain that there would be no interferences or tricks whatsoever, he allowed his body to appear and say, "No matter what you might have planned, it won't work."

Clapping his hands and interrupting him with that madly infuriating smile on his face, the King exclaimed, "Right! I forgot that one!"

Again, Rayen was stumped.

Seriously, what the f*ck was going on?

He decided to wait and see, but he could never have expected that this scene which was already crazy would reach a different level of insanity that made him scratch his head and wonder if this was all some rage-induced fever dream.

"Anyway, here are my conditions. One, you give me the inside scoop over everything that happens in the Big 4. Even if one of the Heroes is going on a vacation by the beach with their harem, I want to know about it."

Raising his hand which was balled up into a fist, the King looked straight into the eyes of Rayen, which were the only things visible, and raised his index finger.

With each 'condition' that he listed, another finger would rise up from his fist.

"Two, you give me all the information about the continent and Champion Paths that you have. I know you Heroes must have some secret stashes of knowledge, so I want copies of all of them. I don't care whether you have to beg, plead or bargain with the other Heroes. I. Want. It. All."

Rayen's eyes started to widen more and more with each condition, as each was more ludicrous and laughable than the last.

"Three, you hand over any resources that I ask. I ask for something- you give it, no questions asked."

With this, Rayen chuckled madly inside his head while prepping the attack that would end the existence of this arrogant King on this continent.

He also prepared to say something fitting to commemorate his son before he avenged his death, yet all of that was lost in the rage that erupted like a volcano when he heard the last condition.

"And lastly, four, you bend the knee to me, Daneel Anivron, King of Lanthanor, and swear your undying loyalty. Also, spare the sh*t about how you're a legendary Hero and I'm just a 'puny' Warrior."

"YAAAAAARGHHHHH!"

Rayen couldn't take it any more. At this moment, he felt as if he would die from frustration if he had to look at the King's cocky smile for one more second.

Coalescing all the darkness into a massive scythe, Rayen flung it toward the King's neck, ready to reap his life and soul.

Yet, as if he had expected it, the King of Lanthanor curled the fingers that he had raised while listing the conditions back into a fist. Only the index finger remained, and right before the moment when Rayen's scythe would reach his neck, he placed that finger on his lips and said:

"Shhhhh."

Initially, Rayen scoffed, thinking that there was no way in which he would stop this attack.

Only, the shushing sound made by the King was accompanied by a display trinket activating behind him.

It enlarged into an enormous one, and the sight it showed made Rayen desperately halt the attack while his roar of fury was cut off midway.

It was his son, strung up by all four limbs, with razor-sharp blades pointed at all of his vital spots, ready to mince him into a bloody heap of flesh and bones.

"R-Raul…"

Stuttering, in disbelief, the esteemed Hero of Angaria turned his gaze toward the King, whose finger was still pressed against his lips.

At that moment, Rayen could swear that he was staring into the eyes of the Devil, Himself, in all of His diabolical Majesty.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

528 No Matter Who You Are, Kneel

After giving the Hero the shock of his life, Daneel put his hand behind his back and waited for the man to recuperate.

It was actually pretty funny. His gaze shifted between Daneel's eyes, which were shining with delight at the idea of having a Hero-level individual under him, and the image of his son who looked like he would die if he so much as moved an inch.

It seemed that no longer how powerful one grew, the way they processed shock was the same.

Disbelief, followed by confusion.

"H-how did you…"

"Remember that flash in the end? Didn't you notice that it blinded everyone from looking on with elementary vision?"

Realization flashed across Rayen's face when he heard this.

Indeed, that flash had resulted in that effect, but it had been so minuscule…

"Yes, it was only a fraction of a second, but I was prepared. Besides, I knew that you wouldn't be expecting much from me, because I'm 'just' a Warrior."

This made Rayen grit his teeth while he continued staring at his son.

Indeed, they had all been hoodwinked by this kid whom they had thought nothing of.

Yet, all along, this kid had been controlling everything in the palm of his hand.

However, the frustration was momentary in Rayen. It was followed by endless floods of relief.

His son was still alive!

But it looked like he had to agree to these slave-like conditions if he wanted that to remain a fact…

Daneel was keeping close track of the emotions on the Hero's face.

Toward the end, the man looked at him with clear eyes, which meant that he had understood the situation that he was in.

"Good. I see that you're cognizant of your position. If you don't agree to even one of those conditions, your son will die before you can even say 'Wait'. I need an answer, now. It's costly to maintain all those sharp blades for such an extended period of time, you know."

Daneel said the last sentence in that same idle tone that was designed to elicit extreme frustration in the Hero.

So far, it had all been deliberate. Of course, even though that was the way he felt, he was acting in this way for a reason.

He had realized that the best way to treat these bull-headed Heroes was to catch them by the horns and wrestle them to the ground.

He couldn't talk to them as equals, as they did not view him in that way.

There was no way that he would suck up, and this route would mostly be disastrous anyway.

Hence, the only way left was to stay in a position of power while demanding their respect and obedience in the most straightforward way: by hitting them over the head until they were senseless, and ready to listen.

His 'casual' dialogues had all been a method of implementing this plan. For any Hero, someone whom they could dispose of in a thought speaking to them in this manner would have the same effect as being bashed on the head with a hammer.

So far, it was working brilliantly.

As for using Raul as a bargaining chip: that had been Daneel's intention ever since he saw that thunderclap in the air.

That had all been pure anger, and Drakos had even said that it was from a Hero whose power was being constrained using some means.

Hence, although initially Daneel's plan had been to talk to Raul and make him submit in some way before using him, too, to convince his father, he had decided that this method would be most effective mainly because of the pure love that this man felt for the captive in his hands.

As they said on Earth: "People do stupid things for those they love."

And, seeing the way in which the Hero was looking at him and understanding that it meant that the man was seriously considering the conditions, Daneel felt elated that he had taken the right decision.

Of course, on the outside, he still remained as that cocky guy who was treating this like a waste of his time.

Indeed, Rayen was seriously considering the conditions.

All these years, he had been keeping an eye on his son. He had been watching even when Raul went on this expedition into Lanthanor, and he had hoped that his kid would find the final clue to break through to become a Champion in this journey.

Yet, he had gotten captured.

Even then, he had known the consequences that both of them would be subject to if he stepped in. So, he had decided to wait until the final moment and do it anyway if it meant that there was no other option.

Only, that damn Head had shown up.

He couldn't put into words just how proud he had been when he saw Raul break through to become a Champion. In fact, he had had to try very hard to not let this show on his face, as he didn't want the Head to see it.

And as for when he saw him die…it had just destroyed him.

A Hero's life was lonely. Of course, there were many who built personal harems to counter this, but that was all physical pleasure and temporary love that meant nothing.

A true companion was rare, and couldn't even be sought after actively. The luckiest would find one in the form of life companions. Those like him, who weren't that lucky, would have to settle for looking for the same kind of fulfillment and companionship in family members.

For him, it had always been his only son. All the others had died due to old age as they hadn't had enough talent, but Raul showed signs of being someone who could break through to become a Hero.

That was when that disaster had happened, and although he was proud of his son's decision, he had had no option but to agree to an exile.

Still, he had kept watch, and felt happy.

Now that he thought about it, Raul's death had destroyed him so completely that he wasn't even confident that he could live on after obtaining revenge.

True, he was a Hero. But at that moment of powerlessness, it had dawned on him that all of that meant nothing.

So, revenge had been the only thing that kept him going, but now that he saw a ray of hope in the darkness, he wasn't willing to let go of it, at all.

He had to admit that at this moment, he was like a broken vase that had attached itself together temporarily, but wouldn't be able to survive another fall.

So, to avoid that, he was ready to do almost anything.

As for this kid's cocky and arrogant attitude, Rayen accepted that he would just have to deal with it, at least, for the time being.

Of course, it would all be until…

"Don't even think about it."

As if he had read his mind, the King spoke out, interrupting Rayen's line of thought and making him look up with an incredulous expression on his face.

After the consideration, Daneel had observed that the eyes of the man, which were the only things visible, had slowly narrowed by a fraction, which he would have missed if it weren't for the system.

It was obvious that the Hero was thinking about accepting now, and finding some way later to bypass everything and save his son.

So, he decided to put an end to that.

Also, seeing the way he had considered it with seriousness, Daneel had just reevaluated the value of this deal.

Earlier, it had been just something that he hoped would succeed. At worst, he would get an unwilling slave who would give him scraps of what he asked for. That was because both of them knew that if Daneel really did go ahead and kill Raul, it would mean game over for him, and Lanthanor.

After all, even though there was anger, Daneel couldn't have accurately judged what kind of man the Hero was. If he was someone whose ego surpassed the love, Daneel would have been in for a lot of trouble.

The best case was exactly what he was seeing right now: this Hero apparently cared more for his son than Daneel had expected, which was inferred from the act of consideration.

A deal was something that was fluid: according to the conditions, it could change.

If this Hero could be a wholehearted slave instead because of his overarching love, then it meant that it would be worth it to make sure that the deal went through even if it meant that he would have to take an additional, considerable risk.

Daneel only took a moment to decide whether he should do so.

"Here, let me tell you a secret. Empire Spirits don't work in the way you Heroes from the Big 4 think! All of you think that only a full possession is possible, right? That you'll be able to detect one easily, so you don't have to worry too much about keeping a very close eye on the Spirits?"

Wondering why the King was bringing this up now, Rayen nodded and hesitantly said, "Y-yes…"

The next moment, he choked for the third time today.

The King held his hand up, on which a miniature dragon claw had just been conjured.

It was a lot like the one that the Royal Palace of Lanthanor used to keep enemies at bay, but it was a lot more realistic.

If one looked closely, they would be able to see blood vessels, veins, individual hairs, sections of scales and more.

To laymen, it might appear like a trick.

Yet, Rayen knew what it was.

"A H-Hero level construct! It's weak, but the complexity…"

"Yes, Drakos, the Empire Spirit, says Hi. Oh, and he also wanted me to tell you that he has placed a very nasty spell in your son's mind. So…"

With a flick of his finger, the image changed.

All the blades vanished, and Raul fell to the ground.

"All this is unnecessary. You so much as think about betraying me, it will activate and eat your son. If you want a demonstration, dispel the barrier for a moment."

Unable to believe it, Rayen did so after making sure that the Head was still busy listening to his story back in his house.

At that moment, one of the contestants who had taken part in the show appeared beside them, bound and gagged.

It was Number 5.

Seeing that his surroundings had changed, he tried to plead silently with his eyes, but Daneel just coldly pointed at his head.

As Rayen watched, a single, deviant elementary particle that had hidden itself in the Warrior's brain started to multiply on its own accord at a startling speed.

It degenerated all the tissues around it, resulting in the brain of the man to melt into a puddle as if acid had been poured on him.

In barely a second, only a red-colored pile of slop was left.

Seeing the sheer complexity of that spell and understanding that he could do nothing- nothing at all to stop it, Rayen just let everything go and fell on his knees.

He had already seen that all his pride was useless. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

The moment this happened, a message sounded inside Daneel's head.

[Achievement: 'No Matter Who You Are, Kneel-1' Obtained.

No Matter Who You Are, Kneel-1: By making someone who surpasses you in power by a large margin kneel in front of you, you have proven that for a World Dominator, nothing is unachievable. March on!

20,000 EXP Awarded.

Pending Notification:

Satisfaction Level has reached the second threshold.]

The pending notification that he had missed in all the excitement made Daneel's heart beat faster.

Could it be…?

"Drakos, have I unlocked the second seal?"

"Err…Young King, I have no idea. I need to be in my podium to access the seals."

Daneel was almost tempted to say, "You don't know it, but I do. Now, dump all that Hero-level stuff on me! ALL OF IT!", but he controlled himself.

As soon as this was done, it was time for a major upskilling of the system, and Daneel couldn't wait for it, at all.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

529 Issues

"Good. Stand up. Now then-"

Daneel decided that he had been domineering enough. If he continued to gloat even now, when the man had knelt in front of him, it would just look…bad.

This did, indeed, surprise Rayen, who had been expecting some sort of uproarious laughter on seeing him, an esteemed Hero, someone who had been threatening to end the King's life just a few minutes ago, kneel in front of the man.

Still, of course, this wasn't enough to change the cocky, irritating, yet diabolical image that had formed in his head of the King of Lanthanor.

Well, the real test of this man's true character would be now.

Standing up, he interrupted the King.

"One moment. Before you proceed, you need to get some facts straight."

Raising an eyebrow, Daneel resumed the same pose as before. Putting his hands behind his back, he gazed at the Hero as if he were looking at one of his subjects while waiting for him to speak.

"I will try and do my best regarding the first three conditions, but the last is an issue."

This made Daneel frown. The last one was, actually, the most important.

He had already asked Drakos about what the problem was with Oaths in regards with people on the level of Champions and Heroes.

The answer had both been simple, and very informative.

Oaths were apparently destructive strings of magic tied around one's consciousness: that which Daneel had witnessed with his own eyes during Faxul's 'rebirth'.

From Humans to Warriors, unless there were special circumstances like in the case of the Prince or the Queen of Eldinor who had trained in those peculiar techniques, oaths could not be circumvented.

Yet, from the time that one became a Champion, one would begin to know and understand more and more about one's own consciousness.

In fact, the very act of stepping past the chasm separating a Warrior from a Champion was one that involved in connecting with one's inner consciousness through a path that resonated with oneself, and the world.

Although Drakos couldn't give a lot of details because of the seals, this apparently took place to an even further extent when one went from being a Champion to a Hero.

The gist was this: given enough time and the right tools, Champions and Heroes would definitely be able to escape from Oaths without suffering from too many adverse effects like in the cases where this might be attempted when one was much weaker.

So, Daneel's plan with the last condition had been to bound the Hero to him at least for the present time period, before he figured out a way to make a more permanent 'binding'. Also, Drakos had assured him that he would be able to detect it if an Oath was being loosened on the other end.

Hence, now, if this Hero wanted to say no to the last condition, then this whole deal would break apart.

Why had he still knelt, if that was the case?

Daneel found out the answer after the Hero funnily raised his hands to stop Daneel, as if he was some kind of crazy person who was prone to mood swings. It really did look like that was what the Hero thought of him.

"Now, hold on! Before you go springing any traps, let me explain. You must know of this guy, right?"

Saying so, the Hero made an image made of elementary particles appear which showed the bearded man who had saved Daneel before.

"I've met him, but I don't know who he is, exactly."

Making the image disappear, the Hero said, "He's the Head of the High Council of Angaria, which is typically comprised of all the Heroes of Angaria and one honorary Champion. Until recently, that role was occupied by one Ashahell, but he was recently imprisoned on suspicion of aiding and abetting the Church of Rectitude. I trust that you already know of the threat from the Church, right?'

Yeah. And I'm the one who put that bast*rd behind bars.

Daneel felt like saying this, but he just replied, "Yes."

"Good. I'll cut to the chase, then. You see, the Church represents a way to go to newer heights, and as you must already have seen, those of the Big 4 normally don't give a rat's ass about the people of the Central Continent. If so, why do you think they haven't all deserted the continent already and left?"

Hearing this, Daneel had to admit that he was…stumped.

This guy was right!

If there were detractors on all levels, why hadn't the ones who stood to gain the most from going over, done so?

They could let Angaria go to hell, and enjoy resources and higher-tier knowledge that might lead them to gain even more power and lifespan.

Seeing the King furrow his eyebrows and ponder over this, Rayen let there be a moment of pause before continuing.

"Let me answer. This is where the issue with your last condition also comes in. Also, I can only put this in the simplest of terms, and you'll understand 'why' soon.

"First of all, no one can become a Hero on Angaria without the Head's permission. He is the leader of all 4 of the Big 4, and without his approval along with a vote from the High Council, a new Hero cannot be born.

"Before a new Hero is born, he or she must agree to a Chain that is wound over their consciousness in ways that makes an Oath look like a plaything. In other words, it is unbreakable even by a Hero.

"Apparently, this is only made possible by a very rare Artifact that was left behind by the Emperor of the Empire of Angaria, himself."

As soon as the Hero said this part, Daneel heard a sigh from Drakos.

"He always called it one of his greatest creations, and although he made it because it was necessary, he lamented that what he would leave behind is an object that causes unhappiness."

Daneel couldn't respond to this, as the Hero was continuing, unaware of the comment from the Ancient Dragon.

"That Chain has two commandments: One, all information regarding the Hero realm will never be uttered to any person or being, living or dead.

"And Two, the Chained one's loyalty will forever lie with Angaria. As such, any Oaths or other forms of binding cannot be entered into voluntarily with anyone."

As Rayen said the last sentence, he let out a sigh, seeing that the King was still thinking about it and not reacting violently.

Yes, it was best to tread carefully with someone who had looked like the Devil just minutes ago.

Meanwhile, Daneel had just asked Drakos whether what the Hero was saying was true.

After taking a few moments, the Ancient Dragon finally answered, saying, "Yes, Young King. It can be true. That Artifact that he just mentioned really did have that purpose. No Hero can escape its binding, but, of course, permission must be given for the Chain to be made in the first place. The Emperor always knew that the greed of men was something that he would never be able to control through any amount of words. So, this was his answer. His intention was for it to be used in this way, so I am, at least, happy that its purpose hasn't been twisted over the millennia."

After hearing Drakos's answer, when Daneel thought about it, he saw that it did make sense.

If something like this didn't exist, then, just like the Hero had said, nothing would stop these Heroes from jumping ship and dooming Angaria to turn into a land ravaged by endless rivers of blood.

However, this did present a problem.

How was he supposed to ensure this Hero's loyalty, now?

That, too, when he had adopted such a domineering attitude with the guy?

What if, one fine day, this Hero just decided to say that 'enough was enough'?

Although he didn't really think that this was possible, he couldn't trust his gut on this one. The danger was just a bit too much.

On noticing the way the King was looking at him, Rayen understood what he was thinking.

So, he decided to speak.

"Look, King Daneel. I know that I cannot ask you to trust me. So, there is only one solution. I shall trust you. You can cast that same 'trap' that you put inside my son's head in me, too."

This made a flash of realization, and then disbelief appear on Daneel's face.

In the case of an oath, this Hero could at least hope to escape it some day.

Yet, this spell of Drakos's was a truly nefarious one that, he claimed, would never be able to be countered by any Heroes in this age.

The only limitation was this: it needed time to be cast, and if there was any resistance from the target, there was a high chance of failure.

Seeing the complexity, this should have already dawned on this Hero.

Yet, he had suggested it, himself?

Daneel had to say that he was rather impressed. There was no way that he could have expected the man to do this.

Clearly, what he felt for his son exceeded any level that Daneel had conceived in his head.

Nodding, he said, "Very well. Your trust is not misplaced. I give you my word that I will not abuse it. Now…"

"Um…there's another issue."

This time, Daneel's eyebrows moved into a V-shape as he glared at the Hero, who had a hesitant expression on his face.

A Hero was being hesitant to say something to him?

Oh, he had definitely come a long way.

Although he mused this in his head, he continued to glare at the man, who finally said, "This is a clone. And, as I speak, my original body is on lockdown by the Head, so that I won't go on a rampage and kill you. So…yeah…"

Shaking his head, Daneel said, "So, what do you wish to do?"

He was burning with anticipation to check out all the goodies behind the second seal, and this Hero was detaining him like an Earthling's mom who was making her son do laundry instead of watching his favorite TV show.

Sighing with relief, Rayen said, "In this state of mine, even information transfer would be difficult, and it's risky as someone can look here at any moment and find something amiss. The lockdown won't be forever. After taking a few weeks or so, I'll act as if I'm fine. The Head can't sit with me forever, so he'll leave. I'll come to you in my original body, then."

"Fine. Get out of here, and remember that your son is still with me. Don't play any tricks. You cannot even fathom what kind of knowledge a being from the Age of the Empire possesses. Got it?"

Seeing the Hero nod hurriedly, Daneel waved his hand as if he was dismissing some subject of his.

He wasn't too worried about the Hero not coming back because of everything he had seen so far.

As Rayen dispersed his clone, he couldn't control the shock that shone in his eyes at the last moment.

Had he just been…waved away by someone?

Slight anger threatened to invade his mind, but he controlled it, telling himself that he would deal with it.

After the Hero left, Daneel first heaved a sigh of relief, feeling glad that this was over.

Then, he frantically rushed to the library in the academy with an excitement which even startled Drakos.

In barely a few seconds, Daneel's hands were clasped around the two edges of the pedestal, while Drakos said, "You were right in your hunch, Young King! The second seal is broken! Congratulations! Would you like me to give you all the information one by one…"

"No! All at once!"

"Uh…are you sure? Such a high load of information might.."

"I'm sure! Do it!"

"All right…"

As soon as Drakos said this, Daneel felt as if his mind had just been forcibly dunked into a bucket of cold water.

[Massive influx of information detected.

Warning! Host's brain under risk of overloading.

Analyzing.

Categorizing for storage and further analysis.

Multiple categories have been found. They are:

Hero-level formations.

Hero-level spells.

Artifact Creation.

War Strategies.

Empire Development Strategies.

Fighter techniques.

Common Paragon Constructs.

Common Champion Paths

…]

With each category, Daneel's eyes burned more and more with excitement, and when he heard the last one, even though he noticed the prefix, his excitement reached new peaks.

Only, the flood of information was too much, and even as the system continued to analyze and store all of it, the King of Lanthanor's eyes rolled into the back of his head before he fainted onto the stone pedestal and started to drool.

If Rayen could see him now, he would definitely have wondered whether this was the diabolical Devil to whom he had sworn his loyalty.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

530 Jackpo

When Daneel finally woke up in a puddle of his own drool, sunlight was pouring through the windows.

The 21 rogue Warriors and Mages had attacked during the evening, and the show had gone till midnight. After that, Daneel had been occupied with the Hero, and, now, it looked like he had slept on…Drakos until morning.

Oh, yes, the stone pedestal was Drakos!

The moment he realized this, he made fire evaporate the drool before hastily wiping what was left on his mouth.

"I-"

"Don't say it."

He knew Drakos was going to say 'I told you so,' so he cut off the dragon before it could finish.

Shaking his head in an attempt to get rid of the pounding headache, Daneel asked the system, "Has all the information been categorized and analyzed?"

For the first time in a long time, the system took a moment to reply.

[Categorization completed. Analysis in progress. Most of the data collected exceeds system's complexity. Hence, storage is taking longer than expected. Hero-level information which cannot be analyzed is being placed in 'blackboxes', where spells can be accessed when needed, but their working cannot be analyzed and modifications are not possible unless host upgrades the system.]

Daneel had already expected this. The system was still at Peak Champion level, so it couldn't really analyze Hero-level stuff. However, by imitation, it could cast the spells given by Drakos. This taxed Daneel's mageroot heavily, as it was just like someone using a tool to get an output without understanding what that tool was or how it achieved the result.

Before Daneel revisited those categories which had made him froth at his mouth when he heard them, he decided to find out how much EXP he had accumulated over all this time, and whether he was close to the upgrade.

Until now, the system's complexity had always been a full realm above his. Yet, now, if he wasn't able to upgrade it, he might break through to become a Champion and be on its general level for the first time.

"System, tell me my total EXP and tell me what is needed for the upgrade."

[Affirmative. Would host like to hear the pending notification regarding the Kingdom Satisfaction Level Milestone?]

"Yes!"

This was the second major thing he had been looking forward to after hearing that he had managed to have his Kingdom reach the level required to break the second seal.

These Kingdom Development Milestones that the system had given him, for some reason, coincided with the levels required for the seals to be broken. Daneel didn't think that this was anything except a coincidence, as he assumed that these metrics might be things that the Emperor had found out after a lot of research and time, so it wasn't surprising that the system was using them, too. After all, the system usually did use the best metrics available to judge his performance.

Last time, with the Olympics, Daneel had gotten the Kingdom Satisfaction Level to 26% with great difficulty. He had been told that the next milestone was 30%, and that the reward would be multiplied by 5 times, from 10,000 to 50,000.

The system responded at this moment, making him smile on seeing that his memory was right.

[Satisfaction Level: 38%

Dissatisfaction Level: 19%

Milestone Reached. 50,000 EXP awarded.

Next Milestone: 60% Satisfaction Level.

Award: 250,000 EXP]

For a few moments, Daneel could only stare into the air slack-jawed while he asked the system to repeat the notification.

He couldn't believe it!

Earlier, he had had to try so hard to increase the satisfaction level by a few percents using the Olympics. Now, it had suddenly increased by this much?!

The next moment, he remembered what Queen Arafell had said.

The more people there were, the easier it was to get a high satisfaction level!

"System, is this satisfaction level only for Lanthanor, or for Eldinor, too?"

After all, he was ruling both of them out in the open.

[System informs host that satisfaction level is only for the Kingdom of Lanthanor, as the tool only allows system to scan a set area around host. Please upgrade the tool if host wishes to scan more areas. Upgrade cost: 15,000 EXP]

Oh, right.

He had forgotten about this little tidbit.

Unlike the Empire Spirit which had been given the ability to judge satisfaction level by the Emperor, the system was simply using a tool which he had bought. If he wanted to scan more area, he needed to upgrade it.

Yet, before he started spending EXP, Daneel decided to wait for the answer to his other question.

[Total EXP: 247,000

Cost/Requirements of Upgrade: Locked. Certain conditions must be fulfilled by host for the requirements to be locked. Currently, only the EXP required is available.]

Daneel was a little crestfallen, as he had been hoping that gaining so much information might have changed this. Well, at least he could find out how much EXP was needed.

Bracing himself, he said, "All right, tell me how much EXP is needed."

[EXP needed for upgrade: 1,000,000]

Yeah…there it was.

Daneel had actually expected this, but he just hadn't wanted to admit it.

For the first upgrade, the cost had been 10,000 EXP.

For the second, it had been 100,000 EXP.

So…if the trend continued, the cost would have been multiplied by 10 times, again, which was what had happened.

Also, there seemed to be additional conditions which he hadn't unlocked yet.

Sighing, he felt happy, for now, that the bad news was out of the way.

Rubbing his hands, a smile came on his face as he said, "Ok, list the categories of data collected, and give me summaries about each."

He decided he needed a chair to sit in while he received all this so that he wouldn't faint from excitement again(even though that hadn't been what happened before), so Daneel conjured a Throne behind him and sat down.

Sure enough, with each sentence, the smile on his lips broadened more and more, until it filled his whole face.

[Listing all categories with descriptions.

Hero-level formations: Formations such as the one encountered during Host's travel to the Kingdom of Arafell have been obtained. Also, numerous key offensive, defensive and obfuscating formations have been recorded which are ready to be deployed.

Hero-level spells: Destructive Hero-level spells such as Large-scale Earthquake, Thunderstorm, Hurricane, Firestorm, Icestorm have been obtained. However, system can only cast these spells without modification, which means that with host's power level, only a small area of effect is possible.

Artifact Creation: Artifacts are special items which surpass trinkets. They have a measure of sentience, which is not on the level of Warrior-level trinkets which have also been seen to have a certain level of awareness. Yet, in the latter case, this awareness only extends to fine-tuning shape/size according to user's preferences and checking whether the one wielding the trinket has the requisite power level. Artifacts, when made properly, are capable of understanding instructions to a certain extent. Also, the feats capable by using Artifacts cannot be compared to trinkets.

System has recorded several Artifact Creation techniques and models.

War Strategies: Large scale Army Deployment strategies, Mage and Fighter training strategies, Mage-Fighter integration strategies and Guerrilla strategies using high-level Mages and Fighters have been assessed and recorded. With this data, new module- 'War Strategist' available. 'War Strategist' can assess a live battle situation and suggest the best strategies to host.

Empire Development Strategies: These are the personal logs left behind by the Emperor regarding what can be done to develop an Empire in the direction of one which is supposed to be sought after by all people to live in. The schemes used by the Emperor, along with his reflections on the potential and drawbacks of each have been recorded. With this data, new module- 'Development Strategist' available. 'Development Strategist' can take into account all factors of a Kingdom to suggest host regarding what schemes can be used with available materials.

Fighter techniques: A special set of Fighter Battle and Training techniques for all levels from Human to Champion have been recorded.

Common Paragon Constructs: An exhaustive list of Paragon constructs at and below the Champion level have been recorded. These include ancient weapon constructs such as Barrier-Piercing Ballistae, Self-Adjusting Elemental Catapults, and Amateur Shadow Soldiers.

Common Champion Paths: An exhaustive list of common Acquired Champion paths which are usually chosen by those of medium to low talent have been recorded.

Although there is a qualitative power increase when one goes from being a Warrior to a Champion using these paths, the corresponding Champion Domains are simple and do not play a major role in battle.

For example, one who becomes a Champion using the 'Happiness' Champion Path by deeply delving into the state of happiness and understanding it to an intrinsic level, will only have the domain effect of either influencing the opponent using that emotion, or possessing increased attack/defensive power when in the state of that emotion.

In the case of Elemental Champion Paths, an amplification of power is acquired when said Element is used.

These include Champion Paths of Anger, Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Fire, Water, Ice, and Lightning.]

When Daneel went through all of this, a word appeared in his head, and he felt as if it applied now, to this situation, more than ever before.

'JACKPOT!'

New modules, new spells, more Champion Paths, the Emperor's own logs…what more could he ask for?

Historically, the Kings of Lanthanor had written in their memoirs that it should be a priority for every King to attempt and raise the Satisfaction Level so that one could unlock the 'invaluable treasure trove of knowledge' that was supposedly sealed inside the Spirit.

If they knew how right they had been, Daneel felt that they would really be regretting that they hadn't put in more effort in this endeavor.

Yet, there could also have been no King like him, who had a tool with which he could accurately judge the satisfaction level and see how well he was doing.

Putting such thoughts aside, Daneel forcefully stopped himself, at the moment, from going into a full on 'nerd-mode' where he would explore each category by himself in depth.

Instead of focusing on what he had gotten, he decided to list what he hadn't received.

No…maybe, it was better to ask Drakos, rather than do the list himself.

"Drakos, I've just gone through all the data. But I see that a lot is missing. Is all of that hidden behind the last seal?"

"Young King, you were knocked out and were drooling on me, so how were you able to…"

"I have a thick mind which doesn't quit.", Daneel interrupted and answered, aiming to nip any suspicion before it grew into something troubling.

Well, he had slipped in his excitement, so he could only seek to rectify the situation in this way.

Drakos looked like he didn't buy it that much, but he let it go.

"Right. If you need me to repeat, you can ask, Young King. There is no reason to be ashamed."

Oh. So he had understood it in that way.

Daneel felt like chuckling, but he stopped himself on realizing that this was an opportunity to make sure that Drakos didn't suspect anything, at all. He decided to sit with the Dragon and go through everything again, but, before that, he needed an answer.

"Ok, fine, you got me. But I was able to understand the categories. So, tell me what's missing?"

"Good. For reasons that only my father knows, he chose to place all prominent Champion Paths, which include the one you saw when that man in your captivity broke through, all information regarding the Hero-level, and all of his signature spells and Artifacts that allowed him to control the Empire for so long behind the last seal. And…I must say that breaking open the last seal will require so much more satisfaction level than the first two, Young King."

It was just as he had thought.

Still, Daneel honestly couldn't complain, as the Emperor had given him many, many tools which he could use to reach that level.

But…what should he do, first?

Daneel was lost.

Yet, he realized that he didn't have to be.

So, by using the special trinket he had made out of the Ker Root with Drakos's help, Daneel called for the second meeting with all of his 8 trusty advisors and friends.

Also, he had just come up with a name for this gathering, as it was quite difficult to refer to it in this way every time.

It would be called…The Council of 9 Sovereigns.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

531 Second Meeting of the Council

The idea behind the name came from the fact that two of these eight were already sovereigns of two major forces. Perhaps, with this name, the rest might also be motivated to forge ahead with as much enthusiasm and dedication as possible so that they could reach that level, themselves, too.

After all, Daneel had no intention whatsoever of shortchanging those who trusted him so much and believed in him to lead them. He valued them highly, and he had always had grand plans for them so that he could be rest assured that they would never, ever feel regret in their choices.

After calling for the meeting and asking them to assemble after six hours, Daneel began a deep run through of everything he had obtained from Drakos with the company of the Ancient Dragon, whose enthusiasm was palpable.

According to him, all of this data had been obtained with the blood and sweat of the Empire's forces. He was very proud of it, and Daneel's great interest only spurred him on to go to great lengths regarding each and every category.

Of course, Daneel didn't learn too much new stuff other than what the system had already analyzed, as although Drakos had a lot to say, a lot of it comprised of musings regarding how each specific piece of knowledge had been collected.

For example, according to him, he had personally known the Paragon who invented the legendary Barrier-Piercing Ballistae, from which had been derived a certain type of Artifact that had become the mainstay of the Emperor's Armies for quite a long time.

This information was definitely something interesting, but it didn't benefit Daneel all that much, but he still endeavored to gather it all. After all, who knew when it might come in handy.

Yet, 3 hours later, the Dragon's penchant for soliloquies resulted in Daneel feeling very drowsy, so he did a little cheating. The Ancient Dragon was completely absorbed in recounting everything in vivid detail, so he didn't notice much when Daneel's replies became sort of robotic, as the system had taken over while Daneel took a very well-deserved nap.

He woke up two hours later, only to find Drakos still going on with the same amount of gusto.

Finally, after another hour, Dale extricated himself from the Ancient Dragon, quoting that he was too tired to accept any more information, when in reality, he had already had enough after realizing that he had been right all along – the system had already extracted as much as it could.

As he reached his chambers to change clothes before heading off to the meeting, he once again marveled at just how valuable everything he had obtained was, as he now had an even better idea after this long session of discussion.

If this were some sort of video game, that it was like he had entered a cheat code which gave him so much stuff that he wasn't supposed to have at this stage.

Yet, he was definitely going to use it to great effect.

First, Daneel took a deep breath and decided to prioritize, as this was always most necessary when he was faced with too many routes to go in.

His utmost priorities were still the same – First, he needed to find all the parts of the Grand Inheritance before someone else did, as even though the ancient Dragon hadn't told him exactly what that thing could do, he knew that he definitely didn't want it in anyone else's hands. And, of course, he wanted to win the Race, too, as he could tell that it was very important.

On the same level was his priority to get to the Champion level. After seeing all of the Common Champion Paths, it had once again dawned on Daneel just how important this choice was. Whatever the Path that was chosen, one would have to stick with it when they proceeded to become a Hero and beyond. Hence, he definitely had to find one which he was happy with. Only, none of the ones he had seen so far stood out that much, and this included Ashahell's path.

Maybe… He would have to leave this until he broke the next seal, which brought him to his next priority – raising the Satisfaction Level even more so that he could see for himself what the Queen coveted so much.

She seemed to be pretty sure that if she broke the last seal, she would be able to take over the entire Continent, itself, without a problem. Could the information hidden there be that powerful?

Daneel honestly couldn't say, but he was definitely pretty excited to find out, especially now when he had already been endlessly awed by what was behind just the second seal.

However, he knew that it would be very tough.

Finally, his last main priority was actually related to the third one – he had seen just how beneficial it had been for him to come out in the open and become the ruler of the Kingdom of the Elves. How amazing would it be if he was somehow able to do the same with the other two forces that he controlled?

This was a pretty tall order, but if he really managed to do it, Daneel suspected that he would be able to achieve the third goal quite easily, if the Queen was to be believed.

These four remained on top, while there were a bunch below.

Things such as choosing what path to go with his military, what to do with all the Mages whom he had shown to the world as disabled, how he was going to integrate the Mages of Eldinor with the Fighters of Lanthanor, what he was going to do to hide the fact that he was in possession of unlimited wealth, et cetera et cetera were all stuff that he hoped to take help with from the Council.

His purpose behind prioritizing now was also so that their meeting could have an agenda, instead of spiraling into multiple discussions that might reach nowhere. On Earth, he had seen just how fruitless such discussions would be, during the times when he randomly tuned in to congressional sessions of various countries where elected officials would squabble uselessly instead of reaching any conclusion.

Donning a clean, shiny coat, Daneel left to the same spot in the sky between the Hidden Kill Sect, the Black Raven Kingdom and Lanthanor where the rest were already waiting for him.

4 were seated on each side, and as he appeared, all of them stood up in respect.

No bowing was necessary, as Daneel had explicitly stated this in his message. He thought of all of these people as his closest friends and confidants, so he didn't want a formal atmosphere to pervade this meeting.

As soon as he took his seat, Faxul also sat down and chuckled before saying, "Council of Nine Sovereigns. I must say that I quite like the sound of that. Is it your goal for all of us to become Sovereigns, eventually?"

Daneel hadn't expected that his friend would hit the nail on its head so soon, so he feigned surprise, but didn't say anything.

This made the rest exchange looks between each other, but knowing that the King must have called them all for a very important reason, they waited for him to speak.

Sure enough, as soon as Daneel began speaking, expressions of seriousness came on everyone's faces. He started reciting all of the things that had happened since their last meeting – including what had happened exactly during the whole episode with the Emperor Spirit of Eldinor.

Of course, he hid a few specific details, such as how he had made Drakos give him a fake formation. But what he did give was a detailed recounting, with more information than what anyone else had.

When he went over how he had taken the decision to disregard the threat of a Hero after 'Mercy for the Wicked', gasps sounded in the air, mainly from Eloise and even Robert.

Cassandra looked at him with approval in her eyes, while her red hair swayed in the light breeze.

As for the rest, they were more surprised than anything.

They all wondered one thing: where did the confidence of the King come from?

When he told them about his bargaining chip, his father furrowed his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

It was obvious that the man could understand what the Hero must have felt, but, at the same time, he knew that it was necessary.

Toward the end, all 8 members were even more astonished than last time, which they had thought would be impossible.

It was almost like the King achieved phenomenal things left and right in the same span of time that the rest of them used to do something absolutely trivial.

For example, Elanev had just now compared his activities with his 'younger brother's', and when all he remembered were the curses from the old man who had repeatedly said that if he didn't push himself even further, he could never hope to reach even the shadow of 'that kid', as he referred to him, Elanev couldn't help but blush and realise just how right the damn old man was.

Of course, his blush only deepened when he heard the mocking laugh from the old man in his head.

With the recounting done, Daneel leaned forward to get to the real agenda.

Waving his hand, he made numerous words appear in the air between them.

"This is all the important knowledge I've gained after breaking the second seal. In fact, there is much more, but this is the part which can be used in the present age. The rest either requires resources which have long gone extinct, or conditions such as squadrons of Champions which is something that can only be dreamed about right now. My task for you is simple. Go through it, and pick the ones you find to be the most interesting, or the most valuable. We will be deciding which to prioritize right now."

Daneel had come up with this open-ended format on the way over. It would take too much time to go through each piece of information, one by one, so this was probably the best.

Using the system, he had cast a spell which gave brief image-based descriptions of each thing so that it could be understood easily. For example, military formations or training techniques had little stick figures carrying out small demonstrations.

At first, viewing the large area that was taken up by all these glowing beacons of knowledge, all 8 members of the Council were quite shocked. Each label was more unbelievable than the one before, so much so that they couldn't believe that the King had obtained this much.

After that, each member started to walk up to whatever interested them.

The commanders were, of course, mesmerized by all the numerous things related to war. So, like kids who had found new toys to play with, Cassandra, Robert, Aran, and Luther hurried over to this section and started to go through each and everything available seriously.

Eloise walked over to the Kingdom development strategies, where each idea was more daring than the last. Kellor was captivated by all the Mage techniques, and even though he didn't understand many, he studied each and every one of them.

Elanev's choice was also to be expected. He ran to the section called 'Fighter Techniques'.

It was only Faxul who walked to Daneel's side instead of immediately delving into the treasure trove.

Daneel looked at his friend questioningly, who seemed to be adjusting quite well even though he had lost his body.

"Hey, I heard you when you said that its a priority to take control of the other two forces in the open, too. I have an idea regarding that. Is there any way…to fake an attack by the Church? What if we get crippled, too, in the same way Lanthanor was? What if, in the process of driving away the Church, we ally with you in the same way that Eldinor did, so that it doesn't draw too much attention? Just another struggling Kingdom allying to survive. What do you think?"

For a moment, Daneel could only stare at his friend in disbelief.

It was almost like he was being a bad influence on all these people.

The idea sounded great on the surface, but there was a problem.

"It's too risky to fake the Church. The Big 4 would swoop in right away."

"Then can we fake it that anyone else attacked?"

As Daneel heard this, the cogs in his head started to turn as he gazed out over all the knowledge.

There was one additional problem with all this knowledge, too, that he hadn't thought about.

If he brazenly implemented it, how could he explain it if someone came asking where he had gotten it from?

By using that Paragon Attack, he had already made it clear what 'Inheritance' he had obtained.

What if…the idea that Faxul had brought up could be used to solve this, too?

After all, Daneel liked nothing more than to hit two birds with one stone.

Seeing the maleficent smile on Daneel's face, Faxul couldn't help but feel a chill in his spine.

At the same moment, Eloise called out to Daneel, which made him walk over while still pondering over the plan that was forming in his mind.

Eloise was standing in front of a certain Kingdom Development Strategy that Daneel hadn't seen before during his discussion with Drakos.

It showed the images of two cities connected by a bridge that rose into the air, while a cubical box was traveling between them on the bridge and dropping off stick figures and boxes.

Seeing this, Daneel's eyes widened.

Was this…what he thought it was?!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

532 Breaking the Pattern

"Inter-Kingdom Transportation System: Designed for smooth, efficient and cheap travel between cities. Goods can also be transported regularly, without a need of waiting for strong enough Mages to come along.

Pros:

-Easily accessible to common folk.

-Can enable two Kingdoms to share their strengths and shore up their weaknesses

-Capable of regularly transporting essential items

Cons:

-High initial setup cost

-Will result in a period of loss, as common folk cannot pay much

-Mages and Magic Portals are already accessible in most locations. Hence, financially not feasible."

A train! A damn train!

Daneel could barely control his excitement. As someone from Earth, he knew exactly how important a proper train network was.

He had actually considered this, himself, long ago, but he had discarded it due to various reasons.

Most of all, it had been too ambitious at that point.

However, now, seeing that the Emperor, himself, had been thinking about it, he saw hope.

Sure enough, when Daneel touched the image that was showing this information, detailed plans unfolded.

One of the reasons for him getting so excited was also that the cons that were listed were no longer true.

At least, the most important one didn't apply at all to this age.

Considering the number of high-level Mages that used to exist during the Empire's time, it must have been easy to build and monitor portals, like the ones at the base of the mountain on which the capital city of the Kingdom of the Elves was located.

The longer the distance between two portals, the more the power required to maintain them.

Even the Eldinorians had had to spend large amounts of money to set up just those few portals. They had wanted to show off that theirs was the 'Magic Destination in the Continent'.

Yet, those only teleported someone for a distance of a few hundred meters, at most.

Hence, building a portal between 2 Kingdoms was completely unheard of, and would even seem absurd.

As for regular teleportation, in this Age, Mages were so scarce that only the richest of common folk would have access to it.

So, their go-to methods for transport were either Ether-powered carriages, if they were capable of hiring one and walking.

Goods were always being snatched away on the way by mercenaries, and that had been the reason why Daneel had set up his own 'Angarian Delivery' system, which was inspired by 'Amazon' back on Earth.

Only, the rise of this scheme had been slow, as he hadn't had enough money to pump into it.

Now, with this plan of the Emperor's in front of him, Daneel realized that it might be possible to give that scheme the success he had always wished for.

Also, the other advantages, such as addressing the common folk's needs in traveling, would definitely make even the satisfaction level rise.

Any way he saw it, there was only profit.

And besides, it was a f*cking train!

If this amazing piece of heritage didn't impress him, then he shouldn't even call himself a former Earthling.

Seeing the King enter a deep state of concentration, Eloise had been silent, even though she had been the one to call him over.

She had been very intrigued by this strategy, as even she could tell how useful such a network of transport would be. The economic benefits, themselves, were so momentous.

Teleportation didn't work for large amounts of goods, so, the market of on-foot transportation was a major one which they had entered into.

Clearly, they were both thinking the same things.

Looking at her, Daneel realized that he didn't even need to explain anything. He said, "Eloise, take these plans. As soon as this meeting is over, sit with our assembly line and our finance ministers to modify this so that it can be implemented now. ASAP. Ok?"

The plans the Emperor had drawn up involved using complicated trinkets on the tracks.

Each trinket was capable of absorbing the forward momentum of the 'train' and pushing it forward, just like a spring.

Of course, such extravagance was impossible right now, as hundreds of thousands of such trinkets would have to be made. In this Age, there were neither the resources nor the manpower.

Thankfully, the model of the train, itself, could be adapted.

Instead of coal, like on Earth, this train burned Ether Blocks to propel itself forward.

Also, the Emperor had wanted it in the air simply because it would 'look impressive'.

Again, this was another useless aspect which could be removed.

What he did have to do, though, was add measures to protect the train from possible attackers.

How cool would it look if the train was mounted with crossbows and catapults?

His head buzzing with ideas, Daneel listed them all down inwardly so that he wouldn't forget any of them.

After doing that, he slapped his head.

How could he not have gotten this idea, himself, even after that windfall that had given him almost unlimited resources?

This should have been one of the first things he pursued!

Well, it wasn't too late now. No matter what, he would implement this, even if he faced all kinds of challenges.

In fact, Daneel was looking forward to seeing the challenges, so that he could solve them.

All in all, this was another thing that would change the course of this continent for the better.

Eloise understood this, too, as she obeyed the King's orders and immediately handed him a data trinket.

After Daneel transferred the details to it, Eloise shot him a sweet smile before walking away to check out all the other stuff.

At the same moment, Daneel found himself being called by Kellor.

Kellor was in the section where Mage training techniques were listed. Here, his attention was fixed on a label that read: "Civilian Mass Spell Casting Training."

"My Lord, I think this might come in handy…"

Nodding, Daneel touched this one, too, to see its details.

"Civilian Mass Spell Casting Training: A method to train large numbers of people without prior military experience to take part in a joint spell casting activity.

Pros:

-If executed well, high power of resultant spell

-Gives citizens the feeling of belonging to something they can see

Cons:

-Need to have a subset of citizens who all have a minimum level of Mage skills

-Requires long periods of training

Notes: -Implemented in a certain Kingdom of the Empire, where it was a partial success. Needs to be tweaked more."

The moment Daneel read it, he understood why Kellor had been attracted to it.

The Elves!

Patting his Grand Court Mage's shoulder, Daneel said, "Take the details, Kellor. You'll be responsible for this. See if it's even possible for us to apply something like this."

After he filled the data trinket for Kellor, too, Daneel just couldn't wipe the smile off of his face.

He had to say that he was very, very satisfied with how useful this meeting had already turned out to be.

As for the rest, the commanders were captivated by all military formations, and, according to them, they would need time and in-depth study to decide on the best ones to prioritize. So, Daneel handed all the data regarding that section over.

Finally, Elanev was also given everything from the Fighter Techniques section, along with a special goal: to shortlist the best Fighter techniques that could be given to the army to make it stronger.

After this delegating of duties was done, all 8 Sovereignz sat back down in their seats with their eyes still shining.

They still couldn't believe that they sere actually in possession of so much 'wealth' that would be coveted by any force in the Central Continent.

Daneel had already chosen his 'area of focus', too: he was going to study all the Champion Paths available, along with the Paragon Constructs. In the short run, these two were the things which would benefit him the most. Even though he was inclined to wait for the final seal to break to gain access to the best Champion Paths, he still wanted to acquaint himself deeply with everything that was available.

Addressing the Council, Daneel said, "Now that all of you have your assignments, I would like to remind you about one additional matter. We currently have three special, secret forces."

"Three?"

Hearing this, the 8 whispered among themselves. How could there be three?

The King answered their question.

"The first one is the Domination Corps, which will be remotely guided by Luther. The second is our secret Mage Force, which the world thinks doesn't exist."

"What do you mean, My Lord? I've examined those Mages. They really did lose their Mageroots."

Shaking his head, Daneel said. "I think I forgot to mention this, then. Why would I do something like that to my own soldiers when everything was in the palm of my hand? Their Mageroots are merely 'hibernating'. With a jolt, they can be awakened. However, all suspicion must first be removed. So, they are living their lives normally, for now. After a period of time, an initiative by the government will give them all 'special' jobs in the Palace, where they will begin training anew. Kellor, Cassandra and Aran: you'll be in charge of that."

By now, the King shocking them had become such a common thing that almost no one even flinched when they heard this revelation. Instead, they took it for granted, as that was what they had come to expect.

But…that made only two.

"The third is the small Warrior squadron made up of all the intruders who so kindly decided to invade Lanthanor. They're still being 'reformed', but after that is done, they will be swearing Oaths to serve Lanthanor. They will be our most secret hidden knife: no one can know that they exist."

This news actually made wistful smiles appear on the faces of most of the 8 Sovereigns.

A Warrior Squadron!

That was something that was unheard of in the Central Continent.

Yet, they were now in possession of one.

Lanthanor…really was starting to accumulate a level of hidden strength that would startle anyone and everyone when revealed.

Daneel's agenda was done, for now, so he chose to disperse the meeting.

"Let's meet again after these matters have been finalized. Everyone is dismissed. Faxul, stay back."

Daneel had been giving thought to Faxul's idea, and, in the process, he had come across a problem that he had missed before.

After everyone else left, he said, "Faxul, like I said, I like your plan, but there is a problem."

"Hmm?"

"Well, everyone already knows of the relationship between us. Even if an attack does happen, it might look…choreographed, and I will be suspected to be someone aiming to unite the Central Continent. Besides, they know that my 'master', and my former commander is in charge of the Hidden Kill Sect. It will raise too many red flags, and put too much of a spotlight on me. We need to avoid that. Even if the fake attack is carried out perfectly, suspicion will still definitely rise. Already, there are a few suspicions, so it might not be best to take a risk."

Daneel was thinking of that 'Head' when he said this. According to the Hero, he was someone terrifying who would definitely notice something amiss in a common plan like this.

The problem was that a pattern would form, which was noticeable.

So…he had to break the pattern.

"How about if the Black Raven Kingdom allies with the Hidden Kill Sect?"

"Same problem. It will still look suspicious because of my ties. Something…completely different should happen."

"Like what?", asked Faxul, scratching his head.

He was at his wit's end. Weren't these the only options they had? What else could be done?

At that moment, Daneel got a daring idea.

"Axelor."

"Excuse me, what?", exclaimed Faxul, sure that he had heard wrong.

Yet, Daneel only repeated the word.

"Axelor. Consider this. No one else knows about what has happened with the Empire Spirit. And Axelor is completely closed off to the entire Central Continent. What if…you act as if you are the Empire Spirit, and get in the good graces of the Empire Spirit who is present and active in Axelor?"

"Is that even possible?!"

"Drakos says so. The Empire Spirit's consciousness is available to you. He says you can access it to learn all the mannerisms, etc of that crazy Raven."

The more Daneel thought about it, the more it made sense.

He could find solutions for other problems in other ways. Yet, this was a golden opportunity to enter that closed Kingdom which was sealed off to all.

And…this was certainly a way to break the pattern.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

533 The King of Axelor“s Decision

Meanwhile, in the Royal Palace of Axelor.

King Safiros currently had a livid expression on his face. All the crazy joy that had been there when he had witnessed the gruesome massacre of hundreds of his citizens was absent, replaced by an expression that made him look as if he was seeing something that irked him to no end.

In his hand was a display trinket, which was showing the image of another display trinket in a house where a replay of the continent's most talked-about show, 'Mercy for the Wicked' was being played.

The reel had been cut in such a way that the emphasis was always on the King of Lanthanor. From the beginning, where he had assured the people that everything was alright, to the end where he looked like a God while he stopped the attack of someone whose power level was legendary in the Central Continent, his face, his posture, and his voice were given so much focus that it would be difficult to forget any of them even long after the show was over.

And who would want to forget them? Each of those things stood for a certain level of gravitas that was admired endlessly by all, no matter if they were honest manual workers or rich merchants.

While the King continued watching while his expression got more and more ugly, his Minister, who was standing in front of him in the Throne Room, said, "This show has spread to even those people who didn't receive the display trinket. Most had gathered with those who did have the trinket and were watching. As for the rest, some people have started charging money to hold special shows where they give access to the so-called 'Network Trinket', or, in short, N.T. There is also talk that mass production of N.Ts has begun, and that they will be launched for all to buy, soon. There are also certain rumors about how some people have managed to obtain the technology to broadcast to these N.Ts, and that they are in the process of creating the trinkets needed. As for the effects of the show…"

"THIS POMPOUS RUNT!"

Interrupting his minister, the King suddenly stood up and threw the display trinket in one direction, causing it to crash onto the wall and fall to the ground.

The Minister remained silent, with his only hope being that this anger wouldn't turn into another purge.

Thankfully, instead of ordering something like that right away, King Safiros started marching from left to right on the raised pedestal on which the Throne was present.

He also started grumbling under his breath, which was audible to the Minister.

"Don't they see what he's doing? He wants to sway the continent's people to support him so that he can conquer them all! He already has 4 Kingdoms in his grasp! It's just me and that bitch in Arafell who's left! What the f*ck are the Big 4 doing?!"

The King kept repeating stuff like this, until, finally, he whipped out a communication trinket from a secret pocket in his robes.

This was a special trinket that was always on his body, no matter where he was. That was because it was that important.

"My King, they said…!"

"Screw what they said. Hey, I need to speak with you. Get over here."

Crack!

The next second, the sound of something being broken into was heard, after which the Minister turned to the side and realized that he wasn't alone.

This man was wearing green-colored robes which fit him perfectly, and he had a trimmed, short beard that gave him the look of some stately advisor. His clothes were old school: he had a tassel around his neck, which was draped on one arm of his that was held aloft.

Right after he appeared, he had a suspicious expression on his face, as he looked around as if he had sensed something strange and wanted to find out what it was.

"Hmm…could have sworn I felt something at the Hero-level here…"

"Who're you? You're not the one…"

"Quiet."

The moment he said that word, the King shut his mouth, going so far as to even bite his own tongue in the process as it hadn't gone back into his mouth fast enough.

Blood was visible on his teeth, which were being held together rigidly as if someone had their hands around his head and was making sure that he wouldn't open his mouth.

The Minister could tell that this was done by this bearded man, but what he couldn't figure out was…how?

His elementary vision had been switched on, yet, he hadn't noticed any attempts at controlling elementary particles.

What was going on?!

After a few moments, the man finally shook his head, as if dispelling some thought of his.

"All right. Speak. Why have you contacted the Big 4, King of Axelor? Take caution in what you say. There is somewhere I need to be, right now, so my patience wears thin."

Coughing uncontrollably, King Safiros spit out a portion of his own tongue with fury in his eyes before he forcefully controlled his anger and said, "The King of Lanthanor directly or indirectly controls 4 of the 6 forces in the Central Continent. He has already allied with one of them. Why aren't you doing anything to stop him?"

Yawning, the man said, "Because we are keeping a close eye on his Mages. They are crippled. And we know of your plan to target Lanthanor as soon as it's weak. Even though we explicitly stated that methods of great bloodshed should be avoided."

This made the King narrow his eyebrows and take a moment before replying.

Yet, cutting him off, the bearded man said, "We have an eye over all 6 forces. At the first sign of a unified alliance forming, we will interfere. Right now, that alliance is still only as powerful as you and Arafell. As for the other links: those are fine unless the King of Lanthanor brazenly uses them in some way. Now, then. I hope you've learned your lesson that you shouldn't call upon us unless you have something important to discuss. Next time, it won't just be your tongue that gets…cut off."

Saying so, the bearded man left in the same manner that he had arrived.

Silence greeted the Throne Room, while the Minister waited for another angry outburst from the King.

Only, surprisingly, the King burst out laughing with that blood still staining his teeth.

"Fool. Couldn't even detect the Hero-level formation around my Kingdom. Just you wait. The moment I assemble the Grand Inheritance, it's your head I'll be coming for, first. Well, at least, now I know that these guys are all clueless about the real deal that will dictate the fate of this continent."

"My King, what do you mean?", asked the Minister, thoroughly puzzled.

"My dear Minister, you know that we only recently put up the Hero-level formations after breaking the second seal using a few…unique methods. I wanted to know if he can sense it. If he could, I would have disabled it. And it was best if he had no reason to suspect the reason behind my anger and me calling him. He glanced at the display trinket, and inferred what I must have been watching. And…he didn't detect the parts of the Grand Inheritance that are waiting to be snatched up, either. After all, it is best to know whether there are any additional contenders I can worry about in the Race. Now, if only that b*tch in Arafell took the bait…"

As the Minister saw the King sink into deep thought, he remained silent, with his arms folded behind his back.

He had to admit that the King had surprised him: until now, he had only been thinking that the man was mad. Yet, it now looked like there was a method to his madness.

Still, when he heard what the King said next, he couldn't help but rub his ears, wondering whether he was the one that had gone crazy.

"Minister, when were the last War Games in Angaria conducted, and why?"

The Minister had to spend a few moments to recall the history of the continent, after which he replied, "Around 375 years ago, My King, when the Kingdoms were on better terms. At that time, a very valuable Ether Mine had been discovered at a spot that wasn't under the authority of any of the Kingdoms. As all 6 forces were in a state of equilibrium at that point, a major war was brewing, and it was suggested by the late King of Axelor that War Games, where tactics and skills of armies would be tested on a massive field with differing scenarios, should be conducted to come to a decision regarding the matter. As this was a method without bloodshed, the War Games were conducted, with Axelor achieving victory due to the superior discipline of our soldiers. This was a private event, with no spectators. Only, the Big 4 later lay claim to the Ether mine, as there was a Ker Gem Mine hidden underneath it. We won glory, but we did not win what we wanted. In fact, the other Kingdoms even gloated on seeing our plight, as we had no option but to let the Big 4 take away our 'winnings'."

As the Minister rattled off this significant moment in history, the King took a moment and said, "We do know that runt likes to put on a show. Propose an event like that, with the reason being that we should sharpen our forces before the invasion so that we can identify any weaknesses."

"B-but why, My King?"

This question made the King stand up and spit out a mouthful of blood, before saying, "To cause a distraction- the biggest distraction possible, while I go to the Core of his Palace to get the part of the Grand Inheritance that is stored there. And if it isn't present…I'll have found out that he, too, is in the race. Send the message, and send a healer."

Giving this order, the King walked away to his chambers.

Finding himself alone in the Throne Room, the Minister looked at the Throne, wondering how this glorious Kingdom of his had reached this state.

Sighing, he left to send the official message.

…

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, Daneel was in a room along with Eloise and various officials that she had called together.

The plans for the train were laid out on the large table in the middle, while a discussion was raging on regarding what the best method of implementation was.

He recalled the rest of his conversation with Faxul, where his friend had agreed and had subsequently been given the spell to delve into the memories of the Ancient Black Raven.

Daneel knew that it was a risky endeavor, but he had no choice but to ask it of Faxul. Axelor was sealed off just a bit too tightly. Now, with the Hero-level formations, not even a fly could enter that Kingdom without the knowledge of the King.

That was when he received an urgent message from Kellor, who relayed the communication that had just been received by Axelor.

Daneel had to ask Kellor to resend it twice, as he couldn't believe his ears.

War Games? Seriously?

He had already known of this significant event in history, as he had researched about all previous events when setting up the Olympics. Yet, he hadn't tried something like that, as no Kingdom would arbitrarily agree to expose their army tactics in that way if there was nothing to be gained except honor.

Yet, now, the King of Axelor was proposing one, by himself?

Was he crazy?

Oh, yes. How could he have known that Daneel had just come under the possession of various army tactics from the Empire, itself?

At the same moment, Daneel also started to think whether he could use this opportunity to accomplish something else.

As his eyes took on a dangerous light, he called for an emergency meeting of all army-related top personnel in the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

534 A Meeting

"Completely preposterous, Your Majesty. Even if the case stands, as you say, that the Continent is under risk of being vanquished by a bloodthirsty force that wants nothing but to kill us all, Axelor would never do something like this. I would find it more believable if Axelor joined that Church, and wants to find the weaknesses of all the armies of the other forces on Angaria so that they can be sold to the Church."

"I concur, Your Majesty!"

"Yes, that fits with their mentality! Your Majesty, we can't trust them! Especially not when we're weak, like this!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

In one of the large meeting rooms in the Palace of Lanthanor, a large, circular table had been laid in the middle around which around 50 individuals were seated.

These were the major lieutenants and captains who served under his commanders to manage the army.

If the War Games did happen, these would be the people who would be playing a major role, too. Hence, Daneel had decided to call them all, too, to the meeting.

There was also another reason. Apparently, most of these captains and lieutenants came from military families, and some were even supposed to have ancestors who had taken part in the first War Games conducted almost 400 years ago.

Such events were significant, so, information about it had been passed down from son to son as family lore.

And now, it was here for Daneel to see.

As the King, who was sitting at the prominent spot of the table on a Throne, frowned when he heard this, Robert, who was sitting next to him, said, "We are considering that viewpoint, too. But the King called you here so that you can tell us what your ancestors said about the War Games. Did they have anything specific to say about Axelor?"

This made the army personnel pause and whisper among themselves.

To their credit, they were actually handling the situation quite well.

The news about the Church's invasion was supposed to be privileged information, so as not to cause mass panic. So, it had come as a shock to most of these people that there might be nothing left of their homeland in a few short years.

Still, they had taken it in stride and begun to give their views on Axelor's proposal.

Or…it might just be the long-standing hatred they had for that Kingdom which might have helped them in the process.

Regardless, Daneel leaned forward to see whether there was anything useful to be learned.

Seeing Daneel's interest, Robert said, "Most of your ancestors must have been war buddies, so points should match between their stories. Take a moment to discuss, before putting forward a consolidated version."

As everyone else nodded, Daneel flicked his fingers and made an invisible barrier appear around him and the rest of the Sovereigns who were present in the meeting.

He had a little time, anyway, so he had decided to talk to them a bit.

Everyone except Faxul and Luther was present here, as they obviously couldn't leave behind their forces and appear here, in Lanthanor, whenever they were needed.

"What do you all think?", he asked, wanting to know their views on the issue.

Robert spoke up first.

"Definitely suspicious. In no way can I imagine Axelor looking out for the good of the continent. Do you know, for sure, that they haven't allied with the Church?"

Daneel was going to nod, but he stopped himself. Could he know, for sure?

He was mostly certain, but it was best not to be overconfident.

"I don't think so, but I can't be completely certain. Still, for argument's sake, assume that they haven't done so."

"Then there must be some other ulterior motive!"

This was from Cassandra, who had just banged her hand on the table.

As Daneel glanced at her, he saw that something was wrong.

Her breathing was labored, while her beautiful countenance was flushed red. Her red hair almost looked like it was a bunch of angry, crackling flames, giving her the image of some vengeful goddess who had come upon the land to take revenge.

"Cass…"

As Aran laid a hand on her shoulder, Cassandra whipped her head in his direction, which made him back into his seat hurriedly, as if he was afraid that she would do something.

"Autumn leaves. Autumn leaves over a balcony filled with broken, wooden planks."

These random words seemed to hold some kind of special meaning for her, as Cassandra, the Mage who was known for her fiery temper visibly calmed herself down for a moment and said, "Apologies, My King. May I be excused for a moment?"

"Of course."

Daneel replied instantly, following which Cassandra stood up and left the meeting room.

He found it odd. What could the reason be behind her outburst and loss of control?

The most plausible answer was that she had some vendetta against Axelor, but he had seen her be calm multiple times when handling that Kingdom. Even during the Olympics, she had kept her cool.

As he looked at Aran questioningly, the man dressed in casual clothes replied, "It…is the anniversary of the death of her family, My King. She always gets a bit touchy about the subject of Axelor during this time. Please pardon her."

Raising an eyebrow, Daneel asked, "Why?"

This made Aran scratch his nose, as if he didn't want to answer.

Hmm? What information could there be that he was showing such hesitation?

Finally, Aran looked at Robert, and as Daneel turned toward his father, he noticed that the man was glaring at him.

Huh?

Making another isolation barrier appear around the two of them, he asked, "What's the matter, father?"

In a neutral tone, Robert said, "Son, that is her story. I heard that she had to spend 5 years with Aran and Luther before she was able to open up to them. How would she feel if her trusted friend lay her secrets bare because you asked? You learned tact, son. Just because you're a King, it doesn't mean that you should forget that. If you want to find the answer, ask her yourself."

As Daneel heard this, he couldn't help but flush with embarrassment.

Right.

It was just that he had gotten used to finding out anything and everything he wanted from anyone with a thought. So, Daneel had asked without thinking whether he was breaching someone's privacy.

Thankfully, Cassandra entered the room again at the same moment, which gave Daneel an excuse to not reply to his father.

Musing that a scolding from a parent was something that even a Hero might not be able to escape from, Daneel decided to ask Cassandra later about the topic.

Yet, surprisingly, she spoke up before Daneel could say anything.

Standing in front of her seat, she put her hands behind her back and said, "I know the question in all of your minds. A commander whose mind is supposed to be the calmest on the battlefield has lost composure on just the mention of an enemy. Before any of you get any doubts about my capability, I want to give the reason."

Hearing this, Daneel decided that he had to step in.

Although he hadn't spent too much time with these commanders since he became King because some or the other matter always kept bothering him, he was always grateful for the steadfast support that they had always given him. When he needed them, they had always been there to deliver everything he asked.

Actually, now, he regretted not getting to know them closer.

These were the people he worked with closely, all the time! He had even made them Sovereigns!

Yet, all he knew about them was that Aran liked wearing casual clothes and lounging on sofas, and that Cassandra had beautiful locks of red hair that somehow always looked perfect and that she was supposed to have a temper.

Even with Kellor, the man who had followed him first, all he knew was that he had been a woodcutter, and that he was now someone who was enthusiastic about magic and justice.

That was just…pathetic!

Daneel cursed at himself in his mind, before resolving firmly to change that.

But first, he decided to address the heartthrob Mage of the army.

"Cassandra, no one doubts your capability. You can sit down, you don't need to give any explanation. I trust you. I do not want you to speak of something so personal just because you feel that it is necessary for us to not view you in some way. Sit down."

As Daneel said the last two words, the others also pitched in and chimed that it wasn't necessary.

This made a small smile break onto Cassandra's face.

She had already controlled herself completely using just that moment outside, yet her mood had still seemed pretty bad, especially when she had uttered that statement.

Now, her posture, too, which had been rigid, loosened up, while the last traces of the anger in her vanished.

As if she wasn't in a state to say anything in response, she simply nodded and sat down.

Daneel could tell that he had done the right thing. The main sign of that was when he had said the words 'I trust you'.

Now, he had become quite adept at using the Basilisk's Breath at a moment's notice. So, he had activated the inheritance to see her micro-expressions, which was when he had noticed that her eyes had widened when she heard those words.

Numerous emotions had shone in her eyes at that moment, including gratitude, relief, and joy. Also, after this, the changes in her posture had signaled that something inside her had changed.

All in all, this moment had been important, but Daneel decided that he would find out how later on, when he found a moment to talk to her alone.

Yet, for now, it was time to get back to the meeting.

…

An hour later, Daneel walked out of the room and headed to an underground chamber while the rest dispersed.

After the incident, Cassandra had remained silent, while Daneel spoke to everyone else to find out if they had any grievances. Their forays into the information given by Daneel were going well, and Eloise was even almost ready to finalize the first plan for the train.

As for the army personnel, they had only been able to come up with information that was already written down in the records. Apparently, any personal embellishments or remarks had washed out of the story over the years.

Still, Daneel did find one thing: Axelor was prone to tricks and doing things under the table, which was something he already knew, especially after what had happened during the Olympics.

Regarding these War Games, he was still on the fence. On one side, it would give a huge boost to the Network, as it would be an exclusive show that would entice the whole continent to buy the trinkets and get hooked to them.

On the other, something just felt…off.

Sighing, Daneel decided to give it at least a little time, as he had no intention of rushing into a decision.

Right now, he had a meeting with his friend to get to.

Reaching the chamber, Daneel closed the door behind him to find his best friend, Faxul, carefully browsing through the multiple floating beacons in the air, each of which was a Champion Path that he was in possession of.

"What do you think? Any inspiration? Any plan in mind?"

Faxul was currently mulling over a Champion Path which was labeled 'Flight'.

The details read:

"'Flight' Champion Path: Those who wish to tread this path must connect with their inner passion to soar in the air, with a speed and grace that leave those watching in a state of awe.

Possible Special Abilities: -Domain of Increased Flight Speed for self/decreased flight speed for enemies.

-Increase offense/defense while in the air."

"Why are all of these so…simple?"

As Faxul asked this, Daneel chuckled.

"That's because they are the most common Champion Paths. Like I told you, Drakos says that one can obtain inspiration from them for acquired paths."

Shaking his head, Faxul stepped back.

"I'll think on it more. So, why did you want me to wait here, without the others knowing?"

As Faxul asked this, Daneel answered in a casual tone.

"Oh, nothing. I just need you to dress up as an assassin and try to kill our Commanders."

This made Faxul spit out the mouthful of wine he had just drunk.

Sputtering, he asked, "W-what?!"

Laughing, Daneel slapped his friend on his back and said, "Well, regardless of if the War Games are conducted or not, Lanthanor can use a few more Warriors. We have a couple of Peak Exalted Human Commanders who are just wasting their time at their current level. Nothing like a death threat to give them the last 'push' needed…"

At that moment, Faxul decided that he would never ask Daneel's help to achieve a breakthrough.

Ever.

.....

All contest entries will be up in an Auxiliary Chapter in an hour! Please go through them and give your vote in the comment section! More instructions will be available in the chapter!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

535 Road Through Hell

"Young King, the method with the highest success rate lies before you."

Although Daneel heard this in his mind from Drakos, he couldn't help but stare at the holographic diagram made from light elementary particles in front of him with both of his eyebrows raised up as far as they could go.

"Daneel… Are you sure about this?"

As he heard Faxul say this next to him, Daneel couldn't help but shrug.

It had all been fun and games when he announced his grand idea to Faxul, but after asking Drakos about the best methods that were used during the time of the Empire to help a Human break through to become Warrior, the plan that the Ancient Dragon put forward was what had made both of their jaws drop.

In fact, it reminded Daneel of a very popular movie series back on earth, which released horrible sequel after horrible sequel with recycled plots even though the first few movies were the best.

In front of them was a deathtrap filled maze which would push an Exalted Human to their limits and beyond, step by step, methodically until they either broke through to become a Warrior to get out of it, or died trying.

This was what it looked like on first glance, but on closely observing a few of the deathtraps and seeing the descriptions floating on top of them, Daneel noticed that there were always safety measures installed which would stop the imminent death of the Exalted Human taking part in this activity right before it was too late.

Still, it really did look like the basement of a deranged murderer who had decided to put his victims through a very specifically designed journey of torture.

"Designed by the legendary Hero known as 'Torture King' who was defeated by the Emperor and brought under his command in the 176th year after the establishment of the Empire of Angaria, this is the method that has the best success rate in terms of turning an Exalted Human into a Warrior. However, it only works if the person going in is aware of the fact that there are going to face certain death. In fact, at that time, when this method was first designed, there were no safety traps installed."

Hearing this, Daneel couldn't help but feel a shudder go through him. Even with the safety measures, this looked like an extremely dangerous endeavor for anyone.

"Out of 10 Exalted Humans who entered, at least two would always die, two would be inflicted with injuries that caused them to take rest for months, two would escape with a scare that would traumatize them their entire lives and four would break through to become Warriors."

Wait… Every 4 out of10 Exalted Humans who entered this became Warriors?

That was shocking!

Even though the other statistics were chilling, this one overrode them all in terms of how impressive it was.

However, at what cost was this rate of success achieved?

"The Emperor later intervened, stating that there were easier methods which would allow a Warrior to be born, albeit at a slower pace, but without any of the danger in this method. So, secretly, safety measures were implemented which significantly decreased the death rate, but also the success rate. Of course, the latter was also because all the Exalted Humans going in knew exactly how much danger they would be facing. As you must already know, Young King, becoming a Warrior is all about 'need'. Some who could afford it even used to employ the services of Peak Champions or even Heroes who would change their memories to make them forget everything they knew about this method before entering. This method was used before this, too, to begin fights where one would think that they were going to die, but the method of the 'Torture King' was proven to have a higher success rate because of how it was designed. At that time, other than these two, the only methods available to others who wanted to break through quickly were exceedingly dangerous ones such as entering dueling rings with beasts or opponents above their level, or taking part in one dangerous situation after the rest where there was no chance of life. Young king, I should say that this method suits your commanders is the best, as they know nothing about the history of this so-called "Road through Hell"."

Road through Hell.

Right. That name definitely suited this method well.

At this moment, Daneel remembered an illustration of the historical description of hell by Dante, which had multiple levels that tortured a person in different ways. In a certain way, this was similar, so the name felt very fitting.

Also, Daneel had blushed slightly when he heard mention of that method of editing one's memories to elicit a breakthrough, which was exactly what he had done using the system. It did make sense that he wasn't the only one who had come up with this method, but it was still surprising to hear it from Drakos.

As for Drakos's point about how this was best for his commanders, Daneel did agree. They knew nothing about the history of this method or any relevant details, so they would think that they really had been kidnapped by some sadistic individual who wanted to see them suffer before dying.

Yet, every time he laid his eyes on what was in front of him, he couldn't help but flinch.

Borrowing the significance of the number nine in the continent of Angaria, the Road through Hell also had nine stages, with the first being a duel with an Exalted Human.

The whole idea was that each method would try to bring forward the 'need' of the challenger in different ways.

The first was the most simple, and it was also one of the most direct methods employed typically in attempts to make one breakthrough.

Only, here, according to Drakos, the one attacking was typically a prisoner who would be promised a period of freedom or some other thing that he wanted if he managed to kill his opponent.

At each stage, the only way to win would be to push one's own power to the limits.

'Need' was something that might become clear in different ways. So, at each stage, a different aspect of one's power was tested, to give as many opportunities as possible for this 'need' to come forward.

After the first stage, the Road through Hell differed for Fighters and Mages. Fighters would be put through stage after stage where their endurance, agility, explosive power and speed of reaction would be tested using dangerous scenarios such as escaping the pursuit of multiple assailants at their own level who would definitely kill them if they caught up, punching a certain wall to break through to the next stage while the room they were in was closing in on them to crush them into paste, escaping a hail of deadly arrows from different directions while searching for an exit, et cetera et cetera.

In particular, that second scenario had reminded Daneel of that movie series once again.

As for Mages, their aspects such as complexity, speed of spell casting and endurance were tested by placing them in scenarios where they would have to solve complex elementary particle puzzles while being threatened that they would be dropped into a vat of lava if they weren't fast enough, or one where a Mage would have to tread through a billowing blizzard without becoming frozen while repeatedly casting a fire spell that would make them pull out everything they had in the process.

Each and every stage could be passed easily by a Warrior, so, the moment one broke through, they could easily escape.

As for the safety measures, they were designed to alert the onlooking staff about imminent death at which point someone would step in and remove the challenger from the stage.

This was the trend in the seven stages after the first, but the last one was different.

Apparently, if all these methods failed and if the challenger was still alive, they would be placed in a bewildering formation where their deepest fears would be dug out and placed in front of them.

On the surface, it might look like this was also a very efficient method, and one that should be placed in the beginning.

However, according to Drakos, this bewildering formation often resulted in people having mental breakdowns who would need to take months of counseling and treatment to recover from.

All in all, this… was something that one wouldn't wish upon their worst enemy.

Seeing Daneel's hesitation, Drakos spoke up.

"Young King, it is definitely a fact that a breakthrough can be achieved through rigorous training and other, safer methods. However, let me tell you about another metric that was discovered and only known to the top echelons of the Army. Only those who managed to find their true 'need' in the process of taking this first major step in their journey on the Path to Power, often ended up being the ones who were able to reach dazzling heights where they were admired by everyone. This kind of opportunity to find out one's own motivation comes rarely in life. The Emperor admired this method, but, at the same time, despised it due to the extreme danger and death rate. Yet, he still let it stay, because he knew how valuable it was. I encourage you to keep it secret, because if those who have no regard for their soldier's lives get their hands on it, they will definitely put every Exalted Human they have through it."

As Daneel heard this, he took his decision.

This whole thing has started because in that meeting just before, he had also asked them about the levels that they had reached in their training.

Except for Eloise, all of the rest of the Sovereigns who hadn't already done so had reached the Exalted Human level and had all been trying to break through to become Warriors for a month.

The frustration was apparent on their faces, but they had been hiding it.

The truth was that these were all individuals who had been in the Exalted Human level for quite a long time, but after Daneel had set up those energy faucets in their room, like in his parents' room, which were directly connected to the horde of Ker Gems in the Treasury, they had been able to boost themselves forward and reach the peak in one go. After all, training with a Key Gem was just incomparable to training with Ether Blocks, which was what they had been doing till now.

He decided to keep the safety measures, and step in as soon as someone was about to die. If they failed, he could decide what to do next.

Also, he decided to remove the last stage.

"Faxul, let's do it. You're in charge of being the sadistic mastermind who has some grudge against Lanthanor. Think of some story. Maybe you're someone who was unintentionally harmed by Lanthanor, and you've been biding your time while training yourself. Now that you're strong enough, you abducted all the Commanders. You'll be bringing them here, and you'll be dueling them in the first stage. I'll keep a close watch. Got it?"

Faxul had to take a few moments to respond, but when he did, he sighed and said, "Well, why should these guys have all the fun. I'll bring over some of my commanders from the Black Raven Kingdom, too."

This made Daneel chuckle. He knew how much Faxul disliked them because of how much they liked to oppose him, so, he agreed, as it would do good to the Black Raven Kingdom. Afterward, he could just erase their memories using Mind Control.

With the plan decided, Daneel and Faxul were just about to head off, but that was when Daneel received an urgent message from Kellor.

"My King! We've just received news that Arafell has agreed to the War Games! There is already talk brewing that those who don't agree to participate are cowards!"

This made Daneel take a double-take. What the hell was that b*tch thinking?

At the same moment, Daneel received another message.

This one was to the exclusive trinket he had which connected him to the Queen of Arafell.

"Erm…King Daneel, Priscilla, here. Lady Arafell wants to speak with you."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

536 Decision

Daneel had received the message because he had asked the system to remotely monitor all important communication trinkets, whose physical copies were placed in his chambers. So, he decided to go there to reply.

"Faxul, find a discrete location, underground, somewhere. It doesn't matter if it's in your Kingdom or mine. Finalize it, and begin construction. Make sure none of the others find out. Maybe steal away workers and pay them handsomely. I have a way to change their memories, so don't worry about that."

Nodding resolutely, Faxul waited for Daneel to lift the anti-teleportation barrier around him, which let him teleport away discreetly, removing the chance that someone could have seen him on his way out.

Next, Daneel reached his chambers before heading to the table in the corner of the room. On it, there were two trinkets flashing: the first was Axelor's, which was still waiting for his reply on the matter of the War Games. The second…was from Arafell.

Touching it, Daneel spoke in a neutral voice.

"What do you want?"

"King Daneel! I…"

At first, it was the innocent voice which had sent the message that spoke. She seemed hurt because he had been rude on purpose, but that voice cut away after a moment when the Queen, apparently, took over.

"No pleasantries, eh? After your little show, this girl likes you even more, just like the thousands all over the continent. You're the heartthrob of Angaria, you know."

"Get to the point, or I'm ending this conversation."

"There's no need to get so-"

"The last time I saw you, you were about to chase me down and kill me and my soldiers."

Daneel was honestly sickened by this two-faced Queen who was talking casually for some reason, right now. All he wanted to do was find out her reason behind accepting that suspicious offer to start an event like the War Games, but he hadn't wanted to ask about it, by himself.

The Queen let out a short laugh as she heard this, which sounded like the melody of tinkling bells from a place of worship.

Of course, this only made Daneel remember that instance where he had been forced to kneel to her more.

"Oh, that? It was just a fit of anger! I wouldn't have killed any of you! I might merely have…tried to persuade you, before letting you go! After all, how would it look if the esteemed Queen of Arafell had guests over and took undue advantage of their presence in her Palace? So, what have you been up to?"

'Oh, nothing. Just building a torture maze for my most trusted commanders. Why don't you take a sponsored, express tour inside? I promise, you'll love it so much that you'll want to stay back! I would insist that you do.'

Daneel felt like saying this, but he held his tongue. That feeling of being chased really had irked him to no end. Hell, right now, he wondered whether he should be considering that this move from the Queen, to accept the War Games, was some sort of sign that she had allied with Axelor.

Yet, with her ego, he knew that that was impossible.

Gritting his teeth, Daneel said, "None of your business. Now, get to the point or I hang up in the next second."

"All right, fine! I need your help. I have no idea why that dumb monkey from Axelor proposed those War Games, but I think it is a perfect opportunity to sneak into his Kingdom and steal the parts of the Grand Inheritance that he has. Or, if he carries them with him, to ambush him and take them from him. That is why I agreed to his proposal."

Daneel took two seconds to answer.

"Yeah…No thanks. You're on your own. Good luck with that."

Saying so, Daneel cut the connection and…waited.

With a smirk, he could just imagine the outrage that must be on display in Arafell right now.

He could remember exactly how much anyone hated to be hung up on, and, this was something that was supposed to especially infuriate women, at least, if he chose to believe TV shows.

That was exactly his objective.

Sure enough, a scorch mark had just been added to the Royal Throne Room in the Kingdom of Arafell.

"THAT LITTLE USELESS ARSE CUT THE CONNECTION ON ME?! WHEN I CALLED HIM TO GIVE HIM A CHANCE?!"

Even though Priscilla was frantically trying to calm the Queen down, her efforts were bearing no fruits.

"I REEVALUATED HIM! BUT HE STILL…"

"Queen Arafell, he really must be under the wrong impression that you wanted to kill him before. It is difficult to look past something like that."

As Priscilla repeatedly said stuff like this, the Queen finally calmed down and placed the call again.

Seeing the trinket flash, Daneel tapped his foot and let it ring for 2 seconds, then 5, then 10.

Finally, after 15 seconds, he answered.

"Didn't I give you my answer? What else do you want?"

"YOU-"

"Queen!"

"ARGH! Alright! Priscilla says I should be clear-headed, and the girl is right. Look. I need your help. Both of us are in possession of everything in our Empire Spirit Pedestals hidden behind the second seal. Even though I am powerful, I'm not confident in taking down the crazy guy who's sealed in Axelor. We need to fight together. I'll even promise you two things: half the spoils, and an oath. We can split the rewards, first: One piece of the Grand Inheritance, each. After that, I'll make you an oath that I would give away the parts that I have if you assemble the rest, while you swear the same thing. This is the best compromise I can reach, keeping the continent's safety in mind."

Daneel couldn't help but scoff as he heard this.

If he couldn't tell that she was full of sh*t, then he might as well step down from his post right now.

Yet, something was definitely intriguing.

The objective of both of these two was the Grand Inheritance. Their every action was probably geared toward fulfilling their goal of gathering all the parts, and gaining the power to become someone who could rule the continent.

If so….could Axelor's intention behind sending the invitation also be related to that?

That would definitely make sense.

Daneel's line of thought was interrupted by the Queen.

"King Daneel, I am willing to take this step down because I have seen that maybe, I really did underestimate you. Make your decision wisely."

Huh?

At this moment, Daneel considered it seriously.

He hadn't been taking the Queen seriously, at all, as he couldn't even think, for a moment, about teaming up with her.

Putting aside the fact that she was a nutcase, there was no way that he would ever trust her with his back.

Still, he hated Axelor more, for everything they had done so far.

His main consideration, right now, was whether to even scheme in this matter or try to obtain the most while those two duked it out.

Yet, for some reason, he found the former idea very unappealing.

There were multiple reasons, from how no one knew yet that he was even in the Race, to how there was a major risk of the Big 4 finding out.

To keep the first thing an uncertainty, Daneel had even declined the offer from Drakos to set up formations around Lanthanor just like the ones around Axelor and Arafell. After all, if they tried to come to his Kingdom just like he had done, they would be able to infer the same conclusion like him. Instead, Daneel had asked for different types of countermeasures and deployed them even though they weren't as effective, over all.

Besides, even if the assumption was made that they won and stole the parts of the Grand Inheritance, would Axelor just sit around and accept that?

No! It might do something truly stupid like tattling to the Big 4 about how its entire research into the Empire Spirits was wrong.

Or, maybe they might even go over to the Church.

That wasn't to say that Daneel advocated that Axelor should be allowed to keep those parts, just because of reasons like these.

No, there were just too many variables in this plan, and that showed Daneel that it was too risky.

He knew that, sometimes, it was better to let an opportunity go even though it might look like another like it might never come along.

In the matter of the Queen, Daneel just wasn't ready to let his suspicions go.

His opinion still remained that the strategy that they were using, itself, was wrong.

Daneel had understood something very important after opening the second seal. The Emperor had made a clear plan from top to bottom. If he had a reason behind hiding certain information behind certain seals while laying the groundwork for the eventuality that the one who was capable of breaking the third seal should be the one to control the Grand Inheritance, then Daneel suspected that there might even be some tie between these seals and the Grand Inheritance, itself.

After all, no one knew what it was or what it was supposed to do.

So, Daneel's plan regarding this had formed unconsciously just a few days ago.

He would endeavor to follow the Emperor's way that had been laid down, instead of looking for extreme loopholes.

