Chapter 561: A Hundred Different Krysals
As Omilaena decanted the qi crystals, she was, in a sense, pretending to work. Oh, she was actually processing them, and this was a meaningful part of research, but her mind wasn't focused on it. She checked the intensity of the qi, made a little note to herself, and then peered over her equipment.
Her real project, basically ever since they had left Irun, was observing the other two.
They'd moved back to Yulthens for the sake of convenience, since their real project was spread across all the Krysal City States. This had different effects: Zin Nim was more content, returning to the Acidarium and working on her new path of acid cultivation. By contrast, Kai acted bold and heroic in public, then seemed to fold in on himself in private, taking on the burdens of the nation as his own.
Once she had the crystal process underway, Omilaena had earned herself some time to go bother the others. She started with Zin Nim, who was seated beside a glass basin of acid, using her qi to make it flow in complex shapes.
"If I interrupt you, will that acid go flying anywhere?" Omilaena asked from behind.
"No," Zin Nim said, gesturing at the acid formation.
Omilaena immediately slid up behind, wrapping her arms around her. "Even if I do this?"
"It isn't the time for that," Zae Zin Nim said, not as sternly as she probably intended. Omilaena had mercy on her and merely rested her head on the other woman's shoulder to watch.
"I'm working on refining the crystals, but I don't expect to come up with a breakthrough in time. The fundamental shape of crystal cultivation is simply too limited - if there was a simple way to get better results from the same number of crystals, they'd have found it generations ago."
"Mm. I expected as much, so I have been evaluating their crystalliers."
"And? How do they look?"
"They look many different ways." Zin Nim clenched a hand and compressed the acid into a dense sphere, then frowned. "A few cities have a balanced mix, but not many. There are others still controlled by crystalliers, or ex-slaves trained as crystalliers, where nothing will change. But a lot of others, they're churning out low quality fighters with around 100 Power. That's decent for a soldier, but they're untrained, they're not mobile, and they lack offense."
"Yeah, our weakest soldiers in Irun would stomp them. Kai and Krainuun were talking about those problem cities the other day. At least their numbers can reinforce one another."
"The absurd part is that they've set a limit of 9999 qi crystals. This reduces the strength of their crystalliers, just in the name of a silly ideology."
"Going to have to disagree with you there," Omilaena said. Zin Nim looked at her like she was joking, but she was dead serious. "Crystal cultivation has diminishing returns, so you get the most total strength if you spread the crystals out. Ten thousand is as good a break point as any... I think the ideal distribution would be to find people who are already decent via acid cultivation or Physique, then give them crystals to put them over the top."
"Perhaps, but the distribution is rarely rational." Zin Nim sniffed, then let the acid in the air drop back into the basin before turning to her. "I want to hear about your plans as well. Do you think it will be possible to create an acid Physique?"
"Afraid not. I had help in Irun, plus it's a fundamentally corporeal ability, unlike cultivation."
"A shame. But I-"
"Ah, but I'm not helpless." Omilaena held up a finger. "I can definitely produce pills that will help with Physique breakthroughs. For example, acid cultivators have a lot of health issues, but I should be able to boost them past those."
Zin Nim nodded eagerly. "This is good news. When you have time, please produce enough to distribute."
"And how is that going to work?"
"I will give some to Yurwa, because she knows the best acid cultivators, and some to Krainuun, because he can distribute resources reasonably. I don't want to get involved in the politics of the rest. The cultivators in the Acidarium are reasonable, but in some other cities, the revolutionary factions are very angry and noisy."
"Heh, can't blame you for that. What about crystallization, like Cragrila?"
"That is... unfortunately political." Zin Nim frowned at the basin of acid. "I know Kai wants to strengthen Krysal as much as possible, but some of these people are mad. I remember them being more noble during the war, different from Cloudspire peasants."
"These are different times," Omilaena said with a shrug. "The people willing to fight for their freedom are different from the people who will posture as freedom fighters once there's power to be gained in it."
"You may be right. But what I mean to say is that I think we should limit how many people we offer such power to, otherwise they will destabilize things."
"How many are even ready?"
"Maggle, if Kai can persuade him to train."
"Nirka?"
Zin Nim scowled. "She has not been seen in some time, so it's irrelevant in any case. Krainuun also has a list of trusted people, so you should speak to him. All I mean to say is that you should prepare to repeat the process, just not wildly. I know you may want to experim-"
"Don't worry." Omilaena squeezed the other woman from behind, chastely this time. "I got my fill in Irun. You're leading the way here, I'm just having fun."
