Depthless Hunger

"That's him, that's the one!" Kai recognized the man speaking: it was the idiot from the restaurant, hovering just behind the leader of this new group. "You see, he has those women ensorcelled somehow."

"Difficult to believe," the leader said, "but what else could explain it?"

"Are we doing this again?" Omilaena threw up her hands and turned away, which made the cultivators she was ignoring bristle.

"Don't make light of me!' The leader took a step forward and cast his hand to the side, flapping his sleeve dramatically. "I am Kan Jin Kung, heir to the Heavenly River sect! Rank 16, beyond what can be attained by mere mortals! Whoever you are, whatever your methods, I will not allow you to enslave these women!"

Kai blinked, then raised his hands to try to stop a pointless fight. "Alright, this is actually a misunderstanding. I'm not enslaving anyone, I'm here to stop the slavers down there."

Kan Jin Kung glanced briefly toward the caravan, then sneered. "The slave trade may be crude, but it's profitable so long as it stays within its bounds. We-"

"Wait, you know?"

"Of course. This group may be far beneath me, but they're likely a subsidiary of a subsidiary of our sect." Kan Jin Kung thrust out a finger toward him. "But a vulgar man like you, kidnapping and enslaving such exceptional maidens? We cannot allow such beautiful flowers to be trampled into the mud!"

All at once Kai's understanding of the other man flipped on its head. He'd thought of this as a misunderstanding and hadn't wanted to start a fight against an honorable cultivator, but now he understood that this man was just another princeling who considered himself above the entire world. There was no point talking to scum like that.

"I've heard enough." Zae Zin Nim faced the group, fury behind her apparent calm. "You've cast aspersions on our-"

"Whatever is going on, I'll end it soon." Kan Jin Kung dismissed her with a wave of his hand... and then transformed.

Power flooded from him, illuminating the entire jungle. It struck the spirit so forcefully that it tried to push Kai to his knees, and he struggled to resist and stare through it. A sapphire crown had lit up over Kan Jin Kung's head, casting him in the brightest light of all, as if he was a god come to earth.

But Kai had seen real gods, and he'd actually felt worse from the elves on Rosemount. Their soul auras were more all-encompassing, giving a sense that they were superior beings in every way. This was more like a narrow, weaponized version of that effect. Potent, but nothing that he hadn't faced before. Given the power differential, Kai only needed to resist the effect for a second and he could gain the upper hand.

"You resist?" Kan Jin Kung looked shocked for a moment, then drew himself straighter. "How dare you stand before a true immortal? Bow to me, or I will increase your torment tenfold!"

Instead, Kai glanced over to the others to check on how they were doing. Omilaena was trembling in place, maintaining a defensive half-phase to resist the effect - she actually seemed to be having some trouble, so he should shield her if necessary. Zae Zin Nim looked calmer, frozen in place but circulating her qi as if moving toward something.

"I'll bind them," Kan Jin Kung said to his minions, "but they're stronger than I expected, so I need you to act. Go on, I bestow my authority on you. Take the women away from him so we can use more potent attacks."

Before they could move, Kai activated Void Gaze. Instantly the advancing cultivators coughed up blood, the weaker ones falling off their swords and the stronger shuddering in place. Yet for the first time, a cultivator managed to resist the technique: Kan Jin Kung stared back at him, sapphire crown blazing with light that shielded him.

Their eyes seemed locked together, spirits battling directly as they fought for control of the area. Kai felt no physical pain, but the conflict was weakening his soul, and Behemoth's Heart only restored a small amount of spiritual stamina. His greater overall power was giving him the upper hand, and blood soon trickled from the corner of his opponent's mouth, but the man's presence technique gave him so much leverage that he was holding on.

"This... this is some sort of brute crown?" Kan Jin Kung stared at him in horror. "I never imagined that a savage could create such a thing. So that was how you did it... you didn't control their minds, you enslaved their bodies with this carnal power."

"Stop talking about your own fantasies," Omilaena grated out.

"But no matter what has happened to you, rest assured that I will rescue you from this nightmare. A primitive technique cannot possibly stand up to one of the Masterful Crown clan's greatest techniques!"

It was doing just that, and Kai knew that he was gaining the upper hand due to the power differential. But his body felt locked in place, and the guards down in the slaving caravan had definitely noticed. They didn't have high levels of cultivation, but if they starting attacking the ship, they would bring down his footing. Since all he could move was his soul, Kai considered his monstrous essence.

