Chapter 517: Brewing Unreality
Nothing on Darkmist Island felt real. Honestly, the sense of unreality had started when Kai took them all away on his strange new ship, but Juray had been completely adrift ever since they landed in this mysterious place.
Most obviously, the place was a paradise of energy, from mana to chakra to qi. It constantly left her paranoid, thinking that it had to be some kind of trap because it wasn't possible that power could just be handed to her like this. Apparently this was actually just the way people lived on other continents, which still boggled her mind.
It wasn't so difficult to believe that Kai would just give them this opportunity, though. Despite everything that had happened to him, he hadn't changed.
The dark side of the unreality, however, was that they were utterly separated from the outside world. Back home, the incursion was only a few months away and would be threatening everyone... except if they didn't get back, they'd never know. Deadwaste could be wiped out and Darkmist Island could be as peaceful as it had ever been, every day like the next with the strange peaceful dark sky.
For that matter, Kai was apparently fighting for his life on Cloudspire, and anything could be happening, and Juray would never know. She wanted to believe in him, but in dark moments she couldn't help but think that he might have died and they would simply be abandoned here. It wasn't about pessimism, just realism: she had seen plenty of other hunters go off and die, and the fact that he was unbelievably powerful wouldn't protect him from stronger opponents and a world that seemed to hate him.
It was an odd comparison that left her feeling strangely blessed. Technically, Kai had access to this island and its incredible natural resources for a much longer period, yet for him it had been a desperately needed step to gaining power... for her, it was a surreal gift.
As she gathered herbs - herbs that would have been worth thousands of Goralian Eagles back home - Juray examined her own soul again.
<
Name: Juray Phrissan
Total Power: 145
Herbalist Class: 91 (101)
Dryad Crucible (+15)
Physique Level: G-9 (20)
Soul Level: 3 (9)
>
After slaving for ages to move from 115 to 120, on Darkmist Island she had leapt up to 145 total Power in just a couple of months. The most shocking development had been watching her Herbalist Class skyrocket - compared to her glacial progress previously, it seemed to leap upward effortlessly until she hit 90, and even the recent level hadn't been bad compared to what she was used to.
As for her Physique, she had risen to G-9 almost without meaning to. She'd continued to exercise and train a little with Raghi, but she hadn't expected that to result in any meaningful progress. But here, maybe because of the food or maybe just breathing in the air, those same exercises had brought her all the way to G-9.
Getting up into E-rank Physique would be more difficult, especially for someone like her without any extensive physical training. That seemed mad to her - physical titans like Raghi and Lofgan were in that tier... being in the same rank as either of the Tonjin brothers just didn't make any sense to her.
Well, that was something to worry about another time. Juray knew she would never be a fighter compared to the others, so she focused on being as good an Herbalist as she could be. Without her potions, Raghi would probably have died fighting one of the invading cultivators... next time, she hoped to do better for him.
Juray chopped the herbs into precise quantities, then melted everything together with some of her own mana. Just the strengthening of that alone had improved her potions, though it was knowledge that produced the real leaps in potion quality. One she had the base properly developed, she added some of Lofgan's donated mana to produce the final product.
Soon enough she had a glowing green potion, which she tried on herself. It made her body tremble with the new power, but she managed to sustain it and checked her soul again.
<
Name: Juray Phrissan
Total Power: 195
Herbalist Class: 91 (101)
Whistlewind Potion (+50)
Dryad Crucible (+15)
Physique Level: G-9 (20)
Soul Level: 3 (9)
>
Her Whistlewind Potion couldn't come close to mimicking Lofgan's Class ability, but it made mana thrum through the body and surrounded the drinker with a thin aura of defensive wind. Drinking it, Juray had nearly 200 Power, which was yet another unreality as far as she was concerned.
With all this, she could actually fight many of the "veteran hunters" who had scorned her in back in Monskon City. Not that she was as skilled as them, or that her Class offered any great abilities, but her minimal Physique combined with the raw mana meant that she could do some damage. If she managed to land a blow, she wouldn't be just a weak support.
Not that she intended to ever be in that position. No, her best defense was supporting all her allies.
She was strong enough to test her potions on herself now, but the real trial was always their actual use by fighters. Juray finished up a couple of new potions she wanted the Tonjins to test, plus some strengthening potions she hoped would help the younger trainees. Even though she felt much closer to the Tonjin brothers, it had been a pleasure to meet so many others from Deadwaste who had gone against what was expected of them.
Once she had everything packed up in her basket, Juray headed out to check on everyone training. She found Lofgan first, meditating on his Class near the brazier in the mana shrine. He looked very focused, but opened one eye when she arrived.
"Mm?"
"Just wanted to tell you that the potion worked," she told him. "I could use some more mana when you get a chance."
"Sure." Lofgan closed his eye again and returned to meditating. Others might have taken that as rude, but she knew that was just his way. As she left, Juray took a glance at his soul.
<
Name: Lofgan Tonjin
Total Power: 337
Whistlewind Class: 96 (106)
Waterborn: Oncedrowned (88)
Physique Level: E-9 (107)
Soul Level: 6 (36)
>
Lofgan was the only one who had made even more progress on his Class than she had, getting up to Level 96. They actually had more to talk about, when he was talking. That advancement had come at the expense of his Physique training, but he was still an incredibly formidable warrior by Goralian standards with a total of 337 Power.
