Sovereign Of The Karmic System

by Srtyi

What would you do if you could control and use your Karma? What if your actions could be repaid right away? Not an obscure and distant promise anymore. Follow Daniel's story as he uses his karmic system to cultivate, cheat, gain and become a sovereign in his world.. and beyond.

1. 1

Sovereign Of The Karmic System

What would you do if you could control and use your Karma?

What if your actions could be repaid right away?

Not an obscure and distant promise anymore.

Follow Daniel's story as he uses his karmic system to cultivate, cheat, gain and become a sovereign in his world.. and beyond.

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Read Sovereign of the Karmic System - Chapter 1 - Daniel online free - Light Novel Full

In a big prairie, stands an enormous solitary tree.

This tree's trunk was large enough for a small group of men, had it been hollow, to hide inside it. Dozens of differently sized branches grew from it in all directions, making the tree reach a height of at least three hundred meters at its highest point. Each of the tree's branches split into hundreds of leaf covered twigs. Its foliage was thick, with colors that spanned from orange, to red and dark brown. At its feet, a series of aggressive roots spread for meters, before sinking deeply into the dry leaves covered soil.

Inside the thick foliage, on a small branch which still sized half a meter from side to side, sat the figure of a young man. His physique was very lean, almost underfed.. His black hair stuck to his sweaty face and hung down the sides of his head, as he leaned forward and tried to reach with his arm.. his slightly small clothes stuck tightly to his sweaty body like a second skin.

Grunts and mutters broke the sound of rustling leaves, as a pair of long yet thin fingers hung in the air, just centimeters away from a plump, odd-looking fruit.

"Come on!... damn it!" Growled the teenager, as drops of sweat streamed down his straight nose, and his skin explored every shade of red it can possibly turn into.

For a few long minutes the teenager tried all he could to reach the fruit, but due to the sheer massive size of the tree, no other branch was closer to it than he already was.. Unfortunately, the twig where the fruit was hanging, was too slim to support his weight.

It is important to understand that this wasn't a simple fruit, as this wasn't a simple tree.

The people of Phyrri named this tree 'The Catering Tree', a name given due to the legend that surrounded it. This legend claimed that, when a worthy someone in need of a helping hand would come close to it, the tree would grow a fruit as a gift for that person.

This gift was a fruit of the size of a grapefruit. Its skin was smooth and shiny, yet the color was odd. No matter from which side one looked at it, the center would always look red, while the external part was yellow with a strange shine to it. It looked as if someone constantly kept shining a light against the back of the fruit.

According to the elderly, this fruit had magic properties, and although even they were unsure of what those effects were due to the lack of people who managed to obtain it for hundreds of years, they still remembered the stories from their ancestors better than the younger generations did.

This made the city of Phyrri special in the past through the whole Karalis kingdom, and the tree renowned.

Many young boys and girls used to travel from the whole kingdom to try their luck, and obtain the blessing of The Catering Tree. Unfortunately with the passage of time, this tree caused more disappointment than anything else to the people who came to visit it.. so, as it was now, the tree's powers were either considered just a legend, or a natural power that had been lost in time.

This never stopped people that heard this story from trying to approach this magical tree out of greed, yet none of them succeeded. This was because, in order to gain the approval of the tree and earn one of its gifts, a person's intention had to be judged by the tree. Sadly, nobody remembered this detail anymore.

The day this teenager's had approached this tree, he didn't do it with the intention of obtaining the tree's gifts. He had of course heard of the myth of 'The Catering Tree', so after he had noticed the fruit hanging from one of its twigs, he decided to take it, and use it to extinguish a debt. A debt which his deceased mother had passed down to his when she died, the day he turned ten.

This debt forced him to pay ten silver coins at the end of each month, in order to keep his freedom, and that of his sister.

Naturally, due to his age and his incapability of working, he ended up making most of those money by pickpocketing the wealthy women and men that were foolish enough to hire him as a guide or to carry their bags as they moved through the city.

The city was big, and he had always been agile and fast enough to escape whenever he got caught. Unfortunately, his luck ran out when he stole from the wrong person.

The unspoken rules between pickpockets were only a few.

Never steal from a guard captain, never take too much from a single person, and finally, Never get caught.

That unfortunate day, he had managed to break two of the three rules within a minute.

The reason one should never steal from a guard captain was simple. In order to become a captain of the city guard, one had to have reached the rank 4 of martial cultivation, which allowed them a superhuman awareness of their body. The slightest change in the weight they were carrying, was more than enough to alert a rank 4 martial cultivator. As one could have guessed, this young man's target, that day, was in fact, a guard captain from Algro, a city weeks of travel away from Phyrri.

Furthermore, the captain was carrying valuables from a city to another.

Luckily enough, most soldiers and guards focused their training in strength and endurance, and this particular one was no exception. So, thanks to his dexterity, he was able escape. But not before the captain of the guard had managed to take a good look at his face, and reported him to the local guards.

For weeks, he was forced to roam the streets with an extra layer of worry whenever he saw the shine of armor nearby, making him unable to gather enough money for the monthly payment.

The person he owed the money to was a brutal one.. His mother, left without alternatives after the death of her husband, had to ask for a loan from a man her husband was acquainted with, but for reasons she didn't know.

The man turned out to be the owner of a shady hotel that dealt in drugs, prostitution and gambling. From almost missing one of her payments, she had learned that, in case she missed any of them, she would have ended up becoming a slave along with her children. This lead to her working herself to death, and the debt to be inherited by her son and daughter.

The reason the teenager ended up in that prairie wasn't to try his luck and obtain the fruit of this once legendary tree. The real reason, was that he had been recognized by a guards patrol right outside of the city walls. Where he had the habit of swindling foreign merchants into hiring him as a tour guide.

He ended up being chased into the forest, and kept running for hours while thinking about the punishment for stealing. Which would have been being sent to work into the mines as a slave, for the rest of his life.

That was also the exact same fate that awaited him in case he wouldn't be able to pay the debt in full.

The hotel owner, from the very beginning, had been sure that the two orphans would have never been able to pay the debt in full, so he already had the intention of selling him to the mine, and force his sister to work in his hotel as a prostitute or sell her as a slave.

The sheer thought of his sister becoming a slave made him sweat in anxiousness. The moment the young man stopped running was only after he got out of the forest, and made sure nobody was following him anymore.

He had ended up in an immense expanse of grass, with a giant tree placed right in the middle, towering like a small mountain.

At the base of this tree sat an old man.

This old man was sitting on the ground, inbetween two large roots which seemed to have parted just to allow him to sit. He had a thick white beard, like someone that hadn't shaved for years, and his hair were long enough to reach the base of his neck. He wore a simple brown robe, like the one one would imagine an old hermit to wear as he roams the woods. Yet, if someone were to look at this man from up close, they would notice that the robe was spotlessly clean, and that only his bare feet were covered in dirt.

As this old man noticed someone approaching him, he lifted his head and looked up in the distance.

A teenage boy was staggering from exhaustion towards the tree.

As the old man's eyes landed on the teenager, a dim dark gold light shone on his eyes for a moment, before disappearing. Then, a gentle smile grew on his wrinkly face.

The teenager approached the tree, and immediately noticed the old man sitting near its roots. After taking a moment to sit on the grass cooled by the tree's shade, and catch his breath for a couple of minutes, he got up and approached the old man.

"Old man, do you need help getting up?" Said the teenager.

The old man's gentle smile grew bigger as if he was almost about to laugh from the teenager's words.

"No, young man.. do you need help?.." Said the old man with a deep voice, which resounded in the depths of the young man's mind, leaving him stunned for a moment.

"Y-yeah.." Answered the teenager slightly startled, then, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice, he asked "I don't know where I am, any idea on how I can get back to Phyrri?"

The look on the young man's face was a hopeful one, as his state of mind wasn't at its peak at the moment. He had been chased by guards for who knows how many kilometers, and ended up losing the direction inside the forest. More importantly, he had to come back to Phyrri soon, and find a way to collect enough to pay his debt, as the month was about to end, and his time was running out.

"HA!" exclaimed the old man "how are you going to help others, if you don't even know where you're standing? HA HA HA!" The old man's laugh was sweet, like that of a grandpa, humored by the silly remark of one of his grandchildren. Yet, the powerful voice of the old man had caused the teenager to, once again, feel startled.

"..Do you know where we are or not?" Asked the teenager, slightly annoyed by the old man's laugh.

The old man stopped laughing and started to stroke his beard. He seemed to be pondering his answer. "I am not quite sure.. I have been here for a long time, you see.." He said.

The teenager became quite curious about what the old man meant, as he couldn't see any bag around him. He started wondering if the old man was serious, or if he was just messing around with him.

Provided that the old man looked like a hermit, and it was known that hermits were very powerful mages, capable of cultivating the spirit by tapping into the mana that could be found in the forest, and allowing them to summon food and other necessities.. the young man was, after all, just a young pickpocketer. He was barely aware of the cultivation that guards, soldiers and martial artists practiced. Mana, summoning and spiritual cultivation, were not subjects he had come across in his short life.

After thinking about the old man's words for a bit, the young man sat in front of him. Once he sat down, he turned his upper body to the side and reached for the small leather bag that hanged at the side of his waist. He then took a piece of bread from it, split it in half, and offered one to the old man.

As the old man saw this, his smile grew warmer once more, before disappearing suddenly. He then reached for the bread in the teenager's hand and took it.

The young man started eating the remaining piece of bread. It was just a piece of bread, but he was happily biting into it while looking up at the big tree, which provided shade for him and the old man. His look was one of amazement. He failed to notice that the old man wasn't eating.

"Your name?.." Asked the old man to the amazed teenager.

Without taking his eyes off the tree, the teenager answered "Daniel."

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"Daniel.." muttered the old man to himself while looking at him with interest.

He had noticed Daniel's casual attitude and the generosity in offering food to a complete stranger. He had also noticed the ruined state of his unfitting clothes, which made it clear that the boy was not living a good life.

These thoughts came and went in the span of seconds, which Daniel spent admiring the beautiful tree, and its branches that extended right above his head. He could hear the chirping of birds, but he was unable to see any of them. He could hear the rustle of leaves, but he couldn't feel any wind. The tree was still as a mountain, and yet felt like the most living thing than he had ever set his eyes upon.

After what seemed like minutes, he heard a voice which interrupted his admiring gaze.

"Do you like the tree?" Asked the old man to the still amazed Daniel.

Without moving his eyes from the tree, Daniel answered "Yes, what kind of tree is this?.."

"Eh eh, I don't know if this tree has a kind. All I know of this tree, is that it has a single fruit hanging from one of its twigs. I would have tried to reach for it, but I am old now, and a fall from any of its lowest branches would kill me.. Perhaps you should try." said the old man in a gentle manner.

Daniel kept looking upwards, almost refusing to take his eyes off the tree, and responded "Just one fruit? such a big tree.. that's disappointing."

The old man smiled underneath his thick beard "It is not just a simple fruit.. and this is not just a big tree.. this is Iewah" said the old man, with hints of pride in his voice.

Daniel's attention had been piqued by the odd tone in the old man's voice, but when he finally looked down, the old man had disappeared.

The shock of the old man disappearing stayed with him for a few seconds. He looked around, checking if the old man had just gotten up and left, but he found nothing. His look went back to the big tree, still amazed by its sheer sight, he wondered what kind of tree was so special to deserve a name, and what kind of special fruit would its branches grow.

His main concern was getting back to the the city.. it was starting to get late and the forest's beasts became fiercer at night, which made the forest a dangerous place to linger in for unranked mortals such as himself.

Unfortunately, without a better option, Daniel was left with no choice but to climb the big tree up to the top, in hope to get a better view of its surroundings, and find his way home.

The thought of obtaining the tree's fruit never crossed his mind, as the tree was so big that it would take him days to fully search it. Also, he had no idea of what the fruit looked like.

Daniel approached the large trunk, and noticed the thickness of its bark. After making sure that it was solid enough to hold his full weight, he started to climb it right away.

He had always been a good climber. His experience in running away from guards and angry "customers" had turned him into an agile city monkey, so it wasn't a problem for him to climb a tree, especially one so large, and with so many footholds.

"Speed and agility will take you further than sheer strength.." his father used to tell him. "Strange thing said by a soldier at the second rank of the martial cultivation" Thought Daniel while sighing.

His father had been sent in the frontline when Karalis had been at war with a neighbouring kingdom. The numbers of the two armies was similar, but unfortunately, the outcomes of wars were decided by high ranked martial artists and mages.

A rain of meteors, summoned by a powerful dual elementalist mage, had decimated Karalis army before the arrival of their strong warriors. Amongst the deceased, was Daniel's father.

Daniel had always considered his father's death as a pointless one. He used to think that his father would have become a powerful man, as he had big dreams and wished to do good things in his life. Of course, whose father wouldn't be the strongest to a 6 years old child.

Daniel missed him dearly, causing him to be saddened whenever he recalled any of his words.

However, his current state of mind was one of anxiousness, so he didn't let himself be caught by sorrow, not at this time. He had his big sister to take care of.

His sister was sixteen years old, very smart and just as beautiful. Their father used to overact while joking about thanking the heavens, and whomever was looking up for him from high above, for allowing his daughter to take her beauty and intelligence from his wife, and not from himself. They both missed those moments.

When Daniel learned of the death of his father, he swore to himself that he would grow up into becoming a powerful warrior like his him, and take care of his mother and sister. Unfortunately, sometimes destiny picked a person to which was going to pile it on. Four years after his father's death, Daniel was only able to watch his mother work herself to death, the day of his tenth birthday.

Daniel always felt guilty about his mother's death. For years, he had tortured himself with the thought that he could have done something to help that sweet woman to take care of their family, instead of letting her carry the weight by herself.

This series of unfortunate events forced a ten years old kid to fortify his resolve into an indestructible one, and grow up into the young man he was now. He was in fact willing to die, before accepting that anything bad would happen to his sister.

All these awful memories went through Daniel's mind, as he climbed the tree trunk, bit by bit. It took him two and a half hours to reach the top of the tree, and it was already early afternoon.

One of Daniel's prey, were the rich merchants that arrived to the city early in the morning. He had gotten used to intercepting them a few meters away from the city gate, and offer his "services" to them. When he had gottent recognized by the guards, he had been forced to escape through the forest, and start a lengthy pursuit that lasted all morning.

As he reached for the highest, yet unstable branches of the tree, he climbed over them and took a look at the scenery around. It didn't take long for him to see Phyrri in the distance, as it was just about 5 kilometers from the prairie.

Luckily, the forest's trees weren't as tall as Iewah, or he would have never been able to see the hundred meters tall walls of the city.

One thing Daniel didn't consider, was how long it would take him to get down from the giant tree, as climbing down was much more time consuming than climbing up. If he didn't come down fast, he would end up having to go through the forest at night.. and that was something he really didn't want to do, as the ranked beasts which inhabited the forest, mostly hunted in the night.

Daniel started his descent right away. Branch after branch, he managed to get down 50 meters in about an hour, yet almost slipped down twice.

He had never been a lucky person to begin with, but sometimes something happened which reminded that to him as heavily as a sound slap to the face. This time, it was the snap of a branch right underneath his feet.

His attempt at grabbing anything at all, turned out to be useless as he started falling.

*snap* *snap* *snap*

One branch after the other started snapping under Daniel's weight, slowing his descent. Yet Daniel didn't feel as good about it, as each and every one of those branches had hit his body like a solid kick.

As Daniel thought he would fall the whole height of the tree and into his death, a larger branch stopped his fall, offering him a hard surface to land harshly upon. The land was a painful one, yet he survived. Overall, he felt lucky that the branch was there.

After checking his body, Daniel realized that none of those snapping sounds came from his bones, and that the only injuries he had, were various bruises and some scratches. After popping the bones of his shoulders and lower back, he decided to get his bearings, and assess his situation.

He had fallen for fifty meters, reaching about halfway through the foliage covered part of the tree.

"That wasn't so bad.. It saved me an hour, maybe I should try it again.." Joked Daniel by himself, trying to lift his own morale.

After fixing his clothes and rubbing the sore bruises on his body, he looked around for a safe branch to use to climb further down. He wasn't having much luck as most branches were too far for a safe landing, so, he decided to walk on the branch he was standing on towards the trunk, and climb the thick bark all the way down, or at least, until he would be able to find a better alternative.

It was at this moment that he noticed it.

Hanging from a twig, just a bit more than a meter and a half from the branch Daniel was standing on, a grapefruit-sized fruit was shining dimly. It looked very similar to the miniature of a lunar eclipse.

The words of the old man rang inside Daniel's mind, "..not just a simple fruit.."

Curiosity took over him, so he extended his arm as much as he could, and started reaching for the fruit. Of course, his bad luck kicked in as he realized that the part of the branch he would need to stand on in order to reach the fruit, was too thin to withstand his whole weight.

It took him ten minutes to wrap his legs around the branch, and slowly advance towards the fruit. When he found himself in the right position, he reached for the fruit once more. Just a couple of centimeters separated his fingertips from the fruit's smooth surface.

He could have reached the fruit if he let go of the branch with both hands, but he would lose his balance with the slightest gust of wind.

Nevertheless, he didn't want to give it up. He was so close to it "Come on!... damn it!" Growled Daniel, as sweat covered his body, causing his clothes to stick tightly on his skin.

This went on for a couple more minutes, until under a moment of exasperation, he let go of the branch, and managed to grab the fruit with both hands.

Daniel found little time to celebrate his success, as the first thing he heard right after, was the very familiar snapping sound of wood.

*snap* His unfortunate descent sped up once again.

As he fell from the branch, he started crashing once more against any other branch he found on his path. The closer he got the lower part of the tree, the more branches there were that could slow his descent, but they were also thicker.

After crashing heavily against half a dozen thick branches, he felt the pain of his bones snapping one after the other whenever he came in contact with a branch.

It didn't take long for him to fall unconscious.

As he kept falling, the branches of the tree suddenly started to move. Looking like moving heaps of leaves, they intercepted Daniel's fall.

At the same time, the roots of the tree started to crawl from underneath the ground like giant earthworms, and formed a huge slide whose highest point reached right underneath Daniel's falling body, right beneath the leafy part of the tree.

He had reached the ground unconscious. The grapefruit-like fruit stuck tightly to his palm since the moment it had been picked from the tree.

An old man stood nearby the unconscious Daniel. His dark gold eyes started to shine lightly, along with the fruit that Daniel was holding on to. A gentle smile grew on is face once again.

When Daniel woke up, the first thing he noticed, was that it was late evening.

He got up and looked at his body in confusion. Confusion turned into shock when he noticed that none of his injuries were there.. be it the shallow scratches and the sore bruises from the first fall, or the bones he felt breaking before losing his senses.. None of them was there anymore.

He also noticed.. That the fruit was nowhere to be seen.

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In the middle of a prairie, surrounded by a thick forest, stood a massive tree. Underneath this tree, the figure of a young man picked itself up from the ground.

This young man's clothes where tattered, dirty and clearly a size too small for his body. His slightly long black hair had dry leaves and broken twigs stuck in them, and covered his face almost completely.

Once the young man got back on his feet, he started touching his own body in search of injuries, but to his surprise, there were none.

Relieved yet skeptical about not being injured in the slightest after such a lengthy fall, a new spark of faith towards his otherwise bad luck was ignited within the young man's mind. While still perplexed, he ran his fingers through his hair.

As his hair were moved aside, a handsome face was uncovered.

He had a diamond shaped face, bordered with a sharp jawline which merged into a slightly pointy and protruding chin. Underneath a straight and well defined nose, were a pair of thin lips of a healthy rosy color, which almost completely covered a set of pearly white teeth. His straight and naturally full eyebrows stood above a pair of sharp, upturned eyes evenly spaced apart.

Inbetween the young man's eyelids, an ivory white sclera surrounded a pair of umber colored pupils, which changed into a lighter shade the closer it got to the black ring that enclosed them.

After one look at the young man's eyes, anyone would see the decisiveness this youth had to adopt in order to take care of himself. In fact, his calmness after such a fall, would surprise many.

One would also notice, to the unbeknownst of the young man, a very thin layer of golden light laying at the bottom of his pupils.

"You look worse than when I've left you, Daniel.. eh eh" said a voice that came from behind him, along with a deep and slow laugh.

Daniel turned around and noticed that the voice belonged to the old man who he had lost sight of earlier that day.

He was standing a full head taller than Daniel, which was not short by any means for his age. His eyes still giving off a dim shine, and his smile still gentle.

What broke Daniel out of the surprise of seeing the old man once again, was the urgency he felt to go back to his sister. He hated leaving her alone, and the idea of making her spend a night in the city by herself, made him anxious.

After finishing to brush the leaves and twigs off his hair, he looked towards the old man, but as he was about to start talking, the old man's voice anticipated him "It is clear that you have somewhere to go, don't worry about me, I'll be fine here alone.." said the old man, with a gentle smile always present. He then added "I've been here for a long time."

Daniel had the intention of guiding the old man back into the city, since he wasn't sure if any ranked beast would leave the forest to the prairie and hunt for prey. But after realizing that the old man looked fine despite not having a bag or a weapon.. he convinced himself that the old man was probably capable of taking care of himself.

As Daniel was about to bid farewell, once more, the old man interrupted him. "The fruit you've picked.. make no mention of it to anyone." Said the old man as the warm smile suddenly left his face, for the first time since the two met.

"Good and evil exist in this world.. more clearly than you can imagine.." Added the old man slowly, while turning to look at the massive three that stood still in the scenery. His figure, then, disappeared into thin air.

Daniel surprise was at its peak, yet he managed to say out loud "WAIT! Who are you?.." Unfortunately, nobody was around to answer. Yet, a familiar deep voice resounded through the entire prairie, shaking Daniel's soul to its core.

"I have already told you that.. HA HA HA" Answered the voice, before a loud laugh started to reverberate in the air, forcing the grass to bend in awe. As the thundering laugh ended, the last words Daniel heard from the domineering voice, left him dumbstruck "Farewell, Dan of the Hiel's.." Said the voice before disappearing completely.

It took a few minutes for Daniel to leave that surprised state of mind, and remember why he was so anxious before. Unfortunately, it was too late to avoid going through the forest at night.

He was aware that traversing the forest at night would take far longer than it took him to get here. His sense of direction wasn't bad, the only reason he got lost and ended up finding Iewah, was because he had been chased for hours. What could prevent him to have a safe and short travel through would be only one thing.. Beasts.

The city of Phyrri had been built nearby the legendary tree on purpose. A small group of settlers had discovered the tree during one of their travels, and after one of them had obtaining its gifts, they named it The Catering Tree and decided to settle close to it.

When the city was at its earliest stages, many martial artists and mages traveled to Phyrri in order to obtain the blessing of the tree.. That had caused the ranked bests which inhabited the forest between the city and the tree, to be hunted to a state of near extinction. What was left of them, were the lowest ranks.

The strongest ranked beasts that had been reported were of the second rank, which any patrol of city guards could kill.

The remaining low level beasts which inhabited the forest, had turned into prey of unranked hunters. Their ranked cores would still be collected by hunters, but their value was small, that cultivators with the slightest amount of wealth was able to afford them, without having to hunt the beasts themselves.

Furthermore, those who had reached the rank of those bests, were unwilling to risk their lives to hunt for the cores in the forest at night.

Of course, even though cheap, Daniel would have never been able to afford one. He had to work hard only to reach the required amount of money for his monthly payments, and what was left of it, was used to take care of his sister and himself. One could see how that was barely enough from the tattered state of Daniel's clothes, or by his underfed physique.

Daniel entered the forest at sunset. For the first hour he saw nothing more than a few unranked beasts, which at their worst, made a bush rustle nearby him.

After two hours, he started to hear roars and howls in the distance, but none of the beasts they came from. Almost ready to thank the unusual behaviour of his luck, he heard the sound of water, and it was close.

When he reached the source of the noise, he noticed a large pond at the base of a enormous bouder. The surface of this pond was covered in broken twigs, floating leaves and water plants, things which made seeing through them very hard.

Unsure if he should take the gamble, he waited for a few minutes behind the trees that surrounded the large pond. He was about to approach the bank of the pond himself, when a rabbit like creature approached it from the other side.

This rabbit like creature was very large, probably enough to not fit in a big cauldron. It had bright red eyes that shined in the dark, and a snow white fur. Two long and thin horns grew on its head, right at the base of its fluffy ears.

Daniel had heard of this beast from his father. It was called 'Bloody-eyed Hare', and it was a rank 1 beast of the lowest level.

Considered by many as the weakest of all the ranked beasts due to its vegetarian nature, its combat prowess was lower than many carnivorous unranked beasts. The only way it had to evolve was by consuming spiritual herbs, which were far too rare for an entire species to thrive on. This had put it at the bottom of the food chain.

Daniel observed the beast for a couple of minutes, as it sniffed around while approaching the bank of the pond, then it started to drink its water. Daniel's stomach started to grumble. He had only eaten half of the piece of bread which he had taken with him when he left the house in the morning, and that was enough for him, but he hadn't expect that he would not be able to come back for a full day.

The idea of getting back home to his sister with a Blood-eyed Hare hanging from his shoulders, was too enticing. He reached for the ground with his arms and grabbed a rock.

"This beast shouldn't be dangerous.. and if I miss, I can always escape" Thought Daniel as his mouth started to salivate at the idea of having a feast for dinner, together with his beloved sister.

The rock was big enough to do damage if it hit, but not enough for him to be unable to swing it a few times. The hare had a cowardly nature, so he was certain that, even if he failed to bash the rock on the hare's head, the beast wouldn't fight back and just escape.

As Daniel left the cover of the trees and approached the hare from behind, he held the rock tightly in his hand. Step after step he got closer, until there were less than 10 meters inbetween them. But the moment Daniel was about five meters away from it, the Blood-eyed Hare suddenly stood up in place and straightened its long ears.

Daniel thought that he had been sensed by it, but since the beast didn't leave, he stood completely still, hoping that it would relax once more and allow him to hit.

A minute didn't pass before a giant opened mouth full of long sharp teeth, appeared from underneath the water, and shutted tightly on the white ball of fur.. Biting off half of the hare's body.

Terrified by the sudden appearance and the gory show, Daniel stood paralyzed, a few meters away from the two-meters long crocodile head that had just popped out of the water.

As the crocodile moved out of the water to scarf the remaining half of the hare's body, Daniel was able to see the beast more clearly.

The crocodile had three sets of yellow colored grooves that went through his entire length, starting from the back of his head and all the way down its tail. The end of its tails was deformed as compared to a normal crocodile, it had the shape of a spiked mace, which the crocodile clearly used to hit its enemies during a fight. The last detail that Daniel noticed where the two oddly long teeth moving up from the sides of the beast's nose, looking like a pair of straight horns.

This crocodile was called Yellow-striped Caiman, and it was a rank 3 beast.

Of course, Daniel was unaware of what this beast was. The forest surrounding Phyrri was said to have no beast above the second rank, and that had been the case since many years before Daniel's or his father's birth. Inside Daniel's mind, the type of beast this crocodile was, was possibly the last thing he needed to know. His only thoughts were on how to escape this predicament.

None of his muscles moved, as his eyes were stuck on the beast's teeth, which still dripped with the hare's blood. Crocodiles could stay still for a very long amount of time, so minutes passed as a young man, and a giant crocodile looked at each other without moving.

Daniel grew increasingly calmer, to a point where he was surprised to find himself angry at the giant crocodile for having stolen his prey.

Of course, that thought came and left in the span of a few moments. His full focus was still on the crocodile's movements.

After a couple more minutes of waiting, Daniel noticed the giant crocodile starting to slowly step back, and entering the water once more. Confident that the beast had given up on catching him, possibly because it didn't have the element of surprise, Daniel took a step back as well.

Unfortunately, Daniel couldn't be more mistaken, as the moment he stepped back, the half submerged crocodile sprung out of the water and rushed towards him.

"Shit!.." Daniel exclaimed, before turning around and taking off into the forest.

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*thu-thump* *thu-thump* *thu-thump*

Daniel's heartbeat resounded heavily in his ears, yet unable to distract him from the loud noises which the large crocodile made while chasing him.

One may think that a crocodile would have difficulties in moving through a forest, but the legs of the Yellow-striped Caiman were long enough to allow it to avoid most obstacles.

"Stop chasing me! ...damn lizard!!" Cursed Daniel while gasping for air.

In this part of the forest, the trees were a good thirty meters tall at the very least, and full with autumn colored leaves. Their trunks weren't large, but their branches extended widely. The thick foliage formed a large blanket that prevented most of the moonlight from shining through.

This had affected Daniel's visibility more than his pursuer's, due to the fact that ranked beasts were used to hunt at night. So most of them, to a certain extent, had the ability to see clearly in the dark.

Provided that the Yellow-striped Caiman was an aquatic predator, and It moved out of water when pouncing at its prey, it was still a subaqueous beast. The main way the crocodile had to sense a prey was by feeling movements and changes in pressure in the water while it stood submerged in it. That was the reason why, when the Bloody-eyed Hare drank from the water, it had been alerted.

Daniel assumed that the crocodile's only way of hunting was by hiding under the edge of the pond, and wait for an unsuspecting animal to come to drink, like any unranked crocodiles would do. What Daniel didn't know however, was that most Ranked beast above Rank 3, other than being fiercer than any rank 2 beast, they also developed a certain extent of intelligence.

The rank 3 Yellow-striped Caiman was a peak hunter amongst rank 3 beasts, and if it had the possibility of absorbing the beast core of another similarly powerful beast, it could evolve into a rank 4 beast.

The severe lack of powerful beasts in this forest was the reason why the Yellow-striped Caiman had such a difficult time finding a suitable prey. So it had remained at the peak of the rank 3 for dozens of years, limiting its intelligence to that of an extremely ferocious and violent 5 year old human.

Unfortunately, it was still enough to give Daniel a hard time in shaking it off.

What Daniel expected far less than the relentless pursuit of, how he liked to call it in his mind " damned oversized lizard", was that a pair of bright yellow eyes were quietly following both him and the Yellow-striped Caiman from the distance.

After half an hour, the Crocodile was still hot on Daniel's pursuit. His gasps for air could be heard a dozen meters away. He was starting to feel difficulties in avoiding to stumble on tree roots or small leaves covered ditches. The crocodile was a mere ten meters behind him and it didn't show any signs that it would stop its pursuit anytime soon.

One long hour passed. Daniel could feel his muscles scream in pain at every step.. This was nothing like escaping from the guard patrol, as the view wasn't obstructed by darkness and it was easier for him to avoid obstacles, but in spite of everything, he kept running.

The more tired he grew, the more he felt the need to look back in worry. The crocodile didn't make any progress in its pursuit, because whenever it got too close, Daniel would promptly hide behind a tree, and slightly change direction before running off again, so that the crocodile would waste a few precious seconds to circle the tree to continue the chase.

Inside his mind, Daniel was cursing at the crocodile in a thousand different ways. His tiredness and worry started to affect his thoughts, badly enough to make him do mistakes.

Daniel made such a mistake in the worst possible moment. The realization of having stumbled over a hidden tree root, hit him before touching the ground. He had no words to regret not paying more attention to where he was going, all he could do was recover from the fall, crawl over the roots of the tree, and hide behind its trunk.

Unable to run anymore, he tried to shift his body in order to keep himself opposite from the mouth of the crocodile. The trunk wasn't large by any means, just enough for Daniel to kept himself out of the crocodile's reach. He could smell the bloody stench that came from the crocodile's mouth.

After making almost a full circle around the tree, Daniel noticed a big set of tree roots just a few meters away from him. The tree's roots were thick, and tightly intertwined together, but there were parts where they were far apart enough, to allow a small sized human to crawl inbetween.

Daniel didn't have to find pros and cons as, by staying out in the open he would eventually die.. So after circling the tree once more time, he kicked the trunk had been pressed on with the root of his foot, hand rapidly rushed towards the tree roots.

It took him only two large steps and a dive to reach for the roots nest, which was little enough to give him a chance to rapidly crawl inbetween the roots and under the tree.

The crocodile was unable to reach him in time, as it had to circle the tree and straighten his body, before rushing at its prey. Nevertheless, after it did, it still rushed at Daniel's hiding place.

Daniel flattened himself against the earthy ground, on the opposite side to the entrance of this naturally made nest, while the mouth of the crocodile crashed on the thick roots.

Snapping sound could be heard one after the other, as Daniel shivered in place. The sharp bloody teeth of the crocodile hacked at the wood left and right, trying to enlarge the gap between the roots in order to reach the young man hidden inside.

As Daniel was about to to forgo his courage and start to pray to whichever god he could think of, he heard a loud hiss coming from the mouth of the crocodile, whose big snout backed out as if it had given up on him.

What Daniel heard afterwards made his skin crawl. A loud yet soul shakingly deep growl rumbled in his head, followed by a loud roaring noise. He slowly approached the barrier of roots and took a peek at the scenery outside.

The crocodile was turning around aimlessly, as if unable to see the position of its enemy, while a dark shadow kept dashing from bush to bush around it.

After a few minutes of threatening verses, the shadow rushed towards the big crocodile and jumped on its back.

The moment the shadow attacked the crocodile, Daniel managed to have a clear view of the beast.

It was a panther like animal with pitch black fur, and long thin ears that floated in the air almost magically, as it dashed at impressive speed. Its length from tail to head was at least 5 meters, and it weighed at least 300kg. The pitch black fur, which fully absorbed the moonlight, was completely devoid of any sort of shine, making it very hard to see clearly.

Daniel couldn't recognize the beast, yet many in the past feared it. The beast's name was Shadow Tracker, and it was an evolved form of panther, at the peak of the third rank. Its habit was to slowly follow its prey and attack during a moment of distraction.

The panther's interest had been picked when it noticed the large crocodile on a mad rush through the forest. It wasn't unusual for a strong beast to hunt one of its peers, especially when considering that beasts evolved when consuming other beast cores. For a high ranked beast to attack another at first sight, in a place where highly ranked beasts were almost impossible to be found, it was to be expected.

The moment the big paws of the panther landed on the crocodile's back, it pounced directly at the back of its head. Its teeth sunk inbetween the crocodile's scales and dug deeply as the panther tried to tighten its jaw.

The crocodile wasn't any less fierce than the panther. Without giving the panther enough time tear at its flesh, the crocodile pushed its frontal and rear left legs heavily against the ground, and rolled its entire body, crushing the panther underneath its massive weight.

As the crocodile moved away, in order to assume a position that could allow it to rush and bite at its enemy, the panther claws hooked at the crocodile's belly scales, ripping them off. The crocodile hissed loudly as it stepped away, its spiked tail swinged left and right until it hit the leg of the panther, leaving it with a bloody gash.

The two animals fought fiercely, adding injury upon injury on one another. Their strength was comparable, and Daniel couldn't say which beast held the upper hand, since both were covered in cuts, and were visibly tired. Daniel's umber eyes never moved from the fighting beasts, the dark gold light at the bottom of his pupils still present, and slightly brighter than it was before.

The fight between the ranked beasts had come to a stalemate. Every damage was given back in full, no matter who attacked first. Both of the beasts intelligence had reached the limits of the third rank, which paired with their instincts, made them both very dangerous beasts.

The crocodile had a bite mark on the back of its neck, injury that it had earned at the beginning of the fight, its side had various scales missing, and a few that had penetrated its own flesh, one of its legs was broken, its tail had a large chunk of meat missing, ripped by the Shadow Tracker's sharp teeth, and lastly, one of its eyes was gone.

The panther's injuries were more difficult to see. Two patches of shiny black fur were drenched in blood, and stuck tightly against the hidden twin injury that it had suffered to both sides of its chest, when it had been viciously bitten by the crocodile. Its leg also had a visible gush from which bright raw flesh could be seen.

The crocodile often retorted to the panther's attempts to bite its neck with rolling on place and crushing it underneath its weight, while the panther used the fact that it took time for the crocodile to turn into a suitable position to to dash and bite, and hooked the crocodile's scales with its claws, ripping them off and tearing at its flesh.

Aside from the various wounds, the two animals had one major debilitating injury each. The crocodile's skin was covered in cuts and a good part of its scales were missing, the blood loss was nearing deadly levels. One of its legs was also broken, which made rolling and holding its full weight, a very painful experience.

On the other hand, while the panther could resist its fleshy wounds, its breath was visibly slowed. In fact, if one had been able to clearly see the panther's condition, they would have noticed that it had a broken rib, which had punctured one of its lungs.

Daniel was sure that the battle was about to come to an end. As he looked at the two -injured yet more dangerous than ever- beasts, he thought about how humans could grow powerful enough to fight on par with them.

His thoughts were interrupted by loud hisses and roars. The panther, which until now was staring at the crocodile while growling deeply, circled around the long body of the massive reptile. Before the crocodile could turn around and face the panther openly, its neck had already been bitten through.

