Depthless Hunger

Throughout his life, Kai had faced many obstacles and been rejected by fate many times. He'd managed to keep up with his peers only by dogged persistence, working harder and longer, always attempting more. Even through the struggles, that drive had always taken him higher and he'd pushed past his limits time and time again.

Now, for the first time, he faced failure.

Talndim and the other elites were impressed by his progress and told him that attaining every single phase had never been realistic. He didn't want to give up, because he knew from Rosemount that it was possible for people to start at a higher level of power. Most likely the god-like beings he'd seen were born at higher phases and then grew from there. He'd never catch up to them if he didn't push past all limits and achieve the impossible.

Except he couldn't. Not this time.

Kai lay on his back after another failure, gasping for breath. Compressing his power was as difficult as the earliest mana exercises had been, except he had been able to learn those quickly enough. To attain a higher phase he needed total mastery of his own power, reflexive compression, and absolute focus. What he needed now wasn't willpower, it was just more training time than he had available.

All the elites supported him in his training, but he could tell that they were becoming frustrated as he kept throwing himself against the obstacles. No one had come to show him another path yet. While lying on his back, Kai suddenly saw Gunjin overhead, lean and gray and stretching into the sky from that angle.

"Come along, Kai. You're not my boy anymore, but I need you to see something."

There was no reason to refuse. Kai pulled to his feet and joined Gunjin as he stepped into a portal. On the other side, Kai discovered that they stood atop the great wall, which he hadn't visited directly since the incursion. This wasn't a random section: to the east he saw two points where the wall had been broken and vast amounts of construction activity.

One of the broken points had been filled by a wall that was wider at the base in order to reach equally high, and the second was under construction. The new wall looked sturdy but clearly didn't have the spiritual strength of the original, so it would be a weak point. That made him curious about the pit being dug on the inner side of the completed wall.

"Exactly." Gunjin stared down at the wall sourly. "We can't equal the ancient builders, so we're assuming that the monsters will break through. When they do, the pit will be waiting for them. It will be a riskier strategy than our usual, but it's the only alternative we have."

"That's what you wanted to show me?"

"I just wanted it to be clear how much we need help. Obviously the next incursion could be harmless or apocalyptic at either end of the curve, but my best guess is that it will be somewhere in the middle. And given our current limitations, that could be enough to kill everyone. I'd go so far as to say if we continue on the default path, we won't contain the next one."

"I'm doing the best I can." Kai rubbed his eyes and was taken aback at how good it felt to close them... he was just so exhausted. "If I get strong enough, I might be able to hold one of these points on my own. The question is how powerful the monsters will be."

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"Individual strength is important, but that's not enough. Don't underestimate just how long the Frontier wall is, and the battles only get more scattered after the initial wave. One person, no matter how powerful, will have a limited impact."

Kai wasn't so sure: he hoped to fly along the side with Thunderbird's Wings and rain destruction with Baleful Breath. But his old mentor was treating him seriously again, so maybe it was best to press on that question.

"Is it time to discuss real strategy now?" Kai asked. "I'm strong enough to fight with the elites. How do the incursions really work?"

"Our strategies are still evolving, and not just as you see here." Gunjin turned from the construction projects to look inward. "In most incursions there's at least one monster with nation-destroying strength that requires many elites to destroy. Occasionally there's not, and we call those easy incursions. Those are usually fought within the Frontier where they're limited... based on the last time, we question whether fighting near the abyss makes things worse."

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"Because the outsiders fighting in the center seemed to intensify the waves of monsters? Couldn't causality go the other way, and they came because things were going to be worse?"

"It could be some of both, but we can't assume things will go easier for us. In any case, there's a much higher number of city-destroyers... monsters that, realistically, aren't likely to be stopped by anyone outside of Frontier elites or a few exceptional powers like the Diamond Crystalliers. Last incursion we failed to intercept more of those than usual, so the cities around the periphery took a beating."

Kai thought back to the behemoth and wondered how much stronger they got than that. Behemoth's Heart thumped aggressively within him.

