Jake felt as if his head was going to burst with all the anger that was building up due to what he had just heard.
Yet, at the same time… He flushed just a bit, but he immediately tried to hide that as he wanted no one to see.
His ability had always been pretty unique… But he would be lying if he said that he had never done what had just been indicated by this guy.
It had never been intentional, and he had never told anyone about it because it would label him as a pervert, and might even result in him being banished from his family which had always had the highest of prestige.
He could imagine it now. If the rumors regarding what this guy had just said spread, his grandfather would definitely spank him so hard that he would have to go to the healer's cabin, and there, he would have no way to explain properly just why he had a handprint firmly imprinted on his butt.
Just thinking of this made his anger turn into rage, and he shouted, "The audacity! I'll show you! Come on!"
His subordinates all gave him worried glances as he said this, as they were all eager to go on the five-star mission that they had obtained with great difficulty. In the Order, 5-star missions were not so easy to get, as they required a lot of resources to be spent by the Order, too, if they had to be set up. Hence, anyone who obtained one would be stupid if they let go of the chance to avail it in time. That was a given, but that was exactly what their leader was doing right now.
Yet… The humiliation of having his name used by someone else was just too much. He might have ignored it and handled it later if this guy hadn't become famous enough that his information had started to spread and had reached the circle in which he associated himself with, but now that it had escalated this far… He wanted it to be over and done with.
Still, he understood his team's thinking, so he said, "We'll just have a private match, it doesn't matter if anyone sees me kicking his ass in a minute or not. Private arenas will definitely be free."
The others let out breaths of relief as they heard this. The whole reason they had been trying to convince their boss not to go for it now was that it was night time, which meant that all of the arenas meant for matches where people could look in would be occupied. Every night, all sorts of grudges would be resolved, and there would also be many bets going around where people could either lose or gain a fortune in the matter of a few minutes. If they went now… They would definitely have had to wait in a queue, which would mean that they would have lost the chance to get onto the mission.
Daneel didn't know all these things, and his only motive was to get this five-star mission of theirs. He also knew about the scarcity of these things, and he wanted to tick one off the list of the five that he needed to finish as soon as possible.
"Follow me."
Saying so, Jake led the way in the direction of the place where all of the arenas were present, and right before entering the door after indicating that they wanted to go to a private arena, he turned around and boldly told his subordinates, "Get your preparations done. This should be a simple thing that won't even take a couple of minutes."
Nonchalance was always the best way to tick off and hurt the ego of enemies, but it didn't work here. Instead, his words made the man he was going to face smirk, and even though he didn't know why that was the case, he felt a very slight chill up his spine which he ignored.
He had always been cautious even though others with his talent and power often did not bother with being careful, and he had already investigated the previous feats of this guy. That was when he found out that he had managed to beat the Spikeking, which was definitely enough to gauge his power. After all, the war simulation tested one's mind more, so he did not need to think about that.
The Spikeking was definitely weaker than him, and he was sure that he would be able to defeat that man in 10 seconds. He was an Exalted Champion who was near the peak, after all, and his Champion Path had always been said to be one that was able to allow him to contend with even multiple Champions above his level if he wished.
Yet, the moment they entered the arena after the guy patted the head of the little Divine Cockroach that had caused them all to be beaten black and blue… That bad feeling grew in intensity, right up until the second that the gong sounded which meant that the match could start.
His path was one that allowed him to basically meld into the elementary particles around him and conceal himself so well that even Heroes would find it difficult to spot him, but right as he was about to deploy it… Something miraculous happened.
A brilliant light struck down from above on the spot where he stood, and his Champion Path… Was stopped in its tracks.
"What the f*ck?!"
Even before he could exclaim in this manner, he found ten hammers falling on him from above, all while he was in a vulnerable state due to his path being obstructed. This was only for a fraction of a second, but that was enough for a fatal blow to fall.
How… The hell had this guy figured out the one way to stop him?
His grandfather had always told him to be wary of those who might find this one path among the thousands that would counter to him, but he had investigated and been rest assured ever since he had found out that it was one that had been lost after the Empire.
But… even if this guy knew it, how could he deploy it so quickly?
At that moment, Jake saw a clear choice in front of him. He could be defeated and then hang his head low in front of his subordinates, or… He could choose the other option.
He had always been flexible, and his mentor had always applauded him for this quality which was apparently absent in many who were at his level.
That came into play now, as he immediately shouted, "I'm sorry! I was kidding! I wouldn't have harmed that Divine Cockroach anyway, I just wanted you to come! I'll change my name! And even follow you! If you're after the five-star mission, you shouldn't harm me, because I was the one who got it! If I'm not in the team, then no one can take it up!"