That finally got Zin Nim to smile a little, twisting enough in her embrace to kiss her cheek. Omilaena gave her another squeeze, then stepped away. The workers in the Acidarium no longer got in her way, which was convenient, and no longer even stared as she sashayed around, which she viewed as somewhere between a challenge and an insult.
Ever since the confrontation in Torleen, Kai had been working more publicly, training groups of ex-crystalliers and ex-slaves at the same time. He thought it would promote unity, but Omilaena suspected that he was wasting his time doing it in Yulthens, where things were stable. The real nasty conflicts would be further out, in the city states that had been chaotic during the revolution.
She found him in a public square, leading soldiers in a Physique routine that he did at ten times the difficulty. Omilaena found a spot on a roof and cultivated while she flagrantly ogled Kai. It was a shame that the Beggar King's Rag's weren't form-fitting, but she wondered if she could convince them to shape-shift for her.
When he was done, the training soldiers began to split up, some clearly intending to waste Kai's time. Omilaena hadn't built up enough patience for that, so she jumped down and grabbed his collar to pull him aside. The soldiers, unaccustomed to her presence, stared and backed away. Good to know she still had it.
"Everything okay?" Kai asked. He smiled confidently, but she could tell that it was for the crowd.
"Just cooperating with Zin Nim." Omilaena shrugged. "How do things look in Krysal?"
"I wish there was a simple answer to that question. The nation doesn't have one condition, but many. Cities like Slaerta are well-prepared, while Romastir is a mess and Philaster is practically fighting itself. There are contingency forces, but I'm afraid they'll be spent keeping the disasters from spilling over."
"So what's your plan? Running around and fixing as many as you can?"
"We only have one month to prove ourselves, and two before..." Kai shook his head slowly, false smile fading a little. "There isn't enough time to do it all ourselves. We need to get buy-in from all the factions, and frankly, right now that looks improbable."
"Regretting helping out all those sad freedom fighters?" Omilaena smirked and put a hand on her hip. "They're not so sympathetic when they start rioting and getting in the way, are they?"
"There's no need to go that far." Kai looked at her seriously. "Remember that many slaves from the mines or pits never experienced an incursion, not directly, so they're too casual about it now. But this one is likely to be rough, so to survive, they'll have to pull together."
"Ah, so you're pinning all your hopes on keeping them alive until adversity can fuse them into a new nation. Very lofty."
"Come on, I'm not entirely naive. I'm also trying to make sure that the most reasonable forces end up doing the most good for their cities. After, once Krainuun steps down, all the factions will be campaigning based on their performance during the incursion. I hope the radicals will show themselves to be unstable, but I'm trying to make sure the most stable groups come out looking well."
"Ooh, can I sabotage anyone?"
Kai rolled his eyes, but took that as an invitation to talk strategy. As they moved away from the crowd, which was still recovering from the training, he explained about the situation as it looked to him, including a lot of information that she hadn't bothered to gather for herself yet.
Plenty of cities in the northeastern region were in trouble in general, while those in the east were doing decently, but weren't prepared for the monstrous horde if the Frontier walls broke. Her own former city of New Laeneria was in surprisingly good shape, already prepared to evacuate if the elites agreed to that plan. Cities deeper in varied in preparations and also in willingness to support others, which was a political mess she was glad to leave to Kai. The one surprising development was that apparently Yulthens was finalizing a method to move the great crystals, so they might be used in the defense of other cities.
In the past they'd been needed in Yulthens in case cultivators showed up, but Zin Nim could also do the job. And if she could be convinced not to kill them all, maybe they could get Cloudspire to stop making the attempt.
"Kai Clanless!" It was a woman's voice, from the city instead of the square the soldiers occupied. Omilaena turned in time to see a woman about their age rushing toward them, practically dragging a boy of five or six years.
"What is it?" Kai asked, all public smiles again.
"This is your son! You ran off to another continent, but you need to take responsibility!"
It had been a long time since Omilaena had seen Kai speechless in exactly that sort of way. His smile remained on his face, but it was a frozen corpse as he considered the accusation. Omilaena's mind was whirring as well, first considering the timeline and then her own potential culpability and the consequences, but her first reaction was simple indeed.
My, oh my.
