"What's next?" asked Daniel teasingly.
Slightly irritated by Daniel's tone, the middle aged man looked back at him and said "Very well.. It seems that your aptitude for spatial essence is nothing to laugh at. How about something a little more difficult then?"
Before Daniel could respond, a hundred and twenty-eight different rings appeared from out of nowhere, and started to orbit around the middle aged man.
From the middle aged man's body, just as many threads of spiritual essence emerged and joined the rings. Inside the rings, each thread turned into spatial essence of different properties, which once again emerged from the rings and entered another one randomly.
Daniel could feel the one hundred and twenty-seven spatial connections that were being formed, but before he could memorize them, his surroundings rapidly changed just as many times.
After so many teleportations, even he couldn't help but fall on his knees and vomit everything he had eaten during the day. He then dropped unconscious on the ground.
-----
When Daniel woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't in empty space. Instead, he was lying on a large expanse of rocky ground. No matter where Daniel pushed his spiritual essence, he could not feel anything but earth essence and the unusual space essence.
After spending a minute focusing on earth essence, within the space essence, he found feeble connections to at least ten different pocket dimensions.
Without any idea of which passage he should go in, Daniel picked one at random and entered it.
Once on the other side, Daniel immediately felt the water essence. The water was in an aerosol state, inside which small wisps of solar essence fluctuate randomly. Once again, Daniel could feel multiple exits inside the unusual space, but none lead outside.
The only thing that put him on a good mood, was a sudden and unexpected window that appeared in his mind.
____________________________
*Freedom for All!*
Second objective complete.
Reward: 2500 Karma Points
____________________________
"They did free him.." muttered Daniel as a faint smile grew on his face.
Unfortunately, Daniel didn't have many reasons to be happy right now. He was still trapped inside this place and he couldn't seem to figure out how to leave it.
Without a better option, Daniel decided to travel between the many pocket dimension and increase his comprehension of space.
With a serious expression and eyes filled with determination, he jumped straight into another spatial passage.
-----
An unknown amount of kilometers away from the Krehan empire, five distinct people were currently sitting in a large and elegant throne room. In front of them, two men were standing quietly, while a third kneeled in between them.
If Daniel was present, he would be able to immediately recognize the two men standing as his first two teachers. Master Kye, and the Silver Alchemist.
Kneeling in the middle of the room, was an extremely skinny man. His head was low, and his muscles were so thin that he seemed to have been just taken out of an isolation cell. His eyes were closed, as he didn't seem to be used to so much light anymore. His sickly white skin was almost completely covered in grime, and he couldn't help but cough every now and then.
Sitting to the sides of the room were four people. The first one, was a man who appeared to have reached his early sixties. He wore extremely elegant clothes, and seemed to be a wealthy merchant.
The second, was an old man whose body was covered under a large coat. If someone could take a look at the old man's body, they would be shocked by the impressive muscles he was hiding. He had no weapons on him, which indicated his proficiency with martial arts, and hand to hand combat. His body was filled to the brim with dense ki.
On the other side of the room, a man that seemed to be in his forties sat quietly. He held a long and showy sceptre in his hand, and wore a light blue robe. On his robe, the water essence danced quietly as if the very fabric itself was the surface of the sea.
The fourth person was a young looking woman. She wore a thick layer of make up, making her look not a day older thirty years old. Her body was too well hidden underneath a green robe to verify her age.
The last person present in the room, was the one who sat on the throne. He wore a golden plate armor, above which the heroic story of how a member of the Ralis royal family had exterminated the old owner of the land, had been carved neatly.
This man was, of course, the King of Karalis. His name was Kalmew Relis, and he was the 517th member of the Ka lineage. The main lineage within the Ralis family.
He was currently sitting on his throne, and he didn't seem to have spent his past few weeks in a carefree way.
These five people were the current most powerful people, and only ninth rank cultivators within the kingdom of Karalis. The current king, the chairman of Karalis's branch of the Merchant's Collective, the leader of the Mist and Ice sect, the previous head of the Klyn family, and finally, the Poisonous Dame.
"Is this him?" asked the king to Master Kye.
Master Kye looked back at him and said "Yes your majesty. We have already verified that this man is indeed related to Dan of the Hiel's.. What would you suggest we do?"
The man in elegant clothes immediately rose to his feet and said "Your majesty, he is a slave of the Mining Conglomerate, which belongs to the Merchant's Collective.. He should be under our care."
"Like hell he should!" Barked the leader of the Mist and Ice sect viciously. He then pointed the sceptre at the elegant man and said "If we give him to you, you'll sell him for a pat in the head from one of your superiors.. He stays in Karalis!"
The Silver Alchemist took a step forward and said "Your majesty.. If i may.. Dan's sister is almost to the main branch of my Golden Cauldron. Don't you think it would be better to take his uncle there as well, and let him reunite with his niece?"