Next up it was time to check on Raghi, who was in the training yard as usual. She unabashedly admired him, since he'd been looking better ever since his Physique had increased a rank - he was bulkier, yes, but she was fine with that, and he wore the muscle well. It looked good in his soul, too.
<
Name: Raghi Tonjin
Total Power: 349
Scrapper Class: 73 (83)
Ironfist: Quartz Rank (20)
Physique Level: D-2 (210)
Soul Level: 6 (36)
>
With his huge leap to D-rank Physique, Raghi had surpassed his brother at nearly 350 Power. He had made the incredibly difficult leap from E-rank via her potions, but that was almost entirely due to the powerful materials of this place, so she didn't feel like she could take credit.
Juray would take credit for the new "Ironfist" ability in his soul, however. It was a chakra-based ability, something she was working on mastering now that she had access to it. This one let him draw on and reinforce the Irunian gauntlets he wore, adding a respectable 20 Power to his soul. That was just the beginning, as he needed to train it further and that had proved tricky.
"Good work." As he finished his training, she walked up and kissed him on the cheek. "I have some potion refills for you."
"I don't think we'll run into any more monsters, though," Raghi said.
"Hey, let me keep you safe however I can. I have some improvements in there."
He grasped her waist and kissed her more properly. Juray let herself relax against him a little, despite feeling like there was so much to do. Maybe she needed to throw herself into making potions every minute, maybe not - it was hard to tell in this place. But since she needed to pace herself for years of work, it wouldn't hurt to relax and clear her mind. Whatever happened, they would keep moving forward together.
Then, without warning, god-like power dropped out of the sky.
They had plunged to the island in the Clanless before, but Juray hadn't imagined just how jarring it would be to see the ship come piercing through the misty illusions. It looked as though it would crash until nearly the last second, when it pivoted and came to a halt, the power sending ripples throughout the grasslands.
Someone was landing the ship, and Juray could feel other inhabitants, but she had eyes for only three: Kai and his wives leapt from the side to land nearby. And they redefined her ideas of both power and progress.
Each woman had Power in the 1700s, which was downright unbelievable to Juray. Kai felt like he had over 900 Power, which if the pattern held true meant his true monstrous strength was well over 1800. As far as she knew, none of the Frontier elites had reached four digits, so this level of strength was simply unimaginable.
Clearly they had been successful in their fight. Zae Zin Nim had turned gray somehow, yet she seemed happy and content. The other woman had to be Omilaena, and she was more stunning than Juray had imagined based on the description. She rolled her hips as she walked forward in a way that was both sexual and predatory, and her eyes were a very cold blue.
Kai was the first one to arrive, though, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling. "Glad to see you, Juray. No one got hurt?"
"I should be the one asking you that," Juray said with a smile. "You were the ones fighting a war, we just hung out on your private island. We had a few scares with the local monsters, but everyone's fine."
"Good. Everyone we took with us is fine too." Kai gripped her in a quick hug, which Juray appreciated, but also extracted herself from as soon as possible.
She was surprised that he was willing to do that, right in front of his wives. Juray glanced nervously at Zae Zin Nim, but the cultivator didn't seem as jealous as she would have expected, not threatened by their friendship. And Inafay had suggested Omilaena was an incorrigible flirt, so she was probably not offended... though the other woman was examining her with an unpleasantly analytical gaze.
They all began chatting about what had happened, especially once Inafay and her partner emerged from the ship. It seemed like there was a lot to talk about, more than they could manage now, especially since there was impatience in the group.
"What's our schedule?" Juray asked as soon as she could get everyone's attention. "I'm guessing you're wanting to get back to prep for the incursion?"
"As soon as reasonable," Kai agreed. "We can take part of a day if anyone needs to gather materials, but you should all get ready to move."
"You should talk to Raghi about their training. Otherwise that's fine, I'll get starting packing up all my work and we can catch up on the way back."
Juray hadn't meant it as an instruction, but everyone seemed to agree, because they moved instantly. Zae Zin Nim went straight to the Immortal's Cave on an unclear mission while Kai left to check in with the others. Inafay wanted to chat, but Juray was sincere about needing to pack up all her things, so she slipped away.
Back in her room, she looked over all her experiments with less enthusiasm than before. Yes, she was making progress as a Herbalist, but did any of that even rate compared to such incredible power? She told herself that her work mattered, since Raghi and so many other people like him still needed support.
The door creaked closed. Juray turned in surprise, saw a blue-nailed hand, then realized that Omilaena had been waiting behind it.
"So..." Omilaena prowled forward, eyes like ice. "I understand you're the one who broke in my husband."
"I..." Juray shifted back and bumped against her work table. Her throat was dry and she struggled to speak. "I don't think I was actually Kai's first..."
"But you took a lot of firsts." Omilaena had her practically pinned to the table now, with only a hair of space between them. Then, without warning, her vicious expression dissolved into a smirk. "I'm kidding, I'm actually grateful to you."
"Wait, what?"
"So many men with a lot of power are absolute garbage in bed, just smashing and pounding everything. You clearly nudged Kai onto the right path, and believe me, I'm reaping the rewards of that."
Juray took a breath as she realized that it might be okay. "So you just... decided to make me fear for my life for fun?"
