"Humph. You think you're smart, but you're actually quite dumb. What authority do you think you have to challenge me to a match with stakes? I only do so with those whom I think are capable. If I agree, what will I be getting? Nothing, except another useless subordinate who will only clunk up my team s.p.a.ce. So, no thanks, and again, stop trying to act as if you have any sort of skills while being just a newbie. Like I said before, you will be beaten down until this simulation will be a traumatic memory for you which will keep you away from war simulations for quite a long while, and for all that time, you will keep cursing my name and wis.h.i.+ng that you had never challenged me in return. Before, I was treating this casually, but with your words…you've successfully infuriated me. And people who manage to do that…never fare well."

It was delivered in an even tone, unlike the last one which had been loaded with att.i.tude. And hence… Because of this, it became clear that whatever had been there before was merely an act, and that revelation actually made the Spikeking narrow his eyes and exclaim that they had almost been taken for a ride, and that it, too, must have been a tactic.

Daneel had to say that he, too, was quite surprised as he heard this measured answer.

His thinking had been simple – his objective in the Order was to take control of it, and for that purpose, he wanted to bring as many people as possible under him. That was the most direct and logical method, but it looked like not everyone was as dumb as the Spikeking whom he had obtained.

Yes, just like the others, he realized that the att.i.tude before had been fake, and even in these words, it was obvious that there was another attempt to make him feel tensed. And of course, the objective behind that was simple – his opponent wanted to throw him off his game, which was kind of what Daneel had been going for, too.

Of course, there had been three objectives behind Daneel's own statement – the third had been to estimate what kind of person he might be facing, and by replying, the man had given that information on a silver platter.

This G.o.d of Tactics was definitely a cunning individual, who had risen to his position with a lot of planning and hard work. He was probably someone who took no risks, and from all the fake emotions he had shown, it was also clear that he was a cold man who only cared about victory.

From the information given by the Spikeking, it was very probable that he was also someone who had a lot of grudges, and that meant that his ego was very big.

What a perfect individual to be under the Overseer…

Commenting in this way, Daneel smiled, and turned around to his subordinates. At the same time, the army that was marching under them came to a halt, and Daneel saw that they had started to set up camp, just like the army on the opposite side. There was a very large distance between them – almost one in which a large city could fit in, and with this great a distance, even the attacks from the strongest crossbows would lose quite a lot of power when they reached their targets. Hence, it was almost like a ceasefire was present, and Daneel soon realized that it must be so that both teams would begin their preparation phases.

He only had five minutes before his own preparation phase began, so Daneel quickly asked the system to give an exhaustive list of questions to the module in front of him so that he could ama.s.s all the information that he could even though his time was limited.

For that, it wasn't necessary to speak those questions out loud, and he simply had to raise his hand and keep it on the display module so that the system could ask the questions in a lower voice than what normal people could hear. It had already given him the a.n.a.lysis that the module was almost like a very basic AI implementation, which would simply detect questions and give answers based on a very exhaustive list that had been inputted into the formation that was controlling it. It was a very, very basic and brute force implementation, but still, it was something that would have required a lot of time.

The others were a bit dazed when they saw the display repeatedly showing new information and then changing to show something else, but their focus s.h.i.+fted to the king when he spoke out.

"Spikeking, first sit down and tell me each and everything you know about this G.o.d of Tactics. After that, I want you to recount each and every one of the War Simulations that you have been through, and what others did during those situations. Finally, I want all of your sub-ordinates to do the same. For this purpose, I'll give you a minute, and in that minute I want you to collect all of this information and recall all you can from the deepest corners of your mind. I've always believed that information is power, and I want to be perfectly in control of all that information that I can get before facing off against someone who's clearly a pro."

The methodical and calm reaction actually made the Spikeking calm his own emotions, and in fact, because the one on the other side had escaped from being in a situation where he might meet the same fate as himself, he was even more determined to beat him down in return, even if that seemed impossible no matter how much he thought about it.

With a nod, he said to his subordinates, "All of you! Close your eyes and use Kangor's Focus Technique! We obtained it as a reward last time, remember? If you've been lazy and haven't mastered it yet, take the help of someone else, but definitely use it!"

[Kangor's Focus Techniques: Allows even those with minimal intellect to take full control of their mind for a limited period of time during which they can have full memory recall and also be capable of focusing on a topic to reason out a solution if needed. Effectiveness of the technique depends on the one using it. Minimum level required: Champion. This is a technique which was mentioned in the archives of the Empire, but which was thought to be lost.]

