by Pegaz
“If you want to go, then go.” He shrugged with a placid grin. “You don’t need my permission. You’re my wife, not my employee.”
Sarah burst into giggles at that point.
“Wasn’t looking for permission,” she said with a smile beaming across her face. “I was looking at my wallet.”
John’s smile disappeared and both women broke into fits of laughter.
Chapter 44
New Armour
“Don’t you have your own money?” John’s voice was a little weak. “I mean, what could you possibly buy… jewellery?”
Sarah and Lexis ignored John and continued their chatting. They decided to meet up at noon in the neutral section on the following day. The neutral section was the only place on this planet that had shopping, entertainment, and other activities not related to cultivation or training. The places within it accepted the universal currency and Life Stones as payment, but they did not accept the Sword sect’s credits.
John took another look at Lexis, taking her features in for the first time. She was a little over five feet tall, with green short hair that stopped before reaching her shoulders. The woman had a nice, honest face decorated with blue eyes, a hooked nose, and full lips. Surprisingly, she had quite a narrow body; her arms and legs showed almost no visible muscle. John had no idea how she could swing a great sword around as she did in the tournament.
Finally, they said goodbye to each other and used different teleport runes to get home. John was still somewhat concerned about what Sarah was planning on purchasing on her shopping spree but chose to ignore it. As long as she had a good time and didn’t bankrupt them, he was sure it would be fine.
When they arrived at their home, John had it in mind to check for mortal sinners. He wanted to get back to creating worker puppets. The tournament had sidetracked the plan.
Once he was done making plans for tomorrow, John decided to spend the rest of the night making his and Sarah’s nano armour. He removed his clothes and brought out all the nano blocks that were inside his Storage Space. Following the steps, he picked one up and touched it to his forehead.
The nano metal immediately squirmed over John’s face, head, and neck. He made holes for the nose and mouth then allowed it to solidify. Looking at the metal on his nose with Immortal Eye, it had no rune slots which meant that it did not classify as armour yet. He went to a mirror hanging on one of the walls of the house and changed the shape and design in the reflection.
Mythical Grade Nanocomposite Helmet
When the name popped up, John knew it had been completed. He inserted the mythical grade self-clean, shapeshift, change colour, self-heal and the force friction runes. Then, he made it change into a set of earrings. What surprised him was that he had leftover nano metal after creating the helmet. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
Picking up another block of nano metal, he touched it to his forehead and placed both hands on his forehead, too. He made the metal cover his hands but stop an inch past the wrists. His right glove was made so that his black nails were able to stick out. With his luck, he was half expecting the gloves to be separate and would require two sets of runes. However, to his joy, the two were classified as a pair and only required a single rune.
He created the boots, legs, and chest next. Within a mere hour, they were all complete. The design was similar to his old suit of armour with a few adjustments here and there. There was even leftover nano metal from all the pieces he made.
Pondering over what to change the armour into, he changed the mask back to the silver skull. The rest of the outfit, he also changed back into the Sword Sect white robes with white trousers and shoes.
Sarah watched the whole process, taking somewhat of an interest. She excitedly waited for John to make her armour. When it was finally time, she peeled her robes off in preparation for the armour. John made “The Stripper” music noises while clapping, which made Sarah laugh. Playfully, she made a show of it.
It only took John another hour to make the whole set. When both sets were complete, John looked at the leftover nano metal. There was enough to create a few more pieces of the armour if he needed, and for that he was grateful.
John looked at his old clothing, laying in a pile. They had reverted to the same style as when his master had first presented them to him, which caused John to reminisce a little. Sarah looked at John.
“I’m going to sell these clothes that my ex-master gave me,” she said. “While they served me well, I have no sentimental feelings towards them. What about you? Your master gave them to you, right?”
“Yeah, he did.” John smiled a little, a sombre smile. “It was his first gift to me. I want to hold onto them for a while. If we take on disciples or have kids, I want to pass them down. I think these clothes are a Rank 9 set. My master didn’t tell me, though, so I’m not sure.”
Placing the clothes into his Storage Space, John checked the time and saw it was late. He and Sarah climbed into bed, settling down for the night.
Eight hours later, John went hunting for mortal sinners to turn into worker puppets; meanwhile, Sarah was on her way to the teleport rune where she was to meet Lexis. Shortly enough, the two women were on their way to the neutral section.
The whole area was buzzing with life. There were shops of every kind in all directions. The two chatted happily as they went through almost every shop available. Their eyes lingered over the clothing of the newest fashions, jewellery fit for a queen, and all sorts of luxury items from their wildest dreams. At one store, they even found writing supplies such as pens and paper! Sarah was blown away by the fact that they had actual paper and not thin leather to write things on. Granted, the price of paper was almost five times the cost and was a luxury item. She was still very impressed.
As the day passed, Sarah and Lexis gradually gave in to temptation and wound up purchasing plenty of items. It was only because of the storage space that they were able to continue on through the crowded aisles without the bustle of carrying all their goods.
