Chapters 226-230 (Patreon)

Chapter 226: The Blood Current

"Do we have no fruit stores left?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "I would have sworn on my cultivation that we had more."

"We need to conserve them," Omilaena said as she forked more fish onto her plate. "Kai might be healthy just eating monsters, but we'll get sick if we don't balance our diets."

"This is supposed to be preparation for a great risk. Is this not the time to break out the stores?"

"Nope, have some more fish."

The three of them were eating all of their food that might spoil before their entry into the Blood Current. Even though they were being chased, they had decided to take a full day of rest. So far it seemed that the Brightwind cultivators assumed they were about to give up and were simply preparing to swoop in on them. With luck, they'd be completely taken aback by their next move.

For his part, Kai was the only one who felt completely full and satisfied. He'd helped cook the final big meal they'd put together, since he was apparently the best cook, but he didn't really need it. Rest for him was more about getting some solid sleep, and in this case just lying back to relax. It was surprisingly pleasant to listen to Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena, because even though they sniped at one another, their words didn't have the same venom as before.

"I'm getting the dried fruit." Zae Zin Nim started to get to her feet, only to have them swept out from under her.

"No you don't," Omilaena snapped. "You're completely useless when it comes to cooking, so you don't get to decide the menu."

Zae Zin Nim was knocked over, but landed on her hands and balanced there. "You can't expect a cultivator to be a cooking expert," she said while upside-down. "Besides, Kai did almost all the work, you just threw in your weird spices and injections."

"Which will do more for your health than the dried fruit. Sit down and eat."

Alright, maybe there was still some venom there. But even though they were about to face a huge threat, Kai felt confident that the three of them could work together. If they couldn't survive the Blood Current then it would be because reality simply bore down with too much raw power.

After three days of sailing into the red waters, they were beginning to hit the truly risky currents that stopped even ships carrying powerful warriors. Allegedly, Omilaena could help them find the stable current that would take them east to Rosemount. The problem was that instead of skirting the red waters they'd be plunging straight into the worst of it.

When he woke up the next day, the sunrise lit up the sky in a red to match the waves, which looked unreal around them. Omilaena was already up, examining the environment carefully. Kai walked up beside her and rolled his shoulders as he got ready for anything.

"Red sky at morning, sailors take warning," he said. "I've heard people repeat that saying, but I don't know what it means. Just a sailor's superstitions?"

"It's accurate and involves the effect of clouds on the atmosphere." Omilaena shrugged languidly without looking up at him. "Of course, this is the Blood Current. Every morning is red here."

It wasn't long before Zae Zin Nim joined them. She wasn't cultivating that day, instead she appeared ready with both qi and mana fully restored. After she confirmed that the Brightwind cultivators were beginning to edge west, it was time for them to go.

When they moved forward, Kai could actually see the flow: the waves tore through the sea like a line as if some destiny carried them east. Omilaena gestured for them to get ready as she guided them closer, carefully turning their ship to the side to put them closer to parallel to the intense current.

They hit the edge and it felt like something had grabbed the ship. No natural current could possibly have moved so quickly, as if the waves hammered at the bottom of their ship to pull them onward. The sudden lurching as their momentum changed nearly made Zae Zin Nim fall over and Kai had to stomp a foot against the deck to stop his slide.

Suddenly they were moving faster than before, even faster than the ship's top speed. Yet the current ahead was treacherous, filled with paths that were invisible until they were almost on top of them. When Omilaena jerked them right he realized that the flow turned north. If they'd fallen into that stream, they likely would have been swept into the deadly northern oceans, which looked like utter chaos compared to the road carrying them east.

"This is definitely a lot faster," Kai said. "And it'll take us to Rosemount?"

"We'll have to break off mid-way to reach the western side of the continent." Omilaena spoke through gritted teeth as she wrestled the ship's wheel and remained focused. "This will work really well until it doesn't. Stay alert."

For the first hour, as they made incredible progress, Kai almost began to wonder if she was just being unnecessarily cautious. Then, out of nowhere, one of the most powerful bursts of mana he'd ever felt shot over the horizon.

The sphere of crimson light moved so quickly it was practically just a streak, already on top of them in the same moment he realized it. Kai reacted on instinct, summoning the strongest Tyrant's Claw he could as he rushed to the side. Just before the attack collided with the side of the ship, he swept his claw upward to knock it toward the sky.

To his shock, the impact jarred his entire arm and slammed him against the deck. Even all his strength was only just enough to deflect it: from his back he could see the streak shooting upward until it exploded into a shower of blood-like mana. He groaned and forced himself back to his feet in case another one was coming.

"What was that?" Zae Zin Nim asked tensely. She perched at the back of the ship, desperately searching the horizon. "I can't find the source."

"Don't bother. Our only hope is to outpace them." Omilaena gritted her teeth harder as she pushed them faster, even within the current. "That was probably just a warning shot or a lazy attempt to hit us. Most monsters here aren't going to go out of their way to chase us."

"But what if one does?"

"Then we'll adapt. We don't need to be worried about the strongest monsters in the Blood Current so much as predators that either feed on humans or want our type of power in particular."

It wasn't a particularly cheerful thought. Kai watched carefully and only saw one more streak of red - this one was near the horizon, slamming down into the sea hard enough to cause an explosion. He thought he saw something vast twist underneath the waves, but whatever titanic battle was happening there, they left it behind as they sped eastward.

