"Who are you?" Asked the Orange Thorn with deep alertness. He hadn't felt this odd masked man approach at all, and from that, he could understand that he was much more powerful than him.
Instead of responding, the prisoner's head slowly turned towards him, and from behind the mask, he asked "What are you doing here?" With a single phrase, he had made clear that he was the one asking the questions.
The Orange Thorn inconspicuously prepared his signature poison with his arms hidden in his robe, while saying "May I know the name of the person who is interrogating me? I don't feel comfortable with sharing my motives with a stra-I am the Orange Thorn, and he is an assassin called Vin. We are both members of an interplanetary group called The Poisonous Rose. He has come here to infiltrate this isolated planet in order to assassinate an individual called Dan Hiel, and remove him from the competition for a researching spot in Ton Bes.. I am here as a witness."
Shocked by the words he had just said, the Orange Thorn looked at the prisoner with horror. But that shock, was nothing compared to the ones he had felt after seeing the bright green glow that had appeared in the two eyes behind the mask.
He immediately closed his eyes, and said to the assassin "DON'T LOOK AT HIS EYES!" But unfortunately, it was too late.
The assassin had already looked at the eyes of the prisoner, which asked to him "Why do you kill?.."
Unable to lie, the assassin looked at the prisoner with an expressionless face, and said "I am an artist. The scene is my canvass, the method is my paint, and death is my ink. I can't live without it, and even if I wasn't paid for it, I would still do it." His response was truthful and sincere, and he really believed in every word despite not having said them willingly.
The prisoner shook his head left and right in disappointment, then said "That is the reason why your mind is rotten.. I will free you from your pain." As he finished speaking, his eyes became brighter and brighter, until finally, a dark shadow was pulled out of the assassin's mind. This shadow was grim, and on its surface, hundreds of images could be seen playing out. Each depicting one of the deaths which had been orchestrated by the assassin, playing out over and over again.. As if he couldn't think of anything else but those memories.
With a wave of his hand, he erased this black shadow, and turned the man's body into an empty shell that would float in space for the rest of eternity.
The Orange Thorn spectated to the death of the assassin without being able to do anything. "Why did you kill him? He was a member of Iewah's faction.. We are allied of your kind.." He said while keeping his eyes tightly closed.
"His mind wasn't right.. He was suffering." responded the prisoner with a casual tone. He did not care about friend of foe, he would judge each person alone. That was the reason he had been abandoned by his faction, and he had ended up in trouble.. Why he had killed one of Iewah's keepers of key.
"You are an outcast?.." Asked the Orange Thorn with horror. He knew that outcasts would not care about any universal rule whatsoever. Their actions had no consequence but those he would suffer personally.
"Why haven't you left yet?.. Do you need me to end your sufferings as well?" Responded the prisoner. Once again refusing to respond to the man's question.
While still keeping his eyes closed, the Orange Thorn showed his palms to the prisoner and said "Hold on, I don't have anything again the kid.. I am a potential ally.. This was all a matter of proving which one deserves the spot."
"What is the poisonous rose?" Asked the prisoner with his usual tone. He then paused slightly, and added "Don't lie."
The Orange Thorn took a breath of relief. It didn't seem that this man would try to kill him right away, so, he decided to try and get himself out of this trouble by saying the truth. "We are alchemists.. But our main research is in the field of poison."
"How did the kid enter this group?"
The Orange Thorn quickly recounted the events that had taken place in Mira. How Daniel had joined an academy that was part of The Poisonous Rose as an independent alchemist, about how he was poisoned with one of the signature poisons created by one of the major families of The Poisonous Rose, and how he had taken it upon himself to create a cure, only to then create a pill which would grant a permanent low-level poison immunity.
Unbeknownst to the Orange Thorn, a faint smile had appeared behind the mask of the prisoner. He had been satisfied by Daniel's character. Ever since he had decided to save the passengers of the ship, risked his life to prevent a vassal of the parasitic faction from invade an isolated world, and had decided to not leave him to die in the ship after he had helped him escape from the vassal.
Now that he had learned that this man was actually not Daniel's enemy, he decided not to kill him. Instead, after the explanation, he disappeared without leaving any traces. Leaving a confused Orange Thorn to quietly float in space, while thinking that he would die at any moment.
—–
1 month later.
"Twenty-eight thousand cities in total. The majority of the continents have accepted to join willingly, and allowed us to place a teleportation platform in their territory. Edmund and Heimart are going crazy about that.. The increases in traffic within the company building has increased by twenty-five thousand percent.. And that has slowed everything down.. We need more space." Said Roley, while reporting their progress in subjugating the countries of this world.
