Ever since coming to this world, John had become more and more aware of significant differences from the life he had been used to. There were very few things that were new to him lately, but when he had first come it was more than just spiritual energy and cultivation that had drastically changed how things worked- though major differences stemmed from that.

Though the world could be said to be technologically undeveloped, the actual truth was that they simply didn’t make the same sort of advancements. Who would need a car when you could simply get faster steeds to pull a carriage? There were limits to what was available in the local region, but there was word of beasts that could outrace high ranking cultivators… and some who could fly, pulling along carriages that would float behind them. They certainly existed, but John hadn’t seen any in their region- and why should he have, when most cultivation was constrained to the first three phases, with Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators being a rarity.

Medicine was an interesting area where it had followed a very different developmental path. Instead of relying primarily on chemical properties, the spiritual nature of various plants and herbs was the main factor considered in medicine. Medicines generally fell into a few categories. Those that were used for recovering from illnesses and injuries either provided a boost to the body so that it could recover on its own, or they targeted very specific root causes such as individual poisons. Like on Earth, some lower level medicines simply treated symptoms to make dealing with an illness more bearable.

There were some medicines John took for granted that were unavailable… but there were also medicines that would be considered miracles back on Earth. From healing scar tissue to regenerating lost limbs in the most extreme cases, there were some things that simply wouldn’t come about without spiritual energy powering the effects. Of all medicines for the sake of recovery, the most rare and coveted were those that could recover damage to the meridians and dantian, the way spiritual energy propagated throughout the body and the core of cultivator’s power respectively.

If Aydan had his meridians and dantian destroyed? There would have been nothing they could do. Even if John believed in the wildest stories about medicines considered to produce miracles even by cultivator standards, there was no way they could get their hands on it if it would even show up in the local region. That was the sort of thing Ascending Soul Phase cultivators would travel around the world to get.

But it was fortunate that they were only damaged. Enough to be a serious issue, and not something a cultivator could recover on their own by circulating spiritual energy, but neither life threatening nor impossible to heal with medicine. As it turned out finding medicines for Aydan’s condition was not terribly easy either… but even if it was not on the market the Tenebach and Brandle clans, along with the rest of their alliance, were powerful enough to at least find a way to get it.

Nobody had any to sell, or would admit to it anyway- if they did it would be reserved for close associates, and despite what had happened with the Diamond Trading Company Artsiom could not find any available internally. He had taken over Bashkim’s position and continue to improve his own standing, but it simply wasn’t enough- or maybe they really didn’t have any. At least, not of a kind that would be good for Aydan. Medicines often carried with them their own elemental affinity, and while Aydan would find earth and water element medicine acceptable substitutes, anything in the other half of the system would most likely cause more harm than good.

But if none existed, that just meant they would have to make some. There were many reasons that prevented cultivators from consistently having supplies of the most valuable medicines. Where the ingredients were plant based, some took a very long time to grow- decades or even a century for a single plant. Others simply required too much effort to sustain as they had to be constantly provided with large amounts of spiritual energy. Finally, some simply had obscure requirements that humans couldn’t provide or didn’t understand, and efforts to grow them anywhere civilized failed. Things were similar with animal based ingredients- many could not be raised in captivity, and others were elusive and difficult to find. And of course the most valuable ones were strong, since if they were not they would surely already have been hunted for the value they could provide.

Finding someone who could produce the medicine had been the easiest part in this case, as they didn’t need a miracle. The Tenebach clan had some old connections with the right sort of alchemists, and while there would be a substantial cost for the work it was something the Tenebach clan could afford. Especially if Aydan made a full recovery, since in that case he would almost certainly be able to advance to the Consolidated Soul Phase given some time.

All they needed was to get the ingredients. Darkeel livers, of sufficient quality and age- or more directly power and danger. That wasn’t the only ingredient, but it was the only rare one needed for a proper spiritual healing pill of the darkness element. There were other options, of course, but this was the best one- especially since Darkeels were located in the Shimmering Islands.

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A sizable group found themselves in the southern seas, somewhere close to the Darklands. With few people actually living on the islands in the area the official claim that the area was part of the Shimmering Islands was never openly challenged, but there were also no local groups to enforce anyone who pleased coming and going. Thus, there was some chance of running into the Society of Midnight- but the destination of the trip was only known to the trusted individuals present.

John was quite glad that he would be able to fight alongside Matayal once more. Along with them were Livna and Yonit- the latter of which had just advanced to the Consolidated Soul Phase after the latest events. Aydan was injured, of course, so he was not present. Crystin had remained back in the Tenebach clan to focus on her cultivation, so neither of John’s two most consistent guards were present… but between the two clans they had another dozen Soul Expansion Phase cultivators with them. They weren’t being casual with the safety of the clan heads, nor were they planning to underestimate the darkeels… and whatever else swam near them.

Though one might reasonably expect darkeels to live in the deep sea, they actually simply preferred water infused with the dark element and lived at quite reasonable depths. The problem was finding a nearby island to use as a base of operations, and then finding a proper nest or luckily stumbling upon a suitable specimen outside looking for food. The former was not terribly difficult. They had considered taking one of the darkland-styled ship claimed in the recent conflict, but given the possibility of backfire they simply decided to go with Captain Sohan. Given the captain’s long experience and the Brandle Clans records, they found a suitable area and set down anchor. It was a small island, and missing some of the nice tropical paradise vibes common elsewhere in the Shimmering Islands, but it had a decent nook to protect the ship from waves in a storm as well as a history of having darkeels nearby.