They sailed smoothly until something massive appeared ahead of them, floating in the current at a slower pace. He wondered if it was an island, or even irrationally hoped they were getting close to Rosemount, but as it drew closer he saw the hooked tentacles.

The kraken pulled itself higher to observe them and let out a roar from its cruel beak. A tentacle thicker than a tree trunk slammed toward the prow of the ship and Omilaena barely managed to deflect it with one hand. Another tentacle swept overhead and Zae Zin Nim attacked it with qi techniques, but even though her qi burned through its flesh, the tentacle was just so massive, it was barely slowing down...

Kai didn't help either one of them, assuming they could handle themselves. The threat of the kraken was probably that it had so many tentacles, and now that they were almost on it - there! Another tentacle was wrapping around the ship, threatening to snap it in half.

He brought down a Tyrant's Claw just to the level of the deck, slicing the tentacle into pieces to break its grip. The severed stump seemed to flail in pain, but it was actually an intentional motion.

Abruptly the spiky side was slamming into him, trying to flatten him even as more tentacles approached. He grimaced and pushed back, exerting his full strength to overcome the tentacle. Once he got his feet under him he managed to throw it back into the ocean, but the kraken had far more tentacles and the head was looming over the ship. This was going to be a grueling battle.

Something small tore through the kraken's head.

As the massive body sagged and the tentacles unfurled, Kai desperately searched for the source. He barely spotted it crashing back into the waves: a comparatively tiny fish, only the size of his chest. But it appeared to be chewing the kraken's eye in sharp teeth, and as it swiveled around toward them, its eyes glowed with an intense power.

Those eyes turned toward them, then it exploded through the water. It would have torn through the ship in an instant if Kai hadn't hurled one of the pieces of the kraken's tentacle at it.

The crimson fish ate the entire segment in a single bite, even though the piece of the kraken was larger than its entire body. It was similar to his bite technique and Kai should have been eager to see if he could eat the fish... but he wasn't sure they could stop it. He'd never felt monstrous power that intense and his spiritual sight failed to measure the creature's threat.

With its charge stopped, the monstrous fish instead leapt into the air to attack them. Zae Zin Nim met it head on, but her qi attacks scattered off its crimson scales. It might have killed her if her Coldfire Corona hadn't lit up just in time. The fish struggled to penetrate, its sharp little teeth drawing closer and closer...

Kai swept it off the deck with a claw and then hurled all the remaining pieces of the kraken after it. As the fish snapped up piece after piece, the current carried them further away. Finally he saw the fish turn away - not because it was anything like beaten, but because it was going back to the kraken's corpse. He watched it dwindle into the distance, the small red fish consuming the kraken's body.

"The kraken was from the central ocean. That fish was the first local monster we've seen." Omilaena glanced over her shoulder with a vicious grin. "Welcome to the Blood Current."

Chapter 227: Bloody Fragments in the Current

What followed were some of the most grueling days of Kai's life. Not the closest to death, not the tensest, not the roughest, but grueling. They needed to be constantly alert for threats that, when they came, arrived with deadly force. The bone-deep weariness made it easy to sleep, except that at any moment he might be woken up because his abilities were needed against the newest threat.

Small fish like the crimson one that had effortlessly killed the kraken proved to be one of the most common threats. They were durable and vicious, but not particularly interested in the ship. Even though they could swim faster than the Blood Current, the flow still moved them at a high speed, so if he could deflect a charge or two, the fish would fall behind.

His fear was one of them shooting up directly beneath the ship, puncturing the deck. Yet after seeing the threat level here, he didn't dare get in the water to stand guard. Kai had Sahagin's Soul prepared at all times, just in case.

He hoped he'd never have to use it.

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..

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One day a sapphire dragon swooped overhead and he prepared himself for a brutal fight, maybe even displaced revenge against the golden dragon that had spurned him, but they were completely ignored. Instead the dragon unleashed streams of blue flame that sank into the water, toward some unknown target. Something fired back with a stream of boiling water

For several chaotic moments they wove between the attacks of the two combatants, then they left the battle behind. Kai glanced over his shoulder, but didn't see the resolution before the dragon was lost in the distance.

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..

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Of course he tried to take bites of the monsters, hoping to gain a newly powerful ability, but it proved difficult. When he finally managed to take a bite from some sort of floating jellyfish, his stomach burned. He didn't manage to retain any of its essence and only his monstrous hunger seemed to grow. As much as he wanted to eat more, it was just too early.

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..

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During a quieter day, Zae Zin Nim did her best to search for the qi of their pursuers. Her techniques lured some sort of clump of ghostly monsters, but they burst the thing apart and it scattered into blobs that just stained their deck. Meanwhile, Zae Zin Nim reported that the cultivators had renewed the chase and tried to brave the Blood Current briefly, but in the end had been forced to retreat.

Kai slept heavily that night.

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..

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Several days later, the first accident occurred: one of the crimson fish was too fast and it swallowed Zae Zin Nim's left arm from the elbow down. He and Omilaena managed to fight it off while she cried out in pain, and they treated the wound after, but the Blood Current was beginning to take its toll.

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..

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The sun seemed to be swallowed in an eternal purple night that rendered the waves into shifting phantasms. Omilaena began injecting herself with something strange, Zae Zin Nim retreated to the cabin to nurse her wound, and Kai nervously looked for attacks that never came.

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..

