Chapter 521: Training Against Cliffs of Injustice
Other than the one fight, their trip back to Deadwaste proceeded smoothly. The trainees really did seem to interact as Kai had hoped: they had forged strong bonds through their common struggles, thus gaining the allies he'd had so few of. On the other hand, they viewed him at more of a remove as a benefactor, which he supposed was appropriate. Even though they were of roughly the same generation, they were on very different paths - Inafay and Cragrila felt like his peers in a way that the new trainees didn't.
It wasn't all trainee progress, though. Kai had reached C-9 Physique, though not the absolute peak he wanted before breaking through to B-rank. His surprising advances had been his cultivation, which had increased by 15%, and the Savage Heart, which was growing rapidly from their new resources. He was actually getting close to 950 Power, though he hadn't yet felt the limits of his soul.
Meanwhile, Zae Zin Nim was cultivating by leaps and bounds, though she had a much further road to travel to Sky Soul. Her Blackblood Physique had also risen a couple levels, and she hadn't neglected her Coldfire Corona or Pure Yin Shroud. All her self-satisfaction was entirely justified.
Omilaena had grown the least of the three of them, but that was because she was focused on new experiments. She was working on using the pill cauldron and other resources from the vault, as well as contributions from them and help from Juray, in order to produce results that she said would be uniquely powerful.
Kai had actually been helping her with one of those in the middle of the night, a different sort of dual cultivation, when he noticed. Usually he slept hard at the end of the day, his body strengthening itself after all his training, but because he was awake at an unusual hour, he heard the sounds of metal clashing.
He used his stealth ability and padded silently to the deck where he heard the sounds. There, to his surprise, he saw Tori Quondan and Ankrastor of the Undertow training. Ankrastor had been a regular part of all training sessions, struggling to reach D-rank, but Tori kept Kai at bay with Irunian reserve, so he was surprised that she'd go for a midnight training session.
As he watched, he began to understand why.
Ankrastor had over 225 Power to her 150, but he dominated the sparring match even more than the gap would suggest. If he hadn't held back his blows, he would already have struck her on two occasions. His fires moved unnaturally, thick and flowing like water, but they could still pack a punch appropriate to his level.
Tori, on the other hand... she was trying to use the Irunian metal shaping art in direct combat, and it just didn't seem effective. She had a whip that looked like liquid bronze, but it moved sluggishly. It was easy for Ankrastor to dodge around it, then he unleashed a wave of fire directly into her chest.
Frowning, Kai started to take a step forward, then he saw that Tori didn't need medical attention. Her Irunian robes had burned away, but she wore a layer of metal armor underneath. It seemed to have multiple layers, and it was remarkable that it had resisted the attack... but he could see that it was melting under the power. Even if it didn't harm her, it obviously couldn't stand up to such attacks repeatedly.
"That's better than last time," Ankrastor said.
"Not enough." Tori heaved a sigh, more animated than she had ever been in the group sessions.
"You want to try again?"
"The armor is a lost cause for tonight." Tori placed one hand on her stomach and gradually stabilized the armor into a smooth layer, though even that took time. "We should continue with offensive techniques."
They began to spar again, Ankrastor no longer using fire techniques directly. Tori attempted to reshape her whip in mid-combat, but the Irunian shaping technique was simply too slow and she couldn't keep up. At a critical moment she slipped a bronze sphere from her sleeve and hurled it.
Her throw was good, and the sphere of Irunian bronze pierced through Ankrastor's liquid fire to reach him. When it got close, the sphere suddenly expanded into vicious spikes - they could have done some damage, but Ankrastor closed his hands around it and jaws of flame melted down the new formation.
It was almost the same trick that Kai had used to survive the attack by Anaelina... Tori was clever, she was just restricted to lower rank metal.
And, as was obvious to everyone there, it wasn't strong enough.
"Thank you for training with me." Tori bowed as she spoke, but even Irunian discipline couldn't hide how disappointed she was.
"Any time." Ankrastor looked like he wanted to say something more, but there wasn't much to say.
While the two of them chatted awkwardly, Kai examined Tori's soul again.
<
Name: Tori Quondan
Total Power: 149
Path of Steel: Bronze 9 (18)
Years ago, going to Deadwaste had been a horrible decision tantamount to throwing herself off the edge of the world. Now, as she returned yet again, Zae Zin Nim reflected that it was becoming commonplace. Not only was it a normal trip, it was returning to her husband's home, something she might expect to do many times in the years to come.
