"What tournament?" Asked Daniel with curiosity.
A confused expression appeared on the old man's face, which then asked hid "What other reason would you have to be here, if you're not heading to participate in the tournament?"
"I've just arrived to this city from the direction of the beach, I know nothing about this tournament.. What is it about?" Daniel asked.
The old man fixed his clothes and cleared his voice, as if preparing to recount a legendary tale. Then, with a deep voice, he said "The Lost Inheritance Tournament."
As the old man finished saying the name of the tournament, he stopped talking and looked at Daniel attentively.
A full minute passed in silence, as Daniel was eager to listen to every word that would come out of the old man's mouth. But unfortunately, the old man never resumed talking.
Slightly annoyed, Daniel couldn't help but blurt out "And?!"
The old man, completely devoid of shame, looked at Daniel and said "And what? That's all I know. HAHAHAHA!" He then started laughing.
Fully irritated, Daniel placed a single gold coin on the counter, took the map and left the shop. The old man's laughter accompanied him all the way to the door.
For the next few hours, Daniel tried to start conversations with a few passerby, asking them informations about the Lost Inheritance Tournament. In a matter of minutes he had learned many extremely valuable informations.
Apparently, the Lost Inheritance Tournament, was a tournament held once every ten years. This tournament would test the younger generation's talent in cultivation, and to the winners, would be given the chance to receive the inheritance left by two powerful cultivators of old.
The two cultivators were said to have cultivated past the ninth stage, and therefore, ascended to a higher plane of existence, leaving this world behind.
They were called The Clear Mage, and The Dark Warrior. Needless to say, the former was a spiritual cultivator, while the latter, was a martial cultivator.
Daniel had never heard of this tournament, nor had he heard about the legends regarding the Clear Mage and the Dark Warrior. But after he remembered that he had no idea of how far from home he was, he came to accept the fact that, distant places would naturally have different legends.
Another useful thing Daniel had heard, was that anyone could join the tournament. The only rule to join, was to be under twenty-five years of age.
This tournament was held in an island where the Clear Mage and Dark Warrior were said to have spent their last few years before ascending from the earthly plane. And it was also said that the Island would reject any cultivator older than twenty-five from advancing into its depths.
Many had tried to mask their age with the use of various pills, but the island's natural barriers would always manage to single out these cheaters, and kick them out.
Inside Daniel's mind, thoughts of giving in to curiosity, and joining the tournament were forming one after the other. Unfortunately, he was all out of karmic points, which were the only ingredient of his unmatched talent for cultivation.
"Did you forget how it works already?" Suddenly Sewah asked him, interrupting his train of thoughts.
Daniel was momentarily startled by Sewah's sudden interruption, but after listening to his words, he asked "What do you mean?"
"JUST DO SOMETHING GOOD! Why are you waiting for a quest to pop out of the system.. It's a karmic system for crying out loud! Do karmic shit!" Responded Sewah with exasperation in his voice.
"Uhm.. Fair enough" Responded Daniel. He then asked "Any ideas?"
For a few seconds, Sewah kept quiet. Then, as if having just found sudden inspiration, he bursted out with an idea for Daniel to gain karma "Yes! Remember that man who gave you the clothes for free?.."
"Yeah, of course. I offered to buy them, but after he refused payment, his karm.. OF COURSE!"
After a bit of pondering, Daniel said "Alright, no harm in trying it out." Then, as he was about to go looking for someone to lend a helping hand to, a familiar window appeared within his mind.
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*Primary Quest started: Everything Helps*
-Description: Offer your help to people in need.
First objective set (Repeatable): Offer your help to 20 people within Cerulis
Repeatable Reward: Karma +500 / Cerulis reputation +10%
Reward: +5000 Karma (0/10)
Time limit: 1 day
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"I can't believe it's so easy!" Said Daniel with a face filled with shock.
For the following evening, Daniel walked around the city while helping old fishermen unloading the catches of the day, carrying old women's heavy baskets, sparing a few coins to beggars.. No matter what kind of task, as long as it regarded lending a helping hand, Daniel would do it.
Finally, as the sun was about to set, the much awaited for window appeared within Daniel's mind.
-----
*Everything Helps*
First objective completed (1/10)
Reward: 500 Karma Points / Cerulis reputation +10%
-----
It was the first time that Daniel had received a repeatable quest. And yet, it made sense, as people in need of help, were a constant within any city.
With a thought, Daniel opened his personal profile.
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Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.
Age - 14
Rank
- Mid rank 4 of Martial cultivation (Perfect Body)
- Mid rank 4 of Spiritual cultivation (Perfect Connection)
Karma - 912
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Weapons Masteries (Details)
Martial Arts (Details)
Skills (Details)
Spells (Details)
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Reap What You've Sown
Time Is Precious Lv.2
Reduced Cost Lv.2
System Upgrades (Details)
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"Nine hundred.. That's amazing! Not only have I received the reward from the quest, but also the singular rewards from every good action! Like when the man gifted me that set of clothes!" Daniel was excited beyond belief.
