Daneel had just finished cursing the Chief who was responsible for the excruciating pain that he had had to go through.
First of all, it was pretty amazing that he even had something like this. After taking Drakos, Daneel found out that it was a popular one-time trinket that bordered on becoming an Artifact. He was pretty impressed that someone had created it in this age, and he had warned Daneel that such a person was certainly someone with a lot of means.
This only made the caution that Daneel felt in the matter of the Chief increase.
That was when he received the frantic message from Faxul, who was actually unintelligible for a few moments before Daneel finally asked him to calm down, first, and then tell him what was wrong.
As Daneel heard about the weird metamorphosis that Cassandra had been through, his eyes opened wide, and he immediately got up from where he was and ran out.
These commanders had been the people who had strongly supported him even though a lot of citizens in the kingdom kept saying that he was just someone inexperienced who had happened to take the mantle of the King. They had always been patient with him, and they had given him their all, and there was really nothing more he could ask of them. Even though his interactions with them were quite limited until now, he still felt that they were really close to his heart and was really worried now that one of them was in danger.
It was only when he automatically tried to teleport did he realize that he was in one of the Big Four, which was a place from where he couldn't leave whenever he wanted. It was quite early in the morning, and there was almost no one around, except for a few stragglers who were chatting among themselves while heading to the training facilities to begin training early.
Daneel considered going to the Chief to ask for permission, but he discarded the idea. He had been warned by the Head that he should get a visit over with once, and that leaving and coming in regularly might give those who were against his visits in the first place leverage in order to lobby that he should be banned as he didn't respect the Big Four, and thus wasn't worthy of entering them.
In desperation, he asked the system whether it was possible to somehow sneak out through the village in the back or something, as that had been what he had done multiple times in the Sect of Hedon.
Clearly, though, this one was different, as the system told him that that wasn't possible and even though it could do it using the spells that had been obtained from behind the third seal, it would definitely alert the Chief and also bring down the armada of the entire Sect on him.
Was there really no way at all to go out? He was definitely needed over there, and he wanted to handle the situation himself and find out just what the hell could have gone wrong in a typical breakthrough from Human to Warrior level.
That was when Daneel realized that he hadn't just gotten a few spells from the third seal. In that extensive list, there must surely be something else that he could use in order to find a solution for the situation.
With bated breath, Daneel asked the system, and as he got the answer after a few seconds, he rejoiced and asked the system to implement it immediately.
[Hero Level Long-Range Clone Spell: By halving the power of a mage, a long-range clone can be deployed which can exist even if it is hundreds of kilometers away from the original body. It will contain no power, and only basic communication can be done using it, along with travel. Trinkets with power sources can also be used, and the clone can only exist for three hours at host's power level before host's mageroot will have to shut down from the excessive strain. ]
This was exactly what he needed, as he at least wanted to assess the situation first. So, Daneel patiently waited for a copy of him to appear in front of him, but he saw nothing even after a few moments passed. That was when he received another message from the system.
[Unable to cast spell by bypassing the current restrictions applied to host's mageroot. Should the trinket covering the mageroot be destroyed in order to deploy the spell?]
Oh, right.
Thwarted again, for a few seconds, he seriously considered just going forward and risking being thrown out of the sect, but he paused as he remembered the scroll that still looked so enticing. In fact, he was even pretty sure that it had appeared in his dreams last night.
Yet, Daneel just couldn't sit around while something was happening to one of his most trusted commanders.
"System, is there no other way except to break through that thing and use a spell?"
As he received no answer even after a few seconds, he began to seriously consider the pros and cons of just getting the hell out, and also considering whether there was a possibility that he could somehow manipulate the Head or the Chief in order to get back inside.
However, that was when the system spoke again.
[System has detected a formation that can be used to deploy a copy of one's consciousness in the form of a powerless clone in any area that is within a radius of 500 km around the sect. The spot where host wishes to go is inside this radius.]
What?! Even something like this could exist? And even if that was possible, why was it present in this sect, which, as part of the Big Four, didn't care at all about the Central Continent which was what was mainly in the purview of the formation?
Such questions were intriguing, but his only focus was to leave and get to Cassandra.