That no longer disturbed her, for all that there would be inconveniences. She had met some respectable people there, and the trip to Cloudspire had reminded her that her home had flaws as well. So she didn't mind that she would need to invest some time in helping the barbarians there survive the incursion.
This time, she shouldn't need to walk so much. They had the Clanless, plus Zae Zin Nim had taken numerous levitating vehicles and hundreds of flying swords, just to be sure.
Yes, she was capable of flight on her own now, but some things were not worth the risk.
Between the seized Brightwind resources and the support of her spouses, Zae Zin Nim was making rapid progress. Insane as it seemed, she actually saw advancement along the long road to Sky Soul when she looked at her own soul:
<
Name: Zae Zin Nim
Total Power: 1777
Cultivation: Earth Soul 75% (525)
*Heavenly Sash: Cultivation +10% (52)
Coldfire Corona: 39 (417)
Pure Yin Shroud: Spinel Rank (260)
True Blackblood Physique: E-7 (442)
Soul Level: 9 (81)
>
By a coincidence she chose to interpret as good fortune, Zae Zin Nim had exactly 1777 Power at that moment. She would soon have more, but that was still her strength upon returning to Deadwaste. Far more than enough for anyone she might encounter - her own spouses were the only people who could challenge her, though she didn't want to underestimate the Frontier elites.
When the day of arrival came, Zae Zin Nim was in a good mood... and then she saw the cultivators.
They wore brown over blood red, a common symbol of the aggressive monastic clans from the Northern Expanse. She didn't recognize the mountain symbol on their ship and the back of some of the stronger cultivators' robes, but it was close enough to the Mountainfist Sect that it must be a branch. Not one of the strongest forces in the Northern Expanse, but still a potential threat.
It seemed that they had brought a small army here, including six Earth Souls and a dozen Nascent Foundation cultivators. For a branch sect, that could well be the vast majority of their strength. Had they been forced off Cloudspire and come to attack Deadwaste? What could they possibly want in Krysal?
Those questions were less important to Zae Zin Nim than the problem that this attack posed. Not a direct threat, since she could probably finish them herself, but it was an irritation. She reached out and pulled on her husband's sleeve.
"Kai, do you intend to kill them?"
"Depends on what they want," he said guardedly, watching the qi assaulting the barrier wall. "If they're just raiding Krysal, probably best to send them back alive, as a message to stop other sects from trying it."
"If we don't kill them all, then we have a problem." Zae Zin Nim took a slow breath. "They would bring word of our departure back to Cloudspire. I am willing to sacrifice the Brightwind Sect, if necessary to save your allies, but... what is it?"
To her surprise, her husband was smiling back at her. "I don't think we have to do anything. Just watch."
She didn't understand for a moment that was, in retrospect, a bit embarrassing. Then she felt a surge of Krysali qi and Cragrila launched herself off the Clanless like she was a spear herself.
One of the Earth Souls standing atop a flying sword noticed her attack and, scorning her crystalline body, raised a wall of flame with one hand. Cragrila pierced through it effortlessly and the cultivator only had a moment to look shocked before her spear went straight through his chest. It barely slowed her down and she landed atop the Mountainfist ship, then raised her spear to the air with the cultivator still impaled on it.
Zae Zin Nim hadn't checked her soul recently and was surprised that, with the modified Deathwind Spear but also her own advancement, Cragrila had over 700 Power, putting her above any normal Earth Soul:
<
Name: Cragrila
Total Power: 714
Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)
Crystal Dantian (+50)
Acid Cultivation: 1000 (50)
Physique Level: D-2 (210)
Crystalline Blood (+80)
Soul Level: 7 (49)
Deathjade Spear (+150)
>
"Cease attacking Krysal or perish!" Her voice thundered over the walls and Zae Zin Nim saw all the cultivators turn their full attention toward her.
"Okay, maybe we have a problem," Kai admitted, "if Cragrila kills them all. But what I meant was that I don't think we need to act ourselves. We've been training them long enough."
Zae Zin Nim nodded as she realized that her husband was correct. She had thought of a cultivator sect like this as an army that no nation on Deadwaste could possibly hope to defeat. That was no longer correct: the other cultivators were attacking Cragrila, but even without the benefit of surprise, they couldn't bring her down.
