"Young King, the thod with the highest success rate lies before you."
Although Daneel heard this in his mind from Drakos, he couldn’t help but stare at the holographic diagram made from light elentary particles in front of him with both of his eyebrows raised up as far as they could go.
"Daneel... Are you sure about this?"
As he heard Faxul say this next to him, Daneel couldn’t help but shrug.
It had all been fun and gas when he announced his grand idea to Faxul, but after asking Drakos about the best thods that were used during the ti of the Empire to help a Human break through to beco Warrior, the plan that the Ancient Dragon put forward was what had made both of their jaws drop.
In fact, it reminded Daneel of a very popular movie series back on earth, which released horrible sequel after horrible sequel with recycled plots even though the first few movies were the best.
In front of them was a deathtrap filled maze which would push an Exalted Human to their limits and beyond, step by step, thodically until they either broke through to beco a Warrior to get out of it, or died trying.
This was what it looked like on first glance, but on closely observing a few of the deathtraps and seeing the descriptions floating on top of them, Daneel noticed that there were always safety asures installed which would stop the imminent death of the Exalted Human taking part in this activity right before it was too late.
Still, it really did look like the basent of a deranged murderer who had decided to put his victims through a very specifically designed journey of torture.
"Designed by the legendary Hero known as ’Torture King’ who was defeated by the Emperor and brought under his command in the 176th year after the establishnt of the Empire of Angaria, this is the thod that has the best success rate in terms of turning an Exalted Human into a Warrior. However, it only works if the person going in is aware of the fact that there are going to face certain death. In fact, at that ti, when this thod was first designed, there were no safety traps installed."
Hearing this, Daneel couldn’t help but feel a shudder go through him. Even with the safety asures, this looked like an extrely dangerous endeavor for anyone.
"Out of 10 Exalted Humans who entered, at least two would always die, two would be inflicted with injuries that caused them to take rest for months, two would escape with a scare that would traumatize them their entire lives and four would break through to beco Warriors."
Wait... Every 4 out of10 Exalted Humans who entered this beca Warriors?
That was shocking!
Even though the other statistics were chilling, this one overrode them all in terms of how impressive it was.
However, at what cost was this rate of success achieved?
"The Emperor later intervened, stating that there were easier thods which would allow a Warrior to be born, albeit at a slower pace, but without any of the danger in this thod. So, secretly, safety asures were implented which significantly decreased the death rate, but also the success rate. Of course, the latter was also because all the Exalted Humans going in knew exactly how much danger they would be facing. As you must already know, Young King, becoming a Warrior is all about ’need’. So who could afford it even used to employ the services of Peak Champions or even Heroes who would change their mories to make them forget everything they knew about this thod before entering. This thod was used before this, too, to begin fights where one would think that they were going to die, but the thod of the ’Torture King’ was proven to have a higher success rate because of how it was designed. At that ti, other than these two, the only thods available to others who wanted to break through quickly were exceedingly dangerous ones such as entering dueling rings with beasts or opponents above their level, or taking part in one dangerous situation after the rest where there was no chance of life. Young king, I should say that this thod suits your commanders is the best, as they know nothing about the history of this so-called "Road through Hell"."
Road through Hell.
Right. That na definitely suited this thod well.
At this mont, Daneel rembered an illustration of the historical description of hell by Dante, which had multiple levels that tortured a person in different ways. In a certain way, this was similar, so the na felt very fitting.
Also, Daneel had blushed slightly when he heard ntion of that thod of editing one’s mories to elicit a breakthrough, which was exactly what he had done using the system. It did make sense that he wasn’t the only one who had co up with this thod, but it was still surprising to hear it from Drakos.
As for Drakos’s point about how this was best for his commanders, Daneel did agree. They knew nothing about the history of this thod or any relevant details, so they would think that they really had been kidnapped by so sadistic individual who wanted to see them suffer before dying.
Yet, every ti he laid his eyes on what was in front of him, he couldn’t help but flinch.
Borrowing the significance of the number nine in the continent of Angaria, the Road through Hell also had nine stages, with the first being a duel with an Exalted Human.
The whole idea was that each thod would try to bring forward the ’need’ of the challenger in different ways.
The first was the most simple, and it was also one of the most direct thods employed typically in attempts to make one breakthrough.
Only, here, according to Drakos, the one attacking was typically a prisoner who would be promised a period of freedom or so other thing that he wanted if he managed to kill his opponent.
At each stage, the only way to win would be to push one’s own power to the limits.
’Need’ was sothing that might beco clear in different ways. So, at each stage, a different aspect of one’s power was tested, to give as many opportunities as possible for this ’need’ to co forward.
