Chapter 561: A Hundred Different Krysals

As Omilaena decanted the qi crystals, she was, in a sense, pretending to work. Oh, she was actually processing them, and this was a meaningful part of research, but her mind wasn't focused on it. She checked the intensity of the qi, made a little note to herself, and then peered over her equipment.

Her real project, basically ever since they had left Irun, was observing the other two.

They'd moved back to Yulthens for the sake of convenience, since their real project was spread across all the Krysal City States. This had different effects: Zin Nim was more content, returning to the Acidarium and working on her new path of acid cultivation. By contrast, Kai acted bold and heroic in public, then seemed to fold in on himself in private, taking on the burdens of the nation as his own.

Once she had the crystal process underway, Omilaena had earned herself some time to go bother the others. She started with Zin Nim, who was seated beside a glass basin of acid, using her qi to make it flow in complex shapes.

"If I interrupt you, will that acid go flying anywhere?" Omilaena asked from behind.

"No," Zin Nim said, gesturing at the acid formation.

Omilaena immediately slid up behind, wrapping her arms around her. "Even if I do this?"

"It isn't the time for that," Zae Zin Nim said, not as sternly as she probably intended. Omilaena had mercy on her and merely rested her head on the other woman's shoulder to watch.

"I'm working on refining the crystals, but I don't expect to come up with a breakthrough in time. The fundamental shape of crystal cultivation is simply too limited - if there was a simple way to get better results from the same number of crystals, they'd have found it generations ago."

"Mm. I expected as much, so I have been evaluating their crystalliers."

"And? How do they look?"

"They look many different ways." Zin Nim clenched a hand and compressed the acid into a dense sphere, then frowned. "A few cities have a balanced mix, but not many. There are others still controlled by crystalliers, or ex-slaves trained as crystalliers, where nothing will change. But a lot of others, they're churning out low quality fighters with around 100 Power. That's decent for a soldier, but they're untrained, they're not mobile, and they lack offense."

"Yeah, our weakest soldiers in Irun would stomp them. Kai and Krainuun were talking about those problem cities the other day. At least their numbers can reinforce one another."

"The absurd part is that they've set a limit of 9999 qi crystals. This reduces the strength of their crystalliers, just in the name of a silly ideology."

"Going to have to disagree with you there," Omilaena said. Zin Nim looked at her like she was joking, but she was dead serious. "Crystal cultivation has diminishing returns, so you get the most total strength if you spread the crystals out. Ten thousand is as good a break point as any... I think the ideal distribution would be to find people who are already decent via acid cultivation or Physique, then give them crystals to put them over the top."

"Perhaps, but the distribution is rarely rational." Zin Nim sniffed, then let the acid in the air drop back into the basin before turning to her. "I want to hear about your plans as well. Do you think it will be possible to create an acid Physique?"

"Afraid not. I had help in Irun, plus it's a fundamentally corporeal ability, unlike cultivation."

"A shame. But I-"

"Ah, but I'm not helpless." Omilaena held up a finger. "I can definitely produce pills that will help with Physique breakthroughs. For example, acid cultivators have a lot of health issues, but I should be able to boost them past those."

Zin Nim nodded eagerly. "This is good news. When you have time, please produce enough to distribute."

"And how is that going to work?"

"I will give some to Yurwa, because she knows the best acid cultivators, and some to Krainuun, because he can distribute resources reasonably. I don't want to get involved in the politics of the rest. The cultivators in the Acidarium are reasonable, but in some other cities, the revolutionary factions are very angry and noisy."

"Heh, can't blame you for that. What about crystallization, like Cragrila?"

"That is... unfortunately political." Zin Nim frowned at the basin of acid. "I know Kai wants to strengthen Krysal as much as possible, but some of these people are mad. I remember them being more noble during the war, different from Cloudspire peasants."

"These are different times," Omilaena said with a shrug. "The people willing to fight for their freedom are different from the people who will posture as freedom fighters once there's power to be gained in it."

"You may be right. But what I mean to say is that I think we should limit how many people we offer such power to, otherwise they will destabilize things."

"How many are even ready?"

"Maggle, if Kai can persuade him to train."

"Nirka?"

Zin Nim scowled. "She has not been seen in some time, so it's irrelevant in any case. Krainuun also has a list of trusted people, so you should speak to him. All I mean to say is that you should prepare to repeat the process, just not wildly. I know you may want to experim-"

"Don't worry." Omilaena squeezed the other woman from behind, chastely this time. "I got my fill in Irun. You're leading the way here, I'm just having fun."

