Chapter 312: Strength in the Earth Union
Their task in the Earth Union was taking longer than expected, but Kai didn't mind at all. While he tried to figure out the mystery of the blob-like monster he had plenty of time for training, both his normal work and the new Frontier compression exercises. Even after half a month he was still making great progress.
The only thing that worried him was that politics might be getting worse on Rosemount in his absence. There was no way to contact them across continents, so the Elven Wilds might be invaded or the demons might be doing something terrible in the Commonwealth. He had a feeling that Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena would laugh at him if he expressed those concerns, but he didn't care, he'd spent time with those people and didn't want bad things to happen to them.
So he reminded himself of the other reason his worries were stupid: right now he wasn't strong enough to get involved in war at the highest level. If he wanted to make a difference, he needed both mastery of the phases and more power.
Currently he was taking a break from the immortal blob in order to help the Tonjin brothers, who were taking on the Prince of Pebble's bizarre request to carry stones. Kai was fairly sure it had something to do with manipulating the earth elements in the region, but whatever the real reason, the challenge involved feats of strength. And when it came to lifting heavy and unwieldy things, naturally that fell to the large men.
All three of them ran while hefting one of the enormous stones, generally on their backs or over one shoulder. Kai was experimenting with holding it directly overhead, which was only stable if he used his Savage Heart to transform his hands into claws. He made great progress until the transformation slipped and his human-sized hand couldn't stabilize the weight.
It tumbled into the dust and he dropped back, cursing under his breath. The Tonjin brothers caught up with him, but instead of making fun they set down their own boulders beside him.
"That seems pretty impressive already," Raghi said. "You sure you need to hold it like that?"
"The skill is supposed to lead to sustained transformations." Kai flexed his fingers, trying to find the claw again. "I didn't train with them long enough, so I'm still figuring it out."
"Well, we're glad to have you back. You've taught us a lot of Physique training methods."