66 Its Only Spatial Essence (1/2)

Daniel's wisp of consciousness was now standing in the middle of an empty space.

He had just started to examine one of the many rings and jewels that the middle aged man was displaying, and yet he had already been greatly surprised.

What surprised him wasn't the immense space inside it, as all the spatial containers that Daniel had seen contained a relatively large space already. What surprised Daniel about the ring he was currently in, was how different the space in it felt from other spatial containers.

The space was hundreds of times more stable than that of any other ring he had found. It didn't feel like a large and feeble box adrift in space. Instead, it felt like a stable different dimension.

Simply by standing inside the ring, Daniel was convinced that he would be able to reach a faint comprehension of spatial essence if he wanted.

He quickly withdrew his ki and found himself back in front of the middle aged man.

”So, what do you say?” Asked the man, with a grin still present on his face.

Daniel looked at the middle aged man with a surprised expression and asked ”These aren't spatial containers..”

”They are not. They are called pocket dimensions and you can store anything inside it.. Even people. Of course, you'd need to create an appropriate atmosphere so that anything can survive inside..” Responded the middle aged man.

That wasn't the first pocket dimension Daniel had seen. In fact, he had been carrying one for a very long while.

The difference between these rings and the greenhouse ring that the old alchemist had given to him, was that space wasn't a major component of the latter. It could still house people within, but the space was much more unstable, and barely adequate for plants to grow in.

At the moment, Daniel couldn't figure out what the middle aged man's motives could be.

He had checked the man's karma more than once, but unfortunately, that hadn't been as helpful as it had always been in the past.

Since when Daniel had met the blond young man, he had learned something very important about his karmic system's ability to read other people's karma.

That something was that he shouldn't judge someone solely based on their karma points. What he should judge instead, should be the circumstances and actions of a person.

What karma indicated was simply a person's disposition to pick the wrong path, but even that could be forged. For example, a good person could be forced to do something evil, or a bad person could do good things for the sake of appearance.

Daniel felt very lucky for having met with one of those cases amongst people with bad karma and not the other way around. Had he found a bad person who had taken the habit of doing good things for the sole purpose of keeping up the appearances, he might have been cheated by now.. or worse.

Of course, the system was not perfect. There was also another bane to Daniel's unique ability.. And that was people with relatively neutral karma.

Daniel used to speculate that these people were simply shut ins who focused on their cultivation and training. Therefore, he was never able to make out their intentions solely by looking at their karma.

The middle aged man, unfortunately, was one of those people. Above his head a red number 10 floated steadily.

”What do you want?” Inquired Daniel in a doubtful tone.

With curiosity in his eyes, the middle aged man looked back at Daniel and said ”Nothing.”

”Okay.. What do you want me to do then.” Asked Daniel, sure that there was more hidden behind the man's simple response.

The middle aged man grinned at him and said ”I am looking for a disciple. If you will be able to obtain a high enough comprehension of spatial essence, I'll take you with me to a gathering, and give you a ring as a reward.”

”What sort of gathering?” Asked Daniel with undeniable interest.

Unable to hide the smile behind his dirty look, the middle aged man responded ”A gathering of experts, of course.”

Daniel looked back at the rest of his group and said ”What do you guy think?”

The first one to respond was Roley, the only other spiritual cultivator in the group ”What is there to think? Do you know how rare it is to find a teacher for spatial essence??” his tone was agitated, as if worried that Daniel would refuse.

Daniel's eyes moved on the others.

”It sounds shady.. But if he is telling the truth, then it might be worth it.. Any of these spatial rings could store the.. You know..” Said Heimart with a matter-of-fact tone.

The blond young man was currently looking around, clearly uncomfortable with the strange looks the people in the crowd were sending him, and yet fascinated by the liveliness of the big human city.

”I need critical thinking..” muttered Daniel impatiently.

”Nobody showed discontent at him for placing his stall right in the middle of the square.. That indicates that he is a known figure. He also didn't approach you secretly, and made his offer out in the open instead..” Said Alis before taking a slight pause. She then continued ”..finally, it is not uncommon for such an occurrence to happen with spiritual cultivators of that age. They spend all of their time studying and researching essences, and the only reason they are able to do that, is because they are funded. Let's say he is being funded by the empire.. He would need to prove that he isn't a dead investment by showing himself at the various official events along with a capable disciple.”

After a good half minute, Daniel turned back towards the middle aged man and said ”If I accept, will I become part of the empire's return of investment?..”

”Of course not. I made sure with the empire that whomever i will teach spatial essence to, will have the right to decide if or when to become part of the empire. As long as you don't decide to become part of the Krehan empire, you will be free to do whatever you want..” Responded the middle aged man.