Chapter 565: Blood Rights to the Mines

  They arrived hovering over the mobs, only a crystal ship between them and the chaos.

  Though the mobs were just chaotic masses at first, Kai had experience with such battles, especially in Krysal. This wasn't the nation he'd left, but the sides were still representing themselves according to old allegiances: the ex-crystalliers wore masks of arrogance, while the ex-slaves carried an aura of raw anger, despite being better fed and better dressed than before.

  Kai noted that his students looked toward the mobs with anxiety, despite all their experience. They'd mostly fought monsters, and occasionally enemy warriors, but masses of people were a different animal, a savage side to humanity. Even from a tactical standpoint, such battles were difficult: someone with less Power than you might never be able to win a straight fight, but if you were distracted, they could still injure you with a surprise blow.

  "Hold steady," Kai said. "We're going to jump down there to split up the sides, so this should end without serious violence."

  "So we're not helping either side?" Bonto asked.

  "Not until we have more information."

  Even as he spoke, Kai realized how true that was, because he was changing his initial opinion already. He was tempted to see crystalliers as arrogant, but the better-dressed side had a lot of people who had the scars of ex-slaves. And the other side might be dressed in the style of pit slaves, but he would have sworn some of them were merchants. Maybe not the old style of merchant, but their builds and the way they stationed themselves at shops suggested otherwise. Perhaps old city workers moving into new roles?

  "Please tell me you aren't going to throw me into this," Untariin said. Unlike the others, he had additional reasons to look nervous. "Even wearing Goralian clothes, even if no one recognizes me, someone might still make assumptions..."

  "No, I understand that could just inflame tensions. Stay here. You two, on the other hand..." Kai turned to Bonto and Tori. "Nobody will have any idea what to make of you, so you'll be good enforcers. Don't hurt anyone, just disable if necessary."

  "Uh, aren't you going to take care of things?" Bonto asked. "They pretty much worship you, and I don't want to fight Krysali..."

  "People aren't thinking straight at times like these. Besides, if you want to spend any time here, you need to start building reputations of your own. I can't run around and do everything myself."

  That instantly appealed to Bonto, while Tori just looked more nervous - Kai judged they were both prepared enough, however, and this was an easier test than a full-on riot. So he jumped off the side of their ship, trusting they'd find a way to follow.

  Kai hadn't used any method to slow his fall, so he crashed in the center of the growing mobs. Alone, he might have shocked them into obedience, or he could also have triggered a start to violence. His students came not long after: Bonto rode a piece of crystal he levitated via mana, while Tori had made a line of crystal between her positions and moved down it hanging from a bronze ring. Their strange arrival threw the mobs off, giving Kai enough time to speak.

  "This isn't the time to be fighting each other," he declared for the crowd. "What's going on here?"

  Someone shouted his name, and another ex-slave thrust out a finger. "Show them who's boss, Kai!"

  "Please," one of the ex-crystalliers said, "I've heard you're a reasonable man..."

  "We've had enough lies out of you!" An angry young man on the ex-slave side, though he didn't look like he'd served in the mines, began running toward some civilians, well-dressed but with pit scars. They only carried blunt iron rods, but the sight of the weapons was enough to make several weak crystalliers leap into action as well.

  It would have been easiest to jump in the way, or freeze them all with Void Gaze, but Kai meant what he said and so he waited, letting it happen.

  Fortunately, his students were up to the task, and smart enough to choose their targets. Bonto leapt at the wealthier side, crystal smashing against crystal, except his were charged with mana in a way that no crystallier ever did. Tori spun among the ex-slaves, chakra-laden metal extending from her hands - it hooked robes and caught ankles, sending people to the ground without severely injuring them. Using such unfamiliar abilities for Krysal, they didn't escalate the fight further.

  They only made one mistake: there was an ex-slave building up a jagged lance from a higher position, preparing to hurl the projectile at them. With around 100 Power, the woman could never have taken Tori or Bonto on her own, but a vicious lance like that could definitely injure.

  Frozen by Void Gaze, and its owner collapsing with eyes rolling back, it wouldn't injure anyone.

  "Enough!" Kai didn't need to raise his voice much, and this time he commanded attention. His theory had been right: neutralizing the enemy without raising a hand had made his power clear and killed the potential riot. "I was told that you had a fair agreement in Kartiis, everyone working to mine their own qi crystals. I intend to meet with both sides to find out what went wrong."

  He already had the basic information, but setting separate meetings broke up the riots further. While Bonto and Tori split up the crowds and urged everyone to return home, Kai identified the leaders and arranged to meet both at the crystal mine.

  The mine itself was ordinary enough, blasted far more open than he remembered it so that people didn't need to work in claustrophobic tunnels. Both sides impressed on him the justice of their cause, basically repeating what his students had already told him: the ex-crystalliers had the law on their side, but the ex-slaves had a point that this still left the weakest at a disadvantage.

  Half-listening to their tired old arguments, Kai stared out over the mines, feeling the qi crystals throbbing underneath. There was enough for everyone, yet they still fought over it. Even if he solved their problem, would anything change?

