On some level, John had expected his life to suddenly improve upon being married but that didn't happen. He was doing the same things as before… just less lonely. He couldn't quite say why he expected a sudden change, but the fact that it was a big event tricked him into thinking the event was more important than what had been happening the whole time. Even if the actual wedding was mostly political, only a few details changed in the before and after.

Rather than things suddenly being better, John had to accept that things had been gradually improving for a while. Astrid's presence made his life better, and he certainly hoped that he was making her life better at least as much. The amount of smiles he caught was probably a good sign.

A time of peace after years of war… though the relative lack of conflict in previous times had probably been the exception rather than the various troubles that had cropped up. John had grown too comfortable, even after the trouble with the Stormy Sea Sect and others from the Windswept Sea. Perhaps that was true of many from the continent. They hadn't been slacking off in their training, because reaching greater heights of cultivation was a fulfilling end result all on its own, but feeling secure in their own borders had been a bit much.

That, without actually knowing as much as they should about the areas beyond the continent. John resolved to focus more on that matter… after they got around to the late tournament. That said, he could send requests to the more coastal regions to help pool their knowledge. They were the ones who would have had previously experienced strife outside the continent, at least occasionally. Older records might contain useful information aside from vague notions of other lands beyond.

For the moment, however, John was focused on relaxing as much as someone with as many responsibilities as he did could relax.

-----

John came to Viriato, the strongest member of the Six Elements Crossroads aside from himself. At the peak of the Consolidated Soul Phase, that technically put the Six Elements Crossroads at two, behind those few sects and clans that had several Ascending Soul Phase cultivators- but they weren't all that common. If the Sky Islands were counted together, they had just a handful remaining. However, the Milanovic clan had three if Lucanus was counted- which he absolutely should be. The same with the Tenebach clan and the Brandle clan, with John's children and their spouses. Though they were both close to raising more.

The Amber Heart had three, with Ursel and Renato having surpassed Johannes Dalen. His talent should not be construed as any less for that- after all, he'd been one of the first Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators in his region. The Golden Tomb Guardians had Deirdre and Zacharie, though it might also be appropriate to count Cuah'arn in which case the Tenebach clan was one ahead. The Brandle Clan couldn't yet count Carl as an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator, but in a few decades the leviathan would naturally reach that level. A few other clans throughout the Shimmering Islands had been caring for the children of the leviathan as well, and might produce powerful guardian beasts given time.

It was wonderful having so many allies growing strong. Even Arkaitz of the Silver Haze Sect had stepped into the Ascending Soul Phase after the end of the war. John still wanted more back home, as some might say.

"What do you think of your chances of advancing?" John asked Viriato. "The sect will support your efforts."

Viriato thought for a few moments, sipping his tea. He wasn't the sort that preferred to meet out and about, if he could help it. When he returned to Lunson, he liked to take a bit of time off from his business ventures. "With the support of the sect, I have a reasonable chance of advancement. By your request, I could attempt the breakthrough within a year."

John took some time to interpret that. "Would you prefer to wait longer… or are you not currently interested in making the attempt?"

"I would like to do my best for the sect," Viriato said. "You have done much for me, after all."

Viriato would receive respect wherever he went, as a cultivator at the peak of the Consolidated Soul Phase. There was no need for him in particular to be stronger.

"How is your balance of elements?" John asked.

"At the moment, I would say it is excellent. One more totem wouldn't unbalance me, but I don't think I would go much further."

"In that case," John said. "I think it would be better for you to remain as you are. Because your individual value for the sect won't improve enough to make up for a high risk." Even if he only had a quarter chance of dying, the work that Viriato performed was more valuable than his rank as a cultivator. "If in the future you feel confident, the offer for additional resources still stands."

It was a little bit disappointing, mostly because John would have to wait another couple decades for his strongest personal disciples to reach the Ascending Soul Phase. Though there were a few others who had come to the Six Elements Crossroads with a higher cultivation who might beat out the various former street kids.

John wasn't afraid for their position, however. With his personal strength and all of the allies he had, holding onto their influence was more or less guaranteed. He just wanted the Six Elements Crossroads to remain strong after him. John was hoping that 'after' time would be at least a century down the line- he expected to easily live that long if he wasn't killed- but it could be earlier.

Astrid might hold things together after he was gone, but she didn't currently have strong roots in the sect. So ultimately, John had to simply avoid dying in the near future. So far, he'd been managing that pretty well.

-----

Astrid was watching John as he came out of his meditation. "Is it safe to modify your body like that?"

John shrugged. "Is it safe to compress boundless amounts of spiritual energy inside your body?"

"... We have longstanding precedents paving our way."

"Well, except for the Ascending Soul Phase and beyond," John said. "We're just assuming that it's more of the same, with more control and insight required. I would be surprised if it wasn't… but the same is true for advanced body tempering. It's merely that we have less history for most of the early stages of things. Right now, I'm on the cutting edge of advanced body tempering and I rarely cause myself long term harm."

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"I see," Astrid nodded. "So you're saying, my husband, that you are the best."

"Not quite. Ursel has taken earth element things much further. I've barely even augmented my bones and muscles beyond the basics, but she hunts giant beasts and relies on that to build her strength. I will say for other elements I am probably the most advanced I have found… mainly because very few people try."

