Deep in the endless sea, a sight that would shock any Angarian was slowly unfolding.
A team of three were haphazardly floating all over the place while engaged in a strange activity.
Of them, one man's eyes were closed, and he seemed to be concentrating acutely on something. His companions glanced at him occasionally, and each time they saw that his expression was unchanged, one of frustration would come on their own faces.
Still, this would only stay for the briefest moment before they would be engaged once again in the task that they had been given- to fend off the creatures which really, really wanted to taste humans after a long, long time.
They were already beyond the point of no return, and they would soon approach the point from where even Heroes were said to not come back once they crossed it while filled with confidence in their power. Even now, they were being assaulted left and right by multiple Warrior level enemies which, when combined together, would easily put up a fight against any Champion from the continent.
The only saving grace was that they were but a speck in the vast expanse that was the Endless Sea. At the place they were in, there were many major predators which roamed around, looking for their next meal, or the next fight to make their blood pump, meaning that not many weaker creatures would dare to go around freely. Hence, they would occasionally get periods of reprieve, but each time this happened, they would be followed by the most intense bouts of fighting and escaping.
So far, in the three hours since they had set out, they had already come close to dying thrice. The first time, they had been targeted by a school of fish which were individually just at the Warrior level, but when combined together, they had the strange ability of amplifying each of their powers and shooting forth an attack from their mouths which accelerated to such a speed that it looked like a laser beam streaking through the water. They had come upon an especially large school of these otherwise weak creatures, and being targeted by an attack that would even severely injured a Hero realm individual had made them hastily run back to safer waters before waiting for the school to pass so that they could go back to the place where they were supposed to search.
They didn't even know exactly why they were searching in this place, because their companion had only told them that even he didn't know the exact location. He said that he would get more clues after they went to a certain place, which was where they were, and the reason behind this was that there were varied reports regarding how one was supposed to get to this place which would normally be avoided by anyone who was sane.
The second had been an encounter with a Peak Champion level Great Shark, and even though they had thought that they would be able to fend it off and wait for it to give up on them and look for easier prey, it never happened, and the attacks of the Shark only kept getting stronger. It was then that their companion told them that this was a Shark which was soon approaching the Hero level, and that had led to them beating another hasty retreat.
The third was the most harrowing of them all - it had looked like a normal encounter with an Amateur Champion level Great Shark, and they had even been having fun while beating it back and seeing it mash its teeth with frustration. They saw it leave after a bit, and they had even laughed between themselves thinking that they had scared away the thing quite easily.
Yet, what happened next was something that they would never forget.
After a few moments, that same shark had been seen coming towards them, and they had thought that it was simply back for another round. Hence, they had paid no attention to it, but to their shock, they saw their companion quickly stand up and say that they should run.
Soon, the reason behind it became clear- the Shark that had run away before was now being followed by the largest one they had seen yet, and it looked like it had been quite enraged for some reason.
On looking closer, they found out why that was the case- quite a large portion of this shark's fin was missing, and a part of it was jutting out of the mouth of the one that had run away before.
They had barely managed to swallow their shock and flee, before finding out that the one that they had almost been targeted by was a specimen with a rare mutation where it had power beyond its level. It was almost like a human being born with extremely great potential that would allow them to wield more power than those that were at the same realm, and if they had stayed, they would definitely have lost any fight that ensued.
It was then that they realized that these Sharks were intelligent enough to decide to take revenge in case they found a situation where they were on the losing end. Instead of giving up and moving on like one would expect from animals in the wild, these things actually held grudges.
In this case, it is obvious that that Shark had attracted the larger one in the hopes that they would become the prey of its brethren, all while it looked on with glee.
Thankfully, they had already planned and trained in top-notch escaping methods before coming here, and that had saved their skin once more.
From then on, they changed their methods to fleeing for short distances in case they found creatures like these attacking them, and in other cases, they would try to stay within the area of where they were supposed to be while still aiming to go beyond the senses of those that were chasing them.
Although Daneel was watching all this, his main attention was on the search that both he and the system were undertaking at the same time.
Typically, he would have asked the system to do the searching while he helped his companions, but he had found a way to supplement the efforts of the system rather than leave everything to it.
And that… Was through the World which he now commanded.
