บท 139: Desperation

Inside a valley to the east of Lanthanor, a man wearing green robes stood on the balcony of an ancient building while looking at the setting sun.

This was a location hidden deep inside a plush forest which was filled with many deadly traps which could take the lives of even Exalted Human Fighters or Mages.

Thus, this had long been classified as a "no-trespassing zone", with almost all travelers taking a longer route in order to bypass the whole valley altogether.

If Daneel were here, he would have been surprised to see that there were multiple towers similar to "pagodas" from back on Earth in this location.

Although there were a few changes such as the there being less curves in the design, the concept was the same: one large base decreased in area with each floor until the top floor was less than half the area of the ground floor.

This man was standing on the top floor of one such tower. The buildings themselves were constructed out of a peculiar material which didn't crack no matter how many years passed. Even if creepers grew along its walls, it simply stood its ground while letting nature decorate it in any way it wanted.

The lush forest all around the buildings gave a unique atmosphere of peace to the whole area, making it so that anyone who had the chance to visit would be able to relax and forget all their tensions easily.

The sunset was especially lauded as one of the most beautiful sights in all of Angaria when experienced from here. The rays of the sun bathed the trees in a yellow hue, while the surroundings took on an ephemeral shade, bidding goodbye to the rejuvenating sunlight which would sorely be missed until the next day.

The green-robed man had been trying to figure out the secret behind this incredible feeling that one got when looking at all the plants and trees while the sun was setting.

If he had to choose a way to explain, he would say that nature here seemed to be more ALIVE.

Yet, try as he may, he just couldn't pinpoint clearly that one thing which made the location so special.

Sighing, he discarded the topic in his head. This was simply a pastime that he had adopted in order to not go crazy from all the tension he had been feeling since the past few days.

Just as he was about to turn around, he noticed a frog in the corner of his eye jumping from branch to branch while trying to catch a butterfly which was fleeing with all its might.

Intrigued, he kept watching.

The butterfly seemed to have been flying at its top speed for quite a long time, as it was now gradually slowing down, allowing the frog to close the distance between them with each leap.

Its flight grew more and more erratic until it finally rested on a particular branch as if resigned to its death.

Not wanting to waste any more time, the frog simply shot its long tongue, ready to swallow its prey.

Yet, to its horror, it realized that it had unwittingly entered the domain of a serpent which called these branches its home.

As it shot toward the frog from the side with its mouth wide open, the butterfly suddenly perked up again and started flying away at the speed with which it had been fleeing before it had supposedly become tired.

Realizing that this was all a trap laid by the butterfly, the frog was unresigned to its fate. It shot out its tongue one last time before the snake devoured it, in order to take the butterfly down with it no matter what.

Watching till here, the green-robed man turned around with a small smile on his face. He neither needed or wanted to know how the incident ended, as it had already helped him to make a decision he had been pondering on for the last few days.

Entering inside the room, he collected himself before walking towards the stairs to go to the largest tower which was located in the center of the area.

Telling the Sect scribe that he had made his decision, he waited for the Sect Master to grant him an audience. The call came soon enough, and he was escorted into a large wooden room. A humble wooden chair was located on one end of the room, while the floor was covered with mats meant for people to sit on.

A man whose age couldn't be determined seemed to have just risen from the chair, as he was bent in front of a gold incense stick holder.

Lighting incense whose smell made the green-robed man think of Lavender, he sat back down on the chair.

After striding towards the end of the room with a measured pace, the green-robed man stood in front of the one in the chair and said, "I have made the decision. Give me the forbidden technique."

With a pleasant smile, the man on the chair replied, "Eldest Prince of Lanthanor, are you sure? I have already assured you that I would be able to protect you no matter what if you choose to stay within the Sect. Leave alone enforcing the oath, that Daneel will not even be able to find you, and you can spend your days training with the goal to reach the Champion Level, where it is rumored that one can cleanse their soul of all oaths. After all, you have Crimson Level Potential, which makes this a viable option. The forbidden technique burns your potential to give you a quick rise in power. Depending on your willpower, I would say that you can at most get to the Eminent Warrior Mage Level before having no choice but to be stuck at this level for your whole life. Even though there is a possibility that you can get rid of oaths with this technique, is it worth it? Can't you just wait and train?"

Indeed, the green-robed man was the Eldest Prince of Lanthanor who had been teleported out by a member of a subordinate sect of the Withering Leaf Sect at a great cost. When asked for their reason, the Sect Master had told him that his value was high because of his Crimson Potential.

He had been presented with these two options, and the past few days had been spent pondering over which option to take.

He had sworn the oath to follow King Daneel's orders, so with a single word from the man, the oath thread would tighten around his soul and end his life.

He could either choose a life of fear, with decades and decades spent hoping that he could somehow get through the next day until eventually growing to the Champion Level, which didn't have a 100% probability itself. Or, he could take matters into his own hands.

What he had witnessed had already let him make a decision, so he did not hesitate any more.

"Sect Master, I choose the latter. Please provide me with the Ker Gems and the technique on credit, I will definitely repay it all when I am able to."

Hearing the decision, the man on the chair sighed before waving his arm, making a cloth sack and an ancient scroll appear in front of the Eldest Prince. Seeing him pick them up and leave the room after thanking him, the man gazed out of the window through which the last vestiges of the sunset could be seen.

While the shadow of darkness slowly consumed the room he was in, the man smiled faintly before taking out something from his pocket and bringing it to his mouth, saying, "The plan is proceeding as expected. Start the preparations. The Withering Leaf Sect collects all of its debts, and the time shall soon come for Lanthanor to pay."

....

Meanwhile, in the secret Energized Training Chamber underneath the Dragon Heart.

Daneel held a red gem in his hands while debating whether to finally cultivate with a Ker Gem in order to find out just what benefits they gave which made the previous King covet them with such intense desperation.

Out of habit, he asked the system whether there were any new spells to develop. This had been something he had taken to regularly doing, as he was sometimes prone to missing notifications from the system in times of intense battle or training.

As he heard the system's response, Daneel couldn't help but drop the Ker Gem in his hands in shock.

As the gem rolled away on the floor, the King of Lanthanor couldn't help but open his mouth in glee. With a single line of drool dripping down the left side of his chin, he looked like a kid who had gotten a toy that he had been asking for for a very long time.

After asking the system to repeat the message at least 10 times, Daneel finally lay down on the ground and laughed to himself, repeating the notification again and again in his head while he let his emotions take control.

[Advanced Clone Technique Ready for Development. After analyzing the clone of the individual who the host came into contact with, Phenomena Analysis Module can now develop a technique to make a clone which can absorb energy with low efficiency. The energy absorbed by the clone can, in turn, be absorbed by the host, although this will result in an even higher drop of efficiency. Alternatively, the energy can also be released as an attack.]