Chapter 162: The Edge of the Crystal

(Cognosticon here. I'm not sure how the average author does it, but I guess I'm going to do daily chapters straight through the holidays. Will obviously understand if people don't read right away. At the time time, if enough people don't like it, I could defer the chapters for a post-holiday bundle or something.)

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 man.

When he told Nirka he was ready, she showed up an hour later with a packed bag. None of the workers owned very much, but she had food and water for the journey. After a moment being surprised that she hadn't just given him directions, Kai decided that he didn't mind having her along.

They only told Nanny Troggup and Maggle about their plans, since there wasn't exactly a central authority in the mines. Then they ventured out, down a wide and exhausted tunnel that Kai had previously ignored. It grew smaller and less well-kept until abruptly Nirka looked around and gave a nod.

"Around this point," she said, "we're officially outside our circle. Most people beyond will probably be friendly, but you can't assume."

"What marks this point?" Kai asked, looking in vain for any hidden signs.

"The boundary is a bit arbitrary. But each entrance to the mine has different soldiers, and they keep a different count. If you send in crystals far from where you live, who's to say you'll get the food they send back? So everyone clusters around the tunnels beneath each entrance."

Along the way Kai learned that there were apparently four entrances to this mine, thus four clusters. He wanted to ask Nirka if this was common for mines, but she wouldn't know and it would only frustrate her. She was good company on the walk, even if it wasn't very far between the different circles.

When they started seeing people again, they looked just as miserable as all the others to Kai. A few greeted Nirka by name and most looked at Kai suspiciously. They didn't actually need to talk to any of them, just venture into the lower tunnels, so Kai was beginning to think that they might get through easily.

Right around the time the gang came into view.

The group was four men and two women, swaggering like they owned the mine. Kai judged them a little better fed than the rest of the workers, and some of them wore scarves that, though ragged, were silk. Instead of the fine white scars that came from crystal gathering, he saw multiple ugly lines that had obviously been caused by a human blade. Clearly they'd lived outside the mines before being sent here, which meant...

"Criminals," Nirka whispered to him, as if there was any doubt. "They usually let you pass if-"

"Who do we have here?" Some of the men leered at Nirka, but the leader was looking up at Kai. "You definitely aren't from around here. Mercenary in a city, am I right? What did you do, fuck the wrong merchant's wife?"

"I wish," Kai said with a faked laugh. "Somebody else stole money and the others stabbed me in the back."

"Is that so? Well, no consequences for stealing down here, if you're big enough."

The gang looked so confident, Kai wondered what they could be hiding. He assumed that even with his shroud, they could guess that he was strong. He carefully examined the leader to see if they were hiding some sort of weapon.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 49

Crystal Cultivation: 13 (2)

Physique Level: F-4 (38)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

By Kai's judgment, the group had nothing to be arrogant about. They were all about the same, just thugs with slightly higher Physique than average thanks to working in the mines. The only curious thing was that they all had a small amount of crystal cultivation, but he didn't see how the tiny amount of power that offered would make a difference.

"You could do a lot better for yourself over here," one of the gang members said. "They're too much of a family on that side, don't understand they're in goddamn prison. But here, a man who's strong enough gets rewarded."

"Let me get the lay of the land first," Kai said. He started to walk past the group, but as they did, one of them reached out to grab Nirka's arm.

"Hold on a minute there, let me get a look at you..."

"Let go!" Nirka lashed out, punching the man in the chest. With her Physique, the blow made him stumble, but he responded by snarling and lunging with a knife.

In the instant he slashed out, Kai saw crystals shine along the edge of his blade. He realized that it must be a simple application of crystal cultivation, something so basic that he'd never even seen it among crystalliers. 

What was a mildly interesting ability to him was terrifying to Nikra. She let out a cry of pain as the crystal knife cut a gash across her forearm and then she fell back, all the fight draining out of her. 

The bandit started to snarl something when Kai's fist hit his jaw. No doubt it was broken, but Kai simply turned away from him toward the others. For a moment the gang looked surprised, then they drew weapons. Their leader had a spear, its stone tip glistening with crystal, and Kai decided to finish things right then.

He let the spear stab him in the chest and watched as the crystals shattered against his skin.

