"I believe that you are expecting me."
Standing at the bottom of the mountain which no one climbed without permission unless they wanted to die, a man wearing a vest over a white shirt with grey pants said these words with his hands behind his back.
His expression was filled with the confidence of an expert whom no one could threaten, and he was looking straight ahead, as if he was expecting someone to appear at that spot.
This was someone whom only two people had ever seen. One of those was dead, while the other was spending his days in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, hoping to regain the trust that he had lost.
Hence, no one knew who he was from his face.
Seeing that there was no response even after 10 seconds, a frown came on this man's face before he lazily flicked a finger, shooting a needle of compressed fire at a specific spot on the entrance of the path which led up the mountain.
"Sir, Sir, I'm sorry. Your disciple didn't tell us what you would look like, so we had no option but to wait for confirmation, which we haven't received yet. However, someone who can see through the formation we have here must surely be a legendary Formation Master. Please follow me."
That needle made of fire had just been intercepted by a man with the scales of a lizard.
It had actually been an attack which would have killed any Exalted Human, but it had been deflected without any thought by this person.
Raising an eyebrow, this mysterious master followed behind the man and was led to a specific spot on the side of the mountain, where a door was opened using blood to reveal a teleportation formation.
Of course, this mysterious man was Daneel, who was impersonating his 'master'.
It felt good to have hair again, but Daneel did not regret not using the camouflage technique to cover his bald head before.
After all, he could not sustain it 24/7, and it was also irritating to have his mageroot occupied continuously while the spell was cast.
Obviously, here, he did not have the luxury of choice.
Before, he had simply used the 'Hidden Item Detection' tool in the system to find the formation there, just like he had done long ago in the Valley of Mist.
Stepping into the teleportation formation, Daneel chanced his eyes upon one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.
Clearly, they had teleported to near the top of the mountain, which was perpetually hidden from those on the ground because of the clouds.
Right now, they were standing on a small podium from where Daneel could see the various buildings that had been artfully sculpted out of the sides of the mountain.
In front of them was a stone path, which led upward.
It seemed to lead straight to the top, with multiple branches along the way which led to the other houses.
Each and every house looked as if it had grown out of the mountain naturally, reminding Daneel of a different sight which had taken his breath away before.
It had been when he had first discovered the headquarters of the Withering Leaf Sect, which had also looked like it had grown out of the forest in the Valley of Mist.
Wondering whether these two places had any connection, Daneel followed his guide as they started walking on the path.
"Apologies, Sir. I would teleport straight up if I could, but almost all teleportation is locked in the Central Base. Please understand."
Nodding, Daneel spoke in a deep voice.
"Central Base?"
"Yes. This is only where all the main personnel of the Hidden Kill Sect stay. All trainees and training grounds are on a different side of the mountain, which is only accessible by those who have the authority. Once someone leaves the training grounds, they are not allowed to go back in."
Interesting.
Although Daneel wanted to ask more, he knew that it was not his place.
Hence, observing everything, he tried to figure out his game plan.
If he had the choice, he would have liked to do nothing more than just stay in the Kingdom and investigate more about the Ruler's inheritance, which was taking up a lot of his mind.
However, this meeting had been long coming, and there was no way for him to postpone it.
He could only blame himself for not hosting the Olympics earlier, making it so that he had no time to take care of other things before heading off to this place.
Well, he was here now, and he might as well study them carefully, and look for vulnerabilities.
Daneel knew very well just how ambitious his plan to bring this whole sect under his control was.
This was a force which had kept all the Kingdoms in Central Angaria on tenterhooks, as they were a threat that could not be ignored.
There were even specific units trained in almost all kingdoms which would handle an assassination by the Hidden Kill Sect, but these weren't very useful.
If the Hidden Kill Sect accepted a contract, they would fulfill it, even if it was a king they had to kill.
The higher they walked on the mountain, the more elaborate the houses became, until the one just below the top was almost like a mansion complete with a waterfall.
