Chapter 387 Legendary Puppeteer
[Achievement: Puppeteer 3- Legendary Puppeteer obtained.
Legendary Puppeteer: By creating and executing masterful plans, you have taken control of another force! You are the master in the shadows, forever unseen, but always pulling the strings! Another firm step towards World Domination! Keep striding forward, and soon, there will be no one that can stand against you! Congratulations!
90,000 EXP awarded.
90 Kingdom Points awarded.
Total EXP: 113,000
Total Kingdom Points: 140]
Seeing things play out in the way he had hoped, Daneel wished that he had some time to pause and rejoice, but the clock was steadily ticking down to the point when he would no longer be able to take control of the formation of the Hidden Kill Sect.
"Upgrade the system. If you need downtime to upgrade completely, prioritize whatever you need to take control of the formation. Upgrade them first and take control as soon as possible. How long will it take?"
[Time for full upgrade: Two hours.
Time for upgrade of essential components to take control of formation: 20 minutes.
System will be offline during the upgrade.]
"Do it! Upgrade only the essential components, and as soon as you come online, take control of this damn formation!"
[Acknowledged.
Commencing system upgrade.
Cost: 100,000 EXP.
Remaining EXP: 13,000.]
At this moment, Daneel felt like lying down on the ground and crying in relief.
This damn system upgrade had been dangling in front of his eyes for so long that he didn't even know how to feel now that he had finally achieved it.
So many of his plans had had to be changed because the system didn't have the capability. Now, with this upgrade, he was going to be able to uncover so many things and answer so many questions that had plagued him for a long, long time.
However, no matter how much joy he felt inside, Daneel had no option but to put on an expression of extreme seriousness on finding himself being elected as the new sect leader of the Hidden Kill Sect.
This was for the sake of the others excluding the three whose votes he had just solicited using the communication trinket-so that they wouldn't feel as if he had done everything in the shadows.
This whole plan had come into being when Daneel had heard the sect leader say the words "The one in possession of the official oath stone of the sect which marks me as the official sect leader".
This had reminded Daneel of the value of the post of the leader of a force.
There had been two separate occasions during his time in Angaria when he had indirectly taken control of two kingdoms. During both times, he had been awarded exponential amounts of EXP, but the main thing that stood out was that the amount had tripled between these two times.
First, it had been 10,000 EXP, and after that, when Faxul had been placed on the throne of the Black Raven Kingdom, he had obtained 30,000 exp.
What was to say that the number wouldn't be tripled again?
All he needed to do was take control of another force, and the Hidden Kill Sect was right here, waiting to be reaped.
The EXP was always awarded when it became clear that he, or someone under his control would definitely be taking over the leadership of a place. In the Kingdom of the Elves, it had been when the result of the voting had been announced. In the Black Raven Kingdom, it had been when Faxul was acknowledged by everyone on the throne.
Here, all he needed was three votes, and by their strict rules, he was the new sect leader.
If this worked out, and he got the EXP, it would be enough for him to upgrade the system so that it could take control of the formation and let him obtain the treasured weapons of the sect to turn its tide.
Thankfully, it had worked out beautifully.
Also, Daneel now realized that he had missed out on something important.
If he hadn't used this moment when their hopes had been lowest due to him failing to take control of the formation, he and the other three might have faced an uphill battle in the future when the time for the vote came.
After all, there was nothing like offering a glass of water to a parched man who had given up all hope. No matter how bad the water tasted, he would take it.
This was exactly what was happening right now.
According to the bylaw, Daneel had officially won the vote, but the two remaining top assassins and the sect leader could still make trouble.
However, they chose to believe in the prophecy which they had forsaken long back.
After all, what did they have to lose?
The only one who was still staring shocked at Daneel was Skrrag, who couldn't understand how the man he admired had suddenly taken over his father's position.
The sect leader, on the other hand, had just managed to control his emotions of guilt and anger at letting down his sect.
Since the moment that Daneel had spoken and the three votes had been cast, there had been silence in the room.
It was finally broken by the sect leader, who stood up and walked to Daneel with a defeated expression on his face.
No matter how much he did not want to do it, he knew that it was his duty and that there was no way that he could shirk from it.
As for refuting this and using the backup options that were sitting in his pocket, he didn't even consider it, as there was no scenario where they would make a difference except maybe killing this Master and letting him keep his position.
However, what would happen after that? The sect would still be conquered.
If so, why not just trust the damn prophecy?
He didn't even want to know if Daneel was manipulating everything to take his position right now. All he knew was that he had tried his best and failed, so he would just trust in their ancestor and hope that this Master wasn't a scheming and crafty bastard who would intentionally drive the sect to destruction.
"First, you need to be indicted as a member of the sect."
After reaching Daneel and saying these words, he raised his palm, making a shiny, round black rock appear on top of it.
The sect leader wasn't even looking at Daneel. Instead, he was just looking down, as if he just wanted to get this thing done as soon as possible.
With a solemn nod, Daneel laid his hand on the oath stone and repeated after the sect leader.
"I shall abide by the sacred rules laid down by the ancestor of the Hidden Kill Sect, and I shall always act while keeping the sect's best interests at heart. I shall stand with the sect, and die with the sect. Glory be to the Hidden Kill Basilisk."
It was a simple oath, but it encompassed all that was needed.
Daneel had actually hesitated before speaking it, but he swore it anyway as he knew that there was no way to get out of it right now. As for potential clashing of interests in the future that might come due to the oath he had sworn to Lanthanor, he decided that he would cross that bridge when it came.
After Daneel gave the oath, the sect leader lowered his palm but the oath stone stayed there, stuck to Daneel's hand because he had just caught it in a hurry.
"Good luck, Basilisk Rider and Sect Leader. I really hope you save my sect."
As if saying this had completely taken away everything he had in him, the ex-sect leader collapsed there and fainted, making Skrrag run towards him after shouting "Father!".
Daneel, who had seen the sleep deprivation in the eyes of the previous sect leader while looking at him up close, said "He's fine. He's just really tired from having no sleep. Some rest should get him back to normal."
"Thank you, Mast - sect leader. Thank you, sect leader," Skrrag said, unable to meet his eyes.
Daneel could guess his feelings. He had just taken his father's role, that two after what looked like a backstab by convincing three important officials to be on his side.
Alas, this was not the time to care about his feelings.
No. It was time to bluff.
"All right. Now that that's out of the way, let me begin. Please do not disturb me no matter what you see."
Saying so, Daneel first took control of the oath stone by cutting his finger and letting it absorb a drop of blood.
As it dissolved into his hand, he once again experienced the feeling of having knowledge added to his mind.
The names of numerous assassins and officials appeared in his head, but he just placed them to the side and ignored them all for now.
Walking towards the giant ball, Daneel raised both of his hands.
After getting to within a few inches of it, he stopped and closed his eyes, keeping his hands pointed at the glowing snake.
Minute after minute passed, during which the others started to wonder what the heck their new sect leader was doing.
There was no magic, as none of them could sense any elementary particles being manipulated. There was also no change in the ball, which meant that there was no progress in taking control of the formation.
All they saw was Daneel constantly grunting and frowning, as if he was doing something very difficult.
If he wasn't in front of the formation, they might even have assumed that he was constipated.
Of course, if they knew that he was just acting while waiting for the system to come back online, they would have rammed their heads on the walls beside them to kill themselves in vexation.
This went on for 20 minutes, and just as they were about to panic that the hour was going to be up, something incredulous happened.
The entire ball deflated like a balloon and disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a few items in a pile.
Wait…that was it?!