The crocodile reacted rapidly by pushing its weight with its fore, and broken hind leg. His body rolled on itself, forcing the panther to back away rapidly or be crushed again, but unexpectedly, that wasn't the crocodile's main attack.

When the crocodile completed its full roll and found itself back on its four legs, without wasting a moment, it whipped its mace like tail at the backing panther, hitting it squarely in the thorax.

The panther flew for a few meters, when its path was interrupted by a large tree trunk which broke its spine in half, killing it on the spot.

The Shadow Tracker had died.

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The sudden death of the Shadow Tracker, had left Daniel worried to say the least. He expected that the crocodile would turn its attention back on him at any moment, so in his mind, dozens of ideas on how to escape were made and discarded.

What he did not expect, was for the Yellow-striped Caiman to collapse on the ground. Fresh blood oozed from its injuries, which were way more severe than Daniel had thought.

For a few long minutes, the crocodile stood still. Its large belly pressed on the ground, and its leathery eyelids blinked slower the more time passed.

When Daniel noticed how the swelling of the big crocodile's chest turned slower and gentler, he understood that it didn't have much to live. It took him a few seconds to gather the courage to crawl out of the nest of sticks and roots that protected him.

His eyes directed at the crocodile with hostility and a still lingering fear. He had risked his life more than once because of this beast. It would have killed him more than once, had he made a single mistake.

The longer Daniel stood in front of the dying crocodile, the less fearful he felt. He thought about how his sister would have been worried sick about him missing, about how she would be unable to pay the next installment of their debt.. how she would have ended in the hands of that disgusting man, which would have used her, and then forced her into prostitution.. or worse. His anger grew by the minute. He didn't know much about beasts, but even though he was fairly sure the beast did not have long to live, he was unwilling to bet on it.

As this thought crossed his mind, he grabbed a large rock with both hands, approached the giant crocodile, and bashed it over its skull.

*Thump*

The rock hit the head of the crocodile hard enough for its flesh to flatten, and its scales to cave in. Daniel's anger grew bigger after the first hit. He didn't know why such a powerful beast would follow him for hours.. he wanted it dead.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

The crocodile's skull started to chip and splinter under the bloody mess that was once a layer of durable scales.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *Thum-cruh* *Crr-squelch* *Squash* *Squash* *Squash*

Blood and brain matter flew everywhere, as Daniel brought the large stone down against the crocodile's large skull.. over and over again. Before he could notice, he was covered in thick blood. Pieces of brain and flesh were spattered over his arms, chest and face. The stone was so deeply sunken into the Yellow-striped Caiman's head, that in order to get it out, he would need to tuck his hands inside the small pool of blood and gore inside its skull and pull.

Daniel sat on the ground. His lungs swelling and deflating at an astonishing rate, as he looked at his blood covered hands. The first thing he tried to do, was to clean them by brushing them over his clothes, but since his clothes were also drenched in blood and brain matter, that was of little use.

After calming his mind, Daniel got up and looked at his surroundings. When his eyes met with the Shadow Tracker's body, his face turned into one of relief. He was afraid of that beast, but it happened that this panther had saved his life, so he didn't feel any hate towards it.

Daniel was standing, trying to calculate the direction, when something caught his attention. No further than two meters from the giant crocodile's head, an egg sized pearl was resting on the ground.

The pearl was covered in blood, with small pieces of brain matter stuck on its surface, and splattered all around it. Daniel would have never noticed it if not for the dim glow it emitted, which was made dimmer by the gory coating.

Daniel didn't know much about ranked beasts, since he had lived all its life inside the city walls, and went out only to scam rich merchants into hiring him as a tour guide, he was unfamiliar with high ranking beas cores. Of course, that didn't mean that he had never seen one of a lower level. The various marketplaces weren't only places for common citizens to buy pottery, clothes or other items of common use. In fact, most of them had a vast choice of weaponry, armory, elixirs and even beast cores.

When he was a kid his father had teached him that cultivators were able to use beast cores to strengthen their own bodies. A practitioner of the Martial Cultivation would absorb the core essence and turn it into Ki. The ki would then be used to refine the various parts of the cultivator's physical body, as opposed to cultivators of the Spiritual Cultivation, who turned the core essence into mana. Differently from Ki, Mana could be used to strengthen the cultivator's connection of his spirit with the Spiritual Plane, which would allow them the use of elements, illusions and various other kinds of magic.

Becoming a practitioner of both types of cultivation was impossible, as Ki reinforced the practitioner's body to a point where it would become a cage for the spirit. Trying to connect the spirit to the spiritual plane at that point, would be like trying to push the end of a thread through a steel wall.

Daniel had only heard from his father about Martial cultivation, as he himself was a practitioner, as member of the Karalis's army. He wasn't aware, though, about the reason why practitioners of the Spiritual cultivation couldn't strengthen the body afterwards.

What a practitioner of the spirit would tell him, is that the spirit isn't bound to any part of the body. A person's spirit would extend to the entire body. Laws of space didn't matter for the spirit, which had no need to reach a determined place to connect to the spiritual plane. The spiritual plane was wherever the spirit was, so the entire connection between the two was the practitioner's body.

If the body was too resistant, the spiritual plane would be cut off from the spirit, making it impossible to connect the two.

The critical point was the peak of the third rank.

At the peak of the third rank, the body was not durable enough to cage the spirit, so most practitioners had to choose which path of cultivation to follow, before advancing to the fourth rank. One example of this were the captains of the guards, which having cultivated to the fourth rank of martial cultivation, were unable to use magic.

Daniel didn't know the first thing about absorbing beast cores. Losing his parents at a young age and the responsability of keeping himself and his sister free, had forced him to grow up earlier, and work for the past four years, so he had never had a chance to go to school. Nonetheless, he was fiercely intelligent. With the first few copper coins that he managed to save, he bought books and clothes for his sister. She was two years older than him, and he made sure that she could go to school.

Before their mothers died, he had promised her that he would have worked hard, taken care of his sister, and done all he could to prevent his sister from losing all prospects of building a good life for herself.

His expression while making that promise, was so determined that his mother believed in it, without the shred of a doubt.

The egg sized orb that rested on the ground, for Daniel, meant more opportunities for himself and his sister.

One should know that a ranked beast core's price would increase exponentially depending on the rank. A rank 1 core could be sold for ten silver coins, which was what he would require to pay every month to his creditor. A rank 2 core would be sold for one gold coins, which was equivalent to a hundred silver coins, and finally, a rank 3 beast core would be sold for fifteen gold coins, which was double of what he owed to the hotel owner.

Daniel had seen rank 2 beast cores, so, after noticing the difference in sizes, he could guess that it was a rank 3 core.

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

A loud laugh bursted out from his lungs. If one were to see daniel now, he would believe him to have gone crazy. His face was one of joy, and the loud laugh resounded for hundreds of meters.. yet two big teardrops were streaming down his bloody face, and he laughed with a heavy heart.

He had always been so worried about not being able to keep himself and his sister free.. for four long years. And yet, now he had enough for both of them to live a comfortable life.

It took Daniel a few minutes to calm down. He had felt the warmth of his tears all the way down his chin. His first instinct was to brush his face with his hands, but that only made him cover his cheeks back in red, as his hands were still covered in blood.

After noticing the blood still on his hands, he crouched on the ground and brushed his hands against the grass. He was far from the pond, so he was unable to wash his clothes, not to say that he wouldn't do that even if he could. He didn't know if there was another crocodile waiting underwater, and he wasn't willing to end up like the rabbit.

After fixing his hair and brushing the pieces of brain and flesh off his clothes, he got up and started to walk towards the beast core.

He never felt as exhausted as he was right now, and couldn't wait to get back to his sister and show the core to her. Dozens of thoughts were forming in his head. Thoughts like having a giant feast with his sister, buying her all the clothes she wanted, or even learn how to cultivate.

"Maybe it isn't too late for me to go to school.." thought Daniel happily as his hand reached for the core. "I could use sis's old book an-"

*thump*

The exact moment in which daniel's hand touched the beast core, the dark gold light in his pupils shone, and he fell unconscious.

A comical scene with no witness, was taking place in the middle of the forest. A young man laid with his face pressed on the ground and his arms stretched to his sides. His knees dug lightly against the ground, while his hips were lifted. If someone were to see Daniel now, they would believe he was trying to imitate a caterpillar. Hadn't been there a bloody battle just a few minutes ago, even the trees would start laughing at the funny scene.

In his palm laid the egg sized beast core.

Time passed slowly. Two hours had gone by already, while Daniel kept laying on the ground until.. "Nngh..ghh" A soft groan could be heard.

Daniel's arms moved back near his chest, his palm flattened against the ground before pushing his upper body up. His face had pebbles stuck on the skin, and a blade of grass had entered his mouth when he had fallen into unconsciousness.

The first thing Daniel did was look around.. His state of mind turned from being annoyed to total anxiousness. He couldn't find the beast core.

He searched and searched for nearly an hour, but the dimly brightness of the beast core was nowhere to be seen.

In a surge of exasperation, he lifted his arms and brought them down against the ground like hammers.

*BOOM*

A could of dirt and dust was lifted all around Daniel. His fists, which came down like meteors, and left two small craters on the ground. It took Daniel no time to remember how, the last thing he did before passing out, was to touch the spirit core,

He started to think about how it was possible for the beast core to disappear, and for his strength to increase that much. He then made a wild guess..

"Did I.. absorb the core??".

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"Did I.. absorb the core??"

After this crazy thought went through Daniel's mind, the first thing he did was to check his body.

His skin was no different than it was before. His thin arms and legs were still pale and frail looking, but after touching them, he realized that his skin was as tough as leather.

A series of mixed feelings grew within Daniel. He remembered this feeling from when his father used to pick him up, or when they arm-wrestled.

While he was still feeling the changes of his body, it didn't take long for Daniel to fall into depression. He had found a way out of his debt, only to see it disappear the next moment.

After getting his bearings, and finding the direction towards the city, his eyes fell upon the Shadow Tracker. A sudden realization thundered in his mind.

"The other core!!!" Shouted Daniel excitedly, before dashing towards the panther's corpse. What Daniel was unaware of, unfortunately, was his newly acquired strength. The dash made him lose control of his body, which crashed on the ground.

"Of course.. stupid" Cursed Daniel at himself, as he remembered his father's words.

In his mind, the memory of his father answering his many questions played out clearly once again "Us cultivators of the Martial way, can only control our bodies after we reach the fourth rank. If we stay at the third rank, we will have a strong body, but we will also be unable to fully use our strength."

His father's words were correct. A spiritual cultivator would avoid developing his body to the third rank, as they would be stuck with a physical strength which they wouldn't be able to fully control.

On the other hand, martial cultivators avoided nurturing their soul to the third rank, because once reached the fourth rank of the martial path, the soul would still be caged by their powerful bodies, therefore becoming useless to them, and making its development a waste of time and resources.

"My muscles have become stronger, but didn't increase in mass..." Daniel thought while inspecting his body once more. "My bones were hard enough to resist the impact, when I hit the ground, and my skin is as through as leather.. I should be at the rank 2 of the martial cultivation, like dad was.. but.. how?"

After minutes of pondering about everything that happened to him recently, unable to find an answer that could satisfy him, he momentarily decided to give up on finding one. Daniel didn't know the first thing about absorbing beast cores, so for all he knew, touching the core barehanded, might have been the right way to absorb it.

Daniel rapidly approached the body of the panther. He remembered the mess of brains and blood that covered the previous beast core, so he guessed that ranked beasts would have their beast cores hidden inside their heads.

His guess was sorth of right, as both of these beasts had their cores in their heads, but various kinds of beast develop their cores in different parts of their bodies.

After picking up a stone and bashing it heavily against the head of the Shadow Tracker, he noticed the now familiar dim shine of the beast core. He had no intention of absorbing this core as well, so he grabbed a few sticks, and poked around the beast's brains until the core fell out of its skull.

Once the core stopped rolling on the ground, Daniel ripped off one of his sleeves from the shoulder. He then made the core slip inside the sleeve about halfway through, twisted the ends of the sleeve, making it look like an oversized candy, and finally, he tied it around his waist, like a belt.

Daniel also thought of opening the stomach of the Yellow-striped Caiman, but he gave up on that thought, as the core of the Bloody-eyed Hare should have been digested fully by now.

After making sure about the direction, Daniel took off in the direction of the city walls.

Third gate, eastern wall. 01:15

In a tower made of orderly laid stones, four heavily armored guards were playing cards. One of them was considerably happier than the others, as most of the copper coins in the table, were on his side.

At the corner of the room, sat another guard. This last guard's armor was similar to the former four, the difference was that while the other four guards had hounds carved on their chestplate, this guard had an eagle.

The guard with the eagle carved on his armor was reviewing some documents, while listening to the other soldiers playing cards.

Suddenly, a man with an armor identical to that of the four playing guards, entered the room. "Sergeant, there is someone approaching the gate." Says the man.

The Sergeant put the documents down on the nearby table, and got up from his chair. He then followed while asking the previous guard "How many?.."

"Sir, just one person. He appears young.. a teenager." Said the guard nervously..

The Sergeant's brows furrowed while looking at the guard "You didn't just call me for a young man that snuck out the city walls at night, did you?" He then asked with a hint of anger.

"Err.. No sir.. he.. he seems to be covered in blood" responded the guard almost in a state of panic.

His look turned from one of anger, to an inquisitive one, and then into a curious one "Alright, show me."

Outside of the tower's entrance, on the right, stood a massive gate. The gate had several different smaller gates within, which could be opened based on the space required for the incoming party to pass through. Parallel to it, stood a large grid of thick iron bars.

Inbetween the grid and the gate, two guards stood still at the far ends. One right outside of the tower's door, while the other stood in front of a massive wheel-like lever halfway buried into the wall on the opposite side.

When the Sergeant came out of the tower, he walked right in the middle of the grid and looked through. What he saw, was a young man. His height did not exceed 1 meter and 70 centimeters. His clothes were in tatters, one of his sleeves was missing, and he was covered in dry blood.

The Sergeant looked at the young man for a few seconds, then said "You better have a good reason for showing yourself at my gate.. covered in blood moreover! What's your name?"

"Dan Hiel.." Answered Daniel immediately, while feigning tiredness.

The guard that was on watch duty and followed silently behind, asked to Daniel "What happened to you?"

Daniel looked at the guard, still pretending like he could fall unconscious at any minute, and said "I was hired by a herbalist to find herbs in the forest nearby.. when a beast attacked me.. I was lucky to have been given a sickle to do the job, or I wouldn't have any other means to defend myself."

This story had been prepared by Daniel on the way back. He would never openly admit to have survived the pursuit of a rank 3 beast, nor would he say that he was carrying a beast core of such level.

The Sergeant's furrowed brows softened slightly, he then looked at the guard on duty and ordered "Let him through."

The guard which was spoken to by the Sergeant nodded, and then looked at the one on duty near the big lever. "Lift the grid!" he said.

The grid was slowly lifted by the guard until it came to a stop ten meters above the ground. The Sergeant looked at the young man moving closer and said "If a herbalist instructed you to harvest herbs, you should have been near the edges of the forest. Why did you come back so late?"

Daniel froze for a moment

"Sir, I tried to run away from the beast when I first saw it.. but I was too foolish to pay attention in which direction I was running to.. so I got lost. I've only managed to find my way and leave the forest minutes ago.." Responded Daniel nervously.

The Sergeant said nothing. He simply turned around and went back inside the tower.

The guard on watch duty grabbed the keyring that hung at the side of his waist, and picked the smaller key from it. He then moved towards the lock, and after a mechanical sound, a door frame appeared in the massive wall like gate.

This door frame was just 3 meters tall and 3 meters wide, enough for three two people to pass through next to each other, so it was the door that the watch opened for small groups of people to enter the city.

Daniel didn't feel safe when passing through the gates.. He had been chased by guards right outside of the second gate of the eastern wall, if any of those guards recognized him, he would be done for.

His steps when he entered through the gate, were fast to say the least. He was eager to go back home, see his sister, and clean himself up.

The city of Phyrri wasn't the largest of the kingdom of Karalis, but it wasn't small by any means. Inside its inner walls, millions of people lived divided into different districts.

These districts, which were based on social status were, from lower to higher, the working, the merchant and the learned district.

The Working district was the largest amongst the three districts. About three quarters of the entirety of Phyrri's population lived in the working district. To the northeastern side, there was the Industrial sector. Hundreds of plants and factories had been built in the industrial sector, around which the workers, along with their families, lived. In the southern side, the main garrison and training grounds, of which surroundings were house to most of the guards, low ranking soldiers, and their families. In the western side of the working district, were the slums, house to the poorest of citizens. Lastly, inbetween these three sections were most of the working district's houses, shops, restaurants and hotels. It was called the commoner's section.

The Merchant district was the second largest district of Phyrri, and it housed most of the medium-high sized shops, markets of rareware, auction houses, schools and small sects. It was mostly inhabited by well-off people, wealthy shop owners and moderately rich, yet small families. Members of the working district that managed to accumulate enough wealth, were allowed to move into the merchant district after passing a credit check.

The division of the merchant district was similar to the working district. To the northwestern side, the owners of the factories and industries lived, the southern side contained military offices, and was house to most high ranking officers of the army and city guards, while in the southeastern side, most auction houses and high-end shops resided. The area separating these sections was called the prosperous section, which, similarly to what the commoner's section was for the working district, it contained most houses, hotels, shops, marketplaces, and residences owned by small families.

The third and last district, was the Learned district. By far the smallest of the three districts, it contained schools of martial arts, sects, tribunals and government offices. The Learned district also housed the highest ranking officers of the military, large families, high level government officers and the richest amongst merchants and citizens.

Each district was divided by a wall.

Daniel and his sister used to live close to the main garrison, but after their father's death, they had been evicted. Afterwards, their mother had asked for help to the hotel owner, which presented himself like a rich friend of her late husband, offering her enough money to move into the merchant district, where they would have had an easier life.

What she didn't know, was that the hotel owner had his aims on her family. A young man could have been sold to the mines as a slave for 5 gold coins, where he would have worked to his death, while a young girl as pretty as her daughter was, could have been sold as a slave for 50 gold coins.

As time passed, and their request to move into the merchant's district was still pending, her debt grew larger due to interests, while the loaned money also had been used to ensure their survival.

One year after presenting the request, and they already didn't have enough money to move to the merchant district.. three years later, she overworked herself to death.

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It was 4:00 AM when Daniel finally reached his home. He had entered the city from the second eastern gate, so he had to cross the whole city to reach his house, which was in the outermost parts of the slums.

He was standing in front of a white colored building, the surface of the wall had numerous cracks, and the remnant of white paint crumbled on the ground at the slightest touch. The door was made out of wood and of the color that, ages ago, must have been red. Daniel felt the familiar feeling when he grabbed the door knob.. it was loose.

After entering his house, Daniel slowly stepped on the hard stone floor, and walked towards the bedroom. Step after step he approached the bedroom door, opened it slowly. Just enough to take a peek inside the room.

Inside the room, a girl was sleeping on his bed. She had fallen asleep while hugging his pillow, her expression one of worry. Daniel's face softened as he looked at his beloved sister, and felt sorry for making her worry. He then closed the door of the room and left the house.

People in the slums did not have a way to wash themselves within their houses. The only ways they had to clean themselves, was to fill buckets of water from the closest well, and take them to their houses, or even wash themselves in the street.

What he and his sister were used to do, was to go to a bathhouse and clean themselves there. There weren't many bath houses in the slums, but luckily, they lived in the outermost parts, so they could simply walk to the commoner's section, and take a bath in one of its numerous bath houses.

For Daniel it had always been important that he and his sister were always clean. She went to school in the commoner's section, and he didn't want her to be discriminated because she lived in the slums. That's why the first thing he did whenever he had money, was to make sure her needs were met.

His sister had told him dozens of times to think more about himself.. she even reminded him that his clothes were too small for him. But he always smiled and told her that he liked those clothes.

After taking a bath, Daniel went back home, sneaked silently into the bedroom, and fell asleep on his sister's unoccupied bed.

Slums, 12:10

Daniel woke up to the mid-day noise that came from outside the window. People shouting in the streets, and street sellers promoting their cheap wares as loudly as possible.

What Daniel noticed first, was that his sister was gone. His bed had been made, and outside the bedroom, in the living room, a plate with cold bread and two cooked eggs on it was waiting for him over the table.

He knew that his sister wouldn't come back until late that evening, so he rapidly ate his cold breakfast, and left the house.

Daniel had a clear idea of how he would spend his day. Ten days remained before the end of the month, and he had no means to pay. What he wanted to do instead, was to sneak into the merchant's district and sell his remaining beast core to an auction house.

Rank 3 beast cores were rare, but not difficult to find. Only the part of forest that was closer to the city had been cleared of most rank 3 beasts, therefore, if one were to venture further, they would be able to see powerful beasts.

Unfortunately, most of the powers that were able to hunt for beasts of the third rank, or higher, usually kept them for their use. Those in need of money wouldn't be able to reach rank 3, as reaching the third rank was something for well-off people.

This was the reason why, not only the closer one got the the center of the city, the wealthier people were.. but they were also more powerful.

One had to know that the learned district had strict rules. Setting up shop was strictly prohibited, as the learned district was a place for the biggest sects, schools of martial arts, big families, high ranking military and government offices. That's the reason why the best shops and auction houses, were situated right outside the southeastern entrance of the learned district, within the merchant district's territory.

Setting up shop in that area was extremely expensive, as most of the rich sons and young members of the biggest and most powerful groups, used to spent their wealth there.

Daniel didn't have enough money to buy a temporary permission to enter the merchant district, nor would he be granted one if he did, due to his attire. What he decided to do was to stand right inside the city walls, and wait for a merchant to come in. He would then hide underneath his carriage, and sneak past the wall that separated the working and merchant district.

Daniel's opportunity presented itself right away. Inside the city walls, right past the gate, a fat, richly dressed man was shouting angrily at a young girl dressed in tatters. The girl was around the age of his sister, 16 years old, she had long dark brown hair, and her skin was very pale.

At the couple's feet was a pile of broken pottery, straw and pieces of wood. It was clear to everyone's eyes that the girl was the fat man's slave, and that she had dropped a box on the ground, ruining its content.

Slavery was legal in the kingdom of Karalis, therefore the man was allowed to do what he wanted with the poor girl.

Everyone looked as the man turned angry shouts into heavy slaps.. One after the other, the man's slaps hit the girl squarely on her face. Both her once pale cheeks were now bright red, tears were running down her cheeks non-stop, yet she never covered her face. She knew that if she covered herself, the man would have beaten her harder.

Daniel was looking at them from the side. His fists clenched so hard that if the man's head had been inbetween his fingers, he would have crashed it like an egg. He kept thinking about his sister, and how she could have been the girl if they ended up as slaves..

It took a few minutes before the man calmed down, turned towards the carriage and entered it. The girl, that now was unrecognizable, had to walk barefooted nearby the wagon that contained the man's items.

Daniel could do nothing for this girl. He could try to help the girl escape, but then he would have to take care of her, which for now, he couldn't afford. He promised to himself that, if in the future he had a possibility to do so, he would do all he can to free her, or anyone in her situation.

*Primary Quest started: Freedom for all!*

-Description: Eradicate slavery from the world.

First objective set: Free the slave girl.

Optional: Kill the merchant.

Reward: Karma 50(25)

Failure: Karma -75

Time limit: The slave girl will be killed in 5 days,

21 minutes and 19 seconds.

As the window appeared in Daniel's mind, shock took over him, making him jump in place. "What in the world is that?!" He asked fearfully to himself.

"You have activated the Karmic system. Good job."

"Who said that??" Said Daniel out loud.

The people around Daniel looked at him curiously, and after noticing his attire, guessed that he was a young beggar who had lost his mind.

"Now now, young hero, if you keep shouting like that, you'll end up in a madhouse! Ha ha ha! You better keep our conversation to.. yourself.. if you know what I mean.. HAHAHA!!" Said the voice from inside Daniel's head.

It took a minute for Daniel to look around and realize that the voice he was hearing, came from his head.

"Don't be shy now.. never had one of the previous heroes made my brothers wait so long.." Said the voice, before sighing deeply.

"What are you?" Thought Daniel while trying to compose himself, and appear as mentally stable as possible.

"I am Sewah, your karmic system. I am one day old.. not as young as I used to be, I know.. never had a girlfriend either! Ha ha" Said the voice with very little seriousness.

"Am I going crazy?.." said Daniel in his head, yet not exactly asking.

Sewah cleared his throat audibly and said "Not a joker I see, very well. I am your Karmic system, or how those annoying people in the past used to call us, i'm one of the Tree's blessings. Personally, I consider myself Iewah's son..." his voice then turned serious.. "Iewah grants a blessing to a worthy entity, the blessing then resides within the chosen's body until it takes form." he continued without stopping.

"A karmic system is a first, to be honest. Most of my brothers ended up in the bodies of powerful cultivators, weapon wielders and mages. Their systems were based on their deepest desires, so they ended up as overpowering tools for promising humans turned egomaniacs" Sewah felt proud about being a unique system. His father had ensured him that this boy would have made good use of him. "You must have really wanted to free that slave girl if that thought alone activated me..." Muttered Sewah.

Daniel was dumbfounded. It took a minute for him to process everything that he had heard. Then, while slowly following the cart, he directly asked "There are a few things that I want to know. First of all, tell me what these quests and objectives are, then I want to know about those karma points."

"Humph!" Sewah cleared his voice once more "Quest and objectives are the way the system has to impart points to you. You complete the quest, you get the points, easy" He calmly explained.

"What do I do with Karma points then?" Questioned Daniel almost immediately.

"Simple, you use them to speed up every kind of lengthy process, like absorbing essence form beast cores, learning techniques, or even magic" Answered Sewah proudly.

Daniel was shocked as he heard Sewa's answers. He then asked "Was it you that made me consume that beast core in the forest??"

"Uhm.. yes. That was.. let's say trial and error.. Good news is! Trial uses are free! He he" Sewah was embarrassed about that episode, but unfortunately, granted systems weren't born perfect. "And now I can guarantee you won't pass out if you absorb another core! try! try away!"

Daniel had no intention of trying here, in the middle of the road. He instead asked "How do I know how many Karma points I have? do I have to keep count myself?"

Before Daniel could obtain an answer, another window appeared in his mind.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank:

- early rank 2 of Martial cultivation

- early rank 2 of Spiritual cultivation

Karma - 417

Daniel completely ignored the amount of karma points and asked "Wait, early rank 2 of Spiritual cultivation??"

"Of course" Said Sewah as a matter of fact "How was I supposed to know which path would you pick? you were sleeping so happily, so i've split the essence between the two."

At the mention of himself 'sleeping happily', Daniel got slightly irritated. He then asked "What about those 417 points? I thought you had just woken up"

"I don't own karma." Said Sewah with a slightly mocking tone "That karma is the one you've collected in the past 14 years of your life."

Daniel took a few moments to absorb all the informations he had received. He had a clear idea of how useful this system would be to him. He wasn't a common unranked anymore, and he had a starting capital to invest in himself.. This system would make things much easier.

After clearing his mind, Daniel asked "Do you have any suggestions on how I could complete this quest?"

"Ha ha ha! I'm glad you've asked." Sewah answered. Then, suddenly, a series of windows opened inside Daniel's mind.

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Open approach

Difficulty: Extreme

-Openly steal the slave deed and kill the merchant.

-Survive the waves of guards.

Time limit: 58 minutes and 23 seconds.

(Requirements: rank 5 of martial cultivation or rank 4 of spiritual cultivation)

Reward 200% (100/150 KP)

Stealthy approach

Difficulty: Hard

-Poison the merchant by injection when he comes out of the carriage.

-Steal the property deed from the merchant's carriage during the commotion.

Countdown: 56 minutes and 49 seconds.

(Requirements: Poisoned needle)

Reward 150% (112 KP)

Economic approach

Difficulty: Easy

-Purchase the slave deed at the auction that will be held in the Dragon's Breath Auction House (5 gold, 60 silver)

-Pay for the merchant's assassination. (2500 gold)

Cooldown: 2 hour, 36 minutes, 19 seconds.

(Requirements: 2505 gold and 60 silver)

Reward 50% (25/37 KP)

"None of these are doable!" Shouted Daniel in his mind.

A snort resounded inside Daniel's head, then Sewah's voice could be heard saying "You are welcome to try whatever you want, the system randomly generates three different approaches that, if followed blindly, will ensure success."

Daniel gritted his teeth in order to resist from cursing at Sewah, he then asked him "How does the system know so much about the merchant?.. Like where he will be at a certain hour, or what he will do..?" Daniel was genuinely curious about this. The timings were precise by the second. He could find hundreds of ways to kill the merchant, just by knowing the exact time he would leave the carriage.

"Are you surprised? He he.. to be honest, I am not sure either. It just knows." Said Sewah, sounding slightly embarassed.

Daniel kept thinking about the mysteries of the Karmic's system.. Then a question suddenly popped into hi mind "Can I see other people's karma?" he asked.

Before Sewah could answer, above the head of every single person around him, a clear number appeared. "Is that their Karma?" Asked Daniel, then said "I assume that the numbers are equivalent to their points.. but what's the difference in colors?"

"Red is for negative karma, while green is positive." Answered Sewah.

While walking, Daniel noticed a family walking around.. Both parents had green numbers over their heads, while their newborn, which was being held in his father's arms, had a white 0 above his had.

Daniel found his chance to sneak into the merchant's carriage an hour later, when the merchant's caravan had stopped in front of a smith shop. The merchant had left the carriage to deliver a large package, which had left a big empty hole in the orderly placed boxes inside the carriage.

Daniel came out of his hiding place and approached the carriage. The slave girl, which had been chained to the carriage, was now looking at him. He looked back at her and said "I don't mean to steal anything, I just need to cross through the wall. I'll leave as soon as we reach the merchant district, I promise"

The slave girl didn't look convinced. She thought that he would steal something, and that she would have taken the blame for it.

Noticing the girl's doubts, he added "I know where he is taking you, he'll try to sell you at the Dragon's Breath Auction House.. If you keep it secret, I swear that i'll buy you and set you free."

The slave girl's eyes opened wide, shining brighter than ever. She had been captured just a month ago, so she still longed to regain her freedom back. Being abused and raped by the fat merchant had been a taste of the life that awaited her, if she would have ended up being sold.. At least the merchant saw her as a good of some value, so he didn't treat her too roughly. She didn't want to think what would happen to her if she ended in the hands of someone that considered her no more than a disposable piece of meat.

Daniel's promise had lit a spark of hope into the slave girl, which, with tears welling up in her eyes, nodded her head rapidly, and allowed him to jump into the carriage. She then covered him with the large sheet used to cover the goods during the journey.

The Merchant came out just a few minutes later with a bright smile on his face. His eyes landed on the covered goods, then on the slave girl "AH! You are finally making yourself useful!" He exclaimed, then entered the carriage, and ordered the driver to go toward the market district's wall.

After an hour, they had reached the massive gates that separated the commoner's section from the prosperous section, in the southeastern side of the city.

Once crossed the gate, Daniel waited for 5 full minutes before slipping out of the carriage, and running into an alley.

Daniel couldn't walk in the open with his tattered clothes, so he was forced to traverse the city by sneaking into its various dark alleys. He kept going until he found a marketplace. Nearby this marketplace, a man was unloading capes from the back of a carriage. Daniel was preparing himself to dash toward the carriage, grab a cape, and run away, when suddenly "I hope you are not thinking of stealing one of those capes. Stealing gives you bad karma.." He heard the voice of Sewah say in his mind.

"What?! I'm a pickpocketer, how do I even have positive karma if my whole job is stealing money from people??" Barked Daniel at Sewah. That was a good point, how did he maintain a positive karma if all he did every day was find people to steal from?

"That's because the people you stole from mostly had bad karma. Stealing from a person with bad karma won't make you lose any of your points." Answered Sewah patiently, before adding "Look at that man, his number is green".

"Fine.. do you have any suggestion then?" Said Daniel dispiritedly.

Sewah hummed slightly and then responded "He doesn't look like a bad person, you might ask him to buy his cheapest coat, and hope that he won't report you"

Daniel looked at the number above the man's head.. it was a light green 632. After thinking for a bit, he realized that he had no alternatives. Instead of wandering the entire merchant district in hope to find a distracted and deserving person to steal from, he might as well give it a shot.

"Very well.." Said Daniel. He rapidly approached the man and said to him "Excuse me Sir, I would like to purchase your cheapest cape, how much is it?" he said all in one breath.

"W-What in the world happened to you?? How did you end up like this?!" Asked the man, slightly shocked by Daniel's appearance.

Daniel had a very embarassed expression on his face.. He wouldn't dare to tell him that he just came from the slums, and that his attire had never been a worry to him compared to food.

The man noticed Daniel's expression and smiled slightly. He then started to rummage into the back of his carriage and picked some pants, a shirt, a pair of shoes, and a large coat. Then he threw them at him.

"Sir I can't afford all of the..." Before he could finish, the man interrupted him saying "Don't worry about it kiddo, i'm not doing so badly here, just take the clothes"

Daniel's heart tightened as he tried to record every detail of the face of the man. He then thanked the man deeply, and disappeared into an alley. Before leaving, he noticed that the number floating above the man's head, had increased from 632 to 652.

While changing his clothes, Daniel understood that what his Karmic system could be useful for the most, was to see through the nature of people. If one could see through the intention of the people around them, they could avoid trouble, or know who is deserving of being helped.

The man had a stall at the marketplace, he sold clothes for servants and slaves, which house owners would buy in blocks. So for him, separating from a set of clothes wasn't a big deal. Plus, he had always felt bad about earning his livelyhood by selling clothes for slaves.

Daniel had been given a set of servant's clothes. Which included a shirt and a pair of pants made of jute linen, a pair of leather boots, and a dark cape which was large enough to cover their entire body.

The clothes fitted Daniel perfectly, which showed how good of an eye the man had for guessing sizes.

After changing his clothes, Daniel started walking towards the section fo the merchant district which housed most high end shops and auction houses.

As ten more minutes passed, Daniel started to feel worried. He knew that the time he had to save the slave girl, had been 2 hours and 36 minutes. Unfortunately, it took 2 hours and 15 minutes for him to reach this place since the moment the countdown started. Only 21 minutes were left now, and the auction had probably already started.

After asking around for a few minutes, he managed to find the Dragon's Breath Auction House.

The building that appeared in front of Daniel's eyes was huge. It was round shaped, and at least two hundred meters wide. Despite it's size, the building was fairly short, standing at not more than twenty meters of height. It could be seen from the two rows of balconies which were carved inside the walls, that it had no more than three stories. Nevertheless, each floor was separated from the previous fairly distantly.

All around the building, huge white columns had been erected. Each column had been elegantly carved with scenes of dragons and men, and they reached from the ground, all the way up to the large ceiling they were holding. Inbetween the columns, large red banners were hung to a golden rope, and draped down to halfway the entire building's height. Clearly depicted in black on each banner, the outline of a dragon's head with smoke coming out of its nostrils.

A large golden door with dragon's heads carved on it, stood impressively at the top of a short set of stairs, and on each side of it, two guards in plate armor were standing silently. Both of them were heavily armed, with a sword hanging from their leather belts, and spears on their hands. Above the door, a large wooden sign had "Dragon's Breath Auction House" carved in gold.

Daniel approached the door, and as he was about to push it open.. "Halt! The auction has started already. Entry is denied." he heard one of the guards say vigorously.

"I have been sent here by my master, to add a last minute object to the auction, let me through" Daniel had prepared this lie on his way to the auction house. Nobody would believe that a fourteen something years old at the second rank would be able to slay a peak rank 3 beast, so he decided to pretend to have been sent by a more powerful practitioner. Powerful enough to not bother with auctioning a peak rank 3 core himself.

The guard looked at Daniel and asked "What is the item that you wish to auction?" his tone less rigid.

Daniel removed bundle, which contained the beast core, from his belt, unwrapped it, and showed its content to the guards.

Both guards looked intently at the orb that Daniel was holding, and each of them internally cursed the fact that they didn't meet this kid in a more secluded place.

One had to know that both of these guards were at the third rank, and absorbing a peak rank 3 core would help their cultivation greatly, so it wasn't unexpected for them to have thoughts of stealing it.

If Daniel could hear either of these guard's thoughts, he wouldn't be surprised, as both of them had a red number which steadily floated right above their heads.

Daniel didn't want any problem, so he decided to remove any ill thought from the their heads by saying "My master will come to withdraw his money before the auction ends, as usual."

The guards sighed lightly inside their helms, giving up on the object. One of them looked at Daniel and said "Enter."

As Daniel entered the building through the door, he immediately noticed three things. A large set of stairs on his left, a second set of doors in front of him from which loud noises could be heard, and a counter behind which a young woman was standing patiently.

