Depthless Hunger

Chapter 236: Jungle Elves

For several seconds Kai just stared at the family of elves as they stared back at him. He realized that, even though he'd just saved their lives, they might not react positively to a strange man grabbing their kid. The child was still squirming in his arms and for an irrational moment he considered throwing the child over to the boat.

Of course that was a bad idea; even here on Rosemount, children were fragile. Kai set the kid down - he really wasn't sure if the young elf was a boy or girl - and backed away. The rest of the family was desperately rowing their damaged boat to shore.

The kid looked up at him and babbled something in another language. Kai could only shake his head. "No idea what you're saying, sorry."

In response the child hugged his legs, which was message enough.

If the encounter with the elves wasn't going to turn against him, the monster could still be a problem. Kai glanced over his shoulder into the jungle, wondering if it would be returning. He'd knocked it pretty far and it hadn't come crashing back, so hopefully not. Then again, if it decided to just leave and he never got a chance to overcome its powers, he'd be disappointed.

The elven family had nearly reached the shore now and it didn't look like they wanted to attack him, so he got a better look at the group. Three men, two women, and two other children, all similar enough in appearance that he guessed they were related.

More importantly for his purposes, they had unusually high Power for a group that seemed to be in so much trouble. They all had F-rank Physique, even the children. Yet the odd thing was that he didn't think they looked physically trained or in some cases all that strong... were elves inherently stronger? If so, he had to wonder just how strong a fully trained elf would be.

When their boat hit the shore one of the women scooped up the child and subjected it to a mix of affection and reprimand. The others threw out an unknown language at him until they understood he didn't understand, then one of the men spoke in halting Goralian.

"Foreigner?"

"Yes," Kai said with a nod. "Glad to help."

"Come. We thank."

Since refusing their offer might be rude and get him in more trouble, Kai helped them push the boat back into the river and then jumped in. Along the way the vast majority continued speaking in languages he didn't understand and they occasionally thrust some cut fruit at him. He briefly considered if this was all a con and they would turn out to be cannibal elves or something, just luring him in to eat. That would about match his usual luck.

Was it really cannibalism if elves ate humans? He supposed that he had no room to condemn anyone, given that he'd eaten the thugs who attacked him not long ago.

"Soryip Jungvil," one of the elf boys said. He seemed unusually insistent, tapping his own chest, so he must be trying to communicate.

"Kai," he responded, touching his own chest.

"Kai briy?" The boy was frowning as if not entirely satisfied. Did he want a longer name? Well, in that case...

"Kai Clanless." The title might not mean anything outside of Goralia, but it was true that he really was clanless in an ultimate sense.

After some more awkward conversation, they made the rest of the trip safely and reached the camp he'd been avoiding for so long. From the outside it looked like a palisade built into some of the local trees, but when he was escorted inside he was surprised at how nice it was.

All their buildings were beautifully carved and they seemed to have magical items for everything - even the smallest cooking pots were heated by magical stones. Hammocks hung in between trees were made of expensive silk. He wasn't sure if the elves were wealthy vacationers or if this was just the way things were in Rosemount.

"So you're the foreigner who helped out!" When Kai heard a voice he understood, he instinctively turned toward the source.

Three armed elves were approaching him and he immediately knew they were warriors. They might not be muscular, but there was real power in their lithe stances. Before he could think twice he'd already examined them with his spiritual sight.

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Name: ???

Total Power: 341

Soul Cultivation: Spirit Refinement (104)

Physique: E-7 (101)

Soul Level: 6 (136)

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The leader was a little stronger than the others at 341 Power, but not by much. Their Soul Levels were all high, between five and seven, but the total Power granted by it was insane. He wanted to ask, and part of him wanted to fight them, but they seemed so refined he couldn't bring himself to say anything. For a moment he almost understood how other species could consider themselves superior to humans.

"We're impressed," the lead elf said when they got close. "Not many humans could stand up to Banchlain."

"Is that what the monster is called?" Kai asked. He tried to make a gesture to indicate the monster's bone plate and immediately felt clumsy.

"Banchlain is the bane of the jungle. We didn't think it would roam here, or we would have taken care of it ourselves. Now come here, let us thank you."

