Sovereign of the Karmic System-Chapter 683: Treasure of Time

Many philosophers throughout the years had come to similar conclusions regarding the nature of cultivation. It was a dangerous and uncharted path in a forest where the trees, leaves and animals all represented a different kind of danger. A promise of uncountable future conflicts that would ultimately bring those who followed it to a violent, untimely death.

But that was not the case for Daniel, for his encounters with danger far preceded his first step in the path of cultivation.

Being pressed under the unbearable weight of a debt that could never be repaid.. being the target of envy of cultivators who, if allowed to, would have carved secrets he did not even know he had out of his bones. His dance with death had begun since he could remember, and nothing had changed when he had become an aspect of existence- His forest had just gotten bigger.

Keep walking. Follow the trail and don’t look back. If you stop, you are dead.

The mantra of survival. One that Daniel had gotten familiar with without being a bookworm, or paying attention to cowardly mortals who only dipped their toes into cultivation to extend their lifespan by a few decades. What these ’experts’ would always fail to mention, was how to truly survive. That, Daniel was an expert of.. and in all his experiences he had come to a simple conclusion. A notion many would laugh at, and only the most tenacious cultivators would understand.

Burn your way through the forest.

That was the path he had chosen when he had decided which path would grant him survival in his biggest struggle yet. He didn’t want peace with the aspects of existence, for they would never offer any, and if he couldn’t live by ignoring them, he would kill all that wished him harm. Even if that meant creating an entity that far surpassed him in power. That entity was Roley.

In his old friend Daniel could feel a potential that far outweighed the nature of primordial aspects of existence. He felt a chance to give life to true omnipotence. Even he could hardly wrap his head around how powerful an entity in full control of all elements of nature could be, and now, finding out was only a step away. All he needed was a primordial treasure of time.

Unfortunately, just like every other elemental treasure, the formation of a time treasure required a condensed amount of power and understanding to form. And while the concepts of mana which formed the essence of time were not as complicated as those of space, its mysterious nature more than compensated for the difference. After all, to learn about time one didn’t need to look where, but when.

When would the essence of time condense into a treasure of primordial mana A singularity that saw the presence of both the forward and backwards motions of time. There was only one moment when that could have happened. When time itself had been created.

Or at least, that is what most researchers had believed.

In truth, there were creatures across the universe capable of witnessing, and even causing changes in time that no one had ever managed to perform. Be that by rewinding time by a few seconds to preserve their lives, or by being able to look through the very fabric of space and time.

Some creature of existence could. Like the champions of Destiny, Fate.. and Karma.

In his existential power Daniel could see the possibility to reach into the past and the future. After all, that was what the number over people’s heads had been-A look into the past. A record that didn’t begin when he had received Iewah’s gift, but that had always been there, translated for him to understand by the karmic system.

Yet, such a glimpse at a concept of time was far from enough to create a treasure of primordial time. He needed something that had always existed. Something that had witnessed the start of all things. Something primordial in nature, and that was used to look through the barriers of mana. In his mind, only an object fit that description.

That object was the tapestry of fate. Record of all that happened and that will happen in the future, owned and cared for by Fate himself.. And he was going to steal it.

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"That.. that is madness. You are insane!" Roley said, eyes of pure light and darkness trembling in shock. "You want to go into the lion’s den and steal its cub!!"

Der’s arms crossed, head shaking from side to side. "I agree. You are going to get us killed."

"I see no other choice." Daniel responded, a mischievous smile creeping on his lips. His hand rose, finger outstretched in Roley’s direction. "You are a step away from becoming an aspect of existence, and now Fate’s followers know it. He won’t let you wander around freely, ready to stumble into an opportunity that will turn you into a far worse threat than I could ever be."

"And you." Daniel continued, now pointing his finger at the fully armored warrior. "Your ascension has proven that cultivators have the potential of surpassing aspects of existence, proving that they possess something you will be envied for by every member of their kind."

Der scoffed. "That being" He asked.

"The potential for infinite growth." Daniel responded, matter-of-factly.

He too had felt this, for the first time since becoming an aspect of existence. Inferiority and envy. A sense of inferiority towards beings of absolute power, and envy towards those born on a higher position than one’s own-It was common, since aspects of existence couldn’t grow, forever bound to the limits of their existential power. But Daniel was different. He had a body, and in it he could store an infinite amount of karmic power.

There was no inferiority towards more powerful aspects of existence, nor envy, because his limitations were less burdensome than all the others.

That changed when Der ascended, breaking through what had always been the end of the road for the path of cultivation.. the final phases of the godhood stage.

Cultivators have no barriers? He had asked himself more than once. More and more envious every time he answered the question. Now, he was only one step away from admitting that one of the reasons why he wished Roley to ascend, and become a member of his kind, was because he wanted to prove that nothing was above it.

"B-But I.. I am not even sure I want to-" Roley muttered to himself, eyes glued to Daniel’s facial expression in an attempt to catch on to how he would react to his words.

Before he could finish, however, Daniel interrupted him. "I thought you had a promise to keep."

Aeron, who had been standing quietly to the side, felt a change in Roley’s mind. Pictures, words and sounds triggered by Daniel’s words. They depicted him as a spiritual cultivator, proficient in few types of mana, swearing to protect the cursed existence of the elementals in exchange for the power he now wielded.