"I have a nasty sense of fun." Omilaena put a hand on her shoulder, still pinning her to the table, but Juray realized that this was just teasing sexuality, not a serious threat or proposition. "I was being honest, though. It sounds like you've done some good work, despite having so little to work with. I want to change that."
"You mean..." Juray glanced back to her work table.
"I've been wanting someone else to talk to about potions and pills. Pack your shit and we can get started on the way."
Chapter 518: The New Generation of Clanless
Kai hadn't realized how much he was accustomed to traveling with just his wives until he had to deal with other people. It wasn't just that the others didn't have spatial items to make packing easy, it was all kinds of irritating inefficiencies. They didn't get their things together, milled around aimlessly, didn't know where to go, and generally wasted time instead of boarding the Clanless.
He waited nearby, pacing restlessly to release his impatience. By his best estimate, there were still over five months until the incursion, so four and a half once they got back. But that meant that each day they delayed here was burning time they didn't have to waste.
As far as he was concerned, he'd already been lenient. Instead of demanding they all join immediately, he'd given them a day to adjust and prepare - truthfully, he'd enjoyed it as well. The bed on the Clanless was nice, but it was a relief to be off the ship and sleeping on solid ground, just Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena together in their honeymoon bed again. But now, the next day, nothing was coming together and he was growing irritated.
When he paced to one of the training courtyards, he discovered two of the women just chatting with one another and gritted his teeth. A Goralian and an Irunian... he thought their names were Tori Quondan and Mariyay Hafkrir based on his memories of the first trip. Tori was an unusually small woman in traditional gray Irunian robes, while Mariyay was muscular and wearing a dirty tunic. He decided not to guess at their names and just spoke authoritatively.
"We need to be going," he told them. "Are your things already on the Clanless?"
"No, apologies." Tori gave an ashamed Irunian bow and started to back away.
Meanwhile, Mariyay's eyebrows knitted together. It looked like she might be about to say something, but then she closed her mouth.
"Is there a problem?" Kai asked, taking a step forward to loom over her. "If you need help, I'll do what I can, but we need to get moving."
"Excuse me." The new voice interrupted and a man jumped from the hill by the house to land in the training courtyard.
This one was a man a few years younger than Kai, one of the new trainees, but Kai didn't remember him at first. Whoever he was, he had bushy eyebrows with hints of flame, like he was from the Fire Union... except he wore elaborate blue Water Union robes. That jogged Kai's memory and he realized that this was the man who had been bred for water powers, only to become Flameborn.
For a moment they just stared at one another and Kai wondered if they were really going to face off. The other man - still a blank on the name - was only a little shorter than Kai, but there was absolutely no comparison in their strength. If he'd survived this long with a bad hand, surely he couldn't be so stupid...
Then he dropped down to his knees and planted his face in the ground.
"Please give us more time," the young Flameborn man said. "I know we have no right to ask anything, not when you've already given us access to your personal island. But the power here is unlike anything we've ever felt before. Some of us are close... we fear that if we leave, we won't be able to break through on Deadwaste."
It was a reasoned argument, so Kai glanced at the man's soul, simultaneously remembering his name.
<
Name: Ankrastor of the Undertow
Total Power: 226
Flameborn: Twiceburned (103)
Physique: E-9 (107)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
>
"Ankrastor of the Undertow" was remarkable for Deadwaste at 226 Power, especially since he relied mostly on his Flameborn ability, having broken into the Twiceburned rank. Kai understood why the other man might be desperate: he had E-9 Physique, and D rank was almost unheard of on Deadwaste. So it made sense from his perspective, but speed was still paramount.
"That's not a problem," Kai told him. "Omilaena can probably create an injection to get you to D rank Physique, here or on Deadwaste. So let's go."
"Please." Ankrastor kept his forehead against the ground. "It isn't just me, many of us are on the edge of advancement. We want to learn from you, and we'll obey whatever you say. But we all failed on Deadwaste... if we go back without breaking through..."
Behind him, the plea seemed to have rallied the others: Mariyay folded her arms and nodded agreement, while even Tori stopped retreating and came to stand beside them. They were staring at him, both defiantly and earnestly. It looked like they were going to get down and kneel as well, so Kai reached for a phase of speed and thought furiously while they seemed to slow.
He glanced at Mariyay's soul first...
<
Name: Mariyay Hafkrir
Total Power: 174
Builder Class: 14 (24)
Earthborn: Onceshaken (43)
Physique: E-3 (91)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
>
Mariyay only had 174 Power and Tori was even lower, so they wouldn't make much difference... except Kai recoiled from that thought as soon as it entered his mind. He never wanted to become an arrogant cultivator who forgot what those few points of Power could mean to someone weaker. Even if he'd earned his success, he'd earned it via the intense magic of Rosemount and Cloudspire. And he wasn't trying to train these people up to fight Sky Souls, only to keep Deadwaste alive through the incursion.
This text was taken from NovelBin. Help the author by reading the original version there.
That made him realize that he was being stubborn: raising up allies for the incursion was the entire reason he was rushing back home. Yes, they needed time to build the armies of Krysal and Irun, but a few days wouldn't make a huge difference. These trainees they had left on Darkmist Island were significant assets.
And, when it came down to it, he refused to deny them the opportunities that had been denied him. Everyone had given up on him when his abilities hadn't come through properly, citing the brutal equations of surviving the incursions. Now he'd nearly done the same.
