To Kai's surprise, both Kraetius and the workers took to training quickly enough. For the workers, they saw the benefits of the training to reduce their aches and pains, not to mention the promise of not being torn apart by the crystals while working. For Kraetius, Kai suspected the old man was glad to be able to boss people around and have others looking up to him.

Everything had gone smoothly in the week since they returned. At first Kai had trained with Kraetius, picking up a bunch of new Physique ideas even if he didn't manage to break through another level. His participation had drawn more crowds of workers, all with the idea that they could become like him.

That wasn't going to happen, but Kai wasn't going to ruin the illusion if it brought them some hope.

Then again... as he looked around the training chamber, Kai wondered if it wasn't actually an illusion. He saw more of them wearing monster leathers these days, and if they weren't exactly fine clothing, they were definitely better than the rags he'd seen at the start. And they were all looking better-fed, thanks to Nanny Troggup's new scheming.

She certainly wasn't participating in the training, but she had been caught up in the new spirit too. As their work with monster leathers improved, she'd set up trading arrangements with the other nearby communities. Those bought them enough food to improve the thin stews and gruels they usually ate, and she had set up a new kitchen beside the training room, cheerfully giving out extra rations for those who worked hardest.

Nirka had taken to the training more than anyone, constantly pestering Kraetius for extra lessons. She seemed shyer with Kai, but wanted to spar with him from time to time. Despite the fact that her strength was still limited at 99, she was definitely more dangerous because she knew how to use it now.

As warm as that whole environment was, Kai slipped away from it and went into the mines alone. Sometimes he explored to eat monsters, but this time he had his own agenda. Even if he wasn't ready to leave just yet, he needed to set other plans in motion for when he was ready.

Maggle met him in one of the smaller corridors, serious for once. "I think I've put it together," he said. "Here, let me try to show you."

They bent down and Maggle began drawing a rough map in the crystal dust. It was impossible to know the exact details of the surface, but Kai had asked Maggle to ask around with everyone who had been taken in from the outside. Now they had a rough sense for the different entrances and the communities around them, and hopefully...

"I think this is the one." Maggle jabbed his finger beside one tunnel line. "There's a good crevice right here. It's as tight as my asshole, but it leads upward. And if we have all the details right, it would put you out here, away from the soldiers."

"It's worth a try," Kai said. "Thanks, Maggle."

"No trouble. You want me to come along and help out?"

"The risk of collapse is pretty high, so you should probably hold back."

"Thank goodness. I was just asking to look polite, I don't want to do any work." Maggle grinned at him and then slouched off to go join the others.

It didn't take long to reach the point that had been indicated, now that he had a strong mental map of the mines. Sure enough, in an old abandoned section devoid of crystals, he discovered a crevice in the ceiling. Looking at exactly the right angle revealed a glowing channel, not bright enough to be worth mining but extending consistently upward.

First Kai experimented with a pickaxe, but progress was slow. After confirming the ceiling wasn't going to collapse entirely, he tightened his fingers into a knife position and then stabbed a Tyrant's Claw directly upward.

His power punched deep into the stone, sending fragments in all directions. There was a soft rumble and rocks cascaded down over him, forcing him to shield his eyes. A little bit harder and he might have accidentally buried himself... but the crevice overhead had widened.

This could be the path out. Kai looked around at the rubble as he considered what was actually standing in his way now. Even though he still needed to recover his full strength, power was no obstacle at all. Dealing with all the rocks getting in the way might actually be the larger problem, considering that he didn't want everyone to know about the passage to the surface.

That was something he'd wrestled over in his mind. As much as Kai wanted to free the workers from the mines, if they tried to fight their way out, even if they beat the soldiers, that wouldn't truly help them. He knew there had been other worker uprisings, some of them probably well-planned, and Krysali society was good at putting them down. Showing them a way out too soon would just be leading them to their deaths.

Stolen story; please report.

So his plan for now was simple and open-ended. Break out, meet with Zae Zin Nim again, and figure out what to do next. If nothing else, he could head for the acid pits and take enough moonmelt to transform the workers into something like an army.

Kai kept striking his way upward, proving the viability of the idea, before he got sick of pushing away the rubble. Once he refined the process, he could dig his way out, it would just take time. For the time being, he took a break to walk around the outer tunnels and consider his exact strategy.