After all, loopholes like using more people to skew the average were fine in Daneel's view, mainly because he could guess that it might be impossible to even reach the level needed if there was only one Kingdom in the mix.

Regardless, Daneel's answer to the Queen had already been decided.

"Nope. But good luck with that. I have stuff to do. Don't involve me in things that don't interest me."

The last sentence was, again, meant to allay the fact that he might not even have an Empire Spirit in his corner.

This time, as Daneel hung up, there was no returned call.

Thinking that the Queen might completely have gone bonkers, Daneel headed off to find Faxul and help him.

He would still keep a close eye on these War Games to see what would happen, but, for now, Daneel had decided to concentrate on his schemes and his commanders.

The 'Road through Hell' was supposed to be as discreet as possible, so openly hiring people was a no-no. At the same time, numerous missing workers in a Kingdom would raise suspicion.

So, after discussion with Faxul, Daneel decided on a mid-way plan.

They would hire workers using bogus offers, and then abduct them, so that there would be no issues.

They were fine with building the area by themselves, with magic, but understanding designs and implementing them would take professional work that they couldn't do.

The thing was that the level of these designs wasn't at a range that present-day fold could understand.

Still, by making concessions, Daneel and Faxul worked tirelessly on this project and finished it in a week.

Meanwhile, the plan for the first phase of the train had been finalized. The first train would run from the capital to the closest town, and, although the method of propulsion was still being discussed, the route had been laid out.

Daneel was torn between three designs: one that used Ether Blocks, which was too expensive. One that used mages to power spells of propulsion, which was also expensive. And one weird one that had also been found in the Emperor's journals: a self-propelling train where cycle-like seats in the carriage would allow citizens to get a good exercise in, and also get themselves to their destination.

While he was deciding on these, the 'abductions' began to get the commanders to the 'Road Through Hell'.

Yet, it seemed that this was something that would be marred with shocking happenings.

First on the 'hitlist' had been Kellor, who would be abducted from his room. Daneel had sealed off the room tightly for this purpose.

True to his from, Faxul burst in, cackling crazily while wearing billowing, red clothes.

A fight ensued, which was one-sided for the most part, with Faxul idly playing around with his opponent to make him feel desperate, on Daneel's orders. The King of Lanthanor's idea had been to start the process of bringing out 'need' from here, itself.

Only, halfway through this, Kellor…broke through, and hurled a Warrior-level Woodcutter Axe at Faxul, who had only been prepared for Exalted Human level attacks, and had been acting as one to make Kellor feel desperate.

Just as Faxul had been about to get his hand chopped off because of not being fast enough, Daneel had had to step in and reveal himself.

Yet, he did so with a very rueful expression on his face.

They had gone to all that trouble of building that damn Road, and if they were being honest, they would admit that they had been secretly looking forward to the dignified commanders going through it.

Only, the middle-aged Grand Court Mage had thrashed all of their plans.

At this moment, Daneel and Faxul felt like two teachers who had painstakingly built a teaching course filled with torture to help their 'struggling' students graduate.

Yet, the first student they had gone to…had aced the test on his first try.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

537 Kellor“s Breakthrough

Kellor had been having a nice cup of tea in his room when the 'abduction' had started.

He had just been through a very grueling session of carefully reviewing all the information that he had taken from the King so that he could extract the most useful and efficient plans that they could implement in this age, and he had actually been looking forward to this brief period of rest.

However, only he could remember how surprised he had been when a man burst through the door of his room wearing black, billowing clothes with his face completely covered by a veil.

There wasn't a smidgen of doubt that this was someone who shouldn't be here. Yet, that didn't make any sense.

After the two meetings of the Council of Nine Sovereigns, it had dawned on all of them just how powerful the King of Lanthanor was. As such, he knew that the King was actively monitoring everything in the Palace as he was in control of the Core Formation.

Yet, how could someone barge into a room that was almost right beside the King's quarters?

The only possibility was that this was someone who outclassed the King so much that he was capable of this intrusion – possibly, it might even be someone who had crossed the level of Champion.

In the face of such power, could Kellor even put up a resistance?

This thought only passed through his mind, but he didn't hesitate before he immediately stood up and launched an attack.

Teleportation didn't even need to be thought about – space was locked in the Palace anyway, so it would only waste time if he cast a teleportation spell.

In his haste, Kellor had used the attack he was most familiar with – his signature Woodcutter Chop.

An axe made from wood and metal elementary particles came into existence, before chopping down on the intruder with terrifying momentum and strength.

Yet, what happened next had caused Kellor's eyes to widen in shock.

The man simply raised his finger and placed it in the path of the oncoming axe, which made it stop and then shatter into multiple pieces that dissolved away as the elementary particles had been wrenched away from the grasp of his Mageroot.

"Puny Exalted Human. You dare to try and resist against me? Today, you and all the other Commanders of the Kingdom of Lanthanor will disappear, and will never be found. Despair, for the time has come for the great Kingdom of Lanthanor to collapse inwards and perish. Ha ha!"

This speech only made Kellor pause and look at this person weirdly.

Why did it seem as if this was some sort of second-rate actor who was putting on a show in an attempt to convince the audience that he was a master villain?

There was no genuine evilness in his laugh, or passion in his words.

Instead, they seemed to have been rehearsed many, many times. Although the general effect was still there, Kellor just felt that something was… Off.

Yet, the next second, he was rudely awakened from his thoughts because of a burning feeling from his stomach.

Looking down, Kellor had seen that a large gash had appeared on his abdomen which stretched from his waist to his chest.

Clutching it, he staggered backward and took the support of the wall, following which the man dressed in billowing clothes continued.

"Come on, aren't you supposed to be the legendary Grand Court Mage of Lanthanor? Is this all that this paltry Kingdom has?"

Anger surged through Kellor as he heard this. He could bear any type of curses, but when someone disgraced the Kingdom that he had devoted his life to, he would stand up against them even if it meant certain death.

As he willed with his Mageroot, multiple woodcutter axes appeared around the man and chopped down, but Kellor watched with disbelief as they all were also shattered in barely a moment.

He was at the edge of his room, and it was then that he realized that even a barrier had been set up without his knowledge that prevented him from flying outside.

He was well and truly trapped.

There was a space of 10 steps between them, and with each step, it felt as if Kellor's end was approaching him slowly.

Also, with each step, more and more gashes kept appearing on Kellor's body, making him growl with unwillingness as he didn't want to scream and give the satisfaction to this sick man who was obviously here to enjoy his plight.

From his power level, it was obvious that taking Kellor away would be a piece of cake, but he was deliberately playing with him like a predator that was playing with its food.

No matter what, he wouldn't give this man the satisfaction.

With each gash, the pain he was feeling increased bit by bit, until he felt as if his whole body had been flayed alive and had no skin left. There were only 3 steps of distance between them, and, after that, Kellor didn't know what would happen to his life.

"Useless Lanthanorians! All bark, no bite! I was really looking forward to some sort of struggle, but it seems that I should postpone that program to a later date. Oh well, you'll have a lot of opportunities to squeal where you're going. I may not be able to face your King, but you Commanders who are just Exalted Humans are just a piece of cake. After you, I'll be making a visit to the King's father, himself. I wonder how loud the King's cries will echo across his Kingdom when he finds out that the man who gave birth to him was tortured and killed, resenting his name to the last breath, wondering why his son hadn't been able to find him and save him. That'll break the King, right?"

This line also seemed to he rehearsed, but with time, it was as if this man was getting better.

He did sound like someone who would revel in the King's anguish, and Kellor could even picture what would happen if what the man said really did come to be.

And all that… would start with him. If he, the Grand Court Mage, himself, couldn't stop someone like this, then what match would the other Commanders be?

If he didn't count Robert, who was a special case, he was the oldest and the one who had been training for the longest.

He had reached the Exalted Human Level a long time ago, and, in fact, he had even been very close to the Peak Exalted Human Level, so much so that just an hour of training with the faucet that the King had installed had resulted in him reaching the Peak in one go.

Only, he hadn't told anyone as he didn't feel that that was something very remarkable.

The main way that he could help the King was by becoming a Warrior, so, by contacting Luther and asking him about the process of becoming a Warrior because the former Commander of Lanthanor was in constant contact with multiple Warriors throughout the day, Kellor had been training all this while in an attempt to break through.

Of course, he hadn't used the danger method, but he had been training consistently to cross limits and step past.

Only, each and every attempt had been met with failure, which resulted in increasing frustration, mainly because he felt that he was letting down everyone who had placed their trust in him.

At this moment, that frustration reached a breaking point, but it also exposed him to something else that he had been hiding away in his heart.

It had been affecting him all this while, but Kellor hadn't faced it head on as it had the capability of destroying him completely.

It was guilt.

Only two steps were left between him and the man in billowing clothes, and as the latter laughed, his laughter grated on his ears, making him curse himself more and more that he was just useless.

All those years, when he had been bound by the Oath of the previous King, he had seen so many atrocities committed in front of his eyes without the ability to do anything.

If he counted through them, he would realize that there were hundreds of people whom he had the power to save but couldn't because stepping forward would mean certain death.

Instead, he would always tell himself that a time would come when someone would be able to stand up to the King, and when it did, he would have to be there to help that man.

Of course, Kellor also always secretly did things to help the people targeted by the nobility of Lanthanor, but that wasn't much compared to everything he had to allow happen.

This guilt had been consuming him every day until Daneel came along, and the reason he had burst into tears that day when he had seen Daneel expose his talent was that he had finally seen the one who could change all this.

So, finally, when he had seen King Daneel kill that vile man and take the Throne, he had been among the happiest, and that incident had allowed him to even bury all of these memories in his heart and move on with the objective to help this Kingdom as much as he could so that he could assuage that guilt at least a little bit.

Yet, now, he was going to be taken away and killed, meaning that he would have no more opportunities to do that.

Was he always destined to being an onlooker while the most important things were done by people other than him?

No! He wouldn't stand and let that happen any longer!

He had to live. He had to live for the King. He had to live for the people whom he had let down for decades. He had to live, because if he died, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Instantly, with these thoughts, Kellor felt something crack inside his body which made his Mageroot feel as if it was on fire.

He was a pure Mage, so, the metamorphosis was in his Mageroot which responded to the dire need of his mind to grow stronger.

The moment it reached a higher level, a brilliant woodcutter's axe with a shining edge that was more powerful than any that had come into being so far flew in the direction of the neck of the man whose head was still thrown back into the air, as he was still busy laughing maniacally to show the sadistic pleasure he was taking in this activity.

Yes! He had succeeded in taking him by surprise!

Kellor was as surprised as the man in front of him that something like this has happened, but when he saw the axe get closer and closer to the neck of this man, he rejoiced inwardly.

Only, at the last moment, someone very familiar appeared in the room and caught the axe by the handle before hurling it away.

Boom!

As the axe collided with the wall and made a huge hole, Kellor stared with shock at the King of Lanthanor who had a strange expression on his face.

At the same moment, the veil on the man also dropped, revealing Faxul, who had a similar expression.

Wait – what the hell was going on here?

Without jumping to conclusions, Kellor decided to ask, following which, the King said, "It's a long story. Basically, what just happened was the goal, but we had a much larger, elaborate plan for it. Oh, and, by the way, if you don't mind me asking, what was the need you felt that allowed you to break through?"

Kellor was still in shock, but the word breakthrough finally made him understand what had happened.

He had actually become a Warrior!

With that, the Kings and Faxul's actions slowly became clear, as Luther had told him about this method of putting someone in a dangerous situation to push them forward.

He had no intention of hiding anything from the King, and at this moment, it also felt as if he had received a little bit of closure for his feelings, which let him answer without hesitation.

"Guilt, my King. Guilt because I could only stand by for decades while the nobility and the King massacred innocent citizens under my watch. My eyes had to witness my own disciple's wife being killed. I…was useless. Now…that is no longer the case."

As Daneel saw the eyes of his Grand Court Mage shine, he couldn't help but smile.

Finally, the Kingdom of Lanthanor had obtained another Warrior!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

538 A Meeting in Eldinor

A few minutes later, Kellor was gazing at the spot where he would be if he hadn't happened to break through just now.

"Y-You were going to put me through that?!"

Turning around to see the sheepish expressions on Daneel and Faxul, the Grand Court Mage held his chin with his hands and shook his head, unable to believe it.

"It's… The most effective method…", Daneel tried to say, but he stopped in the middle as it sounded like a reason that in no way justified throwing his most trusted friends and advisers into this…thing.

Thankfully, when Kellor replied, Daneel let out a sigh of relief.

"I can see why that is the case. This would definitely be very… Effective in pulling out the need that you mentioned."

Kellor was thinking in terms of what he had experienced before, when that feeling had burst through his mind with clarity that had resulted in him stepping forward and becoming a Warrior.

It was something that was supposed to come out of the very core of one's heart, and it would make sense if this required extreme external stimuli like the ones in front of him.

As he continued to observe each stage, he heard the King speak up next to him.

"Drakos says that it is also about your age. The older one is, the easier it is for the need to come through because of maturity and clarity that is obtained by living longer. Of course, this also means that you have less time before you miss the chance to get to the next level."

This made Kellor nod.

He had spent most of his life as a woodcutter, unaware that he even had the potential to become a Mage until his master had chanced upon him.

So, it did make sense that his case would be different from the others, who had gone through more typical processes such as having their talents discovered after they had enrolled in the army.

"So… What do we do now? Should I bring Cassandra next, as we planned?"

This was from Faxul, who was still wearing those clothes.

This made Kellor turn around and say, "I wouldn't advise that. You're not exactly… Convincing as a sadistic villain who wants to abduct all the top personnel of the Lanthanor Kingdom. You looked more like an unwilling associate who's only doing this for the money."

This made Faxul blush fiercely, while Daneel turned to glare at his friend.

Unlike Daneel, who had taken to it like fish in water, Faxul wasn't very skilled in immediately entering a role and acting when needed.

Yet, Daneel had thought that that wasn't as important as all he needed was for them to enter this maze.

Only, now, as he saw Kellor in front of him, Daneel got a different idea.

"Will you do it?"

Momentarily startled, Kellor looked at the King, who was looking at him with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Thinking back, Kellor tried to think about how Faxul could have done better, and as he imagined it, he could see himself being in that role and taking steps to pull out the need.

In fact, this also reminded him of how he had been trained by his master, when the man had still been in the Kingdom of Lanthanor. His master used to switch between two personalities: cold and emotionless when he was training, so that he could make Kellor put forward the best effort, and jovial and funny when they were casually speaking.

That kind of complete shift was needed, and as he thought about it, Kellor became more and more sure that he was capable of it.

Besides, if he did his job well, he could tell that maybe the others also would not have to go through this… Hell, which was clearly something that was best avoided if possible.

"Give me a week to prepare, My Lord. I'm confident that I can definitely do a better job. And I also feel that it would have been better if there was more of a fighting chance, which would make the other side feel desperate and want to exceed their limits."

"But that was reserved for the first stage!"

"I know, but during that first stage, the shock of something like this happening would already have faded away, to an extent. But, if this first stage is implemented during the abduction, itself, I believe that there might be a higher possibility of someone breaking through just like me. This is just a hunch, Your Majesty. I'm willing to listen to whatever you decide."

Faxul had spoken out indignantly, as, even though he didn't like the job much, he had been entrusted it.

Only, as Daneel heard Kellor's words, he sank into deep thought.

The Grand Court Mage was right. That element of shock which was present when something so implausible like this was happening was something that would be lost subsequently if they waited for an even matching to occur until the first stage.

Also, he had seen Faxul's performance. It was downright appalling.

So, walking to Faxul, he slapped his friend on his shoulder and said, "Faxul, you have to admit that acting as a villain is definitely not your cup of tea. But you have to learn to act crazy. For the other plan for you to enter Axelor, it's needed, and your life will also depend on it."

This made Faxul sigh and say, "That won't be a problem, Daneel. With the spell that Drakos gave me, I've been able to dip into the mannerisms and thoughts of that crazy Black Raven. All of it is crazier than imagined, but I don't think I'll have a problem mimicking them, as going through them is slowly giving me the ability to understand and act just like that, as if I am the Black Raven. Also… Connecting with the memory of when I saw him control my body while I was trapped inside is helping me a lot."

"Young King, this is to be expected from people who have been possessed. A bond is formed between the possessor and the possessed, and this is supposed to result in effects like these. I believe that he really will have no problem, and you also don't need to worry as it won't adversely affect him. He will be able to snap out of it, especially because the Ancient Black Raven is asleep. In the worst case, it might require a slap on his face."

This made Daneel sigh with relief as he heard it, as he would truly have been worried about these atrocious acting skills if he had to send Faxul into such a dangerous place as Axelor.

"It's decided, then. Kellor will be in charge of both abduction and Stage I, while you will be on standby to step in and save anyone if required. Kellor, you have a week. After that, start with Cassandra."

As the Grand Court Mage heard this, he nodded resolutely, thinking inwardly that he would definitely put on the best performance and try to make sure that all this hard work of the King's and Faxul's would definitely be wasted. He had no intention whatsoever of anyone entering this Road, at least, not if he could do something about it.

With this matter settled in this unexpected way, Daneel headed back to Eloise so that they could get back to the planning of the train system.

The next two days were spent in building prototypes of each type of implementation, to check and see which one would function best in the present age. Daneel took an active role in this, as he knew that this train system would definitely revolutionize Angaria and turn out to be more important than anyone could ever think.

On the third day, they were supposed to be taking the decision, but Daneel received a message from Eldinor stating that he was being requested to attend a meeting with all the major figures of the government and the Queen.

Wondering what was up, Daneel traveled to the Kingdom of the Elves where he was escorted to the Throne Room which had changed a lot since his last visit.

The pedestal on which the throne used to be there had been removed, and the entire room was filled by a large, wooden table. There was still place for those who could be in the throne room but didn't have the authority to sit, but this had been moved to the furthest edges of the room, which was currently empty.

There were three prominent chairs, with one at the head and two beside it, and, on one of those, the Queen was sitting while the other was occupied by Eldra who was smiling at Daneel as she saw him enter.

Daneel was led to the head of the table, where he sat down in his rightful place as the leader of the alliance.

He had to say that he quite liked this, as it wouldn't make sense for a Throne to be placed on which he would sit, as this was an alliance as opposed to an Empire.

The meeting was begun by the Queen.

"King Daneel, I'm happy to say that I've called you here to give you good news. The incident during which we were all saved by you and your army has resulted in many more changes than any of us thought. If you remember, there was a certain force that fought alongside your Mages which was comprised of elves who had let go of their egos and trained together to achieve the coordination required to mount an assault against that blood formation."

Daneel nodded with a puzzled expression on his face, wondering why she was bringing it up.

"After seeing the effect of that kind of unity, there are many, many more Mages in the Army who are willing to enter units like these, and train according to the strict norms that are required for coordination to be achieved. I can say with surety that if you wish, the Mage formations that Lanthanor is famous for will definitely be put to great use by them. Also, this brings me to the agenda of this discussion. We need to finalize the plan of integrating the armies of Lanthanor and Eldinor. Historically, we, the elves, have suffered from a severe lack of Fighters, which stopped us from growing to become the most powerful force in the Central Continent. Now, with the robust forces of Lanthanor, I'm confident that we can make an army which would be able to crush anything that is thrown at it. Lastly, we need to address the final plans regarding the unification of the two kingdoms which will see increased trade, camaraderie and cooperation between our two peoples."

As he heard this, Daneel really felt like bashing himself on the head with a hammer.

How the hell could he have not prioritized this more?!

Back when Faxul had taken over the Black Raven Kingdom, this had been the only thing on his mind! Yet, now, because he had the new Network and other matters to attend to, he had almost forgotten about this.

Lanthanor and Eldinor were now one!

Which meant that…it was time for these two Kingdoms to fully integrate and become a gigantic force that would leverage the strengths of each to cover the others' weaknesses!

And, for this, Daneel didn't even need to think much. Plans after plans flowed through his mind at a light-speed.

After taking a second and letting out a deep breath, some of the elves who were looking at him had to wince and move back as they couldn't handle the brightness in his eyes, which shone like two lasers, when he spoke.

"Listen, this is what we are going to do…"

One plan after another was laid out, which made the eyebrows of each and every elf present rise higher and higher.

Finally, after he has done, it was the new Queen who spoke up.

"Wow…you've really put a lot of thought into this," she said, which made Daneel grit his teeth as he shouted something in response in his mind.

'Of course, I did! I've been looking forward to this for so f*cking long! It's time to show the world what an Alliance with Lanthanor really means! After I'm done, they'll be drooling and wishing that they could enter in one, too!'

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

539 Rapid Developmen

Alex was just a normal bandit scout who was part of a group that operated in the area between the Kingdoms of Eldinor and Lanthanor.

After the news of the alliance had broken, they had been making lots of profits as there were many more merchants who had started to go between these two kingdoms in the hopes of getting better prices than elsewhere.

So far, in two days, they had already waylaid four merchant groups, killed 89 people and stolen away goods worth 300 Ether Blocks, which was something that they used to need months to pull off, typically.

He was currently hiding under a small, common bush that was found everywhere in this arid land between the two Kingdoms. Most of his body was buried in the earth, with only his eyes exposed outside so that he could look around and spot anyone that might be coming in this direction.

This was very hard work, as he had to be still for the most part, but over the years, he had gotten used to it and he was even proud that he had spotted more merchant groups than anyone else in his bandit group.

Also, he had developed a knack which allowed him to sense the vibrations in the earth and find out the size of the group which was coming. Right now, his face was filled with excitement as he could feel tremors the size of which he had never felt before, which meant that a massive group must definitely be passing the area.

In these cases, they would usually unite with other bandit groups in the area to bring down these large merchant convoys, and even if they didn't manage to gather enough forces in the span of time before the convoy passed, they would stand in its way anywhere and demand a fee, which would usually be paid as it was much better than engaging and becoming a target to other groups that might enter the fray on seeing the fat, juicy sheep in the middle.

This was work with high-risk, but also very high rewards, and with the right leadership, there were many dream cases where a bandit group managed to earn enough to retire to some or the other Kingdom where they could set up their own mansion and live comfortably with a harem of beautiful women.

These were the daydreams that he often indulged in, and, right now, as he waited for this group's approach, he was thinking of that even more, hoping that this might be the one which would allow him and his buddies to retire, finally.

Only, a few moments later, he felt a tap on his back which made him freeze.

Er… It must just be a lizard who had seen something amiss. It would go away, right?

As he prayed in this way inwardly, the tap was felt again, which made Alex grasp the knife in his hands even harder.

He was always prepared in case his location was found out, but he could never have guessed that someone could walk up to him in this way without alerting him in the slightest.

If he had known that this someone had flown down from the air, he would definitely have understood before making an attempt to run away.

Yet, as he felt the third tap, Alex gritted his teeth and screamed before lunging out with the dagger.

In the next moment, he felt a strong fist tighter around his neck and lift him into the air, cutting off his breath completely and leaving his arms flailing in an attempt to cut his opponent.

Yet, his blade seemed to be deflected by an invisible force, which immediately made him understand who he was up against.

"M – Mage!", He sputtered, which made Daneel feel mused.

Why were all of these bandits always so surprised to see a mage sneak up on them so easily?

Oh, yes. How could typical mages have the ability to detect those around them in a radius of a kilometer instantly, like him?

Chuckling to himself, Daneel repeated what he had said to the four bandit scouts he had met so far today.

"Take me to your leader."

Initially, the scout was about to spit in his face in defiance, but, the next moment, the Mind Control kicked into effect, making him nod after which Daneel let him go and drop to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

A few minutes later, Daneel was standing inside a cave with dead bodies all around him.

Hanging by the throat in front of him was another man, but this one was stressed in luxurious clothes.

He was the head of the bandit group, who had recently massacred a merchant family transporting a convoy of expensive fabrics between Lanthanor and Eldinor.

"Give me the locations of other bandit groups."

"I don't know any!"

As Daneel heard this, he sighed before squeezing, which resulted in the man's neck breaking before he fell to the ground and twitched in pain.

All of these were animals who hadn't hesitated to kill even woman and children who had been traveling to Eldinor to search for opportunities. There was no reason to show any mercy to them, and the only reason he had bothered to talk was to see if he could find any information about other bandit groups that they might be encountering on the way.

This problem of bandits was something that he had known about for a long time, but was honestly helpless in tackling at his current level.

In fact, Lanthanor had even been attacked when it was under his command by bandits at one point as a distraction, but, even then, he had only been able to watch as they left to their secret hideouts.

Well, it was something that generations of Kingdoms in the Central Continent had been unable to snuff out despite several efforts, so he doubted that he could find a solution instantly.

Shaking his head, Daneel made his way back to the large team of Mages that was actively doing something that hadn't been seen, ever, in the known history of the Central Continent.

They were building a massive highway between the two Kingdoms of Eldinor and Lanthanor.

This highway was made by digging two feet into the earth, filling it with stone bricks, using fire to flatten the tops, and laying smooth, stone tiles, which would be made to stay in place by using the residual heat to meld the bottoms of the tiles and the base together.

Behind the team of Mages stretched a caravan of Ether-driven carriages which contained all of the stone tiles and blocks that were required in this process.

They had been able to put this together in the short span of a few hours after Daneel had made his decision known to the Council in the Kingdom of the Elves. It had always been his dream to build something like this between Lanthanor and the Black Raven Kingdom, but through fate's will, it turned out to be the case that the first trade highway would be built between these two kingdoms that had been on opposite sides of the fence for quite a long time.

Highway construction wasn't something that was very hard, especially when all the resources of two Kingdoms were being thrown at the task.

Hence, it barely took the span of two days to finish building a massive road on which ten people could stand side to side.

The important part was how it would be given protection so that bandits couldn't repeatedly assault those who were traveling on it.

According to statistics, every year, at least 10% of all trade was disrupted by these bandits.

That was simply a massive number.

Currently, the matter of protection was being handled manually by dedicated sets of guards comprised of those from both kingdoms, who regularly patrolled the lengths of this path and made sure that if anyone needed help, they would be there to save them.

Of course, this wasn't very feasible in the long run.

Thankfully, there was a plan that Daneel came up with after a little bit of thought.

When Daneel had revealed the trinket needed for his plan to the elves, he had been target to a lot of staring and shock, as they couldn't understand how someone like him who must be dedicating all his time to training could also have the skill to design trinkets.

The solution was a simple alert system that could be activated by anyone on the highway the moment they saw someone approaching to assault them.

The moment an alert was sent, a team that was standing by would receive the coordinates and teleport to that exact location to save whoever was being attacked.

The alert could be sent by voice, with the merchant or traveler screaming out a specific phrase, or touch, with the use of special buttons that were placed on the sides of the highway at equal intervals, or even with special trinkets that would be given for a price to all who were traveling that could be activated at a moment's notice.

All in all, it was both robust and simple, and as they saw it, there was no way to circumvent this unless the bandits attacked multiple spots at once, leaving the security forces helpless as to which ones they had to respond to.

For now, until a better system was planned, this was the best they could do.

So, it was implemented immediately, following which the highway was opened with much pomp.

This event was even displayed on the Network of Angaria, with many onlookers wishing that such roads could exist between the Kingdom's they traveled to, too, so they would have a much easier time if there ever had to make the journey.

As for the changes this brought to the two Kingdoms, they were numerous.

Roads would always have their place even if trains existed, and they could be implemented in a much easier manner. That was why Daneel had berated himself so much.

For one thing, many more workers could take their goods to a different Kingdom to sell where they would definitely get better prices, where before they would have to either settle with selling where they were or entrusting their wares to merchants who might or might not be ambushed on the way.

As things that were scarce before were available much more easily, prices of many items went down, much to the delight of the citizens.

Lanthanor's and Eldinor's main imports and exports were mainly food and trinkets, and as these two flowed freely between the two kingdoms, development also sped up, as trinkets were much more readily available to even poorer farmers, and there was increased demand for trinkets in Eldinor which led to more people entering this business and earning well.

Of course, all the earnings benefited the two kingdoms, too, as all the money would be either put into developing infrastructure which was good for the Kingdoms, or expanding businesses that would bring in more tax.

All in all, the two kingdoms entered into a rush of integration and co-development that saw the elves and humans mixing together in ways that would never have been construed before.

The elves had already lost most of their prejudice against humans after the brilliant display of the Mages of Lanthanor, and although there were still a few detractors, most of them welcomed the humans with open arms.

As for the humans, they had always actually been awed by elves, so there was no problem with them accepting this species as their friends.

Approval for Daneel rose steadily, and the King of Lanthanor had a smile on his face as he saw all of this and continued doing more and more.

His next goal was to implement the train system between the Kingdoms as well as between the towns and cities inside a Kingdom.

He prioritized the former, as this would only hasten the development that was had already started.

Only, this was where Daneel met his first roadblock.

That roadblock… Came in the form of something else, just like the First Alliance, that had never been seen in the known history of the Central Continent.

In the 2nd Year of the Reign of King Daneel Anivron, the first Bandit Alliance in history came into being.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

540 Finding A Clue

At a specific spot 50 km away from the border wall of the Kingdom of Lanthanor, a large team of mages was carefully holding a long block of metal which was around 5 meters in length.

Behind them, there was a long row of such metallic bars laid out horizontally for as far as the eye could see.

Suddenly, a hail of arrows assaulted them, which made them get frustrated expressions on their faces instead of panicked ones as they carefully set aside the block and conjured barriers to stop the arrows.

No one was harmed, but the arrows were followed by explosion trinkets which caused billowing smoke to block their sight.

Behind them, a team of people wearing ragged clothes had just started to assault these metal bars with swords and spears using the distraction of the explosion trinkets.

Only, it looked like this team was prepared for it, as 20 soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Kingdom of the Elves teleported above this group and instantly cast wind blades to kill all of them.

Only, unbeknownst to them, four other spots had also been attacked, and although three attacks had been thwarted, one had succeeded, which meant that this team of mages had to go back to that spot first and fix the rail trinkets there.

"Let's go."

As Daneel said this, Elanev, who was right beside him nodded and froze, allowing Daneel to lay a hand on him and teleport them both into the air above the team of the bandits who had succeeded and were running away at full speed while chattering among themselves quietly.

"Ha, they're helpless! Our brothers may be dead, but we are succeeding! All we need to do is continue doing this for another few days, and everything will go back to normal! Those bastards won't know what hit them!"

As Daneel heard this, he couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows with irritation, as he resisted the urge to kill them right here and now.

Elanev observe this and said, "Since when have you developed this much bloodlust?"

"Since these pests have started to threaten the implementation of my plan. I think we are nearing their base."

As Daneel answered in a cold voice, Elanev shrugged and nodded, and after 10 minutes, the reached a nondescript bush which was carefully picked up and placed to the side to reveal a hole into which the 10 bandits jumped.

"Here goes nothing," said Elanev, following which the two of them also plunged into its depths without any hesitation.

After flying down a distance of around 30 m, the two found the hole opening into a large cave in which 150 bandits were all facing a certain direction.

Seeing this, the two hovered in the air, and no one was able to see them.

As Elanev once again marveled at how effective this camouflage spell of Daneel's was, he heard someone who was standing on top of a rock in the corner of the large cave speak.

"We are once again successful! These suckers want to build a system that will take away all of our livelihoods! Did they really think that it would be that easy? Thankfully, we managed to find a leader who set out a plan to stop it all! All we need to do is hold on for another week! Teams 3, 4, 5, you'll be attacking next. Teams…"

At that moment, a voice filled with silent fury interrupted that man.

"And what will happen in a week?"

As gasps were heard all around, the 150 bandits looked up to see two people flying in the air above them.

As they scrambled to get their weapons, they were shocked once again when they heard their leader answer instead of spitting out one of his favorite curses.

"I don't know, but this was all I was told!"

This made a grimace pass across Daneel's face, as he let go of Elanev who dropped in the midst of all the bandits.

"Take care of them. I'll carry out a more detailed interrogation."

As the King of Lanthanor said this and floated toward the leader and grasped his collar before teleporting them both away, Elanev, who suddenly found himself surrounded by multiple snarling individuals, hit his palm with the fist of his other hand while he smiled with anticipation.

"Haha, your friend abandoned you! You're dead!"

As one of the bandits near him said this, Elanev couldn't help but chuckle and say, "You idiot. He didn't abandon me with you, he abandoned all of you with me. If it were him, he might have given you all a swift death within wind blades. My methods are much more…uncouth."

These bandits weren't stupid. The fact that this man had been allowed to remain meant that he definitely must have a lot of tricks up his sleeve, so the intention had been to test him in some way.

Yet, seeing that he wasn't taking the bait, two bandits lunged forward anyway, as a lot of frustration had been building up in them all these days due to the desperate straits they had been driven to because of everything that had been happening between the two kingdoms of Lanthanor and Eldinor.

The introduction of the highway meant that, for the first time, merchants had a perfectly secure way to tread the path between the two kingdoms, which allowed them no opportunities, at all, to ambush caravans and convoys, which meant that their livelihood was basically destroyed.

They couldn't simply migrate to other areas between Kingdoms which didn't have such paths, either, as those areas already had a lot of bandit groups who would put up a fight if they even tried to encroach on their territory.

The highway had been finished before they could say or do anything about it, but after finding out about this train system, they just hadn't been able to sit still.

As bandits, they knew more than anyone else just how effective the trains would be – apparently, those magical trinkets that were being laid down on the ground had the ability to make barriers appear all across the hundreds of kilometers of the path of the train which meant that guards would be able to intrude on any attempts of destruction before any damage at all was done, as all of their weapons would be helpless against the barriers.

At least, with the highway, there was a little hope, but if these trains also came into being, they would all have no choice but to abandon this livelihood.

And this was something they were definitely not willing to do. Most of these bandits were criminal offenders in some or the other Kingdom who had chosen this life as there was no other way. If they tried to re-enter these Kingdoms without having sufficient money or means, they would definitely be killed at first sight.

As soon as it became a matter of life and death, unity that had never been there before had sprung up among these bandits who usually never trusted anything farther than how far they could throw it.

No one knew who the leader was, but he had distinguished himself by drawing up strategies which worked surprisingly well against all the plans being put together by that bastardly devilish King of Lanthanor.

Boom!

Even while the scimitars that they were attacking with were just a few centimeters away from the neck of their opponent, the man who had just uttered that confident statement, who was wearing sleeveless training gear of some kind punched out, which resulted in a sight that was branded into the eyes of all those watching.

At the edge of his fist, a concave ball of air appeared, that explosively pushed away the weapons of the two attacking and sent them careening into the bodies of two other bandits who had been standing nearby.

At the same moment, the bodies of these two bandits, along with four others who were in the path of that punch were blown backward as if they had suddenly been flung away by a tornado.

As if this wasn't shocking enough, an old man appeared beside this man at that moment and tapped his chin before idly saying, "Needs more practice. This is called the 'Lion's Roar Fist' for a reason. During the time of the Empire, there was a certain Warrior level lion beast that was the size of a two-story building. Hey, I'm instructing, here!"

Unable to control his fear and panic, one bandit had desperately struck the old man, hoping that he might be weak as he looked just like some old grandpa on the street.

Yet, the blade of his sword had just been caught in midair between the fingers of the old man, who nonchalantly said this before letting the blade go and flicking it with his finger.

Something magical happened the next moment. As if life had been given to that blade, it flew towards the neck of the one who attacked before smoothly passing through it and heading in an arc all around, beheading 12 bandits before finally falling to the ground.

"And that was the 'Puppeteer's Flick' I told you about. Master the Lion's Roar first, and we can get to this. When that lion roared, a wall of air would be explosively pushed out what that would destroy everything in its path, but the core of its strength lay in the edges of that wall. The edges are supposed to bend inwards, so that even everything on the boundaries of it would be pulled inward instead of being blasted outward. This increases destruction to the maximum amount, which leads to…"

As the idle instruction continued, the bandits could only stare between themselves, wondering who these two monsters were who were treating so many Amateur Human in such a casual way.

To make things worse, they were standing right below the only exit, so there was nowhere to run to, either.

The vice leader of the bandit group took command at that point.

"Don't foolishly go at them one at a time! All of us, let's attack together! We can definitely beat them that –"

Only, the voice of this man was cut off as he felt a glare land on him.

The glare was from the man who was being instructed, and it almost looked like he was glaring at someone who was threatening to take away something that he had earned after a lot of effort.

The glare made the vice leader, someone who was almost an Eminent Human, piss his pants on the spot, as it also felt like he had been locked on to by the eyes of a predator that would never relent in its hunt.

"Good. The Predator's Eyes are progressing smoothly. Maybe you'll surprise that younger brother of yours, yet. Now then, try the fist again."

Boom!

As Elanev blasted forward another punch in the direction behind him which made 15 people fly into the air like rag dolls this time, Daneel was on the surface, interrogating the man whom he had captured.

"Tell me everything you know about the leader. Specifically, I want to know a way in which he can be reached."

"I don't know! No one knows his true identity! We get orders from those who're under him, but I know for a fact that even those people don't know who he is! Maybe… Only the other major bandit leaders who are also leading the Alliance might know them!"

"And where can they be found?", asked Daneel, pulling the man closer and letting him witness the full fury that was raging in his eyes.

It was a sight which made the leader wish that he was anywhere else in the world, and he answered without any hesitation.

"Arafell! I know that one of them loves to frequent the bar called 'The Maiden's Waist' in the capital of Arafell! Please, let me go!"

As Daneel finally got a clue, he felt more frustration instead of relief.

Squeezing his hand, he ended the life of the leader in a simple manner before running his other hand through his hair.

Did he really have to go back into the Kingdom of that crazy b*tch whom he had infuriated just a few weeks ago?

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

541 Realization Setting Off

Daneel was beyond himself in anger. Standing there, beside the hole from where multiple echoing booms and screams were emanating as part of Elanev's 'training', he seriously considered whether he should just barge in there and demand that she stop all these nonsensical attempts at derailing his plans.

Derailing them. That was, actually, exactly what she was doing, in case she really was the one behind it.

On seeing the amazing level of development that had begun in both kingdoms after the steps he had taken, Daneel had been looking forward so much to the train being implemented, too, so that everything could really be supercharged.

So far, according to the statistics they had drawn up, the level of development had already exceeded what any of them had estimated. Also, this trend was expected to continue when the trains came into effect, too.

However, that was when these pesky bandits had come into the picture.

After a lot of testing and prototype development, Daneel, Eloise and the rest of the planners of the Kingdom of Lanthanor had decided on this specific model which used both Ether blocks and a form of the trinkets that had been there in the original plan of the Emperor.

The objective was to make a series of affordable ultrafast trains, each of which could travel at a top speed of 150 km/h, which would really be groundbreaking if it was possible.

To do such a feat with just Ether blocks, it would cost too much and the payoff would definitely not be worth what was being burned.

In fact, the Emperor had even left behind logs of certain Ether block to propulsion conversion formations that increased the efficiency beyond the level that was available in Angaria right now. Even if they used this, it would still not be enough.

Hence, they had all gone back to the drawing board to reconsider those trinkets which absorbed momentum and acted like springs, pushing forward the train to faster and faster speeds while also saving fuel in the process.

The Emperor's exact formation plans could not be implemented anyway, as the materials he had used weren't available in the present age. Only low-grade ones that could act as substitutes were what they had, and using these, Drakos had drawn up plans for alternate railway tracks which, although wouldn't have the same effect as that of the Emperor's, would still make it possible for Daneel's trains to reach that speed and maintain it while not costing too much fuel.

In the process, Daneel had also asked Drakos to make the tracks as indestructible as possible, but this was apparently impossible.

That was when they had designed the plan to add the barriers. The trick with the barriers was that if they were active always, they would, again, drink up too many Ether blocks.

So, the plan was to set up two levels of barriers, the first of which was very weak and didn't take a lot of Energy to sustain.

It was, in fact, a very ingenious plan which Daneel had complimented Drakos about repeatedly, and which had made the ancient Dragon blush even though it didn't have a body.

The railway tracks acted as the formation points of this massive formation which stretched over hundreds of kilometers, and as soon as the first layer was broken, a second, stronger one would come into effect which would definitely hold back any attacks until help arrived.

Everything had been going on in such a great manner, when they suddenly started to face multiple teams of bandits attacking the spots where the tracks were being set up repeatedly, throughout the day, and even through the night, in an attempt to delay the process.

Initially, Daneel had thought that this would be a simple problem that could easily be resolved by using Mind Control to reach the leader of this operation. Yet, in that pursuit, he had faced failure due to the leader's uncanny care of not revealing their identity. That was why this was the first clue he had gotten in a week.

Also, these bandits had numerous hideouts spread out everywhere and whenever he thrashed one nest, more would keep popping up as if this was a game of whack a mole.

All in all, Daneel was seriously pissed and he was ready to direct all of his anger on the Queen of Arafell.

At this moment, he heard Drakos speak in his mind.

"Young King, I see your anger, but I urge you to consider something. I know the Queen. She may be crazy, and incredibly egoistic, and even cunning in a lot of ways, but I don't think she's behind this."

This made Daneel take a deep breath and try to calm himself down.

He was typically not someone who would get this much anger, even though this was such an important issue. So, he took a moment to pause and understand why he was taking this so personally.

Daneel had begun this journey with the mind of just a teenager that had had to drop out of college, and although he had matured immensely over the course of all these years, he knew that he was still not anywhere near perfect.

That had only been impressed upon him more in the recent episode where he had been admonished by his dad.

There was one thing he did know for sure: protagonists and antagonists who gave in to emotions too much never did meet good ends in all the stories that he had read back on Earth.

As he analyzed everything that had happened, he realized that this was because this was the only major thing he had failed in in a long time.

All these months, almost everything had been going his way, although he didn't always achieve everything he set out to. For example, in his plan regarding Ashahell and the Mad Doctor, the best case would have been the latter dying and the former getting injured grievously, but both of those things hadn't happened.

Yet, he hadn't written off any of those things as failures, but this one was.

Continuing this line of thought, Daneel also realized the second reason.

All of these were just normal Humans, with none of them even reaching the level of an Amateur Warrior. Yet, he was a damn Peak Exalted Warrior who had even exchanged blows with an Amateur Champion and come out on top!

Anyone who had gone through such experiences would definitely feel very irritated on having these "ants" bother him so much.

The moment this thought entered Daneel's mind, he took a step back, seeing just how wrong that was.

Wasn't this the exact mentality that most of those Big Four douches had which made them seem like such eyesores?

Since when had he picked that up?

It seemed that he had done it inadvertently, without even knowing that this attitude had been forming in his mind.

Well, he had realized it now, so Daneel crushed it right away.

With his anger completely under control, Daneel got a new view on the matter.

Yes, these were all just Humans, but they presented a threat that even a Hero might not be able to tackle.

That was the power of those who were weak, and considering that he was someone who had struggled in that level for a long time, he felt ashamed that he had even adopted that attitude even though it had only been for a brief amount of time.

Resolving that something like that shouldn't happen again, Daneel said to Drakos, "I guess I let my feelings get ahead of me. Tell me why you think so, Drakos. I'm listening."

Drakos took a moment to reply, and when he did, his voice was gushing with pride.

"I must say, Young King, that I'm truly impressed with you. I could tell that you were being affected in the wrong manner, but I did not know what to say to change that. After all, it is a bad thing for the King to be so riled up in the face of any matter. Even if something was threatening the existence of his Kingdom, a King should remain calm and never underestimate his enemies. I could tell that you were doing the latter, too, but, again, I felt helpless. It is truly a marvelous feat that you managed to see it yourself, and learn from it, and I can vouch for that because I saw your feelings throughout the process. Young King, again, this shows me that I made the right decision."

Daneel neither smiled nor grimaced as he heard this, but he took it in stride. It was something that shouldn't happen, but it had, and he was happy that he had handled it in the correct way.

"Yes, about Arafell. She always preferred direct methods, and although she learned how to use underhanded ones from the Emperor and others, she had a tendency of reverting to the former as those aligned most with her personality. In battle, her forte was always her God-like skill in motivating soldiers and deploying them effectively in the face of a direct assault. However, she always had lieutenants and captains who advised her, and, initially, it was known throughout the Army that she set all of their undergarments on fire because they tried to tell her what to do. The Emperor then heavily penalized her, and made her understand the importance of listening to those kinds of points of views, too. After that, Arafell always listened to these individuals, as they were the ones skilled in spotting cunning or underhanded attacks, and in the process, she learned to deploy them herself, and also look out for them while becoming someone who was highly skilled in handling them if the opponent chose to use such methods."

"So? You just said that she learned to use them, herself."

Daneel asked with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. He had given a lot of effort in maintaining his attention throughout Drakos's, as always, lengthy explanation only to find that he had no valid point.

"Hear me out, Young King. The reason I don't think it's her, in this case, is that because of the power difference between you two, she would contact you and even let you know that she was doing this before embarking on it. There is a very interesting story about…"

"Some other time. So, you're saying that if she is doing it, she would already be gloating about it."

"Yes, Young King. And, if she was doing it, she wouldn't have left behind this clue, as her plans are always perfect."

This last sentence, more than anything, went a long way in convincing Daneel that Drakos's point of view might also be right.

What if… the culprit just happened to be in Arafell?

Well, even then, the problem still existed that he had no method to enter the Kingdom without her finding out due to the Hero level formation she had placed all around her borders.

"Young king, there is a way… But you might not like it."

…

A few hours later, a cart with a man chewing a stalk of grass in his mouth was approaching the border gate of the Kingdom of Arafell.

He was singing a merry, local tune of Lanthanor which told the story of a pretty maiden who loved a boy in her village, but was very shy, and was thus praying for some help in this matter from the Heavens. A passing mage took pity on her plight, and took on her countenance to go propose to the boy. Much to her delight, he agreed. Instead of the story ending there, it continued because the mage ended up finding that the boy had a hidden talent in magic, and thus gave him an offer to come study magic under him. The boy agreed, and there were initially no problems, as he married the girl, too. Yet, later, his love for magic outgrew the love he had for his mortal wife who had no talent, which led to him leaving her.

This was supposed to be a cautionary tale for village folk to take care of their own problems instead of praying for some sort of divine intervention which might end up messing things up, and just as he reached the ending, the cart which was being led forward by horses approached the gates.

"Here to pick up a load of metal to transfer to Lanthanor.", He declared, following which the guards carefully checked the cart which had a layer of hay on the bottom to avoid damage to the wood of the cart.

As everything looked normal, the guard walked up to the man and said, "Go ahead. But be careful, there appear to be a few rats inside."

This, strangely, made the man freeze for a moment, before he laughed and said, "Oh, don't you worry about them. I'll take care of 'em."

In the back of the cart, as Daneel heard this, he said, "Now what if that guy had decided to squash me by himself? What would I have done then?"

"Then this would have ended much sooner than it was supposed to, Young King. Please calm down. You look like you're startling the rat."

As Daneel heard this, he grumbled and stayed quiet inside the head of the little rat, while he entered the Kingdom of Arafell without the knowledge of the Queen.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

542 Reveal Planning

Indeed, Daneel was entering the Kingdom of Arafell… as a rat.

According to Drakos, the formation could scan both lifeforms and consciousnesses at any level. Yet, there was a certain loophole that wouldn't have existed if they were living in the age of the Empire of Angaria.

Apparently, the original formation, when deployed, also had a secondary part where a fine-tuned search would be carried out of each and every organism entering the formation which would have resulted in this plan failing.

Yet, because the second part was the one which required a lot of materials which were not available right now, the Queen had chosen to subvert that by building the smaller, second one around her Palace while the larger one was around her borders.

Essentially, this large formation, which was easy to implement, was only designed to scan large beings.

That was because if each and every beast and insect that made its way into the Kingdom were scanned live, every second, the formation would just overload.

The second formation was special because it managed to only scan these beings and still stay functioning, which was why it required more precious materials to handle the workload and the increased complexity as compared to one which only needed to scan larger beings.

The Queen of Arafell's most important objective was to stop anyone or anything from entering her most guarded areas, which were all inside the Palace. As she had no other option, she had only implemented the second part around the Palace, and was thus disregarding any threat that might come in the form of pests inside her Kingdom.

This did make sense. The Queen of Arafell had never struck Daneel as one who cared too much about the Kingdom except for their impact on the satisfaction level in the breaking of the seals. As such, her priority would be the Palace and whatever secrets she was hiding in there, so it was no surprise that she had allowed only that larger formation to protect the kingdom and alert her if any large being of Warrior or Hero level entered.

All of this meant that Daneel could only use smaller beasts, and there was even an inherent risk here.

If Daneel had wanted to go through with this plan, he would essentially be doing what Drakos had done before: he would be separating his own consciousness, which was apparently pitifully small at this point of time, and if it was lost due to the death of whatever it inhabited, it would have a very bad effect on him and cause him to need a period of recovery before he could even be as adept in all matters as before.

Basically, it would be like someone had taken a hammer and was hitting him on his head daily, resulting in a throb that would need weeks or months to disappear.

Also, he had to take care not to go near the Palace or near the Queen, as she would be able to detect him.

This was a plan filled with so many variables and dangers, but Daneel had still agreed to go through with it as there was simply no better choice. He had no intention whatsoever of asking the Queen whether she was behind this, as it would be a sign that he was acknowledging his defeat, which would cause her to gloat.

He just did not want to give her the satisfaction, when there was another way.

The process had been surprisingly painless: all Daneel had needed to do was cast the spell by himself or using the system, following which it was as if a hair had been plucked from his head.

After that, he had started to feel strange sensations, which were those that he was intercepting and understanding from the rat.

A rat's only focus was food, and its main weapon, it's nose was also geared towards finding as much food as possible. When he had been in the Kingdom, Daneel had felt sorry for this rat which would apparently die after this process and had allowed it to feast on all of its favorite delicacies which included bread of all sorts and some product made of milk.

As for how he was communicating with Drakos, it was through a tiny metallic trinket that Drakos made, himself, by using Daneel's hands. It was a communication trinket that connected to 3 trinkets: one that was in contact with Daneel's original body that was currently being controlled by Drakos, one with the cart driver who was a regular trader that had been enlisted for this mission, and one that connected him to Eloise in case he needed something from her.

Eloise had found the whole thing funny, and she had even taken rat Daneel into her hands and caressed him, as if it was the cutest thing in the world. Daneel had simply been helpless at that juncture, and he had only been hoping that this would get over as soon as possible, even though being in her hands had felt… Comfortable.

Now that the first major question about this mission was solved, which was whether Drakos's information was right about this formation, Daneel felt more at ease.

Instructing the cart driver to go about his usual routine first before taking him to that bar, Daneel fell asleep along with the rat.

He woke up at night, due to the spell of grapes near his nose, which were being given to him by the cart driver who had been instructed to carry certain foods and keep feeding it to him so that he could control this thing's urges, which was actually a very hard thing to do as there was only a very small part of his consciousness here. If he wasn't careful and if this rat felt something strong enough, it might break apart from his possession and do whatever it wanted.

At the end of the day, this had been a willing possession, as the rat had been bribed and distracted with food when Daneel had entered its mind. That was why it could still take back control of its body when it wanted to, enough.

After heartily eating all the grapes, rat Daneel entered the man's sleeve and was taken to the bar known as The Maiden's Waist.

Pungent smells of alcohol and sweat greeted his hypersensitive nose, and Daneel had to struggle hard not to move and startle the man who was transporting him.

According to some intel that they had received from the spies who were inside the Kingdom of Arafell with the knowledge of the Queen, who was allowing them for reasons he didn't understand, there was a really specific, unique individual who did frequent this bar on a weekly basis on the same exact day, at the same exact time.

Others also had habits like these, but they had been eliminated because all of their origins could be traced. Yet, this man was like a ghost who disappeared and appeared only during this visit, and could not be found at any other time.

There was no clearer sign that this was who Daneel was looking for.

This was both a bar and a brothel, with the upper rooms reserved for the other 'services' that were being offered by the establishment. This man would always book the same room with the same performer, and, in anticipation of that, Daneel had already used his rat form to sneak away from the bar and covertly use the areas where pipes were hidden to access the room.

Sure enough, after an hour or so, the man appeared inside the room, but the strange thing was that Daneel had just noticed that there was a secret second exit through which the scantily clad 'performer' exited right after entering.

After seeing her leave, this man, who had a very strange hairstyle of a bald, shiny patch surrounded by long, glossy black hair and a face filled with features that looked like they had been sculpted by an amateur sculptor who had just started the trade, opened the wine bottle on the table and started to sip glass after glass while looking into the distance.

An hour after that, Daneel had begun to wonder whether this was their man. Based on all the movies where he had seen the hero of the story eavesdrop on something and immediately happen upon the exact information that he wanted to hear, he had been hoping that something similar might happen for him, which would allow him to leave this rat and get back to his body as quickly as possible.

It was only after another hour did something finally happened, and, thankfully and coincidently, it did turn out to be what Daneel was here for.

From his coat which looked like it had been worn for years without being washed, the man took out three trinkets, and Daneel recognized two of them.

They were very precious surveillance trinkets that scanned the area for listening devices and humans.

Even though he had been capable of doing these things with the system since he was a human, itself, it was very difficult for a trinket to carry out such tasks. Hence, it required highly advanced formations that could only be engraved by a high-level engraver, the likes of which were rare in the continent of Angaria.

All in all, these trinkets would sell for thousands and even tens of thousands of Ether blocks in typical Central Continent auctions, if they were sold.

The last part was the problem. Very few were in circulation, so Daneel wondered where this guy could have obtained them.

Thankfully, the trinket only scanned for humans, and he was in the form of a rat, which was something that even the Queen's formation, itself, hadn't been able to detect.

The second trinket was slightly a problem, as the one on Daneel qualified as a listening trinket. He was currently in a long, dark passage filled with plumbing tubes that had running water going through them with the tubes vibrating every second as a result. He was peeking through a tiny hole he had made discreetly, and he knew the exact range of the trinket. So, without hesitation, Daneel removed the string with the tiny communication trinket that Drakos had made for him and threw it hard in the direction he had come from. He could simply take it on his way back.

His quick thinking had saved the day, as the man immediately activated the two trinkets and waited for them to give the green signal that he was in a very secure location. In fact, it might be one of the most secure in the entirety of the Central Continent if one did not count freaks such as Daneel and Queen Arafell who were in possession of stuff from the Empire, which could basically be considered cheating.

Whatever this was, it was a very high-level operation that was being carried out by someone who had an eye for details.

Soon, the purpose of the third trinket became clear. It was a communication one, which the man touched and began speaking.

"Preliminary checks are done. I'm alone. Shall we begin?"

Initially, Daneel got very excited, but, sadly, everything wasn't as perfect as he had imagined. This was a communication trinket, so that meant that whatever was going on in the channel was only stuff that he could hear. Hence, he could only rely on what the man in front of him was saying to try and understand the flow of the entire conversation.

It started with a discussion of the progress of their mission of delaying the process of laying rail tracks. On finding that it was going well, the man smiled a very unpleasant smile which made Daneel wish he could get down there and scratch his eyes out.

No, he should be calm at all times, like Drakos had said.

Next, the conversation turned towards topics he didn't understand, with this man giving updates on his part of whatever he was doing, which apparently involved him gaining control of one of the fake network operators that Daneel had set up as 'competition'.

This was already very important information, in itself, so Daneel rejoiced inwardly that he had taken this decision to come here. In fact, he also counted himself lucky that this man was incapable of sending his thoughts through his mind, which wasn't something that everyone could do if they didn't have a knack for it, which was why he was speaking what he wanted to say out loud for Daneel to hear.

The rest of the conversation was all about cursing at the one who was responsible for all of their problems: Daneel, himself.

Each curse made Daneel angrily wipe his whiskers, and by the time the conversation was done, he was fuming, especially because of certain curses which had been leveled against his mother by this guy.

Thankfully, his mission had been accomplished, so Daneel headed to the cart driver who was still drinking in the pub.

As he wanted to be done with this as soon as possible, Daneel insisted that they leave right away, which led to the cart driver stating that his wife was suddenly sick and that he had to get back to Lanthanor as soon as possible.

An hour or so after they exited Arafell, Kellor arrived to end this ordeal that he would always remember, and as Daneel took back control of his body and let out a deep sigh of relief, he knew where they had to go to next.

A day later, Daneel was carefully surveilling a certain exit of one of the 18 of the Kingdom of Arafell, and as the system alerted him that it had found the one whom it had scanned the day before, Daneel smoothly nabbed the guy who was wearing a physical disguise.

He was only an Exalted Human, so Mind Control worked like a charm, and the first thing Daneel asked was the identity of those he had been talking to.

Only, he was once again met with disappointment as the identity of the main person who was calling the shots yet working as an equal with them was hidden.

The second question was what the endgame was, and this was where Daneel was really tempted to snap this guy's neck, which was exactly what he had done with all those other bandits he had come across.

Their plan was to stop the train… By breaking the alliance between Lanthanor and Eldinor.

And how were they going to do that? Well, the plan was certainly very chilling.

Race crimes, when an elf would discriminate against, kill and even torture humans because they felt superior were things which were punishable by death, but still existed.

Their plan was to make the reverse happen. In one week from now, in a certain town in Lanthanor, humans would turn against and kill a large delegation of elves. It would be leaked that it was done by Daneel, following which suspicion and doubt would emerge that would result in what they wanted.

For further popularity and outrage, this would be broadcast on the Network Trinkets, too.

As for that specific town, there was again no info.

Yet, Daneel had already chosen his course of action.

He…was going to become a bandit leader.

...

All contest entries are up in the Auxiliary Chapter! Scroll up to before Chapter 1 to find them! Trust me, you will be entertained! Please add your votes to the comment section!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

543 Desperate Straits

A few minutes later, the same man who was on his way out of the Kingdom of Arafell had resumed his journey, but no one could tell that he was now a puppet of the King of Lanthanor.

He looked the same on the outside, yet, he had been given strict orders to keep reporting everything to Daneel whenever he could.

Daneel was confident in the Mind Control spell on this guy, even though the spell had been failing him recently when he used it to tackle this matter.

The problem was that these bandits whole life depended on reading people and finding out things. As such, Mind Control would cause a dissonance in one's mind that would cause one to act in ways that didn't fit with their original personality.

Hence, sometimes, when he had sent bandit scouts inside their camps, the bandits had been able to find that something was amiss even though Daneel had given express orders to the scout not to give any sign of anything being wrong.

All of these bastards were…just a bit too suspicious of each other. Hell, it looked like even those groups which had worked together for years still watched each member, trying to see whether there was any chance of someone choosing to backstab.

Again, it had been impressed upon Daneel just how tough this life was. Yet, he also knew how profitable it could be.

Apparently, there was one group which had managed to bust a small, unassuming caravan which everyone thought would contain nothing too valuable. Yet, it had actually had all the wealth of a merchant who was shifting Kingdoms, and that group had managed to rise through the ranks by using that money to buy better weapons and trinkets instead of retiring, like some others would do.

That…was the bandit group that this bandit leader with a bald patch belonged to. Daneel had 'downloaded' all information regarding him, but he had hesitated to impersonate him, yet, as he wanted to test first whether his skills were good enough to fool these people.

Regardless, he now had a direction he could pursue, which Daneel was very thankful for.

The rat had passed away after his piece of consciousness had exited it, and Daneel had asked for it to be buried on the grounds of the Kingdom, as it really had died in the service of the King, and, thus, did not deserve to have an unmarked grave.

Now, as he summarised everything he knew, he realized that there was still a lot for him to do.

For one thing, he still didn't know whether Queen Arafell was behind this. Even though Drakos had given a very good reason, he hadn't found evidence yet that that hidden man who was calling the shots wasn't related to the Queen.

As Daneel thought of who else could be the culprits, he sighed when he saw that there were a lot.

It could be Axelor, too, pulling strings in the shadows to stop him from raising satisfaction level.

It could be someone he didn't know from the Big 4, who might not want the alliance to grow stronger.

Or it could even be the damn Church, who was doing stuff covertly as they had already been burned once when they tried a direct approach.

Shaking his head, Daneel traveled back to Lanthanor, and as he did so, he couldn't help but pause over a spot on the highway to proudly see those who were utilizing it to travel between the Kingdoms or transport some kind of goods.

Smiles were on their faces, and even though they were still alert, this was nowhere near the anxiety and fear which usually followed a caravan like a cloud.

Using this moment to take a little joy in what he was seeing, Daneel called for a meeting in the Palace with all the planners, again, as he had just gotten an idea.

Although his main goal was to stop their chilling plan to incite race issues like many that were present on Earth, he had no method of finding out where they would be targeting the numerous elves who had started to enter Lanthanor as part of this process of development. Some were trinket designers, who wanted to see the real-life usage of their trinkets so that they could design better ones, while others were just fascinated about exploring new places and new people. Before, the prejudice against elves had stopped them from freely traveling where they wanted.

So, all he could do now was find a way to hasten the process of connecting the two by railway so that these people's objective could be rendered moot. They might still go through with it, but it was Daneel's idea that they might let something slip in their desperation to stop him.

When he sat down in front of Eloise and the rest of the Lanthanorians and proposed his plan, they stared at him as if they didn't know him.

Oh, right. Even though this was a simple scheme, not everyone was aware of his…capacity to scheme against his enemies.

Only Eloise had an amused smile on her face, and he had looked at her and shrugged ruefully on seeing this reaction, which had made her burst out laughing.

This broke the atmosphere and shock, and everyone immediately got down to implementing the King's plan, after reevaluating his 'honorable and just' image in their minds.

…

"150 soldiers. All wiped out. Dude, I heard that even their faces were beaten so out of shape that no one could identify one body from another."

"Man, what kind of psycho would use methods like those to kill people? The big boss is right. The King of Lanthanor must really be a devil from hell. My grandma always used to say that devils would come upon the land if humans didn't stay true to their roots."

"You dunce, your grandma said that that to scare you and to make sure that you wouldn't abandon her when she became really old! Your stupid ass even believed it and did that!"

"Oh…well, I was gunna do it anyway…"

"Wait…shut up! I hear something!"

These two bandits, who were lying prone on the ground while chatting with each other to avoid boredom, suddenly froze when they heard voices.

"It's our lucky day! These people must have not wanted to pay the small fee to use that damn highway! Contact the others! We might have a caravan to loot!"

As one bandit said this and reached for the communication trinket in his pocket, he suddenly found that his hand had been grasped by the other, who was looking forward with an incredulous expression on his face.

"What's the matter?"

"Look! That's not a damn caravan!"

On the urging of the second bandit, the first focused on a spot on the horizon and felt his jaw drop when he saw those who were approaching.

Mages, carrying metal bars and laying them down one by one!

A damn train track!

But…why the hell was it here?

"Hey, are you sure we're at the right spot! Maybe we got lost and are in the path of the track our brothers are attacking…"

"No! That's impossible! Let's go! We need to talk to the big boss!"

Saying so, the first bandit scrambled to his feet and started to run, while the other followed.

After a few minutes, they were panting for breath inside a hole similar to the one Daneel and Faxul had 'invaded'.

Their leader had a very grim expression on his face, and as he waited for them to catch his breath, he kept glaring in a certain direction.

Finally, after a few seconds, the second bandit spoke.

"Leader! You won't believe what we saw! But I swear its real!"

Strangely, these words made their leader sigh and bury his face in his hands for a moment in frustration.

The bandit had been expecting to shock everyone, but when he saw similar reactions appear on the others, too, he still continued, but his tone was more puzzled now than shocked.

"We saw a train track…"

"THAT MAKES 8! THAT F*CKING BASTARD IS PLAYING WITH US!"

Sure enough, this outburst from the leader made the jaws of these two drop.

8?! 8 railway tracks!

Wasn't the whole point that the trinkets were precious, and, hence needed to be carefully laid as they needed time to be made? Wasn't their whole plan hinged on them being able to attack multiple spots of the singular track to cause troubles?

They were already shortchanged in numbers, as it was, as each attack was a kamikaze one! Yet, now, they had to stop 8 tracks?!

Impossible.

Immediately, the leader used a trinket to contact their big boss, who had already gotten the news from the others.

In the end, the final count was 10 tracks. 10 tracks were being laid, simultaneously, at a speed that didn't match what had been on display till now.

In his quarters, Daneel was smiling to himself while holding a communication trinket in his hands.

This was something that connected to the one that was used by the bandit leaders to communicate, and he had given it to the one he controlled just now after finding out that an emergency meeting had been called.

As Daneel prepared himself to finally hear the voice of the one who was behind all this, his heartbeat slowly started to accelerate.

He had already been told that the 'weird' one belonged to the hidden leader, but he didn't know what that meant.

Soon, the meaning of 'weird' became clear.

"The King has outsmarted us. He knows that we only have resources to stall one, or at most two tracks from being built. But 10? Impossible."

It was a garbled, as if the voice of the one speaking was being distorted because it was passing through some or the other layer.

"Young King, this is a simple spell to hide one's voice. Whoever they are are, they are being very thorough."

Daneel nodded as he heard this, and, honestly, he hadn't been hoping too much that he would find a clue with the voice, anyway.

Indeed, this hidden leader had covered all bases.

"Damn him! What should we do, now? How did he even make so many tracks? If they are completed…"

The garbled voice interrupted the other bandit leader, who had a gruff tone.

"I suspect that some of them are fake, but there is no way to tell which are fake and which are real. It doesn't matter. It would have been best if we stopped them from being built, but even if they start to function, nothing much will change in a week. Nothing too much, at least. The outrage that develops because of the massacre will be enough to drive these two apart. Actually, he bumped up the stakes, so let us do so, too. Stop all attempts at hindering the railway tracks. Ask all the bandits to disperse silently and covertly into multiple small towns and villages inside the two Kingdoms. Focus more on Eldinor, as Lanthanor has that damn ID system. When I give the signal, they should emerge and kill many, many unsuspecting elves."

Wh-what?

This definitely hadn't been what Daneel had in mind when he implemented this!

As he bent forward with his eyes widened, he realized that he couldn't even do anything to stop it.

Who the f*ck was this person?

"I'm leaving to give the order to the bandits under me. You two do so, too. Time is of the essence. I'll call for a meeting if anything else needs to be addressed. Do you two have anything else to say?"

As silence appeared after the garbled voice said this, Daneel ran his two hands through his hair.

All he had was a week, from now. How was he supposed to root out thousands of bandits hidden among millions of citizens in that time?

Thinking quickly, Daneel made a decision. It was time for desperation, so he threw caution to the wind.

Using the trinket that connected him to the bandit leader, Daneel gave the command.

After a moment, the leader, who was named Skylar, spoke.

"No. We've gone along with everything, so far, but I won't stand for this. If this happens, we will have lost for all of our forces. I think there are better ways. I officially call for another Bandit Gathering, just like when the three of us were placed in charge."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

544 Bandit Gathering 1

For a few seconds, there was only silence, after which the other man said, "Skylar, are you out of your goddamn mind?! A Bandit Gathering, at this time?"

The man with the bald patch spoke according to Daneel's instructions.

"Yes, at this time, Riordan. We agreed for this mystery person to join us as the leaders of this alliance because of the power he showed and the skill he displayed in using bandit groups to stall the train system. That was fine, and I even like the scheme. But this is too much. The train system won't be stalled anyway. And assume that it works, and that multiple villages flow with the blood of elves. Then what? We will be hunted with a vengeance for a long, long time. I don't think I need to remind you what has been passed down regarding the line we bandits must not cross. Last time we did, for years, our ancestors had to huddle together in the deepest hideouts, running out of food and even resorting to eating raw meat, because if they were caught, they knew what they would be subjected to. That will repeat."

Daneel, himself, was surprised when he heard this. He had just told the man to state the case in a convincing manner. Hence, he couldn't have known that there was even a historical incident that could be called on at this juncture.

Daneel had even read about this event: it was the great Bandit Hunt that had happened 300 years ago. At that time, some bandits had actually taken a town hostage and massacred the thousands inside before fleeing with the women and wealth.

This outraged the entire Central Continent, which went up in arms against this force by deploying most of their armies and even handing out bounties for the heads of all bandits.

Mind Control was really something to be admired. All Daneel had had to do was give an instruction, and the bandit leader's mind had pulled out the best facts it could use to fulfill the command.

A gulp was heard from the man who had been called Riordan when he heard this, and it looked like, he, too, was aware of the consequences.

It was the garbled voice which replied, and when it did, anyone could tell that the one on the other side must surely be vexed.

"So what? Are you saying that you prefer having to give up banditry and die instead of putting up a fight and hiding afterward for a period of time, if needed?"

For some reason, Riordan remained silent. It was Skylar who spoke, again.

"Oh, we know there won't be any f*cking 'if's. We go through with your plan- it means that we all die. Or most of us, at least. I agree that it is time for dire measures because of that f*cking King's cunningness, but this it too dire. I, for one, won't stand with it. If you want, you two can go ahead, and I'll have all my bandit groups remove themselves from the alliance. Riordan, you know I won't budge after I make a stand."

The words were spoken with ferocity and passion, as if it really was what the bald man wanted.

Daneel was smiling, and thinking that he had been lucky to find this guy, who was helping him so much, so sincerely.

After a pause, the gruff voice spoke.

"If you leave, so will I. The alliance will only stand if all of us remain. A Bandit Gathering needs to be called. Who knows, maybe the pressure might have caused others to break through and like our friend, here, too. What do you say, J?"

As the garbled voice finally replied with resignation after a few seconds, Daneel let out a sigh of relief.

"I would go ahead with this, even if it meant that there will be another bandit hunt. You forget that we rose from the ashes, victorious, in the end. The Kingdoms of the Central Continent had no choice but to give up as they were no match to our patience and craftiness. We left our hideouts, and resumed our lives, and since then, we have had a period of prosperity. If this is to repeat, we must take these steps. But I know that I cannot force you two to agree. I need all bandit groups to carry this out. Let a Bandit Gathering happen. In 2 days, all bandit group leaders will gather in the same way as before, at the same place."

The sound of someone leaving the channel was heard right after the garbled voice said this, which made Riordan chuckle and say, "Haha, we showed him. I was sick of him bossing us around."

Daneel thought that Skylar would say something perfunctory and end the discussion, but he snapped, surprising him.

"Riordan, f*ck off. Don't think that I'll forget what you did, you white-faced bastard. If we weren't in desperate times, I would hunt you down myself."

"Humph. I would have loved to see you try."

After the gruff voice said this, the communication finally ended completely.

The ups and downs had caused Daneel's heart to hammer in his chest, and as he calmed down, he took a moment to appreciate and curse just how real a threat these bandits were.

There may only be thousands or tens of thousands of them, but all, or, at least, most of them were definitely skilled in worming their way into anywhere they wanted. If they really did want to vanish among the millions of citizens of Eldinor and Lanthanor, Daneel would have been truly helpless.

Yet, now, it seemed that he might have an opportunity to wipe them all out in one strike. A Bandit Gathering would mean that all of them would gather, right?

Apparently, he was wrong.

After a few minutes, Skylar was ordered by Daneel to exit Arafell again so that a more detailed interrogation could occur.

In the sky, Daneel asked Drakos and the system to check whether there were any pesky eavesdroppers before getting started on the burning questions.

"What did you mean when you said Riordan was a white-faced bastard? What's a Bandit Gathering? How were you three chosen as the leaders?"

"A Bandit Gathering is where all leaders of small, mid and large sized bandit groups gather to choose those they trust to lead them. The last time one was called was during the crisis where a continent-wide bandit hunt was launched due to the actions of a few bandits. We bandits don't trust each other, either, so we do not gather in person. A designated person distributes communication trinkets to all the groups in a discrete manner so that they can hear what happens in the gathering and make their decision known when they wish. A Bandit leader is chosen when he amasses support from a significant number of leaders. Initially, during the gathering, a friend of mine was going to become a bandit leader because of his strength, which was known by all because of his success in defeating caravans which used Exalted Human level guards. In his group, there were actually two Exalted Humans who made this possible, and the other one got jealous as he didn't have the charisma to make others follow him and proceeded to kill my friend and made it known that he was the strongest one, and that the dead one was simply taking all the credit. Strength is valued, so even though many didn't like it, Riordan was given the role. It is the same for me, by speaking to the bandit leaders and appealing to them using my strength and everything I've accomplished, I gathered support. J, the mystery one, was a surprise. No one knows which group he belongs to, but he, too, killed an Exalted Human bandit and showed his strength before showing his skill in strategy by putting forward these plans. In that way, he became the third bandit leader."

As Daneel heard all this, he couldn't help but shake his head, stupefied.

A meeting with just communication trinkets!

How anti-climactic, yet practical!

Mind Control didn't work through communication trinkets, so his plan of Mind Controlling all the bandit leaders and killing them, along with those under them off was no longer possible.

It looked like he had to go with his original plan, after all.

"Do you have any Eminent Humans in your bandit group?"

"Yes, there are two. One entered the group recently, just before all of this started."

"Good. I'll be taking his place during the gathering, then. Oh, and, by the way, how many people have you killed and raped?"

"I've lost count. I've killed at least 400, out of which at least 50 are those whom I've raped, then killed."

"Right. Give me the location of the hideout of your bandit group and get back to your business. I'll call you when it's time for the Gathering."

After Daneel said this and got the answer, he dropped the bandit leader off near Arafell before standing in the air and trying to decide what to do.

There was no option but to go with the flow, here. In 2 days, he would be infiltrating the bandit group of this bandit leader, after which his objective for the bandit gathering was clear: he had to, somehow, make sure that the mysterious man's plans didn't continue.

On that note, Daneel decided that he would warn Katerina and Eldra about this, so that they could secretly caution the elves to be careful, or even return to the Kingdom, if possible.

A few minutes later, he was sitting in the quarters of the Queen, who had insisted that they should be having their discussion here, in private.

Unlike in Eldra's time, Katerina's room was decorated with her personal taste.

All sorts of weapons were hung on all four walls, from normal ones such as spears and sets of swords to strange ones like a whip with thorns and a spiked pole.

Also, as he looked around, he saw multiple paintings of Katerina hand in hand with various individuals.

He had known that elves generally had a lot of partners, but he hadn't expected that there would be this many.

There were at least 16 portraits of her with various men and women around the room, and just as he was done counting, the door opened to let in Katerina and Eldra.

Smiling at him, who was seated on a sofa beside the bed, the two women pulled up two chairs and sat down.

It was night time, and as he observed them, he noticed that they were both in casual attire.

Instead of the usual, thick dresses of Queens that he usually saw these both in, Katerina was wearing a tight-fitting brown dress that hugged her body. As a Fighter, her body was filled with muscles, and with this dress, all her prominent features such as her thick biceps, perfectly defined abdomen, and bulging thighs were visible. The last stood out the most: those thighs looked as if they could lock around anyone and strangle them to death in an instant.

In stark contrast to this, Eldra was wearing a pretty, pink nightgown that was also tight. Her delicate body was emphasized, and along with the ears with blades on the earlobes and their shining skin, the two elves looked like two exotic minxes who could steal away the heart and soul of any mortal.

If Daneel didn't know that elves were usually frank and open beings who were comfortable with who they were and would state directly their interests in matters such as those, he might even have misunderstood something.

Getting to the point, he told them about this whole matter, omitting the details about how Mind Control was integral.

Only, after he was done, he was quite surprised to see them staring at each other as if they had seen a ghost.

"Could it be…!", said Eldra, which caused Katerina to nod and turn toward the King.

"King Daneel, I think we know who this mysterious person is. Until quite recently, she was a citizen of the capital, but a horrific incident caused her to leave. Her husband, parents, and children were all tortured and murdered by an elf who thought of humans as playthings as slaves."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

545 Bandit Gathering 2

Gobsmacked, Daneel wondered whether he was hearing right.

How could these two be so sure that this mystery person who had gone to such lengths to cover everything about them was who they were saying she was?

And…wait. She? The bandit leader was actually a woman?!

Katerina crossed her legs and leaned forward before continuing to speak.

"I can understand the query you have. If you hear the tale, you'll understand why we think it's her."

As Daneel nodded, Katerina glanced at Eldra, who sighed and spoke up.

"I guess I should be the one to tell you about it, as all of it happened when I was Queen. Her name is Joselyn, and she was the daughter of one of the most prominent human families in the capital of Eldinor. I won't sugarcoat it. Until recently, even though it wasn't visible on the surface, humans were always persecuted and maligned in all matters in this Kingdom, especially in matters related to the higher classes of society."

This made Daneel nod. It made sense because supremacists were more often than not those who had had their wealth and power passed down for generations, and were thus rooted in the 'old ways'.

"If this were also the case in the low to mid-class society, I daresay that Eldinor might have collapsed long ago. I've realized over time that the more power one has, the more they tend to hold on to this disgusting idea that they are entitled to being superior. Anyway, I digress. They are the reason why human traders, merchants, and families who engage in certain occupations cannot grow to the top, as they would find it very difficult to receive larger contracts and work after reaching a certain level. Joselyn changed that. She monopolized a certain industry and made it so that even the elves who didn't want to would have to come to her, with no other choice. In her case, it was the transport of large quantities of high-end materials to and from Eldinor. As you know, the hobbies and occupations of many elves is trinket making. For this, many materials are required which need to be imported. They are precious, so a caravan getting intercepted by bandits would result in huge losses. No one knows how she did it, but she somehow made it so that her caravans had the least chance of being ambushed. Some said that she knew bandits very, very well, while others said that she was a master tactician. Regardless, her family grew by leaps and bounds until they were at a level comparable to the top echelons of civilians in the Kingdom."

At first, as he listened to this, Daneel couldn't help but feel admiration for this woman. He had seen first-hand just how crafty and cunning those bandits could be, so the fact that she had been able to study them and built effective strategies against them was really something to be admired.

At the same time, it started to make sense. Only someone like that would be capable of accomplishing everything that mysterious person had done. After all, she had come close to completely outsmarting even himself!

If it hadn't been for his quick thinking, Daneel would truly have had no option but to face complete and utter defeat in her hands.

With interest, Daneel joined together his hands and placed them in front of his face while he saw Eldra continue.

"Many elves didn't like that, but they let it go, and even started to adjust. Yet, there were a few who joined together and schemed to take 'revenge'. If I had known about it, I would definitely have stepped in, but by the time the Palace found out, her family was dead. She was actually supposed to die, too, but because she left on an unscheduled caravan run, it was her family who faced the brunt of the sick intent of those elves. They were abducted and were missing for three days, and even though Joselyn raised hell throughout the Kingdom in an attempt to find them, all she got was their dead bodies. No, 'dead bodies' isn't the right term. Sacks of bloody parts were unceremoniously dumped in front of her house. One contained all the heads, another had all the hands…you get the idea."

Daneel felt the hairs on his hands stand up straight as a chill passed throughout his whole body when he heard this. He could almost imagine it: a strong woman who had single-handedly built a business empire, crying with grief while staring at all the bloody sacks.

"3 children who were aged 8, 10 and 13, 6 elderly people who were her family, 2 sisters, 1 brother, and 1 husband. All of them had been drawn up and tortured to death. Some who witnessed the scene said that she went mad and died from having her heart shattered into a million pieces."

Sucking in a sharp breath, Daneel leaned back in his seat with anger in his eyes.

Back when he had had to incite the Eldinorians to target the Hidden Kill Sect, he had targeted such elves, too. Yet, only the dumbest ones would let the information leak that they were involved in something like this. The smartest ones would continue completely in the shadows, getting their sick satisfaction from asserting their 'dominance' over a 'lesser' species.

"It was later found out that that was a ruse proliferated by her to make everything think she was dead, when, in fact, she had just gone into hiding to take revenge. By this time, the Palace had also gotten involved, and even we were clueless about her whereabouts. We couldn't find the perpetrators, either, as they hid their tracks too well. Only, 2 months after that, strange things started to happen in the capital."

This tale had already reached the level where a movie modeled after it would definitely have broken all records back on Earth. Daneel could guess what happened next, but he looked forward to hearing it anyway.

"Accidents started to befall a certain group of high-profile elves, some of whom were even ministers of the Palace. One tripped and broke his neck. Another choked on a glass of tea. One even slipped on a banana peel and had her head impaled by a decoration."

'Creative, certainly.', Daneel mused, while a smile appeared even on Katerina's face.

"All in all, 8 elves, two of whom were Warrior Mages were killed. With their deaths, their torture rooms and illegal activities started to be uncovered. Joselyn had had her revenge, but, alas, as per the rules of the Kingdom, I had no option but to authorize an arrest warrant for her as she had taken the law into her own hands. Since then, we've heard nothing from her, except for a single piece of news that she had stolen the assets of those 8 elves and converted them into Ker Gems. She was only an Eminent Mage, but with those Ker Gems, it's very possible that she must have reached the Exalted Mage level. Hence, she fits all criteria."

Daneel had already guessed as much, so he continued and asked million Ker Gem question.

"But why would she want to break the alliance?"

It was Katerina who answered.

"I suspect that it is because of her vendetta against Eldinor, which failed her. She must not want this Kingdom to develop rapidly and continue the trend that has already started due to your actions."

Mulling on this, Daneel nodded after a few moments, but something felt off.

True, the perpetrator of this whole thing was definitely a very driven individual, so, Joselyn fit the bill.

Yet, this reason wasn't enough for her to act and talk with the desperation he had seen.

Still, he knew her identity, and a lot of stuff about her, which would definitely come in handy.

Standing up, Daneel let out a deep sigh and said, "All right, now I'm really glad that I came here. Thank you, both of you, for solving this. I promise that this will be resolved in a few days. Meanwhile, try to warn the elves to stay safe and cautious."

Nodding, the Queen and Eldra both stood up, too, to send the King off.

Nodding in return, they followed him with their eyes as they saw him leave and close the door politely behind him.

With him gone, Katerina adopted a much more casual pose

Sitting down on the sofa and putting one leg on another, she said, "So, the rumors are true."

She had a very strange expression on her face. It was one of…disbelief.

With a sigh and a sweet smile, Eldra sat down and said, "Yes, that appears to be the case. But I don't know why we should care. I don't even know how you talked me into this."

After chuckling for a moment, Katerina clapped both of her hands together and said, "Don't you feel it's so…odd? He must be the most innocent ruler in the history of Angaria, itself! There hasn't been a single ruler who didn't abuse their power to get what they wanted in 'that' matter. Not one, I bet!"

Putting her fingers together, Eldra said in a low voice, "Well, I…"

"You were hell-bent on destroying the Kingdom, so you don't count."

Katerina was never one to mince her words, or refrain from making direct jokes, She said this idly, which made Eldra glare at her for a moment before saying, "There's Queen Arafell, too."

"Pfft, please. That uptight woman is rumored to have a secret room in her Palace with numerous 'toys' to play with. Even if that isn't true, it doesn't take anything away from the novelty and uniqueness of our dear alliance leader."

"You…want to pursue him?"

As Eldra asked this, Katerina got a very thoughtful expression on her face for a few moments, before she sighed and said, "No, I just wanted to see if it was true. I don't gel well with those more powerful than me. Besides, it wouldn't be appropriate. And I wouldn't want to get into a fight with a certain woman in Lanthanor, who I hear is quite the firebrand. But, for now, it seems as if the King has no intentions of taking steps regarding those matters."

Hearing this, Eldra nodded.

As Katerina got up to get a bottle of wine, she ended the discussion, saying, "I wonder how long that will be the case, though. It will definitely be interesting to see who he chooses. I, at least, will be waiting to find out. Firewhiskey for you, right, Eldra?"

As the former Queen nodded, the present Queen walked to the cabinet and got them both bottles of wine, and the night was filled with discussions regarding the future of Eldinor and the alliance, along with brief speculations about what kind of woman the King would choose when the time did come.

…

One day later, Daneel was trying hard not to wrinkle his nose in disgust due to the cheap beer he had just drunk.

All around him, raucous laughter mixed with the sound of men winning and losing at board games of chance to result in an atmosphere that made Daneel feel as if he were in some sort of decrepit bar.

Only, he was 50 meters underground, in a large cavern which had over 600 people.

"Vincent, refill?", asked the bartender, which was a coveted position because the one in that role would be the one who could steal away the most beer and wine.

"Sure thing."

The Eminent Human he was masquerading as was supposed to be a drunkard, so Daneel had no option but to say this.

"System, block out my taste sense."

[Affirmative. Blocking taste.]

Taking this step, Daneel proceeded to down mug after mug of the murky yellow liquid until, finally, an explosive 'Boom!' Caught everyone's attention and made them look toward a flat-topped tock in the corner of the cavern.

There stood the man with the bald patch, and as he gathered the attention of all the bandits, he said, "The Gathering will start in 10 minutes. Now then, I don't want our group to be embarrassed like the others during the Gathering. There should be no squabbles for the leader's role. If anyone has the guts to beat me, then step right up, right now. Does anyone have the balls?"

Amidst the silence, Daneel drunkenly raised his hand and hiccuped, before shouting, "I do! Your balls will be mine, today, Skylar!"

"Here we go again."

"Man, Vincent is gonna have to rest for a month, again."

"Dumb bastard. The leader should just kill him this time."

As laughter and statements like these were heard all around him, Daneel staggered toward that flat-topped rock.

It was showtime.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

546 Bandit Gathering 3

As soon as Daneel reached the rock, the man with the bald patch leaped from on top of it and landed on the ground, 5 feet away from Daneel.

This entire section was devoid of any bandits, as if it was reserved for those who were foolish enough to challenge the leader- and Exalted Human.

