Chapter 57: An Unexpected Reunion

Chapter 57: An Unexpected Reunion

In the morning Kai was hungry again, but not so overwhelmingly. Since he woke up too early, still ready for pre-dawn training, he cooked some more of the rock spiders. As he ate, he sat down to think about how he was going to approach the strange scent.

Fresh despite little sleep, he spent a while focusing on his new sense of smell. He still wasn't sure if he was really picking up new scents or if it was a more spiritual awareness. Going around sniffing things didn't seem to help at all. Yet his impression that he could smell monsters was only strengthening. After further testing, he realized that humans also had scents, just weaker ones. Everything else, from flowers to the foul bone fires, was no different from before.

Which meant he was still fixated on the strangely familiar scent in the caves.

As Kai walked toward them, he considered whether he actually had a good reason to pursue it. Technically he could just ignore everything else and go test his fate in Krysal. But the journey was still long and he would be making it with so few supplies that he was reluctant to start. Better to wrap up all loose ends here and prepare before going that far just to gamble on fate again.

Just as he'd suspected earlier, the caves were an obvious location for outcasts to use. He could smell a small group of hunters in one and left them be, instead focusing on the familiar scent hiding deeper within the hills. Whoever it was, they seemed to be actively hiding, because tracking them down led him into a maze of cracks that barely deserved to be called caves.

Since the meeting could just as easily be a negotiation as a fight, Kai decided to drink one of his few remaining Class potions. A tiny amount of power trickled down his throat into his soul, giving him a shadow of a Warrior's Class. Fortunately, his theory was correct: his soul stabilized in his own sight, orienting around the Class and obscuring everything that was broken. That would make a better first impression.

Kai rubbed his jaw and realized that he would make a terrible impression every other way. He already had a lot of beard, his hair was unkempt, his clothes were ragged, and...

And he ran into Zae Zin Nim before he could reconsider.

She jerked upright from her position in the cave, staring at him in shock, which gave him enough time to examine her. Since they'd last met, her weeping black scars looked no better and her robe looked much worse. It seemed that more of her hair had grown back, though it was still patchy and ragged. Her eyes, fixed on him, flickered through surprise, anger, and then irritation.

"I thought I said..." She stopped to cough into a fist. "I said I never wanted to see you again."

"Unfortunately, I have traveled for months just to annoy you in particular."

Immediately her already narrow eyes became slits. "No matter what you say, you tracked me to my hiding place." She reached into her robe, deceptively fast, already holding another of her pills.

"Wait!" Kai raised both hands palm up. "How much of that medicine do you have left? Are you going to waste more of it on someone who doesn't mean you any harm?"

Though Zae Zin Nim stared at him suspiciously, she didn't immediately swallow the pill. As the silence stretched, Kai decided that he was being given a chance to explain himself.

"I didn't intend to find you in particular, but my life hasn't gone the way I'd intended. I'm banished from my home and wandering. When I felt your unusual energy, I thought that we might be able to help one another. All I want from you is a fair exchange of knowledge, I swear. I don't know what you need, but I'm a native of Goralia. I don't think you would be hiding out here if you were fine on your own."

"Well... at least you're less suspicious than before." Zae Zin Nim slowly straightened and pulled her arm back into her robe. "You aren't going to try to convince me you want to help out of some sense of altruism?"

"No, I despise you and hate the idea of us working together. Which means you should trust me, right?"

Her dark eyes flickered over him and he felt a strange sort of spiritual sight before she answered. "You seemed normal, but that Class... it's different from before. Hmm. Since you have been so direct, I must tell you the truth: I do not know if I will be able to help you with such things."

"Would you teach me how to use this qi stuff? In exchange for helping you awaken a Class."

"I could teach you the skills, but I don't know how useful they would be to you here." She sat silently for a time, huddled within her robe. Now that she wasn't glaring at him, she looked tragically frail. "You called yourself Kai Granfian before."

"Kai Clanless, now."

"Kai Clanless." Zae Zin Nim straightened and fixed him with a glare. "I may have misjudged you. We may be able to help one another, and I believe we should make the attempt, but I can make no promises."

"That's good enough for me." Kai grinned at her, but she didn't smile back.

"If this pool is not sufficient, do you have a plan?"

"The only mana pools around here that would be intense enough for awakening will be controlled by Hunters Guilds. But deeper south into Goralia, the mana is richer. I'm also not banished from those cities, so I could help you a little more. If we travel there, I think I can promise finding you a source. I can't promise that your Class would be what you need."

"I would be suspicious if you did. But very well." She began to move to collect her things, as if the agreement was complete and there was no more need for discussion. Kai had nothing to pack and doubted she would appreciate help, so he just watched her for a while before speaking up.

"If we're going to be traveling together, what should I call you? You have, uh, a lot of names. I don't know which ones are clan names, or if you even have clans, or... I don't want to cause offense."

"Use all three."

"...if you insist. But it would be weird if you called me 'Kai Clanless' all the time. Only the 'Kai' part is my name."

Zae Zin Nim didn't answer him at all, so that seemed to be the end of it. She gathered everything into a small pack over her shoulder and departed the cave, only briefly glancing to see if he was following her. As they walked out of the cavern, however, she spoke in a low voice.

"All three parts are my identity, but they are not the same. 'Zae' is an inherited name. My parents bestowed 'Zin' and 'Nim' on me, though for differing reasons. Most should call me ZaeZinNim, said together as one name. In the sense you understand here, ZinNim is my personal name, for friends or close allies. Saying only Nim would be like a pet name." She cast him another glare as if she had an infinite supply of them. "Do you understand?"

"Thank you for explaining, Zae Zin Nim."

"Good." She turned away and began heading south, so she fell back when he took the lead.

It wasn't the path he'd intended to take, but Kai was willing to set aside thoughts of Krysal for the time being. The powers of the Frontier nations had treated him poorly, and it seemed that Deadwaste wasn't respected as a whole. Perhaps he'd have better luck with a brand new path.