Many of the disciples of the Six Elements Crossroads had already reached the Soul Expansion Phase, but very few were close to the Consolidated Soul Phase. This was simply a matter of time in training, even with the best talent, resources, and time available. Because of that, there were those who had a bit of an advantage.

Because of the recent birth of the sect, there was little difference between a disciple and an elder, but there were a pair who still fit that definition. Viriato had been cultivating significantly longer, and the alchemist Raul had still reached the Spirit Building Phase before the early establishment of the sect, back when John wasn’t even sure if he was actually going to go through with his plan.

Either way, both had more experience than others. Viriato’s particular lifestyle and cultivation path made his advancement somewhat slower, but even so he was close to the limit of the Soul Expansion Phase. His talent wasn’t bad by any means- indeed, he couldn’t have balanced light and darkness in his youth if that was the case- but he’d been lacking guidance or proper techniques, so he had stagnated at the peak of Spirit Building. After all, attuning to another totem of either light and darkness would have unbalanced him- a very difficult state to manage.

After they met, John had guided him towards another element and a totem that could work with them. Obviously there was no perfect choice, as nothing was exactly in between the two elements. Even so, a water element totem that combined elements of light and darkness provided him an opportunity to advance. Above the surface of the waters there was light, and below there was darkness. Even though water was aligned with darkness, his skills of balance were good enough to manage.

Now he came to John for further advice. “I imagine you’ll suggest some sort of air or fire totem,” Viriato said.

“And you would be right,” John agreed. “If you can find something fitting, you can maintain a decent balance of elements. Air will most likely tip you doubly towards light, while fire can feed into water and keep you balanced towards darkness. Thus I think I would recommend fire, unless you can find a particularly fitting totem.”

“And what totem would that be?” Viriato asked.

“A good question.” John pondered briefly, recalling his conversation with Musa. It had simply confirmed something he already believed, that one could nearly always find a totem suitable to their needs- or perhaps create it. Because of that, it was important to carefully consider what one chose. “Fire… would be something like a campfire with dancing shadows around it. Keeping to the theme of balancing light and darkness, obviously. But if you were to choose an air totem… perhaps a stormy night interspersed with lightning?”

“Sounds dangerous,” Viriato said.

“Same with choosing the most conflicting elements as the first two,” John shrugged. “I still probably wouldn’t recommend the air option, but I wouldn’t completely discount the potential value. Ultimately, I’d search and see what you can find. You chose a difficult route, knowingly or not, but I think if you manage to surpass this step it will get easier. Your path through the core elements will be set by your next choice, but I believe the goal here should be to lock in your elemental balance. If you reach the Ascending Soul Phase, I imagine you can handle a three and two balance on either side, since you managed two and one.” John shrugged, “I’m not saying this step should be easy, but once it’s complete you’ll likely be the most stable you’ve ever been.”

Viriato nodded. “As long as I don’t lose my balance when I take this step.”

“You don’t have to, of course,” John pointed out. “If you harbor doubts, it would be better to remain at your current cultivation. I’m not saying this because I don’t believe in you. You already have shown your cultivation talent even with a focus elsewhere. But you have to believe in yourself, or that doubt will be your biggest enemy. More than any actual difficulties you have to overcome.”

Viriato nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

-----

Raul had already chosen his next step. His own cultivation progress had been similarly limited- Astrein had little access to good cultivation advice, and Raul had believed like many others it was low in spiritual energy. Yet it wasn’t easy for him to settle elsewhere, so he’d taken up residence as an alchemist barely struggling by.

And now he was the chief alchemist for the Six Elements Crossroads, providing extracts of spiritual energy for those who needed boosts to help them through particular bottlenecks. Alchemy could also produce valuable medicines, and it could even create concoctions that boosted performance during a battle- though usually at a cost to be paid later. John had also gotten him to look into possibilities of aiding advanced body tempering methods. If something like Diamond Defense could be accomplished more cheaply but still with reliable results it could be quite valuable for many of their disciples.

Raul had already chosen his next totem. As an alchemist on the route of a cycle of core elements, and that meant a water element totem. It was fairly easy to pick one suited to his professional needs. He had begun with fire, the basis of alchemy and the main catalyst for reactions. Earth had been pure glass to represent the tools he needed. Air was next, representing convection currents necessary to help regulate heating. That left water, and a simple totem representing boiling, for an even greater control over the process.

The more totems he had, the better his abilities to purify elements- or achieve whatever balance was desired. Pure elements weren’t always better, even for mono-element cultivators, though it depended on the intended application. John was quite pleased with how he’d grown, and that they’d been able to work together from near the beginning of his career.

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Raul still asked for cultivation guidance, even if he had picked out his totem. John had more experience, and Raul particularly had concerns about the final step of balancing a cycle of the core elements. They wanted to be balanced, but obviously given John’s experience it wasn’t a trivial matter. Indeed, they might feed into each other too well, like what happened to him. Nobody wanted an overabundance of spiritual energy in their dantian, no matter how much it seemed to be a good thing at a glance.

