Chapter 257 Ancestral Grounds
As Elanev hadn't been able to deduce exactly whether there was anyone watching him on the Palace Grounds, Daneel and Faxul had decided to use this ruse so that there wouldn't be much suspicion when the two walked into the forest.
"So much confidence? I'm confident that you can't stand a single punch from me anyway, but I like the idea of fighting in the forest. Hey, maybe the foliage will even cushion your fall when you go flying! Let's go."
Speaking in the same prideful manner as Elanev, Daneel led the way.
For caution's sake, they had chosen to go to the forest adjoining the one which the strange man had gone into.
After entering the forest, the duo went deeper and deeper until Daneel checked with the Surveillance Tool that there was no one watching them.
Back in the sparring ground, the system had alerted him that at least 1 individual had his/her eyes on them, but Daneel had no way of knowing whether it was someone actually keeping a watch or someone who was idly watching, like Elanev had been when he saw the strange man.
The forest seemed to stretch on endlessly, with visibility so low that the two couldn't even see 20 feet in front of them. Thick foliage and aged trees were all around them, making Daneel feel thankful that neither of them was claustrophobic.
Taking a sharp right, they headed to the place they had come to check out.
Yet, only after a half hour, the duo had to stop again at Daneel's signal.
This was because the system had just sent the message that there was a hidden formation in front of him, which would send an alert when someone crossed it.
Of course, Daneel had asked the system to scan everything around them using the 'Hidden Object Identification-1' tool. Hence, he had avoided blindly stumbling into this formation which was clearly there to keep outsiders out.
"System, how do we circumvent it?", he asked, hoping that they wouldn't have to give up already.
[Scanning. Looking for brute force breakthrough method. Method found. Probability of failsafe being triggered: 100%. Parameter unacceptable. Looking for alternate method. Loophole found: animal identification sub-routine. The formation does not send an alert when an animal passes through. This can be exploited as the system can modify the analysis capability of the formation temporarily to make host appear as an animal. Due to high complexity of formation, host is requested to emulate an animal when he passes through.]
Hearing the notification, Daneel was dumbstruck.
This was the first time he saw such an elaborate answer when he asked the system to do something.
"System, why the different answer? And what do you mean, emulating an animal?"
[Although the core formation is advanced, there is a sub-formation that has been applied on top which enables those of lower level to control it. This is similar to the sub-formation which is on top of the core dragon-heart formation in the Lanthanor Kingdom. System was able to find vulnerabilities in the formation on top. The failsafe is the original formation, which only has a few functions active. Detailed analysis reports have been activated because the system has deemed that host has reached a requisite level to comprehend and make use of them. Would you like this feature to be turned off? This was a hidden feature which was not under the control of host until certain parameters were met. Regarding the second question, host needs to act like an animal to enable system to fool the formation.]
Was the system actually saying that…he had been too dumb till now to understand a detailed analysis?
"No, keep it on.", he said, grinding his teeth and remembering about the 'features' of the system which were locked to him until certain parameters were met.
He had almost forgotten about this fact because it had been a long time since it had been brought up, but now that it was made aware to him, he couldn't get it out of his head.
Regardless, knowing what was most important right now, Daneel started thinking about all the animals they had passed.
The animal life on Angaria was quite similar to that of Earth, with only a few hybrid species standing out which Daneel suspected were the results of biological modification like the mosquitoes.
On the way to this point, they had passed deers, rabbits and squirrels, making Daneel frown as he imagined posing as each.
Seeing that their time was running out, Daneel sighed before saying to Faxul, "There's a formation here. Just do what I do. Don't ask why."
Saying so, he turned around and got down on all fours, startling Faxul as he wondered what was going on.
After doing so, Daneel shuffled forward through the invisible line that separated the two forests.
After getting up and dusting himself off, he saw Faxul staring at him as if he had gone mad and said, "It's too long to explain, and we don't have time. Just do the same."
Finally understanding that his friend was serious, Faxul mirrored his movements before resolving to ask later why two grown men had to crawl forwards on all fours in order to bypass a formation.
Yet, the moment he passed through the formation, he vanished into thin air.
Daneel, who was watching from the side, stepped back as he saw this happen.
It was as if some invisible beast had swallowed his friend whole the moment he entered the forest.
This definitely wasn't teleportation, as the entire area was space locked which led to him having to adopt that awkward pose before.
Just as he was about to ask the system what was going on, Faxul reappeared in front of him with an incredulous expression on his face.
After a few seconds during which both of them looked at each other disbelievingly, Faxul said, "Come with me."
Seeing Daneel stand there unmoving, Faxul quickly walked forward and grabbed his friend's hand before both of them vanished from the forest.
The first thing that Daneel felt after recovering from the feeling of passing through a cold spray of water which was indicative of teleportation was death.
If death had a smell, he was sure that this was what it would smell like.
Opening his eyes, he saw that he was actually standing on earth which was black in color.
Looking up, he was shocked to see a blue sky with no clouds whatsoever.
Beside him, Faxul was also looking around while wondering where they were.
"System, where am I?", Daneel asked, wanting to figure out just where they had both teleported to.
[Host has teleported to a location roughly 1109 meters under the spot where host was previously standing.]
They were…a kilometer underground?!
Unable to believe what the system was saying, Daneel looked all around and realized that there was no sun.
Clearly, what was above them was a false roof.
But who had managed to undertake such a gargantuan project?
Both behind and in front of them, the land stretched on without end. From Daneel's estimation, there were at least hundreds of kilometers of barren earth around them.
Bending down, he took some earth between his fingers and rubbed it between them.
It was slightly sticky, as if it had been recently irrigated, but there were no signs of any plants anywhere around them.
"System, analyze my surroundings and the earth."
After a few seconds, Daneel finally realized that they had found what they had been looking for.
[Host is in a location which has an illusion formation set up around it. Those inside are actually in a limited space, and they will move in circles if they walk to reach a distant destination. Multiple such formations have been detected around host's location. The earth below host shows clear signs of having its vitality sucked out. Similarities have been found with the earth from where the Echer seed was planted. There are also signs that the amount of energy in the land before it was absorbed was 10 times greater than regular fertile land. According to data recorded, this indicates that certain extinct plants could grow in this land if planted carefully.]
Over the centuries, along with a general dwindling in the average power level of the beings which occupied this continent, it was also known that many plants which were said to have wondrous effects had gone extinct because the land had lost the energy which was needed to support them.
Clearly, the presence of this land at this place warranted the name which popped into Daneel's mind.
"Ancestral Grounds of the Black Raven Kingdom."