The other Earth Souls, realizing they couldn't blow their opponent away, retreated to a formation that summoned a great spiritual mountain. Zae Zin Nim watched it form over the city with a frown... then saw it explode into pebbles of qi that soon dissolved.
Inafay and Orotaisin spun through it, holding hands, a whirlwind visible around them. This was actually a simple formation she had taught them, a two-cultivator technique that they had made their own. Once Zae Zin Nim wouldn't have believed it was possible, but the Deadwasters' technique crushed the Cloudspire technique.
They circled around one another, building up speed, then Inafay hurled her partner with a burst of green mana. Orotaisin shot down, elemental wind streaking around him. Despite their defeat, the cultivators remained confident, creating a great shield that they no doubt expected to stand up to simple mana abilities from Deadwaste.
But, as she knew now, the Elemental Nations tapped into something deeper. Orotaisin struck the formation and exploded in a column of mist, shattering their qi and sending them flying in all directions. They hadn't gone far before Inafay swept down, attacking one Earth Soul and driving him away from the group.
Inafay would be fine, so Zae Zin Nim looked onward. The new trainees had jumped to attack as well, some even using flying swords that Kai must have distributed, but they were more her husband's concern than hers. It seemed that they were holding her own, so his estimation had actually been correct. She watched closely nonetheless.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Even Nirka, who Zae Zin Nim still scowled to see, was holding her own.
<
Name: Nirka of N District
Total Power: 205
Crystal Cultivation: 1922 (64)
Cultivation: Qi Condensation 3% (10)
Physique Level: E-9 (106)
Soul Level: 5 (25)
>
She had somehow gotten atop the city wall and now struggled with a Nascent Foundation cultivator - despite her shortcomings, she had over 200 Power, which was enough to hold her own. It looked as though there were locals within the city beginning to attack as well, and she could coordinate with them. Annoying as Nirka was, Zae Zin Nim reluctantly accepted her as an ally in this fight.
For a moment it looked as though they might have serious trouble, as a pair of Earth Souls fled Cragrila to try to wipe out the weaker trainees. That was the sort of thing that might make Kai leap to their defense, even if it would ruin their deception.
To her surprise, the cultivators were intercepted by the Tonjin brothers. Zae Zin Nim didn't know them very well: as far as she was concerned, they were less muscular, less handsome versions of Kai, and she didn't care if they went off and did their muscular things somewhere else. They both had Power in the 300s range, stronger than the trainees but short of these Earth Souls who surpassed 400.
Except, after surviving the initial assault, the brothers each drank a potion. So many different forces whirled within them that Zae Zin Nim could only focus on Raghi, who had consumed a more complex potion.
<
Name: Raghi Tonjin
Total Power: 474
Scrapper Class: 73 (83)
Whistlewind Potion (+50)
Ironfist: Quartz Rank (20)
Physique Level: D-2 (210)
Ironbody Potion (+25)
Soul Level: 6 (36)
Heartblood Potion (+50)
>
Their bodies glowed from within and their Power leapt by at least 100, with Raghi even nearing 500 Power. Had Juray really made such a powerful boost?
That made them capable of fighting the Earth Souls: the muscular men were slower, but they pushed through the qi attacks, and while the cultivators were shocked that their targets weren't coughing up blood, the brothers got into melee range. It went much worse for the Earth Souls after that.
As the battle raged toward its conclusion, Zae Zin Nim realized that they had done the impossible: a force from Deadwaste was standing up to an entire sect from Cloudspire. She had no idea how to feel.
Chapter 523: The New Crystalliers of Deadwaste
Technically Omilaena was watching the fight, but she was also thinking over her past. Unusually contemplative for her, basically just flicking the bean while other people were fighting for their lives. Put that way, she decided that she was fine with it and indulged.
Going to Deadwaste was usually considered an act of desperation, the last refuge of failures. Her first visit had almost seemed to confirm that, since she hadn't gained much strength... but she had gained Kai and Zin Nim. That had grown into something beyond her wildest projections. Yes, a relationship strangely warm and secure in a way she hadn't known she wanted, but also raw power.
As she watched the fight over the Krysali coast, Omilaena's eyes unfocused and she looked at her own soul instead.
