Gleam Karma Cultivator Isekai

The proctor chuckled and took a few steps back into the training arena. Earth gathered around his feet and wormed up his body, forming into rugged armor around him. In seconds, he was completely covered.

“This part of the exam will end when all of you are rendered unable to move or surrender,” Johnathan said. “Are you prepared?”

Chance opened his mouth to ask another question, then closed it when Bella and Yeo shot glares in his direction. He gave them a sheepish grin and walked into the dirt arena with his teammates, lowering his urumi in a ready position.

“We’re good,” Yeo said. “Hope you’re ready to get your ass kicked.”

“Begin.”

Bella leapt forward, black water slithering down her arms and forming into a large axe. She brought it down in a powerful swing at Johnathan’s shoulder. Earth rippled around the proctor’s feet and a pillar of stone erupted from the ground, slamming into Bella’s stomach and sending her flying into the air.

Chance whipped his wrist to the side and the urumi extended with a dozen rapidfire clicks. The snakelike blade shot out and bit into Johnathan’s shoulder, cutting a few inches into the stone before coming to a stop.

The ground beneath Chance rumbled. Yeo thrust his shoulder into him, knocking Chance to the side as a pillar of earth nearly launched him. He tumbled across the ground, losing his grip on the urumi, and leapt to his feet just as Bella came crashing down on top of Johnathan, leading with her axe.

Stone cracked and Johnathan staggered. He spun, catching Bella in the side with the back of his hand and launching her across the small arena. She hit the ground, skidding for a foot before slamming into the wall with a grunt. Yeo flicked his sickle out and it whipped around the proctor, growing faster with every loop as it tightened and bound the man.

“Does restraining you count as a win?” Yeo asked.

Johnathan raised a hand and grabbed the metal links. There was a loud crack and Yeo’s weapon went slack as the older man literally tore it apart. He flexed his arms and the chains binding him popped and snapped, falling to pieces.

“Yes,” Johnathan said. “Provided you’ve actually restrained me.”

“Well, that was rude,” Yeo said, pulling a second kusarigama from his pouch. Chance had no idea how he fit the weapon in there, but now wasn’t the time to ask. “You broke my toy. Luckily, I’ve got another.”

While Yeo had him distracted, Chance edged towards his urumi. Johnathan glanced in his direction and extended a hand. The ground beneath Chance’s feet rippled and he started to sink into it. Cursing, he flung himself into a roll and grabbed the hilt of his weapon, retracting it with a snap.

A bolt of black water leapt from Bella’s hands and splashed into Johnathan’s armor, soaking into the dirt. The proctor glanced in her direction, nearly catching a massive watery blade to the face.

At the last second, a wall of earth erupted from the ground before him and blocked the Essence. He let it fall, then shifted his stance. Bella took a step forward and tripped, falling flat on her face as stones bound around her legs.

“A little luck might be good,” Yeo yelled. “Metal Dragon Art: Twin Heads!”

He extended his hand toward the shattered remains of his first kusarigama, narrowing his eyes in concentration. The fragments shuddered, then leapt to his command, reforming into chain links and attaching themselves back to the sickle. Yeo pulled the blade back, spinning the second weapon in his other hand, then sent them both flying at Johnathan.

“Essence of Metal, eh?” Johnathan asked, an earthen shield forming on his left hand. He batted both sickles away. “Not used to seeing it used like this. Wouldn’t making yourself into an armored warrior like I do with my earth be better?”

“You talk a lot for someone supposed to be testing us,” Yeo growled, pulling his weapons back and twirling them at his sides.

“Don’t you worry.” Johnathan raised his shield, blocking Bella’s axe, then threw her to the side. She spun midair, landing on her feet and skidding across the ground. “I don’t mean to insult you, but you’re all far from a threat. I’m not trying to kill you – I’m gauging your abilities. We’ll see how you deal with stress under a real attack shortly. Now, I trust you’ve got something more to show me?”

Heat welled around Chance’s heart and spread through his body. He drew on his Essence, bringing golden mist to his fingers sending out a silent thanks. The mist leapt, tiny streamers of it wrapping around the proctor’s legs.

Johnathan glanced down at it just as Bella threw her axe, and the brief distraction proved enough for it to fly past his defenses and slam into the man’s chest. Stone shattered and he tripped with a curse.

Chance sent his urumi whistling out and it struck Johnathan in the side, piercing into his armor but failing to penetrate it. He pulled the blade back before the proctor could grab onto it, watching Johnathan warily as stones pushed the man back to his feet.

“Haven’t seen that before,” Johnathan rumbled. “You wormed your way past my Aura. Interesting. Try it again.”

Chance didn’t wait for him to ask again. He sent gold energy toward Johnathan in a faint wave. As it neared him, it sizzled and vanished like vapor. Johnathan chuckled at Chance’s shocked expression.

Dirt gathered around Johnathan’s hand, condensing into a hard ball. He threw it at Chance, far too fast for him to dodge. Water leapt before him an instant before the ball struck. It plowed through the barrier and struck Chance in the stomach, but enough of its momentum had been stopped that it only knocked the air from his lungs instead of breaking several ribs.