Laughing lightly, Skylar cracked his neck from side to side and said, "It will be nice to get some punching practice in before the Gathering so that I'm fired up to take on the others. Which body part do you want to be broken now, Vincent? A leg, maybe? I told you to stop being so dumb."

Vincent: the new addition to this bandit group, had always been an odd one out.

Bandits had a very particular prejudice against those who hadn't lived similar lives as them. They actively shunned any and all people who had a decent upbringing and past, unlike theirs which was filled with darkness and blood.

Hence, when Vincent, the drunkard who was an Eminent Mage had joined the group with a spotless face and clean looks, everyone had come to the conclusion that no one would fraternize with him.

Vincent had liked nothing better. Clearly, there was a reason that he drunk himself silly every day, but he held it close to heart. His only goal was to defeat the leader and take his post, as it looked like he had some sort of objective to complete after achieving that.

Only, his dedication to that objective wasn't very high, as he could usually be found passed out in a pool of his own piss beside the bar area.

He was known for his antics of challenging the leader in drunken hazes, which always resulted in him losing the functioning of a body part until he got it healed. The leader still valued him as he was, after all, an Eminent Mage who got stuff done even though he was drunk, so that was why he hadn't killed him and allowed this to happen.

Hence, the moment he reached the leader and brandished his fists while waving from side to side as if he were a leaf that would blow away at any second, it became clear that everyone was in for a show.

Only, no one could have expected that this show would be so much more electrifying than they could think.

Without showing much caution, the leader lunged forward with a punch aimed at the drunkard's head to incapacitate him, so that he could safely dump him to the ground before having his way with him.

Yet, the moment his fist was going to connect with the mop of hair of the drunk man, he felt that something was wrong.

Shing!

A blade of metal appeared at lightning speed in the hand of the drunkard who had seemed to be only half in control of his wits till now, and as it shone in the light being cast onto the scene by the lamps on the walls, the man's eyes shone along with them.

This…speed of spellcasting! An Exalted Human!

As the bandits and the leader all realized it at the same moment, a smooth uppercut sent the magic blade in the direction of the leader's heart.

Yet, just before it connected, a barrier came into being that deflected it and allowed a moment of reprieve for the leader, who hastily stepped back with extreme, mind-numbing shock on his face.

"No, leader!"

Only, the moment he did, screams echoed from the watching bandits.

Even as he wondered why that was the case, Skylar heard a horrifying sound in his ears.

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

As a bandit, and an Exalted Mage bandit, at that, he had procured all the barrier trinkets he could, which he wore on his body at all times. At any moment of time, anyone would require 10 strikes to kill him, as the first 9 would all be blocked by the barriers.

And what he was hearing…was the sound of successive barriers breaking, one by one.

As he turned around in an attempt to see who or what the culprit was, he felt like rubbing his eyes.

At some point, a bevy of floating knives had come into being, each of which was neatly arranged with a little bit of distance between each of them so that they could successively break each barrier.

And he…had stepped right into them by stepping back.

In the only instant of time he had before he met certain death, Skylar cast a teleportation spell to leave this dangerous place.

Only, as he saw even this thwarted, he felt like sitting down on the ground and crying with frustration.

Even a damn anti-teleportation trinket had been activated by his opponent.

It was as if…he had started a choreographed dance, with each step perfectly under the control of the choreographer, who was his opponent, who had somehow taught him the steps and was making him follow them without his own knowledge.

That was the all the time he had had, so, a moment later, a knife smoothly entered his brain and exited through his Mageroot, granting him a swift death.

As for the last thought he had before dying…it was that he honestly wanted to clap at this performance, as it looked just so magical and perfect, albeit in a diabolical and bloody way.

As shocked silence spread throughout the room, Daneel, who was in the form of Vincent, straightened his back which had been hunched.

The drunken demeanor was finally gone, replaced by the arrogance of one whose scheme had just worked.

He was wearing the dirty, ragged, stinking clothes of a bandit for whom hygiene was the last priority, but still, at this moment, he let a hint of the aura that had awed the entire continent, itself, spread, which made the watching bandits' minds go blank.

Walking forward to the dead body of the man with the bald patch who had been the leader up until now, Daneel spit in his face, before flicking his finger and making a simple, wooden transparent casket appear.

The body floated into the casket, which was made to stand horizontally, displaying the face of the previous leader whose forehead was marred by a horizontal, bloody hole, through which his brain matter could be seen.

This chilling scene drilled it into the minds of all those watching, more than anything else.

Daneel had already figured out that as with normal people, the key to making these cold, bloodthirsty follow him instantly was theatrics.

Jaw-dropped, body-shattering theatrics that would result in them having no choice but cheer for him, lest he kill them all, too, in this exact way.

Of course, he had had to step stuff up a notch, and as the first cheer sounded, he smiled, knowing that it had worked.

"H-He did it! He told me he would, but I never believed it! He broke through and killed the leader!"

Saying so, this bandit who had managed to recover first and see the opportunity hurried forward to become the 'spokesman' of the leader, which was another important job.

Daneel was already floating in the air, and as this bandit reached the spot on the ground in front of him, he shouted, "Everyone, cheer for our new leader, Vincent! He will definitely lead us to many, many riches and women! Ha ha!"

With the visage of the previous leader clearly showing them what fate they would be subject to if they didn't support their new leader, the hundreds of bandits in the lair started to cheer, which made Daneel's smile broaden.

No matter how many times he experienced, this feeling of making a crowd turn in his direction through his actions…was something that would always make him feel very, very happy.

The cheering continued for a few moments, after which Daneel raised a hand and slashed the air, as a signal for it to stop.

Raising his hand and making a bottle of the costliest wine available, which was reserved for the reader, float to his hand, he threw his head back and chugged it all in one go.

When he was done, he wiped his mouth and said a single word.

"Drink."

With the raucousness returning, the cavern of bandits returned to their revelry.

This was, in fact, a common occurrence in smaller bandit groups, and they had all seen it before. The only reason they had been so awed now was that they had never been witness to such a smooth kill. Usually, there would only be messy attempts which were nowhere near as exciting to look at.

His first object accomplished, Daneel walked to the back of the the flat rock, where a table had been hewn out of a boulder.

On this table, there were the familiar three trinkets used by the man with the bald patch before, along with a fourth one. One of the three was flashing, indicating that there was a message.

The moment he touched it, that gruff voice said, "Skylar, are you done with the battles? There were only a few pesky brats here. I wanted to discuss something with you. Why don't we ally together and push that newcomer out? We can do whatever we wish, then. The safest thing would be to leave! We can definitely get a foothold elsewhere, especially if we work together."

In a nonchalant tone, Daneel replied, "Skylar is no longer with us. I'm Vincent."

This was followed by a few moments of silence, after which a laugh was heard through the trinket.

"Great! Congratulations! I always hated that that bald bastard anyway. Now then, Vincent. The offer still stands."

The hypocrisy of this man was something that could only be marveled at.

Shaking his head, Daneel said, "I'll make a decision during the Gathering. If I'm with you, you'll know."

"Sure, take your time! Again, congratulations!"

As the voice faded away, Daneel chuckled and waited for the Gathering to start.

He had spent yesterday doing some investigations, and some very interesting stuff had turned up.

The Gathering began exactly 9 minutes later, and as Daneel silenced the cavern again, he changed the mode of the last trinket to 'loudspeaker', which allowed all the bandits to listen.

"The Gathering has begun. I am Asher, the same bandit who hosted the last Gathering, too. Almost all bandit groups are in attendance, along with the three leaders who were elected last time. Today's agenda: the future plan of the alliance, now that the train system between Lanthanor and Eldinor can no longer be delayed. But first, before that, we have Vincent, who has taken over Skylar's place. By virtue of showing his power, he has inherited the alliance leader place of his predecessor. As such, a fresh vote can now be called, but personally, I urge you all not to let this happen, as time is precious. Now, then. Do any of you three want to call for a vote? Even if one of you wants to, it will be done."

The person who spoke had a surprisingly deep voice, which garnered the utmost attention of all those listening.

The garbled voice answered first.

"I pass."

The gruff voice followed.

"I pass."

Only, when it was the turn of the last leader who had newly ascended to his post, only silence was heard through the display trinket.

"Mr. Vincent, we are waiting for your answer."

As annoyed murmurs started to sound in many bandit groups who were listening, the new leader made a statement that made almost everyone rub their ears and wonder if they had heard right.

"I call for a vote. I have no intention of sharing this leadership with someone like Riordan. I propose that he be stripped, and I encourage all those who are under him to come under me."

Even the bandits in front of Daneel were shocked.

This drunkard hadn't been the leader for even an hour, and he was already creating so much trouble?

With fury clearly visible in his voice, Riordan, the third leader, asked, "And why is that?"

Daneel answered in a merry voice.

"Oh, I thought you would never ask, Riordan. I recently came across some very interesting news…you see, I could never have guessed that your real name is John Burrows. Everyone, let me tell you a bit about John Burrows. He was born in the massive family estate of the esteemed Burrows family in the Kingdom of Arafell. For his schooling, he went to Lanthanor to attend a private academy for the rich. His parents have a real nice marriage, and he even visits them occasionally. In fact, that was where he was last night. And why did he become a bandit, you ask? Of course, to exploit you all and earn money on your blood which will sustain the rich lifestyle of the Burrows! Now, as someone who grew up in the slums, I think I can speak for everyone listening when I say that I WILL NOT stand for Mr. Richie Rich here continuing to exploit us, just like all those arseholes who did the same thing all our lives and drove us into this life. Well, that's my thought, at least. Who's with me?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

547 Bandit Gathering 4

For a few seconds after Daneel made this statement, only silence could be heard from the thousands who were in attendance.

Then, a menacing growl brought everyone back to their senses.

"You m*****f*cker! Stop spouting bullsh*t! Noone's dumb enough here to believe everything you say! Everyone, there isn't a smidgen of truth in what this guy is saying! Don't believe him! I'm not willing to share leadership with him, either!"

At this point, the main problem with a Gathering that was being out in this fashion was displayed.

Because only audio was available to the thousands of bandits, they had only the voices and tones of those speaking to study and judge on before making decisions.

A claim so absurd…would definitely have been thrown out the window, normally, if it was brought up by any bandit.

Yet…Daneel wasn't basing this on nothing.

"Pfft. Shut up, Riordan. Everyone knows how you entered the circle of bandits wearing clothes that belonged to high-profile citizens. Everyone knows how you much you enjoy your luxuries. Hell, I heard that you even brought a bed to your lair to be comfortable while the rest of us sleep on cold, hard ground! As for your family…anyone can go check them out as soon as this Gathering is over. Or…asking around about the family would be enough."

This made discussions begin in the bandit groups, more specifically, in the ones that were under the leadership of Riordan after pledging to follow him during the last Gathering.

Bandits…loved gossip, as they didn't have much else to do in their free time. Hence, the eccentricities of this man were talked about a lot in hushed tones, as he was also known to kill those who talked about him behind his back.

Daneel had heard these things from Skylar, whose place he had taken, and using them, he had formed a really…convincing tale that twisted what was there into something he could use for his own purpose.

This was really nothing too different from what politicians always did back on Earth. A mountain could be made out of a molehill just to aid a politician's cause, even if the molehill was nothing but a pile of phrases taken out of context.

"You! I dare anyone to go to that family, right now! Yes, I do like my luxury! But that doesn't mean that I-"

There it was!

Hearing this made Daneel smile, as what he had hoped had come to be.

Anger would often loosen one's tongue, and make them say incriminating things which might not have been so harmful in normal circumstances.

Until now, Riordan's 'luxuries' had been rumors spread by the large bandit group he was directly in command of. However, now, it had just been confirmed, meaning that there was a possibility that what Daneel had said was also right.

It seemed that Riordan had also understood the same, as he cut off his sentence midway.

Daneel didn't even step in to say anything at this point, because there was always a line which, when crossed, would make it look as if he was trying too hard.

Someone who was confident that they were telling the truth wouldn't feel the urge to step in and repeat themselves every opportunity they got.

So, Daneel held his tongue…and waited for the dominos to fall.

He had had no option but to use such a roundabout method, as the locations of each bandit group was really a very well hidden secret, such that it was impossible even for him to find any other bandit group than the ones Skylar was in control of.

Otherwise, he could directly have gone to kill these two leaders who were just Exalted Humans.

In the silence that followed, Daneel could tell that many full-blown discussions had started in many bandit groups regarding whether what he was saying was true.

Yet, they were all interrupted by three screams.

These…were followed by a chilling voice which said, "Well played, Vincent, or whatever your name is. It looks like you've been planning this for a long time. Nothing I say will work in this situation, anyway. So, I think the best thing to do is let our actions speak for us. The truth is a murky object which can switch hands at a moment's notice. We can argue all day, but at the end, it all comes down to one thing: whether you're willing to back up your words with strength. I'm not willing to share the leadership with you, either. Come to this location and fight me. The winner will be the one who's right. Unless you're too cowardly to step forward, in which case it will become clear that you're just a coward who's hiding underneath neatly woven lies."

Daneel was honestly…shocked.

Shocked…at the utter stupidity of this guy.

Yet, how could he know that he wasn't just a newly ascended Exalted Human who had killed Skylar by chance?

At this moment, the King of Lanthanor really felt like bursting out with laughter, as this was just too funny.

This whole thing had started because he couldn't find the locations of these bandits. Yet, this guy was delivering himself to Daneel on a silver plate.

Well, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

"Come at me, Richie Rich."

"Hahaha! Here we go. Asher, pause the Gathering for 5 minutes. That's all I'll need. You…I'm sending the location via the trinket only the leaders have. Come meet your death."

A few seconds later, Daneel was whistling a merry tune while waiting at the spot indicated by Riordan.

As the man appeared, Daneel finally couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing while clutching his stomach.

This made Riordan, who really was wearing the luxurious clothes of a high-profile family, frown and say, "What's the matter? Found it funny that you're going to die to uphold a lie?"

Daneel had to take a few seconds to control himself. When he finally did, he wiped the tear that had appeared at the corner of his eye and said, "No, but you'll get it soon."

"Enough talk. Let's get this over with quickly."

Saying this, Riordan let out a battle cry and heroically conjured a globe of fire around his fist, with metal spikes to boot, which really did look like a terrifying attack.

Clearly, this was someone who was treading the path of a Fighter cum Mage.

Although the man was a little alarmed that his most famous signature attack handn't elicited even a flinch from his opponent, he charged forward anyway, punching with all his might with the intention to break any and all barriers that came in his way before crushing the smug face of this lying bastard.

Weirdly, no barriers stopped him, and his opponent even stood still.

Rejoicing and taking it as a sign that the man might be scared silly, Riordan waited to hear the sickening crunch that he loved which came when multiple spikes drilled into one's face and brain.

Only…at the last moment, he suddenly found himself frozen, in mid-air, with an impossible sight in front of him.

This guy, who was supposed to be an Exalted Mage who had just reached that level, was holding a single finger up, which had stopped his attack in its tracks.

It wasn't just his attack. His whole body felt as if it had been trapped in a quagmire, and he was unable to move no matter how much he tried.

Daneel enjoyed the look of befuddled shock on the bandit leader's face for a moment, before he decided to end this without stretching it for too long.

"You idiot, all I wanted was for you to come out of whatever hole you were hiding in. I really should thank you for saving me the effort."

Shaking his head and saying this with a smile, Daneel used Mind Control and extracted all the valuable information, such as the locations of all the hideouts of the bandit group under this leader, before conjuring a bed of knives that impaled him in hundreds of spots around his body.

After that, he even separated each limb, before finally letting the 5 parts of the man fall to the ground, where they would stay as a chilling memento to those who came to check what the fate of the bandit leader was.

The idea was to scare anyone who came and leave no illusions, whatsoever, that this hadn't been one-sided. And to incite fear…the best way was to bring one's nightmares to life.

With his work done, Daneel dusted his hands, quite pleased as to how this had turned out. If this guy hadn't asked for a fight, some groups might have voted to stay with him, meaning that Daneel wouldn't have gotten their locations. Also, the man might even have stayed in his role.

That was all a thing of the past now. He now had the locations of 2/3rds of all bandits, and they were at his mercy. All that remained…was Joselyn.

At the last moment, just as he was about to teleport away, the system sent him a message.

[Surveillance Module has detected an object that is spying on host from a spot 150 meters south-east of host.]

An object? Did that mean…that someone had sent some sort of communication eye to watch the fight?

Other than him and Riordan who was lying on the ground below in 5 parts, only one other person knew that they were fighting in this spot.

Joselyn.

In an instant, Daneel reached that spot and saw that he was right.

It really was a communication eye, which was in the form of a small globe that hovered in the air.

"Drakos, can you give me the location of who is controlling this thing?", Daneel asked, wondering whether he had hit the jackpot. If that was the case, he would simply go over and Mind Control Joeslyn now, bringing this whole issue to a satisfying end.

Yet, it looked like he wouldn't be having it that easy.

"No, Young King. There are three trinkets in between this one and the actual source. Whoever is using this is very skilled in hiding themselves. Even if I could give you the location of the next trinket, they would be gone before you went to the next one after that."

Great. This woman had even managed to outsmart the Ancient Dragon!

Honestly, Daneel was impressed, but he had to stop her.

Yet, all he could use right now were his words.

So, he decided to throw the dice.

"Hey, I know who you are, and I know that you probably know who I am, too. If you don't, let me tell you. I am the King of Lanthanor, the leader of the Alliance which you are trying to break apart with all your might. Joselyn, I know what happened to your family. But, trust me, that doesn't mean that all elves are bad. I really must advise you against seeking revenge from the whole of Eldinor for something done by a few rotten individuals. I-"

"You really think I'm doing all this because I resent Eldinor?"

Seeing that same garbled voice interrupt him and say this, Daneel's eyes widened.

"Then why are you doing this?"

When he heard her answer, he couldn't help but raise both his eyebrows in disbelief.

"I'm doing this because I'm a human who doesn't want even more humans to be discriminated against. I only managed to target and kill those responsible for my family's death. Other than them, there are hundreds who still engage in activities like those and go scot-free, because they are essential to the economy. They can't be touched. They are the main ones benefiting from this alliance! They will grow and gain even more influence over many more humans! I cannot allow even one more family to suffer what I've been through. So, I have no choice but to stop your alliance. You're powerless against them; if you targeted them, Eldinor, itself, will collapse. If you really care for your citizens, I suggest that you stop this, yourself. Our two races can never co-exist. You might have changed some of them, but they will change back. Trust me, I know them better than anyone else."

So…that was her cause.

Hearing the anguish and passion in her voice, Daneel could tell that it was also her strong motive which enabled her to work so effectively.

At this moment, he really wished that he had someone like that under him, too.

As for the news about the elves, he was sickened, but he knew that she was right. He had had no time and no way to investigate each and every elf, and only those who had been careless had allowed their actions to be known by others.

But….was he really powerless? Was there really nothing he could do?

A bold idea entered Daneel's mind.

"Consider this. What if…all of these elves confessed their crimes to the public? Out of…well, let's say…guilt, because they were saved by humans? Wouldn't it be a sight to behold? And if you see the way the other elves react to that, wouldn't it help you to change your opinion about them?"

"Pfft. Stop speaking nonsense. Those black-hearted elves would never confess."

"Don't be so fast to judge. Who knows? Maybe they will be visited by someone who can be very…convincing. Maybe they will see the light, and start to praise it, too, while confessing everything! Would you cancel your plan if that happens?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

548 Bandit Gathering End

5 kilometers away, under an unassuming rock, a figure coated with earth was lying prone, unmoving.

A small scorpion slowly climbed onto this figures legs, then made its way to her back, as it had smelled something strange from this spot. Yet, no matter how much it searched, it couldn't find anything amiss.

From the figure's back, it traveled to its head, before finally admitting defeat and leaving the scene.

All through this, the figure hadn't moved even an inch, which showed just how adept it was in hiding.

Of course, this was Joselyn.

As she heard the King say that statement with so much confidence, doubt appeared inside her, as she wondered whether this man, who was the cause of miracle after miracle on Angaria, was capable of even this feat.

Yet, that thought was interrupted by the flashes of images which haunted her day and night.

Sacks oozing with blood. One had only hands. Another, only legs. And the last…contained the heads, all of which were contorted into expressions of extreme pain.

In all of the sacks, it was the smallest items which hurt the most when she saw them. She had clutched them in her hands and cried out, yet there had been no one to help her. No one to tell her that it would be all right.

Since that day, she hadn't slept even a single night completely. Nightmares plagued her, and it was a miracle that she was even alive after surviving on just 2-3 hours of disturbed sleep per day.

She…had lost the ability to trust anyone ages ago. Hell, she didn't even trust herself, completely. Maybe that was why she would sometimes tie up her hands before sleeping. Because she was afraid that she might kill herself, before she obtained revenge on all those elves who were still continuing to commit acts like those and destroying human families, one by one.

Only, right now…when she had heard the King say it, she had imagined for a moment.

It…was truly a sight to behold.

But was it possible?

Should she give him a chance?

Should she trust him and promise to stand down?

No way. How could she trust someone who had saved all those elves, too?

"No. I'm sorry, but I cannot take the luxury of trusting you. I guess that you want me to announce to the Gathering that we will stand down or something. After that, I can guess that your plan must be to root all these bandits out and kill them, all at once. If you do that, I will have no more instrument to take my revenge."

Hearing this, Daneel sighed.

It had been a long shot. After all, he couldn't expect everyone to just follow him willy-nilly just because he said a few words.

Besides, this was also someone highly intelligent and driven, and such people were rare and hard to come by. Only, they were also harder to convince.

Once again, Daneel felt that same feeling that had washed over him when he had repeatedly failed to find clues regarding who was behind all this.

Failure.

After a long time, he had once again…failed.

Yet, Daneel had learned from that moment. Instead of getting anger and frustration, he felt determined to give his best.

He could tell that Joselyn was going to cut the call, probably because she was still afraid that he would somehow track her down.

So, he quickly said, "Wait! I have one last thing to say."

Not hearing the 'click' which would mean that she had severed the connection, Daneel felt relieved and continued.

"I understand that you can't trust me. After all, I've done nothing to earn your trust. But I wanted to tell you this. I will go ahead and do what I just said, anyway. I do not want such scum to live any more than you do, and I'm also interested to see how the other elves will react when they see those confessions. Give me the list of those elves. It will save me a lot of time. I assume that this was what you were doing in the years between you leaving Eldinor and becoming the bandit leader?"

The answer came after a moment.

"Yes."

"Good. Give me the list. You lose nothing by doing so. If, and I'm saying if, I make it happen, I really hope that you reconsider your decision. Of course, for now, you don't need to join me, and you don't need to promise anything either. All right?"

The only answer Daneel got was that 'click', which meant that she had gone ahead and severed the connection.

Yet, he smiled, as he knew that she had heard what he said.

But…what about the list?

As soon as he got this question, data from a data trinket started to be transferred, line by line, to the communication trinket in his hands.

"System, record all these names!", he said, as even though he could remember all of them clearly if he wanted to because of the increased complexity of his mind after breaking through to become a Peak Warrior, he didn't want to run the risk of missing a name.

[Affirmative.]

The transmission ended after a few more minutes, after which Daneel smiled again, placed the trinket in his pocket and teleported back to his bandit group.

Once he reached there, the others had to take a moment to recognize him, as blood had spilled onto his face when he had wrenched Riordan's limbs out.

First, there was fear, mainly because of the horrifying look in Daneel's eyes, which was the result of him contemplating what kind of tortures those rotten elves should be subjected to.

"Leader Vincent is victorious! Yes!"

After that, cheering finally began, which was cut off by Daneel with a wave of his hand when he walked forward to the Bandit Gathering trinket again.

The others had already heard the cheers, so, when he spoke, it was the confirmation.

"Guess Mr. Riche Rich wasn't as skilled as he thought, after all. Oh, if anyone wants confirmation: we were fighting 56 kilometers north-east from the Border gate of Lanthanor. Just look for the craters, and you can find his sorry ass body there, too. Now then, I wish to address all the bandit groups. My predecessor, Skylar, called this meeting because he wasn't confident in J's plan. I echo those sentiments. Hell, I miss the man. We had such a nice understanding."

As chuckles sounded through the trinket, Daneel continued.

"If we go through with what J has suggested, mark my words, there will be another bandit hunt just like 400 years ago, when he had to hide like dogs and rats for years, living on raw meat and grass, while the Kingdoms of the Central Continent scoured the land for us. We may have survived then, but I am not willing for us to do that again. One statistic says that 40% of us died from starvation. That means 4 out of every 10 of you will die from clutching your stomachs in vain because you will have no food to eat! There isn't a more disgraceful death for a bandit. We are men of might! If we die, then it should be on the battlefield, after we've put forward our whole effort to live and spit on death's face! I propose a different plan. Let us move to the other major bandit areas, where we can covertly attack and kill many bandit groups and take over their place. I've already shown you my worth in might. Follow me, and you will see the same in all other matters, too. Follow me, to march forth into a new age of banditry, where we can pillage and kill to our heart's content!"

"YES!"

"LEADER VINCENT! LEADER VINCENT!"

"Pillage, kill, and drink! And make sure that the beer isn't always gone!"

As Daneel spoke out with burning passion, many, many shouts of approval could be heard until it resulted in a cacophony of voices which couldn't be made sense of.

Only, they all ceased when that garbled voice spoke up.

"A noble cause, Leader Vincent. But a statistic also says that 6 out of 10 of an invading force, especially when they are outnumbered and in a new place, will die. I still see better odds with my plan, even if this statistic doesn't really apply to us. Yes, we will have to hide. But we can make preparations beforehand to avoid deaths by starvation. To all those who follow me, I tell you this. Yes, we will have to hide for years. But when we emerge, we will be the ones in command, instead of having to struggle to go to a new place which we know nothing about. Follow me, if you want to be Kings instead of fleeing rats."

J's speech was given in a neutral tone, but it was enough to incite the other bandits who had been on the fence.

Once again, Daneel had to admit that she was very, very capable, to say the least.

He had expected something like this to happen, but he was powerless to stop it. So, all he could do was say his piece and see what happens.

Asher spoke up after this.

"Bandit leaders, please stop forward and make your decisions known regarding which leader you wish to follow. I guess it's obvious that those who follow Vincent will be following his plan, while those who stand behind J will go ahead with the plan we already have - to mix into villages and towns and kill elves to break the alliance. I shall be counting."

With a pondering expression on his face, Daneel waited for the voting to be done.

He was thinking about the list of vile elves he had. True, making them confess was a bright idea, but how could it be explained if the Big 4 decided to intervene on seeing that it was very strange? There had to be some or the other reason.

When he was thinking about this, Daneel found himself remembering Earth. There, what would explain something miraculous like this?

A single answer came to his mind.

Religion!

There were many instances in history where people had gotten up to strange activities in the name of their 'God'.

Some said it was mass hysteria, but others said that there really was something to it.

Regardless, the result was what Daneel wanted.

As he thought about this, Daneel noticed a glaring 'hole' on this continent that, made him pause and drop his jaw, wondering how he hadn't noticed it before.

There was no religion, at all!

On Angaria, there was no concept of prayer or believing in something people couldn't see, but was much greater than them. Yes, people referred to the 'heavens' and 'hell', but it was all vague.

There were a few exceptions, but even there, religion wasn't a thing. For example, in the Black Raven Kingdom, people worshipped the ancestor Black Raven, which had turned out to be a crazy, raving lunatic who was now subdued by Faxul.

As for the giants, they worshipped Arafell.

Still, this really was a huge, gaping 'hole'.

Should he fill it?

Daneel knew that there were many positives and negatives with religion, so he was indecisive.

That was when the final result was announced: surprisingly, the bandit groups which had been in 3 parts had now split into two, with half vowing to follow Daneel while the other half would go along with J.

Yes, it was definitely a failure, at least, for now.

As Daneel stood up, he made a decision.

This was a major matter, so he would first have to carry out a test. With this thought, Daneel recalled the origins of some of the major religions on Earth.

While he decided that he wouldn't be copying anything directly from there, he did take some tips, while forming a plan in his own style.

As a smile formed on the corner of his lips, the members of his bandit group started to wonder just what kind of plan their powerful leader was cooking up now.

…

Night time, in the Kingdom of Eldinor.

After using burning tongs to happily torture 5 of the many humans whom he kept in his basement, Gerhart the elf had just climbed into his soft bed with the company of another human who was tied to his bed.

Closing his eyes, he fell asleep.

Only, a few minutes later, he opened his eyes and squinted to find a round globe of light that was as bright as the sun shining in all its glory in the room, right in front of him.

Looking to the side, he saw that the tied up human woman was still asleep, which meant that….

"You're dreaming, Gerhart. You have sinned. I have come to offer you salvation, and an escape from the eternity of pain that awaits you in hell. I am the Light, and if you truly wish to find an escape, then you must Praise me and follow my instructions. What kind of pain, you ask? Let me show you…"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

549 Praise the Light!

As a Peak Exalted Human level Mage, the first thing Gerhart did was switch on his elemental vision to see just what kind of spell was causing this ball of light to appear.

Not for a second did he buy that stuff about sinning and salvation. For centuries, his ancestors had tortured humans, year after year. For them, humans were just playthings which brought them entertainment and a sense of accomplishment when they made them squeal, as, in their view, that was all they were worthy of.

Yet, now, he was suddenly supposed to believe that they were all suffering in hell? Fat chance.

And as for the statement that this was all a dream? Well, again, he didn't know whether he believed it, even though all the signs were currently pointing in that direction.

Only, when Gerhart did switch on his elementary vision, he saw something that made him gasp with shock.

There were no elementary particles being moved! This was some kind of being that was in that shape!

Daneel smiled as he saw the elf realized this. Of course, this was all being done by Mind Control. He had already taken control of the man's mind when he had awakened, and now, he was in complete control of what he saw and thought.

"As you see, I am no hoax created by a spell, Gerhart. I am real as you and the poor women beside you whom you **** every night. You are confident that your ancestors have done the same for centuries. Well, let me show you what they are up to, right now."

Saying so, the light brightened, while, in front of Daneel, the elf collapsed.

He was doing this after dropping off Drakos in his stone pedestal, and although the Ancient Dragon had asked why, Daneel hadn't answered, thinking that telling him that he was creating a fake religion might count toward him being enticed toward the dark path.

So, he was in this alone, but that wasn't a problem with his Peak Champion level system, as he was only handling Peak Exalted Human level Mages for the most part.

Daneel watched as the elf's eyes twitched while he was seeing his ancestors being subjected to the most gruesome tortures imaginable to him. That was definitely a long list, as Daneel had taken a look around the elf's secret chambers. The kinds of torture devices and the state of the prisoners there…had made his blood boil, making him want to kill this elf, right here.

Yet, the best punishment for such people was to strip them of what they valued most. And for elves like these, it was their superior feeling that was most valuable to them.

Not wanting to get ahead of himself, Daneel stopped his thoughts, watching while froth started to form at the elf's mouth due to the fact that he must be reacting violently to that nightmare in his mind that wasn't ending.

Finally, after a minute, Daneel resumed his 'divine intervention'.

Indeed, Gerhart had just seen his own father being torn apart into pieces while alive, and then reformed perfectly, before being subjected to a different form of torture. This went on, again and again, all while his screams echoed in Gerhart's head.

Right beside him was his mother, and then his grandparents, and behind them were a long line of people.

He caught no glimpse of the ones actually carrying out the torture, but that was even more horrifying. In a way, it had almost been like his ancestors were being forced to do all that to themselves.

As he came back to his senses, Gerhart collapsed to the ground and knelt without any hesitation.

An eternity of that…just thinking about it made him take a piss in his pants. As the one who enjoyed inflicting pain so much, there was probably no one else who could understand better exactly what that meant.

No! He didn't want it! Whatever this damn ball wanted, he would do it!

"Please save me! I have sinned!", he said, even though he didn't mean it.

Fear was the only thing directing his actions, and if this were a real god, he might have been turned away, with some statement such as 'your heart isn't pure'.

Yet, this was exactly the result that Daneel wanted.

"Realization is the first step. This is what you must do…"

As Daneel said this hypocritical crap and continued to give instructions in detail, Gerhart listened without missing a single word, his eyes shining with relief that he wouldn't have to face what he had just seen.

That was all that was on his mind. He didn't care about anything else.

After Daneel was done, he used the Mind Control spell to make the elf go back to sleep, following which he silently promised all the poor humans here that they would be free, soon.

He had a lot of stops to make, so Daneel hurried away and got to work.

If he were stronger, he might have chosen to do this in a different way: Mind Control worked in such a way that a person could be actively controlled and influenced by him if he wished, remotely. Yet, this would take up a little of his Mageroot. Even though it wasn't a lot, when the matter became that of hundreds of elves, it just wasn't enough.

Hence, he had no option but to dispel the spell on them, while leaving no traces whatsoever that they had been Mind Controlled. He trusted the power of fear, so Daneel wasn't too worried that this would backfire on him in any way.

The list given by Joselyn was very exhaustive. By the time he was done, according to Daneel's guess, all those whom he had visited, if taken together, would mostly have as much wealth as a Kingdom, itself.

Most of this wealth had been accumulated for decades of centuries, as most of these elves were those whose traditions and 'habits' had been passed down, daughter to son, son to daughter. There was no discrepancy in gender: in the list, at least 40% of them were female.

With the preparations done, Daneel realized that he was on a very tight schedule. It was around 3 A.M in the night, and he knew that Joselyn would be going ahead with her own plan at noon, today.

Before that, he had to make this happen.

So, Daneel immediately rushed to his quarters to grab some quick rest, as today would be a very tiring day.

…

The next day, Maylana the elf was humming a little tune to herself while going about her business.

Since the events of the Elf Carnival, she had changed so much that she was almost unrecognizable from the sad, crying, brooding elf who had had her heart broken by the Queen.

The reason for that change…was the King of Lanthanor.

That moment, when the King had marched forward with his army into the red veil, knowing that it might mean certain death, was the defining one of her life.

She had always thought that she was unlucky, and that bad things happened to her repeatedly.

Yet, seeing someone march forward even in the face of death had driven all such negative thoughts out of her mind.

These were humans who hadn't hesitated to sacrifice themselves for a race which had treated them with scorn and prejudice for centuries! If that wasn't inspiring, then what was?

Even later, when she had seen the King walk from family to family and bring them to life, she had been captivated by this dashing man who had done more for the elves than anyone else since antiquity.

She had heard the other elves talking. Apparently, as he had seen it happening and because his was their neighboring Kingdom, he had the option to let them all die and then invade an empty Kingdom to reap the riches and expand his own Kingdom.

Hell, if it were any other normal King who had inherited their throne, many elves said that that would mostly have happened, and that the elves might have ceased to exist, altogether.

That had given birth to an interest in her to find out what made the King different. Hence, after everything had died down, she had made a trip with the allowance given to her by the Palace to the Kingdom of Lanthanor, where she went to the capital to take the tour of the King's life.

When she had seen the tiny house which was smaller than any even she had lived in, she hadn't been able to believe it. That was where that man had come from?!

This had changed her even more. If someone like that could forge forward without complaints and accomplish something so momentous that he would be known for, probably, eternity, then how was it right for her to bemoan her 'bad luck' and contemplate suicide?

She had gone back to Eldinor a changed woman.

Before leaving, she had gone to the Bank of Angaria, where, to her surprise, she had even received a loan, on seeing which she had burst out into tears.

Determined to turn her life around and equipped to do so, she had returned and leased a portion of land, which she began tilling and farming in in the ways taught to her by her family.

In the process, she had come up with some interesting ideas for trinkets that would really help in farming, and that was the reason why she had been in the capital for 4 days: she was looking for someone to make those trinkets. Although many kept rejecting her, the changed Maylana never lost hope.

Right now, she was heading to another trinket designer, but, on the way, she stopped in her tracks as she saw a sight which made her widen her eyes with shock.

Wasn't that…Lady Irfina, one of the most reputed elves of the capital?

Why was she…walking in front of a large group of humans, most of whom were bloody and injured?

Had she saved them, perhaps?

No, something was definitely wrong.

This delegation had caught the eye of others, too, and along with them, Maylana followed.

Soon, she came across a sight she would never forget.

In the large square in front of the Palace of Eldinor which was meant to hold thousands of people for important events such as elections, there were many such delegations present.

Most of the elves were dignified and famous ones, known for their rich heritage and skill in various fields.

Only, right now, they were all standing in front of groups of silent humans in a strange position.

Their eyes were fixed on the sun, while their hands were kept straight and raised above shoulder level.

Their eyes were leaking tears because of directly looking into the sun, but only smiles were on their faces.

They were constantly muttering something, and as Maylana got closer, she heard what they were saying.

"Praise the Light."

Over and over again, they were saying this.

At this point, Maylana noticed something else, too: in front of each of them was a pole, on which a long parchment was placed.

Curious, she walked up to one of them, but as she read it, she stepped back with terror.

"I confess that I am the cause of all the crimes below. I have sinned, but I now beg for salvation by Praising the Light!

76 humans killed by drowning.

89 humans killed by boiling.

156 humans killed during torture

…"

Like this, the list went on and on.

As Maylana started to go from parchment to parchment, she didn't spot a man standing in the shadow of a building nearby, looking at everything going on with a grim smile on his face.

So far, everything was going according to plan.

A communication eye was also live, broadcasting all this to the Network, which meant that Joselyn must be watching.

Just as Daneel was about to send a message to see if she would respond, a chill passed through his spine.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! ….

Multiple thunderclaps were heard in the sky, as 7 individuals teleported into the air right above where all this was happening.

Daneel actually recognized four of them. The man standing in the middle was the Head of the High Council, and beside him was the Hero who had sworn to follow him.

Toward the end were the two Heroes who had attacked and almost killed him.

For the first time, the Head looked furious. His pupils were dilated, and his face was an angry red in color as he screamed, "WHO DARES TO TRY AND SNEAK IN? COME OUT! COME OUT AND FACE THE HEROES OF ANGARIA!"

[System informs host that all 7 targets being scanned are at the Hero level.]

His jaw dropping, Daneel got a single question in his head, while he took a step back and bumped into the wall in shock.

All he had wanted to do was start a fake religion. Why the f*ck had that warranted an all-out attack by more Heroes than he had ever seen in a single place?

What the f*ck was even going on?!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

550 Lesson

After gaping at the sight of all these Heroes looking around with glaring, red eyes, Daneel almost yelped with fright before saying, "The camouflage is on, right?"

[Affirmative. Hero-level camouflage spell was deployed when a Hero-level individual was detected, as instructed by host.]

'Thank god for subroutines!'

That was the thought that ran through Daneel's head when he heard this.

He would have been foolish if he had the ability to instruct the system beforehand on certain things and didn't use it to save his ass in situations where he could be slow on the uptake.

Hence, he had already placed a lot of subroutines which would trigger in specified situations, such as this one.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Daneel refocused his eyes on the Heroes, who were still waiting, as if the Head's shout really would result in some opponent busting out of somewhere.

The people of Eldinor were also puzzled, wondering who these individuals were that had barged into their Kingdom like this. They started whispering among themselves, which seemed to irritate the Head, who flicked his finger.

In an instant, the large, circular square became devoid of Eldinorians, and, at the same time, a transparent globe came into effect which kept everyone away, including the army of Eldinor which had just started to come forward to see what the ruckus was.

Except for the Heroes, the elves who were 'confessing', and the tortured humans behind them, there was no one else inside.

Or so the Heroes thought.

Daneel was still there, feeling so thankful that the system had managed to copy the Hero-level camouflage spell from Drakos even though it couldn't understand it.

Panic regarding what the hell he had done to bring down what almost looked like divine fury still filled him, but he was at least confident in the fact that they couldn't find him, unless he drew attention to himself.

Besides, he wasn't close to the Head like in that occasion before when he had been right below the man after the fight between Ashahell and the Mad Doctor. At that moment, Drakos had warned him that it might not be completely safe, so Daneel also felt thankful that he had been cautious and opted for a place that was quite far away from the clearing, but still in eyeshot of it.

Resolving to not even move an inch no matter what happened, Daneel settled into the shadows to observe.

Meanwhile, the Heroes were still menacingly looking around, as if expecting a fight from any direction, at any moment.

Finally, after a minute or so, they got odd looks on their faces.

The Head was the first to regain his composure.

"That's odd. Typically, by this time, they would have jumped out and would be expounding about how backward we are. Guess we have a sly one, this time. If whoever had the gall to sneak in is still here, they would be hiding inside one of the people below. Spread out and begin searching. Use force to break through their minds and search through their memories. Look for residues of spells. Don't leave even a single rock unturned."

There were hundreds of elves in the square, and thousands of humans.

So, the Heroes had their work cut out for them.

At this moment, Daneel realized how much of a close shave this was. If he hadn't used that strategy of trusting fear, he would have been actively Mind Controlling these elves, which would make it so that he would have been spotted in an instant.

Against this many Heroes…he didn't stand a chance. Hell, just one Hero, himself, would be quite a challenge, even if he did have Drakos. And now, Daneel didn't even have the Ancient Dragon with him.

As he had taken care not to leave behind any clues, he was confident that they would find nothing, but the curiosity was still eating him up inside.

What the f*ck had he done that had elicited such a reaction?

He had already considered the risks.

The main risk was that this might look like another attempt by the Church to proliferate in Angaria, but the Big 4 had been willing to let that happen last time, in his Kingdom, when they had almost taken over Lanthanor, itself. So, Daneel had presumed that the Big 4 probably would only step in if things got very, very bad, which was a far cry from this, which was just a small test.

And that was the only damn main risk he could think about!

All the others, such as building something that he might not be able to control, or starting a chain effect which might lead to disaster, could all be solved by him with effort. He could just nip this thing in its bud with practically a flick of his finger: by killing all these elves, and Mind Controlling those who might be affected to forget about it.

He wasn't the naive boy who had played with fire back in the academy and gotten his eyebrows singed off. No, he was someone who had learned constantly from his mistakes and had grown to become a King renowned by many!

Yet, here, somehow, he had f*cked up.

F*cked up in a major way.

As the Heroes broke through the minds of the elves and left them as sloppy messes with their tongues outside, Daneel didn't feel any remorse for them. But he did tense up when he saw the Heroes heading to the humans.

However, all of these humans had been imprisoned for long times in underground caves, being fed on scraps while experiencing mental and physical torture every day. Their minds were already 'broken', so they offered no resistance and allowed the Heroes to rifle through their memories, just like how Ashahell had done when he had kidnapped Daneel.

While Daneel watched this, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he probably should have thought about it more.

The reason behind all this was mostly still related to that main risk about the Church. When the thing he was doing could look like something that was being done by the main enemy of the entire continent, maybe…he should have taken a step back and analyzed stuff instead of marching forward like a f*cktard.

In many ways, it was like a scenario where a country on Earth had just suffered a devastating terrorist attack and was still reeling from it, while expecting another. In that case, what reaction would there be if he marched into that country holding a water gun that looked exactly like the gun used by those terrorists, while yelling 'Death to the infidel!'?

He might present no threat in reality, but he would definitely be riddled with so many holes by the full force of that country that there would be no difference between him and Swiss Cheese!

As he thought about why he hadn't been cautious and seen this before, he realized that it was because he had been anxious after that failure with the bandits to do something awesome and effective and get back his status of a 'genius who excelled at implementing ideas in unique ways.'

'Well, guess what. This might be unique, but it was dumb as f*ck!'

As he cursed himself in this way, he realized that this week was a double bonanza of failures: he had f*cked up the bandit thing and left it dangling at the will of that woman who might be crazy, and he had f*cked up big time in this thing which might have resulted in him dying before he even said 'Hey, what's up?'.

Shaking his head inwardly, Daneel decided that it really was imperative that he not let his head swell with each success, or not let desperation overtake his head in the face of failure. True, he had come a long way since that time, but he was still nowhere as mature and smart as he should be.

If he didn't imbibe that into his mind this time, then there might not be a next time.

At the same time as this dawned upon him, the Heroes got done with their search.

As each of them reported that they found nothing to the Head who had a pensive expression on his face, the man stroked his beard and said, "Guess they were smart enough to leave. They might have thought that this would be like last time, when we were all preoccupied driving away the landing forces of the Church and the Tri-Cobra Sect. This is certainly worrying, though, as what I've seen bears no resemblance with anyone we've encountered from the mainland. Could someone else have found Angaria's location, or could it have been by fluke?"

As the Head said this, expressions of…worry came on the faces of these Heroes who were supposed to be fearless in the face of anyone and anything.

After a few moments, the Head shrugged and said, "Leave it. It might actually be a good thing. Regardless, I'll be ready if whoever is responsible for this turns up again. And if they're serious about this, they will turn up again. Get back to your posts. Rayen, let's take a trip to that vineyard outside the Black Raven Kingdom…"

As the Hero that had sworn to Daneel grumbled when he heard the Head say this, the rest of the Heroes started teleporting away, one-by-one, until only the Head and Rayen were left.

This was a barrier that was supposed to keep out everyone, so it seemed that the Head had no inhibitions against speaking out loud.

"Rayen, something about this feels…off. Do you get what I mean? You're supposed to have the best instincts, apart from those who are still healing from that dastardly poison. What do you think?"

As the Head said this, Rayen sighed and closed his eyes.

As he did so, the billowing darkness around him formed a perfect sphere, which revolved calmly for a few moments before it condensed on the man again and covered him like a cloak.

"Yes, something tells me that there is more…or maybe, less to this, than we are thinking."

With a frown, the Head asked, "Less?"

"I don't know, I just felt that way. Maybe I was wrong. Religions aren't things to play with, so I don't know…"

As Rayen drifted off, Daneel could almost swear that he shot a glance in his direction, which made him freeze with fear and shock while his heart started to beat at a breakneck pace.

Thankfully, it looked like it had been his imagination, as the Head nodded and said, "I'll certainly pay more attention here, then, " before they both teleported away.

At the same moment, all the elves who had become mindless wrecks disintegrated into a pile of ash, causing the humans to finally to watch that and finally react in a normal way, with joy.

Daneel stayed at the spot for 3 hours after that, just to be sure. He was still afraid, but everything he had heard, and the confirmation behind the reason due to which this had happened kept running through his mind, causing him to curse himself even more and brand even more strongly the lesson he had learned here.

After that, he finally braced himself and teleported away, before feeling relieved when he heard the system say that there was no one following him.

Immediately, Daneel headed to Drakos.

He needed more concrete answers, and he wished the Ancient Dragon had 'em.

As soon as he reached the pedestal, Daneel grasped it and blurted, "I f*cked up," before reciting everything that had happened while panting.

Gone was the regal King who had everything in his control.

After he was done, he waited for an answer, but started to sweat when the Ancient Dragon paused and didn't say anything.

When he finally did answer, the blood drained from Daneel's face.

"Young King…your foolhardy actions, which almost killed you, have exposed you to something you normally would have learned much, much later. You…have touched upon the secrets that lie behind the veil which hold the crucial knowledge regarding how one can ascend to become a Hero, and reach the levels beyond. If you would like to live long enough to obtain that knowledge in the normal way, I suggest…that you refrain from such activities."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

551 Joselyn“s Decision

Daneel could only stand there, like a statue, while he tried to comprehend what Drakos had just said.

'The secrets that lie behind the veil which hold the crucial knowledge regarding how one can ascend to become a Hero, and reach the levels beyond'?

Indeed, that veil had always existed between the Champion level and the Hero level, but Daneel could never have expected that he would stumble upon it in this way.

The shock from almost dying to those Heroes had still not faded away, and he had been subjected to another mind-numbing one.

Taking deep breaths, Daneel first tried to calm down and think.

Right. What all did he know about the Hero level?

Not much, actually. Only recently, he had found out from Rayen that no one could become a Hero without the Head's permission, and that, in doing so, one would be bound not to reveal any secrets regarding that realm to anyone.

Also, one would also be bound to Angaria.

That was all he had known, except for the fact that the difference between a Warrior and a Champion couldn't even be compared to that between a Champion and a Hero.

Now, according to what Drakos had said, the Hero level was related to…religion?

In what way could that be possible?

Could Heroes obtain their power if people prayed to them?

If so, the reason behind all the Heroes congregating to attack would be explained: they wouldn't want anyone to steal away prayers and decrease their prayer.

Yet…the problem was that very few people prayed to certain entities. The rest…just prayed arbitrarily, which didn't fit in with this explanation.

Then what else could it be?

As if knowing what Daneel was thinking about, Drakos spoke in a calm voice.

"Young King, I would really advise you not to think on this. Many have dabbled in this realm without the proper knowledge and lost their lives. I guarantee you that if you continue, you will be signing your own death warrant. Instead, I urge you to focus on becoming a Champion, and then a Peak Champion. If you unlock the last seal by that time, all of the information known to the Empire will be known to you. Even if you don't…you will find the answers you are looking for at that stage. Right now, if you keep thinking on it, it would just be a distraction."

Initially, Daneel wanted to disregard the Dragon's words, because secrets were, after all, things that would captivate anyone's mind. Moreover, these secrets were related to the highest power level on this continent, itself.

Yet, on further thought, and on remembering the lesson he had just learned through his repeated failures, Daneel realized that maybe it really would be a distraction.

Heavens knew that he had enough things on his plate. If he added this, too, it would definitely be a bit too much.

Yet, Daneel couldn't help but do one last thing.

"System, using this clue, have you obtained any clues from all the texts you have gathered? Clues regarding the Hero level, and how one gets there."

[Negative. Data insufficient. Although there are a few fragmented clues here and there, the rest of the data seems to have been purged from all sources. If host wishes to use this route, system suggests that host should collect even more data.]

Yeah, right. Where would he do that? In more Sects like the Sect of Hedon?

Wait…couldn't he do that?

There were 3 other organizations on the same level. So, if he managed to read through their texts, too, was there a possibility that the system might be able to figure out something? After all, when he hadn't even been a Warrior, the system had been able to combine clues to obtain the meaning behind the Champion level, giving him the ability to buy Mageroot-less spells.

At the same time as he realized this, he also grew a little dejected, as there were too many things Daneel had to handle in the Central Continent first.

Still, he resolved that if he did get the opportunity, he would definitely make use of it to find more clues.

However, for now, two things were clear:

1) Religion, or anything related to it: Big No-no.

2) The Hero level was somehow related to this

All he could do right now was keep these things in his mind, and move on, while on the lookout for anything to bring more clarity.

At this moment, Daneel did feel a little hopeful. Yes, he had been dumb and foolhardy, but somehow, he could tell that he had obtained something really valuable from it.

Before, everything about the Hero realm had been covered in a thick layer of mist. However, this crucial piece of information was like a beacon deep in that mist, giving him direction and…hope.

Taking another deep breath, Daneel decided to first put the Dragon at ease.

"I agree, Drakos. I'll stop thinking about it, and focus on my Champion path. And, come on. Hehe, maybe if I would have taken you along, you would have stopped me."

"Yes, Young King. It is a miracle that you survived. Didn't the Heroes of Angaria descend as soon as they heard even a little thing about it?"

"They did, but, like I said, I was lucky. Anyway, come on."

Daneel had glossed over a few details, as the Ancient Dragon couldn't know that he had a system that could cast spells at much higher levels even though it didn't understand them. In fact, normal, talented Mages could do this, too, but they wouldn't be as effective as the system, and they would be required to place a lot of attention. Basically, it would be like someone who had flown a simple single-jet airplane flying a commercial airliner by just using a booklet of instruction. They might manage Ok and not crash and die, but they would still be extremely stained and would have to put their full attention on the plane.

The time that had passed since Daneel had made his escape was barely 10 minutes. Yet, before that, he had waited 3 hours for safety, which meant that it was almost noon.

And noon…was the time at which Joselyn would go ahead with the massacre.

Daneel first made a trip back to Eldinor, where he found many staring at the long lists of confessions that were still present.

The army had arrived, and they were handling the tortured humans. Taking their details, they were moving them to camps where they would first be healed of the horrible wounds that had been inflicted to them.

On the lists, the top part about the 'Light' had been burned off by the Head right before he left.

This gesture by the Head could be construed to mean that he cared that the crimes of these elves, but Daneel wasn't prepared to make any judgments regarding this man, yet.

The communication eye was still shooting everything that was going on at the scene. Seeing this, Daneel contacted Eloise.

"Eloise, did you broadcast the happenings in Eldinor? Were there any problems?"

Eloise's voice was heard after a few moments.

"Yes, Daneel. But after a while, some strange men appeared in the air and formed a barrier, I think, which blocked out all vision. After it disappeared, all that was left was ash in the place of those elves. What happened?"

Daneel sighed as he heard this. He had been hoping that the barrier had been transparent, but he realized that that was a long shot. The Heroes probably wouldn't want common folk looking in on them while they went about their work.

"Keep playing it. I'll explain later. In fact, enlist a Mage and form a 'news bulletin' at the bottom of the screen which will constantly repeat the information about everything that happened here. Make sure that the bulletin focuses on the fact that all these elves weirdly marched out to confess. Got it?"

"Yes."

Dependable as always, Eloise could tell that Daneel was in a hurry, which led her to agree and do what he asked.

Daneel then contacted the Queen, and told her not to worry about what had happened. He had already told her about this plan, but he hadn't said how he would make them confess. Hell, he wouldn't breathe a word about that little detail to anyone from now.

After this, Daneel finally touched the trinket which connected the leaders of the Bandit Alliance and sent a message.

"Now do you trust me?"

…

Meanwhile, Joselyn was sitting alone in a small cave that could only fit one person.

Used to loneliness, she always preferred spots like these where she would only have to keep an eye on the entrance to ensure her safety.

In her hands was a Network Trinket, which she had stolen from some random house in Eldinor.

As she viewed the repeated images of hundreds of elves marching to the square with thousands of humans and confessing their crimes in the form of that list, she didn't know what to think.

That morning, itself, she had been pretty surprised when she received the message that she should obtain a Network Trinket and watch.

She had done so, and when she had seen that sight, she hadn't been able to believe her eyes.

These were black-hearted beings that wouldn't hesitate to even sell out their own family if it meant that they could get what they wanted! In that case…why were they blatantly admitting to their crimes?

She knew that the Kingdom would definitely punish them, even if it might mean that turmoil would occur, as if it didn't, it would completely lose the trust of the common people.

What kind of magic had that man worked to make this possible?

At that moment, she remembered the image through the display trinket when she had spoken to the King who had been in the form of Vincent.

His voice and face had been fake, but his tone and confidence couldn't be faked.

A chink had appeared in her own confidence that no salvation was possible and that this was the only way when she had seen that, but she had been unwilling to believe anyone at that point.

When he had made that promise, she had scoffed, sure that he would face failure.

Yet, now…she saw that she was the one who had been wrong.

What should she so? She hadn't promised the man that she would do anything. Yet, it had been implied, and although Joselyn had been broken beyond repair, she still retained a smidgen of human courtesy.

Also, she had always had doubts about this, too, as it would mean that she might be massacring innocent elves. Still, she had been ready to go ahead as there was no way.

But was that true, anymore?

At the same moment, as she was about to make a decision regarding this, she received a message through the trinket.

"Joselyn, I did what I said I would. I sincerely hope that you stop that plan. Something tells me that even you know its wrong. I know that you are doing everything for your family- so that no families would have to suffer their same fate. Accomplish that by joining me. It's not just elves who torture humans. There are many other vile ones in the shadows who revel in such activities, too. Join me, and become my hand in the shadows. I know that you might not be capable of this, yet, but I ask you to trust me. If you do so, I promise that it will never be broken. Joselyn, I hope you choose well."

This statement from the King made Joselyn sink into deep thought, while she realized that this...had begun to change her.

But, after a moment, she made her decision.

There was one other thing she still retained from whom she had been…and that, was that she would never settle for being someone who wasn't valued.

…

As Daneel received the reply, he excitedly listened to it.

"King Daneel. Yes, you have kept your end of the bargain, even though none was made per se. I will keep my end. The massacre will not happen. But as for joining you…I refuse. Instead, you must join me. Don't be puzzled. I meant you, as Vincent. If I join you now, I will be someone who was awed by a single feat by you. Who knows, I might be disregarded later on, as it often happens that anyone always regards those who were with them from the beginning more. As such, if I do join you, I wish to be indispensable. Give me command of the rest of the bandit groups. I will lead them out of this area, and head to the others. I won't make promises, but my goal will be to take command of them, too, just like I have done here. The bandits of Angaria have been without any leadership for too long, and I wouldn't be able to call myself a businesswoman if I didn't notice this 'hole'. When I am satisfied with what I have with me, I will consider this offer of joining you, again. Until then, goodbye."

As Daneel heard this, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

This woman…was certainly one of a kind.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

552 Blood Sacrifice Spell

"I, Vincent, hereby swear to follow J. I urge all those under me to do so, too, as I really do believe that she represents a flourishing future."

In his last visit to the Bandit Cave where Daneel had killed Skylar to take this role of a Bandit Alliance leader, he made this announcement before sitting on the large chair on the raised platform that was meant for the leader with a disgruntled expression on his face.

Only, as he did so, none of the bandits in front of him were very surprised, nor were the leaders who had sworn to follow him before, during the Gathering.

Almost all of them agreed, except for very few who wanted to go out and find their own path. Of course, they said this, but the rest of the bandits knew that these guys would probably try to sneak back into a Kingdom to begin fresh lives.

The reason behind this was a rumor that Daneel had spread after obtaining Joselyn's reply.

Even now, as he sat there looking like someone had stolen something from him, he could hear the conversations between the bandits in front of him, most of whom had begun to drink again as they couldn't carry all the beer and wine stashed here when they began their journey to a different area, as was mandated by the now singular leader of the Bandit Alliance who had changed her stance this morning.

She had said that after further receiving further information, she had had no choice but to declare that the path they were on would only lead to failure. So, the best method was to leave, as, according to her, there was unrest in a certain area of Angaria which would be a perfect opportunity for them to enter and obtain their own place.

"How many strikes do you think were needed for our boss to be defeated by that J's hand?"

"I dunno, but he doesn't have a scratch on him. So, maybe J overpowered boss so much that our boss was defeated in one or two strikes."

"Or maybe boss just admitted defeat. We know how he was before he became the boss."

"Hey, it's a good thing, right? It means that J is more powerful than any of us thought! Maybe we really will have a great future!"

"Shut up, Bob."

Hearing these statements from the bandits, Daneel smiled inwardly.

He could have killed off Vincent at this point, but Daneel had gotten an idea. What if he had to step in in the future to help Joselyn in some matter or the other? In those cases, having an identity would be best.

So, Vincent would go to work under Joselyn, who would be using the man for 'scouting', so that no one would be surprised even if he didn't turn up for long periods of time.

All in all, this matter was settled in quite a satisfactory manner.

Indeed, Daneel was happy with Joselyn's decision. This was because if he was given an option between a subordinate who had to be given tools and opportunities to provide results, and one who brought and made these things themselves, he would definitely choose the latter, as a subordinate of that type would also definitely be more capable in all areas.

That night, Daneel convened a remote meeting over communication trinket between himself, Eloise, who was the one leading the operations behind the train, Eldra and Katerina.

As soon as it started, Katerina said, "Miss. Eloise. It is a pleasure to finally speak to you. We have heard a lot about you."

Eldra spoke up next.

"Yes, Miss. Eloise. It is our understanding that you're quite special. In fact, we are even envious of you in some ways."

Hearing these statements, Eloise was quite puzzled. What were these two elves talking about?

Daneel was similarly stymied.

"Uh…what are you…?"

"Oh, we are speaking about your amazing capabilities of single-handedly handling so many things for the King. King Daneel is truly lucky to have you."

This was from Katerina, with Eldra chiming in next.

"Yes, we are envious because you command the thoughts of so many with the Network. Now, shall we begin the discussion?"

It was odd. Daneel could tell that there was some other meaning behind these two elves, who had gotten surprisingly close, speaking like that, but he couldn't figure it out.

Eloise was the same.

"Right. It is a pleasure to speak to the most glorious elves of Eldinor, too. Miss. Eldra, all the schemes you implemented for the welfare of the elves were all well thought-out, and even executed perfectly. Queen Katerina, your firm grip over the army is something many rulers can only envy."

"Oh, please, call me Katerina. I feel we will get along well! In fact, we would like to invite you to the Palace, as we really want to get to know you better."

What was going on?

Daneel was tempted to interrupt and say that they should get started on the agenda, but he held his tongue, as he could tell that that would be a bad idea.

Thankfully, it was as if Eloise could sense his thoughts.

"Of course. Now then, let's get started. To counter the bandits, we had to spread our resources and manufacture a lot of track trinkets to construct multiple tracks. I believe that we should actually continue this. Initially, we were building only one, but the number of people and the goods that are typically transported between the two Kingdoms would hardly fit in one. Out of the 10 tracks, three are genuine, and my suggestion is that all three should be built after abandoning the rest."

Daneel was quite happy with this. A well-planned train system would consist of multiple paths to reach the same destination, for cases of extreme load. Besides, this was a main line which would receive a lot of traffic.

After receiving voices of agreement from the others, Eloise continued.

"All right, as for the specific details of the train…"

…

In a specific underground room that was surrounded by so many barriers and formations that even a mote of dust wouldn't be able to get through, a man was pacing around with a very serious expression on his face.

Once again, just like the many times he had done since coming to consciousness days ago, he tried to conjure something, anything.

Yet, the moment he tried, a splitting headache assaulted his Mageroot, making him stagger backward and take support from the stone wall.

Clutching his head, he sunk down to the ground, while waiting for the pain to subside.

To think that a Champion had been reduced to this.

He chuckled to himself morosely as this thought came to him, before he stood up and went to the bed, intending to sit and, maybe, sleep, as he had nothing else to do.

Meanwhile, Daneel was viewing the actions of the man while standing outside the prison cell he had made specially for this Amateur Champion.

Indeed, this was Raul, the one presumed dead by the entire continent, except one person- his father.

"The formation is quite effective. So, you placed an active, invisible barrier around his entire head which causes his Mageroot to be assaulted as soon as he tries to cast a spell?"

"Yes, Young King. This formation is intricate, and it needs time to deploy. Even a tiny disturbance during its deployment would bring ruin. That is why it is ineffective in battle. However, it is excellent against prisoners. It's a pity that it can only be used on those at the Champion level."

Nodding, Daneel continued to survey the man.

The development of the train project was progressing swimmingly, and, soon, it would be launched with much fanfare. He was very excited about that, as there were quite a few modifications that Daneel had done which he was excited to see. In fact, he had been hard at work on that project for the last three days. It was only tonight that he found himself free, which led him to come here and see how the Champion in his custody was doing.

All the preparations on his side were done, and all he could do right now was wait for Eloise and the rest to coordinate and set everything else up.

Hence, deciding that it was finally time to talk to this man and get the question that had been plaguing him for quite some time answered, Daneel walked forward.

He had been watching everything through a display trinket whose communication eye was cleverly embedded in the wall so as to make sure that the man wouldn't know about it, so Raul had no idea that he was being surveilled at all times.

Opening the door, Daneel walked inside and folded his hands behind his back, while gazing at the Amateur Champion with a serene expression on his face.

Raul was quite startled on finally receiving an 'audience' with his captor after this long, but he didn't stand up to show respect.

Instead, he remained seated on the bed with his back to the wall and idly said, "Come to gloat?"

"No, I've come to relieve my boredom, and yours. I saw that you were quite uninterested in the books I placed here."

Indeed, Daneel hadn't been too cruel. This room was small, with only enough space to walk 10 steps from one end to the other, but there was a bookcase on one side and a closed toilet on the other.

"I've already read all of them. So, I gather that you're using me as a bargaining chip?"

Raising an eyebrow, Daneel said, "What makes you think that?"

"Well, if that weren't the case, I wouldn't be left alone like this, for so many days."

Chuckling, Daneel conjured a throne and sat down. These days, even if all he wanted was a chair, he had gotten used to subconsciously making a throne appear, instead.

Putting one leg on the other, Daneel leaned back and said, "Yes, you're a bargaining chip to make your father follow me. Inside your mind is a…let's say, a bomb which will kill you when triggered. Even he can't stop it. And don't even think about killing yourself- there's another formation here which will stop that. You would be glad to hear that he agreed."

Initially, an expression of shock came on Raul's face, before he folded his hands and smiled at the corner of his mouth.

"That old man always was sentimental. I guess our family is now completely under your control. I would ask how you are capable of something that even a Hero can't stop, but I don't think I'll get an answer."

It was always nice to speak with someone with a brain, Daneel mused, as he smiled and said, "Right you are. Now, then. Your father said that you had an option to either save a bunch of sons and daughters of the Big 4, among whom were even those who were the offspring of Heroes, or save 10,000 regular humans. You chose the latter. Tell me, how can such a situation even arise?"

At first, Raul stayed silent and gazed into the King's eyes.

He considered whether he should act like a disgruntled prisoner and not say anything, but as he thought about it, he realized that he actually carried no grudge against this man. Because of him, he had broken through to become a Champion! That had always been his goal, all along, anyway.

So, he decided to answer. But, before that, he had to clarify something.

"Before I answer, let me tell you something. Check the formation trinkets which I gave to the other rogue Warriors who came along with me. I told them that the formation made by those trinkets would allow us to blow up the entire town if you refused, or to stop you when we were fleeing. That wasn't the truth. That formation would merely have caused a bright light and smoke, while not harming anyone. I never intended to slaughter innocent people. If I had that intention, I would never have become a rogue Mage, in the first place. My decision to battle you was also only because of some affiliations of mine with a few towns which are not ruled by any Kingdom. If all the rogue Fighters and Mages in Angaria saw that I betrayed them, they would have taken revenge on those towns. Anyway, coming back to your question. It was a Forbidden Blood Sacrifice spell, which enables one to choose a very special and powerful Champion Path. They did everything secretly, but they had erred by offering me the chance to join, too. Then, they tried to pass it off as something they had discarded. Yet, the teachings of my father made it so that I couldn't ignore the risk. I kept tabs on them, which made it so that I was able to reach them at the crucial moment when the sacrifice was going to happen. There was no time to contact the Heroes, but I still did. By that time, the humans had already been bound by the spell. To stop it, the only way was to kill either side of the scale. I was given the order to let the humans die. I couldn't do that. And now I've landed myself here. Fate works in strange ways, I guess."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

553 Decision

Raul's words were quite shocking to hear, but what stood out to Daneel, even more, was the way in which he said them.

They were the sincere words of a man who had nothing more to lose.

Curious, Daneel asked, "Do you think I'll kill you?"

This question made Raul look at Daneel and humph, before saying, "Either that, or I'll rot away here for the rest of my life. You may be a just King, but no-one like you who has risen to their stage step-by-step, by scheming and utilizing each and every opportunity presented to them, would ever trust me, no matter what I say. At least, if I were in your boots, I wouldn't trust me. First of all, I'm your bargaining chip. If you don't keep me hidden, my dad might be tempted to try and break me out, or even ask for the Head's help in the matter, no matter how much he hates him. I may be an Exile, but the Head wouldn't sit for a King of the Central Continent using me to command a Hero under him. His means are unimaginable, and I would advise that you not get on his bad side. Secondly, even if you did trust me, what would you bind me with? We both know oaths aren't good enough when it comes to the matter of life and death. And it is a matter of life and death, as, even though you managed to defeat and capture me using that Paragon spell, I doubt that you have enough confidence in yourself, as a Warrior, to actively always be capable of defending yourself against an all-or-nothing blow from me, an Amateur Champion. With all that in mind, even if you did trust me right now and ask me to follow you, I would always have the suspicion that you might have some other ulterior motive, which wouldn't allow me to trust you. Third, there would be no way to hide that me, a Champion, is following you, an Exalted Warrior, from the Big 4. Even if I used a camouflage spell, I would be busted easily, which is something you definitely would not prefer. Even if you wish for me to operate discreetly, it would be too big a risk, as a Champion in the Central Continent would stand out like a fish in a clear lake. The Big 4 might look like they don't actively care about the Central Continent, but they do have their eye on everything, you know. Of course, this cell is special, as I suspect that you used the Core formation of your Palace, which is an ancient formation that they typically do not pierce. So…that's that."

As Daneel listened to this long, carefully analyzed and logical explanation from Raul, he couldn't help but sit back and chuckle, thoroughly impressed.

At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if he was lucky right now, as he had come across two capable people, one after the other.

Indeed, even if the question regarding what he would do with this guy remained, Daneel was definitely impressed by his capabilities.

What he understood from this exchange was that Raul was a calm, collected, analytical person who would keep his cool no matter what was happening.

In other words, he had all the traits of a leader.

Which…had exactly been his role before he met Daneel.

"Did you prove yourself capable of leading all those rogue Warriors by showing your analytical skills? Or was it through fear of your power?",he asked, as there was no doubt that this man was also not lacking, at all, when it came to the matter of power.

With a smile at the corner of his lips, Raul said, "A little bit of both."

Nodding, Daneel folded his arms and waited for a moment, after which the door which he had just entered through opened to allow in a replica of his, who handed him a trinket in the shape of a square coin before disappearing.

Raul raised an eyebrow on seeing this. Typically, splitting one's consciousness and being capable of controlling multiple versions of oneself at once was an advanced skill that only Champions and those beyond were supposed to be capable of. Yet, this King who wasn't even halfway toward the Champion level had just displayed it?

Indeed, he was definitely full of surprises.

At the same moment as this thought appeared in Raul's mind, he was also reminded of what had happened which had led to him being in this cell in the first place.

Deciding that despite what he said, he wouldn't underestimate this man, Raul braced himself for anything that might come.

Daneel couldn't help but smile as he saw the vigilance in Raul's eyes when he intentionally displayed this feat.

Of course, the system had been the one controlling the clone, and, even to Drakos, it just looked like a skillful adaptation of a Champion level spell which he wasn't supposed to be capable of.

Taking the trinket, he asked the Ancient Dragon whether what Raul had said was true.

Soon, he got the answer.

"Yes, Young King. It is hidden well for someone of his level, but this formation does look like it will cause an explosion on the surface, but, in fact, it will only give the illusion of one while not hurting anyone."

Nodding, Daneel put away the trinket and refocused his eyes on Raul, trying to decide what he should do.

One option was taking the man under his wing, but this reminded him of the analytical explanation he had just been given.

All that would apply…if he were a normal King, and a normal Exalted Warrior.

So, if Daneel wished, he could choose this option.

The others were all unappealing, and, if he had to be honest, he would admit that this speech and the revelation that he wasn't going to hurt the citizens, even before, were swaying him in that direction. After all, this was a Champion, who had inside information on the Big 4!

However, Daneel decided to be prudent, as decisions taken in haste were never good.

After thinking for a bit, he decided that what option he chose would depend on Raul's answer to his next question.

Putting down his leg, Daneel leaned forward and placed both of his hands on his knees before asking, "What was your endgame? Why were you so desperate to get to the Champion level quickly? The way I see it, this was a risky mission which might or might not have worked. People could still have died, and you clearly do not want that. But you still want ahead. That shows me that you have something you want to achieve in your mind. What is it?"

This time, it was Raul's turn to be surprised that the King had deduced this from his actions.

For a moment after he heard the question, he remained silent with a neutral expression on his face, but, after that, fire began to burn in his eyes.

Daneel was taken aback. This was only the second time he was seeing this man's composure break, and, from his personality, he could tell that this was something that definitely did not occur often, if at all.

The first time, of course, was when he had been defeated by him, a 'mere' Warrior.

Those smoldering flames weren't born because of fury, or pain. At least, that was what Daneel felt when he looked at them.

Instead, the tinder that was making them burn was…regret. Regret and anguish.

What had this man done which had led him to have such a strong motivation which had been tucked away deep in his mind until now, when he had been asked this question?

Daneel received the answer after a few seconds.

"I need…to kill a Hero."

As soon as he said this, Raul burst out laughing, and it was such an uncharacteristic break of character from that calm person that Daneel couldn't help but widen his eyes with shock.

It was, however, a mirthless laugh, which cut off abruptly when he spoke again.

"Sounds impossible, I know. In fact, you are the only person in this world who is hearing of this. Even my father doesn't know. But…as long as I live, I will always keep working toward that goal, However, I have another one, too, which is to stick to the ideals taught by my father and save as many humans as possible. I have been following the second one all my life, but it is the first which always feels so…unreachable. I feel that even more now, as I am a Champion. I thought something significant would change, but no…I am still as powerless as before in the face of a Hero."

The moment Raul said that last sentence, that fire in his eyes fizzled out, and he returned to the same man he had been when they had begun this discussion.

Daneel sighed as he heard this. Clearly, there was a tale of tragedy here, which he wasn't going to ask about. Even if he did, he doubted whether he would get a response.

Why was it that all those he met recently were those who had been through a lot of pain in their lives?

Maybe…it was because tragedy and pain were effective in molding one to become capable of achieving great things.

Shaking his head, Daneel got up and headed to the door.

Raul saw this and neither said or did nothing, as it was clear that his deductions had been right.

However, to his shock, the last moment before the King stepped outside, all the formations surrounding the cell…vanished, one by one.

Last to vanish was the one which constrained his Mage powers, and as Raul realized it, he got up immediately.

Still with his back to him, the King stretched out his arms wide and said, "I'm an open target, unaware that I am going to be backstabbed. Take your best shot, Champion."

Raul had to admit that he was puzzled. Was this overconfidence? Or was there something he wasn't seeing?

First, he tried to teleport away, but found that the anti-teleportation formation was still present.

Then, he decided that he would attack anyway, just so that he could rid his father of slavery while also reobtaining the chance to forge ahead toward his own goal.

Yet, he really didn't want to King, now that he was no longer obliged to prove anything to anyone, as no one was watching, unlike back then when he had been defeated.

As speed was most important, he decided to use the same attack: two rays of blinding light emanated from his hands, which joined together at a point before heading toward the King's leg.

At this moment, Raul witnessed an incredible scene.

He saw the King conjuring a barrier, but he scoffed at this, as no barrier conjured by an Exalted Warrior at the same time as his attack would ever be able to stop his, as the level difference was too big.

Only, in front of his eyes, before the ray reached the King, his spell…amplified.

Two times, three times, four times, then…a whopping 5 times.

At this degree of amplification, the gap was easily closed. When the ray hit the King's barrier, it simply broke it, but it's Energy was also dispelled at the same time.

At the same moment, the King leaned back with a movement so quick that Raul's eyes almost didn't catch it.

He was so fast that he became a blur, and, before he knew it, Raul felt pain as a blade nicked the skin of his neck.

The King was now standing behind him calmly, with his hand holding a blade that was ready to kill him at a moment's notice.

In that position, the King whispered, "Listen up. I can always defend against you, no matter what I'm doing, no matter if I'm defenseless, no matter what my level is. And if you join me and serve me well, I can give you a promise that you will become capable of killing a Hero. So, I urge you to scrap all those deductions, and make a choice. Follow me, or rot here and die."

…

Meanwhile, in the capital of Lanthanor, Eloise was standing outside a large mansion which could house more than 50 people.

The logo 'H&D' was carved into the door, and as she knocked, she heard the sound of laughter from inside before a cute, little girl opened the door.

Smiling at this kid, Eloise asked, "Hello, little girl. Who're you? Is Helena home? Or Dalia?"

The kid first smiled back politely before answering, "No, Miss. They are both at the factory. Today, there are a lot of shipments to send. I'm Dalia's sister."

"Oh? I didn't know that Helena had relatives?"

Eloise asked this casually, but when she heard the little girl speak, she regretted asking it.

"We aren't related. Aunt Helena adopted me from the slums after my parents died in a robbery."

Immediately bending down and patting her on her head, Eloise said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Can you hand this to either of them when they come home and tell them that I asked that they contact me as soon as possible?"

Handing over a gold-trimmed envelope with Helena and Dalla's names, Eloise watched as the little girl 'aah'ed and took it into her hands, before asking, "What is it?"

"It's an invitation to a very special event."

"Wow, can I come, too?"

As she heard the little girl ask this, Eloise couldn't help but smile wide and pinch her cheeks, before answering.

"Of course, little one. All of Lanthanor is invited. And believe me, it will be fun."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

554 Nightmare

As Helena and Dalia got home late at night, they tiptoed carefully in order to not wake up all the sleeping children in the house.

Although it hadn't even been a year since they came to the capital while looking for justice for what had happened to them, they looked like completely different people.

For one thing, they weren't emaciated, at all, anymore. After all, before, they had had to scrounge for every morsel, meaning that their nutrition was severely lacking, which had led to them being scrawny and quite unhealthy.

With fuller cheeks, sturdier bones and filled-out bodies, there was already a massive change, but the main difference between who they were before and who they were now was in their eyes.

In their eyes…was the confidence of those who had made their way in the world and succeeded, but hadn't forgotten where they had come from.

There was no arrogance due to the fact that they now owned one of the largest garment manufacturing and import businesses in all of Angaria, or that they had so much money that they could literally roll in it.

No, Helena had never been the type to show off and gloat, and she had brought up her daughter in the same way. More than anything, this showed the value of upbringing, as Dalia was slowly growing to become a progressive woman with the right morals and goals.

They were known for three things, throughout the continent:

Never skimping on material, like many liked to do in order to save costs.

Never accepting more orders than they could handle, which meant that there was no occasion where they overpromised and underdelivered.

Always willing to listen to any complaints humbly, while also allowing refunds and exchanges with a smile, unlike the other haughty enterprises which had enjoyed monopolies for far too long.

In this age where large enterprises had gotten used to being the only source of certain things which meant that they could act how they wanted and still retain customers, these three ideals were so trailblazing and unique that they set apart H&D from any and all competition.

Of course, their popularity could also be attributed to the Olympics and the Network.

After the Olympics, there had been constant demand from all over the continent from those who wanted to be dressed in the same way as all the incredible Mages and Fighters who had performed deeds of amazing skill and power in front of them.

Apart from the trend of sporting bald heads which had begun due to the King, this was the one which captivated the people for a long time.

After that, constant advertisements over the Network using clever methods to not make them feel boring or repetitive had led to the name H&D almost becoming a household one. Add to that the fact that H&D had a wide range of products to offer from those costing a few Bronze Lans to even Enchanted clothes which cost dozens of Gold Lans, it was quickly becoming the go-to store for all kinds of people.

The most important thing was that this success hadn't gotten to Helena and Dalia's heads. Dalia still went to school, and Helena was still the warm woman who spoke politely with all those who worked with her. Yet, she had learned to be firm where it was needed, which had become a valuable skill for situations where someone tried to take advantage of her.

The first time this had had to be used was when the other seamstresses and embroideries of Lanthanor, who had come under her so as not to have their businesses closed by imported products, had tried to convince her that a little compromise on quality was fine, as their profits would grow considerably.

She had put her foot down there, which had communicated to them that she wasn't someone to be pushed around.

Eloise had actually been the happiest when she heard of this. She had wondered whether she would have to step in in such situations, but it was a pleasant surprise to find that the little family was talented both in embroidery and business.

Also, this was the investment which paid off most for the Bank. Since that time, Helena had already taken three additional loans of increasing amounts, each time, which had led to the Bank earning a lot, and even increasing its popularity as Helena was always grateful and told everyone who would listen that the Bank was one of the main reasons for their success, apart from the King, himself.

As for the mansion, she had been unwilling to leave the small house they had taken right after coming to Lanthanor city which had so many memories, but she had finally been convinced after their street kept getting crowded because too many people always came to see her.

Yet, the mansion had always felt empty with just them and the maids. That was when Dalia had gotten the bright idea that they should adopt orphans from the streets, who might be as hopeless as them when they had first come here.

And that…was what had led to this moment, where Helena had just tiptoed to the kitchen to find a letter waiting for her on the dining table.

Curious, she picked it up and saw that it was from Eloise, which made her hurriedly open it and see what was inside.

That was when she immediately took out a trinket and sent a message.

"Miss Eloise! Why didn't you just intimate me by trinket? I would have dropped everything in an instant!"

She heard a tinkling laugh from the other side, which made a smile light up on Helena's face. Even Dalia understood what was going on and came closer to hear her favorite elder sister's voice.

"I didn't want to disturb you two! Anyway, you must have seen the invitation. The King requested your presence personally. You two are the role models of the Kingdom, you know! And, he also wanted to speak to you about something. He has been busy with certain…projects, till now, but as he is relatively free at the moment, he is taking a hands-on approach to all the things that are valuable to Lanthanor. Oh, and he asked how little Dalia was doing."

That last sentence made the little girl, who was maturing into a stunning woman, blush profusely before she squeaked something about going to the bathroom and ran up the stairs.

This made Helena burst out laughing for a moment, before she answered, "Anything for the King, Miss. Eloise. You know that we will always remain indebted to you, too, and that man who changed our whole life."

"Good. Be there at the appointed time, then. And, oh, prepare to be awed."

…

Meanwhile, Daneel had instantly teleported away from the man after saying those words into his ears, as it would be really weird if he stayed in that position for even a second longer than necessary.

Right now, he was back on the Throne, while waiting for Raul to comprehend everything that had just happened and then make his decision.

Indeed, Raul was a bit slow on the uptake as he had no idea how someone, anyone, could amplify their spells by 5 times.

Besides that, the movement of the King which had been so fast as to look like teleportation was another skill which seemed unbeatable.

Add to that all the remarkable, inconceivable things he had seen from the King so far…and it resulted in a man whose mysteries were endless.

If anyone else on this continent had said that they would make it possible for him to kill a Hero, he would have scoffed at the notion and turned aside.

Yet, coming from this man…it almost seemed natural. As if he didn't even need to think much before giving the assurance.

He didn't need to think anymore. He had always been decisive, which was the reason why he had chosen to save those 10,000 people even though he had had only a split second of time.

With a thud, he kneeled on the ground with both legs, before bending his head.

Daneel had to say that he was pleased as he saw this. After the rejection from Joselyn, he had gotten prepared to face another one, which was why he had gone to the extent of making that statement physically, which would have the most effect.

Clearly, it had worked.

From all angles, right now, this decision felt great, but Daneel was also excited to see exactly what surprises this man would give him during his service.

He had no intention to savor the moment, so he just cast a spell to return the man to his feet before getting up and turning around.

"Good, come on. We have no time to lose. First, I have a temporary assignment for you. It's kind of beneath you, but I need you to do it, as my commanders are…let's say, busy with something. And, here, use this spell which will camouflage you from Heroes, too. Don't try to understand it, just practice and cast it. It will be taxing, but it's worth it until I find a better alternative. If you prove yourself to be worth it, I'll think about creating a trinket with the same effect."

Rattling off instructions and then even throwing a data trinket that behind him which Raul caught with a bewildered expression on his face, the King looking like a busy employer who had no time to give to his most recent acquisition.

Yet, Raul couldn't help but ask, "That's it? Oaths aren't that effective, but aren't you going to make me swear one, just in case?"

This made the King shrug and say, "I trust you, and you now know that the reason is that my power is absolute, at least, in regards to you."

This was the answer that Daneel gave, as he couldn't tell Raul that he had a subroutine running in the system which would detonate Drakos's nano bomb and kill Raul in the fraction of a second if it was necessary.

Raul shook his head and then sighed, knowing that this was true. Even though he knew that it was a good thing as it meant that he was that much more likely to achieve his goal, he still hadn't come to terms with it.

Soon, they reached a double metal door which was locked.

Flicking his fingers, the King removed the formations and opened the door, which resulted in Raul raising his eyebrows as he saw that this was actually a large cavern with a high ceiling in which over a hundred individuals were sparring and training.

In the corner was a row of…faucets, strangely, which were letting out a golden Energy instead of water. This Energy was being absorbed by those sitting under them, who had painful expressions on their faces.

Even though the color was different, Raul recognized it instantly.

"Isn't that…", he began, but he was halted by the King who raised a hand.

"Don't say it, and don't tell it to anyone. And don't ask me how I have so many."

Of course.

By this point, Raul realized that he shouldn't find it surprising that a King in the Central Continent somehow had a pile of Ker Gems which he was using to train all these people.

After a few moments, the two of them were on a raised pedestal, and as a few older people who were overseeing the training saw this and singled everyone to gather, the King spoke out loud in a booming voice which echoed throughout the cavern.

"Oh, you all don't need to gather. I just came here to introduce you all to someone."

Saying so, with everyone's attention on him, the King pointed a finger at Raul, who had taken on a different appearance- coincidentally, he had chosen one which made him look like a battle-hardened veteran with many scars on his face and body, which really fit in with what the King said next.

"Everyone, meet…your nightmare."

Huh?

Including Raul, everyone was puzzled.

But when the King made it clear, those in the room took in a deep breath.

"Let me explain. Domination Corps, and members of the Fists of Justice Training Hall who have joined me. From this day forth, this man's only duty is to make your life fell. You wake up to a punch from him in the gut. You eat breakfast while fending off magic arrows from him. You go to the bathroom while casting a fire spell to keep your arse and your other, oh so important parts from freezing and breaking away, as he will be creating a blizzard all around the bathrooms. Lunch and dinner will only be served after he is satisfied that he has shown you enough hell. Otherwise, hell is all you will have for all your meals. Hell, and that Golden Energy. Every time you are close to collapsing, or have already collapsed from exhaustion, you will be dumped below a faucet where you WILL absorb all the damn Energy you can. This will only end when I am satisfied that you are worthy of being called my personal corps. Have fun!"

Saying so, Daneel clapped Raul's shoulder once and smiled at his former college mates and teachers below, who looked like they were seeing the Devil incarnate, just like Rayen.

Without another word, Daneel teleported away and got to his quarters.

Here, he put away the smile and sighed.

