Depthless Hunger
Chapters 469-472

Wind bit against Kai's face as he pushed himself harder, flashing over the mushroom-crowned hills. He'd gained his orientation in the Southern Reach, with a strong sense for Goralia in the north, so now even if the territory was unfamiliar, he could move around more quickly.

Even though he was by far the fastest person in the area, the underground communication between dryads moved faster, so he was frequently greeted as if he was expected. That made it easier to chase down the cultivators - Kai had interrupted the slaughter of a second Earth Soul and again killed him in the air, so the others were hiding instead of rampaging. Which was a victory, even if it made his job harder.

Eight Earth Souls, Yul Wei Ren, and Grandpa Wan Fei remaining.

The last village he'd visited hadn't seen any foreigners recently, but they'd heard some sort of strange message from the next town over. Given how the cultivators were all hiding, he had no choice but to pursue any leads, even if they were likely to be nothing.

This village was distinct from those he'd run across previously: there were large stone buildings, similar to Goralia, but the space between them was overwhelmingly shaded by canopies. There was a forested area, suggesting dryads, and a nearby river suggesting naiads, who he didn't know as much about, but most of the inhabitants seemed to be strange brownish people. He'd met humans with a wide range of skin colors on Rosemount, but these looked like another race he wasn't familiar with.

None of that particularly mattered, though, because as he landed everyone looked at him nervously.

They might not have gotten the warning messages, or they might just be understandably nervous about a strange overpowering warrior. Several guards emerged, sort of blocking his way through the main gate. Behind them in the shaded area, Kai could see a large cluster of the brownish people shifting nervously, clinging together like a family.

"Don't worry," Kai said with his best smile, "I'm just passing through. How are all of you doing?"

"We don't want any trouble, stranger," one of the guards said. The man looked incredibly nervous to be facing him. "Please just leave us in peace."

"I'm not here to bring any. I was wondering if you have any problems I could help with, or if you've seen any violent strangers."

"This is right in the middle of the Southern Reach," another guard told him. "No trouble here unless outsiders bring it."

The village seemed less hospitable than many of the others - maybe because of the local groups, or maybe because they just weren't friendly. Kai didn't want to ruin relations between Goralia and the Southern Reach, so he didn't plan to push... but he hesitated.

There was no way a village of this size didn't have problems, be they rogue monsters or local bandits. Either they absolutely wanted him gone... or there were extenuating circumstances. He stayed a little longer, examining the scene more skeptically.

When he looked inside the village again, he clearly made everyone nervous. Again, logical enough if they thought he was a threat, but they only partially seemed afraid of him. There was another locus of attention, something they were trying to keep their gaze away from.

An old man, a dryad with hair like dried leaves, stared at him intensely. He alone didn't look even slightly afraid, just stared back at him. When Kai met his gaze the man slowly, deliberately, looked toward the cluster of women and children.

Now that Kai looked again, he realized that all the women had children around their legs except one. She stood in the very center, yet she wasn't touching anyone, in fact the nearest women were avoiding touching each other. At first glance he hadn't realized, but now it struck him as horribly wrong.

Kai leapt into the village, grabbing the woman by the neck and pulling her away from all the others. For a second he worried that he'd made a terrible mistake, but then the woman faded away, revealing a cultivator wearing a wreath of burning leaves. It was one of the men, apparently presuming that Kai wouldn't attack an illusory woman.

The cultivator snarled and tried to attack him, but hiding had been his best tactic - Kai slammed him down into the ground until he stopped moving, before even thinking about the brutality of it. When he looked up, however, he saw that the village had relaxed: some of the parents covered their children's eyes, but the tension had broken. When the guards approached, they looked far more friendly than before.

"He showed up a while back," one of the dryad guards explained. "Forced us to make him an illusion and said he'd kill everyone if we revealed anything. We didn't want to obey him, but he was just so strong..."

"That's fine, you were put in a hard position." Kai almost bowed, then reverted to old habits and clapped the guard on the shoulder. "I'm here to stop people like him. Have you heard any news from nearby villages, or seen anything suspicious?"

