Gleam Karma Cultivator Isekai

The monster collapsed to the ground, going still. It hadn’t been much of a fight at all. More like a slaughter. The hunter strode up to the corpse and pulled a small gray orb out of his pockets and tossed it onto his fallen prey.

Blue light flared around the creature and it vanished, turning into a stream of energy and flying into the orb. The glow slowly faded and the Shikari picked it up, turning back to them.

“I don’t recognize you. New?”

“Just arrived to Gleam today,” Yeo said. “Both of us.”

“Hm. Where’s your friend’s weapon?”

“I don’t have one yet,” Chance said, stepping out from the doorway he’d ducked into. “We were just getting dinner. I wasn’t expecting a monster to show up.”

“Damn, you’re green,” the man said. “Well, you’ll learn. Or die.”

The dome surrounding them started to lose intensity. The Shikari yawned. “This thing was barely worth the damn effort. I hope you kids enjoyed the show. Don’t try to steal my prey again.”

“No promises. First come, first serve,” Yeo said with a grin. The Shikari cocked his head to the side. Then he smirked.

“We’ll see. Enjoy your night. If you’re any good, maybe we’ll see each other in a tournament.”

He turned as the dome vanished completely, and sound rushed back into the city. The bustling crowd returned and swallowed the Shikari. A man nearly strode right into Chance. He veered to the side at the last second, heading off without a word.

Chance stared in slack jawed awe. “What just happened?”

“Come on,” Yeo said, grabbing Chance’s sleeve and pulling him out of the way. “We were in a Ward. Alternate dimension with the monster. It wasn’t a very strong one, so I wasn’t worried.”

“How did you know it wasn’t strong? I mean, that Shikari could have just been really strong, right? We had no way to know.”

“Nah. The stronger a monster is, the more it’ll affect the Ward. It’s a fight of power between the Shikari making the Ward and their prey. Since everything still looked like the normal city, it meant the Shikari had completely overpowered the monster,” Yeo explained. “Sorry I didn’t have time to tell you more when it happened. I knew we weren’t in any real danger – I could have taken care of a Soothound myself.”

“That’s what the monster was?” Chance asked as he and Yeo sat down on a bench along the side of the road. “A Soothound?”

“Yep. Pretty weak, like I thought. The Shikari looked fairly strong, though. He’s probably around a Knight tier – that’s the third one, by the way – or something. Those arrows were packing a serious punch.”

Chance shook his head, trying to wrap his head around the last few minutes. Yeo barely even seemed phased, but he was still trying to figure out how they’d managed to change dimensions without him even noticing.

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Yeo advised. “You’ve got way too much to adapt to right now. Just take it one step at a time, and get more in depth once you’re comfortable.”

“I – yeah. That’s probably a good idea,” Chance admitted. “Is this a common occurrence?”

“Getting pulled into a Ward? I’ve heard it is. Doesn’t happen too much out in the boonies. But in a big city like Gleam? I’d imagine it’ll happen all the time. There are probably thousands of monsters roaming the city right now.”

“Holy shit. And they’re in this dimension? With everyone else?”

“Yeah,” Yeo replied. “That’s why the Shikari are needed. They keep the city safe – both inside and out.”

“Why are there monsters here in the first place?” Chance asked. “I can’t imagine anyone is just letting them into the city.”

Yeo snorted. “They don’t just walk in. The monsters inside the city were born here. Trust me, you’re going to want to wait a little longer before we get into that. There’s a whole field of research around it, and it’s pretty nasty.”

“Right,” Chance said, running a hand through his hair. “Shouldn’t we be a little more concerned about this, then? Like, couldn’t a monster just pop out right now and attack us?”

“In a populated area like this? Nah. There are too many Shikari around. When you get strong enough, you can sense monsters in the area. This monster walked too close and a Shikari noticed it, so he killed it. He’ll turn that orb into the city and get paid for his work. And, before you ask, they’ll use the body for research and energy.”

“Makes sense,” Chance said slowly, the bustling crowd threatening to overwhelm him. “I think I should probably learn how to fight sooner rather than later.”

I don’t think dropping bricks on dogs counts. God, that’s an awful thought to have. They weren’t really dogs. I hope.

“Only if you want to live long,” Yeo said, punching him in the shoulder. “Come on. Maybe it’s time we go back to the Whiteheart house.”

Chance nodded. “I think that might be a good idea.”

They pushed through the crowd and headed back along the street. Chance spotted signs that looked like they identified the roads, but just like everything else, he couldn’t actually read their names.

The new Shikari got back to Whiteheart house and headed inside. Once the door was shut behind them, Chance let out his pent up breath and brushed his hair back.

