Depthless Hunger

Chapter 129: Monster Core Specialists

Returning to the luxury of Romastir only put Kai more on the edge, but the training lulled him into a false sense of security. The harder he worked, both on his shroud and his cultivation, the easier it was to avoid thinking about the deeper problems. He knew how to gain power, so in a way working hard was easier than trying to understand the problems of Krysal.

After getting worried about how to explain what happened to Lord Unklian, his meeting with the merchant had been a non-event. Kai had decided to be mostly honest, assuming that information would get out, and explained that they'd delivered the crystals but they weren't safe and might be seized by Omilaena. Unklian hadn't cared, since he'd received his full payment, and actually threw in a bonus of a thousand Golden Eagles for a job well done.

A thousand Eagles, just as a bonus. Kai wasn't entirely comfortable with that, but he definitely took it.

The highlight of his return, surprisingly, was when Krainuun arrived the next day. For once the small man seemed pleased with himself, in addition to desperately eager to appease. He only bowed twice while entering the room, then popped upright.

"You gave me an exceedingly difficult task, my lord, but I believe I have been successful." Krainuun beamed from ear to ear. "Romastir does not specialize in monsters, but we are highly interested in anything that can be derived from them. Ordinarily, monster products and cores are toxic and have limited use, so the exceptions are a smaller field. I began with the idea of monster cores that would be worth storing and discovered a specialized vendor."

That request felt like it came from ages ago, but Kai warmed to it almost immediately. Even if it didn't work out, Krainuun had clearly put serious work into solving the mystery. Anything that got him closer to an answer about the mysterious core was a bonus he hadn't been expecting.

"Unfortunately, it does require you to leave the mansion during your free hours." As Krainuun spoke his expression fell almost comically low. "A great many luxuries can be brought to crystalliers, but the most powerful merchants have their own affairs."

"That's no problem." Kai set aside the book on shrouds he'd been reading and jumped up. "Can we go now?"

"At once, my lord!"

He was escorted to one of the fancy flying carriages, but only part of their journey was through the skies of Romastir. As soon as they went down into the streets, Kai began examining every alleyway, looking for signs of something he missed. And yet, as far as he could tell, the people of Romastir were simply much better off than citizens of Goralia.

In Monskon City there would have been a few beggars, wannabe hunters with injuries, and people just scraping by. Yet throughout the city, even those without expensive cloth wraps looked happy and well-fed, the workers were all well-dressed, and he saw no absolute poverty. Even if the system had some excesses, it seemed to be working well and he couldn't justify how Omilaena had overturned it.

Krainuun sat on the opposite side of the carriage, attentive to his every expression. Maybe he should take this opportunity to ask him a few questions outside the mansion.

"Hey, Krainuun." Kai saw the man jolt and tried to soothe him with a smile. "Do you like your job?"

"It is a pleasure to work for you, my lord!"

"No, I mean working for Lord Unklian. Was it your dream to be a servant?"

The little man looked back at him, for a moment actually unreadable. Kai couldn't tell if there was anything behind those glittering dark eyes or if the man was just calculating what Kai wanted to hear. When Krainuun finally spoke, it was impossible to tell.

"I am very fortunate, my lord. I am a skilled servant and I am accordingly paid very well, more than many lesser workers. It has taken me an immense amount of effort to reach this position."

"I'm just trying to understand Krysal." Kai looked away, into the clean alleyways. "If you had wanted to become a merchant or a crystallier, could you have tried for that instead? In Goralia, so much is decided by what Class you receive. Everything here seems to come down to money, and I don't know what to make of it."

"My lord..." Krainuun settled back, put his hands over his rounded belly, and gave him a very small smile. "In Goralia they value freedom above all else, but this is not Goralia. Each Krysali city state is a finely-tuned machine. Everyone must do their part by giving their best gifts, and they are rewarded accordingly. I would be a very poor crystallier, and I have no head for business, so this is the place where I am most useful."

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"And what about those who have less to give? What happens to them?"

"Some rise above others, of course. Some merchants thrive, others decline. But if the machine runs efficiently, everyone can still receive a good life."

It was a nice ideal, and not so far off the sort of society Kai approved of, yet he could feel the rotten core somewhere close. Yet if Krysal had some dark underside, where were they hiding it? Maybe he had to admit that they really did run things better than Goralia.

Soon after they arrived at a narrow building that stood alone, illuminated by eerie green crystals. It had no sign except a golden monster skull that hung over the large double doors. There were guards, each of them with over 80 Power, so this was clearly no small-time institution. Krainuun hastened to open the carriage door for him and he was ushered inside.

