With an expression of resolve, Daneel finally marched into the palace.
[Host is under the effect of a formation. Analysis begun. Estimated time required: 10 minutes.]
Seeing the acceptable time requirement, he felt relieved that he had chosen to save up EXP to buy the upgrade. He seemed to have entered some sort of a storage room, with all kinds of metals strewn around the ground.
As he entered, the door behind him vanished into the wall leaving behind no trace. Looking around, he saw that all the metals were scraps discarded in failed enchanting attempts.
The room had only one door which Daneel exited through after confirming with the system that there was no one outside. Gold walls greeted him, with a ceiling that was at least 50 feet in the air.
Opulent chandeliers hung at intervals above his head while numerous paintings adorned the walls.
Hearing someone coming from the end of the corridor, Daneel quickly ducked back into the room. Deciding to leave after the analysis was done, he decided to wait there as it seemed safe right now.
["Dragon Heart Formation" has been analyzed. Full control can be obtained if host can enter the vicinity of the dragon heart which is the key to this formation. Minimum distance required for full takeover: 1 meter. General direction of the key is available. Would you like to use the Heads Up Display for instructions?]
"Yes. And tell me about the formation."
A green arrow appeared in front of him showing the direction he had to go in to get to the key. As he cautiously started walking through the corridor after exiting the room he was in, his eyes opened wider and wider on hearing the shocking explanation from the system.
[Dragon Heart Formation: It is a powerful formation which requires a dragon's heart to act as the key. With present data, system cannot ascertain the level needed to enchant the formation. It has been detected that an enchantment has been superimposed onto the original formation to make it easier to master by low-level beings. It is also this enchantment which system can take control of after Host enters the vicinity of the dragon's heart.
One who masters the formation can utilize the "Dragon Claw" spell to conjure a claw with the power of an Peak Exalted Warrior Mage. The claw is impervious to all attacks under its own level. Other miscellaneous spells can also be utilized.]
The spell was simply a cheat. Daneel now understood why the mastery of the formation was so important to obtain. With the dragon claw, as far as Daneel knew, all of the forces attacking the palace could be defeated in an instant. Of course, this was based on the fact that all of the forces vying for the throne had to move warily and wait for the previous King to die. If they had a powerhouse at that level, they could have easily sent one in and purged the nobility whenever they liked.
A dragon's heart! From the history of the Kingdom, Daneel knew that the person who started this Kingdom had slain a dragon to take control of the land it had been terrorizing. Yet, in all the records he had seen in the library, there were almost no mentions of dragons except for the occasional lines that they were long extinct.
Remembering this, he wondered if the heart that was the key was the same heart of the dragon that the Founding King had slain.
The palace was a labyrinth of passages all adorned with some of the best art pieces Daneel had seen since coming to this world.
"System, why not just teleport to the location of the formation?", he asked, as he had had to stop 3 times already to let some troops of soldiers pass.
[Space is locked due to the formation. System cannot develop a space-lock breaking spell due to the high complexity of the space lock.]
Hearing this, Daneel resigned himself to being alert and responding to the system's warnings as quickly as possible.
His only consolation was that there was no surveillance on him right now. Either the King had too much on his hands, or he had decided that Daneel was no threat.
Of course, Daneel suspected that he was actually going to the place where the King must be. The key to any formation was always the most securely guarded location in any establishment, as it was what facilitated control of the formation in the first place. Thus, he wouldn't be surprised if they ended up meeting soon.
Luckily, most of the palace seemed to be empty with the residents either gathered at some location or evacuated due to the knowledge that the Church would be attacking now.
Meanwhile, the deafening sounds from something impacting the palace were only growing louder.
Although he wanted to know just what was happening outside, he knew that his priority right now was to get to the key as soon as possible.
Finally, after 30 minutes of frantic running with intervals of hiding when the system warned that there were people ahead, Daneel finally reached a large hallway.
Suddenly, he halted after the warning that enemies were up ahead. Peeking around the corner of the corridor he was in, he saw that numerous soldiers were positioned just 40 feet away from him. All the corridors so far had been small, with enough space to fit 5 people side by side. Yet, the one that the soldiers were in was at least double that size.
"System, where is the key?", he asked, seeing that the arrow was asking him to take a turn and run right into them.
They all had gleaming red epaulets, meaning that they were the elite of the elite. At least 50 such soldiers stood at the entrance of a door looking around warily.
[The key is in the room guarded by the soldiers. No other entry point found.], came the message, making sweat appear on Daneel's forehead.
A head on assault would be very, very dangerous because of the sheer number of the soldiers that were there. Also, he had caught a glimpse of some soldiers wearing a peculiar blue armor talking to the ones with the red epaulets. Asking the system, he found out that they were mages.
The secret Mage Corps! The difficulty of entering the room had just gone up by a few more notches. If there were just soldiers, Daneel would have at least tried to come up with a plan. Now, he had to find another way.
There were multiple rooms in the corridor Daneel was standing in. Till now, he had been ducking into empty rooms to avoid the patrols.
[Warning! Patrol approaching from behind! Please find cover!]
Hearing the warning sound again, Daneel felt frustrated at the bad timing. No matter if he went forward or backward, the soldiers would end up seeing him.
With no other choice, he walked to a door near him even though he knew that there was someone inside.
The doors used lock mechanisms like in the Dwarve's Rum. With the capability to even analyze the formation in the palace, the enchantment on the door stood no chance and was immediately unlocked.
Silently opening the door, he cautiously entered. The rooms were built in the style where a short passageway was the first thing a person would enter on entering the door. Thus, whoever was inside did not see him yet.
Deciding not to take any chances, he ordered the system to knock out whoever was inside by using a block of ice to impact the head.
After the upgrade, the Phenomena Analysis Module could now let him know about the level of a person if they were weaker than him. Hence, he knew that the person inside was only a 2nd Grade Human Mage, and was thus no threat.
THUD
[Task completed.]
Walking further inside, Daneel came upon a King size bed with lavish red blankets. Lying on top of them was a young teen who had just been knocked out.
Turning him over, Daneel smiled as he realized that he just might have found the ticket inside.
It was Varanel.