Chapter 580: Planning Bloodless Revolution in Monskon

"You didn't recognize him?" Zae Zin Nim's voice in a soft void. "Then why were you all over Kai? Supporting your husband on principle?"

"Nonsense." Omilaena responding. "He just looked like an asshole and I wanted to make him feel bad."

For a moment Kai was disoriented, relaxing in a pleasant haze. He wasn't sure whether he was awake or asleep - the drifting warmth felt like a dream, but the voices sounded oddly real. The world was still black and he dimly realized that he should probably open his eyes.

"You are awful," Zae Zin Nim said affectionately.

"You know it."

When Omilaena leaned across him, Kai finally woke up fully: he was lying back in bed and Omilaena was stretching across his chest to kiss Zae Zin Nim. He remembered them making the cramped bed work, and they must have stayed beside him after waking up. It was unusual for them to wake up first like this... he had slept unusually deeply, as if freed of burdens he hadn't realized that he was carrying.

"Oops, I seem to have roused our husband." Omilaena drew a hand to her mouth in mock-surprise. "I fear our lovely conversation will be interrupted by his wanton desires."

"It will not." Zae Zin Nim snuggled against him on the other side. "Kai will be in an ambitious mood and want to work."

"That isn't mutually exclusive!"

Kai yawned and stretched broadly before properly wrapping his arms around both women. Zae Zin Nim knew him well, and Omilaena hadn't been serious for some time. After the return to Monskon City and the release of stress, he was indeed feeling ambitious. He'd wasted part of one day on his nostalgia, but now they needed to look forward.

"We should talk about our strategy for Monskon," he said.

"Nff," Omilaena said. "I don't want to get up."

"You don't have to, yet. Here is fine." Kai settled back to think about the different elements in play. "We're trying to build up a semi-elite force, and I have a few leads. But what I need to know first is what relevant resources we have available. Bear in mind that we're dealing with weaker hunters here, maybe 50 to 100 Power."

"It will require a change in paradigm." Omilaena might be sprawled against him, but she abandoned the teasing tone for one of absolute professionalism. "Many of the boosts we're giving others only work based on all the training they've done in the past. Some of my methods might even kill weaker fighters who don't have the preparation or willpower for them."

"I have plenty of moonmelt pills," Zae Zin Nim put in, "in case anyone is near the barrier. And I have some mana potions I have outgrown that might help them with Class training."

"I should be able to scale down my methods for a trivial Physique boost. I might be able to grant a small additional boost in some cases. And we always have the option of chakra-bloating, if we don't care about their future growth."

"I do not think that will be a problem here."

"Zin Nim is right," Kai agreed. "Many of the people we'll meet today don't expect to ever get stronger again, so short term gains are fine. Of course, we should give them the choice, so don't go using them as test subjects."

Omilaena sniffed. "As if I would do such a thing. They wouldn't be good material."

Making plans while relaxed in bed was fine, but other than discussing the various areas they might go, there wasn't much else to do. Kai was up first, the Beggar King's Rags making the process easy, while his wives needed time for all their clothes. He vaguely wondered how much time they could save with self-rearranging clothes while he sent some messages throughout the city.

Their first target was also the person he most wanted to meet, even if they weren't close friends. The three of them met Rallia Orgoron atop the city walls, actually not far from where they had fought together during the incursion. She was the same armored archer he remembered except she had aged from her thirties into her forties.

<

Name: Rallia Orgoron

Total Power: 99

Spellbow Class: 37 (47)

Physique Level: F-9 (36)

Soul Level: 4 (16)

>

Still a better than average hunter, though. She appeared to be smashed up against the 99 Power barrier, because it was limiting her Physique progress.

"Kai Granfian." Rallia shook her head with an odd smile. "I guess that isn't your last name anymore, but that's how I knew you. Fuck, I... knew you as a kid. I was there for your Hunter Trial. I can't believe we've gotten here."

"It seems wild to me too," Kai said, "but I'm glad to see you again, Rallia. Let me introduce you to my wives."

"Wait, what?"