"You're right." Kai took a deep breath, then grabbed Ankrastor's shoulders and pulled him upright. "We'll train you on the Clanless, but we should take some time to prepare here. I'll go talk to Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena about our new plans... everyone who wants final training, gather in the northern field."
Kai went to check on his wives to confirm the new plans, which he belatedly realized he shouldn't have declared without checking. Omilaena had already helped Juray pack up entirely, but just rolled her eyes and nodded. He'd expected Zae Zin Nim to raise objections, but she was happily cultivating in the Immortal's Cave and seemed unconcerned.
So he returned to the field... and found almost two dozen trainees waiting there for him.
"I'm not good at speeches," Kai told them as he bounded up to the group. "You probably don't need one. We're going to train like you've never trained before - I'm not saying you're going to work harder, you're going to work smarter. If we understand what all of you need, we can help you take the next step. It may not be the one you expect."
As he spoke, Kai glanced over the group with his spiritual senses. With some exceptions, they all had around 150-200 Power, which was impressive considering the group had an average closer to 100 when he'd left them. To them that growth must have seemed even more insane: their strength had doubled and they'd gone from being a strong fighter in one city to being one of the strongest in a whole region. He understood why they were so adamant about staying on the island as long as they could.
Speech over, Kai just had the group do various sparring and training exercises while he examined their souls, then spoke to them a little. Many were understandably desperate to train Physique: the dense energy of Darkmist Island had gotten them into E rank and they wanted more. That was definitely one option, though he intended to find some more creative solutions.
Only one of the trainees really surprised him, a blue-skinned woman he remembered was named Kifaela.
<
Name: Kifaela
Total Power: 227
Naiad Essence: 8 (1)
Unformed Plague Chakra (5)
Physique: D-1 (205)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
>
She had 227 Power despite the fact that her fundamental Naiad Essence was stuck at a mere 1 Power. Now that he saw her again, he remembered hearing about her before: the others had whispered that she had some sort of wasting disease that left much of her skin covered in scars and one eye a milky white, though she tried to hide this with her hair. More importantly, it made her incapable in her own race's art.
Not so different from him, but what captured Kai's attention was that she'd attained a Physique of D-1, the only trainee to have broken into D rank. Naiads usually didn't have Physique at all, since that capacity was rolled into their essence, so that was a puzzle - Omilaena would definitely want to examine the woman later. Beyond that, though, Kai was honestly eager to talk to her about Physique training for his own sake, to see if she had anything he could use.
As much as he wanted to do that, he reminded himself that he was there to help the entire group, so he kept looking. He saw that while most of the trainees were working together, some enthusiastically, two hung around at the edges, rejects among rejects.
That couldn't be allowed. Kai strolled around the group to intercept the first, a man who was somewhat older than the group in his early thirties. Dark hair, tanned skin... Kai realized that he was Birtaegali and then remembered his name because it was "Bonto" or something like that. It sounded silly to Goralian ears, but he'd run into a lot of unusual names in his travels since.
<
Name: Bonto Birtaegali
Total Power: 213
Manalance: 22 (42)
Crystal Cultivation: 1153 (57)
Physique: E-6 (98)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
>
Bonto was in the 200+ Power category, some of it coming from his native Manalance ability. It was modestly powerful by Deadwaste standards, but apparently not enough in Birtaegal, because he'd somehow accumulated crystals in Krysal for cultivation. Despite those two abilities, his Physique was currently the source of the majority of his strength.
"What brings you here, Bonto?" Kai asked.
"I..." The Birtaegali man swallowed and looked away. Kai wasn't sure if it was because of the oddity of their ages, Kai being younger yet so much more powerful... or it could be that they'd heard about the Birtaegali mercenaries he'd killed back in Irun.
"It's not a challenge. I just need to understand what led you here. Birtaegali don't usually travel all the way to Krysal, and I don't feel anything broken in your talent."
"Just never took to it, that's all." Bonto shuffled back and rubbed his arms as if cold. "Army or mercenaries, it's all about ranks. Manalance is common, and mine wasn't great, so I realized I'd never be anything. They called me Buffuno... yeah, it's dumb, but they might be right."
"You say that," Kai pointed out, "yet somehow you traveled all the way to Krysal on your own strength."
"Yeah, well... first I went to the Elemental Nations, but their power just burned out in me. I kept going, ended up in Krysal. Their cultivation seemed strong, but I only had enough money to buy a few crystals. And then, well... the revolution happened, and foreigners couldn't buy them anymore."
That was a perspective Kai hadn't considered: fortunes had been ruined in the Krysali revolution, and others had been raised up from slavery, but there were also people just getting along who had their lives thrown into chaos. Fortunately, in this one single case, he could do something about it.
"I know some Krysali leaders, so I can get you some more crystals," Kai promised. "But you can't rely on that alone, the power levels off too fast. We'll train your Manalance too, and maybe we can get that Physique up a rank, huh?"
Bonto's eyes widened as if that was significantly more aggressive than he had been considering, but the man nodded, perhaps a little encouraged. Kai clapped him on the shoulder and moved on, again circling the group to look for issues.
They might have averages of 200 Power now, but many were close to breakthroughs that would make them grow explosively. Moreover, he saw a determination in their eyes that he remembered in his own. If he just gave them the opportunities he never had, they'd grow strong, he was sure of it.
