The good mood that Daneel had gotten after breaking through and also discovering just how great it felt to be a Dragon was completely ruined by the news that had been sent by Rayen.
Indeed, although he hadn't remarked to himself regarding it too much, that feeling was something that had made him understand why Dragons were so revered. These were creatures to whom the whole world itself seemed to bow, almost as if that grandeur was also granted by the Will of the world because they deserved to awe each and every one who came upon them.
Of course, it would have been so much better if they didn't have the fatal weakness of losing themselves in their anger, but nothing in the world could be perfect, after all.
Things could only be made to be perfect, and that was what Daneel wanted to do.
He had enough on his plate, so to discover that a few damn Heroes might also bunch up on him when he was weak was very disconcerting news, and exactly what he didn't need right now.
Yet, after talking to Rayen and finding out that they would not be having a direct hand in what was going to happen, Daneel had felt a sense of relief, but he still wanted to find out exactly what they were planning to do.
At this moment, he really valued the relation he had with Rayen, because he was actually the perfect man to find out each and every plot that might be present against him. On the outside, they were supposed to be irreconcilable enemies, and if the Head wasn't present, everyone was sure that Rayen would certainly be in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, tearing Daneel apart from limb to limb.
So, all of the plots would definitely want to get his help, as he was, after all, one of the few Heroes of the continent of Angaria. Daneel didn't know yet exactly how many there were, but based on everything he knew, he had guessed that there should be at least 15 to 20, because this was the number that came up after taking into account that entire information he had uncovered regarding Willstones and the power they could call upon to make one a Hero.
After getting the news, Daneel had dismissed Raul after promising him that he would definitely sit down with them soon, and negotiate something that would work out for everyone. Then, seeing that he was close to making the man jump up and down in frustration, he had told him about the additional plot that wanted to claim his life.
This led to having to explain about the entire thing with the Mad Doctor, and the entire thing made Daneel recognize something.
There was really a dearth of communication between those who were his Sovereigns, and those who weren't.
Daneel had others under him who he felt could also be trusted, to quite a degree, even if they were not at the level of the Sovereigns for whom he had even crafted those trinkets from the Ker Root that would ensure that they would never be Mind Controlled in order for an enemy to find out all of his secrets.
He recognised that this might bring about the feeling of favouritism, resulting in those coming under him feeling as if they had no chance whatsoever of climbing up and entering the 'inner circle', as it definitely looked like, which would definitely result in them feeling demotivated and even be tempted by enemies if the scenario came to be that someone wanted to infiltrate his followers.
Of course, he had multiple spells from both the system and himself in place to make sure that nothing like this would happen, but it was never a bad idea to consider the worst-case scenario. If he did manage to attract an enemy who could bypass everything, then it would be too late to despair later.
Even back on Earth, he had heard of many stories where prominent leaders would often give the image as if they were unreachable to those from the lower levels of the government, and this was one of the main reasons behind a lot of the backstabs and machinations that happened in many places.
Hence, Daneel realized that he should definitely set in place some or the other directive which would counter this, and he decided that he would start with Raul.
The goal was to place something which would give people hope that they could come into his inner circle if they proved themselves using their actions, and for this, the best method was probably to ask Eloise to drop a few tips here and there, and then make sure to announce it himself later on, while giving opportunities for people to work hard and excel.
During the few hours of waiting which had to pass in order to find out just what the plan of the Heroes was, Daneel put his mind on this, but he kept getting distracted no matter what he did. In that state, he had no intention of planning the last two steps of the process that he had made, as he did not want to do it with this kind of mindset.
Finally, as the appointed time approached, Daneel eagerly touched the communication trinket and waited, but after a few seconds during which there was no input, it cut away.
Rayen had warned him that this would happen, but still, frustration appeared on his face, making him grit his teeth and feel like cursing.
This… Pushed Daneel even more towards his goal that he should definitely accumulate enough power to not have to care about these Heroes who all seemed to have their own motives, none of which were concerned about the fate of Angaria.
He knew that he should not classify all the Heroes under this kind of umbrella, but that was the feeling she was getting. This could even be said about the Champions, but in them, Daneel had at least met quite a few good ones - Marcus, who had saved him, was one of those in this list, and although Daneel had tried to get information regarding just where he was recuperating in the Fortress of Unyielding Might, he hadn't been able to, although he had been able to confirm that his recovery was going well, and that he would wake up soon.