Chapter 562: The Fruit of Seeds Long Sown
At first, Kai struggled to even understand what he had heard. For all that he'd grown up from the young man he had once been, the idea of having a child - much less a child that he was completely unaware of - was baffling.
Was it possible? He looked first to the mother, trying to remember if she was among the ex-slaves who had joined in him the raucous celebrations, and felt ashamed to admit that he couldn't be sure. After getting his emotions tangled with Nirka and Yurwa, he had entered a wild period. It had seemed gratifying at the time, and he'd remembered it with only a little embarrassment that now felt far too little for the seriousness of what this really meant.
If only he'd talked to Zae Zin Nim earlier... but it was too late to think that, because he was currently staring at a child who might be his son.
The boy was slim, with Krysali skin but dark hair that might be Goralian. Kai wasn't good with ages, but the boy was a bit older, so it was plausible that he could have been born around the time of the revolution. Of course, getting anyone pregnant should have been impossible, yet Kai found himself scrutinizing that young face for a resemblance, some sparkle in the eye that would instantly reveal their bond.
Instead, he just wasn't sure.
"I'm sorry..." he began, only to be interrupted.
"Are you saying you don't even remember me?" The woman's eyes flashed in anger that looked real to him, and she gripped the shoulders of the potential son. "Do you know how difficult your son's life has been, growing up without a father?"
As shocking as this was, Kai's mind had started to reengage. Maintaining his shell-shocked tone, he asked, "What do you want?"
It was a more difficult question than it appeared, and based on her hesitation, the woman knew it. If she demanded money, that wouldn't necessarily invalidate her claim, but it would say something about her - and they did have an audience. On the other hand, if she wanted him to be a real father, that would put him in a very difficult position.
"I just want you to do right by him," she said. "You say you care about everyone in Krysal, don't you care about us?"
"Look..." Kai wasn't sure what he wanted her to see, though. Even though he was having trouble believing her claim, for several reasons, it ran against his instincts to be aggressive with a woman who was apparently distraught.
"So why did you confront him in public?" Omilaena asked - she clearly had no such compunctions. "You basically just announced that your son is a bastard in front of everyone."
"Kai Clanless already ran off once!" the woman insisted. "This way he can't run off again. He has to do right by us."
"Of course, of course. It would be a horrible injustice for Kai Clanless to father a child and then abandon them, and dishonesty deserves to be punished."
Kai shot a glance at Omilaena, wondering what her game was - and saw she was coming at him with a needle. He had a split second to decide that he trusted her, and so he remained still and allowed her to draw a syringe of blood from his arm.
"Since we have an audience, we can prove it for all of them." Omilaena smiled, entirely too brightly, as she held up the syringe. "Blood tells, it always does. Now, just let me draw some from you and your son, and I'll be able to check his ancestry with complete certainty. Then everyone watching will have proof of your claims."
The woman froze. Not for long, but Kai saw the shock in her expression and knew that she was lying.
Part of him still wanted to be sympathetic: being a single mother in the wake of the revolution must have been difficult, and she must have seen him as an opportunity. But the child... the boy looked hurt and confused. Whether he had been lied to or just tutored in what to do, he was being used as a tool, which killed Kai's sympathy for the mother.
"I won't let you do horrible things to my child!" The woman put her arms around her son as if protectively and began to withdraw. "You can't ignore us, Kai Clanless! You have to do right by us one day!"
As she retreated from the courtyard, Kai clenched his jaw. This was theoretically an intensely personal issue, but it had been made public and thus political, so he had to consider it that way. Fortunately, it looked like Omilaena's ultimatum had been effective: the soldiers in the courtyard were far from friendly toward the supposed mother.
Still, Kai didn't like the fact that his reputation allowed for someone to try. He shook his head as a public response and retreated to a rooftop where few could jump high enough to follow him. That included Omilaena, who casually leaned an elbow against his side.
"So, did you knock her up?"
"You weren't sure?" Kai asked in exasperation. "I assumed you were bluffing about the blood test, but are you telling me that you were really in doubt?"
"Hey, I would absolutely cover for you against some random woman I don't like." Omilaena gave an exaggerated shrug, then grinned. "But honestly, I don't buy it. You were-"
"I was very careful about contraceptive potions. Juray taught me to make them from almost anything."
"Actually, I was going to say that she didn't seem like your type. You might have been a bit loose during the revolution, but you weren't out there being a total slut."