After arriving, the away team set about looking for signs of darkeels, diving into the water and sweeping out to cover a larger area nearby each other. They focused on rocky areas, as darkeels tended to live among them. The creatures were mainly nocturnal, but their current hunt was focused during the day with the hopes to catch the creatures off guard.

The area was shallow enough that they could return to the surface when they needed to breathe… though John and Matayal only did so rarely. Conserving a little bit of spiritual energy was basically inconsequential, though it was nice to remind themselves that they had the option to breathe real air instead of creating it.

Despite the abundant sea life in the area, most of it ignored the group just as they ignored it. Even the sharks were uninterested in them, since they were either not hungry or knew better. The first day sort of felt like a nice vacation day, at least to John. To those from the Shimmering Islands, they might find it relaxing but it was more or less what they dealt with every day.

The second day they had completed some ever expanding loops around the island, and determined that there were either no darkeels present or that they were not going to be able to find them except at night… or without poking further into dark crevices than they felt comfortable with. Searching for them by spiritual energy would be difficult, as dark and water element creatures would blend in perfectly with the current environs.

Thus, they slept early with the intention to go back out in the middle of the night. It was still possible to see, though the Brandle Clan cultivators had to rely on the moon and star light, which only barely lit the sandy bottom nearby.

They were repeating their traversal through the area when what seemed like the entire ocean floor leapt suddenly towards Matayal. Nobody had sensed anything before the attack, but she twisted the water around herself, pulling away from the massive teeth but receiving a deep gash on her trailing arm. Those behind her had a moment longer to react, though some barely managed to move out of the way of the open maw of a giant shark- the mouth wide enough to swallow a man vertically, at least two meters across… even counting the teeth that were up to twenty centimeters in length coming in from both sides.

After the sudden attack the powerful spiritual energy of the creature had become quite apparent, and its tail flicked as it passed by the group, creating a sudden whirlpool. Instead of avoiding it as she chased after the shark, Matayal skirted the edge of the flow of water to speed herself, John following just behind her.

The shark was a natural swimmer, and though it looked almost ponderous given its size it was away from them before they could launch a proper counter- and then it had turned and was heading back towards them. Though it had relied on an ambush tactic, it seemed quite content to fight straightforwardly.

Water and darkness cultivators split off to either side where their respective clan leaders could make optimal use of their abilities. It was obvious that the Brandle clan was more comfortable fighting in formations in the water, but John himself had garnered significant experience… and was able to synchronize with Matayal.

Dimming his presence and those of the other darkness cultivators might have seemed like a cowardly move, but it was actually to add an element of predictability. If the Brandle clan was more easily targeted, they wouldn’t have to worry about the shark swerving wildly towards one of their groups at the last moment. And with spears at the ready, the Brandle clan cultivators were confident in their positioning.

John carefully gathered a compressed ball of air elemental spiritual energy in his free hand, keeping his sword pointed towards the approaching beast. As it moved close to clash with the others, he sprang forward.

Spears stabbed at the creature from all sides, with Matayal driving hers right in the middle towards the roof of the shark’s mouth. The point sank deep, but the creature’s jaw’s snapped closed… and stopped as Matayal’s spear prevented it from completely closing its maw. It wasn’t such a cheap piece of junk that a creature like this could snap it easily, but the weapon of a clan head.

John arrived next to the creature as it slowed in a moment of pain and confusion, stabbing into its side with his sword. The sword was partially deflected down towards the creature’s belly by a combination of its spiritual energy and its thick hide. The more important attack, however, was in his left palm.

His hand slapped up against the creature’s massive gills, forcing as much air as he could past its defenses and into the area. There was an explosion of bubbles as the compression of air released. Then he had to duck under the creature’s tail as it tried to swat him while it passed.

He was fairly certain he had messed up the shark’s breath, but as any large creature it wasn’t going to go down quickly. Even Matayal’s spear piercing into its the roof of its mouth ‘only’ went ten or twenty centimeters deep, not enough to reach anything critical. But the combined attacks along with the others- Yonit getting a good stab into a side fin as it passed- meant the creature was coming out more injured than they were. Though if it got its jaws around someone, they would go from uninjured to dead in an instant.

The shark was confident enough to come back one more time… which was its last mistake. It lunged straight for Matayal who was unarmed, but instead of dodging away from it she simply dove inside, the layers of teeth not getting close to her as the mouth was still held open. As the jaws tried to bite down on her, she channeled spiritual energy from herself and those around her into her weapon, increasing its sharpness and durability. When the jaws snapped shut, John felt a momentary panic. He stabbed his sword into the side of the creature and used it as a handle to be pulled along… but it was only a few moments before the monster slowed- then stopped.

“Help me cut my way out, would you?” Matayal said. The ability to speak clearly through the water was one any good water cultivator would develop, and John was quite used to it.

“Right,” he said. Others were coming along to retrieve their weapons pierced into the creature as well, but with it dying and unable to control its spiritual energy its hide was more reasonable to cut through. John began to slice under the bottom of the jaw, where he felt the bottom of the spear and Matayal’s feet were. Getting that spear out would be easier if she had a straight direction to pull it.

She looked quite calm as she slipped out, surrounded by more blood than sea water- but only a small portion was her own. Noticing the approach of interested scavengers, they quickly harvested what they thought most valuable from the creature before leaving it to them. They even noticed some darkeels begin burrowing their way into the creature… though none were yet of sufficient size to make what they wanted. Still, they waited- hoping to snag a big one.