Sparks danced upon John’s fingers, wavering flames that sent flickering shadows across the walls. The flames took various shapes, flaming pine cones, a fire lily, an inferno berry bush. Unlike what he produced with earth energy, these projections were all form and no function. At most they could slightly burn someone, but that could be done more easily with a direct attack. Even so, it evidenced a clear improvement in his control of fire.

Flames flickered out as he ceased his practice, taking deep breaths and circulating his energy to recover what little fire energy he had expended and bring himself to his best state. Then his mind dove into the sea of spiritual totems, diving deep towards the fifth layer. He found resisting the pressure of the totems on that layer quite manageable at his current level, and thus he expected little trouble once he finally was ready to advance to the Ascending Soul Phase. As long as he continued to improve his affinity with fire so he could attune to a proper totem.

What did he want? There had been a moment in his history when he almost skipped over attuning to a water element totem entirely, planning to rely on Matayal for that part of the cycle. Perhaps if he had done so he would have found it to actually be a good idea, but given the majority of his time was separated from his wife, he might have found the imbalance difficult. He would have still had a partial cycle from fire to earth to air, but with darkness in the mix having the allied cycle complete was probably better. It might still be somewhere around another decade before he approached the next step, but he was confident he would at least make it to the peak of the Consolidated Soul Phase. It was unclear if that was where he would stop, or if he could step beyond. It was a level not so easily reached, even in the wider world.

Totems flickered before him as he ‘moved’ throughout the sea. A volcano. A burning forest. A simple field of ashes, lingering heat emanating from them. Tempting, but unlikely to provide a major contribution to his abilities. He already had a contributor to the ground of his world, having two in competition might improve things or it might be a waste. What he wanted was a new component to add to the synergy.

So far, he had the Tree of Darkness around which most of the rest revolved. His earth totem was Compost- the recycled remains of the tree itself. His air totem was a representation of the Atmosphere, including all of the ‘impurities’ that made it up. That too would grow and change with the rest. The dark depths of the Deep Sea stretched beyond the central island upon which the Tree of Darkness rested, providing a home for more false life to dwell inside of him. Any fish or other water dwellers he found were just constructs of energy maneuvering bits and pieces around, the same with the other plants now growing upon the island.

Traditionally, his fire element formed a small sun, hanging over the area. It was there that he ran into a conundrum. Four of his totems were darkness itself or carried some element of darkness. That was logical, as the root of his powers. But aside from ashes, there were few things he had found that could be a mixture of fire and darkness. He might have made a mistake, as far back as when he chose his air totem. Should it have instead been aligned with light? That was what was natural for air to begin with, and with four totems already aligned one way he could end up imbalanced.

The biggest issue was finding a light element totem aligned with darkness. What would that even be, ultraviolet? He hadn’t found such a totem- but perhaps he should look. He could likely push himself to the sixth layer easily enough. He was only stepping up one layer at a time because he wanted his totems to be balanced as the others grew. So far, that seemed to be the correct choice.

He pushed himself deeper into the sea of spiritual totems, the sixth layer. As far as he was aware, that was the deepest it went. He had no idea if totems could continue to grow beyond the power the totems of the sixth layer possessed or not. Likely the only people who would know would be Exalted Soul Phase cultivators, legendary existences that were sometimes referred to as gods. John wasn’t sure if he would say the same, but at a certain level of power people could do whatever they wanted. He would certainly humble himself if he came across an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator, simply out of necessity.

John moved towards light. Everything hurt as he did so, the eyes he didn’t have trying to shut eyelids that didn’t properly exist on a spiritual body. He passed by many uncomfortably powerful lights. Various forms of stars- some with pure light, others with light and fire of a proper star. However, not all totems were equal, even at the same tier. One that he was fairly certain was simply a large laser nearly cut him apart, yet found itself insignificant next to what John thought was a supernova. An explosion of fire, light, matter and non-matter tore at John from a great distance, forcing him out of the sea of spiritual totems.

He took some time to calm his spiritual energy. No actual harm could come in the sea of spiritual totems, but it could easily result in fatigue like John was experiencing now. His mind couldn’t take much more strain of that sort for a while, so he would have to forego further searching for the moment. Yet keeping the process up regularly would help ready him for his eventual connection to fire and then hopefully following that light. He had time, so he would simply have to maintain his efforts.

-----

During his time at the Firepine Palace, John had engaged in a few additional excursions, though they were of less interest than the first one. Now, he was ready to return- both because he had business back at the Tenebach clan, a constant requirement he could not stay away from for too long, and because there was little more they could teach him. If he had been a pure fire cultivator, no doubt there were deep insights Charlotte or even their Soul Expansion Phase cultivators had, but he was planning to add fire in with the rest of his elements. It didn’t necessarily take lesser insights, simply different ones that pure fire cultivators couldn’t teach him. Yet the different perspective provided by Charlotte and the Firepine Palace, especially with how fire could relate to growth and the way it could sustain life- even if they were particularly odd forms of it- had pushed John in what he felt was the right direction.