Once they'd caught up with Rallia, Kai was even more convinced that she was a good choice. Rallia had been working in Monskon City for her entire life and was a veteran of three incursions. She was one of the best-liked hunters in the city and only her injury that limited her power kept her from vying for the head of the Guild.

"I get what you're doing," Rallia said once he explained. "But I don't know that a struggle for control is a good idea now. If you think you can help me, just do what you can and I'll use it to fight the incursion."

"I say better to settle leadership questions now," Kai argued. "Believe me, if this works, it won't be close."

"Don't know about that, but who am I to argue? At minimum, I could definitely use one of those 99 Power pills. Been wanting one, but we don't have them here and I can't afford it."

As it happened, they easily could. Zae Zin Nim gave Rallia a moonmelt pill, which she handled well enough. Her Physique was a little limited from her injury and time stuck at the barrier, but Omilaena said it was trivial to produce an injection that would push her to the next rank and heal her old wounds. Rallia was a little more skeptical about that, but after their gift, she played along.

The shift from F to E rank was much tamer than what Kai was familiar with, but when he saw Rallia's expression after, he understood how much it meant to her.

<

Name: Rallia Orgoron

Total Power: 157

Spellbow Class: 41 (51)

Physique Level: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 4 (16)

Manacaster Physique (+10)

>

Between the Physique breakthrough, a unique boon, and a surge in Class, Rallia had leapt all the way from 99 to 157 Power. Kai remembered just how much of a difference that made, and for Rallia, who had been a veteran in the 90s for years, it seemed to be shocking.

"I can't..." She unsteadily drew her bow, trying to test an arrow. "I figured you could do something, but this... this is..."

"Get used to the power." Kai clapped her on the shoulder with a grin. "We'll be back sooner than you think."

After that early success, they leapt across the city to another of the people Kai had left behind. Kai and Yangil Granfian hadn't been on great terms, at the end or ever, but the man had been seriously traumatized at the abyss and Kai wanted to cheer him up. Unfortunately, they didn't find Yangil at the Granfian training grounds, and even with their combined senses, it took them a while.

They located Yangil inside a bar, drinking heavily, and as soon as Kai saw his soul, he knew that it wouldn't work.

<

Name: Yangil Granfian

Total Power: 46

Knight Class: 9 (19)

Physique Level: G-9 (18)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

In seven years, Yangil's soul hadn't changed at all. At such low levels, that could only mean that he hadn't done any significant training or monster hunting - the experience must have broken him. Kai felt a surge of pity, but he wasn't good at healing anything, much less this.

"You sure?" Omilaena asked. "I feel I need to remind you that while this is trivial for me, my resources are not infinite."

"No, I don't think he'd fight." Kai sighed, thinking back to Curaina Granfian. If she hadn't died, how much might she have grown in the interim? "We'll have to ask Gunjin about other Granfians who might be good choices, but I'll ask him later."

"Who next?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

They next headed down to the lower city, where they inquired after the street tournaments. Those had been mysterious events where he wasn't really allowed, once upon a time, but it turned out that being an overpowering hero made people more willing to talk.

He found a few people with minor potential and the desire to be real hunters, but not the woman he remembered beating years ago. She'd had real potential, forcing him to take her out early. Though she would have been a good candidate for their work, she might not have accepted it, either. Kai felt a strange sense of loss that he simply wouldn't know if she had died, moved on, or something else entirely.

"You were looking for someone, and they aren't here," Zae Zin Nim guessed.

"Yeah." Kai ran a hand through his hair as he thought about everything. "I'm running low on options."

"We could actually check for other people with potential?" Omilaena suggested with a smirk. "Other than, you know, just helping people you knew. At this rate, we'll end up giving a power boost to the lady who used to sell you groceries."

"Actually, there's a woman who sold me a useful magic i-"

"Ugh, please no."

"Hey, be fair, I already sent Ankrastor out to search for new candidates."

"Then let's use the infrastructure."

They headed in to try other options, but Kai had to admit that this time it wouldn't be as easy as he expected. Not if he wanted to win the right way.