Sovereign of the Karmic System

"Oh yes.. It’s time to eat.." Said a familiar voice from within Daniel’s head.

*AAAAARGH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!*

Daniel was lying down on the ground. He was curled up in a ball, and screaming to the top of his lungs while holding his head in his hands. He could feel his sanity seep away due to a pain which was so strong, that it had turned his mind fuzzy, and made focusing impossible to him.

The sound of his screams resounded through the entire castle, waking everybody up, and making them dash towards his room to the top of their speed.

"DAN!" Shouted Edmund, which was the first one to teleport in front of his room. *BOOM BOOM BOOM* He punched the door of Daniel’s room repeatedly, but aside from more and more screams, he received no response.

Der and Jerigh, which had appeared right after, and were the only ones with the power to smash a door open inside Daniel’s castle, took a step back, then at the same time.. *SPRAAAAAAAAH* The handle of the door was broken into pieces, and the large slab of wood which separated them from Daniel, was smashed open.

The moment the door was opened, the full power of Daniel’s voice exploded through the entire castle and pocket dimension, forcing everyone who heard it, to cover their ears in an attempt to avoid any sort of damage.

From the moment the migraine started until when Der, Jerigh, and Edmund, had opened Daniel’s door, only a handful of seconds had passed. What the three saw when the door was smashed open, was Daniel’s body curled up in a fetal position while holding his head in between his hands.

Around Daniel’s head, they could see some sort of odd grey blur. It covered it completely, and waved around his head while emitting a constant crunching noise, which was difficult to hear during Daniel’s screaming.

*AAAAAAAAAARGH* *HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!*

The pain was unbearable, and no matter how much he screamed, it didn’t seem to go away. It got to a point where, left without choice, he tried to cause another source of pain in order to distract himself from the painful crunching that was going on in his head.

His fingers pressed harder against his head, making the skin of his scalp and fingertips turn white from the lack of blood. His nails were digging in deeper and deeper, until they cut through the skin, and made their way through the flesh that protected his cranium.

Der, Jerigh and Edmund did not know what to do. They rushed towards him, and tried to see what the problem was, but no matter which of them, the more they approached, the worse they felt. Daniel’s deafening screams had become a powerful sonic attacks from which they were unable to protect themselves from, unless they used all of their power.

But they soon decided against that, as if Daniel suddenly stopped, they would risk injuring him.

The next minute went on painfully for Daniel, and painfully for his friends, which had now regrouped in front of him.. Completely unable to meddle with what was happening.

Reila and Alesia were scared beyond words, and Thien, which would usually stay in his room to train in the dark, was looking at the most powerful of Daniel’s friends with doubt.

Unfortunately, none of them knew what was happening.

After this long and torturous minute, the screaming finally stopped.. Finally revealing the crunching sound which, now, was becoming softer as well.

After Daniel stopped screaming, he quietly stood up, and looked at his own body. He touched his arms and legs.. Tried to walk around the room, and touch the soft looking carpet he was standing on. On his face, was a childish and happy expression.

"Dan?.." Said Alesia with caution. "Are you okay?"

After hearing Alesia’s words, Daniel turned slowly towards his friends, and with a disgusting looking smile, he said "Never been better." His eyes were now shining with a golden hue, and looked like two big pieces of golden ore which had just been pulled out of the dirt.

Something was different in Daniel’s eyes, and the first to notice this, was Jerigh, which unsheathed his sword and attacked him with the fastest speed he could muster.

Daniel reacted quickly, and without holding back in the least, he used his superior power to increase the graviting around Jerigh to a level which he could not withstand.

Now on his knees, Jerigh looked at Daniel with doubt.. His eyes opened wide in shock after hearing the words that came from the latter’s mouth. "Why is someone beneath me attacking me?" Said Daniel in the asum tongue.

A flash of realization made its way in the minds of Imblen and Jerigh, which were the only two that had understood Daniel’s words. The person that was in front of them, wasn’t Daniel.

Despite not being able to understand the asum tongue, Alesia noticed that something was different. She tried to approach Daniel, but before she could speak, Imblen grabbed her arm, and prevented her from moving forward.

Slightly confused by her action, Alesia turned to look at Imblen, but before the two could talk, Jerigh said in the common tongue "Forgive me." Only then the gravity around him lessened, and he was allowed to stand up again.

"It better not happen again." Said Daniel with a threatening tone, while looking at the ring in hand.

Out of the blue, a big empty bottle which had no particular purpose appeared in front of him, then immediately fell on the ground, and shattered in a thousand pieces.

Der and Edmund looked at Daniel, and felt something very odd in his behaviour. To them, it appeared as if they were watching a kid play with their spiritual essence for the very first time. Way too much power had been used to take the item out, and he had no control over where to make the item appear.

"Hahaha! Look at this!" Said Daniel after laughing hysterically at the most simple, and basic action which any practitioner would learn at the beginning of their path of cultivation.

Reila and Alesia were now anxious, and wanted to say something, but they stopped after they saw Jerigh’s face, which was extremely serious, even when compared to the one he showed during the majority of the day.

