Chapter - 716

The Next Step
[Achievement Unlocked: 'I dare to go where no one has gone before'

'I dare to go where no one has gone before': The very mark of a World Dominator is their unstoppable nature that allows them to boldly keep going forward even into uncharted territory. By accomplishing something for the first time in known history, you have earned the right to be remembered forever for the creation of such a momentous technique. The first step is always the most important, and by taking that step, you have advanced your race to a new level. Congratulations!

10,000 EXP awarded.

Analysis of 'Consciousness Mimic':

Advantages:

-Allows host to harness the true power of a mimicked Godbeast

-No backlash

Disadvantages:

-Requires the formation of a means to be used to initiate the module. This requires host to find the consciousness of the Godbeast, and understand its essence to connect with it and mask host's presence.

-Heavy drain on host's Energy. Limits transformation time.

-The object which holds the piece of consciousness that host is connecting to must be in contact with host's body.

Options to overcome disadvantages:

-If extensive data regarding a Godbeast is found, system can now analyze this data to create the essence. This is possible by following the same route used by host.

-With more usage, system can identify methods in which overall Energy consumption can be reduced

-Host can create an object within host's body which can achieve the same purpose.]

A minute later, Daneel was hearing to this prompt from the system while feeling fully amused by the expressions he had seen on these two guys who had raised their own estimation of themselves to peaks that they had been forced to descend from after this experience.

Ever since his fight with Daneel, Elanev had been content that he was his equal, and even though he hadn't slacked off as the old man hadn't allowed it, he had been carrying around a small smugness that was almost undetectable.

That was crushed into nothingness now, just like he felt that he was going to be a minute ago.

As for Faxul…he had been thinking that his own Bloodline placed him among the top in the continent. True, he knew that his best friend would find some way to cross that, but he had been feeling assured that he would never be too far away.

However…the instinctive fear that that being had made Faxul feel had resulted in these thoughts becoming obliterated.

He even knew that this was just one of the forms that Daneel would be adopting in the future. Even with just this one, Faxul knew that he would lose if they fought, and there was still that 'surprise' coming up.

As their power increased into higher and higher realms, he had thought that there was no way that the difference between him and Daneel would remain at the level where it would feel almost insurmountable.

Yet…the truth was that it had even crossed that point, and it made him understand that there was still a chance that he might be left behind.

However, instead of making him feel demotivated, this pushed him, as he had no intention of ever being too far behind, ever again.

Daneel saw this change in his friend's eyes, and in fact, an objective of his behind calling him had also been that there would be this effect if everything went well.

That arrogance was gone, and now, Faxul could keep getting stronger without anything hindering him.

Of course, Daneel still itched to have a fight with him, but he postponed that for later.

The fact that it had worked in the case of Elanev, too, was a bonus.

One of the main reasons behind such abrupt changes was also the very strange sight right beside them.

The fire that Daneel had shot out…had actually smashed its way through 4 floors of the Palace, and then made a deep hole in the ground that had even destroyed an underground room, taking with it the setpieces of a romantic drama that Eloise had been planning.

Through the formation of the Palace, though, Daneel had safely pulled everyone out of the way. There had been no way that he would not try and achieve the thing that had severed his foot the last time, and pointing at the sky wasn't an option, as there would be too much of a risk that someone would be able to spot something. Inside the Palace, though, he could prevent others spying, and that was also why he had gone ahead and transformed fully here, after laying down some untraceable Hero-level formations.

And after hearing the analysis, Daneel felt…ecstatic.

He had succeeded!

Even the system was heaping on the praises, more so than many of the Achievements he had gotten before, and this made it clear just how difficult it was to do something new when those before you have already had many, many years to think and get the same idea as yours.

A lot of hard work, a large amount of creativity, and a little bit of luck was required, all of which Daneel had thankfully possessed, which had led to this situation now.

True, there were limitations, but he would have time to slowly overcome them. Hell, Daneel even saw a few daydreams of him swapping between Godbeasts, and even creating something unique by combining a few so that he could take the best advantage of all of their powers.

As for their pieces of consciousness that he required…he wasn't worried about this, at all, because the Treasury was present from which he could obtain them.

And besides, even if this wasn't a viable option, the whole experience with Awakening the Hidden Bloodline in Lan had given Daneel another idea.

Wasn't every normal descendant of a Godbeast…also a possessor of its Bloodline?

This was a radical idea, and Daneel didn't know whether it was true, but it was logical.

After all, both Bloodline Holders and the beasts which were descended from Godbeasts were descendants, so Daneel hoped that he was right.

Also…there was the yet-untapped resource of the treasuries of the sects in the Big Four, and with so many options, the King of Lanthanor was confident that he would get what he wanted in at least one of them.

This had been the hardest part of his plan, and the most uncertain. Now that he had accomplished it, he swelled with confidence, and it felt as if the rest was practically a piece of cake.

Although that wasn't true, Daneel let himself enjoy it for a few more moments, before finally getting back to reality.

"So…do you two still think I've cut off my Path?"

