Next on the list after the Kelen clan was the Blistering Crest. The sect would generally be more on the side of the continent, if only because they had shared enemies at various points. Even so, John's ultimate intention was to et with so group aligned with the True Sea… peacefully. The Searing Sarcophagus might be that, both because they were geographically convenient and not overly powerful.
While at first traveling the Molten Sea had been novel, the lack of variety made it rather… boring. So he found himself walking atop the lava. It took far less spiritual energy to prevent himself from sinking compared to water given the viscosity and density… and far more to protect himself, obviously. The net result was many tis more energy used, but he was also several phases past when he'd first tried sothing similar with water. He'd been effectively powerless at the ti.
Astrid hopped down after him. "Training for the Searing Sarcophagus?" she asked.
John shook his head. "Not really. I just thought it was pretty neat to be able to do this. This was so far out of the realm of possibility for most of my lived experience." Though John didn't really try to hide it, he also wasn't planning to advertise his transmigrated status to everyone in earshot.
"Not for long," Astrid comnted. "You've been strong for a while, after all."
John nodded. He supposed he could have done sothing similar in the Consolidated Soul Phase, though it wouldn't have been in such a relaxed manner.
He walked along with Astrid, weaving through the ships. He couldn't quite manage what he was doing indefinitely, and in battle he would certainly find it inefficient, but he also didn't have to give up stomping around on lava for quite a while. Perhaps that sa energy could have been used to make one of the ships faster, but they weren't in a rush and the Burning Delta was managing that. And of course, just because his walking speed could keep up with the vessels didn't an they were slow. Instead, his steps carried him much further than one would expect.
"Can you take flying?" Astrid requested after they returned to the ship.
John nodded, reaching out for her hand. Flying took an entirely different type of spiritual energy, and he wasn't exactly tired yet. It was also fun. Whatever fear of heights John had once had- reasonable fears- had long faded. Heights would never be a danger to him except as a consequence of sothing else happening. Even if he had no air elent to fly, it would only take a tiny portion of his energy to protect himself from a fall.
The Molten Sea was beautiful. Deadly, of course. A harsh environnt where very few managed to survive, even as cultivators. Yet it wasn't completely devoid of life. John hadn't seen any fire lotus, but he imagined they would grow quite well in the Molten Sea, though maybe the particular balance of the Phoenix Forest was better for them. Likewise, beasts were rare but not completely lacking. There were even fish.
And birds. Not all of which were smart enough to not attack flying humans. Or perhaps the one that chose to cause them trouble was simply confident. Either way, as John sensed it approaching he intended to get out of its way so as not to bother it, but its path continued to turn towards him. He could drop down… but he and Astrid didn't have all that much practical battle experience while flying. Much of John's experience was alone.
The beast had a wingspan of six or seven ters. If John rembered correctly, it should be called an obsidian hawk. Like many beasts, it used spiritual energy to temper its body rather than focusing on techniques. But it wouldn't be completely devoid of them either.
It screeched as it rushed towards them. It flew in a very predictable trajectory, and Astrid took advantage of that. One by one, motes of fire struck its wings, chest, and back as they blood into firegrass- then exploded. It was of course fire resistant, but Astrid had fought creatures that were attuned to fire before. A sustained fla was useless, but the concussive force of an explosion could be valuable. She didn't manage to do much more than harm a few feathers with her first volley, though that included tearing away so spiritual energy defenses.
At the last mont before it reached them, John flew directly upward. That was sothing it was difficult for a bird to handle- especially one that relied mainly on its body to fly. Even with such a massive wingspan, the powerful updrafts from the heat below still weren't enough to keep it aloft without a little bit of a boost.
Once above, John instantly transford so of his active air elent from flight into lightning. It was so much easier to let it mostly go where it wanted- which was down. With the obsidian hawk taking up so much space, there really weren't many options for where the lightning went that didn't involve going through it.
The hawk may have never experienced lightning before. It wasn't too hard to redirect it with energy, but it was far less efficient to block it. The difference was the forr made a better path for it to follow, which would usually require the attacker to push harder to aim where they wanted. But instead it just blocked, and the lack of control lightning had also ca with a similar increase in power.
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A hole was pierced in one wing. Not big enough to take it down, but Astrid was imdiately on top of her reaction. The hawk flipped over spraying feathers, only so of which had already been dislodged in the attacks. Even as it did so, she focused beams of light on the vulnerable part of the creature's wing, keeping its spiritual energy at bay and preparing her attacks.
John blocked the incoming feathers with so earth elent, another uncommon elent for the region. It was normally disadvantaged against fire, but the obsidian hawk seed to rely more on physical prowess than elental superiority.
