Depthless Hunger: A Progression LitRPG, page 22
"If any of you have a problem with me," Inafay said quietly, "you can schedule a match. Otherwise, keep your mouths shut."
It looked like the Flamecaster was about to say something else, but the woman pulled him away. Balgahai returned to his feet and brushed himself off, more angry than harmed. He didn't say a word as they turned away and returned to the upper city.
Leaving a very uncomfortable silence in the courtyard.
"You, uh..." Inafay turned back to him with an odd expression. "You weren't trying anything like that, were you? I didn't think so, but I'm terrible at picking up hints."
"Uh, no." Kai swallowed. "Umm, not that you aren't attractive, but I mainly wanted to spar with you. Does this make things awkward?"
"No, I'd prefer it if everyone was just honest about these things! No weird ambiguous flirting."
"Then maybe we'd better talk, just to be sure?"
Inafay tilted her head from side to side while working her mouth, as if trying to make the thoughts roll into place. "I'm afraid I'll say something dumb but I'm just going to go for it. I like you fine, but not in that way. If my parents were going to force me to marry someone, and you were one of the options, I'd be relieved. I mean, I think you're pretty handsome and we get along great. But given the way things are..."
"Your parents might have married you off like that?"
"Even if I'd awakened a weak Class, the Corinin name has some weight." Inafay visibly forced herself to grin and summoned a sphere of wind around her fist. "But now, nobody can tell me what to do. I want to focus on training first and wait until I'm really swept off my feet in love, you know? Maybe it's silly to believe in soulmates, but I'm still hoping."
It was surprisingly romantic, given what he'd seen of Inafay, and Kai found himself smiling. "I guess I feel the same way. It looks like my best hope in life might be getting married by someone stronger, so I wouldn't be upset if you were offering. But since you're not going the decadent route and taking ten husbands..."
"Has this all been a roundabout way of submitting your application for concubinage?" Inafay's grin turned real and she punched him in the shoulder. "No way, you deserve better than that. I have no idea what to tell you about Classes, but I think you're the best fighter of any of us. This is just a game or a way to get status to most, but you have this vicious edge that I wish I could match. So whatever happens to you, I hope you find someone who really loves you."
"That's..." He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just swallowed the strange sadness. "I hope you do too."
"Okay, enough sappy talk! I guess we'll need to figure out a way to prevent them from harassing us again."
"Is that the reason we've been moving around?"
"Yeah, I wanted to spare you all that shit. Plus, I don't want them learning about the new advantages I'm trying to develop. Thanks for not defending yourself and revealing anything, by the way. It's best if they think I'm just wasting my time out here."
"Uh, no problem." He'd been too puzzled to speak, but he was happy to let Inafay think he had been honorably stoic.
They made arrangements for their next training session and Kai made himself smile until he left. As he walked back home, he had no idea if he felt better or worse.
Chapter 38: Not the Intended Advancement
In the days following the confrontation, Kai was surprised by which elements stuck with him. Talking things out with Inafay surprisingly made him feel better, since everything was clear. He didn't care about the fact that the nobles mocked him, he was just glad to continue his training.
But the numbers fixed in his mind. He hadn't focused on them at the time, but his mind had apparently absorbed the haze of symbols around them. Their Classes all offered them strength that his never would, and Balgahai Orgoron had also advanced to F-rank Physique. Even if he worked harder than all of them put together, did the impossible over and over again, it wouldn't be enough. And yet he'd exhausted every option available to him and no great power had fallen into his lap.
It would have been easy to drift into despair, yet Kai kept moving for reasons he couldn't explain, even to himself. Even if he couldn't break through, he could at least be a better friend to his allies. He'd never spoken to the Tonjin brothers since returning to Monskon City, for example.
His biggest failing had actually been with Juray: he'd promised to convince other hunters to donate mana for her potion experiments and never followed up. She'd even given him the vials to collect the mana, which he realized might have been a reminder. Those potions might not transform his life, but assisting her might actually do more to help defend the city than fighting.
Getting those donations proved to be more difficult than he expected. Not because of his reputation, but because relatively few hunters had acquired the mana techniques to extract a physical drop of mana. It was easy to forget how many hunters strengthened their Classes but didn't worry about improving anything that didn't directly grant them power.
A few of the older hunters agreed to donate some mana in exchange for free potions, given how expensive they could be. Some were actually a little too quick to agree, which puzzled Kai until he realized that they might be thinking that he was moving on. Leaving behind his dreams of being a hunter for something they all thought was more suited to him.
Never. His mood turned bitter, but Kai still finished filling all the vials.
When he arrived at Juray's house, he saw her shop window was open, but she was nowhere to be seen. He checked the door, found it unlocked, and ventured within. Juray lay slumped on the table, her head lying on her arms, a strangely sad expression on her face.
"Oh, Kai!" She smiled so quickly that he almost thought it had been his imagination. "I didn't expect you to come at a time like this."
"Are you alright?"
"Just tired. I've been overworking myself lately. What do you need?"