Behemoth's Heart - IX (iota)

Thunderbird's Wings - VII (eta)

Direboar's Strength - XIII (nu)

Baleful Breath - V (epsilon)

Tyrant's Claw - XI (iota)

Void Gaze - VI (zeta)

-

Isulfr's Bite - VIII (theta)

Sahagin's Soul - X (kappa)

Mutefang's Stealth - X (kappa)

Manticore's Quill - II (beta)

Lizarkyl's Tail - V (epsilon)

Direurchin's Spikes - V (epsilon)

Wallcrawler's Feet - III (gamma)

Abominalgum - I (alpha)

Rose Piranha - III (gamma)

Cloud Piranha - III (gamma)

Bloodtrap - III (gamma)

Banchlain - V (epsilon)

Slime's Immortality - I (alpha)

Silver Demon - I (alpha)

Direcrab's Claw - III (gamma)

Voidmaw's Bite - I (alpha)

Great Cetae - II (beta)

Spine Aura Urchin - I (alpha)

>

So many monsters, but how many of them were useful in this sort of purely spiritual fight? Kai's mind slid down the pieces in his soul until suddenly he saw it... the Banchlain essence. The monster had been a formidable challenge back on Rosemount, but he had never found a way to work it into another ability. Aside from the mysterious essences he hadn't truly deciphered, it was the most presence-like ability he had.

While still staring down his opponent to lock him in place, Kai moved Tyrant's Claw out of his soul and shifted in the unformed Banchlain essence. It wasn't nearly as effective as it could be in refined form, but it still carried raw power. When he activated it, he felt the aura of raw fear rise up around him, mixing with the cultivator's presence.

Several of the cultivators who had remained standing collapsed, trailing blood as they fell into the river. Beneath them, cries of terror rose, and some of the caravan guards who had been preparing attacks coughed up blood.

Only Kan Jin Kung remained, but his eyes went bloodshot and his body trembled. His crown technique gave him enough leverage to resist Kai's strength, but it failed to stop the pure fear piercing his other defenses. He was still staring at Kai, but now he stared in terror.

"This is just a gimmick." Kai had planned to speak calmly, but his voice came out as a deep growl. "You're the only one forcing anyone to obey you."

"This... this can't be..." Kan Jin Kung took a step backward on his flying sword.

"I've heard enough from you." Zae Zin Nim suddenly took a step forward. Her qi was circulating fiercely within her and he realized that it was some sort of counter-measure, the strange sort of combined half-phase that cultivators could use. She wasn't moving easily, but she was the only one able to act in the zone locked between the spiritual techniques.

Blue flames flickered around her and she leapt forward, thrusting out her arm. A Coldfire Palm rushed forward and Kan Jin Kung finally broke: his aura faltered and he shot upward, desperate to escape the palm that nearly eclipsed him.

When the pressure against him disappeared, Kai took an unintentional step forward, as if he'd been pushing against a physical force that had just vanished. He blew a cloud of Baleful Breath above the enemy, intending to block his escape so that Zae Zin Nim could finish him off.

To his surprise, the man's body began to glow, becoming so incandescent that the edges of his robe washed out. He seemed to dissolve into bright light, which shot upward in a stream that passed through the cloud of Baleful Breath. It didn't seem immune, it was just a purely spiritual entity that was untouched by anything in the physical world. In seconds the streak of light had vanished into the sky and all their opponents were gone.

"What was that?" Kai rubbed his eyes, which ached more than he'd realized.

"A higher flight technique." Zae Zin Nim folded her hands in her sleeve, clearly dissatisfied. "The greatest sects have more advanced abilities: some allow easy control in the air, such as the Pureflower sect's, but the fastest look like that. The Brightwind sect has a similar technique, though I wasn't strong enough to learn it."

"No, I mean that crown. Was that one of those presence techniques?"

"Presumably so." She went silent, staring out toward the horizon.

Meanwhile, Omilaena seemed to recover and draped herself against Kai's side. "That was a strong technique. Clearly I need to recover with your 'carnal power' that has me so ensorcelled."

Kai rubbed her back, since he thought there was some real uncertainty underneath the mocking words. "You okay?"

"In the future I can prepare a spiritual injection, but this one caught me flatfooted. I can see why the Heavenly River sect is considered one of the strongest."

"And we'll probably have to face worse, if the 'Masterful Crown' clan name is any indication." Kai groaned as he considered his own counter-measures. He definitely had options, but right now he felt spiritually bruised. All he wanted to do was grab Zae Zin Nim and relax together... and he couldn't do that, because they couldn't forget about the reason they'd done all this. "Let's go check on those slaves."

They descended to the jungle and the caravan, which had stopped in place when the presences began to hit. Burly guards had been pulling the wagons, but most of them had collapsed, mouths covered in bloody foam. The slaves inside the cages were trembling as well - Kai had tried not to harm them, but throwing out untested power like that had side effects.

When Kai landed in front of them, most of the slaves whimpered and retreated to the corners of their cages. He checked he wasn't using Banchlain's Aura, and he wasn't, but it didn't matter: when they saw a man like him, they had every reason to fear. No words of comfort came to mind, especially because he wasn't sure just how far this conflict would spread.

