Chapter 21: Reduced Cost

The mountain air blew roughly against Pina’s face, violent gusts threatening to tear her hair loose from its braids. But she couldn’t falter now, not this close. She looked down, forcing back the fear and revulsion clawing at her throat as the carnage below came into full view.

She swallowed hard and kept climbing. They hadn’t noticed her yet, and she intended to keep it that way. A rock shifted loose beneath her grip and she slipped, quick thinking and a barely swallowed gasp the only things that found her another foothold before she could slide back down toward the ruins of her forage group and the caravan below.

She didn’t fall. A quick glance downward showed the Lyndwyrms still feasting on the remains of her allies, unaware anyone had escaped. She was lucky — the alpha wasn’t among them. If it had been, she’d already be off the ravine wall and halfway down its throat. She reached upward again and felt nothing but open air. Her heart skipped as she realized she’d finally reached the edge.

Pina hauled herself over it with a grunt and lay there a moment, chest heaving from the climb and the speed she’d had to make it. Her fingers were a mess of bloody bruises, her knees and shins no better. But she couldn’t stay down. She had to get back and warn her father.

She risked one last look over the edge. The ravine that served as the entrance to the Storm Mountains was completely overrun — at least a dozen juvenile Lyndwyrms, smaller than the adults but still the size of ponies, moving with a serpent’s speed despite their bulk.

The only way in was blocked now. She had no illusions that anyone she knew, could face those things and win outright. Like her own Storm Eagle clan, most of the surrounding clans had no kingdom crest, and no clan crest at all to draw on. It would take genuinely powerful individuals to bring the nest down — and Pina feared it would cost many lives to see that victory through. She groaned, dragged herself upright on shaking knees and trembling hands, and began the slow, hobbling climb back toward her village.

<<<<<>>>>>

Kren knew they were close to the mountains the moment the air turned properly cold. It wasn’t unbearable, though — especially given they were traveling by night, something Aki had grumbled about being a terrible idea at least twice a day for the last two days straight. But time wasn’t something they had to spare. An army was already gathering at Oro Village, and allies couldn’t wait.

The trip had taken longer than expected besides — a detour was forced on them by a small forest patch settled, of all things, by centaurs. Why a forest, Kren couldn’t begin to understand. Centaurs were nomads by nature, built for open plains.

But this clan was different, and different enough to threaten them with a hail of arrows and spears the moment they got close, which had made the detour an easy call. Kren filed the encounter away regardless. That clan sat squarely on the stretch of land between Lasthold and the Storm Eagle mountains. If this alliance went through, he had no intention of rerouting around a handful of stubborn centaurs every single time. They’d fall in line, one way or another. The choice of how, was entirely theirs to make.

"We’re here." Aki’s voice cut through the dark with a grunt. Kren shook off his thoughts and looked ahead. Aki was right — it wasn’t only the chill in the air giving it away now. The mountains loomed directly in front of them, dark and jagged against the sky like some great claw scratching at the heavens. Thunder cracked overhead, startling Toa, who trailed a step behind with manacles still locked around his wrists — insurance against any thoughts of escape or betrayal.

Kren turned to Ruhu. "From here, how long until we reach the Storm Eagle village?" The merchant shrugged.

"I’ve only been there twice myself, Your Majesty. Blindfolded both times, I’m afraid, so I can’t give you a proper route. But I picked up a few whispers along the way and kept rough count of our travel time. Half a day on foot from here, heading northwest, if my guess holds. My hope is they find us first, honestly — better that, than we wander these mountains longer than we have to."

Kren frowned. He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of wandering blind and hoping to be found, but there wasn’t much choice in it. Stopping here for the night, at least, seemed like the sound move. He turned to take stock of the rest of his retinue. Fima and Aki had come along for security and support. Toa was a necessary evil.

The Jaguar clan had grown fond of him easily enough, but the rest of Lasthold hadn’t been half as forgiving — people had thrown things at Toa before they’d even cleared the town gates. And Ruhu remained their only real link to the Storm Eagles — the sole person among them with any prior contact at all.

