Gleam Karma Cultivator Isekai

He gagged, squeezing his eyes shut in disgust. When they opened again, he was sitting on his bed in the Whiteheart house. He scrambled to his feet and darted out of the room, nearly bowling into Bella.

She slipped to the sided and Chance rushed down the stairs, gagging out an apology. He sprinted to the sink and gargled water for nearly a minute before spitting it out into the sink and dry heaving.

“Are you okay?” Bella asked, stepping down the stairs.

Chance wiped his mouth, trying to press the last vestiges of the foul taste away from his memory. His chest cooled until it was only uncomfortably warm. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“What happened? Did you eat something rotten?”

“I – something like that,” Chance said. Yamish’s warning to keep their meetings to himself was still fresh in his mind, and he didn’t want to put anyone – including himself – at risk. “I’m fine, really.”

Bella shrugged. “If you say so, I won’t press. None of my business. Did your cultivation go well?”

“It did,” Chance half-lied. Fighting was probably a type of cultivation somewhere. Nearly dying definitely was. “What about you?”

“Better than I’d hoped,” Bella said, a small smile passing over her lips. “That proctor was right. I was relying very heavily on an ability that wasn’t really mine instead of pursuing my own cultivation path, and that was holding me back.”

“You were using an ability?”

“The water. I was using pre-determined forms for it, similar to a technique but not exactly like one.” Bella chewed her lower lip. “I got it from… you know.”

“Ah,” Chance said. “Would I be prying if I asked why? I mean, he didn’t seem like the type of person to help anyone.”

“He isn’t.” Bella’s hands clenched at her sides and her face grew stormy. “The less I use of what he gave me, the better.”

“Is that why you dropped out of the tournament?”

“Part of it. I didn’t feel like I was competing with my own abilities,” Bella replied, her cheeks going red. “I know that sounds really stupid. If I can use them, they’re obviously mine. It just didn’t feel right.”

“Nah, I think that’s really respectable,” Chance said. “Not that I didn’t respect you before, of course. I just think wanting to make sure you’re only using your own abilities to compete is an honorable thing to do. So if the water was Ve – uh, our mutual enemy’s, what are you using now?”

Belle extended a hand. A thin layer of black ice stretched across it. The crystals grew larger and more defined, forming into a rough gauntlet before it fell away. “Not all that different from water. But it’s my style.”

“Ice for the ice queen,” Yeo called from the top of the stairs. They both spun toward him and he grinned, sliding down the handrail. “Having a chat without me?”

“I’m not an ice queen.”

“You certainly were one. Well, I’m not so sure about the queen part, but you were a royal b – a”

Bella’s eyes narrowed and she sent a pointed glance at her hand as ice started to grow across it again. “I’m not one to hit someone unprovoked, but I’m not beyond challenging you to sparring match and seeing how far I can fit my foot up your ass.”

Yeo burst into laughter. He punched her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs up. “Now that’s some good shit talk. I’m glad you didn’t open with it, though. I wouldn’t have been able to make as much fun of you.”

“Glad to see you’re in high spirits,” Chance said.

“Well, it’s been a few days. I got over it.”

Chance choked.

What?

“Days?”

“Got lost in cultivation, huh?” Yeo asked with a snicker. “The tournament was almost a week ago.”

What the hell? What did Yamish do? I swear it was only a few hours at most, not a day!

Idly, Chance sent Essence into his third eye and studied Bella and Yeo. Strands of essence erupted around both of them like blooming flowers, with so many that he could barely count them all. Each of them had a connection to him, but it was almost translucent, and he couldn’t make out the images within it. Not wanting to invade their privacy too much, he dismissed the ability.

“It’s normal to lose track of time when you’re meditating,” Bella said. “You must have had a pretty productive session.”

“Yeah,” Chance said. “I suppose I did. Just didn’t realize how productive.”

“Maybe you’ll avoid getting kicked out of the next tournament then, eh?” Yeo said.

“I’ll do my best. Where’s Pete?”

“He’s off hunting. His last job took out several buildings, so now he’s trying to pay it off,” Bella said, shaking her head. “He’s a menace. In the years that I’ve known him, I don’t think he’s ever managed to complete a job without spending nearly every coin he earns.”

“You ever see him working?” Yeo asked.

“No. He’s ranked highly enough to work on his own, and that’s all he does. I don’t think he could get any teammates. Because of, well, the whole negative profits problem.”

“Makes sense,” Chance said. “But… what should we do, then? Wait until he gets back?”

“No need.” Bella pointed to the kitchen table, where two scrolls were laid out. “We got some offers for jobs yesterday. He gave them to me before he left and said we could do them whenever we want.”

