Having living people working with him was a good first step for Kairen. Even if they weren’t in any position to do things for him, just the mental relief of not feeling completely isolated was a blessing for the lonely ghost. It took some of the mental strain he had been feeling away and allowed him to focus on the next part of his strategy; empowering his companions.

While the Blessings Kairen could provide were significant, they didn’t operate in a vacuum. No matter how powerful his fertility blessing became, no male was ever going to get pregnant, and his second-tier blessings all enhanced the existing capabilities of the person receiving them. The endurance Blessing was likely the only reason so many slaves survived the grueling work they were assigned given thor basic diet of porridge and water, but a proper diet would do wonders for giving the slaves the extra energy they needed to start taking care of any tasks Kairen might have for them. The medium rats showed their worth in this regard. Constant skirmishes against the slavers had honed their capabilities to a fine edge and empowered by the blessings fully for the first time in a while it was child’s play for the rats to steal enough food to feed themselves and provide some extra nutrition for the slaves.

Kairen knew that increasing the rats' activity was risky, but he felt it was worth the benefits. The rats had learned the art of subtlety and under Kairen’s direct attention were able to steal food in such a way that the guards were none the wiser, with every container looking much like it had before the heist took place. Kairen still worried that some small detail would tip off Zar and encourage him to bring in Mr. Mage once more. The ritualists hadn’t been seen since that fateful day he murdered a slave and assigned a growth pattern to Kairen, and Kairen was quite eager to keep it that way. It was a hassle putting as many points towards the growth upgrades instead of the upgrades Kairen prioritized, but it meant that Zar hadn't had any reason to consult with the expert for a solution.

Food wasn’t the only thing Kairen had his rats stealing. While a set of actual keys would be sure to make everyone aware that something was amiss, there was more than enough new construction going up all the time for Gamma to easily slip in and carry away a handheld carving kit and some small pieces of softer rock. Carving their own keys wouldn’t be a quick process, but it was something the blacksmith could work on while he rested, when he wasn’t chained to his forge. The tools and material might be different, but the large man was confident in his ability to chip out something workable. Papyrus was another item Kairen raided heavily. The burgeoning administration used enough of the material tracking things that a few spare scraps weren’t even missed. Those scraps might have been worthless to the administration which could afford countless full-size scrolls and books to use for their work, but for the slaves with almost nothing they were priceless. Each piece of paper was painstakingly turned into a story, or an illustrated poem, or a silly drawing by a bored kid in a struggle to chase mundanity, and reading and writing lessons were secretly conducted during downtime, spreading knowledge that could never be taken away. The slowly growing resistance also put those same scraps to use, hiding maps and codes inside the seemingly mundane writings and drawings.

It would be a long time before the growing resistance was actually in a position where they could resist anyone, but Kairen wasn’t about to tell the slaves that their efforts were useless. Even if the hidden maps were constantly replaced with new ones as the Oasis grew, and as countless rumors and minor facts were collated without any real weaknesses discovered, the act itself of working towards their freedom, however vague and far off it might be, did wonders for the spirits of the captives. And freedom or any sort of revolution would be a long time coming. The sands made casual travel between settlements difficult, if not quite impossible. Kairen knew his rats could easily acquire a set of keys for the manacles and cell doors that kept the slaves locked in one place, but there wasn’t anything he could do to help with the next part of any plan. Fighting against the martially superior slavers would either take more slaves than were currently present or a miracle to somehow balance the scales. Kairen’s blessings didn’t qualify yet for the latter. Running away wasn’t any better of an option. Traveling by themselves would keep the slaves away from the worst dangers of the Shifting Sands, and if their only goal was to head somewhere other than Zaros they didn’t need a pathfinder to help guide them. Those small blessings meant that instead of a guided trek through monster-filled territory any slaves making a run for it would simply need to spend days out in the desert by themselves, with minimal supplies, and the need to cover a large distance to reach the safety of another settlement. Furthermore, they would have to do so without the benefits of Kairen’s blessings, particularly the Vitality and Endurance Blessings which often were the only factors keeping the abused slaves alive.

That wasn’t to say that some of the captives hadn’t risked it. The gender ratio of the slavers was still heavily skewed towards men, and the depredations that the single men in power abused their position to commit were enough to convince a few women that they were better off risking the odds elsewhere. Kairen did what he could for them, gathering as much food as possible and easing the process of their escape through locked doors. None of the women who ran away returned, and Kairen could only hope that they had made it to safety. An even smaller hope was that they would somehow rally others to do something about Zaros, but said hope was mostly idle dreaming. The distances made any combative action difficult, and there wasn’t much incentive to do so in the first place. Slavery was a common practice in most cities, even if it wasn’t paraded around like it was in Zaros, and as such convincing those in power to put an end to a practice that they supported was futile. Other escaped slaves and peasants would be more sympathetic to the cause but lacked the resources needed to actually effect any change.