Daniel approached the counter and said "I would like to add this beast core to the auction as a last minute item." The young woman had been surpised by the sudden appearence of the young man, and before she could respond, Daniel added "I'll also need credit for a purchase.. not much, just 5 gold and 60 silver."

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After the young woman behind the desk saw the item that Daniel intended to put up for auction, she said "Wait here for a moment, please." She then left from a door on the other side of the counter. About two minutes later, she came out along with a slightly older woman.

This second woman was in her early 30s, had attractive figures, and stood slightly taller than Daniel. She was dressed in a tightly fitting red robe, with a brooch the shape of a dragon's head pinned right where her heart was. The dress did little to cover her curves, which Daniel guessed must have helped her just a few years back, in presenting the auctioned items to the public.

"This item is a beast core of the peak rank 3, I can ensure that it will be sold for at least 15 gold coins. Once deducted the 10% owed to the auction house, as per rules, your profit should reach about 13 gold and 50 silver. I can offer a credit of the same amount." Said the woman all at once.

The woman had good nose for business. She had heard of a young man asking for credit, and while staying within the limits of the money which, she knew the young man would earn from the sale, she increased his credit to the max. She was convinced that such a young man would not be able to control his spending impulse once entered the auction, so she gave him the means to spend all of his newly acquired money in the auction house. By doing this, she would appear generous, yet earn more.

Daniel smiled brightly and played the part of the innocent young man, but internally, he laughed at the schemings of the woman. "Thank you very much!" He said. He had lived in complete poverty for the past four years of his life, so when it came to his money, he would never allow himself to lose control.

The previous young woman looked at her superior admiringly for a few moments, then she turned towards Daniel and handed him a small token. "This is your seat number, please don't lose it, you'll require it to collect your purchases and earnings." On the token was a simple set of letters and numbers which indicated the row and seat "Enjoy the auction" She then added.

Daniel nodded his head at both women, then he turned towards the large double door and entered.

What Daniel saw after he opened the door left him in deep stupor. In front of him was an immense semi circular room, which seemed to be half of the reason for the round shape of the building.

On the ground floor, rows after rows of occupied chairs covered the floor almost completely, numbering in the thousands. Five rows separated this mass of people evenly into four sections.

Looking up to the first floor, Daniel noticed a row of what he guessed to be private boots. There were at least two hundred of them and only a few were occupied.

On the second floor, only twenty private boots could be seen. Their sizes were as large as ten boots from the first floor, and encompassed the entire stage. Daniel could not guess the amount of wealth a person had to own, in order to reserve one of those boots.

On the opposite side of the room was a large stage. On this stage, an elegantly dressed man was presenting an item to the public.

Daniel had no interest in the item, so he quietly walked towards his seat and waited. "Sewah, how long until the girl gets sold?" he asked in his mind.

"The girl will be sold in 9 minutes and 29 seconds." Answered Sewah.

Daniel let out a breath of relief as he heard Sewah's words. The girl had yet to be put for auction, which meant that he wasn't too late.

Time passed slowly as two more items of relative high value were auctioned. The first one, which was the item being presented the moment Daniel entered the auction hall, was a small cauldron. This cauldron emanated a powerful alchemical smell, which indicated that it had been used frequently to concoct elixirs and pills.

Only a few people from the ground floor bid for this item, which in the end, was sold for 25 gold coins.

The second item was a spear. This spear was about two meters long, and had a clear white shaft that seemed to have been made from a large, ranked beast's bones. The spear's blade had an elongated arrow head shape to it, and its wings were razor sharp.

Behind the man, a large rectangular crate was resting on the ground. Its length just a bit longer than the spear, and its content was a set of spears identical to the one the man was holding.

The set of throwing spears ended up being sold for 40 gold coins.

Finally, from the side of the stage, a man appeared while holding a young woman on a leash. Daniel recognized her immediately, she was the slave girl owned by the merchant, which the system had required him to set free.

The girl was sobbing uncontrollably, as newly added handprint-like marks decorated her face. The girl had clearly been hit before reaching the stage.

Daniel gritted his teeth while listening to the man's presentation.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the next item is a good one." said the auctioneer while indicating at the girl's body. "This young slave will clean your house when you are away, she will carry your items for you, and warm your bed at night! Want to have a pleasant conversation? Wonderful, because she is also educated!"

"..she doesn't seem used to being a slave.."

"Whoever is going to buy her will have to tame her.."

"That's true, it's a lot of work."

The public began to discuss amongst each other.

The auctioneer quietened for a moment as he noticed the unconvinced expressions of the people in the crowd. He decided to give up publicizing the girl, and went straight to the starting price.

"The starting price for this slave is 3 gold coins. Every bid has to be no lower than 10 silver" Said the auctioneer

"...3 gold and 20 silver, she is still worth that much"

"...I agree. 3 gold and 40 silver"

"The current price is 3 gold and 40 silver, does anyone have a higher offer?" Inquired the auctioneer calmly, reminding the interested parties to place their bid.

"3 gold and 50 here!"

"..3 gold and 65 silver!"

"3 gold and 85 silver"

The price kept increasing slowly, as only three people were bidding for the girl. Daniel noticed that all three of these people had a shockingly big, red number floating above tier heads. Their intentions for the girl had to be unspeakable.

Bids after bids were offered, until..

"She is not worth that much, here is my final offer, 5 gold coins" Said the first bidder, a middle aged man with a cleanly shaved beard, and long black hair. The number floating above his head was a dark red 905.

"Since we are giving our last bids.. 5 gold and 20 silver." Retorted a fat man with elegant clothes. He had a long goatee and small eyes. His number was almost as high as the first bidder, reaching 882 points indicated in dark red. He was the second bidder.

"I give up, it's not worth it anymore" Said the third and last bidder, a muscular looking man with a clean cut and tight fitting practitioner's robes. On his head, a shocking 1570 which shined of a blood-like red color could be seen.

"Seems the little girl is mine then, He he" Said the fat man while chuckling.

No other bid could be heard after the fat man's words. Nobody felt threatened by him, they simply didn't think the girl was worth that much.

"The current bid is 5 gold and 20 silver, anybody wishes to bid higher?" Said the auctioneer. "5 gold and 20 silver going once, goi.."

"5 gold and 40 silver." A young voice interrupted the auctioneer's voice.

The three previous men, along with the auctioneer, turned to look at the direction from which the voice came. Its owner was a young man dressed in servant's clothes. That young man was none other than Daniel.

The fat man felt slightly annoying by this young man, so he decided to teach him a lesson. "5 gold and 50 si.." But when he was about to announce his new bid, he was interrupted by the young man's voice.

"5 gold and 60 silver." Said Daniel with a loud voice.

The fat man's thin brows furrowed deeply. He thought that the young man was keen on buying this girl, so after muttering a few curses towards him, he decided to give up.

"..and 60 silver going twice! 5 gold and 60 silver! Sold to the number 0635!"

Daniel was extremely elated at this moment. He had obtained the proof that the karmic system's information were precise in every possible way, be it the time limit or the required money to win the auction, every detail was perfect.

Aside from feeling happy about the usefulness of his newly acquired system, he also felt happy for helping the slave girl, not to say ruining any malicious plan which the fat man had for her. He hadn't forgotten that the quest also indicated the girl's time of death. He was sure that if the girl were to be sold to the fat man, she wouldn't have much longer to live.

As he was thinking about the girl's fate, a window popped into his head.

*Primary Quest started: No Rest for the Wicked*

-Description: Complicate the lives of individuals with bad karma.

First objective set: Make people with bad karma outbid themselves

Reward: Karma 10 per person / Dragon's Breath Auction House reputation 25%

Failure: Karma -150

When Daniel read the description of his newly acquired quest, he became ecstatic. Not only the system allowed him to spend Karma points to increase his strengthening speed, but it was also able to find for him the various different ways to earn karma, and even increase his influence with other parties. The more he found out about the Karmic system, the more he understood how helpful it would be to him.

Daniel had a clear idea of what the new mission required him to do, so with a wide grin on his face, he started listening to the presentation of the next item.

"The next item is one of today's special pieces." Said the man while uncovering the next auctioned item.

What he uncovered was a dummy. This dummy was dressed in a tightly fitting leather armor. The armor was of an even brown color, and the protective parts were made out of what looked like scales. The leather armor was composed of four pieces, a chest armor, vambraces, greaves and boots.

"This armor has been forged from the scales of a rank 4 Soft Scaled Wyvern, by the hands of a master armorsmith. It has an impressive resistance to fire, and its advanced design prevents any kind of discomfort while wearing it." Explained the auctioneer while observing the crow's reaction. "The starting price is 60 gold coins, every increase has to be of at least 50 silver coins."

The moment the description ended, a voice came from one of the private booths on the first floor. "62 gold coins.."

Then another.. "65 gold coins.."

The ground floor's crowd was completely quiet. Most of them knew that those who could afford to reserve a private booth, were not people to be messed with. The others simply couldn't afford to place a bet.

The bids came one after the other, making the armor reach the astonishing price of 110 gold coins.

Of the five booths that were competing for the rank 4 armor, only two remained. Daniel could see one of them thanks to his position. Unfortunately, he could not see the second one as the booth was right above his seat.

The first bidder was a bald old man. On his face, a vicious scar started from underneath his eyes, and went all the way down towards his lips, splitting them diagonally into two sets. Above his head, the biggest number that Daniel had ever seen, shone of a dark red color. The number was 15.968.

After a few more minutes, the bidding war seemed to slow down significantly, until the second party gave up on the item.

The only remaining bidder was the scarred old man.

Noticing the lack of competition, the auctioneer said "The current bid is 138 gold coins, going on-" but before he could finish, a familiar voice interrupted him once more.

"139 gold coins."

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"139 gold coins."

The whole crowd turned to look at Daniel, as the sparkle of conversation was lit once in the hall.

"145 gold coins!" Said the old man.

"146 gold goins" Retorted Daniel right away..

"..Young man.. You are risking it!.." Said the old man angrily. "150!" He then said.

Daniel raised his voice to bid once more. "151 gold coins"

"ENOUGH!!" Shouted the old man angrily, while punching the wooden table next to his chair, and turning it into splinters. "I AM WARNING YOU BRAT! 165!" He then said through a face contorted by rage.

*No Rest for the Wicked"

Objective completion 5,88%

Karma points 10

The moment the window appeared in Daniel's mind, he immediately understood that the old man had reached his limit.

Daniel was not too worried about offending people at this auction house, as this auction hadn't announced any particular items, most of the people present were merchants and low level cultivators.

Only a few powerful cultivators and rich men, like the scarred old man, were present, which considering the fact that they had waited for certain items to show up to start bidding, one could assume that they were here, not for the auction, but for those few specific items.

Needless to say that nobody would expect him to go back to the slums, right after the end of this auction, especially after bidding hundreds of gold coins.

The scarred old man felt irritated by Daniel, so much so that, in his mind, he started thinking of ways to teach him a lesson. His final decision was to outbid him whenever an item he was interested in would appear.

For the people of Phyrri wealth was everything. Strength allowed to control the weak, but at the end of the day, no matter if it was strength, power or influence, all was related to money.

This had been the reason for the division of the population into distinct social classes. For the scarred old man, being tricked by a youngster dressed in servant's clothes that couldn't even afford a private booth, was unacceptable.

During the auction of every single item after that, when the bidding seemed to have reached an end, Daniel would regularly start a bidding war with the final bidder, increasing the item's price by impressive amounts, and only stopping after the system would update his quest.

*No Rest for the Wicked"

Objective completion 94,12%

Karma points 10

At the sixteenth auctioned item, Daniel had already made a small army of enemies for himself. Various people had started to outbid any of his bids, although only increasing the prices for other bidders.

From an external point of view, Daniel seemed to be interested in every single one of the items.. but what made the group of people irritated the most, was that this damn brat seemed to be able to read their minds. In fact, whenever they felt happy with the increase in price, and waited the young man to overpay for the item, he would instead give up on it, making them pay for an item they didn't wanted to begin with, or force other people to purchase the item instead.

The total number of auctioned items comprised by the quest was, including the leather armor, 17. The seventeenth and last item for the day, was Daniel's beast core.

Daniel was waiting for this moment. The new quest had not only given him a chance to obtain more Karma points by swindling other bidders, but also the possibility to obtain more money from the auction of his item.

Feigning disappointment, he looked towards his main enemies hatefully, before once more directing his eyes on the stage.

When the last auctioned item was uncovered, Daniel jumped up on his feet. His expression an elated one, and his fists shut tight, as if he had seen a long lost brother.

His actions had caught the eyes of every single person in the hall, especially his enemies. A series of malicious smirks grew on various faces within the crowd.

"The next item is one you rarely see put up for auction.. A peak rank 3 beast core! I have no need to remind you all of the importance a peak rank 3 beast core has to increase one's cultivation past the third rank. The starting bid is 5 gold coins and every increase has to be no less than 10 silver coi-"

"5 gold and 50 silver coins!" Shouted Daniel animatedly.

.."6 gold coins!" Said a man in the crowd.

.. "Here, 7 gold and 50 silver"

Many had noticed the enthusiasm in Daniel's voice, but while some weren't naive enough to fall for his act, some others, blinded by the outrage of being played by a mere servant, couldn't help but become his victims once again.

After a couple of long minutes, the item had reached the price estimated by the auction house of 15 gold coins, however, the bidding war was still far from over.

"See if I don't put you in your place this time, brat.. 20 gold coins!" Said the scarred old man.

Daniel hadn't reached any message from the karmic system, so he was sure that someone in the crowd was willing to offer a higher price, therefore he kept going "21 gold coins!"

"Your master should have teached you how to respect those above you, servant" Said disdainfully a beautiful woman which was occupying the booth directly opposite to the scarred old man's. This woman was wearing the attire of an elder from a known medium sized women only martial art school, situated in the merchant district. She wore a purple kimono, with the yellow and green pattern of a crane soaring through the skies sewed on it.

The first time Daniel noticed this woman was when she had bidded for the slave girl. What made Daniel curious about this woman, was that her number had decreased the moment she had placed her bid.

Above this woman's head a small red 62, which originally was 82, could be seen floating. The first time Daniel had noticed the woman's karma, Sewah had commented into his head "That woman must be very nice to her students.. but slightly more brutal to her enemies. He he he"

Daniel didn't know what her reasons for bidding for the slave girl were, however, he was convinced that they couldn't have been too bad, if just by bidding for her, the woman's negative karma had decreased. Unfortunately her intentions weren't enough, since according to the karmic system, the girl would be sold for a higher price than the one she had bid, leading to her being killed within 6 days by her new owner.

The woman had a bone to pick with Daniel, which had made the price of the rank 4 fan that she wanted to buy, increase to almost double the original amount.

"24 gold coins" Said the woman.

Once more, to Daniel's elation, the message didn't appear. "25!" He shouted.

"25 gold coins and 50 silver" Said a middle aged man with a clean shaved beard who was sitting amongst the crowd of the first floor.

"26 gold coins!" Daniel bids were fast and showed impatience. Of course, this was all an act. He wanted the other bidders to believe that he wanted the item at all costs.

"28 gold coins.." Said the scarred old man while acting enraged, and yet showing a hint of anxiousness.

At this point of the auction, most participants were simply trying to bloat the beast core's price in order to have Daniel buy it with a huge loss. They all acted like they needed the object desperately, and yet they were approaching their limits. Some of them even pretended to argue amongst themselves.

The scarred old man had placed his ultimate bid. He wanted Daniel to buy the item at almost double its worth. "Come on brat.. it's all yours.. He he he" Muttered the scarred old man quietly. Unfortunately, what he expected to happen didn't actually happen. His covered grin turned into a hideous one, as he noticed the wide smile that had appeared on Daniel's face.

Inside Daniel's mind, a series of small windows had appeared.

*No Rest for the Wicked*

Objective completion 100%

Karma points 10

*No Rest for the Wicked*

First objective complete.

Reward: 170 Karma Points / Dragon's Breath Auction House reputation 25%

"The current highest bid is 28 gold coins. Is there anyone who wants to offer more?.." The auctioneer said before observing the room. He then looked at the menacing looks of the various participant of the auction.. before finally looking at Daniel.

When the auctioneer's eyes landed on Daniel, he looked away, showing an expression completely devoid of interest.

"Going once, going twice.. Sold to the booth number 028.." Said the auctioneer dispiritedly. He then continued "This is all for today's auction. As always, you can approach the counter to collect your purchases. The Dragon's Breath Auction House hopes that you have enjoyed today's event, and wishes you a safe travel back." He then bowed deeply, and left the stage from the side.

The moment those last few words were spoken, Daniel was already halfway through the door. He didn't want to give the others any time to trap him inside the auction house, so since the beginning, he had intended to leave the auction house first.

When he reached the counter, he found the woman that had offered him the credit waiting for him at the counter. When she saw him, she smiled at him brightly, and said "You really do know how to make enemies." she then handed him a small bag "In here are 20 gold coins, we've rounded them up for you.."

Daniel had no reaction to this. He knew that the woman didn't consider him a naive young man anymore. And for a good reason. He had asked for 5 gold and 60 silver coins, and that was exactly what he had spent. Not counting how much he had managed to increase the bids for the item he had put up for auction.

The woman then grabbed a bell from behind the counter, and ringed it three times. After a few seconds, the girl that Daniel had originally seen behind the counter, appeared from behind a door. Next to her was a girl in ragged clothes. Her ankles and wrists had been chained, making escape impossible for her. That girl, was the slave girl that Daniel had bought with the intention of freeing.

Daniel took the slave deed and key out of the girl's hands and unlocked the slave girl's binds right away. He then ripped the deed into shreds.

The slave girl was too surprised by Daniel's decisive actions. She rubbed her sore wrists and cheeks, and as she was about to thank him, Daniel grabbed her wrist and started heading towards the exit of the building.

As the woman noticed Daniel's sudden actions "You are welcome to come back whenever you want, have a safe travel back!" she said while slightly increasing the volume of her voice as each of her words came out of her mouth.

"I wouldn't hold my breath" muttered Daniel as he left the auction house. Going back to this auction house was out of the question for Daniel. The woman had tried to scheme against him from the very beginning, and even after he had made the auction house gain a much larger amount of money in commissions, by increasing bids and making many enemies for himself, they still tried to invite him back to repeat this, despite the dangers he faced. Daniel had no good opinions about the Dragon's Breath Auction House.

Without giving her a moment to speak, Daniel dragged the girl between alleys, only stopping after reaching a particularly dark one, just a few hundred meters away from the auction house. He then let go of the girl's hand, and said to her "You are free now, do you have someplace to go?"

The girl shook her head gently.. her eyes reddening.

Daniel took pity on her.. he had imagined his sister being in her shoes, and the idea that she would wander the streets until she would be made a slave again, was unacceptable to him. "Okay, you can stay with me and my sister for a bit. We currently live in the slums, but we will move soon.."

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Merchant district, western gate. 17:08

In front of the large gate that connected the working district and the merchant district, a long row of people could be seen waiting in line to pass through.

Amongst this row of people, two teenager could be seen waiting in line. They both had servant clothes, and each of them had surprisingly good looks.

These two people were, of course, Daniel and the slave girl.

Only a couple of hours had passed since the end of the auction, and Daniel had been so focused on leaving the merchant district, that he didn't have a chance to properly speak to the girl he had just set free. He only stopped once to make sure that the girl didn't have a family to come back to, and to offer her a place to stay.

After that interaction had ended, and the girl had shyly accepted Daniel's offer, the system's message finally appeared.

*Freedom for All!"

First objective complete.

Reward: 75 Karma Points

The girl wasn't really expecting Daniel to honor his promise, and when he saw him in the crowd, bidding for her, she still had doubts about his motives. All these doubts had been eradicated from her mind, the moment he destroyed the slave deed and set her free on the spot.

She spent the next couple of hours in silence, following this strange young man as he took her to a bath house, as he bought her clothes, and offered to her a place to stay.

"My name is Daniel by the way.." Said Daniel randomly, while waiting in line. "..yours?" he then continued.

"Mea.." She answered in a low voice.

Daniel was thinking about how to ask his next question.. he never had meaningful conversations with anyone but his sister, nor did he know how to deal with difficult subjects, so he decided to ask directly.

"You don't look used to being a slave, what happened to you?" He asked her.

Mea looked at him and said "I am not.. I was the young mistress of the Rulin house.. my full name is Mea'hor Rulin.." Said the girl with hints of pride and sadness in her voice.

Daniel was surprised by the Mea's words. He didn't know who the master of the Rulin house was, nor how important the Rulin were in Karalis's spectrum of families, sects and schools, but he knew that a house, in order to have a master and a young mistress, had to have some sort of power.

He looked at Mea and asked her "What happened to your house? How could they allow their young mistress to be taken as a slave??"

Mea's look turned even sadder before responding "My father was a powerful martial cultivator of the 7th rank.. he was one of the main forces of Karalis's army during the war, eight years ago, but he disappeared without leaving a trace when the war was coming to an end."

A clear trace of anger grew in her voice as she continued "One of my father's old enemies, the master of the School of Everlasting Fury, didn't waste time to accuse him of deserting for the enemy kingdom." she said while biting her bottom lip.

"After the war ended, and my father never returned to clear his name, many voices through the kingdom started to circulate.. Spreading the news that the master of the Rulin house had betrayed the Karalis kingdom. So many people had been lost in that war.. and when the rumor of a traitor had been spread, the people demanded the king to issue an eradication order for my entire family."

At this point, tears were forming on the corners of her eyes "The king must have thought that we had no more worth without my father.. so he gave in under the pressure, and ordered an eradication campaign against my house.." She said while brushing the welling up tears from her eyes "We had been alerted by one of my father's loyal friends, that the king had ordered for our extermination, so in the middle of the night, we escaped.. and have been on the run ever since."

Daniel didn't know what to say. He knew nothing about politics, nor did he know what happened within the high echelons of a kingdom. After thinking for a few moments, he asked "So what happened to the rest of your family?.." But he immediately regretted asking it.

"The eradication campaign didn't stop only because we had escaped.. we had become traitors within the kingdom, so no matter where we went.. when we were found out.. we would be hunted down and killed. From what I know, I-I might as well be the only survivors" After Mea finished explaining, she couldn't help remembering all the painful moments she had been through in the last half of her life.. and start crying.

Daniel had never been one to judge without knowing the facts. He knew of the dark side of people, in fact, he could see it clearly thanks to his karmic system. So even if he felt angry when learning that Mea's father was one of Karalis's main forces during the war, and therefore one of the warriors that had been too late to save his father, he still understood that, since the one who accused Mea's father of being a traitor was one of his enemies, that accusation must have been a diffamatory one.. aimed to turn an enemy into a traitor.

Of course, everyone knew about the bad blood between the Rulin's house master and the master of the School of Everlasting Fury. Most had guessed that the latter was aiming to get rid of one of his old enemies when he accused the former of treason, so most of the king's council and the king himself had rejected his ideas of treating the Rulin's master and family as traitors.

What forced the king to change his mind was the public outrage that, when the rumors of the Rulin's house master had deserted for the enemy kingdom spread like wildfire through his still grieving kingdom, had forced him to cave in.

Daniel dropped the topic and waited patiently for their turn to pass through to arrive. Half an hour later, they had reached the commoner's section of the working district.

On his way back, Daniel had stopped more than once to various shops and marketplaces to buy the essentials for Mea, numerous rank 1 beast cores, and a cultivation manual for martial and spiritual cultivation. He and Mea walked towards his sister's school, and waited for her to come out to go back home together.

Daniel had taken that habit in the past couple of years. Whenever he would be close to his sister's school, if her lessons were close to come to an end, he would wait for her to come out, before going home together.

After half an hour of waiting, young men and women started coming out of the building. Daniel looked around until he noticed a group of seven teenagers, four of them were boys and three of them were girls.

Amongst this group of people, one girl stood out the most. She had an imp-thin figure that was shown by her tightly fitting clothes. Her complexion was porcelain white and her cheeks were of a natural rosy color. Her slightly arched eyebrows stood above a pair gentle wide set eyes, with pupils of a beautiful brown-green color. Her delicate ears framed a just as delicate button-like nose. Right underneath, a pair of bow-shaped, healthy red lips opened and closed, showing a set of pearly white teeth. Her caramel colored hair flowed above her chest area in big waves, bordering her face beautifully.

She was chatting peacefully with her group of friends, and when she noticed the young man standing at the school's gate, she waved her arm at him "Dan!!"

Daniel's smile grew wide as he and Mea approached the group of teenagers. As the girl which had called for his name approached him, Daniel said gently "Sister.." The smile never leaving his face.

She hugged Daniel tightly and said "Did you eat what i've left you this morning?"

"Of course!.. it was awful" He said with a smirk on his face.

Daniel had a special relationship with his sister. She was older than him, but since he provided for the both of them, they had always felt strange behaving like the classical "older sister and younger brother". The complicity between the two was so deep that they behaved more like partners in crime than siblings.

After a few moments, Daniel took the books right out of his sister's hands and put them into his backpack. He then looked at her while indicating towards Mea, and said "Sister, this is Mea, she'll be staying with us for a while" he then looked towards Mea and said "Mea, she is my sister, Reila"

He then gave a moment for the news to sink into his sister's head.

Reila had complete trust in Daniel's actions. For her, her brother had good judgement, and whatever he did, he would do it for a good reason. Of course, this had never stopped her from teasing him for his decisions.. With this objective in mind, she looked at Mea "My real name is Rei Hiel, but you can call me Reila. It's a real pleasure to meet you Mea, I hope you're not in trouble because of my brother. If he tries anything weird, a kick in between his legs is always an available option" she said while smirking.

Daniel expected this kind of comment from her, just like every other member of her group of friends, which had become used to the dynamics of this particular pair of siblings.

Mea, on the other hand, was extremely surprised. She thought that Daniel had been rude to her, and that Reila wanted to make him pay for his crude remark, but that wasn't the case.

After bidding farewell to her schoolmates, Reila, Daniel and Mea started heading back home. In their travel back, Mea and Reila chatted for a bit. It didn't take long for Reila to learn about Mea's circumstances.

Mea felt grateful to Daniel, so she didn't want her brother to have secrets from his sister. She had decided that she would tell her situation to Reila, and then let the pair of siblings decide if it was worth helping her.

What surprised Mea even more, was that whenever she mentioned Daniel's actions, the expression on Reila's face grew prouder and prouder.

At the end of Mea's story, Reila's trust for Daniel's judgement had only reinforced. She then approached Daniel by the side, hit his arm with her elbow, and kissed the side of his head.

Mea expected a heated conversation between the pair of siblings, but again, she was wrong.

Daniel had expected his sister's action, as they weren't uncommon. "Sister, I will go home and pack our stuff, would you mind taking Mea with you and go to look for a bigger house in the commoner's district?.." As he said these words, he kept looking at his sister's expression from the corners of his eyes.. he then added "Somewhere close to your friend's houses maybe.."

His sister looked at him with wide eyes. A smile that made people turn around in disbelief grew on Reila's face.. Daniel had promised to her more than once that, once their debt would be settled, and things would have been easier for them, they would move closer to her friends. That had become one of his sister's dreams.

Reila couldn't help but wrap her slender arms around her brother's chest, and squeeze him tightly.

Daniel felt like his promise to his mother had been partially fulfilled.. She was safe, she was happy.. and she would have a good life. These were Daniel's most important objectives.

After a few seconds, Reila let go of her brother. Daniel handed a small bag containing 10 gold coins to her, and asked her to rent the biggest house she could find. He then bid farewell to the two girls and started walking towards the slums.

When reaching his house, before starting to pack their belongings, he took a small pouch which contained the rank 1 beast cores and the books regarding martial and spiritual cultivation, then he sat on his bed.

"Sewah, mind explaining how do I use my karma points again?.."

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"It's about time! I thought you would end up only using me for becoming rich! He he" Answered Sewah.

Part of Daniel's plan had always been to become stronger. Strength was dependant on money in Phyrri, but in order to make money, unless born into a rich family, one required something to rely on.

Originally Daniel wanted to pay his debt, allow his sister to graduate from school, and then let her find a good job. But after seeing the way the wealthy treated human lives of the lowest level, he realized that he needed more than that. He needed a way to prevent others from stepping over him and his sister, like the hotel owner did with his family. He needed strength.

Daniel wasn't harmless anymore, he didn't need to live by the day like he used to.. He had the Karmic system now.. He could plan.

*Primary Quest started: You Can't Do Good Without Strength!*

-Description: Obtain enough power to protect those in need.

First objective set: Cultivate to the peak "Vasodilation" of the martial cultivation, or the peak "Profound Spiritual connection" of the spiritual cultivation.

Optional: Reach "perfection" before breaking through the next stage.

Reward: Karma 500(1000)

Time limit: 3 months(4 months)

Surprise grew on Daniel's face as one more window appeared inside his mind, warning him that a new quest had started.

Since the moment he had awakened Sewah and the karmic system, Daniel had understood a few things about it. First of all, a primary quest had to start from a train of thought. For example, the "Freedom for all!" quest had started when had witnessed the treatment Mea had received by the fat merchant, and his desire to set her free, had triggered the creation of the quest. Second, a quest has to pertain to Karma. In each quest a decision had to be made that would either grant him positive or negative karma, meaning that he could possibly create any sort of quest, provided that he formulated it within the parameters of karmic influence.

The very last quest, for example, wouldn't have been created if Daniel only wished to become strong. But since he decided to become strong in order to protect his sister, he turned his motive into one that would influence his karma, therefore creating the quest.

"Well, that comes in handy! He he" Sewah was just about to explain how to utilize karmic points to Daniel, when the window appeared. He was, of course, part of the karmic system, so he was able to see through every change within the system itself, like Daniel could. "It's very simple, really.. Start cultivating, and whenever you will enter a lengthy process, just think of speeding it up. Your karmic points will slowly decrease, until you'll run out.. Have you learned nothing from me!? Trial and error! come on!" Explained Sewah.

Daniel still didn't know anything about cultivation. That was the reason why he had bought the cultivation manuals. He took them out and started reading through their pages.

In Daniel's world, cultivation had two main branches.

The Martial cultivation, which allowed a person to strengthen their bodies through the use of Ki, and Spiritual cultivation, which had the aim of cultivating one's spirit through the use of mana, and increase its connection to the spiritual plane, from which the cultivator could absorb the power required to use magic.

The basics of martial and spiritual cultivation explained the first two "main stages" of cultivation. Each main stage was divided into three sub stages, commonly referred to as "ranks".

Each person would be born as a mortal, and their default stages of cultivation were at the "Muscle Strengthening" of the martial cultivation, and the "Spirit Forming" of the spiritual cultivation. These two stages were known as the starting point of every human being, and therefore referred to as unranked.

The first two main stages of the martial cultivation were the Body Strengthening stage, and the Nigh Inhuman stage.

The Body strengthening stage started with the Organs Enhancing sub-stage, or rank 1, which enhanced your organs resistance and efficiency. The rank 2, or the Bones Refining sub-stage, was the stage that would allow the cultivator to increase the density of their bones. The third and last sub-stage of the Body Strengthening stage was called Vasodilation, and was the dilation of one's blood vessels, which would increase the flux of blood that would allow the body keep up with the increased strain.

After breaking through from the Body strengthening stage, one would find himself into the Nigh Inhuman Stage. The Nigh Inhuman stage was similarly divided into three sub-stages, or ranks.

Starting from the Full Control sub-stage, or rank 4, which allowed a person to perfect the control of their body. The rank 5, described as the Reflex Heightening sub-stage, was the stage that allowed a cultivator to increase his reflexes to an inhuman level. Ultimately, the Surrounding Awareness sub-stage, or Rank 6, was the stage that allowed a cultivator to develop a field around their bodies, inside which they would have complete awareness.

The book that Daniel had bought only mentioned the third main stage of the martial cultivation as "Immortal Path stage".

Similarly to the basics of the martial cultivation, the basics of spiritual cultivation only explained the depth of the first two stages. They were called the Spirit Connection, and Spiritual Synchronization stages.

The sub-stages of spiritual cultivation were much easier to understand, as the spirit had much less parts to nurture when compared to the body. Therefore, each main stage of the spiritual cultivation's sub-stages were used to indicate the progress in the main stage, and were referred to as faint, moderate and profound. For example, a person in the first rank of the spiritual cultivation would be referred to as a spiritual cultivator at the faint spiritual connection stage.

Like in the manual of martial cultivation, the third stage of spiritual cultivation had only been mentioned, and it was called the "Spirit Merging" stage.

The more Daniel read the more he understood, but at the end, he started to have some doubts.. Why was there no mention to "perfection" in any of these books?

He read the manual's pages over and over again, but the answers he looked for were nowhere to be found. According to the manuals, one could attempt to breakthrough to the next stage right after refining their blood vessels if cultivated the body, or reached the profound spiritual connection if they cultivated the spirit.

Daniel had no way of understanding the depths of these stages with the information he was give by these manuals. He had four months to reach the peak of the first stage, and learn what perfection meant.

Setting his thoughts aside, Daniel started reading the methods of cultivation depicted in the manuals.

A martial cultivator produced Ki through the strain of the body. Ki, similarly to the core essence of a ranked beast, was the essence of the human's body, and it was produced constantly.

Breathing, exercising, training and combat.. These were just few of the methods a martial cultivator had to produce Ki. The produced ki could then be used to gradually refine the cultivator's body.

Just like a martial practitioner used ki to cultivate, a spiritual cultivator used mana to strengthen the spirit.

Mana was a natural essence that could be found everywhere in the world. Each and every type of essence, included ki and beast essence, were in fact, mana. The very own definition of mana comprised every sort of naturally formed essence which belonged to the earthly plane.

A spiritual cultivator could produce ki just like any martial cultivator through the use of breathing and training, and then use the ki to strengthen their spirit.

Most people had no means to cultivate, and therefore stayed at the Spirit forming, or Muscle Strengthening stages, so they erroneously considered mana as an alternative sort of essence to ki, while instead calling it a "generic" sort of essence, would be much more accurate.

At some point in the past, after martial cultivators had found out that every type of essence could nurture the spirit, they started to experiment with the aim of finding out every viable sources of essence which could be used to increment their cultivation speed.

After dozens of years, they had realized that, every form of essence produced by a living being could be absorbed by their bodies and turned into ki.

This had been the reason that had started the hunt for ranked beasts, and many uncountable wars between humans and the other races.

Daniel had decided to cultivate the martial path, so he read the martial way of cultivation and adjusted his body into the lotus position. He had also decided to avoid using beast cores, as he wanted to familiarize to the human's natural way of cultivation through self produced ki.

For an hour, he breathed in and out slowly. Whenever he breathed in, his enhanced lungs would expand and send waves after waves of newly produced ki through his muscles, blood vessels and organs. When this ki had reached every corner body, Daniel forced it to seep through his tissue and reach his bones, then he began to refine them.

His marrow slowly became denser, his carticalge became more elastic, the stratum of cortical bone became harder by the minute.

After another hour, Daniel decided to stop.

He had read that breakthrough was a lengthy process, and he wanted to know how much of his karma cultivating for two straight hours had consumed.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank

- peak rank 2 of Martial cultivation

- early rank 2 of Spiritual cultivation

Karma - 656

Daniel was extremely surprised that it took him only two hours to increase his cultivation from early rank 2 to peak rank 2. Unfortunately, he still had no idea of the rate his karmic system had speeded his cultivation. All he knew was that, before he started cultivating, he had 662 karma points, which meant that, for basic breathing cultivation, he would require to spend 1 point every 20 minutes.

This had left him elated, as this type of cultivation was effortless and required a very small amount of karma points. Of course, he knew that different methods of cultivation would increase the amount of ki produced, which would likely require longer times to be absorbed.

When he was about to make an attempt by using a rank 1 beast core, he heard knocking sounds coming from his door. At this point, Daniel realized that he had been cultivating for the past two hours, and that he still hadn't started to pack things up.

He put his beast cores and manuals back into his backpack, and went to answer the door. Behind it, a couple of men were standing one in front of the other. The one in front was a short and skinny man, while the one in the back was tall and stout. The skinny man had a small triangular face, with a nose so big that it looked out of place. On his head, a lock of thin hair had been glued to his scalp with the intent of hiding his impending baldness. At the base of his neck, a vicious looking scar that reached from ear to ear could be seen pulsating whenever he breathed in.

The tall and burly man was completely bald. His eyes small as a pair of needles, and his neck was so fat that it was indistinguishable where his jaw ended and where his neck started.

Daniel knew these two men all too well. He had never learned their real names, but he knew that within their organization, they were called Rat and Sweet Cheeks. The skinny man was, of course, Rat.. the reason why the big and fat one was called sweet cheeks, had always been a mystery to him.

What was more important than the origin of their nicknames, was the fact that these two men worked for the hotel owner to whom he owed his debt.

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"Daniel!" Said Rat with an amicable smile on his face.

Daniel had no good impressions about these two men. They always came a couple of days before the end of the month, to remind them what would happen to him and his sister in case they wouldn't be able to pay in time.

