Depthless Hunger

Chapter 190: Jealousy in the Mines

The battle for Romastir had been easy, which actually left Zae Zin Nim strangely unsatisfied. There were opponents out there as far above her as she was above the weak crystalliers, and she needed to work to be ready for them. Kai seemed to feel the same, so they cultivated and trained aggressively as they flew back toward Yulthens.

Before they actually entered the city, however, they needed to stop at the mines. It was her first visit and she was frankly repulsed, even after being prepared by Kai's descriptions. These people literally lived in filth in a hole in the ground, eating disgusting food that was apparently an improvement on what they'd been eating before.

And yet these were peasants she couldn't blame for their position. It made her think about all the other peasants she'd dismissed in her life, and just how similar they might be.

Clearly Kai was returning to friends, since he seemed to develop bonds wherever he went. Zae Zin Nim kept her distance and regarded them skeptically. Some of them were comparable to crystalliers, especially once past the 99 Power barrier and developing some cultivation. That didn't mean she wanted anything to do with them, particularly the one named Maggle who kept making jokes. The strongest among them was clearly an old man named Kraetius, who struck her as someone whose cultivation had been broken and, despite all his training, had never really recovered.

And Nirka... Nirka was the one who really got under her skin.

Even though Zae Zin Nim wasn't particularly experienced, it was obvious that this woman and Kai were in a relationship by the way they greeted one another. It galled her, more than she expected and perhaps more than it had a right to. What did it matter if she cared about Kai? She'd never made any kind of proposal and he had the right to do what he wanted.

None of that helped, especially at night when she realized they slept together. Just what did he see in a woman like that? Even pettier, Nirka barely looked at Zae Zin Nim except to notice her scars. Like she wasn't a threat or a rival, not even a concern.

And perhaps she wasn't. Zae Zin Nim had believed that she could wait until she reached the next stage and restored her former beauty, then ask Kai for something more. He had never philandered or ran around, so she'd thought she had time, and yet... and a woman like that!

Zae Zin Nim glowered at the peasant woman and examined her soul again.

Name: Nirka of N District

Total Power: 122

Crystal Cultivation: 120 (11)

Physique Level: E-5 (95)

Soul Level: 4 (16)

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All she had was 122 Power, drawing from pathetically low amounts of crystals and a Physique that she had gained just by working in the mines. What could he see in her?

Such jealous thoughts left Zae Zin Nim ashamed of herself. One of the reasons she cared about Kai was that he wasn't looking for some dual cultivation bride to fight his battles for him or to enhance his advancement. He definitely didn't collect women like trophies. So apparently the two must love one another in a way she didn't see. Perhaps it was the struggling to build up from nothing.

The crystal bracelet around her wrist almost burned more. Kai had given it to her without a duplicitous thought in his head, certainly not intending to lead her on. It was actually a thoughtful gift, useful in the coming conflict if not something she would keep forever, and more valuable than anything he'd given that worker girl. And yet the fact that he gave it platonically, thought of her as just an ally...

She took a deep breath. Pushed the thoughts away. Petty jealousy was beneath her - she was a cultivator, not a lovesick girl.

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An old woman the others called Nanny Troggup understood that she wanted to be alone and helped her find a cavern that was little-traveled. As Zae Zin Nim sat there and meditated, she returned to a semblance of peace. The crystal mines weren't a bad place to cultivate. They were no sacred qi cave, but they were cool and quiet, and the sparse qi emanating from the walls helped her to focus.

For the most part she had nothing to do, because she didn't have an essential role until they reached the acid pits. But the change that rolled through the mines was impossible to ignore.

Their arrival basically meant a wave of gifts, or rather, military resources. Aside from the potions and pills, Kai refilled the acid pits that allowed them to keep refining their own crystals. Even the food they'd smuggled in was military, because it helped the better-fed peasants get more benefit from Kai's Physique exercises.