"Silence!" Shouted the leader of the Mist and Ice sect. "You have no right to talk here. Not only have you sent the kid to an unknown place.. You have also taken his sister into your own group! How is that not treason!?"
"That was the only choice.. hadn't we done that, he might have been dismembered within the dungeons of another castle as we speak." Retorted the Silver Alchemist with a matter-of-fact tone.
"Quiet.." Said the king with a deep voice. "The kid's uncle is here, along with his two teachers.. Unless somebody else finds out about him, there is no reason not to think that he will come back to Karalis."
Master Kye immediately took a step forwards and said "Your majesty!.. There is something else i would like to discuss." His voice was tense, showing the importance the matter had to him. "I would like to talk about Mea'hor Rulin.."
"What about her?" Inquired the king with a slightly overbearing voice. He was clearly sick of hearing Master Kye talk about the Rulin family since the very moment he had retired from being the master-at-arms.
"She was adopted into the Hiel's family.. I am not sure about the reason, but i know that she is of great importance for the two siblings." Said the Master Kye while slightly bending the truth on his favor.
"Where is she now?" Asked the king.
With a slightly nervous tone, Master Kye responded "Together with Dan's sister.. She should be reaching the main branch of the Golden Cauldron any day now."
"Are you confessing to have offered shelter to a traitor!?" Shouted the head of the Klyn family.
Not many knew about it, but the Klyn family was the family from which the current leader of the School of Everlasting Fury had come from.
Naturally, the Klyn family had been prohibited from taking the sides of the School of Everlasting Fury in the past, but now that Master Kye had retired from being the master-at-arms, and the number of experts had decreased to a point where their family alone was a huge chunk of Karalis's power, there was no reason not to anymore.
"Me? I wouldn't.. My friend here simply noticed the similarity when he sent both of them to the main branch of the Golden Cauldron.." Said Master Kye while pointing at the Silver Alchemist. "I then investigated and found out who the girl was." His tone was innocent and devoid of guilt.
The Silver Alchemist turned to Master Kye, and through a fake surprised expressions, he said "She really was the Rulin's brat daughter!? I thought my old eyes had tricked me.."
"Enough.. The girl is outside of our borders.. And if Master Kye's words about the talent of the Hiel kid are true, I don't want to risk making him angry the very moment he will come back because of an old feud." Said the king with an exhausted tone. He then asked "What are the updates on the neighbouring kingdoms?"
Once again, the leader of the Mist and Ice Sect got up on his feet and started to talk. "As his majesty knows.. The Zann and Umelan are aware of the kid's.."
-----
Back within the depths of the middle aged man's spatial trap.
A week had already passed, and Daniel had visited more than two hundred pocket dimensions. He was deeply confused by the amount of different pocket dimension he had seen. After all, he had only need less than a hundred and thirty rings.
His comprehension of spatial law was now much more refined and deep than before. He could feel the connections between the rings, but before he could hook his spiritual essence into the space of the outside world, the external ring would be absorbed by another, starting things over and over again.
He felt as if he was trying to swim against a rip tide. No matter how fast or how close he was, the current would always push him back.
"Come on.. Think outside the box.." Muttered Daniel.
Within his mind, Sewah was unable to take it anymore "Just stop teleporting!! How many times are you going to make the same mistake!? Are you learning how to bend space or are you learning how to chase geese?!" He suddenly burst out.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Asked Daniel confusedly.
Sewah sighed deeply, then responded "Just create a pocket dimension.. Mess with this stupid formation and GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
"You really don't like teleporting, do you?" Daniel couldn't help but ask him. He then thought about Sewah's suggestion, and after realizing how impossible it was, he still managed to make a more realistic version of it.
The pocket dimensions were more than the rings. That meant that, at some point, a ring's essences would be manipulated into creating a different space. If there was something that any spiritual cultivator knew, was that essence's weakest stage was during the moment it would be shaped.
Daniel started to jump through dimensions once again, except that this time, he did it backwards.
After he passed the sixty-third dimension, he finally entered one in which space was turbulent, and completely unstable. Only a faint wist of stable spatial essence lingered within the dimension, and that essence belonged to the outside world.
Daniel immediately linked himself to it, and in less than a second, he was once again in the outside world.
He quickly looked at his surroundings, and noticed that he was in an empty room. Behind him, was the formation inside which the hundred and twenty six rings rotated, assimilated each other, and morphed.
After a simple look at its workings, Daniel understood how the formation really worked, and how he was supposed to leave.
The easiest way to leave the formation, was to lock the space within any of the pocket dimensions, then wait for change to take place. The external space would react to the locked space and, unable to change it, would make the formation collapse.
What forced Daniel to spend so much time inside it, ironically, was his talent in comprehending space. The middle aged man had prepared this trap so that a normal talented spiritual cultivator would take days to comprehend the space within each dimension dimension.
After a few days the change would reach them, and sooner or later, they would figure out how to stop it and make the formation collapse.
Still satisfied by his result, Daniel quietly left the room.