Truthful Transmigration

The Kelemen clan was focused on the fire part of the Molten Sea, and to John's understanding they focused around channeling heat from their surroundings. Of course, they could create flames of their own but that was quite unnecessary in the surroundings they traditionally maintained.

John knew a few more things about them, but he was really interested in learning the details firsthand. Studying how they actually acted was important for knowing if they could cooperate in the future. If not, the continent would… prefer to ignore them. As long as they would stay out of the way of any future conflict as they had done previously, the diplomatic expedition could accept the results.

Allying with them would be better, though. If they were half as influential as Zdislava said, they could be a significant buffer against any future conflicts coming from the Molten Sea. The Burning Delta was friendly, but insufficient to make any real impact on a large scale war. One Ascending Soul Phase cultivator in the form of their sect head still put them ahead of most sects on the continent, but it wasn't enough for them to face a few sects or clans together, especially if any of those had one of their own. These days, they seemed quite common- and Gesine had of course been in the Ascending Soul Phase during the first incident. Developing no others around her with more than half a century would have been quite strange, and likely had at least one or two before that- just like the Sky Islands had several when John first visited.

The Molten Sea had a much broader population than the Sky Islands, which were quite concentrated into the little space they had. The Molten Sea had so much more area, but not all that much of it was inhabitable. Travel between 'islands' was difficult, more so than the Shimmering Islands which were under constant threat of storms. Any random human could survive a few moments in the ocean if they fell overboard, but the Molten Sea required at least a Foundation Phase cultivation- and that was for specialists. All of the locals would fit, of course, but that was the requirement merely for surviving a short time.

Lava was hot. Fortunately, it was also dense and viscous. Not so good if you actually got buried in it, but most people didn't sink. Not quickly, and not very deep. So all they had to deal with was intense heat trying to consume them. Simple enough.

Vessels from the Kelemen clan met them near the edge of their territory, seemingly at some agreed upon landmark. There were occasional obsidian pillars that broke up what would otherwise be a flat landscape. John found that they appeared more often near islands of stability, where the heat was somewhat less intense. Enough that some portion of the ground wasn't molten.

The ship design was quite similar to that of the Burning Delta, but not quite the same. John couldn't say how much mechanical difference there was between slightly wider or slightly longer vessels, but all were thinner than the seafaring ships he was used to.

There were few rivers of any sort that they had to cross, however there were similar obstacles. John would have termed them sandbars or reefs, perhaps, but they were really just patches of solid ground. Most of the time they went around them, but they passed over instead for the last layer before the actual island. Perhaps it was impassable otherwise, or maybe it was merely inconvenient to go all the way around to an opening. Either way, they employed a similar lava bridge technique.

Despite being more or less pure fire cultivators, they still had control of the lava. They had to, for their ships to move, but John wondered how things were different. Perhaps they would be less agile, without the water element influences. It was certainly functional enough for large scale movements.

It was still a novel experience to sail up and over an arc. High waves on watery oceans produced something similar, but they were moving while the lava bridges were over stationary points so the overall feeling was quite different.

John wondered how long ago cultivators had settled the Molten Sea. Obviously they had to be cultivators before they managed it. The Shimmering Islands could be navigated with a bit of technique and a bit of luck- looking out for storms and avoiding them by going around the long way. Merely having a ship that held together in the Molten Sea took enchantments- especially one that had a deck that wouldn't kill the people atop it.

The land of the Burning Delta was quite modest, with few large buildings and a rather small population. The Kelemen clan was anything but, with a grand obsidian spire as the centerpoint of this primary island, structures built up around it sloping away from it.

As they reached the city gates, John approached the man he knew to be Tihomir Kelemen, the clan head and a late Ascending Soul Phase cultivator. John was glad for his recent advancement, as while his rank was still lower being in the same part of the phase would bring him more respect.

Zdislava spoke up to introduce them, as she was the sole connection between them for the moment. "Tihomir Kelemen, head of the Kelemen clan. And John Miller, sect head of the Six Elements Crossroads." The man stood tall and proud. Relatively young. His hair was kept short, which made sense given the environment. It wouldn't do to have to constantly shield long hair from ignition.

"What a wondrous city you have built here," John said after she finished the official introduction. A compliment like that was something he was glad to give, because he really meant it. It had clearly taken a lot of time and care to design and build. It wasn't just a bunch of expensive materials slapped together into the tallest gates and walls they could build. There doubtless were expensive materials, but simply covering things with gold or rubies was rather tasteless.

