During the match, John had been able to watch Sect Head Ardalion and Elder Rimantas’ reactions. It was clear they weren’t confident in his ability to win, at least not at first. However, even from shortly into the battle he displayed abilities others had not, and he had excellent control. If there was one flaw John found in Nik it was that his power was a bit lacking, even for his cultivation.

But that was something that could be improved. He was still young, and his rate of cultivation was sufficient. Between two cultivators, one who made more efficient use of their power would win if their cultivations were close, so even if he fell behind slightly in cultivation he would still be decent. But that presumed he kept the same rate of cultivation even as he grew older, and John was fairly certain it would increase as he properly reached adulthood.

“Where did he come from?” Sect Head Ardalion asked. “I haven’t heard anything about this fellow.”

Elder Rimantas shook his head, “He’s had no standout results so far. I first took note in the tournament when he defeated Melanthina, but it was only a battle between two Foundation Phase cultivators. Even if one was a scion of a powerful clan, he was three years older so nobody thought much of it. As for his origins, he’s just one of the locals who displayed some natural affinity for light and joined the sect through standard channels.”

“And the resources for his development?”

“Standard for his cultivation rank,” Elder Rimantas explained.

While that sounded reasonable, John knew that it effectively meant ‘minimal’. A sect could not afford to be stingy if it wanted to raise powerful disciples, but the basic levels of resource distribution were as little as anyone could get. If they were determined to be a waste, a disciple would usually be expelled or at least no longer considered a disciple. Ardalion nodded slowly. “We’ll have to keep track of him from here on out, and what he does with the resources we’ll be awarding him for his participation.” Ardalion’s gaze shifted to John. “What do you think?”

“He certainly seems to have talent,” John agreed. “This rivalry my daughter has with him also seems like a great motivator. I have no intention to ask you to let her win any victories she doesn’t take with her own hands, and if he were to truly defeat her she might learn something. Now if you’ll excuse me,” John nodded. “I should go see my daughter before she wakes up.”

Melanthina had already been carried off by her sister, brought to the infirmary where she’d previously only had minor wounds treated. Though she currently wasn’t particularly wounded either, since both combatants had been out of spiritual energy and disarmed of their weapons. She’d simply brought about her own state of unconsciousness with a poorly executed headbutt.

-----

John’s senses flickered over Nik as he moved past him towards the other side of the infirmary. There was something… but if it was important the actual medics could deal with it. John wasn’t going to pretend to know better than them just because he could beat them in a fight. The young man didn’t look to be in a particularly bad state except for the bandage plastered over his nose, except for his drained spiritual energy.

Melanthina was likewise healthy, with only minimal marks from her battle, generally scorched clothes where the beams of light had made their way through her defenses. Matayal was already there, but as John stepped forward their darkness attuned daughter reacted to him, her eyes fluttering open. “Father… did I win?”

“You fought well,” John said with a smile. “Ultimately, your battle ended in a draw.”

Melanthina grimaced. Somehow, it seemed as if that was worse than simply losing again. Melanthina sat up, sighed, then flopped forward. “I’m so exhausted… and my head hurts. Why does my head hurt?”

Ursel was the one to answer that. “Because you’re not hard as stone, dummy,” she said as she lightly pressed her finger on the bandages over her sister’s forehead. “And your headbutt technique is bad.”

Melanthina reached for her forehead. For a moment, John felt the same sort of thing Nik had, but a flicker of spiritual energy inside Melanthina and it disappeared. It seemed there was nothing to worry about. “I should have won,” she declared to the room, or perhaps herself.

John and Matayal both seemed to have words to say there, but Tirto was first to respond. “You don’t always have to win,” he said calmly. “Sometimes, you just lose.”

“But to the same person twice?” Melanthina grimaced as she already considered her tie another loss. “I’m not going to let some obstacle of some guy with no background stop me!” She spun her legs off the bed and moved to stand up, where she immediately staggered forwards into her mother’s arms.

“You rattled your head quite a bit, dear,” Matayal pat her on the head. “You have to rest until the doctors say you can go.”

Melanthina grumbled, but accepted being pushed gently back to her position on the bed. “Fine,” she declared.

-----

John made his way back to the other side of the room. Nik was there, having properly returned to consciousness himself. He wasn’t surrounded by people- the doctors had made sure his condition was improving, then left him be. Though they had declared intentions to encourage his growth, Elder Rimantas and the sect head were not present. A single tie in a vaguely important duel was not enough to rocket him into such importance that he should be visited by such individuals.