"You mentioned the Tenebach clan doing it to some extent."

"Ciaritzal, specifically," John nodded. "As a spirit beast, he has centuries of practice and instinct. It's only really augmenting the eyes in the way that manipulating darkness naturally allows. Then again, I always want to go with the basic attributes of each element. I could teach you my fire element temperature regulation, if you wish. I don't have anything good for light, yet."

Astrid gave him a sly grin. "Trying to drag me into your fringe cultivation, are you?"

"I'll happily drag you anywhere," John responded. "You might also be interested in impurity burning. Sadly, I doubt you could practice Pure Blood without a water element totem, even with my aid."

"That one is… your water element one? Toxin nullification?"

"That's right," John nodded. "It's not perfect, and I really don't know if it has mattered at any point yet… but I've tested it in practice."

"Like mithridatism."

"Except I shouldn't have to be exposed to individual toxins beforehand," John explained. "Hopefully, anything significantly out of normal proportions in my body will be filtered out. I should notice in time to actively expel it."

"You're doing each element, right? I know your earth one is Diamond Defense. What about air?"

"Air's Swiftness. No, it doesn't make me faster. I've just slightly enhanced my reaction speed."

Astrid made a face. "Can't you do that with spiritual energy anyway?"

"Only if I know there's something to react to," John pointed out.

"... Ah."

"I also tried air filtration in my lungs. It's been less successful."

"A waste of time, then?"

John tilted his head. "I don't know if anything has been a waste of time. Even the abject failures. After all, I learned from them. It's like practicing new techniques even if you never intend to use them. Learning is the point. I'm better at development now. Anyway… if you want me to help you create some fire or light element advanced body tempering techniques, I'd be happy to."

"Tell me more about the temperature regulation. Is there any point besides being warm when I've run out of spiritual energy?"

"There is," John confirmed. "First, I think not having to expend spiritual energy to regulate my internal temperature is quite valuable. Second, it doesn't just make me warm."

"Right," Astrid nodded. "Fire element is the control of temperature in general. Even cooling."

"Precisely."

Astrid had known that before she met him, but only on a surface level. People in the Sunfields didn't practice a whole lot of freezing techniques. Astrid might never do so, but she had learned to support John's water element with her fire element, and that included freezing. It was still easy to naturally lean towards the mindset that fire equalled hot. On its own, that was what fire element was best for. Though John thought that might be a perspective issue.

"For light element…" Astrid pondered, "Some sort of darkvision? Except that's not necessarily useful. Flash resistance?"

"Do you ever blind yourself with your own attacks?"

"Not anymore," Astrid said. "But I also have to actively shield my eyes. Since that's a constant thing I don't think anyone can tell when I'm going to launch an attack, but I've been wrong before."

"Given your showing against Ursel I can at least say most people won't notice. But it might be better to conserve energy. In combat, of course. It will probably take quite a bit more energy outside of combat to develop it. Plus, you can bluff."

"Oh?" Astrid raised an eyebrow.

"Focus energy on your eyes, obviously. Create a few flashes. Then do it when your eyes aren't specially protected."

"Spoken like a sneaky darkness cultivator."

John nodded. "Light cultivators can also be sneaky, if they try. Like the Golden Tomb Guardians. Technically, other elements could create weapon blades like them… but light is more suited to rapid shifts. The way their glaives have blades only when they wish is a valuable technique."

"How would you go about doing that sort of body tempering?" Astrid asked. "Do I just… flash light in my eyes a bunch?"

"Depends. Do you like being able to see?"

"... yes?"

"Then I wouldn't recommend it. You might cause permanent damage." Though as cultivators, 'permanent' wasn't necessary 'forever'. It simply wouldn't heal naturally, and would require spiritual energy or special medicines. Dealing with old injuries could actually be a significant use of cultivator's time and resources, even when they were just minor flaws that built up. "I think it would be best to try something like polarization of your cornea."

Astrid just furrowed her brow. "What?"

John demonstrated what he meant, creating a patch of air that polarized light with his light element. He hadn't actually tried it before, so it took a couple minutes. However, in the end Astrid could clearly see him using light to result in less light.

"So you just… block some light?"

"You could say that," John said. "Consider this," John created another patch the same as the first. "If you layer these on top of each other, what will it be like?"

"Well, they block maybe half of the light. So together, maybe a quarter will get through?"

"Take a look."

With the segments lined up perpendicular to each other, all of a sudden no light at all passed through the area. It was a bit tough to maintain both at once, not from a power perspective but because of technique.

"Now, obviously you don't want to block all light. If you can't see, you can't see. But you might manage adaptive polarization. The key is not turning it into a different sort of weakness. If a sudden flash darkens your cornea…"

"Then once there's less light you basically can't see. What about taking active control over your iris?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know if that would be possible without active spiritual energy, in which case you're pretty much back to what you do now but you could accidentally damage your eyeball mid combat. You might be able to change the rate at which it responds to stimuli, however. Then with a minor amount of light blocking, it could handle pretty much anything."

Of course, at some point rather than body tempering they should just wear flash resistant goggles or something… not that anyone had the right tech to make such things. Maybe with enchantments. Still, the discussion for how to do it with body tempering would still be valuable as long as neither of them actually messed with their eyeballs until they'd worked out the kinks in the plan.

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