Depthless Hunger

Chapter 170: The Grim Truth Along the Frontier

Thanks to her judicious purchase of the crystal ship, Zae Zin Nim's trip across Krysal was in no way wasted time. She had taken small but highly significant steps forward in every aspect of her cultivation. If anything, she was slightly disappointed not to have any reason for detours, but without Kai there was no reason to spend time anywhere else.

Most of the other cities where she stopped for supplies were disappointing compared to Yulthens. They had more of the same crystals and certainly no resources from Cloudspire. Some had decent cultivators or interesting industries, but many others were more like Romastir, with their lazy crystalliers relying on boosting themselves to 100 Power via wealth.

Zae Zin Nim had thought they were pathetic before, and now that she was hungry to advance even beyond the cultivation she knew, they seemed even more so.

The cities grew scarcer as she got closer to the Frontier, more similar to Goralia and the forts she remembered. In the distance she imagined that she could see the Frontier wall, holding back some unknowable threat, but it was still beyond even her enhanced eyesight. Clearly these places were the lesser cities compared to Yulthens and the rest of the western coast.

When she approached another city, planning just to stop for supplies, Zae Zin Nim realized that something was different. The wagons she saw on the surrounding roads were overwhelmingly moving away instead of in all directions. Closer, she could see that the city's outer wall had been destroyed in multiple places. No one stopped her from flying overhead and she saw that a third of the city appeared to have burned to the ground, while the rest looked in poor shape.

"We don't want any trouble!" A crystallier flew toward her on a long diamond, a middle-aged man with a weary expression. "If you try to attack, you'll regret it."

Instead of wasting her time, Zae Zin Nim simply revealed the depth of her cultivation and the man flinched.

"My lady, we really don't want any trouble. What could you take from us?"

"I'm not here for you," she told him. "Exactly what happened here? Tell me and I will not trouble you."

"It's been like this for months. The incursion... it was so much nastier than it's ever been before. There were huge monsters that destroyed the wall, and after that it just got worse. Half our crystalliers died bringing them down and the rest couldn't keep up with the horde. We've only just regained control, and as you can see, that isn't enough to restore confidence in the city. Are you... here to help?"

"I am not here for that either." She arranged her hands in her robes and looked over the city thoughtfully. "Did you receive the worst of the incursion, or are other cities like this?"

"At first, I thought that we were the only ones who failed." The crystallier hovered closer and lowered his voice, even though they were the only ones in the air. "But I finally got letters from my cousins, and the other cities are struggling too. I think everyone is pretending that they're fine, but we all have a long, hard path to rebuilding."

As far as Zae Zin Nim could see, the city had received a mortal wound and was just in denial while it was bleeding out. The people of Krysal wanted luxury and profitable trade, not a broken and burned city. She didn't like these mercantile problems, but tried to compare it to a sect that was losing its reputation, its patriarch rumored dead and its secrets no longer valued.

Sometimes the idea of a thing could be more dangerous than the thing itself. The city might have survived, but there were vultures circling.

She was not, however, one of them. Even though Zae Zin Nim realized that she could probably have "conquered" the city and taken whatever she wanted, there was no profit in that. That would waste her time and make her no better than lazy cultivators who spent their time bullying others instead of advancing upward. So she bade the crystallier a polite farewell and continued on her way.

As she toured the edge of the Frontier, she discovered the same story in several locations. It seemed that, despite all their boasting, the Krysali had not endured the incursion better than all the other nations. So much for their efficiency.

Zae Zin Nim felt no particular emotions about this discovery, she simply wondered what Orillia would think and how this would affect the conflict between the Diamond Crystalliers. If anything, she was disappointed there wasn't some incursion monster rampaging. Kai could have eaten it, plus that would have been a much simpler problem to deal with than this systemic collapse.

Based on what Orillia had said, problems like this would cascade westward through Krysal. That was about as far as Zae Zin Nim cared to think about all the details. Her travel might not be getting in the way of her continued training, but it wasn't offering her a leg up, either.

The next question was whether she should continue to the Frontier itself. Further east she didn't see many travelers at all and the land grew harsher. In theory there might be useful information there, but honestly she wanted to talk to the cultivators at the Frontier. It was insane to think that anyone on Deadwaste could actually fight an Earth Soul cultivator and she wondered if they could offer her training or insight.

Then again, from their perspective her power might be too straightforward and focused. She doubted that they would treat her as respectfully as all the weak crystalliers did.

What led her to a conclusion was the fact that she could feel several strong powers to the east. They were still too blurry for her to discern them precisely, but something was going on. It wouldn't take so long for her to detour, so she decided that at minimum she would investigate it.

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As she drew closer, she used her enhanced senses to examine the Frontier wall. It was one of the few things on Deadwaste to impress her, and it impressed her even more now that she was at the Nascent Foundation stage. Oh, the walls might be mundane gray, but they held inexplicable amounts of power. At her new stage, she could see that they had immense binding potential, all directed inward. In the battle between god-like cultivators, they had proved their value.

Unfortunately, the wall was broken in several places. The holes were being repaired, but though the new stone looked sturdy, it didn't have the same densely-packed power. She understood why the nations around the Frontier were worried about the next incursion.

When she approached the small group near the walls, Zae Zin Nim realized that she had been right to investigate. There were several powerful warriors on one side, likely all from the Frontier... and they were speaking to Suortril. The merchant had Traelisia along with him, and the Diamond Crystallier looked on edge.