Lexis convinced Sarah to check out a few of the entertainment attractions with her after they were through with shopping. The places she spoke of were a few miles away from the shops, which was no problem for them. On the way, Lexis listed some of the sports they could watch and even bet on. The list contained selections such as football, rugby, tennis, horse racing, and even the javelin throw. When Sarah asked about the origins of such sports, Lexis claimed that it was only a rumour that the first sect master that invented the sports.
So it was “Singlestrike” that invented these sports, too? He’s definitely a Sider.
As Sarah and Lexis made their way to the football stadium, Lexis abruptly turned around and hid behind Sarah’s back.
“What’s wrong?” Sarah whispered, turning her head to look behind her as much as possible.
“See that man over there? Following the bigger woman?” Lexis’ voice was hushed and small. “That man is the person my family tried to arrange my marriage with before I ran away to the Sword Sect. I was lucky to get in because my master invited me to become his disciple.”
Sarah looked over to see a man who was tall, dark, and decent looking; however, the look in his eye told her otherwise. He was gazing down at a heavyset woman nearby, a hungry and almost savage look in his gaze.
“How old are you?” Sarah frowned. “And what sort of strength do you have?”
“I’m twenty-four now,” Lexis explained quietly. “I joined the Sword Sect when I was eighteen. I was only Rank 2 Level 1 when my master saw I had talent with great swords. I’m currently Rank 3 Level 2, but I’m gonna get to Level 3 within a few months!”
“So who’s the woman he’s following?” Sarah asked with a nod. “Did he come here to find you and take you back to your parents? Would he try to force you to marry him after all these years?”
“The woman is the daughter of a grand elder,” Lexis answered. “She doesn’t abuse people or anything; from what I can tell, she’s a
decent person. But that man has been wooing her. I’ve only heard rumours, but they say he’s trying to get me kicked out of the sect. If he has that woman on his side, then it could be over for me. My master is only a regular elder and would have no say in it.”
“Ah, I see…” Sarah turned around and warmly patted Lexis’ shoulder. “Your problem isn’t that big of a deal. I can sort it out with a few sentences. Wait here.”
Lexis was taken aback by Sarah’s quick response and tried to stop her. Sarah was too quick, however, and had already positioned herself near the man and woman. Sarah stood in front of the woman, garnering her attention first.
“You’re the daughter of a grand elder,” Sarah said plainly. “Deliver a message to whichever parent of yours that is the grand elder. Tell them that the woman with the silver skull is asking to sort this man out. He is trying to get a disciple called Lexis Arnold removed from the sect because she’s his ex-fiancée in an arranged marriage but didn’t want to marry him and ran away.”
The heavyset woman’s eyes bulged, and a glare spread across the man’s face. He opened his mouth to protest but was interrupted by Sarah once more.
“If you don’t pass on the message,” she continued darkly, “then this man will be killed instead of being exiled. Either way, the problem’s solved. I don’t care which option you take. And if you don’t believe me, then talk to your grand elder parent.”
Before the man or woman could respond, Sarah teleported back to Lexis. Her disappearing act left both the man and woman in utter shock.
Chapter 45
Workers
While Sarah and Lexis spent the day having fun, John had other plans.
He left the house at the same time that Sarah did, but when they parted ways, he went off to search for mortals with high sin points. With an idea in mind, he headed back to the nearby cul-de-sac. Once he was there, he scanned everybody using Life Vision and Immortal Eye.
There were about a hundred or so people living in this particular cul-de-sac at the moment. All of them were mortals with very low sin points as well. Shaking his head, John felt disappointed. He considered going back to the prison to try there; however, as he wandered in that direction, it struck him that his puppet ability would not bode well with the staff, even if he managed to get inside the prison again. He also wouldn’t be able to walk out with a prisoner without explaining the person had become a puppet and then would need to prove his claim.
There’s got to be a criminal organisation or a black market or some seedy place on this planet. I refuse to believe everybody is a goody-too-shoes and only follows the law.
However, no matter where he went around the Sword Sect, he could not find any mortals with high enough sins to justify his plan. After an hour of wandering, he wound up in the spear section’s mortal living area but still had no luck. Almost dejectedly, John used the public teleport to get to places that mortals accessed regularly in the city.
The mortals in this society were tasked with providing food and labour for immortals. They were given hundreds of miles of farmlands for the whole community to care for. Meanwhile, the more authoritative positions in this city were filled by immortals who acted as judges in court. But it was rare for this service to be needed.
Most positions with power in the mortal areas were given to disciples to help train their investigating skills, decision-making, and judgment. They can’t abuse their power though as there is always an elder supervising their actions.
John walked towards a building that had one of the immortals working as a judge inside to maybe find a mortal being punished for something.
However, to John’s further dismay, he still could not find what he was searching for. He continued to scan his area with Life Vision and Immortal Eye turned on. As he turned around to walk back to the public teleport building, his eyes widened.
