At the end of the previous day, Kaire decided to bite the bullet and accept the deal that Wu has proposed. It was simple enough and benefited both sides nicely. Kaire was hired by Inner Earths to ensure the delivery of the Fuel Rock Granules, and due to the proprietary nature of the matter, she would also be given a bonus if she figured out the source of the Fuel Rocks. Compared to the massive bonus given to her due to her supposed position as a member of the Sky Guardian Corp member, Wu and Lera's bounty are next to negligible. On Wu's side, he get to take a closer look at the Fuel Rocks and its source without worrying about his safety, as Kaire promised to look after him until they got the source of it all. Though, despite how Wu looked like a goody two-shoes, Kaire still wanted to at least hold Lera as a soft hostage, keeping her back and making sure that Wu's going to be behaving as he promised. "It's going to be all right." Wu said, tapping his knuckles on the table of Lera's confinement, which just turns out to be one of the living quarters of the barracks, "As far as confinement goes, this is pretty nice!" "Hmph!" Lera turned her head stubbornly away, annoyed how easily Wu ditched her once again out of convenience, "This always happens!" "Yeah...sorry about that, haha..." Wu chuckled apologetically. "Next time, I will not forgive you!" Lera said, turning around and sitting on her bed. "Right right..." Wu said, waving goodbye and joining Kaire outside. Lera glanced towards the table, and she noticed a tiny roll of paper left behind by Wu stuck in between the gaps in the wood. Waiting until Kaire and Wu had left the camp and the guards roaming outside became distracted by other things going on, she casually walked towards the table and unrolled the piece of paper. "So...why did you drop out from the Sky Guardian Corp?" Wu asked. "Don't talk like we are friends!" "..." Wu sighed, looking at the pissy Kaire. Strangely, when she's so much stronger than him, Wu actually felt rather relaxed when talking to her. Like playing a game with nothing to lose, he planned to do whatever he can to, at least, get Kaire to change her mind about completely wrecking whatever's downstream. "I mean, it's rather quiet if nobody's talking, right?" Wu asked, turning and looking back at the other three miners that Kaire took with her. They honestly looked mortified and sweaty despite it being the first thing they did in the morning. "I...yeah...maybe..." One of the miners said hesitantly, his eyes unfocused and feet dragging. "See?" Wu said, "We are going to be working together, so we might as well get to know each other." Kaire let out a sigh and turned to one of the comparatively 'outspoken' miners, "Who is Wu supposed to be again, the Fourth Savior or something?" "...They call him the Summoned one in Varous...And they said he's responsible for the attack on Pinnacle Research Institute." The miner responded, and Wu shrugged when he heard the official story from the mouths of someone he didn't know. "So shitty governments aren't exclusive to just my universe..." Wu said, "Well, actually, it was attacked by somebody else, and that attack was also the exact reason I was brought here, okay?" "I...really don't care." Kaire said, walking faster and faster until they reached the outer edge of the camp. "What do you care about then?" Wu asked, and Kaire gave him a look before finally giving up. "I just want a relaxing life." Kaire said with hands on her hips proudly, "I want to retire rich, and live on one of those luxury waterfront housing near the warm sunny beaches on the Western continent!" That's an...oddly specific motivation, but as her pupils transformed into gold coins, Wu realized that desire was built in to Kaire's entire character. Well, that makes it all the easier to make deals with her. Similar to celebrities and star athletes on his world, the ridiculously strong people in this world are also just quirky humans at the end of the day. "I...can honestly understand that." Wu said, "Getting tanned under the sun with a drink in hand as the hot babes walks around you..." "RIGHT?!" Kaire said excitedly, the gloomy face she had completely gone now that she's talking about herself, "I grew up in the cold ass Talonia, and I can't freaking wait! Wu! If you help me get this shit, I can probably even help clear your name!" You probably can't. Wu looked at her as Kaire walked around happily out of the back gate of the camp. "All right, let's get started then." Kaire said, pointing to the shallow water next to them, "How do you plan to help us?" "We are going to track down the Fuel Rocks concentration in the water as we go along." Wu said, "Instead of blindly going upstream, we will use one of those netted baskets you brought along." "Then...what?" "We collect data, and gain information from it." Wu said, "Simple, right?" Remember, Wu said it's simple, but not easy. As it turns out, holding the netted baskets in the flowing water and waiting for the shards of Fuel Rocks to build up is an extremely tedious process, and eventually, Wu realized that waiting for ten minutes will give them the bare minimum number of Fuel Rock shards to show any sort of useable patterns. Or in scientific terms, gives them data with enough statistical power to show any sort of relationship. Assuming that those Fuel Rocks won't just evaporate into the thin air, they then take readings whenever they saw a new branch of the streams split away from the main part. Wu suspected that the concentration