Daneel was quite surprised as he heard this. Although he had heard about the scarcity, he had not found out about this particular fact regarding them, and he was even more so caught off guard by the fact that someone who was clearly a spoiled brat who had been raised in the Big Four or in the Order was ready to apologize the moment he saw that his opponent was stronger than him.
Usually, this would represent a slimy character that belonged to those who were only brave in front of those that they could overpower, but in this guy… It was different.
In that moment before he had made his decision, he had carefully analyzed everything, and Daneel had managed to spot that, again because of the increased reaction speed that he had obtained due to his breakthrough.
He had wanted to carefully study all these changes, and even though he had not found the time until now, he had just experienced its affects in two ways.
The first was this, and the second had been when he had managed to deploy the counter Path given by the World in a way that was much faster than what he had been capable of before.
The World had done its part - the moment he had activated his Champion Path, because there was no one near him who were his followers, he had been able to find out just which Path countered the one in front of him perfectly. Usually, after that, he would have had to use the system to develop a module to deploy that Path following which it would do so, and that would have required at least a second or two. After all, it was a very high tier one, and even the system would face a little bit of difficulty to emulate it right away.
Yet… Daneel had felt a strange connection with elementary particles that had allowed him to half figure out just what he was supposed to do the moment he had been given the indication regarding the Path that he should display. That had directly helped the system, and it had managed to deploy it in half the time.
That was… Quite shocking.
It was obvious by now that his gains from the entire episode regarding the golden lightning were much more than he had expected initially, but he realized that he needed to slowly find out what else he had gotten. Even if it was just what he had seen so far… It was pretty damn impressive, and it had taken his power level even higher than what it had been before.
After all, before, he had been like a normal man with a cannon which would kill anyone, but he would need the system's help to place the cannonball inside it so that it would be fired. Now… He was gaining the ability to help in that part, too, and that meant that it might even be possible to eliminate that step altogether in the future.
Now that… would truly be incredible, as it would allow him to basically stand unrivaled even if someone was powerful enough to use that second of time to launch a different attack, or change their own.
Again, all of this ran through Daneel's mind quickly, and he realized that he should probably stop overanalyzing things like this, that would result in too many thoughts that would clutter his mind. Fast reaction speed was good, but it had to be used when necessary.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the man in front of him said, "Thank you for seeing reason. But… Can I make a small request? Will you please follow what I say? I promise that it will not be detrimental to you, and it might even strengthen your position in the Order! Oh, believe me, I know everything about fame in this damn place! Anyway, come on. If you want to get to that five-star mission, we should leave in five minutes."
Five minutes?
That was much shorter than the timespan that Daneel had imagined, so he immediately nodded, intending to crush this guy again if he tried to play any tricks.
Right after they exited, he put on a brave face and said, "Gentlemen, from here on, my title shall be… Underlord! During the fight, I had an epiphany regarding my future path, and I believe that this will be more apt. Err… Because of that, I lost, but I gained much more than I have in my past year of training. For that, I am thankful to this person even though he has my name, and it is actually that which has allowed me to make this breakthrough. His power is still pretty amazing, and I bet that we would have gone toe to toe easily if that hadn't happened. He shall be joining us on this mission. Any questions? No? Then disperse and come back to the Obelisk right above in one minute."
Well… That was one way of putting it.
Daneel understood that prestige was important, and even though he was on the Domination path, it didn't require him to completely humiliate those that had already surrendered. Besides, the mission was most important, so he decided to let this go at the moment.
Because there was so little time, Daneel simply told his sovereigns to wait, before sending a message to the Underlord who had disappeared after not giving any gap for questions to be asked that they would be coming, too.
The 25 individuals were all quite stunned, but they nodded and returned a few moments later.
The Underlord returned and ordered that two of them should sit out the mission, and that they would be eligible for double rewards on the next one. These two were quickly picked out using a game of drawing straws despite general opposition, while Daneel told his sovereigns about the mission's requirement which he had been told about by this guy. Only thirty people could participate, and it would be a mission apparently requiring both 'power and intellect'. That was why he had decided to take Eloise, too, who had displayed her calmness under pressure before, so that left the matter of Skrr.
Thankfully, when asked, Skrr said that that lady had told her that she could stay with her if they were going on missions, which told Daneel that the adult Divine Cockroach might not be as strict as she looked. Still, she had been pretty damn scary, so Daneel only relaxed after Skrr contacted her and was teleported away while she waved at them and told them to bring back loads of food for her, thinking that they were going on another shark-hunting mission.
With that, all thirty of them flew up.
Right after they reached the obelisk above them, the guy whose shamelessness actually reminded Daneel of Percy raised his hand, and all of them disappeared.
As soon as he blinked his eyes and adjusted them, a familiar information panel popped into his vision.
It was just like the one they had seen when he had first been teleported to the War Simulation, and it read:
"Five Star Mission: Infiltration has begun. Preparation phase underway."