World Domination System (Web Novel)
chapter-650

What the f*ck?

'Need'?

That's it?! That was what he had worked so hard for??!!

Unconsciously channeling a specific character from a very famous movie back on Earth, Daneel opened and closed the scroll twice, and even thrice, but that word didn't undergo any sort of transformation.

Still desperate, he even asked the system to scan it and see if there was something he was missing, but the only answer he got was that this was just a simple scroll of parchment whose defensive formations had been removed for him to access.

That was it.

The Chief's laughter was still echoing around the room, and at this moment, if Daneel was asked whom he hated most in the Big Four, then the answer was something he would not hesitate to give.

Not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of knowing that he had pissed him off even more, Daneel took a deep breath and calmed himself down before turning around and saying, "Very funny. Now, where's the real scroll?"

Daneel actually had to wait for a few moments until the Chief finished his laughing session, wiped his eyes and then looked at him before finally opening his mouth to answer.

And, of course, the answer was something that infuriated him even more.

"What real scroll? This is it! What were you expecting, by the way?"

Daneel wondered whether to scream out the answer, but knowing that that would degrade his identity of a King to that of a toddler, he took another deep breath and answered with his lips pressed tightly together in order to show his displeasure.

"A method to tread on the Ultimate Path without having to stay in the Warrior realm for too long while mastering both the Paths required. A method to become a Champion, and then focus on getting an Ultimate Path, so that anyone who can accomplish that can be invincible in their own realm. A method that was used by the sect founder, to accomplish all that he did in order to set up the sect. You need me to spell the words out for you, too?"

Speaking to the Chief like he was the toddler instead did make Daneel feel a little bit better, but as he did not faze the man in any manner, it ended up being just a small satisfaction.

The Chief only smiled a bit and said, "Read the scroll again. What does it say?"

Of course, Daneel did not have to look down in order to answer.

"Need."

Slapping a hand on Daneel's shoulder as if they were best buddies, the Chief said, "Of course! 'Need'! That's all you 'need'! Okay, fine, that joke is too overused. Anyway, I am being serious. 'Need' was what allowed the sect founder to achieve that third resonance that is needed for one to tread the Ultimate path. Now… Do you remember our favor?"

Daneel got a slight clue as to what the Chief meant when he heard the man give the answer in this way, but he decided to answer first.

"Of course. I was going to ask about that, next. I believe that I have held up my end?"

Back when he had had to get back to Lanthanor in order to be there for Cassandra, Daneel had had to go request the Chief to cover for him as the Head had only allowed him to enter and leave each and every sect in the Big Four once.

At that time, the Chief had gone ahead and offered a very peculiar favor, even stacking a lot of rewards on top just to make Daneel accept.

Of course, Daneel had gone ahead and said yes, and that was what had resulted in this scenario where he had been targeted by everyone, which had actually ended up helping him out when one looked at it after it was all done.

As for what the favor was… It was that Daneel had to somehow show everyone in the Fortress that their foolishness in pursuing honor, which was basically being used as an excuse so that they wouldn't have to face up against Mages and lose, would stop.

The Chief was basically looking out for his sect. Deeply saddened by this type of behaviour where a Fighter was usually supposed to honorably accept defeat and look for a time when he would be equipped with enough tools in order to counter his opponent, he had set out to find some way in which those of the Fortress could be shown that they were on an erroneous path in the best way possible.

In that process, he had found Daneel, whose actions he had actually been following whenever he was bored while absorbing blood.

Knowing that this was someone whose mind had a certain proficiency for scheming and getting things done, the Chief had gone ahead and rolled the dice, and the results were actually… Beautiful.

Even now, the Chief was thinking back to the thoughtful expressions on those of the Fortress when he had spoken before. All he had been looking for was some kind of push so that this kind of thinking would at least begin, and the rest could be handled by the Champions and Heroes who had already been instructed to capitalize on this opportunity and go ahead to offer classes where Fighters would be taught specifically how to handle Mages using new techniques that the Chief had created.

Essentially, it was just a mishmash of old techniques from the Empire that he had excavated and modified for use by Warriors so that they wouldn't lose their motivation in advancing forward.

Even though the top seeds of the sect would not be affected by something like this, he really did not want anyone to have to abandon the glorious path of a Fighter for reasons like these.