Before she could arrive, the Frontier cultivators departed eastward over the wall. That left Zae Zin Nim facing Suortril and his delegation, who were now all focusing on her.

"Word of this can't leak yet," Suortril said flatly to his Diamond Crystallier. "Take her out."

"Fine." Traelisia raised her hand and spheres of earth hurtled through the air.

"Not the ship!" Zae Zin Nim leapt in the way of the techniques and slapped them aside. That meant she had no way to sustain herself, but the crystal ship backed away while she drew everyone else's attention. Hopefully they would focus on her from now on.

"You shouldn't have meddled here." Suortril stared at her with a look of scorn of the type she usually reserved for filthy peasants. "This has nothing to do with you. Just who are you working for? Did one of the others hire you?"

"I neither know nor care about this," Zae Zin Nim told them. Many of the merchants and aides were fleeing, leaving only Suortril and Traelisia. "Are you trying to hide something? Surely you don't believe that you can cover up so much for long."

"This isn't a conspiracy, this is about timing. A few days' early information can mean the difference between ruin and fortune. But I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand that." Suortril gestured curtly to Traelisia. "Finish her."

There was only a second to view her opponent, between when her shroud came down and her technique struck.

Name: Traelisia of the Earthquake

Total Power: 408

Earthborn: Twiceshaken (243)

Crystal Cultivation: 982 (49)

Physique Level: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

>

Zae Zin Nim had been advancing steadily, but unfortunately the Diamond Crystallier hadn't been idle either. Most of her new strength had come from crystal cultivation, which showed its good side by providing a surprising boost in raw Power.

Even though she was disadvantaged, Zae Zin Nim thought that the fight might come down to how well her cultivation could stand up to the powers of the Elemental Nations. She had always assumed they were magical brutes, with their magic hair throwing energy in all directions and their primitive four element system. This was a bad time to find out.

Those thoughts flew through her mind instantly, then a spike of earth jutted out of the ground. It was sharp enough that it could have impaled even her enhanced body and appeared with startling speed. Zae Zin Nim managed to evade it and countered with a qi assault, but her qi splattered off the stone armor that formed over her opponent.

The brief encounter left her shaken. Whatever the Elemental Nations were doing, it wasn't weak cultivation or using mana to generate the elements. They were tapping into something deep, strong enough that she was afraid her cultivation couldn't stand up to a direct confrontation.

She dodged around the next attacks, waiting for her moment, then countered with a spear of qi. Her plan had been to punch through the thin armor before her opponent ramped up, hopefully injuring or even ending the fight before it became serious.

Suortril stepped into the way. Both warriors looked surprised, but the prism that lit up around him deflected the attack just like it had everything else.

Then, in her moment of surprise, Zae Zin Nim felt earth close around her feet. She looked down in horror to see that the stones had bound her lower legs. They were closing in to crush her and it took a surge of qi to keep her legs intact. But that couldn't possibly be enough to stop the spikes that she could see forming around her. Unless she found a solution or someone helped her, this looked bad...

A muscular form leapt in from the side, shattering all the nearby stone. Zae Zin Nim's heart leapt as she looked at the broad back...

And realized that it wasn't Kai. Tareth Nordulind let out a shout that drove back the next earthen spikes.

"You're really still trying to keep this suppressed, Suortril?" The bulky non-Kai man shook his head, sending his Direboar pelt wobbling. "It's too late for that. Everyone will be learning about their investments soon enough."

"Soon, but soon enough?" Suortril shrugged, then made a subtle gesture.

The earth shifted again, but this time Traelisia was only moving a plate of stone underneath the merchants, carrying them west. She looked angry at having been interrupted... and also grateful that she didn't have to fight Tareth and Zae Zin Nim together.

Once they had gone out of range, Tareth turned back to her. "Well. Never expected to see you out here."

"Nor did I," Zae Zin Nim said, though truthfully she had barely thought about him at all once she was no longer assigned to look for Diamond Crystalliers. "I'm here on behalf of the Crystallier Cooperative. What are you doing here?"

"Investigating reports, probably the same as you. And it's a lot worse than they said." He gestured out over the damaged landscape. "I warned them about this and they mocked me for it. Krysal is all about efficiency, but that means cutting everything to the bone. A policy of no redundancies seems good when you're looking at profits, and bad when you need backup."

"You're saying that their defenses were weak to the incursion."

"They're not idiots, they always allocated resources carefully. But when the system failed, it failed catastrophically, because each failure put more pressure on the next system, which couldn't take the load. By my count half the cities along the Frontier are dead, and the problems will be spreading inward for a generation."

Normally Zae Zin Nim didn't care about Tareth, but she was glad she had someone to worry about the details for her. "The city asked you to investigate that? I was only here to learn why Suortril came."

"Near as I can figure, this blows a hole in the bottom of some of his businesses." Tareth scratched at his jaw, a bit like Kai but much rougher. "See, it's not just about the facts. The merchants back home, they're making calculations based on what they think the future profits will be. If they learn just how much trade from the east will weaken, the damage will hit instantly."

"Is that unreasonable?"

"Don't know about that. But I'm saying that the loss of crystals and goods will take a while to actually affect Yulthens, which is why most don't know the full truth. Problem is, everyone will scramble to get ahead of it, which will turn into a panic, which could crater the markets. Everybody will be lashing out, trying to prepare."

"I understand, then." Zae Zin Nim regarded him somberly. "I believe I have the information I came for. What about you?"

"Probably got it, more or less." Tareth glanced up at the crystal ship, still hovering behind her. "I don't think we can beat Suortril back, but want to try?"