Though he had not planned it, the Lunar Island was just what John needed for his next phase of training. Rather than a balance between light and darkness, it was an example of light that was not too harsh, using different aspects of the element than many others. He was one step closer towards a complete understanding of all the elements- though John supposed that even if he managed to create a stable cultivation with all six he would not necessarily have a complete understanding.

There could always be more things to improve. Fine details to tweak which ended up having much larger effects than anticipated. But of course, John still had a significant amount of growth to undergo that didn’t require combing over the finest details. Even his understanding of his first elements of darkness and earth had some larger gaps he needed to fill in over time.

Perhaps that was the greatest limitation on cultivators. Not necessarily their ability to gain insights, but their ability to understand how much more there was to learn. Or maybe that was simply his own interpretation, since what John was doing worked for him.

-----

John’s purpose for visiting was not for his own training nor that of his entourage, but also to reduce the seemingly unintentional isolation of the Shining Coast. Neither they nor those around them intentionally cut them off, it was simply a consequence of inconvenience and lack of motivation to seek out different resources. In some ways that was good, as it kept them out of conflict, but it also restricted their growth to some extent.

John discussed the terms of the alliance with Szabina, which mainly centered around mutual defense against outside forces. While she expressed some doubts about whether others would actually act on behalf of the Lunar Island or the Shining Coast in general, her main concern was about communication.

“We are far enough that, by the time we call for help it may already be too late for us,” she said.

“That has been an area of concern for myself ever since… well, a majority of my life,” John said. “But we have solutions. First, we have various messenger birds available.”

“And they would fly through the Shimmering Islands or the Blustering Peaks?” Szabina asked.

“Some of them can, actually,” John said. “But that is not the only method. We’ve also been working on expanding a signal network for communicating long distance.” The techniques had originated in the Sunfields with the light element, and while not everywhere could replicate that same thing, other methods had been tested for a while.

At the current moment, they didn’t even have the equivalent of a proper telegraph… but the more people they had working with them, the easier it would be to set up functional networks. And if light turned out to be the best method of communicating long distances, they could recruit cultivators from different areas to fulfill the tasks. That required cultivators being more comfortable outside of zones of their chosen element, but that was exactly the sort of thing he was already promoting.

“We will consider it,” Szabina said.

“That’s all I ask. However, I would like to secure a commitment to building up communications networks. It’s not exactly convenient for people to walk or ride across the continent to speak to each other.”

The great variance in elemental climates and terrains made elementally focused creatures incompatible with about half of the regions- they would often be able to function fine in elementally aligned areas, but crossing the light and darkness divide often made them worse than just having good horses. Needing specific cultivators to control them could be another issue.

“I suppose we could accept that,” Szabina agreed. “As long as it is not too costly.”

“I imagine you will find that the improvements to local communication are worthwhile on their own,” John said. “The only thing I ask is that you stick to the standards we will provide so that we can maintain compatibility throughout the region.”

John had slowly come to realize how important logistics were. For cultivators, a proper army could be just a few hundred people of sufficient cultivation… but eventually conflicts grew large enough that numbers like that were insufficient. It was one of the reasons they had been able to drive away the Molten Sea- the other of course being that they killed Gesine. Yet that might not have happened if they hadn’t cut the Molten Sea off from their reinforcements, both local and foreign.

John was coming to know entirely too much about war, and he didn’t like it. But at least other logistics were always going to be useful, even in times of peace. Viriato knew that as well. He would be managing his own negotiations with the locals, since if they were more connected it could actually be worthwhile to transport goods to and from the Shining Coast. The Six Elements Crossroads did need resources of all elements, after all, and not every elementally aligned region would have the same types of resources available for a given element.

-----

John’s cultivation continued to grow at a steady rate, and he had just reclaimed the thirty-first rank. That signaled him officially stepping back into the mid Consolidated Soul Phase. With a fifth totem and a full cycle of core elements, John was the strongest he had ever been. He didn’t plan to fight head on against anyone at the Ascending Soul Phase anytime soon, but he wouldn’t have to slink around as much either. Though slinking about was a core part of his combat strategy, so he wasn’t planning to simply give it up.

From the Lunar Island, John moved east along the northern Shining Coast. After all, they had only cut through the center of the area and would leave out many groups from their negotiations otherwise. John didn’t intend to visit every sect and clan, only those of a sufficient size or prominence. Those who were left out might feel slighted, but ultimately there was only so much he could do- and only so much time he could afford to spend.

He circled back around to cover the majority of that region before returning to the western coast and traveling through it, his ultimate intention to arrive back at the small coast bordering the Shimmering Islands.

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News reached them as they traveled. The Goldheart clan had collapsed, just as John had hoped. With the loss of a Consolidated Soul Phase elder, they were suddenly vulnerable. Their domineering attitude and position in the center of the Shining Coast was a problem for future activities in the region… but it seemed that a number of small clans and sects had banded together and driven them off.