“It’s really something, isn’t it?” Yeo asked. “I can’t wait to explore the rest of Gleam. We’ve barely seen anything.”

“Yeah. It’s huge,” Chance said. He looked down at his hands. “But I really want to learn how to use magic. Like, really badly. I feel like there’s so much more, and I haven’t even scratched the surface.”

“Sure. I need a good sparring partner, and I don’t see anyone else around that’s willing to do it.” Yeo gave him a large grin. “You better get a lot of sleep tonight. I get up early. And you’re damn right – considering you just got it, you probably haven’t even touched the surface, much less scratched it.”

“Noted,” Chance said.

Yeo raised a hand and started ascending the stairwell. He paused halfway up and cursed. “Aw man, I forgot to get dessert.”

“You’ll live,” Chance said wryly.

“That’s what you think. I might not wake up tomorrow due to starvation,” Yeo replied with a dramatic flourish. He winked, then disappeared up the stairs. Chance chewed his lower lip for a moment, then wandered over to the kitchen.

It looked surprisingly similar to what a kitchen would have looked like on earth. There was a sink set in the center of an old, cracked marble counter. Behind it was a large steel box with a latch. Chance pulled it open and a wave of cold washed out from within it.

It was full of meat, vegetables, and other chilled foods. Chance let it shut again. The box was some sort of fridge, but he couldn’t see any power source running it.

I wonder if the energy comes from those orbs that the Shikari get from monster bodies?

He resolved to ask Pete about it at some point in the future. Chance went through the rest of the kitchen, testing the burners on a metal stove. There was a click and gas sparked as the stove lit.

“Huh. Gas stove,” Chance said to himself, turning it off. “I guess not everything here is magic. I suppose it makes sense since a lot of people from Earth get pulled over here. I’m sure at least a few of them knew how to spread some of our inventions around.”

He finished his investigation and headed up the stairs to his room, passing through the hall as quietly as he could to avoid mistakenly drawing Bella’s ire again. He made it back safely and shut the door, flopping down on his bed and slipping under the covers without hesitation.

He had so many things he wanted to think about, but he never got the chance. As soon as his head hit the pillow, every last remaining thought vanished from his mind he was fast asleep.

Several thunks rang out. Chance bolted upright, catching himself on the covers and nearly falling off the bed like a clumsy caterpillar. He hurriedly untangled himself, barely managing to extract his limbs from the bed’s hungry grip before someone knocked on the door again.

“Coming!” Chance said, glaring at the stubborn sheets before walking over and opening the door. Yeo raised a hand in salute.

“Still sleeping?”

Chance glanced out the window. Heavy clouds hung in front of light orange hues in the sky. He could just barely make out the sunlight reflecting off some of the buildings in the distance.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m ready.”

“Great! Pete is going to join us too. He was up before me.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Gibson did say he was supposed to teach us, or something.”

Yeo snorted. “I don’t need to learn anything else. I’ve been training for years. But this’ll be useful for you, at least.”

Chance wasn’t so sure about that, but he wasn’t about to question his cocky teammate. It’s not like it would have accomplished anything, and there was always the possibility that Yeo really was some sort of prodigy.

They headed out of his room and down the stairs, pausing for a moment as they passed Bella’s room.

“Do you think…”

“You really want to try asking her?” Yeo cocked an eyebrow. “I think I can predict how that’ll go.”

“Yeah,” Chance muttered. “Especially if we wake her up. It’s still the polite thing to do though, isn’t it?”

“Depends on how rude you consider waking someone up.”

“Fair point. Maybe not. I’ll ask her if she wants to join the next time we see each other.”

“If she gets her way, that time will be never,” Yeo said with a chortle. They reached the bottom of the stairs and headed into the living room. A door at the room’s back led out into a small dirt courtyard behind the house. A circle had been drawn around it, marking out a sparring arena. Pete stood outside, leaning on his staff.

“Are you two ready to begin?” he asked. “The faster I can get you into fighting shape, the safer you’ll be.”

“So I’ve found,” Chance said. “We went into the city yesterday and got pulled into a Ward.”

“Not an uncommon occurrence, but if you’re pulled into a Ward, you should be safe. It means a Shikari initiated it, and they’re probably confident they can defeat their target,” Pete said. “The bigger problem would be if a monster finds you outside a Ward. We can worry about that later, though. Gibson gave me some basic information on where you both stand, but I’d like to hear it from you.”

“I already know what I need to.” Yeo said with a one-shouldered shrug. “I’ve been training with a kusarigama since I was a few years old, and I’ve been pursuing the Essence of Metal since the same age. Unless you’ve got insight into Metal, there’s nothing you can teach me there.”

“I see,” Pete said. “And what about you, Chance?”

“I, uh, make gold mist.”