Depthless Hunger: A Progression LitRPG, page 19
Soul Level: 2 (4)
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Apparently all her work had substantially improved her Class... Kai remembered that he had made a number of requests as if from a past life. That had been before the trip, before Curaina died, before his attempt at the Path of Steel...
"I know you're probably here for your flask," Juray said as she returned to him, "but I hope you have time for some of my experiments. It's been an exciting month for me."
"I can make time." Kai smiled back and sat down on one of the only chairs that wasn't piled with glassware.
"First, the bad news: I made a potion from your Class essence and it turned out to have the limits I'd feared." She set a small vial, a sphere except for the flat base and lip, down in front of him. It burbled with a dull brown mana. "I'm going to just give this one to you, though I doubt it will do you much good. This is the sort of thing some do to improve their Class, but..."
"I understand. But you seem excited about it?"
"These techniques are usually restricted to powerful Classes, but working on yours made me realize that there was no reason I couldn't use my own!" Juray swept a hand from behind her back and proudly revealed another potion, identical except that the liquid within was dark blue. "This is an Herbalist potion! Is it useful to anyone else? No, not really. But it's let me practice with some new skills, so... hmm, where did I put that?"
She began puttering around the house, searching through the small forest of glass. While she looked, Kai picked up the second potion and examined it. "So what happens if I drink this?"
"You won't be able to become an Herbalist, if that's what you're thinking. Your spirit would temporarily have some fragments of my Class within it, but they wouldn't help you much. Perhaps you could put a little more mana into techniques. The main application is for me to use on myself so I can manage more complex work, such as... wait, never mind, here we are!"
Juray spun back to face him and triumphantly planted another potion on the table. Though it used the same bottle, the mana in this one pulsed with crimson power. Kai couldn't help but pick it up, searching the strength he felt there. His spiritual sight couldn't pick up any symbols, yet he felt a strong intuition that this represented a familiar Class.
"This sort of potion might not be useful to you," Juray said as she sat down opposite him, "but they're extremely valuable. That's derived from a Warrior Class, if you didn't figure it out. Drinking this one really will make you a bit stronger for a while."
"Why wouldn't that be useful to me?" Kai asked. He wanted to take the potion, but restrained himself.
"Well... has your spiritual sight advanced enough that you're seeing people with numbers?"
He'd passed that point long ago, so Kai just nodded.
"Then you know that most mature hunters have a Power around 50. The strong ones are closer to 100, and the scale goes a lot higher than that. This potion will temporarily add... maybe 1 or 2." Juray took the vial from him and sighed. "As I improve my technique, I might be able to increase that slightly, but likely never above single digits."
"So... it's no long term solution, but you could make a lot of money selling it to people who want an extra edge."
"Well, I could in theory." Juray shrugged sheepishly. "I'm having trouble actually selling this one, because I guess customers aren't used to this sort of thing from me. So right now I'm just out a lot of resources."
"I'll buy it from you." Kai hadn't been planning to say that, the words just tumbled out of his mouth. When he saw Juray's face light up, he decided to stick with it. "I just finished a long assignment and I'm due to be paid. And maybe I can talk to some of the Granfian hunters? I'm sure they'd be willing to give you some mana in return for potions."
"That would be wonderful!"
The potion cost almost fifty Eagles, but the hug Juray gave him erased his regrets. Besides, he had plenty of good things coming to him, not the least the flask she'd been saving for him. Juray took it out of storage and, seeing how eager he was to use it, didn't hold him back any longer.
Even though Kai wanted to rush straight back home to try to improve his Physique ranking, he forced himself to remain calm. Instead he finished a few other errands, such as selling his share of the monster cores from the journey and buying a tunic that wasn't in such awful shape. After that, he ventured to the Hunters Guild, dodged Fhazi Lantrian and his entourage, and received payment for the long Irunian mission.
Two hundred Eagles for his work, twenty-one from his cores, combined with those he had left over... Kai returned home with two hundred and thirty-three Goralian Eagles in his pouch. A significant amount for someone like him, but it paled in comparison to the flask containing the potion Juray had created from the Direboar's core and his own blood.
As he got back to his room, Kai realized that he should have sold the jeweled dagger or talked to the others about the potions. He was too excited for any of it. Even though he was getting hungry, he kept that tension in his stomach. It would keep him on edge.
Kai set the flask down in front of him and just stared at it for a while. He'd been at G-9 for some time, so he had to be pressing up the limits of the barrier. Before the night was over, he'd either have advanced to F rank or he'd have failed.
Chapter 33: Reaching the Frontier
As far as Kai had read, there were few nasty tricks when it came to Physique Level. It was simply the raw amount of mana your body could process, which usually happened subconsciously, so people could advance and even break barriers simply by physical exertion. That meant there were no hidden pitfalls, but there weren't any shortcuts for him either.
He sat down on the floor and held the flask in his hands. That wasn't part of any ritual or practice he'd encountered, it just kept his mind centered. It would be tonight.
Even though his basic exercises didn't do much for him at G-9, Kai went through them anyway, as quickly as he could. He flexed his mana as well, finally getting his heart rate up. When he felt the burn all the way through his body, he opened the flask and drank it to the last drop.