Kai sighed and rubbed his eyes. Omilaena's irreverence was annoying him, but it was also bringing him back after the surreal encounter. "You're taking this too well."
"Honestly, it's fun watching you squirm. But I do so wonder what Zae Zin Nim will think..."
"Ugh, you tell her."
Omilaena's smile grew wider and crueler. "Are you sure you want me to do that?"
"Look." This time Kai knew what he wanted to say: he reached out and grasped Omilaena's shoulder in one hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Omilaena, don't make light of this. It will be serious to Zin Nim, and it could ruin my reputation here. This matters, and I need your support."
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Wow." Omilaena's malicious aura evaporated and she gave him a weary smile instead. "I guess I don't have any defenses against you being all sincere like that. Fine, I have your back here. I can't actually do a blood test, but if we're smart, we can still use it to weed out fakers."
Kai froze. "Wait, you mean...?"
"I'm not messing with you this time. If one woman thought of this, do you think she'll be the only one?"
.
..
.
When Kai had used his reputation to smooth over conflicts, he had never considered that this might be a consequence of his actions. His previous visits to Krysal had been swift and relatively subtle, but now that he was throwing his weight around, he'd basically put a target on his back. He'd been prepared for potential assassination attempts, just not...
"So that makes half a dozen claims, more or less," Maggle said. They'd used him to gather rumors and he'd been too enthusiastic about it. "A couple came to Yulthens a few years back, not having heard that you left, and they stuck around here. Plus, there was one lady in Teraklis who has been saying that you were the father of her kid for years."
"I see." Kai closed his eyes and accepted the magnitude of the problem. "Thank you, Maggle."
"Gotta say, congratulations! Being a father is an amazing thing... now, I'm a pretty shitty father, but it's been an amazing thing every time. At least until the mother starts coming after me with whatever weapon is handy..."
"These claims aren't true."
"You sure?" Maggle peered up at him, entire face scrunching up. "Back during the fighting, you were way more successful than I was. You really sowed the wild oats, if you know what I mean."
"Maggle..."
"And what I mean is that you-"
"Enough." Kai gripped the man's shoulder hard enough to make him stop. "Keep your ear open for any more rumors. If anyone asks you questions, tell them what I said: I don't have any children."
"Alright, alright." Maggle raised both hands. "But how are you playing this?"
"I haven't decided yet. Giving in to liars would be a mistake, but if I confront everyone, that would reflect poorly on me. It's a question of-"
"No, I mean how the hell are you playing this with your wives?"
"Maggle..." Kai gave him a caustic look and the man skittered back, cackling to himself.
"Twice the fun, twice the trouble!" Maggle headed off, loping over the rooftop, presumably to listen to and/or spread more rumors. Hopefully that wouldn't be a problem.
But now that he had more information, Kai couldn't focus on Maggle for long. He'd been dismissive of the whole subject, but now that the man was gone, he could admit that he was delaying. Because he really did have something he needed to do.
So Kai turned back to enter their rooms, where Omilaena had gone ahead, and Zae Zin Nim sat waiting with a new sort of glare.
Chapter 563: Working Out Drama
It was just the three of them in the room, finally free of crowds, distractions, and hopefully politics. Normally, this was home for Kai, the one place he could truly relax. Given the recent revelations, it might not be so restful now.
"Is it true?" Zae Zin Nim asked. Her face was nearly expressionless, except her eyes were slivers of obsidian.
"I already told you," Omilaena said, "the accusation wasn't credible."
"I want to hear it from him."
Kai took a deep breath. For the first time, he thought about all the veteran hunters back in Monskon City, complaining about their spouses. To have this come back after so long felt almost unfair... but that wasn't true at all. He had taken those actions, this was the result, and it would be irresponsible of him to do anything except face it.
So he sat down opposite Zae Zin Nim and met that piercing gaze without looking away.
"I can't promise what I can't control," Kai said. "What I can tell you is that I was very careful with contraceptive potions throughout the revolution. Having a child in the middle of a bloody war with no clear end, especially when I didn't know if I would survive... I wouldn't do that to anyone. Mother or child. Before today, I had never heard about any of this."
Zae Zin Nim regarded him wordlessly. She sat almost in a cultivation stance, where apparent placidity could conceal a coiled spring that might lash out at any moment. After several painful heartbeats, she closed her eyes and took a breath.
"Okay," she said.
