The old man was the only one who could feel the changes, as the formation had been created with him as the controller. He knew that if he wanted, he could move the planet, make it disappear, or even teleport it away. Naturally, he wouldn't do that unless there was an actual moment of crysis, after all, the flora of the planet required the planet to keep his usual cycle to survive.
Nevertheless, the old man was extremely grateful to Daniel, who had no motivation to do this, but had done it either way. "I.. I don't know what to say." He said while in a clearly emotional state.
Daniel had no intention of staying any longer, so before the old man could start anything, he waved his hand in a dismissive way, and said "There is no need to say anything. Just open the portal, so that we can be on our way."
THe old man was slightly disappointed, but he wasn't going to go back on his words. So he took out a small ring in the shape of two entwined twigs, and pointed at the empty space with the finger on which he was wearing it on.
Moments later, a brilliant seed appeared right in front of his fingertip. Its shine was so powerful, that it was impossible to observe its feature, and instead, looked like a minuscule while star that emanated a natural and bright light.
Immediately after it appeared, the surface of this seed split into two, and from the crack, thousands of hair thin sprouts came out in all directions. These sprouts quickly grew in size until they became a three meters tall disk of entwined lianas. When this portal opened, instead of acknowledging its oddity, Daniel walked through it without looking back.
As soon as his body touched the portal, the lianas began to squirm over his skin, allowing him through. Immediately after his body disappeared, Xargy's massive wings began to flap in quick succession, allowing him to soar in the sky, and fly directly towards the comparatively small portal. Just before crashing against it, his body turned into that of a human-sized person, and followed Daniel in while nodding at the old man in salutation.
After Xargy, the planet that could be seen clearly in the light blue sky began to come down on Naturae. However, just as it looked like it would crash against it, before it could enter its atmosphere, Daniel's planet shrunk to the size of a fist, and flew directly through the middle of the portal.
Only Aeron was still on Naturae, and instead of following Daniel and Xargy, he was looking at the old man. He could read his mind, and knew exactly what kind of questions were filling it. So, before following Daniel, he used his telepathy to tell him, "He left it in case you are in a desperate situation.. If you can't hide or escape, evacuate through the portal and you'll reach us."
"He is an extremely.. Peculiar individual, your friend.." Said the old man out loud, causing for the minds of his companions to be invaded by a fair amount of confusion.
"Forgive his behaviour. It has been a very long time since he was able to be at peace. The worry for your people is a terrible burden, you might agree." Responded Aeron through his mind. He then turned to look at the portal, and walked through it without turning back, leaving the old man with two last words "So long."
On the other side of the portal, Aeron saw Daniel and Xargy float just outside of the atmosphere of the planet where the core spatial formation had been installed. In front of them, were at least a thousand soldiers in formation, and at the head of it, was a person who appeared to be a higher ranking officer.
"We have detected suspicious activity. You are not allowed passage through the territory of the universal government." Said the man who was floating just a few meters in front of the formation.
From the power which they emanated, it was clear to Daniel that all of these people were above the fiftieth phase of high immortality. What was odd, however, was the fact that their stage of cultivation was exactly the same, almost as if their talent had been identical, and they cultivated all at the same time.
That was one of the side effects of the soldier gift. Once part of a larger group with the same gift, the soldiers would merge their overall talent in cultivation, and divide it based on the number of people that was part of the group. That was how so many people could be at the exact same level of cultivation at the same time.
"You are not going to make things easy for us, are you?.. Why." asked Daniel with an almost demanding tone.
The man clad in better looking armor turned to look at him from in between the slits of his helmet, and said, "The dragon and the mental warrior are welcome to proceed, but you have yet to pass your first fifty years as an outcast. You have no proof of being a valuable addition to the universal government. Those are the rules."
"You know I could snap you all out of existence right now.. Do you?" Asked Daniel with a threatening tone.
This threat, however, had absolutely no effect for this group of warriors. After all, the higher ranking officer was one of the wielders of the general gift, and a general could never be intimidated in front of his men. Similarly, a soldier would never feel fear as long as they were in the presence of their general.
Nevertheless, while Daniel's intimidatory ways could not work, the higher ranking officer and the rest of his men were perfectly aware that Daniel was saying the truth. If Daniel truly wanted to pass, they would never be able to stop him. So, before a fight could break out, the high ranking officer said with a low tone, "Judge."
Immediately after, a bald old man in judge clothes and golden eyeglasses appeared right in between the two.
"Judge, an outcast has tried to enter the government's territory before the end of his first fifty years as an outcast. We are unable to restrain him." Said the high ranking officer with respect.
