One week into the alleged dragon hunt and Kai was beginning to understand why it wasn't as exciting as he'd been hoping. Closer to civilization, there were endless crowds milling around, planning to go seek dragons but mostly hoping to get lucky. Out in the desert, it was a lot of sand broken by the occasional problem.
So far the work had been difficult without being challenging, at least...
2023-12-03 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostKai wanted to find out more about the golden fire ability that had been used during the match and immediately ran into a problem: everyone wanted to know more. Because he had observed the fight and used advanced spiritual sight on the participants, he actually knew more than most. There were endless rumors, many of them insane, and all kinds of cons based on telling the secret or even teaching ...
2023-12-02 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAt first when the two Diamond Crystalliers met, Kai was taken aback. Instead of using the abilities he expected, they were fighting hand to hand, exchanging what looked like ordinary blows. Actually, as the melee went on, he felt their movements were too elaborate and acrobatic.
Was this entire fight a farce? Just a formality between merchants, or a scheme to manipulate the city? Kai came...
2023-12-01 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe incident with the other cultivator left Zae Zin Nim disturbed for almost a week, even though she refused to admit it. Instead of going with him anywhere she spent all her time cultivating, despite the fact that she seemed to believe that reaching the next stage in the near future was impossible. Since the encounter had troubled her so much, he hadn't pressed.
Kai wasn't going to let h...
2023-11-30 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDuring their first week in the city Kai had gone off to engage in random activities, because of course he couldn't contain himself. Zae Zin Nim had been a bit annoyed by his tendencies at first, but now she thought of them as a fond oddity. It just seemed to be in his nature to seek out miscellaneous adventure, and considering that he usually came out of it with some more power and resources, s...
2023-11-29 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIn stories winning came down to passion and believing in yourself really hard. In reality, it often seemed to come down to math.
According to Zae Zin Nim, it would cost him 100,000 Goralian Eagles for a perfect breakthrough in his cultivation. He had just over twenty eight of those thousands, so at his current salary from Orillia, it would take him six months to achieve that amount.
Since Zae Zin Nim wanted to freshen up before they left, Kai had a moment to stretch and prepare. He decided to take that time to learn a little more about who they were going to meet, since the first meetings hadn't gone particularly well. Guessing that the servants at an inn this fancy would be as servile as Krainuun, Kai just found the valet assigned to them and asked.
"Dowager Orillia...
2023-11-27 18:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day they decided to start off immediately by inquiring with the top merchants. Zae Zin Nim was adamant that they should start with one of the wealthiest, a man named Suortril who apparently controlled trade from Cloudspire. Since Kai had no strong opinions and could use a bargain on cultivation resources, he went along with her.
Fortunately, it turned out to be easy to get an inv...
2023-11-26 18:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostNo one came to greet them at the gates of Yulthens. Their sapphire crystallier badges got them in with no trouble, but they saw no sign of being scouted as they explored. Most likely the greatest city in Krysal thought that it was too good to get worked up over visitors with 100 Power.
Though the cloth wraps, the awnings, and the streets looked similar to Romastir, Kai immediately noticed...
2023-11-25 18:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostAs the horde of monstrous wolves rushed closer, Kai took a deep breath. Far deeper than he should have been able to, his lungs swelling and swelling until he felt as though his chest should have been inflating. His body might have shifted slightly, but thankfully he didn't bloat up like the Infernotoad.
The flaming mass of stone definitely worked, though.
Kai finished expelling it a...
2023-11-24 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDespite the fact that it concluded with a brawl, Kai's time in Romastir resolved mundanely. He spoke briefly to Unklian, who was disappointed to see him go but paid him for the fraction of the next month he'd worked. That left Kai with twenty seven thousand Goralian Eagles, which was still a mind-boggling number to him.
Or it would have been, if he hadn't known that Zae Zin Nim planned to...
2023-11-23 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostKai grimaced in pain and instinctively grabbed for the hand holding the knife, but he missed. Naellia took a step back and smirked at him.
"You too?" Kai asked. "What did I do to offend you?"
"Rejecting me. Thinking you're better than everyone else. Ruining a lovely evening." Naellia manifested a second knife in her other hand and flipped both into stabbing position. "Take your pick...
2023-11-22 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAnother week passed simply enough, and Kai was glad because it gave him more time to train. He finished mastering his shroud well enough that the other crystalliers couldn't sense anything about him and drained qi crystals until he reached 99%, then right up to the breaking point. Sometimes he felt like his body was surging with energy, ready to go over the edge, but he held himself back.
Kai next met Zae Zin Nim on the day they were paid. They hadn't planned it exactly, but apparently for security reasons the payments were disbursed by multiple merchants on the same day. After stopping by the Crystallier Headquarters, Kai found himself carrying another bag of gold. Even considering the fat Eagles and a crystal-studded coin worth even more, it was a hefty bag.
On his way o...
2023-11-20 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostReturning to the luxury of Romastir only put Kai more on the edge, but the training lulled him into a false sense of security. The harder he worked, both on his shroud and his cultivation, the easier it was to avoid thinking about the deeper problems. He knew how to gain power, so in a way working hard was easier than trying to understand the problems of Krysal.
After getting worried abou...
