n

n

nThe last time Daniel had checked his group's number, they counted more than two thousand.. But now, they were less than fifteen hundred.

nHe knew none of the people missing, but he still felt anxious for his friends, as he didn't know if all those people had simply left the group, or.. If they were currently at war.

nIn the next two days, the number kept decreasing drastically. It lowered at a somewhat steady pace, making him believe that people weren't simply leaving.. But they were actually dying.

nThe decrease in number stopped only after a full month. It was only after that, that Daniel had managed to confirm that his group was in fact at war.

nHe was currently looking at the system's group window once again, and this is what he saw:

n____________________________

nGroup of the Karmic System's Wielder.

nName: Group of the Karmic System's Wielder (Provisory)

nNumber of members (Details): 416

nOverall Karma: 9,006,198

nKarmic effects:

nKarma X Luck (Group)

nKarmic Aura Lv.35

nTime is Precious Lv.20 (Group)

n____________________________

nShared Karmic effects (Details)

nReputation (Details)

n____________________________

nThe group's numbers had gone from 1496, all the way down to 416, while the group's karma had increased from 4,846,198 to 9,006,198, meaning that, that particular victory had earned them ten thousand karma points each.

nLuckily, the names of all of Daniel's friends were still present in the current list of members.

nAfter long a breath of relief, Daniel suddenly recalled something important.

nHe immediately thought about the Shared Karmic effects details, and right after, the familiar window appeared. However, it had been upgraded.

n____________________________

nShared Karmic effects lv.2

nKarmic Aura Lv.35 = 100,000

n(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. 100)

nTime Is Precious Lv.20 (Group) = 1,000,000 KP

n(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. 40)

nKarma X Luck (Group) = Purchased

nReap What You've Sown (Group) = 5,000,000

n(Passive: Killing rewards 10% of the mirror amount of karma owned by the victim to the group.)

n____________________________

nAccumulate 100,000,000 Karma points to unlock Shared Karmic effects lv.3

n____________________________

nDaniel hadn't found much improvements to the shared karmic effect. Only a group version of 'Reap What You've Sown' had been added to the list of purchasable effects, along with an increase of the max levels of 'Karmic Aura', and 'Time is Precious (Group)'.

nAfter a moment of thought, Daniel decided to spend five million karma points on purchasing 'Reap What You've Sown (Group)', and the remaining four million points in upgrading 'Time is Precious (Group)' by four additional levels.

nWhile one would think that 'Karmic Aura' was a better choice due to the fact that his group had started to take part in what seemed to be major conflicts, the biggest limitation of that effect still remained.

nKarmic Aura's biggest limitation was that the effect wouldn't activate unless the group members were in the presence of the karmic system's wielder, or within the group ground.. which was the pocket dimension within the ring.

nInstead of an useless effect such as karmic aura, Daniel had deemed better to increase the group's speed of progression by an additional twenty percent, and help them increase in power faster.

nUncertain about the exact time, Daniel was sure that the change of the guard was about to come, so he waited quietly.

n

"Hey, my turn.. You can go home

" Said the first guard in a low tone.

nRight after the first guard stopped talking, a series of steps could be heard heard resounding in the air. They then stopped, and in their place a voice could be heard suddenly say

"How's the situation outside?..

"

nThe first guard, which was just about to start his turn, said

"It's chaos.. Half the cities of the empire are now under the hands of those rebel scum.. There are rumors that say that the leaders of the various group will meet soon to plan an attack to the capital..

"

n

"Fuck..

" Responded the second guard in a dispirited tone, he then turned around in silence, and left the dungeon.

n-----

nTwo years, six months, and twenty days after imprisonment.

nOnly two days were left before the end of the mission's countdown, and Daniel was counting each second.

nHe had stopped conversing with the rest of the prisoners, and instead started to design and to rehearse his escape plan thousands of times in his own mind.

n

"Guard change..

" Said a young-sounding voice that Daniel and the rest had never heard before.

nOne of the usual guards said

"Who are you?

"

n

"I'm the new warder. The other guys has been sent to fortify the perimeter around the city.

" Responded the new guard before taking a slight pause, he then added

"They'll send you there as well.. Probably..

"

n-----

nTwo years, six months, twenty two days, one hour, and nine minutes after imprisonment.

nDaniel had never been more nervous than in this moment. He had no idea when the next chance to escape would be if he missed this opportunity.

nThe entire section was so quiet that even a fly would be heard buzzing in the air.

nSuddenly, Daniel said in a loud voice,

"G-GUARD!.. I.. I don't feel.. T-too well..

" he then used the control over the muscles of his stomach to make himself puke his last meal.

n

"GUARD!!

"

n

"Hey guard! Go check on Dan!

"

n

"Warder there is something wrong with the kid!!

"

nAfter weeks of mental practice, Daniel had pictured this image so many times in his head that he had been able to even trick his friends.

nThe new guard shouted in response,

"QUIET!