Just when he began to be sick of the whole thing, he saw that one woman was staring directly at him. She had been driven to her knees by the power, but didn't appear injured, and her eyes were clear. It wasn't defiance... he saw a mix of surprise and... recognition?

"Kai Clanless?" She slowly rose to her feet, and through the grime, rags, and long hair Kai finally recognized her.

"Cragrila?" He hadn't seen her since leaving Krysal. "What are you doing here?"

"It sounds like we both have stories to tell. I doubt yours can be worse than mine."

In the wake of the confrontation, Omilaena took over operations, directing them to take various measures to leave the area in case there was immediate retaliation. The slaves obeyed her instantly, and Zae Zin Nim was more than strong enough to disable the enemy cultivators. It seemed like they would be doing some interrogations.

Kai suspected that Omilaena was doing all this to make up for the fact that she hadn't been able to contribute to the battle. That crown technique was a nasty advantage, gimmick or not.

But all of that activity meant that he wasn't distracted by any of the details. His job was at once narrow and broad: he needed to talk to Cragrila and he needed to decide their overall direction. Investigating qi crystals was one thing, but now they were involved with larger problems. Small decisions now could make a vast difference in where they ended up.

As soon as they had the critical details handled, Kai had found spare clothes in his spatial ring and given them to Cragrila. She had gone to wash in the river and only then returned to stand beside him. Her body and clothes were clean, but her eyes looked beaten down in a way he'd never seen before, even when she was a beleaguered rebel fighting against impossible odds.

"Is Krysal alright?" he asked. "Did it...?"

"What? No." For the first time he saw a shadow of a smile on her face, though a rueful one. "I mean, last I saw it we had our problems. Violent retribution against some families who used to be on top. The Frontier elites are concerned we won't be able to field enough strong warriors as Krysal usually does, without the crystallier system. But it's still intact."

"Then I guess I should ask whether you're alright."

"Yes and no. Better now." Cragrila rubbed her eyes roughly. "I don't want to talk about myself personally. Let me just tell you what happened."

"Go ahead." Kai kicked one of the fallen trees into position and sat down on it. After a pause, Cragrila joined him and began to speak.

"We were rebuilding trade relationships with Cloudspire, and it actually seemed to be going well at first. Some of the foreign cultivators were interested in buying qi crystals, which they never cared about before. I was involved because it was essential business. Krainuun said that a major part of our economy was passing resources into... no, never mind. That's not relevant."

"Do you know why the cultivators wanted them?"

"They wouldn't tell us such things." Cragrila deflated a little, leaning her arms on her knees. "That was the start of it, really. They paid lip service to respecting us, but they didn't. Two of their sects got into a battle in Yulthens and a lot of civilians died. I... maybe we could have stopped them if we'd been stronger. We instituted new rules and traded away from the city, but that didn't matter.

"I don't even know why it happened. Maybe someone got offended, or maybe something changed. Either way, one of the Cloudspire factions ended up attacking us directly. They were trying to capture us, but I saw good men and women who survived the entire revolution die. The rest of us they kidnapped and dragged back here to be slaves."

It was a somber story and Kai felt like anything he could say would ring hollow. They'd fought together from before the revolution, though, so he didn't need to soften anything. "How long ago was this?"

"Maybe half a year ago, I think. They didn't always let me sleep, so it runs together."

Half a year ago... so all of this had taken place while he was in the Western Wilds. If it had happened while he was on Darkmist Island enjoying his honeymoon it would have been especially bitter, even though the timing didn't matter in practical terms. The problem was that he wasn't strong enough to solve most problems and couldn't be everywhere at once.

He wanted to ask about Krainuun and his policies, if Maggle was still carousing, and especially how Yurwa and Gundle were doing. Given the choice, he would even have asked about Nirka. But it all felt awkward when any of them could be dead and Cragrila wouldn't know it.

"I hate to ask," Kai said gently, "but what did they capture you for?"

"Oh, there was some of the usual abuse, but I was spared." Cragrila gave a strange snort. "A woman in her thirties is too old here, apparently. No, they wanted us for our crystal cultivation. Even though they told us time and time again that it was inferior, they needed us to do something they couldn't. I never fully understood it: we were working the crystals into the ground, grinding them up, doing all kinds of strange things."

"We'll want to know more about that later, as much as you can share."

"And I will, eventually. I have information that could be useful to you?"

"Why were you being sent to Floodisle City?"

"Is that the capital city? They don't tell us much." She shook her head. "All I know is that they were getting frustrated, because what they were trying wasn't working. I think they were sending us to some sort of specialist, to try something different."

"One last question: do you know who exactly was behind all this?"

"The slavers and guards were from different places and changed. But the people in charge were all from something called the Verdant River sect."

