Chapter 543: Another Conversation Between Adults

Despite the promise of conversation, they said nothing for some time. Gunjin conferred with Pourila, picked up a wrapped package, then opened another portal. When Kai stepped through it, they stepped out atop the Frontier wall. Wasteland stretched in all directions, nearly featureless. The two men stood side by side, staring out, saying nothing.

Had conversation ever come easily for them? There had been a time, long ago, when Kai had been the orphanage's golden boy and his life had seemed clearly set out before him. Even then, however, Gunjin hadn't been exactly verbose, the silences had just passed easily because they had a common purpose.

They might have a common purpose now, but what did they have in common other than their past? And so they stood, neither saying anything, listening to the wind howl around them.

"The others told me that you could explain our overall tactical assessment?" Kai began, half a question and half a statement.

"Aye," Gunjin said. "You remember the overall strategic goals?"

"Eliminate threats at the Frontier, spread out monster hordes at the wall, then absorb them with defenses across all four border nations."

"More or less. We have decent numbers, thanks to you and Yuinafal bringing reinforcements... but not as decent as you might think. This time we have fewer Birtaegali mercenaries than usual, and we lost elites in the last incursion."

"So we only managed to make up for the shortfall."

"In a sense, but we have a bigger problem this year." Gunjin sketched a diagram in midair, becoming more animated as he warmed to the topic. "For the first time in recorded history, we lost parts of the Frontier wall. They've been reinforced, and some believe the new walls will hold up, but I'm not so confident."

Kai winced as he thought about it. "If they do break, then the monsters will plunge into the gap, and that stage of the plan will do the exact opposite of what it's meant to."

"Which could be a huge problem, aye."

"Where exactly are the breaks?"

"Krysal is by far the worst, with three separate places needing repair. Interestingly, investigations have revealed that this damage actually accumulated over time: the crystalliers did an excellent job eliminating hordes, but they frequently fell short on mutual defenses, so there had been wall damage over time that went unnoticed. That all came to a head last incursion, leading to three breakages."

Which meant that the crystallier system, which everyone was so fond of now, hadn't been quite as good as they thought. Kai kept quiet about that, because laying blame was pointless and it was zero comfort to the innocent people now in the path of monster hordes.

"Moving on to Irun," Gunjin waved a hand east, "there are two broken sections in one region. Irun is prepared for a horde focused there, and I was hoping we could move you or your cultivator ally there to fight in the choke point if the walls fail."

"Sounds wise," Kai agreed. "I'll talk to Zae Zin Nim about it, as she's currently set on Krysal. But are those all of them?"

"No, there's also a damaged section in Goralia. Not broken, just cracked. We did our best to repair and reinforce, and if any of our repairs hold, it will be there. Still, we have to be prepared for things potentially getting worse in Goralia."

"So the Elemental Nations made it through fine?"

"More or less. They do worse in incursions when they're at war with one another, but they were unified last time. Nice to have one thing go our way for once."

They went silent again, a little more easily this time. It felt strange to be talking strategy with his old mentor like this, treating the incursion as a problem to be solved instead of a force of nature. Kai might not be an elite technically, and his position in the organization would depend on the results of the contests, but they viewed Deadwaste from the same viewpoint.

"So I presume the Elemental Nations will handle themselves," Kai said.

"They may still require support, but yes. Goralia also expects to be reasonably prepared, especially with support from our southern neighbors, it's just an argument over how to distribute our hunters. Irun... well, Irun always has a clear plan, that plan will just change based on whether you or Yuinafal comes out on top."

"Not a lot to say about that until we're done. So Krysal is the sticking point?"

"As expected." Gunjin sighed and looked back. "There are multiple competing proposals, from utterly naive suggestions that they take the horde head on, to the elite plan to sacrifice the southeast, to Krainuun's strategy of controlled retreat."

"And what do you think?"

"The elite plan is more certain. Krainuun's is a good idea, but it requires political will and coordination of large numbers, and Krysal hasn't been good at cooperation lately. I'm staying out of it for now. The west is... probably in your hands."

That was an uncharacteristically open statement for Gunjin. Kai stood alongside him and slowly realized that, for the first time he could ever remember, he could see his old mentor's soul without a shroud. Given the opportunity, he couldn't help himself.