All of the nearby villagers immediately began throwing out everything they'd seen lately, from a funny-looking monster to someone who was stealing their mushroom crops. It was basically all useless, but they were clearly so enthusiastic to help that Kai couldn't help but smile. He extricated himself as soon as he could and instead approached the old dryad who had signaled him.

That had been a brave act: the old man only had 10 Power in Dryad Essence, which Kai thought was the equivalent of a human laborer with minor Physique training, so he could have died in an instant. Now that the business was over, the old dryad had settled down into a chair.

"You're one of those Frontier elites, aren't you?" The dryad's voice was ancient and reedy, but still confident. It wasn't exactly true, but...

"I'm working with them," Kai said. "I'm surprised you know us, this far south. You don't even have a border with the Frontier."

"Aye, but when I was a sapling, Goralia had a rough time of an incursion. Monsters got through, and it looked like we were finished for a while. Even the True Root Knights couldn't stop them. But then those elites came... we thought for sure they'd take over, but they honestly just killed the monsters, helped us start rebuilding, and left."

"That's the ideal. It doesn't always work that way, but someone has to stop the incursions."

"Some forgot, but I never did. That's why we send some folks up north, to try to help you."

"I know, I've worked with some of them." Kai considered asking the old dryad if he knew the woman who had participated in his Hunter Trials, but that was silly, since there millions of dryads in the Southern Reach. "Listen, thanks to you I finished this without anyone getting hurt, but it won't always be that easy. Do you have any way to contact the Frontier elites?"

"Me? No, no, I'm just an old man." The dryad extended a twig-like finger to the northwest. "You want something like that, go to Razorfall City. Far bigger place, in contact with Goralia and beyond. That's where you'd find the elites, or anything else you need."

"Thank you." Kai considered giving something to the elderly dryad, but maybe they'd done everything they'd needed to do. This wasn't really about names or prestige.

So after one more look at the relieved village, Kai flew away, toward the northeast and Razorfall City.

He expected the journey to take longer, since it was a meaningful distance, but he'd underestimated his new speed. By rough approximation, Deadwaste was about as large as the other continents, but a huge portion of the center was eaten by the wasteland and Frontier. So the Southern Reaches, despite their similar name, were overall smaller than the Southern Rivers of Cloudspire.

Nothing even tried to stop him. His hunger extended and picked out some monsters, and he was sorely tempted to go hunting after so long without many monsters, but there was no time. All his actions needed to be focused on taking out the cultivators, contacting the Frontier elites, and finding a way back.

Eventually Razorfall City came into view, nowhere near as ominous as the name suggested. From a distance, he could see various flying vessels floating over the city. It reminded him more of home than any of the smaller villages because it was built over several hills with large walls. Unlike Monskon City, which split into regions of wealth, Razorfall City appeared to be divided into several districts around different hills: from above, he could see that they clearly had different types of trees and one was filled with pools and artificial rivers.

No time for sight-seeing, though. Kai reduced his speed as he approached, and sure enough, several guards flew on massive hovering leaves to meet him. They had between 200-400 Power apiece, which was impressive for here, but they also looked like they had a good impression of his strength and weren't happy about it.

"I'm pursuing a group of humans from Cloudspire," Kai said before a fight could start. "They've already killed several dryads and they intend to kill more. Have you run into anything like that?"

"We fought a cultivator several days ago," one guard said, "but we managed to ward her off. Haven't heard anything else."

"That's fine, it's your city. But I need to contact the Frontier elites as soon as possible. I heard I could do that here?"

The guards glanced at one another before an older woman spoke up. "The place should still be intact, but we don't have much to do with that. You'll have to negotiate with the Goralian Merchants Guild."

Kai confirmed they weren't going to stand in his way or make him jump through any hoops, got basic directions, then he shot down into the city. He'd grown more used to flying in dryad cities by now, so he didn't break any trees and prevented any shockwaves that might have damaged them. On the ground, the city was far more difficult to navigate, but he'd gotten a clear enough picture from above.

The idea of a single "Goralian Merchants Guild" seemed troubling, since Goralian merchants covered a huge range. Either the southern Goralians had instituted new policies or they were trying to band together to show their strength in the Southern Reaches. Either way, he might have to play politics again, because the merchants wouldn't respect him in the same way the guards did.

