Sovereign of the Karmic System

The uppermost part of the city on which Daniel had landed on, was constructed at the very edge of a massive earth fissure, while the rest of the city was built in vertical layers that went down the fissure’s depth. If seen from afar, due to the many small ships that constantly took off and landed on the many docks, this city would appear like a massive nest of wasps hanging from a cliff, and on the aforementioned lower layers, Daniel quietly walked around.

The general shape of Daniel’s body was not much different from that of a few of the alien races which walked around the busy streets of this city, yet, Daniel could not help but feel uncomfortable. From what he knew, the outfit he was wearing was one used in free space, and by using it while within the planet’s atmosphere, had caused him attract the attention of more than a few individuals.

Most of them simply turned what appeared to be their heads around, but soon after, instead of giving in to their curiosity, they went back into doing what they were busy doing before. That, unfortunately, was not the same for all of them. A very few number of aliens would insist by standing in front of him in order to stop him, and would touch a metallic bracelet that everyone wore around their left wrist. This bracelet would then emit a series of sounds which Daniel recognized as the language he had heard the group of aliens use right before attacking his planet.

Luckily, Daniel would be able to get rid of them by ignoring them, and disappear immediately after turning a corner.

After a few hours, left with no other choice, Daniel hid in an alley completely devoid of light, and began to study the options which his system had given him in order to complete his new mission. Neither of the three methods came close to reach the final objective, which was to reach the sector of space inhabited by the universal government, and instead, simply told him how to complete the first step that would direct him towards that goal.

Of the three approaches, one caught Daniel’s interest. The secretive approach.

The secretive approach was a rather clever one, which required for Daniel to obtain one of the interracial translators used by the many alien races he had seen, and present it to Virgil, who would be able to study it, and modify it so that it could be used to translate human’s language in a matter of a few months. However, what caught Daniel’s attention, was the optional objective of this mission, which gave Daniel the option to steal one of the already existing translators for the human race which were currently being held in the human embassy, or in a secretive location present in the very system Daniel was in. These translators were already set to understand human language, and they would allow Virgil to reduce the amount of research from a few months to mere weeks.

Months spent in an unknown place whose indigenous races were capable of finding him despite his attempts to hide, were much more danger than Daniel was willing to take, especially if the ones at risk were his friends. So the decision to steal an already existing translation device, was the easier one to make.

Without wasting too much time, Daniel left the planet he had been exploring until now for another one, a gigantic cream colored planet which took Daniel various hours to reach with the help of his system’s directions, and his teleportation abilities.

The moment Daniel approached this planet, he sensed its composition, and discovered that its surface was entirely covered by powerful winds which would tear a human’s body to shreds the very moment they would try to enter it. These winds were in fact so powerful, that they made it impossible for Daniel to scan the inner part of the planet with his sensing abilities, forcing him to rely solely on his system alone for guidance.

Something that caught Daniel’s attention, was the fact that contrary to the other planets of this system which he had entered or passed by, this one was the only one without any form of artificial satellite, which suggested that this was, in fact, a secret base of sorts.

Without spending too much time thinking about it, Daniel covered his presence and entered the thick layers of winds, which immediately tore his clothes, leaving him completely naked, and forced to endure the attrition of the dust particles in the air with his uncovered skin.

The moment Daniel entered the layer of winds, Daniel quickly realized that, had his cultivation been beneath the fiftieth layer of high immortality, the small particles of dust we have been able to scrape the skin off of his flesh, as well as kill him in a matter of minutes. Powerful winds that stood above any form of natural wind he had seen in his life.

After what felt like tens of miles of flying towards the core of this planet, a surface finally appeared right in front of him, showing that he had finally reached the planet’s solid core.

Following the system’s instructions, Daniel walked naked on the planet’s surface, an environment that was not supposed to host life, until he finally reached what looked like a sinkhole in the ground closed up by a massive metal door with a diameter of at least two hundred meters.

This door was clearly the only entrance to this secret structure, and from its size, it was obvious to Daniel that it was meant for the entrance of small spaceships. Unable to find any form of opening where he could sneak in, he looked down at the rocky surface of the planet, and almost as if rock had suddenly turned into quicksand, he slowly started to sink in.

Swimming through the rock, Daniel dug down for hundreds of meters, only stopping after finding the metallic outer wall of what was an immense underground structure. Inside the corridors of this structure, he could feel the steps of thousands of workers, which happened to belong to the same alien race of the people who had attacked him, and his planet.

Daniel quickly found an empty room, and after entering it by emerging from one of its thick metallic walls, he hid from the aliens which were currently walking down the corridor, and that could enter the room at any moment.