2023-11-19 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostKai dropped the merchant to the floor and struck the paper wall, tearing it with surprising ease. Immediately he found himself face to face with Omilaena the Maneater, the woman who had conquered New Laeneria.
He was first relieved that she wasn't Anaelina in disguise, which shouldn't have been a relief given everything this woman had done, not least just poisoning them.
Omilaena wa...
2023-11-18 18:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIn the moment the ambush appeared, Kai very nearly attacked. It would have been so easy to unleash a Tyrant's Claw that would have probably destroyed half the street. What stopped him wasn't the fact that he'd reveal himself, since the locals might not even be able to tell the difference, it was all the workers in the caravan with him. He'd gotten to know them reasonably well on the trip and he...
2023-11-17 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostKai sprinted through the wastes, chasing down the scent of blood. He could feel it before he could see it, almost like he could see on the other side of the rocks. Instead of going around he leapt directly to the top and found himself staring down at what the locals called a Diresnake.
It was a serpent as thick around as his waist and considerably longer than a person, lurking on the othe...
2023-11-16 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMeeting Zae Zin Nim had fired Kai up, and not in the obvious way. Now that he viewed their time in Romastir as a temporary part of his training, he was motivated to try to extract every single iota of power he could from it. Maybe he wasn't making much progress investigating the Krysal City States, but he could definitely become stronger.
Now that he was accustomed to his work guarding th...
2023-11-15 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Kai had first met Zae Zin Nim, she'd been bleeding profusely and hacking up her lungs. The harm to her body had been so severe that it left her stick thin, more skeleton than woman. He had known that she had returned to health after breaking through the Body Refinement stage, but he had mostly managed to avoid thinking about it while they were traveling together.
That ended when she ...
2023-11-14 18:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostPhysical training helped Kai work off some of the unease and when it was time for the feast he felt mostly prepared. Still like he was walking directly into a battle he didn't fully understand, but mentally ready for the ambush. Krainuun and several young woman who worked for the merchant attempted to help dress him and he had to fight to do things himself.
Instead of giving him Krysali r...
2023-11-13 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe man who had purchased Kai's services turned out to be a local merchant named Unklian, an enormously wealthy man who owned a major crystal mine, or a stake in one, or something technical like that. He was concerned about bandits attempting to attack the crystal shipments and wanted raw muscle to ward them off. That sounded like a job Kai could do.
Despite the fact that they treated thi...
2023-11-12 18:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostCould all of this have really been prepared for them? Kai tried not to gawk like the rube they apparently thought he was as he looked around the arena. His attention had been immediately drawn by the small army, but they were mostly weak and likely just part of the evaluation. The real threats sat higher.
Though there were stands all around the marble circle at the center of the arena, mo...
2023-11-11 18:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe group of crystalliers took them through Romastir boisterously, a combination of testing their movement abilities and pointing out the best places to eat or drink in the city. Zae Zin Nim was able to keep up effortlessly, while Kai was fast but not exactly elegant, just jumping or running after the others. Several of them had large crystals they could fly on, just like the mercenary Iroaki, ...
2023-11-10 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThere was only one problem with their plan to go to the Krysal City States: a clear look at Kai's soul would still send the majority of people running for their lives. He cultivated as much as he could on their way northwest, but it became clear that he wouldn't be able to reach the peak of the first stage, not on the small amounts of qi they could drain from the crystals. So they were left run...
2023-11-09 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostTheir opponent appeared to be fully ready to fight, so Kai's first analysis was purely martial. The arrival had an immediately impact, but his spiritual sight couldn't pierce the veil surrounding the figure. All he could do was use his real eyes and hope he could find some leverage.
The Frontier elite was a woman with ageless tan skin and dark hair. At a glance at her magic he'd assumed t...
2023-11-08 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAt first Kai had been overjoyed about his new technique, but as they traveled further northwest, discontent set in. Did his total number of monstrous abilities have a hard limit? If so, that would seriously reduce his flexibility.
He wanted to keep his biting technique because it had proved so effective, even if it was short range. All his experiments with trying to merge it with the othe...
2023-11-07 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post(Cognosticon here. While I think I need to scale back with bonus chapters for RR, I will still offer them for patrons. Next benchmark is a consistent 250 patrons.)
After cultivating for a while to calm down after the battle, Kai prepared to take a step into the unknown. Most of his life he'd followed paths that previous generations had made, but it was clear that with his monstrous abilit...
2023-11-06 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostI'm sorry to do this, but I guess I went overboard with those four chapters yesterday. I know missing a day is bad, but I figured that moving forward with not fully baked chapters is worse. The normal schedule should resume tomorrow and we will get into monster fusion stuff I've been waiting a long time to include.
But since we're here, I want to take today to give some general info and s...
2023-11-05 18:11:01 +0000 UTC View Post(Cognosticon here. Since the Patreon has stayed above 100 supporters, everyone is getting two new bonus chapters. Because I'm also giving a bonus to free readers, plus your regularly scheduled chapter, that means you're getting four releases over the course of Saturday. This is bonus chapter 4/4.)
Once, Kai would thrown himself out of the way of such a powerful monster attacking him. Now ...
2023-11-04 20:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post