Sarah Davis
Stories
10
Chapters
3,751
Words
1.8 M
Comments
0
Reading
6 d, 3 h
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Thanks to her judicious purchase of the crystal ship, Zae Zin Nim's trip across Krysal was in no way wasted time. She had taken small but highly significant steps forward in every aspect of her cultivation. If anything, she was slightly disappointed not to have any reason for detours, but without Kai there was no reason to spend time anywhere else. Most of the other cities where she stopped for supplies were disappointing compared to Yulthens. They had more of the same crystals and certainly no resources…-
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Kraetius didn't know why he was waiting for the fool. He'd seen the terrible power of that thing - the best anyone could hope for was that Kai managed to survive and get back without permanent injury. Maybe it was just sentimentality. After so long training alone in the mines, being with all the workers had softened him up more than he wanted to admit. It was hard to know what to think about all of them. When he'd been thrown into the mines, decades ago, he had been disgusted by everything about them.…
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One very restful week later, Kai was ready. When he examined his soul, the symbols said that he was literally one point away from fully recovered and he no longer felt the slightest pain while moving. Yet he wasn't going to trust either one of those, not before he potentially put himself up against the most dangerous people in the entire nation. No, he had in mind a real test. "I'm telling you, this is a mistake." Kraetius kept pace as they headed down the tunnels, gesturing with both hands. "I freely…
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In the end it took over a week to dig the tunnel, despite the fact that Tyrant's Claw could easily destroy the crystal walls. He needed a stable path out, not a collapsed column of rocks. For all that people claimed power was all that mattered - whether it was Kraetius or Zae Zin Nim - it couldn't solve every problem. Now he had a crevice that had almost reached the surface. Kai could even see sunlight filtering down from above and had to restrain himself from breaking through the last layer. The problem…
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To Kai's surprise, both Kraetius and the workers took to training quickly enough. For the workers, they saw the benefits of the training to reduce their aches and pains, not to mention the promise of not being torn apart by the crystals while working. For Kraetius, Kai suspected the old man was glad to be able to boss people around and have others looking up to him. Everything had gone smoothly in the week since they returned. At first Kai had trained with Kraetius, picking up a bunch of new Physique…
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At first Kai thought about it like any other fight: dodging and striking and maneuvering. It would have been a challenging one, because the old man was as tough as his Physique suggested and the dark pit was a dangerous environmental threat. But, after Kai fought enough to realize that he wouldn't be overwhelmed, he realized that he was thinking about this wrong. His goal wasn't to win, he needed to convince the old man, and that made the fight a conversation. It was an extension of what he'd just told…
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After two weeks of searching, Kai hadn't found the alleged old man, but he didn't even care. Exploring the deepest of the tunnels was the most fun he'd had since he'd been thrown into the mines. In the vast central caverns, there were large empty chambers that contained a wider variety of monsters, which had been good for his training and recovery. None of them had been true challenges for him, but he saw them through fresh eyes through Nirka. Even though she had fought monsters in the past, she had never…
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When she cultivated, Zae Zin Nim was supposed to completely clear her mind and focus on nothing but her qi. Perhaps Kai had infected her, but that wasn't as easy anymore. Instead she continued cultivating, still at reasonable efficiency, while her mind churned on other topics. First strategy, of course. Advancing her cultivation at a reasonable speed meant gaining access to qi, which meant taking assorted risks. Many in the city were interested in engaging with her, each potentially a beneficial…
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Making so much progress, Kai was tempted to just keep training, but he knew that was the wrong path. The world wasn't so kind as to just sit and wait for him to get stronger, it would be barreling forward. Suortril might be beginning another scheme, the conflict with Omilaena might have developed, and he could only hope that Zae Zin Nim was safe. Advancing meant a careful balance of caution and decisiveness. And right now, he thought he needed to see the rest of the mines and find this mysterious old…
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After months in the Krysali cities, Kai had felt as though he was still a foreigner. Accepted for his strength, but always on the outside, always just a guest in their society. It was something that had slowly grown in his awareness the longer he stayed. After less than a single month in the mines, Kai felt like he was their hero. That wasn't exactly the same as being accepted as one of them, but he'd take it. The workers no longer treated him with suspicion and actually provided useful information when…
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