He didn't want to put those people through all that, but he had no choice.

It was an open secret that a body would be able to absorb Energy and grow stronger faster the more it was strained.

Apparently, this was even more true with Her Gem Energy, which would have even more effects in such a state.

Yet, this method wasn't used because, historically, according to Drakos, as it placed too much strain, mentally.

Only, Daneel trusted all those people. If they could hear him now, they would definitely curse their luck for having earned his trust.

In this training, those who endured…would soon become Warriors. And the rest would be weeded out to make a weaker force.

It was regrettable but necessary.

Exhausted, Daneel flopped onto his bed, but it was almost like he could hear the screams from many kilometers below.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

555 A Special Event 1

The next morning, Dalia was firmly looking down while sitting in an Ether-driven carriage that was taking them to the location given in the invitation.

Helena had a broad smile on her face as she looked out the window. The sun was just peeking out of the clouds, and because the actual ceremony was slated for noon, there weren't too many people on the road they were traveling on.

They had had the option to directly teleport to the location, but both of them had refused as they tended to spew out the contents of their stomachs whenever they went through the ordeal of teleportation.

Hence, even though it meant that they would have to start out very early in the morning to travel all the way to the border, they had done so after packing a portable touch-up kit which they could use after reaching their destination.

Before, they had never used to care about their appearance, but, now, just like Eloise had said, they represented something important. So, they had picked up a few simple skills just so that they could look presentable instead of looking like two people who had been traveling for hours.

As the sunlight hit her face, Helena squinted and looked to the side to see her daughter in that position.

Putting her hand around the girl who had opted to wear a gorgeous red dress with a simple, pearl pendant, she said, "Don't be nervous! It's been months since you've seen him. Just act like yourself."

Of course, this had no effect whatsoever, which made Helena sigh and remember her own childhood crush- a woodcutter in her village around whom she had always used to get flustered till she grew up and grew out of it.

Just like that, she knew that this would pass, but the problem was that they were soon going to be in a public place right near the King where the entire scene was going to be broadcasted live for hundreds of thousands of people to see.

The surprising thing was that too much advertising hadn't gone into this program. It had all been very secretive and hush-hush, and even though it had become clear that the King was going to unveil some kind of transportation system, no one knew any further details.

Over both forms of the Network, only a very brief line had been used to build up the hype: "Prepare to see the future," along with today's date and the word 'Noon' below it.

This kind of crisp, clean advertising had worked surprisingly well: all over the continent, anticipation was at an all-time high, mainly because everyone wanted to find out what was being concealed so well.

Looking at her daughter again, Helena decided that she would handle this delicately.

With that intention in mind, she was just going to launch into a story about her own crush, when she suddenly felt something strange and stopped.

They had rented a large carriage with 4 seats, two on each side, just so that they could have spacious leg room over the long journey. All the little girls and boys in their house were due to leave a half hour before the appointed time via teleportation, so they were alone right now.

Only, when she looked down, she saw a pair of feet adorned in hand-made shoes.

"Hello, ladies."

Even though the voice sounded familiar, she shrieked with shock and was about to forcefully catch hold of her daughter and jump out, thinking that some rapist or murderer might have managed to appear in front of them, in this way, so as to abduct them.

Only, weirdly, it was her daughter who had a calm reaction.

"Mom, calm down! It's the King!", she shouted, which made Helena take a closer look at the man who had a sheepish expression on his face as he smiled at them.

He was wearing a red-gold coat, complete with shining, crimson dragons that coiled around his shoulders and waist. Right now, he was scratching his head, as if things hadn't played out in the way he had expected.

"Apologies. Maybe I should have teleported outside and knocked first before entering. We are a little strapped for time and I heard that you two were arriving in this means, so I just…"

"Please don't apologize, My King. I'm used to this because the teacher in our school loves to do the same to startle students who might be gossiping instead of studying. My mother is not that experienced, though, so you must pardon her."

Meanwhile, Helena stared at her daughter, wondering where that timid and blushing girl had gone.

Wasn't she supposed to be tongue-tied right now? Instead, how was she talking so calmly?

A slight blush was still there, but Dalia had a sweet smile on her face, instead of being silly like she had been during that first audience.

It seemed…that the generation gap was real. She had grown up in an isolated place while not interacting with many people, which had resulted in her being in that way with her crush. Yet, her daughter was a modern citizen of Lanthanor who was studying the world in school while also talking to various people from all walks of life. This must definitely have resulted in a fundamental change which made her different, and much more mature.

Realizing this and regaining her composure, Helena sat down, as she had just been about to jump out.

With a small smile, she was also about to say something to the same effect, but she stopped when the King raised his hand and said, "No, it was my fault. I'll make sure to be more tactful with my loyal subjects in the future. Miss. Helena, how is business? Any troubles you wish to tell me about? If that is the case, don't hesitate. I have both a personal and professional stake in this business, as you already know. And little Dalia, how's school? Any suggestions on making it better?"

Seeing the King smile genially and say this, Dalia almost lost her the composure that she had mustered with great difficulty. She could tell that he was…different, from how she had last seen him.

At that time, there had still been a little bit of the rough edges of a normal person who had ascended to the Throne.

Now, all of that was gone, and was replaced by the bold presence of a leader who was fully confident in himself.

Thankfully, her mother came to her rescue.

"None at all, My Lord. And, please, you must call me Helena, I insist. I've met Mother Mary multiple times. Oh, that is what she is being called by many in the Kingdom- I'm surprised that you aren't aware."

Helena said this because of the fact that King Daneel had just raised an eyebrow on hearing his mother being addressed as 'Mother Mary'.

Seeing his interest in the matter, Helena said, "Her philanthropic work has built up a considerable following who are all ready to die for her, if needed, My Lord. I am only saying that to convey the level of devotion she garners, mainly because of her humble and motherly attitude which made her become the Mother of the downtrodden, who had no one to call their own. As for the business: there are no difficulties that need to be brought to your concern, I assure you of that. If there is anything, I definitely would not hesitate. Dalia, you said you had some ideas about the school, right? What were they?"

Hearing her mother speak had allowed Dalia to gather herself again, so, she waited for the King who had sunk into deep thought.

After a few moments, he snapped to attention and looked at Dalia again before nodding his head, which Dalia took as a sign for her to speak.

"My King, I just think that…the method of testing us is too varied. You see, the teachers set the tests, by themselves, and sometimes, they are hard, while other times, they are so easy that we could do them in our sleep. In the same subject, there are multiple teachers, and, hence, multiple tests, so there is no method for us to compare with the other classes. I, at least, think that it would really push everyone to perform better if there was something to achieve by scoring high in a way that can be compared and is common among all students at the same level, in the same subject. Right now, the only criteria is pass and fail, and those who perform exceptionally get recommendations. That's it."

Daneel had been quite startled by this news about the 'following'. Initially, his only intention had been for his mom to not be bored when both of them were off taking care of their duties. He had given her an almost unlimited fund to spend on the poor, as she had always liked to help those in need, even when their own family had been in a very bad condition.

He had almost forgotten about the matter, so, finding out about this, in this way, at this stage, itself, was a good thing.

His guess was that Eloise hadn't reported anything about the matter because it might not be big enough, yet.

After all, how could she know that this concept of one person garnering devotion from others could be something so dangerous?

He had experienced that danger, himself, just recently. Yet, he didn't know if that applied here. After all, his mom wasn't promising anything, nor were there specific things to do to show devotion. If so, could it be called a religion?

Deciding to do an in-depth study of this as soon as today's event was over, Daneel had listened to Dalia's words, and had been startled again.

He had set up the school as a means for children to find out about the world and be educated about the possibilities of their future. Hence, there hadn't been an emphasis on standardized testing methods.

Yet, he now realized that that was foolish. Just like Dalia had said, a standardized test would push students to study harder, while also resulting in a metric with which their skill could be judged.

As he thought on it, he was, at first, very reluctant about the latter, as he hated that practice from Earth where someone was judged according to their marks all their lives.

The tests had to be there, but steps would also have to be taken so that the negatives wouldn't get carried over. This…would definitely also be something very crucial that might dictate the future of Lanthanor and Angaria.

So, it had to be given careful thought, as Daneel really, really did not want to put the children of this world through what all those poor kids on Earth had to endure.

All in all, even before he got to his main point, this conversation had already turned out to be very fruitful.

Bending forward, he patted the cute, little girl's head, which made her blush a deep crimson before looking down.

"Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! I'll definitely look into it and implement something that we can be happy about."

Smiling broadly due to the adorable reaction, Daneel sat back and looked at Helena before a serious expression came on his face.

"Now, then, I also wanted to give you a little advice, Helena. I've looked over everything you're doing. You are unique because you cater to all kinds of people. But…I think a small step will really boost your popularity. You see, segregation is something ugly that we must acknowledge and use even if we don't like it. At least, that's what I think. You need to differentiate your clothing line into three sections: one for normal people, one for those who are relatively well off, and one for the rich. This way, you will pull all those people who have been on the fence because they don't want to wear the same clothes with the same branding as those who they see to be beneath them. Sadly, this is how a major part of the market is, and it won't change no matter how many changes I bring. That is how humans are, and I don't see that changing, at least in the short term. Hence, what you can do is take advantage of that. You can overcharge the premium line, and use that extra money to keep the cheapest line very affordable. Take from the rich and give to the poor, in a way, while keeping everyone happy. As for the differentiation, you can keep the H&D and add suffixes, while also changing the color of the logo you print on the clothes. At least, this is my suggestion. I would understand if you don't want to go through with it, but I do urge you to think about it. Now, then, I think you two forgot to notice something…"

Saying so, Daneel pointed at the window, which made the two look outside and gasp, as all they saw were clouds.

Indeed, Daneel had sped up their journey by personally flying them up.

This idea regarding the garment line was based on what he had seen on Earth: premium brands always had tons of sales, because of the 'pull' of their name, and because they were regarded as status symbols. If Helena agreed, he had many ideas for ads which would definitely catapult H&D to the top.

As for the 'Robin Hood' part, it was his own twist to the typical idea he was implementing here.

Even before the two could recover from the shock that they were flying, they began to descend, as they had reached their destination.

As they landed, Daneel opened the door and got out, before breathing in deep while viewing the sight in front of him which he was very, very proud of.

There were three, distinctly different tracks on the ground, with three different 'carriages' on top of them.

Each carriage was a wooden box on multiple sets of wheels, with the edges of the box had metallic parts jutting out that glinted in the sun, and were carved into beautiful shapes to award the carriage with a very high-class look.

The first carriage was the most normal-looking: it just looked like a typical Ether-driven carriage that was placed on a track.

The second looked more special: it had a very weird, metallic back part whose purpose they couldn't tell. The tracks were also different: each track had many patterns carved on them, which meant that they were trinkets.

The last was the strangest: it was made of wood and metal of the highest quality, but the main peculiarity lay in the fact that there was a very strange apparatus that the carriage…fit, into.

While Helena and Dalia gasped in wonder, Daneel proudly said, "Here is the segregation I told you about, in action. Soon, you will understand its importance. And…just wait till you see what each of these things can do."

…

Meanwhile, a secret meeting had just begun in a remote location that was not under the rule of any Kingdom in the Central Continent.

Over 30 people had gathered, each wearing more extravagant clothes than the last, but at their head sat a man donning the simple attire of a common shopkeeper.

They were in a wooden house specially constructed for this occasion, and on one wall was a Network Trinket with a countdown to noon, when the special event would start.

Whispers could be heard from everyone in the room, but they were interrupted when the man at the head of the long table stood up and spoke.

"Everyone, I've been warning you for a long time. The King of Lanthanor…is a genius whose mind we cannot beat. Hence, the only method left is for us to learn what we can and implement it in our own way. If all of us come together, we can put all his plans to much greater use."

One among the audience chose to speak up.

"But…isn't that stealing?"

The response was given in a cold tone.

"So? What can he do about it? We will do it openly, and even credit him, saying that we were 'inspired'. All that he will be able to do is lament. People, this is the best way for us to flourish. Now then, unless you are fine with seeing your profits dip further, I suggest we watch, and get ready."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

556 A Special Event End

In the Palace of Arafell, the Queen was pacing around in her empty Throne Room while a Network Trinket floated in front of her, showing a countdown to the event that almost all of Angaria was waiting for, right now.

"Priscilla, what do you know about the importance of being on the cusp of becoming a Champion? I remember that I was stressed and kept starting fights everywhere for months during that time! It is, possibly, the most important decision of one's life! Their future power, their potential, their combat role, all of it is decided with that decision! Yet, this guy is idly launching schemes for the people instead of focusing on more crucial matters? Does he think the Church is just sitting around? He should drop everything and focus on getting stronger, or on finding ways to defend Angaria!"

After the Queen said this, her facial expression suddenly changed to that of a girl who was smiling because she had caught something.

"Aha! I knew it, My Queen! Before, you were ready to force him to bend the knee, but now, you're almost talking like you care about him! Why the sudden change?"

As the expression changed again, this time, a woman blushing oh so faintly appeared, before that blush was replaced by anger.

"No! I just want him to be even stronger so that I'll have a better subordinate! I don't care about anything else! All right, look, it's starting!"

Glancing at the trinket and noticing that only a minute was left for the countdown to end, the Queen used the opportunity to change the subject and teleport back to her Throne before sitting comfortably to view what the King had been up to.

Yet, at the same time, she couldn't help but think back to that moment when an Amateur Champion had been killed at the hands of a mere Peak Warrior.

At that moment, the King had seemed vaguely….similar to the Emperor. She didn't even know why that was the case, as the Emperor had been even more of a peerless genius who skipped multiple levels to kill people, often.

Still, maybe it was that someone had like that, who could do so with style, had come along after a long, long while.

Shaking her head to get rid of these thoughts, the Queen, and Priscilla who had noticed the turmoil, but held her tongue, viewed the trinket to see what announcement the King would make.

…

At the same time, the King of Axelor was doing the same, accompanied by his favorite minister who always stayed by his side, and a few other people.

They were all those who handled the economic matters of the Kingdom, and they had been called specially to analyze the scheme of the King of Lanthanor's which would soon be revealed.

Everyone knew of the King's…love for purges for the oddest of reasons. Hence, they stayed completely silent and kept their eyes on the Network Trinket, waiting for the program to start.

Meanwhile, there was a barrier around the King and his minister, and the former was grumbling something under his breath while the latter fiddled with his fingers nervously.

"My King…analysis shows that another purge, so soon, will definitely result in unrest that will take quite a long time to die down. It will cause a massive loss to the Kingdom, and the army. I urge you to reconsider."

This was what the Minister said out loud, but, inside, he was cursing the King of Lanthanor because he had no other option.

Why had the man rejected the War Games?

This rejection after the King had already planned a lot of things to happen during the event had thoroughly unseated the man in front of him, causing him to go on another murderous rage which had claimed the lives of 18 poor, innocent maids while also insisting that another purge should be carried out.

Clearly, these purges somehow the sick urges of this man who was unfortunately in control of the Kingdom the Minister meant. Hence, he could only do his best to veer him away from such choices.

Thankfully, the analysis had given him a reason to say this and try to dissuade the King.

Surprisingly, King Safiros answered in a calm tone.

"Oh, cancel that, but draw up plans for another, discreet one. This one needs to be more elaborate. Maybe we can plant some traitor from a different Kingdom who starts killing those of ours, resulting in a purge being compulsory because the surrounding villages would be scared? When we carry one out, they will even thank us. And Lanthanor should be the one responsible, of course. Hate is at an all-time high, but there's no harm in letting it rise further."

These words made a chill appear in the minister's spine, even though he had initially been glad that the King had calmed down.

He had been hoping that those words said in throes of anger might be reversed, now that he was calmer.

Only, it seemed that King Safiros was even more dangerous when calm.

What was the reason behind this man's fascination with purges?

This question appeared in the minister's mind, but except for concluding that it mostly must be for sick satisfaction, there was nothing else that the minister could do about it.

"Or maybe there's a disease spreading. I don't know, I'll come up with something."

As soon as he said this, the countdown ended, and the screen was replaced by a…a dragon?

Not just any dragon- it was one made of fire, which animatedly frolicked this way and that before finally stopping in the center in the form of an L, which was the logo of Lanthanor.

"So much for a grand opening,", said Safiros teasingly, yet, the next moment, he had no other option but to shut up and watch as the screen had once again been replaced.

In it was a simple house, in which a little girl was sitting and playing with a few crude, wooden toys while her mother fussed with her cooking in the kitchen.

The door opened to reveal a tired man stepping through, wearing clothes plastered with ash while his face was that of someone who hadn't taken a rest in a long, long time.

As soon as he came in, he collapsed, which made the little girl run to him and say, "What's wrong, father?"

It was a touching moment, for sure, but most people were puzzled. What was going on?

If they were inhabitants of Earth who were used to theatrics for advertisements, they would have understood by now.

The father proceeded to explain that he had lost his job, and that although there was an opening obtained via a friend, it was many towns away.

It would be impossible for the family to shift, and it would also be impossible for him to commute daily and still have enough money for his family to eat.

Just as he said this and was about to lament, with a flash, the King of Lanthanor was standing in that house.

"What the f*ck?"

That was the exclamation from the King, who was already quite irritated that he had had to watch that clearly fake sob story which he didn't even understand much, as there hadn't been a day when he hadn't been shrouded in luxury.

The sudden appearance of the King startled him, but all over Angaria, those who had witnessed his heroic acts during 'Mercy for the Wicked' cheered.

At the same moment, that family was also shocked, but before they could react, the King stretched out his arm to the father who was on the floor and said, "Let me help you, dear citizen of mine."

The screen went blank after this, and was replaced by a completely different scene of a warehouse filled with bags of some kind of crop.

"What is this? Is he going to torture us by making us sit through hours and hours of this bullsh*t?", said the King, but all those in the room were busy watching the scene and wondering what would happen here.

A similar scenario occurred: the owner of the warehouse had just lost a deal with someone he was supposed to deliver all this wheat to, and it was all going to go to waste as there was no way that he could transport it quickly enough to sell it to another buyer.

This was followed by the fear that the man would have to default on the loans he had taken from moneylenders, which would lead to his family having no other option but to sell everything and move to the slums, but the King appeared again and did the same motion.

Stretching out his hand with a genial smile on his face, he said, "Let me help you, dear citizen of mine."

As the screen cut off for the second time and was replaced by another scene once again, King Safiros was at the end of his patience.

He was just about to erupt with anger and storm out, but he stopped as this scene showed the grand mansion of someone who was very well off.

What did the transportation system that was apparently going to be launched now have anything to do with the rich?

All the analysis by his advisors had pointed to the fact that this whole thing was an attempt by the King to solve the problems of the working and middle classes.

The others in the room were similarly shocked, so they watched on as the scene panned to an old man with a goatee idly reading the newspaper while sipping a cup of clear wine.

His butler appeared at that moment, and said that the man was supposed to travel to some area where some business of his was running, which made the man sigh and lament that it would be another long journey by carriage, as he just couldn't adjust to teleportation, just like many others.

The King did his act for the third time, and the screen cut off and was finally replaced by the main announcement.

"The Angarian Express: One Solution to All of Your Problems."

The first family was shown traveling to an opulent station, where the daughter and wife bid goodbye to the man who climbed a carriage with many others in it that started slowly and took off at a moderate speed.

The warehouse owner was shown smiling happily as a different, open carriage was being loaded with bag after bag of wheat, which, when done, started moving at a speed much faster.

Finally, the rich man was shown being ushered into a regal room by professionally dressed servers who sat him down and started tending to his every need.

Extreme opulence was shown: although it was clear that this was the interior of a carriage, there were incredibly useful amenities such as some sort of seat massager, a Network Trinket, a personal chef and even a full-sized bed, in case someone wanted to sleep.

Yet, the most miraculous thing about this was when the image zoomed out to show a carriage, which actually moved back while pushing some kind of…rope that was as thick as a man's waist.

After a few moments, the image zoomed out again for the actual reveal.

It was a massive bow-shaped apparatus, with a large hole in the front for the train to pass through. The carriage was the arrow, and as it was launched with a loud sound that made it shoot forward and become a blur, barriers activated all around, stabilizing the carriage and keeping it on the tracks which were also glowing.

Only, when the image zoomed in again to show the old man who was traveling, he was feasting on steak as though he hadn't moved at all.

How was this even possible?

That question ran through everyone's minds, but the screen cut off again, and this time, although it remained blank, the King addressed the viewers.

"Experience comfort and connectivity the likes of which have never been seen on this continent, with the Angarian Express. If you aren't convinced, stay tuned to listen to interviews with some of the most prominent Angarians and Eldinorians and also common citizens, who have all had the pleasure of experiencing this revolution."

With this Daneel's part in the announcement was done. Helena and Dalia were up next, and as he smiled to them while he felt happy, the system sounded in his mind.

[Incoming communication from Hero-level figure.]

"Let it in."

"King Daneel, I am waiting to speak to you right above where you are."

It was the Head.

Daneel's heart lurched, but he calmed down as the man had said that he would come talk to him about something at some point.

So, Daneel first teleported straight up before flying.

As he finally reached the spot where the man with the stylish short beard was sitting on a large sofa made of clouds, Daneel was about to greet him, but he was quite startled when the Head spoke out in a stern voice.

"King, if you were in my sect, I would shackle you without a thought and throw you in a training room. You received such an incredible inheritance, but you're wasting it by playing these antics with these people, who might all die soon unless those like you shut up and train to become strong enough to defend Angaria. You disappoint me, King. For how long do you intend to waste time on trivial things while not focusing on the big picture?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

557 Manipulation

As Daneel heard this tirade, he didn't know how to respond.

First of all, this wasn't some well-wisher of his who was saying this for his own good. The Head gave him all kind of negative vibes which meant that there was no way that Daneel would trust the man, and, besides, this was only the second time they were talking.

Secondly, the way he spoke about how all those below them might die was troubling, to say the least. Was the Big 4 sure that there would be massive casualties in the war that was to come? Were they prepared to let that happen with some endgame in mind?

A lot of questions appeared in Daneel's mind, but, sadly, he couldn't ask any of them.

So, he just stoically stood there among the clouds while the Head glowered at him for a few moments in silence.

After that, he let out a sigh, before conjuring a chair and saying, "Sit, first. No matter how many years pass, I guess that a young one wasting their potential is the one thing that I will always be affected by. My apologies."

Huh? He was even apologizing, now?

Again, Daneel had no idea what to make of this. So, he just decided to be a passive participant in this conversation with the aim of finding out as much as possible about this enigmatic man who was supposed to be in control of the whole continent.

As for his other statements about how he was wasting time, how could he know that Daneel's main objective was to break the third seal?

Behind the third seal were the most precious Champion Paths of the Empire, among which there might be something which enticed him, as, right now, he neither had clarity regarding which direction he wanted to go in, nor did he have interest in any of the Paths he had seen so far.

All he did have was a vague feeling, and a wish.

That wish was that whatever he chose would be something that personified him, to as much an extent as possible. As such, that wish was also that it would be the most powerful and dominating of all Paths that existed, which was something that ought to be the case anyway, considering the name of the system he was in possession of.

As for that vague feeling, it told him that he had to be patient, and that this was an important choice which had to be handled very, very carefully.

All in all, Daneel wasn't that concerned with rushing this decision, even though he knew that it would give him a significant power boost.

So, he had decided to concentrate on the schemes such as the train, which would increase the development rate, and, thus, the increase in satisfaction level.

Along with this, he also had many other 'antics', as the Head put them, planned, for the same purpose.

Hence, he had to admit that he was pretty disgruntled at being shouted at by this old man who didn't know the truth behind the matter.

Still, he just stayed silent and sat down.

A glass of wine floated to him, which Daneel accepted, but did not drink.

Seeing this, the Head sighed again and continued.

"I guess we got off on the wrong foot. But it needed to be said, King Daneel. You might not know of this, but the Peak Warrior stage is a very crucial time. Each moment you spend there without stepping forward is one wasted, which could be put to much better use progressing on your Champion Path and making it stronger. Some foolish people end up delaying too long while searching for the 'perfect' Champion Path. With my experience, let me tell you something. There is no 'perfect'

Champion Path. The one you choose, is the one that is 'perfect' for you. If you choose it for the right reasons, then it is the best choice."

Huh? Why did this remind Daneel about the cliched dialogue about love from Earth?

Discarding that thought, Daneel focused on the man's words.

Well, he was right, but how was Daneel supposed to tell him that reason behind him not forging ahead was that there was a treasure box in front of him which would definitely equip him with much better choices if opened first?

He couldn't say anything about the Empire Spirit, and it looked like this old man wasn't going to leave this topic alone.

So, Daneel decided that it was time to lie.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel was just about to start a long, drawn-out speech about how he couldn't even train properly if he didn't take care of all these people who trusted him, and that he was the sort of man whose mind would be disturbed endlessly if he didn't act as the thoughtful ruler he was, complete with hard-hitting dialogues and even tears which would make it seem like he was an emotional fool.

Yet, at the last moment, an idea struck him.

Could this opportunity, and this man's passion in the matter be somehow put to use to manipulate him?

Anyone in this situation might choose to get rid of this Head, whom they knew nothing about, by telling some lie or the other. After all, the best option might be to get back to what he was doing without having to worry about a Hero overlooking everything and glowering at him silently.

He could choose to let him down, or just act bratty, even, while keeping the end result in mind.

Yet, Daneel discarded all these options and chose to go with his idea, simply because he felt that it had the most benefits.

For one thing, it would help him to get a better gauge of this man's intentions. That was simply the most pressing question, right now.

This was a slight gamble, and he tried to ask Drakos about it to make it less so, but, alas, that didn't work out.

Still, Daneel decided to roll the dice, once again.

Taking another deep breath, the King of Lanthanor put on an expression of deep thought as he leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees while looking down, through the clouds, at all the people moving in throngs toward the enormous train station that he had built for the Angarian Express.

The Head was initially about to continue and try to convince the King more, as, to him, he was just a kid who should be advised. Yet, he paused as he saw that his words had already had some kind of effect.

Silence punctured by the occasional sound of wind and the calls of various birds cast its spell over their vicinity, while the Head waited patiently.

Finally, the King spoke after a minute.

"Uh…how should I call you?", he first asked, just to be polite.

Chuckling, the Head replied, "Just call me Head. That is my designation, and its what everyone calls me, too."

Nodding, the King resumed speaking.

"Head. I don't know I should explain it, but…I feel that my Champion Path has something to do with people, from all walks of life."

Hearing this made the Head raise his eyebrows, but he just folded his hands and said, "Oh? Interesting. Tell me as much as you can."

"It's like…each action and reaction I see makes me understand something. It varies for each kind of person I study. Rich, poor, old, young. It feels as if…if I study them enough, and do things which make them react in different ways, I can learn to…control those reactions. Change them to my will. Manipulate them…to my liking. Like…see that little girl, down there, who's crying because she can't find her mother. The action needed is to reunite with her mother, but when that happens, if I progress enough, I feel that I can make it so that she feels…happier. Maybe she had trauma from years ago where she got lost for a long time. I could make that disappear. Basically, what I mean to say that: my Champion Path is all about people. It is not clear to me, yet, but I feel that it will be very strong both offensively and defensively, if I succeed at it. You know much more about Champion Paths than I do. What do you think?"

The last part was just to pander to this man's passion for instruction, just because he had seen it in action when he had arrived.

Daneel had just spouted a hot, steaming pile of bullsh*t, but it hadn't been spun out of thin air. There were simple Champion Paths which related to people's emotions, and controlling them. Why couldn't the same apply to reactions?

It was a shot in the dark, so Daneel had tried asking Drakos, but the Dragon had just said that the information was sealed. That, though, did give him confidence, as it meant that it was at least remotely related to something which was hidden behind the third seal.

Still, now was the moment of truth. It would all depend on how the Head reacted.

If he saw it as the bullsh*t that it was, Daneel would have no option but to revert to the original option of lying.

However, if that didn't happen…he was ready to pounce.

By the time the Head spoke after a few moments, Daneel was almost about to burst due to the suspense.

Thankfully, his reply made the King of Lanthanor smile, inside.

"Intriguing. You might have embarked on a path that is hinted at in the records we have from the Empire's time as one that is fit for a schemer. You're an upright and just King, though, so maybe yours is a different variation. For now, all I can say is that you should make it clearer, but when the time comes to fix it, I can help, if you need me to. Young seeds like you are far more important than what anyone believes. Again, I apologize. I see you do have the Champion level in your mind."

The Head said this in a tone filled with both slight excitement and embarrassment, which made it clear that Daneel's gamble had paid off.

So…he implemented the next step.

"There is something in which I do need your help, Head. I don't know if I should ask, though."

"Speak up! Even though you aren't a part of the Big 4, there are certain things I can still help you with. But, there are many things I can only do if you leave the Central Continent and join the Big 4. First, state your need."

With hesitation, Daneel said, "I…also feel the need to study those who are from different backgrounds and hold different levels of power, and I am also interested in the personal accounts of powerful people who have graced our continent. I feel this will really propel me forward on this path of understanding, as the goal, after all, is for the Champion Path to aid me in a fight. Is there any way to obtain those?"

After a brief pause during which the Head looked like he was trying to decide about something, he finally replied with a smile.

"Well, you can find those in the various libraries of the Big 4, and it shouldn't be a problem for you to interact with sect members. Maybe you might even choose to join us, if you do so. What do you say, King Daneel? Would you like me to authorize your entry into all 4 sects of the Big 4, along with access to libraries which those of your power level can access?"

It was said that the best method to make someone do something was to make them think that it was their idea.

As Daneel nodded excitedly when he heard the Head's reply, this thought passed through his mind, along with joy due to the fact that he had just gained access to places which might hold answers to quite a few of the mysteries that plagued him.

Along with the possibility of the system finding more clues regarding Heroes, there was also a possibility that he might find information which would propel him forward in the Race.

And...it was finally time for him to find out just which were the sects that comprised of the rest of the Big 4.

…

Meanwhile, in that wooden room in the middle of nowhere, all the luxuriously dressed gentlemen and ladies were speechless as they recalled that enormous, village-sized bow which had fired a carriage forward without inconveniencing its passengers in the slightest.

It was the man in plain clothes who finally spoke up.

"Well, that third train is certainly out of the question. But the other two can be implemented by us. Assemble all of your Enchanters. The plan for Angarian Express is that we will implement it in the few towns we control in the other Kingdoms. As for the Network, I already know some people who have obtained the formation models for the trinket used to broadcast. We will be beginning the plan to enter that sphere, soon. And, finally, the Bank. We will offer even lower interest rates, and turn everyone toward us. In a week, the King should be pulling his hair out. That is the goal, everyone. Let's get started."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

558 Advice

"All right. I will pass down the instructions right now, and when all the authorizations are done, I will send you the instructions through which you can visit each of the Big 4. I would advise you to finish everything you wish to do in one trip, as it would be too much of a hassle for you to go and come as you wish. There are protocols to be followed each time an outsider is allowed into a sect, you know."

"Of course! I will certainly plan accordingly."

'Believe me, once will be enough. All I need is the location of the Sects, after all.'

With this thought in mind, Daneel smiled broadly as the Head nodded in response.

The Watcher had been a part of the Sect of Hedon, which was why it had been easy for him to set up all that with Travis to enable Daneel to infiltrate the Sect, as he had already known most of what he had to take care of. Hence, the man couldn't be depended on if Daneel wanted to make a trip to the rest of the Big 4.

As Daneel watched, the Head stroked the ring on his right hand, which seemed to be a communication trinket, while closing his eyes to send messages to make Daneel's journey possible.

While he waited for the man to be done, Daneel excitedly began to list everything he wanted to accomplish on his trip.

It was almost like he was back on Earth, planning a sight-seeing trip to a famous tourist location, instead of venturing into a place filled with arrogant and overpowered Fighters and Mages, all of whom would definitely be looking down on him and making sure to come in his way.

At least, that was what he was expecting from the Big 4, based on what he had seen so far.

On top of the list was, of course, to go through each and every book he could find so that the system could pick up as many clues as it could regarding the things which concerned him, which included both the Race and the secret behind the ascent to Hero level.

After that would be to try and estimate what the fighting ability and power of each sect was, so that he could get a clear gauge of the resistance that Angaria was going to put up against the Church.

What else could he do? In the Sect of Hedon, there had been a clear goal to stop Ashahell and whatever he was planning. Was this all he was going to do in the rest of the sects?

Daneel felt that he should aim high.

After a second, a bold thought occurred to him.

He had already spread his tendrils of control as far as they could go in the Central Continent. Except for the two forces which were both being controlled by those who could resist him, the Central Continent was his.

Yet, he sadly couldn't come out in the open regarding the other two forces as that would definitely draw the attention of the Big 4, whom he couldn't handle yet.

Also, after seeing the benefits that came from openly dominating a force instead of doing it in the shadows, Daneel had already shifted his focus to continue his pursuits in that direction instead of like before, when his goal had been to take control of as many forces as possible in the shadows.

That bold idea was regarding these puppeteering skills that were currently gathering dust in his cupboard which contained all the skills which he wasn't using right now.

Could they, somehow, be put to use in the Big 4?

It was a tall order, for sure, when considering the fact that Champions were those in command, on the ground in each sect, while Heroes also constantly oversaw all operations.

Still, Daneel decided that he would see what he could do.

The Head opened his eyes and spoke as soon as Daneel made this decision in his mind.

"It's done, the process has begun. Should be finished in a few days. After that, I'll send you the details. Now then, let me come to the main reason I wanted to speak to you before."

Hearing this, Daneel leaned forward. So there was a different agenda to this old man's summons, too?

"First, your alliance. The oldest rule on Angaria is that no unified force shall be born in the Central Continent. It is the duty of the Big 4 to ensure that that doesn't happen, even if it means that we have to step in and use force. I do not know if you have any designs on the rest of the forces, but even if you do, I urge you to shelve them. And don't bother asking me the reason behind the rule, either. I don't know it, and it will not change. At any point in time, the power in the Central Continent must be divided between at least 3 forces. That is what the rule states, but we like to play safe as we can guess the reason behind the existence of this rule. There was clamor from a few Heroes to disband your Alliance, too, but I, and a few others simply said that the overall power distribution remains the same, and that the rule is still being followed. Besides, it is a crucial time, and it is best that we do not step in and waste our time and resources unless it is absolutely necessary."

'WHAT THE F*CK!'

On the outside, Daneel nodded solemnly, but in his mind, tempestuous winds had begun to form which gave birth to feverous excitement.

3 forces! That meant that…if he was careful, he could go ahead with consolidating the Black Raven Kingdom and the Hidden Kill Sect openly!

As for why it was this number, Daneel thought that it was a coincidence, at first, but as he thought about it, he realized that it was because the main reason behind the rule's existence was that there shouldn't be a singular power which united the entire Central Continent. If there were two, a single takeover would be enough to result in that, which would be a risky position. So, 3 was the minimum number which was safe.

Although he still only had a few clues about the reason, itself, Daneel didn't care about all that right now.

instead, he was hard at work hiding the shine in his eyes which would signify that he was happy due to this revelation

Thankfully, the Head looked like he hadn't noticed anything, as he continued to speak.

"Lastly, your Inheritance."

These words served to give Daneel the opportunity to shelve all his thoughts and focus.

Right. The Paragon Inheritance that he had used, which must have been identified by all those from the Big 4 who were watching.

Was the old man going to ask for it?

This question made Daneel tense up a bit, but he had already prepared for that. After all, the moment he had asked Drakos and obtained it, the whole objective had been to keep himself safe from prying eyes.

Opening his mouth, he was about to begin the tall tale about the Inheritance where it's physical location had been destroyed, but he was stopped by the Head who noticed his expression and chuckled before saying, "Don't worry, my intention is not to ask for it, and obtain it for the Big 4. The Inheritance you obtained is already in our records, and we know what it contains. As such, in the present state of things, there is no Paragon who can utilize it anyway. Besides, even if I wanted to take it from you, all those from the Empire always take steps to make sure that their Inheritances aren't coveted by those whom they don't need to be worthy. Keep it. But be careful. Even though you gave a brilliant warning to the whole continent, there might be others who will still want to obtain such power."

Daneel nodded in response, as he knew about this, too, even though he was surprised that the Head wasn't acting like those antagonists in stories who would always seek to make trouble for the Hero.

The Head continued after pausing for a moment and taking in a breath.

"And, of course, I don't think I need to tell you that although you pursued it till now, it is best to abandon the Paragon Path. Champion Paths either give one an additional trump card while evolving their Mageroots to a different level, or they aid in battle directly. Regardless, a Mage must still focus on the types of Elementary Particles that they are most proficient in to launch most attacks. So, the journey of a Mage after becoming a Champion is to become more even more adept in using their newfound level of power with the Elementary Particles they have specialized in all their life, while also refining their Champion Path endlessly to bolster the advantage it gives them. At this stage, focusing on all Elementary Particles, like you have done till now on the Path of a Paragon, is just a waste of time. Also, there is another problem that one faces if they do this when they wish to become Heroes. Back in the Empire, it was said that this warning was given to all Paragons who became Champions. Yet, many didn't follow it, and ended up regretting it later as they all died without becoming Heroes and extending their lifespan further. The one who left behind your Inheritance is an exception: he is known to have had no regrets. Still, I don't think you would want the same end. You might know all this from the Inheritance, anyway, but I just wanted to repeat it."

The Head paused here, as if for emphasis, and looked into Daneel's eyes for a few moments with seriousness before continuing to speak on seeing that the King was listening attentively.

"After deciding on your Champion Path and becoming a Champion, leave behind the Paragon Path and choose the Elementary Particles to focus on. Also, about the-...I don't think I need to repeat everything regarding the difference between Mage and Fighter Paths, too. Just keep it in your mind. I've spoken enough, my presence is needed elsewhere. We shall speak again, if needed. If you need to contact me, just go ahead and use this trinket. Goodbye, King Daneel."

After this long speech which felt as if it had been going on forever, just before he said the last part, the Head had gotten interrupted by something, as his face had taken on a slightly unpleasant expression for some reason. At the same moment, he had stopped saying what he had started and given that 'summary'.

Even before Daneel could nod, he found a bronze ring flying in his direction before the Head vanished, while the Throne of clouds he had been sitting on began to lose form and float away, slowly.

Daneel caught the ring, but was then startled when he received a message from Kellor.

"My King, a man arrived at the Palace doors looking for you! He said his name was Rayen! But then, he disappeared after getting an irritated expression on his face, just a moment ago! He asked me to tell you that the agreement you had with him still stands, and that he's still under lockdown, but that he might be free, soon! Do you know him, My King? He was shrouded in darkness!"

As Daneel heard this, he couldn't help but laugh out loud heartily.

So that was the reason behind the Head leaving like that. Clearly, he must have detected that the Hero he was watching had left while he was busy talking to him. As for why these two weren't using clones, Daneel had no idea.

First, Daneel was about to stop and ponder on what the Head had said, as quite a few interesting things had been revealed to him.

Yet, he stopped that as the system spoke in his mind.

[Instance 4 of sub-routine "Keep a watch on Mind-Controlled Network Trinket Competitors" has been triggered. Eavesdropping trinket placed on target 4 has intercepted communication which signifies that target 4 is close to deployment. Host has been notified as per the subroutine.]

Oh? That was pretty fast.

He had created this subroutine so that the system could monitor those competitors and save him the hassle of constantly checking up on them. According to the complexity of the trinket that needed to be made and the funding that was available to each of them, his estimate had been that they would be ready to launch by the time he was ready to launch the Network for purchase by all, instead of it being an invite-only program like now.

Although he was still in deep thought regarding what he had learned, he decided to check it out.

Teleporting to the location of this elf who was in Eldinor, Daneel was startled when he simply asked how it was possible and found out that the elf had received a massive influx of funds from an unknown person.

Slightly concerned, Daneel commanded the elf to call for that person, so that he could begin trailing the breadcrumbs to find out which wealthy figure had taken such an interest in this project.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

559 Trail of Breadcrumbs

"I've sent an emergency message saying that he needs to come. He will be here any moment."

As the elf said this, Daneel nodded and conjured a Throne before sitting on it and casting a camouflage spell to hide himself from whoever appeared in response to the elf's message.

This elf's house was located in a relatively large town around 80 kilometers away from the capital, and he had been banished here because of his penchant for prizing money over all other things. In one of the projects he had undertaken as an Enchanter, he had apparently taken a huge sum of money from the competitor of his employer to supply defective trinkets that ended up derailing his employer's business. As soon as this was brought to light, both that company and this elf were punished severely.

When Daneel had found this out, he has chosen this elf to build a competing trinket, too, and sell it as he saw fit to someone whom he would then monitor. Although this elf was an Enchanter, he wasn't skilled enough to build the entire trinket himself, so it should have taken a lot of time to entice other Enchanters and complete the product.

He was also not trusted by anyone due to that incident, so the estimate by the system had placed this target along with the others in regards to the speed at which the broadcasting trinket would be developed.

Only, for some reason, someone unnamed had come forward and showered money on this guy after taking the promise that he would have the first bid on the finished product.

Daneel was very interested to see who this person was. And to find them, all he would have to do was Mind Control his way up to the top.

After all, no one in the Central Continent would operate with the suspicion that anyone was capable of something like this.

No matter how careful they were, Daneel was pretty confident that he would soon find the answer he was looking for.

While he was waiting, he started to ponder on what the Head had told him.

Throughout his life, here, there had only been people telling him repeatedly that the Paragon Path was not something to be chosen, especially by those like him who were talented enough to progress swiftly.

In this age, only those who had no hope of crossing some major level would choose this Path to be the most powerful version of themselves that they could be while they were alive.

Yet, Daneel had still gone ahead because of the existence of the system, which was capable of analyzing and understanding elementary particles accurately, thereby allowing him to skip past the time-consuming step that was needed.

So, did he have any reason to listen to the Head now, at this stage?

Definitely not.

The only concerning thing was that there were no Heroes who were also Paragon even during the time of the Empire.

Yet, how could there be those equipped with something as amazing as the system even in that age?

Paragons towered over all at the same level, and were also capable of jumping levels to fight those far more powerful than them. So, there was no way he would leave that behind, unless there was no other option.

As for what he had said regarding Fighter and Mage Champion Paths, Daneel decided to ask Drakos.

"Drakos, what is the difference between a Fighter Champion Path and a Mage Champion Path?"

Daneel had a faint inkling of the answer, even though he hadn't thought extensively on it. Still, he wanted to hear about it from the Ancient Dragon.

"Young King, I thought you already figured it out from all the information you received. The goal of the Champion Path is to resonate with something at such a level that it causes nature, and elementary particles to be affected accordingly without the need to do so actively. Mages and Fighters do so differently. In the case of the former, the resonance springs forth from the mind, and, thus, the Mageroot is affected, making it evolve to the Champion level. In the latter, it is the body which does so. Imagine it as you understanding something by reading it and simulating it in your mind, versus practicing it using your body over and over again until it comes naturally to your body. Typically, one chooses a Path that lets them break through in either way, and then, if they wish, they can choose a different Champion Path for the other. This is typically regarded as a waste of time, as it is usually the case that that time is better spent honing the Path chosen. There are also many other issues, such as the fact that the two Paths might have fundamental differences which do not allow them to function together, or the risk that an internal dissonance can occur as the body and the mind are on different paths, which can lead to death. I cannot say more about the matter, Young King."

That last part…made Daneel smile broadly, as he had gotten the answer he needed.

Daneel knew more or less about the rest, but all he had wanted to find out was whether there was anything more about this topic that might be hidden behind the third seal.

Again, that was the case.

Right now, Daneel's mind was buzzing with all the information that he had just heard or found out about, leading him to discard everything that wasn't necessary and focus on what was important.

The gist, basically, was that the Champion Path had even more aspects that he hadn't thought about before, and that he should find out more about them while definitely not acting in haste to break through.

If Daneel were some normal human who had reached this level, all this stuff wouldn't concern him. He would just choose whatever looked the strongest, and look to break through as soon as possible.

Yet, because he had the means to do things that no one else could, he had an obligation to research as much as possible and find out each and every piece of information possible before making a decision.

About these things, too, Daneel looked forward to finding clues in the libraries in the sects that he would soon visit.

As he continued to mull silently over it all, the door finally opened after an hour or so to reveal a man dressed in a black cloak.

He had clearly hurried over from somewhere, as the cloak wasn't even worn properly.

Intending to not waste any time, Daneel simply discarded the camouflage spell before startling the man and casting Mind Control.

With a simple question, Daneel found out that he was just a middleman who received instructions regarding what he should do from an information broker.

That was Daneel's next stop. The address was a lawless area in a certain town in the Black Raven Kingdom, which Daneel casually strolled into.

This was where he faced a surprise. The information broker actually had a Peak Exalted Human Fighter in his employ for security, which meant that he dealt in pretty high profile stuff.

Of course, that was no trouble for Daneel. Opting for crude means, he just used a hammer to knock out the Fighter before Mind Controlling the information broker to find that he, in turn, received his instructions from a random spot outside a bar in a town which wasn't controlled by any of the forces in the Central Continent.

Whoever this was had gone to great lengths to keep their identity a secret.

Daneel used a simple strategy to flush them out.

He ordered the information broker to send fake information that another buyer had offered even more money to the elf, who was going to accept.

That would definitely send them in a tizzy.

After this was sent, Daneel traveled to that town and waited.

Here was an unmarked trash can which was apparently where the liaison of the information broker would receive the payment and instructions.

Here, Daneel faced another surprise. Even though he was keeping a close watch, the instructions on how to react along with payment appeared in the bin, and a message was sent to that liaison to go and collect them.

Daneel was puzzled, but he waited till the liaison did so. After that, he asked the system to scan the trash can, which was something he should have done before.

He had only been expecting someone else to come and drop them off, so he had neglected to do that.

It was then that he found out that there was a secret shaft underneath the trash can, and that the can had a hole which had been used to place the items inside.

Well, this was some real James Bond sh*t.

After getting this thought, Daneel followed the shaft and finally reached the 'lair', where he was pretty startled to see not one, not two, but four Peak Exalted Human Mages defending the location underground.

His Kingdom had struggled to have just one of them! Yet, here, there were four?!

Clearly, the pockets of these people were deep.

So, very deep.

This actually made him feel excited, while he made them all faint and entered to find a butler, who was Mind Controlled to finally give him the location in the middle of nowhere where a meeting was apparently going on.

After this lengthy chase, Daneel was pretty tired, but knowing that it was near the end, he traveled to the location to find the meeting with the 30 people dressed luxuriously, while a man in plain clothes was instructing them all.

As soon as he found out what they were up to, the King of Lanthanor couldn't help but curse, out loud.

'F*CKING PIRATES!'

He couldn't have expected that this notorious practice from Earth would appear in Angaria so soon, but he realized that he should have expected it in a place where there were no clear copyright or patent laws at all.

At this moment, Daneel faced a choice. Was he supposed to Mind Control them all and make them stop, or could they be used, in some way?

He reminded himself of his goal behind all the schemes in the first place, which was to increase the satisfaction level of the people. These people were clearly doing all this to stay relevant, and they seemed to be prepared to burn the money they had hoarded for a long time in this pursuit.

With that in mind, Daneel realized what this was.

It was an opportunity, which, if utilized properly, might help him to reach his goal much faster than anticipated.

…

Meanwhile, the Head was once again in the room with the various windows which showed different scenes from all around Angaria.

Rayen was sitting with a frown beside him, like a little child who had been caught sneaking off even though he had been grounded by his parents.

"You can forget it, Rayen. I already told you, but you still went and tried. Well, it was pretty funny that the King was with me."

Rayen was just about to respond, but they were interrupted by a loud 'boom' which shook the whole underground mansion they were in.

This was followed by a bellow, which made both of them look at each other with bewilderment.

"Hey, Head! You weren't responding on trinket, so I thought I would make a visit! What's up, Rayen? Still mooning over your son?"

Followed by the bellow, a knocking sound was heard from one direction where a large, wall-length window was showing the scene of the Endless Sea.

Yet, after the knock, the formation distorted to reveal a crude cavern with a large hole, as the house was actually located in a gigantic underground cave.

Only, after a second, the view of that cavern was obstructed by a large head the size of a grown man.

The features of the head were simple, but a huge grin appeared on the face when the head's eyes focused on the image of the two men sitting inside.

After the grin, acting as if this was all normal, the head continued to speak.

"So, I wanted to say that if you want my Sect to allow in that King, I want him to get his friend with him, too. What was his name? Oh, right, Elanev! Send him, too, or the doors of our sect will be closed! And you know us Fighters! If we decide on something, we will follow through even if it means death! All right, ba-bye then, Rayen! Sorry about your formation!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

560 An Eventful Day

By the time Daneel got back after making a few special…arrangements, the meetings regarding Angarian Express were just coming to a close.

As a graceful host, Daneel joined in and thanked everyone for watching and coming before closing off the show.

After that, he made a flying platform which he used to personally take Helena and Dalia back, as they stared out at the clouds in the night sky in awe.

Daneel kept the speed moderate, so that they wouldn't get motion sickness. If he had to be frank, he would admit that he, too, liked flying in the moonlight, staring at the stars as they winked at those below.

After coming to Angaria, Daneel realized that he hadn't even paused and appreciated the sheer beauty that lay in flying by oneself through the sky, unbridled and free, with the feeling that nothing could stop them.

It was every child's, and even many adults' dream on Earth, and he had obtained it by just training for a few years.

So, Daneel used this moment of silence between them to close his eyes and feel the night wind blow into his face, lifting his hair while, at the same time, lifting up his spirit which had become slightly bogged down in confusion due to all the information he had just obtained.

This allowed him to calm down and smile, and in the process regain his confidence.

He knew that what he had chosen was right, and he would follow through with it no matter what anyone said.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Helena was being held by Dalia while she had fun with a few clouds that passed them: she would reach out and let her hand run through them, causing long swathes of blankness to appear which looked pretty as they passed them by.

Smiling, Daneel got to the reason why he had opted to fly these two back.

"So, Helena. How did you feel when you saw the effectiveness of splitting the service in three according to who used it? You must have listened to all those who came gossiping among themselves while discussing the Express. Let little Dalia play, she won't be able to hear us."

That last part made Helena smile, before she stepped forward while letting Dalia stay where she was, so that the little girl was only able to see her back, and, hence didn't know that this joy trip had turned into a business one.

She didn't have to know, which was something that both Daneel and Helena felt.

After thinking for a moment, Helena finally said, "I did see the kind of reach that wasn't there in our products. The rich were avid to show their opulence by purchasing tickets for the Premium Express, as you called it, and the poorer folk were just happy to have an affordable means of travel. Of course, us business folk are the happiest. We are your biggest consumers, right?"

Raising an eyebrow at the astute observation of the woman, Daneel smiled and said, "Yes, apart from the rich. As for the poor, the margins are low and the profits are almost nil, but I don't mind because I just want to provide them with the service. In a way, like I suggested it for you, I am using the extra money I'm receiving from you and the rich to fund the poor's expense."

This made Helena nod to herself, as if she had expected that the King would answer in this way.

First, she once again sank into deep depth, before finally giving her answer.

"All right, King Daneel. I'll work out a way to segment them accordingly. You are right, using the rich to pay for the poor is really a great idea. And the poor will also have something to work toward."

The answer made Daneel clap and beam with joy.

As someone from Earth, he knew the importance of a brand name. Now, he was going to create a premium one which the whole continent would clamor for.

"Good! Now that you've agreed, maybe we can make simple enchanted clothes available for the poor, too? Think about it. A farmer's clothes, if enchanted with the ability to keep off dust, will save the farmer from enduring coughing fits due to the dust and dirt they have to be near. A blacksmith can have cooling clothes to help them work for longer without heating up due to the flames. A roadside seller can have self-cleaning clothes so that they can use the same and decrease costs in washing clothes and having to buy multiple sets of them. All in all, citizens will be happy to live in a place where all these things are available."

Daneel said this with a smile. Of course, the last part was all about satisfaction level, which would definitely grow if what he said became possible.

"Indeed, King Daneel! I've thought about that, too. But the problem is that we would never be able to create enough, as there are too few-"

"You forget our alliance with the elves, By tomorrow, a team of Amateur Enchanters will be at your factory. Use them well."

Helena was startled.

Right, they had the elves now!

She had almost forgotten, and as she heard the King give that statement, she smiled and bowed before stepping back to join Dalia.

Meanwhile, with the matter settled, Daneel was looking forward to the trip he would make soon.

Earlier, before his visit to that underground lair, Daneel had felt that it was unfortunate that he had to leave behind his schemes to leave on that journey.

Yet, he wasn't concerned now, due to the arrangement he had made over there.

…

Meanwhile, in the wooden house in the middle of nowhere that had been designated as the official meeting place for all those involved in the plan to profit from the King of Lanthanor's schemes.

Jordan was walking around in the mostly empty house with one hand behind his back.

In his other hand was a duster, which he was using to clean all the tables and chairs that had been used in the meeting.

As he was doing so, a maid appeared at the door and looked at him before saying, "Oh, someone's already here? I'll clean the other areas, then."

She had been sent by the official butler in charge of this area to clean the main meeting room, but as soon as she came, she had seen a man wearing the plain clothes of a worker carefully cleaning everything with his back turned to her.

The man only nodded in response, which led her to leave.

However, it was only after getting to the butler to tell her about this did the woman find out that she had made a blunder.

That…was actually supposed to be the most powerful person among those gathering, and she had mistaken him for a cleaner.

The woman ran back to apologize and beg that she not be punished, but when she returned to the room, she found it empty as Jordan had already left back to his own room.

Unlike the others who had gone back to their bases to handle their various businesses, he was someone who only needed communication trinkets to manage his empire.

Yes, an empire- one which dwarfed all the enterprises of all the others in size.

He had a hand in almost every business, as he controlled the wishes of the main, common workforce that all those other businessmen employed.

In a way, if they didn't pay him his due, he would incite movements for pay raises, or revolutions that would see thousands of Ether blocks worth materials lost.

And how had he done it all? By shrewdly building his network over decades while being a simple cleaner in various places.

No matter where he went, he would gather support from the working class, thereby increasing the size of his network, until he had a sizeable force to call on in all the Kingdoms except Axelor.

If things hadn't gotten dire for the people he took money from, he might not have stepped out, at all, but he had done so because he had recognized that all these people needed guidance to protect their interests, and his.

The plan had all been his doing, and he would also gain a lot when it succeeded.

Yet, right now, a voice inside his head was repeatedly telling him that this was an opportunity like no other.

He already had an idea in mind, and although it was risky, he realized that this risk might set him up for life.

As the voice got louder and louder, Jordan finally listened to it.

With a smile, he sat on the table in his small room and took out a data trinket which had a record of all the money that each businessperson was putting into this endeavor.

The agreement had been that they would reap profits proportionally.

But…what if he showed them the allure of fake profits, and kept squeezing them dry?

Yes, they trusted him, so it would work. All he would have to do was make edits in the records here and there to entice these hoarders to take out everything they had leeched from the continent over all these years.

Their 'inspired' plans would move faster and obtain more market share, while they would keep thinking that they would someday acquire limitless profits as reported by the records.

Yet, there would be none.

Wait…what did he gain from all this?

The voice kept promising him that he would gain more than anyone, and it was so strong that Jordan believed it. Yes, he would definitely gain a lot. All he would have to do was go along with this plan.

So, as the system kept watch, Jordan began the King's operation, which had aptly been named 'Squeeze 'em dry'.

…

Meanwhile, the Head and Rayen had just recovered from the shock of abruptly being interrupted by that Giant Head outside the window, but by the time they looked to that window again, a giant figure could already be seen scrambling away on all fours through that hole it had made.

With frustration, Rayen exclaimed, "Well, there go almost all my other formations. Head, couldn't you have just responded?"

To this, the Head shook his head with frustration, too.

"Listen to the message he sent.", he said, before raising a hand with the ring which he had used as a communication trinket earlier and making sound appear.

"Shed, shi want Zshelanev doo. Shend both or we closh."

It was practically gibberish.

"I thought he sent it by mistake!"

Indeed, the message had been spoken out by someone whose mouth was stuffed.

This made Rayen realize that the Head couldn't be blamed, but he was still pretty disgruntled as his master plan to get rid of the man had been ruined.

In the brief absence of the Head, Rayen had purposefully traveled to Lanthanor in his main body so that the Head would notice.

When stopped, he would come back to the house with the Head, and launch into a speech about how that was the last-ditch desperate attempt, and that he would now enter a closed-door training/mourning period.

This would be an ample excuse, and he would behave after that, which would make the Head leave so that he could uphold his end of the bargain with that devilish King so that his son would stay alive.

Only, the moment was gone, and he would have to think of a better plan.

Meanwhile, as he watched, the Head shrugged and took out a communication trinket to send a message.

…

Daneel had just gotten back to the Palace after dropping after the mother and daughter duo.

As soon as he was about to hit the sack, exhausted and dream about simply banging his enemies heads with hammers to make them faint, the ring given by the Head, which he had kept on his body after checking that it wasn't an eavesdropping trinket, vibrated.

As Daneel heard the message, he was puzzled and had to make it repeat, but when it did, he immediately called for Elanev.

A minute later, his elder brother staggered into the room, looking bone-tired and weary.

"What is it, Daneel? This damn old man only allows me 4 hours of sleep…", he said while yawning, which made Daneel raise an eyebrow and say, "Well, this will wake you right up. A Sect of the Big 4 is calling for you, because they say you will fit right in with their teachings. Know anything about that?"

The next moment, Daneel received his answer, but it wasn't from his elder brother, who looked as bewildered as he had been when he received the message.

No, it was the old man, who appeared beside Elanev and whooped before saying, "Finally! My disciple, your master is incredible! Long ago, I set up a plan to infiltrate the sect in the Big 4 which is solely made up of Fighters so that he can put in place a plan for me to access all the top-notch Fighter techniques and training areas, in case I needed them to train a special disciple. You are that disciple, boy. Get ready to see real hell! Haha!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

561 Exploits of the Old Man

This proclamation by the old man was met by silence from both Elanev and Daneel, who could only stare at him while he smiled broadly, clearly very proud of himself.

Daneel recovered first.

His head full of questions, he asked, "Care to elaborate?"

For the life of him, he couldn't imagine what this old man who had apparently been in a pedestal for the past thousands of years could have done to infiltrate one of the Big Four and set up such an elaborate scheme to train a disciple.

Still beaming, the old man first looked at Elanev, who shuddered with fear both because of his expression which spoke volumes, and the statement he had just heard where he had said that he would soon see "real hell".

Then what the hell had he seen so far?

Turning to Daneel, the old man began to answer his question.

"I already told you that I bond with promising Fighters and travel with them by splitting my consciousness and giving them the skills they need, right? That was how I set up the Training Hall all in your kingdom. Well, over the years, there were certain Fighters who were so promising that they managed to enter the Big 4, itself, and even reach high positions from where they could pass down orders that would stay in effect for generations. But, I knew I was playing the long game. So, instead of using this strategy of laying down orders, I decided to have those fighters instruct their disciples, and then the disciples of those disciples after them that they would have to carry out a task if they were truly grateful to their master. That task… Was to identify and help the one who displayed certain techniques, no matter at what time they appeared, because it would mean that that person was the successor of their grand-grand-whatever master. I won't go into the details – suffice it to say that I made a very elaborate tale which would not be doubted by anyone. Basically, it seems that one of those plans paid off – a disciple in the Big 4 must have taken a high position, and is now carrying out that instruction of mine. Boy, I'm telling you, you really should feel lucky. There can definitely be no other master who thinks so much for their disciple. What can I say? The credit goes to my master, who taught me everything that I'm teaching you. Ah, you should have seen the way he laughed whenever I screamed during all those times when I was close to death. Of course, it was only through those experiences that I got strong enough to become a vassal Hero of the Emperor. Anyway, prepare yourself. I would suggest that you say your goodbyes, because the training you're about to undergo is definitely not for the fainthearted."

Hearing this, Elanev looked to Daneel with a terrified expression on his face, as if begging for help.

Clearly, his elder brother was not looking forward to this, but then he knew that he was the sort of man who might react in this way initially and be afraid, but when the time came, he would definitely step up and give everything he had.

So, deciding to have a little fun at his expense, the King of Lanthanor walked forward and laid his hand on Elanev's shoulder solemnly, as if mourning him already.

"You will be missed," he said, before bursting out into laughter.

Daneel couldn't help it, as he knew that even though the old man was scaring Elanev in this way, he definitely cared enough for him that he was willing to use this opportunity which was definitely one of a kind just to train him. No one would let such a precious disciple die, especially during training.

So, this was just some kind of psychological conditioning which his elder brother would have to go through.

The laughter made Elanev curse under his breath and look to the side, but the old man interrupted both of them.

After the story, he seemed to have slipped into a reminiscing mode, which made him speak almost like he had forgotten that there were other people in the room.

"Ah, I miss those times. When was the last time I felt a woman's touch? It must have been 300 years ago…"

Wait… What?

Both Elanev and Daneel were similarly dumbfounded. Why was a spirit talking about a woman's touch?

Their shock made the old man snapped to his senses, and as he looked at them, he smiled and launched into an explanation filled with weird expressions.

"What, do you think I'm one of those damned spirits whose only thoughts are about getting stronger? There is so much more to life, dammit! What's the point of longevity and power if one doesn't enjoy their life? In my time, I was quite the voyeur… Why would I let that go just because I became a spirit? Sometimes, I made a few wrong judgments… Fighters who got into a bond with me would occasionally turn out to be heartless murderers or rapists who would do whatever they wanted. I despise such people. So, I would… ehem, guide them to a state where their brain would be dead, allowing me to take over their body and live a full life. A businessman, a traveling merchant, a mercenary, a farmer – I have reprised all of those roles, and I always make sure to get as rich as possible so that I can have a blast. Oh, and I left behind quite a lot of sons and daughters all around the world. Well, most of them are just normal people, so you don't need to think about them. Now that I think about it, I quite miss it… Maybe after the threat is past, I'll do so again!"

Toward the end of the old man's long speech, he was speaking more to himself than to the two in front of him, which was why he didn't notice the extreme expressions of bewilderment on their faces.

Both of them had one thought going through their minds.

What the… f*ck!?

Although this guy had never given them the vibe of some wise old master whose knowledge would awe young Fighters, they could never have guessed that he had had such an… Illustrious past.

As Daneel heard all this, a very crucial question appeared in his mind.

"If spirits can do all this… Why don't they just amuse themselves in this way and not go crazy?", he asked, thinking about the Black Raven Empire Spirit and all the others who had gone mad due to thousands of years of isolation and boredom.

The question made the old man laugh heartily before saying, "Perks of being a Fighter, boy. My consciousness is much more versatile than theirs, meaning that I can split it into so many more parts without caring about going insane. Fighters wade through years and years of extreme self-torture and pain to obtain power which results in this kind of consciousness, as opposed to Mages who just sit around and 'understand' stuff. Of course we Fighters have certain tricks up our sleeves which Mages cannot contend with!"

The Ancient Dragon also spoke up at this point.

"Young king, he speaks the truth. The power of Mages is tied to their consciousness, as opposed to Fighters whose main source of power is their physical body, for the most part. You already know that this is why our consciousness is much larger, but, like he said, there is also the flaw that we cannot split it as we wish. What I did before, splitting mine to enter a bond with you, was risky in itself. If this part of me dies, the other on the pedestal will have to go into a long period of hibernation just to recover. That is not the case with this Fighter. Even if he loses multiple parts, he can still stay normal and even regenerate those parts over time, which is something that Mages cannot do. Of course, we have our own advantages – when we take over a body, we can instantly output our power level to an extent because all we need to do is use a higher complexity, but a Fighter can do that, because they would need their own body to exhibit their power to the fullest extent."

Indeed, there were advantages and disadvantages in both areas, just like the old man had said.

Still, Daneel couldn't stop thinking about the fantastic adventures of this guy, which would definitely make for an exhilarating tale if someone ever decided to note it down.

After all, there couldn't be a more unique perspective than someone who had lived for thousands of years and only wanted to have fun in the world, without caring about anything else.

Shaking his head, Daneel got rid of these useless thoughts and said, "Well… It was nice to find out all that. Elanev, start packing. We will leave soon."

Elanev still seemed to be in shock due to both the old man's exploits and the fact that he was going to have to go through something that was on a different level than what he was currently facing. So, he just nodded, before walking in the direction of the door with slumped shoulders.

"I don't know how you did it, but good job gaining entry into the Big 4. Be careful, though. Power twists people in unthinkable ways."

With this, the old man disappeared and reappeared next to Elanev before laying a hand on his shoulder and beginning to say something.

Daneel heard the tail end of the conversation before the door closed, and that was enough to make him raise an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Hey, here's an added incentive. If you reach the goals I set for you, I'll impart certain special… Techniques that I've perfected over a long time. I promise that they will have an excellent effect in the be-"

As the door closed, the last thing he saw was Elanev's back straightening, as if he had been injected with a very strong shot of enthusiasm and motivation.

…

Meanwhile, Jordan was sitting inside his room with a very satisfied excision on his face, as he had just finished editing all the data trinkets with the records of financial estimations and calculations that would soon be sent to all the members of this plan.

He had clearly outlined everything – a certain level of profit which was almost impossible to obtain was being projected as the most likely figure, and a lot of hidden charges had been added which would make it so that much more money than was needed would be pumped into this project by all these successful business families.

A portion of that money from the hidden charges would be added to the profits to show them that a lot was being made, which would entice them to put in even more, which Jordan would once again siphon away with even more hidden charges.

As for the other portion, it would actually be invested into the plans, too, but the intention was to use it in such a way that the overall cost of whatever they were doing would come down at least on paper, which would also increase the profit margin and squeeze more money from the others.

This was a notorious cycle which would definitely be successful, but it would take a little bit of time.

In the meanwhile, that voice in his head had just given Jordan another idea.

Taking a piece of parchment, he noted everything down, and when he was done, he couldn't help but marvel at it, himself, as he wondered how he had come up with it.

On the surface, it looked like it was a very fair and profitable plan, but when one dug into the details, they would realize just how… evil it was.

After thinking for a bit, Jordan reached forward to write down the name of this plan.

"Pyramid Scheme- a plan to target all the smaller business families associated with the larger ones"

Feeling happy, he put it aside, before beginning to think about how he was going to introduce it.

…

The next day, after Daneel woke up, the first thing he did was check on Jordan, his main pawn whom he was actively monitoring through an eavesdropping trinket.

He had put two ideas in place of the man's mind which were inspired by the greatest scams that he knew about from Earth – one was a scam which involved the infamous "hidden charges", which would allow anyone to change prices as they wished, and the other was a "Pyramid Scheme" which had ruined millions of lives, and continued to do so.

The latter was meant to target the smaller families which had benefited from the larger ones, so that no stone would be left unturned in the objective of implementing stuff using others which would increase the satisfaction level.

Seeing that everything was going well, Daneel began packing too.

Right now was a time where he could afford to go missing for a couple of days, so his plan was to head to the Fighter Sect.

Only, just before he was going to embark on that task, he received the strangest message from Kellor.

"My King! There's a…20-foot giant that has come to speak to Elanev! It somehow teleported onto the academy grounds, and it's currently creating havoc in the forests nearby! Oh, wait, I just received a message that it seems to be building some kind of toy castle with trees…regardless, everyone is in a panic! What should we do?!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

562 The Gian

Huh?

Daneel first had to ask his Grand Court Mage to repeat the message in a calmer tone, as he suspected that he was really misunderstanding something.

A giant asking for Elanev was building a sandcastle, but from trees instead of sand?

Was his Grand Court Mage pranking him?

If it weren't for the tone of panic in his voice, Daneel would have seriously considered that.

Immediately sending a message to Elanev to get to the Academy, Daneel teleported into the air above the academy to see what was going on.

That was when he received a message from the Head.

"King Daneel, regarding the intruder in your Kingdom. I tried my best to keep him away…but he isn't the kind that listens easily. He's dead set on this mission of his. He won't harm anyone, so you don't need to worry. Just…be careful, still. There have been many who were squashed by his strength if he throws a tantrum. If that happens, even I might be helpless, unless you're fine with me using attacks that will level your capital. I suggest you clear the whole area, and listen to what he has to say."

This morning was getting weirder and weirder.

While still mulling over the Head's cryptic words, Daneel got to a point in the air from where he could finally see the scene in the academy grounds.

Indeed, it was exactly as Kellor had described it: there was a giant with rippling muscles, shaggy hair and an innocent face that was casually playing with trees each 15 feet long as though they were twigs.

A clearer indication wasn't needed about the strength of this being, whatever it was.

Daneel had already known that this had nothing with Arafell, as the giants were Arafell were only 9-12 feet tall. This one outsized them all by a considerable margin.

besides, the main clue was that it was asking for Elanev. So…the most possible case was that this was related to the message he had received last night, where it was written that Elanev should accompany Daneel if he wished to visit the Fighter Sect of the Big 4.

The giant was wearing some sort of gigantic leather armor that made an X over its chest, exposing most of its body on which not even an ounce of fat seemed to be present. Underneath that, there was basically a knee-length frock, which reminded Daneel of the attire of ancient Roman Legionaries from Earth.

Of course, no one in their right mind would ever dare to comment anything about this giant's clothes, considering that a single fist would be enough to squeeze that person into a bloody paste.

Daneel considered whether he should go down there to converse with the Giant, but he decided to wait till Elanev got here.

Only…it seemed that the Giant had other plans.

Turning its head, it beckoned at Daneel with one finger.

But…Daneel hesitated, wondering whether he should be on the defense.

Yet…it seemed that his hesitation had irritated the Giant, as it flung an enormous tree in Daneel's direction with a speed that made it shoot forward like a bullet.

Daneel was thoroughly dumbfounded as he saw this.

Seriously…why did this seem like a kid flinging their toys at someone because they didn't agree to their wishes?

Only, in this case, the 'toy' was a gigantic tree that might fall in the Capital and crush multiple people.

Quickly, Daneel cast a telekinesis spell to increase the strength behind the tree, making it safely fly past the city before landing on the outskirts.

With a sigh of relief, he turned back and immediately made his way forward, fearing that there might be more flying 'toys' if he didn't oblige.

As soon as he neared, he heard the Giant speak in a booming voice.

"Hey, you're the King, right? Head said that we shouldn't enter your Kingdoms, but I'm just here to check something. After that, I'll be on my way. I'll leave behind something as compensation, too. My Master always used to say that if I do something offensive, I should either kill those who are offended, or pay them off if they can't be killed."

The way the words were spoke made it seem as if this really was a child who was talking to him while still absorbed in his playtime.

Unable to resist himself, Daneel asked, "But who are you?"

The answer…was given in the most unique way that Daneel had ever seen in his life.

Using the corner of a tree, the Giant carved a word in crude handwriting onto the ground, and the sheer size of this carving would have been enough to fit a village.

"Bam."

'What a strange name…I wonder what it means.', mused Daneel.

After admiring its handiwork with a smile on its face, the Giant finally looked up to see Daneel have a pondering expression on his face, as if he was deciding whether to ask something.

Only, this seemed to have been enough to convey his question to the Giant.

Raising one hand, it punched thrice into the air.

The effect of this action was…startling, to say the least.

While Daneel watched in horror, he saw a visible shockwave appear at the spot where the Giant's fist stopped each time in the air.

With a sonic boom, this shockwave spread outwards, leveling the buildings which had thankfully been evacuated around the Academy while making him involuntarily move back with his hair completely flying backward due to the sudden gusts of wind.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Before the sounds could dissipate, the Giant happily said, "I was named Bam because I loved to make things go 'Bam'! Now where's Elanev? I'm getting bored."

At the same moment, the system and Drakos both sent messages in his mind, but Daneel had already figured it out himself.

[The target in front of host is at the Hero level.]

"Young King, this is definitely a Hero-level Fighter! Impressive!"

Right.

This was a Hero.

A casual swing of his arm had caused destruction on the level of a natural disaster. As Daneel looked around, he saw the remains of the buildings where he had spent many years of his life.

For a moment, he wondered whether he should get mad at the Giant.

Putting aside the fact that it could probably crush him in a second, Daneel realized that it wasn't even fair.

It was like a normal-sized man placed in a Lilliput town where his every action might cause catastrophic effects. Could he be blamed? No!

But Daneel decided that it was best if Elanev came ASAP, lest this Giant get even more 'bored' and begin to have 'fun' in the Capital.

Right. Where was his older brother, anyway?

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Daneel teleported to the Palace, but didn't find Elanev there.

No one had seen him leave, so Daneel was just about to carry out a search using the system, but he stopped when he got an idea.

Immediately, he traveled to a very familiar mansion in the Inner City, which was the place where he had obtained his first jackpot.

Heaving a sigh of relief on seeing Elanev sharing a cup of tea with his father, Daneel decided that there was no time for explanations.

Swooping down, he caught his collar, before teleporting them away in a flash.

As Elanev spit out the sip of tea he had just taken in shock, he focused on the Academy and the Giant, which was now cleaning its teeth with a twig the size of a telephone pole.

"Wh-what the f*ck is that? And what does it want?"

In response, Daneel simply said 'You' before shoving his elder brother forward and making him fall on the ground near the Giant.

Meanwhile, Elanev had begun to sweat buckets.

Turning back, he glared at the King, who wasn't being a younger brother, at all, these days.

Yesterday, he had offered no words of comfort, and today, he was even being thrown as bait?

Bro…what the f*ck?

He felt like saying this, but he was interrupted by the Giant, which had hastily gotten up, as if it had smelled something.

Turning around swiftly, it looked at Elanev and said, "It's you. Bam saw you using Grandmaster's move! Use it on me so that I can confirm. Now!"

With the last word, a palm started flying in Elanev's direction, making him almost piss his pants while the sun was completely blocked away by the gigantic hand that would soon crush him into paste.

Only, the old man spoke up at this point.

"Use the special Hidden Kill Fist I taught you, idiot."

The Hidden Kill Fist?

Elanev had abandoned it long ago, after finding better techniques. Even the old man had said that that was just a beginning level technique which was special to him, because he had invented it on his path to becoming a Hero Fighter.

So…in a way, it was fitting that this skill was needed for whatever this 'confirmation' was.

Only those who had been given the technique by the old man were capable of executing it. Back during the Olympics, too, Elanev had secretly taken permission before imparting the improved Hidden Kill Fist to Daneel, before they had both gone on the field and pummeled all of their opponents into the ground.

It seemed that the special muscle movement of the Hidden Kill Fist, which was special as it was a discontinuous one with jerks, was enough, as the Giant stopped its hand just a few inches away from Elanev's hand.

Only…again, the shockwave was enough to blow Elanev back, but Daneel was there to catch him.

'Boom!'

Hearing another loud sound, Daneel looked up with horror to see if the Giant had caused any more destruction, but he heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed that the sound had only been from a clap, while the Giant smiled broadly with happiness.

"Yes, it's you! By the word of the Grandmaster, you'll have access to everything in the Sect!"

Wait…'everything'?

As Daneel heard this, he couldn't help but gasp.

All the Head had promised him was access to stuff which a Peak Warrior had the right to access.

Yet, Elanev could go everywhere?

He wanted that!

Besides, before, Daneel had been prepared to focus on the Mage Path temporarily, just so that he could focus his efforts.

Yet, now, after seeing the level of power of a Hero-level Fighter…Daneel had to admit that he was impressed, and also a little interested.

So, using a communication trinket, he first had a little chat with Elanev and the old man, before stepping forward to interrupt the Giant who had begun to hum a happy song which made it sound as if an earthquake was occurring somewhere nearby.

Making his voice louder, he shouted, "Hey! I know it, too! Test me, too!"

…

Meanwhile, many kilometers away from the Capital.

Under the ground, Faxul was sitting on a chair while looking up, aimlessly, as his mind was in a mess.

Kellor stood beside him, keeping a close eye on the many display trinkets which were showing several nightmarish scenes from different rooms.

In one, Commander Aran was gasping for breath while he was chased by…nothing.

Yet, in the "March Through Hell", the special mist which was designed to pull out the deepest fears of one's mind were making him hallucinate and think that he was being chased by an army of gigantic spiders.

Faxul was pretty much free. His Kingdom was currently still pretty bankrupt, as they had put all the money they had taken into several basic projects which needed time to be carried out.

Right now, and since a long time, he had been trying to figure out his own Champion Path.

What resonated with him? What fit his personality the most?

He went back to his earliest memories, and went through his life. All through it, he saw himself being helped by someone or the other.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a thought appeared to him.

'How nice would it be…to just sprout wings and grow strong enough to fly on my own, without needing anyone's help?'

At the same time, an image of a Black Raven soaring through the skies, unbridled and undefeated appeared in his mind.

Only, in that image…he was that Raven.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

563 Tes

The Giant didn't look too happy that it was interrupted, but that was before it comprehended what Daneel had said.

Puzzled, it scratched its head, which caused fist-sized flakes of dirt to fall to the ground.

In the list of things that Daneel had thought he would never see, this was one item that could be ticked off.

Elanev's legs were still shaking from being blown back in that manner by the sheer force of the Giant's fist, but when he recovered, he looked at Daneel as if he was crazy.

"Daneel, are you out of your mind?! You don't want to go through this, believe me! If I had talent as a Mage, Heavens know that I would never choose this! It's not fun to bleed all day and have your bones broken multiple times, hour by hour, you know! Oh, pipe down, old man."

Obviously, the last sentence was in response to the grumbling that the old man must have started on hearing what he said.

Clearly, from what Daneel had said to the Giant, Elanev had misunderstood that Daneel also wanted to join the 'real hell' that he was going to go through.

The statement made by Elanev made Daneel receive a new perspective of what kind of training his elder brother must be going through, but he just laid a hand on his shoulders and said, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Besides, it's not my intention to completely enter the path of training of a Fighter, yet. I'm doing this because I need the access that you have. Just trust me."

No sooner did Daneel say these words, did he look up to find that same fist heading toward him, too.

It was just too fast! Daneel was pretty confident that even if he kept his eyes on the Giant all the time, he would definitely have missed this fist being launched unless he used his inheritance.

Thankfully, the distance between them wasn't too small, which was why he was able to at least spot it before it was too late.

Without thinking, Daneel first activated the Basilisk's Breath, which made it slow down considerably. Although it was still at a speed which he couldn't contend with, at all, he could at least see it now unlike before, when it had just appeared like a blur.

He had no time to be gentle, so Daneel unceremoniously threw his elder brother to the side and launched a Hidden Kill Fist, just like Elanev had done.

Just like before, he expected the fist to stop right at the moment before it hit him, but, to his horror, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

His gut screamed at him that he would soon be turned into meat paste if he didn't act, while even the system started giving warnings due to the subroutines he had placed which detected perilous situations in which there might be a need for the system to cast certain spells.

By now, he could see what was different, too. Before, the speed of the fist had been noticeably slower, and there had also been a sign at the end where the Giant had applied force to stop the fist before it hit Elanev.

There was no such sign now, which meant that he was going to contend against the power of Hero.

He only had an instant, but Daneel utilized it as best he could.

This was his Kingdom, which meant that… The Ruler's Inheritance could be used to full effect.

As the thoughts of many, many people appeared in his mind again, he skilfully segregated them in the same way that he had done during the fight with the Black Raven Empire Spirit. It still pounded in his head, threatening to take over and drive him insane, but he kept it at bay for the time being while concentrating on doing one single thing – conjuring barriers.

One after the other, barriers went up until a thick shell formed through which Daneel couldn't even look outside. His fist was still flying forward as he had had no time to take it back, but, soon, it would meet the wall of the barrier instead of the Giant's hand.

Initially, there were only normal barriers, but then, barriers of strange shapes also started appearing, such as ones filled with hexagons and others made of interlocking circles.

All of these were designed to ablate force and push it to the side instead of having to take it all on directly. In essence, their goal was to enable contraction and expansion of the overall construct, which was due to the nonrigid structure which was built on top of a solid base that would basically turn Daneel into a kind of bouncing ball that would be bounced away instead of being crushed in the face of a force which could not be resisted against.

Even Elanev seemed to have noticed that something was wrong, as he heard a scream from that direction at the moment before impact.

When the impact did occur, Daneel wondered whether this was how it felt to be crushed.

His barrier construct which he had named 'Turtle Shell' had worked wonderfully – instead of putting up resistance, it had allowed the force to pass by it while being launched away just like a ball being hit by a baseball bat.

The fist was slightly angled up, which caused Daneel to fly upwards into the sky at a speed which almost made him look like a shooting star.

Some in Lanthanor even spotted this, and wondered why they were seeing shooting stars during the day.

Inside the ball, Daneel was tumbling around endlessly, with his mind spinning in circles while he felt pain all over his body due to the residual force that had entered the barrier.

Thankfully, his Peak Warrior level body was strong enough to endure, even though it hurt like hell.

The force finally died down after he had traveled hundreds of kilometers diagonally from Lanthanor, which almost put him in the airspace of the Black Raven Kingdom.

As he finally started to slow down, Daneel struggled to cast spells to stop the momentum, which finally allowed him to come to a halt.

Instantly, he spat out blood as all of his internal organs had gotten injured due to them moving around and tumbling inside him due to such an instant and insane change in state.

His face was completely red due to all the blood that had rushed up, and his eyes were bloodshot as he blinked in shock, wondering what the heck the intention of the Giant was.

'Not harmful, my ass!'

Cursing the Head, Daneel teleported back to find a crater where he had previously been.

It was over 10 feet deep and 20 feet wide, almost making it look as if an asteroid had barrelled down from the sky and impacted the Academy Grounds of the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

If anyone knew that this was all just the side-effects of an attack from a Hero-level Fighter, they would definitely be amazed.

"Young King… You should know that that was just a casual punch. If he really wanted to kill you, a fully powered punch would not give you any time to react. You would have been obliterated by now."

The statement from Drakos made Daneel gasp in shock.

That had actually been just a casual fist?

So Heroes were THIS damn overpowered?!

At this moment, Daneel got a clearer estimate of the chasm that lay between him and the Hero level. Even though he couldn't quantify it perfectly as he didn't know just how casual the punch of the Giant was, he could tell that this was a chasm that couldn't be crossed by using cute tricks such as before when he had utilized the Paragon techniques to battle against Raul.

The Giant smiled wide when he saw Daneel reappear, which made him wonder whether he should contact the Head for help, in case more attacks were going to come.

Daneel has been pretty sure that this must have been some test, which was why he had gone back, but now, as he was face to face with the Giant, he couldn't help but rethink that decision.

Should he have killed his pride and contacted the Head, just to be safe, anyway?

After all, that was the only person who could protect him in this case, other than Rayen, but the latter couldn't do so unless he wanted the secret of their agreement to be exposed to everyone.

This really irritated Daneel. Right now, he felt as if he was once again that weak Amateur Human who had only been able to look up to the Exalted Human level foes that he had gone up against during his ascension to become the King.

He had kept them in mind each and every moment when he trained, which had really helped to push him forward and enable him to endure.

It seemed… that this incident might have the same effect as then, when he had been made to kneel in front of the King because he was weak.

The Giant spoke up at this point.

With the innocent face of a child who had meant no harm, he said, "Sorry, King. The Grandmaster ordered me to test whether you are strong enough to take a casual Bam from me. It's because you're a Mage. The grandmaster doesn't approve of those not focusing on one path. But you passed, so you are eligible now, too. I'll be leaving now – it's time for my second breakfast. See you soon when you come to the Sect!"

Saying this, the Giant waved his hand in an animated motion before disappearing from where he was.

This… Made Daneel take another step back and rub his eyes, while he wondered whether he was hallucinating.

His elementary vision had been switched on, as it always was during a fight, which had enabled him to see just how this Giant had used teleportation.

There had been no use of a Mageroot!

Somehow, the Giant had forced the elementary particles to change in such a way to facilitate teleportation.

It reminded him…of the Mageroot-less spell that he, himself had cast during the Olympics.

How was it even possible to do this?

Daneel had no idea.

It was almost as if… he had learned all his life to sail a boat in a particular way, by seeing many others do so. Yet, right now, he had just seen someone accomplish the same thing without using a 'rudder', which was, in this case, his Mageroot.

Daneel had heard once that once one reached the levels of Champions and Heroes, there was no longer a difference in power between Fighters and Mages, as was the case in the lower levels where a Fighter was weaker because they had to get into close range to launch their attacks, while the latter was capable of handling multiple opponents using various spells.

He hadn't really believed it, but now, as he saw this, he realized that that must be true.

After all, this was the first truly powerful Fighter he had seen, as the old man didn't count because he was just a spirit.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel tried to clear his mind of all the thoughts that had appeared because of everything he had just experienced

All in all, although Daneel was thoroughly disgruntled by that grandmaster's actions, he was still happy because he had achieved what he wanted – he now had unlimited access in one of the Big Four, which, he felt, was worth the near-death experience.

Also, because he had had to endure the attack himself instead of before when he had only seen the Giant in action, Daneel now had a very intense admiration of the power that the Fighter path contained. In fact, right now, he even felt foolish that he had not placed this path, too, on the top of his list.

He had a goddamn Heaven-defying system, for Heaven's sake!

Equipped like so, it would really be a shame if he didn't aim as high as possible.

Just as Daneel was about to help Elanev up, a message resounded in his mind.

"HELP, DANEEL!"

It was from Faxul.

With panic filling his mind, Daneel instantly teleported to the location where Faxul was supposed to be- the underground area where they had built the "March Through Hell".

