Chapter 787 Buzzing Bees
For a few seconds after he heard the reply, Daneel remained standing there in the air.
He…just couldn't believe it.
"Skrr wants to see, too!"
Skrr's cute voice woke him up from his reverie, causing him to get a broad smile on his face and move aside.
He…just couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Even for a few moments after Skrr started to fiddle with the interface with Eloise's help, Daneel could only stand and keep smiling to himself, following which he finally came back to his senses when he heard the little Divine Cockroach's enthusiastic cry.
"Yes! It says Skrr can search the whole continent for male Divine Cockroaches! But Skrr should finish missions…where are these missions?"
Putting aside his thoughts for the moment, Daneel focused on what Skrr's display screen was showing.
In the panel which had the title 'Missions', there were none, and there was only a message which read 'Anomalous Case. Await further instructions for clarification.'
Daneel understood what was going on right away.
Patting Skrr's forehead and making her turn around, Daneel said, "Skrr, you're special. You might be weakened now, but you're actually a Hero-level being! If I understand it correctly, this area is only for those below that level. So you will be having special missions later on! Don't worry, you can definitely get the rewards if you finish the missions!"
A brilliant smile popped up on Skrr's face as she heard this, and after that, she yawned and said, "Ok. Skrr sleep now," before falling asleep in the air without a care in the world.
Thankfully, because this was the second time that Daneel was seeing her habit of abruptly falling asleep wherever and whenever she wished, he was ready to conjure a special cocoon-like bed for her which isolated all sounds and also kept her protected.
Eloise smiled as she saw Skrr snugly hug a pillow that was also there in the cocoon and put one thumb in her mouth as her breathing already deepened, before walking forward to the obelisk, herself, to see what lay in store.
She began to browse through the panels that were present, but her gaze went to a pop-up which Daneel hadn't seen before because it was the system which had manipulated the display for him.
Reading it, Eloise exclaimed, "Daneel, it says that we should have titles with which we will call ourselves within a day of joining the Order! I guess we should start thinking…it also suggests that the one we choose has the least relation possible with who we are. For that purpose, even titles which might not match one's personality are allowed…"
Daneel raised an eyebrow as he heard this. Indeed, he had heard Horton talk about this before, but he hadn't given it much thought. Well, it looked like he would have to make a decision regarding it soon.
Before that, though…where the hell were they supposed to stay if they were not availing these two facilities?
Almost as if on cue, Horton rose from the ground with a sheepish expression on his face.
Daneel looked at him with a pensive expression, following which the man squeaked out a sentence and quickly fled again.
"I'm sorry, but I forgot one last thing…if you want a place to stay temporarily, go in that direction. You will be allotted rooms, and you can use them for as long as you wish. If you need to use any facilities, though, you have to pay. Enjoy your stay!"
Had he really been that terrifying?
Chuckling, Daneel shook his head and motioned to Eloise to follow before he went in the direction indicated by Horton.
Eloise had finished looking through the menu for now, and although there had been quite a few interesting things to see, there were too many to study with a white-colored cocoon floating beside them, which was drawing attention both from those below and those checking on their menus from the obelisks around them.
With a nod, she flew after him, and soon they were at the place indicated, which was a spot at the edge of the Marketplace where there stood two large stone doors.
There was no one here to give them any instructions, so they just walked forward, following which Daneel felt something scan him.
A smaller door appeared in the giant-sized one, and the trio entered through it and went through many winding corridors before they appeared in a large room that had no windows.
There were basic furnishings, but they all seemed like they had been made on second thought. Even the bed was shoddy, and with the power level of those who might usually come here, it was obvious that people might just choose to conjure one for themselves.
Setting the cocoon on the bed, Daneel nodded to Eloise and said, "Let's wait for the others to arrive. After that, we can go over our game plan for the present."
It was obvious that he needed a little bit of time to think about something, so Eloise sweetly smiled and nodded in return before picking up a few Ker Gems from the pouch she was carrying at her waist.
As she started to train, Daneel finally took a deep breath and assessed everything that he had found out today.
He decided to address them in the order that they had occurred, so that made him think about their mission first.
Regarding Cain's advice, Daneel had to say that he was pretty surprised.
From the fact that Cain was in such a high position, it was obvious that he had sworn further oaths, which meant that he was bound to the Order.
Yet…he had still given that warning, and that either meant that he had found a loophole, or that the oaths weren't as constrictive as Daneel had initially thought.
Whatever the case, he had to say that he had a really good impression of the man from everything he had done so far. Without any proof that he would be impressive, he had put in place that mission, and after seeing that his expectations had been upheld, he had gone ahead and rewarded Daneel with invaluable advice.
