Chapter 268 - Xargy The Scholar
After what had happened in Ton Bes, the dragon had decided to follow Daniel and Aeron in their travels. He had spent too long hiding from The Tamer and her army, and the fight that had taken place just the day before, paired with Daniel's speech while in the cave, were the boost of confidence that he needed to go back to being Xargy, the proud and domineering dragon who he had been, when he still was a prince of the indomitable race of the dragons.
The three had decided to leave in the direction of Daniel's world of origin, where the latter had hoped to, once again, reunite with his friends and family.
At the moment, Daniel, Aeron, and Xargy, were traveling through space while on an asteroid-sized planet, which shoot towards the solar system in which Daniel's world of origin was located. The reason for the current size of the planet, was due to the fact that Xergy felt uncomfortable when in his humanoid shape, so, after extorting the promise that he would get rid of all of the objects that approached the planet, Daniel had agreed to his request to keep the planet at a reasonable size.
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Dan Hiel - Karmic system's wielder.
Age - 25
Power level
-Mid eighth stage of immortal cultivation
Battle Prowess
-Mid eighth stage of immortal cultivation
Karma: 12,562,862,333
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Weapons Masteries (Details)
Martial Arts (Details)
Skills (Details)
Spells (Details)
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Reap What You've Sown
Time Is Precious Lv.50
Reduced Cost Lv.25
Bonus Points Lv.25
Second Chance (Upgrades 4
/4) Lv.20
Karma X Luck
Karma Debt
Karmic Retribution (Upgrades 2
/2)
Devil's Advocate
Regulator's Will
System Upgrades (Details)
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At the moment, Daniel was happily looking at his system's profile, which showed that he had a surplus of karma of above twelve billions. That meant that his infinite streak of bad luck had finally come to an end, and also, worked as proof that his plan had worked perfectly.
After Daniel had hid in Ton Bes with Aeron, he had created a clear strategy regarding how he would have handled his situation. He knew that finishing the quest that required him to build a mid-level poison immunity, would reward him with enough karma to remove close to seventy percent of Sewah's debt, but unfortunately, at that level, the difference was less than insignificant.
Be it seven hundred billions, or two hundred billions, he would still be one of the most unlucky people in the universe.. So, he had no choice but to use the opportunity given by the quest, to shave off the rest of the debt as well.
His plan was simple.
He did not have the power to even enter the Ton Bes without permission, so, he could only let somebody else do the killing for him. He had taken the opportunity that had arisen during the his demonstration, where a spy from another faction was in the same place and time as the leaders of the poisonous rose, and had pushed Sewah's sleeping consciousness out of his mind.
Sewah's sleeping consciousness had worked as a discrete beacon which only he and the other children of Iewah could see.. And that, was what had attracted the necromancer to Ton Bes.
Daniel knew perfectly well that if he was fine at the moment of the necromancer's arrival, she would have focused on taking care of him first, and that was why he had decided to test the pill in front of the others. He knew that a son or a daughter of Iewah would have arrived soon, and he wanted them to know that he was in no condition of running, or defending himself.
Thanks to that, Daniel had managed to let necromancer take care of the problem regarding Iewah's faction first.. That problem, was the fact that one of the companies within their domain was actually a sleeper cell for a completely different faction.
After the visitor of the Garden of Death, the chairman, and the black thorn had died, Daniel had quietly hinted to the fact that everyone was aware of his work, and that someone within the planet would talk, sooner or later.. Forcing the necromancer to kill every single one of the members of the poisonous rose which were inhabiting Ton Bes.
While not completely wiped out, the most powerful member, as well as the majority of the researchers of each and every family that was part of the poisonous rose, had been killed. Unfortunately, that had also caused the deaths of all of the slaves which were kept by the families.
Daniel felt responsible for them, as unfortunately, aside from the family he had managed to help during the week in which he had received the help of the chairman in gathering ingredients, the rest had all died in the brutal attacks of the necromancer.
After the pill had been created, and the poisonous had been virtually destroyed, Daniel had managed to come out of his debt, and even have about twenty-five extra billions of karma left, which he had no choice but to spend in the very next few minutes.
Daniel had immediately spent half of his karma in order to cast karmic retribution on the necromancer.. It was then, that the dragon had appeared. At that moment, Daniel had believed that the dragon was actually the 'unlucky event' caused by his karmic retribution, but in a matter of moments, he had understood that he was far from being a disaster to the necromancer, which fought against him on an even ground.
The true unlucky event, had been the arrival of the explorer, which was shot into a rift in space from an uncountable number of kilometers away, directly where he needed him to be.
The man had 'casually' realized what the power of the necromancer was, and had decided to take her with him in his travel back to the edge of the known universe. Considering the oppressive amount of negative karma possessed by Tirah, Daniel could guess that she would not have a good time while in the company of the explorer.