They didn't pay him directly, but they did offer him a meal at one of their fires. One of the other warriors passed him a flask, gesturing toward it with an odd sort of smile. As soon as Kai touched the flask he felt the chakra surging within it and paused, wondering about the effect.

"A bit of power for you." Only a few of the elves could speak Goralian, so they hung close to explain. "Powers from Deadwaste are thin, weak. Chakra strengthens them."

That was a bit of an insult, but Kai felt too tongue-tied to refuse. He took a drink and nearly coughed up his lungs. Technically there was a sweet juice-like liquid in the flask, but it was radically different from what he'd experienced before: not the flame of mana or the cool flow of qi, but like someone had bottled a roaring battlecry.

His ears were still ringing and his vision swam a little. Through all that, he could see that the elves were laughing - not entirely cruelly, but they did treat this as expected, as if they knew outsiders couldn't handle the power.

"Chakra wine is too much for humans," one of them laughed. Kai forced himself to take another drink and some of them laughed a little less.

While the chakra rushed through his body, Kai realized that Behemoth's Heart was pounding again, almost as much as during the fight. All at once he realized that he hadn't relaxed since the attack. There was something strange... while the others laughed and joked, he analyzed the elves more carefully.

They were all lithe and graceful, but it was more than that. Almost all the men were strikingly handsome and the women stunningly beautiful - and the degree of that beauty increased with their power. The strongest woman among the warriors, another at the "Soul Refinement" stage, struck him as jaw-droppingly beautiful. Yet she wasn't, not exactly. She was fit with clear skin and good features, but many women could say the same.

Abruptly he made the connection to the Banchlain: in both cases, Behemoth's Heart had activated while emotions were forced on him. The Banchlain seemed to inspire fear as a predatory tactic and the elves naturally radiated a sense of beauty. It reminded him of the insanely beautiful cultivator he'd seen at the Frontier, though this was nothing but a faint shadow of her radiance.

Once Kai realized that he was being influenced, everything shifted. He still felt that the elves were extraordinarily beautiful or even superior, but he held that reaction at a distance instead of accepting it as fact. This was just something else he'd have to overcome if he wanted to be able to compete on Rosemount.

"We must repay you," the elven warrior said abruptly. "A place to stay? Even elves fear to travel this jungle, it is too dangerous for humans."

"Thank you, but no." Kai pretended to lower his head. "All I want in payment is knowledge. Can you explain your soul cultivation to me?"

Several of the elves drew back, including many he didn't think understood him. The one who had been translating shook his head. "This is not something that can be taught. Elven souls are different from human souls."

Maybe they were naturally superior, but Kai didn't accept that conclusion. Their aura increased with their training, so it was clearly an aspect of their power, which made it no different from other abilities. One way or another, he'd figure it out.

Eventually they negotiated that he could stop by the elven village and trade with them, which apparently they didn't generally allow. It struck him as about fair for what he'd done, since anyone decent would have saved the family if they could. The warriors seemed to respect his strength to some degree, but they all said that he should stay back while they took care of the Banchlain.

Since he didn't want to disrespect them, Kai stayed back and watched their hunt, hoping to learn something. They definitely had greater knowledge of the local jungles, with clever ideas for pit and vine traps, not to mention mastery of local poisons. But their absolute confidence...

When they finally confronted the Banchlain, he saw that it was a front. They had one major advantage over him: the monster's aura of fear didn't seem to affect them in the slightest. But their traps failed, their arrows stuck in the fur, and several of the elves were injured during the fighting. Kai jumped in to help and they drove it off, which they seemed to consider a victory.

Once again they thanked him with chakra wine and this time Kai didn't drink it there, robbing them of their fun. But everything he'd observed was shifting his thinking.

Elves weren't superhuman, the Banchlain wasn't fearful, and Rosemount wasn't wholly superior. It was all just power, not so different from what he already knew. The chakra wine was certainly overwhelming and his body was still a bit sick from all the ambient energy, but it wasn't so different from children and young warriors adjusting to mana potions. It took time for the body to adapt to having so much power rushing through it.

So Kai took another drink, no matter how overwhelming the chakra seemed or how much he coughed. This was just one more hurdle to overcome. He might not be a real monster hunter anymore, but he swore that he was going to hunt the Banchlain first.

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