-----

John found a good excuse- no, an opportunity- to go visit the Tenebach clan. Core element cultivators had gotten too much attention in terms of training excursions, so this would be a visit to the Tenebach clan, the darklands, and even all the way south to the Prism Underfields and the Combining Luster Sect. Of course, the journey was still open to those who wished to train against light or darkness regardless of what they actually cultivated. Even so, the turnout was somewhat less.

Visiting his daughter and son-in-law was of course a pleasant experience, and he was glad to spend time with them. But he had to admit they weren’t the main purpose of his visit. Instead, it was Ereli.

John smiled, bending down and spreading his arms wide. “Ereli!”

The girl simply stood there, her arms at her sides. “Grandfather,” she acknowledged, her void neutral.

John sighed, standing up and looking at Nik and Melanthina. They just shrugged. Well, even if she wasn’t a hugger or particularly enthusiastic, his second granddaughter was still cute in her own way. “Can’t you at least call me grandpa?”

Ereli shook her head. “Respectful,” she said.

Not much of a talker, either. Though the fact that she knew and could pronounce multisyllabic words at her age was already good, it might have been nice if she used sentences. But John wasn’t going to complain about that in front of her, as negativity wouldn’t help.

He did take the opportunity to ask about her in private later, of course. “She’s certainly… succinct,” John said.

Nik sighed. “We began to teach her manners and formality and… well, she was already kind of like this,” he admitted.

Melanthina nodded. “We had a few close calls early on, with her accidentally making use of her spiritual energy… and nearly disrupting her internal balance. We may have overemphasized control.”

John nodded in return. “Or she might just be like that,” he added.

“She might,” Melanthina agreed.

“Controlling her energy might eat up her concentration,” Nik said. “Honestly, having no experience with spiritual energy at a young age myself… I can’t really relate,” he looked over at his wife.

“I only had darkness,” Melanthina said. “Along with Tirto and Ursel, we found it relatively easy to control what we had. But that was because we were in a balanced state. If one of us had been on the other side of the elemental divide, we might have disrupted each other. Though in that case, we might not have made it to birth.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” John asked.

“We’re not really sure,” Melanthina admitted. “But she seems to like to watch people cultivate. And though it might not look like it, I can tell she was interested in you.”

“The two of us represent both of her elements together, but we’re not really mixed unless we’re cultivating,” Nik added. “She probably finds you interesting for having multiple elements, as she isn’t exposed to that much.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” John agreed. “Though I might also be a distraction in some regards.”

“I suppose so,” Melanthina said. “But it would be easier for us to watch her with someone else cultivating rather than us. Then again, we might not want to encourage her to try to advance at the moment. Raising children is… a lot more difficult than I thought. Even though, in many ways, Ereli is quite easy to manage.”

“She’s very obedient,” Nik agreed. “Once we got past the earliest stages where we had to constantly worry about her destabilizing, it was easy to plant her into a routine. She’s not the sort to go around poking her nose into trouble,” Nik looked pointedly at Melanthina. “Nor do we have to worry about other siblings at the same time.”

Melanthina ignored Nik’s jab at her. “We’re hoping to get her some playmates, but she would still need constant monitoring by someone strong enough. Honestly, Tirto might understand her better as he was the calmer type as well. We’re just not sure if she’s too subdued.” Melanthina sighed, “How did you handle us triplets?”

“Poorly,” John admitted. “And with the help of many family members and friends.”

“I wish we were closer to… everyone,” Melanthina admitted. “With people spread afar, it’s difficult to see family and friends regularly. At least I have Nik to help manage the clan. How did you manage, with mom at the Brandle clan the majority of the time?”

“Your grandfather helped with the bureaucracy, and your great-grandfather with any diplomatic matters,” John said. “Speaking of which… how is Luctus?”

“Relaxed,” Melanthina said. “Especially since we broke through to the Consolidated Soul Phase, he’s spending more time in social settings. He almost acts younger, except, well… we know he’s not. His health doesn’t seem to bother him too much, but it’s clearly failing. He might have only a few more years, or he might have twenty. It’s difficult to say.”

John nodded. He imagined it would be much greater except for the effects of the old blessing ceremony. Luctus had been part of several generations of that, his cultivation fluctuating for the sake of the clan’s future growth- and most likely with some personal sacrifice for his when he transmigrated to this world. Luctus never spoke of it, but John recognized some signs.

There was a sudden knocking at the doors of their chambers, almost hurried. “Clan heads! Come quickly to the underground. Ereli slipped out of Crystin’s sight for a moment and…”

John looked over at Melanthina. “And here I thought your daughter hardly resembled you. Perhaps there is more of you beneath the surface than it appeared.”

Even as he spoke, they were rushing towards the nearest stairway down below- though it was just next to the suite they were relaxing in. Ciaritzal wouldn’t hurt Ereli on purpose, but that didn’t mean something couldn’t go wrong. Even being below where it was suffused with darkness could potentially unbalance her spiritual energy, and it wouldn’t take much to cause significant harm to a child’s body or barely developing dantian.