Daniel was sitting on the fictitious space, and in his hands, the two seventh rank beast core were being consumed at a rate visible to the eye.
He was currently in semi-conscious state, and he had been so for the past day.
His body was experiencing a change. A change similar and yet different from the one he had experienced during his breakthrough into the perfect state of the first main stage of cultivation.
The flow of beast essence was currently being split into two even streams, and refining both his body and spirit. The only difference with the time when Daniel had reached the perfect body and connection, was that his two essences weren't becoming even more compatible with each other, and instead, they were starting to merge.
Each essence was initially like water and oil. And the idea of the two merging was preposterous despite the fact that ki was the essence generally used to trade for spiritual essence through one's connection to the spiritual plane.
And yet, to Daniel it felt like the invisible divisory line between these two essences were starting to blur. Like the front line of two armies, which were well defined until the very moment of contact.
When Daniel's eyes finally opened, the two essences within his body were in a semi-merged state. They could only be consumed singularly, but they felt like water and sand.
After noticing the reduced state of the two seventh rank beast cores, Daniel decided to take a look at his profile.
After a single thought, a window opened in his mind.
____________________________
Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.
Age - 16
Rank
- Peak rank 6 of Martial cultivation (Perfect Human)
- Peak rank 6 of Spiritual cultivation (Perfect Synchronization)
Karma - 13,666
____________________________
Weapons Masteries (Details)
Martial Arts (Details)
Skills (Details)
Spells (Details)
____________________________
Reap What You've Sown
Time Is Precious Lv.5
Reduced Cost Lv.4
Second Chance Lv.1
Karma X Luck
System Upgrades (Details)
____________________________
"Sixteen?.. Oh.. It was my birthday?.." Said Daniel after noticing that the age reported in his profile had changed. Then, he noticed the remaining amount of karma he possessed, and the fact that he had reached perfection in the Nigh Inhuman and in the Spiritual Synchronization stages.
There was no way for Daniel to breakthrough into the seventh stage of cultivation in the half day left before the demonstration stage, so he left the space, and reappeared within the hotel room he was staying in.
The Saullet family had booked a room for Daniel to stay in during the gathering of experts. The room was luxurious, and the furniture seemed to be even more expensive than the ones Alis had bought to redecorate the castle.
Instead of going out and enjoy the nightlife of the capital like the rest of his friends did, Daniel cleaned himself up and went to sleep.
-----
Heimart and the rest were sitting at a table just outside of a restaurant.
The two kids were enjoying a few local dishes, while the others were drinking an assortment of beverages.
The only one that differed from the others was Jerigh, which was currently eating an ice cream in a messy way.
Having to witness to that sight, Ligart sneakily passed him a clean tissue so that he could clean his face, but Jerigh ignored the meaning of the gesture completely, and simply put the tissue into his pocket before digging back into his ice cream.
Ligart could do nothing but shrug his shoulders and go back to enjoying his drink.
The eight of them were talking, joking and having a good time, until a group of young cultivators walked near their table.
Amongst this group of cultivators, was Alesia, which after recognizing those who had joined the silent auction in Drester, stopped and approached them. "Hey, you guys are Daniel's friends, right?" She asked with a bright smile.
From behind her, the rest of Alesia's group looked at heimart and the rest with expressions filled with disdain.
Between Alis that sat awfully close to Heimart, Roley and Imblen in a slightly tipsy state, and Ligart that kept handing tissues to the two kids and Jerigh.. The group didn't appear to be a party of cultivators, but a group of parents on vacation instead.
"Yes, and you are.." Responded Heimart, letting the phrase die in his throat.
The girl bowed her head very slightly and said "Alesia Saullet."
As Roley heard the girl's name, he immediately turned to look at her, and said "Your father.. Your father is a psycho.. Leaving me in chaotic space for days.."
Imblen immediately pulled his shirt and forced him to sit back on his chair.
Heimart then said "Of course, I remember you. You were at the silent auction that took place in drester two weeks ago. We didn't know that man was your father.. He looked quite different than usual."
"Haha.. Yes, my father shows his handsome appearance only on rare occasions, unfortunately." Responded Alesia with an easy going attitude.
From behind her, derisory words could be heard being exchanged between the members of Alesia's group.
".. I bet they are the kids of that short girl.."
"Look at that blond guy.. He might be good looking, but he appears to be retarded."
An extremely embarrassed expression appeared on Alesia's face as she heard the words coming from behind her. She was aware that if she had heard them, then the other group must have heard them as well.
She was about to apologize, when Ligart suddenly stood up. He looked at the group and said "You are free to leave if you don't appreciate a polite conversation."
A young woman within the group took a step forward"Who would appreciate a conversation with you. It's out of respect for Alesia and her parents that we are still here. Even at the risk of getting infected with whatever that guy has" She said while pointing at Jerigh.