So, he directly told the system to give him the directions to that place with the formation and set off on a path while the members of the sect looked at him as if he was crazy as he hadn't even had time to shift out of the Royal Pajamas that he had gone to sleep in.
Typically, he would simply have cast an illusion spell or used telekinesis to grab him a pair of clothes, but as his Mageroot was blocked, all of these options weren't available to him. Slowly, Daneel realized just how much he was depending on magic to do almost each and every single thing throughout his day.
Thankfully, it looked like the formation was nearby, as he soon approached a building with the words "Simulation Training" written on its large front door.
Having no time to consider what that meant, he directly burst inside and halted as he saw a very strange sight.
This was a large open room with a high ceiling that had over 100 circular objects arranged neatly all over the place.
Each object looks like it could be opened, and it was double the size of a human. As Daneel watched, one guy who had entered the building right before him walked up to one of them which automatically opened as he approached.
Stepping inside, he let the door-like thing close, and a faint glow covered the object just like many others in the room.
There were also many that were dull, and those were the ones that newcomers were heading to.
The problem was that there seemed to be no one around to administer things. This looked like it was something that all sect members could avail anyway, so there wasn't anyone to give someone like him instructions.
Having no other option, Daneel simply ran to a pod which was dim, but unlike with the others, this one didn't open with his approach.
He felt like pulling his hair out, but calming himself, the King looked around and wondered what he could do.
Once again, various methods of using spells to get what he wanted appeared in his mind, with the simplest one being that he could directly use Mind Control in order to take over someone else's pod.
However, all he had were his fists.
But what could he do with those?
Wait… His fists!
Getting an idea, Daneel carefully looked around and identified two people - one was buff, like many of those in the sect, and he was walking toward a pod with a very serious expression on his face.
The other one was lean and even looked a little bit weak, but his eyes constantly darted around as if he was looking for threats, and he even had a hand in his pocket where Daneel could see the outline of a small knife.
Taking a moment to make a choice, he marched toward the second person.
As soon as he began to do so, that guy's eyes became fixed on him, and he waited to see whether this person really was heading towards him.
As soon as that became apparent, he shouted out, "What's the matter, friend? There are many paths to go around here. Why are you approaching me?"
As soon as the guy spoke, Daneel spotted a wary expression on the face of the buff guy, which confirmed his suspicion.
This was someone with a reputation, and that was exactly what he needed.
Without any further ado, Daneel promptly walked closer and closer to the man until he pulled out the knife and lunged forward with a ferocious expression on his face.
Alas… He was just a mere Eminent Warrior, and Daneel simply used one hand to knock the knife away before deploying a Hidden Kill First and knocking back the man with a single attack.
As he skidded across the floor, various weapons fell out of his pockets, including poisonous knives, all kinds of needles, blow darts, and even a live snake that slithered away as if it was ecstatic that it had finally obtained its freedom.
Daneel couldn't care less, though. He had timed this so that the man had just been about to enter the pod that he had had in his eyes since he entered the room, which meant that it was his.
It had also opened, so Daneel directly stepped inside and closed the door above him, finding himself in darkness while ignoring everything outside.
He could have gone and beaten the buff guy, but his sole objective had been to target someone powerful, so that if anyone wanted to interrupt this session of his, they would have to think twice.
Hoping that this quick plan would work, Daneel asked the system, "I've arrived. Do it."
[Affirmative. Taking over simulation formation. Removing all records from central monitoring trinket. Deploying clone at the specified location. Transferring consciousness. Please stand by.]
A second later, Daneel was whisked away once more, which was something he was quickly getting accustomed to due to the many audiences with the Emperor.
As he opened his eyes, he recognized that this was the spot right above the Road Through Hell.
However, it was almost indistinguishable now as at some point, a massive hole had appeared in the ground through which he could see two men facing a woman who was floating in the air while a blazing aura surrounded her.
The two men had their hands raised, as if they were frantically trying to explain something, while the woman seemed to be ignoring them.
Before Daneel could make any judgments on the matter, he heard Drakos speak with astonishment in his mind, and this made him drop his jaw and wonder whether he was still dreaming after going to sleep the night before.
"The Bloodline of the Blazing Phoenix! B-but how? How is it possible for a bloodline that was almost extinct even during the Empire to be awakened in a mere Warrior? How?!"