After the first stage, the Road through Hell differed for Fighters and Mages. Fighters would be put through stage after stage where their endurance, agility, explosive power and speed of reaction would be tested using dangerous scenarios such as escaping the pursuit of multiple assailants at their own level who would definitely kill them if they caught up, punching a certain wall to break through to the next stage while the room they were in was closing in on them to crush them into paste, escaping a hail of deadly arrows from different directions while searching for an exit, et cetera et cetera.
In particular, that second scenario had reminded Daneel of that movie series once again.
As for Mages, their aspects such as complexity, speed of spell casting and endurance were tested by placing them in scenarios where they would have to solve complex elentary particle puzzles while being threatened that they would be dropped into a vat of lava if they weren’t fast enough, or one where a Mage would have to tread through a billowing blizzard without becoming frozen while repeatedly casting a fire spell that would make them pull out everything they had in the process.
Each and every stage could be passed easily by a Warrior, so, the mont one broke through, they could easily escape.
As for the safety asures, they were designed to alert the onlooking staff about imminent death at which point soone would step in and remove the challenger from the stage.
This was the trend in the seven stages after the first, but the last one was different.
Apparently, if all these thods failed and if the challenger was still alive, they would be placed in a bewildering formation where their deepest fears would be dug out and placed in front of them.
On the surface, it might look like this was also a very efficient thod, and one that should be placed in the beginning.
However, according to Drakos, this bewildering formation often resulted in people having ntal breakdowns who would need to take months of counseling and treatnt to recover from.
All in all, this... was sothing that one wouldn’t wish upon their worst enemy.
Seeing Daneel’s hesitation, Drakos spoke up.
"Young King, it is definitely a fact that a breakthrough can be achieved through rigorous training and other, safer thods. However, let tell you about another tric that was discovered and only known to the top echelons of the Army. Only those who managed to find their true ’need’ in the process of taking this first major step in their journey on the Path to Power, often ended up being the ones who were able to reach dazzling heights where they were admired by everyone. This kind of opportunity to find out one’s own motivation cos rarely in life. The Emperor admired this thod, but, at the sa ti, despised it due to the extre danger and death rate. Yet, he still let it stay, because he knew how valuable it was. I encourage you to keep it secret, because if those who have no regard for their soldier’s lives get their hands on it, they will definitely put every Exalted Human they have through it."
As Daneel heard this, he took his decision.
This whole thing has started because in that eting just before, he had also asked them about the levels that they had reached in their training.
Except for Eloise, all of the rest of the Sovereigns who hadn’t already done so had reached the Exalted Human level and had all been trying to break through to beco Warriors for a month.
The frustration was apparent on their faces, but they had been hiding it.
The truth was that these were all individuals who had been in the Exalted Human level for quite a long ti, but after Daneel had set up those energy faucets in their room, like in his parents’ room, which were directly connected to the horde of Ker Gems in the Treasury, they had been able to boost themselves forward and reach the peak in one go. After all, training with a Key Gem was just incomparable to training with Ether Blocks, which was what they had been doing till now.
He decided to keep the safety asures, and step in as soon as soone was about to die. If they failed, he could decide what to do next.
Also, he decided to remove the last stage.
"Faxul, let’s do it. You’re in charge of being the sadistic mastermind who has so grudge against Lanthanor. Think of so story. Maybe you’re soone who was unintentionally hard by Lanthanor, and you’ve been biding your ti while training yourself. Now that you’re strong enough, you abducted all the Commanders. You’ll be bringing them here, and you’ll be dueling them in the first stage. I’ll keep a close watch. Got it?"
Faxul had to take a few monts to respond, but when he did, he sighed and said, "Well, why should these guys have all the fun. I’ll bring over so of my commanders from the Black Raven Kingdom, too."
This made Daneel chuckle. He knew how much Faxul disliked them because of how much they liked to oppose him, so, he agreed, as it would do good to the Black Raven Kingdom. Afterward, he could just erase their mories using Mind Control.
With the plan decided, Daneel and Faxul were just about to head off, but that was when Daneel received an urgent ssage from Kellor.
"My King! We’ve just received news that Arafell has agreed to the War Gas! There is already talk brewing that those who don’t agree to participate are cowards!"
This made Daneel take a double-take. What the hell was that b*tch thinking?
At the sa mont, Daneel received another ssage.
This one was to the exclusive trinket he had which connected him to the Queen of Arafell.
"Erm...King Daneel, Priscilla, here. Lady Arafell wants to speak with you."
Reviews
All reviews (0)