Chapter 58: Starting from the Bottom of the World

After several days traveling together, Kai was still unclear on exactly how powerful Zae Zin Nim was. Attempts to examine her soul only showed a mix of strange symbols, damage, and what he thought was some kind of shroud. In practical terms, he had seen her strike blows that he didn't think he could equal, but her physical condition could cripple her at any moment. Though it hadn't been tested, he suspected that she couldn't take much punishment.

Regardless, it seemed as though she actually needed his help to make swift progress. She wasn't familiar with the local monsters and wasn't accustomed to the unrelenting pressure of the wasteland. Only after she started trusting him to stand guard did she get some sleep and let them move faster.

As for her actual techniques, those were even more opaque. She could enhance her strength with her qi, as he'd seen before, and deal lethal blows with her bare hands. Once when she had been in better condition, he'd stood back and let her take on a group of boars and she had killed some of them with bolts of energy that flew from her hands. She didn't seem like someone who really needed a Class to be powerful.

Along the way, she asked him questions about the region that showed that she knew surprisingly little about it. She didn't strike him as uneducated; it was more like a wealthy clan member visiting the poorer part of the city for the first time. Her insights into every form of power she'd seen were piercing, but most cultural details might as well have not existed to her.

"So it's not a formal compact," Kai was saying, "but Goralia, Irun, the Elemental Nations, and the Krysal City States are generally known as the Frontier nations. In theory if a monster incursion becomes particularly bad, they'll provide assistance to one another beyond their usual alliances."

"It would be simpler if they were just ruled by one empire," Zae Zin Nim said archly. "In Cloudspire they would be."

"An empire right over a bunch of monster-infested wasteland where nothing can grow? I'm not sure how successful that would be."

"You're underestimating just how large Cloudspire is." She paused briefly and glanced northeast. "So what's at the center of the central wastes? No one builds a giant defensive wall for no reason."

"I'm not sure there's anything there, other than good breeding ground for monsters. But I don't really know." Kai could only shrug. "Legends say that the region was destroyed by an ancient war between all the Frontier nations. Probably not true. There are stories about something terrible that fell out of the sky, but I don't think there's any proof of that. It might just be land that no one wants."

"What about outside that ring of nations? Cloudspire is west of Krysal, but I haven't seen any of the other directions."

"I... don't really know. I've never been outside of Goralia before, and given the fuzzy borders, maybe I'm still not."

"Not surprising. Most peasants never even leave the villages where they were born." Zae Zin Nim pushed on as if there was no implicit insult. "So the cultivators at the Frontier are the strongest on the continent?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by cultivators, but I think so. The hunters who succeed far beyond their peers go there. They say that one person on the Frontier is worth an army elsewhere." When she didn't seem at all impressed, Kai couldn't help but get a little irritated. "Is the entire Cloudspire continent really so much more powerful?"

"The energy in the environment is certainly far richer there, or even on Rosemount. All of Deadwaste is basically a desert by comparison, even when it comes to mana. Some say it's just a weak region, others that it was drained at some point in the past."

"Oh, thanks a lot. If the whole continent is so worthless, why are you here?"

"To hide." Zae Zin Nim was silent for many steps, then spoke up more quietly. "I am aware that I am... not particularly polite by your standards. At home, what you call humility is viewed as mere deference. Everyone accepts their lot in life as their fundamental nature. I believed the same, until my recent... difficulties. For that reason, I may continue to speak recklessly."

That might have been her attempt at an apology, but acknowledging it would probably backfire, so Kai took a different approach. "Are you really here just to hide? I thought that a Class might help you with whatever your problem is."

"I do not wish to explain everything, because you could use it against me. But my advancement has been blocked. No matter how much qi I accumulate, from whatever source, it will largely slough away. My hope is that an entirely different source of power will allow me to break through and resume my cultivation. I attempted to find mana on Cloudspire, but was forced to retreat here."

"Someone is after you? I know you don't want to talk about it, but if you're being pursued, that's something I really should know..."

"I doubt they would follow me here." She didn't seem inclined to offer any more, leaving him to continue the conversation.

"So you have mana on Cloudspire too, but not similar abilities?"

"We have everything there. Qi is predominant, of course, but there is also mana and chakra as w-"

"Wait, chakra?"