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Though for cultivators to care, it had to be elementally imbued gold. Common metals weren't seen as particularly valuable and gold was common. Not much good for anything but looking pretty either unless this world began to develop electrical wiring. Maybe they would. John might not know much about it, but perhaps some other Transmigrator with the right knowledge would. Though letting the world develop on their own basis while solving the problems they faced seemed more appropriate.

John had ideas, and many others helped find methods that worked. He didn't consider himself an innovator, though.

Tihomir smiled pleasantly, which was a good start. At least he could put up a front of civility. John was surprised at how many theoretical leaders were so bad at such a thing. It would be even more preferable if he was at least somewhat genuine, but John could work with either. "We rarely have opportunity to welcome those from outside the Molten Sea. It is a difficult journey for those who are not prepared."

John nodded. "We wouldn't have made it far without the aid of the Burning Delta." He could have had someone construct some ships that would work in the Molten Sea and trained up people to pilot the vessels, but it would have been a significant ordeal. "I understand it is also quite a significant journey for you to meet your neighbors."

"Fortunately, most of the time they come to us," Tihomir grinned. "There are some perks to be had for holding an elevated position. Come, let us enter the city. It appears the temperature does not bother you, but it should be more tolerable for some of the other guests."

Chandra breathed a sigh of relief. Mandlen kept his expression neutral, but John knew the man was sweaty. The current group leaned towards fire element cultivators, but that didn't mean all of them were equally comfortable in the current heat. Green Sands cultivators were fine, but even Adde from the Boiling Springs clearly wasn't used to such pervasive heat. It was generally much more localized there.

Astrid was constantly circulating her energy to keep cool. She also found a lot of excuses to grab onto John's hand, since he was cooler. Astrid had expressed her interest in body tempering techniques, but the first one always took the longest to learn. Meanwhile, John had been training them off and on since he first had spare resources for Diamond Defense. Back when his kids were still kids- and when Ursel stole some of those resources. Good memories.

John subtly wicked away some of the moisture on Astrid's hand. It would make both of them more comfortable. As for holding her hand, he didn't mind publicly displaying affection for his wife. He thought those that couldn't actually showed some insecurity.

The temperature did rapidly decrease, but John didn't let go of Astrid's hand.

Interestingly enough, while obsidian was clearly used for highlights, John found that what he considered normal stone was displayed more prominently along the walkway. It wasn't just because it was durable- it was also clearly on display in some of the nicer buildings. He supposed getting actual granite here might be more difficult than things he would consider more exotic.

But obsidian still looked awesome. He was glad they hadn't forgotten that.

Tihomir took them on a roundabout path that doubtless displayed some of the best angles of the city. And it was a proper city with bustling trade in the merchants quarters, even if it was all ultimately under the control of the Kelemen clan. Some things were just necessary, and it wasn't like they could just go to a nearby city. The next island of any size was probably at least a day by lavaship, which wasn't a casual jaunt.

"The Kelemen clan has stood strong since the time of my grandfather's grandfather, five hundred years ago," Tihomir bragged.

In truth, it wasn't all that much older than the Tenebach clan- though they hadn't had to flee their home and set down roots in an elemental region that was merely allied with their primary element. John could sense a few other Ascending Soul Phase cultivators around and it was possible more were away or concealing their spiritual energy, so they probably still held a stronger position than the Tenebach clan… but John didn't know if the Molten Sea had as much recent growth as the continent.

John gave replies when appropriate. He didn't have much of a read on Tihomir just yet, but simply not being on the difficult side of diplomatic interaction put him above average in John's book. There were some people on the continent that had taken a frustrating number of encounters to accept that maybe cooperation could be beneficial to everyone instead of trying to kill each other for anything they could grab.

They were given a guest wing within the central palace. That was a typical setup, where they could both feel secure in their position together while also being contained just in case there was some sort of threat. It didn't mean anything negative, of course. In the end, it was just the most convenient option than trying to figure out various disconnected rooms for people to fit in. And any good clan obviously had a guest wing or two.

It didn't seem that they would get any real negotiating in the first day, but John thought that was acceptable. He wasn't really in the mood for going over the history of those around the Kelemen clan either. While his body tempering allowed him to regulate his own temperature, it still used energy. He still got tired from long journeys, even if he wasn't physically exerting himself. It was just how long car rides or taking an airplane could make someone tired even after having done no work. Humans weren't made to be on the move all day. At least not in that way.

Walking was actually less tiring in many cases. Though for a cultivator what could be constituted a walking pace sometimes got up to highway speeds, at least if you were at a certain level of cultivation.