Depthless Hunger

Chapter 118: New Directions, New Journeys

Their opponent appeared to be fully ready to fight, so Kai's first analysis was purely martial. The arrival had an immediate impact, but his spiritual sight couldn't pierce the veil surrounding the figure. All he could do was use his real eyes and hope he could find some leverage.

The Frontier elite was a woman with ageless tan skin and dark hair. At a glance at her magic he'd assumed that she was from the Elemental Nations, but physically she looked closer to Irunian. He got an unnerving confirmation of that a moment later when he saw the line of liquid metal snaking through her robes. The steadiness of Irunian abilities combined with explosive elemental powers was likely to be a nasty combination.

"You killed the Claw Tyrant." She had landed heavily but now began to lift into the air again, power that wasn't exactly wind mana gathering around her.

"Is that a crime?" Kai demanded.

"No, but the manner and methods were very suspicious."

Now that the initial crisis had passed, Kai got a chance to analyze her more thoughtfully. Not just for her abilities, which appeared to be overwhelming, but the smaller details. The hard look in her eyes wasn't actually anger, it looked more like irritation. Her power was chaotic, but now he could see that the cause was weariness. And as lethal as the liquid metal likely was, he noticed that it appeared to be binding closed a wound.

During the same pause, Zae Zin Nim appeared to have noticed some of the same factors, but she was looking for a weakness. Kai realized that they had only a moment to avoid a stupid and possibly suicidal fight.

"We saw what happened in the Frontier!" Kai blurted the words out inelegantly, but he immediately got the elite's attention. "Obviously we couldn't do anything. But after your allies helped us get out, we fought the monster hordes. Why shouldn't we keep fighting them, if we can save more lives?"

"You must be Gunjin's boy." The Frontier elite finally relaxed her shoulders and shifted back. "My name is Sheiri. You're not as much of an aberration as I'd heard, but I suppose you're hiding it. No matter, I understand. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

"Just like that?" Zae Zin Nim asked. Alone among the three, she hadn't relaxed in the slightest.

Sheiri turned to look at her slightly, apparently unconcerned. "You were actually the one who worried me. Guests from other continents are common enough, but we need to worry about military actions. When I felt a cultivator kill the very monster I was tracking, I assumed the worst."

"No. I am here unofficially." Though Zae Zin Nim still scowled at the other woman, she stopped preparing so much qi and shifted backward.

"Then I have no quarrel with you."

The elite prepared her power to lift into the air again, so Kai spoke up. "Wait!" Her gaze swung down at him, but he didn't flinch. "We really do want to help, and it's obvious that you're spread thin trying to deal with the aftermath of the incursion. Isn't it worth your time to at least talk to us?"

She stared at him, so intensely that he wondered if she was piercing through his false Class to his monstrous soul, but eventually she shrugged. Even more of the stiffness left her spine, leaving her slumping slightly as she turned to face them.

"It isn't fundamentally different from previous incursions, just worse. There are more dangerous monsters past the Frontier wall, so we're pushed to a breaking point. Politicians have already started looking away from us, not understanding that the preparation for the next incursion needs to begin now."

"We're seeking the power to be more useful in the next one," Kai said. It wasn't strictly true, at least for Zae Zin Nim, but he thought it was close enough and he didn't want to let this chance slip through his fingers. The last time he'd spoken to a Frontier elite, he had been dismissed because fate had ruined his chances at an elemental power. Maybe the world contained stronger people, but the Frontier elites were the strongest people he knew.

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While Sheiri had her guard down, Kai tried his spiritual sight and finally called up symbols for her soul.

Name: Sheiri Kagskan

Total Power: 633

Path of Steel: Truesteel 9 (108)

Windborn: Twiceblown (281)

Physique Level: E-5 (95)

Soul Level: 7 (49)

Emergent Class: Whistling Steel (+100)

>

As he'd expected, she was Irunian, though the majority of her Power seemed to come from an elemental ability that had been awakened later. There was no time to analyze it in detail, because she regarded him with a tired gaze.

"Got a good look?" Sheiri asked. "You've bought me some time, killing the Claw Tyrant, but there's always more work to do."

"Let us help. We might not be strong enough now, but you obviously need more numbers." Kai bowed as deeply to her as he dared. "Can't you share anything from your knowledge at the Frontier? I've only ever seen an 'Emergent Class' from there - what does that mean?"

"None of us have time to teach you about powers that can only be gained through hard work. Continue on your path. If you can really overcome the truly terrible hand you were dealt, you'll find your way back to us when the time is right." It looked like she was about to turn away again, so he spoke up louder.

"There's no compromise that works for both of us? We need power, you need support... surely there's some challenge we can face that will make your job easier and give us the chance to strengthen ourselves."

"You're determined about this, aren't you?" Sheiri gave a weary shrug with one shoulder. "If you kill more monsters from the incursion, no one will complain. We lost track of an Infernotoad somewhere in the City States that you might be able to take. There's a Windscythe hunting from the clouds over the desert. Hmm... there's a monster called a Shadow of Death that you don't stand a chance against. Retreat if you run into anything that makes its own darkness."

"If we do find it, how do we contact you?"

"Nice try, but instant magical communication doesn't come that cheap. No, if you really want to help, you should go into Krysal and see if you can't push things into shape."

"Krysal?" Kai looked northwest automatically, as if he could tell anything about it from a glance. "I thought they got through the incursion well enough."

"The City States are rotten at the core. Among all the Frontier nations, they support us the least. In seven more years the rot may spread so far that they crumble, then this will be worse for everyone." Sheiri cast a bitter smile at him. "Of course, I don't expect you to be able to actually do anything. But if you want to take on something we can't do ourselves, then understand the trouble here and see if you can change anything. If you actually manage it, I suppose we'll owe you."

"Thank you. What-" Kai wanted to push for more, but the woman leapt into the air. As soon as she was a safe distance overhead, her power exploded around her and she streaked across the sky, vanishing in seconds.

Wind swept in her wake, blowing their clothes violently. It seemed to sweep away all words and they simply looked at one another in silence until the wind died. To his surprise, Zae Zin Nim soon began walking again, continuing to the northwest.

"You aren't going to object?" Kai asked. "I was practically begging."

"A word from a senior can be worth months of training," she answered casually. "It is not unreasonable to try to get something from them, particularly since your elites are not so violent here."

"So you're not so dismissive of them anymore."

"None of them could hold a candle to a Sky Soul cultivator. However... their powers are not as cobbled together as I thought. There is a degree of sophistication there that is worthy of respect."

"Do you know anything about the Emergent Class she had?"

Zae Zin Nim shook her head. "It is not familiar to me. You would be better off asking an expert from Rosemount. I understand they focus more on synergies there."

Kai walked alongside her for a while, thinking about what they had learned, before he decided that they needed to address the obvious. "So we're going to the Krysal City States? That's decided for certain now?"

"I always thought it was the best option," she said, "and now you're convinced of it. We can gain as much qi as can be had on this miserable continent and maybe advance a little further. Plus, maybe we can buy one of those flying crystal vehicles so we don't have to walk everywhere."

"I'm pretty sure those cost more than 10,000 Goralian Eagles."

"Then we'll just have to earn more, won't we?"

It really seemed that simple for her. Kai grinned and picked up the pace, forcing her to begin using her lightness techniques to keep up with him. Alright, if they had a destination, they might as well run.

A long time ago, he'd planned to go to Krysal in the hopes of buying his way to power. Even though everything had changed about his life since then, he was still eager to see it. He'd heard plenty of amazing tales from veterans, contrasting sharply with what the Frontier elite had said about a rot at the heart of the nation.

Either way, they were running to find out.

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