Of course, by far the most valuable resource they brought was moonmelt pills. They only had ten in total, but that meant ten new crystallier-level workers. It didn't take much, given how mid-E rank Physique already took a person close to that level. The new rush of power motivated all the others to work harder to earn the next pills, and others who had thought it was futile started training again.

By Zae Zin Nim's judgment, they should all care less about their Power rating and more about correcting their Physique. All their work with unrefined crystal ore left them vulnerable to cultivation of it, with plenty of strength but no durability. It was a bit like trying to cultivate with an improper base.

Overall there was no denying that the mines had shifted from a bunch of laborers to a small army. And, while evaluating their strength, Zae Zin Nim realized what was really bothering her.

The fact that Kai was basically arming the peasants for rebellion had been obvious from the beginning, and because she didn't care about Krysal, she hadn't been concerned. But the fact that he was giving away all his secrets, including his own Physique training, had gotten under her skin without her realizing it. He was doing the exact opposite of all the sects who hoarded their secrets, creating the very force they feared.

Not solely because he wanted to help, but because he wasn't threatened. Some of the fearsome sects in her memory began to seem smaller and less imposing. If their sacred cultivation techniques could be taken so easily, were they anything more than gimmicks?

Her power had to be more than that. Zae Zin Nim continued her mixed training program, mixing cultivation with Physique and Class training. In the end, she was pleased with her results:

Name: Zae Zin Nim

Total Power: 415

Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 27% (260)

Coldfire Corona: 31 (41)

Blackblood Physique Level: E-3 (89)

Soul Level: 5 (25)

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She had more than 400 Power, putting her in the same range as the Diamond Crystalliers. Maybe not enough to defeat Ren Ziq Quen and his Transcendent Divine Body, but much closer. And yet it wasn't enough to turn Kai's head, or maybe gain anyone's interest, or maybe she was being a foolish girl when she should have focused solely on her own growth...

Zae Zin Nim cultivated with that uncomfortable thought until they finished their training in the mines and continued on to Yulthens. Unfortunately, they didn't go alone: a decent number of workers left with them, all with various assignments. There were two other crystal mines in the region that needed to be liberated to increase their forces, after all. As far as she was concerned, Maggle's purpose was to annoy her and Nirka's purpose was to make her miserable.

Their arrival in Yulthens was everything she had expected, in the worst way. Nirka gawked at everything and would have blown their cover if anyone had any sense. At least there was a real anger in her - a rage that wanted to tear down everything that had been built on top of her.

Zae Zin Nim could respect that, even if it didn't make things any easier.

Once they returned to Orillia's estate, Zae Zin Nim had a direct role to play in arming the peasants. She finally met the boy named Gundle, and was surprised to see that Kai hadn't overstated the boy's ability. He had an easy facility with qi that only appeared in a gifted few, except that it had been developed in toxic acid pits. She wondered if he would have been stronger if he had been raised in an ideal environment, or if that would have hindered what made him unique.

The only negative point was that the child had tactlessly asked her about all her scars. Where she would once have punished him, she just said that she had been cut in battle, which made the boy's eyes widen. He seemed so impressed that she was charmed despite herself. To a child the scars weren't marring her beauty, they were just funny lines.

In any case, their task was to develop the instinctual acid cultivation found in the pits into a combat ability. Her initial stance was skepticism, but anything was a weapon to an unarmed man, and acid did have intrinsic offensive power.

She had expected to resent spending her time on it, and to her surprise came to enjoy it. Working on such a radically different power led her to reconsider her own and deepen her own cultivation. The ability wasn't entirely pure qi, since it found its form within another substance, but that didn't necessarily make it weak. There were lessons for her to learn as she tried to improve her Coldfire Corona.

Two weeks doing nothing but training and working on her cultivation should have been ideal. There was nothing she needed more than that power. And yet, for the first time in her life, Zae Zin Nim wondered if that was really true.

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