Except, as Kai rounded the group, he realized that the second person on the outskirts was an exception to most patterns. With a lot of qi and silvery green skin, the man was probably a dryad from Cloudspire, which was unexpected.
<
Name: ???
Total Power: 118
Dryad Essence: 31 (93)
Cultivation: Qi Condensation 88% (16)
Soul Level: 3 (9)
>
At 118 Power, he was significantly weaker than the group average, without the solid Soul Level of the others, and only a cultivation breakthrough in the near future. Maybe he was just there hoping to take some resources... but Kai decided to set aside skepticism and approached him with a smile.
"I don't believe we've been introduced?"
"Sorry," the dryad said. He rubbed his neck underneath his leafy hair. "Maybe it's not allowed. I know I'm not from Deadwaste, and-"
"I didn't say anything like that." Kai clapped him on the shoulder. "What's your name?"
"I'm, uh, Kyridnyiam. From the dryad community. The one that, you know..."
"I'm sorry we couldn't do anything to stop them."
"But that's just it, you did." Kyridnyiam suddenly moved forward, eyes fixed on Kai's. "Nymidria was our angel... you were her best ally, you fought with her until the end, and you finally took revenge for her. I would have taken revenge myself, if I had the strength. I want... I want to do what you do. To overthrow the... the..."
His energy faded out as he ended up spluttering, running out of words. Kai didn't claim to understand Cloudspire psychology, but he thought he could understand a little of what the young dryad was thinking.
"Nymidria was a great woman," he said softly. "If you want to train with us, you're welcome, just try to be worthy of her name."
"Oh, thank you!" Kyridnyiam started to drop to his knees, then forced himself to straighten up and nod instead. He began to babble more thanks, but Kai shut it down with another clap to the shoulder and then guided him into the group for introductions.
There was so little time left to build anything, and Kai was never good at building compared to destroying. But for now, for just a little while, he would make a difference in all these lives that could have been his own.
Chapter 519: Training Away From Darkmist Island
In the end, they didn't spend much time at all on Darkmist Island. Kai spent two days training the Deadwaste volunteers, or rather evaluating each and then helping them gather the materials they would need in the future. Combined with all their treasures from Cloudspire, the group's fears of not being able to advance on Deadwaste seemed assuaged.
Several days out from the island, Kai was still mostly thinking about those volunteers. He didn't know them all well, since some seemed to avoid him, others were private, and there was only so much time in the day around his own training. While he was enjoying working with them, part of his mind kept telling him that he should be focusing on his own strength, either because he would be a greater part of their war assets or because he couldn't afford to stop, ever.
Kai wasn't sure exactly where that voice was coming from. That was more Zae Zin Nim's philosophy, but she was content with her personal cultivation and had no scowls for him. Omilaena might have pushed him to optimize his time - in theory, because she actually hadn't.
Maybe it was really a selfish part of him. But there was also another voice reminding him that he wasn't likely to be personally threatened by the incursion, so these people were the ones putting their lives on the line. It would be wrong to make himself even more invincible against average monsters when the others were going into the fight of their lives.
Yet reflecting on their various strengths and obstacles had also made him consider his own training again. The time to keep his nose to the grindstone was when he desperately needed a breakthrough, but that alone wouldn't have gotten him to this point since it led to dead ends. They all had time, so they needed to seek new solutions, and he had to do the same.
Once he was finished with his cultivation and Physique training, Kai headed out to find the other trainees and see if he couldn't solve a few problems at once. Ankrastor already had a clear plan trying to break through to D-rank Physique, while Bonto and Kyridnyiam were cultivating with Zae Zin Nim. He wanted to talk to Untariin and Tori, but either they had been unlucky or they were avoiding him. That left Mariyay, who he just hadn't had a chance to talk to yet, and Kifaela, who had the greatest potential for them both.
He found Kifaela first: the naiad was seated on the back deck of the Clanless, her hands cupped around a container of lethal-smelling chakra. Her dark blue hair fell in locks like waterfalls, obscuring her pale blue skin and one milky-white eye. When she saw him she shifted nervously, almost as if suspicious of his intentions.
"I thought my path was clear," she said. "Didn't we agree I need to keep developing plague chakra?"
"And convert a weakness into a strength," Kai agreed. "But you can't win on that alone, so I want to talk about Physique."
"What, exactly?" The eye he could see was guarded, even more suspicious than before.
"I know the jump to D-rank is huge, but each level is another 5 Power, so you shouldn't neglect further training. I have some suggestions that might help you... and honestly, I was hoping that we could trade tips."
"Trade? You're C-rank, what could I possibly offer you?"
"It's not that simple." Kai sat down cross-legged opposite her, doing his best to ignore the plague chakra in her hands. "I've only advanced this far by incorporating new Physique training routines, so I'm always looking for more, and I haven't ever tried naiad techniques. I have no idea how that works for you, actually."
"It doesn't." Kifaela's lips twisted in irritation, but this time it didn't seem focused on him. "In theory, we train ourselves in water charged with mana and it soaks into our bodies and souls. For me..."
"So I heard. But you still managed to reach D-rank, which hardly anyone does."
"On Deadwaste, you mean."
"No, that's impressive anywhere. On Cloudspire you'd be amazed how many cultivators never bother to go past E-rank. But if you can't rely on easy powers, you have to hunt for whatever you can get, right?"