Because he had his companions with him, he was empowered to use the other form of his Champion Path where he could ask the World to do certain things for him, such as make slight changes in the elementary particles in an area in order to check for anomalies that would indicate that he might be close to what he was searching for.
He carried this out in one direction, while the system checked the other. It was also scanning using its anti-surveillance module, and according to it, its resources were stretched to the maximum.
Of course, that had been followed by another scathing message about how he should upgrade the system if he wanted more from it, and Daneel had had no option but to ruefully shake his head and wail to the Heavens silently that he would do so, in a breath, if he could.
Alas, there were no options available to him right now to gain experience points, except to wait for the 'Words' that he had given to come to be.
Well, that was really something to look forward to.
They had already been at it for three hours, so Daneel decided that it was time they took a break.
With a nod to his companions who put on expressions of relief as they saw it, Daneel sent a message to the system.
"Activate Safe Haven."
[Acknowledged. Activating Ancient Safe Haven Protocol.]
As soon as the reply was heard in his mind, the system cast a series of spells with blinding speed.
First, they were raised from the surface of the Sea, and as they watched its murky depths move farther and farther away from them, they soon reached the sky which was filled with lightning that could kill a Champion outright.
Yet, a unique spell was deployed which conjured something almost like a lightning rod that attracted all of the chaotic bolts around them to a place a bit away from them, while they went through the clouds safely.
The problem with this method was that it would only work for a little while, and if this were not the case, Heroes would have had no problem going farther and farther beyond into the Endless Sea instead of returning with the fear that they might die if they did not do so.
The small period of time for which it was effective was enough for them, though, because the spot they were aiming was not far away.
They soon reached it, and as soon as they entered, it was as if the entire world around them had changed.
First, the sounds of roaring winds and crashing water that they had gotten used to after spending so much time on the Sea had disappeared, and they couldn't help but admire the charm of the silence that replaced it.
They were in a place where the sky was calm, but around them, they could still see the roiling thunderbolts which almost looked frustrated as they could not smite them into dust.
It was almost as if a transparent barrier was keeping all of them away, but the truth was that there was no such thing - it was actually a formation that was making all of the dark clouds flow around the place that they were in.
"This was made by the Emperor after using a large chunk of resources that we cannot even imagine in this age. The principle here is that this place is tethered to an object made of Ker Roots which is placed above us, and using it, a formation was made which repels the clouds and the lightning bolts by using the concept of opposing forces. It is one of the most expensive things that have ever been created in the Empire, because Ker Roots were rare even then, and its main purpose was to act as a place where those who were building the stronghold that we are searching for could rest."
As Daneel said the last sentence, the eyes of Faxul glowed as he asked, "So you already found it?"
Sighing and shaking his head, Daneel answered, "If that were true, we would definitely be inside it by now. No, I don't know exactly where it is, which is why are we are searching, but I have confirmed, especially by finding this place, that we have chosen the correct route. I guess the others were just attempts to waylay those who might try to come here, placed in the records either as a prank or with more nefarious intent. Well, that doesn't matter- the entrance to the place we want to go to was made so that it would only appear and disappear at completely random places for completely random periods of time. The stronghold cannot be reached by any other means - it is completely closed off, and it is only this entrance that must be used. Only those who are within can tell where the entrance is at any point of time, and this was a method to make sure that invasion would be almost impossible- if those within could not communicate its location, that no one could enter. So… What we're trying to do is find it. The only good thing is that because of the overall decrease in the Energy level, the efficiency of the formation must have gone down, which means that the entrance will stay for longer periods of time. I hope that I would be able to find it by randomly searching around, but I've realized that it's just too large of a place to search, even though there is only a single swathe of area where the entrance can appear."
Saying this, Daneel sank into deep thought, and the others tried to think of ways, too.
The king didn't need to mention what the difficulty was- each person only scan a limited area around them, and it was only if this entrance came within that area that he could probably detect it.
Because the Endless Sea was so vast, it would be an impossible task to cover it all, especially when the location of the entrance would keep changing. If it were stationary, they could do a blanket search, but sadly, that was impossible.
Finally, giving one last firm shake of his head, the King spoke, and for some reason that they couldn't fathom, his words send a chill down his sovereigns' spines.
"I didn't want to do this, but again, I have no choice. Well, it is a good idea. Boys…its time to spice things up. So, answer me this…which of you would like eating fish more?"