<

Name: Gunjin Granfian

Total Power: 406

Portalcaster Class: 88 (98)

Flameborn: Onceburned (87)

Physique: E-9 (107)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

Wheel of Soulfire (+50)

>

It was almost shocking to find that the man who had raised him had only a little over 400 Power, as if his strength should have matched Kai's childhood view of him. Gunjin had a high level Class, but must have hit a wall before getting close to an Advanced Class. He'd awakened Flameborn powers, which only grew modestly. Other than a higher Soul Level from his experience and a partial elite synergy, his portfolio wasn't particularly remarkable.

"That's all I have," Gunjin said ruefully, clearly having noticed his observation. "I was a big fish for Monskon City, but a pathetically small fish in the real ocean."

"Portalcaster means teleportation?"

"Aye. It's easiest when I just fuel prepared gates, but I can make others. When I was younger... oh, I had plans to be more than support. I was going to be cutting monsters in half with portals, teleporting enemy attacks into the sky, dominating the battlefield. But it's a lot easier to come up with clever ideas than to actually pull them off, and our reality seems built to be unfair. Most of my tricks just proved impossible."

It was the longest Kai had ever heard his mentor talk about himself. They were both thinking about their decisions back in Monskon City, he was sure of it. Now he could understand how his mentor, bitter from his own failures, had fatalistically assumed that Kai had been cursed in the same way. And to be fair, he hadn't been wrong, Kai's curses had simply been so extreme they became something new.

Thinking back to those days, now almost eight years ago, left Kai with a strange mix of feelings. The intensity of the old emotions had faded, leaving only an odd scar. He was less enraged by being abandoned in Monskon City than simply astonished at how much his world had changed since then. He'd understood and experienced so little.

"But I'm not here to complain about my problems," Gunjin said gruffly. "Doesn't matter whether it's fair, we have to play the hand we're dealt."

"Or at least the cards we can get our hands on," Kai said. "No rules in life, so we might as well cheat."

"Heh, I suppose."

Not wanting his mentor to clam up again, Kai searched for a less personal topic. "I've been meaning to ask, how far have the elites explored from Deadwaste? Are the oceans really endless?"

"Just going to other continents is risky enough," Gunjin said, "and now you want to go off exploring the empty oceans? My home is on Deadwaste, and that's where my focus is. If you want speculation about further out, maybe talk to Aeglien."

"Alright, forget the oceans, but what about other directions? Have the elites ever tried to dig within the Frontier?"

"No luck - the ground gets more durable the closer you get to the center. Even if they blasted enough to reach the pit, it would probably just open a new path for monsters. And given how the pit reacts, it might increase the total number."

"What about up?"

Gunjin grunted as if in mild surprise and glanced skyward. "There I can actually tell you a few things. Some ambitious folks in the Wind Union have tried to go high before, really high, hoping to get a vantage point on the whole continent to help direct incursion defenses. What I can tell you is that as you get higher up, the air gets turbulent. More so than anyone in the Wind Union predicted. And if you go high enough..."

His mentor trailed off. Kai waited at first, expecting just a dramatic pause, but the old man was staring into the empty blue with an odd expression. "Well?"

"Several generations ago, a group of elites built a ship and tried to see how high they could go. They got up far higher than any other attempt... and then they were wiped out. We don't know by what. The record says that something big came out of the sky itself, and they didn't have a chance. Not clear what they mean by that, other than probably a monster. Since then, we've stayed relatively close."

"Huh." Kai stared skyward as well, pondering that the blue expanse might not be as empty as he thought at first. Tempting fate now would be a foolish risk, but one day he hoped to soar higher and learn exactly what was up there.

And if it was a monster, maybe he could eat it.

"Anyway." Gunjin roused himself and dusted off his hands. "You've seen how it is out there, right? Random chance rules, and even your best can only pull people up so far. It's a big, unfair world."

"Sure," Kai said, unsure where he was going with that.

"You have to call them as best you can, and sometimes you get it wrong. I made a call in Monskon City, and I was wrong. I have a lot of failings, but I don't make the same mistake twice. So this time, let me know what you need. I'll get you around Deadwaste."

Kai listened in surprise, realizing this was probably the closest that Gunjin Granfian would come to an apology. And strangely, it was enough. He would have been more embarrassed than anything if his old mentor had thrown himself at his feet and begged forgiveness, after all. Acknowledging it would ruin the moment, so Kai just grunted and nodded.

"I think we'll start by moving around some of my students," he said. "Maybe it's the wrong call, maybe they won't be able to make a difference in the incursion, but I'm making the call."