Because it was hewn out of rock, it had a rustic feel to it which reminded Daneel of the mountain resorts back on Earth.
He was about to ask who this one belonged to, but he was interrupted by his guide.
"The Sect Leader's residence is up ahead. Please carry on. He is waiting for you."
Nodding, Daneel made his way to the round tower which was at the peak of the mountain.
It was large, needing at least 20 men to hold their hands together and stand in a circle if they wanted to encompass it.
Entering, Daneel only saw a flight of stairs, which he started to ascend.
He was kind of irritated that such an honored guest would be made to climb flights of stairs, but he didn't say anything, thinking that it was probably protocol.
From the outside, the tower had looked pretty tall, standing at at least the height of a five-story building.
However, even though 10 minutes had passed, he was still climbing the stairs.
This was… Abnormal.
Looking up, Daneel only saw endless stairs, with a hole in the distant top through which light was spilling through.
Looking down, he saw the ground, and even the door from which he had entered.
He seemed to be exactly in the middle, and because there were no other signs that things were off, he continued climbing, assuming that he was wrong.
However, 10 minutes later, it was still the same.
Dammit.
Now, he finally understood what was going on.
It was a goddamn test!
And clearly, he was failing.
As Daneel realized this, he asked the system to activate the Hidden Item Detection tool again, as he hadn't bothered to keep it on before.
[Bewilderment Formation Detected: Warrior Level. Breakage points detected. Ready to deploy HUD to display the points.]
Hearing this notification, Daneel shook his head.
What was he supposed to do now?
He was in a foreign place, and if there was even the slughtest inkling of doubt that he wasn't who he claimed to be, he could forget about leaving alive.
He had assessed all risks before coming here, and Daneel had an absolute worst-case plan he was prepared to deploy if things got truly dicey.
Of course, it wasn't time for that yet.
Still, right now, he did not seem like a formation master at all.
He had been fooled not 10 minutes after entering their Sect, so they must be having doubts about him already.
No.
There had to be more bravado.
More confidence.
More…of the arrogance that usually pissed people off, but was expected from people who had nothing to fear.
At this point, Daneel took a deep breath.
The Olympics were over. He had handed away everything else. And all his other plans were going smoothly for now.
He did not need to worry about anything else, except being the Mysterious Master Novrain.
Hence, after that breath was out of his body, he opened his eyes, and there was now an additional cockiness added to them.
Stopping in place, he shouted, "I was giving you the courtesy of being the host. I'm warning you now; either apologize to me, right now, or cry after seeing your precious bewilderment formation destroyed. No, in fact, maybe I'll destroy everything I see. You have 3 seconds."
He seemed to be talking into empty air, but Daneel knew very well that someone was listening.
And that someone wasn't ready to let go of this little 'test' just yet.
And as for the claim of 'destroying everything he saw', it was almost as if they were just scoffing at it.
With another sigh, Daneel prepared to do one of the boldest things he had ever done.
"3, 2, 1. Ok, fine. Now, beg."
First, 10 needles of fire came into existence around him, which plunged into 10 exact spots in the stone walls around him.
This already made a gasp sound near him, but what happened next caused an incident which startled the entire continent.
5 large needles of fire, each at least as thick as an arm, came into being outside the tower.
Although they weren't very fast, they flew quickly and precisely to 5 spots.
In an instant, it was as if the clouds which covered the mountain top they were on…shimmered.
CRACK
The shimmering intensified, before the clouds disappeared altogether, exposing the mountain top to everyone.
At the same time, the image in front of Daneel's shifted to show a study, in which two people were standing and staring outside with shocked expressions on their faces.
Seeing him appear, one of them, who Daneel recognized to be the reptilian who had come as an envoy to Lanthanor, fell on his knees and shouted, "MIGHTY FORMATION MASTER! WE APOLOGIZE! PLEASE RESTORE THAT FORMATION! I BEG OF YOU!"
In response, Daneel only smiled, before materializing a toothpick out of wood and picking at his teeth.