As he stepped inside the ring of animated crystal, Aydan held his breath. He didn’t want to do anything to disturb the situation he was in and alert them to his presence. The fact that he had really avoided their notice was already better than he worried, but he wasn’t done. He was looking for something. It was clear enough that the energy emanated from the middle of the creatures, but there wasn’t just something obvious to go pick up.

His senses told him that what he was looking for was buried under the surface. That was a problem. It wasn’t deep, but digging through crystal without energy and without obviously alerting those around him? A fool’s endeavor. Aydan bent down and inspected the crystals. He wasn’t willing to give up yet. One patch was a shade darker, and he reached down to touch it. These particular crystals were cold to the touch- expected and normal, except for the fact that many in the Crystal Caverns also carried fire elemental spiritual energy, though everything was mixed with earth.

He twisted and pulled on the crystals, but couldn’t provide much force. If he snapped one off, he imagined the creatures around him would notice. His defenses were down, since his energy was being concealed to the best of his ability. Aydan didn’t give up, continuously jiggling the crystals in the area… and one moved. It had grown loose from its neighbors and slid out with repeated coaxing. Aydan didn’t want to rush things, but it wasn’t as if he had unlimited time. Battle continued in the rest of the cavern, and soon enough someone else would notice the strange behavior of the guardians around him.

There were layers upon layers of crystals, and Aydan reached through the small hole he’d made and felt the crystals below. He was fortunate enough to find another loose crystal… or perhaps the nature of what he was looking for resulted in looser crystals. Soon enough he was up to his elbow in the ground, carefully placing the removed crystals in a small pile nearby. He could see it, as the crystals gradually darkened, a deep purple crystal at the bottom of his little hole. He reached down for it cautiously, not sensing any immediate danger from it. He carefully touched it with the hem of his sleeve, then the tip of a finger. With no reaction from either, he gently wrapped his fingers about it and pulled.

Nothing happened. The crystal didn’t move in the slightest. He tried to get a better grip, to wiggle it back and forth… but even as he put more strength into it it remained firm. He removed a bit of an area around it, but nothing changed- and it was firmly attached to the rock below. Aydan looked around. Other cultivators were moving in on his position. He wasn’t sure if they could sense him- though there was no light on him at the moment, and he didn’t recognize any darkness elemental spiritual energy from them. At least, he hoped they couldn't see him… but once they got close their active sensing would pick him up regardless. He reached down towards the crystal and waited. The instant the guardians reacted to their approach he called upon his energy, enhancing his strength and surrounding himself in his accustomed layers of protection. For a terrifying moment he thought the crystal wouldn’t give… but the rock snapped and the crystal came free just in time for him to dodge out of the way of a spray of crystal shards. At least, mostly out of the way.

He snapped his head to look over to the other point of the ellipse that might have a similar crystal. He saw someone else already there, crystal in hand. Aydan shook his head. He wouldn’t have had the chance to get it anyway. The fight over the pinkish crystals at the center had reached a crescendo, shattering the floor around it as cultivators fought and revealing some blood-red crystals as well. It might not have been actual blood- colors were difficult without light, even with practice… but it felt like it.

Aydan focused his energy on footwork techniques, slipping past a guardian charging towards him with a fist the size of his head and an arm of equal thickness. A cultivator with a massive hammer swung down at him a moment later, shattering the ground and sending him tumbling. Aydan called upon all his ability to move quickly, hiding the crystal as well as he could in a prepared container. He hoped nobody had seen it or would be able to come after him, but he was treated as an enemy by all he passed in his quickness. Aydan had to choose between not getting crushed by a giant rock monster and facing a sword. In that moment, his left arm came up, energy deflecting the blow as much as he could. A long slice was cut along the outside of his bone and he slipped out of the caverns, moving quickly and turning nearly random corners where he would hide before moving closer to the entrance.

-----

Aydan held up his arm, which was covered in bandages, “I’ll probably have a nasty scar. But I took some medicines to heal the bone and muscle as much as they can.”