That also meant that getting a visit from a foreign sect head would be quite unusual, but that was only if anyone noticed. John made use of just a small bit of darkness energy to minimize the impact of his presence. “An impressive fight, young man,” John said, causing Nik’s head to jerk towards him. “Almost another victory against my daughter.”

The young man swallowed. “I- uh… well…”

“It is a good thing, to take such a battle seriously. I doubt she would have been pleased if you simply gave up,” John tried to be reassuring, but he understood it wasn’t very comforting to have a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator looming nearby. “What do you think of my daughter?”

“She’s umm…” Nik hesitated, “Strong and talented,” he eventually came up with.

“And scary, I imagine,” John grinned. “She doesn’t usually let things get to her, but her loss to you was one of them. I don’t think she’ll give up on facing off against you in the future. In fact, she’ll probably want to fight you again right away. Don’t worry, that wouldn’t be good for either of you. I’ll deal with that. As for you… just make sure you keep training. Get stronger. Don’t be afraid to display your power in front of your sect, either. They’ve seen it now, so it will only hurt you to keep your head down.”

“So you want me to get stronger… so your daughter will have someone to fight?”

John shrugged, “Why not? It’s better for you either way. And don’t forget you were promised some rewards to show up.”

“... you know about that?”

John’s grin widened, “I wouldn’t have wanted to fight her again either.” John took half a step away, “Don’t be afraid to make use of everything you have to get stronger. Saving things up for the peak of Foundation Phase sounds nice, but if you get there sooner you’ll be able to earn more for yourself. A smart sect won’t let those who show talent go unrewarded. Though that probably doesn’t mean much from someone who was born into his position.”

-----

With the draw between Melanthina and Nik, the training exercises moved on to include those of higher cultivations. There was a significant period of time before John himself got involved, at which point things were less in a formal match structure. They still fought in the same arenas for the safety precautions, but there weren’t exactly many matchups for John or Matayal.

Ardalion was only in the early Consolidated Soul Phase, and the rest of the Combining Luster Sect were weaker than him. Either of them versus a single opponent was a poor match, but when things got to two or three opponents they became unbalanced anyway.

There was some intention to have John and Matayal against Ardalion and several others, but there were concerns about the strength of the arena’s wards keeping them safe with so many participants of significant power.

During the whole process, Melanthina was moping off to the side, annoyed that she wasn’t allowed to have a re-rematch against Nik right away. She would get over it eventually, though John wasn’t sure how long that would take. The triplets were just about to head into their teens, so there was bound to be more turmoil ahead.

-----

A wave of light washed over John. He had previously tried to replicate Melanthina’s techniques, and though she made it look easy to have it flow around her with little damage it most certainly was not. Perhaps it was a particular talent she had, or there was some insight John had missed. Either way, it was more efficient for him to simply protect himself with other elements rather than dealing with the clash of light and darkness.

The Combining Luster Sect might not be terribly powerful- though they weren’t weak with a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator, the general power of the region had grown- but their actual techniques were impressive. Among other things they properly made use of ranged techniques, and while they were not the most powerful they were swift and accurate. Against darkness users, that was the worst case, as the power came into existence from the clash of elements.

John was better able to replicate Melanthina’s beams of darkness. That didn’t require whatever she did with the light, simply forming spiritual energy into a condensed line. More or less. Either way, John found the power was sufficient to stagger his opponent for a moment, allowing him to move in closer.

If ranged attacks using darkness were so easy it would be used more often, and John didn’t think it was powerful enough except when clashing against light element cultivators. Throwing daggers carrying energy were more effective, even if slower. He wasn’t going to begrudge another option in his arsenal, however- and he might develop it further with practice.

Once in melee range his opponent still had the ability to fight back, but even with John restraining himself somewhat he had more options to work with. He could likely overcome his opponent in a few moves with his other elements, but John tried to make sure he did his best to match his darkness against light to some extent, learning different lessons than he had from the Golden Tomb Guardians.

After reviewing various of her new abilities, John found himself once again quite impressed with Melanthina’s talent, and though it would be somewhat embarrassing he might have to ask her for guidance. He didn’t think it was a result of him going away from pure darkness either- he kept up with the rest in terms of control without issue. She was just an exception. Perhaps being born with the affinity helped, but she also worked hard. Without the dedication Melanthina had she would likely have ended up much closer to average.

John intended to seek out further sources of motivation for the triplets- though Tirto seemed well covered. He was easy-going and what encouragement he needed came mainly from his mother. John wasn’t planning to ignore him, but he was currently the least likely to fall behind. Ursel had gained a great bout of motivation after her visit to the Viridia Wildlands, but it hadn’t suddenly given her a ‘place’. She was still the third child of two clans, with no structure constraining her but also nothing telling her where she belonged.