Looking for suitors involved sitting around at a lot of fancy parties watching swarms of n vie for her attention. Though so might enjoy that, lanthina found it rather boring even when things escalated to actual combat. She wasn't actually in any rush to choose who she would marry, so she just watched and made noncommittal statents. Unless a suitor was particularly dreadful, in which case she told them in no uncertain terms that they could leave and not co back. Otherwise, she tolerated them for the sake of the clan.
The first individual to catch her eye did so by suppressing everyone in his path without a word. One component of that was the way he carried himself, with confidence. The other could probably be attributed to people not wanting to be sward by bugs. Not that lanthina actually saw any, as the man from the Calamitous Swarm kept things well contained.
"A pleasure to et you," the man inclined his head to lanthina. I am Grigorii, of the Calamitous Swarm. Though we remain physically distant, our previous interactions have led to us desiring closer ties." The man spoke like she was the only person in the room. He ignored the other suitors, of course, but he also focused his attention on lanthina, instead of addressing her father. Not that he ignored the man, but he made his intentions clear.
Obviously he was another suitor. That was the whole point of these monthly gatherings. lanthina began judging him. To his credit, he was not imdiately discounted like the vast majority. Backing? The Calamitous Swarm was a powerful darkness sect, and friendly with the Tenebach clan. Strengthening ties wouldn't hurt. His cultivation? Late Soul Expansion Phase, not bad for his age.
His age was the first negative factor, however. He had to be at least a decade older than lanthina, perhaps even twice her age. In three years when she was of marriageable age it would be less significant, and another decade after that it would hardly be noticeable. For cultivators a couple decades beca very little, in the extre cases stretching to a half century. It was rely the first strike against him.
As for his cultivation technique? lanthina did not mind insects, having even experinted with the basics of the Calamitous Swarm's control thods. That didn't sway her either way, though of course like the majority of her suitors he was of the darkness elent. The most directly compatible and simple matchup for her, since being outside of the four core elents she was not within the cycle of dominating and supporting elents.
They talked for so ti, though lanthina couldn't show too much preference for anyone imdiately. Over the course of the evening she observed his etiquette, which was not sothing all sect cultivators bothered with.
"Do you know Bodana?" lanthina asked. "She escorted us through the Soulrot Bogs on one of our journeys."
"How could I not?" Grigorii replied. "She is well known in the sect. And of course, she was my teacher."
"Really?" lanthina raised an eyebrow. "I never would have guessed." She really wouldn't have. Because Grigorii kept his swarm hidden while Bodana… honestly, lanthina wasn't certain if she'd seen the woman herself the entire ti, with the density of the cloud around her.
"I didn't end up going with the sa style, obviously," Grigorii said. "But I learned much under her tutelage." lanthina watched the way he used his knife and fork to cut a thin strip of at. He chewed precisely and evenly. "This is excellent. What sort of spices does it use?"
"Most of them I don't know," lanthina admitted. "Just the local peppers. I'm certain we could ask the chefs. Do you cook?"
"Oh no, not myself. But I would be interested to see if we could reproduce the sa flavor in our kitchens."
"Yes of course," lanthina nodded. "That makes sense." Subconsciously, he lost points for that, even if it was all entirely reasonable and expected.
-----
Strong fingers squeezed the ingot of tempered Mountain Steel, ford by the very hands of Ursel's master. This ingot wasn't ant for anything except to exhibit the properties of the material. Nothing she did could cause it to bend, but she knew that if it did, its flexibility would allow it to return to its current state. So far, she hadn't been able to put a scratch on it, even smashing it with her weapon made her more worried about the stone of her club. Then again, there was nothing she could lay it on that would withstand its force, so it simply created an ingot shaped hole in the surface.
She twisted and pulled, straining her fingers and energy, but of course this would do nothing. She already knew that, but her stubbornness didn't allow her to give up against sothing that couldn't even fight back. She had another technique, of course, a new one from her third totem. Roots. If she were to give it a proper na, the totem was Roots Cracking Boulders.
These roots could squeeze into a tiny gap, generating exceptional force and tearing at the weaknesses of a material. And so far, she had gotten absolutely zero benefit from them while fighting this tempered Mountain Steel
But she was just a newly born hill, and her master was a high mountain. There was the entire gulf of the Soul Expansion Phase and the Consolidated Soul Phase between them. On the other hand, this was a soulless hunk of tal that wasn't even being augnted by spiritual energy and not being able to overco it with either raw force or her new ability bothered her.
Roots needed at least a tiny crack to slip into, but this ingot was pristine. It had been forged to extre limits, and while it was technically useless now- once it had been fixed in its form, it would take more effort to turn it into usable weapons or armor- it was still a challenge. There were things she could not beat with brute force even if they just sat there and let her.
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Her pride at unlocking her new totem and snapping apart the shackles binding her had already been diminished by the following results- nearly getting herself and her brother killed instead of helping her sister in any way. lanthina was safe, but it wasn't at all because of Ursel. And Aydan was… not showing himself around her. Nobody would quite tell her how bad it was, but his injuries weren't just sothing he could recover from in a month or two.