"I already have a plan for that. How have they taken our demands regarding the changes to their set of laws?" Asked Daniel while looking at a few stacks of paper.
Roley shrugged his shoulders with indifference, and said "Not that happily.. But they will adapt. They know they are all in the same boat now.. Anyone they'll offend outside of their planet is likely to kill them on the spot."
Roley was right. Until just a couple of months earlier, these people lived their lives at the top of the world. They were the most powerful people around, and if not them, their fathers or grandfathers were.. And that had made them justifiably proud.. But now, any twenty-year old kid would be able to surpass the power of any cultivator within Daniel's word of origin.
"Well, I have no problem with people rebelling.. Putting them back in their place won't be difficult. Just make sure that slavery becomes illegal, and that all of the slaves get freed." Responded Daniel with a hint of irritation.
He wanted to open his world to interplanetary travel, but in order to do that, he needed to fulfill an objective of which he knew nothing about. That objective was to upgrade his 'gift' to a point where he would be considered a chosen of Iewah's faction.
He had thought a lot about this for the past four months, and in the end, he had come to the conclusion about what he was most likely required to do.
Sewah had changed drastically only after Daniel had finished his first quest, and since that was the only major change he had seen in Sewah ever since he had obtained it, it was plausible that he would need to make him evolve again, or even a few more times, before he could be considered a chosen of Iewah's faction.
The only way he had to prove or disprove this theory, was by finishing one more of the quests that had stagnated in his system for the past 5-6 years.
A few of the active quests appeared to be repeatable and had no apparent ending, while some others, had a clear end. Amongst these, abolishing slavery in his world of origin was the one that appeared to be the easiest to complete.
"What about the other humanoid races?" Asked Daniel out of the blue.
"All of the tribes that we know about.. But one.. Followed our instructions. The asums refused at first.. But they won't be a problem anymore." Responded Roley with a slightly embarrassed tone.
"What happened to them?" Asked Daniel with curiosity.
"Well.. Jerigh had something to say about their society.. Long story short.. The asum race has one less tribe, and the the orphanages within the pocket dimension are full to the brim." Said Roley with exasperation.
During the past month, He, Heimart, Imblen, Alis, and Ligart had decided to go back to visit their families. Almost six years had passed since they had departed to participate in the Lost Inheritance Tournament, and it was time for them to go back. At the last moment, Jerigh had decided to join in.
After they had arrived to Cerulis, the port city where they had met each other, while they had split to go back to the respective territories of their families and groups, Jerigh had turned towards the direction of the empire on whose border his asum tribe was camped.
When he had reached his tribe, he had been recognized immediately. The Jer Krigh was an important individual in their culture. The cinder warrior.. An individual which had risen from the bottom of the society, and had earned the title of warrior.
Unfortunately, the Asum were too attached to their traditions.. And when they had been intimated to stop with their cruel ways, Jerigh had exterminated them completely. He had then taken the children that were being kept as slaves, and took them into the pocket dimension with him.
Roley and the rest had learned about this only when they had arrived to conquer the empire which had imprisoned Daniel for two and a half years. Within the territory which had a border in common with the empire, they had found only corpses.
Back in Daniel's office.
"Did you finish with the last continent?" Asked Daniel while moving his eyes away from the stacks of papers for the very first time since their conversation had started.
"Close. We are going through the last few islands.. Another week, and we are done." Responded Roley plainly.
"Good.. can you take care of these things for me? I want to break through the sixth stage before the planet opens for interplanetary travel.. We don't know who will arrive once it does.." Said Daniel with a hopeful tone. Honestly speaking, cultivating was as good of an excuse as any other. He would have done anything to get away from all of those piled up urgent matters.
Roley nodded in response, and before he could even say the word 'okay', Daniel had already disappeared.
Back in his room, Daniel quietly sat on his bed, and took a few thousand perfect crystals out of his spatial ring. He then placed them all around his body, and after closed his eyes, he focused on absorbing the pure mana of which they were formed of.
—–
Ten more days passed by without Daniel noticing. He had cultivated for the entire time, and now that the tenth day had ended, he was interrupted by a window that had randomly appeared in his mind.
____________________________
*Primary Quest Started: Freedom for All!*
-Description: Eradicate slavery from the world.
Reward: 500,000,000 Karma Points / Isolated Planet Reputation -40%
____________________________
Second evolution of the karmic system.
____________________________
Just like Daniel had expected, every evolution of the Karmic System would arrive after the completion of a main quest.. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to celebrate.. As right after finishing to read the message in the small window, a soul shaking migraine cleared his mind off of any form of rational thought.
"Oh yes.. It's time to eat.." Said a familiar voice from within Daniel's head.
