Technically Kai had been to the Frontier many times in his life and even spoken with the elites there. This time, however, he was coming to actually train with them. It wasn't really the dream he'd had as a young man, just an echo of those aspirations. Even though he'd gained equal or potentially greater power on his own, they still held something he needed.

He sincerely hoped that even his luck couldn't throw any more obstacles in their way now. They had Inafay, who would back them up, and they were just coming off the completion of an important mission. Adding on top of that all the resources he had and he was fairly sure that the Frontier elites would be willing to listen. If the world matched their theorizing, they could gain at least one edge here that couldn't be found even on Rosemount.

They returned to the outpost and it wasn't under assault or on fire, so he considered that a good start. The other trainees all chattered with one another, since many of them would be heading back south for further training. Kai walked back to see Talndim Bundrin and found the older man sitting in an armchair in the first room.

"The son of Goralia returns," he said with a chuckle. "I heard about the Southern Water Palace. Glad to have one more prince back on board."

"Do you think it will work?" Kai asked. "We basically overwhelmed him by force."

"Force is right at the heart of things. If I had my way, I'd throw every leader in the Frontier nations right into an incursion, just so they understood. But they don't ask me what to do about that sort of thing... maybe because I suggest throwing everyone into incursions, ha!"

"I'm unclear on what you do in general. Do you work at the Frontier, or train people here?"

"Usually I train the next generation, but we need all hands on deck when it comes time for an incursion. As for me..." Talndim sighed and rubbed his back as he got up. "Take a look at my soul and you'll see that I didn't quite make it as high as I'd hoped."

Since the man removed one of those impenetrable elite shrouds, Kai eagerly took a look.

<

Name: Talndim Bundrin

Total Power: 717

Breakfist Advanced Class: 9 (327)

Crystal Cultivation: 10,000 (125)

Physique: E-7 (101)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

Emergent Class: Shimmering Fist (+100)

>

What he saw didn't look anything like failure: the man had over 700 Power and something called an "Advanced Class" that looked amazingly powerful. He'd never made the jump to D-rank Physique, which many elites couldn't. Aside from that he had the same generally high strength Kai expected from Frontier Elites.

"What's an Advanced Class?" Kai asked.

"Oh, haven't seen one before? You remember Novice Classes, right? Well, just like they develop at level 9, a standard class that reaches 99 can evolve again. And when it does..." Talndim made a whistling noise while raising a finger. "You basically never see them outside of the Frontier. The amounts of training and mana required are just too much for Goralia. All the resources of the south combined wouldn't be enough."

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"That's really impressive. I thought Classes were fundamentally weaker than some other abilities, but there's massive potential in an Advanced Class..."

"Yeah, well, I'm actually a failure. I made it over the Level 99 hump, but I basically slowed to a halt after that. So I spent most of my time helping out the new recruits, especially any Goralians with great potential."

"What happens if you hit level 99 in an Advanced Class?"

"Damn, son, you're ambitious. The answer is that it doesn't happen. Hardly anyone even gets to 50, and we don't have anyone recorded higher than 80 in our whole history. Once we had some experts from Rosemount come in and they're pretty sure that 99 is the absolute limit."

Kai took another look at the man's soul. "And it looks like you cultivated a decent number of qi crystals?"

"Ha! I cultivate ten thousand of the things and you call that 'decent'?" Talndim waved a hand. "You were in Krysal, right? You've seen how there are diminishing returns. For individuals who want to maximize themselves, it makes sense to hoard as many as possible. But to maximize our overall strength, we have to spread 'em out. Basically everybody who has the time for a new skill gets ten thousand."

"But not everyone?"

"No point learning extra abilities you can barely use. We're specialists - we've gotta specialize. You can actually cripple yourself running headlong into random abilities."

"And what about this Emergent Class?" Kai asked. For the first time, the old man blinked at him as if a little surprised.

"Eh? Your spiritual sight seems pretty good, but I'm not sure you're seeing that right. Guess that's something else we could talk about."

While the others filed into the room, Kai tried to figure out what he'd gotten wrong. There was a personal element to reading the symbols, so it was possible to misinterpret them slightly. He'd done the same with "Lamia Essence" and so he guessed that his early training inclined him to read things as Classes if they were too ambiguous for him. The power appeared at the end of the Frontier elite's soul, like some powerful warriors he'd seen from other continents, but he didn't understand the principle.

Now that everyone was inside, Kai and his allies began to make their offer. Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena revealed all the supplies they'd been carrying - they'd spent a significant portion of their money on this, nearly half a million Crests. Talndim started by nodding, then his eyes widened, and when they got to some of the qi materials he was staring in shock.

"This is a hell of a lot," the old man said. "We're not used to people who run off to other continents coming back."

"I was serious when I said I'd help," Kai told him. "My city exiled me, but I still want to stop the incursions. If we give you all this, what will you do?"

"Distribute them to those who can use them best, of course. We still have a few years until the incursion, so... should be enough to help some of us older folks break through, and raise some younger ones up to our level. This is a real gift, son."

"Will you give them to Inafay and the Tonjin brothers?"

Talndim cast him a strange glance. "We give everybody what they have the potential to really use. You can get away with a little nepotism away from the Frontier, but it just gets rougher here."

"And I believe in their potential. If my power and this gift are worth anything, take that into account." Kai looked the old man in the eyes and made sure he got it. Most likely Inafay would receive plenty of the rewards, but he didn't want the Tonjin brothers to be overlooked. Otherwise, he was willing to let the Frontier elites distribute everything as they saw fit.

"And you're really giving us all this?" Talndim looked over at Omilaena as he spoke. "No strings attached?"

"All of this is for the sake of protecting the Frontier nations," Kai said. "But I hope that you'll be grateful enough that you can teach us about phases of power. We've reached a level where sources of power like these won't help us much anymore... but your knowledge might."

"Ah."

"Ah?" Zae Zin Nim spoke for the first time, scowling. "We have gone to great expense and effort for this."

"Oh, I'm not cheating you. Honestly, I'm really impressed by all this, enough that I think we can make an exception." Talndim slowly cracked his neck in both directions. "The lecture takes a bit out of me, so I might as well just do it once. A couple of the young ones are almost ready... get Inafay and her special friend in here... no, we should do it outside. Less mess that way."

Kai went to get everything organized, eager to finally receive some answers. The mystery of "phases" had been digging into his mind ever since the apocalyptic incursion. But on their way out, he heard Omilaena speak in a low voice.

"Have you ever faced god abilities, old man? Are you sure these phases can stand up to them?"

"They're one and the same," Talndim said quietly. "It's time you learned about real power."