Chapter 43 Secret Society
Lanthanor Outer City, West Side
In a dark alley, a thin man wearing grey clothes could be seen walking slowly, observing door after door.
He finally stopped at a door marked with a fading 3 headed cobra. On knocking, a voice was heard from inside which asked, "Where does the sun set?".
"The sun sets on the bodies of those who gave up their lives for a better Lanthanor.", answered the man in a rasping voice.
The door opened, but as the man walked through a sack was suddenly put on his head. Without resisting, he allowed himself to be lead forward through a series of tunnels before finally arriving at a room that seemed to be situated underground.
There were only a table and 2 chairs in this room. The man was seated down on one and the sack was removed, revealing a gaunt face with sunken eyes.
This man was Daneel. Although buying the parallel processing tool had been very tempting, he had decided on buying the Disguise Tool. This was because his plan was to use the disguise as a means to set up a faction for himself.
As the system itself had told him, the best awards would be received from doing things which aided the journey towards World Domination. Now, he had the power of a paragon to defend himself. Thus, he had decided that it was finally time. If he succeeded, there would be many more points soon enough which he could use to buy whichever tool he wanted.
As soon as he had chosen the tool, the system had finally given him a mission. After going for a year without missions, this voice actually sounded quite sweet in his ears.
[*DING*
New Mission: Investigate the Secret Society which contracted the thieves to rob the map to the natural energised training chamber.
Mission EXP Award: 200 EXP
Mission Description: On analysis of data collected from host's surroundings, the system has concluded that there is a possibility that the society can help in the host's overall quest.
Would you like to accept the mission?]
Of course, Daneel had accepted in a heartbeat. He was confident in his power to defeat even a Human-3 fighter and he even had the disguise tool. Also, he only had to investigate the society and he could leave in case there was danger using the short range teleportation technique.
On accepting, Daneel had been given the location of the entrance and the pass phrase, which had been recorded in the thief's diary. As the Academy had just announced a 5 day break after which the awards would be given, he decided that now was the perfect time to pursue the mission. This led him to his present situation.
While he waited for someone to show up, Daneel wondered if he had been over confident. He could not teleport directly outside as his teleportation only had a maximum range of a few feet from his location. And teleporting into something solid meant certain death.
As the minutes ticked by, Daneel focused on keeping his expression neutral. It had taken some time to get used to the new body. When he first used the tool, his whole body had felt as if something was peeling his skin off. Daneel could only roll on the ground, struggling not to shout while enduring the excruciating pain. Afterwards, even walking had been difficult. It was only after quite some time of crawling that he finally became comfortable with his longer legs and body.
Also, he felt that his power had been halved. Sure enough, each and every technique only resulted in half the power compared to his usual state. Even the teleportation distance had been halved.
Still feeling that it would be enough for escape and excited about finally starting to build his own faction, Daneel had decided to go.
Now, it was too late for regrets.
After roughly a half-hour, a man finally entered through the door in front of him. With wrinkled skin and a hunched back, the man looked ancient.
"What is your purpose for seeking the secret society?", he asked in a hoarse voice after taking a seat in front of Daneel.
"I am a skilled mage and I would like to receive contracts from the society".
Daneel had decided on this story. With the information he had, the society was like a place where illegal activities could be commissioned for a price. He had even made up a story for how he got the pass phrase, but the man seemed to be uninterested in that.
Hearing his answer, the man smiled slightly before knocking on the table.
On both sides of the room, numerous holes opened up from which arrows which shined as if coated with something were shot out. There was no time to even think about dodging. Daneel could only close his eyes, bracing in fear, before he realized that there had been no impact.
The arrows floated in the air on both sides of his head. Meanwhile, a file had appeared in front of the old man.
"Daneel Anivron. Pseudo-legendary potential, chose the path of a paragon. Father thrown out of the military. Suspected backing of Human Mage-8 based on disguise spell used.", he read out idly opening the file.
Daneel was shocked. How did these people know everything about him?!
"We have had our eye on you ever since the incident at the library. Even now, our lookout alerted us that a man exited the Anivron house. The giveaway was that he was wearing the clothes of Daneel Anivron but they looked torn, as if they had been stretched. The man went back in the house and exited again, this time wearing grey clothes. Its all here.
"Kid, take my advice. Just focus on growing in power. When the time is right, we will contact you ourselves. Of course, we will always have an eye on you.", he said, before Daneel felt a sharp blow from behind knock him out.
The last thing he heard before his consciousness faded was, "My apologies to the mage behind you for the rough handling."
An unknown amount of time later, Daneel woke up holding his head which hurt like someone had dropped a boulder on it. He seemed to have been unceremoniously thrown out of the door.
Picking himself up, he walked back home, cursing at the society. Yet, he couldn't help but look around to see where the person who was apparently observing him was hiding. He had to be careful from now on.
The only consolation was that the system had at least decided that he had done enough.
[Mission Accomplished. Society Details have been extracted from host's surroundings. 200 EXP awarded.]