Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 101: Last chance

Chance’s urumi slithered into his palm and he jabbed it into the wall as he fell, sending Essence into the weapon’s blade. It carved through the stone easily, but slowed him enough that, by the time he hit the ground, he landed a grunt instead of splattering.

Bella whistled down, crashing to the floor and sending up a cloud of dust. She straightened up, her body glittering with Essence, and brushed her shoulder off as she turned to look around.

They’d landed in a small circular room. At its center was a large, pulsating, blue crystal. Veins of deep purple energy ran throughout it, centered at a small circle near its core. Essence poured off the crystal with such intensity that Chance could feel it prickle against his skin.

“What is this?” Chance asked, keeping a respectful distance from the crystal. Even the smoke rising up from the fires around them curled around the room’s edges, avoiding getting too close to the structure.

“I have no idea,” Bella replied, swallowing heavily. “It’s… a lot.”

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to walk anywhere if you try to take this,” Chance said. “Start cultivating, I guess. I’ll keep a lookout.”

Bella didn’t waste time trying to argue. She gave him a quick nod and sat down, inching a little closer to the crystal. The sheen covering her skin faded as she released her Essence and slipped into meditation.

Chance watched her for a few moments, then pulled his eyes away. He wasn’t going to be much of a lookout if he spent the entire time looking at Bella instead of their surroundings.

Because the smoke seemed to stay away from the strange crystal, Chance wasn’t too worried about breathing it in. Unfortunately, that very same pattern also completely isolated the area from the rest of the building, making it easy on someone if they were planning on sneaking up.

Chance sent his Essence into his forehead, opening his third eye and scanning the surroundings for any traces of Karmic threads. For the moment, he couldn’t see any. Then again, the Essence Eater had shown that the threads were far from infallible.

Gathering Essence around him, Chance flicked his urumi. It flashed through the smoke, blowing it away for a moment and clearing a path into a wide room around them for a moment. An instant later, the smoke shifted to cover the area again.

Chance pursed his lips. The smoke did work in two directions. He sent a glance back at Bella.

“Ocie,” Chance whispered. “Can you stay here? I want to walk around and make sure we don’t have any company.”

A pebble by Chance’s foot shifted. Several more rolled over, forming into a tiny golem the size of his palm. It gave him a small salute, then waddled over to stand a short distance behind Bella. Chance narrowed his eyes at it.

“And no taking her Essence. You’ve already gotten a lot.”

The golem’s eyes were just flat gouges in the stone, but Chance could have sworn it glared at him. He shook his head, hiding a smile, and walked over to a spot where the fire was weakest.

Chance held a hand out carefully. The heat was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t anything like what flame should have felt like. It was closer to a slightly overwarm shower. He reached out, touching the flame for an instant.

It didn’t burn.

Is the difference from gaining better control of my aura really this significant? Wow. This must be close to what Bella feels like when she’s got her Essence active.

Chance held his breath and hopped forward, passing through the smoke and landing lightly on the other side. He’d either moved quickly enough to keep his clothes from catching fire or his aura stretched out farther than his skin.

The room he’d stepped into was plain and empty. The only light came from the fire and the crystal behind it, and it was littered with a few broken weapons and cloth. There wasn’t of anything that really drew his attention and – more importantly – Chance didn’t see anyone else in the area.

I really want to see what else I can do with Aura. Maybe Bella will hit Knight rank from this and we can spar. That would be nice.

Chance walked in a circle around the pillar of smoke, trying to figure out what had brought the crystal out. It didn’t seem to have even the slightest relation to anything else in the house.

It must have fallen from the sky and gone through the roof, then. A meteor? I’ve never seen one that looks like this. Then again, I haven’t seen any kind of meteor. Who’s to say they aren’t like this here?

Chance finished his trip around the basement floor of the mansion, finding a grand total of nothing. It was completely and utterly boring, which came as a slight disappointment. He hadn’t wanted to run into another person, but it would have been exciting to see something.

No. Bad Chance. Exciting is bad when Bella is cultivating. I might be letting the happy-go-lucky aspect of my Essence get a little bit too much of a root in me. It’s good to keep a balance, especially when someone’s relying on me to make sure they aren’t disturbed.

He walked a few more circles around the fire. It didn’t seem to be going out anytime soon, even though there wasn’t really much for it to be burning. Eventually, Chance sat down and leaned his chin on his palm, occasionally scanning to see if he picked up any Karmic threads.

And then he waited. There wasn’t much else to do.

Seconds ticked by, turning to minutes. Those minutes stretched on, and Chance resisted the urge to poke his head in and check on Bella. It took a while to cultivate. He wouldn’t have been surprised if they had to stick around for a few days for her to get the most out of the experience.

As Chance sat, indulging in thought, a flicker of gold caught his eye. A frown creased his lips. A strand of Karma.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t expected it. There had been so much energy let off by the blast the crystal had made that it was just a matter of time until someone else showed up. Chance rose to his feet and held his urumi loosely by his side.

