The block of heavy metal sat in Ursel’s cradled hands. Maximizing its closeness would allow her to better observe it, and potentially pick out these very small… things. Flaws in the structure. Or whatever. Ursel still hadn’t observed anything on the level of ‘atoms’ or ‘molecules’ but what she understood was that she could look closer, deeper.

It made sense, really. Though it appeared perfect, could anything made by a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator truly be perfect? Ursel knew she couldn’t compare to them, but she also knew that there was at least one phase beyond. The Exalted Soul Phase was too legendary to count, though perhaps that would be the level when something actually achieved perfection.

Ursel’s senses focused on a smaller area, then smaller still. The smooth surface of the ingot had no flaws she could discern… but there was at least one place she could look. It had edges, after all. Everything that wasn’t a sphere had some sort of edge or visible change, and in a way a sphere had the most change as it was continuous.

In this case, the ingot was the traditional shape, somewhat close to a rectangular prism. But it wasn’t quite that, with angled edges making it slightly wider at the bottom. Closer to a trapezoidal prism, though the edges weren’t hard but rounded. Either way, that left her plenty of places to search for flaws, places where two or even three faces met.

She’d done that before, but she hadn’t been looking small enough. Probably. As she sought flaws, she also worked on decreasing the scale of her roots. They were naturally able to find paths, so perhaps if they were the right size they would work on their own. Smaller and smaller still, until Ursel wondered how they could possibly cause anything damage. Though the answer to that was simple- the same way as any other roots. For they did not have to remain at their starting size, but would expand to crack open any gaps they wormed their way into.

Days turned into weeks turned into months as she immersed herself into the ingot for much of her waking hours… until she finally squirmed the tiniest root imaginable into a crack she wasn’t sure hadn’t just been imagination. Her following celebrations immediately resulted in disappointment when she lost her focus and the root faded away, leaving no traces. But, the fact that it had been there for even a moment meant she could do it again. If she could find the exact spot again.

-----

The way Aydan strode up to John, one would think that he had fully recovered from his injuries. His entrance into the underground chambers carefully policed by Ciaritzal had him standing proud and tall.

“How goes the studies?” Aydan asked.

“Slowly,” John replied. “Carefully. Wouldn’t want anyone to end up devoured by these spores.” The risks associated with these particular fungi were actually minimal- at least they couldn’t spread out of the underground chambers. Sunlight would immediately kill off the darkness element fungal colonies. However, he and anyone else working with the fungi had to be careful, as it would happily devour darkness element or flesh, if one was careless. “It does grow in contained power quickly, and we took some pointers from those beetles who seemed to feed off of it. Soon enough, we’ll have sufficient energy that nobody has to drop their cultivation for the blessing ceremony.”

“About that,” Aydan commented. “I think it would be better to perform it sooner rather than later. For the sake of not only the young mistress but also the younger generation as a whole.”

“It won’t be long, I don’t think,” John assured him.

“At this point, a few months could be critical,” Aydan pointed out. “Things aren’t as stable as when… you first arrived.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” John sighed.

“I don’t come just to prod you,” Aydan said. “I have a solution. Allow me to provide the necessary energy.”

“You know we’ll call upon everyone when the time comes…” John said.

“Not just spare energy,” Aydan said, “But using the traditional methods, I can give of my cultivation base.”

“You already did that a generation ago,” John said. “It’s not your duty.”

“Of course it is,” Aydan insisted. “Especially given my failures.”

“Is this about that again?” John shook his head. “It was simply unfortunate circumstances. Nothing you could have prevented. I don’t blame you. Besides, you’ve done so much for the clan- and for myself.”

“Please…” Aydan said, letting his legs tremble, “This might be the last thing I can do for the clan.”

John frowned. His uncle had opened himself up to be fully observed. His physical injuries did seem to be recovering, but John could feel the lingering damage from overusing medicines and overdrawing his spiritual energy. “If you go through with this, it will be the last thing you do for the clan,” John said. “Even if you live…”

“I’m not getting better,” Aydan said. “My cultivation will drop below the Consolidated Soul Phase on its own soon enough. And the time should be now. Melanthina is waiting for this for her advancement, as well as others.”

Seeing that he would not be able to sway his uncle, John conceded. “Very well, I will speak to Ciaritzal about your inclusion.”

-----

“Father,” Melanthina came to John while doing her best to not look like she was up to something. A state he immediately recognized. “Your path of cultivation will see you next attuning to a totem that incorporates both fire and darkness, correct?. What totems have you considered?”

Information on one’s totems was not something that should be shared freely, but such information was never entirely secret. Speaking about it with trusted family members was perhaps unusual, but not necessarily inappropriate. John just couldn’t figure out why Melanthina cared about this, in particular. “That is the plan,” he said. “There are a few options. Smoke related ones being the most direct, if I want to lean towards concealment and disruption. Then there would be something more offensive like balefire.” John would have called that hellfire, if the concept of hell existed the same way in this world. There were various views on afterlives- though the only thing that was confirmed was sometimes people reincarnated with memories. Though clearly not everyone. Were the rest wiped clean, or did something else happen after death?