"Wait, is that it?" Omilaena had gravitated between them and now stared at their wife. "You're really just going to let this pass?"
"I had never wanted to think about this ever again." Zae Zin Nim glowered, but now Kai understood that her expression was at the world in general, not them. "I still don't like remembering it. But it would be immature of me to lash out based on something that happened before our relationship."
"I was ready to apologize," Kai admitted. "Despite what you say, I don't want to see you unhappy. I especially don't want to be the one making you unhappy."
"I may not like it, but... I also remember that you were celibate for years based on nothing but a weak promise from me. And you have been a very good husband since then. But..." Zae Zin Nim shifted away, shielding her face with her hair. "I should not have to say this, but it will make me feel better: you must never be unfaithful."
"I don't mind," Omilaena said.
"Omi! Don't joke about this!"
Though Zae Zin Nim fumed at Omilaena, the tension had been defused. The two of them struck at one another half-playfully, letting loose some of the tension that had built up. Kai sat there, almost as stunned as at the initial confrontation... had that all just worked out with an ordinary conversation?
On one hand, he still felt bad for bringing stress into the relationship based on his past decisions. On the other, the Zae Zin Nim he had met years ago absolutely would not have handled that half as well. More than relief, Kai was flooded with a sense that he had to preserve this relationship, whatever it took.
"What are we actually going to do, though?" Omilaena had gained the upper hand, pinning Zae Zin Nim, though the other woman wasn't trying very hard to escape. "It sounds like others will make the same claim, and we can't just ignore them."
"Kill them," Zae Zin Nim suggested. Completely stone-faced, but he thought jokingly.
"This one might have been lying," Kai said, "but it's possible there could be someone who's earnestly mistaken. I wasn't the only one sleeping around during the revolution, after all. There's a part of me that wants to give them something out of sympathy, but-"
Omilaena shot him a glance. "Kai..."
"I know, giving money to one would just incentivize more bad actors, until I apparently slept with half of Krysal."
"I think you can do better than half. Give out enough money and men will get creative."
"Ugh." Zae Zin Nim suddenly used a real palm strike, hitting Omilaena in the chest and driving her all the way up to the ceiling. Unharmed, but it gave Zae Zin Nim space to sit up and glower. "I don't want to think about this. I trust the two of you to deal with it in a prudent manner."
"Such sweet, honeyed words." Omilaena slipped back down, embracing Zae Zin Nim from behind. "Alright, dearest, we'll be prudent for you."
"You are insufferable," Zae Zin Nim said, while suffering it without apparent trouble.
"Sorry to put you through all this," Kai said. "What would you like to do?"
"I want to train!"
The outburst, louder than Zae Zin Nim had been throughout the entire conversation, took Kai and Omilaena aback. Zae Zin Nim seemed a little surprised by her own vehemence as well, but gathered herself and continued somberly.
"We have spent time together, but we have been training on separate paths." Zae Zin Nim tucked her hands into her sleeves and regarded them. "Spouses should train together. I know we aren't facing any imminent threats, but I miss it. Surely you can spare some time from all the work raising up soldiers?"
Though she was concealing her emotions, she sounded surprisingly earnest. And, as soon as Kai thought about it, he realized that he missed it too. Spending time together, even being intimate, weren't really replacements for working side by side toward a common goal. That was something that had been a part of their relationship from the very beginning and he saw no reason to stop.
And so they began to train. While Omilaena worked on an experiment and watched, Kai and Zae Zin Nim began to spar with each other. Even though he had reached B rank and technically gained more strength from Physique, Zae Zin Nim could deal heavier strikes than almost anyone he had met. When she began to use her Pure Yin Shroud as well, he needed to use his monstrous abilities just to keep up.
But keep up he did, and he found himself laughing. They sparred more aggressively than they would have with anyone else because they knew one another too well. When occasionally they did connect, it felt more like a love tap than anything, testing his armor or her gray skin.
At one moment when they landed opposite one another, preparing for another encounter, they were overtaken by blue smoke. Kai was accustomed to Omilaena's poison and so was startled when he found himself coughing.
"Been working on a muscle-weakening poison," Omilaena whispered, a ghost within the smoke. "Might as well test it out and let you two build up immunity."
"I think I am resistant now," Zae Zin Nim said. "Something about my Physique repels it."