<
Name: Omilaena
Total Power: 1768
Heart of Poison: Level 92 (644)
*Prana Jewels: Level +6 (42)
Lethal Artisan: Spinel Rank (310)
Ice Refinement (121)
Path of Venomsteel: Step 10 (150)
Physique: D-9 (245)
Soul Level: 9 (81)
Azure Core (+175)
>
She was returning to Deadwaste with over 1700 Power, a force to be reckoned with on any continent. The theory that retreating to Deadwaste never worked out for anyone had been thoroughly disproven, but she had multiply reinforced her own theory that creativity and understanding would ultimately triumph over brute training.
Without her knowledge of the overall structure of power, she would never have dared to begin cultivating, or transformed it into Ice Refinement. Without her connections to the others, she could never have awakened the Path of Venomsteel. And above all, without understanding that the whole could be more than the sum of its parts, she couldn't have developed her Azure Core.
Due to all of that, Omilaena wasn't concerned about the fact that she wasn't likely to be challenged while on this trip to Deadwaste. No, it would be more useful - and more fun - to watch all her little experiments running around. Helping out some mediocre folks in Krysal and Irun was a fair price to pay for getting to experiment on such a broad scale, plus it would make Kai happy. She had to admit, his methods worked this time: acting benevolent had gotten her way more experimental progress than taking over and torturing nobles for experiments.
More of her experiments were fighting right now, so Omilaena pulled her attention away from her own thoughts to watch as the battle closed. Kai had clearly been ready to release a projectile if they were in danger, but she'd judged they'd win, with only a slight chance of one of their number perishing.
Kifaela was Omilaena's new favorite toy, and the naiad was currently fighting a cultivator with raw Physique. Her wasting disease was a limitation, and an incurable one, but even if Omilaena had been able to fix her, she didn't want to. Better to see if the naiad's intense connection to plague chakra could develop another ability, not too dissimilar from Omilaena's own, and grow into something new. That might lead to interesting Physique developments, though that was years down the road.
By contrast, Tori Quondan was a real puzzle. She had a shit ability and the creativity to use it more effectively, but was it actually possible to make that work? Omilaena's own ability to form metal was ten times better, yet she was intrigued by trying to make this entirely different path actually effective.
Currently Tori was struggling against the cultivators, yet she was smart enough to take a supporting role. Before the battle she had apparently built armor for all her teammates, bronze chest-plates that intentionally dissolved to absorb a single blow. She held back, forming projectiles slowly and helping where she could.
She wasn't the weakest, though: the dryad Kyridnyiam had fallen in with the group and he was constantly needing rescuing. Other than being bizarrely pretty for a man, there wasn't much notable about him. Omilaena gave him bad odds on following up Nymidria's legacy in the future, even if Kai adopted him.
Their coordination was pretty good, but they were outnumbered by the Nascent Foundation Cultivators. Several of them burst past the other combatants and unleashed new techniques at the weaker members like Tori and Kyridnyiam.
It looked rough, and Omilaena had a few guesses about how that might go, but then fucking Bonto of Birtaegal leapt into the way. He defended his teammates with a giant shield of red mana, and deflecting all the qi obviously took a lot out of him, because he dropped to one knee. Based on his expression, he was desperate to prove he was one of them, and he managed to summon enough strength to form a second shield.
Honestly, Bonto didn't really interest Omilaena. She only wanted him for his body, by which she meant she'd like to dissect his corpse and find out more about how the "Manalance" ability worked. Given that he was Kai's pet, she'd have to settle for drawing blood and experimenting with his training.
In any case, the non-Omilaena people seemed very moved by his sacrifice, especially when he collapsed after deflecting the second assault. The cultivators roared in triumph, some even laughing that he had only stood up to two of their combined assaults. But the idiots really didn't have much situational awareness, because Bonto had purchased time for the others to act.
Mariyay Hafkrir landed atop the wall beside the others and punched the ground, creating a wall of stone. The cultivators laughed scornfully, but they didn't attack it quickly enough. While they delayed, Mariyay reinforced the back side of the stone wall with bricks that emerged from her hands and fused into the surface.
Qi actually splattered off of the reinforced stone and the cultivators were taken aback - one of them even coughed up blood, either due to recoiling qi or just sheer surprise. That was a strong wall for their level, withstanding the assault of several Nascent Foundation cultivators at once.