of the Fuel Rocks should be proportional to the flow rate of water, and so far, it appeared to have been the case. The next few days simply involved them taking the air chariot towards the bottom of the Titan's Spine and making countless measurements along the way. The concentration of Fuel Rocks increased as they got closer, which was what kept Kaire interested. It is only when the trees have started to lessen and the slopes underneath their feet started to rise that Wu realizes the true size of the mountains ahead of him. It is truly titanic. The mountain peaks high up into the clouds, and all that group can see are the streams of water running down the sides of the mountains. So by all metrics, the source of the Fuel Rocks are...the snowcaps at the top of the Titan's Spine? "Oh shit." One of the miners dropped his hands to his sides, "But nobody has made it to the apex of the Titan's Spine alive..." "And that's because they haven't tried hard enough!" Kaire said excitedly before getting ready to start the climb when Wu squatted next to one of the miners that's holding the netted basket next to the streams, and much to their surprise, the water was clear of the Fuel Rocks segments. Was this some sort of an error? Wu wondered when suddenly, a single piece finally found itself into the basket. The miner let out a relieved chuckle, but the math just didn't work out here. "So? Are we climbing or not?" Kaire asked, turning towards Wu as he squatted down and placed his hand in the cold stream water. Wu ignored her question, his gaze instead tracked forward onto the field of shattered rocks not too far in front of him. The streams that ran down through the creeks on the side of the mountain seemed way too shallow to be responsible for all of the flow, and the number of the Fuel Rocks within just didn't make sense. Did they already pass the point of origin of the Fuel Rocks, or are the Fuel Rocks just sediment minerals that were released along the way without a definite source? All possible, but Wu felt like there must be something deeper. "Kaire." Wu said, standing up, "You are River-Bending level, right?" "Yeah?!" "Can you...perhaps split a mountain for me then?" Wu asked, pointing to the field of normal-looking rocks in front of them, "I think maybe the source is hidden within the mountain itself. The source of the water and the Fuel Rocks may have an underground component too." "Ah, the things I do for money." Kaire said, gesturing a hand for all of the miners and Wu to hop back onto the Chariot. Then, before Kaire said anything, one of the miners pushed the control of the Chariot and brought them high into the air. "Alright, Big Girl time~" Kaire said, loosening up her shoulder when suddenly, a vortex of the Wave rapidly formed around her body, scooping up leaves and blowing them away. Then, tiny bolts of lightning shot out from the vortex of the wave as Kaire's body rapidly grew in size and width. Her blue and white Sky Guardian Corp uniform growing at the same rate as her body, preventing any chance of fanservice sadly. As Wu's jaws were left on the ground, Kaire has already made herself twice as tall as the tallest of trees in the Endless Woods, standing at a whopping forty meters in height. Thinking back to the classic engineering interview questions of why there aren't giants in his world, Wu leaned out of the chariot and looked towards her feet. Those are some gigantic feet and legs, and it makes sense when it comes to supporting the weight of everything above. The light glows of the Wave also came off her body extremely clearly, to the point that even Wu can tell she's wielding an enormous amount of the Wave with her every movement. He turned to look at the other miners, and they were all shivering in their seats at the way she's manipulating the Wave. Wu wondered how her actions might affect others that are sensitive to the Wave when she reached forward with her massive hands and started clawing away the field of rocks, tossing it onto the side as if she's a kid making a sandcastle. Then, surges of water shot out from underneath the rocks and made Kaire shouted something excitedly with a comically low voice. That roar nearly made Wu deaf, and the tinnitus returned for the first time since the first night he went to a nightclub in Oxford. "Watch out!" One of the Miners shouted, when suddenly, a beam of pure Wave shot out from a hole in the ground, dug deep into her shoulders and sent Kaire tumbling backwards while the miner that's piloting the chariot rapidly pulled it up and to the side to avoid her falling body. "What's that?!" Wu held onto the railing of the chariot and looked intently as Kaire clawed away the rest of the rocks. More and more water were surging out now that the pressure placed on them by the rocks were gone. At the same time, those strange beams of the Wave continued to be unleashed on the environment around it, decimating the trees and knocking Kaire back until she fell back on her butt and crushed dozens of poor trees and bushes in the process "D...a...m...n." She said with her slow and low voice before turning over and looking at Wu. "That must have been it!" Wu said excitedly, "The source of it all!" "That's nice and all, but if it's so powerful that even Kaire can't get close, how are we supposed to move it?" One of the miners asked, and Wu just smiled and pointed to the rocks that she just casually tossed aside. "If those rocks and the water can cover up the source, then that means we can use it to contain its power!"