  "Kai Clanless?" He must have been silent too long, because one of the leaders called out to him. "What will y-"

  "I don't know who's right," Kai said as he turned back. "I'm also no leader, to make decisions for you. Eventually, you have to resolve these problems yourselves."

  "But that's just what we're trying to do! They stopped us from-"

  "I didn't say I'd leave you alone. I intend to go into the pits myself and do what I can. I may not be able to mine enough crystals for all of Kartiis, but I will work for Krysal as hard as I fought for it."

  A big stupid gesture, the sort of thing that went over well with both crowds. Of course, Kai had his own motives, primarily hearing from both sides while he scouted out the shape of the mines better. He hadn't been a crystal miner for very long, but he remembered the basics, and he was overwhelmingly more powerful than he had been back on his first visit to Krysal.

  Listening to the average people trying to work in the mines, he found himself much more sympathetic than listening to their leaders. Too many of those on top, noble or revolutionary, exploited the struggles of others for their own benefit. They spoke of rights earned in blood even though they weren't the ones shedding it.

  When speaking to the ex-crystalliers, Kai found himself unexpectedly sympathetic to their cause. They had surrendered all their privileges and they were following the rules, mining their own crystals for themselves, so they felt betrayed to have more demanded of them. In a strange alliance, they had the support of multiple ex-slaves, those who decided to work there again. Some of them felt like the other side had too many freeloaders, acting like revolutionaries even though they'd never fought.

  Even though he saw many things to anger him on that side, Kai wasn't willing to simply condemn them all either. While Kai spent a while carrying loads of crystals, he spoke to various traders who made good arguments about the economics of the crystal trade: if the most powerful warriors were dominating all the good veins, it made it hard for them to buy and sell crystals for normal people.

  If he'd actually needed to come up with a policy solution, Kai would have been puzzled. It seemed like no matter what he chose, someone was going to suffer, others were going to be angry, and the problem would continue.

  Fortunately, this was a problem that could be solved with power.

  "Alright, everyone out!" When most of the miners were leaving for the evening, Kai demanded that the rest leave as well. As every single person was evacuated from the mines, the leaders of both sides watched Kai with increasing nervousness.

  "Are you... going to take the mines away from both sides?" one asked. "We aren't children, to have their toys ta-"

  "No," Kai said.

  "You've heard our plight, haven't you? Unless they're penalized, they'll keep-"

  Kai raised a hand and he got silence, even from the leaders. He watched as the mines were confirmed empty and stretched his own senses through them for good measure. Everyone was watching now, some hopeful and others nervous. Did his reputation really suggest that he would destroy the entire mine rather than let anyone have it?

  Instead, Kai leapt into the air with Thunderbird's Wings and soared over the mine. He raised one hand, focusing Tyrant's Claw in a different way than the usual, phasing his strength but keeping the explosive power...

  When he swung, he tore three furrows through the earth, each the length of the city wall. From above, he could see the claw marks as clear as day, and they might be visible from the city towers as well. On the ground, the impact was half-way to an earthquake, sending many of those watching tumbling.

  By the time Kai landed, some were still utterly confused or angry but understanding was dawning on a few. Tori gave him an appreciative nod, while Bonto was shaking his head and laughing. "That's fucking genius!"

  That might be a bit much, for what amounted to a brute force solution. Still, Kai smiled as he turned and looked out over the three new mines that he'd opened.

  He remained a while longer, helping to clear out some of the collapsed areas by carrying boulders that others couldn't manage. Bonto and Tori helped, since they had strength far above the average person in the city, and he confirmed that they would stay.

  Officially their purpose was to mine crystals for themselves, since they both needed more to advance, but they could also keep an eye on everything. Now that so many new areas for mining had been opened, in theory all sides should be able to find their own places... Kai wouldn't put it past them to start more fights, even in the face of abundance. But he'd have to leave that to his students, because he was tired of the place.

  When Kai said his farewells and jumped back to the crystal ship, he found Untariin waiting restlessly.

  "You see how it is?" the other man asked. "Krysal is always like this. Even if I wasn't noble, I'd never be free of it. In Goralia... I liked how you at least pretended everyone was equal. I actually felt free there."

  "You want to go back?" It wasn't much of a question, but Kai asked it anyway.

  "As soon as possible. I didn't want to leave Tori and Bonto without options, but for myself..."

  "Yeah." Kai didn't say any more, and they flew off to their rendezvous point.

  Looking back at the city, with its new mines slashed into the earth, should have made Kai happy. Yet he couldn't help but think that this was going to continue. No matter what he did, Krysal would fall back into chaos...

  Chapter 566: Crystalline Threads

  Corpses didn't generally mean much to Omilaena. They were a fact of life, maybe a message of some kind, maybe just materials for someone, maybe absolutely meaningless. This one, however, left her standing and contemplating for longer than she cared to admit.

  The body that had once been Boreas still glistened slightly.

  Even though she had been the one to fight him, Omilaena respected him in a strange way. Boreas had been locked into a dead end, with no way forward but to keep supporting an unsustainable system even when he saw its limitations. Given the fundamental weaknesses of crystal cultivation, he had done an extraordinary job of it, displaying techniques no one else did and pressing her to her limit even though she should have overpowered him.

