Truthful Transmigration

Reports. There were so many reports that came to Lunson. Some were merely passing through, but keeping a central repository of information relevant to the continent meant ultimately getting copies of most information. John didn't need to pay personal attention to most of them, but even with just what he needed to pay attention to and a few things that caught his attention he was quite busy.

The Gloom Desolation was transforming into something quite different than it had once been. With the seals undone, it was returning to being a region of earth and darkness- a combination that the continent had been missing. Not every sensible combination of elements had to exist, however it would open up some interesting opportunities.

It seemed that most portions of the continent were developing nicely. Rather than just single sects or clans building up their own grounds with cities interspersed throughout the region, people were building together. The part that John most commonly interacted with was the communications network. At the current moment, a message could be sent from any part of the continent to any other, arriving in at most a few days- depending on the complexity. Actual physical delivery was slower, but more or less guaranteed to arrive.

John tried to make sure he visited every part of the continent frequently- at least every few years, though not always in one long tour. He even visited the Sky Islands regularly, the extra difficulty of reaching them being outweighed by the benefits. It wasn't just for his own benefit and cultivation growth that he traveled, but also to keep the continent united.

He wasn't the only one working towards that task. Some of the reports he got were from other members of the club, as well as others who were working towards the same ends. But John trusted his oldest friends first and foremost, with many of them happening to be reborn individuals in some regard.

The Viridia Wildlands and Shining Coast had little but good things to say about the trade opportunities opened up with the western seas. Worries about troubles from that direction, at least, were extremely minimal.

Yet the continent was still surrounded by trouble. Every time ships approached the continent from either the north or south it was a matter of concern. Even if there wasn't an attack, they had to take any intrusion into territorial waters seriously. Most of the time, they actually encountered ships outside of what the continent would reasonably deem theirs. Rather than start a conflict unnecessarily, they left alone any ships further out than a certain point. In some ways, even though they were likely scouts that would return with information, it was valuable for them to be spotted. That way, they would know that the continent was properly defending their shores and think twice about things.

To the east, the situation with the Molten Sea wasn't getting any better. The Empire of Elements continued to steadily make progress. It appeared they were winning the majority of their engagements, though the specific details were unclear. Perhaps they simply had more resources to make use of- including people. The Molten Sea wasn't small, but its population was limited to specific sects given that it was inhospitable for normal life. Without a larger civilian population to draw from, the search for talented cultivators tended to be more limited.

The question of what should be done remained. None of those that were currently in a dangerous position were friends or allies of the continent, and many were enemies. However, that had already been known when they first set out to visit the Molten Sea. The power of the Empire of Elements continued to be an issue that would have to be dealt with eventually. Perhaps they would choose to stop their expansion once they reached a certain portion of the Molten Sea, but that wasn't something that should be bet on.

If they were going to be a threat, then the continent needed to back up the Molten Sea while they still had the capability to fight. Waiting too long would leave them to their own devices, and while their continent was strong… clearly so was the Empire of Elements.

There was much speculation, but it seemed that some of it could be resolved in a very simple manner- by simply asking. Or if that didn't seem likely to produce results, at least experiencing the Empire of Elements themselves. Thus it was that several ships were sent to navigate around the Molten Sea- as inconvenient as it was with no known locations to resupply, it was still possible.

Some went from the north, starting out from the Muted Crags. Others went around the south, moving beyond the Gloom Desolation. If all went well it was time for the first of them to begin returning, but so far John hadn't heard any news. John didn't find silence to be very encouraging.

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To continue his cultivation, John had to train in rather more extreme areas. Lightning storms in the Shimmering Islands and the Glass Hills weren't of much use. The Sky Islands occasionally had something worthwhile, but it wasn't a constant state. The massive beasts of the Viridia Wildlands were rarely a challenge, unless John chose to fight foolishly. And even old Zolvolj wasn't much of a challenge at the Ascending Soul Phase. It was just a volcano. It had more condensed power than the Molten Sea, but it was limited in scope.

The Crystal Caverns and Prism Underfields weren't somewhere he could gain useful training anymore. He still attended with various disciples- the latter was especially useful for the Six Elements Crossroads. They had their hidden valley, but they had to be careful with the resources. The greatest dangers had also been culled, which was good for training up early cultivators but not much good for John's advancement.

With totems of five elements, there wasn't much that could challenge John. The number of light element regions on the continent was also limited- and the majority of them were too tame for any sort of special training. The Six Elements Crossroads could replicate most of the conditions without John having to travel.

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There was just one place of sufficient threat that it was still worth attending individually. More relevantly, the elemental balance there was one John didn't get anywhere else… and the intensity was quite high.