"I can see that." Responded the judge before turning to look at Daniel, and saying with a lazy tone, "If it isn't Dan Hiel. The one and only outcast of Iewah's faction. Unaware of the rules it seems."
After listening to the Judge's words, Daniel smiled, and said, "I am just waiting to hear what the way around this rule is.. Before the situation escalates." His tone was peaceful, and yet, there was an underlying promise of violence hidden within his words.
The Judge's reaction to Daniel's words was an amused one. He scoffed at him, and responded by saying, "Children of Iewah.. Always ready for a battle, but you usually know better than to bite off more than you can chew. I will just put an end to you.. One less problem for the government." As soon as he finished speaking, the judge waved his hand, and caused for Daniel's body to explode into a mist of microscopic particles.
After killing Daniel, the judge turned to look at Aeron and Xargy, and waited to see whether the two of them had something to say about what he had just done, but in their face, he was complete calmness.
"Uncalled for." Said a disembodied voice as a barely noticeable amount of particles moved back into a single liquid blob, which soon after, took the form of a naked Daniel. His tone was an annoyed one, but nothing in his expression relied the intent of escalating things.
"Of course. I forgot that all of you little monsters have a little switch to save your skin once. I hope this will put you out for good." Said the Judge before waving his hand one more time.
Once again, Daniel's body burst out into an invisible mist.
The judge turned to look at the high ranking officer, and said, "If there is nothing else, I'll be-" However, he was interrupted one more time by Daniel's impressive power, which once again, had reformed behind him, and was shining against his senses like a human sized star.
"I am starting to like you judges less and less. I prefer you when you play in my favor." Said Daniel while adjusting his jaw, and putting some pants on.
This time, the judge was extremely surprised. He knew of what kind of feat killing a grown Children of Iewah was for any other cultivator of any of the other factions, but Daniel had yet to reach thirty years of age, and his power was already astounding. The smile that was on his expression made it clear that, no matter how many times he tried, Daniel would always come back to life. So, instead of keeping on that path, he said, "Alright, squashing the flea doesn't work.. How about killing its friends?"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Said Daniel with a serious tone.
"And why is that? I might not be able to kill you, but I can definitely kill them if you don't leave." Said the Judge threateningly.
Unfortunately for him, Daniel was not willing to back out, so he said, "You may.. But I would still be around. Still impossible to kill, and with a reason to go at the Universal government. Tens of thousands of years in torment.. Directly from Iewah's faction's one and only outcast. Is it truly worth it for that little rule?"
The judge's interest had clearly been picked. He knew he would be unable to kill Daniel, and if he did anything more to anger him, he would simply create another dangerous enemy for the Government, so, instead of refusing, he burst out laughing. Only after a few long seconds, did he stop, and said, "I guess that having you roam the government makes it easier to keep an eye on you.. At least until I find a way to kill you once and for all."
"Splendid." Said Daniel while showing a bright smile. He then turned to look at the platoon that was currently floatin in wait, and added, "Your decision already saved a bunch of lives."
"Behave." Said the judge before narrowing his eyes at Daniel, and adding, "There are a lot of painful ways to kill someone that I have yet to try on you."
Once again, Daniel smiled brightly, and while raising his hands above his shoulders in surrender, said, "We just want to be on our way."
Just as Daniel finished speaking, the Judge disappeared from where he was standing, to never be seen again. The high ranking officer immediately caught on with what was happening, and instead of trying to start anything with Daniel, simply turned to look at his men, and said, "We are retreating."
They then floated in formation into a massive double gates that appeared in space from out of nowhere.
"There is always a problem.." muttered Daniel before taking out his small planet, and tossing it into the empty space in front of him. The moment the rock left Daniel's hand, it started to grow in size, only stopping after reaching the size of a massive building. Daniel, Aeron and Xargy landed on the surface of this massive boulder, which from out of nowhere, shot in the distance at a mind boggling speed.
Hidden inside a bubble of darkness just a few hundred kilometers away from where Daniel's planet had departed, were more than thirty individuals dressed in the classical judge attire. Each of them was a member of the judges of the universal government, and all of them were focused on what had just happened.
"Did you see that object? Is it me, or was it filled with his immortal essence"
"The speed that thing can travel at, is beyond anything that has been built so far."
"You guys are thinking about the small things." Said one of the judges, which was now standing right next to the judge that Daniel had met. He turned to look at him with worry, then asked, "Did you learn anything about his gift?"
The judge that had just spoken to Daniel became extremely pensive, and after a few minutes, he finally broke his silence by saying, "For some odd reason, it felt like his body automatically formed healing essence of the purest form to immediately heal his body.. I don't think it's a one time thing either, I believe it's permanent. Also, his power felt odd.. More.. refined."
"Very well.. We will add these pieces of information to his file."