"Actually, I have something for you." He triumphantly revealed all the vials of mana. "They were harder to get than I thought, so it took a while to get variety. A whole lot of Warriors and Knights, but I do have one drop from a Watercaster who works out in the fields. And the-"
"This is wonderful!" Juray swept them out of his hands eagerly, but her attention remained focused on him. "This should be more than I need to get started, make a small profit, and begin advertising enhancement potions. Honestly, I was beginning to worry that you'd forgotten."
"Uh... truth is, I've been a bit selfish lately and I did forget, a little. But I hope the full set makes up for it."
Juray's smile shifted in a very strange way. After patting his arm, she moved back to her worktable. "I was actually lying earlier. I'm not tired, just... lonely, I guess. It means a lot that you came back with these. Keep me company while I get the potions started?"
"Sure, I can." Kai followed at a distance so he wouldn't get in her way as she began rearranging her work table. "I don't know how entertaining I can be, though. I've been doing nothing but train lately."
"Lately?" The word came alongside a teasing smirk. Kai let himself relax a little and sat down opposite her.
While she began the laborious process of converting the drops of mana into usable ingredients, Kai told her about what had been happening lately. He knew that his training didn't really interest her, and he felt petty talking about his own problems, so he ended up talking about his work with Inafay. The confrontation with the young hunters from the major clans was the only really entertaining story he had.
It seemed to interest Juray, and she nodded or shook her head at all the appropriate places. Once he stumbled into his conversation about marriage with Inafay, however, she began regarding him with a wry amusement. He regretted bringing it up and stumbled through the rest. Why had he mindlessly started talking about that part? Somehow he'd gotten caught up in the story and forgotten who he was talking to.
Once he finished, Juray shook her head. "You really are a bit slow about these things, aren't you?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Her tone was beginning to make him irritable, but he tried to swallow the emotion. "Surely you're not telling me that Inafay actually meant the opposite? Because, even if there were hints, that's just not fair. If Inafay was interested in me, she should have-"
"I wasn't talking about Inafay."
His irritation dissolved into disbelief. Surely she couldn't have just implied...? But though Kai was no master of social interaction, it was hard to misinterpret the look that Juray was giving him. And while he tried to swallow his tongue, she reached out to lay her hand over his.
"Don't you ever want to just rest for a while, Kai? You haven't been impolite about it, but I've seen you look at me. Oh, don't blush. If bluntness is what you need, let me be blunt. We may not have a relationship, but I care about you. Is that enough?"
"But I..." Her hand was incredibly soft atop his and he was suddenly aware how alone they were together. "I'm the exact opposite of everything you said you wanted. I can't give you any of that. If anything, I'm more likely to die young than the average hunter."
"Kai... I'm not asking you if you want to grow old together, I'm asking if you'd like to stay with me."
Swallowing painfully, Kai found that his head had been turned into a soup of emotions. At first all he managed to do was squeeze her hand back, then he finally stumbled onto words. "I don't, uh, I don't really know what I'm doing. I mean, I did a few things when I was younger, but I've spent almost all my time training."
"Oh, I've noticed." Juray leaned closer and kissed him briefly on the cheek before she moved on to close her shop window. "This isn't a trial or a test of skill, Kai. Please relax."
"But there are so many things that... uh, do you have a potion for, uh, children? I know that's important, so..."
"What kind of incompetent Herbalist do you take me for?" Juray tapped a case of small white cloves on her way to lock the door. "These things are a significant percentage of my income."
"Oh... well... oh." Kai realized that he was babbling like an idiot but his mind was having trouble adjusting to the fact that this was actually happening. Did people just decide this sort of thing? Even though he had no idea what he was doing, he felt as though it would be wrong to start this way. "Juray... I'm bad with this sort of thing, but I do really admire you. I've always enjoyed spending time together. So I... I hope..."
She interrupted his words with a kiss, this one not on the cheek. That afternoon, Kai learned that sometimes it was okay to do things he wasn't trained for.
Chapter 39: A New Mood
As Kai walked through town, he tried not to skip like a love-struck idiot. It took some actual discipline, because his mood was fantastic.
From the way veterans complained at the bar, he'd gotten the impression that sex automatically made relationships complicated and messy. Everyone was either gripped by the truest love in all history or bitterly complaining about their partners. But so far, being with Juray had been... simple. There was a casual intimacy that hadn't been present before, but otherwise they still respected one another and worked on potions together. One very major thing was different, of course, but that seemed to leave them both happy.
With that relationship buoying his spirits, Kai had finally pushed through a number of tasks he'd been putting off. He'd taken the jeweled dagger from the smugglers to a weapons dealer and confirmed that, yes, it was simply an expensive dagger. Kai wasn't even surprised. He had gotten about fifty Eagles from the sale, and combined with the other items he'd recovered, he had over three hundred. Hardly a fortune, but enough to buy some of the magical items that top clan members received.
Not that he would, when there were so many other potential needs. Being in a relationship with Juray didn't grant him free supplies, but they did spend more time working on her Class potions. Using them, he'd been able to delve deeper and confirm, once and for all, that his Laborer Class didn't hold any other secrets.
Knowing that for certain was freeing in a way. He'd resolved to completely ignore it going forward and focus on what he could control. All his training over the past weeks had been paying off.
