Nothing. Kai stared down into the abyss, hoping for some answers, and the darkness strangled his vision.

Had he really expected anything different? A naive part of him had hoped that he'd seen answers in plain sight and a fearful part had worried he would die in the same way the southern Goralians had died when they faced the abyss. Yet this was just a hole, without even a single monster in sight. Now that he looked at it soberly, he realized that this one was substantially smaller than the abyss in the Frontier. The emptiness of the wasteland had thrown off his impression of its size.

"Does this satisfy you?" the elite asked. "I suppose I must ask, out of curiosity, whether you have such a thing in Deadwaste."

"Yes." Kai took a deep breath and put his back to the pit. "Thank you for showing me. I know you have no reason to help, but I have to keep asking questions for the sake of my people."

"Ask."

"Have you ever explored down there? What's at the bottom?"

The elite frowned immediately and his whispering voice gained a dangerous edge. "If you intend to propose such a thing, strangle those hopes. During incursions, the abyss emits dangerous anti-life energy that can harm even experienced warriors. Between them, venturing lower only stirs up the monsters and potentially hastens the next incursion."

"So you have tried." Kai instinctively took a step toward the elite before realizing that he was pushing too hard. "We've never dared enter the abyss on our continent. What did you find?"

"Nothing of value. More monsters the further down we went, and darkness. It is widely believed this shaft connects to a pit in the bowels of the earth where monsters breed. Because they are under control, it is unnecessary to incite them further."

"Have you ever tried to seal the entrance?"

"It has been attempted in past generations, but records state that during incursions, the monstrous energy tears through the seal. Some believe this only builds up the anti-life power and makes the incursions worse, so further attempts were stopped."

That was at least a bit of new information. Kai took a deep breath and decided he had no choice but to ask. "I know you said exploring riles up the monsters, but I-"

Without warning the elite elf shifted and for the first time in his life Kai felt his spiritual sight being wrenched open.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 1162

Soul Cultivation: Earth Glamour (436)

Barbariccia's Gale: Level 9 (225)

Physique Level: D-4 (220)

Soul Level: 9 (281)

>

The elite's power burned into his eyes. This elf was the first person Kai had been able to read with more than a thousand Power, a total of 1162. He had an Earth Glamour at the core of his power, but it didn't project beauty or superiority, just pure lethal intent. Every other part of his soul was formidable as well, from his Physique to a strange Class-like power.

"Do you see?" Suddenly the elite was whispering again and his power was cloaked. "You are a child chasing a lion. If you cannot face even one of the Inverted Guard, it is foolish of you to dream of delving into these mysteries."

"You're right. I meant no offense." Kai took a deep breath but didn't back away. "My home isn't as powerful and we're struggling against the threat. I can't go back empty-handed."

"If you want a boon from us, you must earn it. We may control the incursions, but as I told you, we are frequently neglected by the Council. If you truly have a similar phenomenon in your home, bring us something that will help our task. Then we could perhaps be brothers in arms. Until then, you are a beggar offering nothing."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The resounding rebuke finally forced Kai back. This elf wasn't insulting him like the others, he seemed to be a strong warrior working at a thankless position. Demanding too much from him would be like draining resources from the Frontier. Even if Kai thought he could press for more, he didn't have the strength to enforce what he wanted.

Was it possible to offer them something first? Deadwaste did have the Frontier wall, which wasn't understood but might have something. In any case, Kai gave the elite elf a bow.

"Our defenses are less than yours, but we do have an ancient construct. I will do my best to bring back something of use to you, then perhaps we can truly work together."

"Perhaps." The elite pushed them out of the woods by force of will and gestured for them to return to their allies. After lingering long enough to be sure they wouldn't backtrack, he disappeared into the sky.

For a while Kai just walked in silence. He wasn't as gutted as he expected: this had been a valuable experience. The Frontier wasn't an inexplicable unique phenomenon anymore. Just seeing another example made the problem feel more tractable somehow.

"Disappointed?" Omilaena asked. Kai could only shrug.

"It would be unfair to expect them to help us for nothing. I'm just glad to know there's another one."