Another of the main forces underneath the Masterful Crown clan. Kai grimaced as he considered their encounter again in that light; Kan Jin Kung wasn't simply pursuing a vendetta, he was involved in more complex inter-sect politics. Was the Verdant River sect sending the slaves to the Heavenly River sect? Or could their relationship be even more complex?

While he was deep in his own thoughts, he was surprised to hear Cragrila let out a ragged sigh.

"I... I thought I was strong." She put her head down in her hands again. "Not the strongest, but I'd climbed higher in the world. But everyone here is so unbelievably... even you, you've passed far beyond me. It's just crushing to think that... that..."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"They're just crystalliers." Kai put his hand on her shoulder, and though she jumped in surprise, she didn't shy away. "People here aren't any better, they just have denser qi in the environment. You should never feel inferior to people too stupid to realize they haven't earned what they have."

She blinked in surprise, then straightened. "That's... I don't know how I feel about that, coming from you. But thanks." Cragrila pushed his hand away, not ungently, and nodded to him. "What now? Do you have a way home?"

"Not directly." Omilaena stepped from between the trees and leaned on one in front of them, making no apology for listening in. "Are you willing to serve as an experimental subject for me?"

"I don't know how much I'll be worth. They did all kinds of things, tried to fuse my crystal dantian to me... I don't..."

Kai had been so focused on her words that he hadn't really considered her soul beyond an instinctive estimate of her strength, so now he looked more carefully.

Name: Cragrila

Total Power: 318

Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)

Acid Cultivation: 1000 (50)

Physique Level: E-9 (107)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

>

She had 318 Power, the majority of it coming from her crystal cultivation. It was obvious that she'd been training hard, because she'd taken her Physique all the way to E-9. Back when he had been stuck there, it had taken extraordinary training and then an injection from Omilaena for him to break through, so that was impressive. But most interesting...

"Acid cultivation?" Kai asked. "Has that developed?"

"They're trying to make it the national ability of Krysal, though it's only partially working." Cragrila shrugged. "I was never very good at it, I just tried because it was expected of me. Not that any of it did any good."

"I wouldn't say that." Omilaena was regarding her as well with a much more analytical gaze. "I won't promise I can make you strong overnight, because I can't. You're not going to be able to compete with top cultivators. But given a chance to experiment directly with your abilities... I think I could accomplish more than I did last time."

"Do whatever you want. I'm not good for much else here."

At that moment Zae Zin Nim approached and nodded politely. "Everything is in order. We should move on as soon as we deal with the guards."

"Kill them." Cragrila's face twisted in an ugly expression.

"Would you like to do so?"

She nodded and went with Zae Zin Nim. Kai watched them go, then decided that it was none of his affair and looked back to Omilaena. The woman she had once been would never have offered comfort, and he doubted she would now, for anyone aside from him and Zae Zin Nim. Clearly she was thinking about something, but it was hard to read anything in her expression.

"I'm not sure if anything will come of it," Omilaena said, "but I'd like to experiment. Something is off about all this. The fact that the local sects are investigating crystal cultivation reeks of desperation."

"They sure didn't seem desperate," Kai said.

"Cultivators bluster when they're outmatched. I'm not saying we should take them lightly - even if they have a major problem, a mortally wounded beast can still be lethal. But I think if we come up with a counter to that crown technique, we might be in a strong position to fight back."

"I was thinking the same thing. But if that was how strong the technique is at Earth Soul, how much stronger would one of their leaders be?"

Omilaena casually leaned on his shoulder. "Oh, you have no room to complain. If you put together a new monstrous presence ability, I'm sure that you'll be able to absolutely crush theirs. It's the two of us who have a problem. I'm confident I can formulate an injection that will increase resistance to such techniques, but it could get bad..."

Before they could say anything else, the other two returned. Zae Zin Nim looked as untouched as usual while Cragrila had blood covering her arms up to her wrists. Both of them seemed unusually focused, however, and Zae Zin Nim cleared her throat for attention before she spoke.

"I heard a rumor that the Masterful Crown's sects had a new form of immortality, but didn't really believe it before now. Their presence technique was dangerous, yes, but not unprecedented. What bothers me is how their immortality granted such a significant amount of strength. That is not normal, in my experience, and I have seen a reasonable number of immortals. Young Earth Souls like that don't simply become immortal."

"Could they have acquired the Impossible Elixir?" Omilaena asked. "That's what it does, right?"

"It is true that I have not met anyone made immortal by the Impossible Elixir." Zae Zin Nim hesitated a moment, then shook her head. "But I don't believe it's that, because Cragrila has more information for us. Go on, tell them."

"Right." Cragrila squared her shoulders and made eye contact with Kai. "Whatever they were doing with us, it had something do with their immortality. They were burning countless human lives to try to create something - I actually had it easy, because they needed my abilities, but civilians and enemies they just killed wholesale to further their plans."