And nothing happened. Kai frowned and looked down at the flask, wondering if-
His body seized up and he fell to the floor, thrashing against the stone. Intense heat spread from his chest throughout his body, tightening every muscle. It was like the tension of a healing potion except a thousand times worse, as if his flesh was being forced through a tiny hole.
Yet, even though he was slamming against the stone, it didn't hurt at all. The tension increased to the point where he thought he couldn't bear it, then it was gone. Kai lay on his back, panting for breath. Not only had the unnatural searing vanished, the body heat he'd built up during exercise was gone as well. He felt as cool and refreshed as if he'd just come out of a deep sleep.
Not trusting himself to get up yet, Kai simply opened his spiritual senses.
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Name: Kai Granfian
Total Power: 54
Laborer Class: 8 (8)
Physique Level: F-0 (30)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
???: ???
???: ???
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Finally he'd reached it: Physique Level F-0. Even with barely any support from his Class, he had the same physical strength as many adult hunters. Maybe it wasn't enough, but he wasn't going to stop. The jump from G to F rank had been worth five times any other step, so he could only imagine how significant the next would be.
Numbers alone couldn't sustain his excitement, though. Kai sat up and grabbed one of his old swords to run across his arm. Gently at first, then harder when it didn't cut. His body felt no different from before except where the sword touched it: instead of any pain, his skin just felt a bit hard and cool. His skin probably wouldn't turn aside a direct sword thrust, but he was clearly no longer an ordinary human.
More importantly, now that his body was infused with mana, Class skills should no longer tear him apart in the same way. He wanted to test against someone, but had no one to ask. No doubt Inafay's wind would be far stronger when he next saw her, but at least he wouldn't have fallen behind.
As his energy ebbed, Kai realized that he was fatigued. That morning, he had still been out in the wasteland, struggling back to the city. Now, after running between so many errands and making a breakthrough, he was mentally done even though his body felt fresh. Best to sleep well for whatever his mentor had planned tomorrow.
Kai lay down, sure he would be too excited to sleep, yet it felt like the next moment he opened his eyes it was morning. Instead of groggy, he felt entirely refreshed.
Now he had a different problem: what to do with all the time before noon. Minor errands felt absurdly trivial compared to the unknown meeting with Gunjin. Kai decided to return to his usual routine, since he missed it after so long in the wastelands.
His normal exercise routine was simultaneously easy and yet rewarding. Before, it had felt like he had plateaued on many exercises, but now he could feel his muscles responding again. Everyone had spoken about the wall between ranks, he just hadn't expected to feel it so obviously. Allegedly F-ranked Physique Levels developed slower than the previous rank, but he was eager to see how quickly he might advance.
Once the others began arriving, the training yard grew less comfortable. They couldn't directly throw him out, but he could sense how little they liked his presence. Kai decided to depart of his own free will and focus on other training.
After a full round of spiritual exercises, he cleaned himself up, put on the new clothes he'd bought yesterday, and went to meet Gunjin.
He arrived at the Hunters Guild a little early, but his mentor was waiting. The older man didn't speak, simply tilted his head slightly in one direction. They climbed a side staircase that curled around one side of the guild, passing the portal chamber where he had entered the Hunter Trials, and kept climbing. Eventually they reached the top of one of the taller buildings, where a traditional shrine sat alone. He could only assume it operated as a portal, but they were so valuable he'd only used them for the Trials.
They stood silently for a time before Kai spoke. "We're using a portal?"
"Yes," Gunjin said, "but it isn't prepared yet."
"I see." Kai swallowed, waited a little more, then decided he couldn't waste this time. "I suppose you're not going to tell me what we're doing, if you haven't already. Can I ask some questions?"
"If it's about training, it would be unproductive to discuss now. But anything else, you may ask."
"While I was in the wasteland, I met someone who claimed to be from a different continent. I couldn't verify that, but her power, appearance, and clothing were like nothing I've seen before. All I really know about her was that she said her name was Zae Zin Nim."
Gunjin stared at him. "Please don't tell me you managed to start a war with a different continent. Surely even your luck can't be that bad."
"I didn't! Honest. I mean, I'm not saying she liked me, but I think she was just a traveler."
"To be honest with you, Kai, dealing with the Frontier has filled my life. Travelers with three names like that are generally from the Cloudspire continent, and they do use a different sort of mana. But that's all I can tell you."
Kai was a little disappointed, but since his mentor didn't seem interested in the subject, he moved on. "One odd thing about spiritual sight. I don't think this is a training question. When I've examined myself, I've noticed some unusual symbols below the ones I know. They don't seem to interact with the others, but they've been stable, so there must be something to them... do you have any idea what they are?"
"I noticed those when examining you earlier." Gunjin didn't even turn to look again. "Sorry to disappoint you, but this is just a veteran problem you've run into early, due to how hard you work. Those represent fragments of power that you aren't capable of using. For example, you may have absorbed some foreign mana from the woman you mentioned earlier. It would be best if you expelled them from your soul."
"But... could I learn to use them?"
