Gleam Karma Cultivator Isekai

Whelp, that explains why he sounded all different when he asked me if I really wanted to ask him anything. Would it have killed him to actually tell me that earlier?

The Soothound growled. It started toward Chance, watching Yamish warily out of the corner of its eye. Chance desperately tried to visualize whatever his insane mentor was talking about, but it was to no avail.

Saliva dripped from the Soothound’s maw and sizzled against the ground. It bounded forward, snapping at Chance with jagged fangs. He threw himself out of the way, slashing it across the side with his urumi. The sword whip rang against its fur, sliding off it like metal.

“Many monsters develop a natural defense once they grow strong enough. It is a form of body cultivation,” Yamish explained from the sideline. “Unless you possess a technique, your blade will not hurt this creature.”

Chance cursed. He drew on his Essence and sent the golden mist out toward the huge wolf as it turned toward him, but the light fizzled away as soon as it drew near.

“It can control its aura too?” Chance complained. “Seriously? How is this fair?”

The Soothound lunged at him and Chance darted behind Yamish, narrowly avoiding a banana sized claw. It snarled, pausing in its charge to see if the cultivator would help Chance.

“There is no fair,” Yamish said, his head twisting one hundred and eighty degrees to look at Chance. “Fair is a delusion. Your karmic debt to me was increased by requesting my teachings. This is paying it off. If you are willing to learn, then you must see.”

Chance desperately scraped his brain for anything that might help him do what Yamish was talking about. Meanwhile, the Soothound padded toward them, starting to grow more confident in Yamish’s lack of action.

“If this is my debt, you’re still obligated to teach me, right?” Chance asked quickly.

“I am.”

“Can I try to see with my Essence? Or will that hurt me?”

“Do not infuse your body with Essence unless you wish to cause yourself injury. It must be done in the proper manner. Essence is, however, the path to true sight.”

Chance repressed a curse at that particular answer. Yamish was remarkably unhelpful, although he supposed that the man had told him what not to do. That wasn’t completely worthless.

The Soothound leapt at Chance, who threw himself forward and rolled underneath the large monster as it flew overhead. He scrambled to his feet and darted back as it spun, dashing after him.

Please, a little help!

The gold mist didn’t respond. A claw caught Chance across the side as he dove once more, and red-hot pain seared through his body. He cried out, staggering to his feet as blood gushed from the wound.

“It is not fatal,” Yamish supplied helpfully.

Chance didn’t get a chance to respond. A massive paw slammed into his shoulder and he cried out in pain. He slammed into the ground, the bones in his upper chest cracking under the weight of the enormous creature. His urumi skittered across the ground beside him.

Hot saliva dripped down around him, burning into the cold stone. A victorious growl slipped out of the monster’s mouth as rancid breath washed over him. Chance desperately drew on his Essence.

He needed to see. Something told him Yamish wouldn’t be helping out any further until he did. If he couldn’t push the Essence through his own eyes, he’d make a new one. Chance directed the energy to his forehead, forming a mental image and praying to anyone that would listen that it would work.

Thank you.

He barely stopped the snicker from slipping out of his lips. The idea of being thankful an instant before a giant monster wolf that smelled of carrion ripped him to ribbons was amusing, in a morbid way.

Brilliant yellow light erupted from his forehead as a golden eye snapped open on it. Adrenaline pumped through Chance’s veins, doing its best to repress the damage to his body. Bands of gold light appeared around the Soothound, all of varying thickness.

One, as wide as his forearm, was wrapped around the creature’s stomach. There were dozens of others connected to its paws and back like the strings of a puppeteer, stretching off into the distance.

The monster didn’t seem to notice them. Its head shot forward to rip Chance’s throat out, completely unhindered by whatever the strange light was. A fist crashed into the Soothound’s snout and the monster’s head snapped to the side. Blood sprayed across the ground and it staggered back with a whimper.

A pill fell from above Chance. It hit his mouth and a cool rush of energy flooded through his body, repairing the damage to his chest with a dozen loud cracks. He drew a ragged gasp and scrambled upright.

“You can see,” Yamish observed. “Well done.”

Chance’s heart thundered violently, and it was all he could do to muster a nod. The Soothound shook his head, snarling as it paced in a circle around them. He grabbed his urumi from the ground, holding it in a shaking hand.

“What now? What are those glowing ropes?”

“Karmic debt,” Yamish replied. “They are the path down which victory awaits. Either claim them or sever them.”

“What will that do?”

Yamish smiled, sending another burst of unease through Chance. “We will see. It depends on you. This is your path, after all. No two men will walk exactly the same road to enlightenment.”

Chance grimaced.

I probably should have expected that.

The Soothound burst into a run, opening it mouth and letting out a howl. Chance gritted his teeth and waited until the last second to dive out of the way. He reached out, grabbing onto the thickest band of light as the monster flew by.

A jolt of cold shot into his palm and coursed through his body. Chance hit the ground with a grunt and rolled over to see the band of light unravel from the Soothound. It peeled back, golden mist pouring off it and forming into a glimmering, translucent figure of another Soothound.

The golden Soothound was slightly smaller than Chance’s opponent, and had a fluffy mane that would have been majestic had it not been matted down. With a mute snarl, the apparition leapt at the monster and swept its massive, gold claws through the other one’s side.