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Just when the phantasms faded, they were attacked by a water elemental. Omilaena died in an instant, crushed by one of the waves. No time to say goodbye, no last quip, she was simply dead. Zae Zin Nim managed to ward it off with her blue flames and Kai tried to turn them out of the Blood Current, but they were caught up in waves that swept them ever further onward, leaving the crushed body behind.

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..

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Soon water and sky seemed to twist around them, spinning endlessly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, or even the last time he'd seen Zae Zin Nim. Kai grabbed the wheel and forced himself onward with nothing but sheer force of will.

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..

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Suddenly Kai jerked awake, his teeth snapping down over monstrous flesh. It tasted putrid and for a moment he was utterly disoriented, but his instincts forced him up. He staggered out of the cabin and to his shock saw Omilaena, apparently sleeping but with several ghostly blobs covering her. Even though he was sure he must be dreaming, Kai rushed to her and slaughtered all the blobs, which made her stir slightly.

Then he turned back and saw that Zae Zin Nim stood slumped against the wheel. She looked barely awake, barely alive, but she was holding off more of the blob-like creatures with feeble flickers of blue fire. And her arm was intact, like it had never been gone. That sight pushed Kai to help her, then destroy as many of the blobs as he could.

Once Omilaena recovered, she figured out that the apparently dead blobs had in fact infected their minds and twisted their dreams into nightmares. Nothing he'd experienced over the past several days had been real, just the creatures trying to drain his soul. Zae Zin Nim had barely defended herself but Omilaena might have died if Kai hadn't managed to adapt and break free of the nightmares.

For the first time, they turned south and left the Blood Current. They all grimly stayed awake the entire time, fearing the last dark stains might still attack their minds.

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..

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They took a day of rest in waters that were merely tinged red instead of crimson. Most of all, they needed to clean the ship and then sleep. Kai experienced nightmares, but they were only reflections of everything they'd survived, not an assault on his soul. Several aquatic monsters attacked them, but by contrast it was downright restful.

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..

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Once they dared, they slipped back into the strongest part of the Blood Current and headed east. When they ran across the corpse of one of the crimson fish, Kai considered eating it but flinched back when he realized there was some deep festering corruption that had killed it.

They wondered if they were going to face some terrible monster, but instead they observed a strange sort of algal bloom, glowing like emeralds within the red waves. It seemed to be killing and even corroding everything it touched. Before they ran into it, they flew the crystal star underneath the ship and lifted it into the air. After an exhausting day of carrying the entire ship, they got past the deadly algae and returned to the waves.

Hopefully they'd never see anything like that again, but Kai constantly found himself imagining specks of green ahead.

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..

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After a strangely peaceful day, their ship froze in place out of nowhere. Nothing physical seemed to be grasping them, but a spiritual force suffocated everything. Kai staggered to the side, and when he looked down he saw something glowing in the depths. Three blue eyes, staring like they could pierce his soul.

They were getting bigger. Very slowly.

Kai drew on Void Gaze and stared back, which immediately made his soul scream. He just barely managed to arrest whatever was in the depths and their ship leapt forward again, but the three eyes continued to track them. By the time they escaped its gaze, Kai was barely holding himself upright on the side of the ship and his eyes were bleeding.

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..

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When at last Omilaena announced that they could leave the Blood Current to turn toward Rosemount, everyone was too exhausted to celebrate. They left the strongest current, still carrying so much speed that they skimmed across the lighter waves.

It seemed like a relief until Kai realized that something was following them.

Whatever was pursuing them looked like an amalgamation of starfish, each tip ending in a biting mouth, and it spun through the oceans like a wheel. It was definitely native to the Blood Current, but apparently it had decided that it was worth chasing them into calmer waters. There wasn't likely to be anything in the central oceans that could threaten it, after all.

Qi attacks at a distance didn't seem to have any effect and it twisted aside from his Tyrant's Claw. Eventually it reached them, latching onto the back half of the ship and pulling itself overhead as a hideous wave of new grasping arms and mouths.

Kai immediately struck it with a Tyrant's Claw, tearing three massive cuts through its body. To his shock, it regenerated swiftly and tried to sweep over him like a wave. Only Zae Zin Nim grabbing him and pulling him back prevented Kai from being swarmed by those mouths.

It seemed to regenerate from everything they tried until Omilaena suddenly swept past them and hurled a glass sphere into one of the mouths. Immediately one of the starfish-like pieces twisted back, and she followed up by slamming a syringe into its side that seemed to make it shrivel up.

Zae Zin Nim and Kai intercepted the monster's attacks as Omilaena injected it repeatedly. As more of the creature shriveled up, it began to retreat off the back of the ship, then finally disengaged.

Except one grasping arm caught Omilaena's ankle and pulled her with it, into the red waves.

No. It couldn't happen again. Still feeling remnants of the nightmares, Kai hurled himself into the ocean.

Sahagin's Soul sent him shooting through the water after the monstrosity and he met it with a Tyrant's Claw, the talons cutting just around Omilaena before it could draw her into its mass. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back, but they weren't fast enough.

The abomination was spreading in all directions, arms twisting as if to surround them, mouths gnashing closer. He tried to cut his way out, but it regenerated too quickly. Omilaena was limp in his arms, alive but apparently unconscious. When one of the mouths moved toward them, Kai swallowed it whole, but his mouth tasted like blood and he couldn't hold the starfish off like that for long.

