Chapter 273 - An Uncomfortable Feeling
The plan had worked.
A day after spotting Daniel's planet of origin, the three had followed their original plan, and had successfully entered the atmosphere without alerting the keeper of key, which if he had feld them, would have been able to report the presence of intruders way before the three could kill him.
The reason why they were forced to come here, and they couldn't simply teleport from another planet, was that they would need to go through a low level keeper of key.. And while Daniel was confident in convincing him to teleport them to his planet, Xargy had suggested that they didn't.
While it was true that they would have been able to pass through without being spotted by one of those individuals that opened the portals to other worlds, there was no assurance that they would not end up in front of somebody that could recognize them, and even capture them right away.
In the end, for as much Daniel would have wanted to take the risk in order to not having to listen to the constant chatting of the talkative dragon, he had let himself be convinced to drop that idea altogether. Being caught in order to avoid a few more days of travel, was not worth it.
After the three managed to enter the planet, they immediately tried to find a teleporting device for terrestrial travel, as there was no risk in them being controlled by a powerful entity.
When Daniel had lost control over his body, he had just started the process of building massive teleportation platforms in most of the big cities of the planets. Those buildings would serve as checkpoints that people would have been able to use to travel from city to city, and if they wanted, to reach Daniel's company building. These buildings would also be used by their company to control the various groups that used to dominate the world.
Now, more than two and a half years had passed, and in theory, these buildings should have been fully operative, but when they landed in the first city they found, and searched for the signature buildings which Daniel had designed, they found nothing.
Thankfully, Daniel was powerful enough to travel the circumference of the planet in just a few days, and since he had spent weeks trying to conquer the planet, he had a more or less clear idea of where they were supposed to go in order to reach reach the closest city.
Reaching another big city, while before it would have taken weeks or even months, would now take just minutes. He could have also cut the time to nothing by simply creating a portal, but one of the powers which the keepers of key possessed, was a supernatural awareness of the entire space of the planet that they were guarding. That would mean that, even if they were invisible to the keeper's eyes, a portal that lead from one side of the planet to the other, would definitely be felt by him.
Left with no choice, Daniel, Xargy and Aeron dashed through the sky at a mind boggling speed, and just like predicted, in a matter of minutes, they arrived to a second major city.
This city was the capital of one of the formerly most powerful empires, and therefore, should have definitely had one of the Golden Karma company's checkpoints in it.. But even after scanning through the entire territory of the empire, Daniel found nothing.
At this moment, a hint of a bad feeling started to make his way into Daniel's mind.
He quickly threw away the idea of using a terrestrial teleporting platform, and after trying to make out the map of the entire planet in his mind, he picked a direction, and dashed towards it like a comet.
Xargy and Aeron, which were already conscious about Daniel's state of mind thanks to their respective sense of smell, and capability of perceiving other people's emotions, quietly followed from behind.
About five hours later, the three landed on a patch of soft grass, and pleasant flowers. They were in a garden, which was part of the castle of the kingdom of Karalis.
Originally, no one would have been allowed to be here aside from the royal family, and the royal guards.. but now, dozens of kids were running in the distance, while their mothers sat on elegant sheets, and sipped wine while chatting happily.
There was no trace of guards, except for a single individual at the fifth stage of cultivation, which quietly stood to guard the group of women, and the kids play.
Daniel could not recognize any of these individuals, except for the solitary guard that stood quietly in wait. His immortal essence was slightly different from the one he recalled, but after a minute spent into his memories, he finally recognized this individual.
The man, was none other than the king of Karalis.
The three had appeared truly out of the blue, and the moment their feet had landed on the grass, they were immediately spotted by one of the women. "Who are you?" She asked while standing up, and approaching Daniel with caution.
Daniel had immediately realized the power of these women. None of them was below the sixth stage of cultivation, and the strongest, was at the seventh. The power of these women had made the presence of the king superfluous, and paired with the fact that the woman that had spotted them hadn't asked for the king to capture the intruders, an idea suddenly formed in Daniel's mind.
The king was not a guard.. But a servant.
Once a feared and powerful individual, now a servant tasked with tending to a group of aristocrats while they sipped wine, and observed their kids play.. The king had truly fallen down his throne, but that was not what was bothering Daniel.
For as domineering as they had behaved when taking control over the planet, not one member of Daniel's group would have forced the king into being a servant.. Something had changed, and the more he thought about it, the worse his bad feeling got.