It twisted back around to keep Astrid from holding her target, powerful beats of its wings sending it higher as it swooped back around, claws outstretched. Astrid and John joined together, creating an intertwined beam of light and darkness. They relinquished their control of the two elents where they touched the creature, the elents detonating.
The obsidian hawk tried to force itself forward for one final swipe, but they dodged the claws. Then it fell.
Upon impacting the lava, it made a small crater that slowly filled back up. Its body didn't appear like it would catch on fire. John swooped down to make certain it was dead… and retrieve the body. Sothing like this was valuable, and maybe so local sects would know what to do with it.
John didn't particularly like killing beasts when it wasn't necessary, but those that attacked humans were dangerous to leave around. It could easily have gone for soone more vulnerable. Perhaps it had only picked him out because he was in an unusual position instead of near the sea, or perhaps the next ship passing by would have had to deal with it. Either way, John wouldn't be spending too much ti thinking about the situation.
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The Blistering Crest was quite on a different end of the spectrum from the Kelen clan, in terms of their elental usage. From what John could see, they were mixed elent cultivators but none had more than a single fire totem. That included their sole Ascending Soul Phase cultivator, the sect head Samuel Vrabec. Though John couldn't tell precisely what his five totems were, it was obvious that most of them were water elent related. He didn't hide it.
"Welco!" Samuel said with a boisterous voice. His head was shaved- not uncommon for the Molten Sea. "We so rarely get visitors from beyond the Molten Sea, and recomnded by the Kelen clan no less!" He also turned to Zdislava and bowed. "And the Burning Delta! You are about as far as one can get on this side of things. It has been quite so ti."
Zdislava bowed in return. "We et once again. But this ti I serve mainly as a captain of vessels."
John smiled. "We wouldn't have made it far without her, of course. I could probably pilot one of those ships straight into a sinkhole, but little more. If I was lucky, I wouldn't pick the worst currents."
Samuel nodded seriously. "One must be aware of the flow of the Molten Sea to truly master it. Would you like to show you?"
Were they sparring already? John wouldn't mind. But it didn't seem that was what Samuel had in mind.
"Observe." Samuel gathered spiritual energy around both hands, then reached out beyond the docks. He created two separate waves, but one was half again as tall and twice as fast. John didn't see any difference in technique or effort, but there was such a large difference. "You have to know the flow. Well, it just so happens that there is a vortex I made use of, so the difference isn't usually that dramatic. One side was pushing against , and another with."
"It was still an excellent demonstration," John said. "You must have a good eye for the currents."
"It takes practice, practice, and more practice! Plus the right totems."
"Well, I can't say I have the latter," John comnted. "But I am familiar with waves."
"Is that so?" Samuel asked. "I suppose I should expect you to be experienced with most things, given your elental makeup."
Astrid leaned against John, "His first wife was a water cultivator. Though she was lost in the war with Gesine and her portion of the True Sea."
"Ah, my condolences," Samuel comnted. "Truthfully, the sa happened to myself and the Crimson Temple." They took a mont to silently share in their loss. "But cultivators must move on. That does not an I wouldn't take an opportunity for revenge, of course." He looked at John almost hopefully.
"I would really prefer to avoid further wars, if possible," John admitted. "I can't say I'd be willing to forgive them, exactly… but Gesine was the largest perpetrator. And she lost her life."
"The only good thing I can say about her is that at least when she fell she took down with her many of her allies with great potential. But of course, I still have to worry about many Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, even though I was fortunate enough to reach it myself. Ah!" He turned, waving to a woman walking closer. "Jolana, dear, et John and Astrid. And of course you know Zdislava from last ti."
Unlike her husband, Jolana had long flowing hair. No doubt there was so risk associated with that, but many cultivators were partial to so particular vanity. Keeping hair even when it could be at risk was relatively minor as such things went- in the worst case if it caught on fire it would be easy to simply let it burn while protecting the scalp. It would grow back later.
Jolana smiled, "Pleased to et you! I had not anticipated your strength." She spoke to both John and Astrid. "I hope to reach the Ascending Soul Phase in the near future myself, but for the mont…" she shrugged. "I wait. Until our energy can flow together with the sea. Now then, I think we shouldn't keep them standing on the docks. We can get them settled in." She looked back over her shoulder. "I think you will find our sect more comfortable for those of you that are not fire cultivators. There are even monts when it gets cool at night."
John supposed he had expected water focused cultivators to just deal with the heat. It was easy enough for them to overco with their dominant elent… in theory. In practice, it would be exhausting to do all day. Setting up their sect grounds to provide comfortable locations only made sense.
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