If he'd still had Void Gaze in his soul, that might have worked, but he'd switched to Baleful Breath and there was no time to switch back. In desperation he breathed out anyway, and to his surprise, the dark cloud surged through the water. Not exactly flame or smoke, but a deeper spiritual destruction - it bloomed out behind them, hitting the monster and sending it flinching back.

Kai sped away before he could see what happened. When he dared to look over his shoulder he saw the amalgamation limping back, burned but not dead. He would settle for that. After moving Omilaena into a better position, he built up speed and then leapt onto the deck.

Once on the ship, they both collapsed. Omilaena coughed up water and sagged against his chest. It was a mark of how close to death that she'd come that she didn't tease him or try to do anything sexual, she just lay there gasping.

As they moved further away from the red waves, it seemed they were finally free of the greatest threats. Kai needed the most recovery despite not being injured, since he needed to digest the bites he'd taken from the monster. He lay on his back in the middle of the deck and neither of the women made any jokes about him being lazy, not after everything they'd been through.

For a time the sky was an endless void of blue, but eventually he saw a speck flying overhead. A dragon at a great distance? Something worse? Kai groaned and struggled to sit up.

"What is that?"

"It's a bird." Omilaena gave him an odd smile. "They range far from Rosemount, but not impossibly far. We're within reach of civilization again."

Chapter 228: The Waters Around Rosemount

Once they escaped the Blood Current and all its unnatural threats, they sailed from red-tinged waters, to empty ocean, to a region where they actually saw other ships passing from time to time. They spotted a single ship built with what looked like Krysali crystals, as well as a flying galleon he thought was from the Elemental Nations.

But the majority were entirely unfamiliar to him. Sleek ships with many triangular sails, filled with equally lithe crew leaping through the rigging. Vast ships shaped like whales that seemed to have living flesh covering their hulls. Flying vessels that didn't look like the sleek cultivator ships, but instead like flowers or golden chalices. All passed on their own business, paying no attention to the relatively small ship heading toward Rosemount.

Zae Zin Nim didn't seem to care about where they were headed, only what they'd left behind. She spent a significant amount of time at the back of their ship, engaged in qi exercises more advanced than he knew. Eventually she seemed to have scanned enough, because she stood up, nodded to herself, and then turned to him.

"We've left the Brightwind sect far behind," she told Kai. "They'll know we went to Rosemount, of course, but even at their top speed, we should have weeks to blend in here."

"Will they be able to track your qi?" Kai asked.

"While they still can in theory, my qi will stand out much less on this continent. We must be more cautious not to draw attention to ourselves. Keep that in mind."

"Got it." He had known that already, so he just shrugged, but Zae Zin Nim fixed him with a stern expression.

"I mean it, Kai. If you see someone you sympathize with on Rosemount, don't draw a bunch of attention to yourself helping them. If you see something you don't think is right, you can't go starting a fight with the ruling classes. And no starting any wars."

Kai sighed. "Come on, do I really...?"

Zae Zin Nim scowled as if she suspected him of feeding orphans right that moment.

"We don't have to keep a completely low profile." Omilaena had been left out of the conversation, but now wandered over to join them. "There are so many different people where we're headed, we'll blend in. By the time the Brightwind minions arrive, there won't be any trace of us left."

"But they'll know we're on Rosemount," Zae Zin Nim said.

"Not necessarily. I intend to charter a ship headed back to Deadwaste and make sure we're seen on it to set a false trail. Other than that, your main defense is getting enough chakra to hide your presence. Once we can hide from them, the entire world is our oyster."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Kai asked. "You've been short on the details."

"That's because we'll need to improvise some of them." Omilaena leaned against the railing of the ship with an exaggerated sigh - after her grim focus on the Blood Current, her unnecessary sensuality had returned. "There are multiple potential paths to hide ourselves and I don't know which will be most practical. It's been years since I've been on the continent, after all."

"You can't give us more information than that?"

"I was planning to explain everything just before we hit the shore. We're still days out, after all. But... we're going to hit a nation called Crescilor, on the western edge of Rosemount. It's not a great power, but it trades with all the powers on the continent. That will be the perfect place to blend in, get our bearings, and figure out our next step."

"You can deal with that yourself." Zae Zin Nim shook her head and then marched toward the cabin. "I may not be able to reach the end of the Nascent Foundation stage in time, but I will be returning to cultivation."

She'd been spending a lot of time alone lately and Kai hoped that he hadn't done something to offend her. It could also be the tension with the Brightwind sect chasing them, because as well as he knew Zae Zin Nim, he couldn't always understand her moods. Omilaena only shrugged as if she didn't care and they continued on their path southeast toward Rosemount.

After the rush of the Blood Current, even their normal top speed felt slow. There was no particular rush, so they took their time to prepare for their arrival, since allegedly the continent could be so dangerous for those from outside it. Omilaena estimated that in total their ocean voyage would take around two months.

They still hadn't caught sight of land, but the birds he'd seen were flying overhead more commonly now. Kai continued his training, but he also took a while just to absorb the new environment. Even here, over the ocean, there was a flood of energy. Mana as dense as any found in Goralia, plus chakra everywhere, concrete and bursting with life. Being in an environment like this would take some getting used to.

Because he was on the lookout, he spotted the problem first: a ship was foundering in the water, with a second ship circling. Sailors were desperately trying to grab people from out of the wreck, some of them jumping easily between ships. He couldn't see the threat, but there was a lot of blood in the churning water.

He automatically leapt to the side, then hesitated. Not only had Zae Zin Nim warned him to lie low, this was a new continent and he had no idea what he was getting into. Better to look carefully first.