As he entered the human district, Kai was distracted to be among Goralians again. He was still the tallest person on the street, but far more of the men were closer to his height, and his hair and skin didn't stand out, unlike in Cloudspire.

Soon he found the large building of the Merchants Guild - he was actually reading normally, instead of relying on the Alltongue Fruit as he had for so long. As Kai ascended the steps three at a time, he considered his approach. He didn't want to just threaten or abuse his power, but being polite could get him stuck for far too long.

Inside, he walked past the familiar decor and saw that there were three major desks, each of which had a line of people waiting to be heard. Two desks had Goralians and one was all locals, but all three lines were moving too slow for him to wait. Kai strolled between the lines to find someone in charge and within seconds there was a guard poking a spear in his face.

"Step back, big guy!" The young man waved the spear point around. "This isn't the wastes, hunters can't just throw their weight around!"

At first Kai thought the guard was unbelievably brave, then he realized that the man might just be too incompetent to have fully developed spiritual sight. Kai reached up, grabbing the spear easily, and the guard actually looked surprised. The commotion around them was growing and he didn't want to hurt the man, but this was just getting worse...

"Kai?"

He looked away, startled by the familiar voice. A woman had appeared from a back room, and for a moment he just saw a Goralian woman before suddenly he realized that it was Juray.

For a moment they just stared at one another, unable to say anything. Juray was several years older than when he'd last seen her, but she still looked vibrant, and more importantly, she looked happy. He briefly thought about checking her soul to view her advancement, but that seemed meaningless compared to seeing his old lover again.

"You put that thing down!" Juray stormed forward, pushing the overzealous guard aside, then turned to the others in the office with her hands on her hips. "Everyone, this is an old friend. Back to work, we have personal business to discuss!"

It seemed that she was highly ranked enough in the Goralian Merchants Guild, or at least forceful enough, that everyone listened to her. The guard slunk back with an irritable look and some of his comrades reprimanded him, perhaps because they had a better sense for Kai's strength. Meanwhile Juray grinned and gestured for him to follow as they bypassed the lines and entered one of the back rooms.

As soon as they were alone, Juray turned back to him, skirts twirling and a strange smile on her face. "We haven't seen each other in so long, yet I feel like I can't stop hearing about you. First the revolution in Krysal, then you show up in the Elemental Nations and Irun? Your life just doesn't let up, does it?"

"It does sound mad when you put it like that, but it hasn't been all crazy." Kai rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Can't think of a normal way to say this, but I haven't heard nearly as much about you, so-"

"Well, I was so upset when we broke up that I overthrew Goralia. You know, in my spare time."

Kai chuckled, remembering how much fun it had been with her. "I want to know more, but I really need to get a message to the Frontier elites."

"Come on, we can talk on the way. For that, we need to talk to Razz."

"Wait, Razz is here?"

Juray linked her arm in his and pulled him from the office toward a staircase to the higher floors. Along the way, she briefly explained about how there had been increasing economic ties between Goralia and the Southern Reaches, but also increasing battles between warriors on both sides. Stress from the incursion had led to a lot of bad decisions, and eventually merchants had taken the lead in patching things up, including Razz. She had clearly gotten far deeper into politics than he ever had, though she hadn't explained why she was here specifically.

Her arm felt nice in his, but the old flame had quieted to warm embers. They still shared a bond, but they weren't together anymore and there was nothing flirtatious in her touch. She wasn't Zae Zin Nim, after all, she was a Goralian woman who was vocal about what she wanted. Good, much cleaner than with Nirka.

When they reached the top of the stairs, there was a door with another guard - stronger by Deadwaste standards, though not to him. Juray brushed him aside and they moved into an office crowded with piles of books and papers. In the center, almost buried under it all, was Razz Lantrian.

"Kai?" He stared when they arrived, eyes wide. "Is it really...?"

"It's me." Kai hadn't seen the young man since he left Rayakan and the years had made a much bigger difference for him: Razz had been a very young man then, so he'd gotten taller and filled out a bit, but he was immediately recognizable.