Only, as soon as he appeared in the cavern, he was greeted by a sight which made him wonder if he had gone crazy for the second time today.

A 6-foot tall Black Raven was in front of him, which screeched as if in pain before falling to the ground.

That was what it looked like, but through the elementary vision, Daneel could see that it was actually…an Elementary Particle Construct of dizzying complexity.

In the middle of it was Faxul, with his eyes closed and his face twisted into an expression of agony.

As Daneel looked on, unable to understand what the f*ck was going on, the Raven construct in which his friend was present phased in and out of existence.

Drakos's shout returned him to his senses.

"KNOCK HIM OUT, YOUNG KING! HIS BLOODLINE HAS BEEN TRIGGERED! IF HE ISN'T STOPPED BY FORCE, HE WILL GO MAD!"

Without any further thought, Daneel made a large metallic hammer appear above the Raven's head, which was also where Faxul's head was.

Apologizing silently, he let it drop.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

564 The Black Raven Bloodline

Bang!

With a resounding echo, the hammer knocked the living daylight out of Faxul, causing him to slump to the ground while the Black Raven Construct vanished.

This allowed Daneel to take a deep breath and calm himself.

He realized that this was just one of those days, where there would be so many shocks and reveals that it would feel as if he was being overwhelmed.

So, over time, he had learned that the best thing to do was take a step back and just breathe in and out, thinking about simpler things in life.

Before Daneel could get to the second part, Kellor hurried to Daneel's side and spoke in a voice filled with shock.

"I don't know what happened, My Lord. One second, he was just lounging in the chair and daydreaming, just like all the other days. He told me that he was actually trying to figure out something very important, but I didn't believe him as it didn't look like that, at all. Suddenly, a few seconds ago, he screamed loudly and started writhing before that Raven appeared. I sensed danger from it, so I was first about to conjure a barrier around myself and then contact you, but you arrived before I needed to do so. Wh-what is going on, My King? Can that consciousness of the Empire Spirit be messing with him? Or does being a different body cause phenomena such as these?"

Daneel knew that Kellor, who usually preferred to keep things short and to the point, was in a pretty flustered state as he practically babbled all this before finally shutting his mouth.

Yet, Daneel still marveled at the man's analytical ability which had shown itself even though he was in such a state.

As he was part of the Council of Nine Heavens, he knew about the truth behind Faxul. So, he had raised questions regarding this, which made even more questions arise in Daneel's head.

What the f*ck had Drakos meant when he said 'bloodline'?

Daneel had almost never heard this term over all the years he had spent on Angaria. Even recently, when he was discovering more and more about Champion Paths and the secrets behind becoming a Hero, he had never seen any indication of important data which was related to one's bloodline.

Then how the heck had this come out of the blue?

Unable to take it anymore, Daneel decided to ask Drakos, while also wondering why the Ancient Dragon hadn't already explained itself and absolved Daneel of all these doubts.

"Drakos, wh-"

"One moment, Young King. I'm trying to ascertain if there's any additional threat to your friend's life and sanity. This is a very tricky case due to the existence of that hibernating old bird."

Daneel promptly shut his mouth as he heard this.

Obviously, Faxul's wellbeing mattered more than him getting his questions answered.

Still, as he was idle, he decided to ask the system.

"System, has there been any data found regarding 'bloodlines'? Check back and give me all relevant and important instances where that word is used."

[Affirmative. No entries found in data obtained as part of breaking the second seal on the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor. Irrelevant entries found in various books. Vague hints have been recovered. Consolidating. Looking for other mentions. No references found in data collected in the Sect of Hedon.]

That last sentence made Daneel frown, as he had really been hoping that that source would prove to be fruitful.

Only, as he remembered that most of the data he had collected there was from journals of just Warrior-level characters, he realized that he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up, as this seemed to be something that was definitely very closely related to the Champion level.

Daneel was about to give this up as a lost cause and wait for Drakos to answer while observing the spells that the Ancient Dragon was deploying his Mageroot which looked like they were scanning Faxul in various ways and receiving feedback which was at a level he nor the system could understand. Yet, he paused and opened his eyes wide as the system gave one last reply.

[Total direct, relevant mentions found: One. Replaying.

'Only the true line of the Black Raven can command the God Beast']

A deep voice said these words, and as Daneel heard them, it was as if he was transported back in time.

It was a part of the message that had been left behind for Faxul by his father before he died.

As Daneel asked the system to repeat the sentence, he finally understood something.

All along, they had thought that this sentence was related to the ability to speak to a Raven closely, and understand what it was feeling and saying at a more intrinsic level than all others, which was something that Faxul had always been capable of.

In fact, with that ability, he would have been very adept in combat if he had a companion at the same level as him, but, sadly, that was not possible in this case.

Now, as Daneel was reminded of it, he got the inkling that maybe, it was not related to this particular aspect, at all.

Also, at the same time, Daneel was reminded of the mystery that was still present regarding his friend.

When they had begun the plan to have Faxul take revenge for his father's death, Faxul had suddenly undergone a metamorphosis, of sorts, where his power had increased exponentially in the short span of a few minutes.

To this day, Daneel had not seen a similar phenomenon anywhere else, even though he had had quite a few dealings with Champions and even Heroes.

Even the system had only been able to say that there was something different in his blood that had caused it, but it couldn't explain what.

Today, Daneel had a feeling that he would definitely get an answer.

Also, although it was a fact that Faxul was in a different body, and hence, should not be in possession of the same 'bloodline', when taking the traditional meaning of the word, Daneel knew instantly that that was not a problem.

The body he was in was that of a great-great-whatever-grandfather of his, which meant that they shared the same bloodline.

As for what Kellor had said about feeling danger, as Daneel thought back, he realized that the Grand Court Mage was right.

In those brief moments when Faxul had been in that form, even Daneel had felt a certain level of ferociousness and power that was capable of giving even him pause.

The most incredulous thing was that Faxul hadn't been controlling those elementary particles that made up the Black Raven Construct with his Mageroot.

No, they had naturally formed into those incredibly complex patterns, just like in the case when he had seen that Giant teleport away.

In a way, the whole thing had actually reminded him of something from Earth.

Mechas.

Indeed, it was almost like Faxul had been stepping in and out of a Mecha that was in the shape of a Black Raven.

Only, this Mecha was much more natural and fluid than any man-made device could ever be.

Shaking his head, Daneel tried to make it stop thinking.

The more he replayed what had happened and mulled over it, the more his anticipation and eagerness to have his questions answered grew, which were also accompanied by nonsensical thoughts like these which were the product of an idle mind.

Thankfully, Drakos finally spoke up after a few moments.

"He should be fine. It seems that…the dissonance between his consciousness and body caused the bloodline to be triggered, because the two wish to achieve equilibrium using any and all methods available. Interesting. No wonder father said that the consciousness is a wonderful thing which even those at the Hero level are only beginning to understand."

"Drakos!"

Daneel couldn't help it any more as he heard the Ancient Dragon talking to himself.

He had actually meant to just remind Drakos politely that he was waiting, but his emotions had caused it to come out as a shout.

"Oh, right, Young King. Apologies. Bloodlines are…complicated. Where do I start? Oh, yes, I'll begin with the Godbeasts. First of all, please understand that some information is still locked behind the third seal. I'll try to make use of what isn't to give you as clear a picture as possible."

Daneel felt a little irritated as he heard this, but he continued to listen without saying anything.

"Hmm. Young King, the full story, which you will find behind the third seal, relates to the history of this continent. It speaks about ages long, long before even the Empire. I only say this to motivate you further. Let me give you the gist of the answer you seek. As you know, I am a Godbeast, too. Godbeasts are not singular beasts; no that word refers to species of beasts which were so much more powerful than regular beasts that they had to be revered as 'Gods'. We Godbeasts have the ability to grant our bloodline to certain humans who meet certain requirements. Apparently, this is a very painful process which even halves the power of that certain Godbeast. In the time of the Emperor, all remaining Godbeasts were made to do this 'granting'. Some agreed to the Emperor's terms and did so willingly, while others had to be forced. All this happened in the beginning of his rule, so I am pretty sure that this has nothing to do with all the plans he made for the safety of the continent. That was why I was surprised before: by all estimates, by this age, all bloodlines should have thinned too much, meaning that their effects should not come to light unless there are special circumstances in the case of your friend."

"DRAKOS, JUST TELL ME WHAT THE BLOODLINE HAS TO DO WITH FAXUL TURNING INTO A GODDAMN BIRD!"

Daneel hadn't been able to take it anymore. Seeing the Ancient Dragon go left and right in his explanation, the King of Lanthanor shouted out like a little kid who was angry at his parents for not telling him what gift they had bought him for his birthday.

Well, he had had no choice if he wanted to retain his sanity.

Finally, Daneel received the answer he was looking for.

"Er…yes. A bloodline has various benefits, such as increased base potential and comprehension. But the most coveted benefit is the right to train in Champion Paths which are comparable in power to the strongest in existence. In their blood, those who are descendants of humans lucky enough to obtain bloodlines of Godbeasts carry the essence of the existence of said Godbeast. This allows them to 'will' themselves into a form of that Godbeast, granting them access to all inherent natural affinities and strengths while also still being capable of using their Mageroots and bodies. When paired together using the right techniques which exploit those affinities and strengths, those who train in these Champion Paths skyrocket in power to match, and even in certain cases exceed the most advanced and powerful Champion Paths in existence."

Here, Drakos paused, before saying, "Let me show you. That would be for the best.".

As soon as he said this, Daneel received a message from the system.

[Incoming Visual Message.]

"Send it in," he said instantly.

The next moment, Daneel was standing in an open plain, with rolling hills all around for as far as the eye could see.

THWUP! THWUP! THWUP!

Hearing a sound from above, Daneel looked up and received the shock of his life.

Above him, flying in the sky was a gigantic Black Raven with a wingspan that exceeded 40 feet in length. It covered the sun, itself, when it passed over him, making him shade his eyes and gaze at it with awe.

It's resplendent feathers which shone individually looked razor-sharp, and as he continued watching, it flapped its wings once to instantly pause in the air.

What happened next was branded into Daneel's mind.

As it opened its beak wide, a spherical…darkness sprang into being, which quickly began to expand.

As it did, Daneel felt a strong pull, as if he was going to be tugged into the air at any moment.

All around him, trees and grass started to be uprooted and swallowed by that darkness, which allowed Daneel to get an epiphany and understand what it was.

It was a black hole.

Around its edges, existence, itself, seemed to warp, while its will to swallow and destroy everything was felt in every part of Daneel's body, which was struggling not to be pulled into that abyss just like everything in his surroundings.

At this moment, Daneel heard Drakos's voice again, and the tone of the Ancient Dragon was filled with a certain…respect, and deference that the King of Lanthanor had never heard before.

"Such individuals are known by special names which indicate the Mage/Fighter Technique they choose to unify their power with the Natural Construct that is formed by their will. This particular one was called…'The Path of The Invincible Black Raven: Devouring Monarch of the Skies'."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

565 Godbeast Baptism

"The Path of the Invincible Black Raven: Devouring Monarch of the Skies."

This name reverberated in Daneel's mind while the image in front of him broke apart into pieces and was replaced by reality.

Kellor was thoroughly bewildered. First, he had had to witness the strange happenings in the case of Faxul, and after that, when the King came, he had hoped that he would get some answers.

Only, even though he had gone to the King's side and asked, the latter had just stood there stoically, staring off into the distance as if daydreaming.

Understanding that the King must be conversing with the Ancient Dragon in his mind, Kellor had patiently waited while seeing the King get more and more irritated by something, until finally he even folded his hands and got an angry expression on his face.

Only, after that, that anger had been replaced by something that almost looked like…fear.

With his eyes wide open and bloodshot, the King had stared into empty space as if he was seeing an apparition of something so terrifying that it even made him shudder.

Rather than fear, it was shock that had been taken to extreme levels, but there was an added aspect of deference that had made it look like fear.

As Kellor saw Daneel finally regain his focus and return to his senses soon after, he was amazed when he saw the King take a step back and actually…kneel down on one knee while clutching his chest, right where his heart was.

Copious amounts of sweat also appeared, drenching the King where he knelt, while Kellor could even hear the frantic hammering of the King's heart.

What the hell could he have seen to have such an intense reaction?

Kellor was truly puzzled, because, from all the exploits of Daneel that he had heard about during the Council of the Nine Heavens, he knew that the one in front of him had seen so much more than probably anyone in the Central Continent, if those who were still existing from the previous age weren't counted.

So, something that couldn't elicit this sort of reaction must definitely be truly horrific.

Glancing to the side, Kellor saw that Faxul was still lying on the ground, motionless, while a large lump the size of a fist had appeared on his forehead, right where the King's hammer had dropped to knock him out.

Just as he was about to turn his head back, he felt a hand catch his and use it for support.

Of course, it was the King, who got up in this way and took a deep breath while his heart finally started to calm down.

Indeed, Daneel had been pretty sure that he would pass out due to the rush of emotions and blood that he had been subjected to after leaving the illusion.

It had almost been as if…the very presence and aura of that beast, or human in a beast's form, or whatever it had been in the sky had suffocated Daneel, making him feel as if he was being crushed under the weight of its majesty.

What was amazing was that he had been affected by that so intensely.

He was a Peak Warrior! Just what kind of level must that being be at to be able to cause such an effect in even him?

In fact, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure that if it had wanted, and if he was really present in that place, that Raven could have ended his life without even needing to spare a second of its time.

For the first time, Daneel had to search for some other analogy, as calling it as 'being treated like an insect' just didn't cut it.

Right. He had been like an inconsequential mote of dust floating around, which would only need to blown away to end its existence.

Also, that black hole. His elementary vision had been unable to make sense of what it was, and even the system had just told him that it exceeded the bounds of its complexity, which was to be expected.

What he did know was that it could devour anything and everything, and that it seemed to be an ultimate attack of that being. Also, the word 'devouring' in its name must have come from this attack, because it was just that awe-inducing and supremely powerful.

It was only when he looked around and laid his eyes on Faxul did he make a conscious decision to snap out of all his speculations.

He was about to ask Drakos to continue, but he paused when he saw Kellor looking at him with an inquisitive expression on his face.

Oh, right. In his hurry, he had forgotten to answer his Grand Court Mage.

At first, Daneel pondered whether to find everything and tell him later, but, as a thought came to him, he decided that he shouldn't be the only one 'graced' with the opportunity of experiencing that sight.

Maybe he would be motivated.

Or maybe Daneel just wanted to see someone else's reaction, too, so that he could tell himself that he hadn't acted like a coward.

He was sure that anyone at his general level would enter the same state after experiencing the visceral and savage might of that…thing, so he looked forward to see how his Grand Court Mage would react.

"Instead of telling you, let me show you. I know you trust me, so just open your mind and don't resist. What you are about to see, is apparently the peak which those during the age of the Empire who are blessed with the same thing as Faxul- a bloodline of a Godbeast, can reach."

Saying so, Daneel stepped forward and was about to use the system to send the same visual message to Kellor. He knew that the system recorded all the things he saw, so it would be able to recreate everything.

Thankfully, he stopped at the last moment, realizing that this would stand out a lot, as it wasn't typically something that normal humans should be able to do. After all, the message had been in a very complex format which encapsulated all those emotions and feelings which had allowed Daneel to undergo a very realistic experience. No one would be able to memorize it after experiencing it once, even if they were a Peak Warrior Mage- such a feat would be akin to a normal human from Earth looking at the Louvre once and then recreating it with perfect architectural detail.

Asking the Ancient Dragon to do the task for him, Daneel walked forward to Kellor and touched his forehead, which began the transmission.

And…not even a few seconds afterward, the Grand Court Mage of Lanthanor fell to the ground and started frothing at his mouth, while his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Yes, his own reaction hadn't been uncharacteristic, at all.

Sighing and conjuring another hammer to knock him out, too, Daneel remarked inwardly about his growing penchant for using hammers, but he was interrupted by the Ancient Dragon.

"This is the kind of reaction that one typically has when they experience such raw power which outclasses them by an unfathomable margin. You are truly special, Young King. It seems that your mind is much more resolute than I thought."

Daneel was puzzled as he heard this, so he asked the system what the reason behind his 'resoluteness' might be.

The answer pleasantly surprised him.

[Replying to host: host has a stronger mentality due to the fact that host has spent a life on another planet, and has also gone through several experiences which, typically, only those at much higher levels are subjected to. For example, host went into closed-door uninterrupted training for three months when host was just a Human, which generally drives Humans mad. In the process, host's mind grew stronger. Prolonged exposure to high-risk situations also incites growth in the strength of one's mind.]

Oh, right.

He definitely wasn't someone who could be called 'typical'.

With this out of the way, Daneel refocused on the issue in front of him.

"Continue, Drakos. So…he has the bloodline. And it was triggered for some reason. Now, if he gets the Mage technique that corresponds to that Devouring Monarch of the Skies, he can train to reach that level? And can he breakthrough, now, to become a Champion?"

"Ahem…it's not so simple, Young King. The figure you saw in the vision was one of the strongest beings of the Empire. He was even a step above us vassals. As part of a special corps which only listened to the Emperor, he was seldom seen in public, often carrying out missions on the Emperor's behest. To reach that level is something that is not possible in this age. Still, if everything goes well, your friend will grow into someone who can stand among the strongest beings among this continent. However…that will only be the case if he can survive the Godbeast's Baptism."

"Huh? What's that?"

The word 'baptism' had resulted in Daneel remembering the image of small babies being dunked into water. Surely, Faxul wouldn't be drowned or something, right?

"You must already have realized how overpowered the descendants of Godbeasts are. Even if they have lower talent, they can directly contend with those of extreme talent who choose the strongest of Champion Paths. If all descendants truly had it so easy, then everyone would have opted for this method, too. The Baptism is the thing that stops this from being the case. The power of taking on the form of a Godbeast using one's bloodline can only be done by those who pass the Baptism with their mind intact. As for what the process is, it's simple: the act of awakening one's bloodline through a Baptism is basically an awakening of all the memories and essence of the existence of the Godbeasts they are descended from. These memories proceed to test the descendant in different ways, in an attempt to 'break' them and take over. If they cannot pass the test and absorb both the memories and the essence without staying sane, then the awakening is a failure. I will sum it up using a famous quote of the Emperor. 'A Baptism is a journey into one's own mind, where they must find themselves. If they do so, no foreign influence can ever hope to affect one's sanity. Instead, that foreign influence would be absorbed in return, leading to a successful awakening. But, if they do not, one will be lost, forever, and no magic will be able to bring them back. Descendants, if you wish for power, then you must earn it.'."

That statement of the Emperor really did sum it up, but Daneel braced himself for the bad news.

"So…what is wrong with Faxul?"

Drakos answered with a sigh.

"When I said his bloodline had been triggered, I meant that he had been pulled into a Baptism involuntarily. In the age of the Empire, this would be a carefully controlled process. However, here, your friend has no choice but to go through the Baptism or give up on that body, and the chance to set foot on a Path which will lead him to become one of the strongest figures on this continent. Of course, if he fails, he will be lost to us, forever. The choice is his, Young King."

This made Daneel sigh, too, as he remembered something from the past.

In that memory, a face was looking at him with determination, ready to defy him and risk death or worse if it meant that he could grow in power.

His dear friend Faxul had a penchant for taking enormous risks for power. Before, he had allowed that spirit to remain in his body just so he could train faster.

Even though Faxul wasn't in such a desperate condition now, something told Daneel that his choice would be similar.

If there was one quality of Faxul's that Daneel truly admired, then it was his stubbornness to do everything possible to reach his goal.

Right now, Daneel could only hope that that stubbornness would pull him through.

…

Meanwhile, right after being knocked out, Faxul had felt as if he was being…pulled somewhere.

A few moments later, he had opened his eyes, only to find darkness all around him.

Standing up, he felt around his body to find, with shock, that he was back in his original body, instead of the one was currently in.

This…was definitely some sort of dream.

Only, pinching himself had no effect except making him flinch.

The darkness and silence bored into his eyes and ears, making him very uncomfortable, as he tried to comprehend just how he had gotten here, and how was supposed to get out.

A few moments later, he saw a globe of fire approaching him.

When it neared, he rejoiced when he saw that it was his closest friend, Daneel, who was holding it.

Daneel looked…odd, somehow, yet Faxul couldn't see him clearly.

Feeling glad that he wasn't alone in whatever place this was, he scrambled forward to reach the light.

Yet, right before he did, he felt a foot connect with his jaw that made him fly backward in an arc before landing on the rough ground.

Before he could come to his senses, a voice echoed all around him, making Faxul raise his head as shock raced through his mind.

"Hello, 'dear friend'. I'm afraid it's time you stop leeching off of me. What have you ever achieved in your whole life by yourself? You're just a useless dog that licks at my heels while I throw you scraps! If it weren't for me, you would have long been buried in the ground. Do you even have any other purpose in life except being given things that you aren't worthy of? If I were you, I would kill myself out of shame."

…

At the same time, in the underground mansion that had been broken into by the Giant.

"Rayen, I can tell that you've calmed down, more or less. I'll take my leave, then. It's not like I can stay here forever to keep an eye on you. Remember, that formation is still there, and you will be punished severely if you lay a hand on that King. Don't try underhanded tricks, either. Got it?"

In front of the Head, Rayen sat with his hands on his knees.

As he heard this, he picked up a painting from the table beside him, which was of his son.

Caressing it, he answered in a soft voice.

"Yes. It may be time to let go…"

Seeing this, the Head sighed, before teleporting away to leave him in peace.

Yet, right after he did so, Rayen immediately sprang up and checked to see whether he was still being surveilled.

Seeing that the Head had truly left, he took a moment to rejoice, before teleporting to his library.

With a flick of his finger, various books containing important information such as Champion Paths, records of Champions and various in-depth studies on certain topics flew into a bag, which he placed in front of him.

Looking forward to finally seeing his son again, Rayen made a clone, which slung that bag over its shoulder and started flying in the direction of the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

566 Godbeast Baptism 2

"So, the Baptism has already started?"

"Yes, he must be experiencing it now. However, like I told you, we can pull him out, and then let it start again. Only…subsequent tries are always harder, for various reasons. Do you wish to pull him out?"

Pacing around the room, Daneel kept glancing at Faxul, whose eyes were twitching as if he had had a bad dream.

He had just asked Drakos what he was supposed to do to give Faxul the choice, but he had received this answer.

Daneel had been thinking that he would have to just wake Faxul up, or something, following which his friend would definitely choose to face the danger.

Yet, as he heard this, Daneel hesitated.

How sure was he of Faxul's answer?

The answer was: pretty damn sure.

So, Daneel shrugged and said, "Let him stay. I'm actually pretty confident in him. You don't know how determined he was back when we were in the Academy. I think he must have worked harder than even me, because he had lower potential and comprehension. He would always be the one burning the candle at both ends. The others would mock him, saying that he wouldn't get anywhere with that potential no matter what he did. Of course, he didn't listen. Even now…I believe that that rebellion streak of his will help him."

Even though Daneel said this, he had to admit that he was pretty tense.

He wished that this would be the case, but the power they were talking about was at such a level that Daneel could guess the difficulty of the Baptism.

So, getting an idea, he asked, "Can we watch?"

If a baptism was taking place in one's mind, and if they could Mind Control him or gain access to his consciousness like they had done before when he had shifted bodies, then couldn't it be possible that they could view what was going on?

Drakos answered after a few seconds.

"Yes, I think it's possible. Let me be honest with you. This is actually a…secret spell made by father, who wanted to see who the people whom he was going to trust really were. After all, in the Baptism, there can be no lies. This spell can only be cast if there's a two-level difference between the target and the one casting. We're lucky, because he's a Warrior and I'm a Hero, meaning we will be casting the spell using Hero-level complexity. Shall we get started?"

Daneel couldn't help but marvel at the Emperor's shrewdness as he heard this.

This was like the ultimate test that would establish once and for all what kind of person one was. So, even if it was a breach of privacy, Daneel felt that it was the right thing to do, especially if passing the Baptism would mean that the person could wield power at the scale Daneel had seen.

If such people went rogue, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Sighing, Daneel said, "Yes, Let's do it."

…

Meanwhile, Faxul had just spit out blood and gotten to his feet.

Daneel was still standing there, looking at him with a disgusted expression on his face, while darkness surrounded him.

As he recalled his best friend's words, he couldn't help but feel disgust, too, at first.

It seemed as if Daneel's voice had some sort of hypnotic power vested inside it, which affected him at a subconscious level and pulled out all the thoughts that were tucked away there.

Useless.

Pathetic.

Unworthy.

Kill yourself. Kill yourself. KILL YOURSELF!

His mind seemed to have been pulled into a quagmire, in which he had come face to face with everything he had felt, but didn't want to deal with.

Clutching his head, Faxul fell to the ground.

His life, up until this moment, started to flash through his eyes, with each and every incident in it magnified.

…

Meanwhile, Rayen was frustratedly staring at the communication trinket that connected him to the King of Lanthanor.

He was pacing around on the border of the Kingdom, unseen by all, while still holding that bag.

He had been so excited to fulfill his end of the bargain so that he could meet his son. After all, this had been the second condition of the King back when he had outed himself as the Devil: to bring all the Champion Paths and other important information he had from the secret stashes of data that all Heroes had.

Yet, now, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't get through to the King.

After all, how could he know that the King had entered his best friend's mind and was currently viewing the latter trying hard not to shatter into a million pieces?

Sighing and thinking that there might be something or the other he must be occupied with, Rayen decided to wait, but as he did so, he took out a communication trinket shaped like a stick figure.

He lovingly caressed it, remembering how he had obtained it.

Little Raul had just joined Engraving classes when he was just 8 years old. This…had been the first trinket he made, with the help of the Engraver, who had remarked that he had excellent talent.

Raul had proudly presented it to Rayen, who had chuckled and activated the trinket, himself, before keeping it, saying that this would be how they would communicate.

Since then, whenever he had had to contact Raul, he would use this trinket.

Even when Raul had made that decision to end the lives of all those sons of daughters of Heroes, Rayen had heard it from this trinket.

Out of a whim, he said, "Raul, I hope I see you soon."

To his shock, a message was heard from the other end, which made him jump back and stare at the trinket while wondering whether he was dreaming.

"Dad? Where are you? I thought you were on lockdown by the Head?"

…

Daneel was trying to make sense of his own feelings while he saw his best friend collapsed on the ground, clutching his head in pain.

That wasn't all that Daneel could see. Apparently, this spell was designed to peer into one's consciousness. So, Daneel could clearly see what was going on inside Faxul's mind in the form of images that surrounded his head.

Right now, the memories of his before disaster had struck the Black Raven Kingdom were being played out. They were all so happy and filled with love, up until the point where he had had to flee so as not to be killed.

At that point, his mind had somehow spun it to make it look it was his fault.

There was even a fake message from his dad saying that he was responsible for all of what was happening.

It was then that Daneel realized what was happening.

The essence of the Godbeast was twisting his memories, with the goal of making him succumb to inner grief and give up.

It would be like…if one's own life was taken from them and made into a movie, where they were depicted as some kind of villain who was responsible for everything bad happening to all those around them.

Soon, the first scene of their meeting was going to come- of that time in the Fists of Justice Training Hall when Daneel had gone to the kid who had looked calm unlike the others and introduced himself.

And…it was twisted like all the others. It looked more like Faxul had seen something in him and come up to him to become his friend, just so that he could use him to his benefit.

Was that how Faxul really saw these memories? Or were these all just tricks being played by the Godbeast's essence?

Daneel had no idea, but he felt very sad as he saw Faxul in this condition.

His friend had always gotten the short stick in life. Even when he had been a child, his potential had been damaged by his dad to keep him safe.

Since then, he had always had to struggle for each and every thing. True, he had gotten fortune later on in the form of becoming the King of the Black Raven Kingdom, but what had happened after that?

He had gotten manipulated by the Empire Spirit, and had even opted to kill himself just to help Daneel.

It was like a tale of extreme tragedy that no one would like to read, because it would make even them feel sad.

Yet, what was really admirable was his attitude of not giving up.

Daneel could sigh and wish that that would help, and give him this power which he truly felt he deserved. If that happened, there would be no one happier than him.

Not wishing to watch any longer, Daneel asked the system to keep a monitoring spell that would trigger when Faxul was in real danger. Then, he could return to pull him out.

He had just asked Drakos and found out that the signs of that would be clear, so he knew that he didn't have to worry about not being here when he was needed.

As soon as he opened his eyes and took his hand off of Faxul's shoulder where he had placed it before to enter his consciousness, he received the messages from Rayen.

It seemed that the Head had stopped the lockdown, finally.

However, Daneel felt no excitement. All he felt was worry.

Only, it seemed that this process might take days because the sense of time inside Faxul's mind would be skewed by the essence which would want to have as much time as possible to whittle down its target.

Looking at Faxul's prone body one last time, Daneel teleported away.

…

Right after Rayen had received that message, he had had to take a few seconds to verify that he hadn't gone crazy.

Wasn't Raul supposed to be a prisoner? Why would a Peak Warrior allow a Champion enough freedom to access a communication trinket?

It was definitely strange.

Yet, the urge to talk to his son was too strong.

"Raul?", he asked hesitantly, and as he heard the reply, he couldn't help but gasp in disbelief.

"Yes, dad! It's me! Where are you? I'll come over there. The King did say that you might come to visit us soon."

"O-on the outskirts of Lanthanor…"

Barely a second later, Raul had appeared in front of Rayen with a smile on his face.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to give an assignment and then co-"

Interrupted by a bear hug from his old man, Raul smiled and hugged back.

Rayen was close to tears. He had already dispelled the darkness around his body, which was something he only did in the presence of those he trusted.

Right now, he just looked like a normal middle-aged man who looked ecstatic that he had been reunited with his son.

But, hastily stepping back, he said, "Raul, did you escape to come here? If so, you should go back! That King can kill you whenever he wishes!"

This made Raul chuckle and say, "Don't worry, dad. That man…has us both twined around his finger. He defeated me in fair combat, dad. Look."

Saying so, Raul raised one hand and made an image appear using light elementary particles.

It was of him being bested in the span of a few seconds by the King of Lanthanor.

Seeing this, Rayen couldn't help but stare at Raul with wide open eyes.

"Hey. So the Head left, huh?"

At the same moment, Daneel teleported behind the Hero, startling him and making him point at Daneel as if he were a ghost.

"Y-you…"

Usually, Daneel would have found this assuming. Seeing the image still playing over Raul's hand, he could tell that it had just been revealed that he could beat an Amateur Champion without using any tricks.

However, he wasn't in a good mood, at all.

So, he just walked forward without hesitation and took the bag from Rayen's shoulder while the Hero continued to stare at him.

He had already received the message that Rayen was coming to fulfil the second condition that Daneel had given back when they had reached an agreement.

Without hesitation, he plunged his hand inside the bag, as if he was rummaging around, while in truth he was touching all the books so that the system could record them.

After that, as he stood up, he said, "System, tell me if there's any important information that I need to know right now."

The answer made Daneel pause, and raise his eyebrows.

[Scanning. Champion Paths found. Research materials found. Journals found. Total Number of Books: 264.

Scanning for relevant information.

A journal from the time of the Empire has been found which theorizes a Champion Path that can, potentially, defeat any and all that exist. However, this Champion Path is based on one that is purported to be the weakest in existence, as one that is chosen by Peak Warriors as a last resort if they don't break through by other means. Would host like to hear about this information?]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

567 “Hopeless“ Champion Path

"A Champion Path that can, potentially, defeat any and all that exist."

That was a statement that could give anyone pause.

Daneel was tempted to say 'yes' and find out what the system was talking about right now, but he stopped when he saw Rayen recover his senses.

Any way he saw it, this father-son Hero Champion duo were very important to him. Hence, he knew that he had to take the time out to ensure that they would stay by him, instead of going into a daze like before with Kellor.

Kellor knew that there was a different entity in Daneel's head, but these two would just think that he was acting weird.

So, walking forward, Daneel first greeted Rayen.

"I trust you've been well, Hero Rayen. So the Head finally decided that you're past your mourning stage?"

Raul stayed silent as he saw the King speak to his father, whereas Rayen folded his hands and eyed the King with an indecipherable expression on his face.

However, he had already detected something: the darkness that always swirled around his father was both an offensive and defensive mechanism that came as a result of his Champion Path. He had once told him that ever since he had broken through to become a Champion, he would always have it on, no matter where he was, except on very rare occasions.

Right now, the darkness wasn't present.

Daneel had noticed that, too. Till now, he had only seen this man as that enigmatic Hero of darkness whose eyes were the only things visible.

Now, as he saw a middle-aged person wearing the normal clothes of a middle-class family and looking as if he had just walked out of a merchant store or some other normal occupation, he couldn't help but feel that judging people by how they looked was definitely something that everyone did without even thinking about it.

Taking Rayen for example, first of all, Daneel had almost assumed that someone who was wreathed in darkness all the time must be some kind of villain character, as that was the way they were usually portrayed in various forms of media back on Earth.

Instead, reality was that this was just a man who cared for his son, and also cared for the millions of humans on Angaria.

Secondly, he had thought that Rayen would have an imposing figure, mainly because of his eyes which gave one the feeling that the one in front of them was not to be messed with.

Yet, reality was completely different. The man in front of him was more suited to be sitting on a porch and telling sweet stories to his sons and daughters, rather than being someone who wielded power that could devastate entire swaths of land in the span of a single breath, if Daneel used what he had seen from the Giant as a reference.

Right now, he knew that he was getting all these thoughts, again, because of Faxul.

If someone looked at his best friend from the outside and judged him by how his actions looked, they might think of him as some useless person who had gotten everything he had in life by the grace of others, instead of working for them by himself.

However, if they knew just how much he had had to go through, they would definitely not dare to think so.

He was like a flame that did not wish to be extinguished no matter how much wind came his way.

Deciding that thinking on that matter more might lead Daneel to become even moodier, he forcefully scrubbed such thoughts and waited for the Hero to answer.

He finally did after taking a few seconds.

"King Daneel, my son was right when he said that you've entwined us both around your fingers. Initially, you know that the only reason I agreed to work with you was because you threatened to kill my son brutally, and even showed me a demo of what would happen if I didn't oblige. At that time, I thought of you as some devilish character who is going to drive me like a slave."

Daneel rubbed his nose sheepishly as he heard this.

Indeed, he had been going for that effect, but hearing of it from Rayen first hand made him understand just how effective he had been.

"However, now, I see that I was wrong. There is just…something about you that I can't place. You know, the Head feels so, too, but he won't admit it, as he just assumes that it's because you're someone from a background that none of us can understand. But I can tell that that is not the case. Too many secrets surround you, making you an enigma. I just hope…that they also make you a dark horse in this fight against the Church, so that we can avoid the deaths of many, many innocent people. I trust my son- he is the most impeccable judge of character that I have ever seen. If he accepted to work for you voluntarily, I can assure you that it wasn't just because of your show of force. Instead, he must also have seen what I'm talking about."

Beside Rayen, Raul nodded.

"All in all, what I'm saying is that…you now have a supporter who reprises that role whole-heartedly, instead of being forced into it. The Mephisto family is yours to command, as of this moment. In the records we recovered from the Empire, the Mephistos were part of the Emperor's corps. Their power and purpose are shrouded in mystery, but they were said to be some of the most powerful beings in the continent. As such, high potential is something that has been passed down through the generations. Ah, you probably aren't too interested in the past, which doesn't really matter, right now."

If Daneel hadn't made an immediate effort to hide his shock, Rayen would have sensed that something was amiss by now.

The Emperor's Corps!

This was definitely a coincidence that startled him.

He had just heard about the Emperor's Corps, of which Faxul's ancestor had been a part of.

Did that mean that…these two also possessed some kind of bloodline?

Could there be that much of a coincidence? That he had just found out about these things, and that there were two people under him who had them?

Of course, Daneel turned to Drakos to ask the question.

However, before he said anything, itself, the Ancient Dragon spoke up.

"The Mephistos! Of course! It makes sense. They were a clan who insisted on marrying with those of high potential, so that their power would continue through the ages. It makes sense that they retain their power to this day, and that they are part of the Big 4. Their bloodline is too thin to be of any purpose right now, but high potential is definitely something that can be retained."

As Daneel heard this, he realized that maybe…this wasn' as coincidental as he had thought.

To confirm his suspicion, he decided to ask Rayen a question.

But first, he had to respond to the man's words.

"It makes me really glad to hear that, Hero Rayen. I can promise you that you will not be disappointed, and that if you have any wishes, they will be fulfilled in the same way that Raul's will be."

This made Rayen look at his son with one eyebrow raised, but he just frowned and didn't say anything.

Clearly, there was a story there, just like Daneel had thought before, but, again, he decided not to dig.

If he needed to know something, he would.

He proceeded to ask the question.

"Tell me…are a lot of prominent families in the Big 4 also descendants of famous figures or families from the time of the Emperor?"

Rayen answered without a pause.

"Why, yes, of course! While there were many who didn't enforce any kind of rules which made it so that they more or less decreased in power with each subsequent generation, there were also many who had strict rules of marriage. Some even forbid relationships with outsiders, and promoted inter-family marriages. This was rare, though, as it was known that the only thing that matters is that both parties in a marriage possess high potential or comprehension, which is typically passed down to the child. In fact, it was some of those families which set up the largest sects which became the Big 4, in the first place. I can tell you that at least half of all the prominent figures and families have the type of ancestry you asked about."

Seeing that his suspicion was right, Daneel nodded.

This seemed like crucial information, but he decided to put it to the side, for now, as he had a lot of other pressing things to take care of, first.

Like…the Champion Path that the system had just mentioned.

Still…he felt that it was a good thing, and that he had lucked out by getting two supporters who contained bloodlines possibly as strong as the one in Faxul.

"All right, I was just curious. You can't come in now, right? Next, I need you to gather as much as possible from all other sources, too. As you know, I'm trying to decide on which Champion Path to choose, and I wish to read about as many as possible. You can meet Raul at any time, of course, and as for the other two conditions, send me all the data via trinket."

"Of course. I shall take my leave, then. It is not safe to create a void in surveillance for too long, either. Someone might notice something amiss. King Daneel, I will send what you asked for soon, and I'll also head to some of my friends to gather all the Champion Paths they have. I can use my grief as an excuse. Farewell, then."

With a nod to Daneel, who nodded back, and a slap on his son's shoulder, Rayen vanished, while Raul also did the same to get back to his…'duty' of torturing all those people.

Finding himself alone, Daneel finally asked the system to tell him about what it had mentioned.

[Name: 'Hopeless' Champion Path.

Description given in the record: The name 'Hopeless' was given by the creator of this Champion Path to refer to the feeling that is supposed to be felt by the opponents of those who walk this Path. It was originally designed to be something to be chosen by the most talented, as it could potentially give them the ability to win no matter who their opponent was, given that the opponent was on the same level. Even against those of higher levels, those who choose this path were supposed to be able to put up a fair fight.

However, it later became known as the path that only 'Hopeless' people chose, because of the problems that were revealed when one really did try this Path.

The 'Hopeless' Path seeks to use one's opponent's Champion Path against them. In a fight, the strategy was that using this Path, one would be able to defend while understanding the weaknesses and strengths of their opponent's path, before either nullifying them or beating them in their own game, so to speak.

The prerequisite was also low: one was only required to have a scheming brain that would allow them to actively scheme against their opponent in this way, while also having high potential/comprehension to ensure that they were talented enough to use the Path effectively.

The problem was that no amount of Talent was enough to understand one's opponent's path in a short enough span of time for it to be effective in a fight.

Also, in other Paths, one could use their Mageroot to make the effect of their Champion Path stronger.

In this path, no such conscious amplification was possible, as it was something that related to one's understanding, instead of relating to power of a tangible nature.

All that the Path was capable of was giving one the ability to better look into their opponent's Path, but this was in no way enough to achieve the effect of understanding and countering them.

Hence, it was deemed as a failure, but it became famous due to its low and simple prerequisites. Peak Heroes who failed to resonate with any other Path chose this even though they knew they would be weaker than most others, as it meant that they would still have an increase in lifespan and power. After all, a scheming side was present in everyone.

In the end, this Path that was created with lofty ambition was disgraced in this way. Some said that it also lead to the early death of the creator. I, for one, still believe that his idea was right, but that it wasn't right for this continent. Maybe there would have been more success in a place with a higher ceiling of talent.]

As the end of the record approached, Daneel's eyes were shining.

An ability to understand the other's Champion Path, and use it against them.

How cool and awesome would that be?

Yet, he saw why it failed.

After all, who would be able to understand one's Path instantly?

As Daneel got this thought, he suddenly got the feeling that he had missed something important.

Hmm? What could that be?

Standing there outside his border, the King mulled over this question.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

568 The Problem

As Daneel finally got the answer to that question after a moment, he hit his forehead, which made an audible smack resound in the area around him.

At this moment, he felt dumber than everyone he had seen so far on this continent.

The system!

All this time, whenever he saw a Champion, the system would always output a list of details regarding their Path, complete with the description and the method in which it was being used.

What more could one desire for, especially when all of this data was obtained in merely a few seconds?

Seeing the opportunity, Daneel excitedly decided to ask the system whether it was possible for him to pull out the full potential of this 'Hopeless' Path.

However, it looked like things wouldn't be that easy for the King of Lanthanor.

The system's answer made him furrow his eyebrows and look down while in deep thought.

[Analysing. For the system to be capable of what host desires, a module "Champion Path Analysis" must be developed which can analyze Champion Paths more deeply. For this, data regarding Champion Paths is required. More specifically, more Paths need to be assessed for the module to be developed. At this moment, not enough data regarding the Champion level is present.]

It seemed that data was one of the major banes that always came in Daneel's path whenever he wanted to accomplish something, but he knew that he shouldn't be too surprised by this.

However, this answer also made him pause and quiet down his rapidly beating heart, before thinking more deeply about the subject.

As this was something that concerned his future, Daneel decided that it needed a lot of thought.

First, he asked the system to repeat everything it had said that was recorded in the book.

As he went through the description one more time, he saw the problem.

The process of correctly implementing this Champion Path involved two things – one, was analyzing the opponent's champion path, and the other was a way to use that analysis to replicate, or nullify the opponent's attacks in some way.

However, from personal experience, itself, Daneel could tell that the second part was easier said than done.

For example, during that iconic fight between the Mad Doctor and Ashahell which Daneel always recalled whenever he thought about the ultimate power that Champion Paths were supposed to give to people, he could tell that even if he understood, theoretically, each and every thing about how Ashahell was manipulating the elementary particles to bring about the effect of sense distortion, he might not be able to do the same, as in Ashahell's case, all of his actions were directly generated by the world itself because of the intrinsic understanding and connection that one creates when they cross the chasm.

It was similar to someone wanting to fly a multi-engine jet plane after reading just the instruction manual, which would definitely be impossible because they would be missing certain aspects, same as in the case here, where Daneel would be left with just an understanding of what the opponent was doing with no idea regarding how he was supposed to replicate it, or counter.

First, to find an answer regarding this, he decided that he would go through the book by himself, instead of asking the system for everything.

Since a long time ago, he always liked to involve himself in the more important stuff, because there was always this nagging fear in his mind that he might be left helpless one day, if this system which had inexplicably entered his mind left it in the same manner without giving any explanation.

After all, he did not know its origins, so he couldn't be sure that it would always be with him.

Although he wished that it would never happen, he had to be cognizant of the possibility and plan accordingly, so that he wouldn't be left completely hapless if worst came to worst.

As such, even though the system implemented a lot of the spells and a lot of other things that he needed, Daneel always did pay attention so that he would be able to replicate the same effects, even if he might face a little difficulty in doing so.

After all, he was someone who possessed S-grade comprehension and top-grade body potential.

Rummaging through the pile which had many interestingly titled books such as "Hysterical Champion Path", "Self-doubt Champion Path", and also "Slaughter Champion Path", Daneel finally found the book which contained the information about the "Hopeless" Champion Path, which looked as if it had been saved from a burning building.

Its cover was tattered and it was almost falling apart. The name was hard to read because of many burn marks on the cover, but he did see the word "Hopeless". The pages also had many scorch marks, but they were still readable, and as he started to go through the book and see the in-depth analysis of the person who had written this, he got more and more interested until he conjured a Throne then and there and sat down to continue to read.

If anyone saw this strange sight of the King of Lanthanor being absorbed in a book in some random spot outside the border, they would definitely be puzzled and wonder just what kind of information warranted such immediate attention that he couldn't even go back to his Palace.

When Daneel had heard the record, he had wondered just who the author was, but he got the answer soon enough. Apparently, the author was the son of the creator of the technique, who was clearly very distressed and regretful that his father's most ambitious work had been turned into the Path for those who had no other option, and that he was ridiculed for this so much so that it had led to the man's early demise.

In the book, there were in-depth case studies of each and every person who used the Path, from those of high talent, who apparently even cursed their family and tried to attack and kill them because they were angry that their future had been cut off because they had trusted the Champion Path Designer, to those of medium and low talent who were full of appreciation that they could live on.

This was also when Daneel found out that "Champion Path Designing" was actually a very high-level occupation that was only given by the Emperor to those who showed exceptional talent in creating techniques. They were respected by all and even paid handsomely, which explained why the shattering of the pride of that man had been so catastrophic for him.

It seemed that those who opted for testing Champion Paths, as this was the only way to check whether one's design and idea were correct or not, were able to avail special benefits from the Empire such as personal coaching from powerful figures and access to top-end resources.

All of this data made Daneel marvel at the mind of the Emperor, or whoever worked under him who had thought of all this, because this system clearly showed just how meticulous and effective the Empire was in developing the power of its Warriors and innovating without sticking to the norm, and thus running the risk of stagnating.

A few minutes later, he also found out that his query had been valid – true, they were able to understand what was going on with the elementary particles when their opponent accessed them using their connection to the Champion Path, but they were not able to do the same themselves to any extent that would prove to be meaningful.

After all, copying was still a thing, but the problem was that because one party was doing it consciously, and the other unconsciously, the former's was always of lower power.

Toward the end, as Daneel went through the detailed analysis, he finally got his answer – this problem was also related to the one where there was no method to 'supercharge' this Champion Path, like normal Champions usually did using their Mageroots/bodies.

Theoretically, the supercharging effect would make it so that the second part of the process – nullification/perfect imitation would be possible.

Hence, the fact that no method was available was actually quite crippling.

All in all, Daneel realized just how truly hopeless this technique was.

At this moment, even he couldn't understand how he would go about utilizing this to great effect, even if he did have the system.

In this case, all the advantage that the system offered him was that he was quicker at analysis, and that was it.

As he thought about it, Daneel realized that this case was akin to both him and the Ancient Champions who chose this Path being faced with the same math paper – they could understand all the questions, and they knew all the theories that were being tested, but because the supercharging effect, which would have been present if they actually "practiced" these problems instead of just assuming that theory would be enough was absent, they were helpless in actually answering it.

If Daneel came along, he would only be equipped with an additional calculator or assistant in the form of the system which might enable him to understand information quicker, but he would also be no closer in answering it either.

To confirm this, Daneel decided to ask the system itself.

[Affirmative. System is not capable of replicating the exact effect to the extent of defeating an opponent using this method, as using the host's Mageroot would not be enough. As it is written in the description, some form of 'supercharging' is required.]

There.

On one side, Daneel was slightly happy that his own analysis was right, but, on the other, he was disappointed that his hope of somehow using this to tower over everyone else could probably not be fulfilled.

Right now, he couldn't figure out any method to solve this problem, and neither could the system.

With a sign, Daneel decided to put it in the back of his mind and think on it occasionally.

However, he was attracted to the module that the system had mentioned. So, his goal of breaking the last seal and collecting as many Paths as possible still remained.

As soon as he made this decision, he also realized something.

A Champion Path was something that was supposed to resonate with one, and bring out their true nature.

Was 'scheming' all that he could connect to? No, although that was a part of him, there was so much more.

Hence, the Path just…didn't feel right.

However, Daneel once again told himself that he should figure it out soon, as dallying in the Warrior level for too long was also not an option.

So many things to handle, yet so little time.

With a sigh, Daneel flew into the air to check up on all the projects he had implemented to take his mind off of stuff.

Meanwhile, the system began deeper analysis of all the books that Rayen had given.

First, he traveled to the school, where he observed little children excitedly go to learn all they could about the world. This was actually a great sight to see, compared to the typical one on Earth where students in many countries had to drag themselves to school even though they had no interest.

He had given strict orders to Eloise to make sure that no forms of negativity would be present, and that there would only be an encouraging atmosphere of learning. Seeing that that was the case, Daneel smiled a bit and carried on.

Next up was the Healer's Academy, which was flourishing due to many Healers coming from different Kingdoms in order to study here. There were many people going in with illnesses and wounds, and coming out with smiles without burning a hole through their pockets.

Next up, Daneel went to the train station, where the main trains were all up and running. Work was still going on to completely cover all the internal towns and villages, but the main routes to major ones and Eldinor were present, and were being availed by a large number of people.

Apparently, there had been a rush of all the rich people, too, making it so that the premium express was booked out for a month.

Clearly, novelty was still in vogue.

As for the ID system, the Bank and other miscellaneous projects, Daneel took a quick look only to ensure that they were running well.

With his trip complete and his mind still thinking whether there was a way to 'fix' the 'Hopeless' Champion Path, Daneel made his way back to the Palace.

For a few hours, Daneel languidly went through all the Champion Paths he had obtained while looking for inspiration.

Of course, his mind was constantly on Faxul, but he kept telling himself that the fact that no warning had come was a good thing.

Finally, just as night was approaching, he received a message which surprised him and made him immediately teleport out of the Palace, into the sky outside the Kingdom.

There, in the sky, was a very familiar figure, but she seemed totally different from how Daneel remembered her.

She had an overflowing aura which made him feel as if he was in the presence of someone to be revered, and her face, which had always been pretty, had ascended in beauty to a different level that made her feel untouchable and holy.

Yet, all that vanished when she blushed softly as she saw Daneel, reminding of that same girl who had boldly declared her intentions before.

"Siste-"

"It's Goddess Xuan, now."

At the same time that Molan, who was standing beside Xuan and had been eclipsed by her, said this, Daneel received a notification in his head.

['Goddess' Champion Path analyzed.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

569 Goddess of Sanctum, Xuan

['Goddess' Champion Path analyzed.

'Goddess' Champion Path: A special Champion Path listed in the data obtained from the Hero, Rayen. Said to be the core Champion Path of the Goddess's Sanctum, and the reason behind their continued existence. According to the one who wrote a book regarding it, it is a Path which can only be trained by a select few. High talent is only one of the prerequisites. The author suggests that one connects with their inner 'Goddess', but that this term is not related to deities, in any way. Rather, this 'Goddess' is more accurately supposed to be called a 'Goddess of Sanctum', as in, a person who is the best in giving Sanctum. The original name of the Path is also 'Goddess of Sanctum', but it was shortened over time. Other details are shrouded in secrecy, but the Champion Path gives one an amplification of all spells to a minor degree, and also supremely greater effectiveness when using healing/purification spells.

Current Form of Champion Path On Display: Domain/Projection]

As Daneel stood there gawking at Xuan, it looked more like his reaction was because of the proclamation by Molan, but instead, it was because of what he had just heard from the system.

So, such Paths also existed?

So far, Daneel had only seen Champion Paths which worked on one attribute or the other, giving one a specialty that they could call their own. They would use this in innovative ways to achieve victory, but they would be limited by that domain.

Daneel had already thought a lot on this, and he had realized that this meant that there was always some or the other flaw that could be used by their opponent. For example, theoretically, in the case of Ashahell, one might be able to completely cut off all their senses and still fight using some method, in order to achieve victory.

How one would do this, Daneel had no idea, but this could be inferred by anyone as long as they knew the particulars of his Champion Path.

As for Raul, his flaw seemed to be that whenever he conjured an attack, it would take a little bit of time for the world to create another one in order to mimic it for 'Balance', which would give one an opportunity to exploit, if they so wished.

Similar inferences could be made for all Champion Paths, but he was sure that all those who chose them would definitely have ways to counter these, as they were most apparent and would definitely be targeted by anyone in the event of a fight.

However, for the first time, Daneel was hearing of one which seemed to have no flaws, whatsoever.

Amplification of all spells!

He had to say that he was thoroughly impressed by this. It sounded a lot like the Rulers Inheritance, but without the need of constantly having to suffer from one's head being almost burst open due to the myriad voices of all those they connected to.

But, at the same time, the Rulers Inheritance was also pretty overpowered, so finding out that someone could replicate the effects without the side effect was really shocking.

However, because the system had used the word 'minor', Daneel could guess that the amplification was not that high.

Yet, that wasn't the only additional power.

In fact, that other one had been experienced by Daneel, himself, before.

Back in the Black Raven Kingdom, Daneel had been grievously injured by that Black Robed man and had been on the verge of death. Although he might have been able to cling onto life using the system and healing spells, he had been healed by the Matron.

Now that he thought about it, he realized that she must be on this Champion Path too, as her healing spell had had the most gentle and powerful effect than any other that Daneel had ever seen, even though he had gone through the extensive medical records of the Mad Doctor.

This was really something to be marveled about, as the Mad Doctor was someone who had traveled to most of the Big Four and compiled records regarding their medical expertise.

However, it did make sense that he didn't write down about these… 'Goddesses', because it was a very exclusive power.

Right now, Daneel didn't know how to react.

He had no intention of calling this woman 'Goddess', both because he now knew that the term was generally wrong and was only a short form of the actual name of the Champion Path, and because doing so would place him in a position of subservience, which he wasn't willing to be in.

Besides, this was a friend. In fact, if it wasn't, he would have taken this in the same way as he had during his meeting with the Queen of Arafell – as a direct challenge to his own authority.

If Daneel was still a normal kid from the slums of Lanthanor, he might not have cared as much about these things, but his position right now did not give him the luxury of being able to ignore them.

So, putting away the shock, Daneel folded his hands behind his back and said nothing, while Molan started to glower.

However, Xuan only laughed and walked forward, before soon reaching a spot only a step away from him.

Around them, except for the woman with the glower on her face, there was nothing but the spotless sky, which made for a moment which was truly beautiful in every sense of the word.

Of course, most of this was because of Xuan's new temperament, which made her seem like some sort of unreachable person who wasn't meant to converse with mere mortals.

This was also the first time that Daneel was seeing some auxiliary effect like this to a Champion Path. Was it because Xuan was doing it consciously? Or could it be some side effect with the connection that she made when she became a Champion?

If things had felt the same as before, Daneel would have asked unhesitatingly, but he now wondered whether their friendship, or whatever they had, still existed.

She answered this in the most "Xuan" way possible.

In a flash, she made a kind of shimmering mirror made of mist appear between them and Molan, which deceived her eyes into thinking that she was still seeing them standing as they were before.

This was a simple trick that would have been seen through by anyone who had access to elementary vision, but because she did it so fast, anyone would have been hard-pressed to understand what it was before they saw just the elementary particles fading away, not revealing the patterns they had been in which would give a clear indication of what they had been doing before.

In that flash, Xuan leaned in close to Daneel's left ear and whispered, "Nothing has changed between us. I'm still interested in you, and I'm still waiting. I'm a Goddess now, though, so if you accept, you would have to be fine with being the less powerful one in the relationship. Matron always said that a man should never be coddled, and that he must be rigidly controlled, but I don't agree with her. Anyway, I've made preparations for us to have a small getaway. I'll explain later, when Molan isn't here."

She said all this in a single breath, and if Daneel wasn't a Warrior whose mind's complexity made it so that he was adept at taking the information, slowing it down in his mind and understanding it, it would have sounded like gibberish.

By the time he got the meaning, though, Xuan had already leaned back, and a slight blush had started to creep in to her cheeks as she looked down, shy.

At this moment, Daneel couldn't help but remember a very famous dialogue he had heard back on Earth.

"Beauty that could cause wars."

He could totally imagine Xuan being a princess of sorts who might be sought after by all the princes and Kings of the continent, even waging wars in an attempt to win her favor and make her theirs.

Such was her beauty right now, which, combined with her aura, would definitely make one feel as if they were experiencing both the happiest and the saddest moment of their life.

They would be happiest because they would bless the good fortune that enabled them to witness her, in the first place. But they would also be sorrowful as they would realize, without a doubt, that they would never be able to interact or even speak to a woman of such earth-shattering beauty.

This was to such an extent that even Daneel, who hadn't been swayed by these matters all these years, was affected to some degree.

Unconsciously, he almost raised a hand to her face, as if to find out if she was really as exquisite as she looked, and to ensure that she wasn't some illusion.

Thankfully, at the last moment, he stopped himself.

Yet, he couldn't have predicted her next action.

The shimmering list was still present, and Xuan had just noticed that Daneel's hand had risen halfway before coming to a stop, while the King of Lanthanor went rigid.

She remembered all that lonely time spent training when she had kept reminding herself of him, and of that feeling that she was sure that he would definitely be capable of accomplishing more than anyone else on this continent, which was partly the reason why she had fallen for him in the first place.

She was a Seer, after all, and although she had never told anyone this, there were also certain feelings that were formed from unconscious glimpses into the future, which was a different method of expression of her power as compared to the usual one of visions.

This wasn't written anywhere in the records, either, but she just knew that it was right.

Now, as she saw the effect that she had just had on him, she couldn't help but feel immensely ecstatic.

Playfully biting her lip, she caught his hand, which made him freeze even further, and made his index finger stroke her cheek gently, before letting go and walking back quickly.

By the time the mist cleared and allowed Molan to see what was really going on, all she witnessed was the King of Lanthanor flushing so fiercely that his face had turned crimson.

She couldn't imagine, for the life of her, what Xuan might have done, but she did not want to ask because, one, it was her duty to keep an eye on her and make sure that she wouldn't get up to any actions exactly like these, and two, if she did report it, she would be the one being scolded for not doing her job properly.

Indeed, she had noticed the mist, but it had all happened too fast for her to do anything, so she was left knowing that something had happened, and that she was powerless to do anything about it.

Even now, as she saw Sister Xuan smiling as if she was very satisfied and happy with something, she could only glare and wish that the girl's self-control was still present.

Meanwhile, that moment when Daneel's hand had touched her skin was stuck in his mind, as he replayed it over and over again.

It was definitely the softest thing that he had ever touched his entire life, and the way she had looked into his eyes when she made him do it was what affected him the most. In them, he could clearly see just how much she admired him, and he would be lying if he said that it didn't shake his decision of not dabbling in these matters at all, at least a little bit.

Finally, after a few more moments, Daneel regained his senses after taking one last look at his hand.

Thankfully, Sister Xuan's next words made him refocus, and allowed him to forget, or at least put aside, what had just happened.

"Forget that Goddess thing. Molan was kidding, it's just a formality for the members of the Sect. There's no need for outsiders to call me so, too, and I would never want you, of all people, to do that. Now, if you're not doing anything, why don't you make a trip with me to our sect? The orders have already been passed down, and the Matron has accepted. I'm free right now as I just broke through, anyway, and I took special permission to be the one to lead you around. Oh… And I might have the key to the secret archives, as well. Might you be interested in those, King of Lanthanor?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

570 The Secret Archives 1

"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 Goddess 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 shined, 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 hell-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 Goddess'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 hassle 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 damn 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 pass 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, succumb 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 untrespassable for various reasons.

Right below where they were standing in the air, there was a massive, 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 assumed 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 untrespassable 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 massive 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.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

571 The Secret Archives 2

"I guessed that that would catch your eye."

Seeing the King captivated by the alcove made of stone that looked like it had been built many ages past, Xuan said this with a chuckle.

Molan, who was beside her, remained silent, but her displeasure could clearly be felt in the way she kept grumbling to herself.

The field they were in was so large that Daneel would have mistaken it for a location outside, if it weren't for the sources of artificial light on the ceiling which were actually simulating sunlight in this place.

The ceiling was at least half a kilometer above him, and this whole place would definitely have an area of at least 100 km2, which meant that it was roughly the size of the capital of Lanthanor, itself, which could hold around a million people in it.

To think that this was something constructed by someone to be placed in the palm of the figure outside- was something so mindblowing that Daneel couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of workforce needed for such a task.

After entering, Daneel had seen that the whole place was mostly open, with buildings present here and there, which must be the facilities that Xuan had talked about.

There was also one large building in the center with the word "Library" on its plaque, which Daneel could guess would be his next stop.

Where they were was roughly a few kilometers from the library, and it seemed to be an isolated place that didn't see much footfall, which was indicated by the path made of tiles that weren't worn like the others.

Well, it did make sense that not many could access the Secret Archives of the Sect.

The alcove, itself, was the size of a 2-bedroom house, which surprised Daneel, as he had thought that there might be much more data, as Xuan had said that these were records kept from the time of the Empire.

He curbed his enthusiasm and waited for Xuan to lead the way, but instead of doing so, she turned to Molan.

Taking out a bracelet of sorts that looked like it was made of silver, Xuan said, "Here, Molan. I wanted to give you a gift because I broke through!"

As soon as Molan saw the bracelet, her eyebrows went up as far as they could go, and her jaw dropped with shock.

After a few moments, she stammered, "Th-this…"

"Yes, it gives you special entry to the location with all the combat and auxiliary arts of the Sect. It also allows you to take away one item you wish."

"Oh, Xuan!"

Exclaiming like so, Molan walked forward and almost grabbed the bracelet, before feeling it with her hands.

Xuan was standing in front of her with her hands folded in front of her, but from her expression, Daneel could tell that she was up to something.

Indeed, after a few moments, she said, "There is a problem, though. It expires today, so that means that you only have…6 hours to go through them all and select something you want. Don't look at me like that, it was coincidental! I even got this one only because one of the Sect Members got injured, and couldn't use theirs! You know how difficult it is to get one quickly!"

Right after Xuan stated the deadline, Molan had looked at her with a glare, before glancing at Daneel suspiciously.

Yet, she then once again focused on the bracelet, before looking like she was trying to make a decision.

Finally, she said, "Argh! Fine, I'm leaving. But I don't need to tell you to follow what the Matron said, Xuan. Even if you became a Goddess, some rules can't be broken."

Saying so in a vexed voice, Molan flew away, leaving Daneel and Xuan alone.

As the latter laughed to herself silently before turning to him, Daneel asked, "What rule is she talking about?"

This made the laughter stop, before she answered in a neutral voice.

"The rule that Goddesses cannot enter relationships. You know Marcus, right? The man who saved you. The Matron has always loved him, but the two can't be together because of the stupid rule. I have a plan regarding it, though, and although I can't tell you about it, I can say that you shouldn't worry about it. Just trust me. Come on."

Daneel didn't know what he was supposed to 'trust her' about, but he followed when he saw her walk in the direction of the alcove.

She was wearing a simple, purple gown that moved and fluttered even though there was no wind, and her perfect hair cascaded down her shoulders before reaching the small of her back.

She had a petite figure, as she must be at least a head shorter than Daneel, who stood 6 feet tall.

As Daneel saw her from behind, he couldn't help but notice other details, such as the perfect arc of her waist.

He hurriedly looked elsewhere as he saw her glance behind, which was why he didn't notice her contented smile, as she had noticed him looking.

It looked like choosing this dress and altering it had worked out, after all.

Xuan had always thought that her best approach was to wait patiently, but it was during her breakthrough that she had realized that that was just not her.

She had already decided that she would use any and all means to try and get what she wanted, as she trusted the feeling that told her that this was the best man for her.

Her fondest memory from that horrid village which constantly used to curse her and call her a bringer of bad omens because of the fact that she had always been able to tell what would happen next was of her seeing the happy couples, who were always so involved with themselves that they would forget the world and everything else.

She had always wished for something like that, and now, she was ready to go out and get it, herself, instead of waiting around for some miracle to occur.

When she reached the door, Xuan took out a seed-shaped trinket from her pocket which she inserted into a groove in the stone door before dripping a droplet of blood on it.

As the door opened slowly, she turned back and said, "Come on. We might not have too long. If the Matron realizes that I'm using the key she gave me right now when I am supposed to be showing you around the library, she will definitely come to see what is going on. She's in training, though, so I hope that that won't happen too soon."

As Daneel saw the darkness inside the room and heard Xuan say this, he nodded before quickly walking in.

All he actually needed was a few seconds, after all, so he wasn't worried at all about them being interrupted too soon.

Right after he did, Xuan entered and closed the thick double doors of stone behind them, which made light blossom on the ceiling that drove away the darkness.

As soon as Daneel laid his eyes on the contents of the room, he felt like jumping in the air with joy.

There were rows and rows of faintly glowing blue-colored cubes, which he knew to be data trinkets.

That was when Xuan spoke up.

"Our Sect is also unique because we are the only force among the Big 4 which has endured from the time of the Empire, until now. Here, you will find the chronological history of the Continent from that time, and also quite a lot of information about the Empire, itself. The latter is only a small part, but it is the largest exclusive collection of records that you have. Help yourself. I need to check on something, too."

Saying so, Xuan smiled at him and moved in a particular direction.

It was a small room, but the ceiling high rows of trinkets made it so that he couldn't see much beyond the row he was in.

Hence, he didn't see the playful smile on her face as she made it to a distant row and picked up a data trinket.

Daneel felt as if he was a kid who had been given all the toys in the world.

Only nodding in response half-unconsciously, he quickly moved to the where the rows started.

Here, he at least controlled himself and looked around to make sure that he wasn't being watched.

Seeing that it was so, he quickly began to touch trinket after trinket, while the system started to record all the data.

He did this for the most part, except in the row in which Xuan was there. There, he acted as if he was just giving cursory glances to all the trinkets, while he made sure to touch them all, anyway.

Soon, he approached a specific section which was different- here, the trinkets seemed older, and they were golden instead of blue.

As he touched the first one with curiosity and read its title, he almost shouted in glee.

"Fragmented Records of the Empire. Part One."

Until now, all the other trinkets had detailed the history of the Sect, from the actions taken by each Matron, to everything that the Continent had faced over the millions of years.

Such an incredible span of time couldn't even be imagined, and if it weren't for the fact that a shorthand form of notation was used which only summarized events in the format of a sentence for each year, this alcove wouldn't have been enough to hold the number of data trinkets needed for this purpose.

These golden data trinkets were what Daneel had come for in the first place, and as he touched them all to devour them, the anticipation inside him grew to new levels.

He was already bracing himself for the possibility that he might be finding a lot of stuff that he had already found out from Drakos, but he really hoped for something concrete which would lift the veil over some mystery or the other.

Drakos was silent throughout all this, and Daneel didn't know what he was thinking.

Soon, he had reached the end, and as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before putting forward the question, Daneel felt like a student from Earth waiting for the result of an exam that might dictate his life.

[Analyzing data. Summarizing and assigning sub-headings. Categorizing into 'known' and 'newly discovered' data. Listing 'newly discovered' data in order of importance using metrics given by host.

The first item on the list is : "The Grand Inheritance". Would host like system to read out a generated summary of the topic?]

Daneel had never answered so fast in his life.

"Yes!"

[The Grand Inheritance: A lot of different records were found on the subject, but one thing is clear: the court, the vassals, and the secret corps of the Emperor tried, together, to stop him from implementing a way for it to be accessed in the future.

The reason behind this is that everyone feared that a catastrophe might occur if it was ever used.

From the records, it is clear that everyone was fearing some sort of threat that would destroy the continent.

The only way to drive back this disaster was to use the Grand Inheritance, and this was why the Emperor put in a lot of failsafes to ensure the future of the continent in case the catastrophe did occur.

The information regarding the identity of the threat seems to have been deliberately purged, but the data gives the impression that a lot of attempts were made to keep it at bay, while this was touted as the last option.

From what happened afterward, system can infer that the Grand Inheritance was used, and the threat was beaten back, but the catastrophe also occurred.

The Emperor tried to convince everyone that the way he was leaving forward for the future would also ensure that the person who did inherit the Grand Inheritance would not cause a catastrophe to occur again.

He failed, but he went forward with his plan anyway.

As for what the Grand Inheritance is, it is simple: it is a method for one to connect with Angaria, itself, and control it at their whim to do anything they wish.]

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

572 The Secret Archives 3

"A method for one to connect with Angaria."

As Daneel heard this part, he couldn't help but take a step back to take support from the wall, before taking in a deep breath and trying to calm his mind down.

Could…such a thing even be possible?

Just as this thought came in Daneel's mind, he remembered what he had just seen on the way here.

Those stones which had seemed as if they had been cut in half by a blade!

If this was possible, then even a feat like that - of making a crack in the earth 50 kilometers long appear with a sword, didn't seem so farfetched at all!

However, Daneel tried to calm his mind and think clearly.

As always, he first went through the whole thing again, and started to reflect.

First of all, regarding the threat facing the continent.

His initial thought had been that it might be the Church, again, which could have returned now and caused a situation just like then.

However, when he thought about it, Daneel realized that he shouldn't discard other possibilities so soon.

If the threat was as dire as then, and if the Big 4 knew about the Grand Inheritance, why weren't they at least going about collecting the parts so that they could use it if needed?

And if it was the Church, why would all mention of the name of that threat be purged from the records?

It didn't add up. If Daneel thought from the point of view that it might be because it should be kept secret, it didn't make sense either because the Big 4 didn't really care if others knew about the threat. They just didn't want mass hysteria to spread, and that was why they hadn't announced it to the world.

Although there was still a major chance that it could be the Church and that all the questions raised had valid explanations, Daneel wasn't ready to discard other possibilities just yet.

Next, he reached the part about the Emperor facing pushback from those under him while he sought to implement steps to have those after them find the Grand Inheritance.

The Emperor had always come across as a kind man who really did care for the people, and their welfare. If so, unless he was absolutely sure, why would he make these elaborate plans and set up the Race? Could he have known that there might come a time later when those who were supposed to protect the continent might decide to abandon it to its fate, if worst came to worst?

After all, that was the opinion of the Big 4, right now: the Central Continent was an expendable scapegoat, for all they cared.

Daneel wasn't prepared to believe that the Emperor could have such an incredible power of foresight, but he had to admit that the man had amazing forward-planning skills.

However, what if someone else won the race and cause another catastrophe? The risk was real, now, especially as he had read about the aftermath of the Empire's fall in the records of the Goddess's Sanctum that he had just gone through.

In it, it was clearly written that the continent was left with mere tens of thousands of people, as compared to the tens of millions before.

Blood was present everywhere, and in some places, the air itself had become red due to the immense amounts of blood that had been spilled.

Although it didn't give details, either, about just what the catastrophe had been, it did paint a very gruesome and chilling image that Daneel couldn't get out of his head.

Of course, it reminded him of what he had seen in the vision.

Hence, he couldn't help but ask this question, just like the Emperor's vassals had done all those years ago.

"Drakos, if there was so much risk…"

"I was one of the few who supported the Emperor, Young King, because I had access to his plans. I can tell that you've found out that the catastrophe was caused by the Grand Inheritance. But I can promise you that if there was any other way, we would have chosen it. There wasn't. I cannot say more. But I can say that if you win the Race, you will understand. His plan regarding the Grand Inheritance was both the cause of the most happiness in his life, and the most sorrow."

The last sentence was said with such a heavy tone of sadness that Daneel widened his eyes and stared into space with shock.

He didn't know how to respond, but he also realized that there was probably nothing he could say in this situation.

So, Daneel just sighed and decided to trust the Ancient Dragon and the Emperor before getting back to the recounting.

After all, even if he didn't, it wasn't like there was something that he could do, except try to stop the others from winning the Race, either, because it could lead to the annihilation of the continent.

Finally, Daneel had to return to that statement about the one having the Grand Inheritance being able to control Angaria, itself.

As he thought of this, he was reminded of a Champion causing the world to react using the resonance within themselves.

Could it be the same thing, but amplified to an infinite degree?

Could one do what they wished with all elementary particles?

Wouldn't that basically…make someone a God?

This thought involuntarily came in Daneel's mind, as he could find no other word to describe someone with that kind of power.

Yet…Gods wouldn't be plagued by the need to cause a catastrophe right after using their power.

Clearly, there were very, very strong drawbacks that couldn't be ignored, but it didn't stop Daneel from dreaming about such a power, anyway.

Yes, such a person would indeed be seen as a God.

The first item on the list, itself, had caused Daneel's heart to thunder in his chest as he thought about all the ramifications and possibilities.

So, he was more excited than ever to get to the rest.

"System, tell me the other items in the list of newly discovered data."

[In descending order of importance, the list is:

The 'Ultimate' Path.

Records of the Creation of the Empire

Cultural Information about the Empire]

Obviously, Daneel went straight to the first one, and his eyes even almost popped out as he heard that this wasn't the only important information he had gleaned from this place.

Typically, the pattern was that Daneel would find one important piece of information in one place, so seeing that pattern broken felt really good, and it even made him want to hug Xuan and thank her profusely as this had all been made possible by her.

Deciding that he was definitely in her debt, Daneel asked the system to tell him about the 'Ultimate' Path.

[Data found in certain records of soldiers in the Empire's time segregates them in terms of those who are capable of choosing 'Ultimate' Paths and those who are not. However, it is not clear what this path signifies. A few mentions here and there do give a clue that they refer to a Path in which both the Fighter and Mage Pathways are utilized perfectly, but this is only a supposition.]

As Daneel heard this, he was reminded of the power of that Raven which had left him shaking in his boots.

How would it be if that power was combined with a Champion Path as impressive as the one of Ashahell's, or Raul's?

Yes, maybe that would be worthy of being called 'Ultimate'.

Yet, Daneel couldn't be sure. This was his guess, and it also seemed that the pattern remained, even though it was pretty important information.

It wasn't as mind-numbing as the reveal regarding the Grand Inheritance, but it was still pretty important as he at least knew now that focusing on both paths was not something wholly new. There were those who did the same in ancient times, too, which meant that he shouldn't hesitate at all, any more.

It wasn't that he was going to hesitate, any way, but confirmation did feel good.

Now that he thought about it, all this only reinforced Daneel wish to open the third seal as soon as possible.

He wanted to be sure. He didn't want half-truths and suppositions. No, this was too important a matter to base on those.

Of course, Daneel tried asking Drakos, but, again, the Dragon couldn't say.

Yes, that damn seal had to open ASAP.

Apparently, the reason behind the information being so fragmented was that all the records had been literally pulled out from burning buildings and carried by the desperate humans whose main goal had been to save themselves. In such a state, it was a marvel that they had managed to save at least this much information.

After all, this was only one of the four secret archives, which he knew stored different information as it was clearly stated here that a few books had been snatched by some force or the other, which might have eventually lead to them being owned by the other of the Big 4.

Daneel thought so, because unlike the Goddess's Sanctum which had stood for millennia even if it went into hiding frequently or sometimes, was even survived by a few hundred people who painstakingly rebuilt it, the others of the Big 4 had apparently ascended to their state through various means.

As he had gotten till here anyway, Daneel was about to ask the system to tell him about the other two new discovered information, too, but he paused when he saw Xuan walking toward him from the end of the 'corridor' made by the rows of data trinkets he was in.

Behind him was the hard stone wall of the alcove, and he was currently leaning against it as he had had to take support before.

In his hand was the last golden data trinket, and as he put it back, Xuan approached him and asked, "Was the data satisfactory? I guess at least one mystery must have been answered, right?"

She was standing just 2 steps away with her hands behind her back, and she asked this with a smile which made dimples appear, which was something that Daneel had never noticed before as he had never paid too much attention.

However, now, they stood out as he was once again reminded of what had happened before.

Inwardly, he said to himself, 'Come on! Buck up! You're from Earth, the land of romance and relationships! You can do this! This is not like that time with Jenny in High School! You're a King now, dammit!'

That didn't help much, as he was only reminded of that moment when he had been mercilessly rejected when he asked a girl out to prom on the urging of the kind old lady in his orphanage, who hadn't wanted him to go alone.

At least, that last part made him a bit more confident, but all that melted when Xuan took a casual step forward.

'Why is she coming closer?!'

With alarm, he was almost about to step back, but that was when he realized that he was really acting in a pathetic manner.

This admonition finally allowed him to gain some real confidence and stand up straight, before answering, "Yes, I can't tell you how much it helped. I count myself to be heavily in your debt. At any time, no matter what the matter is, you can ask for my help, and I will do my best. I-"

The magnificent King of Lanthanor choked and swallowed what he was going to say next as he saw the exquisite woman in front of him take another step forward, placing herself in a spot where her face was just a few inches from his.

This was already enough to make his heart stop, and then start beating at a breakneck pace, but what she said drained the blood from his face and almost made him wonder whether he had entered some bizarre dream.

She leaned in close, and as she spoke, her warm breath was felt on his skin, where goosebumps rose in response that almost touched her luscious lips.

"Oh? Then there's a way to clear your debt, right now. All I ask for…is a kiss."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

573 Secret Archives End

Daneel honestly thought that Xuan must have said something completely different, and that he must have misheard her.

Yet, as he saw her move back and then start to move forward again, slowly, he realized that he was wrong.

She was being serious!

At this moment, a war began in his mind between two opposing forces.

One contained all the suppressed feelings inside him which he didn't even know he had had.

They raged and ranted about how any typical earthling would have used the status as a King to enjoy the fruits of adulthood in as many different flavors as possible, day in and day out, even if only to see whether one could ever get tired of them.

It said that he should lean in now, too, and clear the debt in the process.

Obviously, it didn't give two sh*ts about the debt.

The other was the more rational one, and Daneel was actually surprised that it wasn't stronger.

It contained everything that the kind old lady had taught him, about how a woman should be respected and cared for by one with their utmost attention, and that one shouldn't rush into a relationship the first chance they got.

It was the main reason he hadn't proceeded in this matter even though he had gotten various opportunities- that, and because he had never seen the pressing need to rush.

The risk of millions dying always seemed more important, and he had always told himself that he could think about it later, when the threat was past.

After all, one was a pressing issue which would result in massive loss of life if not handled properly, and the other wasn't.

Yet, that other force begged to differ.

It tried to make him afraid that dallying like this would only result in him being left alone, until death, just like the Emperor, and that he should use the opportunity presented to him instead of acting like a completely inexperienced, shy teenager from Earth.

It didn't fit his character, and it definitely didn't fit his position.

As a stalemate was reached, something happened which threw everything in his mind into chaos.

Xuan had reached close enough that her warm breath, which had graced his neck before, was now felt on his nose as her lips reached ever closer.

The woman was the same height as him, which made him realize that she had used a spell to raise herself before initiating this action.

She had clearly planned everything out perfectly.

Yet, from the deep blush in her cheeks, Daneel realized that she might not be as bold as she was letting on.

However, she didn't pause, and even Daneel unconsciously bent forward a little, resulting in him experiencing something which he could never forget.

Their lips touched for the briefest of moments, and when they did, Daneel was even tempted to use the Basilisk's Breath to make this moment pause so that he could savor it more.

Her lips felt like they were the most succulent things in the world, and the way they pressed against his made him appreciate their fullness and perfection.

Feelings that had been hidden away for the longest time surfaced, making him become hyper-aware of all the changes happening in his body.

Yet, at that moment, a loud sound interrupted both of them, and made Xuan fall to the ground in shock.

Bang!

Someone had banged the door loudly, with such force that the whole alcove shook, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

Daneel automatically leaned forward and caught Xuan by her armpits, and as he did so, his hands also brushed against something delicate and bouncy that made him feel puzzled at first, and then raise his eyebrows as he realized what they were.

Immediately, he let go, but not before he saw the expression of alarm on Xuan's face, as she, too, hadn't expected that something like this would happen.

Indeed, she had planned this whole thing because of a suspicion that the King was dallying in the matter because of inexperience, and not some other strong reason.

Hence, during her free time after becoming a Champion, Xuan had used Champion-level eavesdropping spells to listen in on the women of the sect who were in relationships, who mostly happened to be the normal servants of the sect.

From them, she had learned a lot of details that had made her feel quite bashful while giving her the urge to close her ears, but she had also heard about how some men needed to be pulled into a relationship and be courted actively, in the same way that women typically were.

In fact, she even heard about a fair system in many villages and towns where there were cases of women seeking men and wooing them for various reasons which were in the same range as the number of men who sought after women.

That was when she had understood that her thinking had been flawed- her boldness had been good, but more boldness wasn't bad, either.

This was what had led to this whole plan of obtaining the key to the Secret Archives, where they could definitely be alone, and also obtaining that bracelet to lure Molan away.

Of course, she had been as nervous as ever as she had leaned in. Many, many thoughts had gone through her head, such as what she was supposed to do if the King got angry and left, or if he thought less of her because of this, or if he had some other kind of adverse reaction.

Still, she had gone ahead, and she had been struck as breathless as Daneel in that moment.

And after that, when she had felt his hands on her body, a shiver had run through her back, making her shudder and feel a little sad when she saw him hurriedly remove his hands.

This was accompanied by a sudden onset of embarrassment and self-consciousness, but both of their reactions were cut off when they heard another loud 'Bang!' Which made them look at each other for a brief moment before running toward the door.

Xuan reached first, and as she pulled out the seed from her side, the door opened to reveal a furious Matron who glared at her and said, "Xuan, you may have become a Champion in the Goddess Path, but you are not authorized to bring outsiders to sacred places such as these! You must learn to stick to the rules!"

The Matron was the one that had practically raised her, all her life. Even though she had begun to rebel in some ways, some intrinsic fear was still present, which made her look down and stammer, "I'm sorry, Matron-"

She was interrupted by a confident voice.

"Matron, let me apologize. I was the one who took advantage of Xuan. Your wrath should be directed at me, and not her."

It was from Daneel, who had understood the situation and decided to act this way, as he was really grateful and didn't want her to get into trouble in any way.

Besides, he was banking on his position with the Head, who wouldn't want him to be harmed.

To him, this felt like something he was obligated to do, but he didn't notice the glow in Xuan's eyes as she saw him defending her like this.

Inside her mind, fireworks were going off as she thought, 'Yes! This is the kind of relationship I saw! Someone who cares for me, and is even ready to stand up for me in front of someone like the Matron! I've made the right decision!'

Meanwhile, the Matron had turned her glare in Daneel's direction, who didn't feel the need to lower his eyes, at all.

Of course, he was trying his hardest to not recall what had just happened, as he was afraid that all of his composure would disappear if that happened.

That moment, and that feeling still lingered in his head, but he couldn't let them do so, unless he wanted to risk devolving into a bumbling mess of a kid who had just had their first kiss.

It didn't even count as such, and he, and her, had only been able to feel it as they had evolved minds.

If it was someone normal, it would have just felt like their lips brushed against each other for a fraction of a second, which wouldn't have had as much of an effect.

Regardless, both of them knew that couldn't show any sign of what had happened in front of the Matron.

So, Xuan just stayed silent, while the Matron measured up Daneel from top to bottom.

Finally, she 'humphed' and said, "You're lucky the Head favors you. But Xuan must be punished according to the rules of the Sect, and you cannot stand in her place. Xuan, head to the Room of a Thousand Mirrors and meditate for three days. Go."

"But I-"

"Yes, you were designated to show him around, but I'll assume that duty, now. Now, go. One more word from you, and it'll be three months."

This made Xuan grumble under her breath, which resulted in Daneel opening his mouth to speak again on her behalf in order to help her.

However, he stopped when he received a message from her via trinket.

"It's all right. That room is just one of high Energy meant for a special type of training. It's no trouble. I can show you around again when I'm out. If you want to leave, you can do so when the Matron is around, too. Goodbye for now, King Daneel."

Daneel didn't know how to respond, and before he did, Xuan shot him a quick smile and teleported away.

As she saw this, the Matron 'humphed' again, but led him in the direction of the library with her hands folded in front of her.

Just as Daneel was about to follow, he received another message from Xuan, which made him stumble and almost fall.

"That kiss doesn't count, though. You are still in debt, and I'll see what to do with it when we meet again."

His cheeks felt warm, and he even unconsciously raised his hand to touch his lips, while everything that had happened ran through his mind.

Before he sent a reply, the Matron spoke.

"She will be closed off from talking to anyone via trinket, too, so don't think it's too light a punishment. I'm just telling you so that you don't think about doing something similar again. Whatever little information you might have gotten in that short visit, that's all you'll ever learn from our Secret Archives, unless you join the Big 4. Now, come on. I don't have all day."

Daneel felt like laughing as he heard this.

Little information? He had recorded it all!

Smiling to himself, Daneel followed after her, but even he couldn't tell whether that smile was because of what the Matron thought, or because of the message he had received from Xuan.

Regardless, he still did summarise his findings in the archives.

The Race was more important than he had ever imagined. He had to win it at all costs, and for that, he had to break the third seal as soon as possible.

Hoping to find things in the library that would help him, Daneel quickened his pace.

…

Meanwhile, sitting in a secret false room at the top of the dome were two middle-aged people who were drinking tea mixed with wine.

It was a special brew of the Goddess's Sanctum which gave one both the kick of wine and the serenity of tea, and all those who visited always sang praises of it.

One of them was the Head, and the other was the Matron's master, who was the Hero on the High Council who represented the Goddess's Sanctum.

"You're sure about this, right? I don't want to have allowed my precious grand-disciple's first kiss to be stolen away in this manner by someone incompetent."

This made the Head burst out with laughter before saying, "Hey, who stole who's first kiss?! It reminds me of you, you know, all those years ago. Anyway, yes, I am confident. That kid just has something about him. He's among the top in overall talent and potential in all the Big 4, but there's something additional, too. Well, I've never been wrong, yet, and it's not like she's your most precious grand-disciple."