Ideally, Daniel would have simply barged in and killed his way to what he needed, but since speed was the point of strength of this particular race of aliens, Daniel decided to follow the system’s instructions without asking questions. Luckily, the atmosphere inside the structure matched the liveable environment of the alien’s original planet, which was the reason why none of them were walking around in the dangerous spatial suits he had seen them wear before.

After the aliens finally passed through the corridor, he left the room, and with his sensing abilities extended to their maximum range, he followed a path that could allow him to move through the structure undisturbed.

After what felt like a hundred of corridors and just as many dark rooms, Daniel finally reached what appeared like a dead end. A long corridor filled with rooms on both sides, and a small room right at the end of it. However, instead of turning around and trying another path, he walked into it, as suggested by his system.

It did not take long for Daniel to realize that the rooms by the sides of the corridor were actually prison cells, and in each of them, was a type of odd entity which was either strapped to a stretched, or curled up into a ball by the far corners of the room.

Uninterested by what the nature of this structure was, Daniel reached the room at the very end of the corridor, which was closed by a thick metallic door that lacked any type of pommel, and used his comprehension of metal essence to walk through it.

Behind this door was a small room filled with instruments stained with different colors of fluids, just like the pavement, and the stretcher that was present in the middle of it. By the far end of this room were different cabinets, which according to Daniel’s system, contained the item he was looking for.

Daniel made a b-line for the cabinet to the far left, locked not by a layer of steel like every other cabinet, but by a grid of lasers, which emitted a mild light and a powerful heath. Uncaring about this defensive measures, Daniel dove into the lasers with both of his hands, and grabbed the now familiar metallic bracelet that lay behind them. He then closed his hands around the bracelet to protect it from the lasers, and pulled them back.

The moment Daniel took the translator, the options of his quest was updated, and he was given additional instruction to how ultimately reach the wormhole that would allow him and his friends to go back to the sector of space they belonged to.

Before leaving, Daniel tried to remember the odd language he had heard the aliens talk in during their attack to his planet, and with a wisp of sound essence, he replicated it right next to the bracelet. Clearly adapted to receive a sound input, the bracelet suddenly turned on, and after repeating the sound Daniel had played for it, it let out a second sound, this time in human language, which said, "..we %§£ open the wormhole, you #&op them here!"

After making sure that this was the object he needed to retrieve, unwilling to stay any longer, Daniel once again walked towards the door, but right as he was about to control the metal of which it was made out of in order to walk through it, he noticed that amongst the many spatters of liquid, were a few drops of blood.. Human blood.

Confused, Daniel walked through the door with haste, and started to look through the small windows present in each one of them. For the following few minutes all he saw were aliens, but right as he reached the middle of the corridor, opposite to one of the few cells he had bothered to look into while reaching for the end of the corridor on his way in, he saw the last thing he expected to see.

Inside an oddly clean room, was a naked young girl curled up into a ball. Her knees joined together by her cuffed arms, while forming a less than comfortable cushion for the front of the head, which rested on them as if that was the most comfortable object she had managed to lay her head on in years.

Despite the sorry state of the young girl, Daniel did not feel pity for her, and the reason for that was as shocking as the fact that she was there to begin with. She was not simply any random young girl, but one of the infamous children of Iewah, a chosen one who went by the Necromancer, captured years prior during the first contact between civilizations. Above her head, was the horrifying red number that only a child of Iewah which dealt with death, would have.

Not for a moment did the thought of helping this young looking girl appeared in Daniel’s mind, who prepared to leave the corridor without even allowing her to see him, but right at that moment, the noise of odd sounding chatter came from the door at the beginning of the corridor, and immediately after, the door slid open, allowing three aliens in what appeared to be fireproof suits to walk in.

Daniel did not wish to start something now that he had what he wanted, so without thinking too much about it, he walked through the metal door of the Necromancer’s cell like a drop falling into a larger body of water. He then hid by the side of the door until, what he thought to be researchers, walked past the girl’s cell and towards another one deeper into the corridor.

Trying not to make more noise than necessary, Daniel peeked through the window of the door by turning his head to his side. Unfortunately, if he left now, if any of these researchers turned towards his direction while in possession of whatever it was that had helped them spot his planet, they would find him right away.

Luckily, this was not a problem for him, as he could just dive into any of the room’s surface and disappear forever, and that was his intention. Or at least, it was until he turned to look forward, and noticed that the head of the necromancer was not laying onto her knees anymore, but was raised, and her oddly clear blue and golden tainted eyes were staring at him with as much surprise as he felt when seeing her.

".. help.."