Razz rose quickly, vaulted over a stack of papers to reach him, then stopped as he realized he only came up to Kai's chest. "Wait, did you get even taller?"

"Well, so did you," Kai said.

"Yeah, but you just kept growing. Goddamn." Razz was grinning from ear to ear, but managed to swallow his enthusiasm. "I'd love to talk, but you aren't the type to stop over for a social visit. What's wrong? Incursion coming a year early or something? Tsunami flooding everything?"

Kai wasn't sure if that was an implicit insult or not, but he was too glad to meet them again to overthink it. "Not quite that extreme. But there are people from Cloudspire causing trouble, and I really need to get back. I heard you can contact the Frontier elite?"

"They gave us a method, but..." As he spoke, Razz undid a locked drawer in his desk, then opened a second mana-reinforced box with a different key. He stopped with his hand on the lid. "They were adamant that this was only for the most serious problems. Not serious locally, serious for the continent. If I let you use this, and they're not happy, I'll be burning my bridges with the elites."

"Don't worry, they'll take this seriously. And if they somehow don't like it, I'm sure they'll take it out on me."

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Thankfully, now that he was among old friends, Kai didn't need to plead his case or engage in any schemes. Razz spun the box around and Kai carefully removed the contents, which proved to be a golden rod with an unnaturally large blue gemstone at the end. No strange chakra mechanism, no obscure Cloudspire jade slip, just a simple magic object using mana. When Kai gripped the rod and channeled a tiny stream of mana into it, he immediately felt power leap out, forming a bond with another location to the north.

After several long seconds, a grim-looking man appeared within the gemstone. He wore an Irunian helm that almost covered his face, but Kai didn't think he was any of the Frontier elites that he'd met before. Shame, that would have made things easier.

"What is it?" the man asked gruffly. "Only the Merchants Guild is supposed to use this."

"Oh, I gave permission." Razz leaned in from the side and the elite's head twitched over as if he could see him.

"You have a dozen Earth Soul cultivators on Deadwaste," Kai said sharply, "and they're trying to commit genocide on dryads. Do you know someone named Nymidria?"

The armored man was silent a moment, then nodded. "Heard about her a few times. She was on pace to become one of us, but went to Cloudspire and never came back. That's usually how it goes."

"Well, not with me." Kai gestured at himself. "Doesn't look like you can sense someone's soul through the link, but ask the others about Kai Clanless. I've been working with you since-"

"Oh fuck, you're the one who overthrew Krysal. What have you done this time?"

"Nothing. This time, I'm here to help clean up a mess that would normally draw you away from the Frontier. But I need backup if we want to take out the cultivators quickly, and I need to get back to Cloudspire. I know you have a history with people leaving and not returning, but trust me, this is important. Is it possible to teleport between continents if you use all your resources?"

This time the armored man was silent for much longer, then he shook his head. "I'll have to talk to the others. Even in the best of times, that sounds impossible, and we're getting too close to the incursion. But if there are actually strong cultivators down there... we'll send someone with expertise. You'll have to talk to them."

Then he vanished without saying farewell. Not exactly polite, but Kai hoped that meant the man was getting to work. For all that the Frontier elites had been frustrated with him at times, he'd done more for them than most of their young recruits, so they couldn't just ignore him. Hopefully he could clean up the cultivator problem and get back to Cloudspire as soon as possible.

Though that would mean leaving his old friends hastily. For the first time, Kai felt a bit of tight haste in his chest dissipate.

"I really want to ask what the hell has happened to you," Razz said, "but it sounds like that might be a long story and you don't seem to have a lot of time."

"I can't waste time," Kai said, "but that doesn't mean I can't find some for old friends. Listen, do you have intelligence networks that could help us find these cultivators?"

"That would be more a dryad thing. We could negotiate with them, but it would take time."

"What's stopping you from chasing them down yourself?" Juray asked. She'd been quiet the entire time, but now leaned against the side of Razz's desk.