???
Rank: 0
Level: 0
Sin: 1,304
Over a thousand. I’ve just found my first working puppet. I should follow him to see if he leads me to others like him.
John used his teleport skill to get a few miles into the air and tracked the man’s movements with Life Vision and the system’s map. Anybody the man came into contact with, John would double check their sins. He might have missed them when he scanned the city, but that was incredibly unlikely.
As he trailed the man, what John saw brought him back to the past with a shock.
The man was shaking people down for payments. On occasion, he even hit a few people and grabbed what he could for payment.
Is he an enforcer for a loan shark? Or the loan shark himself? This takes me back, but he’s an amateur compared to what I used to do. I wonder how much sin I had during my past life... What did I do to earn this chance to be reincarnated…?
John thought about the other Siders he knew. Danny had been a lawyer’s aid whose pro-bono work had given back to the people. Sarah had been a doctor and saved as many lives as possible. He didn’t have much on Tim or Ben, but he had to guess that Ben perhaps dabbled in construction.
Then there’s me. I gave money to people who needed it, but in return, I got paid much more. The interest rate wasn’t as high as it could have been, but I still harmed people who couldn’t pay their dues. I even made a deal to kill over two hundred people and I got Lisa killed. If there’s a hell, I should have ended up there, not here.
A sad smile crept onto John’s lips. He wondered if there was a balance in the universe. Perhaps Sarah represented the lives that she wanted to save back on Earth. And perhaps he represented the deaths that he reaped. Opposites really did attract.
He came out of his thoughts just as the man approached the teleport system again. John descended and snuck up behind the man. Using all the stealth skills he’d accumulated, John followed him through the teleport.
On the other side, John looked around in surprise. He’d followed the man to the neutral section.
All around him, people buzzed excitedly. As he stepped into the crowd, an enthusiastic salesperson shuffled by, handing out fliers left and right. This person’s voice cried out, delivering news of the most recent odds for those betting on the championship race. Amidst the shouting and the bustling crowd, John could make out a large stadium built out of the same grey blocks they built his underground cultivation rooms with. Along the top though were the words “Horse Racing Stadium” in red bricks.
Refocusing on his target, John followed the man from a safe distance. As he crept through the crowd, he took a parchment from one of the people handing them out. It had information about the racing championship match next month, but John wasn’t interested. He pretended to read as he followed the man.
Soon, the man walked down a dark corridor inside the racing stadium. John went around the corner and watched with his Life Vision and Immortal Eye. The man met up with a few others within a small room; because of the proximity, John wondered if it was a closet of some sort.
???
Rank: 0
Level: 0
Sin: 924
???
Rank: 0
Level: 0
Sin: 734
???
Rank: 0
Level: 0
Sin: 1,935
With these three people, plus the man who lead John there, John now had enough for his plan. He tried to think of how to deal with them without allowing any of the four people to create a commotion. A few minutes later, he decided what tactic he would use. He first waited for an opening where he could teleport into the room without being noticed.
When the four people were sitting in the middle of the room, it looked like they were each looking at something on the table. John decided it was time to put his plan into action.
Once he was in the room, he made four threads fly out of his finger to stab each person in the back of their necks. All four people dropped to the floor, paralysed. Stepping over to the first man, he dealt the finishing blow. Once the man was dead, he u
sed the Create Worker skill. The corpse turned black and convulsed.
The other three people had their eyes closed, but they were still breathing. John was stuck inside the room until the skill got completed on all four people because he didn’t want to risk not being able to use the skill if they died too long ago, or not being able to use the skill on more than one person at a time.
Turning around, John looked at the door. On the door, there were eight different locks, bolts, and padlocks. On the table, there was a single platinum coin inside a glass container.
Knitting his brows, John picked up the glass case and took the coin out.
Looking the coin over in his hand, he checked both sides and the edges of the coin. It appeared to be a normal platinum coin of the universal currency. But, once he used his black fingernails to scratch the coin’s surface, it was revealed as a fake. The platinum coating peeled off and underneath was a bronze colour.
This coin must be a prototype they were going to test in public at some point. Maybe by betting on the championship horse race, since that’s the perfect place to test fake currency.
He turned around and found coins piled in neat stacks within glass tubes, each sealed at the top and bottom. Each of the men in the room had bags full of these glass tubes. John estimated a rough 10 million pounds worth of coins between them.
Those glass tubes full of coins must be the money they earned from the day. But why would they carry their wealth around instead of hiding it? Does the Sword Sect have a banking system on this planet?
Questions still floating about his brain, it took four long hours for all four bodies to be transformed into puppets. Once the skill was complete, he ordered all four to follow him and walked out the door. They headed through the corridor towards the teleport building.
Coincidentally, while he was on his way, John spotted Sarah amidst a serious conversation with some heavyset woman. He watched from afar as she then teleported away. After some crowd searching, John then spotted Sarah with Lexis. They were making their way to the racing stadium when they spotted John and waved.