Sovereign of the Karmic System

Drester, Legion’s recruitment office. 15:24

It took Daniel and the rest a full hour and a half to finally find the legion’s recruitment office.

From the outside, the building didn’t seem special in any way. Its structure was simple, and yet there was a constant stream of people that entered and left it at all times.

"Look at how many people are going in.. The place must be packed. Why don’t we come back later?" Asked Ligart with a dissatisfied tone.

Except for Daniel, nobody else within the group was capable of feeling the feeble spatial essence that the building emanated.

"It’s just past lunch hour.. If it’s this packed now, then it’s only going to be worse in one or two more hours." Retorted his cousin Heimart. "We should just go in now and be done with it.."

"Don’t worry, it’s not as packed as it seems.." said Daniel in vague manner. He then walked towards the entrance of the building and went in.

The moment Daniel entered the building, his view changed completely, as he found himself being teleported into a pocket dimension. Its size was at least five times bigger than what the outside appearance of the building suggested.

Daniel and the rest were now in an enormous lobby, inside which hundreds of people stood in ordered lines, and patiently waited for their turn to approach the various counters.

There were also a few counters which had a shorter line, or no line at all. But no one dared to approach them, as they were respectively the counters to sign in for a mission, and the counter to report the completion of one.

All of the people within the lobby were cultivators of a relatively high level. Daniel could not see anyone beneath the fifth rank of cultivation.

The group of five walked towards one of the lines set for individual registration, and waited quietly.

During the two hours of wait, Daniel had managed to roughly understand the process of registration by observing the people that preceded him.

First of all was the bureaucratic registration, where one needed to provide all sorts of personal information. The second step, was to be tested into one of the many testing room located on the opposite side of the lobby. The third and final step, was to hand over the filled out registration form, along with the test result to a second counter, where after a quick control, one would receive their first mission.

After the completion of the mission, the person would become an official member of the Legion of Blood and Steel, and would receive his personal medallion along with the rights to accept missions, and use the legion’s discount in various shops within the empire.

It was finally Daniel’s turn to register. He stood right in front of the counter and waited for the bored looking old woman to speak to him.

The old woman behind the counter simply picked a sheet of paper from underneath her desk, and handed it over to him. "Fill this form. If you are mentally disabled and can’t understand it, ask me.. Or re evaluate your choice of joining a mercenary group." She said with a robotic, and almost emotionless tone.

Daniel looked down at the piece of paper, and read through it quickly. It was a regular registration form, similar to that he had had to fill in when registering for the Huntsmen Guild back in Karalis.

He was required to provide his full name, age, sex, birthplace, cultivation path and rank, past and current memberships to other groups, and a few other details.

He picked up the quill pen and quickly wrote all the required informations on it. He then gave the paper back to the old woman, which put a big red stamp on it, and pointed at the section of the building in which the tests were conducted.

Daniel took back the form and left the line. He then walked towards the doors that lead to the testing rooms.

There was no line for the testing rooms despite the large amount of cultivators that were registering that day.

Once Daniel went in, a middle aged man approached him and said "Your form.." before extending his hand.

After Daniel handed the for over to him, the man quickly read through it and led him into a testing room for spiritual cultivators.

Daniel had decided to register as a spiritual cultivator for two simple reasons. Firstly, he wasn’t sure if the tests would require him to enter in direct contact with another martial, and secondly, was the fact that the middle aged man that had helped him comprehend spatial essence, already knew him as a spiritual cultivator.

The testing room wasn’t a common square room. It looked more like a large corridor with multiple targets at the end of it.

While looking at the form, the examiner said "You’ve written in the form that you are adept in wind, water and lightning... Show me." Said the examiner while sitting on a chair placed to the side of the room.

Daniel didn’t want to show the full extent of his comprehension of the three elements, but he also didn’t want to miss out on some benefit because he didn’t show enough promise.

From a standing position, Daniel slowly lifted his arms in the air and started to force his spiritual essence out of his palms. In front of him, three elemental spheres were created out of nowhere, and positioned in a rectangle-like formation.

The one on top shined with white light, and released electricity in the surrounding air constantly. The one on Daniel’s left was a sphere of dark ice, around which a thin mist could be seen rotating slowly. The third and last sphere was a ball of rotating gasses, from which a faint sound of whistling could be heard.

These three floating spheres got closer and closer to each other, until they were no further than a few centimeters from each other. They then merged into a more powerful big ball that resembled a small icy planet, which was being constantly tempered by lightning bolts, rain, snow, and sharp winds.

Suddenly, this planet-like sphere seemed to lose its solid composition and, as a liquid projectile, it was sent towards the targets at the end of the corridor.

The attack was over in an instant. When the mist thinned and the lights stopped flashing, the examiner noticed what was left of the wall on the other side of the room.

The wall was completely covered by a thick layer of ice. On the ice surface, thousands of cuts could be seen, and behind it, large charred craters caused by the lightning strikes could be seen.