"They scattered and they'll run from me if I get close." Kai ran a hand through his hair as he considered all his options. "I think it's too slow to explore every village hoping I stumble across them, and there's no telling what they'll do if I push them too hard. I need to take them out cleanly, somehow, when they're off guard."

"We can't teleport you across the entire continent, but we do have some teleportation methods. Crazy as it seems, the mana is more dense here, so we can teleport short distances if it's urgent."

"Yes!" Kai grabbed her shoulder as the ideas started coming together. "Now, we're going to need to pull off the trick more than once. Do you know any particularly strong people who'd help us?"

"Well, there's Raghi," Juray said with an odd smile. Kai hadn't thought about the Tonjin brothers in a while, but if he was here... no, there was no time for that.

"Good, contact him. Now Razz... do you have a ship?"

"Uh..." The young merchant looked at him strangely. "Of course we move some goods via airship, but they aren't particularly fast. Even the locals aren't impressed, and I hear Cloudspire is supposed to have far faster vehicles. Everything out of Krysal these days is way better than-"

"No, slow and clunky is good." Kai cracked his knuckles and grinned. "We should have time to talk if things go according to plan, but for now let's get to work."

Chapter 471: Cultivators Gathering Against a Barbarian

In all his long life, Wan Fei had never visited visited Deadwaste. Never thought about it, never imagined that it could contain any challenge or advancement worth of him. It had barely entered into his mind, more a metaphor for weakness than a truly existing place.

Now it seemed as though it might be the death of him.

Because the locals were too coordinated, he had no choice but to hide within the wilderness and protect the young master while trying to solve their conundrum. The strictest interpretation of duty would require them to eradicate all of the dryads in the region, but he suspected that if he brought the young master back intact, no one would particularly care about the details. Even that would prove difficult, because he couldn't sustain higher flight across the massive ocean. And though his speed was superior to the barbarian's in the air, he doubted his stamina was equal, and to fly would be to reveal his location.

It was a difficult problem unlike any he had faced. So far he had collected two other Earth Souls who could protect the young master, which left him free to investigate and consider further. Even still, it was difficult to come to a solution...

"This is intolerable!" Yul Wei Ren threw down his cup and, when it didn't shatter on the grass, stomped on it. "Wasting my time with the Verdant River sect was at least a vacation, but this shithole is beneath me!"

"Young master, please be patient," one of the Earth Souls said. "We must be cautious here."

"Just because of one barbarian? Absurd! I could tear apart most of their so-called warriors with my bare hands!"

Though he said nothing, Wan Fei was privately not so confident of that. Yul Wei Ren was incredibly lax in his cultivation and especially martial arts training, relying on waving a hand and throwing qi techniques. The mana cultivators here, though weak in absolute terms, were well-trained. One could well kill the young master... which was another reason they needed to be so cautious.

"Hey, Grandpa Wanwan! Why can't you just beat that bastard?"

Wan Fei took a deep breath and thought about loyalties to old friends before he answered. "He has the strength of a Sky Soul, young master. I cannot-"

"I thought you were supposed to be strong! My father told me you could protect me from anyone, but you turned out to be worthless!"

"I am sorry, young master, but your father would not want me to let you come to any harm. Please wait a while longer, then we can steal one of their ships."

Of course Yul Wei Ren began to whine about how the airship dock was right in front of them, they should just take it, and so forth. Wan Fei turned away, letting one of the Earth Souls explain how they needed to wait to make sure the barbarian was nowhere nearby. There was always the chance that these airships, the only ones in the area, were some sort of trap.

It took half a day, but suddenly a shockwave boomed on the horizon. The barbarian was moving again... away from them, further south. His movements were becoming more precise, no doubt drawing on information from his local allies, so another Earth Soul was likely dead. That was an acceptable sacrifice, if it let them escape this place.

"Go," Wan Fei commanded. "Take the fastest ship, to the east."

"That one? It's tiny!" Yul Wei Ren continued to whine, but the Earth Souls obeyed the command and they all rushed into the shipyard.

The first two guards who were in their way tried to stand against them, rather bravely, and died instantly. Wan Fei stomped his foot and released a shockwave, sending all of the others tumbling without taking their lives. He had intended to cause enough internal damage to disable them, but even weak warriors were surprisingly durable here.