Even without him asking, the system gave him this explanation regarding the technique that the Spikeking had just mentioned, and Daneel actually got a pleasant smile on his face as he listened to the last part.

The Order was definitely hiding so many things that had been thought to be impossible or lost by the Empire, and he was going to dig out each and every one of them and take them for his own.

It was a stroke of luck that this technique was in the possession of these people that he had taken under him, and the slight worry he had had before where he had thought that it might be possible that these people might not be able to give him too much info vanished right away.

As one, all ten, including the Spikeking, sat down cross-legged and closed their eyes before starting to chant something unintelligible.

Daneel ignored them, and called his sovereigns over. Elanev and Faxul were both studying the Army below, but it looked like Aran and Ca.s.sandra already had something to say.

"My King, we studied all of the things that we have at hand to fight the war, and we have already listed the basic tactics that we can use. Usually, in wars, one of the things that is most worrisome is when we don't know what the other side might or might not have. Thankfully, in this situation, that is not the case, at least to a large extent. We know the basic troops and equipment that they can deploy, and although we cannot find information regarding the buffs and other things that might be taught, I believe that we can make a reasonable list where we take different gauges of the opponents' abilities."

This was said by Aran, and Ca.s.sandra continued, saying, "Yes, I believe that this contest is meant to be one between the minds of the commander-in-chiefs, and although our opponent might have a lot of experience being the commander in these stimulations, we are people who have been through real situations on the outside. I think our experience should definitely count for something."

Daneel did not comment on either of their statements, but he did reply, saying, "Alright. What lists have you come up with?"

They started to discuss, without the preparation phase even starting as the idea was to utilize even these five minutes. It was definitely a fact that they were new to this, and they wanted to take every advantage that they had.

A couple of minutes later, though, Daneel was shaking his head.

His commanders had come up with quite a few good tactics, such as using the terrain to flank the opponent after distracting them from the front, or exposing a weakness and then drawing them in before surrounding them and whittling away at their armies.

There were all rather basic but effective tactics that Daneel had also come up with, but they all seemed… Inadequate.

It wasn't even just them. Back when he had broken through the third seal, Daneel had gotten so much information regarding wars and battles that the system had been able to create a module that was specifically designed to advise him during such situations. Since then, he hadn't experienced anything which needed him to deploy it, but now, he did so, and it had given him a very exhaustive list of all the things he could do, right from a full-on a.s.sault to even extremely unorthodox methods such as stripping the armour from a few and fitting these on certain troops who would be trained in the art of defence so that they could take the brunt of the opponent's forces while the others used their speed to take down as many as possible.

Daneel didn't know exactly what he did not like about them, so first, he decided to listen to everything about his opponent first.

Soon, in the last minute before the presentation phase was about to begin, the 10 stood up saying that they were ready. Daneel went to each of them and told them to tell him everything in the fastest way that they could, saying that he had a knack of listening and understanding even if it seemed like gibberish to normal people.

The 10 obliged, and each of them spoke so fast that the sovereigns became fazed. Only Faxul, with his increased reaction speed due to being in the realm of Champions understood bits and pieces, but even he didn't know how Daneel was listening to everything and not getting a headache.

"Preparation Phase has begun. Length: 6 hours. Length of Battle Phase: 5 days. If both teams fail to fulfill their objective in that time, the simulation is declared to be a draw. All captains must collect modules that are now in front of you before going to teach your troops, because it is these modules that will a.s.sess what you're teaching and decide whether your efforts are enough to pa.s.s on what you wish to your troops."

In the middle of this activity, the screen changed to show this, and a wicker basket appeared with 14 round badges.

With this, it became clear that whatever they were going to do, Daneel had to make a decision on it right now so that they could go forward with a certain direction in mind.

Daneel had just finished listening to everything about his opponent, and he had been hard at work thinking about what he should do.

He sat down, himself, and activated the Basilisk's Breath to a.n.a.lyze each and every thing he had learned so far.

On the other side, loud shouts filled with morale soon began to be heard, and it was obvious that the training there was going on well.

The sovereigns were relatively calm, but it was the Spikeking whose tension kept growing with each second. He definitely did not want to lose, and he wanted to see this guy pull off another miracle.

Yet, when the one whom he still refused to call by his t.i.tle stood up and gave a statement confidently, the Spikeking lost all hope, as it seemed that they were destined to lose.

"All right, everyone. I've decided our strategy, and its called..."Sit still, then crush 'em". Lenghty name, I know, but...that's about it. We sit still, and then we crush them under our boots. Understood? Then let's go teach our troops to sit still!"