Kai ate dinner, but he felt guilty about it.
Even though he didn't eat at any of the most expensive restaurants, every single meal would have been an unfathomable feast to the workers in the mines. In an ideal world, everyone should have been able to eat like he did. But he didn't live in an ideal world, and he couldn't stop thinking about how this luxury was based on the enslavement of so many people.
What else could he do, though? Sometimes he actually considered running out into the wastelands to eat monsters, since at least they would taste clean. But in a city the size of Yulthens, with a broad civilized area around it, that would have taken all day. And it wasn't as though anyone in the mines would actually be helped by him refusing to accept food.
So he ate as quickly as possible and told himself that it was just fuel on his way to figuring out a solution. It wasn't a solution, but it was all he had.
Just returning with full knowledge of how Krysal worked had proved to be all he needed to unlock the truth. There was no complex conspiracy, just a society that preferred not to think about how it truly operated. Now that he knew, he could ask the right questions and slowly uncover more. The only limitation was that he needed to avoid the mercantile areas or anyone who might recognize him, so he investigated more in the lower class parts of the city.
Now he understood why the lowest workers seemed so well-fed and well-clothed: they'd never been the lowest rung of society in the first place. They had a much stronger grasp of how things worked than the crystalliers or nobles, though, and they were willing to talk about it. If they got into enough debt and their family couldn't bail them out, they might all be condemned to work in the mines.
Everyone implied that only happened to criminals, drunkards, and layabouts, but they seemed too anxious about the idea for him to believe that.
He also figured out how the mines were owned, which had been bothering him, and in the end it was surprisingly simple: membership in the merchants guild meant partial ownership. Everyone who could buy guild membership also bought a fraction of the mine's profits, which was part of what united them all as a city. Changes in the ratio of gold to crystals actually benefited some merchants, while it could ruin those who needed to purchase them for their work, which was why they were always at each other's throats.
Even the merchants weren't sitting as easily on top of society as he'd thought. There was a massive difference between the average merchant who owned a wagon or two and the nobles like Suortril, as wide as the gulf between soldier and crystallier. He had yet to figure out if there was any way he could use that.
Suortril himself remained absent. Kai had tried to investigate more at the beginning before deciding that he needed to leave that to Zae Zin Nim.
Eventually Kai learned the knowledge he'd been seeking all along: the location of the acid pits. Yulthens had access to no fewer than three massive crystal mines, but only a single acid pit that processed everything. It was closer to the city and a partial secret, since its supply lines were absolutely critical. Once he knew that it was hidden in the plateaus near the desert, however, he was sure he could find it.
And that gave him a problem. Until he knew where to go next, Kai could justify staying in Yulthens and training. Now his memories of all the workers were a hot iron pressing him onward.
A part of him longed to stay - not because of the luxury that had become uncomfortable, but because he wanted to see Zae Zin Nim again. Allegedly she should be returning at any time, and sometimes he worried that something had gone wrong and he should go looking for her. But with literally all of Krysal to search, his chances of finding her were near zero, no doubt the same reason she hadn't found him while he was imprisoned.
That left him training, which he somehow managed to feel guilty about. Of course training was necessary, because he had a dozen good reasons to need more power. But he could train literally anywhere, including the acid pits, so it felt wrong to remain in the city when he could be pressing forward.
Day after day passed, and the tension increased... until Zae Zin Nim flew into the estate.
It happened just like that. He'd half-convinced himself that she was dead, or had been captured by her father's servants, or would require a long ordeal to find again. Instead she simply flew back. She stared at him as well, as if he was some sort of apparition that she'd never imagined would appear.
"Kai," she said faintly. "You're back."
"So are you."
"This is good." For a moment he thought that she was going to greet him that stiffly, but abruptly she leapt and hugged him. "I worried."
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"So did I." Kai wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, and for a moment all was right with the world.
After that moment, however, the hug became awkward in several ways. Zae Zin Nim was so much shorter than him that with her arms around his neck her feet were dangling. She also hadn't angled or otherwise shielded herself, so her breasts were pressing against his chest. That had been easier not to think about before his steady relationship with Nirka, but now... well, he was very glad that the height difference meant their hips didn't align.
He felt another pang of disappointment as he realized the actual distance between them. His relief at seeing her had been so strong, he felt such a bond - why couldn't it be more than that? But if Zae Zin Nim wasn't interested in him as anything more than a friend, it was better to accept that and not push her.