"How about this?" In a flash Omilaena was behind her, one arm around her waist and the other injecting a needle into her neck. She bent down and kissed the other woman's neck as she injected it. "I was going to say I have a more fun way to build immunity, but honestly... this is fun too."
Zae Zin Nim responded with another palm strike.
They had so much fun sparring that, even when their normal schedule reasserted itself, Kai made sure to make time for the three of them to train together. Between taking care of problems in various city-states and training his students, he was hard-pressed, but if he didn't make time for his wives, who would he make time for? Maggle mocked him with innuendos, but they honestly did meet up to train together.
And, more than he expected, they drove one another to new heights. In their time training in different ways, they had all grown, and now they could share that advancement. Dual cultivation was the most obvious method, but that neglected the simple pleasure of teaching one another new things.
Zae Zin Nim had already increased a Physique level on her own, and their intense sparring managed to drive her up again. When Kai examined his wife again, he was impressed.
<
Name: Zae Zin Nim
Total Power: 1823
Cultivation: Earth Soul 88% (531)
*Heavenly Sash: Cultivation +10% (53)
Coldfire Corona: 43 (429)
Pure Yin Shroud: Spinel Rank (275)
True Blackblood Physique: E-9 (454)
Soul Level: 9 (81)
>
With 1823 Power, she was equal to the strongest cultivators on Cloudspire, but she was only 88% of the way to Sky Soul. When she reached that point, she would take another leap into unprecedented territory. Kai was still trying to feed his monstrous abilities, so he didn't think he was quite in the 2000 range yet, but it would be easy to get there. As for Omilaena...
"So you've grown all the way to E-9," Omilaena said, clearly examining their wife at the same time. "It didn't take you excessively long, either, which suggests growth should continue easily."
"The next rank may be difficult," Zae Zin Nim said. "Currently I don't feel anywhere close to the limit of E rank, so I may need special assistance to reach that point and jump to D rank."
"Well, I'll be here if you want that assistance injected. I need that data."
"When are you going to develop your own Physique, anyway? It is overdue."
"Oh, this from the woman who spent years not using her Blackblood Physique properly?"
.
..
.
One of the biggest benefits of training with his wives was that Kai was able to cut loose in a way that he couldn't with others, especially not students or soldiers. Not that it was impossible for the fight to result in an injury, but they could defend themselves in a way others simply couldn't.
That alone would have been worth it, but Kai was pleasantly surprised a few days later when he broke through to Physique B-1. Not only that, but the Savage Heart had been creeping up, in large part due to the efficacy of this training.
<
Name: Kai Clanless
Total Power: 1147
Monstrous Hunger - XV (omicron)
Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 62% (264)
Savage Heart: 28 (282)
Physique Level: B-1 (505)
Beggar King's Robes: +3 (15)
Soul Level: 9 (81)
Direboar's Strength - XV (omicron)
Behemoth's Heart - XI (lambda)
Thunderbird's Wings - XI (lambda)
Tyrant's Claw - XIII (nu)
Manticore's Spine - VI (zeta)
Baleful Breath - VIII (theta)
Void Gaze - IX (iota)
-
Famished World - VI (zeta)
Mutefang's Stealth - XV (omicron)
Isulfr's Bite - X (kappa)
Sahagin's Soul - XII (mu)
Monstrous Tail - III (gamma)
Wallcrawler's Feet - V (epsilon)
Abominalgum - II (beta)
Rose Piranha - IV (delta)
Cloud Piranha - IV (delta)
Bloodtrap - III (gamma)
Slime's Immortality - II (beta)
Silver Demon - II (beta)
Voidmaw's Bite - II (beta)
Great Cetae - III (gamma)
Bloodtail's Armor - III (gamma)
>
"Just made it to B-1," he reported. "It's another 5 Power, Omilaena. Should I be concerned about that?'
"Why would you be concerned?" She shot him a strange glance. "It's important data. I don't have any other B rank Physiques to play with."
"Yes, but the individual levels are the same as they've been since D rank. Zin Nim's body is growing faster, even the Ironpath Physique broke away from the pattern. Just doing basic math, those would surpass me before the highest ranks. Does that mean I'm on the wrong path somehow?"
"I also thought I was on the wrong path for years," Zae Zin Nim pointed out. "It is difficult to know the endpoint of any path, so perhaps it is better for us to walk different ones."
"Plus, you have us." Omilaena smirked from the other side. "If you took a wrong step - hell, if any of us do - we'll figure out the way back."
