Nik remained behind as John and Melanthina hurried their way into the underground. Being in such concentrated darkness was uncomfortable for him, and his presence was strong enough to potentially upset the balance. They didn’t need another person to help catch Ereli anyway.

In fact, there was almost no chance that Crystin hadn’t already caught the young girl- or at least caught up to her. John was hoping she didn’t need to be physically restrained.

Melanthina sighed. “She knows not to go down here, but I suppose I overestimated her level of responsibility. She’s still very young.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to find their way around. Both Ereli and Crystin stood out for different reasons. The latter had a strong darkness energy, while Ereli’s light element stood out in stark contrast.

The underground of the Tenebach clan was not especially dangerous for those who belonged. The only actual dangers were young shadowhawks, kept secure in their own location. For intruders, of course, Ciaritzal would be their worst nightmare.

For Ereli’s sake, the biggest danger was the concentrated darkness element. If that led to her having an elemental imbalance, it wasn’t something Crystin could easily handle on her own- thus the swift message to Nik and Melanthina.

“Of course she went straight for Ciaritzal,” Melanthina commented when they spotted her. “That’s how everyone gets in trouble.”

“I didn’t,” John said defensively.

Melanthina frowned. “Then you’re just a weird exception.”

The form of darkness that was Ciaritzal loomed over the small form of Ereli, who reached out towards him. If she actually touched him, his higher concentration of darkness could potentially greatly disrupt her balance of spiritual energy… but she stopped before actually touching him.

“... Painful?” she asked.

Even with his enhanced sight, John could only barely make out the shifting of Ciaritzal’s face, revealing a crooked sort of smile. “If you touched me, it probably would be painful for you, yes,” he acknowledged.

Ereli shook her head. “Different. Injuries,” she said, pointing insistently.

John didn’t see anything, but Ciaritzal laughed. “These aren’t injuries anymore. Just scars. How did you even notice?”

“Mixed,” she said. “Dangerous.”

“I see. You can tell they were caused by light element?” Ciaritzal parsed her limited words. “But there isn’t any left now. Just the scars.”

Ereli nodded. Then she turned her head and began walking towards John and Melanthina. “Mother. Grandfather.”

“Ereli,” Melanthina acknowledged her. “You’re not supposed to be down here, remember?”

Ereli’s eyes widened, as it seemed she had truly forgotten… or she was good at pretending. She bowed her head. “Repentant.”

John suppressed a chuckle. She was far too young to know words so big… and yet not speak whole sentences. It could be signs of a developmental issue, but if she was able to function being odd was not that big of a problem.

“Let’s get out of here,” Melanthina said, offering her hand. When Ereli took it, some tension drained from her posture. “There is too much darkness here. You could get off balance, that’s why you’re not supposed to be here.”

Ereli mutely agreed.

-----

The only reason Ereli had actually been able to enter the underground was an oversight. Some of the entrances were guarded, specifically those in the parts of the clan grounds that outsiders had access to. Most clan members had permission to go beneath the clan, as it was the best source of spiritual energy for them to train. That was part of its purpose, after all.

The inner parts of the sect didn’t have guards for those entrances, because everyone who was allowed that far also had permission to go to the underground… with the specific exception of Ereli. Even if an intruder made it that far into the clan to head for the underground, they would only find themselves easily revealed. There were fewer walls to prevent detection in the area, and Ciaritzal’s senses would easily pick them out if the clan members training didn’t.

Ciaritzal wasn’t kept down below because he was vulnerable, either. Not to anything less than a full army, as he had advanced his cultivation to the equivalent of the Ascending Soul Phase, just as Cuah’arn had done some time before.

Thus, they simply hadn’t thought to secure the area. Crystin was very apologetic, but another clan member had come to her with something requiring her attention. Ereli had never snuck off before… and they weren’t even certain she had intended to sneak off that time. It was possible she had sensed something, and had truly forgotten about the instructions not to go below. Either way, the solution was to momentarily lock the unguarded entrances, which would be inconvenient for other clan members… but for the protection of Ereli, they really couldn’t complain.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

John thought Ereli had handled it well enough, but it seemed like she had reached her limits without realizing it. It would only take a small amount of spiritual energy going wild to cause significant harm to the child, so it was still better to keep her out of the area.

-----

When John found his grandfather in private, he realized that Melanthina might have significantly overestimated the man’s remaining lifespan. Rather than sitting with his back straight in meditation, it looked more like he should be lying in a bed. Not that John would tell his grandfather that.

Luctus opened his eyes as John entered his quarters, smiling. He gestured to the low table in front of him. “Come, sit. We haven’t had a chance to talk in some time.”

John nodded. “I’m sorry about that. The sect has kept me quite busy.”