"What plans?" Kai asked as he got to his feet. "How does this connect to crystal cultivation and the rest?"

"I don't know, but I can take you there."

Chapter 423: Fear, Quills, and Immortality

At first they headed south as cautiously as possible, but when retaliation didn't come within a few days, Kai began to relax. Technically he might see beams of light in the sky at any moment, he'd just shifted to trying to be prepared for them instead of anticipating their arrival. The presence techniques were frustratingly strong levers, so he wanted to find a way to destroy their gimmick before the next time.

The first question, which would fundamentally change the direction his training went, was what to do with the Banchlain essence. He had the option of merging it with Void Gaze, and considered it because space in his soul was tight, but in the end he discarded that path.

Void Gaze wasn't really a "presence technique" - it was an offensive ability that had worked to counter the attack on him. While he could add an element of terror to it, Void Gaze already froze and harmed people, so fear seemed redundant. What he needed to do was fully utilize the aura-like power of the Banchlain and combine it with similar powers to create a true presence technique equal to any cultivator's.

Unfortunately, monsters as powerful as the Banchlain weren't easy to find even on Rosemount, and monsters were scarce in general on Cloudspire. Fortunately, he didn't need abilities to be complex mergers for them to work: the Banchlain alone would be just fine.

Training something that powerful on the ship would cause panic among the former slaves, at minimum, so Kai flew out into the swamp. He focused on extending his aura while he scouted and almost immediately got results.

At first all the animals in the swamp let out cries and struggled to move away from him. He was astonished as just how many animals could fit into such a small area as they poured out of trees, bushes, and holes in the ground. It created a commotion that must be visible for a long way, so he used Thunderbird's Wings to get far from the ship and caused his disruptions in more locations, just in case anyone was trying to follow their trail.

Once he felt fully comfortable with the monstrous essence, he began to refine it within him, turning it into something compatible with himself. Since it was a spiritual technique, the Savage Heart didn't activate at all and his body didn't change, but he could feel something rippling within his soul as he finally concentrated the ability:

Banchlain's Aura - VI (zeta)

>

When he reactivated the essence, now as a focused ability, it expanded from him like a wall. He saw several monkey-like creatures fall from the nearby trees and lay still on the ground. When he went to investigate, he discovered that their hearts had stopped.

His next priority became precise control over the aura, because he didn't want to kill random bystanders. After several days, he was fairly sure that the technique would never become a pinpoint attack - it was an aura, after all - but he could direct it in a general direction. First covering about 180 degree radius, then down to a 90 degree swath. By the time he did that, the rank had increased from Zeta to Eta.

That was hopefully enough for it to function as a technique, and later on he could merge it with other aura-type essence. The precision problem actually distracted him, so he returned to the ship to contemplate it for a while. Might as well do some cultivation, since he'd been neglecting that since his breakthrough.

He entered their private cabin and discovered that Zae Zin Nim was already there, sitting cross-legged on the bed and cultivating on her own. Usually she had a resting scowl when she did so, but now she looked pleased, even before he entered.

"Didn't expect you to be happy," Kai said as he sat down beside her. "We have hangers-on again, and you didn't like Krysal."

"They are unnecessary, but we are also getting rid of them as we travel," she answered.

"Uh, do you mean...?"

"Nothing like that. Some of the slaves are from surrounding villages or sects, so if they want to leave, Omilaena uses a poison that makes their memories fuzzy and we drop them off. Are you going to object?"

"No, I'm just wondering why you're so happy."

"That is because of our fight with Kan Jin Kung." Zae Zin Nim opened one eye and saw him staring at her, so she went on to explain. "Yes, he surprised us with his technique. But he struck me as fundamentally only a slightly above average cultivator using powerful weapons. We are definitely superior, so with preparation we can take those away and use them ourselves."

"You mean the crown technique?" Kai settled in to cultivate himself, wondering whether or not the technique would be redundant for him.

"Yes, but this 'Immortal Body' method is more valuable. I have been speaking to Cragrila, and it seems that this is accomplished via a series of elixirs. Immortality is very difficult to obtain without support, but this is a method we could potentially seize from them and use ourselves. Imagine each of us, not only immortal but with an immense addition to our strength."

"It'd be a good boost, sure."

"Not just a boost." Zae Zin Nim stopped cultivating and looked at him somberly. "If we become immortal, and each of us gains another significant advancement, we will be within range of the strongest Sky Souls on Cloudspire. So a war with the Heavenly River sect could potentially be a stepping stone to facing my father and the Brightwind sect."

As she spoke, her serious expression softened until she was smiling by the end. Kai couldn't help but be caught up in her enthusiasm and reached over to pat her knee. "So you're not so worried about attracting attention anymore?"