Daniel turned to look at the examiner, and found him standing with his mouth wide open. The small chart on which he was writing his thoughts was on the ground, and a quill pen dangled between the tips of his thumb and index.

What Daniel had shown was sixty percent of his comprehension of the elements, but instead of showing his proficiency with each element at a time, he mixed them and demonstrated his fighting ability.

Barely able to regain his wits, the examiner picked up his papers and wrote something, and put a stamp on them.

"T-take this, and show it to the lady behind the counter reserved for missions assignment." Said the examiner while handing a paper over to Daniel. On it were written a few comments and an evaluation of his talent.

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Applicant’s age: 15

Aptitude level: SSS

Comment: The applicant showed great talent by learning three different types of essence, amongst which Lightning, Wind, and Water. It is this examiner’s opinion that, had the applicant spent his time by comprehending a singular essence instead of three, given the appropriate resources, he would have reached a nigh perfect comprehension of either of the three aforementioned.

Proficiency level: S (Lightning essence); S (Water Essence); S (Wind Essence)

Comment: Taking age, cultivation rank, variety, and comprehension of the three essences learned into consideration, it is this examiner’s opinion that the applicant possess prodigy level proficiency in comprehension, aptitude, and control over Water, Wind and Lightning essence.

Control level: SSS

Comment: The applicant showed an impressive level of control during the demonstration. Instead of making a separated demonstration for each essence, he produced all three at the same time, mixed them, and proceeded with the attack. The mixed essences were stable, and the power input was indistinguishable between the three.

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Satisfied by his evaluation, Daniel left the testing room and went towards the counter indicated by the examiner.

When Daniel left the testing room he noticed that, of his group, only the blond young man was left in line. It was his turn, but instead of filling his form, he looked at it quietly. As if suddenly remembering something important, Daniel teleported next to him and helped him fill the form.

Unable to think of a name to put in the form, Daniel created a nickname by mixing the two parts of his title, turning ’Jer Krigh’ into ’Jerigh’.

Once finished filling Jerigh’s form, they waited for another one of their group to come out of the testing room.

They didn’t have to wait long before Alis exited the testing room, and approached them. But before she could talk, Daniel said to her "How was your test conducted?"

Slightly confused by the sudden question, she said ".. I’ve entered a training room and sparred with the examiner. He then told me to hand over both my evaluation and my details to that counter, and receive my first mission."

Daniel turned towards Jerigh, and said in the asum language "Go into one of those rooms... Someone will approach you right after, and ask you to hand your papers over. After he’ll be finished verifying the details of your papers, that person will want to spar with him. When you are done sparring, he will hand your papers back to you, along with your evaluation.. Once you have both of them in your hands, leave the room and come back here." He was about to turn around and finish his registration, when he added "No matter what.. Don’t talk. It’s better you pass for a quiet weirdo that risk being considered a spy of the asums.."

"It’s never going to work.." muttered Alis as she stood next to Daniel, and looked at Jerigh walk towards the training rooms.

The two then turned towards the counter and went to finish their registration.

The line in front of the second counter wasn’t long. Only members who were looking for a new mission were allowed to wait there, so most of the people in line were those who, like Daniel and Alis, wanted to receive their first mission.

After waiting in line for ten minutes, it was finally Daniel’s turn.

The lady behind the counter looked at back at him with a bright smile and said "Member or Applicant?"

"Applicant." Responded Daniel calmly.

"Your papers, please." Said the lady with a slightly cheerful tone.

Daniel handed over his papers to the lady, which after reading through them for a minute or two, showed a shocked expression.

She then looked back at Daniel, and said "Before assigning a mission to you, I need to know if you want a mission that can be completed in solitary, or prefer a group mission."

"I would prefer a group mission." Responded Daniel immediately.

The mood of the lady seemed to suddenly improve. She then said "Splendid, there are many many groups that are currently looking for members. Let me list the recommended ones."

Just as the lady was about to get up and go fetch the details regarding the best groups within the legion, Daniel said "That won’t be necessary. I’ll be creating my own group... Can you help me with that?"

Visibly losing half of her cheerfulness, the lady smiled at him and said "Of course."

The reason for the changes in the lady’s state of mind was simple. She had understood Daniel’s promise by the evaluation she had been given, and in case she managed to convince a prodigy like him to join a pre-existent recommended group, she would be praised by her superiors.

The recommended groups were nothing more than groups to which safer and closer missions were given. These groups were easier to control, and that would increase the chances that their talented members would not abandon the legion at some point in the future.

The lady looked at Daniel with slight disappointment, and handed a new form over to him. She then said "Fill this with the group’s name, starting members names, ages and cultivation ranks."

Inside Daniel’s mind, a never before seen window had suddenly appeared.

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Group of the Karmic System’s Wielder.

Name: Group of the Karmic System’s Wielder (Provisory)

Number of members (Details):

Overall Karma:

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Shared Karmic effects (Details)

Reputation (Details)

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