“I understand. It is not strictly a complaint.” Luctus sipped some tea he had in front of him, then poured some from the kettle into a cup that seemed to be waiting for guests in general. The tea was still hot, kept at a consistent temperature by miniscule fire enchantments upon the kettle. A reasonable luxury, for someone of Luctus’ station. “Since you showed up, the changes to the Tenebach clan have made it unrecognizable. Again, I don’t intend to complain. Its prosperity is greater than any point in my lifetime. It’s just different.”

John nodded, sipping some tea. It was unsurprisingly quite good, though perhaps a bit more bitter than he preferred. But it was his grandfather’s favorite. “Where I am from, traditionalism is often eschewed for progress. Or whatever people see as progress. I may have taken it too far.”

“Perhaps,” Luctus shrugged. “But I did allow you to take on your own personal experiment. I will admit I doubted you would reach anything beyond the early Soul Expansion Phase, but you seemed stable enough and could produce a proper heir for the clan. I am not at all disappointed in that regard. Melanthina was troublesome, but you raised her into a fine woman.”

“I tried,” John admitted. “Some of that happened despite me, though.”

The corners of Luctus’ mouth turned up. “Her chosen spouse had good talent as well. And while I will admit I have no idea where the clan will go from here… I am not worried about it having a future. And I was, through my own time, and your father’s, and… your early life.”

The peace on Luctus’ face made John imagine him fading into nothingness, his physical form collapsing into sparkles. But he remained there, seated upright. And John imagined he never intended to leave such a position even after his end came.

-----

After the training excursion ended, John found himself back in Astrein, specifically the ‘secret’ valley. It was no longer truly a secret, but with the Six Elements Crossroads being the preeminent faction in the region nobody else could claim it from them. And like many other such wondrous places, they solidified their control almost paradoxically by sharing it… just on their schedule.

Disciples from other sects would be allowed to train there and gather some of the natural herbs and the like, just as those of the Six Elements Crossroads. There were simply fewer of them.

However, at the current moment it was reserved exclusively for the Six Elements Crossroads… and more specifically, the core had a section cordoned off for John himself. He didn’t want any disturbances to his cultivation for what he was going to attempt.

It hadn’t been long enough for him to achieve some sort of massive breakthrough. He was only on the verge of moving from the early Consolidated Soul Phase to the mid Consolidated Soul Phase. Regaining his former cultivation was a smooth process, but John had come to an understanding regarding his spiritual sea. His first attempt to reach the Ascending Soul Phase had been catastrophic, and one of the reasons was his spiritual sea. It wasn’t weak, as he had been training his other totems properly… but for what he wanted, it was insufficient.

Deep inside his dantian, the core of his spiritual sea appeared as a chain of small islands in an expansive sea, where at first he’d had a single much larger island. Now he was focusing on a small section of that, readying himself for what he was about to do.

He’d come to see the value in what he had done, ultimately expanding his spiritual sea in practical terms… but it had been far too lacking in control. He’d tried to do all at once what he probably should have been doing for many years prior, though he hadn’t fully realized how things would go.

Either way, his focus on the few small islands caused them to rumble as something like a volcanic eruption built up within them. Then they exploded, catching alight the trees of darkness that had only just begun to grow into mighty specimens. The flames looked almost like nothing, as the core of John’s fire element was Ethereal Flames, but the heat they gave off was very real.

Unlike before, however, John only felt a slight twinge of pain. Combining his efforts with what would otherwise be an advancement in rank, his cultivation ended up staying much the same… except now he had several larger islands, and a number of additional smaller ones. The ash of the previous trees would create fertile soil for the next generation. Most importantly, the ecosystem within him wasn’t fully disrupted by his attempt- it was just one small part of him.

With the nourishment of spiritual energy from the rest of his dantian, his recovery would be swift. John didn’t know exactly how much, but he imagined he would properly step into the next rank within a few weeks and feel none the worse for wear.

The process itself was momentarily draining, however. John focused on drawing in the spiritual energy around him. Seated in the core of the valley, he had all six elements to empower him, denser than the rest of Astrein. John even drew in a quantity of the light element, though he still had to keep it contained so it would not react with his darkness tinted element. He didn’t need to have perfect control by the time he reached the Ascending Soul Phase, but he wanted to at least not have to shy away from it so much.

Then he would have all of that Phase to continue his improvements, before attuning to a light element totem upon reaching the Exalted Soul Phase. At least, that was the plan… though he didn’t know if he could accomplish it.

Either way, he had to keep moving forward. His personal cultivation was important, but so too were the lessons he could pass on to his peers and his disciples.

Beyond that, he was still focused on changing the greater political landscape for cultivators. There had far too often been internal fighting, squabbling for resources when it wasn’t strictly necessary. All the while, some of the greatest threats came from outsiders. John had no intention to focus society on an ‘us’ and ‘them’, but it really was true. And ultimately, he wished that they could develop into a culture that didn’t feel pressured to use their martial power. That was a lofty one, of course. World peace was more than just a little bit ambitious. But whatever level he actually managed to reach would be good enough.