At last Kifaela seemed to relax a little and nodded in response. "You're right, but I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. I don't know exactly what I did... because of my disease, I had to reject naiad techniques and train with humans. Somehow... this happened."
Kai questioned her about her history, partially searching for useful clues and partially just to get to know her better. If anything, Kifaela had been set on a harder path than his: Goralians might focus on Class, but they knew plenty of humans followed other paths. Naiads only had water. It was everything to them, and without the ability to connect with it, Kifaela was considered not really a naiad at all. So she'd eventually abandoned her community and ventured into human lands to find her own path.
While she spoke Kai tried to use deeper spiritual sight to examine the details of her soul, but it wouldn't come together properly. The way some species had personal essence but no Physique had always thrown him off, even back to getting confused about the first dryad he'd seen. Well, he'd known that he would probably need support anyway.
"Are you okay with being examined by Omilaena?" Kai eventually asked. "If she can untangle the different pieces of your soul, we might be able to gain some insight."
"You think it can actually help?" Kifaela asked. "The disease is in my blood, so I'm sure it's incurable, even for you."
"Oh, I didn't mean that. But if you've gotten this far with Physique using relatively few exercises, then you actually probably have a lot more growth to unlock. The question is how it all works together, and for that we need an expert."
"Very well, then. I will be examined by her."
When he'd asked the question, Kai had meant it as a formality, but Kifaela seemed to have taken it with great seriousness. He supposed that Omilaena could seem pretty sinister to outsiders, so what he was asking didn't seem as simple to them. Only Goralian politeness had saved him from what could have been a faux pas.
In any case, it got them moving off the deck to the back cabin, where Omilaena and Juray were usually engaged in their experiments. That day when they entered, Juray was nowhere to be seen and the main table had been cleared. Instead Orotaisin lay across it, shirtless with a blue coil resting over his heart.
Omilaena stood beside him, a hand on his chest. When she saw Kai, she immediately pretended to be flustered.
"Wait, it's not what it looks like! I'm actually cheating on you specifically to violate your trust!"
"How is the Brightwind Meridian Perfection coming?" Kai asked Orotaisin, ignoring Omilaena entirely.
"Reasonably well," he said mildly, sitting up and removing the coil as if this was all perfectly ordinary. "I can absorb the meridians, but the problem is making sure that achieving this 'perfect' state does not interfere with any of my other abilities, particularly my new cultivation."
"Calling it a 'problem' is underselling it," Omilaena said with a grin. "Those elites of yours already had him on what seems like a very balanced plan for his soul, but I think with this we can increase the synergy even more. The problem is that the Brightwind Meridian Perfection treasure was developed for elite cultivators, not Windborn who are still growing."
"Can I get your opinion on something else meanwhile?"
Orotaisin nodded and headed out with a few more words. That left three of them, Omilaena slinking over to bump her hip against his while Kifaela stood back, her one visible eye darting between them. Hopefully Omilaena would be able to figure out a solution to this as well, so he started to explain the issues with naiad Physique.
"Say no more," Omilaena interrupted, pulling on her blue goggles. "Why some species have essence instead of Physique, right? That's actually a bit of a puzzle I'd wanted to solve myself, so I'm happy to look into it."
"Do I need to do anything?" Kifaela asked, shifting nervously.
"Strip naked for me."
"You don't need to strip." Kai rolled his eyes and swatted Omilaena's backside - he'd intended to discourage her, though he realized that might have the opposite effect. "Just hold still and she'll examine your soul on a deeper level, figuring out connections aside from abilities and raw power."
In any case, Omilaena didn't throw out any more jokes as she peered over the naiad. After that she drew some blood and examined it with her goggles, then whipped out several more vials for comparison. Some of them actually glowed with a little power, one that felt like Nymidria and another that Kai puzzled over until he put it together.
"Is that lamia essence?" he asked.
"Exactly. I was serious when I said I'd been wanting to solve this myself." After examining things for a while, Omilaena grinned triumphantly and stuck her goggles on her forehead. "Wasn't so hard, in the end. Seems like some species have an expanded Physique, invading into the essence category."
"So it's like Physique and an essence ability in one?"
"Right, but the combination reads as essence in spiritual sight because humans are used to seeing Physique in its 'pure' form. If there was a whole continent of another species, they might actually get confused about human Physique and see it as partially their ability. In any case, naiad girl here split her nature into two, allowing her to build her Physique separately from her stunted essence."
"Kifaela," Kai put a hand on the younger woman's shoulder to remind Omilaena to be more polite, "has come unusually far with her Physique. Could this be related?"
"Yeah, it's a result of working against a severe restriction. Imagine, say... a man without legs who gets around on his arms all day. He'll have built up those arms in a way others haven't."
Kifaela let out a breath. "But they'll never be as good as legs, will they?"
"Aww, don't be that way." Omilaena smiled over at her, less predatory than usual. "If you keep training that chakra, you can - metaphorically - grow new legs. Nasty plague-causing legs, hopefully."
"So you... really intend to help. You really think I can overcome this."
"Of course we do," Kai said, letting a little hurt leak into his voice. "Didn't you believe me?"
"Honestly..." Kifaela glanced over at Omilaena and narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't sure whether she intended to kill me to use for an experiment, or invite me into bed."
"I would never!" Omilaena swept a hand to her chest in mock-horror. "I am a chaste, married woman and I object to such an accusation!"