The strands of Karma indicated that the other person was on the other side of the basement floor. There must have been another way into the castle that they’d taken, hoping that it would let them avoid anyone else in the area.

A dull crack split the crackle of the flames. Small pieces of debris crumbled down from a wall as a thin vine twirled its way into the room. More rocks cracked and fell away, and a thin woman stepped inside the room, looking over her shoulder.

“See?” she asked. “I told you it would be safe this way. Nobody will be expecting us to–”

She trailed off, coming to a stop as she spotted Chance.

“What’s going on?” another woman asked from behind her. A pair of bright yellow eyes poked out of the darkness behind the first woman, revealing a woman covered with a thin layer of fur. Chance caught a flash of sharp teeth in the light washing off his Essence.

“Hello,” Chance said, giving them what he hoped was a comforting smile. “Sorry. Got here first.”

The vine slithered around the first woman’s arm, forming into a bracer that covered her forearm. She stepped to the side, letting the other woman into the room. Neither of them looked too much older than he was, which immediately set off alarm bells in Chance’s head.

People that look young are either prodigies, raised by some powerful family, or weak. Which ones are these two?

“Who are you?” the vine-wielding woman asked. She glanced around the room. “Are you with a group?”

“I’m Chance, and that second question doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you ask someone in a friendly manner,” Chance said, keeping his tone even. “I’d prefer not to fight. My friend is currently cultivating. There’s no way she’ll be able to use all the power here. We can probably share.”

The women glanced at each other.

“You could at least introduce yourselves,” Chance continued. “I find people occasionally try to kill each other a bit less when we get to start talking.”

“My name is Nimea, but I’m not so sure I’m so keen on sharing,” the first woman said. “How about you take your friend and get out of here? I’d be willing to let you leave alive.”

“Nimea, we don’t have to do that,” the furred woman said. She turned to Chance. “I’m Quinn. Earth cultivator. My sister is a little aggressive, but she doesn’t want to fight if we don’t have to.”

“Then it sounds like we’re in agreement. I won’t be leaving, though,” Chance said.

“You think you can take two of us?” Nimea asked, rolling her neck. “You’re better off leaving with your life than your pride.”

“I’m not a huge fan of bulling other people away from things that they’ve gotten to first,” Chance said. “We got here first. If you have an issue with that, then you may have to find out just how willing I am to fight to protect it.”

“Nimea,” Quinn muttered, nudging her with her foot. “He’s got a pretty strong Aura.”

She’s a Knight, then. That’s not great, since it looks like Nimea is the leader here. She’s probably at least a Knight as well.

“There are two of us,” Nimea replied with a snort. “Look at him. Nobody with any strength tries to bargain. Don’t be a dead weight. You’ve got a job to do. Go do it.”

Quinn’s jaw tightened and regret flickered in her eyes. Chance’s brow furrowed.

“Hold on. You’re sending her to fight for you, even you’re the one that wants to do this?”

“Shut up,” Nimea sneered. “Quinn. Go. That was a command.”

The hair on Quinn’s shoulders straightened in anger, but she stalked forward. The ground rippled around her feet, rising up before her as she walked and forming into the hilt of a blade. Nimea grabbed it, pulling the stone broadsword free of its confines.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Chance asked. “Last offer you’re going to get. I don’t want to hurt anyone I don’t need to.”

Quinn charged. Behind her, a smirk played across Nimea’s lips. Quinn’s stone sword shattered the ground where Chance had been standing, but he’d swayed to the side an instant before it could touch him.

He wound his leg behind Quinn’s and hooked her ankle. She yelped, then threw herself into a roll to avoid falling. Springing up, she thrust the large blade for Chance’s chest. He arced backward, dropping to the ground before vaulting back to his feet.

Essence swirled around him, tendrils of gold rushing along the floor and reaching for Quinn. They brushed against her, but they couldn’t find purchase.

Her Aura is too strong for that. Unfortunate. Oh well. She’s not my target.

Quinn lunged for Chance. He skipped backward. Then his foot landed on a loose stone and he slipped back, narrowly avoiding a vine as it whipped through the air and slammed into the ground.

Chance rolled to the side, then flicked his urumi. The blade extended and Nimea’s eyes widened in surprise. She yanked her vine weapon back, but Chance didn’t wait for it to retract.

He ran toward Nimea. The ground rippled and Chance leapt into the air a moment before it split apart beneath him. The attack bought Nimea enough time to retract her vine and take aim once more, her smile growing predatory.

Chance reached for the energy in the center of his chest. Then he unleashed it as Nimea’s vine pierced toward him once more.

Golden light erupted behind Chance. A glowing hand erupted from his back, reaching around and grabbing the vine before it could reach him. Essence flared and the vine scorched, blackening in his grip.

He landed on the ground and yanked the vine whip out of Nimea’s hand, throwing it into the crevice.

“I lied the last time,” Chance said, keeping his back to the wall so he could watch both of them. “This is your last offer to turn around.”