"What is this?.." muttered Daniel in his own mind.
Trying to hide his reaction and surprise as best as possible, Daniel said "I'll go over there to fill this.. I haven't thought about the group's name yet, and I don't want to block the line." He then stepped away from the counter.
When Daniel stepped out from the line, he immediately noticed that Heimart had finished with his testing. So he walked directly towards him, and before Heimart could say anything, he put his hand inside one of his large pockets, and disappeared.
Inside Heimart's pocket, only a small ring had been left.
Now inside his pocket dimension, Daniel said within his mind "Sewah, do you know what this is?"
"It's one of the locked parts of the Karmic System. It unlocked the moment you've showed the intention of creating a group.. Duh.." Responded Sewah, without abstaining from using his usual mordacious tone. He then said "I thought we talked about this already.. That's how the system works. You are a bit slow, aren't you?"
Slightly annoyed by Sewah's derogatory way of talking, Daniel said "I meant to know what it can do.."
"You can create a group, use it to gain karma, and spend that karma to buy effects for the group.. So that you can gain more karma.. And buy more effects.. And gain mo-" Explained Sewah before getting stuck at the end.
"Okay I get it!.. My bad for asking you." Said Daniel with a tone filled with exasperation. He then focused on the details of the 'Shared Karmic effects', and a new window opened within his mind.
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Shared Karmic effects lv.1
Karmic Aura Lv.1 = 100,000 KP
(Passive: When in the presence of the Karmic System's wielder or inside the group's ground, the group members will obtain a battle prowess enhancement of 1%. An additional 1% per level. Max Lv. 50)
Time Is Precious Lv.1 (Group) = 500,000 KP
(Passive: When in the presence of the Karmic System's wielder or inside the group's ground, the group members will obtain a boost in their speed of progression of 5%. An additional 5% per level. Max Lv. 20)
Karma X Luck (Group) = 2,000,000 KP
(Passive: 10% of a group member's individual karma, becomes part of their overall luck.)
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Accumulate 5,000,000 Karma points to unlock Shared Karmic effects lv.2
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"Similar to my own system upgrades.. But for the entire group.." Muttered Daniel in surprise.
With a clear mind, Daniel left the pocket dimension, and appeared once again right next to Heimart, which was currently standing in line. He said to him "Heimart, let's all take the same group mission.. Here.." after handing over the group creation form to him, he continued "Create a group and we'll join it."
"You know.. We all recognize that you have the maturity to lead a group. Why don't you do it? It's not like we wouldn't join." Said Heimart while taking the empty form off of Daniel's hands.
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Heimart wants to join Group of the Karmic System's Wielder.
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A faint smile grew on Daniel's face, as he muttered in a low tone "You are welcome then.."
"What do you mean?" Asked Heimart confusedly.
Daniel ignored the question and said "It's alright, you are more charismatic than I am.. People are more likely to join if you are the leader.. I can do the recruitment if you want."
"Sounds good to me" Said Heimart while casually filling in the form. "What name do we use?"
After thinking for a moment, Daniel said "It doesn't matter, you pic-"
Before he could finish, Heimart interrupted him. "If you are about to say that you want me to pick the name, I suggest you change your mind.. I have hundreds of possible names in mind, but they are all names I would use to mess with Ligart.. So if you don't want me to call us 'My name is Ligart and I am looking for tender companionship".. Then you better pick one yourself." He said with odd earnestness.
Not knowing whether to laugh or sigh, Daniel thought about it for a minute, then said "We are adventurers and we have particular objective.. How about calling our group 'The Aimless Adventurer'?"
Heimart pretended not to hear him, and said "What about 'Pinch my buttocks and call me sl-"
"I'm serious.." Said Daniel, interrupting Heimart's train of thought, which was spiraling out of control.
Heimart started to giggle, before saying "Hehehe.. I know. I've already written it." He then waited in line quietly.
The line for completing the registration had elongated in the past half an hour, just like Heimart had predicted. That had forced Daniel and Heimart to have wait for a while before their turn.
Twenty minutes later, Daniel was still standing quietly in the middle of the line, when a beautiful looking girl in her early twenties approached hit from the side.
She stopped two meters in front of him and said "Hi. The news that an extremely talented spiritual cultivator was joining the legion reached my ears. So, I've personally come to meet you and invite you to join my group, 'The Blood Letters'."
"It's okay, I already have.." Daniel tried to explain that he already had a group, but before he could manage to, another young man approached from the distance.
This young man wore practical clothes, but considered the total lack of protections on it, Daniel could guess that he wasn't a martial cultivator.
He slowly approached from behind the girl with an aloof look on his face "What does a genius in spiritual cultivation have to do with a group of assassins and archers?.." He then turned to look at Daniel and said "Greetings, my name is Bijo and I am the part of a group called 'Artifacts of Magic'. As you might have guessed, we are a group exclusively composed of spiritual cultivators, just like you. Would you like to join us?"
