Chapter 182: Endless Paths Falling Away

(Cognosticon here. Some stuff has come up lately that has been pretty exhausting. I'm still chapters ahead, but my pace is faltering, so I think I need another three day hiatus. I have it planned for later in the week so that patrons will not be left on a cliffhanger.)

Traveling through the Krysal City States was at once easier and harder. In a small gem ship, with better qi control than he'd had at the start, he could skim over the land effortlessly. But now he found himself constantly drawn in every direction, longing to wander off his dedicated route.

Anything could be waiting for him in any of the surrounding cities, potentially an ally or enemy or the power he needed to move forward. He knew for a fact that he was passing up thousands of people living in crystal mines or acid pits. If he stopped, he might be able to help some of them, but slowing down would mean that he couldn't pursue his plans to help all of them.

He stopped by Yulthens to check in on Orillia, Gundle, and Yurwa, for supplies and to confirm that nothing had gone wrong. Thankfully Gundle seemed to be thriving, Orillia had adopted the pair of them, and Yurwa was in much better health. They could have held him for days, but he limited the length of the visit and headed back out.

His next journey was across most of Krysal, which would make the decisions even worse.

Zae Zin Nim had yet to return from New Laeneria, and since he didn't expect her to linger, that was troubling. It didn't bother him to spend the time going to find her. She was a friend, and even at his most cynical she was his strongest ally with the most potential for growth. But spending time on travel and cultivation meant he couldn't spend it anywhere he passed.

Sometimes that got under his skin in a way he hadn't expected. Maggle, Nanny Troggup, especially Nirka... he wouldn't have met any of them if Suortril hadn't decided to dump him into the nearest mine. If he'd been in the acid pits, or run into trouble in another city, he could have ended up with an entirely different group of relationships and his future would look very different. There might not be a Kraetius to help, but then again, he might have gained some advantage he didn't know he was missing now.

Eventually he found himself surprisingly philosophical about it. Living life at all meant choosing one path over another and giving up the paths left behind. He didn't feel any less for Nirka just because it had been chance that brought them together, so he could only value and protect what he had.

If Zae Zin Nim turned out to be perfectly fine, though, he'd still feel a bit guilty.

During his training and cultivation he continued to climb the mountains he faced, especially in Physique. He had learned how valuable those could be and wouldn't abandon his work, but in the short term his advancement was most likely to come from his monstrous abilities. At the moment he was switching between Void Gaze and Acidic Lance while hunting monsters and he realized that he didn't like shuffling around his monster essence so often.

Eventually, for the second time in his life, Kai arrived at New Laeneria. As he entered the main street by the very same gate, he pondered just how much had changed.

One thing hadn't: he was ambushed by a group of local guards, though this time his senses picked up all their locations in the surrounding buildings. There was even the same woman bearing a spear at the head of the group. Except this time he had a lot more context and a few things began to seem obvious...

"Alright, that's far enough! Stay right there." She pointed her spear in his direction. "We don't want anything to do with crystalliers. Whatever your masters sent you for, y-"

"You're from the acid pits, aren't you?" Kai asked.

The question made the woman freeze up, staring at him. He couldn't sort through the anger, shame, and surprise in her expression and so he pushed on. His question had completely interrupted her usual script, but that could easily turn against him.

"It's the skin at the corners of the eyes," he went on. "I noticed that everyone who was born there has a slight yellowing, something you don't get just from working with the acid. I'm impressed you managed to raise your Physique into the F ranks, given the toll the acid takes on people."

"Don't pretend you understand us." The woman struck the base of her spear against the street with a snarl, but that meant she stopped pointing it at him.

"You're right, I don't fully understand. I spent months imprisoned in one of the crystal mines, but I can't pretend to be one of them. That doesn't mean I can't help, though."

"I saw you here earlier."

"That time, I was working as a crystallier and didn't understand what I was doing." Kai smiled and shrugged. "We came to an agreement then, so why not now?"

After some hurried whispering, the ambush attempt dissolved. Most of the people involved didn't actually move far, suggesting that this was their designated ambush point. It probably worked well for merchants and arrogant crystalliers who strolled right down the main thoroughfare, but it wouldn't serve them very well in the attack.

Only the woman remained, walking up to him using her spear like a cane. "What do you want?"

"My name is Kai Clanless. You want to give me yours?"

"I'm Crysrinnia."

He narrowed his eyes, wondering if he could presume. "That's funny, it's a very noble Krysali name. But then again, I'm not sure how the others I met chose their names and it might be different in different pits."

"That doesn't matter and it's none of your business." She gripped her spear tighter as she stared at him. "We accept that you might not be our enemy, but that doesn't mean we trust you. Why exactly are you here?"