"I would stop insulting him if I were you.." Said Ligart with a threatening tone. "He might just understand what you mean.. You wouldn't want that."
"Who do you think you are threatening peasant!" Suddenly burst out one of the young man within Alesia's group.
If Daniel was here, he would have recognized this young man as one of those who had claimed the title of Ruler of the Sword for his master, along with Alesia and a few others.
A sword suddenly appeared at the waist of the young man which he intended to use to give Ligart a lesson, but before he could even unsheathe it, he found a sticky hand wrapped over his, preventing him from unsheathing the sword from its scabbard.
Standing next to him, was Jerigh, which in the span of a moment had gotten up from his chair, dashed all the way past Alesia, and had reached the young man in time to stop him.
For someone who had claimed the title of Rule of the Sword, this was a great humiliation. He was supposed to prove that he was the best amongst sword users, and yet, he had been thwarted by someone who wasn't even participating in the gathering to begin with.
In his mind, there was only place for two possibilities. The first one, was to suffer the humiliation of being stopped like a child by someone younger than him. The second was to get back his honor by proving his superiority.
His noble origin and overly disproportionate pride didn't allow him to take it lying down, so he freed his hand thanks to a sudden movement of his wrist, and unsheathed his sword.
Jerigh face turned from relaxed to serious. He had learned how to control his actions in the past year, but his instincts still kicked in whenever someone tried to threaten his life in any way.
His hand slowly moved for the handle of his single-edged sword, but before he could unsheathe it, a voice came from the other part of the street.
"If it isn't the young lady of the Saullet family." This voice belonged to a young man which was dressed in white robes. On these white robes, a golden dragon had been sewn neatly.
Alesia and the rest of her group recognized him as the third prince of the Krehan empire, Krim.
Behind him, were two middle aged men in silver armor and golden cloaks.
Alesia and her group immediately bowed at the prince, and said "Greetings Second Prince."
The prince stood in the middle of the young swordsman and Jerigh, then said "Now now, let's not create confusion in this beautiful evening." He then looked at Jerigh and said "You, why don't you come with me? I would like to know what happened."
The prince was not omnipotent, even in the capital. He didn't want to offend anyone that could possibly create problems for himself in the future, and the young man's master was one of those people. So, he decided to end this dispute in favor of the young man.
At the same time, he had noticed Jerigh's talent in movement and cultivation. Not to talk about the fact that, when things got serious, he was immediately ready to use his sword.
From the prince's prospective, Jerigh was someone talented and with no connections, so he decided that he might as well try to rope him in and convince him to join the army or imperial guard.
Heimart immediately stood up, and after a polite bow, he said "Second Prince, th-"
But before he could finish his sentence, Alesia interjected "That won't be necessary Second Prince, the fault is all ours. We shouldn't have offended this group of people." She then looked at the rest of them and said "Our apologies."
The face of the young swordsman became hideous, but even he didn't dare to reject Alesia's words. After all, her mother was one of the most powerful cultivator and one of the masters of the sword. While her father, was a powerful and valuable spiritual cultivator and expert of space.
It is also worth mentioning that his master, and Alesia's mother had grown up and trained together under the same figure.
"Very well, it's better to resolve these kinds of matters with words." Responded the second prince after quickly looking at the rest of Alesia's group members. He then nodded slightly at them, and left along with his imperial guards.
Just like the second prince didn't want to offend the young swordsman, the young swordsman didn't want to act after the second prince had gone out of his way to solve the problem. He sheathed his sword once again, and after sending a menacing look at Jerigh, he left as well.
The rest of the group followed him, except for Alesia.
The girl who had insulted Jerigh turned to look at her and said "You are not coming?"
Alesia turned to look back at her and responded "No, you guys go ahead, I'll impose of these people for a little longer."
-----
Daniel woke up the next day to the sound of knocking on his door.
When he went to open the door, he saw a worker of the hotel that was standing politely. As soon as Daniel opened the door, the worker said "Sir Hiel, there is a gentleman waiting for you in the lobby."
"I'll be there in a few minutes." Responded Daniel politely just as politely.
He then closed the door of his room, cleaned himself up, put on a fresh set of clothes, and went towards the lobby.
Sitting on a chair in the elegant looking lobby, was Edmund.
When Edmund saw Daniel approaching him, he stood up from his chair and walked towards him. Once in earshot, he said "My time sphere.."
With reluctant feelings, Daniel gave the sphere back to him.
The moment the sphere touched Edmund's hand, it immediately disappeared into his spatial ring.
To Daniel, Edmund's action seemed a bit petty, but he would certainly change his mind if he knew the cost of a single time treasure.
After getting his time sphere back, Edmund looked at Daniel and said "Are you ready?"
With a confident tone, Daniel responded "Yes, let's go."