Despite the creepy lighting, Kai immediately felt more comfortable than before: he saw people carrying monster hunter equipment, men and women with injuries, and weapons that reminded him of home. Krysal might not focus on monster hunting, but it was still a major city, so he shouldn't be surprised they had some specialists.

"Ah yes, our foreign crystallier." A lean man with a face covered in claw scars smiled, one scar by his lip twisting the expression. He stood behind a polished counter that held a variety of crystallized monster cores and gestured for him to approach. "Your servant put to us an exceedingly vague challenge. But the fact that this mystery core of yours had direct value provided a clue."

"I assume it could be used for potions or something," Kai said. He looked over all the cores and saw that they were all reasonably large, and some of them strange, but none looked particularly familiar.

"Not an unreasonable assumption, but pill creation is one of the base uses that gives cores their value. Any core that would be secured in a vault must have a more specialized purpose, likely involving advancement. Combined with the other details, we were able to make some guesses."

The scarred man stepped away with a bow, passing through a curtain to the back side of the shop, and returned not long after with a heavy box. He set it down on the counter, opened it with a flourish, and gestured for Kai to look inside.

"These represent the monster cores with enduring value which could conceivably have been in the Rayakan region. If you do not find your target among them, that proves nothing, of course, but I do not think you will do better anywhere in Romastir."

Kai had to stop himself from salivating. He almost considered just eating the entire box, crystals and all. Even if he couldn't paper over the conflict with money, no one nearby could stop him.

But then again, he didn't gain power by mindlessly accumulating new monster essences. The fact that he'd gone to this much trouble to figure out the stolen essence emphasized the need to earn them himself. He already had more than he could use, and quality was clearly more important than quantity. So he got his hunger in check and instead looked over the box more soberly.

Several cores were powerful, a few still had a sense of distortion around them... but one immediately felt familiar. He recognized that blue shade of flesh and the strangeness of it. The one he'd eaten in Rayakan had been larger and more twisted by the Frontier, but this was definitely the same type of monster.

"This one," Kai said. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Ah, a curious choice. That monster core was acquired from a creature called a Shademonger that has only been seen during incursions. It is relatively unique in that it relies less on brute force than on corrupting the soul. Accordingly, its core can be used for purposes that are equally rare."

"Such as?"

"It is rare enough that we have only rumors." The scarred assistant shook his head. "It can be distilled into a potion that is one of an extremely few substances anywhere in the world that can increase a warrior's Soul Level. But it can also be converted into equipment that defends the spirit, or perhaps even into a spiritual weapon."

"This is definitely it." Kai smiled as he focused on the monstrous essence inside him. Now that he knew what it was, he only needed to read more about Shademongers and he could figure out how to use it. With so many of his other abilities being physical, this could be an important balance.

"Would you like to buy it, my lord?"

"What? Oh, I'm afraid not." Kai stepped back from the counter. "I'll pay for the information, if need be."

The attendant appeared disappointed, but in the end they negotiated a small price for a few papers about Shademongers. Kai considered buying some other cores before realizing that was wrong. None of them spoke to his deepest hunger. He needed monster cores ripped from opponents, not these sterile cores left behind. If he relied too much on cores he didn't earn himself, he had a feeling that he would begin to weaken.

On the way out, Krainuun kept just at his sleeve, looking anxious. Kai realized that the servant had done extraordinarily well with such a vague assignment, more than he should have expected. Once they stepped inside the carriage again, Kai smiled at him.

"Well, Krainuun, I'm impressed you actually figured it out. I didn't give you much to go on."

"I live to please." Krainuun smiled broadly as if he really did live for that.

"Do they keep live monsters anywhere in Romastir?" Kai asked. "For materials, or monster fighting arenas, anything like that?"

Immediately Krainuun's expression fell. "Terribly sorry, my lord, but I do not believe so. We are not primarily a monster hunting city, you must understand. There are a few institutions like this one, and we gather a great deal of knowledge, but the nobles would never stand for such a thing."

"That's fine, don't worry about it. Can you gather information about dangerous monsters in the region? Anything that has a large bounty, but also anything that's noted to be particularly unique or dangerous."

"I will assemble everything I can, my lord!"

"Thanks."

Kai turned away from him to stare out the window again. It was a small step, but he had one more resource inside him. He didn't know what he would need to do to unravel the problem of Krysal, but once he figured it out, he would have the power to back up his beliefs.

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