Gleam Karma Cultivator Isekai

Chance followed her example, allowing his eyes to shut and regulating his breathing. He visualized a glimmering blue lake, as still as a mirror. Almost instantly, a thought barraged his mind in the form of a dancing pink elephant.

His eye twitched.

What kind of stray thought is this?

Chance pushed the thought away. There was a moment of stillness, followed by Bob’s Magic Cheeto popping into his mind. Chance repressed a sigh. Bella was right. Meditating was hard.

Minutes turned to hours. Chance spent much of the time trying to push the stray thoughts away. They started cropping up slower and slower, but he felt himself growing restless. As tempted as he was to give up and go do anything else, Chance pressed on. He was determined to make at least a little progress before he stopped.

He lost track of time as he sat there, his chest rising and falling with every slow breath. Eventually, the stray thoughts grew less frequent. The slight ache in his legs from sitting so long started to fade into the background.

Heat blossomed in his chest, but it wasn’t the same aggressive warmth that typically accompanied his Essence usage. Instead, it felt like the ebb and flow of the ocean, ebbing in and out.

Chance focused his thoughts toward his Essence, trying to figure out what it represented.

Why does it only respond when I thank it? How come it seems to affect luck? Is it actually just luck?

A sense of wrongness filled him at the last statement. Without a doubt, Chance knew that his Essence wasn’t luck. It was something more. Luck was a part of it, of that much he was certain, but it wasn’t the entire coin. It was more like a result. A consequence.

His thoughts kept drifting back to the appreciation and his father’s words back on earth. Then Yamish’s face arose, unbidden, within his mind.

What goes around, comes around.

Yamish was being literal. The thought struck Chance, nearly knocking him from his peaceful state. That’s what it was?

Karma?

***

Vex was irritated. It wasn’t often that the fragments of will that he sent out died, and it was even less often that they died without completing their mission. Worse, it had failed to kill an unranked, weakling child.

It was not enough to make him angry. The girl was entirely unimportant beyond a mild source of amusement, but Vex did not take failure lightly. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly and he gathered a tiny amount of power to send out and deal with the situation permanently.

Then he paused. His senses brushed across the Essence permeating his body. It was still. Something was very, very wrong. The wind in the forest around him had stopped, and the trees stood still as if they were holding their breath.

Vex gathered his power, casting his mind out to locate the powerful presence approaching him. He had more enemies than he could count, but none that would be stupid enough to attack him in his home ground.

Then a hand fell on his shoulder. Vex shimmered, splashing into a puddle of water and reforming near-instantly a few feet away as he spun to face the intruder. He hadn’t even noticed their arrival.

A man floated, upside-down, in the air, a smile on his eerie face as his body twisted around to stand the proper way. Vex’s eyes narrowed.

“The cultivator who protected the boy. You were also using a clone? Who are you?”

The man inclined his head. “I was, and I am Yamish. My full presence on Centurion would be problematic. As would yours.”

Vex brushed his senses over the other man, trying to feel his strength, but there was nothing. It was as if he was a blank slate – but that couldn’t be the case. Nobody could have arrived here without at least a significant amount of power.

“You would go as far as to risk your true body to protect the boy?”

Yamish’s smile spread. “Risk? No. I have no desire to fight. We have no karma between us.”

“Then why have you come?”

“You are about to cause me difficulties. I am cultivating the child,” Yamish said. “And you are about to sever him. I must request that you not.”

“Oh?” Vex asked. “Why? He had no great power. You’ve expended a fair amount of power to come here. That’s quite the effort. Is he of your bloodline?”

“No, but we are bound by path,” Yamish replied. “And your actions would cause bad karma between us.”

“Why would that–” Vex stopped mid-sentence. “You’re a Karma cultivator?”

“I am.”

“That explains much,” Vex said, his guard rising even more as he put more energy into his aura. “But I will not bow to your requests. A slight must be sated. Find another child.”

Yamish’s smile turned sad. “I thought as much. Your Essence is bitter, like death. I cannot blame you for following your nature, so I will speak to you in terms you understand instead.”

He clawed the air with a hand, pulling thin bands of golden light from nothingness. With his other hand, he plucked one of the threads.

“You value the life of the girl,” Yamish said. “She has great Karma with you. But she feels grateful to the boy. There is Karma between them and, thus, between me.”

“And?” Vex asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I will sever the girl,” Yamish said simply. “You will not reap the seed that you have planted.”

“Threats,” Vex said with a chuckle. “Some Karma cultivator you are. Killing the girl would negatively impact your cultivation, would it not?”