The Hero's lips pressed into a line as she heard the first part, and after the Head was done, she shrugged and said, "She is the cutest, though. Anyway, have you-"

As they continued to talk about various other topics, Daneel absorbed himself in collecting all the books in the library of the Goddess's Sanctum.

…

At the same moment, Kellor had a puzzled expression on his face as he watched Faxul's body, which had been acting strangely for the past 10 minutes.

He had been asked to stay and monitor Faxul, so he wondered whether to message the King.

After thinking for a bit, he decided to wait.

The 'strange actions' were that wings made of glossy black weathers had started to come into existence occasionally on Faxul's back, accompanied by tiny, dark holes in space which gave Kellor a feeling of danger even though he had touched them and felt nothing except a slight attractive force.

As he continued to keep a close watch, night turned into day, and, for some reason, Kellor felt as if this day might prove to be quite eventful, too.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

574 Deja Vu

Daneel's mind was buzzing with all sorts of titles related to various different topics, all of which he was collecting into the database with the system.

After all, equipped with this kind of godlike ability, he would be a fool not to record and obtain everything he could, just in case it might be useful in the future.

For example, he didn't see any way in which he could use the book titled "An In-depth Study Into Pimples and the Kinds of Spells That Can be Used to Counter Them", but he recorded it anyway, as all it needed was a touch of his finger.

He could feel the Matron's disapproving eyes on his back, as anyone who saw him would think that he was being frivolous.

However, if he told her that he was actually collecting data faster than probably anyone else in the continent, she would definitely not believe him and even might think that he was spouting bull crap to cover up his original intentions of just browsing around idly without focusing on anything in particular.

The library was massive, with all kinds of trivial and nontrivial information that were divided into Sections. As he was only a Peak Warrior, he could only access all the techniques for Warriors, which weren't too many.

There were also almost no Fighter techniques, as the Goddess's Sanctum was a predominantly female Sect, as was evident from its name.

A lot of its major techniques were also designed for special use by women, which partly explained why this was so in the first case. Of course, he knew the actual reason, which was that this Sect was something that had existed in the time of the Empire with the same name. Even though particular records regarding the reason behind this name from that time were lost, they had retained it, and also continued to rebuild the Sect repeatedly using the ideals and principles that had been existed from that time.

For example, the case of someone like Xuan being taken in like that was not unique. In the Goddess's Sanctum, all those in high positions were required to embark on periodic journeys where they would recruit woman of talent who had no ties in the mortal world.

Even if there were ties, if that woman or girl was willing to sever them to come with them, they would accept her and treat her like their own.

This was one implementation of the word "Sanctum" in their name.

The other was that they would also accept people who were suffering from incurable diseases or conditions, mainly on whom others might have given up.

In such cases, the Champions of the Sect, themselves, would endeavor to save them while not desiring anything in return.

It was through reading things like these that Daneel really did start to respect the Sect, which seemed to have no negatives at all like the Sect of Hedon.

As for the matter of leadership, it was decided by potential. And this was tested directly by seeing who could acquire the Goddess Champion path, which was the most precious Path in their possession, and was said to be strong enough to match the most powerful ones known to the Big Four.

Those who managed to use this path to become a Champion were all eligible to become the Matron of the Sect, and if there were multiple candidates at a certain time, a simple voting procedure would be carried out with the official members of the Sect.

As he had already guessed, all official members were female, with a few special exceptions who made decisions to stay as "retainers" of said official members.

These retainers would also have access to information and core facilities, but Daneel felt as if this was just to bolster the strength of the Sect by taking in those who wanted to join.

Also, regarding the rule of Sect members not being allowed to enter relationships, he found no mention of such a thing, which made him assume that this might be something exclusive to those who managed to acquire the Goddess Path.

All in all, the Sect seemed to be a serene place of training where one could forget everything else and just focus on getting stronger.

To entice Sect members to train as hard as they could, competitions were apparently set up and carried out periodically, where the winners would be awarded with more resources and one-on-one training with Champions.

All this was very interesting, but Daneel stopped thinking about it, as it didn't really help him other than letting him know that each of the Big Four had different structures, and that he definitely liked what was here much more than what was present in the Sect of Hedon.

Over there was an extreme dog eat dog world with each and every step forward having to be one that stepped on others.

Here, the soothing environment encouraged people to work together, and strive to reach greater heights hand in hand.

At least, that was what it looked like on paper, and he would have to see for himself if that was true.

Yet, Daneel knew that he would mostly not get that opportunity, as there would be no need for him to head to the other part of the Sect which housed all the disciples.

As for the disciples in the library, the Matron kept them all at bay with a simple glare, so that Daniel was left completely alone.

Of course, he didn't mind this at all, and he happily recorded each and every book he could.

There were thousands of them in this large building, but he was done in a few hours, mainly because quite a few sections were not accessible to him.

These made his eyes go red with desire, as they seemed to all be journals and information written down by the various Champion level individuals that had graced this Sect in its long and illustrious past.

Daneel could never have expected that his trip to the Goddess's Sanctum would be so fruitful and… Exhilarating.

Occasionally, he would still remember what had happened in the alcove, and that would make him once again feel those things that seemed like they wouldn't be shoved back into a hole after having been unleashed into the world by Xuan's bold action.

Although he was done with the library, he had to keep up appearances, so Daneel took a random book and sat on one of the wooden benches that were present all over the place, and buried himself in it, as if it was very interesting.

Only, because he hadn't been taking it seriously, he hadn't noticed that the book he had chosen was one about what a man or woman should do to groom themselves so that they could look like the best version of themselves.

Seeing this made the Matron grumble even more as she remembered what she had had to take part in before, when the Head and her master had been clearly aware of everything happening inside the alcove but had still let it happen for some reason, before sending her to interrupt them at that exact moment.

It had felt just… Wrong to be a part of something like this, but there was no way that she could disobey the word of her master.

All she had been able to do was tell yourself that her master and the Head would definitely not be wrong in their assessment of the King of Lanthanor, and that she would definitely skin him alive if he ever took a wrong step in the matter of her favorite disciple.

Meanwhile, casually rifling through the book, Daneel was once again thinking about the Grand Inheritance, and everything it represented.

His thoughts drifted from that, to the Ultimate path, to Faxul, and then to Xuan, and even to Eloise, whom he remembered a bit guiltily as she had been the first to express interest in him, yet Xuan had been the first to make a move and take away something of his.

Such thoughts were so never and strange in his mind that they stood out and made him wonder if it was really him who was getting them, and not some imposter who was also in a similar situation.

Three hours later, his musings were interrupted by an urgent message from Kellor.

"My King, you have to see this! I didn't know whether to contact you, but I couldn't wait any longer. Please make your way here quickly!"

He heard the panic in his Grand Court Mage's voice, but there was no hint of alarm, which was a good thing.

Besides, the 'alarm' that he had set up had not gone off, either, so he could tell that Faxul might not be in danger, and that something else might be happening.

Either way, Daneel decided to leave, and as he put the book back on its place on the bookshelf and walked to the Matron, she spoke up before he could say anything.

"Xuan told me about how you said you might have things to handle back in your Kingdom. Go, and use this if you wish to come back. Of course, this will only give you access to this library, and not to the one that you just went to by breaking all the rules. And…"

The Matron look like she wanted to say something else, but she stopped herself at the last moment and just handed Daneel a seed much like the one that he had seen Xuan use before to open the door to the alcove that held the secret archives.

Only, the seed that she had used had been bright silver in color, while this one was earth colored, making it look quite normal.

With a nod, Daneel took it, and not knowing how to bid goodbye to the Matron, he just nodded again before rising into the air and starting to fly out of the enormous dome structure that he was in.

As soon as he reached the ceiling, a hole opened up in the same manner that it had done when they had arrived, allowing him to leave and once again gaze at the magnificent statue which was the most magnificent thing he had seen on Angaria so far, except perhaps that Dragon all those years ago which had laid waste to that pub.

Exiting the crack in the ground, Daneel had to fly up a few hundred meters into the sky before finally teleporting to reach his kingdom.

As soon as he did so, he headed for the underground room, and when he arrived, he could tell that something was amiss.

Beside him stood Kellor, who had multiple holes in his clothes of varying sizes, which made him almost looked like a beggar.

Yet, his expression was filled with excitement as he gazed at Faxul, the sight of whom made Daneel take a few steps back and widen his eyes, wondering whether what he was seeing was true.

A large set of wings made of glossy black fathers which looked both dangerous and beautiful had appeared on the upper back of his friend, which were clearly created by elementary particles that were not being controlled, same as before.

However, instead of fading in and out of existence, they stayed there, making Faxul look like some sort of human – Raven hybrid.

This wasn't even the most disconcerting thing going on. No, that prize went to the dark holes of varying sizes that were popping up all around the room.

In fact, just as he saw that, he detected one opening up right where he stood at the spot where his hand was. He was about to teleport away, but he stopped himself to see what it would do.

As he did so, a hole similar to the one he had seen on Kellor's robes appeared on his own sleeve, while he also felt a faint itch and pull on his skin, where he could see the tiny, nail-sized black hole.

He didn't need the system right now to analyze it. Unlike the black holes he had read about back on earth, this one did not seem to have any time-based effects – at least as far as he could see. In the same way that he had seen back in that image, light did seem to be bending around its edges, but that was more because it was a constantly revolving rip in space similar to one that a mage used during teleportation.

This was visible now, as he could see and study it unlike before, when he hadn't been able to due to its sheer power.

The novelty here was that on the other side of wherever this rip in space connected to, there was a very strong gravitational force that was pulling in everything that was in the vicinity of the hole.

If this hole was bigger, Daneel could imagine the amount of attractive force that would be present, and it was pretty similar to what he had felt in that visual message before.

Enemies would truly be rendered helpless as they would have to resist being pulled constantly and relentlessly into a place which looked like there would be no return from, and he could tell that this pull also affect the elementary particles, too, which was why the hole was black in the first place – all the light elementary particles had been sucked away, leaving behind only darkness.

Hence, if strong enough, this black hole would have a very strong effect on all spells being cast by mages. A mage would have to expend double the effort to cast a normal spell, itself, which was definitely a terrifying handicap that would lead to the loss of almost any mage that dared to go up against a Devouring Monarch of the Skies.

Daneel had no idea what he was supposed to do, but he couldn't have expected that his arrival would cause a change in Faxul.

And that change made the King of Lanthanor almost jump back in panic, as he saw his friend open his eyes, which were completely red, and flap those wings which made him become a blur as he lunged at him with the intent to kill.

Even as barriers automatically sprang up around Daneel to defend against the unexpected attack, he was blasted back into the wall behind him due to the sheer momentum that passed through from the punch.

…

Meanwhile, a few seconds ago.

As the fifteenth recollection of his past began, the bastion in Faxul which had been growing stronger with each and every second that passed finally took a step forward in defiance.

In essence, it was the personification of everything that had allowed him to reach this step in the first place – all his stubbornness, determination, propensity for marching forward no matter what he had to endure, and lastly, his wish to make his parents proud, and also pay back everything he still felt he owed to Daneel.

It was as if… He had known all these things beforehand, too, as if they weren't inside him, he might have perished long ago, itself, when he had decided to take that spirit into his body which had threatened to kill him during each and every waking second if he let up his efforts for even a single moment.

Only, the fake Daneel had still been effective mainly because he had never asked these questions to himself, instead letting them stay there with the intention that he knew the answer any way, and hence did not need to face them.

Now that he finally did, all of his determination and will solidified into a singular desire to never give in, and never doubt himself.

True, he might have benefited a lot from others, but there was so much more that he had accomplished by himself! If it were any other person, he could almost bet that they wouldn't have been able to survive and move on as well as he had.

Hence, there really seemed to be no reason for him to doubt himself so much, and with this, he got a wish to break out of this place, whatever it was.

That was when he had opened his eyes to find that the repetition of memories had stopped, and that he was standing face to face to that same fake Daneel with the cold smile, while he somehow had wings on his back that lent him a kind of power that he had never experienced before.

Yes! The only way to get out must be to defeat this fake impersonation of his friend!

With that thought, he launched himself forward and began the attack.

…

As Daneel finally came to a stop a few hundred meters away and spit out a little bit if blood as he had had to endure such a sudden and insanely fast attack, he heard Drakos speak in his mind.

"Young King, I was hoping this wouldn't happen! In cases where the person in question already had determination and the will to not give up, the baptism would move on to the second stage- which is to make them enter an illusion as if they are still in the space inside their head! Your friend probably thinks he is attacking that fake version of you! You must endure, and allow him to break out of it by himself!"

As the King of Lanthanor heard this and saw Faxul flying in his direction, again, with a black hole swirling in front of his fist, he realized that he might be getting a taste of the power of a bloodline possessor much sooner than he had expected.

Also, he couldn't help but get a feeling of deja vu, as this had already happened before.

'Aw, sh*t. Here we go again.'

With this thought, hoping that this would be the last, he prepared to unleash everything he had and find out whether the name 'Monarch' was really deserved.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

575 Guiding the Baptism

Daneel only had a split second of time before Raven Faxul would be upon him.

Without hesitation, he chose to use his strongest defense- the turtle shell barrier, so that he could just defend and observe.

This wasn't some random enemy that he could attack as he wanted while not caring whether they lived or died.

No, this was Faxul, whose mind was thoroughly in the control of that damn bird which did not want to lend its power to him.

At least, that seemed to be the instinctual aim of those memories and the essence in the blood of Faxul, which had awakened.

Daneel had already tried Mind Control in order to see if it was possible to break Faxul out of the illusion, but it had failed, as his mind was already under complete control.

Therefore, all he could do was fight, and find a way to subdue his friend after observing everything he could about the Devouring Monarch of the Skies.

He had to say that he was actually excited.

Although Daneel knew that he was just someone of common descent unlike Faxul, whose blood was royalty, he was confident that anything and everything would eventually be made possible by the system.

Since he had seen that awe-inspiring sight of the gigantic beast, he had to admit that he had been pretty interested in these bloodlines.

Only, he had been ready to carefully unveil and research everything about them, but he now had a chance to experience one's power firsthand.

So, he decided to make full use of it.

However…it turned out that it was not as easy.

The turtle shell, which had last been used against the Hero Bam in order to defend against his blow, once again came to his rescue and did well in protecting him, but Faxul was no simple opponent.

As soon as he approached, he launched a barrage of punches with the objective of breaking through the layers and layers of barriers.

They were in a passage that had been formed underground due to Daneel barrelling through the earth because of the remnant force of Faxul's punch from before, and as the King of Lanthanor's turtle shell ablated the force it was experiencing into the surroundings, the earth behind Daneel began to break apart and essentially form a cavern.

All this would have been fine if Faxul were a normal, albeit powerful Fighter who wanted to get through to Daneel.

The problem was that that wasn't the case.

As Daneel watched with wide open eyes, the black holes that were present on both the hands of Faxul were tearing away at the elementary particles he was controlling to make the barrier. With each punch, it was getting harder and harder to hold the integrity of the shell. If it broke, Daneel knew that he would have no option but to teleport away if he wanted to escape.

Only, that wasn't an option!

In this place, with Drakos's help, he had also deployed a Hero-level anti-surveillance formation quickly before Faxul had arrived before, so that they wouldn't draw undue attention.

After all, he had seen the records, and knew that there was a major chance that the Big 4 knew a lot about bloodlines.

If they saw the one that had been triggered in Faxul, all kinds of questions would appear, that would definitely throw Daneel in hot soup, as he didn't want them to know the answers to any of them.

He would basically have to go back and tell them everything about Empire Spirits, and this was something he knew could not be done.

So, all he could do was defend and try to control Faxul in this small, closed space, yet, his friend was punching away like a madman, making Daneel feel hard pressed to keep defending.

The most impressive thing, however, was that Faxul wasn't even using any Mage powers, at all. This was all his Fighter strength, that seemed to have somehow been temporarily amplified.

As for the black holes and the wings, they had formed naturally from the world.

Because they were bigger, the damn attractive force was also greater, so much so that it was able to affect Daneel's spell.

As he saw the barriers in front of him break at an alarming pace, Daneel wondered what the heck he was supposed to do.

By his estimate, Faxul would make it through in 2 seconds, and it would be futile to make another shell, as it would fatigue his Mageroot too much and leave him with lesser strength for the fight.

Only, with a howl of rage, Faxul did something which threw Daneel's estimated in the trash.

His long wings that, when combined, would at least have a length of 4 meters, suddenly raised up almost as if they were extensions of his hands.

Two black holes appeared on the edges of the winds, and before Daneel could react in panic, they struck forward at a speed that he could only see using the Basilisk's Breath.

In fact, if he hadn't activated the inheritance, he would definitely have suffered a grave injury, as the combination of the two wing edges which frantically slashed over and over again, down then up and then down again, like two damn chainsaws, with Faxul's punches allowed him to cut through Daneel's layers of barriers as if they were butter.

Thankfully, with the Basilisk's Breath, Daneel noticed this and made a barrier of air in front of him on which he kicked to launch himself backward.

Defense was no longer an option. If he chose it, he was now genuinely afraid that those sharp blade-like wings might cut off an arm or leg.

This Monarch…was definitely not to be underestimated.

Initially, he had thought that the black hole might be an attack that could only be used by the possessor of a bloodline when they obtained the corresponding Mage/Fighter technique, like Drakos had mentioned.

However, he now understood that the Natural Construct formed after the baptism wasn't just for show.

It already gave its possessor certain attacks that gave them an incredible edge in combat, which meant that even if a bloodline possessor wasn't skilled at all as a Mage, they could just focus on their bloodline and grow pretty incredibly strong.

This…was just too f*cking overpowered!

If an untrained and rage-filled bloodline possessor, himself, was so powerful, then just how terrifying could someone trained with the right technique be?

No wonder they had comprised of the special corps of the Emperor.

Daneel had no more time to think, as Faxul was already approaching again.

However, finally, he saw a flaw that he could exploit.

The attractive force from the black holes on Faxul's fists and wings took a little bit of time to have a considerable effect. That was why Daneel had at least been able to defend himself for that much time.

He got a feeling that this flaw might also be meant to be covered using their exclusive techniques, whatever they may be, but right now, it was there for him to exploit.

But would it be so easy to do so?

Just like before, the answer approached with the intent to smash his face in.

With rage-filled eyes, Faxul was ready to begin another barrage, but he couldn't help but pause when he found himself surrounded by shining barriers.

His opponent was nowhere to be seen, so his sole objective became that he had to break out.

Due to the mindless rage which was induced by the Baptism, Faxul used the same approach again, but Daneel had already planned for that.

Each time Faxul approached one particular location of the 'cage' he was in, Daneel would focus all the power of the cage onto that spot, leaving the rest in such a weak state that they could be passed through without any resistance.

And, besides, this was Lanthanor.

His Lanthanor.

Fighting against the madness that threatened to creep into his mind from the thoughts of a thousand people, Daneel used the amplification to full effect to trap Faxul with no way out.

Next up, the plan was simple: hammers.

Insects could be swatted using a fly-swatter. But what to do when the insect is huge and powerful?

Just use a damn hammer to smash it to bits.

Daneel felt slightly bad as he prepared to go on.

He was basically using a smart way to fight, by exploiting the flaws of his opponent, instead of meeting him head-on in battle.

Because the attractive force of the black holes needed time to have a considerable effect, Daneel kept making sure that his image appeared on a different side of the cage, pulling Faxul in that direction and letting the overall barrier recover.

And so, the mindlessness was also being used to effectively control his friend and get him ready for a good ol' swatting, which Daneel told himself was for his own good.

Well, he had already accomplished his objective: he had experienced the terrifying power of the Monarch, and he was even more interested now in bloodlines.

So, rolling up his sleeves, Daneel prepared to get hammer-happy, but he was stopped by Drakos.

"Young King, this is not the correct way. Fights of Baptism are supposed to have a clear resolution. Either your friend loses, or wins. A resolution is needed to move on to the last and final step. If this happens, the result will be up in the air, and he might have to go through it all again."

"Oh? Then what do you want me to do?"

"It appears that he believes that killing you will rid him of the illusion. That is what happens in most cases, and it's also safest to use the approach of letting him do that. In the time of the Empire, we had sophisticated flesh clones to make one believe that they were fighting their real opponent. Clones don't cut it. Back then, this was called 'Guiding the Baptism'."

As Daneel heard this, he thought for a bit, and then suddenly got an idea.

It was a bit ruthless, but he was going to go ahead with it.

However, before that, Daneel decided to do one last thing.

Taking off his robe, Daneel walked forward in his pants, exposing his perfectly proportioned body with lean muscle that was filled with explosive strength.

Before he closed this chapter of baptism, he wanted to have a fair fight, Fighter to Fighter, just to see how it would be, and also brush the rust off his Fighter skills.

The result…was a resounding defeat.

He had collected numerous Fighter skills from various places, and he had been confident that he might at least be able to put up a fight.

Only…all he could do was use the Basilisk's Breath to barely dodge the attacks from Faxul which were coming from 4 directions.

Besides, the attractive force of the black holes worked on one's body, too, making one expend considerable effort to make sure that their body didn't move erratically.

His mind was still resisting the voices, but he still tried to put forward the power of a Peak Fighter.

Only, even with the Basilisk's Breath, which was supposed to raise his own power by a large margin, he could only dodge for 3 seconds before a large gash appeared on his abdomen, causing him to retreat and immediately begin healing.

Yes, it was thoroughly settled now.

Bloodlines were unparalleled among Fighters and Mages, and like a kid deciding on a toy for Christmas, he decided that he wanted one.

With this decision made, Daneel traveled to the place where all the Warriors lead by Raul to invade Lanthanor were kept.

Here, he picked out an Exalted Warrior and Mind Controlled him to take on Daneel's appearance.

Coming back and heaving a sigh of relief on seeing that the barrier stood, he threw the fake Daneel inside, who was immediately pummeled to death by Faxul, who fell unconscious right after that.

Seeing this, Drakos said, "Well done, Young King. The second phase is done. The objective of this phase is to have the bloodlines possessor killed in the process. That didn't happen. So, the bloodline will begin its last-ditch attack. If he passes this one, he will consume it and make it his own."

"What is it?"

"Well, in the first phase, one is confronted with the past. In the second, it is with the present. And in the third…the future will be used. Let us see."

With this, they once again entered Faxul's mind, ready to witness how this elaborate baptism would end.

…

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Axelor, King Safiros was madly going through several sheaves of parchment in his hands, which listed a few chilling projections he had asked for.

The question was simple: how many people could be purged without causing mass riots that would destabilize the Kingdom?

All the projections pointed to minuscule numbers, which the King wasn't happy with.

Burning the parchments, he had everyone leave, leaving behind his trusty minister.

Shrugging, he made a proclamation which made the Minister's blood run cold.

"Well, all my other plans are failing. If nothing else develops, it will be time for drastic measures. The best way to stop riots from happening is to unite them against a common enemy. How will it be if an elite hit squad from Lanthanor invades us and massacres all the babies and children of a particular town to stamp down on the future of Axelor? After that, they could escape into various parts of the Kingdom, giving me a perfect reason to carry out multiple purges. We will be in the endgame soon, after all, and all that matters is that I win the Race. For that, sacrifices are necessary, my dear minister."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

576 Past, Present, and Future

Faxul had almost no recollection of the fight.

He had been driven by a singular motivation to vanquish the fake Daneel in front of him, and this driving force had been so strong that he had ignored everything else in the process.

At his disposal were the blackholes, which came naturally whenever he wished for them to appear, and the terrifying might in his body that made him believe that he could end anything as long as he hit it enough.

So, it was all a blur of repeatedly flying after his opponent and punching him, following which he had been whisked away once again after seeing that he had succeeded.

He had assumed that killing the fake Daneel would have allowed him to get out of whatever this was, but, clearly, he had been wrong.

Yet, Faxul wasn't as panicked as before.

The victory before made him believe that what he was up against could be defeated. It bolstered his confidence, and, in turn, strenghthened the bastion that had enabled him to begin the fight in the first place.

So, when he once again regained control of his body, he braced himself for the next attack.

No matter how terrifying or gruesome it was, he was confident that he would be able to endure and not give up.

Yet…before he opened his eyes, itself, he could feel that something was wrong.

Faint music was playing somewhere near him, and as he recognised the tune, his heart skipped a beat.

It was the tune that his father had always sung to him before he slept.

In fact, he remembered his grandfather commenting that he would fall asleep, without fail, whenever that tune was sung.

Also, his head was resting on something very soft, and warm sunlight could be felt on his face.

As he opened his eyes, his gaze fell upon the face of a woman, who was looking in a direction while singing that tune.

His head was in her lap, and he was wearing a soft fabric that felt very comfortale.

As he looked around, he saw branches filled with lush, green leaves above them, through which streamed the sunlight that was hitting his cheeks.

As she felt him move, the woman looked down, and that was when he clearly saw her face.

She had exquisite features and dark hair, and her eyes held so much love as she looked at him that he wondered whether he had transmigrated into someone else's body.

However, when she spoke, that question was answered.

"Faxul, you're up? I thought you would sleep longer. Heavens know how hard you worked last night, when you had to dispel those Axelorians."

Hearing this and not knowing what to say, he sat up and looked around before noticing that they were in the large balcony of his Royal quarters, which was also meant to be a resting place for the Protector Raven.

His eyes immediately shot to a little kid to the left, who had a wide smile on his face while he chased a Black Raven.

"Jexal, honey, come here. Your father is awake."

"J-Jexal?", Faxul asked.

That was the name of his father.

"I thought you weren't fine with calling him Jessie? Your father's name is a mouthful, you know. And besides, that style of naming went out of fashion a long time ago."

Faxul was too busy staring at the kid who walked over.

He looked very similar to him, and as the kid came forward and hugged his leg, asking to be picked up, Faxul did so, and a feeling well up inside him that he couldn't explain.

This…was his son?!

He had prepared for all kinds of torture and deceit. Yet, why was he being shown this?

Walking forward, he gazed out at the Kingdom, and as he did so, many things appeared in his mind.

In this world, the Black Raven Kingdom was the leading force, and they were respected by all the other forces.

There was no looming threat, and the people were happy and content.

His wife was pregnant with another child, and he was a Champion who would hand over the throne to his firstborn and travel the world with his loving wife.

In other words…it was a perfect world- one that anyone would want to live in, when compared to the real one.

Yet…he knew that it wasn't real.

As soon as this thought appeared in his head, everything…froze.

And from behind him, he heard a deep, ancient voice, which said, "This…is the future you could have, if you wish. In this future, there is no risk of the people of this continent dying. In this future, you will be the most powerful on this continent, and you will even leave behind a legacy which will be respected for aeons to come. In this future, you will be happy- happier than you ever were in the real world. And most importantly, in this future, you will have no regrets. All you need to do…is agree. Just agree to give up on the real world and stay here, and you will forget all about it, and not even know that there is a different one out these. All this will be yours, and it will be real…for you. What do you say, young man? Will you accept this offer that I make from the kindness in my heart? Or do you still wish to devour this old man and return to that world where your death surely awaits?"

As Faxul turned around, he saw a hunched man wearing a dense cloak make of Raven feathers.

He had a long beard and wrinkled skin that made him look as if he had born over a century ago, and he even his voice had contained that hint of age.

At that moment, everything that had happened so far became clear to Faxul.

Setting down his 'son' who had become like a statue, exactly like the surroundings, Faxul walked forward to stand in front of the old man.

Past, present, and future.

With everything revealed to him, he realised that it was time for the final decision.

In his mind, he compared the two worlds.

One with danger and regret, and one with nothing but happiness.

He was sure that if he agreed, the old man would stay true to his words: he would forget everything else, and live out his life in this world.

That would mean that he wouldn't have any more responsibilities, to his friend or to his people.

No more debts.

No more sadness.

He had to say that for the slightest moment, he was tempted.

But only for a moment.

Could he really turn his back on everything just so that he could have a happy life?

Hell, no.

If he was that kind of person, he would have perished in the first test, itself.

Along with this thought, Faxul also understood what he was supposed to take away from these experiences.

With a smile, as he gave his answer, he realised that each of these steps had let him discover himself.

And now…he was completely clear regarding who he was.

"By showing me the past, you made me come face to face with all the demons that have always plagued me.

By using the present, you showed me what I could use to change my fate.

And by letting me witness this future, you showed me what I should work towards, and why I should never lose hope.

What I am…is a rebel.

Fate keeps trying to step down on me, but I rebel against it.

A rebel who uses everything in his disposal to achieve what he wants.

If I am always cognizant of what I have recieved, and if I always endeavour to pay it back, why should I feel that I am unworthy?

No! I am worthy, because I choose to never bow down and accept.

And no matter how much more power I may be bestowed with, now, or in the future, I shall never doubt myself.

All I shall do is use everything I have, and do my best to get what I want.

Thank you."

The last two words came involuntarily, as Faxul felt that it was only right that he thank someone who had helped him so much.

Indeed, if he hadn't gone through this at this point, he was pretty sure that someone would definitely have used it against him in the future, or that not finding himself would surely have led to disasters with catastrophic consequences.

As soon as the old man heard him, a wise smile spread across his face.

Raising a hand, he laid it on Faxul's shoulder.

Faxul felt no animosity from the man. No, in fact, all he felt was pride.

"Good. You are one of the few who have understood that the goal of the Baptism was never to try and deprive you humans of our power. No, all we Godbeasts ever wanted was that only those who knew themselves, and would thus never be misled by others, be the ones who inherited our bloodlines. After all, it is not ours, alone, to hoard. It is our duty to pass it on, and we just wished that we could ensure that those who can call upon it are not unsure, and hence, unbefitting of our glory. I don't care what you do with the power. But whatever you do, do so with your held head high, and with full confidence in yourself. Good luck, young man."

As soon as the last word left the old man's mouth, he turned into a mist that surrounded Faxul's body and then…entered it.

As it did so, he suddenly felt like something…had clicked into place.

As he opened his eyes and felt the stone ground beneath him, he felt more comfortable in this body than ever.

It was almost as if…it was his own, instead of one he was using because his own had been destroyed.

Yes! That was exactly what it was.

As Daneel saw his friend open his eyes and stand up, he couldn't help but notice that something was different.

"Young King, you really do surround yourself with the best of people! A perfect Baptism! He will go very, very far! In fact, he may even become the strongest one on this continent!"

Hearing this, Daneel felt happy, but he also remembered his decision before to get a bloodline for himself.

'Hehe, just hold my glass of wine.'

He felt like saying this, but at this moment, he was just really proud of Faxul.

He could already tell what the difference was.

It was as if Faxul had always been carrying a mountain on his shoulders which made him feel burdened.

Now, that mountain was gone.

What remained was a man who looked like one who might truly deserve the role of a King.

A King…of a calibre befitting one whom Daneel could trust and rely on.

Yet, before he could walk forward, he collapsed, once again.

"Don't worry, Young King. He's just drained. Some rest will get him back to normal."

With a nod and a smile, Daneel deposited Faxul in a bed in the Palace, before convening an immediate meeting.

Right now, he could tell that he had no time to waste. He wanted to break the third seal as soon as possible, which meant that he needed a stimulus to openly take command of the other forces under his command.

Also, he had to do something to proceed on the Race.

Daneel had already devised a plan to accomplish both of these things, and more, in one go.

Right now, he realized that this was the best opportunity to implement it.

Of course, when he spoke in the meeting which comprised of the other members of the Council of Nine Sovereigns except for Faxul, everyone looked at him as if he were mad.

"So…the plan is simple. First, the Black Raven Kingdom will have a falling out with us and join Axelor. After that, some…things will happen, and in the end, I will openly be in charge of the Black Raven Kingdom, we will know all the intentions of Axelor, and I'll also obtain something I want from that crazy King. How does that sound?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

577 The Plan

After a few moments during which Daneel had to endure being stared at by all his trusted confidantes, he chuckled and asked, "What's wrong?"

This made the room look at him as if he were playing a joke with them.

What was wrong? Everything was!

Eloise was the one who finally stood up and decided to make her doubts known.

"King Daneel…a lot is. First of all- falling out with the Black Raven Kingdom. Why would that even happen? Especially after you went to all that trouble with the Olympics and the memorial to show them that we are worthy, and that we are their friends."

This statement made Daneel frown a bit, as he remembered those two plans of his, which he had to admit were some of those which hadn't worked out as he wanted them to.

One of the objectives of the Olympics had been to show the Black Raven Kingdom the power of Lanthanor, as they were a people who respected power over all else.

That might have succeeded, to a degree, but it hadn't been enough.

Secondly, when those soldiers from the Black Raven Kingdom had been killed after entering his Kingdom on the orders of the black-robed man, Daneel had had a massive memorial built in their honour on that land, before freely allowing any and all citizens to visit so that they could spend time at their loved ones' grave.

That had increased goodwill towards Lanthanor, but, again, it hadn't been enough that the Black Raven Kingdom would be content with being ruled by him.

Basically, these were some of the most obstinate people that Daneel had seen in a long, long time.

He had kept that in mind while coming up with this plan.

True, they were obstinate, but over time, he had learned how their minds work through observing them.

"Don't worry about that part, Eloise. That isn't even the most interesting one. Faxul was the one who suggested this in the first place, by the way. To have a public falling out so that he can act as a spy for us. The Kingdom of Axelor is just too tightly closed off for us to access. And I'm not comfortable having him do whatever he wants without knowing what he's up to. Also, I need a method to enter his Kingdom to obtain a few things. We have to admit that those two plays weren't very effective, Eloise. All they did was make goodwill rise regarding Lanthanor, while they also started to believe that we are powerful enough to be regarded as 'friends'. When I made those plans, I guess I didn't understand something very important."

This impassionate speech by Daneel made everyone lean forward with very serious expressions on their faces.

Of course, there weren't many in the room in the first place, as Aran and Cassandra were still in the 'March through Hell'. Robert was up next, but all he knew was that the other two commanders had gone on some special training.

Yet, the atmosphere was filled with expectation regarding what exactly the King's plan was.

"You know, it reminds me of a quote of-…Er, one that I read somewhere. 'Of the people, by the people, for the people.' My calculations and plans before always only thought of them as normal people, just like those from Lanthanor. Yet, the Black Raven Kingdom is unique in the fact that they have a specific entity that they pray to- the Ancient Black Raven, who was the one that is supposedly responsible for their existence. As such, they will never expect some sovereign ruling over them who hasn't been acknowledged by their ancestor."

This made expressions of realization appear on the faces of those present.

Right! The Black Raven citizens definitely were pretty unique among all those in Angaria.

They were also said to be the most bullish and stubborn in the continent, which explained why this was something that had changed for a long, long time.

But…what did all this have to do with the King's plan?

They soon got their answer.

"So…what I've developed is a two-pronged approach. First, they need to be content that the one ruling over them is worthy. And, second…they should want to be ruled by me."

Huh? How were they supposed to do that?

The King continued with a smile on his face.

"My plan already accomplishes the first thing, anyway. The second one is, however, the most important. You see, I suspect that with the stubbornness of these people, even if they see me somehow being acknowledged by their deity, they might still feel that I'm an outsider. The second part is to make sure that that doesn't have too strong an impact on the takeover. So…to accomplish it, we will be using one of the strongest emotions of mankind: desire. We will show them the stark contrast between being ruled by me, and being ruled by someone else. At the end of it, I want them begging to be under me. And, don't worry, if everything goes well, that will happen."

…

A few hours later.

Seeing Faxul sleeping peacefully on his bed in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, Daneel couldn't help but feel happy for him.

He was leaning against a wall, and as he raised his palm, a black hole kept appearing and disappearing, just like the one that his friend had used to attack him before.

Indeed, seeing it being used in a weaker form had allowed him, and the system to study it, and, hence, he could replicate it.

Only…it was a Hero-level spell, so all Daneel could do was copy it.

This had been pretty shocking, although he should have expected it after seeing the tremendous power in that visual message.

Initially, the plan had been to see if he could add this to his arsenal.

However, after playing with it for a bit, Daneel had realized that that was not a viable plan, at all.

The problem was that it took too much effort to cast.

As it was a high-level spell, if Daneel used it, it would suck away all his strength, leaving his Mageroot fatigued.

The only reason it was viable for Faxul was that he was casting it without using his Mageroot, at all. Apparently, as he had already guessed, it was induced from the world because of the awakened bloodline.

Hence, unless that was possible, it would simply be a waste to use this in battle. There were much more effective spells that Daneel could use that took much lesser effort.

Yet, Daneel wasn't too concerned about this. He had already decided that he would obtain one, himself, and he had added a subroutine where the system would also let him know if it found any data that would allow him to make that happen.

Right now, all he felt was…immense happiness for his friend.

Using Drakos's spell, he had been there when Faxul had turned down that old man.

He had seen him be tempted, and then realize that he wasn't unworthy, after all.

What more could Daneel want?

He had always wished all the happiness and prosperity in the world for those he had cared about, and thus, he was ecstatic for his closest friend.

When he had heard that speech from Faxul about what he had realized, pride had welled up inside Daneel, and he had almost felt like a happy parent who had just seen their child succeed in something.

Only, after that, they hadn't been able to listen to what the old man had said, and Drakos had said that there was always a message that was exclusive to bloodline possessors.

Except for the Emperor, whom they had trusted, no one else knew the contents of the message.

Daneel had found this intriguing, and he had decided to ask Faxul when he woke up.

A few minutes later, Faxul did get up and look around drowsily before spotting a glass of water and some food- meat and vegetables, on the bedside.

There was also a Ker Gem which shone faintly, and he actually took that into his hands and started absorbing Energy, which allowed him to throw off the deep fatigue that he was feeling in his bones.

After a few seconds, he finally looked up to see his friend waiting for him.

Smiling slightly, he said, "I'm sorry about the-"

Waving his hand, Daneel cut him off and said, "No apology needed. I found out the power of a bloodline possessor, and you killed one of those scum who invaded us. No loss, no foul."

This made Faxul smile broadly, and as Daneel looked at that smile, he realized that it was more… freer than he had ever seen.

Yes, this change was definitely a delight to see.

At this point, Drakos spoke up in his mind.

"Young King, your friend should begin his breakthrough to Champion right now. Typically, Peak Warriors go through the Baptism to awaken their bloodline, using which they smoothly step into the Champion realm because of the resonance they feel with the essence of the Godbeast. Right now, everything he has absorbed must still be very fresh in his mind. Hence, it is the best time."

With a nod, Daneel repeated the same to Faxul, who said, "All right. There is no place I trust more, so I'll just go right ahead."

In each and every Champion Path text, the clear method to break through was written down after one found the thing they wished to use, and developed the resonance.

All one needed to do was connect with it, and…bring it forth.

Daneel had seen it happen once in Raul's case, but he hadn't been paying too much attention.

Now, he prepared to carefully observe everything.

Faxul simply folded his legs on the bed and closed his eyes, following which he breathed out calmly.

At the same time, as Daneel observed with his elementary vision, he saw all the elementary particles around him swirling in circles around his friend, as if he was influencing them in some way.

After a moment, all of these particles rushed into his body, changing each and every part of him in ways that were too complex to even look at.

Just trying made Daneel get a sudden headache that made him stop. As he clutched at his head and looked to the side, he heard Drakos chuckle and say, "It is better not to gaze at any mysterious ascension that is facilitated by the World, Young King. Even in the time of the Empire, we had no idea how it worked, and those who tried to comprehend it often went mad. Well, it does make sense. After all, if we could figure it out, we would be able to raise any normal man to become a Champion."

Daneel could only nod, and by the time he looked up, it was all over.

Faxul had just gotten up, and as he raised his fist and clenched it, a light 'boom!' Could be heard.

The bloodline was a way for one to become a Champion in the Fighter Path. And, clearly, the power of a Champion level Fighter…was definitely nothing to scoff at.

"Drakos, what about the Mage Inheritance that will let him bring out the power you showed me? If I'm understanding this right, then it means that he can only fight like before, right? With smaller black holes, and greater strength?"

"Yes, Young King. The Inheritance…is, sadly,-"

"In the third seal."

"Yes."

Daneel said this with his teeth gritted, but he relaxed when he remembered the plan he was going to set into motion.

There was no time to waste. So, walking forward, he said, "Congratulations, Faxul. But we can talk in-depth about this later. I just want to say that I'm proud and very, very happy for you. Now then. Regarding the plan you proposed…"

…

2 days later, King Safiros was sitting in his throne room, finalizing the plan for the 'Lanthanorians' who would invade his Kingdom, soon.

In a week, it would all go down.

Because all of the citizens were heavily isolated, they would never be able to tell the difference between real Lanthanorians and the fake ones he was going to use.

His word was law, and if he said that they were from Lanthanor, then they were.

However, at that moment, a voice suddenly appeared in his head.

"Stop everything you're doing, and go to the border of your Kingdom. An old friend of mine awaits. If it's really him, things will become much, much easier. That old bird always was pretty crafty."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

578 Meeting the Empire Spirit of Axelor

"Er…Daneel, are you sure this will work?"

As Faxul said this in a hesitant tone, he saw his friend merrily slap his shoulder and say, "Oh, yes. You don't know Empire Spirits like I do. I've met 4 of them, and I must say that they all share the same trait that we are using today."

As Daneel said this with a smile on his face, he heard Drakos grumble in a low voice in his mind.

Clearly, the ancient dragon was making his displeasure known, but Daneel didn't say anything.

It was true that even the dragon was prone to get haughty, at times.

He wouldn't display that quality clearly, but whenever Drakos felt amazed at something that Daneel did, there would be a slight tone of 'I can't believe you were capable of this.'

He didn't blame the ancient dragon, though, as he knew that even he would be pretty amazed if someone whom he thought belonged in a 'primitive age' was capable of incredible things that weren't supposed to be possible.

Also, of course, Drakos's more or less innocent character made it so that even if there was a hint of that arrogance, it didn't impact his judgment and thinking in any way.

Unlike…the Empire Spirit that they were going to meet.

Above them, a clone of Faxul's was standing in the air right outside the border of Axelor, waiting after sending a message using a secret method Faxul had found in the memories of the Ancient Black Raven.

After his baptism, it had been pretty easy for him to go through the vast memories of the Empire Spirit, which would apparently have not been the case if Faxul hadn't found himself beforehand.

According to Drakos, delving in one's memories in that way would often cause people to lose themselves and forget their own memories, but that wasn't possible for Faxul, whose mental state was already as strong as it could be.

This had made Daneel wonder what he would go through if he ever did have to endure a baptism. What demons of his were there that he would have to face? What would he find at the end of the road?

It was all very interesting, but it had to be stowed away for another time, mainly because Daneel wanted to find out what that crazy King was brewing inside his Kingdom.

Ever since he had rejected that offer for the War Games, Daneel had suspected that King Safiros must definitely be doing something else to achieve his goals, whatever they might be.

He was probably desperate, and when someone that crazy had that emotion, very bad things could happen.

Now, as they waited for the Empire Spirit of Axelor to turn up, Daneel decided to ask Drakos to recount the story about the identity of whom they were about to meet one more time.

He also asked Drakos to speak out loud using a simple spell, so that Daneel wouldn't have to repeat it to Faxul.

And, besides, Faxul already knew a lot about this guy from the memories that he had seen. So, now, this explanation was only so that they could briefly recap everything.

"The Empire Spirit was one of the few humans who chose to enter this…'program' of the Emperor's. His past is actually hidden to all, except for the Emperor who found out everything about him before taking him in. Rumors said that he was bathed in blood that was not his own, or his mother's moments after he was born. The story changes with each retelling, but the gist is that he was born in the midst of a battle that was mostly between a few bandits and an entourage of merchants who were transporting goods. No one knows if he was born on the side of the merchants, or the bandits, but what is true is that he saw bloodshed as soon as he was born.

"He was blessed with superior talent, but where many would call this luck, it turned out to be unlucky for him. He was taken away by the bandits and raised by them, while learning to kill and pillage since he was a child. The bandit world was one of backstabs and betrayals, but it was said that he breathed in the atmosphere and absorbed all the knowledge he could. H

"More than anything, he was a survivor. No matter what he had to do, whether it be that he had to poison an entire village to act dead as he had a spell which would mimic the effects of that poison on his own body, or when he forcibly kidnapped, seduced and married the daughter of someone who had sworn to kill him so that he could escape his wrath, he would do it so that he could live on. Many, many tales float about regarding everything he did to stay alive and grow stronger, with one more preposterous than the next.

"The common denominator of all these is that he is ruthless, cunning, and smart, and that he was a foe whom one wouldn't dream of antagonizing unless they wished to die without even knowing how they had been killed."

As Drakos paused here, Daneel couldn't help but think that this Empire Spirit was certainly…interesting, to say the least.

Yet, if he had done such atrocious things, why had the Emperor pardoned him?

He had gotten this question the last time that Drakos had told him about him, too, and it made him wish that he could find the consciousness of the Emperor and delve into his memories for answers, just like Faxul had done with the Ancient Black Raven.

"He was found and defeated by the Emperor during the conquest of a certain force. Apparently, that entire force had been under the secret control of that man, who acted like a puppeteer to get all the resources while he kept the daughters of the real leader of that place hostage. All while sleeping with them, as they couldn't get enough of him. Oh…"

Faxul couldn't help but stare at Daneel with a very puzzled expression on his face as he heard this from Drakos.

Yet…after a few moments, when he checked the memories, he understood the reason.

"I'm sorry that I said that part. It's just that whenever this story was being told, he would always appear and add that part, making sure that none of us forgot it."

Faxul just nodded, while Daneel felt like chuckling when he heard the embarrassed tone of the Dragon.

After a moment, Drakos continued, acting as if nothing had happened.

"For reasons that are known only to him and the Emperor, he was pardoned, and taken under his wing, becoming one of the most dependable commanders who used all kind of underhanded means to capture those the Emperor needed when direct means failed to work. As a Mage, his power was also unrivaled when he could choose the terrain, as he was known for his exceptional talent in setting up trap after trap that would ensnare anyone who dared to enter. Young King, I urge you to be as cautious as possible when dealing with this man. He might not be the strongest, but he was the one regarded to be the most dangerous."

Hearing the warning for the second time, Daneel nodded, and at the same moment, a figure appeared above them in front of Faxul's clone.

It was King Safiros, but he had a cold smirk on his face that did not look like it belonged to him.

With just a glance, Daneel could tell that it wasn't him.

He was wearing Royal Robes with strange patterns of people toiling in different ways to build a throne that was present all over his body, making for an unforgettable sight, and also the most unique fashion that Daneel had seen yet.

Folding his hands behind his back, he said, "Old Bird. Before we continue, how can I believe that it's really you that I'm talking to? What if you're just one of those in the Race who wants to gain access to this Kingdom using the identity of an old friend of mine?"

With just a sentence, he had spelled out Daneel's plan.

This made Daneel's heart begin to beat faster in his chest, but he calmed down and nodded at Faxul, telling him to continue with their plan.

Anyone would be suspicious, so they had already planned for this.

Faxul's clone got a deep frown on its face, before it took out a parchment from its pocket and handed it to the man.

"I could tell that you would be suspicious. I just gained partial control of this body after years of hard work and after using some…unorthodox means, so imagine my surprise when I saw a Hero-level formation around this Kingdom."

Indeed, the clone above didn't look like Faxul. Instead, it was the original version of this body, which had once belonged to an ancient King of the Black Raven Kingdom.

The Empire Spirit took the parchment and read it, before smiling and burning it to ashes.

"I did hear about that fight centuries ago. So this body wasn't as injured as I thought? I bet it must have been a struggle, though. Anyway, what do you want? I already have my own plan, so don't think that I'll abandon it just because you came along."

Yes! It had worked!

Well, more or less.

Daneel's gamble had been that no matter how smart an Empire Spirit was, it wouldn't be able to think, even in its wildest dreams, that a mere human from this age had been able to best one of its kind and put it to sleep, making it vulnerable to having its memories scoured.

According to Drakos, that had been a confluence of events that no one could imagine: for one thing, it had been a miracle that Daneel had been able to trick the Ancient Black Raven and steal away the energy of its pedestal in the first place, and as for Faxul's consciousness entering the pedestal, no one could have imagined that it was made possible because the Ancient Black Raven temporarily possessed him, putting in place the link that was used to facilitate the transfer.

So, one would definitely not be able to expect that something like this would be possible, leading them to take the simplest explanation, which was that the Black Raven was telling the truth.

With a deep breath, Faxul stated the plan they had agreed upon beforehand.

"It's simple. Seeing as how you're unsuccessful in fully possessing a body, I can tell that your goal is to break the last seal and win the Race. For that, both of us know that the more citizens, the better. As for me, I need your help in causing a situation where this kid is caught unaware. After that, he will have a falling out with his friend, following which the two Kingdoms can unite. Your seal is broken, I get a body. Together, we can take over the continent. What do you say?"

It was the moment of truth.

The plan was simple: propose something which benefits both sides, so that there would be no suspicion.

The only aim here was that Faxul should be trusted by this Empire Spirit, so Daneel had decided on using this method to make sure that that would happen.

For a moment, he wondered whether they should try to persuade him more, but realizing that there was also such a thing as overselling a deal, he stopped himself.

Finally, after thinking for a bit, the King of Axelor threw a trinket shaped like a leaf in Faxul's clone's direction before saying, "I'll think on it. Stay in touch," and vanishing from the scene.

This immediately made smiles appear on the faces of Faxul and Daneel.

From the Black Raven's memories, they had already understood that if this Empire Spirit didn't say 'no', then there was a high chance of it saying 'yes'.

Preparing to go back to Lanthanor to implement the next step, Daneel decided to ask Faxul a question that he had gotten.

To verify his identity, he had asked Faxul to write down something that only the two of them would know, so that the Empire Spirit of Axelor would be inclined toward believing that it really was the 'old bird'.

He had seen Faxul think for a bit, blush, and then write down a number.

Now, as he asked what it was and got the answer, he understood why his friend had gotten that reaction.

"It was the number of women he had slept with. 1087."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

579 The Pyramid Scheme Enters Angaria

Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous wooden building in the middle of nowhere.

Jordan was standing at the head of a long table around which all of the leaders of the families who had congregated to profit from the King of Lanthanor's plans were sitting.

They all had smiles on their faces, as he had just finished a recap of everything they had done so far, which included reports about how the implementation was going well, and that the projected profits would soon be obtained.

Of course, they were all false figures that he had fabricated in order to have them pump in more money, but there was no way that they could know that as he had hidden it very, very well.

Besides, there was no occupation in Angaria where designated people would check records and make sure that everything was recorded correctly. Typically, the butlers of various families had this duty, and although some of them were skilled, it didn't even come close to be worthy of comparing with Jordan, who had single-handedly run a humongous business in the background all by using accurate bookkeeping skills that had helped him in minimizing losses for a long time.

He had put those skill to full use here, so he was very confident.

With the first step proceeding well, he got a very serious expression on his face as he prepared to deploy the next one of his plan.

Seeing Jordan like so, those in the room quieted down, knowing that this 'brilliant' man must've come up with something else.

They fully trusted him, both because of the incredible results he had shown so far, and because his expertise was known throughout the business world, at least to those who were high enough on the chain to know of his existence.

On seeing that he had gotten all of their attention, Jordan nodded at his assistant who activated a display trinket on the wall behind him.

On it, was a huge pyramid divided into levels.

If Daneel was here, and if he was seeing this figure, he would definitely have remarked about how fortunate it was that this scheme hadn't been thought of by others, or at least recorded in the books in the long history of this continent.

As everyone looked at the figure with puzzled expressions on their faces, Jordan said, "Now, let me announce a way in which all of you people can grow even richer. Have you ever wondered how you could leverage the immense number of people you have under you to considerably increase your earnings? Well, this is the perfect way to do just that."

These words didn't do much to dispel the doubts in the minds of those present, but it did raise their expectations, as they leaned forward and waited to see what Jordan would say next.

After taking a pause for dramatic effect, he continued, saying "It's simple. What has always been the biggest headache for you all after a specific good has been manufactured?"

This question didn't need long to be answered.

The one who spoke was the leader of a family who supplied trinket materials to various Kingdoms. It was a thriving business, and this man had used many nefarious methods to control as many mines as possible so that he could monopolize the market. Although he hadn't succeeded perfectly, he was still the sole supplier for a major part of the continent.

Frowning, he said, "Of course, sales. And transporting the goods to the customers. It's never enough to just make things. These days, with competition popping up everywhere, it's getting harder and harder to entice people to buy from us."

This made Jordan raise his eyebrows with surprised joy. He couldn't have expected that the perfect answer that he wished for would come right after he asked the question.

Well, it could also be taken as a sign of just how enticing this plan would be as soon as it was explained.

Hence, tightening his hand into a fist, Jordan nodded firmly and said, "Well said. I think I'm right when I say that this is something that most of you face, except for a fortunate few who have methods to circumvent this?."

This made almost everyone in the room nod, except for those select few whom we had mentioned.

These few… were those who dealt in illegal operations such as assassinations, information dealing, and smuggling.

Indeed, there were families which specialized in things like these, too, and although they faced a lot of competition from the Hidden Kill Sect, they still flourished as not everyone could afford the high rates of that sect.

They operated on quantity, not quality, so their profits were still supposed to be hefty.

Jordan didn't care too much about these people, as they weren't the target of this plan at all.

Thankfully, those whom he was targeting had completely been captivated by his words, and were waiting again for him to continue.

Already realizing that it would be a much greater hit than he had thought, Jordan smiled slightly, which was a rare thing for him, and said, "Well, what if I told you that I can make sure that you won't have to handle those problems? All you have to do is buy the products, or make them, and the rest can be handed off to someone else. A lot of 'someones', in fact."

What was he talking about? Was he perhaps saying that he was setting up an organisation which would specialise in distribution and sales?

That question did come in many many people's minds, but they couldn't have expected what he would say next.

"It's simple, everyone. All you have to do is the opposite of what you've been doing all these years. I think I'm also right when I say that you've all worked very, very had to make sure that those under you have no chance of selling products by themselves and keeping everything they earn?"

As he saw the nods once again, he prepared to reel them in, as he had just dangled the bait, which they had all bitten.

As he gestured at his assistant, the image on the display trinket changed to show the same pyramid, but now, at the top level of the pyramid, various names of the families who were gathered here were present, below which the names of subordinate families were also being shown.

Below that was a level simply titled as 'Merchants', and finally, in the last level, 'Customers' was written in bold letters.

With another gesture, arrows formed which ran between the bottom level at the top level, while various numbers also started to appear, that increased exponentially with each level, before finally reaching a huge amount as they approached the topmost level and disappeared right near the names of the largest families.

That image of those numbers disappearing was like the sound of money in their years, and as each of the leaders present started studying those numbers along with their butlers who were standing beside them, they realised that over time, the amount they would earn seem to be limitless.

Finally, one woman spoke out, asking "What is this?"

Jordan had been waiting for just that. Without flourishing too much, as that wasn't his style, he answered in a simple tone, but it carried such weight because of the silence of the room that all of the words hammered into the ears of all those present, who represented a large magnitude of the wealth in the entire continent.

"Like I said before, it is simple, so let me explain using an example. Let us take you, ma'am, leader of the Savlagan family. Your primary business is the sale of convenience trinkets, right?"

"Yes," the woman simply said, unable to contain her confusion.

"Well then, consider this. As the Savlagan family, you have the smaller Kijon family under you. What you simply do is this – from me, you buy a large number of network trinkets. You've already seen the craze for these trinkets – you can be rest assured that they will never go out of fashion, because we can be sure that the King of Lanthanor will keep innovating in this area and inventing ways to keep the people occupied. After that, at a higher price, you sell these to the family under you, and to others, with the stipulation that whenever they make a sale, they give a percentage of their profit to you, as they are only able to do that in the first place because of your grace. They will be happy to accept, as they've never gotten such an opportunity before. Then, the magic begins. You give them the idea that instead of going forward and enduring difficulties to sell by themselves, they should find smaller merchants with whom they can do the same thing – sell at a higher price, with the agreement that a percentage would be given, and of that percentage, you take a percentage. If you've been wondering, that is how your profits increase with each level that this goes to, as the number of people who are in the scheme grow. And then, the merchants can be left alone to sell by themselves, but instead of that, I suggest this – the merchants should also sell at a higher price to citizens, with the same agreement, and I don't need to repeat that a percentage of that percentage will reach you as it goes up the chain. Many times, a lot of citizens wish to enter the merchantry business, but they can't because they cannot obtain a supply of goods. With that solved, they will happily use all of their savings to buy up as much as possible as all they will need to earn a lot of profits is to make sure that they sell, sell and sell. That's it! As you can see the figures here, with each level of the chain that increases, your profits, as you are at the top, will rise the highest, as at each level, it all compounds to grow to a huge number. Everyone, I can proudly say that this is the best plan that I've ever seen in my life. Thus, I do not wish to be the only one to enjoy it, as I knew that it would all be copied by you anyway if I went forward with it. Now, I will give you all the projected numbers, so you can study them in depth before making a decision. Whether you choose this and become more prosperous than you can ever imagine, or if you act cautiously and see others surpass you in just a few years, it is up to you. I'll be waiting."

Leaving those last powerful words, Jordan simply marched out of the room, and as soon as he closed the door, he heard a loud buzz of conversation begin, which made him allow himself another smirk as he confirmed that they had definitely fallen for it, hook line and sinker.

After all, how could they guess that this was the most devastating scheme possible?

Happily thinking to himself that he would be the final winner, he proceeded to his room, all while being watched from elsewhere.

…

Daneel and Faxul had just gotten back to the Palace after not speaking for a while due to the revelation of the meaning behind that number.

For the life of them, they couldn't imagine how anyone could be with that many women, especially when considering that both of them were Kings who had never had any progress in that direction.

Daneel's reasons were clear, and as for the case of Faxul, he knew that there must be a lot of reasons, too, as the guy was constantly having to handle one thing or another with no time to spend for himself. Besides, the customs of the Black Raven Kingdom were also that just like with Black Ravens, mates were sacred, so harems were frowned upon, which was another way in which this Kingdom was unique.

All they could do now was wait for that Empire Spirit to give his answer, so they were free for the time being, which led Daneel to ask what Faxul had heard from the old Black Raven at the end of the Baptism.

He had already just checked on the eavesdropping trinkets he had placed on that guy who was in charge of those whom he called 'pirates' in his head, and he was quite happy to see that the pyramid scheme of Earth had fully made its entry into this continent.

Of course, he hadn't done this without placing certain measures in place so that it wouldn't cause as much desperation, and even death, as it had back on earth.

The objective was to completely squeeze these rich families dry so that he could use that money for the betterment of this continent, all while making sure that those at the bottom levels would not be the ones most adversely affected when things went south.

The news that it had all gone down smoothly was something to rejoice about. So, as the both of them sat down in his quarters and opened a bottle of wine just like they had done so many years ago when things were much simpler, Daneel had a smile on his face as he asked Faxul the question that was bothering him.

Faxul repeated the old man's statement word for word, which led to even more questions arising, but before Daneel could think about them, his gaze fell upon the beating Dragon Heart in the middle of the room.

As for the reason behind this common sight captivating him like so, it was simple and could be explained with a single word – "bloodline".

Leaving Faxul hanging, Daneel directly asked the owner of the Heart.

"Drakos? So, about that bloodline…do you think you could give me one by somehow using this huge beating heart of yours?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

580 Entering Axelor

Hearing the almost predatory tone in the King of Lanthanor's voice, Drakos had to take a few seconds to answer.

Indeed, Daneel's desire to get a bloodline was pretty strong right now, and he was very enticed if there was a possibility that he could obtain it without much effort.

However, when the Ancient Dragon spoke after a few moments, he realized that that was not the case and sighed with a little bit of frustration.

Why couldn't at least something be easy? Did it always have to be so hard?

"Young King, I'm afraid that's impossible. A bloodline can only be bestowed by the living member of a Godbeast race. Before you ask- I've already checked your body- you were born of common descent, so there is no prominent bloodline in your body. Of course, due to the intermingling of bloodlines over the ages, there is a very minuscule concentration of various bloodlines present, but it is too little to amount to anything. Coming back to your friend's recounting of the private message given by the essence of the Black Raven, which is something that perhaps, only you, apart from the Emperor, must have heard, mainly because he had always insisted on the utmost secrecy in all matters regarding bloodline possessors, I urge you to focus on the part regarding 'duty'."

As he heard Drakos speak, it was almost like the Ancient Dragon was desperate to distract Daneel, so that he wouldn't focus on this topic.

At this moment, Daneel could bet that if it were anyone else but this Ancient Dragon, they would have been able to do the same without giving rise to suspicion.

Yet, this innocent Empire Spirit was just not well-versed in using any means like these.

Hence, Daneel could tell that there was something here which Drakos did not want him to dig deep about.

At first, he wondered whether he should press the issue to try and force the dragon to speak, but Daneel decided against this idea.

He did not want to put the Dragon in a position where he might have to lie to him.

Whatever this was, it seemed to be a personal issue, so Daneel decided to either find out using other means, or confront the dragon with enough information so that he would have no choice but to spill the beans.

As for completely letting it go on account of the dragon always being helpful?

That was not an option at all, as the bloodline was just too important.

So, acting as if it had worked, Daneel recalled what Faxul had said.

Indeed, the part where the Godbeast had said that power wasn't theirs, alone, to hoard, and that it was their duty to pass it on, was pretty interesting.

There were a lot of possible questions that could arise from it. For example, was it possible that there was a different species of even greater power on this continent, itself, that the Black Raven had been referring to? Or was it possible that these Godbeasts were tied to some being that wished the power to be passed on?

Whatever it was, Daneel soon realized one thing: this was far above his pay-grade, so to say.

So, all he could do was add them to the ever-growing list of mysteries to be solved, and move on.

With this matter settled, the two of them spent a night reminiscing about the old times, specifically regarding the years in the Academy which had actually been relatively quite calm and enjoyable.

As a Champion, Faxul's body could take any amount of alcohol, and Daneel had a Hero-level spell which dispelled the effects of the alcohol perfectly. So, both of them just enjoyed the taste of the wine and the kick they got each time it hit their gullet till the morning, following which Faxul departed to begin the preparations in the Black Raven Kingdom which were for the case where the Empire Spirit of Axelor accepted his proposal.

As for Daneel, he, too had some work to do.

Ideally, by this time, he would already have traveled to the Big 4 to collect data, but Axelor was just too important a factor in the continent to ignore.

As they had the chance, he was determined to at least set in motion the plan to tackle them, before leaving on the journey of data collection.

Even though his endgame regarding the third seal was to unite the Black Raven Kingdom and the Hidden Kill Sect under him, thereby creating a unified force where it would be easy to reach the level required, he still placed a heavy focus on all the schemes he had implemented to ensure the happiness of the people.

He had also gotten an inkling that it was better to be safe than sorry. From what the Head had said, there had been times in the past where only three forces had been present on the continent. Yet, the seals hadn't been broken then, at least, according to the history of the continent he had seen in the Goddess's Sanctum.

For now, everything was running smoothly, so he decided to seek out Eloise to discuss a recent idea he had gotten regarding something that would really increase goodwill among the citizens.

He already had a Bank. And one of the major operations undertaken by banks, at least, on Earth, was to give various types of insurance to people.

There was no such system in Angaria, and even though there were a few similar plans in the list of the Emperor, none of them encapsulated the essence of insurance.

And that was…safety.

If he could give his citizens the assurance that their family would be looked after even in the event of their death, he was sure that satisfaction level might just shoot up even further.

At least, it was definitely worth a try, and regardless of whether it impacted the satisfaction level or not, Daneel was determined to see it come to fruition.

The second advantage, of course, was that the people of his Kingdom would have something to fall back on after they retired.

Excited, Daneel went to the vast underground 'Hollywood' that they had built, as he knew that there were definitely pitfalls in this idea that he could avoid if he could discuss it with someone. For this, there was no one better than Eloise, whose understanding of the people and the Kingdom was unparalleled.

When he did implement it, he did not want the flaws of the original system on Earth to be carried over. If that happened, he would definitely be ashamed to call himself someone who had transmigrated.

However, to his shock, for the first time since he had known her, Eloise avoided him.

As he was in command of the formation governing the whole area, he had appeared directly beside Eloise, who had been handling the shooting of the most popular show in Angaria right now.

She had been startled on seeing him, and instead of greeting him with the usual smile that would always come on her face whenever she saw him, she had actually…turned away, and had even tried to cover her face.

Of course, nothing could miss Daneel's eye. Even though it had only been a moment, he had seen that her eyes had been swollen and red, as if she had been crying.

In a muffled voice, she had said that she needed to finish the shooting, and that she also had a lot of other stuff on her plate right now.

Daneel had been struck speechless. For a few moments, he had only been able to stand there, sputtering and wondering whether he was dreaming.

He had no idea what he was supposed to do. She had practically been trying to ignore him, which didn't make sense, at all.

He wondered whether he should directly ask what the problem was, but he knew that this wasn't the time and place.

So, he decided to wait until she was free, before coming to find out what the matter was.

Thoroughly disturbed, with a frown on his face, Daneel teleported away, and if he hadn't been so distracted, he would have seen the hurt in her eyes when she watched him teleport away.

He did observe her again after leaving, but all he saw was a woman devoted to her work.

This left him feeling very, very unsettled, even more so than when he had discovered that a bunch of Warriors were invading Lanthanor.

For the rest of the day, Daneel went about all his tasks such as checking up on the schemes, his commanders, and the Domination Corps robotically, as he kept recalling how Eloise had looked.

Finally, at night, Daneel was just about to go to her again, when he received a message from Faxul.

"Daneel, it worked! He asked me to come to the same spot as before, and he said that we could discuss the particulars inside the Kingdom, as he already has a lot of defensive formations in place. And…he asked me to do right now!"

This managed to drive Eloise off of the center of his mind temporarily.

He had expected the Empire Spirit of Axelor to dally for days, so it was pretty surprising to see him accept after only a single day.

Regardless, this was their chance.

Without hesitation, Daneel said, "Good. Stay right there. I'll head over right now."

It was possible that the Empire Spirit might keep a close eye on Faxul, so Daneel didn't want to risk him coming back to Lanthanor now.

So, using the Hero-level camouflage technique, Daneel headed over to his friend, following which he repeated the same thing that he had done before, when he had infiltrated the Kingdom of Arafell as a rat.

Splitting apart a tiny part of his consciousness, Daneel entered Faxul's mind, and the both of them set off to Axelor.

The beauty of this plan also lay in the fact that this was a perfect method to evade all the detection formations that might have been set up.

Detection formations only endeavored to find out the maximum level of complexity of an organism entering them. Here, the consciousness of the Black Raven, a part of which had been transferred from the pedestal to Faxul's mind without disturbing its slumber, would make it appear as if all Faxul's body contained was some being at the level of a Hero.

So, Daneel could sneak in easily.

As they arrived at the border, he couldn't help but feel expectations rise inside him as he finally prepared to find out just what kind of place the Kingdom of Axelor was.

King Safiros once again appeared, and only greeted Faxul, who was once again in the guise of the old King, before leading him inside.

Daneel did tense when they passed through the formation surrounding the border, but seeing that they raised no alarms, he inwardly exhaled a sigh of relief.

He could see and feel everything Faxul was feeling, so he could tell that although his friend had gotten tensed, there was an underlying calmness that could almost be envied.

The Baptism…really was extraordinary.

Yet, all such thoughts were driven out of Daneel's mind after a few seconds, when Faxul looked down during their flight to the capital to view a town on the way.

Daneel had looked forward to seeing unique customs or people, but the first thing that reached their combined vision almost made Faxul pause with shock.

It was a large poster of Daneel, himself, in the center of the town, on which the netizens of the town were throwing all kinds of nasty stuff.

Globes of dung, eggs, dirt, and various other things impacted his face, which quite accurately depicted his features.

Noticing his interest, the Empire Spirit chuckled and spoke.

"Hehe, just a little ploy to make sure that that brat can never succeed at turning the people of this Kingdom, even if he succeeds in somehow entering it. They all think he's responsible for all the purges being carried out, as he wants to conquer them, the same way that he 'conquered and enslaved' Eldinor. I swear, time has only made all these people dumber than they were during the Empire. It's so easy to manipulate them! A whisper here, and a casually smuggled in newspaper there. That's it! Oh, I can't wait to see how it'll be when a village gets massacred by soldiers touting his name. Maybe they'll start burning him! Or maybe I should think of something even more creative…"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

581 The Objectives of the Empire Spiri

As soon as he heard this, Faxul could feel the little ball in his head that was his friend heat up with anger, and although he felt the same, he kept a calm face and just nodded, as if he wasn't too interested in what he was seeing.

This tied in with the old Black Raven's original personality, which was one a stoic one that seldom spoke.

In the memories, it was clear that this was one of the reasons why the man, who had later become this Empire Spirit, had become close with the Raven because he loved to talk, and the Raven would just listen.

Thus, they had made a pair of unlikely companions, and Faxul also knew that the man didn't have any male companions that he was close to except the Raven.

In fact, this action of Faxul's also seemed to have brought back old memories in the mind of the Empire Spirit.

"Ah, I've missed company, old friend. These past few millennia have been torture, I tell you. Bless this age that we were able to finally emerge in. Now is our time, and as soon as we get our bodies back, we will find a way to outlive all those other fools who said we were foolish in choosing this path. But…didn't you go crazy in all these years? How are you still the same as the bird I knew? Heaves know I've gone crazy and done my fair share of killing…"

Clearly, this was a trick question, and if Faxul answered wrong, suspicion would arise in the Empire Spirit.

This danger finally allowed Daneel to snap out of his anger.

It had barely been a second, but Daneel hadn't been able to help it.

He was now perfectly clear regarding what was going on inside this dastardly Kingdom.

Clearly, he was being depicted as the villain to unite against while the true villains, the Empire Spirit and the King, did whatever they wished by using him as an excuse.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't imagine a way in which this could be reserved.

It was equal parts genius and ruthless. Because they were closed off, they wouldn't be able to verify the truth. And because they had a lot of reasons to be miserable about, they needed someone to blame and vent on, and he was available so that they could do just that.

All in all, this damn Empire Spirit was every bit as smart and cold-blooded as Drakos had said.

In the pause, Faxul acted like he was thinking, before answering.

"I did go crazy. But getting a body seems to have made that better. Occasional urges still come and go, but I can control them. And you would have done your 'fair share of killing' regardless of whether you were crazy or not, Arnold. So don't test me, and just lead the way. I still don't know if you are that same person who was legendarily known to be the only one to enter a lair of Godbeasts and try to bed them. You might have changed, too, and I intend to get the answers I want with time. For now, we are only cooperating for convenience, so let me make it clear that I trust you just as much as you trust me."

The smile on the King's face got broader and broader with each word, and it especially lit up with a fond expression when the part about the Godbeast was mentioned.

Thankfully, it seemed to have worked.

Simply nodded and gesturing forward, King Safiros, who was currently under the control of Arnold, continued to fly in the direction of the capital.

Inwardly, Faxul released a sigh of relief, following which he said to Daneel, "Close shave. But we knew he would be distrustful, anyway. Daneel, I'm as angry as you are. But keep in mind what we are here for."

Right.

That was exactly what Daneel intended to do.

Their objective here was threefold:

Find out all the plans of the Kingdom of Axelor

Find where the pieces of the Grand Inheritance were being kept

Gain enough trust with the Empire Spirit so that there wouldn't be a problem when the time came to stab him in the back.

They sounded simple when listed like this, but, in fact, each was more difficult than the last.

Still, they were determined to succeed.

On the way, Daneel continued to observe all the towns and villages, most of which had similar posters that the citizens were showing their hate on.

In some places, even children had expressions of wrath while they flung stones at him.

It both pained Daneel and aggravated him to see the way his image was being twisted and used, but he knew that he was powerless to stop it now.

So, he looked past them to observe other things.

For instance, he noticed that many villages were so primitive that they weren't even using proper trinkets to farm large areas of land.

A lot of people were doing work manually, where a trinket would have saved them a lot of time and effort.

The most apparent example of this was a large piece of land in which over a hundred people holding water cans were patiently watering the land.

In Lanthanor, and even in many places around the continent, there was a very simple trinket which flew in the air and properly irrigated each and every part of a designated farm.

This either meant that the trinkets weren't available at all, or that these citizens were too poor to use them.

Soon, it became clear that the latter was true, as he spotted a small garden in a mansion being irrigated using that same trinket he had just thought about.

With this also came the discovery that most of those who had wealth had various army titles in front of their name.

So…it was clear that for the most part, only those who supported the government were able to hold wealth.

More and more, this Kingdom started to remind Daneel of one back on Earth.

Many similarities could be drawn, including a crazy ruler who cared nothing for the well-being of his citizens.

However, that was unimportant now, as, by the time he had transmigrated, no one had found a solution to tackle said country yet.

Soon, they approached the Capital, which was a sprawling city with the predominant colors, for some reason, being red and grey.

Most houses were in either of those colors, and many citizens were also wearing clothes of these colors, too.

Only a few wore luxurious ones of different colors, and these were almost always surrounded by a retinue of soldiers.

The Capital was peculiar in the fact that humongous horns of some creature propped up its gate, and also its entrance.

This, however, was known to the people of Angaria, as it was one of the few features of Axelor that had been made public by the scholars who traveled here and lived to tell the tale.

Daneel had asked Drakos which beast those horns might belong to, but the Ancient Dragon had been unsure, as there were multiple options.

And right now, he wasn't present to view this sight.

However, Daneel did have the system.

[Phenomena Analysis Module analyzing bone structure. 2 matches found:

Bones of an Ancient Giant, reported to have roamed Angaria in the time of the Empire

Bones of multiple mutated beasts joined together.

Because a long period of time has passed since the making of these objects, system cannot give a definite answer.]

That was interesting, to say the least.

However, it wasn't the most interesting detail about the Palace, by far.

That was because even Faxul had detected certain dangerous formations around the Palace, which made him feel as if he would be at the mercy of the Empire Spirit if he entered.

This made him pause right at the point where these formations began, which led Arnold to turn around and smirk, before saying, "Trust runs both ways, my dear, old friend, just like you said. So, if you need my help, you need to find it in yourself to abandon some of that caution of yours."

Typically, advanced formations had specific purposes.

Some were designed to keep people out, and others…were designed to make sure that those who entered would not be able to leave no matter how hard they tried.

One such formation was around the Palace, and it was even clear that it had been set up recently.

At this point, it became clear that the day of time that Arnold had taken had been spent in setting up this formation.

With his hands behind his back, the Empire Spirit waited for an answer.

Daneel was almost inclined to tell Faxul that they should just go in, but he paused, as he knew that his friend must be going through those memories again.

So, when he did react, it made Daneel feel dumbfounded.

"No thanks. I'll find a way to help myself."

Saying so, Faxul promptly turned around and began heading back in the way they had come.

As Daneel saw the Empire Spirit's reaction, he realized that this was another test.

Teleporting in front of Faxul, the Empire Spirit laughed and raised his hands, as if in surrender, and said, "All right, all right! I couldn't resist! Come on, there's a separate place I set up."

At this moment, Daneel couldn't help but marvel at how Faxul had understood the nature of that Ancient Black Raven.

Clearly, it was so cautious to the point that it would never enter an area like that, which would be tough to leave from.

Soon enough, they were sitting in an abandoned house in the Capital, where a few refreshments had already been waiting for them.

By now, it was obvious that Arnold had expected the reaction, and had prepared beforehand.

This made Daneel wonder what would have happened if they had gone forward, and he couldn't help but shudder due to the thought.

As both of them sipped wine, there was silence, at first, following which Arnold spoke up.

"So, first, tell me exactly everything what you have in mind."

Instead of responding, Daneel asked Faxul to put forward a question that had been bothering him.

"Before that, why are you killing off so many citizens? Aren't you concerned that it'll set off alarms in the Big 4?"

This made the Empire Spirit sit back and let out a burst of laughter, before giving Daneel and Faxul a response that left both of them astonished.

"Hehe, purges were always a custom in this Kingdom, so I just upped the frequency, Besides, I'm not doing it for fun. They keep the population low so that satisfaction level can be high, and they also keep the people afraid, so that they also feel happy to not be purged. Which, obviously, means that they are happy to be in this Kingdom. There is a third purpose, though. Haven't you wondered why this Church wants to kill everyone after taking over? I've been doing experiments to find out just that, and I'm proud to say that I have had some good results…"

…

Meanwhile, in the Goddess's Sanctum, Xuan had just exited her isolation with a smile on her face.

All of her time had been spent dreamily thinking about the King and the moments they had shared together, so when she saw Molan waiting for her, she asked, "Have I received any messages? Did the King contact me?"

This made Molan frown, as she usually did these days, and say, "No. But that Eloise did contact me for something, and by mistake…she overheard a few maids gossiping about two people who were said to have been kissing in the Secret Archives."

As soon as Xuan heard this, she froze, remembering the woman who had almost died just because she didn't want to back down.

As anger started to enter her mind, she was about to heavily reprimand Molan, but she first decided to teleport away to meet Eloise, first.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

582 Blood Sacrifice

After seeing Xuan teleport away in front of her, Molan remained where she was, thinking back to that moment seconds ago again and again, where Xuan had looked at her with real anger for the first time in the decades that they had known each other.

She was currently standing in front of a large, 6-sided building that rose into the sky like a tower. At the top of the tower was a smaller version of the same humongous statue that held the other part of the Sect.

Indeed, this was where the Sect members typically stayed. In fact, far off, in the distance, she could spy a couple sneaking away into a forest nearby, which was usually empty as this was a place where only the most elite in the sect had the authority to come to.

In her hand, she was still holding the glass with water that she had intended to give to Xuan after the isolation training, in which no food or water was available to those who were part of it.

Yet, she had left not even a moment after finding out about that woman in that Kingdom.

And as for her, who had always only existed as a shadow to care for her and think about her every need…she had been left alone.

If it was just that, maybe it wouldn't have affected her so much, as she had slowly started to get used to it after seeing the changes in her friend after her breakthrough.

Only…those eyes that had been filled with anger.

Those goddamn eyes!

Crack!

As her whole body started to shake, Molan clenched her fists while emotions that she couldn't even make sense of ran through her, devastating her in the process and threatening to return her to whom she had been before the Matron had randomly chosen her, all those years ago.

The glass shards went deep into her palm and blood started to pour on the ground, but she didn't care.

Yes, maybe she had been partially responsible for this happening. The Matron was someone who always spoke her mind, and it had looked as if she didn't care much regarding who found out about this. So, she had made a random comment about two people, with one being an outsider, kissing in the Secret Archives, and that it should henceforth be banned.

The rumor mills were always overactive in the Goddess's Sanctum. And with this comment, it didn't require genius-level intellect to figure out who was being referred to. In the records, which were accessible to those in charge of administration, it had been clearly written that Xuan would be bringing the King of Lanthanor under 'special circumstances'.

And hence, it had become the talk of the entire area.

When Eloise had reached out to Xuan regarding some matter, Molan had been about to tell off a couple of maids involved in the discussion. In the process, she had known that Eloise would be able to hear, but for reasons even she couldn't figure out, she had let it happen, after remembering how Xuan had used the sect-preserving heirloom treasure to save her life and give her top-grade potential, which she firmly believed she was unworthy of.

After all, she, herself, only had near top-grade talent as a Mage, and she had faithfully served the Sect, and Xuan, all her life. What made that random woman worthy?!

As she collapsed to the ground, she couldn't help but remember how dreary her own life had been, before that marvelous encounter had changed everything. She had been brought to the sect as she was an orphan with good talent, and initially, this had made her ecstatic, as Molan had always liked to be better than everyone wherever she went.

Only, here…she was nothing.

For a year, at the tender age of 8, all she did was find some way to feel special again, as that was the one thing that was most important to her.

No one had ever told her it was wrong. So it had always felt right.

After miserably failing due to being in a place where those better than her in various things were aplenty, she had finally gotten her chance when the Matron came along looking for volunteers to become a companion of a new Sect Member, who would need some time and care to fit into the Sect.

That had been her first image of Xuan. A girl with footprints all over her faded dress, as if she had been mercilessly kicked multiple times by many people, and feet that were so worn after running endlessly that they didn't even look like they belonged to a human.

Since then, Xuan had become her whole life.

She vicariously lived through her, always standing beside her through every step of the way, while always believing that theirs was one life, together.

Yet, all that had changed now.

Because of one man.

As his image came in her mind, boundless fury and mindless rage engulfed her.

…

Meanwhile, in the room that the Empire Spirit, Arnold, had selected for their discussion.

After controlling their shock regarding the revelation of the Empire Spirit's true motives, the two of them couldn't help but feel excited, as they hoped that a question that they had asked each other right after their talk when Daneel had revealed the true intentions of the Church might be answered right now.

This was doubly so for Daneel, who had had no option but to carry this question around for ages and ages, ever since he had become King.

In the vision that his master had shown him, the entire continent had been flowing with rivers of bottomless blood, with the connotation being that most of the citizens were definitely dead.

But why? Why subdue a continent with great difficulty, only to massacre it completely the next day? What did they gain out of it?

Faxul hastily looked through the memories and replayed the same way that the old Raven displayed shock.

A slow lean forward, followed by an intense gaze.

As the Empire Spirit saw this and noticed the interest of his 'friend', he said, "Ah, I guessed that that would catch your eye. Come on, let me show you, then."

Saying this, the Empire Spirit teleported away, while Daneel and Faxul followed by noting the space stamp left behind on purpose in order to teleport to the same location.

The first thing that Daneel heard as soon as the sense of sound returned to them was the wailing of a baby, from somewhere nearby.

Of course, Faxul had heard it, too.

As he looked around while trying to identify the source, a thick stench of blood hit him, causing him to wrinkle his nose and almost react, which would have, again, given away his identity.

Impersonating someone was truly not easy.

The old Raven and Arnold were two people that had been in multiple situations where the stench had been ten times worse than this. So, even the wrinkling of the nose wasn't supposed to happen, but that could thankfully be attributed to the suddenness of the sensation.

The first thing they noticed was the King, who spread his arms wide and said, "Welcome to my personal hell!"

Followed by this statement, the lights in the room sprang to life, making Daneel and Faxul experience a sight they would never forget.

Over 200 people were caged, individually, in metallic cages that hung from the ceiling.

All of them had varying degrees of wounds, with some even missing limbs.

As for the crying, it was from a particular cage in which a woman was holding an 8-year old boy who was bawling his heart out.

With time, more and more details started to become clear.

For instance, most of the cages contained men, and they were all wearing a specific dress that almost looked like…prison clothes.

The woman was the same- her, and a few others in the large cavern where this 'hell' was located, were also wearing that dress.

As soon as light appeared, they all cowered in their cells and fearfully stared at those who had appeared, with even that boy stifling his cry.

If Faxul hadn't gone through the baptism, he was pretty sure that their cover would have been blown by now.

Yet, the calmness and surety in himself that he had adopted saved him, allowing him to stay calm, while he experienced the red-hot anger from the King of Lanthanor.

However, that vanished when the Empire Spirit spoke while idly looking at that cage with the boy.

"You would think that being a by-product of primitive life-elongating magic experiments who slaughtered an entire village single-handedly would take away the ability to cry from someone. But no, this guy cries just all day. I can't make sense of it."

What?

Arnold continued, while walking in a particular direction and talking in a casual tone.

"Remember I told you that a prison is the best place to get live bodies from, if ever the situation arose? Well, here's proof that I was right. Being in such a controlling Kingdom puts people under enormous psychological pressure, you know. So…a lot of them crack, and go on killing or raping sprees while not caring about their life. I was quite surprised when I found out that the prisons of Axelor are filled with more scum than any other force in this continent. I didn't want them to go to waste, so here they are."

These were all…prisoners?

Rapists and murderers?

But…even if that were the case, did they deserve to be treated like this? Or did they deserve special care like on Earth to fix their underlying problems and release them back into society?

Daneel didn't have the luxury of time to think of an answer, as they had just arrived at a laboratory of sorts, where all sorts of torture devices were shining on neatly arranged tables.

Picking one up that looked like an elongated scissor, Arnold said, "Torture is most fun when your subject is one whose mind is deranged, you know. You can never tell when you truly broke them."

Putting it back down, he continued in a tone that wasn't as chilling.

"Anyway, I wasn't doing this for fun. I was merely carrying out a set routine of experiments where each and every aspect of a 'blood sacrifice' is tested. We already know of that infamous blood sacrifice that helps one along when they want to become a Champion. It twists them, true, but it also has the power to change someone's fate. I took up the clue from there, and decided to check whether that power can be used for something else. And, of course, where does that power come from? Their resentment, of course."

Saying so, Arnold snapped his fingers, causing two men to appear in a formation in the middle of his 'lab'.

"I'll show you the short version."

Saying so, he flicked his finger again, causing invisible wind blades to appear that gouged the skin off of the two people, while Daneel and Faxul were forced to watch on.

When their screams reached a crescendo, the formation that was under them lit up, causing them to melt into puddles of blood.

Most notably, in that formation, a specific place lit up, which caused Faxul to turn toward it.

And as Daneel saw what was in that place, in the ground, as a part of the formation, he couldn't help but gasp with shock.

Two parts of the Grand Inheritance!

They were weirdly shaped, just like the others, but their material stood out clearly.