He didn't go very far before he sensed several people moving closer to their borders. In the absence of monsters, many of them already eaten, his hunger had been increasingly directed toward people. There was no chance he would actually act on it, he just used the hunger as an enhancement to his other spiritual senses. In this case, he went to investigate even though it was likely just workers returning from trade.

To his surprise, he saw three of the criminals he'd fought during his previous trip. They were carrying more weapons this time and looked ready to kill. It would have been suicide if they were throwing themselves against him... but Kai realized that they were actually targeting Nirka.

She exercised at the edge of their territory, pulling herself up via one of the stone ladders. Sweat was rolling down her shoulders, but when she saw the criminals approach she levered herself up to the same floor and readied her knives.

"All alone, no barbarian to protect you." One of the criminals grinned at her. "Don't be stupid now."

"What do you want?" Nirka asked sharply. Kai was glad to see her edge toward the supplies by the side of the corridor, just slowly enough they wouldn't be threatened.

"All this shit you're doing... it's getting in our way. So we thought we might send a message."

"Oh? Let me know and I'll pass it along."

"Stop talking to the bitch," one of the criminals snarled. "Let's just take her and finish this."

Three against one was rough odds and Kai's first impulse was to step around the corner and take them out. But Nirka had been working so hard... he held back, watching as her spine stiffened but she didn't back down. The three criminals were spreading out now, one of them drawing a lighter knife to throw.

One of Nirka's knives hit him in the chest first. Not a perfect throw that killed him instantly or anything, but a knife in the chest wasn't something you ignored. While that criminal groaned and cursed, and the others flinched briefly, Nirka moved the remaining distance and picked up one of metal bars they used in construction.

It wasn't much of a weapon, but it had a far longer reach than the improvised daggers and blades the criminals carried. They tried to hack at it, revealing that the thin crystal edges they could create on their weapons weren't good against much besides flesh. When she saw that her weapon wouldn't be cut apart, Nirka became more confident, jabbing at faces, stomachs, and crotches.

Kai smiled as he saw that her fundamentals were solid. Not masterful, but she didn't need to be: every time one of them advanced she jabbed at him, and if they didn't move she started threatening them. Now that she was fully utilizing her Physique, she was able to put significant strength into her blows. Soon the criminals were bruised and one lay on the ground clutching his eyes.

"Fuck this, run!" one shouted at the other, then they abandoned their last companion.

He staggered up to his feet, wildly grabbing for his blade. Nirka didn't let him get it, swinging the bar in a broad arc that obviously held years of anger. It knocked him heels over head and would probably have killed him if he hadn't built up his Physique as well. She hesitated then, pole raised as if considering whether to finish him off, and eventually let him run.

Then she set the pole down beside her and leaned against it for a while, grinning to herself. Kai walked out beside her and her eyes widened.

"Kai! Was this some sort of test?"

"Pure coincidence," he reassured her. "Both that they attacked you and that I was here."

"Thanks for letting me fight them." Nirka stared down at the bar in her hands. "I wasn't sure everything I learned against monsters would work, but it really did. If they'd gotten close, they could have cut me, though."

"Yes, but that's a long term problem. Your work is paying off."

"You're the best." She hesitated, then suddenly danced forward and leaned up to kiss his cheek. After that it looked like she planned to run down the corridor.

"Wait." Kai saw her shiver at his call, so when she turned back he smiled. "Maggle and I have been working on something. I think you deserve to see it."

He led her to the back passage and showed her the crevice upward. She seemed overjoyed, so he started to explain his thoughts about overall strategy, but she promptly cut him off with a raised hand.

"I've been managing crystal gathering a long time, Kai. I can think long term." Her smile hadn't entirely faded, though. "I understand, we can't just run. Even if I could get out, it would be leaving everyone else behind, and they'd probably starve."

"But I wanted you to have the option," he said, "if you wanted. You, Maggle, even Nanny Troggup... I can trust you not to cause problems, so it's not my right to say when you can be free. I have to go first, to make sure it's safe, but after that it's your decision."

"This may be prison to you, but it's all I've ever known. We're not in a hurry to go, not when life is finally turning around for us."

"I promise this won't be the end of it. I need to find my allies, but I'll be back."

"You know, I really believe that." Nirka stepped closer, suddenly awkward, then forced a grin and ruffled his hair. "Guess you're not such a bad crystallier after all."

She ran off and this time he let her go. Eventually he would need to tell the others, as well as set up some kind of arrangement with Maggle to make sure it stayed secret. But for now, he needed to work... both on the tunnel and on himself.