“What about the crystal?” John asked.

“I’d rather not bring it out here. I’ll show it to you when we get back.”

John nodded. Aydan had already mentioned sending a letter requesting escort. The Tenebach clan could send enough forces to deal with anyone who might plan to rob them. For the moment they would be safe staying with the Order of the Amber Heart, since they had a reputation to uphold. Anything that happened nearby would be under their protection… and with a handful of Foundation Phase cultivators a battle would cause enough of a ruckus for any local authorities to come to their aid. It wasn’t like they would be traveling through the wilderness or along untamed roads. The path from the Order of the Amber Heart to Marble City and then the Tenebach clan was relatively safe… as long as they couldn’t be taken out swiftly and secretly.

-----

While waiting, John planned to take the time to cultivate. If nothing else, he wouldn’t be near such abundant earth elemental spiritual energy most of the time. The Stone Conglomerate of course had more than many places, but the amount varied significantly. The Order of the Amber Heart had one of the best locations, though what was best varied somewhat depending on particular cultivation methods.

John had planned to add a spiritual totem with the earth element for the Foundation Phase, and he’d certainly accomplished that goal- though in a more dangerous manner than he had intended. Still, he was satisfied with what he had, and its synergy with the Seed of Darkness. John didn’t know of a name for his totem. Perhaps it might be called Decaying Earth. ‘Compost’ sounded too… straightforward and plain. While people in this world understood crop growth, that didn’t mean they made compost like on Earth… and it was especially unlikely to find it in various sizes of bin on personal property. A mix of manure and less foul smelling forms of earth was a more likely fertilizer than intentional compost. That said, Fortkran hadn’t really delved deep into the farming traditions in the area.

Closer study of his totem revealed something extremely pleasing to John. While he had taken science classes throughout highschool and in the years of college before he had to drop out, he couldn’t say he was familiar with compost on a deep level. Thus, it was a pleasant surprise to notice some interesting byproducts of the process- even as replicated in a completely nonphysical manner by a spiritual totem. The first thing John noticed was that it was a bit warm. Without any physicality, warmth was really an abstract thing… but in short, fire elemental spiritual energy was distributed throughout the pile of earth. It was much less in comparison to the earth element produced, but still quite present. John was momentarily worried that it would throw off his plans, since if he was going to become attuned to fire next he would have to go in a weakening path instead of conquering path. However, there was also water… and air. Only small traces, but they covered all of the core elements. Light was… so far removed from his obtainable plans that he supposed it didn’t matter if he never was able to complete the full cycle of elements.

There was something else John discovered inside his dantian as well. He hadn’t expected it… but that was more from a lack of actual cultivation experience than it being something that couldn’t be anticipated. The natural treasure he’d bought at the auction- the pot- was now inside of him. John couldn’t say whether it was really the same thing. With cultivation being possible at all, the world didn’t work according to the laws of science he was raised to understand. There were still throughlines that kept things consistent, but also others layers that were harder to understand. His mind as John found it strange that an actual, physical thing was inside him… but his knowledge about cultivation said this was normal. Or at least, possible. Sufficient levels of attunement to natural treasures could let them fuse with a cultivator. It wasn’t the same as having an extra spiritual totem, but instead it was a tool he could call upon. Theoretically. It wasn’t like he could just grab it with his hands… but he should be able to use it somehow. He might even get some insights into special techniques if he studied it carefully.

Now that he was Foundation Phase, Fortkran understood what having two spiritual totems did for him. While they were only both equivalent to second tier, the synergy between them was quite something. He would at least be able to display more power than someone with equal tier totems that were somewhat neutral. He should also be able to match power with someone who had a third tier totem or two if their synergy was minimal. But matching power directly wasn’t the best method anyway. He needed to learn more techniques to enhance his abilities in other ways. Though some amount of raw power was always necessary, and quite welcome. He was looking forward to testing it out when he got a chance.