Sighing, Kai took Kifaela aside to discuss their potential training options. It seemed that, despite her suspicions, she did believe them and was hopeful that she could find a way forward. In turn, he was increasingly hopeful that her restricted training exercises might be useful for him as well. More importantly, though, he wanted to reassure Kifaela about Omilaena and make clear that her suggestions were always jokes.
Once that was settled, he moved over to his wife where she was setting up a new experiment for the naiad. When he moved behind her, she bumped back against him and rolled her eyes.
"You better not be here to give me a lecture," she said. "They can take a little teasing."
"It's not that at all." Kai reached down to put his hands on her hips and hold her against him. "Just try to figure out the new exercises as soon as you can. I think it would be best to hit the very peak of C-rank before I use the seed, and I'm worried about wasting time."
"You're feeling guilty about helping the trainees, aren't you?" Omilaena leaned back against his chest, looking up at him with a piercing gaze.
"Well... yes. I'm surprised you haven't gotten upset about spending so much time helping others."
"Kai, you're too altruistic for your own good, but it's possible to be too selfish for your own good too. I think you miss out on some opportunities due to your methods, but truthfully, Zin Nim and I miss out on things too. For example, without Orotaisin experimenting with the Brightwind Meridian Perfection, we wouldn't be able to purify them for Zin Nim."
"Then..."
"Go ahead and help them while I figure out the synergies. I've got your back." Omilaena's expression dissolved into a smirk as she bumped her ass back against his crotch. "You actually have mine, but we can negotiate repayment later."
Ignoring that, Kai bent down to kiss her, and Omilaena responded smoothly. It didn't last long, but the kiss meant more than he expected. Even in this, she really was ready to support him. That made it a lot easier to put aside his concerns and get to work, both in his own training and preparing the others.
On his way out the door, Kai cracked his knuckles and considered his next steps.
Chapter 520: Conflicts Among Trainees
Even though Kai still thought it was bizarre that sex could be training, somehow, he wasn't going to complain about everything he'd learned in dual cultivation. It was a wonderful fusion of two different aspects of his life with his wives, and it wasn't so awkward once he got used to it.
This session left him lying with Zae Zin Nim cuddling against his chest as they both caught their breath. All of the mana and qi had faded, and the chakra was no longer surging between them so powerfully, leaving just the two of them and their relationship. And that relationship definitely involved a lot of training.
"My Physique progress has been consistent," Zae Zin Nim was telling him. "I think a large portion of my development now is internal, building on the foundation I set up with the Blackblood Physique."
"You must still need outside energy." As he spoke, Kai lazily slid his hand up and down her back. "Do you think you'll slow down on Deadwaste?"
"No, not with all the cultivation resources we've gathered. I only expect progress to slow when I hit the peak of E-rank."
"And what then?" Kai asked. His entire body was relaxed and he was in an oddly contemplative mood. "I mean... you were training to fight your father for so long, what's your next goal?"
"I have to become an untouchable Sky Soul." Zae Zin Nim nodded in determination against his chest. "We need power so overwhelming that no one would dare try to team up against us. However... I will also refine my destructive techniques to help with the incursion. And assist Inafay and Orotaisin with their cultivation so that they survive as well."
"And the trainees, of course."
"Maybe." She spoke flatly, but Kai thought she was joking. Well, he didn't expect her to adopt them as quickly as he had, and the important thing was that she was contributing to their training so that the entire group was ready.
They lay together for a while, absorbing the last traces of the energy that had flowed between them. Each session of dual cultivation produced new qi, grinding both of them toward the next tier. Physique also passed between them, his wife's Blackblood energy mixing with his monstrous Physique and making each grow slightly.
"What about you?" Zae Zin Nim placed her hands against his chest and shifted upward to stare directly into his face. "Beyond the incursion, what are you aiming for?"
"Well... I think we need to keep aiming higher, toward powers we don't understand." That was a bit abstract, so Kai forced himself to think beyond the incursion timeline. "If everyone survives, that gives us a whole seven years before the next one. We might be strong enough to explore the Blood Current again, properly this time, or we could try for Lostwreck, or maybe even search for the theoretical fifth continent. If we want to totally surpass the power we've seen so far, we need a new source."
"Very good." His wife nodded somberly, but he saw the deep approval there.
He kissed her again, then they finally split up. With all the new qi flooding through her, Zae Zin Nim was going to begin another session of cultivation, while Kai's next step wasn't clear. The Beggar King's Robes wrapped around him as he left their cabin, searching for some sort of insight.
"Dual cultivating, huh?" Omilaena popped up beside him and slapped his butt, though it was almost perfunctory. "I have a more boring duty for you, dear husband: make the trainees shut up."
"What's this?" Kai asked. He could hear some sparring throughout the ship, but nothing shocking.
"Juray and I are doing some good work, but their bickering keeps distracting us. My solution would involve copious application of poison, so maybe you'd better take care of it."
"Sure, I'll check on them."
"By the way, we're getting closer to some results, so you should look forward to something new and get ready for some dual cultivation of our own." Omilaena gave him an exaggerated wink. "We're going to need some raw materials."
Kai would look forward to that, but he was distracted by what she'd said about the trainees arguing. The group seemed to have bonded during their stay on Darkmist Island and he'd always imagined them as a tightly-knit team, so the possibility of real conflict troubled him. He'd wanted to return to Deadwaste with a unified army.