"Where were you?" Zae Zin Nim abruptly hopped back and glowered, though he thought it was an affectionate glower. "What could make you fall off the face of the earth for so long?"
"Well, that's a bit of a story..."
Kai tried to give her just the basics about the crystal mines, leaving out Nirka and monster hunting and random details, and it still took too long. They moved from the courtyard to their inner rooms and Orillia had food brought to them without making a comment. In turn, Zae Zin Nim explained about the balance of power between the merchants and what she had discovered at the Frontier.
He was surprised that she didn't seem angrier about the truth of the crystal mines, then realized that he shouldn't be. Societies on Cloudspire sounded like they were not only oppressive, they were proud of being oppressive. It was probably progress that she wasn't automatically on the side of the crystalliers.
"So." Zae Zin Nim sat back once they were finally done. It was late in the night, but neither of them was remotely tired. "You feel bad about the miners and want to help them."
"I'd argue it's a little more than that," Kai said, "but yes."
"What do you think you can do, kill the merchants and stick your friends on top? You'd need to do a lot more training to be capable of that."
"It's true that it doesn't seem like we can do anything directly, but I'm not content with that. I couldn't do enough to change Goralian society..." His mind wandered back to the Tonjin brothers, condemned to be servants from birth, and wondered if he'd managed to help them at all. "Things are different here. We're stronger, we have more resources, and the system is more fragile."
"So you want to do something about it. Do you have a plan?"
"Not exactly. I need more information about how it all works, especially the acid pits."
"I see." Zae Zin Nim settled deeper into her chair, then gave one curt nod. "Very well, I suppose we can do this. The Diamond Crystalliers are the best opponents to sharpen our skills anyway, and we can still profit from the resources of Krysal."
"I'm surprised you agreed so easily."
"Frankly, putting peasants in charge sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. But the merchants aren't much better than peasants anyway."
Kai chuckled and decided that he'd accept that. "What will you be doing, then? Presumably Orillia can use what you learned about the Frontier against Suortril, but will that really help us?"
"I don't think there's much I can do there. All the most powerful merchants are guarded by Diamond Crystalliers, and they'll get in my way if I try to investigate further. I'm willing to help with your peasant idea, but it has to be something that will allow me to cultivate."
"Got it!" Kai snapped his fingers as he realized that it was simpler than he'd been thinking. "Omilaena mentioned that she'd executed the nobles in her city and overturned society. You should travel there and learn how it went: the problems, the way the merchants struck back, everything. It will be dangerous, of course, but you said we need opponents to sharpen our edges, and Omilaena is one of the worst."
"That is an acceptably good idea." Zae Zin Nim nodded sharply, but then her movements became a little less stiff. "But do we have to begin on this immediately? The peasants have been oppressed for centuries, surely a few more days wouldn't do them harm?"
He had to admit that he didn't want to leave again either. After considering it for a while, Kai decided that he didn't need a justification. As much as he wanted to help everyone, that didn't mean surrendering his entire life. And right at that moment, what he wanted most in his life was to spend time with Zae Zin Nim.
They worked together over the coming days and he remembered just how much he enjoyed her presence. Whether it was training, investigating, or just being in the same room together, he was glad to have her at his side. Normally she liked her moments of solitude, but she stuck close to him as well.
One of their first priorities was training, and it would have been their priority even without the urgency. Zae Zin Nim had a great many questions about Physique and Class training and he was delighted to see that she had begun advancing on those fronts again. In theory she could make excellent progress that would take her far closer to their opponents.
She had ideas for him as well, including a theory about why his cultivation had stalled. Though she had a few suggestions, she thought that his body was consuming an unnatural amount of the qi he was trying to cultivate. The Body Refinement stage was normally all about improving the body, but he'd started with an E-0 Physique, so he was already off her path. His monstrous side was hungry as well, slowing his progress further.
The only positive news was that because he prioritized feeding that hunger, he had instinctively adopted cultivation techniques that grew his monstrous side equally. That part, at least, was not at any risk of unbalancing him in either direction.
Their week together was wonderful, but eventually the guilt returned. Kai knew that if he wanted a life like this, he needed to work for it. That meant not only training, but taking on greater challenges. Sometimes that was something as simple as a monster or rival and sometimes that meant the structure of Krysal itself.
So, before the inevitable parting grew too painful, they agreed to move on. Zae Zin Nim disappeared over the horizon toward New Laeneria and Kai started running toward the acid pits.