  And now he didn't exist anymore. Omilaena realized that a part of her had been counting on the two of them having another conversation at some point, and it didn't seem fair that he should simply disappear like this.

  "Why would they even do this?" she asked. "Wasn't he being safely drained of his qi crystals?"

  "It was the work of zealots." Krainuun stood not far behind her, shifting regularly, as if he still regretted being persuaded to let her see the body. "There was a time of revolutionary paranoia, filled with rumors that Boreas or Vyorrine or another Diamond Crystallier would return and try to enslave them again."

  "And they managed to break into your high security facility?"

  "Every facility staffed by people has weaknesses, and regrettably, it is difficult to distinguish between different kinds of zealotry. It is... a shame. I believe that he was beginning to change his mind, toward the end. Being freed of his position seemed to give him time to contemplate, and... no, never mind. Security has been tightened."

  Omilaena reached out and touched the skull gently, but there was no affection in her voice. "And what happened to the rest of his crystals? Your statement implied that you hadn't gotten them all yet."

  "That is correct." Krainuun shifted uncomfortably. "The zealots who led the attack disappeared. As we had harvested roughly 70%, that means there are unknown forces with some 300,000 qi crystals that are not included in our official accounting."

  "That would be 30 crystalliers of the new standard, which is no joke." Crystals underlay everything here, from revolutions to the economy to power, thin shining threads connecting it all...

  "Or they could have used them to fund other activities, as qi crystals are highly fungible." Krainuun sighed and shook his head. "Are you done? I do not like disturbing the dead."

  "Not yet."

  She returned to Boreas, though this time leaving behind all affection. What she needed, the reason she had pestered Krainuun to allow her access, was Physique information. Boreas dying made it more difficult, but she carefully extracted samples of his skin, muscle, bone, and hair. His crystal teeth seemed to be missing, presumably stolen by the zealots.

  "And you can use this to improve the crystallization method that Cragrila shows?" Krainuun asked.

  "Oh yes." Omilaena smiled over her shoulder at him. "Did you think I was lying about that just to get access? No, I'm fascinated by Krysal's abilities. I have been for a long time, but now I'm getting closer to actually figuring it out."

  "I have a number of agents I believe would use such power judiciously. If you assisted them, I would consider it adequate payment."

  "I wouldn't." Finishing her work, Omilaena turned to face Krainuun completely. "I'll give you my wholehearted support to all your agents if you give me the information you have about the faction that killed Boreas and stole the crystals."

  Krainuun didn't answer immediately, simply meeting her gaze. Omilaena wasn't intimidated by him, not really, but it was strange to talk to a man who couldn't be twisted around her finger and was too smart to be manipulated easily. As his jaw shifted and he began to open his mouth, she knew what he was going to say.

  "I don't think I want you conducting clandestine operations in Krysal," Krainuun said. "You mean well, and I don't like this rogue faction, but I don't believe Krysal will be served by you taking a direct hand."

  "Alright, suit yourself." Omilaena threw up her hands. "I'm mostly interested in the science of it, so if you're going to be so stubborn, I'll let you deal with your own problems."

  Not truly, of course, but she'd keep that to herself.

  As they left the secure chamber, Omilaena looked back one more time. She realized, now that it was too late, that there had been another path for her life here. In theory she could have made an alliance with Boreas, or returned earlier and taken him while he was alive. Of course she wouldn't give up Zin Nim and Kai for that, but she still felt strangely melancholy to think about those paths that had withered away.

  On the way out, Omilaena glanced over at Krainuun again. "So why did you make this so difficult? Was that so painful?"

  "That remains to be seen," the administrator told her. "I... do not like this concentration of power, where a million crystals reside in a single person. You cannot say where your work will take you, so I can only hope that it will not lead to more like Boreas."

  "That doesn't seem likely." Omilaena smiled wistfully. "That isn't the direction my work is going, and in any case... there aren't many like him."

  .

  ..

  .

  Omilaena couldn't unravel all the pathways that qi crystals took, and didn't have the patience for it, but that didn't mean she was unable to work via other paths. Krainuun was only one of the men she was working on - only a day later she met Maggle in a bar to discuss another of her little social projects.

  "I don't know..." Maggle was delaying the inevitable for his own ego. "This is important stuff, and you're not technically part of the council."

  "Oh, come on." Omilaena leaned in closer. "You know I can never get anywhere near people like that, so I want to hear..."

  "Yes, but this is serious shit. All those rumors about crystalliers taking back the country, it actually being true somewhere - that sort of thing gets people killed. Not really idle conversation."

  "Why do you think I had a drink with you? I knew you wouldn't just bullshit me with random words, you're doing real work in Krysal. Come on, are you telling me that it isn't an interesting story?"

  She leaned forward even more, giving Maggle a look straight down her cleavage. For this meeting, she'd worn one of her hip-hugging dresses that showed a lot of leg, which had him addled even before he started drinking. Maggle wasn't exactly subtle about staring and so he wasn't thinking clearly as he began to tell her what he'd discovered.

  It was bizarre, honestly. Omilaena understood lust, but she couldn't understand letting it control her. If a man wanted to fuck her, she got why he'd be manipulated, but Maggle should have been smart enough to realize that nothing was going to happen between them.