"Think it through, scholar." Aeron said, voice resounding across space. "Will you even care about such promises, were you to follow in his steps"

"I.. I think so." Roley responded, uncertain.

Daniel looked on from the side, hand tightened into a fist, drained from blood. "An aspect of existence has no affection for those who used to follow him, but that doesn’t mean that they will not take responsibility for them."

Aeron slowly turned in his direction. Eyes gleaming with a green light. "Is that so Care to share how far down into your priority list has ’making sure your family is safe’ fallen to? Because the man I knew broke into the spiritual plane to find his wife’s soul, and bargained with Death itself to take back her consciousness from the underworld. All for a single mortal."

Daniel’s emotions stirred. Loose threads wiggling into his subconscious like worms into wet soil, trying to connect his spirit and memories back together. Anger caused his nail to break skin and draw blood, teeth clenched until his jaw hurt. Saliva spattered outwards as he barked out, "And until I have ascended, I never stopped regretting not having the power to stop that from happening to begin with!"

’Here is my chance.’ Aeron thought.

A sudden wave of mental power struck Daniel’s mind like the first moment of a cold shower. It seeped into his skin, through his skull, and into the whirlpool of mental power that protected his mind. It found no resistance as it breached through all of Daniel’s defenses, wrapping itself around the severed threads Aeron alone could see.

"YOU DARE!" Suddenly, an infinite golden light burst through Daniel’s skin, turning him into a torch of pure gold. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" Daniel yelled as his arm snapped forward, instantly grabbing Aeron’s neck.

Roley rushed forward, hands wrapped around Daniel’s arm. "Hey, cut that out! What is wrong with you"

Der’s hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword, pure white immortal essence gathering by its hidden edge. "Put him down.." He chimed in, ready to strike.

But, Alas, they had underestimated Daniel. He was not one for forgiveness anymore, and an ultimatum, for someone of his kind, was final. "I told you what would happen if you tried to manipulate my mind!" Daniel growled as-*SNAP* Aeron’s body turned limp, neck broken.

The blood in Roley’s and Der’s body froze for a moment. They could not believe what they had seen. How decisively had their old friend killed one of his most trusted allies. Someone he had traveled with, shared hardships and battles with.. then the frost started to melt. Anger began to boil in their chest, fogging their minds.

Dozens of beads of infinite mana formed around Roley, while the crack of white thunder created ripples in response to Der unsheathing his sword. But then, they both stopped.

A wave of calming mental power overpowered this anger they shared, bringing them back to reason.

"I had to try it, at least once." Aeron’s disembodied voice said as a faint green silhouette formed in between the two. "I am sorry."

"I don’t care for your apology mortal." Daniel growled from behind the mirror of golden existential power. "I will take your life instead." As he finished speaking, a golden fist pierced forward, leaving only shattered space in its wake. A universe-ending blow, is how one could have described it.. but his target was no simple layer of stale, old spatial essence.

A bead of mana slammed against the side of Daniel’s arm, bending it at the elbow and turning the straight apocalyptic punch into a right hook that failed to reach its mark. At the same time, Der’s heavy foot came crashing down against the back of Daniel’s left knee, causing him to lose his balance and fall to one knee. When the second bead struck his shoulder, Daniel fell backwards, landing on his back.

As the golden figure’s back came in contact with the ground, two rows of bronze spikes emerged from all around him, growing from the ground and caging him into a prison of crossed swords. The earth trembled as a deep growl emerged from all around him.

Through Wolfe’s sword-like teeth, Daniel saw Aeron’s figure. He had approached the cage with his usual superficial indifference. One that even he could not match. "I wasn’t apologizing to you." He calmly said. "But you can calm down now, I have gotten what I wanted."

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Wolfe’s teeth slowly retracted, sinking back into the ground. He was still there, quiet, waiting to intervene if need be.

Daniel stood up, still furious about the invasion of Aeron’s mental power. ’I had been too kind to these mortals.’ He thought as the suffering champions of Horror’s and Sacrifice’s domain stored inside his body began to pop, fueling him with immense amounts of karmic power. ’They don’t understand. They have no idea of the power I wield. How easy it would be for me to erase them. It is time that I show-’

The murderous train of thoughts came to a sudden halt when his eyes met Roley’s.

They showed a deep fear of him, as usual, but that was not all. In the two spheres of white and black he saw a sprout of worry. It was clear that the decision Roley had yet to make, whether to become an aspect of existence or not, had tilted in the wrong direction.

That, he could not allow.

The golden light of which Daniel’s body was covered slowly started to dim down, allowing others to once again see his appearance. Hands casually slapping at his pants to clean them of dirt. He then turned around and left, leaving Der, Aeron, Roley and Wolfe alone.

Once alone, Der sheathed his sword and turned towards Aeron in irritation. "Why did you antagonize him? You know how unstable he is."

"You are right." Aeron responded, body flickering in and out of existence. "But I had to try." He then added as molten metal emerged from the cracks between the soil, immediately shaping itself into the form of a ten feet tall metallic wolf.

The wolf turned towards Aeron’s weak avatar form, then let out a screechy growl.

Aeron nodded, and for a moment, a semblance of a smile appeared on his ethereal face. "I have. I can touch the threads." He said.