"What are you doing?" Yul Wei Ren groused. "Just kill them!"

"We need workers to prepare the ship, young master. Please wait while we arrange your ride."

After the guards were subdued, the workers obeyed his commands to prepare the fastest ship. They were capable of obedience... but he was surprised at the looks they shot him. It was as if, despite the undeniable difference in power, they truly didn't believe that he was any better than them. Some were beaten for their insolence, one of them to death, but the survivors only seemed to look disgusted at him.

They quickly destroyed the useless supplies, leaving the ship capable of taking to the sky. No sign anyone had noticed, and there was only one aging airship, drifting in their direction. It wouldn't even arrive before they had departed. Honestly, the greatest barrier to their departure might be to convince the young master to get on board... he was chasing down a particularly shapely woman among the workers, wasting all of their time.

Well, at least they had plenty, since their scouting...

Another shockwave echoed very close by.

Too late, Wan Fei realized that the barbarian was here. He had been certain the previous sighting was the monstrous man, yet now he streaked out of the clunky airship. His speed was such that he was on them in an instant.

Yet instead of attacking Wan Fei while he was unprepared, which would have been the strategically correct choice, the barbarian struck at the young master. Not even to kill him - which would have been rational - but merely knocking him aside and carrying the woman to a safe distance. To save the life of a peasant at the cost of every military objective...

Then both Earth Souls slumped to the ground, revealing dark spikes buried in their backs.

Wan Fei sighed and leapt to defend the young master, striking at the barbarian's back. The man turned with troubling speed, deflecting his attacks more easily than before. It was disturbing how he was still growing stronger, as if he was nowhere close to his limits... and even more disturbing how quickly he seemed to be adapting. The techniques of Cloudspire should have been too refined for barbarians, but clearly not in this case.

The two of them struck one another with powerful blows and skidded back, neither yet injured. Yul Wei Ren shouted insults from his hiding place, but Wan Fei ignored him. More than the battle, he wanted to understand this madness...

"Why didn't you kill the young master earlier?" he asked.

"If I did," the barbarian said, "would you surrender?"

"No. My duty would command that I kill you. To do any less than bring back your head would be to sign my own death warrant."

"There you go."

"This is nonsense... why would you value my life? If you had managed a sneak attack on me, no one else could stand against you."

The barbarian watched him with those unnerving eyes, then tilted his head to the side. "I have a question for you: why didn't you kill everyone in your way here?"

"That..." Wan Fei shifted, more uncomfortable than he expected, no longer able to voice what he now knew was an excuse. "There was no reason to kill them. They are not involved with this and we only needed their ship."

"It seems to me that the 'young master' there has never had a single solitary thought in his life," the barbarian said. "He truly believes that because he was fortunate enough to stumble onto some power, he's better than other people. But you, you seem different to me. You actually have some value as a human being, so why serve him?"

"I already answered these questions! Do you think that by repeating them, you will somehow convince me?"

The barbarian shrugged indifferently, but as he did so, his body began to transform for combat. "Figure out what matters to you soon. I respect you, but I've killed enemies I respected before."

Wan Fei struck, trying to take back the initiative, but to his surprise he found his blows ineffective. The very first time he fought, this barbarian had broken into C rank, and his Physique had only improved since then. Worse, his bodily transformation was not merely random, he grew armor and spikes specifically to counter his techniques. Palm strikes were almost totally useless against him now, and more techniques would soon become disadvantaged.

For the first time in years, Wan Fei felt a flicker of real fear. He had faced many opponents stronger than he was, not least the great patriarchs, but this was the first time he felt that he might be facing one who was truly superior. On impulse he broke away, dissolving into his higher flight technique.

Most could never have pulled off the maneuver, but he broke off his flight beside Yul Wei Ren, grabbed him, and drew him into the technique. He did it all at the highest possible speed he could, hoping to avoid the attack he knew was coming, because the barbarian was reacting to flight techniques faster and faster each time.

Instead, as he streamed away, he only saw the large man watching him silently. Somehow that was worse.