"Seen enough?" Kai gently took the broken end of the spear and pulled it away from the man, then broke it without effort. "Stay away from both of us or I'll kill you all."

In the end the gang was just a group of petty bullies, so they fled instantly, not even helping their companion with a broken jaw. Kai monitored him until he left, then turned back to Nirka. The fight had been trivial for him, but she had been traumatized and he wasn't sure he understood.

"How?" she asked, staring at his shoulder. "That should have cut you..."

"I'm tougher than that," Kai said. "Let me see your arm... do their weapons always cut this badly?"

"They managed to cultivate a few crystals," Nirka said bitterly. "Not from here, of course. Some of them had the crystals before, or they managed to bribe a guard or something. But we can't stand up to that, the crystal powers are too strong."

As soon as she said that, Kai put together the rest. Working in the mines produced considerable strength from Physique, but the result wasn't equal to fully rounded training. Whatever the exact reasons, their Physique was uniquely vulnerable to crystal weapons... and no doubt all crystal weapons. The Krysali who lived above had little fear of an uprising because no doubt their soldiers could easily put it down by taking advantage of the weakness.

Would telling Nirka any of that right now help her? She was still staring at him like he was magic, and he suspected that a lecture about Physique would seem unbelievable. He instead tore off part of his tunic and helped her wrap her bleeding arm.

"They don't have as many advantages as they want you to think," he told her. "The biggest threat is that they have weapons and the willingness to use them. You're strong, but you'd be a lot stronger with some combat training."

"Combat training?" Nirka's eyes widened. "Some of us have tried, but..."

"We need to find this old man in dangerous territory, right? Might as well help you defend yourself while we're traveling."

"I... thank you." Nirka looked away, and though it was hard to tell between her dusky skin and the low light, he thought she was blushing. "We should go this way, hopefully we won't run into any more of them."

Like the first community he knew, the second circle seemed to be divided between central living tunnels and deeper levels with increasing risk. Yet as they passed below the inhabited regions, he realized that these were much larger. He must have entered at one of the newer entrances, while this was the oldest and deepest part of the mine.

As they traveled, Kai gave Nirka some basic combat training. It was unusual, because she had the physical conditioning of a veteran hunter but not a fraction of the instincts. She was a quick learner, though, and seemed to gain confidence as he showed her the exercise. 

"I'm doing alright, aren't I?" she asked after several days of searching. They sat in their makeshift camp, the only two human beings within sight. "If the criminals came back... could I do something?"

"You could probably beat them if you had a long enough stick," Kai told her. "If they don't cut you, their advantage is worthless, and that's really all they have. Anyone who saw you outside would assume you had the upper hand."

"But some of them have throwing knives..."

"Throwing knives are harder to use than you'd think, especially if you haven't trained with them. I'm not telling you to throw yourself at the whole gang right now, but don't let them intimidate you."

"You probably think I'm silly, but I get scared fighting anyone who's been outside." Nirka smiled bitterly at herself. "All I've seen are a bunch of mine tunnels. People who have traveled the world under the open sky, actually got to use the crystals I can only mine... it feels like we're different species."

"You've never been out?" Kai asked. He'd logically known that it must be the case for some, but he hadn't actually been certain. The idea that Nirka had been born in these tunnels, had never once caught a glimpse of the sky, and would ordinarily die in them...

"Yes, I was born here." She lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Many of us are. Some of the others tell stories about the outside, but it's all just fantasy to us. We're born into this and everyone who says otherwise... it's hard to believe they're not lying."

She was a little older than him, but she looked very young in that moment. Kai took a deep breath trying to figure out what to say, and stumbled forward with his best effort. "There's something a little like that, where I come from. Everybody gets a Class when they become an adult. If you get a strong one, you become someone important. If you get a weak one, everything starts closing on you. They told me I would never amount to anything."

"But... you overcame all that, didn't you?"

"I did, but not without help." Kai smiled at her, then saw how flustered she was getting and changed the topic. "How deep do we have to go to find this old man?"

"I met him at about this floor." Nirka turned away and brushed her hair to hide her face. "He travels higher from time to time because he needs to trade for some supplies. Nobody knows how far down he goes, because nobody else is strong enough to go down there."

"How long does he go between visits?"

"About a month or two, I think."

"That's too long." Kai stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Let's go down there after him."