novelSatisfaction and Belief
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The frustration of not being able to upgrade the system made Daneel grit his teeth.
He had always thought that his leveling speed was crazy; yet, his friend had just now surpassed him by reaching the Exalted Human realm in a matter of minutes.
At this moment, Daneel had no idea what to think. All he could hope for was that detailed analysis of Faxul's blood would at least yield something.
Turning around the Sister Xuan and Molan, he said, "Thank you for the help, but I need to go now. Like I said, the doors of the Palace are open to you. Let us speak in Lanthanor."
"Very well, King. I'll be watching, just in case someone else tries to disturb the proceedings. Call it as me paying back the favor for being in your Kingdom for so long. Go on."
Nodding, Daneel disappeared from the spot.
"What do you make of him, Sister? And why are you talking so much? You never say more than two words to everyone else except me."
Hearing Molan's questioning tone, Sister Xuan involuntarily blushed a bit.
Although she had managed to control her emotion at the last moment, she was still seen through by Molan.
Before she could say anything, Sister Xuan said, "I don't know what you are talking about. I was just being civil because he might join us. Let's go. I want to witness the ceremony of connecting with the protector beast. The Matron once said that it is the last Warrior level descendent beast in the entire Central Continent. I wish to witness its magnificence."
Saying so, she immediately caught Molan's hand and teleported them out of these, as if hoping that a change in place would result in a change in topic.
...
Meanwhile, Daneel had just teleported beside Elanev, who was carrying Faxul to the room where he had rested before.
He had communicated beforehand that he would be coming, so his disguise didn't throw Elanev off.
The Raven which had been protectively circling around the two squaked threateningly seeing someone new arrive.
Yet, noticing that he had no ill intentions, it went back to keeping a watch on everyone else.
Indeed, some people had rushed into this passageway in a bid to be the first to join Faxul as he made his way to the Palace for the final step.
Seeing him unconscious, their cheers went silent as they wondered if he was okay.
Noticing this, Elanev shouted, "The King-to-be is fine, he just passed out due to the exhaustion. He will join you soon outside the Palace. Please make your way there, the healer will get him back to normal in no time."
At the mention of the words "Healer", everyone turned towards Daneel who was accompanying the two.
Daneel, who had been pondering about the last words of Sister Xuan, became slightly startled as he felt so many gazes on him.
Disguised again as Master Novrain, he said, "Yes, it is just blood loss. He will be there shortly."
Hearing this, the crowd heaved sighs of relief before making their way out of the stadium and heading to the Palace as instructed.
Daneel, on the other hand, went back to his thoughts.
Clearly, Sister Xuan had made the veiled statement that she would be keeping her eye on him.
Why was she doing this? The Matron had dismissed his feats by attributing them to some sort of "inheritance" which he had never heard of before. Why wasn't this woman accepting that explanation?
Regardless, he decided to stay low-key and make sure that he wouldn't expose too much. After all, the system had to stay secret at all costs.
The trio had already entered the room, so Daneel started to act as the namesake he had just acquired and placed his hand on Faxul's forehead before activating the healing technique.
Seeing the surface wounds healing at a remarkable pace, Elanev asked in an astonished tone, "Since when have you become such a skilled healer?"
Closing his eyes in mock concentration for a few seconds, Daneel made sure that Faxul would at least be able to move without difficulty before taking his hand off and saying, "A lot has changed in the time when you were away. You think you were the only one learning new skills?"
Chuckling in response, Elanev watched as Daneel conjured a globe of water and fed it to Faxul before splashing a little on his face.
Sputtering and getting up, Faxul first looked around with a blank expression on his face before realizing where he was.
"Daneel! Where's the old man?!"
This was the first question that came out of Faxul's mouth.
After all, according to their original plan, Daneel would only keep the old man at bay while giving Faxul the chance to win. After winning, he would bond with the protector Raven and use the army and the Warrior-level beast to reinforce Daneel as soon as possible.
Hence, the fact that Daneel was here shocked him.
"It's a long story, but the short version is that he is dead. You only need to worry about bonding with the Raven and ascending the Throne now."
"He's - dead? Just like that?"
Seeing Daneel nod, Faxul felt a storm of emotions assault his mind.
The root cause of his decades of suffering... was actually dead?
The satisfaction that he should have felt before when he killed Tenebrol came to him now.
Still sitting on the chair where he had been placed by Elanev, he closed his eyes and let the tears flow.
Although he hadn't had a hand in killing the old man, it didn't change the fact that revenge had been obtained.
Finally, he would be able to let go of all the weighty emotions he had been carrying with him all this time.
Daneel, who was watching his friend show more emotion than he ever had in his life, felt something stirring in him.
It was happiness.
This feeling of doing something to help let someone let go of something that had been haunting them for years was truly something else.
He had changed someone's life!
Although he had done the same when he executed the nobles, he hadn't been in a position then to understand their feelings firsthand.
Now, having the opportunity to do so, he let himself feel the bliss that came from seeing the results of his actions.
This incident served to reinforce the conviction in him that his true passion was, indeed, to help people.
No matter if he had to drench his hands in the blood of hundreds or even thousands, he wouldn't flinch.
Ruthlessness might weigh him down with guilt, but he would keep going while keeping moments like these in his mind.
Whether his path led to World Domination or not, he would make sure that it would be filled with the joy of those who placed trust in him.
As he fixed these thoughts deep inside his mind, Faxul got up from the chair and wiped his eyes.
Walking to the door, he said, "Let's go. I have a Throne to ascend."
.... .
Meanwhile, in a room near the Throne Room of the Black Raven Kingdom.
Seated around a table were 10 people who all had solemn expressions on their faces.
It seemed as if they were waiting for someone, and true enough, after a few seconds, a knock sounded on the door.
One of the 10 who seemed the youngest among them stood up to open the door and take the parchment that was presented.
Walking back to the table, he went through it and passed it to the side with an ashen expression on his face.
As the parchment made the rounds in silence, one woman who had a scar across her forehead finally couldn't take it anymore and banged the table in frustration.
"HOW CAN WE NOT FIND THE PROTECTOR RAVEN? AND HOW CAN ALL THE TRINKETS WE HAVE FOR CONNECTING WITH RAVENS BE DESTROYED?!"
Sighing deeply, a man whose arm was missing answered.
"All of them became useless a few minutes ago. Someone was able to get to all of them and place some sort of trap which has been triggered. The main culprit is, of course, that mage that the King, ahem, previous King appointed. Everyone, I propose that we use the emergency clause and appoint this contender as the King directly before telling him about the matter. Do I have a consensus?"
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