After finding out about the favor, Daneel had, of course, understood the motivation behind it, and he had gone ahead and accepted as his plan had already been forming in the direction.

Now that his end was done, he realised that accepting it had been the best thing to do, as if the scroll really did contain nothing else, then at least the book that had been promised to him which contained the experiences of all those who had tried this method would definitely help him out in uncovering just what the sect founder had exactly done in order to accomplish something that had flummoxed even the many genius minds of the Empire.

Of course, there was also the additional reward of all of the techniques created by the Chief, but Daneel wasn't really looking forward to this that much, as he already had a plethora of techniques which he could use at any time. Yet, he still valued it, as it was something that he could use without anyone getting suspicion on him.

After taking that moment to think back to what he had seen and feeling happy that he had taken the right step in offering that favor, the Chief answered, "Of course you have, brilliantly. Now, I've had my bit of fun, so I want to tell you that I would not have just left you with the scroll and cheated you out of what was promised even if you didn't fulfill your end of the favor and earned this book. However, because you have, I don't think I need to explain further. Just go through it, and all of it will be clear to you. Remember, this is something that will become most clear when you are at that junction, so don't worry too much if you don't understand something now. If you need anything, feel free to contact me, and you can even use this room to study the book for now and memorize it. I don't think I need to tell you not to touch these weapons, as unlike normal ones, if you touch them, they will attack you. And of course, here is the other thing I promised: the collection of my techniques. You can go through this later, though, as they won't make sense to you now anyway. Once again, congratulations on winning the battle, and fulfilling the expectations that the Head and I had for you. You can have a moment of respite, but after that, both of us will be waiting in the audience chamber where you first met me so that we can have a talk about all the things that you displayed during the battle. Hey, don't look at me like that, you should have known that it was coming. You're not someone dumb, after all."

Daneel had glanced at the Chief with a little bit of alarm in his eyes as soon as he had heard that last part, which had led the Chief to respond in that way.

Well, the chief was right. He had known that this was coming, and he had already planned for it, but he still couldn't help but feel that little bit of panic especially after the incredible attacks that he had just seen.

Daneel had yet to remark on that, as he was too busy with these things. Yet, one thing was for certain: no matter how many tricks he pulled out of his bag, he would not be able to defeat even one of these two.

So, he simply nodded in response, which made the Chief say, "Take your time. When you're done, just knock on the door."

Saying so, the Chief disappeared, once again using that weird method of teleportation where he used his body to guide the elementary particles instead of using a mageroot, as a mage would.

Before, the Chief had also taken out a data trinket from his pocket and threw it into the air where it had floated when he was present.

Now that he had left, it dropped to the ground, and Daneel caught it instantly and asked the system to scan it to see how valuable it really was.

[Scanning trinket. Multiple Hero-level Fighter techniques found. Comparing with techniques in database. There are multiple cases where the techniques in the data trinket are edited versions of those in database which are focused on using less Energy. The data trinket also contains files with notes from its creator, and from this, system has deduced that these were modified keeping in mind the current Energy level of the continent. Adding techniques to database.]

Hearing this, Daneel raised both of his eyebrows, as he was once again impressed by this man.

Apparently, instead of sitting back and lamenting that techniques from the Empire could not be used in this age as the Energy level was too different, he had gone ahead and studied them extensively before modifying them to benefit all Fighters for all ages to come. Daneel knew the amount of skill that was required in order to take an existing skill, or spell, and modify it, as even though he had the system to do this in a snap for him, he had tried it for himself and seen the difficulty.

Putting it aside, he walked forward, as he had noticed his second prize atop the podium that had just had its formations removed right after the departure of the Chief.

As expected, there was a neatly bound leather book in front of him, and as Daneel picked it up, he had to blow a little dust off of it.

Opening it, he read the first page, which had the title, and impatiently flipped to the second one to find an illustration of a man who was larger than any giant Daneel had ever seen, as was clear from the small humans he was holding in his hands as if they were just two twigs he had casually picked up from the ground.

Below it, a caption read, "Success Study One: Third Sect Master of the Fortress of Unyielding Might.

Mage Path: Magnification/Case-based amplification.

Fighter Path: Invincible/Boundless Strength.

Ultimate Path: COLOSSUS."