“What does that one do?” Melanthina asked.

“It would create clinging flames. There are potential variations… like fires that feed only on the immaterial, or flames that draw the heat from the target.” That one got quite close to being tri-element with water involved, but John knew there was some flexibility on the edges of things anyway. The same results could easily come from different viewpoints, or they could diverge wildly from the same starting point.

“Sounds like you have interesting choices ahead of you,” Melanthina said sweetly. “Have you considered what you would do after that? The final element is light. Are there even any light and darkness totems? Is that even possible?”

John sighed. He’d really hoped she was over that. Not because he didn’t like Nik, but because things would be very difficult for her if she continued down this line of thinking, for various reasons. He looked at his daughter. She looked after him, with her best impression of innocent eyes. Perhaps if she’d ever been innocent, she would have been more convincing. “Combining light and darkness is perhaps the most difficult thing anyone could do. I will have the entirety of the Ascending Soul Phase to consider options. As for totems, I have looked into them somewhat.”

“And…?” Melanthina prompted.

“And what?”

“Are there any totems that combine light and darkness?”

“There are. Though they are quite rare, and have the capacity for great danger. You know what happens when the elements mix, don’t you?”

“... Explosions?”

“That’s right,” John nodded. Now if only she would actually factor that into her decision making. “If I had to pick one, I would probably lean towards something like ultraviolet.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a sort of light that can’t be seen.”

“... If you can’t see it, is it light?”

Was it light? Of course it… was? Ultraviolet light. Infrared light. People definitely said… that. But they were just parts of the electromagnetic spectrum on either side of light. Which perhaps meant they were not light. Or… perhaps the light element could do very odd things. It was also possible that such rules didn’t apply in this world. John wasn’t some enlightened being who knew everything, after all. Not yet, at least. It was weird to even consider that such a thing might be possible.

But regardless of anything else, the most closely associated thing would be the light element. He’d felt the totems. “You should not expect combining light and darkness to be straightforward and easy. But you can say it is light. And it would probably be the thing least likely to make you explode if you tried it. Or infrared, but that’s almost more fire element.”

“Hmm,” Melanthina frowned. “Once again you prove to have great insights into the world.” She turned to leave, but John put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Is there something you want to talk about?” John asked.

“No. Why would there be?”

John smiled, “Oh, I just thought you’d be concerned about this whole search for a suitor. I haven’t heard you give particularly favorable impressions…”

“The suitors so far have been too flawed.”

“Fair enough,” John shrugged. “Though I’m going to tell you right now, if you find someone without flaws… that just means you can’t see them. Anyway, if you need advice on choosing your third darkness totem, I hope you would speak to me about it and choose carefully.”

“Oh. Yes. Of course,” Melanthina smiled. “I will gladly provide a list of options I have been considering.”

John could see her scampering off to the library to look up traditional darkness totems. She’d probably do some searching through the sea of spiritual totems as well.

Telling her about specific totems that she could search for, even just vaguely, might motivate her to make a poor choice. But at least she wouldn’t pick the first light and darkness totem she stumbled across and harm herself, if she could find something like ultraviolet.

If John wanted what was best for the clan, it was possible he should have forced a confrontation. He could tell her to not think about Nik, and to marry a darkness element cultivator from an appropriate background. And maybe that would work. She would likely struggle against him for some months or years, but eventually accept her lot in life.

But John would regret it. He wanted the Tenebach clan to prosper, and that included his daughter being happy. He hadn’t exactly followed a traditional path himself, so how could he blame her? And though following one’s heart wasn’t the norm here either, he was quite fond of the idea. And if Nik was bad for her, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to disappear.

Not that John thought he’d have to kill him. Nor was he planning to. He just briefly considered the possibility, in the case proved necessary.

John just hoped that Melanthina didn’t hurt herself, physically or emotionally. Because even if Nik was a perfectly nice young man, it was possible prolonged exposure between the two would find them not good for each other… but it might be beyond a critical point. At least guiding her towards something like ultraviolet would leave her with a functional totem, should things go awry. At least, anything short of the two killing themselves when attempting dual cultivation.

John tried to remember if he’d done ‘the talk’ yet. Not sex. That had been dealt with, fortunately. The other one. Specifically about not mixing that and true dual cultivation. Distractions were never a good idea, especially if you were going to do something like mixing light and darkness.

Worry couldn’t help but consume John. Could he manufacture an opportunity for the two of them to meet again before the blessing ceremony? Because if she saw him again she might realize it was just an infatuation- or perhaps admit at all to what she thought nobody else saw. And it would be easiest for everyone if that was all it was, and she got over it before anything else happened.