It seemed like there was a horde of small fish, currently stripping one sailor to the bone. Occasionally they leapt out of the water at the others, forcing them back and inspiring further panic. There were multiple sailors trying to fight them off, all appearing trained and quite powerful by his estimation. He couldn't examine them all without getting overwhelmed, so he started with a grizzled old woman who was fighting competently.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 127

Heart of the Sea: Level 19 (76)

Physique Level: F-6 (42)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

She had over 100 Power, mostly from her Heart of the Sea attribute. That would have been enough to make her a crystallier back in Krysal, but what struck him was that she didn't seem like a dedicated warrior. Was this the level of power someone could attain just by living on Rosemount?

Just when it looked like the old woman might be taken down by fish gnawing at her legs, a younger man swept in with qi attacks. Kai realized a moment later that the man wasn't human: he had bronze skin and long pointed ears. More importantly, his spirit looked strong...

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 133

Soul Cultivation: Spirit Condensation (31)

Physique Level: F-3 (36)

Soul Level: 4 (66)

>

Even though Kai noted the man's total Power of 133, his eyes were pulled to the Soul Level. For the first time in his life, Kai saw someone whose soul didn't match the patterns he'd seen in every single nation he'd ever traveled. Surely it had something to do with the man's Soul Cultivation, but that would be a larger mystery to unravel later.

Why were they struggling so much against the tiny fish? For a moment Kai thought there was a sea serpent too, then he realized that it was just another crewmember, wearing a similar bandanna over their scaly skin. Whoever they were, they were weaker than the others and would get torn apart unless someone did something.

He finally managed to pinpoint one of the fish in his spiritual vision.

<

Monster: Rose Piranha

Threat: Gamma (III)

>

It was a Gamma-ranked threat, which seemed trivial until Kai realized that every single individual in the swarm was an equal threat. The Direboar he'd fought years ago had been the same rank... could all those little fish hit with just as much power? As hard as it seemed to believe, in an energy-rich environment the monsters would grow much more powerful.

"Oh, go help them," Omilaena said from the front. "I know you want to."

"That won't cause too much trouble?" he asked. But he was already preparing to jump over the side.

"Sailors run into trouble with monsters and get help all the time. Just go."

So Kai vaulted off the side of the ship and used Sahagin's Soul to swim toward the failing ship. He hit the school of piranhas like a predator, scattering them, and grabbed one of the falling sailors to hurl him back up to the intact ship. After that, the other piranhas swarmed him and he sank underwater to draw them away from the sailors.

He'd been prepared to endure their bites and regenerate the damage, but to his surprise the piranhas weren't capable of penetrating his skin. Their sharp little teeth hurt, but he wasn't bleeding. After so long fighting overwhelming or at least equal opponents, he'd forgotten how tough Behemoth's Heart made him.

Before they could tear up his clothes too much, Kai started biting back. He ate several fish per bite and gladly swallowed their essence: each individual monster was a bit meager, but spicy, as if they contained a different sort of energy. By the time he finished off the swarm he knew he had something new to work with, but first he needed to address the sailors.

When he grabbed one last sailor and jumped her up onto the deck, the other sailors cheered. They began jabbering at him and he stared for a moment as he was struck by the different languages. None of them sounded even slightly like anything he knew.

"Sorry, I don't understand," he told them. "I'm from Deadwaste."

"Oh, barbarian!" one of the sailors said with a thick accent. "Barbarian good."

They couldn't communicate well, but they seemed to take his rescue good-naturedly. Before he could object they shoved various things at him, from a bundle of fruit to a sack of heavy octagonal coins. He had no idea how much it was worth and only presumed they considered this a suitable payment for saving their lives.

Not wanting to draw too much attention, Kai thanked them and then swam back to his ship. When he showed what they'd given to Omilaena, she just shrugged.

"I guess that's reasonable. But if we survive on Rosemount, we're going to earn a hell of a lot more."

Kai decided that was good enough and went to contemplate the new monstrous essence. Before he could make any progress, though, he was interrupted by a soft sound. When he looked up, he saw Omilaena looking forward with a strange expression.

Rosemount was finally visible on the horizon.

Chapter 229: Three Powers Against a New Continent

Despite Kai's fears that something would go wrong and prevent their arrival, it looked like nothing else would stand in their way. Rosemount covered the horizon now and there were ships moving all around them. Everyone had acted like the continent was a constant lethal threat, but the sailors just seemed to be going about their work, no matter what species they were. He didn't see how any new disasters could stop them, even with his terrible luck.

They could actually have arrived already by docking at Crescilor City, the capital of the trade nation, but Omilaena had said it would be too risky. Instead they sailed further south, aiming to reach the coast at a gentler port. Since he had no expertise, Kai accepted her judgments about all that.

Even though their gambit to brave the Blood Current had worked, it had taken a heavy toll on their ship. They were completely out of backup crystals for the engines and the hull was too damaged to survive another long voyage. It sounded as though they planned to sell it for whatever scrap it was worth and use the diamond star from Krysal. If Omilaena was right about being able to hide their presence, it shouldn't let them be tracked if they were careful.

Technically he should have been more anxious to be setting foot on a new continent. He'd heard so many warnings: overconfident warriors who had died instantly or successful warriors who had been seduced by a life of luxury. Kai couldn't let either happen. He needed to grow strong enough to help Zae Zin Nim and to stop the next apocalyptic monster incursion, that was all.