As he interrupted the thoughts that were running through Elanev's and Faxul's heads in this way, both of them widened their eyes, and shook their heads in sync.

Laughing out loud, Daneel said, "Good. Now, then. Elanev, ask the Senior whether he knows of a place I can find any remains of the Divine Cockroach."

This was next on his list, and the sooner he finished with it, the sooner he could move on to the part he was looking forward to.

Elanev's answer, though, made it so that it was Daneel's turn to feel shock.

"Err…he says he doesn't know where you can find the remains, but he asked whether a living one is OK."

"…"

What the f*ck?!

Quickly, in order to convince himself that he hadn't been an absolute idiot by not asking the system whether there was any record of a live Godbeast surviving from the time of the Apocalypse, Daneel went ahead and posed the question now.

[Scanning records. Result: Inconclusive. Historians, and Emperor Fenoras believed that it was possible that a few Godbeasts, especially ones like the Divine Cockroach which hadn't reached the Champion level, might be able to survive the Apocalypse. However, because of the decrease in Energy level, it is possible that even these survivors might mostly have died. In the records of the Big Four, there are no mentions of any live Godbeasts being found. A few remains were found right after the Apocalypse, and these are stored in hidden locations.]

Although Daneel felt glad that his supposition regarding remains of Godbeasts being present in the treasuries of the Big Four was true, he was still too puzzled regarding Senior Fists of Justice's statement. After all, this supposition had been based on the obvious conclusion that the dead bodies of Godbeasts would be present after the Apocalypse, and they definitely would not be ignored by any of the Survivors, because those people must definitely have known of their value.

Not wasting any more time, Daneel exclaimed, "A living Divine Cockroach?! Is he sure?"

To respond, the old man, himself, appeared in the room.

"Yes, I'm sure, but what do you want to do with it? I have no idea how you managed to do this incredible thing, but I expect it is with Drakos's help. Sadly, you cannot enter into a bond with that thing, because it cannot even wake up! It's in a deep, deep state of hibernation, ever since the Energy levels dipped too low for its existence. It must have survived because, well, it's a Cockroach, and those f*ckers don't die no matter what you do with them. When the Energy levels pick up again, it'll wake up. I only managed to find it by fluke, in one of my reincarnations. Hehe, the Big Four found it, too, but because they hadn't seen one before and had only heard of them in the records, they just thought it was a weird rock, and didn't even pay too much attention to it. The fools!"

As Daneel heard the old man's words, excitement slowly began to shine on his face, until it reached a point where he felt like going forward and hugging the old man.

THAT WAS PERFECT!

He thanked the Heavens that something was finally going right for him, as each step so far had been excruciatingly difficult. Hence, he really, really appreciated the fact that at least one thing had fallen into his lap, instead of requiring him going out to hunt for it.

A few seconds later, Daneel was standing on the outskirts of a village along with Elanev.

He had put away the Crown, and he had told Eloise to assess the damage, and draw up plans to repair it.

She had innocently asked 'What damage?', and in response, Daneel had only been able to chuckle sheepishly.

The most ironic thing was that the village he was standing outside…was actually in Lanthanor, itself.

And its name…was 'Village of the Blessing Rock'.

All the information regarding Lanthanor was at Daneel's fingertips, but there was nothing recorded regarding this village.

It was Elanev who spoke up, repeating the old man's words who was speaking in his head.

"I found the name interesting, so I stayed here for a few years because I found a very feisty…er, never mind. The reason behind the name is because the legend goes that a particular chief of the village had become the father of a very weak boy, who was close to death soon after being born. Hopeless, he held the baby and prayed to the heavens throughout the night while sitting on a peculiar rock that had always been present in their village. In his dreams, he saw the rock glowing, and the next morning…the child was healthy again, and he was declared to be normal. It was a miracle, and it attracted the Big Four, who found nothing and chalked the whole thing up to an incorrect assessment of the Healer who must surely have been mistaken. The Chief believed that it was the blessing of the Rock, and he insisted that that be the name of their village. The name stuck, and to this day, the villagers worship that rock, even though no miracles have happened since then. In the years that I lived here, all I found that was out of the norm was that there were a few more born with the potential to become quite decent Fighters than in all the other villages around."

While they were talking, Daneel had cast an invisibility spell, and they walked inside the village.

Soon, they came upon a black-colored, rounded shiny rock whose peak was 3 feet above the ground. The rest was buried underground.

Daneel had scanned it from a distance, and he had found nothing.

Yet, the moment they neared, he suddenly got a strange feeling as if the rock wanted to…run away.

Puzzled, he cast a few formations to prevent spying eyes, before walking forward.

The rock remained unmoving, but just as he was about to lay his hand on it, it…burrowed into the ground, and disappeared.

The jaws of both Elanev and Daneel fell, and at the same time, an urgent message was heard in Daneel's head.

[Target has begun moving at a speed that rivals any seen in creatures that host has encountered so far. Target will be out of range of system's surveillance radius in 3, 2…1. Target has left system's surveillance range. Speed matches that of a Divine Cockroach, as recorded in the memory of the Emperor.]