"We must still be cautious." Her expression immediately became serious again. "If we were to defeat one of the major sects beneath the Masterful Crown clan, it would shock the entire Southern Rivers region. If that happens, no matter how well-hidden our power may be, we would become famous figures and attract attention. This would not be like endless tribal warfare in the Western Wilds."

Kai sighed as he thought about how many things were ahead of them yet. "It would be nice if it worked that way, but for now I'll focus on making sure that the Heavenly River sect can't ambush us with a presence technique again."

"As will I. A presence technique of our own is a benefit no matter our plans."

The conversation was strangely motivating, and after he had finished his cultivation, Kai left the cabin with new motivation. He doubted he could make breakthroughs on Banchlain's Aura without new monstrous essence or a direct test against other presence techniques, so it was time to continue developing his monstrous abilities.

For all the trouble he'd gone to in order to acquire Manticore's Quill, he hadn't had much opportunity to use it since. Kai began using it to hunt in the swamps and immediately discovered that the problem wouldn't be power: when he released a quill from his body, it frequently punched all the way through his target. It was harder to gauge the poison's intensity, though even larger animals seemed to die quickly - he'd have to ask Omilaena for a poison evaluation later.

Meanwhile, the whole strategic point of the ability was precision, so Kai focused on that. To his surprise, the technique proved far more flexible than his previous, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the monstrous essence or because his knowledge had changed.

While he tried to shoot spines as quickly and precisely as possible, he discovered that they could take several different forms. If he used primarily qi, a spiritual quill shot from his body with blinding speed, but dissipated some time after connecting. When he used chakra, he immediately felt the resonance with the Savage Heart and his body began to shift, actually growing physical spines that launched from him - slower, but strong and durable. Using mana produced a result that wasn't quite either, as if he summoned a semi-physical spike from his soul and hurled it directly.

Could he use all three, or did he need to specialize and optimize one to the maximum possible strength? That was a question for later, he decided, as he wanted to focus on efficacy. Shooting quills felt deeply strange until he figured out that it was similar to shooting a fruit seed out of his mouth: increasing pressure, then a sudden release as the projectile launched. After some practice, he could hit any target he wanted anywhere around his body to within a few inches.

By the time he was done, Manticore's Quill had increased to Delta... and now he had a problem of the available space in his soul. Kai examined it, wishing that he could pass 1000 Power and earn another slot according to Omilaena's theory.

Name: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 756

Monstrous Hunger - XIV (xi)

Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 5% (251)

Savage Heart: 16 (169)

Manticore Tattoo (43%)

Physique Level: D-9 (245)

Beggar King's Robes: +2 (10)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

Behemoth's Heart - IX (iota)

Thunderbird's Wings - VII (eta)

Direboar's Strength - XIV (xi)

Baleful Breath - VI (zeta)

Tyrant's Claw - XII (kappa)

Void Gaze - VII (eta)

-

Isulfr's Bite - VIII (theta)

Sahagin's Soul - X (kappa)

Mutefang's Stealth - X (kappa)

Manticore's Quill - IV (delta)

Banchlain's Aura - VI (zeta)

Lizarkyl's Tail - VI (zeta)

Direurchin's Spikes - V (epsilon)

Wallcrawler's Feet - III (gamma)

Abominalgum - I (alpha)

Rose Piranha - III (gamma)

Cloud Piranha - III (gamma)

Bloodtrap - III (gamma)

Slime's Immortality - I (alpha)

Silver Demon - I (alpha)

Direcrab's Claw - III (gamma)

Voidmaw's Bite - I (alpha)

Great Cetae - II (beta)

Spine Aura Urchin - I (alpha)

>

Removing Void Gaze was clearly nonviable, given their opponents, and passive skills like Behemoth's Heart or Thunderbird's Wings were essential. But, once he thought about it, he decided that Direboar's Strength might not be so essential anymore. He didn't use it often in fights against cultivators and it had been stagnating anyway, compared to his other skills.

So, in the end he made some strategic choices and ended up with a balance he was happy with:

Behemoth's Heart - IX (iota)

Thunderbird's Wings - VII (eta)

Void Gaze - VII (eta)

Banchlain's Aura - VI (zeta)

Baleful Breath - VI (zeta)

Manticore's Quill - IV (delta)

>

Would it be enough? It depended on how much the cultivators retaliated, but in that moment, the idea just made him hungry.

Chapter 424: Breaking Down Cultivation Variants

Years after torturing crystalliers, Omilaena was starting to realize that her work hadn't been wasted, just slightly misguided. Everything was more connected than she had believed, and even crystal cultivation was proving essential to true understanding.

"Alright, crystals in one hand, acid in the other." Omilaena gestured at Cragrila impatiently. "Then I'm going to jab you in both arms."

"Is that strictly necessary?" The revolutionary crystallier regarded her suspiciously, as if she'd never really considered her on their side despite everything. And maybe because Omilaena wasn't very trustworthy.