  Apparently not, because he gave her the names of the crystallier faction.

  Once Maggle had been drunk under the table, and Omilaena planted a lipstick kiss on his cheek, she left the bar, no longer bothering to sway. Now, after all of her various attempts, she finally had a target.

  According to her best estimation, there were at least three Krysali factions so radical that they were better off gone - possibly four, if Krainuun's thieves were a different group. Two of them were ex-slave groups that wanted to return to the revolutionary warpath, and Omilaena had failed to get close to them. But the last one was a group of merchants who really did want to undo the revolution.

  Now, thanks to Maggle, she had names and locations. If they all suddenly died, no one would particularly weep for them.

  All connected by the web of crystal... except that Omilaena found herself not following it. For some reason, she headed back to their house, following a different sort of connection. Normally she didn't like such impulses, but she decided to see where this one led.

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  .

  ..

  .

  Back at the Acidarium, where they had personal rooms, Omilaena discovered a disgruntled Zin Nim. She was cultivating, which might make her seem calm to most, but Omilaena could feel her aura of irritation. This could be fun or annoying, but either way it would be interesting.

  "I'm home, dearest wi-"

  "Take care of this," Zin Nim interrupted. She opened her eyes and frowned toward the exit. "There is another woman claiming to have one of Kai's children in the waiting room. This one refuses to go away."

  "Oh my!" Omilaena put a hand to her forehead. "Men! They just can't-"

  Zin Nim's frown turned on her. "If you wish to play such silly games, I will not hold you blameless. You are as responsible as Kai for pushing him into brief relationships."

  "So you're saying that you hate Yurwa?"

  "Yurwa is fine. She would be more fine if there was no history there."

  Laughing, Omilaena gave up on teasing the other woman and skipped forward to kiss her cheek. After a little more simmering, Zin Nim gave in and turned to kiss her properly. She really did dislike all of his history, but she was a good sport about it.

  "Just make it go away," Zin Nim said. "I am meeting with the acid cultivators soon and I want my head to be clear."

  "Consider it taken care of."

  Just another connection, likely another woman trying to score some crystals by targeting Kai. Omilaena went out and did her usual blood test routine, and to her surprise the woman actually agreed. Which meant that Omilaena ended up drawing vials of useless blood. She had expected someone to try to call her bluff eventually, she just didn't expect it to be this poor befuddled woman.

  Admittedly, Omilaena could imagine Kai banging this one, but her son was so scrawny it was hard to imagine him having Kai's blood. Most likely she was mistaken, which they'd known would happen eventually.

  Technically Omilaena could have made up some results and thrown the woman out. Once she would have done so... hell, once she would have just poisoned both to get them out of the way. But there was no profit in that, and it really would frustrate Kai. Since this was all because of him - mostly because of him - she supposed that he deserved to have some say.

  And on that note, Omilaena realized why she had gone home.

  Once the woman was sent away, Omilaena went to find Kai next. Usually he was off in another city, saving them from their own stupidity, but that week he was back in Yulthens training a group of ex-slaves. So it wasn't hard to wait for a good opportunity and pull him away for a private conversation.

  "So I'm thinking of poisoning someone," she began.

  "Please restrain yourself," Kai said, and she swatted him.

  "A specific person, in this case. It turns out, we know the leaders of a crystallier faction that wants to take over the country again..."

  She explained the details and, as expected, Kai was troubled by them. Even after she finished, he remained silent for a time, arms folded, their flexes working out his thoughts. Kai wasn't stupid, but he did tend to process in very blunt ways.

  "I don't like this," he said first, which was fair. "The most just thing to do would be to prosecute them publicly. But if we announce that there really is a group of crystalliers trying to regain control, that will just increase hatred between factions. Families who allegedly have a little noble blood have had their throats slit in their sleep. I don't want to be part of that..."

  "Hence why the merchants should just disappear." Omilaena blew on her fingers with a little puff of poison. "Surely you have to admit that it's a clean, simple solution."

  "No, I don't. These people are apparently respectable citizens, so we'd be making them disappear in the night. Even if you're willing to do something that unethical-"

  "I am!"

  "-we don't want to be seen doing it. There's enough climate of fear as it is." Kai shook his head slowly. "No, I don't think poisoning them is the right idea."

  "Aww, please?" Omilaena clasped her hands with arms together, hitting Kai with mega-cleavage. He immediately flicked her forehead.

  "I didn't say we just let them go. Let's talk and we'll figure out something."

  Omilaena stopped the act and grinned as they put their heads together. She hadn't expected the connections to lead here, but maybe she should have. Many paths had been abandoned behind her, some of them filled with bodies, but it was worth it.

  Chapter 567: Ninety-Nine Problems in Krysal

  Two weeks until the Krysali deadline. Six weeks until the incursion, hopefully. The elite deadline wouldn't change, but the incursion very well could.

  Kai couldn't always wait until the elites had a teleporter ready, so he sometimes flew between cities using Thunderbird's Wings. It felt good to push himself, though in the long stretches he wondered if he was just running from his problems. As glad as he was that Omilaena had come to him instead of unilaterally wiping out a faction, it meant he had even more to deal with.