"Cheeks.. Rat.." Daniel had met them many times before, and in time, he had found out how acknowledging Sweet Cheeks first, would always enrage Rat.

Unfortunately, Rat knew just as well where to hit back. "You are always the same arrogant little shit, ain't ya.." Said Rat while laughing. He then looked at Daniel attentively and continued "I can't wait to drag you to the mines.. and have some fun with your pretty sis.."

Daniel felt his blood boil when he noticed that, while saying his last remark, Rat had touched himself inbetween his legs, hinting what he meant by 'have some fun with your pretty sis'.

Happy about hitting where it hurt, Rat added "Remember that the Boss own's you brat.. Forget the next payment and you'll see"

"Why don't you take me to your boss then.. I already have his money." Retorted Daniel right away.

Rat's moment had been ruined, and he wasn't in the mood to joke around anymore, so he made a serious face and said "Petty thief, you are safe for another month then.. give me the money" He then extended his hand towards Daniel.

"I think you have misunderstood.. I have all your boss's money." Said Daniel as a faint smile grew on his face. He then took a small bag out of his backpack, and let a couple of gold coins slide over his palm, showing them to the couple of goons.

Rat slowly retracted his hand while looking seriously at Daniel. To say that the idea of convincing him to give him the money, like any other monthly payment, and then report to his boss that he had only received 10 silver coins as usual didn't crossed his mind.. would be to lie.

Unfortunately, the thought left as fast as it appeared. He knew very well how cunning Daniel was, and even if he felt comfortable with cheating him, he would never do that in front of Sweet Cheeks. One had to know that Sweet Cheeks and him weren't friends, they were partners, and Sweet Cheeks was fiercely loyal to their boss.

"Alright, let's go to see the boss then." Rat said, still irritated that Daniel had decided to show him the money in front of Sweet Cheeks.

Commoner's section, 18:12

Inside a large hotel was a square lounge room. This lounge room had three doors that allowed access inside. Next to one of these doors was a counter, behind which a young beautiful woman was standing. On the other side of this room, two couches had been placed one facing the other, and inbetween them, was a spotlessly clean coffee table.

On one of these couches, Daniel was sitting.

Daniel had been facing one of these three doors for the past ten minutes. He had seen this door open only once, and it was when a burly man had come out to chat with the young woman behind the counter.

During the few moments in which the door had been opened, before it closed, Daniel noticed that inside the room on the other side of this door, at least two dozens of though looking men were waiting. What startled Daniel was that each and everyone of the men he had laid eyes upon, had negative karma, which made him guess that these men were guards, and that they were waiting for something to happen before storming in and defend their employer.

While Daniel was worrying about how wise the choice of coming here now had been, the large double door next to the counter suddently opened. Rat came out of the room, looked at Daniel and said "Boss is ready to see you, come in."

Daniel got up from the couch and walked towards the double door.

Behind the double door, a long study room extended for at least twenty meters. A large library covered the entirety of the wall at the far end of the room. Large windows at the right side flushed the entire room with the reddish lights of dusk. Halfway through the room was a coffee table, around which, three chairs had been placed. On one of these chairs Sweet Cheeks was sitting.

On the far end of the room, right in front of the library, was a large ebony black desk. Behind this desk, a gentle looking old man was sitting peacefully, sipping tea from a refined looking cup.

This man seemed to be approaching his late sixties, with smokey grey hair and skin wizened with age. Nevertheless, the shine of his watery blue eyes, removed from the minds of everyone who saw him, the idea that he wasn't the brutal man that he had been in the past. Behind him, a couple of burly men stood quietly.

Daniel walked next to Rat until they reached right in front of the desk, then Rat walked back and sat on one of the chairs near Sweet Cheeks.

"So, you are Dan.. Than's son.. you look just like him.." Said the old man amiably.

Daniel was aware that the old man was acquainted with is father, so it wasn't a surprise for him when he mentioned his name. "I'm here to pay my mother's debt." Said Daniel, refusing to follow the old man's topic of conversation.

"Rash.. it's a family trait I guess.." Muttered the old man. "Your mother's debt is 7 gold and 40 silver coins, do you have all of them?"

Daniel threw the small bag of coins on the desk, right in front of the old man. The old man nodded at one of the goons standing behind him, which then started checking the content of the small bag. As his man comfirmed that they were coins, and started counting them, the old man looked at Daniel and said "Have you ever heard about the reason why I was acquainted to your father?.." The smile on his face still present and as amiable as it ever was.

"If you are mentioning it, it must have meant money for you.. my guess is that you'll tell me now" Daniel retorted immediately.

"..It does.. Not just any money, your money." The old man was surprised by the calm attitude Daniel had. Many young men and women, inheritors of their parent's debt, had stood in front of him, but none was as calm as Daniel was. "Unfortunately, your father and I had a less.. official.. agreement."

Daniel's eyes narrowed. He had expected the old man to try to extort more money from him, that is the reason why, noticing the room full of bodyguards, he had felt slightly worried. What he never expected, was for the old man to talk about the dealings he had with his father.

"Our deal was also.. of a different nature.." The old man took his time, he had learned, after so many years of activity, that one had to make the fish curious before it would take a bite. Meanwhile, the man standing next to the old man had finished counting the coins. He then put the small bag back on the desk and nodded at the old man quietly.

"The last payment has been made.. you and your sister have no more reasons to worry about us.." Said the old man, dropping the topic of his father abruptly. He then started to slowly sip on his tea once again.

Daniel stood in front of the desk for a full minute, and as Rat reached his side and was about to escort him out of the room, he said "Tell me about the deal you had with my father".

The old man put down the cup, looked at him and then responded "Than came to me, years back.. looking for a slave.."

"Bullshit!" Said Daniel furiously "My father would never buy a slave!"

"I never said he wanted to buy one.. he wanted to free one" Retorted the old man while slowly adding a sugar cube to his cup of tea.

This time, Daniel kept quiet and allowed the old man to finish.

"The slave your father wanted me to find.. was his younger brother. He had escaped from your family's ancestral home, when your family was a little more than a couple of brats playing in the mud. Looking for him was the reason your father moved to Phyrri to begin with. When he first came to this city, he saw his brother being sold to a mine baron, which he later learned had a business relation with me. After that, he came to me." Said the old man, all at once.

Daniel had heard from his father that he wasn't a native of Phyrri, that he had moved here only a couple of years before his sister had been born. What he never learned, was why.

"He got himself killed in war, before I could tell him that I had found his brother..."

Daniel was shocked about this story. He spent years trying to keep his sister and himself free, without knowing that an uncle they had never heard about, had been working tirelessly in a mine for the past 16 years. He didn't have much time to enjoy his freedom before a new deal had been placed in front of him.. and he was sure that this deal wouldn't be any cheaper than the last.

Of course, Daniel could always refuse to pay for informations regarding this 'unknown uncle', but the single thought of doing so made him imagine the disappointment his father would feel for him.. A man that had always told him that family was more important than anything else.

"How much.." He said dispiritedly.

A sinister smile grew on the old man's face. "Your father had promised to me 10 gold coins for the information.. but I have kept it for 16 years!.. how do you feel about double?.."

Daniel's fists tightened so hard that, if he hadn't reached the second rank of martial cultivation, his fingernails would have easily pierced his skin. "I don't have that kind of money.." said Daniel through his gritting teeth.

"It's alright, you know I like to help.." Said the old man as his lips opened into a wide smile, showing two rows of slightly yellow teeth. "How about I give you one year.. and you pay 30 gold coins?"

*Primary Quest Updated: Freedom for All!*

-Description: Eradicate slavery from the world.

Scond objective set: Find the location of your uncle, and free him.

Optional: Kill the hotel owner.

Reward: Karma 750(1500)

Failure: Karma -2000

Time limit: Your uncle will die in 23 years, 9 months and 11 days.

After taking a moment to analyze the new quest's objective, Daniel nodded his head and accepted the deal. There was no need to refuse the old man's proposition, as making money wasn't as hard to him anymore.

"I accept, but I want the information now.." Said Daniel firmly while advancing his condition.

"Very well.. but this time, we'll make a legal contract. I don't want to wait twenty more years for another brat to come looking for this useless information." Added the old man.

After signing the document, and leaving a blood print on it, a letter was given to Daniel, before he was escorted out of the building.

Once outside of the building, Daniel started examining the content of the letter. Inside it was a sheet of paper, on which a few informations were written.

Thien Hiel, 28 years old, sold to the Silver Peak Mining Company when he was 15, for the price of 12 gold 50 silver coins.

Daniel put the sheet of paper back into the envelope, and started walking back towards his home in the slums.

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Slums, 21:15

When Daniel managed to get back to his house in the slums, he noticed the dim lights coming from the windows, and realized that Mea and Reila had come back.

Inside the house, a couple of beautiful girl were sitting at a table, above which, various dishes had been placed.

"About time! we were starting to think that you wouldn't be back tonight!" Said Reila.

"Welcome back.." Said Mea while giggling shyly. After she had gotten used to Reila's personality in the evening that they had spent together, they quickly became friends.

"I like how you've packed.." Said Reila teasingly while indicating at their untouched belongings.

Daniel smiled, took his cape off and dropped his bag on the ground "Sorry, I had something to settle first." He then took his seat on the table "Did you find a house?" He asked to the two girls.

"Oh, yes!" Said Reila excitedly, she then started listing all the houses they had seen, their prices, and the locations. In the beginning, Daniel wanted a house with at least three rooms, but after learning about his uncle's situation, he decided to go for a larger house.

Daniel had slowly started to become aware that the 'Freedom for All!' quest, would not only require him to free people along the road, but also take responsability for them. For example, he had already set Mea free, but because of her belonging to a family accused of treason, she would either be killed by bounty hunters or be once again enslaved if he decided to let her go on her way.

Provided that he knew that he wouldn't be able to take every person the system will make him help in, he wanted to at least have a chance to, if necessary.

One thing was for certain, the Karmic system wasn't free.

When listening to his sister's description about the houses they had seen, Daniel noticed the emphasis she had put when describing two of the few house she had listed.

The first one, was a medium sized house with three bedrooms and a small yard in the front. It was situated near her friend's houses, and was next to various commercial roads. Its size was big enough for the three of them to live in, and the price was fairly affordable.

The second, was a four story building in which an old man lived. The building used to be a small hotel, but after a few financial problems, had been forced to ceace activity. The old man had purchased the building and lived in it ever since, renting the rooms to students. The reason why Reila had put emphasis on describing this location, was because it was situated close to her school, and the nearby buildings were the school's dorms.

"What do you think Mea?" Daniel said while looking at the girl. He felt slightly odd about the idea of making Mea stay in their house, after all, she didn't know them that well. Furthermore, Mea had been a slave, and he didn't want to give her the impression that she wasn't completely free, so when he heard about the building with separated rooms, he became fairly excited.

Reila interjected right away "If we take three rooms here, going to school would be much easier.. and all of us would have their own privacy!" Of course, Reila had also noticed her brother's reaction when she mentioned the four story building, so she pressed on it.

Before Mea could say anything, Daniel said "Sounds nice.. wouldn't have to sleep in a room filled with the poisonous clouds made by your cook- OUCH! Ssshh.." A underhanded kick on the shinbone interrupted his sentence.

"Fine! Separate rooms then!.." He feigned indignation while rapidly rubbing his unhurt shin.

Daniel genuinely wanted to hear Mea's opinion, but also thought that, if Reila had interjected on the subject, she must have had a good reason, and he was right.

When Reila and Mea had spent time together alone, she had noticed that the time spent on the run, not to talk about her being enslaved, had left a deep scar on her. She didn't trust other people easily, but she also wasn't the kind of person who would advance requests if other people's money was being used. That's why whenever Reila asked for Mea's opinion when looking at a house, she would simply mention some good qualities about the house, but would never give her true opinion.

After dropping the conversation, the three started to eat dinner.

Half an hour later, the two girls started chatting amongst themselves, while Daniel sat quietly on a corner. "You girls should go to bed early tonight, we'll move tomorrow. Mea, you can sleep on Reila's bed, she'll sleep on mine"

"Where will you sleep?" Reila asked.

Daniel looked at her and responded "I have something to do, I don't know how long it will take, don't worry about me."

"Fine, but don't you dare act tired tomorrow just to make us hold the bags!!"

As the girls stood up and prepared to go to bed "Mea, can I talk to you for a moment?" Daniel said.

Mea walked towards him, and as she was about to talk.. "You've told me your father was a powerful martial cultivator.. he must have had plenty of knowledge about it, right?"

Mea had been taken by surprise, but she composed herself right away and nodded her head firmly.

"Have you ever learned martial cultivation from your father?" He asked with eyes filled with hope.

Mea's eyes flashed with a bit of sadness when she remembered about the time she spent with her father.. After a few moments, she looked at Daniel and responded with a simple "Yes."

Daniel didn't want to beat around the bush, so he simply asked "Have you ever heard about a 'perfect' state between stages?"

A surprised look appeared on Mea's face once more. She had in fact heard about the 'perfect state' from her father.

The perfect state was a second stratum of refining of the body through Ki. A person at the perfect state would have a much deeper foundation, perfecting their bodies to a point where their battle prowess was near that of a next stage practitioner.

The idea of perfecting their bodies interested many practitioners of old, but unfortunately, it wasn't easy to reach. The problem wasn't talent or resources.. the problem was time. In fact, refining one's body to the perfect stage would take years. Years which practitioners weren't willing to spend stuck at the same stage.

After tens of thousands of years, most records had been lost about this subject, and as reaching perfection of the stage turned into a simple matter of increasing one's battle prowess, the practice had lost people's interest and had been slowly given up.

Mea explained everything she had heard from her father about this subject to Daniel, and then she went to bed.

"What is the point of reaching the perfect state if all it does is increasing my battle prowess.. and why would the system reward me with so many points for reaching it.." A series of questions rushed into Daniel's mind as he quietly sat in a corner of the living room. "No point thinking about it now.." He muttered.

One thing that Daniel had learned from Mea, was that the perfect state is an optional sub-stage in between major stages, so there was no need for him to worry about it now, since he was still at the peak of the second rank.

What left Daniel slightly excited was that, when thinking at the timeline that the quest had give him to reach the perfect stage, he had realized that, the fact that the system had only given him an additional month for reaching it, meant that it wouldn't take him a full month to reach it if he wanted to.

In a good mood, Daniel took a few rank 1 beast cores from his bag and started to attempt a breakthrough to the third rank. His intention was to kept cultivating using beast cores for the whole night.

Sitting quietly with two rank 1 beast cores on his hands, he started to absorb them, and direct the raging beast essence towards his bones.

After a full hour, Daniel finally managed to break through the early vasodilation sub-stage. Two more hours later, he had reached the mid rank 3, and when the first lights of the morning started to shine through the windows, five hours later, he was at the late third rank.

The difference between Daniel's body before and now was abysmal. The more he cultivated, the easier it was for him to produce ki and to make it circulate through his body.

Daniel checked the content of his bag and noticed that he had consumed two thirds of his beast cores, while the eight straight hours of cultivation had made his karma points drop from 656 to 416.

After making the calculation, Daniel had realized that cultivating with beast cores consumed ten times the amount of karma points compared to cultivating without.

Naturally, Daniel had also felt the difference between the two types of cultivation. Cultivating with beast cores forced the beast essence inside one's body in an aggressive manner. One required to direct the foreign form of power and use it to refine their bodies.

The difference between the two was like the difference between tempering your body underneath a gentle stream of water, and a raging waterfall. The latter would be much more efficient, but also more dangerous, while the former was safe but far slower.

Daniel didn't feel any sort of weakness from spending all night cultivating. In fact, whenever he advanced, he would feel his body become stronger than ever.

While he waited for Mea and his sister to wake up, he decided to prepare breakfast.

As the first street noises started to reach the insides of Daniel's house, the two sleepy looking girls came out of the room while still wearing pajamas. The two looked sleepy for two different reasons.

Reila had slept peacefully, while Mea had barely managed to close her eyes for the entire night.

After breakfast, the three went to a nearby bath house to clean themselves. They then headed back home and started packing their belongings.

Commoner's section, 11:58

A small group of three was walking on the busy streets. Two of them were beautiful girls, while the third was an unfortunate young man, which currently had a bag two times his size strapped on his back.

"Are you sure it's this way?" Asked Daniel

She turned towards him and.. "Are you asking me if i've forgotten where my school is?!" She asked back, slightly irritated.

Daniel, startled by her irritated tone, said "Alright, calm down.. it's just that there is a lot of people around giving you two weird looks" Daniel had learned his sister's weak point. Whenever he made her angry, he would simply need to throw a subtle compliment to her looks, and then she would usually calm down.

He was right, as Reila looked at him sideways.. her eyelids so thin that they almost looked like they were closed.. and then she slowly calmed down. "I think they are staring at you.. and how weird you look with that huge bag behind your back" She scoffed. "Why did you even insisted to take all the stuff yourself.. are you trying to steal a mule's job?"

"Ha ha ha, very funny.. if you used half of the effort you spend on thinking of ways to mock me into your sense of direction, I wouldn't have to come pick you up from school so damn often.. or at least we would have arrived already.." Daniel retorted sarcastically.

"Fine! We are here!" She said while throwing her hands in the air.

What stood in front of the three, was a large four story building. The building had a rectangular shape, which expanded in width more than in height. Its white stone walls were so smooth that they looked like they had been carved from one immense boulder. Long balconies could be seen connecting every room from outside of the building, and decorating the frontal wall, were hundreds of rosewood boards placed vertically, diagonally and horizontally. The number of windows visible from the outside, suggested that, either each room had more than one window, or the former hotel contained a large amount of rooms. Above the fourth floor, a gable roof extended through the entire building, covering it completely.

At the ground floor, an impressive looking double door stood above a short set of wooden steps.

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"Woah.. an impressive building.." Said Daniel with a surprised look on his face.

As Reila was about to boast about her capabilities, the double door swung open. From behind it, a serious looking old man came out.

This old man had a head full of grey thick brushed back hair, and a well kept full beard. The old signs of age on the man's face betrayed his real age, which approached his mid seventies, but made him look like a man in his mid fifties. His back, differently from most people of his age, was straight as an arrow. The look on his face was serious and dignified, almost as if he didn't appreciate the intrusion. His eyes were sharp as swords, and of a deep indistinguishable color, with shades spanning from light grey and dark green. Ironically, the old man's eye color betrayed his age more than his skin or hair color did.

Every single detail on this old man made the three guess that, when he was younger, he had been an extremely handsome man.

Reila was the first to talk "Good afternoon Sir, we are back.." She said with a smile on her face.

The old man didn't respond, he simply looked at the two girls and then his eyes stopped on Daniel. His sharp eyes narrowed slightly, and after a few moments, he finally said "..Very well.. follow me to pick your rooms.." He then turned around and moved back inside the building.

The three followed him, and as they entered, Mea and Reila kept an eye on Daniel's reaction. And for a good reason.

As expected, Daniel's jaw dropped when he saw the insides of the building. The place didn't look like a dismissed hotel, it actually looked like a fully working one.

The entire hall was enlightened by the large chandeliers, with lights of various sizes that flooded the room with a bright sunlight of magic nature. Various sets of refined yet comfortable couches surrounded just as many coffee tables, from which small planters had been carved in the middle. These carved planters contained clean dirt partially covered in grass, and a few different types of flowers. Each table had different combinations of unique looking flowers which made every booth different from the other.

Before heading straight to the rooms, the old man patiently showed the three to the lobby, the kitchen, the training grounds, cultivation rooms, and utilities.

After the three picked their rooms, the old man left the three without saying a word.

"Reila, did you pay him already?" Asked Daniel.

Reila looked at him and responded "Not yet, want to do the honors?" She said before throwing the small bag of coins back at Daniel "When we came the first time, he said that it was 1 gold coin each per month" she added befire going back into unpacking her belongings.

The low prices of their rooms had slightly surprised Daniel. Provided that this was the commoner's section of the working district, the place was oddly refined. Daniel had guessed that the building hadn't been in this condition before the old man bought it.

After unpacking his belongings, Daniel left his room and started looking for the old man.

A little more than three hours had passed since the old man had left the three alone, and Daniel had decided to look for the old man in the lobby, as that was the most likely place to find him. When he reached the lobby, what he found wasn't the old man, but a group of young looking people.

Each one of these young men and women looked to be in their early twenties, and all of their attires looked refined, yet different. They were sitting on the couches and chatting.

Some of them had greatswords strapped on their back, while others had sheathed longswords, rapiers and daggers hanging from their belts, a couple of girls who were wearing the same outfit were holding two heavy looking folding fans, one held hers closed within her folded arms, while the other kept it opened and used it to fan her face slowly, while some of the people in the group were even unarmed.

The dynamics of this group of young men were unclear to Daniel. Some of these people were cordially talking to eachother, some looked to be on the verge of starting a fight, and there were even some men pestering young women and viceversa.

One thing that all of these people had in common, was a clear pride that grew a few meters taller than their heads.

Daniel curiously looked at the top of their heads and noticed that most of them had a neutral or slightly negative karma. He had guessed that these young men and women were the proud children of powerful organizations and by being nurtured by their groups, they didn't have enough chances to do anything that would grant them a good karma.

"..we've been here for half an hour already.."

"Exactly, just half an hour!.. why can't you just be patient?.."

"..he was fired! Why is he acting so high and mighty anyway?"

"Idiot, why don't you ask him in person?.. we'll drag your decapitated body back to that shit hole you call a school! He he he"

"HOW DARE YOU! You bitch!"

"..and we could be together.. if you accepted my sect's marriage proposal.."

"And why the hell should his family mix with your sect? We've known eachother much longer.. he should accept ours instead"

A loud buzz of conversation was filling the lobby.

As Daniel was still wondering what this loud group of people might be doing here, he was noticed by a young man at the edge of the crowd.

This young man had a clean buzz cut and a faint scar which appeared parallel to his left eyebrow. His clothes were of a simple kind, but of a high quality. On his chest he wore a thin leather armor, marked with the beautiful carving of a tree on the right side of his chest. Underneath the leather armor he wore a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of vambraces covered his forearms. His long pants were tucked inside of a pair of boots of the same color as the leather armor.

The young man had fairly good looks and was one of the few who wasn't carrying a weapon.

"Hey! There is someone there!"

The entire crowd quietened and looked towards Daniel.

The first to talk was one of the two women that were holding a folding fan. Unfolding her arms, she pointed her closed folding fan towards Daniel "Servant, come here" She said in a domineering tone.

Daniel's face didn't change in the slightest. He simply turned around and started heading back from the way he came, when.. "Hey! How dare you ignore me!!" She shouted angrily.

"..there she goes again.."

"We should stop, shouldn't we?"

"Nah, if she want to waste her chances because of her bad attitude.. so be it."

The buzz of conversation started once more as the young woman got up from her seat, and started heading towards Daniel with a face filled with anger.

It didn't take long for the girl to approach Daniel, and after lifting her hand, she swung it down towards Daniel's face.

What the girl didn't expect, unfortunately, was that this servant would avoid the slap, making her miss completely.

"Hahahaha! LOOK! It's the legendary tecnique of the Folding Crane School! Fly Swatting Slap! Hahaha!" Said a young woman in the crowd, who's group apparently didn't have a good relationship with the Folding Crane School.

Some of the group of young men and women laughed at the girl's derisive remark, while other had an embarassed look on their faces.

The faces of the two girls holding folding fans turned as red as apples. "How dare you embarass me in front of everybody! I'll cut your head for this!" Said the girl that had previously missed Daniel.

She then unfolded her fan and as she was about to attack Daniel with it, the young man in leather armor held her by her wrist and said "Alright alright.. calm down.. do I need to remind you where we are?"

The girl was truly enraged, and being stopped by someone when trying to regain face for her school had made her even agrier. "Let go of me!.." She shouted while trying time after time to free herself from the man's hand, but that was all for naught. The young man was an experienced martial artist, and all the young woman's hits had been easily parried or evaded.

After no less than two minutes of failed attempts, the young woman finally calmed down.

Noticing the changes in the young woman's temperament, the young man in leather armor let go of her hand. The girl then threw a deadly glare at Daniel and walked back towards her group, sitting back to her place.

The young man in leather armor turned towards Daniel and said "Forgive her for her rude words, can you tell us where your master is?"

Daniel didn't have a problem with talking with this group of people, but he didn't want to be treated as a servant. Considering the much more polite demeanor of the young man, Daniel decided to answer him.

"I am nobody's servant, and I don't know who you mean by master." Said Daniel.

The answer caught the young man and the rest of the group by surprise. "Aren't you a servant working for the old man who owns this building?" Said a burly looking young man with a greatsword strapped to his back.

"I am not, I have just rented three rooms, and i'll be staying here with my sisters." Responded Daniel.

The faces of everyone present twisted in confusion. Various small groups formed as the buzz of conversation started once more.

"Do you know where the old man is?" Asked a tall and handsome young man with long hair, who had previously been pestered by various girls into accepting the marriage proposal advanced from their groups.

"No idea." Answered Daniel to the handsome looking man.

The man in the leather armor looked at the group and shrugged his shoulders while saying "Let's just wait."

"There is no need" Said a powerful voice resounded through the entire lobby.

Its origin couldn't be distinguished, but all people present felt a shiver run down their spine when they heard it. Daniel had recognized it as the voice of the old man, owner of the building.

"Sir, our groups have heard that you have taken in disciples recently. We were wondering if you would consider us.." Said the handsome young man while bowing his head.

There was no answer.

Minutes passed one after the other, and as the handsome looking young man was about to talk again, the one with the leather armor stopped him. After the handsome looking young man noticed who had stopped him, he quietly turned towards the young man wearing the leather armor. One could guess that the two crearly had a good relationship.

The young man in leather armor looked at the handsome looking man and said "I don't think he has taken in any disciples.. All of our forces received the news that three teenagers had entered the building about three hours ago.. My guess is that this little guy and his sisters are the three teenagers.. And that they are here as.. well.. new tenants."

The hadsome young man's eyes opened wide "You are telling me that the previous Master at Arms of Karalis, after retirement, simply bought a building in the commoner's section and is looking for tenants!?!" He asked with clear disbelief in his tone.

Every other conversation stopped as everyone within the large group looked at the pair of young men. Their eyes growing bigger by the second. Disbelief plastered on their faces. A very few members of the group weren't as surprised, as they had had the same guess as the young man in leather armor.

After a few minutes, the looks of surprise turned into pensive expressions.. and as most of them seemed to be in the midst of taking a decision within their minds, the young man in leather armor said in a low voice "Sir.. is it possible to rent a room?"

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"Sir.. is it possible to rent a room?"

The echo of the words pronounced by the young man in leather armor reverberated through the enormous hall, leaving everybody faces, Daniel's included, contorted in a mix of astonishment and surprise.

Quietness reigned in the hall for a few moments until, one voice after the other, started to resound.

"I would like to rent a room as well.."

"Sir, please take us in.."

"Me too please!.."

Daniel had hundreds of unanswered questions in his mind.

Apparently, the old man had retired from being the Master at Arms of Karalis two years ago. Being a powerful cultivator and an expert in many sorts of weapons, he had instructed various of the highest ranking officers within the kingdom, and even members of the royal family. After retiring he decided to purchase the hotel.

His actions didn't go unnoticed, as many powerful forces had located him within the city of Phyrri. The Master at Arms was an excellent teacher, and his ability to nurture the weapon mastery and character of his disciples had been so widely known, that many powerful forces tried to rope him into their groups.

The Master at Arms was one of the instructors of the royal palace, so none of these powers were capable of forcing him to join them. The only viable alternative was to send their prodigies to him and let them be shaped by the teachings of this powerful figure. They would then return to their forces and learn their families', sects' and schools's signature arts.

Two long years had passed since the old man had purchased the hotel, and yet many talented members of the younger generation had been rejected. The reason had always been that the Master at Arms refused to take in any disciple.

When all these powerful forces were starting to consider this as the end of this old monster's career, a young man and two young women had been allowed in the hotel by the Master at Arms himself.

The news spread like wildfire. All the cultivators placed to monitor the old man's actions, reported to their factions immediately. Their response was to send their most talented disciples and hope for them to be accepted as well.

The thirty young men and women within the group, were members of some of Phyrri's factions, and If Daniel hadn't left the lobby, he would have seen them arrive one after the other.

Suddenly, a similar but calmer voice than the previous, was heard from behind the group "The rent is one gold coin each month."

As the group turned around and noticed the old man standing behind them, they collectively bowed to him deeply.

"Get up! I'm not your teacher, i'm your Landlord!" Said the old man in a slightly annoyed tone, before walking towards the stairs and starting to explain. "Go pick a room, then leave the payme.." The explanation of the building's utilities was the same as the one Daniel, Reila and Mea had received.

It was at that moment that Daniel realized. He hadn't simply rented three rooms inside a dismissed hotel, owned by a solitary old man.. he had paid the membership for a martial arts school started by a retired monster.

That was only partially true.

Provided that the school wasn't an official one, and that the old man never promised any teaching, the reason why he had purchased the hotel and had had training grounds built in it, was to start a sort of school, in which anyone could join.

He was tired of teaching to proud children of powerful factions. He hoped to find disciples with no backing and good morale to which he could impart his teachings, and that they would then pass these teaching to others in the future.

For two years he had waited, until one day, a couple of young girls arrived at his door.

One of them was forthright and of a good nature. He liked this type of people the most, and every time he tried to shape the character of one of his disciples, he would try to turn them into this kind of people.

The second girl, to his stupor, was the young mistress of the Rulin house, and daughter of one of his first and most successful disciples, the master of the Rulin house, Der'hor Rulin.

The old man had always felt guilty about not being able to prevent the extermination of the Rulin house. He had been their master's teacher, and had imparted morale and strength of character to him. To believe that he would defect to another kingdom, that was bullshit.. pure and simple.

The two young girls looked for a place to stay. That was when he decided that the two would be the starting point of his school.

Two days later.

The past two days had been chaotic. Every day, a few young cultivators would arrive at the hotel and ask to be taken as disciples. But after receiving a clean rejection, they would almost always try to rent a room.

It was clear that most of them had been warned that the only option to stay, was to rent a room and becoming one of the building's tenants.

Daniel wasn't too happy about it, but he had to admit that, having this building all for themselves, was simply unrealistic. Somebody else was bound to come. He just didn't expect so many people to come so soon.

In the past couple of days, Daniel had managed to reach the peak of the vasodilation sub-stage, but before he could break through, he had finished his beast cores.

What was left of the 20 gold coins that he had received from the auction, after paying for their debt and for the rooms, was less than a half.

Daniel knew what he needed to do. He needed to hunt for more powerful beasts and sell their cores. He needed more resources to breakthrough, and in order to obtain more resources, he required money. But before doing that.. he needed to learn how to use weapons.

He had the strength, but he couldn't go around hunting for rank 3 beast with a rock in his hand.

Daniel knew nothing about weapons, so all he could do was go by his needs, and what he needed was a weapon for distance and a weapon for close range combat.

Without thinking about it too much, he headed towards the training grounds.

The training grounds were none other than an enormous backyard separated into four sections. The first section had various square rings whose sides were attached, making it possible for it to be used as a single large stage. The second section had numerous practice dummies, and weapon racks furnished with all kinds of wooden and regular weapons, were placed all around. The third, was filled with different instruments to enhance the body strength and endurance. Ultimately, the last section contained various obstacle courses and structures to practice one's agility and equilibrium.

After reaching the training grounds, what surprised Daniel was that the place was completely filled with people. Most of the young men and women that had arrived in the last two days were here, and of the first thirty people, none were missing.

Some of them were practicing the basics, others were sparring, and some were even trying their techniques against wooden dummies.

These practice dummies, like the chandeliers, had been magically enchanted. No matter the damage they received, they would rapidly repair themselves in just a few seconds.

Daniel found a free corner and sat on the ground. He then took a book out of his backpack, and started reading.

Those who noticed his actions were slightly annoyed, but when they noticed what book he was reading, their faced changed, contorted into a mixture of outrage and disdain.

The book that Daniel was reading was called -The Very Basics of Swordplay- and was the most basic manual of practicing the sword. Amongst these young cultivators, every single sword wielder had studied this book right after learning how to read.

Daniel immersed himself in reading the manual, and after an hour and a half, he closed it and got up on his feet. He then started walking towards the weapon rack.

After reaching the weapon rack, he took a practice sword and went back to his corner. He then started to slowly practice the basics of swordsmanship.

When the various cultivators noticed Daniel awkwardness when practicing the basics of the sword, they lost interest in him and focused back on their training.

Nobody was paying attention to Daniel anymore.

Time slowly passed as Daniel stayed in his corner. What nobody had noticed, were the changes in his mastery. In fact, if one were to look closely, they would notice that, after just 10 sets, Daniel had become used to the feel of the sword. After 25 sets, his motions hardly contained any mistake, and after 25 more, he had mastered the basics of the swordsmanship described by the book.

After less than three hours, Daniel had mastered how to hold the sword, the various stances and a few types of simple attacks.

When Daniel was about to stop, the eyes of some of the present ended on him, and when they noticed his level of swordsmanship, the disdain on their faces became deeper than ever. Everyone who had looked at him had thought that he had simply pretended to be just starting to learn swordsmanship, and that he wanted to appear as a prodigy in front of the old man.

In their minds, that was the only explanation that made sense.

Before they could manage to send a few insults, or even start a fight with him, their eyes opened to an unnatural degree and their backs straightened like a set of brooms.

Behind Daniel, the old man had appeared out of thin air, and was standing quietly.

Daniel had finished his practice, as he didn't find any purpose in training further with the basics of the sword. When he was about to turn around to head back to the weapon rack, he noticed the unsettled looks on the faces of the others. But he rapidly noticed that these looks weren't directed at him.

He slowly turned around and found the old man standing behind him.

"Old man, need something?.." Said Daniel

A proverbial ton of bricks fell on the heads of everyone present.

The face of the old man was unchanged, his right arm still behind his back while the other raised in front of his chest, accompanying his hand into a slow brushing of his beard. He looked like he was pondering something.

After a few moments of silence, Daniel added "Okay.. well.. I have to go now, if you need something you-" before stopping.

The old man's right arm started moving from behind his back, and when he moved it in front of him, Daniel saw that it was holding a book and halberd.

The old man's action's surprised Daniel greatly. Not only because the old man had taken a weapon and a book from behind his back, but because the halberd was at least two and a half meters tall, standing much higher than the old man. How the old man managed to hide it behind his body, was a mystery to him.

Looking at the young man in front of him, the old man stopped brushing his beard and finally said "I'll give you 5 hours.. learn how to use this halberd.. and you won't need to pay your rent for two months.." His low, yet powerful voice reached every corner of the training grounds.

Daniel's face changed immediately.. two gold coins in exchange of 5 hours of training, that wasn't an opportunity he was willing to let go.

"Deal." He responded calmly.

He took the halberd from the old man's hand and put it on the ground, he then grabbed the book and started reading through its pages. The title of the book was -Basic Guide on Polearms Training-

Before starting to study the book's content, he thought "Sewah, mind activating the system for me once again.."

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"Sewah, mind activating the system for me once again.."

After accepting the old man's conditions, Daniel started to study the basics of polearms wielding.

Two hours later, he picked up the halberd from the ground, and started to practice the basic moves, body movements and familiarize with the weapon.

To the eyes of the spectating group of people that had gathered around the two, what Daniel was doing was acting.

Inside the old man's mind, different thoughts had started to form. He was torn between two possibilities. The first, was that Daniel was a prodigy, capable of learning the use of weapons a hundred times faster than a normal person.. while the second, was that he had been pretending.

He had reasons to believe both of these possibilities to be false. For example, such a speed in learning the use of weapons was unheard of. Provided that one was a genius and understood perfectly the theory behind the basics of weapon wielding.. they would still need practice to get used to the weight and maneuverability of the weapon.

Regarding his second hypothesis, Daniel, in order to be able to fool him by pretending to be a beginner, would not only need to have mastered the use of the sword, but also reached a perfect mastery of its most advanced stages.

That is why he had given him the halberd and the beginner manual for polearms. He believed that, if he was a true prodigy, he would have been able to see stunning results from Daniel's brief training. He was also certain that, even if Daniel had been a master in the use of the sword, he wouldn't have had the time to master two different weapons to such a level.

The old man's face was as calm as ever, and he quietly stood with his eyes glued to Daniel.

The young men and women that had been practicing in the training grounds were now surrounding the two, and discussing quietly.

"What's the point of this test.. most of us mastered the basics of various weapons.."

"The brat is just boasting.. we all could pretend to be beginners and to be learning something we already know at an amazing speed.."

Most of them were convinced that Daniel had been cheating the old man, but there were a few, hidden within the group, that were looking attentively at Daniel. They had been warned by their powers that the old man hardly showed attention to untalented disciples, and that it was almost impossible to be fooled.