Still, he could only get there by constantly pushing himself. Kai glanced at his own soul and hoped that it would be enough.

<

Name: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 354

Cultivation: Body Refinement 21% (105)

Physique Level: D-0 (200)

Soul Level: 7 (49)

Monstrous Hunger - X (kappa)

Behemoth's Heart - VII (eta)

Direboar's Strength - X (kappa)

Isulfr's Bite - VI (zeta)

Tyrant's Claw - VI (zeta)

Baleful Breath - II (beta)

-

Void Gaze - V (epsilon)

Sahagin's Soul - IV (delta)

Lizarkyl's Tail - III (gamma)

Direurchin's Spikes - III (gamma)

Wallcrawler's Feet - I (alpha)

Beastbat's Wing - I (alpha)

Crystal Slime - I (alpha)

Dreamleech - I (alpha)

Abominalgum - I (alpha)

Rose Piranha - II (beta)

>

Roughly 350 Power in the human side of his soul, and if he continued bringing his monstrous side to full strength, he should be able to fight at an effective 700.

At a glance he would look the weakest of the three of them, and he wasn't sure how weak he actually was. The encounter with the sailors had reassured him that the gap in power wasn't anything absurd, like babies on Rosemount being far stronger than him. But the strength that had allowed him to fight the Diamond Crystalliers wasn't so special here, so he'd need to be cautious.

In the middle of feeling weak, Kai's mind suddenly reeled as he realized how insane that was. Just a few years ago, he'd been a young man pitying himself for not advancing fast enough because destiny kept spitting in his face. Now that he knew the standards of the world, the tiny amount of power he'd been struggling for back in Monskon City seemed like nothing.

If he could send a message back in time and tell himself what would happen, would he even believe it? The idea that he was sailing on a Krysali ship to another continent, accompanied by a cultivator from Cloudspire and a poisoner from Rosemount, would have sounded like madness. How had his life changed so much, so quickly?

And yet that wasn't the thought that really disturbed him. If he didn't die, as everyone repeatedly told him he would, where would he be in several more years?

.

..

.

There had been a time when cultivation had been everything to her. Then it had been a horror, then a relief, then so many other things on her path to recovery. Yet now, as Zae Zin Nim swallowed another qi pill and attempted to cultivate the power within, it felt like nothing more than treading water.

She needed to make as progress as she could now, using all the pure qi they'd taken or earned from Krysal. There was qi on Rosemount, but she was concerned about it being contaminated with chakra. If she wanted to properly advance and absorb the Blackblood Physique, everything needed to be perfect. In theory, when she broke through the Nascent Foundation stage to Earth Soul, she would be able to restore her body in full...

Somehow her thoughts had already wandered. Zae Zin Nim reprimanded herself and tried to return to the pure focus of cultivation.

Yet she couldn't help but think about everything she was missing in her weakness. This long trip over the ocean should have been perfect to talk to Kai and express all her true feelings. But with Omilaena there, leering at every moment, it just felt too awkward. Besides, she was still so hideously scarred, it wouldn't be right to attempt such a thing. Yes, she could reconsider once she was restored.

Except it might be too late by then. In Krysal she had learned that she wasn't the only one who could see Kai's charms. Now they were about to enter a new continent where anything could happen, and she couldn't ask him to sit and wait for a ruined woman.

Those thoughts should have been unworthy of her, but she didn't feel worthy as a cultivator either. When the two of them had met, she had been by far the stronger. Yet now... Zae Zin Nim took a break from cultivation to examine her soul.

<

Name: Zae Zin Nim

Total Power: 466

Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 41% (266)

Coldfire Corona: 46 (56)

Blackblood Physique Level: E-5 (95)

Soul Level: 7 (49)

>

Having more than 450 Power made her strong by most standards, especially given the new power of her Coldfire Corona. Yet it wasn't enough now. Kai might have looked weaker than her at a glance, but with his monstrous power he was actually substantially stronger. Omilaena was stronger any way you measured it and likely to grow even more powerful on Rosemount.

Somehow she had become the weak link, even as they protected her from the cultivators her father had sent. How long before they realized and left her behind? Kai might be so kind as to be naive, but he was walking a difficult path. If he kept moving forward, he would soon leave her behind.

Except he wouldn't. She wouldn't allow it. Zae Zin Nim took a deep breath and with renewed focus cleared her mind of all distracting thoughts. She was first and foremost a cultivator, and she would not let herself fall behind.

.

..

.

They'd be setting foot on Rosemount by the end of the day. Once, that would have filled Omilaena with either dread or relief. Now, she wasn't sure what to think.

Years ago, she had left her home continent because she recognized that she was up against a wall. To attain the heights of power that she knew existed beyond the highest peaks, she needed more leverage to climb higher. Without the strength to force her way into the top ranks, and especially not to enter the most important libraries, she couldn't find what she needed.

Instead she had fled to Deadwaste, the destination of the lazy and the desperate alike. She understood how it could be easy to be lulled into a false sense of ease there, since even her middling strength was far more powerful than so many of their strongest.

Instead, it filled her with a sense of dread that made her push her experiments even harder.

Just as she was stronger than the inhabitants of Deadwaste by virtue of where she'd been born, she knew there were those out there far more powerful than her. She'd even gotten proof of it, during the strange battle at the Frontier. In order to match such overwhelming power, it wasn't enough to merely train, she needed a deeper understanding of the true powers of the world.