Closing his eyes and deciding to wait patiently, Daneel sat back, and just hoped that it would end soon so that Rayen could send him all the details that he wanted.
Meanwhile, three others had arrived just a few minutes after Rayen had reached the place.
In those few minutes, he constantly looked around trying to find out just why this place filled with graves appealed so much to this weird guy.
He was known for being one of the most eccentric Heroes, and even his path was shrouded in secrecy. All of the official records had been erased from the Sect of Hedon, from where he had risen, and it was said that this was because no one wanted another Hero like him to rise.
If that were so, why had he been allowed to become one in the first place? There was no way to find the answer to this question, and Rayen didn't want to give him the satisfaction of asking about it, and showing that he was interested in him.
The problem was that the guy was an egomaniac, and he loved to think that the entire world revolved around him. He would take others' comments, even if they weren't related to him directly, to mean that they were praising him, and it was said that he had once even gotten into a fight because someone couldn't bear his antics, and had chosen to stand up against them.
The result was that they had been pummelled into the ground, even though they were a Hero, and that was one of the clearest indications that whatever his path was, it was pretty damn formidable.
There were theories it was related to this peculiar character of his, but no one could figure out the answer.
The other three who came were much more… Normal, if this word could even be used to describe Heroes, who were all creatures that had been living for centuries.
Time always had the strangest of effects on people, and on these three, it had acted differently in each case.
After becoming a Hero, one could actually change their appearance to be however they wished, and although the swirling darkness around Rayen was because of his path, he liked it, as it was kind of his identity.
As for these three, one of them looked extremely young, with a robust body that made it seem as if he was a Fighter. The other looked extremely old, with a long beard that almost touched the ground and eyes which spoke of the wisdom that he had gathered over all the time he had presided over the continent. The last was a woman, and although she was wearing a cloak which hid almost all of her features, there was one which stood out: she was over 6 feet tall, and this was an incongruity given that the average height of woman was lower than that of men on the continent.
Rayen knew of the general story regarding all of them. The one who was young had apparently always dreamed of eternal life, and he had pursued the closest thing. Luck had allowed him to have great talent, and after becoming a Hero, he apparently loved to make it seem as if he was still his 20-year-old self, instead of the 220-year old that he was.
As for the old man, he had always valued age, so he took on this form which made others feel as if he was very knowledgeable. There were whispers that the truth was actually that he was insecure about his intellect which was on a lower level when compared to others, but Rayen didn't know the truth regarding this.
As for the woman, all Rayen had heard was that she had a thing about height, and he had no idea what this 'thing' was, except that it caused her to hate short people. This was really strange, but of course, it was par for the course when talking about Heroes.
All three of them did not need to have any specific appearance because their path did not manifest in that way, so they were free to choose how they wanted to look. This was what they had chosen, and it reflected their personalities and thoughts clearly.
After they all sat down, they were joined by the man who had called for this entire thing.
Even if one counted Rayen, he was definitely the strangest of them all. Where his head should be… Was a shining skull, with no skin or flesh. A dim glow was visible in the eye sockets, and when he spoke, the teeth rattled against each other.
It might have been comical if his entire body was like that, but the fact that it was normal, and that only the head was like this, actually resulted in a contrast that was quite creepy. Again, no one knew why he chose to be like this, and he wasn't very forthcoming behind his reason, either.
"I'll keep this short, so that no one suspects that we are up to something because we are all missing at the same time. I went to check upon the Mad Doctor on a whim, and I found that someone has injected him with something that will cause him to wake up, mad, in a few weeks. I don't know just who it was that that did this, but they clearly have it out against that kid, who will definitely be targeted the moment the man wakes up. I propose…that we simply make it fair! It won't be fair for the Head to intervene, right? Let's occupy him, and make it seem like a coincidence! And just in case this fails and the guy goes too mad or something, why not let loose a few of the top seeds of the Big Four who are disgruntled because he was chosen as the Legacy Disciple? It can seem like a casual fight, but bad thing can happen during fights…very bad things. What do you all say?"