The ship decoy gambit had been a huge success, and that night Kai allowed himself to rest long enough to share a meal with Juray and Razz aboard the airship. What they had done was take a harmless-looking airship south, with a teleportation anchor on board. The weaker sort of teleportation they had here couldn't jump people between any two points, but Kai could break a gemstone and be drawn back to the anchor at any point. So he had made an obvious appearance, chasing down an imaginary cultivator, then teleported back to the ship with his presence hidden. That had allowed him to detect enemies making a move and approach them without being perceived until it was too late.

He hadn't intended it, but it had also been a great break. While they were on the ship, floating in the direction Razz had estimated would put them in range of the most key locations like the airships, they'd had time to talk.

Even though Kai wanted to hear about their lives in the years since he left Goralia, they had insisted on hearing his story first. It was strange, telling about the Krysali revolution yet again, especially to people who knew more about its aftermath than he did. He ended up telling a much abridged version of his travels on Rosemount and Cloudspire, and ended up saying nothing at all about his marriage because it would feel too much like boasting to bring that up for no reason.

Sighting cultivators had interrupted their stories, so now that he was back and they were eating on deck, it was his first time to hear their side of things.

"Rayakan has been more stable since you left," Razz was saying. "I can't say it's all perfect, and I ended up handing over leadership to more experienced merchants after a couple years. But the fact that the Lantrian clan is established again has done wonders for keeping any one group from gaining too much control."

"Seems like you've actually moved to bigger things," Kai said. "Trade with the Southern Reach is a critical market."

"Well, I'm doing what I can. I feel like I haven't done that much to prepare for the incursion, but... well, like I said, I'm doing what I can. After what happened last time, southern Goralia is a bit more nervous about it."

Kai clapped him on the shoulder and pivoted to Juray. "And what about you, what have you been doing?"

"More of the same, just harder." Juray shrugged with a self-effacing smile. "Monskon City is... well, a little better than it was before, but I realized that it only functions to a limited degree. It can keep the city running, but it does a bad job of raising any hunters beyond that point."

"I do want to hear about that, but no need to dwell. What about you?"

"I traveled south to try to find better materials to enhance my Herbalist Class, which is where I ended up meeting Razz. He's helped me... so much, really. I began developing for the first time in years, so when he said he was taking a risky mission into the Southern Reaches, I said I'd help. Oh, I have a lot to tell you about the year I've spent here..."

While she spoke, Kai finally remembered to examine her soul.

Name: Juray Phrissan

Total Power: 115

Herbalist Class: 72 (82)

Dryad Crucible (+10)

Physique Level: G-6 (14)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

While her overall Power was only 115, Juray was a supporter, not a combatant. The fact that she had taken her Herbalist class all the way to Level 72 was impressive, and he reflected that she might be overall stronger than Yul Wei Ren despite having none of his advantages. How much more could she grow if given a chance?

If Omilaena had been there, he would have been fascinated by her thoughts, especially about this "Dryad Crucible" he saw in Juray's soul... but he realized that she didn't want to talk about strength. She had always been more human than him, and truthfully he missed that a little bit.

"What about Raghi?" Kai asked during the first lull. "Still haven't met him, thanks to the plan. We, uh, we talked about some things when I was last here, but..."

Juray let out a little giggle. "You mean you talked about me? Don't worry, he mentioned it. You two being so serious is both silly and sweet... but yes, we're courting now."

"They call it 'courting' these days," Razz said, jabbing her with an elbow and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, hush." She swatted his arm good-naturedly. "He's very old-fashioned and I think it's cute."

They chatted a little longer, but before he could get deeper into their stories, they were interrupted by a surge of mana. "Oh, that's him now!" Juray tugged another device out of her bag. "He really shouldn't be contacting us like this, but he wanted to meet you, so..."

Her face fell as she heard the scattered voice through the communication device. Kai couldn't make out half the words, but the voice was recognizably Raghi... and he sounded like he was in trouble.

"Did our trap draw out more than one group?" Razz asked, face growing pale. "I don't suppose they're close...?"