"What's left after all of that is the main horde, including some monsters that would be dangerous during ordinary times." Gunjin shook his head. "You see why we need different layers of fighters in our defenses. Against a lot of the strong monsters, the difference between 10 and 50 Power is immaterial. But we need enough hunters around 100 to take down the stronger remnants, and enough other hunters to keep the rest from hurting the defenseless."

"Just how many people are usually involved in defending against an incursion?"

"Hell if I know. There are some that work with us, then others that mount their own defenses, then even more get pulled in."

"Alright, that's fair." Kai looked over at his old mentor. "Can you at least tell me how many elites there are?"

The old man closed his eyes and answered quietly. "About one hundred and ten. It used to be over one hundred and twenty, but the last incursion cost us. Not many Elites die of old age."

That was actually impressive. Kai had met a lot of people on Rosemount who had 700 Power or more, but they weren't generally united as single organizations. It was as if all of Deadwaste had gathered its best just to survive the incursions... and it was still a close thing. If there was just a way to tip the odds in their favor...

"What happens if people from Rosemount or Cloudspire attack?" Kai asked. "They don't generally have the knowledge of phases that you do, and I suspect you have some other tricks up your sleeve."

"We couldn't repel an enemy nation, but could manage against an organization. They tend to underestimate us even after they see our strength." Gunjin closed his eyes tightly. "It hasn't happened in my lifetime, and based on the records I hope to never see it. The other continents can throw so many warriors at us, but the loss of each elite hurts us deeply."

They stood in silence for a while, watching the construction. It seemed to be on track to complete well before the incursion, but now Kai understood how that couldn't possibly be enough. He wished that he could run to the center of the Frontier and enter the abyss even though he knew it was still far beyond him.

"What are you pushing for?" Gunjin asked.

Kai stared at his mentor. "To become strong enough to stop the incursion, obviously."

"I don't believe that. You've seen how one phase can be dominant, even on other continents, yet you want them all. You're seeking something more." Gunjin watched him with dark eyes. "No one seeks power for its own sake unless they're mad. They might train for the love of training, or try to attain power so they can't be harmed, or seek immortality as part of a perfect life. But power is fundamentally a means to an end, otherwise it wouldn't be power."

"What am I supposed to say, if you already rejected my answer?" Kai floundered for a while, staring out at the Frontier, and Gunjin simply waited. Eventually he figured out what he wanted to say next. "I guess I've realized there are different arcs to growth. You remember after the Hunter Trials? I was able to keep up with others by hard work, but now I realize..."

"They were on a path to become moderately strong, veterans with perhaps 50 Power. Of course I remember. We need them, but we also need those advancing fast enough to join the elites. I would have said you were stuck in between, yet here you are."

"Only because the arcs are so much steeper on Rosemount. There's this organization, the Crestguard, with an average of 500 Power. And they're just good, not exceptional. The further I climb, the higher the mountains seem to grow."

"And how does this answer my question?"

"Well..." Kai closed his eyes and immediately saw the god-like beings over the abyss. "I just witnessed people who were beyond even that, and I realized how strong they were. The incursions are more complex than we understood, and there's something in the abyss, and everyone I care about could die so easily. I have to keep pushing myself or I'll never be able to get even close."

"Madness." Gunjin frowned sternly enough that Kai felt it even before he opened his eyes. "Trying to attain 'the ultimate power' in the abstract is childish. If you keep your eyes on the horizon, you'll never actually get there."

"But you'll get further than if you kept your eyes on the ground."

"I'm saying that you need a goal in between." Gunjin reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "I can't guide you anymore, Kai. You've gone further than I ever did. But listen to me: abstract striving can be weak, in the same sense that goals that can't be measured are ineffective. Even you can't take on everything at once, you need to set your next destination."

"I..." Kai's instinct was to argue, but he realized that his mentor was right. "Alright, I understand."

He wasn't being told to scale back his ambitions, only to focus. Mastering every phase might be a challenge he couldn't overcome, but there was a long road between his current goals and his final ideals. Leaving the middle too ambiguous would only hurt him in the end.

So... first one phase, then all the rest.