  The first and most obvious problem was still the eastern cities, those unprepared for the incursion, and Kai was sympathetic to most of them. He wished he could spend all his time moving between them, solving as many problems as he could and at least raising morale. Given how all the city states needed to hold together, morale wasn't nothing.

  Unfortunately, even as he solved problems, Kai knew that the factions underneath the surface were building up more. Omilaena really had discovered a plot to try to retake Krysal, which was no doubt antagonized by the radical factions that wanted blood in the streets. This long after the revolution, he didn't see what "justice" was here, or what it meant.

  Alleged illegitimate children continued to needle him, even if he suspected that they were mostly opportunists. Some might simply be desperate and he wished he could do something about it, something that wouldn't just make the problem worse.

  It was while flying on an unscheduled path between cities - in response to rumors of a mining problem - that Kai sensed the surge of qi. Not a strong individual source, many people in concert. That could easily be a riot or worse, so he changed course and sprinted toward the nearest city - Wontiir, which he didn't know well.

  From the air, he could see former slaves swarming over part of the city like ants. They weren't attacking people, or at least the neighborhood didn't seem to have native occupants, but they were damaging the infrastructure. Kai hovered overhead, trying to figure out the cause and potential solution before it boiled over entirely. Wontiir needed to be in good shape if the incursion made it this far, so he had to stop the violence, but how?

  Then Kai saw something that swept away all the rest of his problems: Yuinafal stood atop a tower, watching the riot with a gleam in his eyes.

  No longer caring about stealth or collateral damage, Kai burst down, Behemoth's Wings arching from his back and triggering a shockwave over the city. He saw Yuinafal taken off guard for a second before he grabbed the man's robes and slammed him up against the wall of the nearest tower.

  "What the hell are you doing?" Kai growled.

  "Same question," Yuinafal responded, not giving an inch. "Do you believe you're actually making Krysal a better place?"

  "What d-" Kai was interrupted by an explosion of wind. It didn't harm him, but as the shockwave struck, Yuinafal vanished, leaving him holding a scrap of the man's robes.

  Exactly what he needed: yet another problem, a much worse one. Kai decided he was in no mood to have careful conversations about motives, so he leapt from the tower, quelling the riots via a combination of Famished World and Void Gaze.

  Soon he'd ended the violence, though not the underlying problem. Talking to chastened city leaders, Kai learned that lack of food had led to riots, which had spiraled out of control into an assault on the wealthier district of the city. Except that district was no longer controlled by nobles, it was largely ex-slave businesses, so the community leaders were baffled about how the demonstrations they'd hoped would be peaceful had become so violent so quickly.

  Kai was fairly certain he knew: the most radical groups were lurking in the shadows, trying to trigger another bloody conflict. When he'd confronted Yuinafal, he'd showed himself and they'd vanished. That was assuming that Yuinafal himself wasn't responsible.

  Did this mean that Kai was in direct conflict with the elites? He considered that grim possibility for a moment before discarding it. They worked too independently for him to invoke conspiracies, especially in a controversial nation like Krysal. The worst scenario would be that Yuinafal was supporting the radical factions, and Kai had no actual evidence of that.

  The bitter irony was that the initial lack of food wasn't due to any famine or even political pressure, it was just a supply chain issue brought on by issues in other city-states. Kai visited the nearest ones and shamed the leaders into helping Wontiir, then carried a massive first shipment of food himself, just to stave off hunger and give the people hope for the administrative solution.

  Which burnished his reputation further, but did it actually solve any underlying problems? Kai's arrival set off a city-wide celebration, and as soon as he realized that some of the women were making passes at him, he left.

  He'd had more than enough of that problem.

  The incident led him to realize that there were other supply chain issues across the eastern cities, including militarily serious ones like qi crystals and acid. With his spatial ring and speeds far in excess of Krysali vessels, Kai was actually the fastest method of transportation, so he spent a couple days bursting between Frontier cities, sternly commanding them to prepare. Given how he dramatically solved their problems himself, he hoped they'd listen, at least long enough to survive the incursion.

  Of course this wasn't part of the plan, but he could maintain his training if he just skipped sleep. Kai relied on Behemoth's Heart to keep him going and he felt the inside of his chest slowly twisting into a monstrous form. So long as it didn't affect his appearance, and thus morale, it was fine.

  That work - so simple and obviously beneficial - might have distracted him for longer if he hadn't received a message. Cragrila was waiting for him back in Yulthens after months underground with the radical factions, so she might have key information. Kai finished his current trip while negotiating with the elites to teleport back, meaning that he was stepping onto the streets of Yulthens just hours later.

  The past few days were a blur: he remembered what he had been doing, but names and faces were just a vague haze. He hated living life this way, but with so little time remaining, how could he justify not pushing himself even harder?

  When he met Cragrila in a shady half-abandoned bar, he forced himself to focus on a specific time and place. Her clothes were much more ragged than before, and she had a hard look in her eyes, but he realized that actually meant she had been successful.

  "I joined one of the most radical nativist factions," Cragrila reported, then let out a snort. "Practically stumbled into it, and might have even if you hadn't asked. There are still a lot of angry people left, and they remember me as a key player in the revolution. They have ideas and they want the power to enforce them."