"It's essential this time, I promise. Just a little blood from both sides."

So Cragrila used her opposite types of cultivation on opposite sides of her body - it was nice to have a subject who cooperated so easily. As thanks Omilaena drew a syringe of blood from each arm as painlessly as possible, then gestured for the other woman to stop while she pulled on her goggles and examined the results.

Normally blood contained an even mix of different energies in different forms: chakra fused to the blood itself, mana flowed alongside it in glowing particles, and qi was purely spiritual but left traces in cultivators. When a person used their power heavily, however, the entire body responded to the draw of power and their blood was temporarily infused with more energy. This was her next bid to see if she could resolve the mystery of two different cultivation systems.

"Anything?" Cragrila asked.

"Hold still and I'll let you know."

In theory, it shouldn't be possible. A person's soul had only one cultivation capacity, which was why someone like Zae Zin Nim just absorbed the qi out of crystals instead of developing crystal cultivation. The simultaneous presence of both crystal and acid cultivation was a real blow to that theory, and she both hated and loved it.

Sure enough, the two vials of blood were different. That might not mean anything, since of course different types of abilities would draw power differently. She had been able to distinguish different Western Wilds tribes, even different tattoos, just by subtle differences in how they carried their qi.

This difference didn't seem particularly exciting, just more chakra in one vial. Except... now that she thought about it, such a blunt difference actually might mean more than a subtle change. Deadwaste was almost devoid of chakra, so the difference would have been almost impossible to see there, but now the two types of cultivation looked distinctly different to her.

And if that was true, then it might all make sense...

"Question." Omilaena set down the syringes eagerly and looked at Cragrila. "Do the new acid cultivators have the same health problems as the old ones?"

"Well, not really, but that's no surprise." Cragrila eyed her strangely. "They used to be given limited food and forced to live in pits filled with acid fumes, so it's obvious that people will be in better health if they can practice the cultivation in a safer environment. Besides, we usually have them train Physique first so they won't be harmed accidentally."

"Wonderful. Hold on just a moment."

"Wait, do you know something?"

Omilaena ignored the old crystallier and instead went for a different, more alluring woman: she leaned out the door, saw Zin Nim still cultivating, and beckoned to her. Remarkably, the other woman came immediately, only looking up at her with a curious gaze.

"I need to draw a little blood," Omilaena told her. "We could be on the verge of discovering something essential."

"Very well." Zin Nim pushed back her sleeve to reveal one of those flawless white arms. Omilaena grasped her wrist, just the way she had enjoyed taking the other woman's elegant arms and pinning them to the bed so many times, and Zin Nim flushed a little. But this time she didn't tease, just quickly drew a vial of her blood.

It was pitch black, as always, but for once she wasn't interested in the Blackblood Physique. Instead she just looked for the signs of different forms of energy, analyzing not simply their presence but their exact levels. When she was finished, she pulled back and sighed in satisfaction.

"Fascinating..." Omilaena drew a syringe of her own blood and examined it. "Yes, that makes sense..."

"What?" Zin Nim glared at her, while Cragrila folded her arms and proved that she could manage a pretty decent glare of her own. Alright, maybe Omilaena had been showboating too much, but she was finally on to something.

Maybe they should pull in Kai, but the discovery was too intriguing to wait, and fun enough to repeat. Omilaena put her hands behind her back and tried to verbalize the thoughts that had been exploding through her mind.

"I've discovered why crystal cultivation is weaker than the cultivation you see on Cloudspire," Omilaena said, "and the reason is because they have fundamentally different shapes in the soul. But, ironically, the reason is that crystal cultivation is more pure than cultivation here."

Zin Nim folded her arms as well. "Explain."

"Cloudspire cultivators essentially use both mana and qi to fuel their cultivation, like they're tinder to ignite their qi. Or you could think about it as being a more complete system of cultivation: the crystal variety is only using a single type of energy, whereas the cultivation arts here use all three."

"So qi without other energy always turns into crystals?" Cragrila eyed her suspiciously as she spoke. "Would it take a different form if there was chakra, or whatever you're talking about, there too?"

"The crystals are a separate thing I'll get to in a moment, but otherwise you're right. Or I hope you are. Zin Nim, does this seem plausible?"

"It is... known that advanced cultivation must make use of chakra and mana without letting them pollute the purity of your qi." Zin Nim was scowling at nothing in particular. "But I also have the Coldfire Corona and the Pure Yin Shroud... are those weaker because I'm splitting my energies?"

"No, you remember what I said about the seven different aspects of power?"

Zin Nim nodded while Cragrila just looked confused. She was getting more and more lost, and Omilaena noticed, she was just too excited to care.