It seemed the sect head had managed to escape. He was a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator himself, but he had fled with only a small portion of the clan’s elites- such as they were. It was likely they would try to resettle elsewhere in the Shining Coast, but with their land and most of their equipment and resources lost there wasn’t much trouble they could be for a long time. And if they came to find trouble with John, he was confident his current entourage could handle them. Viriato was also a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator, after all, and that would make up for any potential gap in numbers.

But the Goldheart clan either failed to track them down or thought better of it, and they safely completed their journey back to Astrein. John was looking forward to a prolonged period where he didn’t have to go anywhere. Hopefully, people would come to visit him instead.

-----

As a sect head, John could always find something to do that would further the goals of the sect. There were always projects that could be planned, and of course he could spend an unlimited amount of time on his own training or lecturing the sect’s disciples.

Once more, John thought it would be useful to have more of him… but cloning techniques were either illusions or at best temporary constructs of spiritual energy. They didn’t allow a cultivator to split their focus more efficiently, and usually resulted in the opposite.

Out of the hundreds of things vying for his attention, John focused first on his own cultivation, second on training sect disciples, and third on matters of family and friends. While family and friends were the lowest rung on the list, they were still one of the priorities. It simply meant that John wasn’t traveling around to visit, instead making time for them to come to him as they were available. That wasn’t always feasible with him constantly moving around, which is why he resolved to remain in place for a longer period. Hopefully at least a year.

As for those who were able to visit, that varied. John kind of hoped to see his grandchildren, but he understood that both sets of parents were quite busy precisely because of said grandchildren. As they got older, they wouldn’t necessarily become easier to handle until they mentally matured. Nitza wasn’t too difficult for Tirto and Verusha.

Ereli continued to be a handful mostly unintentionally. It was hoped that as she grew older the risks of an elemental imbalance would shrink, but she still had to properly begin cultivation and choose a totem which would be another point of risk. And even for a child born infused with spiritual energy, she was not ready to really cultivate yet.

Steve and Yustina seemed to be relatively free with their time at the moment. Or perhaps they specifically wanted to get away from the endless strings of petitioners that would show up if they hung around the Milanovic clan. After all, though they were not acting as clan heads they were some of the few Ascending Soul Phase cultivators in the region. That number included Cuah’arn and Ciaritzal, with Renato being the last of them. There were quite a few potentials among sect heads of various places, and especially those associated with the various core allies, but it seemed it would take most of them longer to make the final leap.

There had also been those who had failed- like John nearly had. His failure had left him alive, but not everyone was so lucky.

-----

“I have to say, our grandchild is adorable,” Steve said. “I never really expected that to happen, for various reasons.” Then he sighed, “Man, we really screwed up with Emilia, huh?”

John nodded. “We pushed that relationship a little bit too hard.”

Yustina added her own opinion into the mix. “I don’t think that was particularly onerous compared to the norm,” she commented. “And while it has taken some time, she seems to have recovered her relationship with both Tirto and her sister. And then of course there is the young man courting her…”

“I wouldn’t exactly call Harta young,” Steve said. “Isn’t he like… forty or something?”

“That’s just your old age biases at play,” Yustina pointed out. “He’s still in his prime. His cultivation has kept him young.”

“If that’s your metric, you could almost say that about us,” Steve countered.

“Are you saying I’m getting old, darling?” Yustina shot Steve a look of false outrage.

Considering that they were Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, they also didn’t look any older than their prime. At least, not based solely on physical features. There were certain ways that humans tended to change with time, even if their bodies stayed young and healthy.

John frowned.

“What is it?” Yustina asked.

“I’m just wondering if we live too long.”

“And why would you think that?”

“... It’s difficult to change the world.”

Yustina laughed. “It should be.”

“I don’t even really mean the whole thing,” John said. “But even locally… progress is so difficult. And I’m not talking cultivation, but other advancements. Back on Earth, a few decades was enough for the world to be almost unrecognizable with new technology. Here, we’ve barely implemented long range flash signals even though I’ve been pushing for that for decades.”

“Yeah, well,” Steve shrugged. “Isn’t that how it is? Long periods of seemingly little development, then a sort of technological revolution. It kind of happened with cultivation here, but the other might follow behind.”

John raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t know about that kind of stuff.”

“I don’t know how any of it works, nor could I name you any dates when important things came about. But I do know that seemingly little progress was made in certain areas, then it came in great bursts. Or at least, it seemed to. Perhaps it was always happening and people just didn’t notice. Or something.”

“Or people had to be more connected first,” Yustina said. “Which I think we are managing quite nicely. And unlike what you said about Earth, we don’t have to worry about perishing from old age in the next decade or two, which is quite nice.”

John would say that they did have to worry about getting killed in a war… but actually, that was true on Earth as well. People were just better at pretending wars didn’t happen or wouldn’t ever affect people in ‘first world’ countries.