“Death is a natural part of life. To me, the gratitude she shows the boy is an equivalent trade for her life,” Yamish said. “Any negative impact will be far less than the benefits I gain from harvesting the boy when it is time.”

Vex let out a sharp bark of laughter. “I see. Very well, then. I will not bother them unless they directly interfere with my work. That, I assume, would build Karma between us, and you would no longer take action. Correct?”

“Correct,” Yamish said. “I am glad that we could come to an agreement.”

Then he was gone. Vex pressed his lips together. He gave the world a cursory sweep, but he already knew what he would find. There was no sign that Yamish had ever been there. Even the Essence around them didn’t seem to recognize his presence.

Vex let the power he had been gathering fade away. There were other matters that drew his attention, and Yamish unsettled him. The cultivator was deranged. He’d deal with the boy and his experiment shortly, once the Karma cultivator stopped paying such close attention.

***

Heat blossomed in Chance’s chest, wrapping around his heart with such intensity that he gasped in pain. His eyes snapped open and the world rushed back into focus around him. Faint golden light blanketed his skin, already fading away.

Chance blinked. He shifted, instantly pitching forward and barely catching himself before he hit the ground as pins and needles exploded all throughout his legs. He groaned, shaking them off in a desperate attempt to get feeling back.

Once he could properly control his body again, he staggered upright. The courtyard was empty, but someone had tossed a blanket over his shoulders. He folded it up and wobbled inside. Pete sat in his chair, his eyes closed. One of them cracked open as Chance approached.

“Ah, Chance. Did you have a successful meditation?”

“Very. I think,” Chance said. “How long was I there?”

“Three days.”

“Three – what?” Chance asked, missing a step. “How?”

“You likely had a lot of insight to ponder over,” Pete replied. “Bella told me this was your first time meditating, so I don’t think either of us expected you to get struck with inspiration already, but your experiences on Earth must have greatly benefited you. Don’t get used to massive boosts like this one. Once you get into a more regular schedule, your growth will be steadier but slow.”

“So… I’m stronger now?”

“In a way. Do you understand more about your Essence?”

“A little,” Chance admitted. “It’s Karma, not luck. But I don’t see what that changes.”

“It will be subtle for now, but the gains become apparent the more you understand,” Pete said, rubbing his chin. “But… Karma? What a curious Essence. I have not heard anything of Karma cultivators in recent years. We’ll have to look into it and see what we can find for you.”

“Thanks,” Chance said. “Pete, why am I not hungry or tired? I was just… sitting there.”

“Cultivation nourishes the body when done properly. You draw energy from your Essence and allow it to sustain you. That is how some powerful cultivators can meditate for weeks at a time. Interruptions during inspiration are one of the worst things you can get. After all, inspiration is a fickle mistress.”

“I can see that,” Chance said, rolling his shoulders as a twinge ran through is back. “Damn. I can’t believe it’s been three days. What have Yeo and Bella been up to?”

“Mostly cultivating,” Pete replied. “They’re both in their rooms right now. You were lighting the courtyard up, which makes it a bit difficult for anyone else to use the courtyard to cultivate. It’s to be expected, though.”

“Ah, sorry.” Chance reddened. “I didn’t mean to inconvenience anyone.”

“It’s hardly your fault. Really, you should all have a courtyard of your own,” Pete said with a sigh. “Perhaps in the future.”

“Are we low on money or something?” Chance asked. “Someone watching Yeo and Bella spar implied that they had private courtyards to practice in or something.”

“We are,” Pete said, looking slightly ashamed of his words. “The funding a house gets is directly related to how successful its Shikari are. Unfortunately, Bella wasn’t able to get many jobs on her own, and the ones I did were… well, I tend to cause a lot of damage when I work. Repair costs rack up.”

“Even with the Wards?” Chance asked, taken aback.

“Yes. You usually need to weaken a monster before using a Ward,” Pete said. “That means you may have to fight it for a little, and I’m afraid I don’t know the meaning of subtlety.”

Chance laughed. “Once we get good enough to get ranked, I’ll do my best to bring some money in to renovate. It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”

“I really haven’t done much at all,” Pete said with a gentle laugh. “But thank you.”

There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. Then Chance cleared his throat. “I actually had a question. Jagg said I couldn’t get techniques until I was a Squire, but Yeo and Bella both seem to have them. Aren’t they just Foundlings?”

“It’s not that you can’t learn a technique as a Foundling, it’s just that it’ll take you longer than if you were a Squire, and techniques are in high demand. I will look into seeing if I can get anything for Karma, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Your best bet would be to reach Squire rank soon by cultivating as much as you can.”