They were just words, but they warmed Kai far more than he had expected. With the three of them together, he felt like they could take on anything.
The next day, looking over the myriad problems facing Krysal, Kai wasn't so sure. Tempting as it was to just focus on his own relationship, he needed to deal with people who were far less reasonable than his wives. He never doubted them for a second, but when it came to Krysal surviving the incursion... Kai hoped no one would ask.
Chapter 564: Students Bringing Problems
Wanting to help Krysal was well and good, but the problem was that everyone else was trying to help too, often in opposite directions. Kai could make a difference in any given location, yet he still felt as though the city states were tilting toward chaos. It got to the point that whenever he was interrupted by anyone, he assumed that another disaster had struck.
That instinct almost made him snarl when Maggle showed up, then Kai paused as he recognized three of his students. He'd left Bonto and Tori back in Krysal some time ago, and Untariin had traveled there after awakening his Class in Goralia. Currently they were approaching together - Bonto was laughing uproariously at something Maggle said, while the other two lingered nearby.
"Yo, Kai motherfucking Clanless!" Maggle waved cheerfully at him. "I've brought you three of your students, who you have completely forgotten about. Downright shameful of you, especially given what you've been getting up t-"
"Do not be rude," Tori said. "Kai is our benefactor."
"Rude? Me? Have you ever, ever in your entire life, known me to be rude?" Maggle clutched his heart as if deeply offended.
"You were rude with that sailor," Bonto said, which prompted laughter from himself and Maggle. Even Tori and Untariin cracked smiles, so it must have been an inside joke related to their ongoing training. Though Kai was tempted to analyze them, he sensed that they had something more to bring up than just questions about their abilities.
"What do you need?" he asked the group.
"I have a request and a proposal." Untariin stepped forward and gave a nod that was, oddly, rather Goralian. "I've needed to keep a low profile here, but I've spoken to some old friends. There's a serious problem in Kartiis that we think you might be able to help with."
"Another conflict between ex-slaves and ex-crystalliers," Bonto said with a shake of his head. "You'd think having a crystal mine would make things easier, but it doesn't."
Maggle stuck his tongue out at the Birtaegali man. "Look at you, acting like you know our entire history."
"Bonto has really taken to Krysal," Untariin told Kai by way of explanation. "Soon he'll be more Krysali than I am, at this rate."
"Hey now, I'm the one who gets to decide who's Krysali! We had a whole revolution about this!"
"You'd let anyone join if they bought you a drink," Tori said quietly, prompting laughter from the others, loudest of all from Maggle himself.
It was nice that they enjoyed one another's company, in a vague way, but Kai mostly just registered that there was a problem in Kartiis. Another one that he'd have to solve, though at least this time he wasn't being given a ridiculous demand by either ex-slaves or ex-crystalliers. Between Maggle and Untariin they had both sides represented, so they wouldn't have come to him without something reasonable.
"So what's the situation in Kartiis?" Kai asked once the laughter faded.
"There's a crystal mine near the city," Untariin explained, "and their policy has always been that everyone has to go in and mine their own crystals. And the old nobles agreed to that and followed the rules. But now the revolutionaries are saying that isn't enough."
"Hey now." Maggle scratched his stubble, no longer feigning irritation. "That's not being fair to them. The old crystalliers started out strongest, so it's easiest for them to mine crystals. The mine is small, so they're monopolizing the good veins. They're grabbing everything, just reproducing... uh..."
"Reproducing the old disparity," Bonto said, as if he was quoting someone else's words.
"Right, that. I'm more familiar with another kind of reproducing, haha!"
Untariin folded his arms sourly. "I don't like being positioned as speaker for the old nobles, but you're not being fair either. The revolutionaries are demanding that they be taxed different from everyone else, their qi crystals given to miners who didn't work for them. That's not only breaking the treaty, it's going back toward slavery by another name."
They started to argue, a little less good-naturedly than before. If even Kai's own allies were getting dragged into this sort of problem, what hope did the rest of Krysal have? He resolved not to make an immediate decision before he had all the facts, but from the initial story it sounded like a difficult situation. Exactly what he didn't need.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention," Kai said. "I can take a look, but since this isn't an emergency, it will take a while to get someone to teleport us to Kartiis. Meanwhile, how is your training coming?"