Amongst these few people, were the young man in leather armor, the handsome young man with long hair, and the girl with the folding fan that accompanied the one who had attacked Daniel.

The two young men approached the girl, and the handsome young man said to her "Riri, what do you think?.."

The girl turned around and noticed the two young men standing behind her. She then answered "You use the rapier.. that's an unusual weapon. Do you have a manual for it?"

"I have stopped practicing the basics years ago.." He said before turning towards the young man in leather armor "Nilo, do you have a manual of martial arts to test him with?"

Nilo, the young man in leather armor, said "Let's first see how he handles the halberd.." His eyes bright and curious.

One would imagine a martial artist like Nilo to be more direct and impulsive, but that wasn't him. He had always been cautious, and tried to observe the situation before acting. It was by observing the situation that he had befriended the handsome young man with long hair.

A few years back, he was roaming the kingdom, when he had heard sudden screams coming from a nearby place. After reaching the source of the noise, he saw a young man attacking a woman. This woman had fairly good looks, but wore commoner's clothes. She had a terrified look on her face, and her cries for help sounded desperate. In front of her, stood a young man wielding a thin one-meter long sword.

One would immediately think that the woman had been in danger, and that the young man had ill intentions, but he didn't act right away. He observed, and noticed that the young man's back had a black spot which stained his otherwise spotlessly clean white shirt. He had also noticed that his breath was weak, his hair disheveled, and his legs were shaking.

After noticing the young martial artist, the handsome young man had told him to 'stay away, for his own good' That had made him curious about the woman, so he observed her attentively and noticed that her hands were a little too smooth, without the slightest sign to testify a rough life. In his mind, a thought formed.. how did this woman escape a younger and trained man?

In the end, he had learned that the woman was an assassin, sent by the Purple Leaf sect, a known assassin sect, with the mission of assassinating the handsome young man.

After realizing that the handsome young man wasn't threatening him, but was instead trying to preventing him from getting into this mess instead, he decided to treat his injuries. They then traveled together, and became friends.

His instinct were telling him, once again, that he needed to observe before judging.

Half an hour had passed since Daniel had finished studying the manual. His progress were rapidly witnessed by the old man and the crowd.

Daniel had found the halberd slightly more difficult to get used to. Its weight was bigger, and it had to be balanced on a much longer shape. It also required him to use both hands to wield it, which required him to have a better control of his body.

But no matter how much more difficult it was, after ten repetitions he still got used to the new weapon. After 30, he hardly made any mistake and after 50 more, his movements looked like the physical interpretation of the manual.

In the crowd, next to Riri, the other fan wielding girl had appeared. "He is clearly faking it.. it's just the basics. Three months would be enough for us to master them as well." She said, with a hint of anger in her voice. "I bet the old man is just humoring the brat out of boredom."

"Nobody is forcing you to stay here, Miri" Said the handsome young man.

"You!!.. mhh" She then turned around and left.

Riri looked at him and said "You'll never get over it, will you?.. Finn" Her eyes rolled with annoyance before she focused back into looking at Daniel.

A few minutes later, the five hours timeline had ended. Daniel was facing the old man. In his hands, the manual and the halberd.

"I bet he'll slap him into smithereens.."

"He he.. Maybe he'll give him another weapon"

As Daniel was about to hand the weapon and the book back to their owner, the old man turned towards the crowd and said "A manual of martial arts basics in exchange for assisting to one of your training sessions."

Before the words of the old man ended, Nilo's arm was already up.

Every single pair of eyes within the crowd flashed in realization. The martial artists amongst the crowd started to bite their own teeth in regret.. They had missed a chance.

The old man looked at Nilo and nodded at him.

Nilo walked amongst the crowd and reached the old man, he then presented himself while bowing "Nilo Grea, fifteenth generation disciple of the school of the Swift Palm of Oppression."

He then took a book out of his backpack and handed it over to the old man.

The old man took notice of Nilo's rapid response. He appreciated attentive and cautious people. He had had many of these kinds of disciples in the past, and whenever he could, he tried to shape their cunning into avoiding problems, instead of creating them.

After taking the manual off his hands, he looked at Daniel once more and said "Same deal.. 3 hours.. a year of free rent.." Said the old man while brushing his grey beard.

"A year added to the previous two months?" Inquired Daniel while narrowing his eyes slightly.

The corner of the old man's lips curved into a faint smile that disappeared the very next moment. "That's right" he responded.

"Deal!" Said Daniel excitedly.

The old man had been surprised by Daniel's talent. Mastering two different kinds of weapons to that level, at his age, was nigh impossible. He was almost certain that Daniel was an unheard of prodigy, and him learning the basics of martial arts, would confirm his guess.

Martial arts and weapons were hardly skills learned together. One's body evolved to perfect the use of the practitioner's weapon of choice, or practiced martial art.

Daniel could have been a master with different kinds of weapons, but him being capable in martial arts as well was like expecting a swimmer, who's strongest parts of the body were shoulders, back and arms, to also be a great runner, whose main focus was strengthening the legs.

It is important to understand that, in order to break through from the muscle strengthening stage,

one didn't require to increase the mass of his muscles. One simply had to refine their existing muscles through the use of ki.

Daniel had never practiced any martial art, nor had he shaped his muscles through the use of weapons. His body had always been lean and agile, perfect for a pickpocketer and petty thief such as himself.

The manual of martial arts which Nilo had given to the old man, was the basic of a commonly known martial art called -True Motion-, and it was a martial art that, if properly learned, would help practitioners to avoid most unnecessary movements.

The basics of -True Motion- simply pointed out the correct ways of walking, running and breathing. It also pointed out the most commonly made mistakes during these actions.

Daniel finished reading the very limited yet detailed information contained within the manual in just forty minutes. He then sat on the ground and started to practice the correct way of breathing.

His karma points kept on slowly decreasing as he breathed in and out. He didn't require the system's help to learn how to do something. What the system was useful for was getting used to what he learned.

For example, one could see the correct way of writing a letter when learning how to write, but they would need practice to get their hands used to the swift motions. What Daniel's system did, was to interact with his ability to correct his own mistakes, and help him avoid making them in the future.

Breathing was a natural action for human beings, and easy to control, so it didn't take long for Daniel to perfect his breathing. Ten minutes after he started to practice following the -True Motion- instructions, his breath had already become stable, and a few more minutes later, the correct way of breathing had become natural to him.

The same happened for his way of walking and running. His natural agility had helped him in perfecting his motion, and the karmic system had helped him in rapidly getting used to the recently learned correct ways.

Two hours after Daniel had started to practice the basics of -True Motion- and he had already completely mastered its teachings. The natural way in which Daniel had used the correct way walking when approaching the old man had surprised the entire crowd greatly. The old man was no exception.

When Daniel stopped, he was standing right in front of the old man. The old man looked at him carefully, his hand still brushing his grey beard. After minutes of quietly observing Daniel, he finally opened his mouth and said "Brat, how do you feel about becoming my student?"

Daniel looked back at the old man, and without giving him the slightest bit of face, he said "I don't need a teacher"

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"I don't need a teacher"

Before the crowd could process the shock of witnessing the old man proposing to Daniel to become his student, his rapid response had forced them into quietness.. For the next minute, the silence was deafening.

The old man had been left speechless. From his point of view, Daniel had no reason to refuse. He was a prodigy in need of a teacher who could shape him into a great warrior, but he had been quickly rejected.

The reason of Daniel's unexpected rejection, was only known to him. While the crowd believed that Daniel was just a conman who had struck gold, and the old man believed him to be an undiscovered prodigy, the truth was much simpler.

Daniel had ran out of karma points to spend.

It was at the end of the practice with the basics of -True Motion- that Sewah had suggested that he should avoid accepting any other challenge, as he was almost completely out of karma points.

After Sewah's warning, Daniel checked his profile.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank

- peak rank 3 of Martial cultivation

- early rank 2 of Spiritual cultivation

Karma - 99

Weapons Masteries (Details)

Martial Arts (Details)

Daniel's profile had an overall change. His karma points had drastically decreased, his rank had been upgraded to the peak rank 3 of martial cultivation, and last but not least, new informations had appeared on his profile.

"Masteries.. details?" Just as Daniel thought about the details of his masteries, the profile window expanded, and a set of additional informations appeared on it.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank

- peak rank 3 of Martial cultivation

- early rank 2 of Spiritual cultivation

Karma - 99

Weapon Masteries:

Swords: 1% (Details)

Polearms: 3% (Details)

After noticing the details of his masteries, a shiver run down Daniel's back.

From the details given, he believed the karmic system to be capable of including every single martial art, weapon, and possibly even magic, into the wielder's percentage of mastery. For curiosity, he thought about the details of his polearms masteries, and a new window appeared.

Polearms 3%

Bladed Polearms: 10%

Thrusting Polearms: 0%

Staffs: 0%

All this happened during the few seconds it took for Daniel to approach the old man, right after he had finished learning True Motion's basics.

When the old man proposed to become his teacher, all he could do was refuse, because if the old man decided to start his teachings right away, he wouldn't be able to show the same level of results.

What he needed now, was to spend his last few karma points into learning how to use a throwing weapon, and hunt for more beast cores.

He didn't have an immediate need for money right now, and he would have gladly stayed in the hotel to master the use of every weapon he could find, but he had some pressing matters to take care of. Like finding his uncle, who was currently being forced into slavery in the city's mines.. or obtain enough resources to reach the perfect stage of the Body Strengthening Stage.

In front of everyone's unbelieving eyes, Daniel bowed towards the old man, and left the training ground. After twelve straight hours of training, he needed to sleep.

The next day, Daniel went back to training ground.

As always, a large number of young men and women were practicing with their weapons arts martial arts.

The moment Daniel stepped into the training grounds, various sets of eyes moved on him. He ignored the stares and started walking towards the weapon racks.

Many were caught by surprise once again when they noticed the type of weapon Daniel had picked.

What was in Daniel's hand, was a small set of throwing knives.

Daniel's weapon of choice for ranged combat, were throwing knives, and he had two simple reasons for it. The first, was that he didn't need a manual to learn how to throw knives, as everyone was capable of learning with enough practice. The second reason, was that throwing knives were useful for sneak attacks and middle range fights. As a pickpocketer, he had quick fingers, so this kind of weapon was suitable for him.

After reaching the practice target, he started to train right away.

The knives Daniel was using were made of a single piece of steel. There was no handle on the grip and the only sharpened part was the blade. Their weight was completely balanced, which made them the easiest type of throwing knives to start practicing with.

His first few throws were a complete failure, but he slowly got used to the weight and shape of the knives.

The spectating practitioners didn't find it odd that Daniel would appear inexperienced at first. Many had witnessed how Daniel had mastered the basics of sword wielding, polearms wielding, and of the martial art -True Motion-. While those who didn't witness it personally, had at least heard of it.

Daniel's progress was, as always, impressive. After only half an hour of uninterrupted training, he stopped missing the target, after two more hours, two out of ten throws would hit the bullseye.

After four hours of uninterrupted practice, only one throw out of ten missed bullseye. This result was satisfactory to Daniel, so he left the training ground, and went back into his room.

Commoner's Section, Third Gate of the Eastern Wall, 08:10

Daniel was standing in front of a large building.

This building was of a simple rectangular shape, and it stood about fifteen meters high. Its large double doors had been blocked open, and many individuals dressed in light clothes, and armed with various types of weapons, moved in and out of the building in a constant stream.

The only two details that made this building different from the others, were the large dark green banners that draped down its walls, on which the silhouette of a stag had been sewn with golden thread. The other, was the thick wooden sign that was hanging above the entrance. On it, carved in black, were three simple words 'The Huntsmen Guild'.

The Huntsmen Guild, along with the Mercenary Union, and the Golden Cauldron, were a few of the many organized groups tied to the Merchant's Collective. To be more specific, any group whose main purpose was collecting herbs, beast cores, ranked beasts carcasses, alchemical ingredients, or even offer protection services, was strictly tied to the Merchant's Collective, whose influence spanned through the entire kingdom.

When Daniel had come back to the city, right after he had assisted to the battle between the two ranked beasts, he had claimed to have been sent from a herbalist to look for plants. That excuse implied that he had applied for a job at the Golden Cauldron, a group whose main goal is to collect alchemical ingredients, which they would then sell to the Merchant's Collective, or use themselves.

Similarly to the Golden Cauldron, the main dealings of the Huntsmen Guild, was to send hunters in the area surrounding Phyrri to hunt and collect ranked beast's cores and carcasses, which they would then sell to the Merchant's Collective.

The hunter's job had been a prestigious one in the past, but since the overall strength of the beasts around the city had drastically decreased, the branch situated in Phyrri had fallen into disgrace.

The fact was that, differently from the Mercenary's Union, whose branches were built at the end of commercial roads, and Golden Cauldron's branches, which were built next to forests and fertile ground, The Huntsmen Guild was a nomadic group of sorts. In fact, whenever a new city was founded, its untouched surroundings were always a rich hunting ground. Consequently, when a new branch was opened within a new city, that branch would be automatically considered the new Huntsmen Guild's headquarters.

Phyrri's branch was thousands of years old, and numerous new branches had been opened in just as many younger cities. The main revenue of the Huntsmen Guild came from experienced hunters who pushed themselves far from the city walls, to look for stronger prey.

"Next.." Said the woman behind the desk inside the huntsmen guild's building.

Daniel approached the counter and said "I would like to apply for a hunting party"

"Your membership?.." Said the woman.

Daniel's brows furrowed "Do I need one?"

The woman looked him up for a few seconds, then responded "Aren't you a little young to join a hunting party? these people hunt beasts! ranked beasts!!.. are you going to hunt them, or are you going to feed them!?" her tone growing more displeased the more she talked.

"If I won't be able to hunt them, I will at least feed one." Said Daniel sarcastically.

The woman started laughing. Tears almost forming in the corner of her eyes, she barely stopped to say "It would be even funnier if you weren't so skinny! ha ha ha!!". She then stopped laughing, watched Daniel once more, and after realizing that he wasn't there to humor her, she turned serious and asked "Alright kid, i'll put you up for a hunting party. When do you want to go?"

"Right now" Answered Daniel immediately.

The woman furrowed her brows and looked at Daniel, she then asked "Right now?? where are your weapons? You don't even have a bow!"

Daniel, looking embarrassed for the first time, responded "Yeah.. about that.. I don't use the bow.. but I might need a sword and a few throwing knives.."

The woman started laughing once more, she then said "Well, you can always kill them from laughter! Hahaha.. alright, a membership costs 1 silver, renting a sword costs 10 copper, throwing knives go for.."

After a good half an hour of explanations, Daniel was finally able to obtain his membership and join a hunting party.

The members of his team were waiting for him at the first gate of the southwestern wall. When Daniel reached the gate, he noticed a group of four people waiting.

One of them was a lean man. He seemed to be in his middle twenties and he had an arched nose so big, that it looked completely out of place. Strapped on his back, was a longbow and a quiver filled with arrows.

The second one was an older man that looked to be nearing his sixtieth birthday, his back was very straight, and while his clothes looked like a pile of dirty cloth, one could understand why he would pick that outfit when moving through the forest. His weapon was a set of short spears, which similarly to the lean man, were strapped to his back.

The remaining two people were a teenage boy and girl. Instinctively, one could guess that the two were a couple, but if one were to carefully look at their faces, they would notice the similarities in their features and eyes. The two were most likely brother and sister. The woman looked a year younger than the man, but they both looked like they were in their late teens.

They both had blonde hair, green eyes, and bodies that looked like they were made for hunting. Both of them could be considered very attractive. The brother's weapon was a greatsword, while his sister's weapon were a pair of bolas hung to her belt.

When Daniel approached the group, a mix of reactions could be seen in their faces. The two young teenagers furrowed their brows at him, then started discussing amongst themselves in whispers.

The old man simply turned around and waited for the last person to arrive, and lastly, the only person who approached Daniel was the man in his mid twenties.

"Can we help you with something?" Said the man.

"I'm your fifth." said Daniel while smiling.

The man had no problems with Daniel being too young and inexperienced, after all, you were paid depending on the beasts that you yourself killed, not by how many beasts were killed by the group. "Wonderful! we are waiting for our escort to arrive, then we'll depart right away" said the man jovially.

Daniel nodded and then found a place to sit.

Half an hour later, a robust man in leather armor and cleanly cut hair, approached the group. A deep scar that started from above the middle of his eyebrow, and finished on his cheekbone could be seen clearly, giving the man's face a permanent serious expression. At his waist he had a sword, and on his chest armor, a golden eagle was finely carved.

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"Sir, thank you for being here." Said the lean man with the large nose.

According to the Huntsmen Guild's regulations, in order to form a hunting party, the presence of an escort was required.

That role was usually taken by a member of the Mercenary Union, or at times, by a licensed member of the army or city guard.

The escort were required to have reached the cultivation rank set by the Huntsmen Guild, which was the peak of the corresponding rank of the strongest known monsters of the area. For example, if the general strength of the beast inhabiting the area in which the hunting party was heading to, was of the second rank, the escort needed to have at least reached the peak of the second rank.

Their group's escort was set to be at the peak of rank 3, as powerful rank 3 beasts lived within those canyons.

Daniel's hunting party was heading out to hunt for Steel-Back Scorpions, a rank two beast which nested the canyons that separated the immense mountains of the Sinleah, the mountain range south of Phyrri.

The canyons and mountains of the Sinleah, due to the large number of mines, had a constant stream of people coming and going. Therefore, after numerous reports of attacks from Steel-Back Scorpions had been sent to the city, the Huntsmen Guild had been charged with the task of reducing their numbers within the practiced zones.

"Names and guild's badge." Said the robust man in a domineering tone while taking a small list out of his pocket.

"Sella, silver hunter." Said the lean man while handing his badge to the robust man.

The rest of the group, used to this kind of procedure, took their badges out of their backpacks, and handed them over to the escort while stating their names.

"Garth.." Said the old man in mimetic attire while handing over a pale gold badge.

The teenage boy took a step forward and said "I am Legoh, and she is my sister Fiora. We both are silver hunters."

Daniel imitated what the rest of the group did, and handed his newly acquired badge while stating his name. "Dan, bronze hunter."

The brows of the entire group except for the old man's furrowed after Daniel's words. They collectively looked at him.

The escort was the first to talk "A bronze hunter? What the fuck do we need a bronze hunter for?! How did you get assigned to this hunting party??" Said the escort as rudely as he could.

"There must have been a mistake.. bronze rank is for rank 1 hunters.. or first time hunters.. We are hunting for rank 2 beasts" Said Sella, trying to calm the escort.

"This is my first mission" Responded Daniel, confirming Sella's theory.

After looking at Daniel one more time, the guard harrumphed and said "Whatever.. brat, try not to slow the group down." He then turned towards the rest of the group and said "I am Stueh, an elite of Karalis's army."

From the military rank, the party could guess the strength of their Escort.

Similarly to hunter's, the military grades existed to separate their members by strength. Those who had reached the rank 1, if part of the military, were common soldiers, while if part of the Huntsmen Guild or Mercenary union, they were considered as bronze members.

The difference between military ranks and ranks granted by other types of groups, was that one's cultivation wasn't enough to advance in the military.

A mercenary or hunter could simply gain experience and, after reaching a new cultivation level, they could apply for a promotion within their group. Differently, soldiers had to pass various tests that would determine their ability to command.

An Elite was a member of the military that hadn't managed to pass the tests to advance to the next grade, so, instead of being a Lieutenant, Stueh had the rank of Elite Sergeant.

This ensured the party that their escort was of, at least, the peak of rank 3.

"Let's move out" Said Stueh before heading towards the city gates.

50 kilometers south of Phyrri, 21:38

After twelve hours of uninterrupted walking, the hunting party had decided to set camp for the night.

During their journey, none of them, except for Sella, had talked much. Daniel considered him the group's chatterbox. The members of the hunting party had been approached more than once by him, in hope to start a conversation, but whenever Sellah approached Daniel, he would start playing with his throwing knives.

He would always pretend be a beginner, almost dropping them and scaring Sellah into leaving him alone. The rest of the group gave him no more chances than he did. The escort acted annoyed whenever he was talked to, the two siblings would keep to themselves, and the old man refused to interact even if talked to.

Five tents had been set around a small campfire. Daniel was on guard duty, so he sat on a tree stump next to the campfire. In his hand, a piece of dried meat which he munched on slowly.

The rest of the group was resting inside their tents.

Four hours passed uneventfully. Only the noises of insects lurking within the grass reached Daniel's ears. They had yet to reach the mountains, so their camp had been set on a patch of forest that had been cleared of trees. Only a few tree stumps remained.

Daniel got up on his feet, and as he was about to go to Garth's tent, who's guard duty was about to start, he heard a distant scream coming from behind the tree line.

The scream was a terrified one, and it sounded like the scream of a woman.

*Primary Quest started: Just a Wandering Hero*

-Description: Save those in need.

First objective set: Save the woman in distress from the beast.

Optional: Kill the bandit mage along with his summoned beast.

Optional: Kill the hidden bandits.

Reward: Karma 300(200)(500)

Time limit: 4 minutes

"Damn it!.." With no time to think, all Daniel could do was grab his sword and dash towards the tree line while shouting "BANDITS!"

Half a minute later, he had reached the tree line.

While closing in, he had noticed flashes of various colored lights coming from behind the trees, signs that a battle was taking place.

"Sewah, my alternatives?!"

Open approach

Difficulty: Extreme

-Defeat the beast along with its summoner.

-Survive the bandit group's assault until the arrival of reinforcements from your party.

Time limit: 3 minutes 20 seconds.

Countdown: 5 minutes and 34 seconds.

(Requirements: rank 4 of martial cultivation or rank 4 of spiritual cultivation)

Reward 200% (1000 KP)

Defensive approach

Difficulty: Hard

-Support the woman until the arrival of reinforcements from your party.

Time Limit: 3 minutes and 20 seconds

Countdown: 5 minutes and 34 seconds

Reward 150% (350 KP)

Stealthy approach

Difficulty: Hard

-Sneak attack the summoner hidden 35 meters southeast from your position.

-Do not alert the remaining group of bandits laying in wait 150 meters southeast from your position.

Time Limit: 3 minutes and 20 seconds

Reward 150% (350 KP)

With quiet steps, Daniel started heading towards the summoner's location.

As he was closing in, he had managed to see the two battling parties. One was a woman in dark green robes, her face covered by a large hood. She was kneeling behind a thick wall of ice.

On the other side, was a creature that Daniel had never seen. Its body had a humanoid shape and it walked on two feet, but its surface was covered in patches of rock, glued together by a thin layer of glowing lava. It looked like the a lava lake on which melting rocks were slowly floating. From in between these glued rocks, molten lava dripped whenever it moved.

This summoned beast was a lava elemental, which was summoned by mixing earth and fire magic. This combination of elements wasn't unusual for elemental mages, for example, during the war in which Daniel's father had died, the mage that had summoned the meteor shower which had wiped that division out of existence, had used a combination of fire and earth magic.

Of course, Daniel didn't know anything about this.

This lava elemental kept spouting a constant stream of molten rock out of his hands, which then crashed with the woman's ice wall, creating thin bubbles of lava filled with scorching steam.

The ice wall kept repairing under the elemental's attacks, but unfortunately, it couldn't keep up with the speed it was melting.

Only two minutes were left until the time limit, so Daniel stopped spectating the magical fight, and approached the summoner from the other side.

He was currently ten meters behind him, only a few trees were in between them. In his hands, he held two throwing knives.

Step after step, Daniel approached the summoner. As he thought that he could avoid killing him and force him to surrender by pointing his sword at him, a snapping sound came from under his feet.

"Shit!.." Panic filled Daniel's heart as the mage turned around, but as soon as his eyes landed on Daniel, two small knives pierced through his throat and chest.

In front of the shocked eyes of the dying summoner, stood a teenager with an expression filled with dread. In his mind, shame and regret for dying by this brat's hands.

The moment the summoner dropped on the ground, the red flashes coming from the place where the battle was taking place disappeared. By reading the quests description, Daniel had guessed that when a summoner dies, the summoned beast disappears as well, and now his guess had been confirmed.

Shaking off the thoughts of having just killed a person, he approached the summoner's body and took his backpack, he then rushed towards the place where the battle had just ended.

What he found in between the charred trees, was the woman in green robes. She was laying above the only patch of unburned grass and looked to be unconscious.

Daniel knew that the rest of the bandits were nearby, so he decide to take the woman and go back to the camp. In a few long steps, he arrived next to the woman's body, but as he was about to grab her, the woman's arm moved.

Daniel had a knife pressed at his neck. The sharp blade had only dug half a millimeter into Daniel's skin, so no blood came out.

The woman, expecting him to be the summoner, had gone for the kill.

If Daniel hadn't been a martial cultivator and his skin wasn't as durable as leather, he would have gotten his throat cut.

Before the woman could react, Daniel grabbed her wrist with one hand and the closed her mouth with the other. "Shhh.. I am not one of those who attacked you, I am the one who killed the other mage." He whispered..

The woman didn't look convinced, and as she kept struggling, Daniel continued "I'll let you go now, but if you scream, i'll just run away and leave you to the group of bandits that's approaching.. do you understand?" He said, his tone slightly annoyed.

After a few moments, the woman seemed to have slightly calmed down. She nodded weakly and Daniel removed his hand from her mouth.

"W-who are y-you?.." Asked the woman with a trembling voice.

Daniel helped her up and responded "I'm a hunter from the Huntsmen Guild, my party is camped two hundred meters from here. Can you run?"

"I can't.. I can't even use magic.. that elemental was so s-strong.. they k-killed my guards" She said, almost on the verge of tears.

Daniel looked at her for a moment, only a pair of heart shaped pink lips could be seen from under her hood. "Remember not to scream.. and.. sorry for this.." The last part had been said with a hint of embarrassment. The woman was slightly confused, but right the next moment, she realized why. Daniel had wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her over his shoulder, then started running before she could fight back.

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Amongst knees to the chest and punches to his back, Daniel managed to take the mage out of the forest.

At that point, a message appeared inside Daniel's mind

*Just a Wandering Hero*

First objective completed.

Reward: 1250 Karma Points

"Am I even a hero at this point?.. I'm getting paid after all.." Daniel thought while an odd smile grew in his face.

After leaving the forest, Daniel encountered the rest of his hunting party.

"What is going on? Where are the bandits? And who the hell is that?!" Said Stueh.

Daniel put the mage down and then gave the escort a grim look while saying. "Do you want some answers or do you want to keep asking questions?" He then looked at the whole group and continued "I've heard screaming, so I rushed towards the forest. About a hund..." He explained everything that happened in detail.

This time, the first to talk was the sister of the two siblings, Fiora. "You are saying that you've sneaked up on a dual elementalist summoner?!" She asked incredulously.

Garth, the old man in mimetic attire, responded for Daniel "What is so strange about it.. we are hunters, aren't we?" Of the hunting party, he was the most adept with stealthy behaviour, as he needed to reach a certain distance to make good use of his throwing spears.

The old man had noticed the few throwing knives strapped on Daniel's thighs, and the exact height in which they were placed, which was perfect for someone experienced to easily take them at any time. This had convinced him that Daniel wasn't a beginner at throwing knives.

Differently, The two siblings were used to hunt in couple. The girl would trap the prey with her bolas, and her brother would finish it with his greatsword. Their approach was a direct one, while instead, Sella was an archer, so he didn't have a use for sneaking as close to the prey.

Stueh looked at the bag that Daniel was holding on his right arm, he didn't recall it being part of his belongings. "Is that the summoner's bag?" He then asked, all of a sudden.. his look one of greed.

A slightly disdainful smile grew on Daniel's face, he answered "No, it's hers." Daniel had expected him to ask about the bag, but he had no intention of handing it over. What made him so sure that he would be asked about it, was the dark red 962 floating above Stueh's head.

He had noticed the karma of every member of the hunting party the very moment he had met them. He was about to start a journey with these people, and knowing if one of them had bad intentions, wouldn certainly not hurt him.

The siblings had an overall neutral number above their heads. Daniel had guessed that they had spent their time accepting missions within the Huntsmen Guild, while instead, Garth's and Sella's were slightly positive.

The only person who had a negative karma, was their escort.

"Hmph.." Stueh's eyes narrowed as he looked at the covered woman standing next to Daniel. "Who are you?" He then asked.

The woman removed her cape, and what was uncovered, made them all think that calling her 'a woman' was a stretch.

The female mage, happened to be a beautiful girl that seemed to be in her mid teens. Her body shape was completely covered by the oversized green cape, but her visage was a spectacle to behold. Her straight hair flowed down her back like a dark silver waterfall. Her steep arched brows stood above natural swiping lashes. Her deep set eyes enclosed a pair of emerald green irises, inside wich, pupils as black as the coldest of nights could be seen.

She had a serious expression, but it wasn't clear if that was caused by tiredness, or by her cold looking appearance.

The young mage took a slow bow "My name is Yala.. I am an alchemist of the Golden Cauldron.. the rest of my group and I were attacked early this morning.. I managed to escape, but I was found out when I lit a fire.. Thank you for saving me.." She said between heavy breaths.

The members of the hunting party bowed in response, embarassed about being thanked regardless of not playing any part in her rescue. The only one that didn't bow, was the escort. His eyes were stuck at Yala's beauty.. lust growing clearer by the moment.

While nobody noticed them, Garth's hand moved close to the spears strapped to his back, and Daniel's hand approached the hilt of his sword.

"Let's go back to the camp." Said Stueh.

Minutes later, the group had arrived at their camp.

The eyes of Garth and Daniel had never left the escort's body. They both understood from the greed he showed towards the bag, and the lust he didn't bother to hide for the female mage, that he would have tried something soon.

An additional reason for their alertness was that, in case he did try something, that meant that at some point through their mission, the escort would certainly try to silence them.

Harming and stealing from the party one had been hired to protect, was a huge taboo. Anyone accused of it, if found guilty, would be blacklisted from both the mercenary's and huntsmen's groups.

Unfortunately, the escort was usually stronger than the rest of the party members. Adding the fact that they were trained and used to battle against other humans, they were usually capable of wiping out the entire hunting party on their own, and get out of trouble by slightly injuring themselves and claiming that the rest of the party had perished during a sudden attack from a group of beasts.

In that case, the escort would not be paid even if he delivered the beasts carcasses or beast cores, as it counted as failing his mission, but he wouldn't suffer any consequence either.

When they reached the camp, as the escort was about to say something to the female mage, Daniel said out loud "It's Garth's turn to keep watch, she can use your tent, right?"

"Sure thing, kiddo.." Said Garth promptly.

A clear layer of frustration could be seen on Stueh's face. He couldn't retort to any of their words, so he went back into his tent in silence.

Daniel nodded at Garth, which smiled in response. Then went back to his own tent.

Time passed slowly as daniel sat quietly in his tent. In front of him, three books, various herbs, and about a dozen beast cores of various ranks. Two were rank 3 cores, while the remaining 9 were of rank 2. This, was the content of the summoner's bag.

Daniel didn't know the last thing about herbs as he had never had a chance to study them, so he put them away for the moment. He also put the beast cores away, as he had no intention of cultivating right now. The only remaining thing in front of him, were the three books.

On these three book covers, clear titles were written in black. These book's titles were -Fire Element: Flaming Whisp-, -Earth Element: Stone Skin- and -Basics and Theories of Summoning Magic, Vol.1-.

It was the first time for Daniel to see magic books. He had never considered becoming a mage, as for him, magic was a world detached from his. But since these books had fallen onto his lap.. he decided to try them out.

The first book he decided to read, was the manual for the earth element's magic, Stone Skin. Daniel was an agile person, and he was capable of reacting to a speed faster than others.. but he had never fought one on one against another martial practitioner of his level. His entire preparation was his natural speed and the basic knowledge of movement, sword, halberd and knife throwing.

The book was filled with illustrations which Daniel didn't understand. Weird symbols covered the upper part of each page. Luckly enough, on the bottom part, a translation was written in the common language.

/The Spirit connects us to the Spiritual plane;

/Mana will be traded for spiritual essence;

/Spiritual essence allows the use of magic;

/Stronger the connection, The more refined the essence.

/STONE SKIN

/Channel spiritual essence into your body;

/Guide it through the pores of your skin;

/Form a thin layer, and turn it into earth essence.

The book's translation was written in short sentences, but Daniel was still able to grasp the method. He closed the book and put it on the ground, before starting to practice.

Since the moment he had fallen unconscious, that day in the forest, he always felt this thin connection to the spiritual plane. He didn't know how to explain it. He simply felt an entity inside him, which was both him and not.

That was his spirit.

If one tried to explain it, they would describe it like "a well built within your house". You knew that the water within was yours, but you also knew that this well was connected to a much larger body of water.

He could feel his spirit, but he had never interacted with it, until now. He focused on his naturally built ki and tried to channel it within his spirit. The reaction was the same as poring oil into a bowl already full of water. The more ki he pushed through his spirit, the more spiritual essence he could feel run through his body.

After a few minutes, he felt like he had reached the maximum capacity of spiritual essence he could hold within his body. He had tried to take more, but the extra spiritual essence was pushed out of his body and dispersed in the air.

He now had two different kinds of essences within his body. Ki, and Spiritual Essence.

These two essences were like water and oil, meaning that merging them, was impossible. Their nature was simply too different, as if they belonged to different worlds.

Daniel tried to focus the spiritual essence within his hand, and slowly pushed it through the pores of his skin. Nothing happened. He quickly realized that he didn't know how to turn spiritual essence into earth essence.

He thought about it for a few minutes, but there were still no results, so he decided to give up for now. When he got up from his sitting position and tried to get some sleep, after touching the ground, he saw that a thin layer of stone slowly covered the skin of his hand.

"So it is like this.. I am simply not familiar enough with the elements.." Thought Daniel while touching the thin layer of stone that covered his hand.

His guess was right. Mages needed to spend a lot of time trying to understand the elements they wished to control. What they needed to learn, was how to replicate the essence without being in direct contact with it.

Daniel had started to feel excited about magic, so he grabbed another manual.. but as he was about to start reading it, he heard talking outside of his tent. He then got up, and left his tent.

In front of him, Garth was sitting around the campfire, and a few meters away, Stueh was standing.

Stueh had left his tent in the middle of the night and went towards Garth's tent, in which Yala was resting. Garth had asked him if something was wrong, but the response he had received was an aggressive one.

"Is everything alright? Have the bandits found us?" Said Daniel.

Stueh's face grew even more annoyed, and through gritted teeth he said "I have to ask a few questions to the mage. If there is a bandit group, i'll have to write a report."

"I'll come too, I was there, i've seen and fought them after all" Responded Daniel while pretending to be collaborating.

The escort had reached his breaking point. With his back exposed to the two, he said in a threatening tone "Mind your own business from now on.. if you want to go back to the city.."

*Primary Quest started: Just a Wandering Hero*

-Description: Save those in need.

Second objective set: Save Yala from Stueh.

Optional: Prevent Garth's Death.

Optional: Kill Stueh.

Reward: Karma 200(500)(100) / Golden Cauldron reputation 50%

Daniel's tone turned just as serious "You know how it will end.. That's why your hand is on the hilt of your sword.."

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"You know how it will end.. That's why your hand is on the hilt of your sword.."

After these last few words were spoken, a deafening silence filled the place.

Daniel stood just three meters behind the escort, while Garth, was still facing the fire. His hand was slowly moving over the set of throwing spears that he had left on the ground.

A faint moonlight joined the campfire into a dance of weak lights. The only noise that broke the absolute silence was the constant howling of the wind.

*shiiiiing* *swoooooh*

The escort's upper body twisted suddenly, following the arm's orizzontal slashing motion. The aim was parting Daniel's body from his head.

*fwooh*

Daniel's reaction was fast, managing to avoid the orizzontal slash by dropping on one knee. Almost at the same time, he countered by throwing a knife at the man's neck.

*swiiiinghh* Was the sound of Stueh's sword parrying the flying dagger. The man was clearly an experienced fighter, or at least enough to notice the approaching spear at high speed.

*fwoooooh* *swash*

The spear clashed against the escort's sword and was thrown to the side, but the sword didn't stop. It kept slashing diagonally dowards Daniel.

Daniel jumped on his four limbs to avoid the diagonal slash, he then twisted his body in the air and swung his sword at the man's wrist.

Stueh abandoned the sword and threw a punch at Daniel's body which was still in mid air.

Unfortunately, he was forced to retreat once again to avoid a second spear that had just slashed the underside of his bicep.

All this takes long to describe, but in reality, it had happened in less than three seconds.

The escort's arm was bleeding, but the injury wasn't serious. He had underestimated the old man's speed and precision in throwing spears, but more than anything, he had underestimated Daniel.

Considering Daniel's age, he believed him to be a cunning teenager at the second rank of martial cultivation. But after finding himself on the wrong side of his throwing knife, he realized that Daniel's strength wasn't any lower than the old man's.