Seeing his 'friend's eyes captivated by those two small objects, Arnold smirked and said, "You got that right. Although I can sense that this isn't the whole story, as forces like those only do stuff which give them multiple benefits, I can tell that this is at least one of their primary objectives. Sacrifices…when done right, can somehow affect the Grand Inheritance. My guess…is that it allows one to wield it without risking the catastrophe."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

583 Realization, and the Beginning of the Plan

The catastrophe.

Although Daneel's full attention was still focused on the two pieces of the Grand Inheritance that were just lying around in the open, this did catch his attention.

As soon as he heard it, though, an image entered his mind- that of a crazed man massacring thousands of citizens, who all couldn't believe that the one whom they had trusted for all their lives was actually the one carrying out this fiendish act.

Of course, it was the first vision he had been shown when he had broken the first seal on the Empire Spirit, right after establishing a considerable satisfaction level using the Olympics.

Ever since Daneel had uncovered the information regarding the Grand Inheritance in the Secret Archives of the Goddess's Sanctum, he had automatically assumed that it must be something physical that would impact the continent in some way because of the usage of such a power that wasn't supposed to belong to anyone.

He had been thinking of the type of catastrophe that was written about in Earth's history, because that was the idea he had grown up with in his original life.

It took this sudden incident where the catastrophe had been referred to out of the blue for him to realize that he must have been thinking about it in a completely wrong way.

What if… The catastrophe was the thing that had resulted in the Emperor going crazy in the first place?

This had been staring at him all this while, but he couldn't have made the connection as he had had no method of assessing one's power level at that time. Also, he couldn't have known that it wasn't an isolated incident: after all, he had thought that it was only the city he was watching that might have gotten massacred.

Yet, now that he thought about it, it was definitely possible.

Daneel wished that Drakos was here so that he could ask the Ancient Dragon regarding this, but because that wasn't an option, he had to keep it firmly within his mind and move on for the time being.

And that… Brought him back to the discovery that the bait that had been placed for Queen Arafell and others in the Race to come here was right in front of him, and the results that had just been shared by Arnold.

First of all – these were definitely bonafide Grand Inheritance parts – exactly the ones he needed to win the Race.

Yet, there wouldn't be something more foolish than trying to obtain them now, in the presence of the Empire Spirit and numerous formations that were currently slumbering all around him, ready to be activated at a moment's notice.

Also, even though they looked vulnerable, they were protected in a small compartment in the ground which was connected to the formation that Arnold had just used to demonstrate to him, and he could clearly detect that there were even more terrifying formations that had been implemented without caring about the cost to make sure that these two of the nine parts of the Grand Inheritance would not be in any risk, whatsoever, of being stolen away without at least giving a lot of difficulties to those who sought to obtain them.

So, Daneel had to reluctantly divert his attention away from them, and focus on what he had just learned.

That was even more shocking in itself if he thought about it, but the main reason that those two parts had captivated his attention was that they were one of the main objectives behind him risking a lot and coming to this Kingdom.

Now, he thought back to those particles that he had seen which had been born after those two people had died.

They were a completely new form of particles, and they were clearly created artificially using the formation that had been drawn by Arnold.

First of all, Daneel decided to make sure that he was recording everything.

"System, has the formation been recorded along with the process of creation of those particles? Is there any data regarding them?"

The answer to this actually surprised him.

[Formation has been recorded. After analyzing the data observed during the aftermath of the sacrifice, system established that there are similarities between what host has just seen and what has been written in one of the manuscripts collected by host.]

"What?! Which one?"

[Replying to host – the manuscript is titled "Blood Energy Absorption". It is the one that host's technique of absorbing energy from the blood of mosquitoes is based on. In that manuscript, the author also refers to something he had heard from an obscure source – that there was a specific kind of energy that could only be harnessed when a living being's resentment reaches a particular level. The theory was that, at that level, all living beings are capable of affecting the world even if they normally do not have any talent in either path to power. Resentment is one of the best driving forces for the consciousness, and this enables it to tap into that capacity of each and every living being to use energy to train at the moment of death to release a kind of particle that can theoretically be used for various purposes. From here, system has also drawn another parallel with the data found in one of the journals recorded in the Sect of Hedon – this is in reference to the Blood Sacrifice spell which is used by Warriors who are having difficulty in crossing the chasm between themselves and the Champion realm. Host is already aware of this technique, which utilizes the deaths of multiples of 10,000 individuals to both facilitate the jump in power, and also lends Champions who use this method with additional power that sets them apart in the Champion realm. Not much is known apart from this, as information about the Blood Sacrifice was forcefully scrubbed from all of the Big Four so that innocent citizens in the Central Continent would not be targeted by aspiring Champions in a bid to increase their own power. Also, there are mentions about adverse effects being present, which affect one's mind as the whole nature of these particles is one of twisted pain, which have the capability of interacting with one's consciousness. Rather than calling them particles, these objects are apparently more suitable to be called remnants of consciousnesses that are made to stay behind in order to be used using special formations.]

Daneel had to go through this information twice in order to understand it all – and when he did, he realized that his action of collecting each and every book that he came across had really helped him out.

The system would be able to draw more connections with even more information, which made the value of data shoot up exponentially.

After all, who else could boast that they would be able to make connections and figure out stuff based on a book that they had obtained months ago, and already forgotten by this point?

Indeed, the Blood Absorption manual had helped Daneel at a time when he had been strapped for resources, but he could never have imagined that it would once again help him in this way, at this juncture.

And regarding the part where these weren't elementary particles but actually remnants of consciousnesses, Daneel had to agree as he thought back to how Faxul's consciousness had looked when it had been transferred from his original body to the stone pedestal by Drakos.

Both of them had the same… aura around them, as if they were not just mere particles that existed around the world and could easily be controlled by anyone with a mageroot. Instead, they seemed to be of a different nature, even though they slightly appeared to be the same.

Yet, the mysteries about just what the consciousness was was something that even those during the Empire had been unable to figure out, so Daneel decided to set it apart from now, and focus on the more salient details.

For example, the blood sacrifice, which had been referred to, was the one that Raul had intercepted when it was being carried out by those sons and daughters of the bigwigs in the Big Four.

The adverse effects were probably most clearly seen in Ashahell, who was supposed to have also used this method to become a Champion. Daneel didn't know the exact truth behind what had happened because he only had the account of that black-robed man in the Black Raven Kingdom to go with, but one thing was for sure – that sacrifice's power had been used by Ashahell to become a champion, and that too, one who was more powerful and valued than any in the entire Big Four.

Hell, his value had been so high that he had even been allowed to continue leading the Sect of Hedon and holding his place in the High Council even though he had been suspected of having connections with the Church, and this had led to Daneel providing the proof that had resulted in his incarceration.

Coming back to the most important revelation about how it decreased the risk of the catastrophe happening, Daneel didn't even know what to think of it.

But he had to admit that it did make sense – any force would want to make it so that such a strong weapon could be wielded easily, and as many times as possible, without risking any danger.

So… It could definitely be established that one of the objectives of the Church was to kill everyone so that they could use these particles in order to make the Grand Inheritance more easier to handle, probably so that they could use it as they wished in the place where they came from.

Daneel deduced that last part from what he had heard from the Head during that incident where he had meddled with religions – then, the Head had referred to multiple organizations from wherever the Church came from, and this meant that there might definitely be some sort of competition or struggle where the Church would surely get an edge if they had this kind of all-powerful weapon.

This also shed more light on why the Church wasn't attacking directly- either they waiting for something to happen on their end, or for Angaria to get weaker. Maybe they were just too busy in that struggle to be able to spare enough forces to take over this continent by force, so although they really wanted to, they might have no option but to wait and bide their time.

After all, where could a continent go?

All in all – it all fit beautifully, and even though there might be more motives just like how Arnold had said, Daneel was inclined to believe that this entire supposition regarding the status of the church and their motive behind the attack was logical, and could most likely be the truth.

He couldn't believe that this trip to Axelor had already been so fruitful.

As the famous saying on earth went – "Know your enemy, and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster."

Finding out more about the Church was of paramount importance as it would allow him to better decide what steps to take to battle it.

Although so much had run through Daneel's mind, only a few seconds had passed in the real world, during which Faxul continued to be shocked.

That was when Arnold spoke up again. In a proud tone, he said "The Emperor, bless his name, always banned experiments of this kind during our time. But even if I had found out about this at that point, I wonder if he would have chosen this path – hell, I'm even prepared to bet that he probably knew about it, and didn't tell anyone, as was the usual case regarding most things. Either way, I'm still experimenting, as I can feel that there is a lot more to discover. Now then, come on. Let's discuss your plan, and then you can be on your way. You must surely be reaching the limit of how long you can stay away from the pedestal, right? I often forget about that these days, as I was smart enough to place it in the best position – right below the throne! Haha, even if someone like that bitch wanted to target me, they would never be able to find it."

As Arnold said this with a chuckle, Daneel realized that he had inadvertently picked up another very important piece of information – the real location of the Empire Spirit, which was a weak point for all of them until they managed to completely possess someone, like the Queen had done.

Clearly, that was not the case with Arnold, as there appeared to be a partial agreement like the one between Daneel and Drakos.

To their luck, the old Black Raven had never been a very talkative person, so it was enough to just nod along with an expression of mild shock, before following Arnold back to that room, where Faxul laid out the entire plan.

They had already decided beforehand that it would all be in a way that would make it seem as if there was no risk whatsoever for the Empire Spirit, and this made it so that the immediately got an answer – "Yes".

Controlling his joy on seeing that the whole idea of basing the plan on the arrogance of Empire Spirits that they could never be outsmarted by those of this age had worked, the two began their journey back to their respective kingdoms, and as soon as they got back to his own body, the first thing he did was speak to the ancient Dragon.

"Was the catastrophe the reason behind the Emperor going mad and killing everyone, and was he the one who made the entire Empire, and the continent collapse?" He asked, and after hearing the answer, Daneel didn't know what to feel.

"Yes, and no, Young King. I can tell you this part, as you have already figured out most of it. The Emperor was the cause of most of the destruction, as he was the strongest individual on the continent. But…apart from him, the catastrophe caused all those at and above the level of a Champion to go crazy and begin destroying everything around them, too, because of their connection with the world. Except us, who were protected from this because we were in our pedestals, Angaria lost all of its Champions and Heroes on that day. I'm only telling you this to impress on you the magnitude of the danger of the catastrophe. Imagine the power that you have always trusted recoiling on you and making you enter a state of unstoppable frenzy that made many kill their own family, who were around them, first, before moving on to others. The Grand Inheritance, if assembled, must NEVER be used lightly, Young King. I cannot stress this enough, especially as it looks like you might be gaining possession of two more parts of it soon."

Daneel was already aware of this, but he instilled it into his mind even more.

Drakos fell silent after that, and Daneel also didn't give an answer.

He began the preparations on his end, and soon, everything was ready.

…

The next day, the people of Angaria woke up to shocking news.

The Kingdom of Axelor…was marching out with its full force to attack, and take over the Black Raven Kingdom.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

584 War

An hour earlier, before the shocking news spread across Angaria.

The Head was quietly sitting in his abode in the sky, from where he kept an eye on Angaria and its borders, as was his duty.

This was a location where one could always find him, as at least a clone of his was definitely supposed to be here so that they wouldn't be caught unaware in case something happened.

He monitored each and every formation that protected the Continent, one by one, all while making sure that the core tenet regarding the Central Continent was maintained.

The latter was actually something that didn't need his attention much, usually, but recently, with Lanthanor uniting with the Kingdom of Eldinor, he had had to actively look into it and make sure that the ancient rule was maintained.

True, at least 3 forces were supposed to be present. But why not let more remain so that there would be no risk of less than 3 forming in the first place?

Besides, wanton bloodshed was really something that Angaria could do without in this critical time.

Hence, with all this in mind, the Head was paying quite a bit of attention to the Central Continent- at least, to the parts of it that he could see without much effort.

He did keep a close watch on troop deployments and general actions of each King, and he had actually been a little put off by the propensity of the King of Axelor for random purges.

Well…that was bloodshed, but he didn't see a need to step in when the amount was minor.

Besides, they were all common citizens, who weren't very high in his list of priorities.

In the other Kingdoms, Lanthanor stood out the most, mainly due to the many innovating things that the King kept pulling out from somewhere.

He often mused that with the kid's genius intellect, he would definitely grow into someone terrifying if he put it all into his training.

Yet, he knew that sometimes, forcing things would often have negative consequences. So, all he could do was watch and hope that the King of Lanthanor would get his 'clarity' regarding his Champion Path as soon as possible.

The Head had to admit he was fascinated by the train, the school, the bank, and the Network.

In calmer times, he might even have adopted some of these into the Big 4.

Only, they had no time for that right now.

It was right when he was casually looking into the house of one of the random families on the continent who were in possession of the Network Trinket due to his interest in one of the romantic shows that was currently very popular(which was something he would never admit to any living soul in the continent), that he noticed something wrong with the Kingdom of Axelor.

Axelor had always been the odd one out in the Central Continent. Its armies moved day and night, going to random places to set up multiple training exercises or to carry out the many strange and often bizarre commands of the King.

In fact, the Head was almost sure that the King of Axelor's mind was almost completely lost due to the technique he had foolishly used before to make his power level go down.

Yet… Something was definitely different now.

Axelor had one of the largest Fighter armies is in the entire continent, and if it weren't for the fact that their Mage army was severely underpowered in comparison, they might have swept through the continent whenever they wished until they would have had to be stopped by the Big Four.

Of course, the Head would not have had to step in in that situation, because if that happened, it would definitely be with the express permission of the part of the Big Four that was supposed to be 'backing' this Kingdom.

This was in reference to the connection between the Sect of Hedon and the Axelor – which was actually much less of import than others thought in the Central Continent.

All it was was an agreement of mutual exchange. The Sect of Hedon would choose those whom it wanted from the population of this kingdom, and in return, it would award the Royal Family with certain trivial techniques that were actually quite valuable in the Central Continent.

Oftentimes, the Kings of Axelor would also try to use the name of the Big 4 to scare others, but this never worked out too much because no one was foolish enough to believe that what they were saying was really true, as if it was, they wouldn't still be just one of the many forces in Angaria

In fact, now that he thought about it, since that time during the Olympics of this kid in which they had meddled in because they did not want one person and one Kingdom to obtain so much acclaim, which was something that was happening now anyway, their dealings with the Kingdom of Axelor had reduced quite a bit, and it was almost nil right now.

Now that the head thought back to the Olympics, he couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that even though they had tried, they had failed. And now, along with various other things that had happened, the King of Lanthanor truly was one of the most revered figures when compared to all others in recent history.

Of course, he hadn't had the luxury to keep a close eye on this and even think about stopping him in the process, mainly because of the fact that their Heroes had been injured.

That incident had made something like that no longer seem important, as the only objective behind it would have been to make it easier for them to keep the ancient rule.

Actually, with this line of thought, the Head began to see something just a little bit suspicious – that a lot of things had worked out in the King of Lanthanor's favor. Was he really that lucky?

Only, the thought stopped in its tracks as soon as the Head cracked the mystery regarding what he was seeing in the Kingdom of Axelor.

It was a full-scale army deployment.

Always in a state of readiness, it was actually a thing to be marveled that the Kingdom of Axelor only needed a few hours to assemble their troops and set out to do what they wished.

At this moment, the Head was faced with a tough choice – he could go out to stop them right now, but when he saw the direction in which they were heading, he paused.

They were heading… To the Black Raven Kingdom.

But wasn't the Black Raven Kingdom ruled by a person who was very close to the King of Lanthanor? Wouldn't he come out in full support, causing a stalemate anyway, which would result in a war that will only see both sides losing and with no one emerging as a clear winner?

Everyone knew that such wars should never be fought, as it would only give an opportunity for others waiting in the wings to jump in and reap the rewards.

So, expecting such a situation to happen where there might only be flexing, the Head decided to watch on, as if this was another show on the Network Trinket.

He would only step in if there was a threat of loss of life in the range of hundreds of thousands of people, as the Big Four really was not supposed to interfere much, or at all, in the Central Continent, which was another rule written right alongside that other tenet that there should only be three forces.

Often, he wondered just what the Emperor might have been thinking while setting down these rules, and why this was all supposed to be so.

Of course, he knew that he could no longer find out the answer, so, splitting his consciousness between this live-action drama between the Kingdoms and the other one on the Network Trinket, the Head conjured a plate of food from one of the finest restaurants in Arafell and settled down comfortably in his chair.

…

Jalan was truly perplexed.

He had gone to play with his friends in the morning, but his mother had called him back with an extreme look of panic on her face that he had only seen a few times.

And in those times, very bad things had happened, and they had had to move their house as they might have been killed otherwise.

Now, as he returned to the house with his hand being pulled by his mother, he saw her run towards the table where the Network Trinket was placed and activated it so that the voice of the announcer could be heard throughout the house.

Initially, the regular morning show which was usually a series of soothing songs meant to allow one to begin their day with a calm mind played, but after a few seconds, it was interrupted by someone speaking urgently.

"This is an update regarding the situation of the army that has headed out to the Black Raven Kingdom. The King of Axelor has not made any attempt to keep their invasion secret, so the Black Raven Kingdom has also begun to assemble their troops in order to meet the other army in open combat, rather than near the border which would present a risk of the whole Kingdom being overrun if there is the dire situation that the ranks of the Army are broken through. Also, our steadfast ally, the Kingdom of Lanthanor, which is currently in an alliance with the Kingdom of Eldinor, has agreed to lend us all the help possible. Mage and Fighter armies will be setting out soon to unite with those of the Black Raven Kingdom. Retired lieutenants from both the Kingdoms of Lanthanor and Eldinor say that this will result in a stalemate with a few skirmishes, after which the Kingdom of Axelor will have no option but to return to its home, with its tail between its legs, just like the last time it dared to come out. Still, the Black Raven Kingdom has asked us to announce to all the citizens that they should head to their local military garrison so that they can be protected. As of right now, the Black Raven Kingdom is still under high alert. This is 'Breaking News of Angaria', signing off for the moment, and I promise that we will be back as soon as we know something new. Now, you can return to –"

His mother switched off the trinket at this point, following which she began to quickly pack a small bag with all the food they had, along with their most precious possessions, which were three trinkets that helped in farming that they used to till the small patch of ground near their house.

After that strange incident during which they had been visited by those two men who had left behind quite a bit of silver, a lot had happened in their Kingdom, and their lives had changed for the better due to the many helpful policies implemented by the current King, as opposed to the former one who only liked to raise the taxes.

That silver had allowed them to buy these trinkets, and the extra income from the farm had allowed them to live quite a happy life.

Yet, now, with the flames of war on the horizon, Jalan didn't know what would happen. He heard the others often gossiping that times of war were the cruelest for citizens, and that they all wished that another war would not come upon them as long as they were alive. But if one did come, they wanted the Black Raven to soar high, unlike recent times during which they had had no option but to lose time and time again.

Without speaking, Jalan helped his mom, and after a few minutes, they were quickly heading towards the garrison which was a kilometer away, where his father was waiting.

Along the way, they came across the families of many of his friends, too, who were also hurrying in that direction.

Jalan had a lot on his mind, but he was remaining quiet. Yet, right before they reached, a very iconic sound made him look up and drop his jaw in awe.

DUN DUN! DUN DUN! DUN DUN!

The rhythmic sound of a troop of soldiers marching out to battle.

In front of him, accompanied by a dust cloud that was growing larger and larger, 2000 soldiers were marching in the direction of the border with grim expressions on their faces.

The citizens who were heading to the garrison paused and moved to the side to let them through, and when this happened, little Jalan heard the leader, who was standing at the front with a Black Raven on his shoulder, say something to them that he would remember throughout his life.

"If we do not return, please remember us as those who did not hesitate even though we knew that our weakened Kingdom has hardly a chance of standing up against the behemoth that is Axelor. Even if our bodies rot in the ground, we shall soar forever with the Divine Ancestor. All hail the mighty Black Raven!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

585 “Just Make Sure to Act Shocked“

In a large tract of open land which was silent save for the calls of carrion birds hoping for a feast, a majestic sight was visible which would take away the breath of any and all who had to fortune to witness it.

This area was actually at the intersection point between 4 Kingdoms: The Black Raven Kingdom, the Kingdom of Axelor, the Kingdom of Lanthanor and the Kingdom of the Elves.

This morning, as soon as the news had begun to spread regarding the army of Axelor marching out to war, many individuals who hoped to get rich had set off to the approximate point where the armies would meet.

They had various purposes. Some wanted to be witness to a war the likes of which might not occur in centuries. Others wanted to chronicle the war in a book and shoot to fame in the process. Still others wanted to do market research, as everyone knew that war was the most profitable business. If they could identify something or the other that might let them get a contract with the government of a Kingdom, they would be able to earn more than they could imagine in their wildest dreams.

Only, 2 people who had just appeared on an empty cliff 4 kilometers away from the site where the armies had congregated had completely different objectives than the typical ones that people usually thought about.

As soon as they appeared by stepping out of space, they began to sprinkle sharp metal shards all around them, which would pierce anyone's foot easily if they stepped on them without knowing that they were there.

Only allowing themselves a small area to stand in, they completed this task and then began taking out various trinkets.

Most of them were nasty-designed as traps which would target one's eyes or other private eyes. They weren't lethal- no, they would make one wish that they had never been born, but they would never go so far as to let blood spill.

Anyone would find their actions strange, but after a few moments, their objective became clear.

Right when they were about to finish up, a loud 'OW' was heard from behind them, which made them turn around and grin as they saw a bulky man wearing grey robes clutch his foot as he tried to hastily conjure a spell to either rise into the air or teleport himself away.

Before he could do that, one of the trinkets that was floating in the air saw its target: its formation allowed it to receive a location from its owner, before it zoomed forward and let out a light electric shock.

The area that they chose was, of course, the crotch of that man.

As he was distracted by the pain caused by stepping out of space and finding his foot impaled by at least 10 metal pricks, he had no option but to trust that his barrier would save him, but one of the two men shot an attack right before the trinket, that was shaped like a glove with its fist clenched, impacted the man.

This made the barrier break, and before another one appeared, the trinket expertly made its way through and mercilessly impacted against its target, before releasing the shock.

With a scream that sounded like it was straight from hell, the man shook where he stood and began to fall back, which would result in his certain death.

Before this happened, one of the men conjured a platform of air which saved him, but before he could rejoice, two wind blades formed in front of his crotch, again, threatening to sever his ties with the bedroom.

As he gulped and looked at the two identical men in front of him before recognizing them, he heard one of them speak.

"The Rosso brothers have occupied this spot. Let the others know, and don't even think about coming back. You know what happened to the last guy who tried, right? Even Lanthanor's Healer's Academy almost gave up on him. Now, f*ck off."

The man would have let out a retort if it weren't for the blades which approached closer and closer.

With a gulp, he could only look to the side and gaze at the armies, wishing that he had arrived at this perfect spot before these two who were known for being some of the most vicious in whatever business they chose.

Why did they even have to enter this business, of all the others which were much more profitable?

Cursing his luck and knowing that he wouldn't have a second chance, the man nodded, and teleported away.

With the area around them becoming tranquil once again, the two, who were twins wearing the same style of robes in different colors- one black, and one white, bumped their fists together before getting down to work.

The one wearing black took out a complex trinket and began to set it up. It had a long tube that was larger at one end, and at the smaller one, he placed an object that was like an eye.

After he was done, he took out a communication trinket and said, "This is Rosso. I've set up the trinket. The bonus is supposed to be for the one who has the best view. I think I win, right?"

"Yes, right now, you have the best vantage point. I'll let you know if the situation changes. The Network is grateful for your help. Payment will be done after the job is over."

Hearing this, he put away the trinket with a smile, while seeing his brother set up a canvas on which he began painting the extraordinary scene in front of him.

"You know, brother, times have changed. We don't need to follow dad's instructions anymore. Then, he couldn't have imagined that display trinkets would become this widespread. If we split up, you could cover the battle from another point, letting us get double the income. The Network pays lucratively, you know."

Without answering, his brother continued to paint.

He added layers upon layers to the canvas. First, he started with an empty landscape, on which he added the many figures who constituted the army of Axelor. They were all wearing their uniforms which were marroon for the most part, with only their shoulders and belts being painted black. The army was at least 60,000 strong, and for the most part, it consisted of foot soldiers who were all outfitted the same: they had a short sword, a bow on their back, and a trinket that could elongate into a pike. They also had armor, with defensive properties that would stop the blow of an Amateur Fighter.

As for the other, elite parts of the Army, they were hidden from sight using formations, but his brother drew them anyway from the facts he knew regarding them.

The Elite Fighter army was only 2,000 strong, but they were terrifying foes, with each being at least an Eminent Fighter. They had specialized trinket blades that could morph into any weapon they wished, and they even carried defensive trinkets.

Of course, the Mage army was pitiful, standing only 300 strong with most of them being Amateur Mages, with very few Eminent Mages mixed in.

This was only a portion of their army, with the rest staying back in their Kingdom to defend against anyone who might want to target them while they were at war.

Yet, just this was enough to match the armies of the three Kingdoms in front of them.

In front of the Army of Axelor, there were three portions of armies with each being quite different from the other.

First of all, the total size was merely half that of their opponent.

Only…here, quality was emphasized more than quantity.

First of all, the Black Raven Kingdom had deployed 12,000 foot soldiers, which was almost their entire force.

Of these, a minor number of elites had Black Ravens on their shoulders, and there were also 300 Mages who were also mostly Amateur Mages, as they had been severely weakened recently.

Next to them was Lanthanor: 16000 Amateur Fighters, 500 Elite Eminent Fighters and just 100 of their Legendary Mage Corps, as the rest had been incapacitated in their recent mishap in Eldinor.

Of course, they were bolstered by Eminent, and even Exalted Mages from Eldinor. Just 200 of the former and 6 of the latter were enough to make a major difference, which tipped the scales into balance.

As he finished inking in all the details, the one who was watching couldn't help but shake his head, once again in awe of his brother's almost godly talent.

If one gazed at the painting, they would even feel the atmosphere of tension that was present between the armies, where a single command might result in the deaths of thousands of people who all had families waiting for them back at home.

His brother finally answered his question after carefully rolling up the canvas and setting it aside, before propping up a new one.

"Mark my words, brother. Some day, all of these trinkets might stop working, but my paintings will live on, and be admired by generations. The name 'Navar Rosso' will become known to all, just like our Father wished for it to happen. I cannot forget his dying wish, and I know that you can't either. I'll tell you what. I'll take care of this spot- why don't you head to another one?"

Hearing this, the other man shook his head and levitated a boulder nearby to his position, before sitting down and saying, "No thanks. Let me just feel lucky that I can gaze at my brother while he is making these pieces of art that will surely make our name known throughout the continent. Besides, others will be expecting us."

With a nod, remembering the times when his brother had used to sit just like this while cheering on his painting, no matter how ugly they had looked, Navar smiled and began another work- this one, with a perspective from above.

As he continued, little did he know that right above him, a meeting that would decide the fate of the soldiers he was drawing was taking place.

…

Daneel and Katerina were standing on the two sides of Faxul, while King Safiros, who had a smile on his face, stood alone in front of them.

He was dressed for war: with various defensive trinkets on his belt, along with a robe that was made of the strongest of materials that might even block the blow of an Exalted Human.

"What is the meaning of this, King Safiros? There will be no winner if we fight. Turn back, and I am ready to forgive you."

Hearing Faxul say this, the King of Axelor laughed out loud and said, "Forgive me? You truly are as inexperienced as they say you are. There will be no forgiving. Today, I will not return without subjugating the Black Raven Kingdom, and forming an alliance that can battle against the other one in this continent. Even the Big 4 will not stop me, as they know that this is fair. But…there is a way for this to be resolved without too much bloodshed."

This made the others wait with bated breath, and as King Safiros spoke again, his voice actually…reverberated throughout the area where the armies were assembled, and also in all the major places inside the Black Raven Kingdom where the citizens were assembled.

Clearly, he had planned this beforehand.

"I, King Safiros, challenge you to battle as I deem you unworthy of your role. If you wish for me to turn back, then fight me and show me that I am wrong. But if you're too scared, then my army will attack. Choose. Will you let your soldiers die for you when you have a way to avoid that, or will you finally be exposed as the coward you are?"

This resulted in a silence, with everyone unable to believe what had just been proposed.

A battle between Kings? But…why?

As Katerina saw Faxul waver, she realized that he was in a tough position.

On one side, the battle would be unpredictable, and very dangerous.

On the other, if he stepped back, he would lose the support of his people, which would be disastrous in the current state of things.

As she began to ready herself for either outcome, she got a message from the King of Lanthanor, which made her widen her eyes and wonder whether he was joking.

"Don't worry about this. I was busy, so I didn't have the time to tell you. Anyway, I'll explain in detail later. For now, prepare to be attacked by these two. After that, get ready to be 'routed' when their forces combine and attack us, but make sure that there are no losses. Engage all defenses. It's fine if we look like we are being beaten to the curb. Just make sure to act shocked, all right?"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates(dot)Net

.

586 First Phase: Success

Jalan and his family were closest to one of the points from where the King of Axelor's voice echoed throughout the Kingdom.

They bent low, at first, fearing that it might be an attack.

Yet, as they heard the contents of the message, they didn't know what to think.

All around them, families began whispering among themselves. Most said that the King should fight, as they were a people who always wished to have their heads raised high. How could they face others if it was a fact that their King retreated from a direct challenge without even fighting?

Of those who advocated this, the most vehement were the ones who had family members in the army that had marched out. They did not wish to see a war happen, if it was possible.

A few murmured about how the King had always been good to them, and that it was unfair because he was still just a teen, compared to the King of Axelor who had lived for many decades. Their power levels surely would not match, so it would be suicide.

Yet, they did not like the option of not accepting the battle, either, for the same reasons that the others felt.

Jalan didn't know what to think. Before he could decide on something, though, they heard the firm voice of the King respond.

"All right. I will fight. Let it never be known that the Black Raven Kingdom took a step back, no matter the circumstances."

At the scene where the rulers were gathered, Faxul's answer had caused the two behind him to adopt stoic expressions as they saw him walk forward to meet his foe.

On the outside, it looked as if they were prepared to step in in case he faced any danger.

Yet, in a few seconds…it was all over.

The moment King Safiros reached his opponent, he conjured a sword made of condensed fire and struck down.

In response, Faxul expertly jumped to the side to evade the blow, but that was when he froze, as if he were being electrocuted by a force neither of them could see.

In that moment, without giving them any time to respond, the King of Axelor forcefully punched to dispel the barrier around Faxul, before taking out a trinket shaped like a small, stone block from his pocket which he placed on Faxul's forehead.

This immediately caused Faxul's face to relax, before a cold smile came on his face.

The King of Lanthanor, who looked as if he was seeing something he couldn't accept as the truth, suddenly shouted, "It's a trap!"

In response, the two Kings in front of them shot out devastating attacks at the Hero level which were capable of killing them both, who were only supposed to be Warriors, in the blink of an eye.

Thankfully, his gut feeling had saved him. The King of Lanthanor had hastily caught the Queen's hand, before teleporting them both away instantly.

Finding themselves alone, the Empire Spirit, Arnold, who was once again controlling the King, stretched out a hand to the Black Raven King, who was still on the ground, where he had collapsed after being forcefully Mind Controlled.

The trinket was something special that he and the old bird had made, that was capable of connecting someone to the stone pedestal where he was bound.

Basically, Arnold had used a Mind Control attack first to distract the King, before using this trinket to put him under the temporary control of the old bird.

The latter's aim was to slowly torture the King in various ways until he voluntarily allowed him to take full control, while this alliance, which would come to be using the identity of the King that they had just obtained, would allow Arnold to break the third seal and win the Race using everything that he would obtain.

It was a beautiful confluence of objectives that would see both of them getting what they wanted, so both of them had smiles on their faces after seeing the first part of their plan succeed.

Next up…it was time for the 'betrayel'.

…

Meanwhile, Daneel and Katerina had just appeared above their armies, which had hastily begun to defend against the combined attack from the Black Raven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Axelor.

They were retreating slowly while hiding behind the many barrier trinkets that were deployed courtesy of Eldinor, and it definitely looked like a rout.

Katerina looked at the scene with worry, but when she turned to the side, she saw the King of Lanthanor smile happily.

What the f*ck was going on?

Thankfully, the King looked at her and spoke at this moment.

"Good job. That was a pretty genuine expression."

"That's because I was shocked! What's going on? And how could you not tell me, beforehand?"

"Er…like I said, I was busy. So, what do you want to know?"

As Katerina heard this, she could only sputter for a moment, while she saw the King shoot glances below with that same happy expression.

Finally, she found some words after putting aside her exasperation.

"Everything!"

This made the King scratch his nose and think for a bit, before answering.

"Right. So, first, I don't need to tell you to keep this a secret, right?"

Folding her hands, Katerina nodded with anger appearing on her face, as it almost seemed as if the King was delaying his answer to ramp up the shock factor.

She was not amused.

Noticing this, the King finally launched into his explanation.

"Well, I'll keep it short. Faxul is betraying me so that he can gain the trust of Axelor's King and find out everything that is going on inside his Kingdom. Later on, things will play out in such a manner that the Black Raven Kingdom will be saved by me, so that we can bring them into the Alliance."

Instead of clearing things up, this raised more questions than ever in Katerina's mind, which made her even angrier as it looked like the King was deliberately being enigmatic.

Curiosity won out over anger. So, she asked the most glaring ones.

"How the hell did those two shoot attacks that were at a complexity I couldn't even comprehend? What was that trinket? And if this is a sudden betrayal, how the hell did his soldiers begin to attack us without being puzzled regarding why they are being ordered to attack those who came to support them?"

"Oh, apologies, I forgot that you're out of the loop on certain…matters. Well, the answer is that this betrayal was facilitated by something called an Empire Spirit, which is working in conjunction with another Empire Spirit that is controlling the King of Axelor, that Mind Controlled Faxul into obeying its orders. They were already planning this from before, so they Mind Controlled key commanders in the Black Raven Army, who declared before the battle, secretly, that they would be allying with Axelor for the good of their people, and that it was the command of the King after he had found out that there was a secret plan by Lanthanor to take over their Kingdom by force. Oh, Faxul's in on this- both of us allowed them to do that. Strong dialogues like 'for the good of my people, I am ready to kill my friend' blah blah were used. In other words, it's just a load of bullsh*t to convince, or at least confuse them into following orders. Because it was a direct command, and because they always were wary of Lanthanor, they followed the orders, and the result is what you see below you. Now then, I'll explain more about Empire Spirits later. For now, prepare to lead everyone back. Let's go."

Saying so, the King of Lanthanor vanished, leaving behind Katerina who was close to spitting with rage.

True, he had said a lot, but most of it didn't make sense.

Still, controlling her anger, she left to do as she had been asked.

…

An hour later, citizens all over the Continent were shocked as they saw the King of Lanthanor, who had seemed so undefeatable during that show that was still talked about, running back to his Kingdom along with his army while being attacked by a humongous force that was 4 times the size of the one he had deployed.

They desperately conjured barriers to protect themselves, and it was mainly because of the Exalted Mages from Eldinor who managed to rain down cautionary attacks on their opponents that they even managed to escape to their border, where the chase was finally stopped as that force was not enough to fight against the legendary border walls of Lanthanor.

Yet, in their display trinkets, many watched in shock as they witnessed the sight of the combined army of Lanthanor and Eldinor scurrying inside the walls while their opponents cheered with the joy of victory.

Even the army of the Black Raven Kingdom cheered, as this was their first victory in what felt like a long, long time.

As the two armies returned to their respective Kingdoms, a grave announcement was made on both types of the Networks.

"The Black Raven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Axelor have entered an Alliance. The Black Raven King has released a public statement saying that he had no option but to do this because his friend, the King of Lanthanor, was going to vanquish his Kingdom and bring it under his Alliance to satiate his greed for power. The King of Lanthanor has also released a statement that his close friend has been somehow hoodwinked by the King of Axelor. At this point, all we can do is report the news as it is. As things stand now, there are two Alliances on this continent. The Network will continue to be neutral, so stay tuned to hear more."

For the first time, the citizens of Angaria were exposed to the sight of two figures in power giving different accounts of an incident, with them being clueless regarding which one they were supposed to believe.

Daneel chuckled inwardly as he thought of this, while he sat in his Throne Room, where all the ministers that were assembled had grave expressions on their faces.

In their eyes, they had just lost an ally, and they were up against a force which eclipsed the combined might of their Alliance.

Of course, on the outside, Daneel had to look worried, so he engaged in a brainstorming session with them where they listed all the worst-case scenarios so that they could prepare for them.

As soon as this was done, Daneel flew into the air to watch as King Safiros, or Arnold, who was still in control, laid down a formation much like the one that was around his own Kingdom.

Only…he couldn't have known that Daneel had already expected this, and had set up a small nullifying formation inside that would allow him to enter the Black Raven Kingdom as he pleased.

The first part of the plan had gone beautifully. The betrayal had been perfect, and for all intents and purposes, Lanthanor was now the villain.

Yet…the second part of his plan would see that change.

Teleporting inside the Black Raven Kingdom without being detected by Safiros, Daneel traveled to the same family that they had lodged with before, when he and Faxul had been journeying in the Black Raven Kingdom together.

When he reached the house, he saw a kid sleeping, while two adults confusedly discussed the events of a day.

He had decided to begin the next phase here. So, with a flick of his fingers, he Mind Controlled both of them, before putting a very specific thought in their mind.

"In some point in the future, soon, your King will order a specific place to be purged. Then, you must go to that location, and begin to tell people that the King of Lanthanor was right, and that your true King is somehow being controlled by someone. Working with a few others, you will begin to build small pockets of support for the King of Lanthanor, who has only always wanted to help you all. When the time comes, you will sway even more people to your cause using an event that will take place. For now, you will forget all this, until the time when the purge is announced."

With his task done, Daneel continued onwards to other houses throughout the Kingdom to repeat the same actions.

As he did so, he couldn't help but remember an iconic statement from Earth, which made him wish that that language was present here.

"Viva la revolución!"

Oh, if only he could hear this being shouted when the second phase reached its conclusion.

Daydreaming in this way, he went about his work.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

587 Elanev“s Ruined Vacation

In the Kingdom of Axelor, in a secret location a few kilometers away from the Royal Palace.

Two men were standing in front of a third whose face was so battered that even his features weren't clearly visible anymore.

He seemed to be wearing the garb of a King, but the beating he had been through had torn through most of it, leaving behind a few remnants of the precious materials that had once protected him.

He was chained against a boulder, with his hands in the air, while a large puddle of blood formed between his legs from the multiple injuries all over his body which looked like they had been caused by some kind of ridged whip.

Indeed, to the side lay a table, on which there were multiple objects designed for torture, all of which had blood on them.

Of the two men, one had a small smile on his face, while the other looked grim.

Of course, they were Arnold and the one whom he believed to be his friend from the time of the Empire.

"You want me to step in? I didn't expect a brat to hold on this long against our tried and tested methods.", he asked, after spending a few moments while gazing at the half-dead body in front of him.

In response, the other figure shook his head and said, "No. I want to do it myself. I already told you there was something special about him. He's stubborn, at least. Makes me look forward all the more to completely possessing his body. I can only keep this guy's craziness at bay for so long."

With a nod, Arnold turned around and said, "All right. I guess we have time. Let me go see how much closer I've gotten to the last seal. Call me if you need anything. Good job, by the way. Everything went swimmingly. I trust there won't be any problems from all those soldiers and citizens?"

"Even if there are, it won't matter. We're only using them. I'll handle them if any pop up."

"Good. I'll go rest in my pedestal, then. You be careful to not let yourself stay away for too long, too. I don't want to lose an ally for stupid reasons."

"Humph. How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not that old bird who needed your help to fly again."

"Force of habit."

Saying so and waving his arm, the King of Axelor's body teleported away, following which the 'Empire Spirit', who looked like the previous King of the Black Raven Kingdom, immediately activated a secret formation and ran forward to untie the shackles.

This was followed by him touching a hidden trinket on the prone body's neck, which resulted in the 'Black Raven King' turning into someone completely different.

"Oh, that f*cking stings. I shouldn't have trusted that old geezer's damn 'pain blocking technique'. The f*cker was always saying that he wanted me to go through the worst pain possible as it would build resolve. I didn't think he would make it happen now! That f*cking technique double the pain! OW!"

That last howl was the result of the healing spells that had begun to knit the skin back together all over his body, making it even more painful for a little while.

"Brother Elanev, I said that we could try faking it. So that was why you were screaming so loudly?"

Hearing this question, Elanev, who was masquerading a Faxul as part of the plan, chuckled hoarsely and said, "Yes! But that wasn't an option. What if he looked closely? Well, we can try it now, though, as he's already come once. From next time, just don't meet him here, like Daneel said. I don't know how that kid managed to think of every damn thing."

This made Faxul smile.

"He's always had a knack for that since we were in the Academy. It's kinda creepy, in fact. Come on. Let's eat."

Saying so, Faxul stretched out a hand, which Elanev caught to raise himself up before they both headed to a table nearby on which some food was placed.

As they both devoured the bread and soup even though it was hardly food fit for Kings, they almost forgot that they were in a hostile Kingdom where if their identities were revealed, they would face certain death.

After finishing everything in front of him, Elanev sat back and resisted the urge to scratch the wounds which were healing.

Decided to take his mind off of them, he looked at Faxul and said, "All right, take me through it again. In as simple a way as possible. I don't want to miss anything."

This was the 8th time that Elanev was asking this. Yet, Faxul didn't judge him in any manner, as this was a pretty complex plan that he, himself, had had to ruminate on for quite some time to grasp properly.

Taking a deep breath, he decided to start with what had already happened.

"Ok. Well, the objective was for the betrayal to place me squarely inside Axelor, from where I can collect information. And, of course, Daneel needs to become the leader of the Black Raven Kingdom, too, so something like this was needed to create circumstances where that can be made possible."

Seeing Elanev nod, Faxul continued.

"So, the main sticking point was the army. That became simple, as all we had to do was Mind Control a few of the commanders into believing and following the orders. I and that Arnold were both supposed to do it, but Daneel did my part, because I'm not really a Hero-level Mage, you know. Of course, it looked authentic, so that guy didn't doubt a thing. After that, we had that scene of betrayal where you masqueraded as me. How did it feel when Arnold tried to Mind Control you, by the way?"

"Like someone was bashing my head in with a damn building. I could resist if I wanted to, though. Part of the old man's training was him chasing me around with a huge metal bell he found somewhere. He would bash my head with it repeatedly, and I had to recover as soon as possible and run again after throwing off the ringing sound that came from the bell. Oh, such fun."

Hearing this almost made Faxul pity Elanev, but he just smiled in reply and went on, after actually feeling quite surprised that there was a way to defend against this spell that seemed all-powerful against all those at a lower level than the one casting it.

"So, he basically did that to distract you, so that the real Mind Control by me i.e the Empire Spirit could happen. That stone trinket he kept on your forehead was a special 'connector' trinket that connected your consciousness to my…I mean, my character's stone pedestal, as that is required for the Mind Control to be carried out. Well, we faked that part, as Daneel made that trinket to just mimic the real deal and throw Arnold off. That's why you were instructed to act in that manner. It was pretty good, by the way- especially that cold smile, you pulled it off well. Arnold thinks Daneel and Katerina have no idea what's going on, so it will look like a betrayal, but Daneel is also supposed to be smart, so he released a statement saying that he thinks you've somehow been hoodwinked. Well, we couldn't disclose the fact that he has Drakos. Or that I'm a Champion level Fighter. Yet, anyway. And, finally, you were selected because we needed someone to match the known power levels of the Black Raven King. Arnold has a level detection formation around this Kingdom, so it was necessary to use you. You were only being Mind Controlled, which is a temporary thing unlike the transfer of a part of a consciousness, so the complexity of your mind was supposed to remain the same. Thankfully, the formation can only detect a major level. So, your dabbling in the Mage path which allowed you to become an Amateur Mage was enough to pass you as the Eminent Mage that I'm supposed to be. And, of course, it scanned the body, too, which fits again because I'm supposed to be an Amateur Warrior. My bloodline allows me to hide my body's power level, though, which is apparently something only awakened bloodline possessors can do."

That last part made Elanev grimace fiercely.

Initially, it had just been Daneel. Yet, now, even his other younger brother had surpassed him.

No, the most infuriating thing was that he had surpassed him as a Fighter!

Damn those Bloodlines! They were so unfair!

When he had cursed about this in the presence of the old man, the latter had said that with the surprise waiting for him in that sect in the Big 4, he wouldn't have to worry.

Yet, they couldn't go now, because this plan had to be implemented first.

"Yes, I just thought of all the things I would do to the old man in case he got a body, and I got that smile.", he replied, before standing up.

That had been their plan so far, but the next part still remained.

Because his mind was only supposed to have an Amateur Mage complexity, bringing along the old man had not been an option.

The next part was going to be pretty boring, though, as all he had to do was wait and be 'tortured'.

Faxul, though, had an important job, which he spoke about after a few moments of silence came between them.

"I'll be off to start my thing, then. Daneel wants a clear analysis of all the towns, villages and gatherings all over the Kingdom, along with all the data I can get about everything that has happened in this Kingdom over the past few years. It's essential for the third phase, which will bring everything to a head. I also need to scout all the important places, so that he can come and steal those parts of the GI he needs. I've got my work cut out for me, while he must also be pretty busy handling everything outside. You can use your free time to do as you wish. This formation was given by Drakos: it will alert you if someone's coming, which won't happen anyway because I'll be monitoring it. I'll come back right away and intercept anyone who comes. Bye."

Saying so, Faxul teleported away, leaving Elanev alone in the room.

Initially, after hearing the plan, he had thought of this as a vacation where he could get some rest away from the old man.

Yet, seeing that fact about this guy, who was younger him, becoming a Champion while he was still just a Warrior, he was no longer in the mood to rest and pass time.

Choosing the back side of the boulder he was supposed to be imprisoned on, Faxul began punching, repeatedly.

"Iron hands: A skill that can only be trained by one's hand breaking and then being mended over and over again, until they adapt to become strong enough with the influx of Energy."

This was one of the most excruciating techniques given by the old man because it required one to break their fingers and hand hundreds of times.

Yet, it was apparently a technique that scaled with each level, allowing a Fighter to use it even after he became a Champion.

Deciding to master it during this trip, Faxul continued punching, while ignoring the pain.

…

Meanwhile, Daneel had just visited all the places he had wanted to go to in the Black Raven Kingdom.

He was basically building resistance pockets in preparation for a very important event that would soon go down, so they needed to be as spread out as possible.

For now, his job was done, so he finally got some free time.

Deciding to talk to Eloise, Daneel headed to her chambers, only to find them empty.

Just when he was about to contact her through a communication trinket, a maid approached and gave him a letter that Eloise had left behind.

As he read, a cold sweat sprang up on the King of Lanthanor's forehead.

"Sister Xuan invited me on a trip somewhere. She said she wanted to talk to me. We will not be reachable for a while."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

588 Wai

2 days later.

Jalan was sitting along with his friends on a tree, while munching on some sweet snacks that his mother had made.

The one beside him tried to snatch one of them from his pocket, but Jalan expertly caught his hand and bent it backward, saying, "I told you you would regret not sharing before."

This made the kid grumble and fold his hands, while the others laughed a bit before once again focusing their attention on the gathering that was going on a few hundred meters away from them.

Their parents were all standing around a very large tree, in the forest near their village, that had been designated as the place where important meetings would take place.

Right now, the Mayor, who was an old man with greying hair and a bent back, was speaking with the help of a loudspeaker trinket that was exclusively available to those in power.

"We all know of the sudden circumstances in which our King had to take thing decision. I spoke to the leader of the troops that we passed on that day, too. He told me that he was caught by surprise as much as everyone, but the commander was someone to be trusted. Seeing him so sure, the Captain decided to obey orders, just like the rest of the army. You all must still remember that scene of victory where the combined army of Lanthanor and Eldinor was routed effortlessly."

In response, one of the women among those gathered spoke up.

"So what? It's still a fact that Lanthanor was always good to us. Their King even built that monument by giving up his land, that I, and many others, still visit regularly to this day. Obviously, we can't do that anymore, and we aren't griping about that. But what if he is right? What if our King has been hoodwinked?"

"Mafana, you've always been a conspiracy nut! Stop trying to make others panic! We all remember when you saw the Protector Raven in the air and assumed that it was the Divine Ancestor, come to bless our village!"

This made the woman who had spoken blush for a moment, but she replied without missing a beat.

"And I remember when you cheated in the fight against your neighbor by having someone else fight for you. That was a mistake of mine, before. But this is something we should seriously consider. We have never been an Alliance. I heard that there was a proposal to ally with Lanthanor before, where we would have gotten a lot of benefits in the form of trade. It was stopped because we, the people, would never agree to be ruled by someone not acknowledged by the Divine Ancestor. But isn't that the case now? The King of Axelor was named as the chief of the Alliance in the public statement!"

That last statement made silence appear in the gathering, as they all recalled the announcement, and the way it had made them feel.

Some had gotten angry, but the announcement had also contained grave warnings about the threat that the King of Lanthanor presented, and that this was the only way for them to survive and preserve their way of life.

Overall, almost all the citizens had been…confused.

Too much had happened which muddled their minds. Typically, they would have directly rioted in opposition of an Alliance where someone acknowledged by the Divine Ancestor was not in command. But with the other option being that the same thing would have happened anyway without their own King not even being in the list of those who were in authority, they couldn't help but think that maybe…this was Ok, because it was better than the other option.

Yet another conflicting thing was that their impression of the King of Lanthanor had been steadily improving for a time, due to everything he had done, and due to the capability of his soldiers that had been on display during the Olympics. Of course, the events they saw in the Network Trinket during 'Mercy for the Wicked' played a large part in that, too.

That had taken a blow with their King's announcement about that secret plan, and the conflicting announcement that their own King was being controlled somehow had made the people even more confused, not knowing which cause to rally behind.

Should they doubt their King?

Should they believe him, and remove their impression of King Daneel?

Should they show their ire due to being under the command of someone foreign?

Or should they let it all be and continue with their lives, as there did not seem to be too many changes anyway?

The objective of this gathering had been to answer these questions, but with the discussions going on, it soon became clear that that might be easier said than done.

After these statements, what followed was bickering where almost everyone was still divided. Some wanted peace and some wanted to rebel. A few also only wanted to find out when the snacks would come, as they were tired of so many questions and just wanted to wait until the confusion was cleared up.

Unbeknownst to them, a communication eye was floating in the air, watching this entire scene, and it was only one of many which had been secretly deployed by the Army on the orders of their King.

All of these communication eyes sent data to the Kingdom of Axelor, where three men were standing in the Throne Room while listening to the discussions going on.

Each time someone spoke of rebelling, a frown would pass across the King's face.

This was King Safiros, who was finally in command of his own body as the Empire Spirit was resting in his pedestal.

Beside him was the one he thought to be the 'Empire Spirit', who was masquerading as the Black Raven King for the sake of the other man in the room- his trusty Minister.

Safiros had been delighted on finding out this plan that the two Empire Spirits had hatched. He knew that he would only benefit, over all, if the third seal was broken, as the agreement he had with Arnold was that he would be the winner of the Race, in any case, and when that happened, all he would have to do was one small little task, after which he would have his power and life span magnified by an unimaginable amount.

Also, he would be given command of the entire Continent, including the Big 4.

What else could he want?

His enthusiasm, in the beginning, had been palpable. This dream had been the reason he carried out so many purges with such gleeful joy, and he had also been told to study the feelings of those he was purging, as he had also been promised a very powerful Champion Path that was apparently behind the last seal, which he could use to ascend even if he was only an Exalted Human right now. Apparently, according to Arnold, the third seal would also give them a way for him to drastically grow in power, instantly, just like how the King of Lanthanor had done.

Yet, with failure after failure, and with no one taking his bait, he had started to get worried.

Thankfully, all that had changed with the emergence of Arnold's 'old friend'.

The entire plan had been carried out so beautifully. He could still remember the shock on the faces of that damn brat and that elven b*tch, and it was something that gave him so much happiness that he often burst out laughing with joy at odd times on recalling that memory. Of course, the same thing happened when he thought about their army being routed by his in that way, too.

Seeing the King's beloved friend in that state, near to death, and knowing that he would be undergoing extreme torture, day and night, had also been some very happy news that he had wished he could share with the King of Lanthanor just so that he could gloat.

Only, he had been forbidden from doing this as the King might some way to use that to support his claim that the Black Raven King was being controlled.

Lastly, the fact that he was now in command of two Kingdoms, not one, was another reason why this was the best time in the King's life, so far.

Yet, all the discussions in front of him about rebellions were once again stroking his rage and madness, which had been put to rest temporarily.

Those frowns were noted by the Minister, who had also been pretty shocked by everything that had happened. He didn't know about Empire Spirits, so he had only been told that this was all a plan hatched in secret by King Safiros. Although he doubted that this mad guy was capable of planning anything on that scale, he had accepted the answer on the surface, while knowing that there was something secret that he didn't know about. He wasn't dumb, after all.

Still, he had been pretty happy as all this meant that those purges might stop.

Only…seeing these frowns, he once again started to fear the worst.

Hastily, before they turned into something much worse, he decided to speak up.

"My King, this is normal in a Kingdom which has never been ruled by anyone other than whom they acknowledge. It will all die down with time. It is actually a blessing that they are so divided, as we can slowly turn them in our way by using the correct means. Isn't that so, King Faxul?"

Of course, the 'Faxul' here was the real Faxul.

With a nod, he said, "Of course."

Suddenly, before he could continue, a change came over King Safiros.

His face became relaxed, and he looked like a completely different person.

The Minister had seen this many times, and he had always thought it to be a split personality developed due to that technique that had decreased the King's power level before.

"Leave us, Minister. I wish to converse with the Black Raven King alone."

The Minister nodded and left, and as soon as the door closed, 'Faxul' changed appearance to his 'true' form, in the eyes of Arnold, which was that of that old Black Raven King.

"What is it? You called me?", he asked, following which Arnold waved his hand to gesture at the screens before saying, "We have a problem. I've checked the satisfaction level."

Furrowing his eyebrows, the 'old bird' waited for Arnold to continue.

After looking at the screens for a few more moments, he said, "The satisfaction level in the Black Raven Kingdom is pretty damn low because of all this doubt. Although there was an increase overall, as we predicted, it's not enough. We're 9% away, which is not a small amount."

Hearing this made Faxul smile inwardly, although he looked like he was seriously considering something on the outside.

'Damn, Daneel. How did you calculate it all so perfectly?'

Indeed, Daneel had already given an estimate regarding this, and now, it was Faxul's duty to guide Arnold into doing what they wanted.

Yet, it had to be done slowly, without taking any risks.

Looking up, the 'old bird' said, "Let's wait and see. That guy was right- this is a transition phase. With time, it should settle down. I'll get back to my task."

Saying so, the 'old bird' disappeared, leaving behind the Empire Spirit who did not look as amused as he had been in that underground room before.

But, he did agree that they would have to wait.

…

After seeing the message, Daneel had tried to contact them, anyway, to no avail.

It was like they had vanished off the map.

So, the only thing he could do was hope that they would get back in touch soon.

He had already guessed that the reason behind her tears might be that she somehow found out about what happened in the Goddess's Sanctum.

He had to admit that he was worried, but he still cared most about whether she was ok.

Sadly, all he could do was twiddle his thumbs and await their return.

While he was doing that, he got the message from Faxul that the second phase was progressing smoothly. Arnold had measured the satisfaction level and found it to be within the range Daneel, using the system, had predicted, and Faxul, as the 'old bird' had told him to wait for it to get better.

Of course, there was no way that Daneel would let that happen.

So, putting aside the worry regarding Eloise and looking forward to this next part that would be pretty fun, he set off once again to the Black Raven Kingdom.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

589 Anti-Satisfaction Level Module

Satisfaction level was something which dictated how happy a citizen was in being a part of the particular kingdom that they inhabited. Hence, after repeated experimentation, and due to all the efforts he had undertaken to increase the satisfaction level of his own kingdom, Daneel had an idea regarding how to influence it in whatever way he wished.

Basically, it was all about the thoughts of a citizen. He had always known that it was possible to use indirect methods in order to increase the satisfaction level drastically, such as the one that the King of Axelor was employing. Yet, he had always had the feeling that there must be some motive behind the Emperor putting this as the test for those who wished to obtain what he had hidden behind the three seals.

So, he had always endeavored to increase it in the right way, and he was happy that most of his efforts had worked out well.

Yet, he had to agree that this method of increasing the overall number of people to increase the average was something which was smack dab on top of the line between right and wrong.

On one side, it was such a gaping loophole that he was sure that the Emperor might have thought about it, and on the other, it also looked as if there was no way to stop someone from taking advantage of it. After all, if the objective was to find a King who would keep a lot of people satisfied that they were in his kingdom, then what was wrong with him assimilating more people into his dominion so that he could make them happy, too?

While questions like these swirled in his head, Daneel teleported into the Black Raven Kingdom and headed to that same village where he had started his recent task two days ago.

As soon as he arrived, he noticed that the atmosphere here was quite different from how it had been all those months ago when he and Faxul had traveled through here as part of their journey in the Black Raven Kingdom.

At that time, although the rate of development and the number of things that were being done for the people weren't anything remarkable, at all, there had still been happiness and joy in most of the families in this little village.

Yet, now, all Daneel felt was a weird atmosphere where many stares were being exchanged between various families, who had been coexisting peacefully until now.

Clearly, the differences in opinion were driving wedges between them, which was something that he had seen a lot back on Earth.

He had been loath to use this simple yet effective method of differing opinions to decrease the satisfaction level so that Arnold wouldn't directly break through the third seal, but it had been staring him right in the face, and it was the easiest method to make sure that the other phases of his plan would go ahead properly.

And of course, this fit in with the rest of it, because only troubled times would give rise to what he wished.

Putting aside his excitement for the last phase, Daneel first pointed at a specific spot in the air, where he knew a communication eye was present.

He had already planned this beforehand so that Faxul would be present in the throne room where all the display screens were present. So, as soon as he pointed his finger at it, he asked Faxul, "What do you see? Was there any sort of flickering?"

After a few moments, Faxul responded.

"None. The image remains as it was. I have to admit that I'm thoroughly impressed by this part, Daneel, even more than the rest."

To this, Daneel merely chuckled and said, "Well, it was pretty obvious that he would have to use some sort of monitoring system in order to check out what is going on in this Kingdom that he thinks is under his command. If I wanted to deceive him in any way, I needed to prepare beforehand – and he could never have expected that I would deploy communication eyes everywhere, so that I can simply show him a loop of whatever happened whenever I want. Keep checking. If there is even a sign that anything might be exposed, I'll stop."

"Alright. Just be gentle with them. Remember, they will be under your command soon."

To this, Daneel just said "Of course. When have I ever been anything but gentle with citizens?", Before cutting off their connection and walking into the village.

Right after he did so, Daneel once again checked on the eye, and then conjured a throne before sitting down right in the center of the village.

The input of the communication eye that the King of Axelor would see was already hijacked and it was sending data of the day before– so that nothing amiss would be seen by anyone who might be watching.

With a smile, he spoke inside his head.

"System, deploy the Anti-Satisfaction Level module."

[Affirmative. Deploying. Beginning analysis of data. 62 families detected. Listing families on the basis of what side they are on. Primary Targets identified: 16 families. Collecting information about targets.]

This was something that would take at least a little bit of time, so Daneel conjured a book out of thin air which was one of those that he had acquired in the library of the Goddess's Sanctum.

It was an interesting piece of work about how even those of high talent should be put through extra difficulty so that they would always be grateful of their power, which might allow them to reach the highest level that they could.

10 minutes later, the system was done.

[Results are ready to be displayed in the HUD.]

Standing up with a broad smile, Daneel asked the system to activate the HUD to show him the results before walking forward to the first house that was located just a few steps away from where he had been sitting.

As he walked, no one could tell that there was anyone in that location, and only those who passed close by got a strange feeling which made them look around with suspicion, and then shake their head, thinking that they must have imagined it.

Trusting the efficiency of the system in hiding him from the sight of all who might be watching, Daneel reached his target and simply teleported inside.

He noticed that the two members of this little family were embroiled in a small discussion regarding whether they should continue supporting the King's decision, and be happy that they hadn't been vanquished by the King of Lanthanor, which was a possibility that might be true based on the decades-long history that the two Kingdoms had shared.

This was one of the reasons behind this family being on the side that Daneel didn't want them to be in.

Hence, he had to change that.

The process for this was simple – the other side had already introduced a few doubts into the minds of these two people, so he just had to make those doubts stronger.

Right now, the point of the discussion was that Axelor had just as bad a history with them as Lanthanor, and that the positive actions that the latter had undertaken should be taken into account, too.

At this point, Daneel simply looked at the space above their heads, where there were multiple statements floating around.

Above the woman's head was a statement that said: "What about that time during the Olympics though, where Axelor was the one who must have deployed those mosquitoes which killed a lot of people?"

Choosing this one, Daneel made it…appear in her mind.

This was the simplest form of Mind Control which didn't even take a lot of his effort – all he was doing was introducing this thought into her mind, and he wasn't even coaxing her into thinking about it. That part wasn't necessary, as their minds were already in a state of flux because of the discussion that was going on.

Hence, the next second, the woman uttered this thought that she had just gotten, and even she, herself, got a thoughtful expression on her face while both of them began to think of this, which slightly tilted their opinion towards the side which stated that they should rebel in some form, and not be happy with how things were.

He had basically given the system the task that it should identify all the facts regarding the issues that could be used as counterarguments to push the citizens to think what he wanted. So, all he had to do was pick what he wanted, so that he could learn what worked and what didn't.

Changing someone's thoughts while using this form of Mind Control was a very fine art, which was what Daneel realized after a few more minutes.

For example, in the husband's case, he had used the issue about how uniting with Lanthanor would have given them better trade routes, and that this was no longer possible as they were a part of Axelor, which was a foe of Lanthanor's. This didn't result in any major shift in their overall opinion, as it was something that did not concern them, personally, too much.

There were others which did concern them, though. For example, reiterating about how Daneel had looked during the episode of 'Mercy for the Wicked' had worked well to swing them towards the rebellion again.

By the time he was done 20 minutes later, this family was already firmly heading in the direction of becoming one of those that would soon clamor for things to not be like they were right now, which was exactly what he wanted as the satisfaction level would go down.

With a smile, Daneel traveled to the next family and continued to repeat this, all while learning how to get better and better at the task.

Two hours later, 12 families were already well on their way to shift their opinion. He couldn't do it with all of them, though, as it would be too suspicious.

It would have been nice if this was the only thing he had to do, but it wasn't.

Next up, Daneel traveled to the houses of the extremists, who were saying that they should begin right now and also target those who had different opinions from them.

These were his secondary targets.

Such people would always be present throughout the world, but he did not want them to do as they wished, as that would result in an atmosphere of violence which would cause many deaths – which was something that he really did not want to see happen.

So, in these houses, Daneel did the opposite – he used the thoughts from the other sides to make them doubt their own conviction in carrying out the rebellion, with the objective of making them decide that they would stall and wait to see what would happen.

With time, he got better and better at it, and even the system started to learn which ones worked in which didn't.

With this, his work in this village was done. Before he had come, almost half of it had been on the general side of not wanting to be in this alliance. And now, that had changed to more than three fourths, which would definitely result in the satisfaction level plummeting instead of rising up.

True, he was manipulating them, but Daneel had to admit that this was a very good learning experience, and that it was definitely not boring at all to see how simple one-liners could influence the thoughts of a person.

This made him think about the major influence of social media back on Earth on the entire world, where even political parties had begun to use methods just like this one to sway people towards their cause.

Thankfully, there were regulatory bodies there which endeavored to stop this from happening, but there was no such thing here. Hence, if this fell into the hands of someone who could exploit it, it might definitely result in a disaster.

So, resolving to do something about this right after he was done using it himself, he proceeded to the next village, and then the next one, and the next town, and then the Capital itself.

He did so randomly, and even the number of families changed at each location was random – all so that there would be no suspicion arising whatsoever.

It was pretty exhausting, as there were literally tens of thousands of people he had to cover, but soon, with time, the system absorbed more and more data until it was capable of accomplishing what he wanted automatically just my him passing over a settlement.

That had been his hope, and seeing it work, Daneel was pretty happy. Hence, using this, he sped up the whole thing, and was finished with the entire Kingdom in three days.

The continent was still reeling from what had happened, as it hadn't even been a week since that humiliating loss by the First Alliance of Angaria.

Yet, Daneel decided to proceed anyway, as it was best to strike the iron when it was hot.

Exhausted, with his eyes drooping, he picked up a communication trinket and sent a message to Faxul.

"My part in the second phase is done. You can proceed. Let me know how it goes. Good luck, Faxul."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

590 Ending the Second Phase 1

As soon as Faxul got the message, he couldn't believe what he had heard.

He knew exactly the task that Daneel had set for himself, and he hadn't been envious of him at all, as he had known that it was something that would definitely take a lot of time and effort.

In fact, he had been doubtful if Daneel would even be able to pull it off.

Yet, now he was supposed to believe that it was all over in just three days?

When they had talked, Daneel had said that he would have to go to each and every family that was in support of being happy with the state of the kingdom, and use Mind Control to introduce thoughts in their mind to sway them in the opposite direction. As for how he would identify the stance of each family in the first place, he said that it would be using the data from the display trinkets that he had already deployed in each and every village and town in the Black Raven Kingdom in preparation to hijack those that the King of Axelor would definitely deploy.

Even with the complexity of a Warrior, going through the footage of a village, magnifying and separating the audio inputs from each house and then assessing these inputs to make a decision regarding what side they were on – all of this would definitely take a considerable amount of time that made it seem as if this task that he had set for himself was impossible, and would take months to accomplish.

Even with the help of Hero-level Drakos, this timeline might be cut short to a few weeks, and even this would be a miracle.

But three days? How?!

Faxul had no idea, and he was pretty sure that he might not be getting an answer, either, from his friend, who would almost definitely brush it off and give some random explanation.

Even with the calm that he had adopted after the baptism, he had needed a few moments to recover from the shock, but just as he was about to get back to normal and begin to do his part, he received another message which seemed like an afterthought.

"And, oh, you don't need to worry about riots breaking out before we want them to. Like we discussed, I did that thing to make those kinds of families and people decide to take a step back and wait to see what happens."

What!? He had done that, too?

Was he even human?

At this point, realizing that such questions were futile, Faxul just sighed and let it go, before deciding to hurry up with his own task so that he wouldn't stall them.

He was supposed to find out about all the recent purges, and those who had been affected by them, and for that reason, he was currently in the government records of the Kingdom of Axelor.

His excuse in coming here was that he wanted to see for himself how effective these purges were, and because Arnold was quite busy looking for ways to increase the satisfaction level to the point he wanted without having to wait, he had had a certain period of freedom where he had already gone through most of the details that were listed here.

He wasn't even reading through them all, as Daneel and he had both expected that he might not have too much of a chance to do that. Hence, he was using a specially designed trinket that was recording the image of each page while he flipped through them, which was something he was doing discreetly after making sure that there was no one else present in the room.

As for the data trinkets, he simply copied them.

Thankfully, he was done in a few hours, which made it so that he could get on to doing his part even though his friend was way ahead of schedule.

Well, it was true that they should finish all of this as soon as possible, so that variables wouldn't come into effect.

With that thought, Faxul took a deep breath and proceeded to the throne room, where the King could be seen gazing at all the display trinkets in the room, that were showing the scenes of the various regions and towns in the Black Raven Kingdom.

Right now, the King was in command, but that changed as soon as Faxul entered.

The doors closed, and because the Minister was out on an errand, they were alone.

All of that calmness of Arnold's was gone, replaced by frustration that this plan in which he had placed so many hopes wasn't going as well as he had thought just a few days ago.

Waving his hand in the direction of the display trinkets, he said, "Time doesn't seem to be having any change, old bird. How can these people be so obstinate? Why do they insist on not being satisfied that they are at least alive? Why can't they be like the people of this Kingdom, who are so easy to handle?"

Hearing this, Faxul almost widened his eyes with pleasant surprise.

He had been thinking that he might have to find a way to make Arnold think in this way, but he had forgotten that this man was also supposed to be as adept in scheming as the best of them from that time.

And someone like that… would definitely wish for something like this, as soon as they saw that things weren't going their way.

In response, Faxul first stared at a few of the display trinkets, taking note of how there were even more families now that wanted to support those who wished to show their displeasure in some way, so that they could get answers or some sort of reply from the King. Clearly, Daneel had done his job, and it was even more impressive now that he witnessed it with his own eyes.

After that, shaking his head, he said, "You're right, Arnold. Even I underestimated how block-headed all of these people are. You already know that I was going through the records of all the purges you carried out here, right?"

In response to this, Arnold nodded, waiting for him to continue and state why he was bringing this up.

"I was doing so because even I was thinking about the worst-case, and it's obvious that that has clearly come to be. Your purges were always very effective in putting a lot of fear in the minds of these people, so that they would just be glad that they were not the ones targeted. This, in turn, had quite a considerable effect on the satisfaction level, which allowed you to break the two seals. Now, you said that all we need is 9%, right?"

"11%", Arnold spat out, which made Faxul narrow his eyes and continue as if he was pissed, too, but hopeful.

"Still an acceptable level. Before this becomes a problem that we cannot handle, I think that maybe we should try your method in this Kingdom, too."

"You didn't think I thought of that? That was the first thing that popped into my mind as soon as I saw all that stuff five days ago! But it's too risky. Here, there was at least the advantage that they are completely closed off, so all the citizens thought that they had no way out. They believe that our kingdom is completely surrounded by ravenous wolves who will devour them if they go out, so it worked. But those ants know more about the world. Just one purge might result in a major event where the chances of the satisfaction level going even lower are too high. If that wasn't the case, I would have gone and done it myself!"

Right.

Hearing this, Faxul was actually glad, at least for now, that they were dealing with someone with a brain.

This was someone who considered all cases, and the only reason they had succeeded so far was that he had a flaw which they were using.

In their discussion, Daneel has said that it was possible that Arnold might come up with this plan on his own, but that he would hesitate for various reasons.

And Faxul's job.… was to remove that hesitation, if that happened.

They were in that situation now, so, Faxul prepared to end the second phase, and enter the last one.

"That might not be the case if you make certain small edits to the whole thing. I have some thoughts on the matter…"

…

2 days later, in a particular town near the border of the Black Raven Kingdom.

The day had dawned just like any other, but the 20,000 citizens of this town soon realized that something…was different.

There were, in fact, multiple signs of this. For one thing, legions and legions of soldiers had marched into the town on the pretense that there was some threat inside, and that they were charged to protect the citizens. For another, all sorts of barriers were being set up all around the town, and all those inside were being barred from leaving, with the reason once again being that it was for their 'safety'.

The clearest sign, though, was when a jamming formation became active that blocked all simple communication trinkets, which were what typical citizens used.

Even the Network was blocked due to this, as it, too, used a simple formation because of the fact that the trinkets were made on a large scale.

So, all the citizens inside began to panic, but they were stopped in their tracks by the gleaming weapons of the soldiers of Axelor and the Black Raven Kingdom, who stood in almost every street, wearily eyeing the citizens and making sure that none of them made any strange actions.

People still started to ask what the matter was, but they were only commanded to stay in their houses. Shops were shut down, and everyone was hounded back to their houses. Children sensed the tension-filled atmosphere and started crying everywhere, while parents tried to console them and tell them that everything would be fine, even though they, themselves, didn't believe that.

Finally, at noon, a voice reverberated through out the town.

"Good afternoon, loyal citizens of the Black Raven Kingdom. This is Commander Hablow, and I am speaking on the direct orders of the King. Today morning, by luck, we intercepted a message that a rebellion would be carried out in this town on the orders of the King of Lanthanor. The objective was to forcefully convert those who were happy with the decision of our King into rebels who support the vile King of Lanthanor. We are going to use this chance to show him, and the rest of the people of this Kingdom the fate that awaits those who think in this way. But first, just so that that King cannot refute what will happen here once again using false claims, we will be entering the houses of these rebels and showing you all the proofs that they have, indeed, been contracted by that man to betray our noble Divine Ancestor."

As this voice stopped, a massive display trinket became active that was visible to almost all the citizens, no matter where they were.

On it, they watched as a team of soldiers headed to a specific, nondescript house in one of the streets of the town.

Meanwhile, Arnold and the 'old bird' were watching this scene through a special, large display trinket that had been set up in the middle of the Throne Room.

As Arnold saw the soldiers proceed, he said, "Not bad, old bird. Of course, I would have come up with it, too, if I hadn't been hell-bent on finding something even faster."

Ignoring the latter part, the 'old bird' said, "It was simple. You already used the ploy of planting false evidence. All we had to do was magnify that, and make it a live show, just so that it becomes clear who the enemy is. This will point their hatred toward him, while increasing the satisfaction level. Unless he comes out himself to refute it, there is nothing that can stop this from happening. And that…is definitely something that no one in their right mind would do."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates.Net

.

591 Ending the Second Phase 2

All over the continent, people had tuned in to the Network to catch up on the latest shows.

Yet, when they were greeted by another 'Breaking News' report, they braced themselves, expecting another shocker like the one where they had seen the twists and turns that had resulted in the Black Raven Kingdom allying with the Kingdom of Axelor.

That entire episode had been so captivating that most people had been glued to the Network Trinkets all day, and when the conclusion where the combined army of Lanthanor and Eldinor running back to their Kingdoms had been shown, many had dropped their jaws in disbelief, unable to reconcile with the fact that the King of Lanthanor who had been shown before to be invincible, had been beaten in this way.

Of course, those who had already been thinking ill of King Daneel had rejoiced, but they were a minority. For the most part, there was only surprise that took days to vanish.

One other thing that truly got impressed on the citizens all over the continent was that the Network really was an independent entity. Because it was based in Lanthanor, and because it was the brainchild of the King of Lanthanor, many had thought that there might be attempts to play this off as anything other than what it had been: a crushing defeat.

Only, this didn't happen. All sides of the topic were shown, including those which supported Lanthanor, and those that derided it.

All in all, it gave the option to the watchers and listeners to make their own decisions, which was something that was applauded at all. This also drove many to want even more to get these trinkets for themselves so that they wouldn't always have to gather in the houses of others, so they waited for the continent-wide sale that was supposed to come soon.

In fact, this facility of attracting a lot of guests had also given business-savvy citizens the idea of setting up special services for food and seating, so that they could earn a little bit of money from the good fortune that had enabled them to randomly obtain the Network Trinkets.

Of course, some had even gone so far as to set up large halls which were very similar to movie theatres from Earth, but more than these, the other case was more prevalent.

So, today, when the 'Breaking News' flashed onto the screen, a lot of people in front of the trinkets already had food ready in front of them, hoping for another show.

Only…this one made them spit out whatever they were eating or drinking with shock, as it was something that they could never have imagined.

'We are transmitting to you the signal that is being given by the alliance of the Black Raven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Axelor. Please be advised that this might not be content that is suitable for viewing by children. The story we know so far is that there have been claims by a commander of the Black Raven Kingdom that the King of Lanthanor has planned a mass rebellion in one of the towns in the Black Raven Kingdom to sway public opinion to his side violently, so that he can move forward in his goal of 'vanquishing' the Black Raven Kingdom. As always, we, the Network, are only reporting to you everything we know. So far, the King of Lanthanor hasn't spoken out to refute these claims, but we are aware that he's watching. What you are seeing right now is the aftermath of the statement by that commander who has stated that he, along with the team of soldiers under his command, will be showing the proof behind what he has stated so that more 'false' claims cannot be made. Again, this is live, so we cannot predict what will happen.'

The lengthy disclaimer and information was accompanied by a video which was split in two: half the screen showed the scene of a head-mounted communication eye moving with a team of soldiers, and the other was displaying the scene of the town from above, where soldiers could be seen lining all the streets while citizens looked out of their windows with puzzled, angry and scared expressions on their faces.

Boom!

As soon as the explanation ended, the first half of the screen showed the soldiers kicking open a door by force.

The family of four inside, who all had extremely terrified expressions on their faces, started to ask why this was happening, but they instantly became silent as the mage in the team of soldiers conjured thin, metallic blades that hovered in the air, right above each of them, not even sparing the 4 or 5-year old who burst out crying on sensing the tension-filled atmosphere.

Accompanied by the sounds of the attempts of his mother in making him stop, the soldiers casually started flipping through everything in the house.

Except for the spot in the corner where the family was, where there was nothing else except for a long sofa, the rest of the house was soon demolished, with even the baby's toys not being spared in the process.

Outrage began to be sparked in all those watching.

Surely, all these people were innocent, right? This was a blatant misuse of power!

Such statements began to get louder and louder as the search went on, with nothing out of the ordinary turning up.

However…they all became silenced a few moments later.

Done with the rest of the house, the leader of the company, whose perspective was being shown, walked forward to the family who were still cowering on that sofa.

He first asked them to move, but they didn't, following which the mage made the metal blades move closer to their heads.

At this point, when everyone saw the family flung aside, the outrage reached a peak, but it all vanished when the sofa was torn open to reveal gleaming sets of weapons.

Swords, spears, bows, along with explosion trinkets and even torture devices.

And in the middle of them all…was a communication trinket, which the soldier picked up and played for everyone to listen.

"Remember, if they don't agree and swear an oath to follow Lanthanor and keep it a secret, just kill them to make a statement for the others. You will be paid handsomely when everything is done."

The voice was just a bit similar to that of the King of Lanthanor, and even if someone didn't recognize this, they were all enlightened regarding the fact by the commander, who spoke up at this point to be heard both by the inhabitants of the town, and by the people all over the continent who were watching and listening.

"Finally, the King of Lanthanor's schemes have been laid bare! That is his voice, for those who might not be aware of how the devil sounds like. This oh, so innocent family whom you all were supporting, will soon have begun killing and torturing many others like them if it weren't for the wise actions of our King, and the leader of the Alliance. Soldiers, take them to the site of the purge."

A cold voice replied.

"Sir, the children, too?"

"No, do you think our King is merciless? He wishes that this wasn't needed, either. Take away the children: they will be raised as a part of the King's retinue. Then, you may continue."

"…"

Hearing this, everyone had no idea what they were supposed to think.

They could only watch in silence while the two kids, one who was still a bawling baby, and the other who was merely 10 years old, were separated by force and hauled out.

Tears appeared in the eyes of many parents as they saw this. Those in the town even clutched their children to their bosom desperately, as if imagining themselves undergoing the same fate.

Of course…this scene brought a broad smile to the face of Arnold.

Looking at his old friend, he said, "I have to say that this 'shock and awe' thing is working very well. Maybe I should have used it in Axelor, too."

The 'old bird' stoically replied, "I don't fully take credit for it. The idea was originally used by the King of Lanthanor to turn many, many people toward his side. Ironic that the same is being used against him for his downfall. As I said, there is nothing he can do, either."

As Arnold burst out laughing, the process of separating the children had just finished.

Following this, the parents were shackled and thrown into a giant metal cage that had been constructed in the largest open area in the town: the town center.

The two parents repeatedly cried that they knew nothing, but no one heeded their cries.

Soon, they were joined by many, many others, who were all found guilty of having accepted the 'weapon package' apparently sent by King Daneel along with that message.

Of the 20,000 in the town, roughly a quarter found themselves in the cage.

Multiple teams carried out the task, and it was all over in barely 3 hours.

The display then shifted to show just the commander, who stood in front of the cage and said, "Watch closely the fate that awaits those who decide to defy the rightful rule of our King, and think about supporting our enemy. All of these are people who spoke out about how the King of Lanthanor might be right. Many thought that they were just people who were supporting the wrong side, but no one could have expected that they will go to these lengths. I hope that this changes the mind of all those who are thinking similarly, and makes them aware that they must feel grateful for having been saved from the clutches of that evil man. Soldiers, begin."

As soon as the commander gave that order, roaring flames sprung into existence at the top of the cage, which stood 5 meters tall.

The screams of those trapped inside reached a new level as they felt the temperature around them increase. They struggled in every way they could, but there was no way out.

Even those watching were speechless. Was this…really happening?

Hopelessness and despair dominated the faces of most of those in the cage, who could only watch on as the wall of flames started moving downward. Soon, they would be engulfed by them.

Arnold could be seen laughing continuously, while his 'friend' just kept staring at the scene in the display trinket.

Of course…he was waiting for something.

The first sign that something was wrong became apparent when a soldier ran up to the commander with panic on his face.

In his happiness, and with the objective of transmitting these screams for greater effect, the commander hadn't switched off the trinket he had.

Thus, the words said by the soldier were heard by all.

"Sir, the part of the border nearest to us is under attack!"

This immediately made the commander take on a serious expression on his face, as he asked, "What?! Whose army is it? Lanthanor's? Or is it anyone else?"

In response, the soldier shook his head, and replied in a tone accompanied by disbelief.

"Neither, sir. It's…one man."

BOOM!

As soon as the last word left his mouth, a thundering sound echoed from somewhere nearby, following which the commander looked up to see a comet shooting in his direction.

It was a resplendent gold, and it was clear that it had just gotten through all the barrier trinkets that must have been deployed by the border in the event of an attack.

Barely a second after that, another 'BOOM!' Resulted in the barriers around the town being breached with hardly any effort, before the commander finally managed to see just who it was.

It was the man whom he had been referring to all this time.

The comet came to a stop right in front of him, and the image of the King of Lanthanor, who had an expression of fury on his face, was shown to all who were watching all over the continent.

"Gargh!"

Letting out a choking sound, the commander found himself lifted up in the air by his neck, while being glared at by two eyes which seemed to contain uncontrollable rage.

He said the first thing that came to his mind, in the hope that it would help him to keep his life.

"Y-You can't! This is an act of war!"

In response, the King spoke in an imperious tone.

"An army attacking and breaking into a Kingdom is an act of war. I am just one man, and I am here because I cannot stand innocent people being massacred simply because they made their opinions known. Take me to the person who orchestrated all this, or I swear, you and all of your soldiers will find yourself inside that cage instead of all these faultless citizens. King Safiros, I know you're watching. Just know this…even if it results in my death, I will always stand for those who need me. Open the gates of your Kingdom. Let us settle this once and for all."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

592 The Third Phase Begins

Back in the Palace of the Kingdom of Axelor, the two people who were supposed to be thousands of years old were staring at the screen in front of them, dumbstruck due to the scene that they were witnessing.

Arnold couldn't believe it. In all his years of scheming and planning against foes, he had always trusted his instinct in reading them, and assessing what they would and wouldn't do.

For example, someone who was supposed to be as smart as the King of Lanthanor would never enter enemy territory, alone, and then demand to enter even deeper inside to risk his own life.

All for…what? A few thousand people?

It didn't make sense!

Even while the domineering dialogue of the King seemed to echo in his mind, he just couldn't make sense of it.

Weren't you supposed to be one of the best in this age, at least in the Central Continent? Aren't you the one who came up with all those crazy ideas, just like the Emperor, and even succeeded in implementing them?

Then why the hell are you doing something so stupid now?!

Calming down his shock at the absurdity of the situation, Arnold thought for a bit, and realized that there were only two possibilities.

One, there was some hidden card that the King trusted in, that made him confident enough to put up this kind of show, and still believe that he would live to tell the tale.

Or, two…he was just that dumb.

This had, in fact, been a masterful plan that would also have severely dented the adoration present for the King all over the continent.

Arnold had never thought that that was a factor.

Yet…what if that was the case?

What if the real reason was a mix of both, and what if this King truly lived off of the feeling of being adored?

There were no reports to support this…but Arnold had seen many like him in his long life.

Whatever the truth was, he had to admit that after a very long time…he had been pretty damn shocked.

It looked like it was the same for his old friend, who was still staring at the screen, where the Commander was quivering in the hands of the King, not knowing what the hell he was supposed to do.

In fact, now that he thought about it, Arnold realized that this case had even been mentioned by his friend, who had done so only to say that no one would be foolish enough to do that.

Clearly…he might have been wrong on that part.

In front of his eyes, he finally recovered and said, "Well…that happened."

Faxul had known what would happen. The whole point of him presenting this plan to Arnold, and then choosing a town close to the border had been for Daneel to enter in this way.

Still, he was supposed to be shocked, and he had been prepared to act his life out.

Only…Daneel's entrance really had been so amazing that the shock had come automatically, meaning that he hadn't needed to put in so much effort.

His shock had also stemmed from the fact that through the display trinket, he could tell that…the emotions raging in his friend's eyes were absolutely real.

He wasn't faking it.

And at that moment, Faxul remembered something he had seen long, long ago.

It had been right after their 3-month hell training, when he had been headed to the library after obtaining some money from his guardians to check out all the paths that were present for him to select.

Only…that had been the day when Daneel had put on that play, where Elanev's father had arrived and apprehended those sick people who had been having fun by seeing poor people waste their hard earned money.

That incident that been followed by Daneel being applauded by all those present, as he had rid them of an evil that had plagued them all for quite a long time.

Even now, he could remember the specific shine in his eyes, which had made it clear that this was someone…who truly delighted in helping others.

That same quality was even more magnified now, and it was a really good thing to see that even though so many years had passed and so many things had happened, Daneel hadn't lost that all-important thing which set him apart from most.

That…was one of the reasons that Faxul had no reason handing over the people who had trusted his father, and then him after that, to take care of them.

