CHAPTER 163: CHAPTER163-THE BUSY DANIEL

"Are you kidding me? They’re already studying me now?"

A flicker of amusement passed through Daniel’s eyes, though he didn’t interrupt.

In truth, he was already one of the most discussed individuals in the entire world.

His rise had been so rapid and disruptive that it was unprecedented—even history had never seen anything quite like him.

It made perfect sense that the Artists would want to analyze him.

After all, they studied everything that had the potential to alter the balance of the world.

As Daniel turned his gaze toward the other Artists around him, he noticed their single-minded obsession with the destruction of the world.

"Perhaps the Primordial Core Weapon isn’t the optimal solution. A massive explosion might be better initiated from the inside."

"Regarding artistic explosions, I believe internal implosions offer a feasible alternative."

"Proposal for new weapon research: requires Blood Moon materials. Conditions currently unavailable."

If there was anyone more serious about ending the world, it was undoubtedly the Artists.

They were a terrifying blend of rationality and madness—an entire race of highly intelligent lunatics.

Daniel knew very well that what he had seen so far was only the tip of the iceberg.

He had already snuck into one of their underground research labs earlier, and what he saw there was far more deranged than anything in their public libraries.

In short, the Artists had reached a level of pathological extremism.

They may have looked like frail, harmless gnomes on the surface, but no race in the world dared to underestimate them.

However, Daniel wasn’t here to lecture or interfere. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

As he flipped through one forbidden tome after another, knowledge streamed into his mind in an efficient, condensed manner.

Before he realized it, the time he had set for himself had elapsed—but he had yet to finish reading all the forbidden books.

Due to the protective constraints placed on the Restricted Library, not even Daniel could smuggle out the books without triggering alarms.

He couldn’t sneak them into his backpack, not without being noticed.

So there was only one solution: memorize them all.

[Time Stream]

Daniel opened his eyes again.

He was back at the moment of his second entry into the City of the Artists.

This time, he moved far faster than before—heading straight for the Restricted Library.

Having now explored every inch of the city, his clones could use [Flashback] to materialize at any location instantly.

Thanks to this, it took only ten minutes to deploy all the prepared potions throughout the city.

With the potion setup complete, Daniel turned to his next objectives.

One part of him returned to the library to finish memorizing the Restricted Library’s contents.

Another part infiltrated the Artists’ treasury—stealing rare materials and invaluable research data.

Even if he was caught, it didn’t matter.

He could just use [Time Stream] again and reset the entire timeline.

No risks. No consequences.

After numerous repetitions and experiments, Daniel had fully mapped out the entirety of the Artist City and understood its inner workings in detail.

Just as the effects of the mixed potions were about to activate, Daniel used [Time Stream] once more.

This time, however, he didn’t go back to loot the treasury.

Instead, he dove into the Restricted Library with total focus.

Thus began a cycle of relentless pursuit—on one hand, reading every single forbidden book; on the other, his real body journeyed across the continent on a mission of diplomacy, combat, and divine intrigue.

He made his way to Winterhold Castle, where he met with the Human Emperor.

There, he obtained a detailed map marking the locations of silver-rank World Bosses.

After securing that information, he traveled to the Elven Kingdom, where, through Alice’s arrangement, he had a formal audience with the Elven Queen.

During their meeting, Alice revealed the identity of the god she truly worshipped.

To Daniel’s surprise, the Elven Queen didn’t bat an eye. She showed no sign of shock or disapproval.

Her stance was clear:

The Elven race would continue to fully support Alice, regardless of her divine allegiance.

Moreover, the Elven Queen reaffirmed her desire to maintain a strong alliance with the Human race.

After a few additional negotiations, Daniel successfully convinced the Elven Queen to grant him a small parcel of land on Elven territory.

There, he established a new kingdom: the Elven Kingdom of Daniel.

With this, Daniel became the first non-elven individual to hold the title of Elven King.

Not long after, the Infinite Divine Temple officially appeared within Elven lands.

—

Daniel even found time to meet with the remaining Gnome survivors.

Thanks to the global accessibility offered by Anygate, traversing the world had become trivial.

Through this convenience, Daniel met with one of the surviving gnome chieftains.

Their conversation was friendly and informative.

He also paid a visit to the Orc Clan, where he reunited with Ally in the capital city.

From there, he traveled to the Divine Temple of the Moon Goddess Luna, seeking deeper understanding of the divine order.

During this time, Ally provided him with basic—but valuable—intel regarding the seven Traditional God Devotees.

Of course, the information was vague and surface-level.

After all, the most crucial trait of any god devotee was secrecy.

Their identities, powers, and intentions were closely guarded mysteries—even from each other.

Despite their occasional cooperation or alignment of goals, they never fully trusted one another.

Even among the seven traditional gods, internal alliances and rivalries ran deep.

Daniel also tricked Charles into revealing additional details about the Luck Goddess, giving him a clearer understanding of her nature and goals.

—

During this same span of time, Daniel undertook some highly unconventional—and often taboo—actions.

Thanks to [Time Stream], he could afford to be reckless, knowing he could always rewind the consequences.

He clashed with the Human Emperor in a full-scale duel.

He battled the Elven Queen in a moment of high tension—nearly killing her before she retaliated with divine power and sealed him away.

He even returned to the Abyss, where he systematically eliminated all the Abyss Kings.

On his way out, he even assassinated Charles.

Naturally, this did not go unnoticed.

Just before the Mist issued its divine warning, Daniel instinctively activated [Time Stream], narrowly avoiding divine retribution.

It became clear to him that every god had left a trace of their awareness in their devotees.

Otherwise, how could the Luck Goddess have pinpointed his location the moment he killed Charles?

—

In short, Daniel had used this stretch of time to traverse the world, explore its deepest secrets, and commit acts that would normally be considered suicidal.

And yet, by the time he returned once more to the precise moment he entered the Restricted Library, he had accomplished all of it.

This time, he had memorized every single forbidden book.

But rather than act immediately, he took a moment to review everything he had learned.

"Alice’s identity can be revealed..."

"The Luck Goddess isn’t just insane—she’s hiding something deeper..."

"Moon Goddess Luna is gentle, but her true motives remain unclear..."

And so, with the knowledge of gods, kings, races, and forbidden arts swirling in his mind, Daniel prepared for what came next.

Because now, he didn’t just understand the world—

He was ready to reshape it.