He was planning to fight seriously from now on.

He lowered his upper body lightly and reached for the inner parts of his boots with his hands.

*shiiing*

From them, he unsheathed two fighting knives. These knives had two sharpened edges which joined into a very sharp point. The blade was thin, and one could see how a slash from one of these knives could separate a part of your body from another.

Complete silence reigned once again..

On Garth's hands two short spears were ready to be thrown at any moment. The rest of the spears were once again strapped to his back.. his feet moved slowly, pacing in big circles around the escort position.

Stueh moved his body in a way that could allow him to keep track of both enemies from the corners of his eyes.

Daniel's eyes were glued at Stueh's hands. He noticed how the fingertips of his right hand were pinching the handle of the knife.. His worries had been confirmed the very next moment.

Garth wanted to reach the opposite side, and try to divide Stueh's attention into two, like he would have done while hunting for a beast. Unfortunately, that was a mistake. Fighting an experienced fighter was completely different from fighting a ranked beast.

The moment the two had surrounded the escort, his body rapidly moved.

He turned towards Garth, completely ignoring Daniel, which was standing behind him. His left hand moved rapidly, deflecting the sudden spear that was flying towards him at high speed, and with his other hand, he threw one of his knives at Garth.

Daniel knew that, at some point, Garth would have been in imminent danger. So he waited until the very last moment, and as Stueh was about to throw his dagger, a thin blade came slashing the back of his hand.

The damage wasn't enough to stop him, but it made him miss the correct trajectory that would have certainly killed Garth.

As Stueh's knife flew, Daniel dashed towards him with his sword in hand. He reached the escort's back in just a moment, but as he was about to slash with his sword, an upright stab came from the left side of Stueh's body.

The knife dug into flesh and got stuck into something solid. Stueh didn't think twice before letting go of the knife and twist his body to the right. His muscular right arm was tense as he swiped it horizontally at the height of Daniel's head.

*Glish*

What he expected to feel was the crushing of bones and splatter of brains when met against his powerful fist, but what he felt instead, was a disgusting noise of cut flesh which accompained a sharp pain coming from his right arm.

He turned around rapidly, and his eyes opened wide in shock at the sight that was presented before him.

Daniel's back was slightly bent forward as if he had received a strong punch in the stomach. At his waist's height, a grey hand which resembled stone was clutched around the sharpened part of his knife.. a few drops of blood dripped down his fingers. His other hand was holding his sword.

What shocked him the most, was the blood dripping from the blade of Daniel's sword. It was at that moment that he looked down, and he noticed it.. his right arm had been cut cleanly off his body and was resting at Daniel's feet.

"AAAAAARGHHHH!!! YOU BASTARD!! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!!" Shouted Stueh crazily.

Daniel ignored him completely and looked past him. On the other side, Garth was clutching his bleeding forearm, on which Stueh's thrown knife had dug deeply.

Moments later, the tents started to open slowly. The rest of the party had heard the shouts and had come out to check what had happened.

"What is going on here?!" Inquired Legoh, which was the first one to leave his tent.

The next voice came from the entrance of another tent, and it was Sella's "Are we under attack?!"

He said while rushing out of his tent, bow in hand.

"THOSE BASTARDS! they.. THEY ATTACKED ME OUT OF THE BLUE!!" Tried to explain Stueh while clutching his bloody stump.

"What?!" Said Legoh as a stupefied expression grew on his face. He then grabbed the handle of his greatsword.

At that moment, Fiora left her tent as well.

An arrow was nocked in Sella's bow, and his fingers pinched the string tightly. He was ready to draw at a moment's notice.

"He is lying.. he was heading to the mage's tent in the middle of the night.." Said Garth between grunts. His arm still bleeding copiously.

"I WANTED TO QUESTION HER!!" Barked Stueh viciously.

A voice was heard coming from behind the group. Yala, the mage, had just left her tent and had joined in the conversation. "Swear a Ki oath that you are telling the truth.." She said seriously.

A Ki oath was no joke. In order to swear a ki oath, one needed to use their ki to nurture their spirit, as if they were practicing spiritual cultivation. But the thing about spiritual cultivation, was that it required the practitioner's spirit to be completely calm. People's emotions were born from their minds, but what they affected, was the spirit. An emotion would always make one's spirit waver.

A wavering spirit wasn't something dangerous, after all, everyone felt strong emotions at any moment in their lives without any consequence. What was dangerous, was trying to nurture a wavering spirit. Trying to connect a wavering spirit with the immense calmness of the spiritual plane would injure one's spirit, which if continued for long, would then shatter and dissipate.

Prisoners, enslaved practitioners, dying spiritual cultivators that didn't wish to suffer during the last moments of their lives.. Countless people within the infinite flow of time had taken their own lives with this method. It was through the constant loss of lives that the mages of old, had created various methods to chain one's spirit to the body, in order to prevent slaves or prisoners from commiting suicide.

A similar result could be seen when cultivating one's body. If one cultivated their body with a wavering spirit, their emotions would grow stronger and deeper, to a point when they would backlash and damage their minds, and in the long run, would turn them crazy.

In order for an oath to be deemed valid, one needed to receive a neutral person's ki and use it to cultivate. The third person would then verify that the ki was in fact being used to cultivate, and if there were no negative reactions to the swearing person's body, the oath would be considered valid.

It was a simple way to verify if one's claims were truthful or not.

Stueh's teeth gritted at the mention of the 'ki oath'. He didn't expect for someone that knew of such a method to be here. This method was mostly used by the military and other powerful forces to verify the loyalty of their members, or the truthfulness of their reports.

Yala rapidly explained to the group how a ki oath worken, she then looked at the wounded escort and continued "You claimed that they attacked you first.. so you should swear first.."

After earning the agreement of everybody present, she started heading towards Stueh. The usual procedure was to place one's hand on the practitioner's back for the entire duration of the oath.. but when she moved within Stueh's arm reach, his uninjured arm flashed as fast as lightning.

The next moment, Yala's back was pressed against Stueh's chest, and around her neck, his strong hand was wrapped tightly.

"One move and i'll snap her neck!" Stueh growled hatefully. He had been cornered one too many times.

The eyes of everybody present grew hostile towards Stueh. They now understood who was telling the truth.

The only one who was calm was Daniel. He had been the only one to notice a small detail.. Yala didn't appear to be scared.

Sella pointed his bow at Stueh, but he didn't dare to draw.. Legoh's grip to his greatsword's handle tightened while Fiora's hands reached for the bolas hung to her waist.

"I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN!! *cough* Move.. and she *cough* dies." Stueh started to feel strange..

A deep cold was seeping through his body.. his severed arm had stopped bleeding and his stump's color had started to darken. The moment he noticed that something was wrong, his fingers were already too rigid to tighten around the girls neck. His complexion turned paler by the second, and whenever he coughed, his saliva felt like crushed ice in his mouth.

*pop* *pop*

Yala's delicate hands grabbed Stueh's fingers, and after applying a bit of pressure, two clear popping sounds could be heard. She had freed herself by snapping Stueh's frozen fingers off of his hand.

"P-pleashe.. *cough* don.." Tried to beg Sewah, but due to the frozen state of his body, he was unable to talk.

Yala pressed her small hand against Stueh's chest, and kept forcing ice essence into it. After no more than ten seconds, every liquid within his body had been turned into ice. The last thing Stueh felt before dying, was the feeling of his blood freezing inside his veins.

Once dead, Yala retreated her hand. She then bowed deeply towards Daniel and Garth "I was aware of his intentions since the moment I joined the party.." She said to Daniel, then while looking at both, she continued "Thank you for protecting me."

*Just a Wandering Hero*

Second objective completed.

Reward: 700 Karma Points / Golden Cauldron reputation 50%

"Woah, saving that girl was worth 50% of a group's reputation?? I wonder who she is.. You've scored big here!" Sewah's voice resounded within Daniel's mind.

Daniel nodded at her slightly, then walked towards Garth "You alright, old man?.." Said Daniel.

"Don't call me old man, you little monster.. just call me Garth" Responded Garth without missing a beat. His voice turned fainter as he continued "Thank you.."

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It was the middle of the night, and everyone had gone back to their tents.

Inside his, Daniel was sitting quietly with his eyes closed. His entire attention had been focused on his profile.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank (Details)

Karma - 1969

Weapons Masteries (Details)

Martial Arts (Details)

Spells (Details)

System Upgrades (Details)

A brand new section of the system had been unlocked, and Daniel couldn't wait to learn more about it. He then focused on the System's Upgrade details, and a new window appeared.

System Upgrades Lv.1

Reap What You've Sown = 500 KP

(Passive: Killing rewards the mirror amount of karma owned by the victim.)

Time Is Precious Lv.1 = 750 KP

(Active: Double the cost of karma points in order to double the speed of progression. 100 of cost and effect. Max lv.10)

Reduced Cost Lv.1 = 1000 KP

(Passive: Permanently decreases the consumption of karma points by 10%. An additional 10% per level. Max Lv.10)

Bonus Points Lv.1 = 1000 KP

(Passive: Permanently increases the karma points received by 10%. An additional 10% per level. Max Lv.10)

Second Chance Lv1 = 5000 KP

(Passive: Once per month, the user will be brought back to two seconds before the moment of his death. 2 additional seconds per level. Max Lv.10)

Karma X Luck = 30,000 KP

(Passive: Your overall luck is dependent to the amount of positive or negative karma.)

Accumulate 200,000 Karma points to unlock System Upgrades Lv.2

Daniel's jaw dropped the very next moment. The upgrades were amazing and he couldn't believe his eyes. There were some that could shape his luck depending on his karma or even some that could bring him back to life. The stupor in his eyes lasted for a good 5 minutes.

If one could see Daniel right now, they would notice his accellerated breath and his shaky hands.

"Hahaha! Look at you.. You look like a brat in a candy shop! Hahaha!" Sewah's voice resounded within Daniel's mind, taking him back to reality.

Daniel read the upgrades descriptions once again "How many features are there left to unlock??" He asked to Sewah.

After a few moments, Sewah responded with his usual vagueness. "How am I supposed to know that?!"

Such an answer was within Daniel's expectations. He wasn't sure what Sewah was, except for being part of the system. But now a new guess had formulated in his mind. And that was, that Sewah was part of an undiscovered feature within the system.

He didn't have any solid proof to his claims, but after unlocking one feature after the other, he couldn't help but to convince himself that there were still many secrets to Sewah's character.

Until now he had simply believed that the system was Sewah, as he instinctively knew the use of every unlocked feature. But that was simply because he wasn't aware of how little he knew about the system. What made him change his mind was the fact that, the undiscovered features, were a mystery for Sewah as well.

Daniel dropped the subject and focused back to the system's upgrades. "I assume that I simply have to think about an upgrade to purchase it.." He muttered to himself.

"Hahaha.." Sewah's laugh could be heard once again. "I thought pretty boys were supposed to be stupid! HA HA HA"

Daniel had no intention of humoring Sewah, so he went through the upgrades once more, and made his choice.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank (Details)

Karma - 719

Weapons Masteries (Details)

Martial Arts (Details)

Spells (Details)

Reap What You've Sown

Time Is Precious Lv.1

System Upgrades (Details)

"I guess I should try this out.." Mumbled Daniel to himself. He then grabbed his bag and took out all the beasts cores that he found in the summoner's bag.

He only had nine rank 2 and two rank 3 beast cores. He had never tried to cultivate with cores above level one, except for that one time where Sewah forced him unconscious, so he decided to start with the rank 2 beast cores.

His consumption without beast cores was of three karma points per hour, while with the use of beast cores, it would be ten times faster. Of course, the karma system was only able to shorten the time required to absorb the beast essence and refine his body. It was in no way capable of reducing the amount of essence needed for the refinement. He would still need just as much ki or beast essence as anybody else. The only difference, was that for him, the absorbtion and refinement was drastically hastened.

Daniel knew that there was no way for these few beast cores to be enough for him to reach the perfect state of Body Strengthening. So he decided to refine his spirit instead.

He was unsure of when he would manage to have enough beast cores to attempt to break through the perfect state of the Body Strengthening stage, so, since he had found a use in learning magic, he decided to practice it.

After calming his mind, he activated 'Time Is Precious' and sat in a meditating position. He then started to absorb the beast essence within the two rank 2 beast cores he was holding in his hands.

Daniel had never practiced spiritual cultivation before, but he had gotten used to sensing his spirit when learning Stone skin. He remembered the content of the basics of spiritual cultivation, and started to follow the method described in it. He let the absorbed spiritual essence fill his entire body, and then gave up control over it, letting his spirit assimilate it slowly.

Normally, an essence whose control had been renounced would dissipate, but the spirit was omnipresent within a cultivator's body, so as long as the essence was within one's body, the spirit would slowly assimilate it.

Daniel focused on the correct method of cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, two hours had passed.

Six of the rank 2 beast cores had been consumed, and Daniel's karma points had decreased from 719 to 599.

The karma consumption was exactly double what he would have spent without activating 'Time Is Precious'. What left him excited, was that his spiritual cultivation had increased by leaps and bounds. From the early rank 2 or Faint Spiritual Connection sub-stage, he had reached the late Profound Spiritual Connection, or late rank 3.

As of now, his spiritual cultivation was almost on par with his martial cultivation.

Daniel's consciousness focused on sensing the changes within his body. His muscles, skin and bones protected him like an armor, his blood was being pumped through his enhanced heart, and forced into every corner of his body through his dilated blood vessels. His physical body functioned like a well oiled machine. The only difference, was that now, he could feel his ever present spirit flooding through the entirety of his body. No matter if it was blood, skin, organs or muscles, his spirit was a constant and quiet part of it.

Feeling the changes within his spirit, Daniel started to wonder about the two types of cultivation. Various questions that millions before him had asked, but to which nobody had ever found an answer to. He understood the conflicting parts between the two types of cultivation, but why was there no problem with the two being cultivated together until one reached the second stage?

This subject had been the center of thousands of studies through history, but no matter what kingdom, continent or race one came from, the answer to this question had been a mystery to any cultivator underneath the sky that had a genuine interest in practicing both types of cultivation to a higher level.

Daniel wasn't any better at guessing than anybody else before him, so he put that question aside, and started to consider his situation. It didn't took long before he realized his major problem.

"I need to learn more skills.." He mumbled to himself after opening his eyes.

He was right. Daniel had been lucky to have fought against a member of the military at the third rank. Every power had their own speciality, and the military wasn't an exception.

The speciality of the military was Tactical Formations.

Every person who decided to take the military life, would be required to study and practice Tactical Formations. In fact, part of the tests that one needed to pass in order to advance past the Lieutenant grade, was knowing every type of formations, so that, in case a war broke out, they would be able to make use of them. Individual skills were only teached to officers above the grade of Lieutenant, like Captains and Captains of the guard.

That meant that, had their battle been a one-on-one, and hadn't Stueh underestimated Daniel since the beginning, their fight would have probably ended differently. Luckily, Stueh was only an elite sergeant, so his competence with individual skills were severely lacking. Despite that, he had still been a dangerous opponent to Daniel and Garth.

What Daniel needed the most, was to gain combat experience and learn fighting skills, like 'True Motion' or 'Stone Skin'. Unfortunately, just like before, the first thing he needed to do was to earn money.

The rest of the night passed quietly while Daniel pushed his spiritual cultivation forward, and after spending three more hours, and an entire rank 3 beast core to reach the peak of the Spiritual Connection stage, he finally stopped.

Bright rays of light seeped through the small holes within the fabric of his tent, so he got up, and went out.

Outside, around the faintly lit fire, the rest of the party was sitting quietly while eating. About ten meters from the camp, the body of Stueh was laying, completely covered by large sheet that the rest of the group had found inside his bag.

All of them were experienced hunters, and waking up early had long been a habit to them.

Daniel approached the group and sat on a large tree stump. He then took a piece of dried meat from his backpack and started to eat it quietly.

Time passed awkwardly, until a voice broke the silence. It was Sella's. "What do you guys want to do? we don't have an escort anymore.." He said dispiritedly.

At that point, Yala left Stueh's tent, which she had decided to use after killing him. She had heard Sella's question and decided to intervene. "What are you guys worried about.. two of you are at the third rank. Hell, Daniel's cultivation is on par with the dead soldier's!" She said.

The rest of the group, except for Garth, looked at Daniel with a stupefied looks painted on their face.

They were aware that he wasn't a simple bronze hunter, but they didn't expect him to be this powerful. After all, he was just 14 years old.

Reaching the peak of the third rank at 14 years old wasn't impossible, but it would still require an abnormal talent, or at the very least, to start practicing right after being born.

Yala ignored the surprised looks on the faces of the group, and went to sit oddly close to Daniel.

Legoh picked up right away and asked "Daniel.. do you think you can act as our escort if we end up in truble?"

"I have a contract with the Huntsmen Guild, like you guys. I won't get paid to act like an escort.." He paused before continuing "But if we do end up in trouble, I won't just let you die."

Daniel didn't know, but most of them didn't simply hunt for the sake of earning money. In fact, hunters earned more money than they needed to live a normal life.. So what many amongst those who risked their lives by going out to hunt needed, was a large amount of money for one particular reason or another.

For example, Fiora was terminally ill, and the siblings's only hope for a cure was to hire a healer. Garth was paying for his two daughters's studies, and finally, Sella was saving money to organize a wedding for him and his fiancée.

"That's enough for me!" Said Sella right away.

Legoh looked at his sister fondly, then turned towards Daniel and said "We are in."

"I'll come too.. I came here pick herbs, so I won't steal any of your preys. Also, I am not so bad in a fight.." She said while hitting Daniel's arm with her elbow, but the moment her elbow touched his arm, her eyes widened in shock and she jumped up in place.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" She shouted ".. y-you were just at the early Moderate Spiritual Connection.."

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"WHAT THE HELL!?" Yala shouted before wispering to herself in disbelief ".. y-you were just at the early Moderate Spiritual Connection.."

A series of confused reactions appeared on the faces of everyone present.

Daniel's face was the most surprised as he jumped from the scare. "W-what.. what's wrong with you!?" He said through gritted teeth.

Yala calmed down immediately and responded. "N-nothing.. sorry.."

Yala's shock was understandable. The moment Daniel had touched her face with his hand to keep her quiet, she knew immediately that he wasn't the summoner she had been fighting with, as she had felt a spirit at the early moderate spritual connection stage through contact with his body.

The spirit she had felt now, on the other hand, was more than a full sub-stage stronger. Such a progress in a single night was impossible. One had to understand that, Yala herself, was considered a genius amongst Spiritual Cultivators, and yet, despite all the help she had received, she had still taken more than a year to reach the peak of the spiritual connection stage.

After meeting Daniel, all she could do was doubt her ability to discern the strength of another Spiritual Cultivator. That was much easier than believe she, as a genius, could be outpaced to this extent.

Sinleah Mountain Range, Canyon's entrance, 13:24

After a long morning of travel, the party finally managed to reach the Canyons that separated the mountains within the Sinleah Mountain Range.

Various wooden signs had been placed at the entrance of the Canyons, and right before them, various camps had been set. These camps belonged to mining companies, and would usually house miners and slaves, but right now, they mostly housed the Hunting parties to which the mission of clearing the canyons had been assigned to.

Daniel's party was only one of many.

Legoh stepped out from the rest of the party and said "I'll go report to the Head Hunter and pick up our spatial bag.. wait for me.. uhh" He looked around for a moment, then continued "There has to be a tavern around here.. we'll meet there" He then took off alone.

To Daniel, Legoh's departure wasn't a problem. He had already judged this teenager as a trustworthy person. To prove it, was the fact that he didn't attack the very moment Stueh had tried to turn them against him, and instead, listened to both versions. Not to mention, he didn't believe he would leave his sister Fiora alone, if he didn't consider them trustworthy as well.

Daniel saw himself in Legoh, even tho much younger.

It took them a bit of walking to finally end up in front of a large tent. Loud chatting noise could be heard coming from inside, and it sounded like something interesting was happening.

The moment they entered, they saw a crowd of at least 50 people surrounding a table, on which three people were sitting.

On the table, a few cards were placed facing up next to a small pile of copper and silver coins.

Daniel's party ignored the crowd and headed towards the counter. They then ordered some food, and sat at an empty table to the side.

"..and it looked like a human.. *hic!* with the tail of a scorpion and two claws for hands!"

"That's ridiculous! You're just a silver hunter, had you really seen a Commander Steel-Back Scorpion your body would be half eaten and rotting in a ditch inside the canyons!.."

"A rank 4 beast, no way a chump like you would have survived.."

For the next fifteen minutes, shouts and laughter could be heard inside the tavern. Until finally, the crowd dispersed.

The only people remaining at the table were three men, two of them completely drunk, while the other was smirking and moving the coins towards his side of the table.

From what Daniel heard, he understood that one of the two drunken men at the table had spotted a Commander Steel-Back Scorpion within the depts of the canyon. One person after another surrounded him when he started to describe the beast. They were all hunters after all, and if there really was a rank 4 beast within their hunting ground, they wanted to know.

The moment the crowd dispersed, a group of three shady looking men with dark golded badge on their chests, approached Daniel's table and looked at them menacingly. Their weapons suggested that they weren't here to hunt beasts.

"That's our table.." Said the one in the front.

Garth and Daniel ignored the man's words, while Sella's look turned into a fearful one. He was an archer, and in no way used to melee combat. Not to mention that the three were mercenaries.. and gold rank at that. Each of them was way just as, if not more dangerous than their previous escort.

Yala was the first to talk "The table was clean and you weren't sitting here.. also, there are other free tables." She said in a matter of fact tone after taking her hood off.

When the group of shady men noticed Yala and Fiora sitting amongst their party, their expression changed from threatening, into faces filled with lust. One of them approached Yala and said "Pretty mage, why don't you ditch these scaredy cats, and play with us instead?.." His lips parted into a disgusting smile, showing a set of yellow teeth. "Don't worry, you'll always have a place to sit on with us.. He he.." He added while slapping his thighs.

The very next moment, before anyone could react to the man's words.. another man had appeared within the group of mercenaries. His arms amicably wrapped around two mercenaries necks, and on his face, the most carefree of smiles.

This man seemed to be in his late twenties, and his slightly shorter stature when compared to the mercenaries, made him look slightly funny. He couldn't be considered a handsome man, but his carefree smile could convince anyone that he was the most innocent of men. There were no weapons strapped on this man's body, the only thing he had above his clothes, was a dark black badge wrapped in chains which was hanging loosely from his belt.

The expressions within the group of mercenaries changed once again. They had just finished protecting whiny hunters, and didn't want to be interrupted when trying to hit on girls, so their reactions was all but coridal. They turned to look at the newcomer, but as soon as they noticed his face, and the black badge hanging from his belt.. they froze in place.

"Miss Yala, it's a honor to see you here" Said the man with the black badge, while bowing his head slightly. He then looked at the mercenaries, with his smile always present.

What Daniel's party saw afterwards, was something that surprised them greatly.

One of the mercenaries underneath the man with the black badge's arms took a step towards the one that had been rude to the two girls, and punched him square in the face with all the strength he had. The rude mercenary fell on the ground heavily. His lip had been split open, and blood filled his mouth. But to their utmost surprise, he neither complained nor gotten angry at his friend. It was like he knew that he deserved to be hit.

The man with the black badge took his arm off from the shoulder of the other mercenary, and looked back at Yala. "Please, bring my greetings to your great grandfather." He then turned around and left.

The group of mercenaries stood in place until the man with the black badge left the tavern. They then looked at Daniel's party, and bowed deeply. The rude man said through bloody teeth "Apologies my lady.. Have a good meal." They then left the tavern as well.

Silence reigned within the Daniel and the rest of the party for a few long minutes, until it was broken by Sella "Who the hell was that?! And w-why was he so polite to you?!"

Yala didn't answer, and instead, kept eating her food. It was Garth that answered him. "That's a rank 5 mercenary.."

At this moment, the cloth that served as the tent's door opened, and Legoh entered the tavern. He quickly noticed the group sitting at the table and joined them. He then showed a large bag made out of what looked like a giant beast's bladder, and said "I've got the spatial bag. Our hunting ground is three kilometers into the canyons. The numbers are decreasing, so the price is now 75 silver coins per carcass and 1.5 gold coins per core."

"Great!" Said Fiora after listening to her brother's report.

Legoh's face turned slightly more serious before continuing "Also.. i've heard that there were sightings of.. a Commander Steel-Back Scorpions.. So we should always be ready to flee.."

Sella jumped into the conversation and asked "When do you guys want to go?.."

"Tomorrow morning.. we only have a few hours of light left today." Daniel said casually.

After finishing their meals, the party split and went to rest for the night. They had agreed to meet at the entrance of the canyons at the first lights in the morning.

Daniel had an entire evening to spend, so instead of going to rest, he left his tent and went towards the shops. There were only three shops. A smith shop that sold and repaired weapons and armors, an alchemist, and a book store.

The book store was, of course, not a common book store. The entire store was a simple stand whose books didn't number higher than fourty, and all of them, being books sold within a camp filled with hunters and mercenaries, were bestiaries, weapon skills and martial arts. That was the reason why Daniel went straight to it.

When Daniel approached the booth, the vendor welcomed him immediately "Welcome young warrior! Is there a book in particular you are looking for?"

Daniel looked at the vendor and said "Can I take a look at the strongest sword tecniques you have?"

The vendor took three books from behind his small stand and placed them on the counter, one next to the other.

Daniel glanced at the names written on the covers. From left to write, they were 'Splitting Ki', 'Mid-Slash Turn' and 'Through Stone and Steel'. Two of these books were slashing skills, while the third, was a skill for piercing.

"I'll take them all." Said Daniel decisively. He then handed three owed money over to the vendor, and went back to his tent.

The next morning.

Daniel had spent the whole night practicing, so he was the first to arrive, and as the agreed time drew near, one after the other, the rest of the party arrived as well.

Once regrouped, they departed for their hunting ground right away.

After entering the canyons, they traversed two kilometers of rocky path whose sides were made of tall walls. These walls were composed of various types of stones and minerals, which gave their stony surface uncountable layers of red, grey and orange colors.

At the base of these walls, numerous abandoned mine entrances could be seen.

The signs of recent fighting were everywhere, as this part of the canyons had been recently cleared.

The party took an entire hour of walking in order to reach the ground assigned to them, and as they arrived, they noticed another hunting party leaving through the way they had come from.

Daniel and the rest of the party started to set the traps right in front of the marked scorpion's nests, then waited patiently.

It didn't take long before they heard the unmistakeable sound of keratinous little feet hitting the solid rock. They all turned towards the source of the sound, and saw a silver scorprion the size of an adult's forearm crawl outside of a hole in the wall.

"Well, I guess this signs the start of our hunt.. Who wants the first?" Said Sella to ease his tension.

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For the following ten hours, Daniel and the rest of his party hunted down every single one of these half meter long scorpions the very moment they left their nests.

The behaviour of Steel-back Scorpions was unusual when compared to normal scorpions. In fact, they weren't solitary hunters. They were eusocial instead, and formed colonies under a single higher ranking scorpion king. The scorpion king was a variation of the more common Steel-back Scorpion, and was called Diamond-back Scorpion.

The reason why this particular species of scorpions was too dangerous to be left alone, was that these colonies were in constant war with one another. Their territoriality and aggressiveness forced them into constant conflict.

These bloody battles would not only mean the reduction amongst numbers of colonies, but also the strengthening of the winning ones.

Ranked beasts evolved by consuming beast cores of other beasts after all.

This situation had forced Phyrri's hunting groups to set a periodical hunting seasons, with the purpose of lessening the numbers of Steel-back Scorpions in the area.

This hunting season was so popular, that the encampment that would be otherwise filled with miners and slaves, would be vacated, and occupied by the large amount of hunters and mercenaries instead.

Unfortunately, this particular hunting season had started sooner than predicted, with the consequence of many losses amongst miners and slaves.

After ten full hours, the numbers of scorprions the party had hunted was close to a hundred.

The two siblings were an amazing duo of hunters. Fiora was experienced with her bolas and always managed to tangle the prey long enough for her brother Legoh to halve them with his greatsword. They alone had killed close to twentyfive scorpions.

Garth's precision with throwing spears was impressive. Before the scorpions could hope to rush at him, or sometimes even see him, they would find their bodies being skewered by one of his throwing spears. The only downside was having to recover his weapons, and sometimes, stop his hunt to resharpen the heads. His preys numbered twentythree.

Sella, with his eighteen scorprions, was the least successful hunter, but as odd as it may sound, he was also the most skilled at is. His arrows would never miss a target and could easily perforate inbetween the scorpriosn keratinous mandibles. Unfortunately, like Garth, he needed to recover his arrows after the prey died. What slowed him the most though, was waiting for the scorpions to bleed to death, since differently from Garth, he could not finish them from up close.

Unluckily for the scorpions, the only parts hard as steel, were in fact, their abdomen and heads. The reason for this particular caracteristic was, at least for Daniel, hilarious. These beasts had evolved by hunting their own kin, so they needed a back armor resistant enough to stand a strike of their own stingers.. as they would often be struck by their enemies, and sometimes, strike themselves by mistake.

These scorpions would usually lose this major flaw after their advancement to the third rank, as they would not only gain a stronger armor, an additional set of legs, and a better control of their bodies, but also, a rank 3 beast level intelligence.

Daniel was a full sub-stage higher than the beasts they were hunting, which made the hunt a walk in the park for him. So he took this hunt as a way to practice his knives throwing abilities instead.

Every thrown knife would either strike the base of the tail, the soft jaws and sometimes, even the beady eyes of the scorpions, causing them to make a shrill scream and panic before being finished by a rapid slash of his sword.

*shluh*

Daniel removed the beast core from the poison gland of the last scorpion he had killed, while the rest of the group prepared for the travel back.

Once again, Daniel got to witness the mystical workings of the spacial bag. This hunt had not only been Daniel's first hunting trip, but also the first time he had come into contact with an item enchanced with spacial magic.

Noticing Daniel's surprise the first time he saw the spacial bag, Yala gave him a brief explaination on how enhanced items and spacial magic worked.

Aside from that, all Yala did was follow the party quietly. She would never intervene in one of their fights. The only thing she seemed interested in doing, was picking the plants and flowes that grew on the rocky ground.

It was early evening when the party decided to head back to camp. The group's morale was very high. No major accident had happened, and their hunt had been very productive.

Unfortunately, things not always go as planned. The moment they picked their bags and started to head back, they heard a slight tremble coming from the wall to their left.

Their heads turned in unison, but all they saw, was the usual large wall. The tremble grew stronger the more time passed, until suddenly, a crack appeared on its surface. Rocks and pebbles of various sizes detached from the wall and crashed heavily against the ground, ifting small coulds of dust.

Daniel's eyes opened wide in shock as a shiver run down his spine. He turned towards the rest of the party and shouted "RUN!" But before anyone could react, the wall exploded, making boulders and dust fly everywhere.

The entire party had been swept up by a dense dusty cloud which blinded them completely. The only noise that could be heard was a deafening screeching scream and loud fighting noises.

Daniel didn't know what to do or where his party members were, so he wasn't able to protect them. Luckily, the loud noises came from in front of him, so he was fairly sure that they were safe.. for now at least.

The source of the deafening noise was slowly moving, preventing the dusty cloud to settle once and for all, and allow them to recover their vision. It was clear to him that, within the could of dust, two powerful entities were battling.

Moving at this point was out of the question. All he could do was to stand still and hope that these two battling parties wouldn't notice him.

A few long minutes passed before the intensity of the battle started to decrease. The dusty cloud started to slowly settle, and Daniel was finally able to see the shapes of the battling monsters.

One of them had a humanoid shape and stood on two feet, with an height nearing the three meters. The two details that convinced Daniel that he wasn't witnessing a battle between humans, were the two enormous claws placed where a normal person's hands would be, and the thick five meters long tail attached to his lower back.

The other beast had a more monstruous appearance. Daniel could see a straight and thin body on which dozens of disgusting looking pair of legs grew. Each of these legs were twice as long as the body itself, and were covered in millions of tiny quills.

At the frontal extremity of this beast's body, a human-like thorax grew. This thorax had no head attached, and Instead, several small mandibles kept closing and opening, as if pushing the food inside the beast's mouth, which was situated right in the middle of his chest. It looked like an enormous centipede with a human thorax attached to its extremity.

Two extremely long antennaes grew on its shoulders, and right below, were two additional long arms whose estremities looked like sharpened blades.

Daniel remembered the descriprion he had heard in the tavern, and recognized the first beast as the Commander Steel-back Scorpion. He didn't know what the other beast was, but since it was capable of fighting on par with a rank 4 beast, then it probably was a beast of the fourth rank as well.

More time passed, and the could of dust had almost completely settled. Daniel could see more clearly now, and was able to notice the state in which beasts were. Two words came to his mind.. 'severely injured'.

The commander scorpion's armor was covered in deep and cuts which leaked white fatty liquids, and one of its arms was missing entirely. The other creature wasn't doing any better. Various of his thin feet were broken, and its back had been puncutred right in the middle by the scorpion's aculeus.

Daniel looked around and noticed that the rest of the team was further away. Apparently, they had backed away the moment the wall had exploded. They then remained at the edges of the dusty fog, waiting for him to come out.

The other members of the party was Daniel standing there, but before they could feel relieved, they noticed the two beasts battling right behind him.

The battle's pace was becoming sluggish, as the two beasts's exhaustion increased. Unfortunately, Daniel's cover had almost completely disappeared, so, while still afraid of being noticed, he tried to back away slowly. The rest of the party had already recognized the Commander Steel-Back Scorpion and went into hiding.

The moment Daniel moved he was immediately noticed by the commander scorpion, which looked at him and let out a furious shrill scream.

It was during this moment of distraction that the centipede's thin legs moved. The beast rushed at the Commander scorpion and threw itself against its body. The moment the centipede landed on the scorpion it quicky caged its entire body with its thin legs.

The scorpion reacted rapidly and pinched two of the centipede's legs with its remaining claw, tearing them right off. Its long tail also punctured its enemy's back again and again, in hope to make it retreat, but the centipede never let go. It instead tightened its hold around the scorpion's body, keeping it still while it tried to tear the scorpion's head to pieces with its strong mandibles.

This was Daniel's chance. He turned around and started to run away from the two battling beasts, but before he could go far, the scorpion smashed his tail on the ground, then again, and again.

The tail moved faster than Daniel could see, and whenever the tail hit, the ground would tremble. The Commander Steel-back Scorpion was a rank 4 beast, so its hits were rapid and precise. It didn't take long before the ground started to crack.

The scorpion was an intelligent creature, and knew that it was in a dangerous position. It was injured and it couldn't get out of the centipede's grip. Luckily, it had grown up inside these canyons, and it knew them like it knew its own body.

The cracks grew wider and wider under the relentless hits of the scorpion's tail. Until finally, the ground started to cave in right underneath the two beasts bodies.

The cracks had reached way past Daniel's position, so when the ground caved in, Daniel lost his footing and ended up being swallowed by the enormous sinkhole that was created.

When Daniel woke up, he found himself in a massive dark cave, laying on his back against solid, yet wet stone. The first thing he noticed after waking up, was a small looking hole on the roof of the cave, through which faint moonlight shined.

At his feet, he felt the calming feeling of water.

He got up and tried to gather his bearings. He had been laying on a rock, right at the edge of a small underground lake. He then noticed the familiar colored boulders that had fallen with him, and after a sudden realization, a shiver ran through his spine.

What Daniel had realized was that, if he had fallen a second earlier, he would have landed heavily against rocks. Instead, he had landed in the lake and had managed to survive, even though he had lost consciousness.

Daniel could see almost nothing of his surroundings, the only part clear enough, was the small area brightened by the light which were shining through the distant hole on the roof.

*Clank* *Clak*

A few rocks fell from the top of a pile of large boulders, making the sound of rock hitting rock reverberate through the entire cave. Daniel had noticed this pile of boulders, and most importantly he had noticed the guey liquids flowing at its base.

Suddently, one of the large rocks was pushed away, uncovering the large claw of the Commander Steel-back Scorpion.

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The moment the big boulder was moved aside, Daniel went into hiding.

One rock after the other started to roll down the pile, as the figure of the Commnader Steel-back Scorpion crawled out of it.

Its body was a complete wreck. The thick tail was broken in three parts and dangled without control, the side of his waist had been smashed, and the scorpion had been forced to rip that part of his body altogether, along with the leg connected to it, in order to free itself. Huge chunks of white meat dripped out of the impressive looking injury.

After Daniel was looking at the scorpion's conditions, he noticed a couple of moving legs hooking onto the pile of boulders, and dragging the body of the centipede out of it.

The centipede wasn't in better conditions when compared to the scorpion, in fact, it seemed to be faring worse. While the scoprion's body was compact and resistant, the centipede's many thin legs which spanned almost ten meters each, were not as resistant, and even if it didn't die from the fall, it still couldn't avoid losing all of its legs but four.