That finally got Zin Nim to smile a little, twisting enough in her embrace to kiss her cheek. Omilaena gave her another squeeze, then stepped away. The workers in the Acidarium no longer got in her way, which was convenient, and no longer even stared as she sashayed around, which she viewed as somewhere between a challenge and an insult.

Ever since the confrontation in Torleen, Kai had been working more publicly, training groups of ex-crystalliers and ex-slaves at the same time. He thought it would promote unity, but Omilaena suspected that he was wasting his time doing it in Yulthens, where things were stable. The real nasty conflicts would be further out, in the city states that had been chaotic during the revolution.

She found him in a public square, leading soldiers in a Physique routine that he did at ten times the difficulty. Omilaena found a spot on a roof and cultivated while she flagrantly ogled Kai. It was a shame that the Beggar King's Rag's weren't form-fitting, but she wondered if she could convince them to shape-shift for her.

When he was done, the training soldiers began to split up, some clearly intending to waste Kai's time. Omilaena hadn't built up enough patience for that, so she jumped down and grabbed his collar to pull him aside. The soldiers, unaccustomed to her presence, stared and backed away. Good to know she still had it.

"Everything okay?" Kai asked. He smiled confidently, but she could tell that it was for the crowd.

"Just cooperating with Zin Nim." Omilaena shrugged. "How do things look in Krysal?"

"I wish there was a simple answer to that question. The nation doesn't have one condition, but many. Cities like Slaerta are well-prepared, while Romastir is a mess and Philaster is practically fighting itself. There are contingency forces, but I'm afraid they'll be spent keeping the disasters from spilling over."

"So what's your plan? Running around and fixing as many as you can?"

"We only have one month to prove ourselves, and two before..." Kai shook his head slowly, false smile fading a little. "There isn't enough time to do it all ourselves. We need to get buy-in from all the factions, and frankly, right now that looks improbable."

"Regretting helping out all those sad freedom fighters?" Omilaena smirked and put a hand on her hip. "They're not so sympathetic when they start rioting and getting in the way, are they?"

"There's no need to go that far." Kai looked at her seriously. "Remember that many slaves from the mines or pits never experienced an incursion, not directly, so they're too casual about it now. But this one is likely to be rough, so to survive, they'll have to pull together."

"Ah, so you're pinning all your hopes on keeping them alive until adversity can fuse them into a new nation. Very lofty."

"Come on, I'm not entirely naive. I'm also trying to make sure that the most reasonable forces end up doing the most good for their cities. After, once Krainuun steps down, all the factions will be campaigning based on their performance during the incursion. I hope the radicals will show themselves to be unstable, but I'm trying to make sure the most stable groups come out looking well."

"Ooh, can I sabotage anyone?"

Kai rolled his eyes, but took that as an invitation to talk strategy. As they moved away from the crowd, which was still recovering from the training, he explained about the situation as it looked to him, including a lot of information that she hadn't bothered to gather for herself yet.

Plenty of cities in the northeastern region were in trouble in general, while those in the east were doing decently, but weren't prepared for the monstrous horde if the Frontier walls broke. Her own former city of New Laeneria was in surprisingly good shape, already prepared to evacuate if the elites agreed to that plan. Cities deeper in varied in preparations and also in willingness to support others, which was a political mess she was glad to leave to Kai. The one surprising development was that apparently Yulthens was finalizing a method to move the great crystals, so they might be used in the defense of other cities.

In the past they'd been needed in Yulthens in case cultivators showed up, but Zin Nim could also do the job. And if she could be convinced not to kill them all, maybe they could get Cloudspire to stop making the attempt.

"Kai Clanless!" It was a woman's voice, from the city instead of the square the soldiers occupied. Omilaena turned in time to see a woman about their age rushing toward them, practically dragging a boy of five or six years.

"What is it?" Kai asked, all public smiles again.

"This is your son! You ran off to another continent, but you need to take responsibility!"

It had been a long time since Omilaena had seen Kai speechless in exactly that sort of way. His smile remained on his face, but it was a frozen corpse as he considered the accusation. Omilaena's mind was whirring as well, first considering the timeline and then her own potential culpability and the consequences, but her first reaction was simple indeed.

My, oh my.

(Cognosticon here, nobody throw a fit. Kai doesn't have kids; this is the political manipulation you would expect. It won't turn into a bunch of drama or a harem situation or whatever. One of the things that interested me writing this series was that even minor actions can have consequences over the long run, and they don't necessarily resolve how you expect.)