Chapter 68 A Stormy Nigh
A man wearing black robes walked through the streets in the slums of the Kingdom of Lanthanor while taking care to keep his hood up to defend himself from the tumultuous wind and rain that was trying to make him stop his journey and go back to wherever he came from.
Seeing that it was getting harder and harder to keep moving forward, the man discreetly glanced around to check if there were any constables watching. It was a particularly stormy night in the Kingdom, making many constables seek shelter in their favorite bars hoping that their superiors were doing the same and thus not checking whether they were doing their duty.
Confirming that there was no one around, the man stepped forward but disappeared from his position.
The sputtering flame from a candle went out in a specific house due to the cold gust that he brought with him when he stepped out of the air.
Shivering, an old man wearing tattered clothes got up from his bed to relight the candle. Yet, he stopped in his tracks noticing that someone else was in the room with him.
"Ganver. I trust you have been well."
A deep voice woke him up from his shock, making him realize that the one who had arrived was in fact the owner of the house. A broad smile appearing on his face, he asked, "Daneel! Did you get what I asked for?" before rubbing his hands in anticipation.
In response, the man took out two bottles of yellow wine from his trousers before removing the soaked hood to expose his face.
A set of radiant green eyes that looked like they had some sort of power in them were the first things that stood out to anyone who was watching him do so. Then, one would notice the angular jaw and pointed chin which lent a perfection to the face as if they had been sculpted into place. Lastly, the sharp nose and confident smile would make one realize that Daneel had grown up into a handsome man from the cute kid he had once been.
Shaking the water off his clothes, Daneel glanced at the man who was already gulping down one of the bottles he had just handed to him.
This man was Ganver, a trusted friend of his father's who was entrusted with living in the Anivron house and alerting Daneel through a trinket in case there were any intrusions.
"Ganver, go to sleep. You won't have to stay much longer here."
As soon as he said so, the man who had just been feeling elated from the delicious wine suddenly felt sleepy; it was as if the wine had some sort of drug inside it which was intent on knocking the consciousness out of his mind.
Groggily nodding, he plopped down onto the bed behind him and promptly started snoring, making Daneel chuckle and pick up the bottles to place them on the table nearby.
"Sorry old friend, but you can't be awake for what is going to happen next.", he said, using the blanket to cover the snoring man.
Walking to the center of the living room, he moved a sofa out of the way before pointing at the floor briefly. A wooden door appeared in the floor, which Daneel opened and carefully descended.
His 5'8 figure made short work of the distance, landing soon enough at the entrance to the Natural Energized Training Chamber that he had been dreaming about for a long time.
Before he could take it away though, there was some thing that needed to be done. Using a shovel which was lying on the floor nearby, Daneel started to dig around the chamber.
Teleportation required an object to be free from any bindings. In case someone teleported an object that was bound, then there would be an attempt by the spell to move even the bindings, which could result in an overdraft of energy and in dire cases, temporary disability of the Mageroot. After all, the Mageroot was like a muscle which controlled the elementary particles. Put too much pressure on it, and it would first try to grow to accommodate for the pressure before 'cramping' and becoming disabled if the pressure crossed a threshold.
Thus, one needed to be both careful enough and powerful enough to teleport such large objects. This restriction made Daneel wait till he reached the level of a 4th Grade Eminent Human Mage before even attempting to move the Natural Energized Training Chamber to a safer location.
As he dug at the earth around the round, steel-like outer hull of the chamber, sweat started to appear on his body prompting him to remove the robe he was wearing.
As he did so, an athletic body came into view which looked like it was at peak condition. Although he wasn't bulky, the perfectly proportioned muscles moved in harmony to quickly excavate the chamber from the earth that had been trapping it for so long.
A single blow was enough to dislodge 50 KG balls of earth. If Elanev were watching this sight, he would instantly be aghast knowing that such displays of power were only possible by someone who had at least reached the level of an Eminent Human Fighter.
A 16 year old Eminent Human Fighter! Such a feat was something that anyone in the Kingdom would scoff at as being fake, as the record for the youngest Eminent Human Fighter in the Kingdom of Lanthanor was set at 18 years by a member of the Royal Family.
A few hours later, a huge steel ball lay in front of Daneel. Laying his palm on the door, he said in his mind, "Initiate Mass Teleportation."
The air suddenly distorted around the location, and in a few seconds a large empty cave was all that was left.
Daneel reappeared with the chamber under a two storeyed house in a remote village situated between the border and the Capital City of the Kingdom of Lanthanor. As soon as the teleportation was done, he fell to the ground, exhausted. His forehead felt as if it were on fire and he fought to stay conscious while dragging himself to a nearby bed and grabbing hold of a block of Ether that was on it.
With a squeeze, white mist appeared out of the block which again made him wonder for the nth time how a solid could directly become a gas due to applying pressure. Realizing that he was losing focus due to being too exhausted, Daneel breathed in deeply and commanded the system to use the energy to alleviate his condition.
The Ether block was exhausted in only a few seconds, making Daneel grab another one from the bedside and continue the process. As his breathing slowly returned to normal, he looked at the Natural Energized Training Chamber with an expression of triumph on his face.
Meanwhile, in a hidden bedroom in the Royal Palace, an old man was taking in his last breaths while worrying about the Kingdom that his ancestors had passed down to him.
Knowing that his time in this world was over, he opened and closed his eyes for the last time, letting the death that had been at his heels for decades finally consume him.