"The dominant power in Rosemount." Zae Zin Nim shook her head. "I do not wish to lecture about all these things. But before you ask, yes, all those sources of power are stronger in Cloudspire. The mana is two or three times more dense than anything I have seen here. It is said to flow a little stronger on Rosemount, despite being a secondary energy. That is why Deadwaste is so little respected."

"And everything we have is just inferior."

"Most everything. Normally all worthy cultivators, even novices like us, would be able to ride on floating vessels instead of walking to every location. Everyone with any real power carries devices with extra-spatial storage. I will admit the steel from Irun is better than what I've seen, if magically weaker. This transition has been... difficult for me."

Kai thought about telling her about mana-powered wagons, but figured that might make them just seem even more provincial. He wasn't sure how he felt about everything she said. Part of him wanted to defend his homeland, no matter what, despite the fact that Goralia had betrayed him. Another part of him was excited to think that there were two continents out there with power beyond anything he'd ever seen before.

The cessation of conversation prompted Kai to focus on his senses again. There were no monsters within range, otherwise he would have been alerted, but his hunger sensed some in the distance. A few twisted dogs in the distance as well as fainter presences deep underground. It had never occurred to him to focus upward, since so few monsters flew, but he tried to sweep the sky. Were there really small flecks of power there, or was his imagination getting the better of him? His own soul was still fragmented, only just holding to the Warrior Class shape.

"You aren't the weakest of the weak," Zae Zin Nim said abruptly. "Cloudspire's masters rate other lands on the Heaven's Path Scale, and I would judge most of Goralia to be on the second step. On the lowest step, power is even scarcer: Physique never develops beyond human levels, spiritual sight is nonexistent, and so on. You have done very well given your limitations."

Perhaps another attempt at encouragement? It could just as easily be the same problem as he had always faced with his Class: doomed to weakness due to an accident of fate. As soon as he reframed it that way, tales of foreign lands lost their appeal.

The bitterness twisted inside him and transformed into hunger. Even though they had eaten a midday meal not long ago, Kai found himself ravenous. Almost as if the tales of greater powers were fresh meals teasing him... he became extremely conscious of flesh on every side.

And above.

A monster dove toward them, silent except for the slight flutter of its wings. He caught only a brief glimpse of outstretched claws, an enormous purple eye, and leathery wings stretched back. Before it could strike, he pushed Zae Zin Nim to the ground just underneath its swoop and raised a fist to intercept.

But the one-eyed monster caught itself with a single powerful flap of its wings, staying out of his range. There was a cross-shaped pupil at the center of the purple iris... which examined him briefly and then turned back toward where Zae Zin Nim lay.

<

Monster: ???

Threat: Beta (II)

>

Unlike most monsters, this one had a strong sense of self-preservation and knew that it couldn't fight him. It pretended to lash out with its claws, again just out of range, and then flew backwards with another flap. Zae Zin Nim was lying on the ground, coughing up bile and unable to defend herself. The claws would have wrapped around her and borne her away if Kai hadn't anticipated it.

He swung at the monster to force it back, but that was just a feint: he leapt upward and managed to grab one of its stubby legs. To his shock, he couldn't pull it to the ground and found himself jerked higher into the air, the second leg slashing at his shoulder.

Awkwardly swinging in midair and getting higher all the while, Kai struggled to land a solid blow. The claw barely hurt his F-rank Physique, but they were getting higher surprisingly quickly. If he didn't kill it soon, the fall could well kill him. Its legs and claws looked like lean gristle and bone, and its wings were too far away, which left one target...

Kai levered himself up and smashed his fist directly into the monster's eye.

The resulting pulp was disgusting and covered his arm with goo, but the creature's cry of pain ended almost immediately. Kai plummeted back down, unable even to grab for its body. He'd had a thought that he could grab it and use the wings to coast, which now seemed laughable.

When he hit the ground his legs ached and he slammed down into a squat, but he was surprised how little the fall harmed him. No broken bones, so the rest would likely recover quickly. Other than his arm being covered in the creature's eye fluid, he was fine, which meant everything was okay provided that Zae Zin Nim...

She was staring at him, her eyes wide. When he started to take a step forward, she drew back.

"That can't be..." As she whispered the words, Kai realized that she wasn't looking at his body.

Zae Zin Nim was staring straight at his soul.