After all, even though this specific instance was something orchestrated by them, together, Faxul was pretty sure that Arnold would have gone ahead and done this anyway.

So…he knew that the reason behind Daneel's anger was probably that fact, and he was pretty sure that it must have had a tremendous effect on all those watching.

Which was just what they wanted.

All over the continent, Daneel's statement made many, many people stand up and cheer on this man who had stood up even though there was grave danger.

There was just…something special about one who marched forward with determination to stand on the side of what was right, even if it meant certain death.

After ensuring that everything was going well, Faxul recovered and saw Arnold looking at him, which led him to say that.

Right now, the key was to wait and let Arnold decide what to do, as they hadn't wanted to coax him to do everything, as that would result in too much suspicion.

So, Faxul continued and said, "Like I said…this was the most foolish option there was. Now, if we don't agree, we will look like cowards, instead of the same happening to him."

Arnold took a few moments to respond, and it looked like he was thinking about something.

Faxul wondered whether he should panic, but he just remained calm, and finally felt happy when he saw Arnold shake his head and say, "How can we, as Empire Spirits, decide to be cautious against someone from this age? However I see it, there is no risk for us. He has a deathwish. Let's fulfill it. It is the best way to get rid of a threat, after all. This way, even those Big 4 won't intervene, 'cos I'm not even going out of my way to kill him."

With a chuckle, Arnold made his voice appear above the town.

"King of Lanthanor. It seems that you want to get away with this by bluffing. Well, we have nothing to fear. Our gates are open. You can come in by yourself, or you can even bring an army. The same thing that happened before, will happen again. Soldiers, return to your posts. The purge can wait until after the King of Lanthanor has been dealt with."

"Humph."

As soon as the King of Lanthanor heard this, he put on an expression of derision and tossed the commander in his hand to the side, who coughed violently and clutched his throat, which had been so close to being crushed.

Scrambling to his feet, he ordered a retreat, which resulted in all the soldiers leaving under the blazing eyes of the King of Lanthanor, which made them all feel quite conscious and even a little bit scared.

The townsfolk couldn't believe what had just happened.

Although it was true that a lot of them had been inclined to think that the King of Lanthanor might be in the right regarding this issue, they hadn't been very firmly entrenched in either side.

Yet, now…all that changed.

That change started in those in the cage, who stared at the bold figure of the King with tears of gratitude in their eyes.

As soon as the soldiers left, he flicked his fingers without even looking at them, which made the metal cage and all the shackles fly into the air before being tossed aside, outside the town.

With this, the King began to rise into the air, as if he really was going to do what he had said.

This action made everyone see one other thing: he hadn't said anything to those he had saved. No, he had done so just for the sake of doing the right thing, and now, he wasn't even expecting anything from it.

This began to be whispered among those who were saved, and soon, the whole town was abuzz.

After rising to a certain level, the King stopped and hovered there, but his eyes were closed as if he was talking to someone.

This allowed more time for everyone to talk between themselves, and affirm everything they were feeling.

Even a few moments later, by the time the King finally left, everyone was still talking about how he did seem to be the one who wasn't lying, in this case.

Yet…was he really going to march into an enemy Kingdom for them?

Most of them couldn't believe it.

So they watched on.

The breaking of the barrier had resulted in communications being restored.

So, after finding out that the Network was showing a scene from the King's eyes, almost everyone rushed to the houses where the Network was present.

"The King has said that he will keep this channel open for as long as he can, so that the people can see what happens in Axelor."

This announcement greeted them, while they saw the aerial images of the scenery between their Kingdom and the Kingdom of Axelor, before the image finally changed to show a border wall that was manned by hundreds of soldiers.

All of these soldiers had expressions of anger on their faces, as if they were seeing the most dreaded villain in their lives.

As for the border gate nearest to the direction where the King was flying in…it opened as he approached, which made it clear that King Safiros was keeping his word.

And why wouldn't he? For the first time, a King of a different Kingdom was walking into an enemy one, alone, with them knowing that he was coming.

Without any hesitation, the King flew in the direction of the gate, as that was the spot where the barriers had been deactivated.

Yet, the moment before he entered the airspace of Axelor, he paused and turned to address the millions who were watching.

"I can detect that there's a blocking formation inside. Citizens of the Black Raven Kingdom who gave me the benefit of the doubt. Let it never be said that the Dragon didn't soar with the Raven when dire winds blew in the sky. I march forward now, knowing that I might not return, because I know that if I do not do that to save all of you, I will never be able to live with myself. I promise you that when I leave here, it will be with your King- one who is no longer under the control of Axelor. And if I don't…I will be happy that I will have died fighting for something I believe in. Either way, farewell, Angaria."

Leaving these words that echoed in many, many minds and became affixed with a hue of awe in most of them, King Daneel turned around and flew into danger.

His noble silhouette, one that would never be ready to cower, no matter what, was the last thing that they saw.

As soon as the display trinkets cut off, the soldiers of Axelor who were on the border walls were greeted by a sight they would never forget.

The King of Lanthanor…smiled, and teleported away, instantly breaking apart the Champion-level anti-teleportation barrier that was present here, which was something that no Warrior should be able to do.

At the same moment, Arnold instantly shot up from his throne and screamed, "I KNEW IT! IT WAS ALL A TRAP! THE FORMATION SENSED SOMEONE AT THE HERO LEVEL! HE MUST HAVE FORMED A BOND WITH THAT DAMN DRAGON! HE'S HEADED FOR THE PARTS OF THE GRAND INHERITANCE!"

Even before the last word exited from the Empire Spirit's mouth, Daneel reappeared right outside the place where Arnold had given that demonstration to Faxul.

Smirking, he sent a message to his friend.

"Time for the last phase. He allowed me in, but he sure as hell won't let me get these things easily. I'll handle him, though. You just get everything done on your end. Remember to keep it silent, and be sure to hurry over when you're done, because you won't want to miss this."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

593 A Desperate Escape?

As barriers of various colors sprang to life in front of him, Daneel simply said to Drakos, "Begin."

They had already discussed everything beforehand so that the time that might need to be spent here, after arriving at the scene, would be minimal.

As the Ancient Dragon began casting spell after spell without saying a word, Daneel felt a slight ache on his forehead where his Mageroot was due to the sudden deployment of all the high-tier spells, while he thought back to everything that had just happened.

He had to admit that even he was surprised that there had been no problems so far.

Wasn't this supposed to be the man touted to be the one most adept in scheming back during the Empire?

Yet, now, both of them were manipulating him easily?

Daneel took a deep breath and erased these thoughts, as he knew that they were dangerous.

He still felt that it was wise not to underestimate this enemy, so he decided to be as cautious as possible even though everything pointed to the third phase progressing smoothly, too.

The second phase had had two objectives:

Set up a foundation in the minds of the Black Raven citizens, so that it would help him later when the time came to take over the Kingdom.

Ensure that he entered the Kingdom of Axelor without facing any obstruction, so that he could take Arnold by surprise and get here before him.

With both of them fulfilled, he found himself here: ready to begin the third phase, where, by the end, the goal was to have the parts of the Grand Inheritance in hand, while also becoming capable of breaking the third seal by openly taking control of the Black Raven Kingdom.

This was easily the hardest part, but Daneel was confident in the many preparations he had made.

Just as a loud rumbling began to be heard all around him, Daneel received a message from the system.

[Data analyzed. The best town which matches all the parameters given by host is called 'Azmar', and it is located 46 kilometers east of host's location.]

"Alright. Deploy the module, and let me know when the optimal result has been achieved."

[Affirmative. Module deployed. Standing by to receive results.]

Feeling glad that there were no problems in deploying this all-important module, Daneel allowed himself a smile.

Almost all of Daneel's preparations had been to counter the worst case scenarios, such as that Arnold might have prepared beforehand for this, and that he might be facing a lot of difficulties if he wanted to just waltz out with the parts of the Grand Inheritance.

After seeing the performance of the Empire Spirit so far, though, Daneel had been hoping that these might not come to be.

Yet, the next moment, it became clear that that wasn't the case.

Bang!

As soon as Daneel had arrived at this location, he had deployed a Champion-level anti-teleportation barrier to slow those who would be coming here.

Now, that broke apart instantly, as two men burst onto the scene with livid expressions on their faces.

The moment they did, the various barriers around the area that Daneel had been trying to breach doubled, which made it obvious that Arnold had planned for this beforehand.

This became even more apparent as soon as a confident voice thundered around where Daneel was standing.

"Drakos, how have you been? Knowing you, you must have entered a voluntary bond with this kid, even though we were warned by the Emperor to never let that happen as that could lead to us being blackmailed, and used. And did you two really think that I wouldn't think of this? True, it was at the bottom of my list of possible reasons behind your nonsensical actions. But that was only because I had already taken a lot of steps to prevent something like this from happening. Why do you think the signal of those two parts was allowed to be freely detected by all, in the first place? It was to trap fools like you who overestimate yourselves. Give up. I'm enough to deal with you. Sure, you are a formation master who can dismantle the trapping formations I placed around this place. But that doesn't mean you have any hope of leaving this Kingdom alive."

This speech would have been impressive, if Daneel hadn't heard Arnold screaming in that way just a few seconds before.

Remembering that made him want to laugh, and because he didn't care what this guy thought, anyway, he allowed himself to.

As Arnold saw the King of Lanthanor laugh out loud, he grit his teeth, before taking a deep breath and getting back the smile on his face.

Yes, it had definitely been a scare, and he had shouted like that without caring for the dignity that he was supposed to possess.

That had always been a problem even during the Empire. And there hadn't even been anything much he could do to fix it.

As he was someone who was used to letting his emotions run wild, which was something that had always helped him in everything he did, he had often seen other ministers talk about his 'uncouth' behavior behind his back.

Most of them did end up getting in egregious situations such as being blamed for things they didn't do, or finding out that their wives had been swept away without them even catching a whiff of it, but except for satisfying Arnold, this didn't change much.

After all, even his scheming behavior, and his ruthlessness which let him survive no matter what the odds were were a result of his singular emotion of wanting, no, needing to come out on top and thwart any and all who wished to see him dead.

These memories had all rushed into his head…because the last time he had been shocked in this way-by seeing someone defying his expectations and acting in a way that seemed foolish, had been when the Emperor had chased him down and captured him.

Yet, as he saw the King continue to laugh, all these thoughts vanished and were replaced by all-consuming anger.

He had already seen all the spells deployed by the Dragon after arriving here. They were attempts to breach all the protective formations around the pieces of the Grand Inheritance, and, in fact, they would have been successful if Arnold hadn't arrived at the scene and personally activated the rest by casting Hero-level spells.

He had had to resort to this crude method, as although he had many formations that he could use after breaking the second seal, the materials needed to implement them weren't present in this age.

He wasn't a formation master like Drakos who could freely edit and create new formations after taking into account what was present.

The damn seals were like glowing, imaginary walls inside his own head, which irked him to no end. The worst part was that he could even see the information present behind each, but if he even tried to use something, or refer to something from the third seal, for instance, he would feel a crippling pain throughout his consciousness which would leave him with no other option but to stop his attempt.

Still, he was confident that he could stop them from leaving his Kingdom, because the most important point: the border, had been reinforced with almost all the resources he could get his hands on.

Besides, it wasn't like he would stand aside and watch, either. He had already prepared a lot of devastating attacks, and all that remained was to see whether there was a chance of the kid surrendering after seeing that he had no way to leave, even though he had marched in so boldly.

So, despite the anger which tempted him to just attack and get this over with, he said, "It's futile! Just give up. Drakos, you must have seen by now that you chose wrong. Maybe you liked this kid because he is like the Emperor in some ways. But it's clear he's arrogant, and his arrogance will now result in his death. Urge him to give up, and I'll guarantee that both of you will live."

In his mind, Arnold was imagining an Alliance with even Lanthanor and Eldinor under him, and at that point, there would be no question at all regarding whether he could break through the third seal.

Yet…that disappeared when the rumbling that had been present until now rose to a different level.

Initially, it had looked as if it was coming due to the side-effects of the spells cast by Drakos.

However, at this moment, the truth became clear.

His 'old friend' detected it, too, and spoke out with alarm.

"He was just using those spells to cover the real one! His objective is to carry away the whole thing!"

Even as the last word left the 'Black Raven's mouth, a gigantic block of earth slowly began to rise up into the air, accompanied by the King who shot a smile at them.

Till now, he had been standing on the ground right above where the lab, and the pieces of the Grand Inheritance were.

If he succeeded…he would be able to take away the entire thing, including the formations, so that he could crack them later at his leisure.

Yet, Arnold didn't panic too much.

He had expected that something like this might be on the cards, as, after all, the Ancient Dragon was renowned to be one of the few experts who reached the peak in formation design.

If anyone could perform a feat such as this, to condense all the formation materials into a small area in order to take them away, then it would be him.

So, he just shook his head and said, "Just start attacking. I guess there will be no surrenders today, after all."

With a nod, the 'Black Raven' started conjuring a ball of darkness between his hands, which was one of his iconic attacks.

Meanwhile, Arnold lazily conjured a similar ball, but this one was of light, and as it reached the size of a fist, he threw it in the direction of the King, who was still concentrating on the large 20-meter cube of earth he was extracting from the ground.

In response, Hero-level barriers rose up, which effectively stopped the attacks, but made sweat appear on the forehead of the King, who didn't look all that calm now.

Arnold was puzzled as he saw this. What could the rest of the plan be? What could he hope to achieve by doing this?

It was like an enemy coming into a Kingdom to steal gold, only to find that all the gold was locked in a safe. Still, instead of giving up, it was as if the enemy had lugged that safe on his back, and was hoping to run away even though he knew that there was an army waiting behind him, along with experts targeting him from the front, who wouldn't give him a moment of breathing time.

Shrugging and thinking that it might just be one last, desperate ploy, Arnold just continued shooting attack after attack with the aim of tiring down the King and making him fall to the ground, alive, so that he could at least hope to torture him and bring him to his side, if that was possible.

Soon, the King succeeded in extracting the block of earth, and he began to fly in a specific direction, as if he still hoped to somehow escape.

Shaking his head, Arnold only nodded at his 'friend', and they began to follow, still continuously shooting attacks.

It was also becoming apparent that the King would soon reach his limit. His brow was covered with sweat, and he had an expression of pain on his face as he kept conjuring barrier after barrier to protect himself.

Right now, if anyone could see this sight of a man carrying away a huge block of earth while being chased by two men who kept shooting balls of darkness and light at him, they would definitely have found it quite odd.

Only, no one could witness it, a there was an anti-eavesdropping spell present that was mainly to prevent anyone from the Big 4 from seeing, and finding out that they had failed horribly in their 'mission' of keeping Empire Spirits in their pedestals.

A minute later, it began to get more and more apparent that the King really had no where to go. He couldn't teleport, as Arnold had already deployed multiple anti-teleportation formations, so all that there was to be done was to try and leave Axelor with that huge clump of earth.

That wouldn't be happening today.

Soon, the King of Lanthanor finally came to a halt in a random place in the air, panting with exhaustion while looking at the two Empire Spirits chasing him with an indecipherable expression on his face.

Seeing this, Arnold smirked and said, "I see you may have finally come to your senses. Give up, unless you want to cease being a Mage, as your Mageroot will be destroyed after all this effort you're putting it up to."

The words didn't bring any change in the expression of the King.

It only made him focus on the cube of earth where the pieces of the Grand Inheritance were present, safely protected by the numerous formations that were still in effect, before he began casting the spells to try and break them again.

Huh? Had he gone mad?

Why would he try that again especially when it looked like he had no endurance to even run any farther?

Arnold was going to ask the same but gloat, but the words got stuck in his throat as he saw something that made his eyes pop.

Had the power of the spells…just doubled, in front of his eyes?

No! It couldn't be possible!

Rubbing them, he hoped that he would see something different, but what he did witness made him drop his jaw in utter, mind-shattering disbelief.

The power of the spells had…shot up again.

As he watched, this repeated once, twice, and then thrice, before finally stopping when a 5x amplified version of the same spell that Drakos had cast before began to make quick work of the formations protecting the pieces of Grand Inheritance.

He had sworn that he would retain his dignity no matter what more happened, but at this moment he couldn't help but sputter, and then scream.

"No…this spell…this goddamn spell…even if you have it, you're not in your Kingdom! How are you doing this? How?! HOW??!!"

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

594 Lazon, of Town Azmar

15 minutes earlier, in the town of Azmar.

With a population of around 18,000 people, this was a medium-sized town in Axelor which actually had a few unique features.

For one thing, it was the newest town in the Kingdom, only established 3 years ago by a retired general who had obtained the land and the permission to set up the town after his own name.

This wasn't a very uncommon circumstance. The highest rewards given by the government were always to those of the army, and this man had served for over half a century with a lot of honors to his name. In fact, he was even known to be one of the only Generals to have fought against all the other forces of the Continent, and lived to tell the tale.

He hadn't been very talented, nor had he been very intelligent.

Yet, his redeeming quality was that he pushed himself harder than anyone else could, and he was an expert in listening to orders and carrying them out in the best way possible without asking any questions.

This had, of course, made him well-liked, which resulted in him retiring to directly becoming a town Mayor.

In the land that he had obtained, he used most of his money to build the town that attracted people from villages all over.

When he was done, many expected him to milk this opportunity as much as possible by raising the taxes to exorbitant amounts. He would only have to pay the standard portion to the government, before pocketing the rest himself.

Only…defying all expectations, General Azmar's town had the lowest taxes in the whole of the Kingdom except for the Capital itself. On top of the Government's taxes, which were mandatory everywhere, there was only a very small amount that was just used for the maintenance of the town.

Hence, this became the prime location to live in, as it was also discovered that this man who had been ruthless on the battlefield, was actually just a kind citizen who wished to see the happy smiles on the faces of his people whom he had fought to protect.

Most of all, it became the hot destination for those looking for a new start.

The purges had resulted in many families being broken apart and ruined, forever. Often, remaining members of these families would commit suicide, unable to accept the fact that they had been deprived of their loved ones so suddenly.

Even though they understood that it was necessary due to the excessive propaganda that was blasted on them everywhere, from daily announcements to newspapers to even posters present in many places, they just couldn't reconcile with this fact.

Hence, to prevent this, government officials who still had good hearts advised people to move, so that they wouldn't have to be constantly reminded of whom they had lost by being in the same place.

And for those moving for this reason, Azmar was the first option, mainly because of the relatively calm atmosphere and the lower cost that would be needed to live.

Hence, over the years, with the increase in the number of purges, those moving for this reason had also increased, until Azmar became the unofficial haven for all those deprived of family or friends.

With more number of people gathering who shared a more or less common feeling, they found solace in each other, eventually resulting in a thriving town.

Today, all signs had pointed to this being a normal day. As no one had access to the Network, they didn't know of all the incredible things happening outside. All they did know was that the small army unit garrisoned in the town were a bit restless, which wasn't a very uncommon occurrence.

Lazon had opened his store as usual, and he had been waiting for the first customer to walk in.

He wore a bandana which covered his forehead and was tied around the back of his head, and many who came to avail his services always asked why he chose to wear this peculiar item of clothing.

If they knew that it was because he wanted to hide the round, ball-sized hole where his Mageroot had once been before he gouged it out by himself, they would definitely have been pretty damn shocked.

He touched that spot from the outside now, and as he did so, the moment which triggered this came into his mind, as it always did.

An elderly man out to grab breakfast for his beloved wife, who came back to find a barrier around his apartment with his wife waiting for him, faithfully, like she had always done throughout their life whenever he left for work.

Unhesitatingly, he had stepped through and hugged her, and Lazon had been reminded of all the times during his childhood when he had been in the middle of that hug.

Somehow, by coincidence, he had been the one in charge to cast the wind blades to purge all those in the area in which his parents were standing.

But how could he? He had stopped, and that was when he saw his father turn towards him and recognize him for who he was.

He had no idea what to expect, but he could never have thought that his father-the man who had raised him…would actually move to another area so that he wouldn't have to be the one to commit the ultimate sin.

And at that last moment, when he had waved goodbye…Lazon had completely lost it.

He had fainted, and the first thing he did after waking up was to cast wind blades to cut out his own Mageroot, as he didn't want this thing which had been useless in protecting the people who mattered to him most.

He had been diagnosed with PTSD and given involuntary retirement with a hefty pension, as this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

The Mages in Axelor were already numbered, but incidents like these brought that number even lower, leading many ministers to request the King that he should consider stopping such 'targeted' purges.

Of course, he hadn't listened.

Blinking hard to get rid of these thoughts, Lazon heard a commotion outside which made him wonder whether the local drunkard was throwing a fit again.

The street he was in was near the center of the town, and it was usually jam-packed at this time.

However, when he walked out to see what was up, he found the streets empty.

Puzzled, he looked around, and finally saw a large group of people gathered together in front of something.

Curious, he walked forward to the group and saw many people who had faces which had been drained of blood. They were standing rigidly while staring into space, which made them look quite eerie, and tears had started to flow down the faces of a few who collapsed to the ground as soon as he appeared and started to cry.

In a bid to ask them what the heck was going on, he took another step forward, but stopped and adopted the same position as the others as he felt himself being swept away before appearing in a scene where the King of Axelor, whose face he could never forget, was flying in front of him while gesturing to a town below them.

His words finally made Lazon understand why the others were having those reactions.

"Hehe, just a little ploy to make sure that that brat can never succeed at turning the people of this Kingdom, even if he succeeds in somehow entering it. They all think he's responsible for all the purges being carried out, as he wants to conquer them, the same way that he 'conquered and enslaved' Eldinor. I swear, time has only made all these people dumber than they were during the Empire. It's so easy to manipulate them! A whisper here, and a casually smuggled in newspaper there. That's it! Oh, I can't wait to see how it'll be when a village gets massacred by soldiers touting his name. Maybe they'll start burning him! Or maybe I should think of something even more creative…"

Allowed to witness this from up close, Lazon had no doubt that it wasn't real. He didn't know how it had been made possible, but as he returned to his own body, he, too, collapsed, once again losing himself in the tide of those painful memories.

Yet…instead of causing sadness, they made him angry.

Angry…that he had to go through all that, that he had had to see his parents die, just because their King was fearful of the King of Lanthanor.

"F*CK YOU, SAFIROS!"

Unlike the others, he had no qualms in screaming this, which made those around him stand up with red eyes, too, as they tried to control the rage that pumped through them along with their blood.

However, that was when they saw a familiar figure in the center of the group, who was holding aloft a glowing trinket that was shaped like a conch.

His face had been the one on the posters that always made their way to villages and towns, so that the people could know whom they had to blame for the purges. In many places, his face was plastered with mud and even feces in order to give a little bit of satisfaction to the citizens.

Only, now, with that vision…it became clear who the one that was supposed to be pelted with feces was.

The surprising thing was that the King of Lanthanor had an expression of sadness on his face as he saw those crying with sadness, frustration or anger around him.

Turning to Lazon, who had been staring at him with a puzzled expression on his face, he beckoned him forward with his finger.

Lazon could tell that that conch was the reason behind them being shown that vision. He was grateful that he finally knew the truth, which was something he had questioned a lot, as it had never been clear how that man in that apartment had gotten that trinket which caused the purge in the first place.

When he reached the King, the man spoke in a low voice.

"I know how you feel. And I am truly sad that all this happened, in a way, because of me. I wish to set things right. I cannot explain everything now, but I need you to do something for me. Can you gather more people who have been affected by the purges? I need at least 2000 of them. You probably feel powerless against the King. But know that by doing this, you will be helping to cause his eventual downfall."

Lazon was a soldier, so he was trained in partitioning his mind so that he could fight whenever it was needed. Now, he used that skill to put the anger aside before nodding. He didn't know if the rest of what the King was saying was true, but he was sure that everyone else deserved to find out the truth, just like him. And that would happen most effectively with the vision, as it was better than any other means of communication.

Nodding, he was about to leave, but he stopped when he remembered the army.

"The soldiers-"

"Will not stop you. They're all trapped in their barracks by a barrier. I made them chase me there before trapping them all inside. Go, and be quick."

With another nod, Lazon left, and while he did, he heard the booming sound of the King's voice echo in the place where the people were gathered.

"People of Axelor. The truth has been shown to you. I do not have long, so I will be brief. If you wish for revenge, there is a way. Bend the knee and swear to follow Lanthanor, and retribution will be yours. If you do so, I will swear an oath to all of you, right here and now, that it will happen. I only ask this because it is essential. The choice is yours."

…

5 minutes. 5 minutes had been all he needed.

Using a loudspeaker trinket, Lazon had decided to act smart. Going to each apartment, he had shouted, "Reports have come that the King might be purging the remaining family members of all those who have already died in purges. Only the town center is safe! Head over there if you wish to live!"

This had been more effective than any other method. Scrambling, hundreds of people flocked to the center and were subjected to the vision.

Daneel had been afraid that it might take time to gather a lot of people. This was only a clone of his that had been deployed on his orders after he had reached the location of the Grand Inheritance, so all he could do was walk around and deploy trinkets. He had an arsenal of them that he had prepared for this plan beforehand, which he had put to good use to trap all the soldiers in barely a minute.

His whole objective behind asking Faxul to gather data regarding purge victims had been to make this happen. In Axelor, he needed a pocket of at least 1000 people whom he ruled, so that he could activate the Ruler's Inheritance.

He had been lucky in picking that soldier, who called people here in that innovative way to save him time. His real body was delaying the transport of that block of earth for this reason, too: he needed to be done here before his main body approached this location.

Thankfully, in just 5 minutes, over 3000 people had gathered in the town center.

With each loop, he stated his message again.

But people were still lost in their emotions, and very few had bent the knee.

This wasn't working as fast as he had hoped it would.

So…Daneel improvised.

Putting away the conch, he gathered the attention of all those in front of him by using a loudspeaker trinket.

"I know why you are doubtful. All you know about Lanthanor is that it is a cruel place where people are always oppressed. Am I right?"

Many people nodded, as that was the propaganda that had always been spread by Safiros.

"Well, just like what you just saw, the King was lying to you. Lanthanor is a place where people are free to do what they wish, and they are even supported by the government to fulfill their dreams. You don't believe me? Then look for yourself."

Saying so, Daneel made a display trinket appear which began to show the scenes all around the Kingdom, including the train station, happy, laughing families going about their work, calm streets filled with laughter, et cetera, et cetera.

With each image, the people of Axelor realized what they didn't have.

"This is what I promise you if you choose to follow me. This, and the revenge that you deserve. Safiros needs to die. And I swear that it will happen. The choice…is up to you. Either bend the knee to me, and take the chance of gaining revenge. Or don't, and be left wondering whether you should have done it for the rest of your life."

Daneel was out of time. And this needed to work.

Clearly, he had underestimated just how effective a lifetime of propaganda and fear was, and how much time he needed to change someone's allegiance. After all, this was the first time he was dealing with something like this.

The Mageroot was quickly tiring in his main body, so he couldn't dally any longer. Even though the main body was only being robotically controlled by the system while his main consciousness was here, he could tell that this was the case.

That last statement finally resulted in a little change, but nothing much happened.

Until…one man walked forward to stand in front of him.

He was the same one that Daneel had asked before to call the people, and now, in front of him, he turned around and addressed them.

"I am Lazon, an ex-soldier of the Army. This man speaks the truth. In the army, I heard rumors regarding this, but talking about it was treason. The King of Lanthanor is someone who has committed many glorious feats throughout the continent. I…believe him. And I am willing to take this chance, as I know that otherwise, all of us are powerless in defying the King. Even if there is the tiniest possibility that I can avenge my parents, I am ready to take the plunge. People, I know you are afraid, but it is now time to put that fear aside."

He turned around, and said, "We Axelorians are a hard race. We have been beaten to the ground, again and again, but we always survive. I want that to change. And I hope to see that change under you. I, Lazon Fellharn, swear to follow you for the rest of my life."

Saying so, he bent, which resulted in a domino effect.

One by one, the Axelorians knelt to the ground, swearing to be ruled by him.

'Well, this was sloppy,' was the thought that came in Daneel's mind, but he was just glad that it had worked.

997, 998…1000.

As soon as the magical number was reached, Daneel smiled broadly, and said in his head:

"Ruler's Inheritance…activate."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

595 The Final Step 1

As soon as Daneel's consciousness returned to his body, the first thing he heard was Arnold's shocked statement, which felt so, so satisfying that the smile on his face stretched as far as it could go.

Until now, the system had been the one controlling his body, and it could only make him put on the most rudimentary of expressions.

Thankfully, neither Drakos nor Arnold noticed anything, as it just looked like he was the one doing everything.

With him returned to his main body, Daneel didn't change that much: he just focused on the block of earth with the pieces of the Grand Inheritance inside, as the priority was to get rid of these barriers.

The objective of the whole plan with that town had been to make this possible…along with a certain side-objective that Faxul would soon put into effect.

As soon as he thought of this, Faxul's opportunity came, as Arnold, of course, opted for the thing that anyone would do when they were desperate.

"We cannot let him get those parts! Prepare to hit him with everything!"

So far, Arnold had had them conserve their energy and play out a war of attrition as he had been confident that everything was under his control, even though he had been surprised once by the actions of the King.

Yet…this was the second time that that was happening. His gut told him that it wasn't safe to do that anymore, and that this brat might have even more up his sleeve, which was a risk he was no longer willing to take.

But, when he said this, his old friend spoke up.

"Why? I admit that this is impressive, but even if he gets those parts, how will he leave the Kingdom? The formations at the border are still standing strong, right?"

Hearing this, Arnold nodded while calming himself down.

Indeed, that was the case.

Activating the Ruler's Inheritance had just been pretty damn impressive.

Also…he had been panicking about those two parts being unprotected, but wouldn't that be Ok if their target couldn't leave the Kingdom, anyway?

Even while they talked among themselves, the barriers around the pieces of the Grand Inheritance had started to break, one by one.

Still, Arnold prepared to let it happen…but that was when a realization hit him like a thunderbolt.

He had always had a habit of making lists of possible things that could happen, no matter how farfetched they were, so that he would never be caught too off guard to even respond in an appropriate manner.

This had already helped him before, where the scenario of the pieces of the Grand Inheritance being attacked had made him increase the defenses around them, which had come in handy when Drakos and the bratty King had tried to break through.

In this list…was also the possibility that although it looked like there was no way in which it could be possible, his 'friend' wasn't who he said he was.

True, he seemed to know all the things that were privy only to the Black Raven, and he couldn't think of a way in which the old Black Raven would ever come under the control of someone from this age. Knowing his ego, he knew that he would rather die.

Still…he hadn't been ready to discard it, as life had taught him that it was often the unexpected things which caused the direst of effects.

Now that he thought about it, everything that his 'friend' had been doing so far had somehow helped in him landing in this situation.

He would never have taken control of the Black Raven Kingdom if it weren't for his friend's plan.

He wouldn't have begun that purge if it weren't for the Black Raven suggesting it.

And he wouldn't have allowed in the King without resistance if the above two didn't happen.

Although all of these could have said to have happened outside of the expectations of his friend, and that it might just be his paranoia that had allowed him to survive multiple desperate situations acting up, Arnold's gut told him strongly that it wouldn't be wise to listen to his 'friend' at all right now.

He decided to follow it.

"No, let's not take any chances. Hit him with everything. No reason to take any more risks."

Keeping a close eye on the man beside him, Arnold began casting an elaborate spell of 4 types of elementary particles which would definitely tax his opponent much more than any attack they had used before.

As he watched, his 'friend' began casting a complex spell, too, and everything looked normal.

Yet…in the last moment, when he fired his attack, the 'Black Raven' disappeared from his side and appeared in front of the King of Lanthanor, before dispelling his own spell and conjuring two small black holes and a barrier which took on his attack. As Arnold watched, his attack, which was in the form of a thin ray meant to penetrate anything in its path resulted in his 'friend' being pushed back toward the King, until he entered the layers of barriers already in effect and allowed them to dissipate the rest of his attack.

Instead of being shocked, Arnold burst out into mad laughter.

He was…disappointed in himself, more than anything. It looked like the years of being trapped in that damn pedestal had made him soft.

As the barriers continued to break, his laughter cut off abruptly, and the Empire Spirit glared at the King of Lanthanor with an expression so fierce that it looked as if all he wanted was to tear the man in front of his eyes into pieces.

"Good show. Really, good show. You actually managed to manipulate me. Me! I should thank you, I guess, for this wake-up call that I need to bring my A-game in this age, too. Anyway, it's time for it to end. Even you two, combined together, won't be enough to leave the Kingdom alive. You might be able to defend yourselves, but I really don't see how…"

"Don't you learn?"

After a long time, the King of Lanthanor spoke, interrupting Arnold's serious speech.

Arnold's glare intensified as he saw this happen, but he just curled his lip, knowing that the King would continue.

Sure enough, after a few more seconds, all the barriers were broken, and with a loud sound, clumps of earth fell to the ground, leaving behind two things.

One was a small globe of transparent light in which the two pieces of the Grand Inheritance were floating.

The other…was a person, who looked like he had been tortured to no end.

Again, this didn't surprise Arnold. Just this morning, his 'friend' had asked his permission to use the torture chamber in his lab where he had previously demonstrated his experiment. Without thinking much about it, Arnold had agreed, which now meant that even the Black Raven King was in the King of Lanthanor's hands.

Well, it would just be one more person to crush after they failed in their escape.

With an expression of extreme joy, the King pocketed the two pieces, which made Arnold grimace, but he just told himself that he would be getting them back soon.

Then, the King pointed at his friend to make healing spells appear, before he was positioned on one side behind him.

As for the one who had masqueraded as the Black Raven all this while, he was standing on the other side.

Of course, there was no way for Arnold to know that the real Faxul was the Black Raven, and that the one who looked like Faxul was actually a different person.

And Daneel had no plan to let him find that out, either.

The more unexplainable a plan seemed, the more the caliber one would attack to the planner.

With everything done, it was time to end the part of the third phase in Axelor, and get out.

Getting annoyed on seeing the King just gloat without continuing, Arnold humphed and said, "The things I've learned would make your head explode. Go on. I want to see what futile attempts you make to leave. You are in an inescapable fortress."

He was constantly looking around and thinking, trying to see if there was anything he could have missed.

He was sure that there was nothing more that could surprise him.

Yet…the King's next action made him drop his jaw for the first time in eons.

"Oh, I thought you might have learned that no matter who you were in your own age, this one…is mine, and mine alone. Let me demonstrate that one more time."

Saying so in a confident voice, the King raised his hand and targeted a formation that Arnold had almost forgotten about.

It was…the one which hid everything happening here from the Big 4.

"N-!"

Crack!

Before he could even say a word, the anti-eavesdropping formation was forcibly broken, allowing this entire scene to viewed by everyone outside.

And the next moment…an expression of panic appeared on the King's face, while he downgraded all the spells he was using to ones of Champion level.

"Head! You said I could call for you if I needed you! I need your help now!"

Whoosh!

A man wearing regal robes appeared between the two parties, before setting eyes on the expressions of the two Kings who were apparently having a confrontation.

He had been watching the continent idly all this time, so he had been pretty surprised to receive a message through the communication trinket he had given to the King of Lanthanor, while a scene revealed itself to him in the Kingdom of Axelor.

He had always been ready to help out, as it would mean that he would be giving out a favour that a man like the King of Lanthanor would definitely return.

But he had never imagined that he would get the opportunity for this, as men like these seldom had to depend on others.

Only, this situation seemed unique.

On one side, King Safiros looked like he was ready to attack and kill those in front of him.

On the other, the King of Lanthanor was extremely tired, and his friend, King Faxul looked like he had been tortured extensively.

He didn't know the other man, but there were no indications of power from him, so he didn't care who he was.

Before he could make a judgment, the King of Lanthanor spoke up again.

"Head, I know that the Big 4 want to make sure that there isn't too much loss of life in the Central Continent. I marched into this Kingdom as I was sure that my friend had been controlled in some manner. That turned out to be the truth. I managed to find him, but it seems I cannot escape. I ask you for this favor, which I will certainly repay. If I die, Lanthanor will go to war, and I guess you don't want that to happen?"

"What the f*ck are you doing?"

After Daneel said all this and made the Head put on a pondering expression on his face, Arnold secretly sent him this message.

And the response…made it clear that the statement from the King before, was definitely one made from confidence, and not overconfidence.

"Oh, it's simple. Both of us know what will happen if the Big 4 get to know that Empire Spirits are roaming freely in the continent. They will crack down on them, hard, with their full force, and there's no way that you're powerful enough, yet, to handle that. You will be sealed away, and you'll have lost everything you worked for so far. So…the choice is yours. Either expose your power and attack to bring the full brunt of the Big 4 down on yourself, or let us go. What do you choose, oh master manipulator of the Empire of Angaria?"

Hoodwinked. Outwitted. Manipulated.

Not once, not twice, but three. damn. times.

"Pfuagh!"

Interrupted as he was mulling over what he should do, the Head wondered why King Safiros had just spit out blood, and looked so livid that it seemed like it was a real possibility that he might die of sheer frustration.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

596 The Final Step 2

Assuming that it was just because of the fact that a golden opportunity to take out two Kings of two of his biggest rivals so that he could place those Kingdoms in vulnerable positions which he could take advantage of might be lost, the Head folded his arms behind his back and turned to the kid who was the reason he was here.

Adopting a stoic expression, he asked, "Do you take me for a fool, King Daneel?"

He used the communication trinket that he had given the King to send this message, so nothing was heard outside.

Still, the change in the expression of the King was discernible, and it made a small ray of hope appear on King Safiros's face.

The Head had always wanted an opportunity like this.

And now that he had it, his instinct told him to haggle, and get as much out of it as he could.

True, the rules did dictate that the Big 4 weren't supposed to interfere too much in the Central Continent. But they also clearly stated that too much bloodshed should also be prevented, so that the overall strength of Angaria would remain the same.

Hence, if anyone asked, he could just say that he was following this rule, as the sudden loss of two Kings really would lead to all kinds of unrest that would definitely result in massive loss of life.

He had a suspicion that King Daneel probably knew about this, more or less, as he had gotten access to the Secret Archives. The Head was unsure regarding just how much data he must have collected there, but it was definitely possible that he must have gone through the tome that listed the various rules and guidelines of the Big 4.

Still, he was sure that he could use this situation to his advantage and take as much out of it as he wanted, as, after all, he was in the position of the one that was being asked the help.

The King took a few seconds to reply, and when he did, it was in a respectful tone.

"I do not follow, Head. I have only stated the truth. I know there are holes in the story, but believe me, they puzzle me as much they might seem puzzling to you. Some can be clarified by asking King Safiros, right now, and if you do so, I will also be very interested to hear what he has to say."

So it looked like the kid was prepared to take this 'innocent' act as far as it would go.

As someone who had lived for centuries and had seen all kinds of geniuses and schemers, the Head wasn't so easily fooled. He could tell that there were a lot of lies in the King's story, but one thing was true: these three individuals definitely were under risk of being killed by King Safiros.

True, King Safiros was only an Exalted Human while King Daneel was an Exalted Warrior, but the latter looked like he had been bombarded by some kind of formation repeatedly, which made it possible that he might have had to deal with some tough ones to get to his friend.

At this moment, the Head didn't care about these holes, and he didn't care to find out about the truth. It was enough for him to know that they existed, and whatever they were, he was confident that they were trivial enough not to concern him. After all, he was the goddamn Head of the High Council of the Big 4, and the strongest Hero on this continent to boot!

So, his whole focus was on exploiting the King, and his statement had been aimed at doing just that.

In response, the Head humphed and said, "If you do not at least admit that this has all been somehow orchestrated by you to gain the support of the people of the Black Raven Kingdom, then I will leave here, right now. I have no interest in helping those who are disingenuous with me."

This finally made a hint of panic flash across the eyes of the King, who had looked oh, so confident till now.

Smiling satisfiedly to himself inwardly, the Head maintained his seriousness and looked forward to see what the King would say.

The reply…was just what he had hoped it to be.

After shaking his head and putting on a serious expression, too, the King of Lanthanor said, "In a way, you are right, Head. My friend was abducted without my knowledge. But I decided to use the opportunity that was presented to me to both understand how the minds of the people of the Black Raven Kingdom worked, which would help me to better understand my Champion Path, and to get a way to enter the Kingdom of Axelor without contention, so that my work would be easier. If it weren't for me burning a lot of resources that will set me back for a long time, I wouldn't even have been able to free my friend so that an attempt to escape would at least begin. I know why you are saying this, Head. Just tell me what you wish in return. I know that the Big 4 does not give out free favors."

Yes, dealing with smart people who could read a situation accurately really was a delightful experience.

Musing in this way, the Head finally let a small smile crack on his face before putting forward his condition.

"Your talents are wasted out here. I want you to-"

"Join the Big 4? I'm ready to do that if you allow me to break through and become a Champion first. That's something I need to do out here, anyway."

"…"

The Head had thought that he would face an uphill battle, so he had built up this impression of a tough guy so that he could haggle for the King to join the Big 4 willingly.

Yet…he had already agreed, which left the Head sheepishly rubbing his nose.

So…it was done?

His main aim had always been to make sure that more and more talented people would be present in the Big 4, so that they could rise to become Heroes that would protect the continent. With everything he had seen from the King so far, he was confident that this was someone who could reach that step. As for what he chose when he did reach it…that would be up to him, but when the time came, the Head was more experienced than anyone else alive in persuading one to take that plunge and become a Hero.

He was confident in his skills. So, all he had wanted was for the King to agree.

Now that it was done, there was no need to dally any more.

"All right. It's good that you made this decision. We can leave, then. I don't care what you do before that point as long as you don't toe the bottom line, but after becoming a Champion, you must honor your word and enter the Big 4 after breaking all ties with the Central Continent. Is that clear?"

Hearing the stern voice of the Head, the King of Lanthanor looked like he was struggling with the decision even though he had stated it directly before.

Finally, after a few seconds, he nodded, which made the smile on the Head's face broaden.

Of course, inwardly, Daneel was laughing so hard that he was afraid that it would show on his face.

The Big 4 had always been the final goal of his on this continent: he had long known that if he truly wished to unite this continent, then he would have to target those sects, too.

According to his estimates, after he became a Champion, Daneel would be heading there anyway, so he had given the Head a word regarding something that would have happened eventually in either case.

Could there even be a better deal?

Meanwhile, Arnold was fuming as he saw the exchanges between this Hero of Angaria and the vermin he wished to crush under his feet so much that they were itching continuously, as if being denied that pleasure would make them feel so disappointed that they might shrivel up and cease to exist.

He could tell that he had lost this round.

This really was a stalemate: he just couldn't risk bringing down the Big 4 on him, especially as he hadn't even broken the third seal. Sometimes, in war, and in life, the best ability that one could be in possession of was knowing when to retreat, and when to advance. It would definitely be devastating if he gave in to his rage and advanced now, so the best thing to do was accept that he had lost this round, and prepare for the next one.

No matter how he thought about it, this was the only method he saw, even though it stung a lot that he would be losing the two pieces of the Grand Inheritance. Yet, he was confident that given enough time, and with the knowledge of just how capable his opponent was, he would definitely be able to take them back, along with the brat's head.

So, taking a deep breath and condensing all the fury he felt into a blazing ball that he could call on whenever he wished, Safiros straightened his back and wiped away the blood on his mouth.

From the smile on the Hero's face, it was obvious that an agreement had been reached.

Hence, deciding to retain some dignity, he said, "Get out. But remember how you were chased like a dog. Head, I will be taking my leave."

Saying so, he vanished, while the 4 individuals in the air looked taken aback. Even the Head was a bit surprised, as he had been expecting the King to go mad, as that would be in line with the personality he usually put on display.

Only Daneel got a cold smile on his face as he saw this.

Indeed, even he knew that he had won this round due to all the meticulous planning. In fact, he had even been pretty close to losing, and that would have happened if it weren't for that soldier who had stepped forward in the last moment. Daneel was almost inclined to think that this was a form of Karma due to all the sins committed by Arnold, but as he knew that no such thing seemed to exist in this world, he chalked it up to luck, and engraved it in his mind as a lesson.

But…he had been fighting from a position which had been shrouded in darkness. Arnold hadn't known a lot of things, which Daneel had used to full advantage. But now…almost everything was out in the open, and Daneel couldn't even imagine just how dangerous an enemy he would be now when he was equipped with so much more than before.

He would never be able to sleep peacefully if such a foe was alive.

As this thought came into his mind, his cold smile turned into a happy one, before he turned his gaze to Town Azmar.

…

Meanwhile, in Town Azmar, Lazon was surrounded by people anxiously looking around for some indication that the promise they had been given would be fulfilled.

Many even came forward to ask him if he knew anything, but all he said was that he was still confident in the King, and they should wait.

However, he could tell that everyone was scared even though they had gone ahead and bent the knee bravely before, as they knew the fate that awaited deserters.

Deserters would be subjected to 99 days of extreme torture, after which their remains would be thrown to the dogs all over the capital to be torn apart and feasted on.

Such a fate…would make anyone shake in their boots.

BOOM!

As a loud sound reached their ears from the direction where the garrison was located, the fear only grew in intensity, with many beginning to break down and regret the decision they had taken.

These were fragile people who were living after picking up the parts of their life left after seeing their loved ones die. They just weren't equipped for any amount of stress.

The confidence and gut instinct that had led Lazon to do what he had done before was still strong, but it couldn't help but waver just a bit as he saw legions of soldiers running toward them from all directions.

He tried to tell those around him to flee and not tell anyone about what had happened here, but although some did so, most were too afraid. They stayed where they were, rigid, ready to be slaughtered by the soldiers who must have heard about what had happened.

Just as he prepared to defend as many as he could, he heard a voice in his head that startled him and made him look up.

"In one minute, look east. A true King always keeps his promise."

…

Arnold had just reached the throne room in the Palace of Axelor. With an expression of frustration on his face, he prepared to down a few bottles of wine to satiate his anger before beginning to plot the downfall of the King.

This plan…would be so perfect that the King of Lanthanor would definitely find out how he had felt today.

Pointing to a wine cabinet and looking elsewhere, he lazily made a bottle fly over.

"Nice collection you have here."

What the-?!

With alarm, Arnold turned around to see the bottle that he had cast the spell on in the hands of an old man who had appeared out of nowhere.

As he recognized him, extreme shock appeared on his face as he raised a finger to point and stuttered "Y-you-"

Opening the bottle and taking a swig, the old man, who was bald with a long beard smiled and said, "Yes, me. You won't mind if I take this with me, right? Oh, why am I even asking."

Saying so, the old man calmly walked to the wine cabinet and began putting all the bottles he could find into the pockets of his robe.

Feeling danger, Arnold tried to teleport away, but he realized that a Hero-level anti-teleportation formation had been placed here already which he would need a few seconds to break through.

So, he decided to act shocked, which was an emotion that still hadn't faded anyway, and ask, "H-how?"

"Oh, stop dithering. I can tell you're acting. The major flaw of that formation you deployed is that it can only detect the overall complexity level of a consciousness. That makes it easy for additional ones, like mine, to sneak in."

5,4,3,2…

What the old man had just revealed was something to marvel at, as it revealed the many layers of the plan of the King. Yet…Arnold was busy counting down the seconds until he could teleport away.

However, before he could say '1' in his mind, the old man turned around and fixed his beady eyes on his and said, "Ok, good chat. Courtesy of the King of Lanthanor, I bid you farewell."

BOOOOOOOOOM!

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates.Net

.

597 The Final Step End

The explosion was so loud that even Daneel, Faxul and the unnamed person, who had paused outside the Kingdom of Axelor along with the Head so that the latter could heal Faxul as a courtesy, heard the loud sound and turned around toward the direction of the capital.

Slight tremors could be felt from the earth, and for a second, a flash of light could also be seen lighting up the sky further in that direction.

With his view of the entire continent from above, the Head could clearly see and understand what had happened.

The capital of Axelor had always been shaped like a massive dome, decorated artfully with the long bones of whatever the strange creature was that this Kingdom used for this purpose.

Right now, right in the middle of it was a large, smoking hole, through which the emptiness where the Throne Room had once been could be seen.

Furrowing his eyebrows, the Head turned to fix his eyes on Daneel, who adopted an expression more innocent than any he had shown before.

It was almost as if he was as surprised as the rest due to this development, but after the Head glared at him for a few moments to make him remember what he had said before, Daneel finally raised his hands and said, "All right, fine. I couldn't resist. He left his Palace wide open, so I sneaked in a very talented assassin who placed some explosive trinkets. I made a promise. During the Olympics, he was the one who had released those mosquitoes that killed hundreds of people. Today, I took revenge. Promises are meant to be kept, Head, and you can be sure that I will keep the one I made for you, in the same way that I kept this one."

Seeing the sentence uttered in a dead serious tone, the Head didn't know what to think for a few seconds.

He was sure to face backlash for protecting someone who had killed the King of an enemy Kingdom, but it remained to be seen what kind of effect this would have on Axelor.

That would be the key factor: whether this attack would cause widespread death. After all, assassinating Kings and Queens was something that happened a lot in the history of Angaria, but it didn't always mean that that resulted in a Kingdom becoming weak. On the contrary, a few times, stronger individuals had taken the mantle and taken revenge on those who steered the assassination, which set in stone the fact that if one wished to follow this route, then they had to be ready for it to backfire on them.

For some reason, the Head could tell that Daneel wouldn't be suffering from this problem. Also…it was good to once again see that he would keep his promise and that he could be ruthless when needed, which was a trait that was all too rare in the modern batch of disciples in the Big 4.

So, just sighing and shaking his head, the Head said, "All right. This is it, right? You've got nothing else planned that'll cause major changes in the Central Continent? Because although I'm Head, I am answerable to the Council, you know."

The Head only asked this out of exasperation, thinking that the answer would definitely be 'yes', and that he could let out a breath of relief.

Yet…when he saw the King sheepishly look down and focus on his feet like a shy maiden, a bad feeling came over the Head.

Sure enough, a few moments later, the King of Lanthanor raised a finger and spoke in a slightly abashed tone.

"Err…just onnnnneeeee little thing…"

…

In Azmar, the army which had been rushing in the direction of the citizens who had been reported to have spoken to the person recognized as the Evil King Daneel were stopped in their tracks as they, too, turned east to see the gigantic fireball, and the subsequent smoke that arose from the spot where the Capital was certainly located.

Everyone stood in awe as they witnessed this, and even though they didn't know it, they could tell that they were witnessing something that might just change the history of their Kingdom in unfathomable ways forever.

Only…the citizens who had been promised revenge by the King of Lanthanor, and who had been told by Lazon beforehand to look there to see the word that had been given to them kept all had smiles on their faces, along with shining tears in their eyes that fell as they knew, before everyone else, what this spectacle meant.

The King was definitely dead.

Remembering his twisted face when he had merrily referred to the purges that had killed their loved ones, they felt satisfaction surging through their minds which made them once again fall to the ground, just like before, when they had bent the knee.

If they had been doubtful of the decision they had taken before, it was no longer the case now.

There was nothing more effective than seeing someone promise something impossible, and then do it right in front of their eyes, right away. This was capable of instilling a kind of belief that couldn't even be explained using words.

"Hail the King…"

"Hail the King!"

"HAIL THE KING!"

It started as a whisper, but it soon turned into full-blown cheering which shocked those of the army into regaining their senses, as they wondered why this group of people were chanting this slogan with extreme expressions of satisfaction on their faces.

They would have gone up and asked, but the next moment, they received immediate orders from the commander in charge of them to make their way to the Capital as soon as possible.

So, with no option but to think that maybe, this was a chant for their own King, whom they didn't know to be dead, they left, while the shout continued to echo throughout the town.

…

Chugging down a bottle of wine casually while seeing the chaos wrought by him, Elanev's master smiled as he felt the communication trinket in his pocket vibrate.

"Any problems?"

Hearing the calm voice of the King of Lanthanor, the old man humphed and said, "During the Empire, it was an established fact that if you left something up to Senior Fists of Justice, it would be done no matter who came in the way. Like I told you, it was a piece of cake."

As Daneel heard this, although he had seen the explosion for himself, he let out a breath of relief.

Of course, the old man wasn't where he was, so he couldn't see this, but he did hear it.

"I have to say that your plan is right up there among the top in what I've seen from the most talented generals during the Empire. Hell, even the Emperor would have struggled to make one as elaborate as this one. It was a genius idea to smuggle in an additional Empire Spirit in your mind along with yourself when you entered Axelor, as Arnold would be pretty startled on seeing you head to his precious parts of the Grand Inheritance. If he had detected an additional being, he would have been on alert, but all he would be able to tell from the feedback of his formation would have been that your mind has the complexity level of a Hero. And, of course, no one could have used this opportunity except me. All you needed to do was drop me off in the mind of some random person with a grievance, along with the set of trinkets that you specially made. I'm an expert in swaying people to accept me, so all it took was 10 minutes. Hehe, it definitely helps that there are so many stories from bards, even in this Kingdom, about powerful masters who sometimes grace people with no background to make them strong enough to get revenge. He thought I was someone like that, too, and after that it was a simple issue of taking his permission to use his body, putting his consciousness to sleep, and using the Ker-root based trinket made by that Dragon to bypass the formations in the Palace of Axelor so that I could place those special explosive trinkets in the Throne Room. He was completely occupied by you, so it was a piece of cake, especially as Drakos's trinket did wonders. Of course, wherever his stone pedestal is, it's unharmed, but as a major part of his consciousness has perished along with the King, he will have no option but to go to sleep for an extended period of time. That's the major negative with partial possession. If the body dies, that part of the consciousness disperses, too, so the original one is often injured beyond salvation. And when asleep, Arnold is no threat to you, or anyone. You really hit this one out of the park, didn't you?"

Daneel felt a small amount of pride as he heard this, along with the sting that still hurt him as he had had to use the precious Ker Root he had obtained in the Sect of Hedon again. Alas, Drakos had said that it was necessary if a trinket capable of bypassing formations of the level that would be defending the Palace in the absence of the King needed to be made.

This had been the last layer of the plan meant to remove Arnold from play, as he was just too dangerous an opponent to keep around. Hence, Daneel hadn't hesitated too much before deciding to splurge.

He was fine with not ending the Empire Spirit, for now. All he needed was for Arnold to be completely incapacitated, and with the death of King Safiros, that had been accomplished.

"What next, though? You can't enter this Kingdom again, as they'll be turtling up using everything they have. Even if they can't finely control the Hero-level formations, they can activate and deactivate them. So there's no way in. This part of me will have a merry life here, and I'll give you constant updates regarding everything that's happening, but you know that I can't do more."

Of course, as Daneel was always an advocate of getting more out of every plan he made, he had also used this to place a permanent spy in Axelor in the form of a part of Elanev's Master. The idea had come from the man's illustrious past, where he had lived multiple lives all over the Continent in this method.

Sadly, Daneel was too busy now with a different matter, so all he could say was, "Just keep me posted. I'll decide when I can spare some time for it."

"All right. Time to go make this boy a man, then."

As he saw Senior Fists of Justice cut off the connection, Daneel refocused his gaze on where he was.

This was actually a place that gave him the feeling of déjà vu.

Months ago, when Faxul had been crowned King, this place in the sky had been used to allow everyone to see everything that was going on. Just like then, all the people of the Capital were gathered in the streets, while display trinkets were also showing the scene all over the Kingdom, and even all over the Continent, with the help of the Network.

Two people stood in the air, and as the sun reached its highest point in the sky, one of them, who was wearing black robes with life-like Ravens embroidered on them, stepped forward and spoke.

"People of the Black Raven Kingdom! The King of Axelor, who is now presumed to be dead by the attack of an unknown force, used a spell to control and abduct me. He used this same spell to control the commanders of the army, too, who ordered our soldiers to unite with that fell Kingdom in that way. At this moment, I bow my head in shame, for I failed you."

Without giving the people a moment to react, he continued.

Pointing a finger beside him, he said, "If it weren't for this man, our Kingdom would have been doomed. Our people would have been slaughtered for simply making their opinions known, and the free will and spirit that we hold dear would have been trampled on, making us unworthy of being the descendants of the Almighty Black Raven. All those who stood on his side were right: he was speaking the truth, and he is the one you all must thank for saving my life, and allowing our Kingdom to be free from the clutches of someone who would have reveled in destroying everything we stand for. In every way, he has proven himself to be a better King than I."

As he said this, King Daneel walked forward and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, as if to tell him that he shouldn't feel so.

This honest display of friendship and camaraderie warmed the hearts of many, but suddenly, the gathering was interrupted by a loud sound that made the hearts of almost all the citizens gathered here beat faster, as they remembered when they heard it last.

"SQUAK!"

It was the Protector Raven!

Descending from the sky with the same grandeur it had shown back during the ascension of King Faxul to the Throne, which was something which was still fresh in the minds of all those present, the enormous Raven stepped onto the invisible podium in the air on which the two Kings were standing.

Seeing it appear, a smile came on King Faxul's face, and he walked forward with a smile, announcing, "Even the Protector Raven could not save me, as it looked like I was doing everything of my own free will. I-"

As the remaining words got stuck in King Faxul's mouth, an incident occurred that was witnessed by all which made almost everyone in the Black Raven Kingdom wonder if they were dreaming.

As King Faxul walked forward, the giant Black Raven walked forward, too, on its two legs, as if to greet him.

Only…after it reached him, it flew over him in a swift motion, which was the reason behind King Faxul choking on what he had been about to say.

While he turned around in shock to see what the hell was going on, the might Protector Raven of the Black Raven Kingdom actually…landed in front of King Daneel, and bent its beak which was the size of a human head.

Instinctively, the King of Lanthanor raised his hand, which made the Black Raven step forward and nuzzle its beak against the King's palm, while a resounding squak emanated from it at the same time.

"The sacred Connection Ceremony!"

"Th-the Almighty Black Raven deemed him worthy of being our King?!"

"B-but he's an outsider…"

"Who cares? He's done more for us than most! That's why the Almighty Black Raven acknowledged him! He truly cares about us!"

"The one who passes the Connection Ceremony must ascend to be the King! That is the teaching of our forefathers!"

"All hail the Almighty Black Raven!"

As shouts in this manner started to echo all over the Kingdom, Daneel asked Faxul, who was in front of him in the form of the Black Raven.

"Hey, does that really feel good, or are you acting?"

The answer, though, was disregarded by Daneel, as he had just received a message which made his mind go blank.

In the priority list of messages that should be relayed to the King, one of those on the top included any changes in the secret room in the library, where Drakos's pedestal was.

And, according to Kellor, right now…a golden light could be seen cascading onto the floor outside the door behind which the stone pedestal stood.

The last time this had happened, Daneel had broken the first seal after the Olympics.

As excitement beyond any level he had felt in a long time surged through him, he waited with bated breath for this ceremony to end, so that he could finally, finally, FINALLY go find out what awaited him behind the goddamn third and final seal of the Empire Spirit of Angaria.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

598 The Third Seal 1

In front of him, Faxul who was acting as the Protector Raven that had gotten gravely injured during that fight with the ancient Black Raven before could sense that his friend was very tense for some reason. He asked for the reason through the communication trinket that he had on him, but the only reply he got was that they should get finished with this soon, and it was given in such a terse tone that he wondered whether anything was wrong.

Yet, because Daneel hadn't bothered to say anything, Faxul didn't worry too much, and continued their act which was to show the people of the Black Raven Kingdom that Daneel had been acknowledged by the Protector Raven, which meant that they could have no qualms about accepting him as their leader officially.

Of course, there would still be some obstacles to pass through, such as getting the approval of the Council. All the senior members of the Council were now staring with completely astounded expressions at this scene, and as the 'Protector Raven' stood up and let out another loud squawk before flying off into the direction from where it had come from, they regained their senses and focused their eyes on the King of Lanthanor as if he was some kind of primordial monster.

Daneel also used this little bit of time to control his excitement, as he knew that this was the culmination of all of his efforts so far. Clearly, that act had been very effective in changing the minds of many of the citizens who were congregated under him, which had led to the satisfaction level reaching the required threshold that had allowed the final seal to become broken.

Obviously, same as before, Drakos couldn't tell whether this was the case, because this part of his consciousness wasn't in the pedestal. Yet, when Daneel told him that the golden light that had whisked him away into that vision before had appeared once again, Drakos also confirmed that this meant that the final seal had been broken – apparently, the Emperor had planned it so that the first and last seals would have these visions, which would be most effective in explaining whatever he wished to those who passed the criteria than any number of words that might be spoken by the Emperor Spirits left behind.

Elanev, as Faxul, continued his part after the 'Protector Raven' left.

As they were maintaining the act that he was shocked beyond anyone else, he just ended the event by once again assuring everyone that only prosperity would follow for the Black Raven Kingdom, and that another event would soon be held after a discussion with the Council.

Although he didn't explicitly state that this discussion would be regarding what they had just seen, it was apparent, and when everyone in the air disappeared, a loud buzz of conversation could be heard from the people below, with most of them advocating for the fact that there was nothing more they needed to wait for. The King of Lanthanor was their rightful ruler, and they apparently wouldn't have it any other way, especially after seeing how he had saved them all from that purge before, which was more powerful than any other thing that he could have done in an attempt to sway them toward him.

Of course, all of Daneel's efforts to go to each and every town and adding thoughts about supporting him also came to fruition now, as these blossomed into beautiful flowers of loyalty that stood stronger than ever after witnessing this unscheduled, yet sacred connection ceremony.

Typically, their agenda now was that Daneel would right away begin the discussion with the Council, but he couldn't wait anymore. He just told Elanev and Faxul that he needed to handle something in the Kingdom, and that he would come back soon. After all, the council wasn't going anywhere.

The two were a bit surprised, but after seeing the way in which Daneel completely cut off connections and immediately teleported to Lanthanor, they had no choice but to wait.

Barely a few seconds later, Daneel was already standing in front of the secret room in the library, from under which that golden light could be seen.

It cascaded onto his boots, lighting them up splendidly while his face also lit up with joy and expectation. He paused to cherish this moment, for which he had worked so hard. He couldn't wait for the mysteries to finally be revealed to him, but he still thought back just once to everything he had done, so that he could instill it in himself that with the correct vision, anything could be achieved.

Taking a deep breath, Daneel opened the door, and just like before, he collapsed to the ground as his mind was whisked away into the visual message.

Unlike before, when he had woken up in the presence of the Empire spirit which had apparently been acting with all that bravado in order to impress all those who managed to reach that level, there were no happy conversations to be heard from the citizens of the Empire. Instead, screams of pain and loud explosions greeted his ears, making him snap open his eyes and look around, with the intent of finding out where he was.

Dark clouds could be seen everywhere around him, and in front of him, a familiar figure stood, yet there was something different in him from what he had seen before.

First, Daneel took a measure of their location. They were clearly in the airspace of Angaria, standing on a physical balcony which was very similar in style to the buildings that Daneel had seen in his last vision.

It was a style which reminded him of the Victorian Era back on Earth. They were standing on a C-shaped balcony with a railing that was artfully constructed using a material that looked a lot like marble.

Flowing designs could be seen etched all over the railing, and the floor also seemed to have had a large sigil –"had", because it looked like it had been attacked using a fireball that had caused soot to appear all over it,.

As soon as Daneel finally looked up to once again see the figure of the giant-sized man in front of him, he turned around, and although he had the same face with those bold features and perfectly cut short beard, there was an additional weariness about him that hadn't been present before.

At this moment, Daneel could also tell what the difference in his figure was – unlike before, when his back had been the very symbol of confidence, authority and power, it was hunched now, slightly, as if burdened by the weight of a failure whose magnitude could not be imagined.

Yet, as soon as his eyes fell on Daneel, a small smile appeared on his face, which also seemed to drive away the gloom that was present all over where they were standing.

Without saying a word, he simply gestured Daneel to come over using his hand, before turning back and once again gazing upon whatever had been looking at when Daneel had rudely interrupted the scene.

Daneel picked himself up, and maybe because he couldn't help but compare himself with this man, he straightened his back as much as he could and also arranged his hair, with was quite funny as he had never cared much about his appearance till now.

Adopting a neutral expression, he finally walked forward to lay his eyes upon the same sight that the Emperor was looking at.

As he did so, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

They seemed to be smack dab above the center of Angaria, and in the part of Angaria they were watching, there were five major settlements, all of which were completely covered by furious flames that rose to the sky. In each and every one of them, as Daneel focused his vision, he could see multiple individuals in the same form he had seen in the first vision– their upper body was swollen to a size of at least five times of the lower body, but the head still remained the same size, which resulted in a grotesque being that would bring terror to any who saw it. Such figures were proceeding to wantonly massacre all those around them, all while Mages and Fighters here and there tried to futilely stop them using whatever trinkets they could find. Yet, it was clear that all of these individuals were at most Warriors, who stood no chance against these beings which were mostly Champions, with even a few Heroes mixed in here and there.

Everywhere he looked, this was apparent, and in places where there were no more people to kill, these beings began thrashing all of the buildings around them.

By now, it was obvious that he was witnessing the catastrophe that had destroyed the Empire, and resulted in Angaria having to pick up the pieces and survive with barely a fraction of its population left.

Although all this was very shocking, Daneel had already imagined it before, as the records in the Secret Archives had been quite elaborate in describing how it had been.

The true shock… came when he looked up, as he had just heard a strange rumbling sound from there which did not match with any natural sound of lightning that he knew.

When he did so, above the clouds, Daneel could see some kind of… massive being that was at least the size of Angaria, itself.

He couldn't even comprehend how this was possible, and as he moved his head to take in its entirety, he saw that there were actually tentacle-like things which stretched from it and were approaching the borders of Angaria in various places.

He couldn't gather any more details except for the fact that it was somehow hidden using a spell whose complexity he couldn't comprehend – it was as if he was watching something wreathed in a mist that he couldn't see through no matter how much he tried, and this applied to those tentacles, too. He could only see the general shape, and that they were actually… moving up, away from Angaria.

It was then that he noticed something – right in the middle of this humongous mass which was literally like a cloud that covered Angaria and darkness, there was a gaping hole through which just a single ray of sunshine fell through.

It was such an incongruous sight that Daneel had to rub his eyes to see whether what he was watching was really true.

Finally, the Emperor spoke, and as Daneel listened to his words, the shock and awe that he felt only increased in magnitude until he could just stand there, watching this sight which was straight out of a nightmare.

"A World Eater – it is named grandly so, but it can barely be used on a continent of this size. If I hadn't used the Grand Inheritance to gravely injure it, all of Angaria would have been swallowed whole by it by now – leading to not a single Angarian surviving to tell the tale. It was inevitable, and we all knew that it was coming – but we still hoped that we could somehow stop it without resorting to this measure. Alas, this is what it came to. It was to prevent this that I set up so many obstacles to test those who wished to take control of the immense knowledge of the Empire, after which they would certainly use it to gain control of the ultimate power that is the Grand Inheritance. From the criteria that was fulfilled, I can tell that you actually went about it the right way- which is something that truly gives me pleasure. On behalf of this continent, I thank you and congratulate you on breaking the third seal, behind which all of the mysteries and secrets that you must have come across before are hidden. Now then, instead of me droning on and on about things you might not be interested about, why don't we do this – ask away, and I will answer each of your questions to the best of my ability."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

Ebook Updates . Net

.

599 The Third Seal 2

Daneel first took a moment to distract himself from the image in front of him.

World Eater.

He had to admit that the name perfectly fit, because this really did look like some sort of terrifying being that could gobble up an entire continent whole.

He could just imagine those tentacles completely reaching down and holding the edges of the continent, before engulfing it in that mist and swallowing each and every being it could find.

Of course, he couldn't really tell whether this was how it would play out if that massive hole didn't exist that had certainly been caused by the Emperor wielding the Grand Inheritance, but that was how he imagined it.

After that, he continued to ask the first question that came to his mind.

"Why? Why do so many organizations want to massacre everything on this continent? What do they get out of it? And where are they even from?"

The Emperor did not turn to Daneel to answer the question. Instead, he just talked, while Daneel listened with complete attention.

"Getting right down to the important stuff, aren't we? Well, the answer to this is simple, and it is the answer that you would get for most of the questions that you can ask about those who wish destruction – power. You must have already guessed that Angaria is just a continent in this World, the true size of which even I do not know. However, what I do know is that Angaria is a mid-sized continent compared to others, and that it is one that has come into existence recently relative to other continents. The place that these organizations come from is simply called the Mainland – it is the oldest continent that has existed, and nobody even knows when it came into being. The mainland is vast – larger than you can ever imagine. In one estimate, it can be said that a hundred Angarias can fit into it. Even though this is the case, there are only a few major organizations which control large tracts of it. And the one which is currently attacking Angaria in this vision – is one of them. Here, I have to disappoint you just a bit – I cannot state its name, as doing so would call its attention upon us. But I can tell you why they wish to do this."

Indeed, Daneel did feel a little bit of disappointment when he heard this, but he was actually fine with it as he had no intention of gaining attention from such a behemoth, especially when he wasn't strong enough to even handle the forces in current Angaria.

So, he just took a deep breath and waited to get the answer to his first question.

"You see, the way the world works is that each and every being which is born in it is given a certain… ability to affect it, and mold it to their will. In those who are talented, this manifests in the form of Mageroots and Body Potential, which they can use to train and achieve great things. But what about those in whom this is not the case? These people should also be able to influence the world in some way, as it is the right given to them. Hence, they gain the ability to influence the Will of the World. I think you can guess what this Will is. When a Champion resonates with something inside himself and causes a reaction within the world, it is this Will that responds and lends its power. When a Hero ascends, it is the quintessence of this Will that he takes control of to dramatically increase his power by making the world itself move for him. And when one wields the Grand Inheritance, it is this Will that they control to do whatever they wish. Finally, this is also the answer that you seek – all of these organizations wish to control the Will of the World, which holds immense power, to drive their own agenda of either defeating their enemies, or becoming stronger so that they can continue to live for millennia. But herein lies the problem with the Will – the Will of the World is a combination of all the thoughts of all the beings that inhabit it – in case you have used the Ruler's Inheritance, you must already have gotten a taste of what this means. Such a large amount of individual thoughts can only be controlled and ignored, if all of those people, or at least most of them are loyal to the one who wields the Will. This has always been the singular rule that covers the Will – when wielded by one who is supported by a large part of it, it will not put up as much resistance, as they are deemed to be worthy. But when this is not the case, it will retaliate, and attempt to drive them mad. If someone gets over this and still uses it, it results in this catastrophe – a complete and utter retaliation by the Will which drives all those above the level of a Warrior into a state where their only objective is to destroy everything around them. That is exactly what you are witnessing below."

Daneel had been holding his breath as he heard all this, and he finally let it out as he realized that most of the suppositions he had had before were right. He couldn't even begin to express the amount of satisfaction that came from having them confirmed, but he stopped all these thoughts when he saw the Emperor continue.

"Now, to understand why they wish to massacre the inhabitants of the continent in order to get this Will, I ask you to simply think of something: you are a King who has definitely swayed a lot of people toward your side with great difficulty in order to reach this stage. Instead of that, imagine a race of people who are brought up while being taught a single thing: to revere you like a god, and always support you while keeping you in their hearts no matter what you do. Wouldn't this directly allow you to wield the Will without fearing the backlash, and also let you rest assured that outsiders cannot steal away the right to wield the Will?"

Daneel nodded without hesitation when he heard this. He had just now experienced this firsthand when he had tried to sway the citizens of Axelor. They had been brought up while being taught to support the King. Hence, even when they saw that that man was responsible for them losing their loved ones, they had still needed time to betray him.

"That is their objective. It is, in fact, two-fold: one, by killing millions of people, there is a certain power that is born which they can use. Two- they can quickly populate an empty continent and raise those people to support them, allowing them to easily wield the Will as they wish without having to go through any difficulties. As for why they want the Will: I am unclear about this, too, but one reason is that there is always a struggle in the Mainland, which can be won by those who control more Wills, and can hence defeat their opponents using overwhelming power. Another is that it is said that a Will can be used to prolong the life of those who stand above the level of a Hero. Continue. What else do you wish to know?"

Daneel decided to first to ask and get all the answers he wanted, before mulling over them later. So, after thinking for a bit, he asked, "If this risk still stands, why did you even leave behind the Grand Inheritance? And from what you said before, I can gather that you know that loopholes can be used to take control of it. Why did you allow that? And how did you even discover the Grand Inheritance? And what happened in this fight? Why didn't they return to attack again?"

This made a smile of sadness appear on the face of the Emperor.

After letting out a sigh, he spoke.

"Let me answer your last questions first. In my time, I was blessed with more talent than most others, and I went ahead to grow stronger and stronger until I reached the farther edge of the Hero level. There had never been anyone before who reached that level. Excited, I forged ahead. That…was when I was exposed to the Grand Inheritance, as my mind reached a complexity which allowed me to detect it. I found it in a spot at the center of the continent, and when I realized what it was- I acted like a fool. In my quest to grow stronger, I used it just a little bit without caution, and this…was the thing that attracted the attention of one of the organizations on the Mainland. You see, until that point, Angaria had been veiled. In other words, I am the fool who is the reason behind our continent being targeted by organizations from outside. In this final fight, I used the Grand Inheritance even though I didn't have the required amount of support to gravely injure their strongest weapon, and also ensure that the veil that was originally around our continent would come into existence again, at least for a time. I wasn't strong enough to make it stay forever. I knew that it would dissipate one day. I knew that Angaria would once again become a target. And that is why I left behind the Grand Inheritance, and the Empire Spirits so that our descendants would be able to learn from our mistakes. You have the chance, now, to do right by Angaria, and defend it without causing the catastrophe."

Daneel couldn't believe it. But he stood by the decision he had taken before, and just listened.

"As for why I allowed those loopholes, it was because I could not jeopardize the existence of this continent on my faith that one such as you would arise who could use the correct method to reach the level where the Grand Inheritance could be wielded without the risk of causing the catastrophe. You see, until I actually used it to get rid of the threat, even I didn't know the exact criteria that it used to judge the 'worth' of someone. I just thought that it needed people to be happy. I gave them everything they could ever dream of. But that was not the answer. You seem to have found it. I used everything I learned to make the seals. The objective of leaving behind the loopholes was that in the case where Angaria was once again under risk of being destroyed, one would be able to use the Will to defend it, even if it meant that they would reach the criteria by using horrible means to get to the required satisfaction level. Isn't it better to have a few die when you can save the rest, as opposed to letting everyone perish? It was always all about the satisfaction level. The seals, the Race- all of it. I simply wished for one to come forward who could use the Grand Inheritance to wield the Will without causing the catastrophe, like I did. And as for the Ruler's Inheritance, it was my creation based on how the Will worked. It was supposed to be used for practice by those who were using the correct method-such as you, for the time when you obtain the Will. Those who used other means would not have obtained that technique. In either case, Angaria would have been saved. I feel…that I have succeeded. Don't you?"

Daneel was tempted to just continue to ask questions.

But he decided to speak his mind.

"No. You failed. Those who used loopholes to get the Will might have used it to defend Angaria. But such a person…might opt to give up Angaria anyway, to obtain the knowledge to reach a higher level and live for even longer. How could you not think of this?"

In response to this, the Emperor looked to the side, and actually…smiled.

Only, it wasn't one of mirth.

"Of course I did. I didn't become an Emperor by being foolish, King. I set up a secret backdoor in the Grand Inheritance. Anyone with that intention…will perish right after defeating the threat."

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

600 The Third Seal 3

Daneel couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he heard this. He hadn't even considered that it was possible to put in such countermeasures in the Grand Inheritance, but when he considered that it was probably an item made by the Emperor himself, he realized that there must be many more that the man hadn't stated, yet.

Also… It really was a brilliant plan – to use those who obtained the Grand Inheritance to defend the continent, which was his goal, and then kill them off before they became a threat.

He could only guess how it worked – it was most probably some kind of spell which would look for the condition that anyone who was going to give up the Grand Inheritance to someone foreign, and when that happened, it would result in the death of the possessor.

Daneel wondered whether he should ask about details regarding this, but he felt that such trivial things should be left for later, if there was a 'later' in the first place. Even though the Emperor hadn't said anything to indicate that their time was limited, he really felt that that might be the case, and that he should use what he had to the utmost before then proceeding to matters like these.

After all, he also had a feeling that when he did obtain the Grand Inheritance, he would be able to scan it using the system to find out all the countermeasures placed inside.

So, Daneel merely nodded and continued on to the next pressing question.

"What are you? Even in the vision that I watched before, each and every one of you were at least more than a head taller than most who live in my age. Are you perhaps some kind of being who is at a higher Energy level? If so, why did we become smaller, and is this in some way linked to how the overall Energy level of the planet is decreasing, millennium after millennium?"

This made the Emperor glance at Daneel once again.

"I must say that your mind is quite meticulous, young man. Each and every question you ask is important, and crucial. First of all, yes, I don't know how you guessed it, but we are beings of a higher Energy level. In our age, all those who were born were at least at the level of an Eminent Human, even if they did not train on any path for all of their life. So, you can guess that progressing in levels was also quite easy – Champions were quite common, and it was Heroes who were the main force to be reckoned with all over the continent. The tier of Energy that a race is born in depends on the overall Energy level of the continent. After the catastrophe, my guess is that the overall Energy level declined, because most of the Energy reserves must have been laid waste by all those who went crazy. Also, in that form, each and every individual can absorb humongous amounts of Energy which does not conform with their power level – and this is also the reason why the devastation was so absolute. All of these factors must have contributed to the overall Energy level falling into the tier where your level of beings became common. Or, it might have been gradual. I do not know, as this is only one of the pieces of my consciousness that were stored inside each and every stone pedestal to wait for one who breaks the third seal. After we finish talking, it will disperse, as no form of my consciousness exists in an unsealed form in this world, meaning that this one must perish as it is not strong enough to maintain me by itself. I suggest that you ask each and every thing that you wish to find out now itself. The only other way that you can speak to me again is by breaking the third seal on a different Empire Spirit who may accept you, but I don't know if you are capable of accomplishing that. As for the overall Energy level continuing to diminish- I can answer you based on what I learned about the Mainland. And before you ask, I found out all of this information by conversing with those behind the World Eater, who offered me any and all knowledge that was trivial to them so that they could entice me into joining them. Of course, they were still going to annihilate Angaria, and this was something I could not stand by, especially when it was my fault. At that point, I had already finished the rest of my preparations – all that was left was for me to wield the Grand Inheritance one last time, and then use the small fraction of time I would have before going insane to place copies of my consciousness in the stone pedestals, and also placing down the final rules using the knowledge I gained from that act. Getting back to your answer – according to them, each and every continent in this world has cycles of low Energy and high Energy. Currently, from what you're saying, I can guess that this continent is in a cycle of low Energy, which is typically when forces from the Mainland choose to attack, as they would need the least effort to accomplish what they wish. The overall Energy level would be lower, meaning that there would be fewer Heroes to handle. And in these fights, all those below the level of Heroes are inconsequential. I do not know specifically what happens between a cycle of low Energy and high Energy, but I do know that a continent-wide 'purge', as they love to call it, also hastens the cycle to an end because the leftover Energy is enough to kickstart the other part of the cycle. Of course, at that time, Angaria was in a state of high Energy, meaning that they would not have gotten this advantage if they had proceeded. In your case, I can tell that whoever is targeting you must have this objective in mind, top. After all, conquered continents become breeding grounds for powerhouses who are deeply brainwashed using their religion or doctrines to fight for them till the end of their lives."

Daneel had already gotten to the point where his head was completely stuffed, but he knew that if he stopped and started to think about even one thing, he would become stuck and unable to go on. So, he once again absorbed it all, and only checked whether the question had been answered before moving onto the next one.

"What about the Big Four? What was your plan for them? Why did you not want them to meddle in the Central Continent too much, and why did you choose to lay down that rule that there should at least be three separate forces at all times?"

The answer to this was given in a normal tone.

"The Big Four, or Three, or any Big organizations that came to be, were mainly meant to be a deterring force against any random organizations that might find Angaria by chance even with the veil up. This is possible even though the world is vast – one can never know how the tides of fate work. Even in such cases, the endgame was always to find someone like you who can wield the Will of the World in the correct way without fearing the catastrophe. So, all they needed to do was to make sure that there would still be powerful individuals who would be ready to stop threats, while also ensuring that the Central Continent would not devolve into the state of too much chaos. After all, there needed to be someplace where the only focus would be on obtaining power – and after everything I learned during my time as the Emperor, I realized that it was best if such places were kept separate. You see, segregation in terms of power level is not always a good thing, and it is definitely a bad thing when it is exposed to common people. Those with power tend to have puffed up heads, and incidents of showing off often result in consequences that are horrible to imagine. I remember one individual who massacred an entire town because he wasn't given enough respect by their Mayor. Of course, this was before the time of the Empire where I laid down very strict rules regarding such behavior. Anyway, I digress. As for your last question, the three forces rule was placed as a countermeasure in case nefarious means were used by outside forces to gain a following inside our continent. Along with this rule, the rule that no religion must ever grow large enough to encapsulate the whole continent was also placed for the same purpose. I had also found out that those in the Mainland mainly use this tool of religion to bind people to them. In the little time that I had, I decided that no religion might be best, and that each and every outcropping of it must be dealt with using extreme and absolute force. Three is the ideal number, as if there are only two, then one can take over the other and result in a singular force, and if that force is secretly under the influence of some kind of religion, Angaria would be doomed as all of my plans would have been for naught. I take it that at least this countermeasure worked."

Remembering how so many Heroes had descended upon him when he had recklessly dabbled in religion, Daneel blushed a bit and nodded. Oh yes, it had definitely worked.

Below him, all this time, the destruction had continued, leading to more and more places becoming silent graveyards due to those beings moving on to locations with standing buildings and living people. Here and there, Daneel could spot small pockets of people who were using some kind of trinkets to burrow deep, deep into the ground, where they couldn't be found. Only, most of them were interrupted and killed, but a few succeeded, and Daneel could tell that these must have been the ones who survived this apocalypse and went on to form the Big Four.

Watching this sight, the Emperor said, "Our time runs short. When this destruction comes to an end, my consciousness will also disperse. So I urge you to hurry up, and only ask those things which you definitely wish to know about that will help you in your path forward. We also do not have the luxury for me to sit down with you and find out everything that has happened after my passing. I wish that would happen, as even though it will be meaningless, at least this part of my consciousness will have perished with a little bit of satisfaction. Anyway, continue."

As Daneel heard this, he turned to his right to see a single tear appear in the left eye of the Emperor, which evaporated into mist not even a second after he had spotted it.

He could sense the extreme despondency of this man. How could he have known that just by pursuing power, he would bring down such a foe that could only be defeated in this manner?

He had clearly been a victim of fate, but instead of feeling defeated and giving up, he had nobly gone forward to do so much in order to ensure the continued existence of this continent that had given birth to him.

Right now, even though there might be reasons to hate him, all Daneel felt was respect for this man.

But the thing about only having a little bit of time made him feel panic. He could tell that there were so many more questions he wanted to ask, and although a few appeared in his mind, with the one about the bloodline being among the most important, he couldn't decide between them.

So, with frustration, Daneel was finally about to choose one, but he suddenly got an idea.

He loved it, as it would make both him and this man happy.

Not hesitating at all, Daneel proceeded to give a few instructions to the system before turning to face the Emperor and saying, "How about this? As you are a piece of consciousness, I know that you can enter my mind and go through my memories. It should not cost you anything. I would love for you to do that, if you allow me to do the same. What do you say?"

Daneel had to tilt his head up to say this, and when the Emperor also turned toward him with an expression of interest on his face, he looked forward to a positive answer as the advantages were clear.

This was an opportunity for him to find out each and every thing about the Emperor's life, so he was prepared to let this man go through his own memories and see the results of all of his plans as Daneel had so much more to gain from this than him.

Folding his hands, the Emperor said, "I must say that I like this idea. But sadly, it cannot be done. I have simply lived for too long a time, and even though most of it was spent in training in solitude, you cannot skip over these parts if you wish to go through my memories. You will have to endure the brunt of all of them, and even if you do survive the strain that this will put on your consciousness, I'm sure that you will have no way to remember any of it clearly enough in order to peruse it at you will. I can tell what you wish to accomplish, but it is not possible."

At first, Daneel was worried, but when he heard this, he chuckled and simply said, "Try me."

This made the Emperor raise both his eyebrows, but he glanced once to the right, and when he saw all that destruction once again, Daneel could spot the yearning in his expression to find out whether all of his efforts had mattered, at all.

Such temptation was truly something that could not be shielded against easily.

Sure enough, the Emperor turned to Daneel after a few moments and asked, "Are you sure?"

Daneel just nodded without hesitation, following which he saw the Emperor stretch forward one hand and lay it on his head. The hand was so big that it completely covered his skull, but the next moment, he was inundated with such a gigantic flood of memories that he directly fainted.

Yet, the moment right before he closed his eyes, he could almost swear that he saw the Emperor smile broadly, while tears of joy shone in his eyes.

You are reading

World Domination System

ebook which is a free download at

wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

.

Download more ebooks for free at

EbookUpdates(dot)Net

.

____________________________________________________________

© World Domination System - Killerhemboy - Ongoing 401 To 600. World Domination System - Killerhemboy - Ongoing 401 To 600

Origin: http://samlib.ru/c/chernij_a_w/worlddominationsystem-killerhemboy-ongoing401to600.shtml

Создан: 15/04/2020, изменен: 15/04/2020, 3356k

Стихотворение: Foreign+Translat

Series: @Other