2 minor realms. That was no small deal, and besides, Daneel had been intending not to show himself to be too overpowering, anyway.
He wasn't a naïve kid to believe that the Order was a perfect place where he could do everything he wished. No, all he had understood it as was that he was allowed to be a bit more lax, as he was among those who defied common sense anyway.
Initially, he had been meaning to experiment and find a hard limit regarding the power he would show so that it would allow him to continue on his new path, while still not raising too many alarm bells.
Now, though…he had been relieved of that, which might have needed him to expend a lot of time.
This concept of two minor realms had roots in research done during the Empire, too. There, there had been many theories which stated that if someone could cross this theoretical line, then it meant that there was a high chance that they were an anomaly who could be the key to unlocking the limits placed on those who existed on Angaria by the Will of the World.
It had all been just theory, but Daneel had remembered reading it and thinking that he would definitely be marked as one and hunted.
After all…his Path was one which went against the norm, and hence, against the World, itself. He could show a part of his power, but if it was exposed in full…it definitely had the potential to tempt any and everyone, and this included the Overseer, no matter how much they might try to convince others that they were impartial individuals.
It was almost like governments back on Earth, where laws might allow a person to do any business they wished. However, if their business ended up being so wildly successful that it would be too big to ignore…governments had a track record of introducing new laws just to cut into the pie.
A loose comparison could be made with the situation regarding certain drugs in one of the major countries on Earth. For a long time, all drugs were banned, but with the market growing at an unthinkable pace, laws had been changed so that that government could tax these activities and earn a hefty amount in the process. There were other reasons, too, but many reports said that this was the major reason.
So…Daneel concluded that he would follow that advice, and besides, like Cain had said, it was still a sizeable gap in power that he would mostly be able to stomp on whoever he wished.
Next was the matter regarding Cain's identity as a Hero who had broken through naturally, and Daneel knew that he should not have been so surprised. The Order had already overturned so many things that he had thought as facts, so it was natural to think that it must have Heroes who used the most powerful method to break through.
The only reason he had been so surprised was that it had been shocking to see it suddenly, and Cain's specific Path had also been pretty damn amazing to witness.
He decided to research more on the 'Reaper' Class Paths later, and got to the main event of the day: the reveal regarding what exactly he could hope to get in the Order.
Before, they had all been formless hopes, so having them all confirmed had been the reason behind Daneel being so pleasantly surprised. He was excited about each and every one of them, as all of them represented the goals he wanted to achieve definitely before the time for the War arrived.
And besides, the reveal that Emperor Fenoras had actually obtained a lot of stuff here but had used it in the main continent was also pretty momentous.
On asking the system, he found that the man's memories had been altered to make it seem as if he had invented them himself, and the reason behind that was clear: to hide the existence of the Order.
And if the Emperor could do it…so could he.
What if…he could use the stuff he obtained here freely in the Central Continent, without arousing suspicion from the Big Four?
Could it be possible?
Just the thought made his heart beat faster with enthusiasm, but for it to happen…he had to know the relation between the Big Four and the Order.
Just as he was about to ask about it to the system, though, he got an urgent message from Aran.
Widening his eyes on hearing it, Daneel asked Eloise to stay where she was and keep an eye on Skrr.
He hurried out, and right as he exited the winding labyrinth and found himself once again at the large stone gates, he saw a large group of people who were all surrounding four individuals.
Of course, these individuals were Aran, Faxul, Elanev, and Cassandra, and although their faces had changed due to the perfect masks given before by Cain, Daneel knew that it was them.
"Is this him? Hey, you! I ordered these guys to come under me, but they said that they're already with someone! Hmph, I thought it was a bigshot, but you're just a newbie! If you don't want your face planted in the ground, just tell these guys that they can do as they wish!"
The others nodded as a strange man said these words.
He was tall, with a big tummy, but his most distinctive feature was the fact that he had chosen to decorate his body with a large number of piercings. Silver, gold, bronze and even rock- there were all sorts of them made from all sorts of materials, and even his tongue was pierced all over, making Daneel wince even as he saw him talk.
However, right away, he saw that he had been given a gift horse…and he had never been one to look them in the mouth.
The answer he gave caused raucous laughter to erupt in the group, but his sovereigns only got smiles on their faces, knowing that their King had found new prey.
"Oh, I would do so by all means…if I knew, for sure, that you can back up your words. How about it? If your face is planted in the ground instead, will you follow me? If not, piss off, because I hate buzzing bees with no stingers to their names…"