That place of course was the Annihilation Strip. Where the Darklands and the light element that escaped the Prism Underfields met, light and darkness were constantly at war. John had been there before, though he never stayed long. Perhaps his longest trip before had been when he was searching for Nik- the at the time young man had been willing to subject himself to intense danger for the sake of Melanthina. It was quite lovely, and while he might have made it back on his own, John had managed to find him and help him out after his successful advancement.

Astrid came along with John, of course. Together, the two of them had primary totems that dealt directly with the elements there. "I'm not sure what we should do here," she admitted. "Do we… stop them from mixing? Reduce the danger?"

John shrugged as they entered the area. "We should do what makes sense. Certainly sometimes optimizing our safety will be required. And I don't intend to emulate this place."

"Oh, why not?" Astrid gestured towards the blasted wasteland ahead of them. "It's so… charming."

John chuckled. "I'm just not sure if I want that to constantly live inside me."

Then again, it probably wouldn't be a constant storm inside of him. No, John imagined it would be fairly transient. It would just kill him and unravel. He only had so much spiritual energy, after all.

The two of them were taking the long route from the Wuthering Steppes to the Soulrot Bog. They had the option to slip out either side into the Deadfields or Darklands if necessary, but the intention was to endure as much as possible.

One would imagine that with the pairing of light and darkness cultivators, the Annihilation Strip might be peaceful- but it was quite the opposite. Instead of merely seeking out opposite elements and exploding, the local spiritual energy saw the two of them as beacons to target. Darkness sought out Astrid- and to some extent John when he let his own portion of light element become visible- and light wanted to interact with John's darkness.

For a short time they could absorb the incoming compatible elements, but they were quickly full. Unable to safely carry more, they had to interact with their surroundings. Creating a shell of darkness was asking for a rush of light to be drawn in and explode all at once. Light preferred to be radiated away, but it was still drawn to the largest remaining pockets of darkness inside John. There was only so long that John or Astrid could push it away without becoming fatigued.

The actual intention was to bind light and darkness together safely. Astrid did her best to minimize the incoming elements while John focused on that task. He had seen it function inside several individuals, and he had a cycle of core elements. In theory, it would be easy. In practice, it was not. In some ways their aid with balance was counteracted by John only having a single darkness totem and no light totem. He didn't have the focused control that Nik and Melanthina had. Ereli had successfully controlled both very early on, but the only other option for her was to die.

John could just give up. He didn't plan to, but he could reach the peak of the Ascending Soul Phase and he would still be the strongest person he knew. Maybe with a couple exceptions, but they were allies who would be of a similar cultivation. There might not actually be anyone in the Exalted Soul Phase that John would have to compete against… though even then it would be better to reach it, since dominating those in a lower phase was far better.

Ultimately, it would just be a waste to have come all this way only to fail to complete the full cycle of elements at the last moment. And there was one problem with giving up- it was unlikely that Aldara would. The Empress of the Empire of Elements was said to dominate the battlefield, already defeating cultivators several ranks ahead of her in the Ascending Soul Phase. If it came down to facing her, John needed to be as strong as possible. Even if he could rely on his allies, Empress Aldara wouldn't fight alone. John couldn't bet on anything more in his favor than a 'fair' fight.

And perhaps they wouldn't be enemies, in the end. But it was nearly certain that their borders would meet with the way things were going. Having the strength to garner proper respect for himself and the continent would be key.

An explosion sent John staggering back. He could handle anything from the Annihilation strip itself- any spiritual energy in the area was blatantly obvious in its approach. This explosion had been due to his own failure- but there was a reason he was combining elements externally. His defenses properly kept him safe. If that happened inside his body… it wasn't something he liked to think about. Especially since he'd more or less experienced something similar, and he doubted he would be lucky enough to retain any semblance of life and physicality if it happened again.

He could be his own worst enemy.

Twisting strands together. Weaving them over each other. Not just light and darkness, but air, water, fire, and earth. Each of the six elements working together in harmony… was what he wanted. The only way he knew to make that true was to have diminished amounts of all of them, as in Astrein. With all six elements the total quantity of spiritual energy wasn't bad, but they were individually low.

That was good enough for a passive background. It was not good enough for a cultivator. The density of spiritual energy he needed to maintain his state as an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator was many times greater than even training rooms in Astrein with element gathering formations. He also couldn't have his energy be passive like that.

He could, perhaps, make a perfect mixture along the same lines. But he wouldn't be able to access it rapidly, which would weaken his fighting capabilities. He couldn't afford to spend a few minutes disentangling energy when someone was trying to cut off his head. He tried many different patterns. Flowing his energy through a full cycle, transforming and bolstering elements. But always light and darkness were drawn together. If he spent more effort keeping them apart than the power they provided, there was no point.

But he was certain there was a method, even if he didn't quite have it down yet. He just had to keep going.