"Raghi, wait, le-" But the communication cut out in the middle of Juray's pleas. She immediately turned to Kai. "He didn't have time to give his full location. But he was heading further south, and the cultivators wouldn't attack if he had been east near your decoy..."

"Got it." Kai leapt to his feet, growing full wings as quickly as possible. The others quickly compared notes and gave him the best directions they could. Seconds later, he leapt off the ship at maximum speed, leaving it drifting in his wake.

.

..

.

Raghi Tonjin had fought a lot of strong opponents in his time, but this was something else. He had to hurl himself backwards over and over to evade the massive crashing qi techniques that had ravaged the landscape. In the beginning he had tried to protect the wagons he'd been ostensibly guarding, but he had to abandon that and focus on survival.

That destructive power... this "cultivator" looked like a thin man in fancy robes, half Raghi's size, but he was monstrously powerful.

Name: ???

Total Power: 454

Cultivation: Earth Soul 13% (365)

Physique: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

If Raghi hadn't spent so long sparring against the Frontier elites, he would be dead already. His opponent now wasn't quite as strong as them, but he was absolutely trying to kill him in a way they never did. He'd stalled for as long as he could, but now when he retreated, the cultivator started to turn on the defenseless workers atop the wagon train.

Honestly, Raghi had no idea if this was a tactic to draw him out or if the cultivator was just bloodthirsty. But when the man started to threaten the workers again, Raghi stepped forward.

"I won't run this time," he declared. "Fight me."

"Running would have been the smart decision," the cultivator sneered. "Are you stupid?"

"Try me. This potion will make all the difference." Raghi drank his last Heartblood Potion, the one he and Juray had worked so hard to create together. But if he wasn't going to use it now, when would he? If his soul could have handled any more, he would have drunk everything he had, but he was reaching his absolute limit.

Name: Raghi Tonjin

Total Power: 289

Scrapper Class: 51 (61)

Whistlewind Potion (+25)

Physique Level: E-9 (107)

Ironbody Potion (+20)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

Heartblood Potion (+30)

>

The potions took his Power from its normal 204 to 289, which seemed insane to him... yet it wasn't enough. Now he could understand why the other continents seemed to look down on Deadwaste so much. Yet none of that mattered to him, not now.

With all the magic in the air, his message probably hadn't gotten through, so his only hope was a desperate bid. He noticed that his opponent seemed to expect him to blow apart with every hit, getting angrier and angrier when he didn't die. The man's Physique was actually lower than his, so low that a good enough hit could cripple him...

When Raghi leapt to attack, it played out just like he expected. The first rushing qi attack was deflected by the potion derived from Lofgan, then he was in range. Roaring in anger, the cultivator unleashed a qi attack at point blank range.

It savaged his body and Raghi knew he was burned all over, but he kept moving. He swung with everything he had left, hitting the astonished cultivator in the chest with the full might of his Scrapper Class. It connected, he heard something snap, and the other man tumbled away.

After that, Raghi collapsed. He needed to drink one of his healing potions, but his hands were trembling too much for fine movements. His opponent had fallen and vomited a shocking amount of blood... but wasn't dead. Raghi watched grimly as the cultivator rose to his feet, still able to summon all that destructive power...

Then his head tore off. It flipped upward bloodily as the body collapsed, and for a moment Raghi was just astonished as wind rushed around him.

His mind caught up the next second and he looked in the direction of the wind. Something monstrous was moving away that raised all his hunter's instincts in warning... but he knew it had to be Kai. He had arrived so quickly he didn't have time to slow down, he'd just killed the cultivator in passing.

Finally Kai slowed down in the distance, then returned. This time at a more reasonable pace, some of the monstrous features sloughing off him in a way Raghi didn't quite understand. He was still on his knees, too battered and exhausted from the fight to continue. Kai looked... he was larger and more muscular, for one, but the sheer level of power emanating from him made the cultivator seem like a clumsy child.

"Good work," Kai said, grabbing Raghi by the shoulders and pulling him up to his feet.

"I couldn't beat him..." Raghi mumbled.

"He couldn't take down someone with half his strength, and now he's dead. That's a victory in my book."

Raghi wanted to say something else, but he found himself slipping into unconsciousness.

The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!