Depthless Hunger

Chapter 142: The Rush for the Golden Dragon

Kai wanted to find out more about the golden fire ability that had been used during the match and immediately ran into a problem: everyone wanted to know more. Because he had observed the fight and used advanced spiritual sight on the participants, he actually knew more than most. There were endless rumors, many of them insane, and all kinds of cons based on telling the secret or even teaching the technique itself.

After the third person revealed their information to be useless to him, Kai decided to change goals.

Since he'd seen four out of the five Diamond Crystalliers, he was curious to investigate the last. Unfortunately his investigations there weren't much better, as most of the Diamonds didn't make themselves available. Other than Tareth Nordulind, who was regularly doing business in the Elite Guild, he hadn't seen any of them again. All he knew was that the fifth Diamond was a crystal cultivator who allegedly worked independently for various city institutions.

Even though he was training and cultivating every single day, Kai felt like he was stagnating. His cultivation was blocked by access to money, his Physique Level limited by the weak techniques of the region, and his Soul Level unmoving no matter how many duels he fought.

Those duels should actually have been a good point of comparison. He knew that he'd made more progress in the past few months than most warriors, even many crystalliers, made in years. But his goal had never been to compete with the nobles of Yulthens, he aspired to climb far higher. To do that, he needed to find a way to blow past all his current rivals.

Since that wasn't a simple matter of working really hard or stumbling onto opportunities, Kai was at a loss.

When Dowager Orillia called for him to attend her, he was annoyed at first because he wanted every minute for figuring out a new path, or at least more training. By the time he cleaned himself off and went to her waiting room, however, he'd changed his mind. She was both his employer and his patron, so she could well have new opportunities for him.

"I know you've been asking after the dragon breath lady ever since last week." Orillia spoke without looking up, her fingers flying as she cross-stitched a pattern into a long cloth. "Well, the truth is out, and it will be rather some trouble. I thought you might be able to help, and maybe you'll get what you want."

"Wait, the truth is out?" Kai quickly pulled up a chair nearby to listen. "You mean information about it was already known?"

"This isn't something new so much as something old come back around. But please, let me explain the full situation and you'll see why it's a problem."

Kai obediently sat to listen. Orillia had never been a disruptive patron before this, so he was definitely willing to hear her out.

"According to reliable records, there is a flight of dragons that visits Krysal once every hundred years. We don't know where they come from... maybe Cloudspire, maybe Rosemount, maybe even Lostwreck. There are various theories about exactly why they migrate here, but that's not important right now. The problem is the effect they're going to have."

Orillia sighed and set down her cross-stitching before meeting his gaze. "I don't know exactly how that girl got ahead of the flight, but now everyone will learn about them. Soon enough people will find the records and then thousands will begin rushing to try to copy her and converge on the likely sites. The dragon flight has never attacked us, but this rush will cause chaos."

"Because they'll provoke the dragons?" Kai asked.

"Not likely. There are never many, and they'll probably avoid people when possible. But that doesn't matter, not now that the rumor is out. People are going to throw away fortunes on this, stab one another, all manner of trouble. It will be like a crystal rush... are you familiar with those?"

"I don't think so."

"Basically, a rumor spreads that there might be new crystal mines in a region. Many people rush out to find them, but realistically most waste their time and any actual mines are controlled by larger forces." Orillia settled back and sighed again. "And so the only people who actually make money are the ones selling equipment to the crystal chasers. Make sense now?"

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"So this is going to be a dragon chase," Kai said. "I understand that, but I still don't understand why everyone would rush out, or what you expect me to do."

"I want to send you out first to represent my little Crystallier Cooperative. No one will actually be in charge, but someone who can keep order could do a lot of good. Stop monsters that would kill foolish explorers, force merchants to be honest, keep crystalliers from throwing their weight around, that sort of thing."

"I could try, but you know I'm nowhere near as strong as the best."

"Oh, but the best won't be out there. Not when this is considered a fool's errand." Orillia beamed at him. "Not that I mean you're a fool. Our goal won't be to gain some special magic, just to control the chaos. I think we can do a lot of good, especially helping all those poor soldiers."