It was at this very moment that a weird smile appeared on Heimart's face. He turned to look at the two that were inviting Daniel to join their groups, and with an extremely serious face he said "I am afraid that won't be possible. He already agreed on joining my group."
"Who are you? And what group are you from?" Asked the young man.
Heimart's chest swell with pride as he said "My name is Ligart, and my group's name is 'Slap my ass and cal- NPFH" His joke was promptly interrupted by Daniel's elbow, which had struck his stomach with just enough force to shut him up. "The Aimless Adventurer.." he said while rubbing his stomach with his hand. He then turned around while muttering "too serious.. it's no fun messing with you.."
Daniel looked at the lady behind the counter, which once noticed his eyes on her, immediately looked away. From her reaction, Daniel had gotten a clearer idea of what had happened. The lady behind the counter had told a few representatives of the recommended groups about him, so that they could invite him personally.
She wouldn't have bothered with doing that if he had simply formed a group on the spot, but once she noticed that he had left the line to talk to his friends, she took the chance to spread the news about the appearance of a prodigy of spiritual cultivation.
Daniel turned to look at the two and said "Thank you for your invitations, but I am afraid that what he said was true, I already have a group."
"It's understandable. But since you are still in line to complete your registration, it's not too late for you to change your mind. That's why I have approached" Said the young man with a calm and polite tone. He then continued "Just know that the benefits that you can obtain by a newly formed group cannot be compared to what you would obtain from joining us."
The beautiful young girl took a step forward, interrupting the young man's final sales pitch. She joined her arms in front of her chest, squeezing her half exposed breasts in between them, and said while tilting her head to one side "What does his group have that my group doesn't.."
Daniel smiled at the girl, and extended his hand towards her. He then said "I'll show you."
Intrigued by his words, the girl extended her hand as well, and tried to grab Daniel's hand. Unfortunately, she failed.
The girl felt embarrassed at first, but the more she tried, the more she realized that there were invisible powers working against her.
Next to her, the young man observed the scene with eyes opened wide in shock. He already knew that what was happening had something to do with spatial essence. He was too shocked to say anything.
No matter how much the girl tried, the direction her hand went was always different from the one she meant to move it towards.
After five minutes of failed attempts, the girl finally gave up. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and observed how Daniel extended his arm towards Heimart, which grabbed it without the slightest problem.
"How?" She said with dubious tone.
With a derisory tone, the young man said "It's because he wants to.. He won't join your group because he doesn't want to." He then nodded respectfully at Daniel before turning around and leaving.
The beautiful girl immediately picked up on the meaning of the young man's words, and with an irritated expression, she turned around and left as well.
-----
Five hours later, in a restaurant just outside of the recruitment office.
"I can't believe that it took so long.." Said a dispirited Ligart.
Alis looked at Jerigh and said "I can't believe that his testing went without a problem.. And his evaluation as well.. We knew he was good, but I didn't think he was that far from us.."
Suddenly, the sound of Heimart clearing his throat interrupted the group's train of thoughts. He stood up and said "Ladies and Gentlemen.. Our first mission as a group." He then slapped a white sheet of paper above an empty part of the table.
"Just tell us what it is.. I am too tired to read." Said Ligart before cowering on the wooden table.
Heimart sat back on his chair and said "Fine.. It's a hunting mission. We have to go to a placed called 'The Forest of Towering Rocks'. There have been several incidents there, whose reports claimed that a high-ranking beast had kidnapped or killed the humans that traversed it. We are to go there, and investigate the matter. The case is not private to our group, and will be assigned to nineteen more groups. We can collaborate with one another if we want to, but only one group can get the merit for it."
"How far is this forest?" Asked Danie calmly.
Heimart turned towards him and said "About nine thousand kilometers north, north-east from here. Do you think you could teleport us there?"
"I am not sure.. I don't know what would happen to me if I ended up teleporting into something solid like a large rock.. My cranial cavity might fill with stone and I could die instantly." Explained Daniel with uncertainty.
After spending a moment in silence, Heimart asked "What about teleporting an entire section of space along with the air around you, and the ground under your feet? Or maybe teleport to a place high in the air?"
"It would work theoretically, but I don't have the comprehension necessary to teleport that far. I could lose control over space and reappear on the other side as a fine red mist. You guys would be trapped inside the pocket dimension forever." Said Daniel dispiritedly.
Alis interjected and said "We'll go on foot then. It's just going to take us a week, so it's not a big deal."
"Very well, do we all agree that we depart tomorrow morning?" Asked Heimart while looking at the members of the group.
After a series of quick nods, the group resumed eating their dinner.