"I think we want some of the same things. Elsewhere in Krysal, I've given a crystal mine access to acid and moonmelt, and I'm trying to get proper support for the acid pits. I can't tell you exactly where, because I can't trust you either, but does any of that sound familiar?"

"You think you can turn them into armies? The merchants will cut them apart."

"No individual piece will be enough to make a difference." Kai gestured around at the former ambush. "You've obviously trained yourself and stolen some crystal weapons, but you have to know that you couldn't stand up to an invasion either. And the worse things get, the more everyone will be tempted to start one."

After staring at him for a long moment, the spearwoman sighed as if defeated and gestured for him to follow. They moved away from the grand central street to one that had a little more life on it, workers bustling and children playing. With more experience, he saw that only some were the pampered workers of the cities while others had faint crystal scars all over their arms.

A cheerful man ushered them to a table and brought them some fresh bread, but he sensed the atmosphere and backed away after that. Crysrinnia set her spear down carefully beside her, then flattened her hands on the table.

"You're right, we'll lose if they attack us. I think it's only fear of Omilaena that keeps them at bay. The primary owners of the acid mine where I was born tried to mount an assault, but she killed them. Some believe she's our savior, but I think she'll leave when we need her most."

"You're probably right about that." Kai took a bite of the bread - heavier than he was used to, but satisfying. "How is she as a ruler, by the way?"

"Better than a crystallier or merchant. As far as I can tell, she mostly wants to be left alone." Crysrinnia bit her lower lip and looked over her shoulder. "But I'm worried that once she runs out of nobles, she'll start making some of us disappear too."

Kai wanted to ask more about that, especially since it could be his lead on Zae Zin Nim, but couldn't ignore the opportunity directly in his path. "We should talk about how you can stand on your own. The workers I know have training, and maybe some cultivation, but they're lacking equipment. Looks like you might be the opposite, so maybe you can work together."

"Under you?"

"No, it would be up to them. But I'm the only one who can move through Krysal easily right now."

"Frankly we need all the allies we can get. I guess it's no loss to tell you that we're not even as strong as we look." Crysrinnia reached into a pouch at her side and pulled out a gleaming arrow. "I call these anti-crystallier arrows, but they're just crystal arrowheads with some qi. They'll punch through a thin layer of crystal armor, sure. Problem is there's nothing stopping a crystallier from dodging or burning it out of the air. We can't win if it comes down to a real war."

"Maybe." Kai took the arrow and turned it over in his hands. "But if it was shot by someone with E-rank Physique from a good bow, I bet many couldn't dodge it."

"You mean the workers from the crystal mines. They're strong, but vulnerable to crystal cultivation."

"Only because their Physique is unbalanced. That can be fixed."

Crysrinnia gave him a second look, as if reconsidering. "You're serious about this. Alright, if you're so serious: why do you think we can win? You've seen the strongest crystalliers in a way that the people here haven't. Are you telling me that a little tactics and equipment can beat one of their top enforcers?"

"Bluntly, no." Kai dropped the crystal arrow onto the table. "To win you're going to need some champions, there's no way around that. But if you can find them... there are a lot more of you than there are of them. The average noble with a little cultivation isn't a Diamond Crystallier from Yulthens. You can compete against them, and that could decide a war."

"Provided we don't starve." Crysrinnia gestured at the bread going cold. "We have enough here, but supplies are honestly a problem. I thought if we had all the workers, we could get the work done. Turns out the merchants were good for something after all, and coordination has been an issue."

"This whole movement does need more organization, and honestly I'm not the person for that." His mind went back to Razzagah Lantrian, as if it was remotely practical to go all the way to Goralia to bring him. "I'm not saying I have all the solutions. But if you're willing to talk, maybe we can exchange some of them."

"You're not who I took you for. Maybe this will work after all."

Before they could say anything else, a runner approached them. He stopped by the table, puffing for breath. "Message... from the... Maneater..."

Crysrinnia winced. "I'm sorry, but we automatically informed her about your arrival when we saw you. She's almost never cares, so I'm not sure why..."

"Here..." The messenger pulled his hands of his knees long enough to raise a piece of ornate folded paper. Kai vaguely recognized the form of the invitation, like the ones crystalliers gave out for parties. After considering the possibility of poison, he opened it and discovered a single line message.

I'm ever so eager to continue what we started in Yulthens. Won't you drop by?

- Omilaena the Notorious Maneater

Kai groaned and started to stand up. "I guess I should go," he said, "but before I do: did a cultivator pass through here? It would have been a short woman with black hair."

"Yes, she did." Crysrinnia winced again. "She went into the estate and never came back."

Then his path had taken him to the right place after all. Kai started running toward the estate at the top of the city.