"We camp here tonight. Everyone find a spot. Toa, you and I have first watch." The order came out smoother than Kren expected, like he’d known exactly how to give it. He shook his head at himself, found a spot beside a large outcrop of rock, and pulled Toa along with him as he pulled up his status page to review what had changed.

His bloodline had genuinely shocked him. Every parameter across his status page showed a marked increase — or more precisely, raising his bloodline grade had drastically cut the cost of nearly everything else. He’d noticed something similar when he’d advanced his cultivation before; the cost of improving his attributes had dropped in tandem. It seemed his bloodline sat at the root of everything else: how fast he cultivated, how pure and potent his Aura ran, even how much of it he could hold. It made every skill and technique that much easier to learn and master.

SYSTEM STATUS

Name: Kren N’kora Blackmane

Cultivation: First Awakening — Mid Grade (50,000 SP)

Bloodline: Black Lion — Mid Grade (100,000 SP)

Inner Beast: Royal Black Lion

ATTRIBUTES: First Awakening

• Physique: High Grade (2,000 → 1000 SP)

• Mind: High Grade (2,000 → 1000 SP)

• Aura: High Grade (20,000 → 10,000 SP)

KNOWLEDGE:

• Military Arts: Low Grade (1,000 → 500 SP)

• Agricultural Arts: Low Grade (1,000 → 500 SP)

• Crafting Arts: Low Grade (1,000 → 500 SP)

• Commerce Arts: Low Grade (1,000 → 500 SP)

• Medical Arts: Low Grade (1,000 → 500 SP)

• Love Making: Low Grade (1,000 → 500 SP)

AFFINITIES

• Wind: Mid Grade (50,000 → 25,000 SP)

• Earth: Low Grade (10,000 → 5,000 SP)

• Darkness: Low Grade (10,000 → 5,000 SP)

TECHNIQUES

• Aura Arts: None

• Aura Spells:ℯℯ𝘭.

1. Summoning: Spirits of the Wind (North, East, South, West) — Mid Grade (50,000 → 25,000 SP)

BLOODLINE TRAITS

• Pride Bond: Dormant

• Feline Sovereignty: Active

• Beast Tongue: Active

SOVEREIGN POINTS: 19,000

Every cost across the board had been cut in half. But the price of advancing his bloodline itself had jumped again — tenfold this time. Reaching High Grade would take a full hundred thousand points. Kren didn’t particularly want to think too hard about how many more Snake kins he’d have to put in the ground to get there. Still, it gave him a solid foundation to build from, and with almost certain death waiting on the other side of this alliance meeting, he needed to be ready. He glanced sideways at Toa, sitting beside him, eyes fixed on the dark treeline, taking his watch seriously despite the manacles.

Aki, Fima, and Ruhu were busy setting up tents and bedrolls nearby. Kren had decided against bringing any of the new recruits — they were simply too green. A week of training had only taught them conditioning, so even in Aki’s absence, they know what’s expected of them; the rest of their training would fall to Bernice. And she’s already begun weaving proper military strategy into their conditioning, much of it drawn from the same lessons she’d once drilled into Kren as a boy.

But bodies to throw at the enemy solved only half the problem. They still needed weapons, armor, food enough to feed a standing army, and infrastructure far beyond what Lasthold currently had to offer. The old N’kora lands — especially the capital, which sat southeast of Rubion’s Eye, bordering the Snake, Whale, and Falcon kingdoms — held land, resources, and craftsmen enough to handle production on the scale they’d eventually need.

Which was exactly why this alliance mattered so much. The Storm Eagles were renowned warriors and craftsmen both, thanks in no small part to the rich mineral deposits running through their mountains. Win them over, and Kren solved two problems with one alliance — becoming enough of a legitimate threat that his enemies would have to think twice about attacking, and buying his people the time they desperately needed to grow.

Kren turned his attention back to his status page and began spending — purchases he hoped would carry real weight against the Lyndwyrms waiting ahead, and perhaps, against the allies he was about to try to win over as well.