" before walking towards his cell.

nIn it, Daniel was lying on the ground, with his face buried in his own vomit.

nThe guards had clear instructions for these kind of situations. Firstly, they needed to retrieve a ki flag from within their spatial container, and erase the ki left inside it.

nThe head warder would arrive in a matter of seconds, and with him present, the guard would be able to remove the limitations on the prisoner's body, so that they could feed them a healing pill.

nThe healing essence contained in a healing pill was, just like any other type of essence, mana. And the limitations would immediately absorb every bit of mana the very moment it entered the prisoner's body.

nThat was the reason why at least two of the three limitations needed to be removed during the treatment.

nThankfully, Daniel's masterful performance, along with the screams of urgency that came from the other cells, had made the new warder nervous enough to forget about one crucial step of the procedure.

nHe immediately entered the cell, and removed Daniel's wrist and legs chains. But when he was about to feed him a healing essence, he started to find breathing difficult.

nHe panted and breathed heavily for six long minutes, until finally, he passed out.

n

"Hey guard! Everything alright there?!

" Asked roland with an extremely worried tone.

nThe first thing Daniel did, was to take the keys from the guard's body, and unlock his third and last limitation. Then, he took the guard's spatial ring.

nIt took him three full minutes to turn the common spatial container into an habitable pocket dimension. It of course lacked breathable air, but for now, he had to do without it.

nIn the blink of an eye, he was in Roland's cell.

nAt that very moment, Roland was grabbing his cell's bars and trying to listen to what was happening in the direction of Daniel's cell.

nFrom behind he looked like a robust man in his early thirties, even though his long beard and messy hair made him look ten years older. His clothes, just like Daniel's, were in tatters.

n

"Roland..

" Said Daniel from behind him.

n

"WHAT THE F..

" Shouted Roland in response while immediately turning around.

nDaniel approached him, and with a hurried tone he said,

"Listen, there is no time to explain, we have to leave. You have to trust me, and allow me to teleport you into this pocket dimension.

"

nRoland didn't think twice before nodding at him, and moving his wrists towards Daniel.. hinting for him to free his hands.

nAfter freeing Roland, Daniel went to free the remaining four people.

nThe interactions had happened in such a speed that barely a minute had passed from the moment tha guard had lost consciousness, to the moment Daniel had teleported out of the dungeon and had reappeared a hundred meters in the air.

nHe was extremely worried that someone might have felt him or his control over the surrounding essence, and that they would appear to apprehend him in a matter of seconds.. Or worse.

nFortunately, just like the system had predicted, large columns of black smoke were elevating from various points in the capital.

nClearly, the city was in a state of chaos, and many fights were currently taking place within its streets.

nTaking advantage of the situation, Daniel immediately teleported away.

n-----

nAfter a full minute of uninterrupted teleportations, Daniel finally stopped two hundred kilometers away from Krea. But that wasn't all, as he created a portal in the space right in front of him, and entered it.

nAs the portal closed back behind him, various high rank spatial cultivators appeared in the space were Daniel was standing a few moments earlier.

nThe reason why the spatial cultivators had reacted only now, was because of the method he had used.

nTo teleport from inside to outside the capital attracted much less attention than opening a portal only a hundred kilometers away from the city gates.

nFor all these cultivators knew, the portal might have been reinforcement to the army of rebels.. Brought near the capital by a master of space to join the attack.

nAt his current stage of cultivation, Daniel wasn't able to use long distance portals more than once before running out of spiritual essence, and even if he activated 'Time is Precious', he would consume five thousand points for each additional portal created. So, he stopped after only three portals.

nNow more than six thousand kilometers away from krea, Daniel breathed in relief, and immediately let the other prisoners out of the pocket dimension.

nThe five of them appeared on the rocky ground one by one.

nEach looked at Daniel with unbelieving eyes, and after taking deep breaths of fresh air, and looking, smelling and feeling how beautiful freedom was, they couldn't help but hug him.

nThe five of them were so excited, that they had even failed to notice that they were hugging a martial cultivator, which had previously teleported into their individual cells.

nRoland was the first one to regain his calm, as he took a step back, and looked at Daniel up and down. He then said

"You don't look like I pictured you..

"

n

"You don't look like I've pictured you guys either.. You look like a bunch of middle aged men with those thick beards..

" Said Daniel in response.

nThe names of the other four prisoners were Weiss, Rexx, Bonas, and Gens, and they were four very different looking man.

nWeiss and Bonas were spiritual cultivators, while Rexx, Gens, and Roland were martial cultivators.

nAbout their cultivation, only after removing their chains was Daniel capable of seeing their true cultivation level.

nWeiss, Gens and Roland were at the peak of the seventh rank of cultivation, while Bonas and Rexx were at the mid seventh rank.

nDaniel looked at the five prisoners he had just freed.. The people who had made the past two and a half years of his life a little less of a hell.. A little less lonely. He looked at them with the eyes of a friend, and said,

"I know you guys probably have nowhere else to go, and your countries probably thinks you are all dead.. So if you want to come with me.. I have a clear idea of where to go.

"

n