"You didn't ask about the last incursion, but I can tell you that there's never been anything like what happened at the Frontier. Everyone on Rosemount would have known about it, for one. The cycles of incursions also don't line up."

"Good point." Kai shook off some of the strange atmosphere and looked over at her sharply. "Do you have any theories about why so many powerful warriors would show up when they never did before?"

"I can hazard guesses." Omilaena was spinning a needle between her fingers the way she often did while in thought. "We know monsters come out of the pits, and I don't buy the idea there's some big monster nest underground. Monsters are formed from a sort of anti-life, so they don't breed."

"Then what? They're created?"

"No one knows exactly, but there are ideas about them being caused by one thing or another. Basically just guesses." She stopped spinning her needle and raised it along with one finger. "But monsters don't break fundamental laws: they don't create something from nothing. There must be some sort of anti-life energy in the pits. And if it's a type of energy, there's probably someone who can exploit it. Based on what you said about the battle, it sounded like everyone wanted something in the pit."

"But if that's true, why did they just leave? Any one of them could easily have conquered all of Deadwaste - no, probably the whole world."

"Maybe the power is only 'ripe' at certain times, following some sort of cycle. The way they all showed up at once suggests that they didn't know about it beforehand. So maybe they fought one another to a standstill until it was too late."

"Then..." Kai's sentence faltered as he realized there were no new answers. It was possible that the apocalyptic incursion was a one time event that would never happen again, and the fact that no great powers had stuck around could even be used as evidence for that theory.

Yet he couldn't believe it. That would be the equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and hoping that all his problems would go away. His former mentor Gunjin had been theorizing about cycles, and even though he'd been mistaken, he had evidence there could be more destructive future incursions. This was no excuse to get complacent.

"You're thinking that the next incursion probably won't be quite as bad, right?" Omilaena asked. "But the one after that might be?"

"Yeah, I guess you read me exactly." Kai laughed awkwardly. Anywhere within sight of those dead black trees felt like an inappropriate place to laugh. "There's still so much we don't know. I wish we'd been able to get more information from them."

"We learned more than you think. Have you noted how weak the chakra is here?"

Kai was accustomed to thin energy, so he hadn't really thought about it. But when he considered carefully, he could feel how the power was growing denser even in the distance they had been walking. That was an obvious enough observation, but perhaps...

"I think those abysses drain power," Omilaena said, "and perhaps convert it into anti-life. Understand I'm basically talking out my ass here. Nobody has a fully developed theory for monsters and the only evidence I have is the draining effect."

"No, I think you're on to something. Go on."

"Well, it seems to me that if the abyss on Deadwaste is so deep, it might explain why the continent is so weak. You've had your mana draining into a hole for as long as anyone can remember. Generally speaking chakra gets weaker in the northeast of Rosemount and the Inverted Oasis just might be the reason."

"That would be critical if it's true." Kai hesitated as he looked forward, wishing they had further to walk before meeting the others. "Do you think there's one per continent? Ever heard about a similar abyss on Cloudspire?"

"You'd have to ask Zin Nim, but I don't think so." Omilaena shrugged, a bit like her old self again. "The idea of one per continent really depends on why they exist, and we'd just be making up stories there. I can see why you're not exactly satisfied."

"No, this is good." He took a deep breath and forced himself to smile. "At some point in the future we'll have to go back to Deadwaste. Sooner than the next incursion, I mean. We might be able to get some answers or assets from them that we can bring back here to buy a real alliance."

"Maybe we should bring them something, though? Something to give us a stronger bargaining position, I mean."

Kai nodded, immediately realizing that she was right. The Frontier elites would be grateful if he could bring them power from Rosemount and he'd finally be doing something to help defend his home. Maybe between the two abysses they could find some solution.

Then again, it would be premature to leave Rosemount already. There were the elves and the demons and Zae Zin Nim's father and so many other problems. Sometimes it felt like he needed to solve the entire world if he wanted to solve anything. He had an extremely long path ahead of him.

But perhaps that was for the best. Kai knew with cold certainty that if he'd tried to explore the abyss behind him now, he would have died.