“Oh, sweet!” Yeo exclaimed, darting over to the table. He grabbed one of the scrolls and broke the red wax seal on it, unfurling the parchment and scanning over it. Chance and Bella walked over to join him and peered over his shoulders. To Chance’s annoyance, he couldn’t read a single word of the scroll.

I suppose I should have expected that.

“What’s it say?” Chance asked.

“It’s a lost pet request,” Yeo muttered, tossing the scroll back down and grabbing the other one. “I’d rather do literally anything else.”

“Helping people sounds nice,” Chance said, but even Bella looked unimpressed with the quest.

“This is more like it!” Yeo said. “It looks like there are a lot of missing pet cases, and several kids were attacked by a monster in the Graywall district. It’s reported to be a Lesser Imp.”

“I assume that’s weak?” Chance guessed.

“Yeah, pretty weak,” Yeo confirmed. “More than a threat for some kids or weak pets, though. At least this is an actual hunting job.”

“My votes for that,” Bella said.

“Works for me as well,” Chance said. “Do we have any more information?”

“No, but we’ve got the addresses of several people that put in the request,” Yeo replied, rolling the scroll up. “We can stop by their houses and get information. You got your gear?”

“It’s still in my room. Are we going now?”

“Might as well,” Yeo replied, patting the leather pouch at his hip. “I’m more than ready.”

“As am I,” Bella confirmed.

Chance nodded and jogged upstairs, attaching the leather pouch to his hip after fumbling around with it for a few moments. He grabbed his urumi, wrapping it in its protective casing, then headed back down to join his team.

“Our first mission!” Yeo crowed, holding the scroll aloft as the exited the house. His grin faltered for a moment. “Not exactly the incredible start to my story that I was hoping for, but I guess everyone has to begin with stuff like this.”

“I killed a fully grown Soothound as my first mission,” Bella said.

I just killed one of those myself. I’m pretty sure Yeo would have a heart attack if I told him that, though. Might have to take that secret with me to my grave.

“Well, you’re lame,” Yeo declared. “Come on.”

He started down Shikari Lane. Chance went to follow him, but paused as he saw that Bella wasn’t walking.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Graywall district is that way,” Bella said, pointing in the other direction.

Yeo pulled the scroll back out and studied it. He grimaced, then walked back over to them and handed it to Bella. “Maybe you should lead us there.”

“Maybe,” Bella agreed, taking the scroll from him and setting off with them at her side.

***

The Graywall district was near the center of Gleam, although it wasn’t quite at the very middle. Chance knew the scholar-city was huge, but he hadn’t quite conceptualized the scale – until now.

It was several hours of walking through the city streets just to reach the Graywall district – and Shikari Lane was also supposed to be at the center of the city. Chance was pretty sure it wasn’t even realistically possible to walk across the entirety of the city in any reasonable amount of time.

In just the few hours they walked, Chance felt like he’d walked through half a dozen different environments. Gleam’s streets were like self-contained villages. Many of them, like the market street off of Shikari Lane, seemed to be focused toward commerce.

Colorful lights glowed above stores in some, while others were lit just by the glow of the large sun. The architecture of the buildings they passed changed significantly as well. While most were stone and brick, they walked by several streets that were full of wooden shopfronts, many painted in vibrant colors and with sloping, pointed ends that drew their eyes.

“It’s hard to believe this is all one city,” Chance said as they walked down a crowded street, moving quickly to keep up with the foot traffic.

“It really is,” Yeo agreed. “This place is huge. Think of all the things they’ve got to have waiting for us to buy. I’m going to get all of it.”

“Not until we improve House Whiteheart,” Bella said. “Or you aren’t going to be able to store anything you buy.”

“I can if half of it is food,” Yeo replied. They turned down a smaller side street paved with gray cobblestone, mercifully leaving the majority of the traffic behind and buying themselves some room to breathe.

After a few more minutes of walking, Bella looked down checked the scroll, then glanced up at a sign hanging from a post. “We’re here.”

Graywall district lived up to its name. Rows of large houses lined either side of the street, made mostly of gray stone and the occasional accent of color. Most of them were several stories, though there were no gardens or greenery in sight. The road, while made of plain stone, was well kept.

“Fairly nice place,” Yeo observed while Bella walked up to a house, checking its address.

“Not that nice, or they would have had a better Shikari group on this,” Bella replied with a laugh. “I’ve been to some of the really impressive places in Gleam. It’s like an entirely different city.”

“Oh, like where?”

“The islands,” Bella said, craning her neck back to look up at the floating masses of land above them. The golden pathways connected them glimmered, even in the daylight. “Some of those… honestly, it’ll be better if you just see for yourself. I’d rather not spoil anything.”