As Kai flew back to the N District mines, he found himself filled with emotions he couldn't quite name. It was like returning home and realizing he had no home at the same time. Ever since he had understood that Monskon City was no longer his home, he hadn't had a single place that was truly his. And he wasn't sure he needed a place, but he did want someone to come home to.

His friends in the mine were among the strongest relationships he had at the moment, which led to the pang in his heart. Kai replaced such thoughts with practical concerns. He moved lower and made sure not to kick up dust as he got nearer, so the soldiers wouldn't notice him.

In the end it seemed like he didn't need to be worried: he arrived at the forest entrance without any trouble. His enhanced senses easily picked up several workers guarding, all of them tense when they saw the crystal vehicle. When he hopped out and moved toward them, however, they emerged with weapons lowered. He recognized some of them from the veteran miners while others were new to him.

"Kai motherfucking Clanless." Maggle sat up from behind a rock where he had apparently been napping. "Let me guess, you missed my ugly mug so much that you just had to come back."

"Maggle!" Kai grabbed him in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground. "Definitely missed you, ugly mug and all. How have things been?"

"Fine, fine." The honest display of affection seemed to discomfort Maggle and he moved away, fiddling with his tunic until he liked the position. "As you can see, we have more kids coming to stand guard. We kept the secret as long as we could, but they needed something to keep their spirits up."

"Don't you have problems with people wanting to leave?"

"Honestly, I think most are scared. In here, our lives are getting better and better. Out there, we don't know who we'll be facing, but they'll probably be soldiers with big fucking crystals."

"You know, I'm honestly looking forward to being back in the caves again." Kai walked to the edge of the crevice and looked down with a smile on his face. "Alright, let's go."

Most of the guards remained, but he and Maggle walked back to the central caverns. Along the way, Kai was surprised by how many of the workers greeted him. His absence hadn't made his reputation fade any, apparently. But Maggle kept pushing past them, telling ever more absurd stories about why Kai had to hurry to get back.

When they finally got back to the home caverns, Kai was surprised to see Nanny Troggup and Kraetius sitting together on one of the stone tables. She had her hand on his knee and Kai blinked a few times. Well, old people had needs too, and maybe they started being more interested in wrinkles as they got older.

Kraetius drew back sharply while Nanny Troggup just cackled. "We've been busy while you were gone, Kai!"

"Please, no." Maggle dropped down onto his knees and flattened his palms together. "I am begging you, don't give us the disgusting details."

"Enough of this nonsense." Kraetius shoved past him to look Kai up and down. "You got stronger again. That's impressive, but you're no Diamond Crystallier yet. Did you accomplish anything else?"

"Multiple things." Kai smiled at him, then stepped to Nanny Troggup and retrieved a small sack of pills from his bag. "These are healing pills directly from Yulthens. I'm sorry I couldn't bring more, but they should help in the infirmary."

"Healing is well and good," she said, "but what about spices? We could u-"

Kai whipped out several cloves next. "Already thought of that."

"What about me?" Maggle asked. "Don't you have any wonderful presents for me? I must say, receiving presents is one of my favorite hobbies."

"I have a gift that everyone can use, I hope." Kai was about to say more, but at that moment he heard footsteps slapping over the stone behind them.

He turned just in time to see Nirka reach the doorway. She stared at him for several heartbeats, then moved in and kissed him on the lips. Afterward she saw Kraetius and shifted away, as if she was going to be less personal, but Kai snaked a hand around her waist and pulled her to his side.

"Actually, this is everyone I want to see," Kai said. "Let's sit down and we can talk about the details. I hope I have what you need."

They all found a place with more comfortable seating - someone had sewn extra monster hides into thin cushions, so they actually had options. He explained that there were entire other communities of workers struggling in the acid pits. From there he explained to the circle that he'd developed a special technique that would allow him to produce acid to refine the crystals. He left out all the details about the Acidlance Queen and implied that it was a mana-requiring technique. The problem was that it didn't get them all of the way to their goal.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

All through the conversation, he kept Nirka close by. He ached to grab her and take her somewhere private, but they all justifiably wanted to hear about plans for the future. She was only stiff for a little while before she returned to their relaxed intimacy from before, and that went a long way toward easing his need.

Once Kai was done, they were silent for a while before Kraetius harrumphed. "I've never heard of such a thing, but I suppose I have to believe you. If you can produce the acid, I should be able to get them all to crystal cultivation."

"That's the part I was worried about," Kai said. "I thought about bringing someone from the acid pits, but it would have been difficult. I think your Physique should be strong enough to resist acid damage, but finishing the process will be tricky."

"We'll figure it out eventually, but that doesn't matter." Kraetius folded his muscled arms across his chest. "None of this will do them any good if they're stuck at the 99 Power barrier. And I don't see you carrying an entire sack of moonmelt pills."