Personally, Omilaena was more interested in the odd expression on Mariyay's face, and the inefficiencies in her fighting style. She was clearly best suited to playing a defensive role, yet this was the first time Omilaena had seen her do so, and her set jaw spoke of stress and irritation. Another curious puzzle, and though Omilaena wasn't usually interested in personality mysteries, she'd figure out this one since it seemed important to making Mariyay's soul actually viable.
Several interminable seconds later, the cultivators got it through their soupy brains that they could go around a wall instead of smashing through with superior power. That was what passed for genius strategy on Cloudspire.
As one of them flew a sword around the barrier to attack the weakened fighters from the side, Untariin of Cuulisi burst up from below in a storm of knives. The man knew what he was doing, sending knives to deflect his target's panicked qi bolts even at point blank range. Once he was up close and he got a knife into that weak cultivator Physique, it was over.
There were other cultivators flying in, but it had taken them too long and they'd lost their moment of advantage: their targets had backup coming too. The last of the trainees she knew was first: Ankrastor of the Undertow unleashed a flood of flame, clearly some sort of adaptation of a water technique to fire. He burned a ton of his mana doing so, but the fireflood swept all of the cultivators back in a bloody line.
He was one of the heavy hitters of the new trainees, and though Omilaena hadn't said it out loud, she was intrigued by his soul. His parents had done so many things to prepare him to be Waterborn, yet not a single one of those actually appeared in the outer layer of his soul. Some customs were likely superstition, while others definitely had an effect: those strange incompatibilities had been what made him considered an unteachable failure.
Of course, he'd been able to overcome that on his own, developing a style of "liquid flame" that forced one element into another's box. Omilaena didn't think that was the best he could do, not by a long shot. What she needed to do was figure out exactly how his deeper soul had been impacted by his preparations, and that was a mystery she had yet to uncover.
The trainees were cleaning up while the fight against the Earth Souls grew more intense. It looked like things might be bad, until the two lunks moved forward. Omilaena remembered their names, because she always did, and even wanted them to survive because Juray seemed to care about the brothers, but honestly she was mostly curious about the results of their experiment.
Each downed another potion as soon as they got a free second and the qi flooded through them. Juray had a more poetic name, but Omilaena thought of it as the "cultivator in a bottle" potion. Cultivators tended to use brute qi force in many ways, and the technique could be mimicked to some degree. This potion reinforced the body with qi in a similar manner, making techniques and strikes from higher tiered cultivation no longer tear through defenses so easily.
It definitely seemed to work: the lunks plowed through the attacks and even did a half-decent job fighting Earth Souls.
"Oh, thank goodness." Juray let out her breath and sagged against the railing. For Omilaena this was all mildly amusing, but Juray's knuckles were white. "I was afraid..."
"Relax," Omilaena told her, stroking her hand. "There was only about a 50% chance the potions would make them explode."
"You can't distract me with jokes, not when they're all fighting for their lives."
"I mean it, relax. They have this under control, so you should be happy that the potion worked."
"Only partially." Juray rubbed her eyes one at a time, as if unwilling to completely look away from the battle. "I wanted to mass produce them, but these require attunement to a specific person and won't work for anyone with advanced cultivation. Those are big weaknesses in a potion."
That was one of the ideological differences between them that Omilaena had discovered: Juray wanted potions to be generic and usable by anyone, while Omilaena just took for granted that most interventions had to be created specifically for an individual. This was one of the few cases where Omilaena was willing to admit that they could both learn something from each other, since making potions anyone could use was actually an interesting challenge.
"Come back and we'll do worse!" Cragrila hurled a still living cultivator back toward their ship and he smashed through the wall.
Seeing another of their Earth Souls manhandled like that finally broke the cultivators - not that it had taken a long time, but Omilaena expected them to have less spine than that. Either this group was unusually brave or unusually desperate.
Or they had been - now they fled from a Krysali city they wouldn't have pissed in that morning, rushing back to their ship to retreat. They'd lost most of their number and not a single one of the Deadwasters was dead. Those that were injured would only come back stronger, which the cultivators probably knew. Everyone let them go and Omilaena idly watched the ship out of the corner of her eyes just in case they tried something truly stupid.
Sure, people were alive and the city was saved. Everybody was getting excited cheering about that. As far as Omilaena was concerned, it was just a pleasing result to another experiment.
.
..
.
Kai held back at first, both for the sake of security and to let the trainees bask in their victory. Eventually Zae Zin Nim confirmed that the cultivators had fled entirely out of range, and the Krysali seemed to be relaxing as well, because they'd taken down the defensive barrier and people were coming out to celebrate their saviors.