As they noticed Jerigh’s expression, the two remained quiet.

Suddenly, thousands and thousands of perfect crystals appeared around Daniel, forming a small mountain near his feet. "Leave now, I’ll cultivate for a bit.. Keep going what you’ve been doing so far, and bring me more of these things.." Ordered Daniel to his closest friends, as if he was giving orders to a bunch of inferior people.

At this point, the group walked out of the room with alert expressions on their faces. Jerigh sent a sideway look at the individual which he couldn’t recognize, then left with the others.

"Brothers.. Wait for me.." Said Daniel a malicious smile formed on his lips.

-----

The day had arrived.

After Daniel’s system had evolved to the second level, he had officially become a Chosen of Iewah’s faction. This event had been felt by the officer of the universal government which had been in charge of keeping an eye on Daniel’s world of origin, which had quickly reported it to their higher ups.

Daniel’s world of origin had officially become part of Iewah’s faction, and the planet had been removed from the list of the nearly infinite list of isolated world.

While the majority of the universe wouldn’t have cared about an isolated world becoming part of one of the many factions, the same wasn’t for Iewah’s. Whenever Iewah’s faction managed to add a planet to their territory, the eyes of the entire universe would turn to look at the show.

The reason for that was simple.. The Chosen of Iewah were monstrous entities, and those who survived to reach a certain level, were considered monsters which no one but the strongest members of the other factions could compare to.

What was interesting about the this particular type of entity, was that the number of Chosen of Iewah would never increase too much, as the moment they appeared, they would start waging war amongst each other.

The war amongst The Sword Wielder and The Tamer’s army, had become one of the most well known and bloody wars in the history of the universe, and while neither of them had died during that war, the fallout of their fight had extended through the entire known universe for many years.

Now, a new chosen of Iewah had appeared, and while everyone knew that it would take a lot for him or her to develop to a point where it could compete against the others, they couldn’t help but find the event interesting.. After all, a wolf cub was still a wolf.

The faction that was affected the most by the appearance of the new world in the territory of Iewah’s faction, was the faction itself. From many close-by solar systems, hundreds of thousands of massive ships had departed in a matter of hours since the planet was opened to interplanetary travel.

These ships contained millions of merchants that would do anything to put their hands on the resources which an isolated world contained. Their travel would last only a few months, and the moment they would arrive, the planet would become a battleground for greedy merchants, and entrepreneurs.

Something that was unknown to Daniel, was that more often than not, when a planet became part of the territory of Iewah’s faction, the powerful cultivators that would pour into the planet would, in one way or another, take the place of the natives.

Starting feuds, purchasing land, assassination, secret deals.. No matter what was necessary, the weak natives of the planet would lose it at one point or another, and this new wave of strong people would take their place as the new inhabitants of this world.

That, was the human way. They would enter a rich and fertile new ground with good intentions and smiles, but after staying for a bit, they would get too comfortable.. And start wondering why the strongest should allow the weakest to keep the majority of the wealth. They were stronger, and they should be able to take everything they wanted from the weak, whenever they wanted.

Of course, this process would play out in a matter of years, but there were hardly any exceptions. The only planets which weren’t subjected to this treatment, were those in which the chosen decided to plant their roots, marking it into his, or her territory.

Once theirs, no one within their faction would dare to put a foot in it without their permission, after all, the Chosens of Iewah, the Vassals of the Parasitic King, the Envoys of the Spiritual Emperor, the Heralds of the Sovereign of Corruption, the Mental Warriors of the Psionic Dimensions, and the similar entities within the other factions, were special entities within their groups. They were treated with respect, and aside from their strongest peers and leaders, they were uncontested rulers.

Each of them had followed the path dictated by their faction, and evolved into true followers of their lords.

-----

Right after the barrier erected by the universal government was removed, a powerful member of Iewah’s faction had quickly appeared in the orbit of the planet. He was the person who had been ordered to act as the keeper of key of this world, and would stay there indefinitely, or until relieved of this task.

When this man appeared, he immediately noticed the presence of the prisoner, which was, just like he had done for the past month and a half, waiting that someone from Iewah’s faction could detain him.

"Outcast.. Why are you here?" Asked a disembodied voice to a calm and relaxed prisoner, which looked attentively at a specific point of Daniel’s planet of origin.

"I was here to be detained for my actions.. But now I want to see how this plays out.." Responded the prisoner before disappearing from the keeper’s sight.

In the exact spot where the prisoner was looking, was a patch of green forest. Hidden amongst the many trees which formed it, was the massive capital of Karalis, inside which, in one of the castle’s rooms, a young man sat at a table while peacefully eating his breakfast. On this man’s hand was a ring, and inside this ring, was a pocket dimension which contained a semi-perfect world, a city, and a castle.

Inside the biggest room of this castle, a familiar young man quietly cultivated.. And buried in the deepest corners of his mind, was a small cubic space formed of some sort of green power. Inside it, was a small grey cloud.