"Each of those aspects can draw on all three forms of energy," Omilaena explained. "Just like the strongest Physiques will be fueled by chakra, qi, and mana together, the strongest forms of cultivation will also use all three. Anything that's lacking in one of those is, by necessity, weaker. Think of crystal cultivation as a blocked off part of the soul: it doesn't have enough room to expand, so its power is limited and runs into a limit before other forms."

"But the crystals are separate?" Cragrila asked.

"Right. They aren't just storage - the qi pills here might contain qi, or interact with qi, but they're just materials that hold the energy. With crystal cultivation, the two forms are actually unified. I think that 'pure' crystal cultivation alone would just be too weak to exist, or at least it wouldn't be a real power system. So, for whatever reason, it bled over into the Essence aspect of the soul. That is, we have qi fueling both the Cultivation and Elemental aspects of the soul, and the result is crystal cultivation."

Up to this point Zin Nim had been listening as if Omilaena was insulting her ancestors, but now real interest glimmered in her eyes. "Does that mean that other parts of their soul are going unused, and acid cultivation fills those parts?"

"Exactly!" Omilaena gripped her arm eagerly. "The acid cultivation works more like chakra arts: they merge with the acid and make it a part of themselves. I guess it could be the Essence aspect too, but then it would be more like other chakra arts, where they need to absorb different types of acid to get stronger."

"Then could someone have three different types of cultivation? A qi type, a chakra type, and a mana type? Would all three be severely limited?"

"They would probably be limited in some ways - after all, in Rosemount or Cloudspire where there's plenty of energy, you don't see anyone creating partial systems like this. But there might be advantages, too: qi powers tend to create temporary effects, whereas crystal cultivation can produce permanent objects, because it's only partially 'Cultivation' and partially 'Essence.' "

"Could you do it intentionally, and make three forms of cultivation that had equal strength to pure cultivation?"

"I think you'd see strange mergers trying that... hmm, I'd have to think about it. In any case, I'd guess that both crystal and acid cultivation already use some mana, because it's most common on Deadwaste, so they couldn't develop a third type. The soul is like this huge web of potentials that can be linked in various ways, but you can't ultimately change the web."

"So what does all that mean?" Cragrila had listened patiently enough, but now dragged Omilaena away from her beautiful theory to practicality.

"Honestly, I'll need more time to figure out applications." Omilaena could only shrug. "But there are possibilities, serious ones. I suspect that all abilities on Deadwaste aren't using every aspect they potentially could, which is why they're weaker. That's probably the best people can do given limited energy, but they have more hypothetical potential. Right now I'm thinking about Physique... Zin Nim, can you explain why cultivators here spit up so much blood but you don't?"

"I... presumed it was because of my improved Physique." Zin Nim shifted uncomfortably as she considered the question.

"No, I don't think that's it. Surely there must be advanced cultivation related to this... any advanced techniques using blood?"

"Of course, but I'm not sure they're relevant. When a cultivator grows strong enough, their blood is connected to their cultivation base, so of course-"

"That. Yes, it makes sense." Omilaena rubbed her temples as she considered. "You two, hit each other."

Cragrila stared flatly. "What? You mean sparring?"

"No, I mean kill one another for my sadistic amusement. Of course just a testing blow."

First Zin Nim struck Cragrila with a palm strike, holding back the vast majority of her strength so as not to kill the other woman, then they switched roles. As soon as Cragrila struck Zin Nim, it fit together. Everything went just as Omilaena had expected and she barely even needed her goggles in order to understand.

"Excellent. I always thought that it didn't make sense how so many injuries could produce mouthfuls of blood, and how those didn't seem like lethal internal injuries in most cases, but it makes sense. Cultivators have partially fused body and soul, so they're taking hostile energy as a physical blow. Might be messy, but it blunts the impact a bit, and no doubt there are the other sorts of techniques you mentioned. It's just another way of organizing the Physique and Cultivation aspects of the soul."

"Then what about the Blackblood Physique?" Zin Nim asked.

Dozens of potential answers welled up in Omilaena's throat, but for once she swallowed her speculation. For her this was a time to wildly consider possibilities, but this was Zin Nim's entire history of her body and it meant a great deal to her.

Instead of answering right away, Omilaena tapped her fingernails against her thigh while she considered what really mattered. "Have you ever seen people who went through the entire Blackblood Physique process?"

"Yes, two."

"And they didn't have an additional component to their soul?"

"I don't think so. The purpose is to strengthen your primary cultivation, so the dark blood is meant to be purified away."

"Then I'll need to think about this. Sorry, Zin Nim, but it's too early to do something this important with you." Omilaena whirled on Cragrila and pulled out another syringe with a grin. "You, on the other hand..."

Cragrila just sighed and bared her arms. "I'll trust that you know what you're doing. What are you going to do to me?"

"I'm going to drain your crystals, liquefy them, and inject them straight into your veins."

"That sounds like it would hurt."

"Oh, it definitely will. The pain of progress!"