Perhaps he would return another time, several years later when he was close to the peak of the Consolidated Soul Phase. No doubt it would be helpful to him. Yet there was something more he could learn while he was here, with only one way it could be taught.

In a bare arena with a floor of imported stone John stood across from Charlotte, prepared to spar with her. It was strange how combat was both a sign of trust and preparations for a betrayal of that trust. Not that John thought Charlotte or the Firepine Palace had any reason to do so. It wouldn’t benefit them to anger the Tenebach clan when they could easily call upon the aid of the Brandle clan. But he might still eventually fight them- or more probably cultivators like them- in the future.

The battle was less frantic than anything involving Asgeirr. John opened with throwing daggers- predictable, yet worthwhile. He could determine how his opponent would react to such an attack, and there was no point in being at range if he didn’t attempt to make use of it. He wasn’t surprised when Charlotte parried with her off hand weapon, that was what the shorter multi bladed weapon was for. What slightly surprised him was how easily she picked out the second dagger following the first and cut it out of the air with her other weapon. He had hoped to get some initial damage in, even if he didn’t expect there to be any incapacitating effects from the attack.

Despite the arena not specifically catering to fire element cultivators, John knew he was at a disadvantage. The spiritual energy in the surroundings would seep in regardless of the formations’ intentions, and he couldn’t blame Charlotte for making use of it. In fact, he would be insulted if she didn’t. Unlike with Asgeirr who had gone on the offensive even on the lava lake where he had the advantage over the long term, Charlotte accepted her defensive advantage and kept to her position. For the moment, at least. John could feel her fire element working around her, her efforts not concealed from him merely because of the presence of earth.

John’s next move was an intentional sacrifice of energy. His earth energy reached forward, growing entangling vines around her. Those were predictably and quickly burned away, resulting in her never even being restrained. Yet they still maneuvered her in the position John intended, away from her efforts underground. His sword slashed towards her, parried by her off hand while she countered with her other blade.

John danced back, thrown daggers aiming for her lower body where she could not block or parry without compromising her position. That meant dodging or accepting a hit with her spiritual energy defenses. She preferred the former, and ultimately they went back and forth with attacks for a few moments with little ground gained by either.

Even so, John had maneuvered them a few steps further from her work, at the cost of himself being between her and whatever she was doing. Reaching for the tendrils of fire underground would be obvious and give him time to react, and her efforts would likely be weakened by the distance. An acceptable option, though John didn’t plan to just let it happen regardless.

He gathered water element around his sword, a clear and obvious attack in the making- yet not one she could ignore. John could have formed ice, requiring the most heat to overcome it, but he had plans for the flowing liquid around his blade. He stepped forward, wind speeding his steps. Yet along with that was another flow of water and darkness intertwined with earth, preparing.

His sword was, predictably, blocked. He had every intention to attack in such a way that Charlotte couldn’t catch his sword in her off hand weapon, but she managed to maneuver that to happen regardless, her weapon twisting to a strange angle to catch him. Yet she required her energy to resist the blow- thus fire and water met. Water was dominant over fire, but Charlotte focused more energy to burn away his attack. John let it happen, evaporating into steam and creating a brief cover.

At the same time, additional vines grew up from the earth below, grabbing for Charlotte. She countered them in the same fashion… but this time, she found the water element made the projections of the plants more akin to their live versions. Plants burned, but only in extreme heat or when dry. She was capable of creating the former situation, but she needed a moment for that. They vines wrapped around one of her legs and her waist, restricting her movement.

John’s off hand was already on its way up to intercept the wrist of her right, stopping her incoming retaliation. If his sword were free he would have slid it around her guard weapon, but as it was he had to let it go. His fist punched out, a mix of elements augmenting the attack- but not before she kicked out the leg she’d managed to keep free towards his waist. He was knocked backwards away from her, both limiting the effectiveness of his blow and sending him sprawling.

When snakes of fire coiled over him, John realized she needed no active control over the energy, and in fact her task was already done. Getting her away from the area had done him no good at all, and the maneuvering he’d intended might have been her plan all along.

A crafty old woman. She hid her true intentions by how obviously she’d used her energy, proving that it wasn’t only darkness cultivators that could manage deception. If John still had his sword he might have continued the fight, but as it was he had to surrender. If this had been a real battle he could have pulled out more tricks, but he was content with learning from this loss. That was the entire point, after all.

“I surrender,” John said clearly, feeling the tendrils of fire recede after he did so.

Charlotte helped him to his feet. “Not bad. With a couple more decades of experience… you’ll be a mighty force beyond just your cultivation. I look forward to seeing it.”

John smiled. Future friendly relations with reasonable and powerful cultivators was something he would always appreciate.