Chapter 143: Policing the Desert

Chapter 143: Policing the Desert

One week into the alleged dragon hunt and Kai was beginning to understand why it wasn't as exciting as he'd been hoping. Closer to civilization, there were endless crowds milling around, planning to go seek dragons but mostly hoping to get lucky. Out in the desert, it was a lot of sand broken by the occasional problem.

So far the work had been difficult without being challenging, at least in the sense he understood. Every day he faced challenges, whether it was hunting down bandits, arguing with merchants, or just preventing idiots from running out into the desert without sufficient water. The job required endless judgment calls, so he understood why Orillia had wanted someone she trusted, but it wasn't the sort of ordeal that would break through any of his blockages.

Yet the money made it worth it, or so he hoped. He'd just recently received his first monthly paycheck from Orillia, a full 12,000 Goralian Eagles. But during that month, he'd earned 2000 from the mine job, 1500 from other work, 2200 from his bet, and just over 3000 from duel winnings.

All told, he'd earned 21,000 Eagles, taking him up to 49,000. Closer, but still far from what he needed to buy perfect qi. That was what made all the sand and sweat worth it.Th/e most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n(.)co/m

If he did his job properly, by the end of a month he'd earn a full 15,000 from merchants in addition to his usual from Orillia. It was almost enough for him to hope that the dragon frenzy would continue for even longer, since it would only take a couple more months for him to reach the total he needed.

Of course, he'd be willing to give it all up for the alleged gifts of the dragons.

Whether or not any were nearby was still an open question, since there were always rumors from someone who might have imagined scales when they only saw the sun, or just gotten heatstroke. During his training Kai had been pushing his spiritual senses to their absolute limit and he hadn't felt anything that seemed powerful enough to be a dragon.

As he judged it, the majority of the people there had zero chance of ever encountering one of the golden dragons. What Orillia had said about it being a fool's errand where only merchants made money made sense, yet again. Yet he wasn't certain if his chances were much better, despite the fact that he was growing more accustomed to the desert than most there.

For that matter, he wasn't sure what he would do if he encountered one. He hoped for a blessing... but he also wondered if dragons counted as monsters.

Just when Kai was thinking he might get some training time for the day, he spotted a group of soldiers heading out into the dunes. They'd tried to disguise themselves with different wraps, but he recognized them by their weapons by now. None of them thought to replace the generic crystal spear points that Yulthens granted them, so they were always easy to pick out.

He bounded up the side of one dune and leapt into the air, briefly sailing over the desert. The soldiers saw him when he got near and tried to scramble, but he was already landing and sending sand flying in all directions.

"Shit, it's him!" one of them yell. "Get back, get back!"

"Alright, that's enough." Kai grabbed the most panicky soldier by the back of his armor and lifted him into the air. "I'll stop you all if I have to."

The others hesitated, then slunk back, a bit like guilty students. Kai dropped the soldier he was holding beside the others and frowned at them.

"Come on, you have to understand." One of the soldiers clasped his hands together in a pleading posture. "Receiving a dragon's blessing could be our ticket out of the army. We could actually make something of ourselves in Yulthens, maybe even become crystalliers!"

"I understand, but you won't find one." Kai dropped his shroud as he gestured to himself. "Go on, look at my soul. Do you think that if I had the location of any dragons I wouldn't have already taken advantage?"

"Close enough," Kai said. "You're here for me?"

"In a way. The name's Graetri." The man gave him an unpleasant smile. "So just why are you here instead of one of the other camps? Do you know something we don't?"

"If you tracked me here, then you know I represent the Crystallier Cooperative. All Dowager Orillia wants to do is help."

"Maybe she does, but you want power. So why here?"

Kai folded his arms and stared back. "I don't see why I should answer that, especially since I don't even know who you represent."

"That's right, you've barely been here. I'm one of Lord Suortril's Ruby Crystalliers." Graetri jabbed a thumb at his own chest. "Officially he sent me to keep order, but we both know we're here for the dragons. Don't think I asked because I'm not confident. I'll go through you if I have to."

So the competition had finally arrived. Kai pretended to shrug while glancing at the man's soul.

Name: Graetri of Yulthens

Total Power: 258

Crystal Cultivation: 96,553 (198)

Physique Level: F-7 (44)

Soul Level: 4 (16)

>

With a Power rating over 250, Graetri was no joke, especially if he held the Ruby rank. He had the single largest number of crystals Kai had ever seen, nearly a hundred thousand. There was no way he could have afforded that on his own, which meant that Suortril must have invested serious money into him.

Graetri bared his teeth as he examined Kai right back. Obviously the human side of his soul would look substantially weaker, but Kai knew that even using his monstrous abilities, this wasn't an opponent he could take lightly.

That just meant he had a target in range, so Kai bared his teeth too. Things had just gotten interesting.