That cut short the potential argument, as they were all eager to update him on their work. For a while they were all talking together, sometimes over one another and sometimes sharing stories, explaining about how they had been training across Krysal. Maggle seemed to feel left out and joined in with stories that had to be lies, or at least Kai hoped so.
<
Name: Tori Quondan
Total Power: 165
Path of Steel: Bronze 9 (18)
Silver Hand: Quartz Rank (10)
Crystal Cultivation: 150 (17)
Physique: E-5 (95)
Soul Level: 5 (25)
>
Tori was struggling the most with 165 Power, though in her defense, her energy was spread across multiple different abilities. She had successfully fused her chakra into a "Silver Hand" ability and had also mastered the basics of crystal cultivation. Now that she could generate materials more quickly, she could fight better, but her style was still obviously incomplete.
<
Name: Bonto Birtaegali
Total Power: 245
Manalance: 26 (46)
Crystal Cultivation: 2097 (68)
Physique: E-8 (106)
Soul Level: 5 (25)
>
Bonto had kept developing his crystal cultivation, vocally loving it, and had reached a total of 245 Power. All that was limiting him now was access to qi crystals, since they were expensive and Kai wasn't handing out money. Apparently part of the reason he'd pushed Untariin to talk about the Kartiis problem was that he hoped they could mine some crystals of their own.
That part wasn't a bad idea. Kai wasn't sure if there was actually a good solution to the political problem, but if they could increase the total number of crystals instead of drawing them away from Krysali, that would be for the best.
As for Untariin himself...
<
Name: Untariin of Cuulisi
Total Power: 286
Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)
Rogue Class: 8 (18)
Physique: E-9 (107)
Soul Level: 6 (36)
>
The former noble had a total of 286 Power, still largely from his crystal cultivation, but he was obviously enjoying his Rogue Class. He had developed the most obvious abilities, being able to teleport his crystal knives back to himself, and he was working on teleporting them offensively as well. More than any of them, Untariin demonstrated the ability to use mana and qi together.
Actually, Kai got the sense that Untariin was eager to go back to Goralia and preferred it to Krysal. It said something about him that he had stayed and even stepped forward to help the others, because the mine would unquestionably help them more than him. Some people might be skeptical of a former noble, but Kai saw him as someone who had just been born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Overall, he thought his students were a good bunch. It would be easy to focus all his attention on them and ignore the Krysali, who could be so frustrating. Kai smiled as he looked over Bonto, Tori, and Untariin, thinking that-
"Hey, don't forget about me!" Maggle stepped into his line of sight and jabbed his own chest with a thumb. "I've been training too! Can't let these young folks jump ahead of me, wouldn't be proper."
<
Name: Maggle of N District
Total Power: 287
Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)
Acid Cultivation: 547 (39)
Physique Level: E-6 (98)
Soul Level: 5 (25)
>
Maggle was technically the strongest of the four... with 287 Power, just barely. Comparing him to the students, Kai was struck by how different their trajectories were. The other three had been blocked and rejected until less than a year ago, while Maggle had been on top of Krysal for years and had done much less with it. But there was no point making an issue of it, so...
"More like you got off your ass," Kai said. "Why did it take you so long to cultivate ten thousand crystals?"
"Because it's a fucking waste of time!" Maggle threw up his hands. "You get about a hundred from the first half, so it's boring just sitting around doing five thousand more, just for a little more strength. I'd rather waste my time f-"
"No kidding."
"But hey, these kids lit a fire under me. Once you help them with this mine problem, I'm actually going to head off to the acid pits, see if I can't get more acid in me. Ladies love an acid cultivator, right?"
They had a day to take care of business, which meant both Kai informing his wives about his trip and training with his students - Zae Zin Nim gave him a ship so that they wouldn't be delayed. Once again, he was impressed by how hard his students tried to overcome the disadvantages that fate had handed them. It was yet another priority among far too many, but he would keep helping them if he could.
Fortunately, in the case of Kartiis, he could help them at the same time he whipped Krysal into shape.
When an elite showed up to teleport them, Maggle had wandered off - ostensibly to train acid cultivation - so it was just four of them going to Kartiis.
Kai dimly remembered it from the war, though the entire area between the city and the mine had been overhauled. It was surreal to see how the two, which had once been strictly divided, were now one city.
Or at least they were supposed to be. As they approached, Kai saw that there were two crowds along the edges, shouting at one another.
The air was boiling, on the edge of a riot. He couldn't have arrived at a better, which was to say worse, time.