Yeo lashed at him with both of his kusarigama. Johnathan dropped his shield and grabbed the sickles as they flew through the air. “Right then. I think I’ve got a grasp of all of you.”

With a roar, he yanked the metal chains, pulling Yeo off balance. Johnathan thundered for the boy. Water whipped at his feet, trying to trip him up, but the proctor plowed through it like nothing.

Yeo somersaulted out of the way of the man’s first blow, but Johnathan had nearly doubled in speed. The man’s next strike caught him in the chest, tossing him out of the ring. Bella darted at the proctor and Chance sent his urumi out once more.

The earth beneath Bella launched her to the side – directly into the path of Chance’s blade. He yanked it back, causing the metal whip sword to score across the ground harmlessly. Johnathan grabbed Bella, then launched her at Chance like a bowling ball.

He dove to the side, but it wasn’t fast enough. Bella slammed into him and they both skidded out of the ring unceremoniously, ending in a heap next to Yeo.

Johnathan brushed his hands off, his dirt armor sloughing off his body as he approached them. There were a few small cuts on his body, but they were somehow already starting to heal right before their eyes. “Well then. That was that.”

Yeo clenched his hands, then forced them open and let out a terse huff. “That was hardly a fair fight.”

“It was never supposed to be one,” Johnathan said, shaking his head. “You missed the point. Now, are you going to complain, or do you want to hear my assessment?”

“We’re listening,” Chance said with a groan as Bella rolled off him. He could have sworn that getting hit so hard should have broken something, but both he and Bella didn’t look much more than bruised.

“We’ll start with Yeo,” Johnathan said, turning to the black-haired boy. “You’re cocky. Your techniques are overly flashy and don’t do enough damage for the effort you go through with them. Not to mention you wasted time actually calling your technique out. On top of that, while I’m no Metal cultivator, I’m pretty sure that it’s meant to be hard and unyielding. You’re treating it like Air or something.”

Yeo set his jaw and his eyes narrowed. He said nothing, and Johnathan watched his expression for a few seconds before turning to Bella.

“You’re all over the place. I occasionally saw you do something that I would attribute to experience, but then you’d blunder it all up. Something tells me you’re a solo fighter. Fix that.”

Bella started to nod, but Johnathan wasn’t done.

“On top of that, there’s one major flaw I saw with your fighting style. The boys both had a clear purpose behind their moves. Even though they’re far from masters of their Essence, they both had direction. You feel like you’re copying someone else’s moves rather than using your own. Keep that up, and you’ll never advance past Foundling.”

Johnathan’s gaze fell on Chance. The boy swallowed.

“You’re new. Your strikes don’t have any Essence real strength behind them. Despite landing several blows on my armor, nothing you did went through. You need to integrate your Essence with your fighting style more. Relying on your opponent’s aura being too weak isn’t going to get you very far. On top of that, your movements are amateurish. It’s very clear that you’re new.”

“I’m sure you feel thrilled about stomping a bunch of unranked Shikari,” Yeo said, crossing his arms.

Johnathan burst into laughter. “Oh, you’re a competitive one. Hate losing, do you? Get used to it, boy. You aren’t the biggest fish in the pond. Now shut up – I wasn’t done talking.”

Yeo’s eyes narrowed, but he closed his mouth with a snap.

“Your fighting style is overly flashy, but if you cultivated more and put more Essence into your strikes, similar to Chance, they’d likely do a fair amount of damage. It’s difficult to keep track of those sickles as they fly around,” Johnathan said, tapping his chin. “And your technique was surprisingly adequate for someone of your level. Some practice, tighten your moves up a little, and cultivate more – you might get decent.”

Johnathan pointed at Bella. “Your progress in cultivation is much farther along its path than I would have expected. If you actually put yourself into it rather than just using some pale mimicries of what are clearly someone else’s techniques, you’d be a powerful cultivator.”

He turned his gaze back to Chance. “And, as for you, your biggest issue is inexperience. You were asking some very important questions before we started, and your Essence has a lot of potential. I’ve never fought something like it – not to mention your control over that whip sword is fairly decent for someone who only just started using it.”

They all stared at him, baffled.

“Now I’m done,” Johnathan said.

“So… we passed?” Yeo asked.

Johnathan snorted. “Yes. This was only to determine if you have the ability to keep yourselves alive in the most basic of situations. I’d say you’ve got that, so consider yourselves all Foundling ranked Shikari from this point on. Your teamwork needs some improvement, though.”

They all grinned at each other. Chance walked back to the practice field and grabbed his urumi from the ground where it had fallen when he’d been hit.

“Don’t get too excited,” Johnathan said. “You’ll need your wits about you for the individual rankings. You might have made the bare minimum, but I trust you want to shoot for more than that.”

“You better believe it,” Yeo said, thrusting his chin out. “And we’ll see just how inefficient my moves are against other people my age. Where do we go for the next part of the exam?”

“There’s around two hours until it starts,” Johnathan replied. “It’ll take place on the other side of the training yard. Don’t be late, but you’re free to do whatever you want until it starts. I’ll be letting Gibson know your updated rankings.”