Chapter 140 - Malicious Compliance
"Daniel.." Said the Strongest of Warrior, as he approached him with a big smile on his face. His eyes betrayed a fair amount of mental exhaustion, which Daniel thought was probably caused by the extreme increase of workload. "Come in, please." added the old warrior.
Daniel and his small group of friends followed the Strongest of Warriors into the throne room. There, they met with the Chief Hunter, and the Head Scholar.
"How are things going?" Asked Daniel with a faint smile lingering on his face. He could see that, despite the three of them appeared extremely tired, they were also happy.
"Swamped.. The effort to clean and reinhabit the ancient cities is killing us.. There is just too much to do and not enough people." Responded the Head Scholar with evident tiredness.
Daniel smiled back at her, and said "I'm sure you will manage to do a great job.. The reason for today's visit, is to bid farewell, we will depart today."
After talking for a few minutes with the three members of the triumvirate, and saying their goodbyes, Daniel and the rest of his group left the throne room.
They had remained two months more than necessary, and thanks to thee fact that they had had more than enough time to prepare for Daniel's departure, their goodbye wasn't too emotional.
To contribute to that, was the fact that he had promised to come back and visit them sooner or later.
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Daniel was now sitting in the room of his castle. He was watching two of the features of his karmic system. The first one, was the group window..
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Group of the Karmic System's Wielder.
Name: Group of the Karmic System's Wielder (Provisory)
Number of members (Details): 4908
Overall Karma: 311,021.111
Karmic effects:
Karma X Luck (Group)
Karmic Aura Lv.100
Time is Precious Lv.20 (Group)
Reap What You've Sown (Group)
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Shared Karmic effects (Details)
Reputation (Details)
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The numbers of Daniel's group members had significantly increased after his sudden ascension in power. This new level of power might not have been much for the tribe warriors, but was a lot for the cultivators that came from his world.
The majority of the Overall Karma had been gained during the three months before Daniel was able to establish a spiritual connection to the wasteland world, and during the six months in which they had prepared for the incoming war.. Only a smaller portion had been obtained thanks to their marginal contribution during the conflict.
Despite of where the karma points came from, Daniel's group had more than enough to unlock the third level of the group's karmic effects. So, with a thought, Daniel opened the window in his mind.
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Shared Karmic effects lv.3
Karmic Aura Lv.101 = 200,000
(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. 150)
Time Is Precious Lv.41 (Group) = 2,000,000 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. 60)
Karma X Luck (Group) = Purchased
Reap What You've Sown (Group) = Purchased
Universal Compass = 50,000,000 KP
(Passive: Grants the ability to find the group's base to each member of the group, no matter where, or how far the base is.)
Group Base (Basic) = 200,000,000 KP
(Creates a small world accessible only to the members of the 'Group of the Karmic System's Wielder'. The world's size depends on the number of members the group possesses.)
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Accumulate 5,000,000,000 Karma points to unlock Shared Karmic effects lv.4
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Daniel couldn't help but look in shock at the changes within the shared karmic effects.
He had expected that there would be at least a few, but to have actually receive the chance to create an entire world for his group to use as a base, and to have its position permanently marked for each and every member.. was a lot more than he expected.
He still had to check the next level of his own system upgrade, and yet, he couldn't help but want to see what this 'Group Base' was all about.
Without thinking about it twice, he bought 'Group Base (Basic)'and 'Universal Compass', and increased the levels of 'Time is Precious' to the max level once again.
In total, he spent two hundred and ninety millions.
The very moment he finalized the purchase, the members of his group members felt the presence of something in the direction of Daniel's room.
In his hand, a miniature world had appeared.
In this miniature spherical world, Daniel could see oceans, mountain ranges, deserts, ice caps, and volcanic lands.. And yet, it was only twenty centimeters in diameter.
"You better not use that item in here.. You wouldn't want it to enlarge within the limited space of the pocket dimension.." Said Sewah from within Daniel's head.
It was in this moment that Daniel understood.
The system wouldn't simply let a world appear out of nowhere in a random point in space.
Instead, it had given it to him in a shrunken form, which he would then have to place in space by himself.
Had Sewah not warned him, he might have used the item by mistake, causing the pocket dimension to be destroyed from within, and causing hundreds of thousands of people to die in the void.
"Where can I store it?" Asked Daniel while keeping the round-shaped world in both of his hands, almost scared that he could drop it.
"As long as you don't want it to become bigger, it wont. Once you place it in space, you won't be able to shrink it back into this size."
Of course, Daniel still wasn't aware of what 'space' was exactly. In his mind, the concepts of world was closer to lands separated from each other in something like different dimensions.. He still knew nothing about the space in which the planets floated.
Originally, Sewah wasn't aware of space either, but now that the system had evolved to a point where its features would include these sort of informations, he had naturally learned about it, just like he would learn everything about a feature, the very moment it was unlocked.
Daniel carefully put the small world within the greenhouse ring, then, he went to check on the changes in his personal system's upgrades.