Ursel ground her teeth, trying to force her spiritual energy into the stupid, flawless hunk of tal. Even if she was trained in cold smithing, she wouldn't have been able to break apart the bonds of her master. But her new totem was powerful, and if she could find the slightest gap she could do sothing. In the end, she made no progress, throwing the trendously heavy chunk of tal on the ground in frustration.
She wished she could go out and smash sothing, but she wasn't allowed to fight until she showed progress outside of combat. And she knew master Renato probably knew better than she did, but she didn't feel herself getting stronger, and if she had it couldn't have possibly been as quick as she wanted.
-----
Floating in the depths in front of the leviathan, Tirto felt the ebb and flow of the massive creature's energy. It perated everything in the area, influencing not only the sea itself but also the local inhabitants. While so creatures beca more aggressive, most simply grew stronger gradually while keeping their normal levels of conflict. Not that either result said much about the leviathan itself. It was asleep. Or hibernating. Or maybe very slowly dying? Tirto didn't think it was that one, because it didn't feel any weaker since he'd first seen it, but he couldn't guarantee anything.
"Mother," Tirto spoke, modifying his voice to be more comprehensible underwater. "I would like to get closer to the leviathan."
"And how are you going to do that?" Matayal asked calmly. "We are already directly adjacent to it."
It was true, they were positioned right in front of one of the caves. Whether it was a nostril or blowhole or pore or sothing else entirely, it was part of the leviathan. There wasn't much closer they could be. Except, with the layer of rock covering the surface of the creature- even inside the 'cave', Tirto could imagine being closer.
"What if we go inside?" Tirto asked. "We can feel the core of the beast, perhaps."
"Or get swallowed by it, never to make our way out," his mother countered.
"If we go by the cycles of its breath, even if it performs particularly abnormally we can expect a long safe spell. If we replenish ourselves and wait for the next, we could spend hours inside when we have days at minimum. I would have to rest long before it beca a danger." Even if he could replenish the air in his lungs- with so difficulty- he could only spend so hours underwater, especially considering the pressures of the depths. His mother was able to shield him from so difficulty, and was the only way he was able to ascend and descend quickly.
"You know," Matayal said. "I always thought you were the sensible one, of you three. Not the type to go running off doing sothing crazy."
"It's not crazy," Tirto denied.
"Intentionally putting yourself inside an unfathomably powerful beast definitely is," his mother countered. "But… I will admit to having so interest myself. We will do as you ask, but you must follow my instructions exactly. The mont I say we're leaving, you co with at top speed."
"Of course," Tirto said. "I can hardly use my improvents to assist the clan or the rest of those I care for if I perish. And you are among those I would least like to see hurt."
-----
Each month more people ca and went. Even if they understood they had no chance of catching lanthina's attention, it was still valuable for people to show up at the banquets. That included other young won, looking to catch the attention of those with ambition and status. It was also valuable for networking between clans and sects, both in and around the Stone Conglorate and more distant darkness clans.
Eventually another suitor caught lanthina's attention. This one closer to her age, though the vast majority of her suitors would be older. At best they would have just begun cultivating if they matched her age, and cultivation talent was one of the most important factors in who she chose. Soone from a good sect wouldn't really have any sway there if they had no cultivation talent. Sure, sotis people married for love or whatever, but the Tenebach clan had to ensure their main line remained strong.
Power was attractive anyway. lanthina couldn't imagine having a husband that could not at least vaguely match her in cultivation. That would be a hindrance to her own potential growth.
"Young mistress lanthina," the young man said awkwardly. "I hope you will um… I ca here to at least… I'm Vahagn. Of the Obsidian Tower." The Obsidian Tower was technically inside the borders of the Wuthering Steppes, though it obviously had ties to the Darklands with the cultivators there. It was prominent enough for him to be considered.
His current lack of social skills was certainly a problem, though it was strangely charming and could be rectified with so tutoring should he be chosen. "Everyone is quite aware of why these banquets are being hosted," lanthina said. "Of course soone of your talent is of consideration as a suitor. Tell , what have you accomplished?"
"Well, I'm at the twentieth rank…" Early Soul Expansion Phase was a reasonable cultivation for his age, and lanthina was just a step away from the nineteenth herself- she would likely advance after the blessing ceremony. "I have totems from the third, fourth, and fifth layers…" It was likely he had stretched himself for that last one, but he seed to have managed well. "And I have won several tournants, while ranking highly in others."
lanthina just looked at him. He looked back. She continued to look at him. "And?"
"Um, well, I know my accomplishnts aren't that impressive yet, but I'm sure in the future…"
"Oh." lanthina blinked. "You were actually done? I thought you were just… well, what's the biggest thing you've killed?"
"Ah! Well, there was a razorwing falcon, quite comparable to your mature shadowhawks in speed- beautiful specins, might I add- anyway, it had a wingspan of two n. I fought alongside other disciples of similar cultivation to defeat it."
lanthina felt that the complent for the shadowhawks was sincere. Everything about this guy was. He was nice. Talented enough. Certainly, she could do worse. But she was kind of hoping for a story where he was snatched up into the sky and had to strangle a roc or sothing with his bare hands. Or sothing that sounded like he'd pushed himself and dealt with adversity sohow. At least he didn't inflate his encounters. But sohow, he fell short of the standards she had set.
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