When he searched out the sounds with his monstrous hearing, Kai thought he detected a fight more aggressive than mere sparring on the back deck of the Clanless. He bounded in that direction, nearly bowling over Mariyay, who was staring toward the fight. She retreated, perhaps to get out of his way, but also oddly quickly, like she was avoiding him.
No time to think about that: Cragrila and Untariin appeared to be trying to kill one another.
Kai hadn't gotten a chance to see the Krysali fighter in action, so he hesitated for a moment, watching. Untariin was practically juggling knives, generating new crystal ones before hurling them at his opponent with real anger. Yet despite the number of knives he had in the air, when he touched one, it was always a firm grip preparing him for a serious attack. Meanwhile, Cragrila swept her spear in an aggressive arc, not only deflecting his knives, but shattering them entirely.
She turned one sweeping movement into a thrust that seemed deadly serious, aiming for his heart. Untariin barely managed to dodge and hurled another knife at the same time, directly at her face. Cragrila shifted her shoulder and the knife exploded against the crystals growing from her body.
Despite the fact that they seemed serious, Kai didn't think they'd kill each other in the next few seconds, so he took the time to examine Untariin's soul.
<
Name: Untariin of Cuulisi
Total Power: 257
Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)
Physique: E-9 (107)
Soul Level: 5 (25)
>
He had a total of 257 Power - among the top trainees - coming from crystal cultivation and Physique that seemed locked at local maximums. In a way, he was like the inverse of many crystalliers Kai had fought: they relied on raw power, while Untariin was much more skilled than his strength suggested. Perhaps in the past he would have been given a lot more crystals and made into a Diamond Crystallier.
Both of them drew blood in the next exchange. Kai noted that as strong as Untariiin was, he didn't stand a chance against Cragrila. She was fighting to subdue him, while he was using lethal techniques, either out of the anger flashing in his eyes or just desperation.
"Enough!" Kai stepped in between them and activated Famished World. The aura sent Cragrila staggering back to the railing of the ship, while Untariin dropped to one knee and clutched the side of his head. "What is this about?"
When he deactivated Famished World, the two of them recovered. They didn't exactly look chastised, but at least they weren't trying to kill each other anymore.
"This one revealed his true intentions," Cragrila said with an accusatory finger. "He wants to undo the revolution and enslave the crystal miners again."
"I'm not enslaving anyone," Untariin spat back. "You just flipped the social order, and now people like me are made the new slaves."
"A little discomfort only seems like slavery if you have no idea what the real thing is."
"Your revolution took everything. It left us penniless, robbed me of my future, threw my parents into the street to-"
"Their fortune was built on the slave labor of-"
"Okay." Kai raised a hand and, to their credit, they both stopped arguing. He used his other hand to rub his eyes. "I guess it's inevitable that we need to talk about this. Cragrila, you know I'm sympathetic to you, but before the incursion isn't the right time to relitigate Krysali problems. Can I trust you to understand that?"
She sighed as she nodded, and he trusted her to be responsible. That left Untariin, and it now seemed logical why the young man hadn't engaged with him directly. In fact, based on the flashing anger in his eyes, Untariin might blame Kai even more for taking away his future.
And he wasn't entirely wrong.
"Alright, the two of us should talk." Kai stepped closer and took Untariin's shoulder, gently guiding him away from the training deck to one of the paths along the side. With the wind whipped past them, they should be able to have a private conversation.
"Is this where you kick me out?" Untariin demanded. "Or actually throw me over the side?"
"Is that the sort of thing you think I'd do?" Kai asked.
"Based on your track record, it's hard to guess what you might do next."
"I guess that's fair. But I have an important question for you: if you had the power to change Krysal, would you make things go back to the way they were before?"
Untariin stared at him for a long time, anger fading to skepticism. Eventually he turned to lean against the railing and spoke slowly. "No. I think a lot of the revolutionaries are a bloodthirsty mob, no better than the worst nobles... but... not worse. They made us see the mines and acid pits, and conditions there were bad. Krysal shouldn't go back to the old ways."
It was hard to know if Untariin was just saying what he thought Kai wanted to hear, but there seemed to be some sincerity in his voice. "Did you know about them before?" Kai asked.
"I'm not going to lie and say I had no idea. I knew, it just... wasn't what I was thinking about. I was trying to be the best crystallier I could. I figured the others just had their place, same as officials or city workers."
"That's how it usually goes."
They lapsed into silence for a time, staring off into the sky. It was still ocean on all sides, but in a strange way Kai could feel that Deadwaste was over the eastern horizon. Soon enough this pure world of training and preparation would disappear and they'd be plunged back into the politics.
"You didn't know who I was," Untariin said abruptly. "Now that you know I'm a former noble, are you kicking me out?"
"Oh, I heard about that before." Kai shook his head. "The reason I fought in the revolution was because I want to help people who have been treated unfairly by life. You've been lucky in some ways... but life has been unfair to you too. If you're sincere about fighting the incursion, I'll do what I can to help you."
"My city was in the east, I saw what the incursions could do. But... I can't fight in Krysal. They wouldn't want me there. If you can get me somewhere else, I promise, I'll do everything I can."
"We'll have to think about where you might fit in," Kai said, then put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "But first, let's get working on that Physique."