At first he watched in concern, wondering how the mixed group would be received, but here Cragrila and Nirka were heroes of the revolution and the others seemed to be welcomed easily enough. Even Untariin was celebrated, because it wasn't like his noble status was visible - he just looked Krysali to the people of the city.
When he saw a bit of a conflict brewing, Kai jumped off the Clanless to join the group. Despite all the time that had passed, some of the people in the crowd actually cheered when they saw him. Apparently his work in the revolution hadn't been forgotten.
Before any of them could get close, however, Cragrila stepped up beside him. "I kept alive one who looked dead," she confided. "It sounds like the cultivators were trying to flee here to become warlords, but there might be more to it."
"Good work," Kai told her. "Learn more later, but I'm more concerned about contacting the Frontier. They should know we're here."
"If they didn't hear about this, I tried to send a message to people who can contact them. Just... make sure this doesn't get out of hand." She faded back without explaining further.
He wasn't sure what she meant by that: the trainees were being celebrated, and Mariyay even had Krysali citizens hoisting her up on their shoulders and carrying her into town. Maybe they were a bit rambunctious, but Kai couldn't reprimand them for that, not after everything he had done in Krysal. Regardless of age, they were young.
Then he saw it: there was a group of Krysali who didn't look so grateful, moving out of the city gate toward him. Their clothes were a bit worse for the wear, but they had once been ornate: these could only be some of the remaining merchants of Krysal. Ones with strong connections, otherwise they would never have survived the revolution.
"We're grateful you saved us," one old man said ungratefully, "but what would we have done if you hadn't arrived just then?"
Kai wasn't in the mood for games, he just stepped up to the group and stared down at them. "What are you getting at?"
"Thanks to you and this bloody revolution, Krysal can't defend itself anymore. Once we had strong crystalliers to defend us against foreigners like that, now they raid our coasts. You took all our crystalliers away and left us vulnerable."
"And you decided this was the time to argue about the revolution again?"
"No, we need you to convince the leadership to make changes." The old man paused and multiple members of his group shouted out affirmations. "These peasants have no idea what they're doing and they're running Krysal into the ground. It's not long before the incursion. If we don't hand control back to people to people who understand the world, we'll be ruined. We need crystalliers to defend-"
"You have them." Kai gestured out to the trainees being swept into the cities by the crowds. "Those are your new crystalliers, and they're just the beginning."
Chapter 524: The Worst Builder
They could have immediately gotten enmeshed in Krysali politics, but Kai agreed to hold back. For one, his wives were correct that he had a bad track record of getting heavily involved there, and his presence alone would be a disruption. Perhaps more importantly, they'd made contact with the Frontier elites and a delegation was coming to meet with them.
It went unsaid, but Kai knew this meeting would be important. They weren't sending adults to mind them or judges to evaluate them: the elites knew their strength and wanted to treat with them seriously. This was his ultimate chance to prove that he'd done everything for the sake of Deadwaste, so he needed to make a positive impression when they negotiated. Yes, he was likely stronger than the Frontier elites now, but he needed them as allies.
In order to pull that off, he sent Cragrila and Nirka into the city to make contacts and catch up on everything they had missed. For his part, he stayed outside and worked with the trainees. A few more days wouldn't make a huge difference for however the elites judged them, but there was only so much time left before the incursion.
He'd arrived with roughly two dozen and they'd begun to split up - some of them felt they had enough power, or wanted to return home, or simply disappeared into Krysal. He was left with a group of seven who he'd made the strongest connection with. Fortunately, they hadn't let the praise go to their heads and they were all eager to train, give or take a few hangovers. Kai got the group together along the rocky shore and noted that they seemed even more unified than before, even outsiders like Bonto and Kyridnyiam.
"You did a good job," Kai addressed the group, "but everyone else already told you that. I'm here to tell you not to get overconfident. There are many more cultivators just as strong and you won't always have backup."
"With all due respect..." Kifaela hesitated and glanced across the others, but they nodded to her. "We're not puffed up by that battle, it was humbling. We know those were just the rank and file of a cultivator sect and we barely held our own against them."
"Almost got my head taken off," Untariin muttered.
"We've all doubled our power, and we needed that just to survive. And those weren't even the strongest at that tier, from what Kyridnyiam was telling us. So no, we feel like we have a long way to go."