"If you could, they would be more comprehensible in your spiritual sight. No, everyone picks up detritus as they train, and if you train hard enough, it needs to be purged from time to time."
"Is it actually doing any harm?"
"Not at your current stage of development." Gunjin glanced at him and then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is far more advanced than you need, but in brief... the soul has a limited number of capacities. You can gain the strengths of several different nations, but you can't go on gathering them forever. As your soul becomes full, the useless fragments will begin to clog up your growth, and you'll find yourself running into barriers that offer little reward."
Kai accepted what he'd said, trying not to sulk. Most likely his mentor was correct, since the man was far more knowledgeable than him... but Gunjin didn't know everything. The Cloudspire continent was unfamiliar to him, and he was wrong about the strange power being a type of mana. For now, Kai was going to hold on to the strange fragments of power no matter what anyone told him.
Gunjin noticed his anger and shook his head. "Look, Kai, I will say this: those two fragments are stronger than average, and they're causing less disruption in your soul than would be expected. If you're so determined to keep them... well, if anyone can turn them into something, perhaps it's you."
Before Kai could ask another question, one of the four archways of the shrine shimmered. Instead of showing the other side of the roof, Kai saw a wasteland landscape beneath the arch. It was similar to the portal he'd entered to begin the Hunter Trials, except this one was less obscured... and far more powerful. He knew that portals required more mana the further they traveled, so just how far was this one?
"Come along, then." Gunjin moved straight toward it at a fast walk, so Kai hastened to follow.
Going through this portal wasn't quite as disorienting as the first time, but Kai still stumbled on the other side. As his vision stopped spinning, he froze for an entirely different reason: he wasn't standing in a wasteland like he had seen, he was on top of an enormous wall.
Kai slowly walked to the edge of the monument he had heard about a thousand times but only seen in paintings. The top was formed of impossibly large slate gray blocks, and when he reached the side his gaze slid down the smooth surface. No bricks, no mortar, only a sweep of stone all the way to the ground. It had originally been smooth, but claw marks and burns marred the inner side.
This was the wall that marked the Frontier, officially separating the lands ruled by humans from the deadly wasteland at the heart of the continent. There was nothing below except a few shriveled plants, so Kai's gaze wandered to the sides. He'd expected the wall to be circular, but the territory it surrounded was so vast he only barely saw the gentle curve. The entire circle had been raised by an act of impossible power, so long in the past that no one remembered how it had been done.
In theory, this was the battle line that was his ultimate goal in life. The air itself felt more deadly, yet to his surprise he felt less ambient mana than usual. That must be the second threat aside from the monsters: the sucking void of mana that veterans said made the true wasteland especially dangerous. Just being present atop the wall was a huge risk.
"All the way to the Frontier...?" His voice was almost a whisper when he turned back to Gunjin. "Why here?"
"I brought you here for three reasons." Gunjin raised a fist and uncurled fingers as he answered. "First, I have arranged for you to meet with someone who may be able to offer you a second chance at power. Second, this is the best place for us to have a serious conversation about your future. Third, to test you."
Kai could only stare at his mentor and hold his breath.
"It seems that our guest hasn't arrived, and we've spoken enough, so..." Gunjin uncurled his last fingers and pushed Kai over the edge.
Chapter 34: Beyond the Frontier Wall
Kai flailed wildly, hoping he could catch the side of the wall, and did nothing but churn the air. Before he could think of any other plan, he slammed into the ground.
Groaning, Kai slowly rolled over onto his back and tried to muster the will to sit up. If his Physique hadn't improved, that fall would probably have killed him. As it was, he'd gotten the wind knocked out of him, but it actually wasn't as bad as he expected. He forced himself to get up and look around, just in case there was anything about to attack him.
Unlike atop the wall, the air shivered around him. It was like nothing Kai had ever experienced before, as if the world itself was a drum being beaten. He'd heard veterans talk about strange experiences at the Frontier and suddenly he understood why they didn't try to describe it. On some level he couldn't pin down, the Frontier felt wrong. If he had been weaker, even his strength back in the Hunter Trials, he might have fallen unconscious.
"This is your test?" Kai shouted up toward Gunjin, who stared down calmly. "You know I can't survive the Frontier."
"No, but you're strong enough to see it. Stay alert."
Something in his tone made Kai suspect it was more than a generic warning. He immediately pivoted, observing the environment with both ordinary and spiritual senses. At first it looked like the gray wall cutting off half his world and only wasteland in the other... until he saw the monster.
It looked like an ordinary enough breed, a dog pulled inside out. If not for the environment, Kai would have been disappointed. Nothing about it seemed particularly powerful or unusual, until he realized the absence: it didn't growl or make the slightest noise. In fact, he wasn't sure it was breathing. Instead of a dog's loping gait, it walked toward him with unnatural precision.
His Irunian bow was unharmed by the fall and never needed to be strung, so Kai quickly nocked an arrow. No reaction from the monster. Before it could get closer, he released the arrow directly toward the center of its mass.
Just before the arrow struck, the monster distorted, its flesh contorting into a spiral. His arrow passed through the empty space and a moment later the beast had snapped back to normal. Other than slightly increasing its pace, it gave no indication that it knew it had been attacked.
