Elsewhere in the world, special powders made to detect the presence of condensed spiritual air were commonly available. In the Earth Conglomerate, air elemental spiritual energy was rarer and thus rarely formed into dense clumps… and nobody had need for it. Thus, there were few ways to detect it. John could use his own spiritual energy to try to detect it, but if he disturbed it he might cause it to disperse. Darkness was one of the opposition elements to air, after all, so their reactions were prone to be violent. That could be related to why cultivation inside the mine might cause collapses as well.

So instead of a special powder purposefully made… John was carrying a sack of flour. He would blow it into a tunnel or chamber, watching how it swirled around- or if it just settled to the ground directly. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but it wasn’t as if a sack of flour was costly. Edgar might think he was crazy, but he said nothing as he escorted John through the tunnels.

After several hours, John was about ready to give up. Maybe it was crazy to think there would be condensed spiritual air in a spirit stone mine. It was probably more crazy to try to use flour to discover where it was. Storing it in glass bottles was also a bit silly, but he really had no other ideas. He blew the last handful of flour into a room, ready to turn and leave in a huff. Somehow it felt more appropriate than honest disappointment. Maybe that was Fortkran seeping into him, or maybe he just took his new status too seriously.

Then the fine powder swirled strangely in one patch of air. John’s eyes could see quite well in the darkness, and the flour mostly avoided a section. John stepped closer, pulling out a bottle. If that was what he was looking for, how would he get it in? He would just have to try something. He formed a thin net, sweeping it through the air. He hoped it would repel the condensed spiritual air without dispersing it. Up close, he could barely sense anything… but something ended up in his bottle. John corked it, looking inside with his eyes. There was some flour, but a few gentle shakes showed there was something more than just normal air inside. If he squinted, he thought he could see the light bending slightly around a sort of bubble.

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Over the next few days, John managed to capture several more bubbles of condensed air. As long as he got them in a bottle, they weren’t in significant danger of dispersing as long as he handled the bottle gently. Even when the condensed air lost its form, it just tried to escape the bottle and would eventually reform, except when it expanded too forcefully and cracked the bottle.

Deeper in the mines, at the bottom of particular mineshafts, there were also pools of water. Most of it was just that- regular old stagnant mine water. However, some of it was condensed by the powerful spiritual energy in the area. To John’s benefit, it reacted much more nicely with his darkness element, happily letting him scoop up the little beads which wobbled like jello. He started to gather them into bottles, and eventually ended up with at least ten times as many bottles of water beads compared to the condensed air.

It wasn’t enough to make a business out of, but spirit water was at least something sought after in the area. With his current plans… he wouldn’t be attempting to attune to a water elemental totem until he was more powerful than his grandfather. Water would be the fourth step in the cycle of elements, and he would get his fourth totem at the Consolidated Soul Phase. That was extremely far off… even if everything went relatively smoothly. It wouldn’t hurt to study some, however.

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Handling spiritual air was quite difficult. Even contained inside a bottle it pulled away from John’s darkness, sometimes unraveling or reacting with his energy so that both were destroyed. The effect was even stronger when he tried to use a bit of earth, though he did manage to seal a bubble of spiritual air within a rocky shell. It wasn’t useful for anything, but he had done it. It was likely to explode at any time, though.

Controlling the earth itself was hard enough. It was an allied element, but his nature wanted to convert it to darkness instead of using it as it was. The blessing of the family’s guardian beast was responsible for his darkness affinity, though the Tenebach family bloodline was also attuned to it naturally. It was just less powerful at first, receiving a boost that helped begin cultivation. If he was going to cultivate earth next, he needed something like that. At least, if he didn’t want to struggle through the first half of Foundation Phase. ‘Earthen Treasures’ had some things to say on that subject, and John had been browsing for what might be most available in the area. The Earth Conglomerate had such things in abundance, but the quality and expense of them varied drastically. The Tenebach family wasn’t without money, but there was a limit to how much they could spend on his cultivation. They had other things to manage, after all. It might be best to find one himself. It seemed likely that staying around the clan all the time would stagnate him eventually. He could probably reach the peak of the Spiritual Collection Phase ‘again’, but going beyond that could require some experience, luck, or treasures. The more he had, the better his chances. Before he went off adventuring, however, he needed to finish his job with the mine.

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Deep, deep in the mines the air was foul and the light of even a lantern hadn’t been seen in years. Edgar would have needed one, but John made him stay further away. He could filter the air going into his lungs, and he didn’t need a torch at all. He could see quite well in the dark, and he wanted it to be exactly that way. The old unused area of the mine were indeed more dangerous to traverse, but John was now an eighth level Spiritual Collection Phase cultivator. At the very least, he was far beyond the capabilities of a normal person. As long as he kept his own spiritual energy internal and didn’t stir up the abundant energy throughout the mine, he could avoid any hazard that would come to him.

It was only his supposition that there might be condensed spiritual darkness in the depths of the mine. He hadn’t seen any indication during their tours… but that was why he was in old sections. Torches created light, and even though the light of a torch was very weak indeed light was the opposite of darkness. It was prone to extreme reactions in the presence of the other… and the book ‘Condensed Spiritual Energy’ indicated that it would need time to build up. Months or years, probably. Any well-trafficked areas would not have any. But with even spiritual air being present, darkness wasn’t unlikely.

John could indeed sense that the spiritual energy in the area was highly concentrated with both earth and darkness. Darkness was certainly a lesser component, but it would do well with the surrounding earth. John continued deeper, watching his footing on now-uneven ground that had been pitted by flows of water or just never properly smoothed to begin with.

Mine tunnels gave way to a natural cave, and two steps inside a clump of darkness came swooping down towards John. He was used to far corners being dark, so he hadn’t immediately notice the clump up towards the ceiling, despite its contrast with the surroundings. When it flew towards him, shrieking, he reacted with a punch.

The spiritual energy around the bat dispersed enough for him to discern that was indeed what it was, but it wasn’t a small creature. Its wingspan was as wide as he was tall, and the energy it carried protected itself from his counter, though he knocked it back.

He hadn’t expected to need his sword in the mines, but he carried it at his side regardless. As the bat swooped towards him once more, he concentrated his energy onto the blade. Though the bat had some power, it was likely just a fifth level spiritual beast, equivalent to a cultivator of the same level of the Spiritual Collection Phase. Perhaps a bit more powerful, but as a beast it was less able to make good use of that power.

As his sword struck the bat he felt significant resistance for a moment before his sword sliced it in two. If he’d been at the fifth level as well he would have lost that competition, but then he wouldn’t have chosen to fight directly. The beast’s corpse might be worth something… though the spiritual energy it controlled had already started dispersing. It didn’t seem as if it would retain anything like some would.

Looking around the cave, there were no other beasts… but there was another patch of darkness. It was much smaller, perhaps two hands across. John couldn’t see through it at all despite his affinity for the darkness. Perhaps that was just what he was looking for. He moved closer cautiously, not wanting to miss any other hidden creatures or other sorts of danger.