"Oh. Good." Kai was a little surprised, but he supposed that this group wouldn't be as overconfident or decadent as the cultivators they were facing. "Let me encourage you, then: you won't be facing monsters like that in the incursion, not regularly. Currently, most of you are tough enough to take on a city-destroyer, so even with your current strength, you can help turn the tide. But we're all going to be spread thin, so we need to work on your stamina."
Once they had agreed, Kai used Famished World to drain away their power - he'd planned it as a humbling exercise, but now he just efficiently exhausted them. Once they were low on energy, he had them run laps within his aura to drain them physically as well. Soon enough they were all worn down and gasping for breath.
That was when the training really began. These trainees all knew about pushing themselves when the going got tough, but they needed to master their new power at minimum levels.
As they got started, Kai roamed among the group, offering suggestions or setting them on different paths. Some focused on trying to absorb their chosen chakra type, others engaged in their own exercises, and a few sparred with one another. Later on, when they were truly tapped, he'd have to give them a lecture about how to keep up progress on Deadwaste.
"You're close to D-rank," Kai told Ankrastor as he struggled to rise on his fingertips. "But you need to reach the absolute peak or the transition could kill you."
"I..." Ankrastor proved too engaged to speak and kept it up until he collapsed.
"Good work," Kai said in a lower voice. "After you reach the next rank in Physique, we'll see about getting the elites to teleport you somewhere else. With four months left, you might be able to unlock something new and give yourself the last boost you need."
"Can you?" Ankrastor had to catch his breath, then responded in the same low voice. "I mean... will the Frontier elites actually listen? Teleportation resources are scarce."
"Truthfully, that's something I'm going to have to negotiate soon. But I'm confident they'll be impressed by your progress, so even if they have issues with me, they'll keep investing in you."
Kai left Ankrastor to his next round of training and went to monitor Kifaela - he could suggest a little about how she absorbed plague chakra, but mostly she had to figure that out on her own. He used one of Omilaena's syringes to draw blood from her while she was exhausted, since that might be useful to learn more about her subconscious methods.
Everything seemed to be going well... except Kai saw that Mariyay was off to the side, training but not engaging with the others. Despite avoiding him up to this point, she'd remained. It looked like she was so exhausted that she didn't see him coming, so he crept closer.
Mariyay Hafkrir - the name meant almost nothing to him. He knew very little about the Hafkrirs except that he thought they were a clan in the far eastern parts of Goralia. It didn't seem very likely that she could have a personal grudge against him. Indeed, when he crouched down beside her, she looked a little startled, then a little irritated, but not at him personally.
"We still haven't talked," Kai said. "Is there a reason why you stayed?"
"I know... what you're... going to say..." Her arms wobbled and she fell onto her stomach, laying there unable to do another exercise.
"Well, you aren't obligated to take my advice. I think it's worth something, but you could be right that you've found your own solution. That combination of the Builder Class and Earthborn powers seemed strong enough."
He didn't honestly believe she thought that, but he also wasn't sure what exactly her problem was. Kai remained sitting beside her while she recovered, pretending to look over the group. He could give a suggestion or two, but Mariyay was the last one he hadn't spent time with and he hoped that she'd be willing to open up.
Whatever she was dealing with, she worked through it as she sat up. When she spoke, it was in a grim tone. "You saw my barrier in the fight?"
"And it was a good one," Kai said, "but you don't sound happy about that?"
"That's what everyone wants me to do. They said the Builder Class is only good for playing support, that I should have gone to the Frontier and helped them reinforce construction. But that's not what I trained for, not what my life is supposed to be for. I want to fight."
"And it seems like you've done a good job figuring that out. Why are you angry about it?"
"Because none of it is good enough." Mariyay clenched her fists and earth began to rise in front of her, slowly forming a brick. "This is as fast as I can go. It's gotten a little faster as I gained Class levels, but not enough. I need to rely on my Earthborn powers to raise anything quickly, then even reinforcing it goes slowly."
"Those are potential weaknesses." Kai nodded mildly, trying not to dismiss her concerns while remaining neutral. "So you have a defensive power and you want to fight on the offensive team... that's an obstacle, but everyone here overcame obstacles."
"You didn't!"
Her sudden half-shout made Kai blink in surprise, since it seemed to contain real rage. Yet the motion drained away and Mariyay looked mortified the next second. She looked away, focusing on creating more bricks in a little tower instead of focusing on him.