Blood sprayed across the ground as the gold light carved through flesh like butter. The black Soothound snarled in pain and lashed out, its paw batting the gold mist aside. Unperturbed, the gold beast slashed one more time, leaving another raking line of wounds.

The mist flickered and faded away after the second blow. Snarling, the wounded Soothound spun, limping slightly as it searched for its opponent.

“Thus is the price of an unpaid karmic debt,” Yamish said from the sidelines. “Instead of waiting for the universe to take its due course, you have accelerated the state of natural events by paying off this creature’s karmic debt in one particular instance. Now, try severing another debt.”

“With my urumi?”

“Yes. Intent is all that is needed, but it must be carried through an instrument or your hands.”

Chance gripped the hilt of the urumi and flicked his wrist, extending the sword-whip and sending it arcing through the air. The Soothound snarled, charging at him and ignoring the strike. The segmented blades bit into one of the glowing strands, and it snapped with a twang.

Glowing mist rushed down the length of the urumi and flooded into Chance’s body. The Soothound leapt at him, its jaws flashing as it went for his throat. Chance twisted, moving in ways he’d never known possible, and threw himself out of the way of the beast’s maw.

He darted at it as soon as his feet hit the ground, moving far faster than either of them had expected. Chance’s urumi snapped back to its retracted form in his hand and he shoved it into the creature’s eye with all the strength he could muster.

Bone scraped on metal as the blade slammed home. The eye popped like a bubble, spilling white and red fluids across the ground as Chance’s blade continued through its brain, killing the creature instantly. He ripped the sword free, panting, as the Soothound collapsed to the ground.

“Curious indeed,” Yamish said.

“What was that?” Chance asked, doubling over and struggling to catch his breath. His heart slammed so violently in his chest that he feared it might break through – but it felt good. Like he was alive for the first time, and everything else had just been a muted dream.

“You appear to have gained a small portion of Essence from the karmic debt you cut,” Yamish observed. “That bond belonged to another Soothound. I believe you temporarily gained a measure of its speed that lasted until the debt was paid.”

Chance tried moving his hand, but he was back to his normal movement speed. He flopped onto the ground and the golden lines connected to the Soothound faded away. Whether that was because it had died or because he’d stopped putting energy into the image of the gold eye.

“Is that not what happens for you?”

“No, it is not,” Yamish said. “You have been taught, and you have killed my target. Our debt has been cleared once more.”

“Good. I’ll be more careful with questions in the future,” Chance said. He paused for a moment, then completely disregarded what he’d just said. “So… how did you know what those karmic debts belonged to? And how did they happen in the first place? Is it because the Soothound killed things?”

Yamish stared at him.

“I feel like that falls under our previous agreement,” Chance pointed out.

“You will learn to recognize the source as you cultivate. And no, it is not because of death. Death is a natural part of life, and killing something will not establish karma on its own. Every living being has a right to defend itself. The karmic bond you released was to a Soothound that was hunting together with this one.” Yamish nodded to the corpse. “This one killed it in order to get more food, thus creating debt.”

“So it was because it killed something, but more because of the reason why it killed rather than the actual killing?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Chance looked down at himself, searching for his own lines of karmic debt. To his surprise, he couldn’t see anything. He craned his neck to check if they were hidden on his back, but he looked normal to his newly enhanced sight.

“Where are my lines?”

“It takes a great level of enlightenment to see your own karmic debt,” Yamish said with a laugh. “Perhaps you will reach it, perhaps not.”

“I guess that makes sense. What about you? I can’t see your lines either.”

And once I can see yours, I’ll figure out how to defend myself from you. I haven’t forgotten your first little warning, Yamish. You want something from me. I just don’t know what, and I’m not going to get blindsided.

“I have hidden mine,” Yamish replied. “Once you are strong enough, you would be wise to do the same. Our Karma is both our greatest strength and our greatest weakness.”

Chance nodded, filing the information away. “Thank you. I appreciate your help, so I’ll just be on my way, if you’d send me back…”

“There is one more thing,” Yamish said. He raised a long finger, pointing at Chance. “You have karmic debt.”

“I know. With the Old City.”

“Not just the Old City,” Yamish said. “The two mortals you spend time with. You have a karmic connection with both of them.”

“I mean, isn’t that natural? They’re my teammates. They help me. I help them. That’s how things work.”

“Karma cultivators must have no debt. You must be pure,” Yamish said.

Chance’s eyes narrowed. “That means you never do net positive for someone? Everything good has to be tempered with something, what, bad?”

“That is a primitive way to look at it.”

“But not wrong?”

“Not wrong.”

“Then I refuse,” Chance said, crossing his arms. “I’m going to help people, not hurt them.”

“You will inhibit yourself.”

“I guess we’ll just have to walk different paths, then,” Chance said, setting his jaw. “I promised myself that I’d make a positive difference, and that’s what I’m going to do, rules be damned. If the universe has a problem with me wanting to help, then it can take it up with me directly.”

Yamish’s lips pressed thin. He pulled a thin blade from his robes and cut into the dead Soothound, removing a small chunk of meat. The cultivator held it out to Chance, blood still dripping from it. Grimacing, Chance took it and swallowed, trying to chew as little as possible to minimize the time it was in contact with his tastebuds.

Heat seared through his chest, bands of molten agony wrapping around his heart and spreading through his veins.