An easy way to obtain more karmic points had always been one of Daniel's main worries, but now, with a little bit of effort, he could easily accumulate a large amount of karma by simply helping people. Provided that there were enough people to help.
If that wasn't enough, he could obtain a boost in reputation and additional karma by simply creating a quest.
Once again, Daniel had felt excited about how useful his karmic system really was.
-----
With a few accumulated karma points, Daniel headed toward the harbor, and looked around.
Docked to the harbor, were ten large ships. Each of them were elegant, seemingly able to carry hundreds of people, and on their right sides, wooden landing stages allowed their passengers to embark.
Daniel approached one landing stage after the other, but every time he talked to a member of its crew, he was told that the boat was at full capacity.
Now at his fifth rejection, Daniel kept trying with the following ships, until finally, as he was about to lose hope, he had been able to find a place within a shared cabin of the tenth ship.
This ship wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as the other ships, but its passengers seemed much less spoiled and stuck up than all the young masters and young mistresses he had met so far. At the same time, while this ship had much less cabins than the others, it also had much more passengers, as the space was occupied by larger shared cabins instead.
The reason why Daniel had seen so many people heading to the harbor during the day, was because, that night, was the time where the ships would have set out.
When asking around, Daniel had learned why would such a big fleet of ships set out at night, and the reason was simple. The sea was full aquatic beasts, and the lack of light would grant them more chances to cross through without being sighted.
The sun had now completely set, and only a few remains of reddish color could be seen lingering on the clouds. Many small lights had appeared on the harbor, signaling to the ship crews their exact positions within the dark.
After just an hour, One ship after the other started to set out to the sea.
Daniel witnessed the entire process of untying the mooring, hoisting the anchor, leaving the harbor and unfolding the sails.
He had never seen a sea, not to mention a ship, so the entire procedure fascinated him.
After observing the calm passage of water and the port city of Cerulis becoming smaller and smaller, he decided to go inside to find his cabin.
The ship was really immense, and loud noises of chattering resounded within its thin corridors. Regardless of the smaller number when compared to the other ships, this one still had up to three hundred shared cabins.
One could imagine how much would any of the other nine ships gain, from any of the crossings.
Unfortunately, the Lost Inheritance Tournament was held only once every decade, or the ships owners would have become truly rich.
After a few minutes of walking, Daniel managed to reach the lower parts of the ship, where his cabin was situated. And then, he found the door with a clear number '251' carved on it.
He politely knocked twice, then opened the door and entered.
Inside the room, there was a bunk bed on each side of the cabin, for a total of four beds. Three of these four beds were already occupied.
Sitting on the lower beds, facing each other, two similar looking martial cultivators were playing cards on a table placed between their beds. One of the two looked slightly older than the other, but the few shared details gave away their close relationship.
Their hair color was similar, and from the faint light of the candle placed above the small table, it looked like reddish-dark brown. The muscles on both their bodies were refined, but not too massive.
Finally, both of them wore common martial attires of the same color, and with ripped off sleeves. Daniel couldn't see any weapon in their vicinity, so he assumed that the two were martial art practitioners, and not weapon wielders.
The third and final passenger was quietly lying on the top bed to the right. From the size it looked small, and its appearance was covered by the dark colored thick blanket of which every bed was equipped.
"And here's our fourth! Pay up!" Said the older looking martial artist which sat on the lower bed to the right.
Unwilling to give up his money, the younger looking martial artist said "Wait, look how young he is.. Maybe he is here to take our orders for dinner.." He then looked at Daniel with a hopeful expression.
While noticing the funny behaviour of the younger martial artist, Daniel could only sorrily shake his head left and right.
"Damn.. Alright, double or nothing!" Said the younger looking martial artist, while slapping a few copper coins on the table, he then said "He is fifteen years old!"
The older looking martial artist looked at Daniel up and down for a moment, then, while turning towards the other martial artist, said "Fourteen." Then they both looked at Daniel.
Daniel was feeling slightly embarrassed at the moment, but since it didn't seem like he had ended up in a cabin with bad people, he decided to play along and say "I'm fou-"
"Fuck!" Exclaimed the younger martial artist while throwing the copper coins at the other.
While picking the coins scattered on his clothes, bed and floor, the older martial artist muttered "Such a sore loser." Once he finished, he once again looked at Daniel and said "Hi, i'm Heimart, and this is my dumbass cousin Ligart." He then pointed upwards and said "We don't know who that one is.. He was already here when we arrived."
Daniel bowed his head in greeting "I'm Daniel, and i'll be occupying this bed for the time being." He said while leaping over the top bed on the left side of the cabin.
Heimart looked at Daniel with curiosity, then went back to his card game.
Daniel hadn't had a minute of rest since the night before the building of the old master-at-arms had been invaded, so he was feeling rather tired. The moment he lied on his bed, as he rested his head on his pillow, he swore to himself that he had seen a movement coming from the other top bed.