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System Upgrades Lv.4
Reap What You've Sown = Purchased
Time Is Precious Lv.21 = 2,018,500 KP
(Active: Multiply the cost of karma points in order to multiply the speed of progression. +100% of cost and effect. Max lv.30)
Reduced Cost Lv.20 = Current Max Level.
Bonus Points Lv.20 = Current Max Level.
Second Chance Lv.20 = Current Max Level.
Second Chance Upgrade Lv.3 = 500,000
(Passive: Halves the cooldown of Second Chance.)
Karma Debt = Purchased
Karmic Retribution = Purchased
Karmic Retribution Update = Purchased
Karma X Luck = Purchased
Devil's Advocate = 25,000,000
(Active: Gain 10% of battle prowess against enemies with positive karma. at the cost of 500,000 karma point per hour.)
Regulator's Will = 25,000,000
(Active: Gain 10% of battle prowess against enemies with negative karma, at the cost of 500,000 karma points per hour.)
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Accumulate 1,000,000,000 Karma points to unlock System Upgrades Lv.5
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Once again, Daniel was shocked.. But this time, it wasn't because of the exceptional new effects, which were nothing more than two boosts of battle prowess, ten more level of 'Time is Precious', and another upgrade for 'Second Chance'.. What shocked him, were the prices.
After a quick calculation, he had learned that in order to max out on the levels of Time is Precious, he would need more than a billion and five hundred millions of karma points, which was more than he had gained since had obtained the karmic system.
Unable to fully max the effect out, he only upgraded 'Time is Precious' to the twenty-fifth level, bought the third level of the upgrade for 'Second Chance', and finally, purchased the two active increases in battle prowess.
The total amount of karma points he had spent, was a hundred and ninety millions.
For the first time, Daniel had felt that strange feeling that a rich man that had spent the majority of his fortune in a single purchase, felt.
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The next Day
Daniel was currently on a small platform he had created out of earth essence. He was standing by himself, and looking down at the now bright and colored wasteland word.
After a few emotional sighs, he injected his immortal essence into the white bracelet he had been given by the second spiritual emissary.
The very next moment, a white portal opened right above the platform, and from it, a young man and a young woman came out.
These two individuals weren't the second and third emissary. They wore similar white robes, and had astonishingly good looks.. But the density and amount of smoke that came out of their eyes was much fainter than the two emissaries.
"I am Nia, and this is my great grandson Noah. We are the two acolytes that have been assigned to your case." Said the twenty-something years old young woman, despite not looking any older than the young man.
"I was expecting to see the second emissary." Said Daniel with a slight hint of suspicion.
With derision heavily present on his face, the young man called Noah responded by saying "Why send a giant for a work that a small insect can do?"
Slightly confused, Daniel said "Do you often go around referring about yourself as an insect?.."
The corners of Noah's mouth twitched in irritation. But then, he went back to his cool demeanor, and said "You have called us. Where do you want to go?"
"Can you take me to my world of origin?" Asked Daniel with a bit more hope and enthusiasm than he had planned to show.
"Of course.." Responded Nia, before turning quiet.
After noticing that the two of them weren't moving, nor did they have the intention to, Daniel said "Well.. what are we waiting for?"
"Under the possession of Iewah, there are four galaxies. Each of these four galaxies contain hundreds of billions of stars.. Half of which likely have planets orbiting around them. To answer your question, what we are waiting for is for you to tell us which one your world of origin is."
After listening to Nia's words, Daniel's confusion only deepened.
In order to make out of what the girl was talking about, he had to ask for a quick explanation of what plantes, solar systems, and galaxies were.
He would quickly come to regret asking this question more than once during the conversation.
After a few minutes, Daniel started to feel anxiousness grow in his heart. He didn't know to which galaxy, solar system, or even the name of his planet.
With evident worry in his voice, he turned to look at Nia and asked "Is there no way to know to which planet I come from?"
It was Noah which responded by saying "We already know to which planet you come from."
Daniel's face eased for a few moments, but then, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he asked "Then why can't you take me there?"
A nasty smile suddenly appeared on Noah's face right before saying "That requires us to use our knowledge of your circumstances, and that.. Is not part of the deal. Tell us exactly where you want to go.. And before you start to complain, know that there is only one acceptable request."
Nia and Noah were Spiritual Acolytes, which meant that they worked directly for the Spiritual Emissaries. More specifically, Nia worked for the second Spiritual Emissary, while Noah worked for the third.
They had been instructed on how to behave with Daniel.
The second Spiritual Emissary had instructed Nia to be fair, but to not give ground to Daniel's request. She demanded professionality from her.
On the other hand, the third Spiritual Emissary had instructed Noah to give Daniel a hard time, while staying within the rules of their deal. That, was because Daniel had put him into big trouble.
Daniel could tell Noah's disposition towards him, so, he was quickly able to catch up on the meaning of his words.
With a dispirited tone, he said "I want to go to a planet within Iewah's domain which has a full connection to the spiritual plain, and knowledge about interplanetary travel.." He knew that any other request would be denied.
The nasty smile on Noah's face grew even bigger than before "Splendid. Let's go then." He said while waving his hand, and opening a large portal in between him and Nia.