Yet how much progress had she really made? Krysali cultivation had proved to be less fruitful than she had hoped, and though she'd advanced her primary abilities, it wasn't enough to overcome that gulf. Compared to the swift progress of the others, she was practically stagnant.

When Omilaena glanced at her own soul, she grimaced.

<

Name: Omilaena

Total Power: 648

Heart of Poison: Level 56 (224)

Lethal Artisan: Garnet Rank (175)

Physique: D-0 (200)

Soul Level: 7 (49)

>

Currently she stood at 648 Power, which was enough to be formidable but nowhere near the heights she needed to attain. How strong had she been when she first left Rosemount? She recalled having barely reached 500 and realizing that she was blocked. That meant a nearly 30% improvement... not trivial, but not much compared to cultivators whose power moved in huge leaps. Nothing compared to the growth of demonic arts, which she still hesitated to pursue.

The truth was that the real advantage she'd gained wasn't her own strength, it was her allies. Zae Zin Nim could grow into a useful ally, if she could be trusted, and Kai might hold one of the secrets she needed for true advancement. Having two people she could rely on was an advantage more important than any new power system.

Assuming that she could rely on them. Omilaena had never wanted to depend on others and she still hated the idea now.

But she didn't have a choice. They'd arrived at Rosemount and there was no more time.

Chapter 230: Roseport at Last

Kai was used to being called a barbarian and didn't think anything about it - the nations of the Frontier had to respect Goralia, and Zae Zin Nim meant it affectionately. When the sailors had used the same term, it hadn't really registered. But now, as they finally stood on Rosemount, he actually felt like one.

The port was huge, even larger than Yulthens, but that wasn't what floored him. There were people everywhere and less than half of them were human, instead a vast sea of different species from humanoids with purple skin to intelligent serpents to beings who looked like living flames. Kai had seen a few non-humans, since Goralia had non-human allies to the south, but this was something else. On Deadwaste he knew all the nations along with their cultures and systems of power, but here every one of the thousands upon thousands of people was a mystery.

And apparently Roseport wasn't even the largest shipping center on the continent. Crescilor City was larger up the coast, the other major nations each had a shipping port, and allegedly there was a bay that dwarfed them all.

All the languages around him made him feel twice the barbarian. Sometimes it seemed like every group spoke in a completely different way. Omilaena spoke smoothly with all of them and Zae Zin Nim seemed to have learned a dominant trade language, but he was almost entirely lost. Once he heard two sailors having a boring argument about stacking boxes and he listened carefully just because it was the only thing he could understand.

Unlike on his home continent, everyone was eyeballing everyone all the time. At least his spiritual sight didn't seem to be inadequate, so he found himself staring at a dizzying number of different powers. Some looked similar to Omilaena's, and some he could guess were similar to Classes or cultivation, but others simply baffled him.

The air was alive with levels of energy that felt unnatural to him, everything mixing together. His body automatically absorbed the mana, and it was good enough at drawing qi, so he didn't end up absorbing much chakra. Since it would allegedly take time to adjust, perhaps that was for the best.

At least in terms of his own skill he wasn't a pure barbarian: his shroud was doing an adequate job of avoiding attention. Physically he didn't attract any interest except for his height, which only made him more grateful that he'd figured out how to hide his monstrous side. Everyone here would be accustomed to identifying intelligent species by spiritual sight.

Since all he had to offer was strength, Kai mostly followed the women around and looked muscular. After careful analysis, he was at least able to determine that his strength wasn't worthless here. Of course it would have been insane if literally everyone on Rosemount was more powerful than the strongest on Deadwaste.

However, the difference was clear. Ordinary people who looked completely untrained would have Physiques in the F ranks, which was 30 or more Power on its own, and a dozen or two Power from abilities they seemed to have picked up, like a minor craftsman in Goralia. So there were ordinary people with as much strength as the Goralian veterans who had once been his goal. Average soldiers and guards regularly had 100 or more Power, enough to be a crystallier in Krysal.

It was harder to judge the more powerful warriors because there were obviously fewer of them. During their early business he managed to spot three different people with 500 or more Power, equivalent to an Earth Soul cultivator. At least if the Brightwind sect caught up to them here, they wouldn't be able to just dominate the city like they could Yulthens.

So it seemed like the real threat was getting embroiled in a larger conflict. Fighters who could throw their weight around on Deadwaste were completely average here, so overconfidence or arrogance could easily get them killed. He'd have to be smarter than that until he could climb the scale on this new continent.

"Here, help us with this." Omilaena was speaking to him in a language he understood, which was so startling it took him a second to leave his own thoughts. She was handing him one of their large sacks of Krysali crystals.

Of course any of them had the strength to carry heavy objects, as well as most dock workers, but it was still awkward moving around a bunch of containers. Kai helped out as they unloaded their money and the supplies they didn't need onto some sort of vast scale. A man with scaled skin was using it to judge their goods, one at a time.

In addition to being a normal scale, there were gemstones on the central column and strange shifting symbols on each plate. Kai couldn't figure out exactly how it worked, other than being based on chakra. This was the sort of magical device he hadn't seen often on Deadwaste, maybe the sort of thing they could only create in Irun.

"It's imbued with chakra," Zae Zin Nim said quietly from his side. "They do a lot of that here. I think it's checking that the material is pure, to be sure we're not cheating him."

"How can it do that?" Kai asked.