  "Depends on what those ideas are," Kai said. "If they're going to argue with other factions in public, more power to them, but I don't like all these factions working in the shadows."

  "Then you won't like what I have to say. There are a lot of people angry, many with the elites and our allies, some even with you. They somehow got word of a rumor that there was a plan to abandon parts of Krysal in the incursion. Their plan is to do the opposite: abandon our obligations on the borders and pull back to Krysal instead of helping our allies. Krysal will handle its own, they say."

  Kai groaned as he considered just how real that possibility was. It wouldn't take any genius schemes, because the incursion relied on coordination and trust, so they'd just need to have control of a few specific city-states and militias. And it would sort of protect Krysal during this incursion, but it would betray their allies and ruin trust in the future.

  "I thought you'd want to know," Cragrila said with a shrug. "There are more factions, though, and some of them are too radical to even talk to me. If you come down on these groups directly, they'll suspect it was me, and other factions will burrow even deeper."

  "I'm not going to punish people for a bunch of worried talk." Kai rubbed his face, more tired than he'd realized despite Behemoth's Heart keeping his body going, and considered his options. "We don't do anything for now. Give me all the information you have and keep meeting with them. Ideally, we don't manipulate things and hope people come together naturally after the incursion."

  Judging from Cragrila's expression, she wasn't confident in that, but she gave him everything she'd learned about the nativist faction and its leaders. It sounded like they were more wide-spread than he had hoped, because they fed off entirely understandable feelings across Krysal. Even Kai understood a little, though he was too beset by problems to join them.

  There were a lot of things he needed to do, especially back at the Frontier, but Kai didn't have an arrangement to teleport back just yet. So he headed to their shared rooms, even though it was technically wasting time. It would be good just to see Zae Zin Nim or Omilaena again, and if they trained together he could justify spending some hours with them.

  When he arrived, he found Zae Zin Nim cultivating in her usual room. Unlike usual, however, though she smiled at first, she then frowned.

  "Kai, you have been away too long."

  "I know, I know," he said, "I'm just pushing so hard-"

  "You're being inefficient." Omilaena pressed up against his back, a needle against his neck, though it was basically just teasing at this point in their relationship. "Come on, relax a bit. Don't make me poison you and force it."

  "Look, I appreciate it, but time is running out for Krysal and-"

  "No." Zae Zin Nim broke off her cultivation and rose to approach. "We have too little time to rush around like this. If you want to help, you need to step back and think."

  Accepting defeat, Kai raised his hands and let his wives take over. Maybe they were right, or maybe the exhaustion just caught up to him once he stopped moving. As soon as he acceded, Zae Zin Nim gave him a small smile.

  "Good, please come with us. We've discovered something that I think you will enjoy."

  They headed out in one of Zae Zin Nim's common crystal ships, moving toward the former wealthier districts of Yulthens. There was a large complex that was oddly familiar, and he couldn't place it until he realized that it was the grounds where Orillia used to live. He hadn't thought about her in some time and it still hurt to remember her severed head...

  "It seems Orillia has acquired a legend," Zae Zin Nim said with another smile. "They're telling stories about how she stood up to Suortril and defied all the other merchants, right up until the moment they killed her for it. I doubt the veracity of these stories, but at least her legacy is respected."

  "She's become known as the 'good crystallier'," Omilaena explained as she leaned into him from the other side. "Even radicals who hate all merchants have to be respectful. Dead symbols are much easier to mythologize than living ones who have, you know, opinions."

  "So this is her Crystallier Cooperative." They began circling over the complex, which Kai saw was active even as Zae Zin Nim continued to explain. "It's trained many former slaves in crystal cultivation, across many factions. I think it really is honoring her legacy."

  "I suggest we keep our hands off, since this is one of the few widely-respected neutral parties. But I thought you should know that Krysal has some... and Zin Nim has an idea of her own."

  "The baths are still there," Zae Zin Nim said, and now he understood her pleased smile. "We never got to use them properly last time, but they're open to all. You really need to rest, Kai, surely you wouldn't refuse us this?"

  "And if you need more incentive," Omilaena murmured into his other ear, "our visiting it will raise the profile of the Crystallier Cooperative."

  "Alright, alright." Kai chuckled and accepted that taking a break wouldn't be so horrible. "We can visit the baths. Maybe you're right, I need to take a step back and think about the underlying problems."

  They landed and were accepted in the courtyard, where Kai noticed a wide mix of Krysali, from city-dwellers to former miners to acid pit workers. Many crowded in to welcome them, threatening to delay their progress until Zae Zin Nim insisted on visiting the baths. Apparently she had even planned a reservation for them, so the chambers were empty except for the heated water that had already filled the air with steam.

  It was surreal to walk back into a space he had last visited years ago. So much had been different back then, he had actually been on the other side of the Krysali revolution. Yet the bathing chamber itself was mostly unchanged, maintained but otherwise what he remembered.