Daniel's plan ended up being extremely successful, and helped him in obtaining a large amount of karma, as well as a new and extremely powerful companion.
"You've been sort of quiet. I thought someone with such a **ty personality would be more chatty. Hehehe..
" Said Xargy while moving his massive head towards Daniel.
Slightly irritated by the not-so-subtle insult, Daniel turned to look back at the massive dragon, and said
"If I have such a **ty personality.. You can literally turn in every direction, and go on your way. I don't get why you have to follow us.
"
The smoke on the dragon's nose came out in puffs, as he laughed at Daniel's words.
"Are you joking? What better place is there to be, than next to the history's first wanted outcast of Iewah's faction. Your future is destined to be filled with chaos and mayhem.. I can't miss out on that stuff. Hehe.
"
Daniel did not know about the dragon's personality prior to his self-exile, and therefore, he could only guess that he had changed into this form of shameless being which he had ended up freeing from his self-imposed restraints.
"Can you at least be a little helpful? Or are you just going to make problems for us?
" Asked Daniel with irritation.
"Feel free to ask for whatever you want.
" responded the dragon before turning towards an incoming group of small comets made of ice, and melting them into nothingness with his powerful jet of green flames.
Daniel looked at the flames that came out of the dragon's mouth, and quickly understood something. During his battle with the necromancer, while he hadn't held back in the power of his flames, he had, without a doubt, held back in the amount, as this ejection seemed to be thousands of times bigger than the one that had turned the city of Ton Bes into a flaming pool of molten metals and minerals.
"Can you tell me about the human's higher stages of cultivation?
" asked Daniel with curiosity. He was at the mid eighth stage of immortal cultivation, and therefore, he would hopefully be able to reach the ninth level soon. By then, he wanted to at least have a basic knowledge of the next levels of cultivation, so that he would not be stuck.
That question seemed to be of extreme interest to Xargy, which immediately turned to look at Daniel, and started to explain.
"I know what you want to know.. 'How can I increase my power after I reach the end of the immortal cultivation?'.. Well, the same way you have been doing now. What differs amongst the species of the universe, is the gift that they possess. Look at your friend over there.. He is a late eighth stage elite of the Psionic Dimension.. I assume that he has an avatar, and a few mental powers to show.
" Said the dragon before taking a pause, and continuing only after receiving a nod from Daniel.
"What I believe he didn't tell you, is that his real body is actually the avatar, as the immortal cultivation stages, for a mental warrior, work simply as practice to operate with their minds, before ditching their fleshly body, and transferring their consciousness and spirit into the avatar. They then grow in power as beings of mental power and spiritual essence, instead of ki and spiritual essence.
"
It was at this point that Aeron turned to look at the dragon with narrowed eyes. What Xargy had just explained, was one of the most well kept secrets of his former faction. Only the high level elites, and a few powerful members of some other allied factions were aware of this.
For the dragon to know about this, said to Aeron a lot more than what Daniel had asked for.
Without caring about Aeron's look, Xargy kept going with his explanation.
"Every faction forms a being of their own kind.. From your smell, I can tell that you have met.. Quite a few for your young age. Emissaries of the factions of mind, spirit, corruption, ki, mana, and even more!
" said the dragon in pleasant surprise.
"How do you know all of these things about other factions methods of cultivation?
" Daniel asked, now finally curious about the same thing that had made Aeron wonder for the past few minutes.
The face of the dragon seemed to show an anthropomorphized expression for a moment, as his scaly face twisted with a high level of pride, and he said with a melancholic tone
"You might not believe it, but I am a scholar among my kin. I have spent the years of my youth stuck in my family's ancestral mountains, reading, and studying all of the information that my grandfather and his and the kings before him had gathered about the other factions.
"
"Then, do you know how I will have to cultivate, as a former member of Iewah's faction?
"
"Ha! This is what is interesting! Iewah's gift is nothing like that of other groups.. It gives you a power, but it's like it both does, and does not belong to you. I can't explain it, but it looks like it hasn't been made for you.
" Responded the dragon with newfound enthusiasm.
Daniel knew exactly what the dragon meant. The gift of Iewah, differently from the gifts of the other factions, was not a gift, but an actual parasitic being which would take their place once evolved to a certain point.
"I sort of understand.. But what does that mean? Do you know a way or not?
" Asked Daniel with a hint of irritation. He was learning more and more about Iewah's faction, and every additional detail which he learned, had reminded him of how stupid he was for thinking that as a faction, Iewah's was the least evil around.
The dragon looked at Daniel with an oddly recognizable smile, and said
"As I've said, that is the interesting part!! You are a pure human! After you will reach the perfect ninth stage of immortal cultivation, you will be able to keep increasing your power like everybody else, and use Iewah's gift as your main power.. But.. theoretically speaking, there is no reason why you should not be able to obtain another gift..
"