Daniel did not want to meddle with other people's business, so, he tried to feel the presence of any of the individuals could have known in karalis, but unfortunately, just like with the other cities, there was no trace of any of his friends. Only a general increase in the population's overall power.
Now anxious, Daniel ignored the woman and approached the former king, which had noticed him the very moment the woman had risen to her feet, and had started to walk towards him with a menacing tone.
The look on the face of the king left a deep mark in Daniel's mind. There was a time in which the sheer mention of this man would leave him shaking in his old and ruined boots.. And yet, now, he was looking back at him with eyes opened in terror, as it seemed that he had seen a ghost.
"Start talking." Said Daniel as he arrived to one meter of distance from the king. His tone was threatening, and it give him a pressure that none of the people he served was capable of putting on him.
"I.." The king looked at the woman that he had been serving until now without knowing what to do. It appeared that, despite Daniel's presence, he was still scared to talk about what had happened for some reason or another.
To the woman, Daniel and Aeron appeared like two weak cultivators. Their immortal cultivation was hidden by their control over dark essence, and therefore, none of it emanated out of their body. On the other hand, while in the higher spheres of the universal government everybody would have immediately turned to look at an individual like Xargy with eyes opened wide in shock, not everyone had the same knowledge here. From the point of view of this woman, Xargy was simply a reptilian beast which had evolved to its humanoid form a few times.
These details had convinced the woman that she was in control over the situation, but she was sorely mistaken. Before she could even open her mouth to say anything, Aeron's eyes shone with a bright green light, and every single individual that was present in the garden aside from the former king and the three of them, fell into a deep sleep right where they were standing.
The king was not completely sure about Daniel's power before, but seeing how one of the people he was traveling with had put to sleep numerous cultivators at the sixth and seventh stage of cultivator, it was clear that their power was beyond what he was currently feeling.
Daniel quickly noticed the state of confusion of the king, so, instead of waiting for his response, he turned to look at Aeron, and said "Do you mind?"
Aeron breathed out with a faint bit of exasperation.. Then, his hand moved as fast as lightning, and he grabbed the king's jaw in an instant. Unable to react in time, the king was forced to look straight into Aeron's increasingly brighter eyes.
His expression became dull, his thoughts became fuzzy, and his arms dropped by his sides..
-----
Three months earlier, Karalis' castle.
Inside the main hall of Karalis' castle, numerous individuals were standing in a small circle. They were discussing about important problems, and a few of them were clearly nervous about the events that had taken place in the previous days.
If Daniel had been there at the moment, he would have recognized each and every one of those individuals. These people were none other than Daniel's friends. Amongst them were Heimart, Ligart, Alis, Emelnie, Roley, Edmund, Emelnie, and Der. By the side of the room, and point of view of this entire event, was the king of Karalis.
"I can't believe this! These pieces of shit were trying to propose deals and offer gifts just weeks ago.. And now they are trying to force us out!" Said Ligart in sheer anger.
"Do you guys think that what they are saying is true?" Said Alis with a low tone. She was clearly not as interested about what was happening as she was about the why it was happening.
In the two years in which Sewah had taken control over Daniel's body, things had gone well their company. While they did not know much about it, the rumor that the company had been created by the newest chosen of Iewah had circulated ever since the planet had been opened to interplanetary travel.
Since that moment, the various groups had attempted to enter the good graces of the company by treating them like the actual owners of the planet. They would send gifts, offer deals, and help in expanding their business. All of that, was in order to form a relationship with the chosen of Iewah himself.
The following three months were a time of drastic growth for Daniel's company. Their pocket dimension had become completely self-sufficient, and acted as a secondary planet from Daniel's world of origin. The production of spheres, alchemical products, weapons, and many other objects had made them the main power in the planet, and arguably one of the most powerful companies in the entire solar system.
Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end.
After two years of pain caused by the loss of their unspoken leader, family member, and lover, as well as success and personal growth.. Everything changed.
At first, the gifts stopped coming. The company heads around them began to act coldly, and close to no deals were being offered to them anymore.
While that was not a problem, as the company was already beyond the point in which it would have needed someone else's help to survive.. That was far from the end.. A rumors had started to spread.
Sewah.. The youngest chosen of Iewah's faction.. Too young to be able to earn a title like his peers.. Had entered everybody's ears once again.. As the first outcast of Iewah's faction.