It could still crawl, but the scorpion's poison had taken effect long ago. Without an external intervention, the centipede would die soon, and the scorpion will be able to consume its core and recover.

The two beasts started to weakly attach eachother once again. The centipede tried to pierce the scorpion's body with its remaining legs, while the scorpion tried to smash the centipede's body with the only part of his body that was left unharmed.. its only arm. Each attack did little damage, but Daniel could still feel the ground under his feet tremble under the pressure of the mighty blows.

There was no doubt in Daniel's mind that allowing the scorpion to recover meant sure death for him. Daniel started to look for a way to finish the heavily injured scorpion, and after looking around for awhile, he had an idea.

He suddenly dropped on his knees and pressed one hand against stone, and one against the soft soil. He then focused on the feeling of the earth essence, and for a moment, he lost himself into that feeling.

A few long second passed, before a faint earthquake made the ground shake once more, but this time, the earthquake hadn't been caused by the two battling beasts.

From the rocky ground in front of Daniel, a bunch of small sized rocks started to converge. They formed a small pile that increased in size at each moment, only stopping after they reached the height of two and a half meters.

These piled up rocks stopped piling up, but kept moving, while still remaining attached together, they started to shift into specific positions.

Soft soil made its way from underneath Daniel's feet, joining the moving pile of stones, and filling the empty spaces between shifting rocks.

The stones and ground took the shape of a rudimentary golem. This was one of the elementals which Daniel had learned how to summon from one of the books he had found within the belongings of the bandit mage.

The golem described in the manual of summoning should have resembled the summoner completely, but that was only at the stage of mastery. This had been the first time Daniel had summoned an elemental, and the final product was a humanoid giant made out of stones and soil.

If Daniel had had enough practice with -Fire Element: Flaming Whisp- he could have tried to summon a lava elemental similar to the one the bandit mage used.

Daniel unshethed his sword and stayed in hiding. He wanted to finish off the scorpion, but he had no intention of going against two rank 4 beasts at once, even if injured.

It didn't take long before the Commander Steel-back Scorpion clawed the remaining four legs of the centipede and ripped them off one by one, leaving it helpless with hundreds of bloody stumps.

Uncapable of moving, the centipede could do nothing but squirm and wait for the scorpion to finish him off.

Without missing a beat, the scorpion raised his only remaining arm, and smashed his big claw against the centipede's back at full strength, right where he had puctured it with his aculeus. The centipede's body split in half, and gooey green paste flew in every direction for tens of meters.

The moment the scorpion dropped in front of the centipede's body, right as he was about to shove its face into its insides and recover the centipede's core, a sharp throwing dagger hit the broken part of its dangling tail, and cut it off completely.

The scorpion let out a shrill cry and turned towards Daniel. It then bent its knee and propelled itself against him at an amazing speed.

Daniel saw the body of the commander scorpion gliding above the ground while approaching him, and for a moment, he thought he was done for. But before the beast could reach him, a big stone golem dropped from above a large boulder and nailed the scorpion's body on the ground just a few meters before Daniel.

The scorpion felt the hit, but that wasn't nearly enough to finish it off. It managed to pick itself up with its leg as if he was covered in soft sand, but that was enough time for Daniel.

While the dying beast was pushing itself up with its remaining claws, Daniel rushed at him at full speed and slashed at its shoulder vertically.

Normally, a rank 3 warrior could hardly injure a rank 4 beast, but this was no normal attack. If one could look closely, they would notice a thin blue light shine through the edge of Daniel's sword.

Daniel had learned this sword skill right before departing for the hunting grounds. The skill's name was 'Splitting Ki', and Daniel had spent a good part of the previous night practicing it.

The slash had left a lingering thread of blue light wherever the blade passed, and luckily, it didn't stop when it enountered the hard shell of the scorpion, detaching its arm from the rest of its body.

The scorpion, which was still trying to free itself from the soft ground and rocks, let out the loudest of the screams he had let out so far. Daniel felt his eardrums about to burst and panicked. He let go of his sword and covered his bleeding ears with both hands.

Too weak to fight back, the dying scorpion gave its all with a final screaching screem, hoping that Daniel would choose retreat. The scream was so loud, that at a certain point Daniel couldn't take it anymore, and its eardrums finally ruptured.

Under an immense amount of pain, Daniel decided to give up protecting his ears and instead, grabbed two knives from the sheaths strapped to its thigh, and used the second skill he had learned, 'Through Stone and Steel' to stab them into the screaming head of the scorpion.

The pointy ends of the knives shined with blue light and perforated swiftly into the scorpion's human-like head. The hit was effective, but unfortunately, it didn't finish the struggling scorpion. The screeching sound kept going as Daniel picked his sword from the ground, and after focusing all his remaining ki on the edge of the blade, he used 'Splitting Ki' once again to decapitate it.

Only after the scorpion's head rolled on the ground, the sonic attack finally ended.

Daniel's face was purple red at this point. He could barely keep himself from falling on his knees, and his ears were bleeding profusely. He felt like he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer and couldn't help but feel like he could vomit the entire contents of his stomach at any moment.

Daniel was about to fall unconscious, but before he could drop on the ground, a soft layer of cool soil wrapped around his legs. Daniel couldn't move on its own, so he needed the support of the stone golem. He slowly walked towards the Scorpion's body and sticked his entire arm inside the large hole left by its missing leg.

There were no bones, nor muscles.. The scorpions insides were completely made out of a fatty white liquid that held no resistance against Daniel's arms. Daniel pulled out handful after handful of gooey paste, and after reaching the contents of the beast's chest, he finally felt a solid bead-like object with his hand.

He rapidly took the bead-like core out of the scorpion's carcass, cleaned it with his shirt, and observed it carefully. There were no major differences between a rank 3 and a rank 4 beast core, except for one.

The density of color of a rank 3 beast core was dense, almost opaque, while a beast core of the fourth rank resembled more a transparent bead filled with dense smoke.

Daniel felt the terrifying beast essence contained within the beast core, and realized that its purity wasn't nearly comparable to that of a rank 3 beast, but of course, he expected that much.

Reaching a different major stage wasn't didn't simply grant a quantitative change to one's essence, but also a qualitative one.

Daniel pocketed the rank 4 core and walked slowly towards the centipede's body. Luckily, the beasts thorax had been smashed into pieces, so finding the beast core wasn't as hard.

By looking up towards the big hole on the roof, Daniel could guess that various hours had passed since he had fallen into that sinkhole.

He had good reason to believe that, even if the head hunter agreed to send a searching squad to look for him, they would most certainly wait for the morning after, as beasts became relentless during the night.

Also, the head hunter couldn't force anyone to go look for him, and even if a good pay was offered, nobody would risk their lives to find a bronze hunter, which had fallen into a hole in the ground alongside two rank 4 beasts.

Daniel's only option, right now, was to cultivate and recover.

For the following minutes, Daniel forced all the remaining spiritual essence within his body out and turned it into earth essence. He summoned the stone golem once more, and ordered it to wrap around his body. He then let go of the control over the earth essence, and the stone cover became a solid cavern that surrounded him completely.

He finally fell on his behind, and with a few painful movements he sat in a lotus position. In his hands, were the two rank 4 beasts cores.

Daniel calmed his state of mind, and after activating 'Time is Precious' he started to cultivate.

His aim was, of course, to reach perfection within the third rank, so instead of pushing for a breakthrough, he guided the beast essence into refining his body once again.

A few minutes into the cultivation, and Daniel realized how difficult controlling the pure essence was. No matter how much he focused, a good half of the beast essence would end up wandering inside his body without control, and consequently ended up being absorbed by his spirit.

seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. Until suddenly, five days had passed.

While lost in his cultivation, Daniel hadn't noticed that the injuries on his body had long disappeared, and the two beast cores were now a fifth of the sizes they had been before. Something else he hadn't realized were the changes within his body. His muscles, bones, blood vessels and organs, were stronger than ever, and almost on par with a rank 4 warrior.. His spirit had evolved as well, in fact, it had become so dense that it could hardly be distinguished from his physical body.

What was strange, was that his powerful body, which radiated pure ki, was in no way an obstacle for his dense spirit.. It felt like they had been made for one another.

Daniel's focus had been interrupted abruptly by the familiar and intrusive appearence of a window within his mind.

*You Can't Do Good Without Strength!*

First objective completed.

Reward: 1500 Karma Points

*Primary Quest started: You Can't Do Good Without Strength!*

-Description: Obtain enough power to protect those in need.

Second objective set: Cultivate to the "Surrounding Awareness" of the martial cultivation, or the "Profound Spiritual Synchronization" of the spiritual cultivation.

Optional: Reach "perfection" before breaking through the next stage.

Reward: Karma 5000(10,000)

Time limit: 1 year and 6 months(2 years)

After Daniel finished reading the content of the two windows, he felt estatic. He immediately focused on his profile, and a new window appeared within his mind.

Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.

Age - 14

Rank

- Peak rank 3 of Martial cultivation (Perfect Body)

- Peak rank 3 of Spiritual cultivation (Perfect Connection)

Karma - 1602

Weapons Masteries (Details)

Martial Arts (Details)

Skills (Details)

Spells (Details)

Reap What You've Sown

Time Is Precious Lv.1

System Upgrades (Details)

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Daniel's body was overflowing with power. The purity of his naturally produced ki was so high, that in comparison, he believed that the ki his body had produced so far, had been an incomplete version of his actual ki.

His spirit wasn't any less impressive. In fact, he felt like his spirit connection with the spiritual plane was much clearer than before, and the spiritual essence drawn from it, was so pure that if Daniel tried to use any of the basic spells he knew, he would consume very little of it.

Feeling the hilt of his sword with his left hand, he decided to test his newly aquired strength, so he unsheathed it, and focused his ki on the edge of his sword. The edge of the sword started to shine with a pale sky blue light.. Daniel walked towards the biggest boulder he could find, and sword in hand, made a slashing motion with his arm.

A deep gash appeared on the surface of the three meters tall boulder. Daniel hadn't felt any resistance coming from the stone, as the sword went through it like a hot knife through butter.

Unfortunately, Daniel still wasn't able of pushing his ki further than his own body, or the body of the weapon he was holding. Therefore, the sword could only cut what it came into direct contact with.

'Splitting Ki' had more advanced stages to it, which would allow him to expand the blade through ki, and even send slashes of pure ki through air. But with Daniel's current mastery of 'Splitting Ki', he was only able of sharpen the sword's edge.

Daniel sheathed his sword with a satisfied look, he then closed his eyes and focused on pushing the spiritual essence within his body through his feet, and into the surrounding ground. At an impressive speed, the rocks in the surroundings started to move and converge into a large pile, which a wave of soft soil covered right away.

After less than twenty seconds, the pile of rocks and soil had shifted in place and taken a humanoid shape. This golem's humanoid shape, if compared to the previous golem Daniel had summoned, was much more defined. While the previous golem looked like a giant made out of rocks and soil with simple limbs, this one had a head, fingers, toes, and a bone structure made out of solid rock. Its face was still smooth and devoid of any human resemblance, but at least it was shaped like a face.

Daniel looked at the two small rank 4 beast cores, and after thinking for a moment, he decided not to attempt a break through to the fourth rank. He had realized that his speed was too impressive, and if he were to cultivate from the peak of rank 3 to the fourth rank in just a few days, someone would pick up on it sooner or later.

After looking up, Daniel noticed that the light coming through the hole on the roof was that of early evening. He didn't know how long he had been cultivating, but since he felt like he hadn't eaten for days, he believed that more than a day had passed.

He needed to find a way out of this cave as soon as possible.

The first thing he did, was to rip one of his sleeve off and wrap it around a small rod that he had made out of stone. He then soaked it with the scorpion's fatty meat, and made a rudimentary torch which he placed on the ground, before unsheathing his sword and one of his knives.

He sat right next to the torch and started to whet the sword's unsharpened side with the knife's edge. His first few tries generated no sparks, but the more he tried, the warmer the blade became. He kept trying faster, and faster, until finally, a few sparks flashed past his fingers and disappeared in the air.

It took him a few minutes to manage to ignite the torch, but instead of getting up and start exploring the cave, he shoved his hand inside the flame, and activated 'Time is Precious'.

For the next five minutes, Daniel focused on the warmth on his skin, looked at the sinuous movements of the flame, and tried to understand the workings of fire essence. The torch was rudimentary, and only had the scorpion's fatty innards to keep it lit, so after less than ten minutes after it was ignited, the flame had already extinguished.

Luckily, thanks to the system's help, ten minutes were more than enough for Daniel to understand the priciples of fire essence.

While still sitting in a lotus position, Daniel forced his spiritual essence out of his palm. He focused on the familiar warmth and wavy movements of a flame, and after a few moments, a small fire lit on his palm.

The fire waved quietly, growing in size above Daniel's skin for a good minute, it then detached from it and floated in the air steadily. The flame kept becoming bigger and bigger until, when it reached the size of a human's head, it finally stopped.

The floating flame required Daniel's commands to move, similarly to the way the stone golem was controlled, and like the stone golem, the flame was considered a summoned beast. More precisely, a 'Flaming Whisp'.

Meanwhile in Phyrri, within the decommissioned hotel was a large and elegant room. Inside this room, two old men were sitting while facing eachother. One of them, was the previous Master at Arms of the Karalis kingdom, while the other, was an old man which, if compared to the hotel owner, looked much closer to their real age. They two old men were both in their mid seventies.

This old looking man wore a loose white robe, with two small golden cauldrons patched on his shoulders, and a bigger one sewn to his left waist area. From his body came a pungent smell which would make one's nose curl in discomfort. Whoever would smell this odor, would immediately recognize this man as a powerful alchemist.

The two old men were having a conversation while sipping tea from a set of very refined tea cups.

"So he hasn't come back yet.." Said the old Alchemist.

The retired Master at Arms's brows furrowed and responded in a not too cordial tone. "I still don't buy that crap about wanting to thank him for saving your granddaughter.."

"Mhahaha! What reason do I have to lie to you!" The old Alchemist didn't take the rudely put comment too seriously, after all, the two were old friends.

"Sure, laugh away.. in the fifty years i've known you, you have never bothered to thank anyone that helped you. The best you did was to send them a few pill.. or a chest of gold.." Commented the Master at Arms bitterly.

The Alchemist's eyes rolled back and responded with an annoyed voice. "Again with the price's wedding?! I thought you would have forgotten about that by now.. Haven't I sent you a chest of gold!?"

"That wasn't even worth a fourth of the price of the present! You!.. Lousy Alchemist.." He then turned away and refused to comment further.

A few quiet minutes went by as the two sipped tea in silence.

"Seriously.. The kid is a prodigy in everything that regards martial cultivation.. why are you looking for him?" The Master at Arms said seriously.

The old Alchemist smiled wryly and said "That kid cultivated from the early rank 2 to the peak of rank 3, and learned how to use stone skin.. in a single night." He then sipped his tea, and added "He is a spiritual cultivation prodigy as well.. how do we solve this?"

The Master at Arm's eyes widened in shock when he heards the words of the old Alchemist. "Are you serious?" He asked right after swallowing the mouthful of tea he had in his mouth.

The old Alchemist simply nodded, and while looking at the content of his tea cup, he said "A talent corpse has no future.. for now let's hope he isn't dead."

Back to the large cavern underneath the Sinleah's Mountain Range, Daniel had found a way to leave from the way he came.

He had decided to summon one golem after the other and order them to take the shape of small sets of stairs, he would then give up the earth essence's control, so that they would turn into inanimate solid constructions.

After a bit of trial and error, and a few heavy falls against the solid rock, he managed to reach only six meters below the hole on the roof of th cave.

"I can make it.." Said Daniel while avoiding to look down. A fall like that wouldn't have killed a rank 4 beast, and probably not even the new and improved him, but there were no doubts that he would break a few bones if he did. Plus, there were no lakes underneath to grant him a softer landing point than stone.

He took a few deep breaths, and after mustering the courage, he bent his knees and took a huge leap upwrads. The stone and earth's stairs immediately crumbled under the weight.

If one were to look from the edge of the hole, they would notice a thin arm appearing inside it, then disappearing the next moment. Daniel hadn't made it outside.. but luckily, he had managed to grab a protruding stone with the tip of his fingers, and avoid a painful fall. He then climbed up slowly, and managed to roll out of the massive hole.

With his back pressed against the edge of the chasm, he took a few deep breath and shook the tension off his shoulders. He then got back up on his feet, and started walking towards the base camp.

Base camp, 23:11

A guard was sitting quietly next to the wooden signs at the edge of the base camp. His eyes were half closed, as he was in the process of falling asleep. His large greatsword was laying on the side of his right leg, and was about to slip and fall on the ground.

Before the guard could manage to fall asleep, a dark silhouette, which seemed to be approaching the base camp, appeared out of the blue. Before the guard even finished opening his eyes, he grabbed his weapon and sprung up on his feet. He then shouted "WHO'S THERE?"

The silhouette drew closer..

The guard started to get nervous, so it shouted once again.. "WHO IS TH-" but before he could finish, he realized that the silhouette belonged to a young man in his early teens.

The closer the silhouette got, the more details was the guard able to see. The young man's body was thin but well defined, and his skin was completely covered in dirt. His clothes were in tatters, the only parts that weren't ruined were his belt, on which a longsword hanged on the side, and a leather strap wrapped around his left thigh, which contained a set of sheathed throwing knives.

Various guards on patrol heard the sudden screams, and approached the entrance of the canyons. They then joined the first guard, and stood next to him, observing the approaching young man.

The young man, was of course, Daniel.

Daniel approached step after step, noticing the guards crowding the entrance of the canyon. What Daniel didn't know, was that he had become kind of famous lately.

Apparently, an unknown party of hunters had come back from their hunting ground with one of their members missing. The party confirmed the presence of more than one rank 4 beast within the canyon, and had also requested the head hunter to send a searching party to look for the lost member.

Usually, they would have gotten paid for the information, and rejected right away. But fortunately amongst that group, was a young mage, which after exposing her relationship with the current leader of the Golden Cauldron, was granted the help they had asked for. This group was Daniel's hunting party, and the young mage, was none other than Yala.

Daniel kept approaching in front of the surprised looks of the crowd of guards, which after he got close enough, noticed the monstrous head of the Commander Steel-back Scorpion in his hand.

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"Hey.. is the tavern still open?.." Daniel asked to the unbelieving crowd of guards. Then, without even waiting for a reply, he walked past them and in the direction of the tavern.

The guard on duty turned towards one of the patrols and said "..Notify the head hunter, now!"

The patrol turned around and ran towards the head hunter's tent.

Five days had passed since Daniel's last meal, and he didn't feel like talking to anyone, at least until he put something in his stomach. He made his way across the base camp's quiet streets, and reached the tavern in just a few minutes.

In front of the head hunter's tent, the patrol was standing politely. "Sir, there are news about the kid you've sent us to look for.."

The tent opened immediately, and inside it, a bare chested man appeared. The half naked man was very large, with well defined muscles, and a few deep scars which marked them in an unmistakable way.

Behind this large man's body was a bed, above which, a naked and flushed woman could be seen laying confusedly. This large man, was the head hunter Kier.

"What about him?! Have you found him?" Kier asked in agitation.

"No sir.. he came back on his own.." Responded the patrol awkwardly. He then composed himself and added "He asked if the tavern was open.. he should be headed there."

The head hunter grabbed a shirt from above his dresser, and put it on messily. He then left his tent and headed towards the tavern.

Daniel entered the tavern in awful conditions. His clothes were a wreck, and in his hand, he carried the decapitated head of the commander scorpion, with knives still stuck in it.

Despite the hour, the tavern was full. Most of the tables were occupied by a large number of people who wore the same type of armor. A full black leather armor with a mountain peak carved in silver on their chest, and left shoulder.

The rest of the tables were occupied by a few hunters, which for some reason, looked intimidated to a point where they keep their tones down. The only empty tables were those immediately next to another isolated table.

At this isolated table, four people were sitting. Two of these four people, were beautiful girls in their late teens whose revealing clothes left little to imagination. The mission of the two girls seemed to be to seduce the man in his early twenties next to whose sides they sat.

This man's clothes were refined and elegant, and were marked with the same silver peak carved on the armors which many people within the bar wore. On his chest, was a golden brooch which had the shape of a pickaxe crossed with a shovel. The hairstyle of this man alone showed a rich upbringing.

The last person, was a rigid looking middle aged man. This middle aged man wore the exact same black leather armor that the rest wore, and long cape of a dark grey color. On the left corner of this cape, a symbol identical to the other man's brooch was sewn in silver, while on the right corner, a silver mountain peak was depicted.

A silver pattern on the edges of his armor pieces, aside from the cape, was the only thing that differentiated this man's armors from the rest.

Daniel slowly approached the counter and asked for any dish that didn't require a long time to prepare. He then walked towards one of the few empty tables, placed the scorpion's heads on it, and sat quietly.

"WHAT'S THIS REEK!?" Shouted the rich young man, now sitting less than two meters away from Daniel.

One of the two girls giggled and responded in a coquettish manner "Young master Jite is right.. such a foul stench!"

The other girl, trying not to be left behind, added immediately "I believe it is the tramp that just sat behind you, Young master Jite" She then giggled, while squeezing her soft peaks together with her arms.

The young master turned around, and noticed Daniel quietly sitting at the table behind him. He immediately got up, but as he was about to make a scene, the middle aged man's voice resounded within his ears. It said only two words "Young master.."

The young master immediately turned to look at the middle aged guard, and as their eyes met, the guard shook his head lightly.

"He is just a brat!" Complained the young master.

The guard sighed and added "That's the head of a rank 4 beast."

"SO WHAT?!" Shouted the young master. "Aren't you a rank 4 warrior?! Kick him out of here!" He then ordered.

The middle aged guard sighed once more, then got up on his feet and approached Daniel's table. "I have to ask you to leave." He said after getting only two meters away from Daniel.

Daniel looked at him, and immediately, he realized that this middle aged guard was no simple goon. Nevertheless, he had no intention of leaving. He had spent too much time without touching food, and even if he didn't feel the passing of time while cultivanting, he still felt the built up hunger when he woke up.

The fact that he hadn't jumped on another person's table to steal their food, was already a miracle.

The guard had no weapons on him, which told Daniel that he probably was a martial artist. He would have usually avoided a fight he had few chances of winning, but this time, Daniel decided to be stubborn.

While looking at the middle aged man, he said "I'm going nowhere until I eat something." He then turned around once more, and kept waiting quietly.

The entire tavern quietened, and every single one of the soldiers in black armor turned to look at Daniel.

The middle aged guard didn't take it personally, he simply added "This camp belongs to the Mining Conglomerate.. My master is the young master of one of the thirteen mining companies of which the conglomerate is composed. Leave while I am still asking."

Daniel ignored the man's warning completely, and kept waiting for his food to arrive.

The middle aged guard raised his arm and tried to grab Daniel's shoulder. He didn't want to fight this kid, but he still had to follow his orders, but as he was about to put his hand over Daniel's shoulder, his cloak suddenly caught fire.

The guard promptly took his cloak off, and watched Daniel with a surprised expression. He was about to say something, but Daniel spoke first.

"Your should be careful around fire.. your armor may not catch fire easily, but can you say the same about your master's robe?.. what is that.. silk?" A faint smile grew on Daniel's face when he reached the end of his sentence.

The rest of the guards rose up to their feet, and grabbed the weapons hanging at their waists.

The middle aged guard reacted by raising his closed fist. This action calmed the numerous soldiers, and forced them to sit back down.

"You don't think that, as a martial artist.. close as we are, I would be able to take you down before you can cast a magic spell?" Said the leader of the young master's guard.

Daniel, grabbed one of the knives stuck inside the Commander Steel-back Scorpion's decapitated head, and pulled it out. He then used 'Through Stone and Steel' to force the knife back into the scorpion's head from another angle. He then said "You can try.."

Quietness reigned within the tavern for a few endless moments.. until..

"HAHAHAHA!" The middle aged guard started laughing out loud "What a funny guy!!.. Peak Body Strengthening and peak Spiritual Connection.." He then sat on a chair at Daniel's table and asked with a smile on his face "How many 'Safe Youth' pills did you take to still look like a 14 years old? Though it's kind of weird.."

Daniel was surprised by radical change within the old guard's behaviour. He couldn't help but smirk and talk back "Talk about weird, a middle aged man that talks like a 14 year old kid.."

"I have a young soul! Hahaha!" Retorted the middle aged guard before starting to laugh once again.

The young master sprung on his feet once more, and started shouting "ARE YOU DONE?! I said to kick him out! NOW!!"

The middle aged guard looked back at his master, then said with a humble yet firm voice "Young master, we should go back to your tent so you can rest. We have to take care of the master's assignment by tomorrow morning."

The few hunters that were talking and eating quietly at the other tables, couldn't help but giggle at the scene.

Humiliating wasn't enough to describe the young master's feelings. His orders had been ignored in public, and if that wasn't enough, he had been sent to sleep by his own bodyguard. That was an unbearable humiliation for him.

As he was about to start yelling at his own guard, he noticed a massive yet messily dressed man entering the tavern. "Mister Kier!" He had found a way to vent his anger, and restore some of his face.. the Head Hunter. "We don't lend our camps to hunters so that they can fill them with trash!" He said out loud while pointing at Daniel.

"I'm sorry young master Jite, but that young man is a member of the huntsmen guild, and you have no authority to order a hunter around." Kier retorted immediately.

This wasn't the first time that Kier had to handle one of the young masters of the thirteen mining companies. The thirteen companies owned all the mines situated in the canyons that the Huntsmen Guild were tasked to clear, so every now and then, one or two would appear during the hunting season, and act all high and mighty against a few hunters.

The young master's face turned purple in rage. He sent a deadly look at Daniel, and turned to face his bodyguard. "Let's go!" He barked through his gritted teeth. He then stormed out the tavern in large steps.

The middle aged guard followed the young master, and behind him, the rest of the guards.

After the young master left, Kier approached Daniel's table, and sat on one of the chairs.

"You're Dan Hiel, right?" He asked, almost too politely.

Daniel looked back at him and nodded.

"I'm Kier, the hunter assigned as head hunter of this Steel-back Scorpion's hunting season." In the five days that Daniel had been absent, Kier had received various communications from Phyrri's huntsmen guild branch. He had been requested to conduct a search party to find the disappeared member of a hunting party.

At first, Kier had believed that this young man was simply the son of one of the high ranking hunters, but after he reported his failed attempts in to find him, he had learned that the request came from two external powers. One came from the Golden Cauldron's upper echelons, while the other, was none other than the previous Master at arms of the Karalis kingdom.

This information, at the time, had left him shaking in his boots.

"You're not here to ask me to leave the tavern, right? I'm starving." Said Daniel, before looking at the rank 4 scorpion's skull and adding "Do you think I can pay with this?"

Kier smirked, and then said "There is no need, your party members left your part of the pay with me.." He then looked at the decapitated head above the table, and added "I'll also give you the bounty for the rank 4 scorpion that the guild gave me as a reward for the incoming rank 4 hunters."

"Is the rest of my party fine?" Asked Daniel.

Kier's impression of Daniel increased exponentially after he heard him mention his teammates "The mage left right away, the old man should still be around and the others left at some point during these past 5 days"

Daniel's eyes opened in surprise, and then asked "Five days?.. Is that how long i've been gone?"

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"What do you mean?" Asked Kier curiously.

After Daniel realized what he had just asked, he explained himself. "I've explored the caverns underneath the canyons, I wasn't really aware of the time.."

Kier's eyebrows arched slightly "Ah, that's what happened. Your party members said there were two beasts battling.. What happened to them?.. Well, to the other one at least"

"The two beasts were grabbing each other when the ground.." Daniel started to tell what had happened the day of their first hunt, of how the two beasts came out of a wall, how they battled fiercely and made the ground collapse, exposing the massive cage underneath it. "I'm not too bad with throwing knives and using a sword.. plus, the scorpion was heavily injured."

Kier was amazed by Daniel's survival ability, and after a minute, with a thoroughly impressed expression on his face, he said "Well, if you want to sell the beast cores to the guild, I can pay for them.. But if you want to keep them, then go ahead. You didn't accept a mission for the hunt of rank 4 beasts anyway, so you have no obligations to hand them over"

At that moment, A robust looking woman appeared next to Daniel's table. In her hands, she held two plates filled with food.

"Can I ask you something?.." Kier asked to Daniel, as he rudely started to scarf food down his throat "How did you manage to get the attention of both the previous Master-at-arms and the vice president of the Golden Cauldron?"

"Coincidence." Said Daniel with his mouth still full. He then swallowed heavily and said "I moved into the Master-at-arms building.. And about the vice leader of the Golden Cauldron.. I guess it's because I saved the mage from bandits."

"HA! Talk about luck.." Exclaimed Kier, once again surprised. "I'll let you eat in peace.. Come find me tomorrow morning and i'll give you your money. Also, i've been asked to send you back home.." Said Kier, right before getting up from his chair and walking out of the tavern.

The moment Kier left the tavern, the majority of the remaining hunters sprung up on their feet and approached Daniel. They occupied the free chairs or crowded around him.

"Hey kiddo, tell us about the battle between the beasts.."

"..How in the hell did you manage get out of that cave?"

"Wanna play those cores in a game of cards? Hehehe"

For the rest of the night, Daniel became the star of the base camp's tavern.

The following day, Daniel woke up on a bed inside of his tent. He washed himself up and put on some fresh clothes. Then sat back on his bed and started to think about his situation..

"It's been almost ten days since i've been home, and i've made enough money for now.. I should go back.. Plus, I have points to spend.. I wonder if the old man would still want me as his student.." On Daniel's face a faint smile grew the moment he thought about how many skills a kingdom's Master-at-arms would have to teach.

With his first thoughts of greed still lingering in his mind, he walked towards Kier's office. Right outside of Kier's office, the beautiful girl that was laying naked on his bed the night prior, was now completely dressed. Her expression was a professional one.

"Dan Hiel?" She asked

"That's me." Replied Daniel.

The woman got up from her chair and walked towards Kier's office. She then opened the door and made a gesture with her arm, inviting Daniel to enter.

Inside his office, Kier was sitting behind his desk. "Dan! Come, sit down." Said Keir.

Daniel entered the office and sat on a chair in front of Kier's desk. Once comfortable, he looked at Kier and asked "Yesterday you said that you've been asked to send me back.. Was it a request from the old man or the vice leader of the Golden Cauldron?"

"Both actually.." Responded Kier. He then started to rummage inside his desk's drawer, until it took a small bag out of it. "Here's your gold and the bounty for the rank 4 beasts. I've selected a few guards that can escort you back to Phyrri."

Daniel was about to get up and leave, but before he could, a thought flashed through his mind. "I have something to do here.. Do you know where I can find someone from the Silver Peak mining company?"

Kier's face turned awkward for a moment "Actually, yes.. But you won't like it.."

"What do you mean?" Asked Daniel confusedly.

With a matter-of-fact tone, Kier answered immediately "Remember the young master who wanted to kick you out of the tavern?.."

"Ah... Fuck." Said Daniel dispiritedly.

Kier couldn't help but ask "Why do you need to talk to someone from the Silver Peak Mining company?"

"I wanted to buy one of their slaves.." Daniel's voice grew more depressed by the word. His hand brushing against his forehead.

Kier started to write something on a piece of paper, and then handed it over to Daniel. "Well, if you want to avoid the guy, go directly to their main base. This is their address within the Learned District.. But I doubt you'll be allowed in." He said.

Daniel kept the piece of paper inside his new shirt and said "Thank you, I owe you one."

Kier smirked and said "I'll collect that debt when one of your favors will be worth something hehe.."

One hour later, Daniel had reached the base camp's border. Waiting for him, was a group of people. Amongst this group of people, was a familiar face.

Wearing his usual mimetic attire, and carrying his usual bunch of throwing spears, Garth sat quietly next to a tree, ignoring the rest of the chatting members of the group.

Most of the group's members were silver rank mercenaries, while the remaining few, had a gold badge hanging from their belts.

"So that fall didn't kill you.. I owe a few copper to the youngster with the weird nose.." Said Garth with a fake disappointed tone.

Daniel looked at him and smiled, he then said "If you thought I was dead, what are you doing still here?".

"Long naps.. Mostly" Responded Garth while smirking.

After a couple more back and forth, the two approached the rest of the group. They then departed for Phyrri.

Phyrri, Master-at-arms hotel

In the lobby, sitting around a table, were the old achemist, and Reila.

Two days had passed since the old master-at-arms and the old alchemist had received the news of Daniel's return. Since then, they had started a sort of competition about who would manage to take him in first.

They were opposites. The Master-at-arms was an expert in all kinds of weapons, and a powerful cultivator at the 7th rank of martial cultivation, while the old alchemist, was a known alchemist, a powerful mage, and a 7th rank spiritual cultivator.

Both of them had learned about Daniel's prodigious talent in cultivation and learning, either by witnessing it themselves or, like in the case of the old alchemist, witnessed from his granddaughter.

Both of these figures had built huge reputations within the Karalis kingdom.

The ways of the master-at-arms had always been honest and direct, while the old alchemist's ways were more cunning and calculative. During their many years of friendship, they had challenged each other more than once, and this time, the challenge regarded gaining a talented disciple.

Naturally, they were more than aware that the decision would depend on Daniel's choice regarding his path of cultivation. Path which the Master-at-arms, was fairly convinced to be martial cultivation. And yet, the old alchemist still tried to put a few fast ones on his old friend. Like befriending Daniel's sister, Reila.

"..had always been a good kid" Said Reila to the old man, with eyes filled with unrelenting pride.

The girl's pride made the old alchemist smile warmly. He had talked to this diffident and sharp teenage girl for the past half an hour, and he had understood one thing. Gaining her trust was a feat.

"I am sure he is, I can't wait to thank him personally for saving my granddaughter's life." The old alchemist finished his tea and added "It was a pleasure talking to such a bright kid, and my apologies for interrupting your studies, i'll leave you to them.. Excuse me"

"You didn't disturb Sir.." Said Reila while smiling politely and blowing gently.

After bidding farewell, the old alchemist left.

Back inside the master-at-arms room, the two old men were sitting and chatting like they often did.

"What a couple of freaks!" Said the old alchemist with an annoyed tone. "I've talked to that girl for half an hour and I know less about that kid than I did before!"

The old master-at-arms clearly enjoyed seeing his old friend in that state. He decided to poke the bear by saying "Oh, she is just protective towards her brother.. Which older sister wouldn't be worried if a suspicious old man started to ask questions about their little brother?.."

"Who's a suspicious old man?! You're one to talk.. Opening a school on your own.. Attracting kids from left and right.. You're the one that they need to be on the lookout for!" Retorted the old alchemist bitterly.

The old master-at-arms didn't take the comment at heart, he instead giggled and went back to sipping his tea.

A look of realization flashed on the old alchemist's face. He then looked at the old master-at-arms and asked him "Didn't the brat come here with two girls?" Who's the other one?"

The faint smile on the hotel owner's face disappeared completely. He stared at his teacup for a full minute, before saying in a low voice "Der's daughter.."

The old alchemist's eyes flashed open. "Are you kidding? How in the hell did she end up in your hotel to begin with?! That's too much of a coincidence." He inquired with an everlasting surprise in his voice.

"She had been taken as a slave.. The brat bought her at an auction, and then freed her before even leaving the building.." Clarified the old master-at-arms.

The old alchemist smirked and said "Smart kid.. He can see the big picture.. Think of who's going to owe him a favor when.. If.. his father will come back.."

"He didn't know who she was when he bought her.." Said the old master-at-arms, correcting his old friend's train of thought.

Once learned the truth, the smile on the old alchemist grew two times larger "The more I hear about this brat, the more I like him! Hehehe"

After the old alchemist's laugh, the two finished their tea in silence.

Two quiet minutes passed before the old alchemist broke the silence by asking "You are keeping her here?.."

"I have to.." Responded the old master-at-arms.

The old alchemist's brows narrowed as he looked at his old friend. "Students of the School of Everlasting Fury will sooner or later make their way here.. You haven't refused anyone since you've taken in the three.. you can't start with them.. it'll look suspicious. What if they send someone who can recognize her?" He asked with a dead serious tone.

The old master-at-arms looked lost for a moment, then, he seemed to have made a decision within his mind. He turned to look at his friend, and said "Nobody touches one of my students."

"You better hope it doesn't come to that.. i've heard that the master of the School of Everlasting Fury has been trying to breakthrough to the eight rank for days now." Said the old alchemist casually, trying to scale back his old friend's resolve to fight it out with his student's old enemy. He then added "Plus, you're not the master-at-arms anymore.. if His Majesty finds out.. he'll never take your side over his."

The room turned quiet once more, and after a few minutes, the first to break the silence, was once again, the old alchemist.

"Where the hell is that brat!? I feel like i've been waiting here forever." The old alchemist complained in a way most would define 'slightly childish'.