"I shouldn't have... that's not what I meant." Mariyay took a deep breath. "I heard about you, you know. You started with a Laborer Class, and everyone told you that you'd never amount to anything."
"And?" Kai thought he was beginning to understand, but he didn't want to put words into her mouth while she was emotional.
"You got rid of your useless Class and found an actually powerful ability. Mine... I've spent years training as a Builder, I can't change now. But I just don't think it will ever be strong or fast enough to be worth anything."
In the short time they'd been talking, Mariyay had built a column of bricks several feet high, which didn't seem useless to Kai. Then again, he could understand her frustration after his dreams of being a hunter had seemed ruined. He could ignore her unintentional insult, because in a sense it was true that she had taken the harder path.
"Battlefield defense wouldn't satisfy you?" he asked eventually.
"I'm a liability like this." Mariyay waved a hand and her bricks tumbled down into a pile, which then melted into the earth. "Even during the battle, the others needed to cover for me."
"You covered for them when no one else could."
"Yes, but if I can't attack, I'm not really a hunter, I'm just support staff on the front lines."
Kai nodded slowly, considering the melting bricks. Time to take a different approach: "What ability did you use to take your tower apart?" he asked.
"What, this?" Mariyay waved at the melting bricks with a sigh. "After leveling up my Class, I discovered that I can deconstruct things as well. But no, before you ask, I can't do it so fast to be used as an offensive technique. It's useless against living creatures, and at best I could serve as a siege engine. Big deal, everyone with offensive power can take down a wall."
"How fast could you take down a stack of your own bricks?"
"I don't know, about as fast as you want."
"What if I wanted it to be very fast?"
Mariyay stared at him, surprise breaking through her discouragement. He could see the near-hope in her eyes: she didn't want to believe that she had a chance, not after being denied so many times. If this worked, he might be able to offer her something no one had ever done for him.
"Make another stack," Kai ordered. "Or try a short wall."
Without a word, Mariyay bent to begin forming bricks out of mana. As she had said, it wasn't particularly fast, but he was confident that she could get faster. The real question was the reverse, which he had examined earlier but not tested. Surely one of her abilities would be compatible...
"I've never used elemental powers," Kai said, "but Earthborn stone is obviously much more explosive than your Class. You can use the two materials you construct interchangeably?"
"I can make the Earthborn stone fast," Mariyay explained as she continued building the wall, "but it's not durable. That's why I throw it up first, then try to reinforce it with my Builder skills. Even that is too slow if I don't have support."
"Well, finish your work and then we'll try the opposite."
Soon enough she had a short wall of bricks, which were unusually durable and fused together due to her Class. Each was brimming with mana, having just been formed, making them an excellent defensive material. Kai's plan was to use them in the exact opposite way.
"Now," he told her, "use your Class skills to unbuild the wall. But before it falls apart, use your Earthborn power on it."
As it turned out, he didn't need to walk her through the details: Mariyay might be less experienced, but she had endured a great many struggles of her own. She pulled back one hand in a fist at her waist while she extended her other in a palm, weakening the mana binding her bricks together.
When she reversed her arms, her fist hit the wall and it exploded: bricks exploded outward at a fearsome velocity, some punching into the rocky ground and others sailing on. The spread went wider than intended and some nearly hit the other trainees, who cursed and danced out of the way.
None of that mattered... Mariyay's eyes wandered over the destruction back to her fist.
"It's still too slow," she murmured.
"But you can work on that," Kai told her. "With a few months, do you think you could turn that into a technique?"
"Yes! Thank... I don't know what to say, thank you, I have to try this!" She rushed off to talk to the others and Kai smiled as he watched her go.
Was that viable on its own? It was certainly more elaborate than a Class that simply produced an attack: some hunters had been throwing fireballs within hours of awakening, after all. But the heavily concentrated mana of her Builder Class had advantages, forming much more deadly projectiles than a faster skill. If she could refine the whole process, it might produce a unique skill.
Could he have done the same, if he'd kept his Laborer Class? Kai didn't think about it for very long: he'd taken a different path and he wouldn't second-guess himself now.
Before he could think any further, a portal suddenly opened beside the training grounds. He leapt to his feet, just in time to see the Frontier elites pass through. It seemed they'd wasted no time: they'd brought a full group and they looked deadly serious.