  One other thing was different: Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena stepped up beside him and began disrobing. Back then, Zae Zin Nim had been self-conscious and shocked by the idea of his nudity, while Omilaena was a dangerous predator using sex as a weapon. Now as they stripped and began bathing together, it wasn't even really sexual, it was just intimate and comfortable.

  Kai washed off his dirt in a cooler basin, then sank into the heated pool. He'd barely leaned back against the marble before Zae Zin Nim was on one side and Omilaena got comfortable on the other. They had been right, he needed this.

  Kai felt like he had almost a hundred problems, but Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena weren't one of them.

  Chapter 568: Sufficiently Shiny Bait

  Later, with all kinds of stress melted away, Kai was able to truly relax in the baths. He still felt a bit sad about Orillia's memory, but knew the indefatigable old woman would be glad that her name was being used to build a better Krysal. Newly refreshed, Kai settled back against the marble to confront his problems, this time with backup.

  "The problem is the factions that will undermine Krysal," he began. "Even though I think Krysal would be better off without them, if we eliminate any side we don't like, we're just running a dictatorship."

  "But is letting them run free any solution at all?" Omilaena asked. She sat back and manifested a pipe, which she began to smoke, her subtle poison joining the steam. "Equality and fairness, rah rah, but these people have a good chance of destroying Krysal altogether."

  "Eliminating them personally would send the wrong message, but what if we let them incriminate themselves, then have Krysali authorities handle things? They're doing plenty of illegal things, we just need to give them enough rope to hang themselves."

  "It could be difficult." Zae Zin Nim settled lower in the water, only her head peeking out. "They're accustomed to working in the shadows, and paranoid about one another."

  "Assuming they aren't being manipulated," Omilaena said. "Do you know anything more about what Yuinafal is scheming?"

  "No, and I agree that's a high priority." Kai rubbed his chin as he considered all the angles. "How about this... I'll look into that side of things and check our plans with the elites. Meanwhile, you two prepare a prize that the radical factions won't be able to ignore. Something that will make them come out of the shadows to seize power for themselves."

  "Well and good, but who are we targeting?"

  "I think it has to be those we know. There are the reactionaries who want to reestablish the crystallier system, and the nativists who want to seize power for Krysali. Can we come up with a prize that will put those two groups in conflict?"

  "That part isn't so hard." Zae Zin Nim reached out of the baths to her spatial bracelet, which lay just behind her, and then revealed a gleaming gemstone he hadn't seen since the Brightwind vaults. "I've been studying this and it should be compatible with crystal cultivation. It should be too tempting for groups to ignore, provided they know about it."

  "Let me handle that part." Omilaena reached across Kai's chest to pick up the gemstone and hefted it in one hand. "Krainuun's administration is filled with semi-radicals who leak information to more violent factions, and that will actually work in our favor for once. We can pretend this is a new discovery - maybe from Boreas's corpse - and make sure they hear about it, without even using contacts like Maggle or Cragrila."

  "Very good. Then we can leave discovering Yuinafal's schemes to Kai."

  That all sounded good, but Kai had been back in Krysal long enough that he saw the political fallout. "Unfortunately, that's not enough," he said. "If the worst factions incriminate themselves trying to steal the gemstone, it will become public knowledge and everyone will want it. Who receives such a powerful item will become a political issue."

  "I see." Zae Zin Nim frowned over at the gleaming crystal. "I imagine it would be better to evenly divide the items among various sides, but have nothing as valuable as the gemstone. Unless you can duplicate it, Omi?"

  "Afraid not," she said. "I can create a set of crystalline pills that can be distributed evenly, which should soothe some feelings, but the fight will be over the prize."

  "Hmm. You two... please leave this to me. I will consult with others and find another treasure."

  It was unusual for Zae Zin Nim to take that sort of initiative, and Kai had no idea what she had in mind, but he decided to take her at her word and trust her. He thought they had a good outline of a plan, though actually arranging all the parties would be difficult. Of course he'd need to approve the idea with Krainuun as well - it was more clandestine than the administrator usually liked, but how were they going to deal with shadowy factions if they didn't work in the shadows themselves?

  Here in the baths, surrounded by steam and smoke, Kai actually felt hopeful. He knew that soon enough, he'd need to get up and actually execute the plan, which included a lot of nasty unknowns, and the results would be much colder than this warm paradise.

  But he stayed a little longer.

  .

  ..

  .

  Unlike Kai, who had grown up on Deadwaste, Zae Zin Nim had never really venerated the elites. In the beginning she had been wildly dismissive, thinking of them as little more than arrogant Earth Soul equivalents. Now that she better understood phases, and the difficulties they faced, she respected them more, and it felt surreal to reflect that she had an alliance with this faction.

  Regardless, it felt stranger yet to summon them to a meeting, but summon she did.

  The two who arrived were those she requested: Sheiri Kagskan and Aeglien of Torleen, the two Krysali elites she knew. There was also a woman who was a former crystallier, who Zae Zin Nim did not trust and might well be one of their enemies. But there would be time enough for that later.

  "Thank you for coming," Zae Zin Nim said with a polite bow. "We wish to do something in Krysal, and we would prefer to have your approval..."