"He'll be here by tomorrow." Responded the old master-at-arms.

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It was early morning when Daniel's group arrived at Phyrri's gates.

They entered the city from the southern walls, and once in, Daniel bid farewell to Garth and the rest, and headed towards the Hotel. He really wanted to see his sister.

Once in front of the building, Daniel stood with his jaw wide open.

The amount of people lingering in front of the building's entrance, was incomparable to the one he had left behind. In fact, there were so many people that, weren't they all young men in their early twenties or late teens, he would have believed that the old man had reopened the hotel.

Daniel tried to push his way into the building, when..

"Hey! Don't skip the line!!" Said a young man in tight yet refined clothes.

Slightly annoyed, Daniel tried to explain himself "Actually, I liv-" but he was interrupted by other voices.

A girl in her late teens which was hugging three sheathed short sword, said sourly "Actually what?! We've been here for hours! Even if you were the long lost children of the previous master-at-arms, you still have to wait for your turn!"

Daniel gritted his teeth in annoyance, he then tried once more "I was just saying that i-" but he was interrupted again.

"To the back of the line!" Said another young man which wore refined clothes.

Each of these young men and women, were the geniuses that came from the groups placed outside the city of Phyrri. The first group that had managed to secure a place within the old master-at-arms building, were members of the powers within the city. Which, whereas they lived nearby, they had arrived earlier. The rest needed more time to arrive.

Daniel was slowly pushed on the borders of the crowd, and at the back of the line.

"Fine.." He wasn't willing to wait in line to enter his own house, so instead of waiting, he located an opened window on the frontal wall of the building, and started to walk towards the wall.

The people who were patiently waiting in line, noticed Daniel walking towards a wall with conviction. Their puzzled looks rapidly turned into ones of mockery and derision. From their point of view, Daniel had gone crazy.

Daniel kept walking, until there were just 5 meters between him and the wall. He then lifted his leg, as if walking over the first step of a set of stairs, and before his foot could touch the ground, a stone stair rose from the ground, then another, and another.. Daniel walked over this set of stairs, which disappeared as soon as he moved onto the next.

He kept going until he reached the opened window, crawled inside it, and closed it.

The people on the ground looked at one another in silent confusion. The first to talk was the young girl which was embracing the short swords. "Is.. is that allowed?"

On the other side of the window which Daniel had entered from, was a messy room. Daniel wanted to make a b-line for door, but as he heard laughs and giggles on the other side, he had no choice but to hide in a dark corner of the room instead.

In front of him a young couple appeared. The young man and woman were embracing each other, and crashing against every piece of furniture within the room. From the verses and mess the two were making, Daniel wasn't sure if the two were kissing, or trying to kill each other. Needless to say, Daniel was embarrassed beyond words. He could only try to reduce the space he occupied, and stay as quiet as possible.

The two started to take pieces of clothing off of each other, throwing them around randomly. Daniel was trying to find the right way to sneak out of the room, when suddenly, an indument landed on his head.

Daniel stood as still as a statue, then, after making sure the couple hadn't noticed him, he slowly raised his hand and pinched the piece of clothing that was resting over his head. He felt the soft fabric, and for a moment, he thought that a soft pair of female's undergarment had landed on him.. But when his eyes landed on the item, he noticed the familiar shape of the piece of clothing.

They were a pair of men's undergarment.

"FUCK! THAT'S IT!!" Shouded Daniel loudly. He then threw the young man's underwear on the ground, and while covering his face with his large sleeve, he stormed out of the room in rage.

The couple had been scared to death. The two quickly rose up from the bed, as their eyes rapidly explored the room. They then noticed the figure dashing towards the door. When the young man noticed Daniel, he said "Hey! Hold on a m-" but before he could finish, a small fireball flew in his direction and exploded right in his face.

The girl covered her face by instinct, but all she heard was the sound of the door opening and closing. She then looked to her right, and noticed the shocked look in her boyfriend's face.. And his slightly burnt hair.

Daniel ran through corridors as if a demon was chasing him. He had no intention of being seen there, when the rumors would start to spread.

The first thing Daniel did, was to go back to his room and change his clothes. He then walked out, and went to knock at his sister's room. Unfortunately, nobody answered.

He was about to walk away, when a sweet sounding voice reached his ears from behind. "You are back.." Daniel turned around, and saw Mea. She was as beautiful as ever, and if compared to the state she was in when he freed her, she seemed to have even recovered a bit of her personality.

Daniel smiled at her, then said "I am. How have you been doing?"

Mea still felt a bit of embarrassment when talking to Daniel. He had done a great favor to her, and had never asked for anything in return. Behaving naturally with someone to whom she owed so much, was extremely difficult to her. "I am doing great, I love this place." She responded just as politely, then added "How did your hunting trip go?"

"Fruitful.. I went to t.."

Daniel hadn't spent much time with Mea, but his opinion of her was that of a sweet girl, which had lead a difficult life. She had also been the first person whose life Daniel had saved., so he couldn't help but feel responsible for her.

The two talked for a bit, then Daniel, unable to find his sister, went to see the building owner.

He arrived at the building owner's room, and heard talking coming from the other side. He knocked.

After a few moments, he heard an old voice saying "Come in"

Daniel opened the door and entered the building owner's room. Inside it, he found two two old men sitting at the table and drinking tea, like they often did.

"FINALLY!" Exclaimed the old alchemist loudly. He then sprung up from his chair and dashed towards Daniel. His hand moved before Daniel could react and grabbed his wrist. "HA! The brat is at the peak of spiritual connection!.. There is no way he is a martial cultivator" Said the old alchemist at the old master-at-arms, as a scary smirk grew on his face.

Daniel retracted his hand and looked at the old master-at-arms with an inquisitive look.

The old master-at-arms placed his tea cup on the table, and said "This is the vice leader of the Golden Cauldron.. You saved his granddaughter a week ago."

Daniel's eyes narrowed. He hadn't received a proper thank you from the old man, but he still couldn't afford to act rudely. He bowed his head slightly, and introduced himself "Greetings sir, my name is Dan Hiel."

"Hey hey, don't be so formal.. I'm here to thank you for saving my beloved granddaughter. Haha" Said the old alchemist with an oddly friendly attitude.

Daniel looked at the two old men and said "I came here to thank you for sending a rescue party to find me." He then bowed once again.

"That's the least we could have done!" Responded the old alchemist promptly, then added "I've heard from my granddaughter that you have a talent for spiritual cultivation.. Say, would you like to join my Golden Cauldron, and become one of my students? Might not look like it, but i'm a powerful mage myself! Hehehe"

Daniel had expected such an invitation. He had doubted that such a prominent figure like the vice leader of one of the biggest groups within the Karalis kingdom, would order for his rescue simply to thank him, so he had prepared an answer in advance.

"I'm honored by the opportunity, sir.. But I haven't decided yet which cultivation path to take. I just.." He then made a saddened expression, and shook his head as if cursing his unlucky fate.

The two old men, within their minds, scoffed at Daniel's pitiful attempt of swindling them.. They knew exactly what Daniel wanted, but still, they feigned ignorance. The old alchemist asked with curiosity "What's the matter?.. You can tell us"

"I just wish I had learned more about the two types of cultivation.. So that I could choose my path." Responded Daniel with a voice full of self-hatred.

The old master-at-arms was the first to talk this time. He said "How about this.. We'll teach you martial arts and magic for a week.. You'll then decide which path suits you better." He let the words sink in Daniels mind, and then continued "Then, after you breakthrough to the fourth rank, you can take one of us as your teacher."

The three were all aware of the hidden meanings behind the others words, just as they knew that the other parties were acting, but for some reason, none of them interrupted the charade.

An enormous smile grew on Daniel's face as he took a deep bow, and said "Thank you sirs!"

On the faces of the two old men, a faint smile grew. The moment Daniel straightened his back, the old master-at-arms said "Don't worry about it.. You can go now, go see your sister, she is waiting for you in the lobby.. Oh, and try to stay out of other people's room.. Train starts tomorrow.."

Embarrassment and a bit of anger appeared on Daniel's face, as he bowed slightly and left the room.

"I like the brat.. It's been awhile since the last time a kid his age didn't puke his guts out when meeting both of us at the same time.. Remember the brat of the Trikli house?.." Said the old alchemist right after being once again alone with his old friend.

The old master-at-arms remembered when that happened, and a nostalgic smile appeared on his face. "I recall the reason for that being your previous invention of the High Wolf Repellent.. Honestly, I still don't know how I managed to avoid puking myself.. You smelled like a sewer.."

"Uncalled for.." Retorted the old alchemist.

When Daniel reached the lobby, he sighted Reila sitting at a coffee table. Next to her, were a few young men and women.

Daniel recognized these people. They were Riri, the girl with the folding fan, Nilo, the martial artist in leather armor, and Finn, the handsome looking rapier wielder.

The four were chatting happily, while drinking tea.

Reila was enjoying looking at how casually the other three treated each other. They were all proud children of powerful groups within Phyrri, and aside from Nilo, whom they met later, they had grown up together.

At first, Reila felt a stranger amongst this small group of friends, but in the past ten days, she slowly became friendly with Riri, The most friendly amongst the two disciples of the Folding Crane School.

The many interaction with Riri had lead her to meet and interact with Nilo and Finn more often. And in the end, she had managed to befriend them as well.

The four's chatter could be heard through the entire lobby, until a voice interrupted them. "Sister.."

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"Sister.." Came Daniel's faint voice from behind Reila's back.

Reila turned around and found her brother standing behind her. "Dan!" She exclaimed, before springing up on her feet and running to give him a hug.

After a few seconds, she pushed her brother away, and started checked his body thoroughly for injuries. "Have you grown taller?" She then asked, jokingly.

"It's only been ten days.." Responded Daniel, with a faint smile on his face.

Reila sighed in relief when noticing her brother's healthy state, she then asked "How did your trip go? Tell me everything.." Her bright and beautiful eyes glowing with curiosity.

For the next few minutes, Daniel told the tale of his journey to his sister. Of what happened with their escort, of how they had saved a mage from the Golden Cauldron, and how he ended up stuck in a cave with two rank 4 beasts.

During the entire story, Reila stood as tense as a bowstring.

On the other hand, the faces of the Nilo, Finn and Riri, which were still sitting at the table nearby the two siblings, had contorted in shock. They had finally understood the reason why the vice leader of the Golden Cauldron, had stayed to the old man's hotel until now.

Of course, the three were martial cultivators, and weapon wielders at that, but they still were more than aware of who the old alchemist was, as his fame was on par with the old master-at-arms.

When it seemed like Daniel's story had reached an end, Nilo approached the two "Rei, we are going back to train.." Said Nilo, dressed in his usual leather armor and brambraces.

Reila turned around and looked at him. Her eyebrows raised in realization, she then said "Oh, so rude.. Nilo, Finn, Riri, this is my brother Dan" she then turned toward Daniel and continued, "Dan, these are Nilo, Finn and Riri"

"We've already met" Responded Daniel.

Riri was the first one to greet Daniel "A pleasure to meet you Dan. I heard that you're the one to thank for this opportunity.." Said Riri with a polite smile on her face, while indicating the hotel with her eyes.

"And I have to thank your monstrous talent for the private lesson" Added Nilo.

Daniel wasn't familiar with Riri and Finn, but he had a decent impression of Nilo. He hadn't treated him with disrespect the first time they had met, and had been smart enough to make use of an opportunity, the day he had trained in weapon wielding.

"There is no need to mention it.." Responded Daniel with a polite smile on his face "I should thank you for bearing with my.." The five chatted for a bit, before Daniel bid farewell and left by himself to his room.

Daniel hadn't slept on a bed for awhile now. So the moment he entered his room, he took his clothes off and dropped on his bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

The morning after, Daniel went to meet with the two old men.

The three spent a few minutes talking, stopping only after agreeing on a training schedule for Daniel. The training schedule comprehended five hours of martial training in the morning, and five hours of spiritual training in the evening.

Another long day had started for Daniel.

Training ground. 08:00

Daniel stood quietly in front of the old master-at-arms. Dozens of practitioners looked at him with pure envy shining in their eyes. They had come all the way to Phyrri just to get a chance just like the one Daniel had received, and instead, they were forced to practice by themselves, quietly hoping to be noticed.

Naturally, they had no right to complain, as the old man had never agreed on teaching anything to anyone, and they inhabited the hotel as tenants, not students.

That hadn't stopped them from crowding the area around Daniel and the old man, so that they could listen to the old man's words.

"Mastery of 'True Motion', 'Shadow Approach' and finally 'Ki Rush'. These are the three martial skills that I will teach you." Said the old man.

The moment the old master-at-arms had started listing these skills, shivers ran through the spines of each person within the surrounding crowd. Every one of these skills were not only top notch, but also essential for every martial cultivator.

The old man had thought this through. He wanted to teach Daniel advanced techniques which would help him in dealing with long ranged enemies, like mages.

Considering that the old master-at-arms and the old alchemist were now in competition, Daniel had expected as much. Fortunately, that was also what Daniel had hoped for, since he could easily find manuals for weapon wielding, while instead, books that described profound martial arts were impossible to find.

The diffusion of profound martial arts, was strictly kept in check by schools of martial arts and sects. After all, the lower the number of groups that could teach a profound martial art was, the more prestige those groups would have, and the more students they would attract. That was also the reason why, for members of sects and schools of martial arts, sharing martial arts with outsiders was forbidden.

Families were no different. A family could not make his rise in power only through money. They also required powerful martial or spiritual cultivators to keep them safe, otherwise they would end up being swallowed by another power sooner or later. Many amongst the family's ancestors had developed powerful martial arts in the past.

The three skills which the old master-at-arms had decided to teach Daniel were ancient techniques, and belonged to disappeared schools of martial arts and sects. That was the reason why, the moment he started explaining the first one, every single person within the crowd stopped their practice, and started to take notes instead.

The old man didn't care about this. These skills were not that easily learned, as even geniuses would need to be corrected and advised through their training, or the mistakes they made, would stick with their mastery of the skill forever. The old man, when deciding which skills to teach him, had taken into account Daniel's monstrous talent in practicing martial arts.

After witnessing how Daniel had learned the basics of 'True Motion' without needing anything but the skill's method, the old man had realized that Daniel's talent stood within finding his own mistakes and correcting them by himself. That was monstrous capability, which he had seen in many prodigies in the past, but never used to this extent.

The first skill the old master-at-arms explained, was 'True Motion'

After a rapid introduction of the skill, the old man started to explain its most intricate details and methods, how to use it to prevent your enemy from reading your body, how to use it along with weapon wielding, and many others.

The many young men and women within the crowd had difficulties in keeping up with the old man's words. They started to doubt that the old master-at-arms was really willing to teach the skill, and that he was instead holding a lecture.

Every martial art had a different way to indicate the practitioner's mastery. Some skills stages were indicated in ranks, while others were indicated in stages. 'True Motion' was divided into four stages, which were Basic Motion, Intermediate Motion, Advanced Motion and Perfect Motion.

Daniel's master of 'True Motion' was at the Basic stage.

Many groups had secured the basic manuals of 'True Motion'. Reason why Nilo had been able to easily take it out. Unfortunately, a person who had mastered the skill was required in order to pass it on to another.. and by now, aside from a few cultivators from powerful groups within the Karalis Kingdom, nobody but the old, and current master-at-arms had the necessary mastery of the skill to pass it on to someone.

Not wanting to lose the chance, the many cultivator that assisted to the explanation and demonstrations of the martial skill, started to practice it.

The old man ignored the other practitioners, and instead focused all of his attention on Daniel.

Daniel started to practice the intermediate stages of 'True Motion', following the old man's instructions. His progress were surprising as always, and yet, Daniel's view of martial arts started to change.

By the end of the five hours of practice, despite activating the system's skill 'Time is Precious', he still hadn't managed to reach the state of Intermediate Motion.

That day, Daniel had realized the differences in difficulty between learning the basics, and the more advanced stages of a martial skills, and from that, he had understood one thing.. The difference was abysmal.

The people within the crowd started to go back to their practice, their face filled with disappointment. They had found the old man's teachings to be too rushed, and in the end, they had convinced themselves that, instead of a private lesson, it looked more like a one way educated exchange about martial arts.

Daniel decided to go for lunch at a restaurant with Mea, and his sister Reila. When they reached the restaurant, Reila told Daniel that she had invited some people over as well.

Inside the restaurant, sitting at a table, were Finn, Riri, Nilo and Miri.

Daniel noticed Miri right away, and felt slightly awkward about eating along someone which had treated him as an inferior, and even attacked him. Unfortunately, now Reila and Riri had become friends, so the chances of the two running out into each other, wasn't as rare.

At the table, five of them chatted happily while eating. The only quiet ones were Daniel and Niri.

Daniel didn't mind this, as his thoughts were still focused on his previous training.

Unfortunately, his train of thought was interrupted by Riri's voice. Which said to him "I've heard that the old master-at-arms is teaching you 'True Motion'! That's amazing.. Too bad I wasn't in the training grounds then.. I practice 'True Motion' as well, and who knows, maybe I could have learned something.."

Finn interjected by saying "That was hardly a lesson.. I was there.. It felt more like a master passing down knowledge to another master.." His handsome face then showed hints of disappointment, before continuing "It was more like taking a glimpse from detailed manual of martial art."

The next person who spoke was Nilo, he said in a half serious half joking manner "Maybe, when Daniel will master 'True Motion' he can teach us.."

One had to understand one thing about the master-at-arms figure. A kingdom's Master-at-Arms was a prodigy which was born within said kingdom. And his or her job, consisted in safekeeping and passing down martial arts.

When a powerful school of martial arts, sect, or family was on the path of decline, their most secret skills would be passed on to the kingdom's Master-at-Arms.

Declining powers had more than one reason for doing this. One of them, was to declare to the cultivation world that the group had lost its power. But the most important reason for passing on their arts to the Master-at-Arms, was to prevent them from being lost in time.

Once passed on, the martial art would not exactly belong to the Master-at-arms, as he wasn't allowed to release it to the public. The only thing he was allowed to do with it, was to pass it on to a suitable cultivator, in case he found one.

'True Motion' belonged to a long lost sect called "Undeniable True Motion Sect". When the sect had declined, the kingdom's master-at-arms of the time, had inherited the skill. He had then passed the skill down to the following master-at-arms, and to a few worthy students.

Unfortunately, these students didn't have what it took to completely master the skill. So through the slow passage of time, the only knowledge of 'True Motion' that was free to the public, were the basics.

Those who inherited a martial art from a master-at-arms, were allowed to make use of it however they wished. So, while Nilo was half joking, the fact that, in case Daniel was able to master 'True Motion' he would have the full rights to pass it on, still remained.

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"As if.." Commented Niri bitterly in a low voice.

Daniel ignored her completely, and instead kept eating his meal quietly. He had to go back to the training ground soon, as his spiritual training with the old alchemist was about to start.

Training ground. 15:00

When Daniel reached the training ground, he noticed the old alchemist sitting quietly on a stone bench. He had his eyes closed, and the only thing that made him look different from a statue, was his chest, which inflated and deflated slowly.

Many had noticed the old alchemist, but differently from the old master-at-arms, nobody tried to show off their abilities to him. He was, after all, a spiritual cultivator. Nothing he could teach was of interest to them.

The few of them who did approach him, did it to convey greetings from their group's leaders and prominent figures.

When Daniel approached the old alchemist, the curiosity within the observing group of people, grew once more. They were aware of Daniel's talent in martial cultivation, and also about his lack of background. They really wanted to know what someone like Daniel could possibly want from a figure like the vice leader of Golden Cauldron.

Their questions were answered the very next moment.

The old alchemist opened his eyes the moment Daniel came near him. He smiled widely and said "Ready to start the training?"

Sounds of jaws figuratively hitting the ground could be heard in the air.

"I am" Responded Daniel convincingly. "What will you teach me?"

The old alchemist suddenly started to giggle, then said "'Aerial Walk', 'Spiritual Shield' and 'Mana Sensing'.. Hehe" He then started to laugh once again.

Once more, Daniel had guessed right. It seemed that the master's objective was not only to teach him powerful arts and magics, but also to show him how to defend against the opposite kind of cultivator.

For example, the martial arts that the old master-at-arms had decided to teach him, were all motion skills that could allow a martial cultivator to approach a mage, and engage him in close combat. Similarly, the old alchemist had decided to teach skills that would allow Daniel to avoid close combat, and keep himself distant from his enemy.

'Aerial Walk' was a skill that allowed a mage to spread his spiritual essence through the air, and change its composition in order to allow him to walk on it. This skill required the mastery of wind and water, and was considered an extremely advanced skill.

'Spiritual Shield', as the name implied, was a skill that would allow one to create a non-elemental shield made purely of their spiritual essence. The purer the essence, and the higher the control, the more resistant the shield. This shield was most useful against magical attacks, but could also be used to strengthen elemental shields and increase their defensive abilities against physical attacks.

Lastly, 'Mana Sensing' was a scouting skill that allowed a mage to sense the changes within the natural mana in a specific area. Therefore adding an additional layer of protection against sneak attacks or incoming ranged attacks.

"Good, what do we start with?" Asked Daniel.

The old alchemist got up on his feet, and looked at Daniel, then said "Mana Sensing."

Mana sensing was a field type ability. Which was similar to the sixth rank of martial cultivation known as "Surrounding Awareness". Both these abilities granted a layer of awareness of one's surroundings, but in different ways.

While Surrounding Awareness was a cultivation stage in which one's senses were so refined, that their awareness was heightened to an inhuman level, 'Mana Sensing' was simply a way of feeling the natural mana in the surroundings, and perceive the movements through the changes within it.

If one were to compare them, 'Mana Sensing' would be extremely similar to the Yellow-striped Caiman's way of hunting. While the Surrounding Awareness stage, allowed a martial cultivator to hear, smell and see, making it much more effective than 'Mana Sensing'.

Of course, one was a cultivation stage, while the other was a simple trick amongst spiritual cultivators. The two methods couldn't be compared.

"Close your eyes, and start to feel the mana. Mana is everywhere, around your body, in the air, inside the plants, into the earth.. Feel the mana in the sun rays. Then, try to find the abnormalities in the patterns." Explained the old alchemist patiently.

Daniel followed the old man's instructions, and started to sense the mana in the surroundings.

At first, he only felt darkness. But as he managed to connect his spirit with the surrounding mana, he started to feel the solid earth essence under his feet.. The feeble essence of the grass, quietly waving above the ground. The rapid wind essence, transported by impetuous gusts of wind. And finally, the still and immovable sun essence, shining over the other types of essence like a gentle mother.

Daniel studied their patterns over and over again, trying to get familiar with how they behaved. Then, all of a sudden, a small amount of earth essence started to raise from the ground, and merge together, creating a nail sized mass of earth essence. The earth essence floated quietly, until, it dashed through the wind essence and went towards Daniel at high speed.

Instinctively, Daniel raised his hand and used it to shield himself from the small clamp of earth essence.

*thump*

A small rock had hit Daniel's palm.

"AMAZING!" Shouted the old alchemist.

One had to know, that when practicing this skill, at first one would only sense shadows of the various essences. The clarity would increase as a mage became more familiar with that specific type of essence, or after raising their rank through spiritual cultivation.

What Daniel could see wasn't just shadows. He could differentiate between types of essences and react relatively fast.

The old alchemist was expecting that he would have needed to hit Daniel a few times, before he would start to find the abnormalities within the essence patterns, but instead, he had felt the incoming stone right away.

The more Daniel tried to focus on sensing the various types of essences, the more he became used to them. The ones he made the biggest progresses with were air and earth essences, as he could feel them directly against skin.

He then started to feel the old alchemist's ki, and after pushing himself further in the distance, he felt the ki of the practicing cultivators, and even the metallic essence of their weapons.

For the following five hours, the old alchemist kept throwing rocks, curving winds, flattening grass, shielding him from the sun rays, or even digging underground tunnels with thin water snakes. He wanted to help increase Daniel's speed in sensing and reacting to abnormalities.

That's what this skill had been invented for. Feeling the mana in one's surrounding was an amazing experience, but if the spiritual cultivator wasn't able to sense the small metal essence which was whizzing towards him at high speed, and ended up pierced by an arrow, then he would still be a mage.. but a short lived one.

The stages of 'Mana Sensing', like spiritual cultivation stages, were divided into Faint, Moderate, Profound and Peak.

Daniel's mastery of 'Mana Sensing', after 5 hours of uninterrupted training, had reached the Moderate Sensing.

His results in mastering 'Mana Sensing', if compared to 'True Motion', had been much more fruitful, and that had been because of the continuous interference of the old alchemist. From whom he received a sort of "intensive training".

Daniel spent the rest of the day moving while using the advanced notions of 'True Motion', and by sensing his surroundings with his spirit.

At the end of the day, he had spent almost a fourth of his remaining Karma points. He had calculated that, within 4 days, he would have run out. So even if he had agreed with the two old masters to be mentored for a whole week, he had still decided to attempt a breakthrough to the fourth rank after the fourth day of training.

City Lord's Castle. 21:00

Inside an impressive looking castle within the learned district, was a large and well decorated office. Inside this office, refined items of furniture could be seen decorating the room. The most impressive, was a 2x1.5 meters desk, built of an antique walnut colored wood, and a flat top made of pearly white marble.

Behind this desk, sitting on a wooden throne, was a middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man dressed in tidy clothes, which were unable to cover his heavily built and muscular body. His slicked-back grey hair uncovered a good looking face, sculpted by strong-mindedness and discipline.

*Knock-knock*

"Enter.." Said the middle-aged man with a low, yet powerful voice.

A man in city guard armor with a tiger carved on the left side of his chest, entered the door. The man was fully armored, and his face couldn't be seen. In his hand, a long spear was held straight. "City Lord, a communication from the Riora's region governor." Said the guard in decisive tone, right before handing an envelope over to the middle-aged man.

The City Lord took the envelope, and opened it, not caring about excusing the guard. The guard didn't dare to move, and stood still, in wait for orders.

Inside the envelope, was a folded piece of paper. Once taken out and unfolded, the City Lord read the content of the letter.

The master of the School of Everlasting Fury has requested that you personally welcome his incoming children, and convince the previous Master-at-arms to take them both in as direct students.

Your secondary objective is to discover the reason why the Silver Alchemist has been staying with him for the past three days.

The City Lord finished reading the letter, and then sighed deeply. He had once been a powerful cultivator, and now, after obtaining the position of City Lord, he had been stuck inside this office, only able to come out of his castle to entertain young masters of powerful schools.

He picked up the pen from above his desk, and started to write a letter. He then folded it, put it inside an envelope, and sealed it with molten wax. He handed it over to the standing guard, and said "Deliver this letter to the old master-at-arms."

Back to the hotel, Daniel spent his entire evening training 'True Motion' and 'Mana Sensing' without the use of his system. He had decided that he would't have spended more points on these two skills, as now that he had learned them, he could increase their mastery later in the future, when he would have had more points to spend.

Today, Daniel had trained for 10 hours. Even more if one counted the time he had practiced by himself. Around midnight, he decided to go to sleep, in preparation for the next day of training.

Next day, training grounds. 08:00

Like the day before, Daniel found the old master-at-arms waiting for him. All around him, a group of young practitioners trained their own skills, trying to impress him. Unfortunately, none of them gained as much as a glimpse from the old man.

The moment Daniel approached him, the old man rose up to his feet and after looking at him for a few seconds, he said "You have made almost no progression since our training ended yesterday.."

That was the truth. Daniel had decided to train 'True Motion' without the use of the karmic system, and that had put his learning capabilities below those of a genius.

The old man, of course, knew nothing about Daniel's karmic system, or the fact that he had practiced all day. What he knew was that Daniel had prodigy level talent, and that he hadn't made any progress. That had caused him to think of Daniel as lazy, and his impression within the old man's mind to lessen a bit.

With a slightly disappointed expression, he looked at Daniel and said "You should put more effort into training.." He then turned back into his usual stoic expression, and continued "Today, i'll teach you 'Ki Rush'.

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'Ki Rush' was a martial art created to allow martial cultivators to bursts with speed when moving. In order to do that, they needed to force their ki to the bottom of their feet, and detonate it the exact moment they dashed towards their enemies.

Now, this might sound easy, but it was far from it.

A mistake in the control of one's ki during a fight, could have pushed the cultivator's body into the area of damage of an enemy mage's spell, or even against an enemy martial cultivator's blade. Plus, the burst in speed not only depended by the amount of ki detonated, but also by the quality of the ki, therefore forcing martial cultivator to readapt, and learn this skill whenever they advanced in rank.

This was the reason why, while this martial art was still classified as a 'movement art', its most important requirement was a profound control of one's ki.

The old master-at-arms gave a brief explanation to Daniel, and after just a few minutes, Daniel started to practice it.

Daniel channeled his naturally created ki and moved it through his flesh, bones, muscles and blood vessels. He then focused it on the bottom of his feet, and tried to place himself in a dashing position, but the moment his feet touched the ground, he lost control of it, making him jump in the air for 5 meters, and fall back down against a stone bench, breaking it in half.

Daniel's control of his ki was the worst the old master-at-arms had ever seen. And there was a reason for that. Normal cultivators would spend, through their lives, months, if not years, simply training in the control of their ki.

Differently, Daniel had never practiced control over his ki, as the system's feature simply helped him in learning things faster. So even if he was capable of focusing his ki into a thin line, right at the edge of his sword, other types of control were new to him.

It took a full hour before Daniel could learn how to keep focus on his ki, and detonate it at the right moment.

After Daniel reached that point, the old master-at-arms suddenly talked "Pick five people from the crowd."

The surrounding cultivators backs straightened like spears. They had heard the old man's word clearly. They all looked at Daniel with hopeful eyes, and the moment his eyes moved past them, their expressions changed into anger or disappointment.

Daniel knew already who he wanted to pick. He quickly found his sister's friends within the crowd, and indicated them one by one. From the crowd, Nilo, Finn, Riri, Miri and a random person came out. Daniel knew that the old man wouldn't simply use these people to train him, and would reward them later, so he decided to pick a person with good karma as the fifth.

The old master-at-arms didn't care which people Daniel picked. He simply turned towards the five, and said "Pick up wooden weapons and take your stances.. When you see him dash towards you.. Attack."

Amongst the five of them, everyone but Nilo went towards the weapon racks, and picked up their respective weapon. Finn picked a thin sword-like weapon, while the two sisters picked up two different sized battle fans. The remaining of the five, picked a thin rod. The old man didn't mind that Nilo hadn't picked a weapon, as he had rewarded Nilo with a tutored session in the past, and was aware that he was a hand-to-hand martial artist.

The five took their places around Daniel, and assumed their battle stances.

Daniel didn't waste time, and started to use 'Ki Rush' to approach the five.

For the first ten minutes, all Daniel did, was getting bashed left and right. There were no serious damages to his body, but he was covered in red marks.

The surrounding crowd was enjoying the scene, maybe a little too much. But the more time passed, the less they laughed. The five's attacks started to miss, either because Daniel was out of reach, or because he had already dashed past them.

To make a comparison, during the first ten minutes of training, he had been hit more than sixty times, while during the following twenty minutes, he had been hit less than twenty times.

Daniel's starting point was that of a talentless unranked, and yet, his progress defied all logic.

After another full hour passed, in which Daniel hadn't been hit even once, the old man stopped the training session by simply saying "That's enough."

He then approached the five, and while looking at them one by one, he said "You hold back your attacks, even when you practice. Remember that martial arts are for killing, not for show.." He said to Nilo, then looked at Finn, Riri and Miri and continued "You, when you attack, you give up control over the ki inside your rapier. Don't just push ki into it! Condense it!.. Use a smaller fan! An iron ribbed one is too heavy for you.. You, I don't why you're so angry, but keep your emotions in check when you fight. What's the point of hitting hard if you miss?.. And you.."

The crowd felt envy towards this small group of people, and yet, they also felt relieved. Many of them had started to believe that, not only the old man had no interest in teaching them, but he also didn't pay any attention to their practice.

Now, listening to the words of the old man, they had understood that, even if he didn't look at them, he still noticed their practice, and already had a clear idea of their major defects.

The training of 'Ki Rush' was divided into three parts. Control over ki, precision over long-ranged bursts, and finally, a mix of the two, precision over short-ranged bursts.

Precision over short-ranged bursts might simply sound the opposite of precision over long-ranged bursts, but the difference in difficulty was abysmal. In comparison, long-ranged burst was like diving with your whole body, while short-ranged bursts required more control over your ki, and was more like jumping and landing over a specific point.

Daniel's training ground for short-ranged burst practice, was within the agility and balance section. Inside the agility and balance section of the training ground, was a forest made out of differently sized poles pierced into the ground.

The distance between one rod and the other varied. Some were two meters away, some just enough for a person to pass through. Daniel's objective was to spend ten minutes inside this forest without hitting any of the poles.

That was easier said than done.

While training with his 'Time is Precious' activated, it still took him the remaining two and a half hours to barely manage to complete the assignment.

This had concluded his daily five hours of martial training, and also concluded his basic training in 'Ki Rush', as his mastery of it had reached the initial success.

The old man had picked martial arts that would take Daniel around two days to reach the initial success of. But weirdly enough, something had changed in Daniel since he had been back from his hunting trip, and his learning talent seemed to have doubled.

Once concluded the martial training, Daniel went to see Mea and his sister for lunch, then headed back to the training ground for his spiritual training.

Like the day before, the old alchemist was waiting for him while sitting on the stone bench with his eyes closed. "I hope you're not too tired from your martial training.. This will be plenty tiring by itself." He said to Daniel while slowly opening his eyes.

The magical skill that the old alchemist intended on teaching Daniel, was 'Spiritual Shield'.

"Spiritual Shield, as you might have guessed, is a defensive skill made out of pure spiritual essence. The spiritual essence that your spirit receives in exchange for your ki, is marked, and therefore cannot be controlled by other practitioner, unless they are much stronger than you. This mark is not only applied to the spells we cast, but also to the surrounding mana you try to control. In fact, without noticing, whenever you assume control of the surrounding mana, you automatically mark it under your domain."

He stopped for a second, letting the informations sink into Daniel's mind, then continued "Spells or mana marked by different spiritual practitioners, repel each other. And here is how 'Spiritual Shield' works. Now, force your spiritual essence around your body, and shield these magical attacks."

For the following five hours, Daniel kept focusing his spiritual essence into thin films around his body. One after the other, he shielded himself from the various weak magical attacks the old alchemist kept sending against him, helping its control over the skill to slowly increased.

The old alchemist, on the other hand, kept on gradually increasing the strength of the magical attacks, to a point where Daniel was forced to recreate it after each attack.

That was the fastest way for someone to learn how to use 'Spiritual Shield'. Not simply shielding from attacks, but also repairing, re-creating and controlling the amount of spiritual essence within the shield.

Meanwhile, inside the old master-at-arms private room, at the table where him and the old alchemist usually sat, a middle aged man was now sitting, facing him.

"It's a honor to meet you again, Master Kye" Said the middle aged man politely.

The old master-at-arms, whose surname was Kye, looked back at the middle aged man and answered "City Lord, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Work." He responded, then took a sip of the tea the old man had offered him, and continued "Master Kye, today, the students of the School of Everlasting Fury will arrive, and amongst them, the master's three children. Their father has requested me to ensure them the proper lodging within your building."

The brows on the old man's face furrowed deeply. He had a deep grudge against the master of the School of Everlasting Fury, as he was the man who had accused one of his disciples of betraying Karalis. As part of the royal house, the old man wasn't allowed to defend his disappeared disciple, nor save his family from being eradicated when the rumor of his betrayal spread through the population of the kingdom.

The master of the School of Everlasting Fury had been the cause of one of his life's biggest regrets. What was worse, was that the only children of his disciple, was currently dwelling inside his building.

If he were to refuse entry to the disciples of the School of Everlasting Fury, their master might become suspicious about the reason, and after investigating further, he might discover Mea amongst the old man's guests.

"Of course, I still have plenty of rooms." Said the old man after assuming his usual composed expression.

"Splendid!" Exclaimed the city lord before, continuing with a slightly embarrassed tone "Master Kye, there is another matter I wish to discuss."

The old man looked back at him and responded "Do ask then."

"The governor was really surprise about learning that the Silver Alchemist was staying here. He wanted to know if the two of you would have honored the Riora's region by jointly opening a school in one of his cities." Asked the city lord with a curious and confused tone.

The old man smiled, and responded "Nothing like that. We've simply found a good seed whom we are competing for." The old man didn't really wanted to explain himself, but since sooner or later the young men and women within his building would have reported of the two master's unusual interest towards Daniel, he decided not to keep it secret.

The city lord's eyes opened wide in surprise. The old master-at-arms and the old alchemist were both prominent figures within the kingdom. Both of them were people whose sects leaders would request to educate their disciples. For both of them to compete for a young man, that was unheard of.

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