<
Name: Kai Granfian
Total Power: 59
Laborer Class: 11 (9)
Physique Level: F-2 (34)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
???: ???
???: ???
>
When he'd passed the ninth stage of Laborer, instead of evolving into a new form, it had begun granting him less overall power. Even though Physique improvement was supposed to slow substantially in the F rank, he'd still gone up two levels, which put him ahead of many of the adult hunters he saw.
Most strikingly, a Soul Level of 4 was higher than all but the serious veterans. He was fairly certain that it would never increase without more fights with his life on the line, so he didn't expect it to rise while he was in Monskon City. Though he had a few plans for how to potentially increase it without unnecessary risk, those were still in the works.
Overall, he didn't feel useless anymore. He might not be able to fight the elites, and in ten years Inafay would probably be far beyond him, but he wasn't weak. If there was really an attack, he would be able to save significant numbers of people from monsters.
Memories of the beast in the Frontier slithered through his mind and Kai's good mood temporarily faltered. If there was a true monster incursion like Gunjin feared...
For now, there was no reason to think about that. It was still some time until the next expected incursion, which wasn't predicted to be an overwhelming one. That gave him plenty of time to improve himself further.
Aside from his continued training, his primary goal was to find another source of power. Despite others warning him against it, he was seriously considering a trip to the Krysal City States. Power might come down to money there, but if he could somehow acquire their crystals, there was no way fate could reject him. It was just a matter of finding a chance that was an opportunity instead of pure recklessness.
Tempting as it was to go back to visit Juray again, Kai was instead going outside the city to meet two burly men. He didn't exactly have an alliance with the Tonjin brothers, but he suspected they were willing to meet with him. Since he already had ways to find opportunities in the upper and middle tiers of the city, he needed to explore the lowest as well.
Eventually he found them in the same bar where they'd met before, Lofgan with a huge tankard of beer and Raghi with mug of mulberry wine. They smiled when they saw him, but Lofgan started the conversation gruffly.
"Fhazi is mad at you. Thought you should know."
"Why is he mad at me?" Kai gestured for a small beer and sat down at the side of the table between them. "I don't think I've even seen him in weeks."
"Apparently he was sweet on Inafay." Lofgan shrugged broadly, though it was hard for him to shrug in any other way. "Most rumors say she just hires you as a practice dummy, but he has his own ideas."
"Not really 'sweet on her,' " Raghi said into his mug. "Wants to fuck, more like."
"And I don't blame him! But obviously she's not going to pay attention to the little bastard."
Once that conversation might have made Kai uncomfortable, but now he found himself remarkably nonchalant. Instead of worrying about Fhazi any more, he turned the conversation toward the brothers and their current efforts at training.
Both of them had reached G-8, which he'd been able to tell at a glance, and felt like they were slowing down. Apparently men their size were only given strength-based techniques, which eventually led to bottlenecks in power. Kai was able to share a few suggestions with them in return for the Lantrian clan's best training methods for raw strength.
A more unexpected problem was that they were both slowing in their Class development. Prodigies like Inafay expected to hit Level 25 at minimum, but apparently average warriors only got significant help to 10 and usually stalled out in the teens. It made sense from a cynical perspective, since the power from their Class was enough to make a significant difference, but more would result in diminishing returns.
"Our best chance was the Hunter Trials," Raghi said morosely.
Kai lowered his drink enough to speak. "The enhancement scrolls were what you needed?"
"Yeah. But those were only for a few of the best. We never had much of a chance."
"There's the brawl, maybe." Lofgan spoke up, then immediately looked like he regretted it. The brothers glanced at one another as if they hadn't wanted to bring up the subject, so Kai pounced.
"What brawl is this?" he asked lightly.
The two traded monosyllabic attempts at dodging the question, but couldn't get away with it. Kai eventually persuaded them to tell him everything: apparently the "Brawl" was an underground fighting tournament hosted by one of the smaller families looking to increase their status. They were offering prizes usually only available from the stronger clans, but inviting less famous hunters, hoping to poach them from other organizations.
That had been exactly the sort of thing Kai had been hoping to learn about. The Tonjin brothers also knew about black markets and a monster fighting arena that sounded truly fascinating, but the Brawl was the event happening soonest. Kai badgered them into giving him the information and planned to attend.
Three days later, he walked through a run-down part of the lower city where he'd rarely visited. His mood was still excellent, and he was curious how well he could do in the informal tournament. Because it took place in a single day, he thought that his stamina would give him an edge, plus he had a healing potion from Juray in his pouch. The scrolls the brothers cared about wouldn't do him any good, but there were rumors of other prizes, even Krysali crystals.
He arrived at an unmarked building, where two guards frowned at him but led him to a hidden door in back. Their Power was only around 25, which didn't suggest the level of the tournament was particularly high, so his optimism dialed up just a little more.
On the other side of the door, he found himself in what he could only describe as an unusually large alleyway. The nearest buildings had enormous overhangs that almost brushed up against the city wall itself, leaving a shaded space underneath. From above, the enclosed space would be entirely invisible, but it contained a combat circle and even some rough stands for people to watch.