  As she explained the outline of their plan, the two elites didn't look exactly pleased, but they didn't object. Now that she understood Deadwaste better, Zae Zin Nim realized that this wasn't deference to the more powerful - they actually considered the plan on its own merits and spoke as if equals. Strange as that was to her, she tried to meet them with the same attitude.

  "Alright," Aeglien said once she was done. "It could be messy, but it has our approval."

  "Really?" Zae Zin Nim blinked at him. "You don't object?"

  "You're baiting them, but it's not exactly entrapment: if the factions choose to try to steal this treasure of yours, they're robbing from Krysal itself and proving they aren't legitimate groups. They've been sapping Krysal for a while, so extreme measures are necessary."

  "You've already manipulated a lot," Sheiri added. "This is just cleaning up some of your legacy."

  "I did not expect that to be so easy." Zae Zin Nim looked between them carefully. "Then the Frontier organization is largely supportive of our work in Krysal? I understood that it was more controversial."

  They didn't respond immediately, instead trading glances. Sheiri had always been supportive of their work, but Aeglien was more of a mystery, and Zae Zin Nim found herself oddly interested in his opinion, because he had saved her life so many years ago.

  "Some people think the new Krysal is a bunch of peasants running rampant," Aeglien said, then shrugged. "I was a crystallier, but not noble, so I wasn't so attached to the old system. But it's been years now, and even the die-hards know that trying to go back would be even messier than going forward with this new factional system."

  "Kai believes that the incursion will unify them," Zae Zin Nim said. "I don't know if that's true, but I hope so. There is one other issue... do you know if Yuinafal is involved here in Krysal?"

  Another glance, then Sheiri spoke carefully. "After he left Irun, he did mention that he was going to deal with trouble in Krysal. But I don't think that he would be supporting one of these radical factions - Yuinafal has always supported unification."

  "Can you be absolutely certain of that?"

  "Not absolutely certain, but at some point we have to trust one another."

  Maybe they did, but Zae Zin Nim absolutely did not. She determined that the issue was best set aside for Kai and others to resolve, because she had an assignment of her own. Reaching into her spatial bracelet, she revealed the gemstone.

  "This is the treasure I mentioned," she explained. "We intend to donate it to Krysal, once the scheme is complete. But any faction that receives it will implicitly receive favor, which we do not want. I hoped that you might be able to help me come up with an equivalent treasure."

  Aeglien whistled as he examined the gemstone. "That's using qi in a way I never learned, I'm guessing Cloudspire techniques. I definitely can't copy it."

  "Something politically equivalent would be sufficient."

  "We can help with the politics, but when it comes to power, you're actually the expert here. Let me show you what I'm working with, then we can figure something out."

  And, to her surprise, Aeglien dropped his highly efficient shroud and she was able to see his soul for the first time.

  <

  Name: Aeglien of Toreen

  Total Power: 867

  Edgedancer Advanced Class: 18 (354)

  Crystal Cultivation: 10,000 (125)

  Crystal Keeper: Amber Rank (100)

  Physique: E-9 (107)

  Soul Level: 8 (81)

  Hybrid Essence: Crystal Chakra (+50)

  Hybrid Essence: Shimmering Fist (+50)

  >

  It seemed that Aeglien was one of the stronger elites, having built up his power with chakra as well as a Class. But what drew most of her attention was his crystal cultivation: even though he hadn't broken the unfavorable curve of power, his armor was far denser and more potent than any of the others she had examined. Many of the crystalliers formed hulking suits, but Aeglien's was actually elegant.

  "This is a sort of phased crystal, yes?" she asked.

  "More or less." Aeglien removed one crystalline glove to demonstrate. "The general consensus is that it's nearly impossible to condense matter in a phase, but there's nothing stopping you in theory, so half-phased crystals are possible."

  "Some believe that the wall around the Frontier is phased stone, which is why it is denser and more powerful than can otherwise be explained."

  "Maybe so, but I can't do that. So this armor is a combination of phased qi and highly condensed crystal: not really phased, just compressed by decades of experience. I'm guessing that you're wanting me to make something like that?"

  "Yes, if possible." Zae Zin Nim nodded, glad that they were not being slow or unreasonable. "I would ask for a weapon, but that might not send the right message. Could you create armor?"

  "It wouldn't be equal to mine, but I can make something usable by weaker crystalliers. It will take me a good while, but it's probably worth the investment." Aeglien regarded her strangely from within his crystalline helm. "It's a good thing we saved your life, last incursion."

  So he did remember. Zae Zin Nim gave him a proper bow. "Yes, thank you for doing so. I hope my work in Krysal partially repays that debt."

  "There were some who argued against it, you know. We were facing an apocalyptic threat, and even the aftershocks created an incursion that nearly destroyed us. Just reaching into the devastated zone and pulling out two young warriors... it took more power than you'd expect, and some thought it wasn't worth it. Guess it goes to show that kindness pays off, sometimes."

  "Sometimes," Zae Zin Nim said neutrally. She wasn't sure if he said that as a lesson to her or not, but since he had saved her life, she wouldn't discard his words.

  "Sometimes it feels all too rare." Sheiri frowned and stared out toward Krysal. "I think the revolution was for the best, but we always knew there would be a price to pay later. Guess we're about to find out if we can pay it."