"That's true, but..." Kai swept his arm out of his sack and revealed the greenish white pill. "The acid pit workers are willing to cooperate with you, if you can help them. Consider this a token of their good will."

Personally he wanted to give it to Nirka, but he decided that playing favorites would be setting the wrong example. Instead he gave it to Kraetius and told him that it should be awarded to the person who could use it best. As it happened, all Kai's concerns were meaningless, because Kraetius gave it to Nirka anyway.

She was about to throw it into her mouth when Kai caught her hand. "It might be a dramatic shift," he told her, "so you want to do it when you're prepared."

"Why stop the poor girl?" Nanny Troggup asked. "Is there really anything more to discuss?"

He had plenty of long term plans in mind, but Kai could see that he'd already given them a lot to think about. So he accepted that they could cover the rest later and the group split up. Maggle asked him to go get a drink, since apparently some of the workers had begun distilling alcohol, but Kai glanced toward Nirka and Maggle shuffled off laughing.

They returned to her chamber without parting. Once there, Nirka sat down on her rags and took the moonmelt pill in both hands. She looked toward him, but it felt almost wrong to speak in that moment. He simply nodded to her, so she swallowed it.

The transformation wasn't dramatic at first. In theory, the moonmelt pill would expand the boundaries of her soul gently, without any great pain or flashing power. His first clue was when Nirka took a sharp breath, then he saw all her muscles convulse. Qi spilled out of her core, as if it had been dammed up for too long, and flooded through her body.

She looked better than he'd left her and had definitely been continuing her training. As the pill completed its work, Kai got confirmation of that with his spiritual sight.

<

Name: Nirka of N District

Total Power: 108

Physique Level: E-4 (92)

Soul Level: 4 (16)

>

A part of him was surprised she hadn't advanced further, but then again advancing a whole Physique level while already at E rank was actually impressive for most. That raised her to a total of 108 Power, which was really just the first step.

For a moment she sat there, chest heaving as she caught her breath. Then she grinned at him and jumped up. "This is incredible! I feel so... it's like I've been dragging rocks until now!"

"Congratulations," Kai said, "you're officially a crystallier."

"Don't even joke!" She pretended to slap him, but half-way through the motion her hand got caught on his jaw. Nirka held it there, drawing his face down toward her. "I want you so badly... is that another side effect?"

"No, but why should that stop us?" Kai lifted her into the air and she laughed and wrapped her legs around him with new strength.

.

..

.

Kai stretched next to a happily exhausted Nirka. All the stress that had been building up, of so many different varieties, was finally gone. He could almost have gone to sleep right then, but a monstrous heart was still beating in his chest, driving him on.

So he gently eased away from Nirka and laid his tunic over her. She murmured once in her sleep and then curled into the tunic. Once she was settled, Kai headed deeper into the mines.

He passed more workers than before on his way down, since it seemed like they'd expanded operations. It took a while before he found a completely abandoned area that was suitable. There was a large cavern with what looked like a partially dug tunnel that had been abandoned at some point in the past. Kai examined it for a while, then prepared himself for something much less pleasant.

Drawing up the Acidlance Queen's essence within him, Kai began spewing acid into the pit. He'd practiced a little with it and still couldn't expel it at such violent speeds, which actually suited him fine. Instead he just filled up the pool until he couldn't expel any more acid.

As he'd hoped, the qi-infused walls could resist the acid. Most likely they would end up reacting over time and develop a thin layer of crystal, not refined enough to be useful for qi but durable enough to contain the acid. If he filled it all the way, the workers would have their own location to refine the crystals, which could change everything.

Someone was approaching from behind. Kai reacted automatically as if it was a threat before sensing that it was Kraetius and reassuring himself that his monstrous ability couldn't have been detected. It would be strange, but not suspicious, since no one could connect such random dots.

"So you really did it." Kraetius walked to the edge of the pool and stared over the acid. "At this point, I know better than to ask."

"I'm going to be relying on you for this, Kraetius." Kai came to stand beside him. "Even if they figure out the refining process, they need someone to teach them crystal cultivation. It won't bother you, seeing them do what was taken away from you?"

"If it means getting revenge on the people who put me here, I'll take it."

"Then you'll train them. This is going to be more than you've done before. You need to make Nirka and Maggle and the other stronger workers into the equivalent of crystalliers, and you need to turn the rest into an army."

"I do this, I do that." Kraetius turned to him and frowned. "I admit, you did the impossible part, but you're talking like you'll be leaving again."

"I'm afraid I have to." When he said the words, Kai knew that it was true. He could justify spending another day or two with Nirka, filling the acid pit and helping them learn the refinement process, but he'd need to move on. "There's too much going on right now."

"If you say so. Hope I don't end up wishing I'd stayed down in the tunnels."