No, If Zaros was to be liberated it would have to be through the work of Kairen and his allies, no matter how slow or daunting the prospect might be. Still, the ghost had a few ideas to hopefully make a revolution a bit more manageable. His primary goal was to find a way for one of the slaves to access the same interface that Zar had. There were so many options for growth there that would help the slaves out. Actually getting to that point was the problem. Kairen had been in a good position to see the runic array and ritual that Mr. Mage had used to summon the screen in question, but at the time he had been more than a little distracted by the conversation between Zar and Mr. Mage and the horrible torture they were inflicting on their victim. He could give a basic outline of what he remembered, but unfortunately none of the slaves were ritualists or runecrafters, or had any other relevant skills to help Kairen figure out what needed doing. They were more than willing to provide what help they could, but there was only so much that could be learned or circumvented through trial and error, especially considering no one present had any interest in using human sacrifice to fuel their research. Knowing that a Status Stone had been mentioned as an alternative, Kairen kept an ear out for any news of one being delivered to the Oasis, but it seemed like ordering and paying for one was lower down on the Zar’s list of things to do than Kairen had hoped. The boy had no doubt one would find its way to the Oasis eventually, but the boy had really hoped to have one sooner rather than later.

Even if recreating the ritual had stalled out for the moment, Kairen had other tasks keeping himself busy. It had taken a fair amount of effort to arrange and even more time to convince himself that it was a good idea to do so, but under Kairen’s orders Alpha had once again snuck into the slave pens, this time carrying a special present in his mouth. Bleached white ivory gleamed in the little light that was available as it played over the polished surface of the finger bone that Alpha had retrieved. Even if the geography had changed over time, and even if the magical growth had hastened its decomposition, Kairen’s body was still right where he had left it, buried under the Oasis. After all this time there wasn’t any meat left to use for testing purposes, but Kairen’s bones would last for a while longer, even in the damp soil they now found themselves residing in. It wouldn’t be something that a slave could simply eat whole, but there were ways to work around that problem.

“You want me to grind this up?” Alya asked dubious, carefully inspecting the small bone. “You do know what it is, right?”

Alpha squeaked affirmatively. Right right, I’m guessing it’s some magic shit that would take far too long to explain. Well, I don’t have an actual mortar and pestle, so you’ll just have to settle for some of the powdered bone being lost, alright?”

It hadn’t worked. Alya hadn’t had any difficulties reducing the bone down to a fine powder, and after a long discussion and a few bribes of stolen desserts she had even agreed to mix the powder into a drink and consume some of it. The same bribes and curiosity had convinced some of the other slaves to give it a try as well, the sweet desserts helping to cleanse the taste of the bitter, dirty water. It was as close as Kairen could get to replicating what had happened to Alpha, but none of the humans seemed to be aware of the boy’s presence. Kairen knew it had taken some time before Alpha had spotted him, even if he wasn’t sure if that was tied to the rat’s ability to see him or just coincidence, but he still held out hope that eventually the mixture would do its work. He had more bones to use, and it didn’t seem like they were immediately poisonous or toxic to living humans. Still, even if there was a connection between eating Kairen’s body and being able to see him it was possible that it simply couldn’t be replicated. Drinking bone-infused water wasn’t quite the same as eating one’s body weight worth of food. Still, there wasn’t much Kairen could do about it other than try his best.

While Kairen would have liked to have had that direct interaction, and while he hoped that it would allow others to see and interact with the Oasis control screens, not having his initial plans work out didn’t hurt as much as the ghost had thought it would. Between his ability to read and write and the medium rats’ willingness to act as intermediaries between him and the slaves, Kairen found that he had recovered most of the ability to interact with people that he had lost. He still missed being able to have physical contact, and having people be able to actually look at him when they were talking would have been nice, but not having it wasn’t world-ending. He was recognized by the slaves, and they were grateful for what he did for them. The food and drinks he stole were nice, but his Blessings had slowly settled into the captives, giving them the endurance needed to push through the difficulties of their situation, while slowly giving them the tools they needed to eventually change things for the better.

All it would take would be the right moment, and everything would change.