"Wait, soldiers? You mean fighters working for the merchants?"

"No, soldiers working for the city. They normally need to keep the mines in check, but they'll be thrown into this. Without help, there's no telling how many will die in the desert."

There were even more questions opening up and Kai wasn't sure which to approach first. He settled on one that was perhaps least important, but stuck in his mind. "They need to 'keep the mines in check'? What does that mean?"

Orillia shook her head slowly. "It's sad, but criminals and other disruptive elements of society have to work in the worst mines. The soldiers keep them in line to make sure that the crystals keep flowing. Not the proudest tradition of Krysal, I know, but that's the way of things. Anyway, the soldiers who guard them aren't much better off and they always get thrown at problems the city doesn't want to deal with, so I want you to help them."

"Working in the mines is a punishment?"

"Oh yes, I'm afraid so." Orillia smiled sadly at him. "You know, that heart of yours reminds me of my husband sometimes. Is that a bad thing for an old woman to say? But that's why I asked you about this: I want someone who really cares for the lowly and unlucky, those who will take risks for a little power."

"That's another question." Kai sat back in his chair. "If you want me to do this, I actually need to know: what power? I mean both what the dragon hunters believe they'll get and what they actually could."

"Ho ho, clever boy. There are a thousand rumors, but a few of the most dramatic ones are actually true. According to the records, the golden dragons sometimes bless those who are brave enough to meet them. Of those, one in a hundred will become something called Dragontouched, which improves their Physique. One in a thousand will receive the dragon's breath, like Vyorrine did. And they say that one in ten thousand will receive a dragon's heart, which will transform them forever."

His eyebrows rose as she spoke and he quickly wished they had any further to rise. "And that's actually true?"

"The dragon breath part certainly seems to be. So you can see why every desperate soldier, every young warrior, and even many crystalliers will be rushing out to try to find them."

"I'm not sure that I'll be able to help much." If he was perfectly honest with himself, Kai was already pondering if it would be possible for him to find one of the golden dragons, but he suspected that she already knew that.

"I don't expect you to change everything, but if you provide some muscle for my allies in the Crystallier Cooperative, you can help." Orillia picked up her cloth and returned to work. "I told you what you can do, and you can guess what you might gain, but there's a threat you might not be imagining."

"Aside from the dragons and backstabbers?"

"Suortril is getting angrier lately. He couldn't find a cultivator like he wanted, his champion was defeated publicly, and he's come out on the wrong side of certain business dealings. None of that changes the fact that Suortril is a very powerful man, and he'll be looking to restore his reputation. Reliable sources say that he'll be involved in the dragon hunt from all angles, including sending a Ruby Crystallier."

"This sounds like it will be chaos." Kai rubbed his forehead, trying to imagine how all the factors would come together. Yet the potential upside...

"Oh, I don't think it will be as adventurous as you think. Lots of stopping fights, maybe some monster hunting. But of course there is the slight possibility that someone like you might actually meet a golden dragon, and how much would that be worth?"

"Enough. I need to discuss it, but I'm interested."

Orillia blinked at him, then beamed. "That's wonderful! I was actually planning to sweeten the deal. If you work together with the merchants I tell you, they'll be paying you on top of what I already do. I know this will be a lot of hard, sweaty work, but I think it would be worth it for you. Make a decision, chop chop!"

Kai nodded to her and went to go speak to Zae Zin Nim. She wasn't interested in going along, entirely focused on her cultivation, and she said they sounded like the wrong kind of dragon for her. With that settled, it took surprisingly little time for Kai to make his plans and prepare to set out.

On the day he was actually going to leave, Orillia came to say farewell last. She pulled at his shoulder for him to bend down, then spoke into his ear. "I don't want you to start a fight, but if Suortril's crystallier gives you an excuse... pop him good for me!" She pulled back with twinkling eyes and then gave him a little push. "Go on now! Have fun with the dragon hunters!"

And so Kai left the city, headed for the deserts of Yulthens, and just perhaps dragons.