"Don't ask me about details. Chakra isn't as precise as qi, it works more off emotions and intents. Some specialist must have imbued the scale with elements of purity and fairness."

"So it lets him know if we're trying to cheat him, but how do we know if it's the other way around?"

Zae Zin Nim shrugged indifferently, uninterested in the practices of merchants. But Omilaena appeared to have finished her haggling and turned back to him, switching to familiar Goralian.

"There are agencies here in Crescilor that set standards," she explained. "In a big port like this, you don't have to worry about it too much. But Rosemount doesn't have any continent-wide organizations, and nothing like your Frontier, so you're right to be skeptical. Elsewhere you'll find all kinds of clever ways to manipulate the systems."

"You'll have to explain more of that to me later," Kai said.

"Eventually. Right now there's too much to do."

"Is it done?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "I want to get back on task."

"We've sold everything except the ship and our functional supplies." Omilaena revealed a sack of golden coins. "This should be enough to get us started."

As they negotiated space for the diamond star and other details, Kai examined the coins and figured out the monetary system. These were the same heavy golden discs with octagonal sides that he'd been given before. According to Omilaena, these were distributed by some place called the Commonwealth. Instead of having arbitrary values, higher value coins were imbued with more "gold essence" and so they were physically worth more.

Still, in the end gold was gold. They had just over 100,000 Commonwealth Crests, which wasn't so different from the value of 100,000 Goralian Eagles. And apparently that was just a start.

Omilaena and Zae Zin Nim had been arguing about something at the docks in another language, but when he moved closer they switched back. Zae Zin Nim cast him a sour glance as she explained. "It's costing us a thousand Crests per month just to store the crystal ship here, even though we're not staying a full month, and it's not even well-protected. That's a waste."

"But what's the alternative?" Omilaena asked. "You've seen they don't allow as much flying here, so we can't just take it with us."

"We need to purchase a proper spatial device. We're on a real continent now, they should be available."

Apparently Zae Zin Nim was willing to argue the point hard enough that Omilaena relented. They left the docks and headed into the city to find a proper market. Away from the docks there were fewer sailors but even more people, cramming the streets with species he'd never seen before. When the merchants got involved he was surrounded by a dazzling array of items and sometimes he wasn't even sure which ones were food.

Eventually they reached a higher class market, filled with items that he could recognize as power-enhancing, even if he had no idea of their origins. They passed through strings of beads to enter a shop and Kai was surprised when the temperature went from sweltering to pleasantly cool. There were fewer people here and the owner immediately approached.

Zae Zin Nim began to barter with him in the trade language and for a while Kai was fascinated. The shop owner showed them what looked like an ordinary satchel, then pulled an entire spear out of it. Kai had seen a few spatial items like that back in Goralia, but they were usually just a few times bigger than the satchel itself.

They moved on to elaborate silver bangles and the merchant pulled jewelry and other items out of the extra-spatial storage, the items appearing as if by magic. That was definitely more than Kai had ever seen before. Yet Zae Zin Nim didn't seem satisfied.

She was still haggling, so Kai's attention waned. He looked around at the other customers in the shop, taking the chance to observe without seeming too strange. At first he thought that most of them were human, then he realized that some of the lithe bronze-skinned people had pointed ears, like the sailor he'd seen in the bay. Up close they weren't nearly as human as he thought, so he'd have to ask about that later.

Eventually Zae Zin Nim returned to them with a renewed scowl. "Proper spatial devices start at a quarter million Crests," she explained. "It's not worth buying garbage. What's our actual plan to escape my father's sect?"

"We have multiple options," Omilaena said. "I've asked around and we're not going to find enough power here in Crescilor. Well, they probably trade it, but we'd pay a premium. It makes more sense to keep moving and get something stronger from the source."

"And what is that?"

"It might make the most sense to head east to the Commonwealth. Let's go talk to some contacts, that will get us on the right track."

Kai couldn't weigh in on such matters, so he only nodded. He wanted to ask Omilaena about some of what he'd seen, but she seemed preoccupied. They left the mercantile quarter of the city and entered more official streets, some of them covered in colorful petals that released pleasant smells when crushed underfoot. It was actually enough to overwhelm the stink of the city.

There were signs here, in multiple different languages that all just looked like squiggles to him. Was he going to have to spend a long time learning new languages or just be ignorant forever? None of them seemed to be what Omilaena wanted until they reached a large gold and white building that made her smile.

"Here we go, Commonwealth embassy. We should find what we need here."

Unlike many of the other buildings on the street, there were no guards on this one. Few people overall, actually, which struck him as strange as they walked inside. It looked as though there were desks that should have handled various kinds of business, but almost all of them were empty. The few workers he saw moved around quietly, as if nervous.

Then Kai saw a man who immediately made a chill run up his spine. Though he looked close to human, there was something distinctly different about his power. Pale skin contrasted sharply with his black uniform, and when he turned around, his eyes burned like hot coals. He saw them and smiled, revealing a mouth filled with pointed teeth.

Kai stopped himself from physically reacting, because he didn't want to start a fight, but his spiritual sense had already passed over the man.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 833

Crimson Demon: Garnet Rank (137)

Demonic Cultivation: Earth Soul (445)

Physique: D-3 (215)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

>

The man, or perhaps demon, gave them a sinister smile until Omilaena stopped the group. She smiled back, then gestured for them to turn around and kept smiling until they left the building. As soon as they were outside, the smile vanished.

"Well shit," Omilaena said. "So much for the easy path."