Once more into the sea of spiritual totems.

To Tirto, the true presence of the leviathan was not exactly an authoritative power. Instead, it was a power so grand it didn’t care about how strong anything else was. Something to that effect, at least.

He was back to the sixth layer. That same totem that he felt called to… though it continued to reject him. He’d tried wrestling with it, or even attacking it in frustration that was in no way related to any annoyance that he’d experienced during his training.

Now, he planned to beat it. When he approached, he was once again pushed away. He let it happen, but instead of just leaving he waited for some sort of returning flow of energy that he could ride back towards the totem. He got closer, whatever that meant in a place without actual distance.

Another pulse pushed him away, but like the ebb and flow of waves he gradually continued his efforts. Until finally, he reached the totem, clutching it to him. He felt it continue to pulse in his grasp, but once he had a hand on it he wasn’t flung away. He drew it into himself, feeling the rush of power as he attuned his third totem and at the same time officially entered the Soul Expansion Phase.

All he’d needed was a bit of determination, it seemed. And months of training and effort. Tirto wondered how his sisters were doing.

-----

“... marry me.”

“What?” Nik looked over towards Melanthina.

“I mean, uh, wouldn’t it be crazy if you came here with the intent to marry me? Though I doubt father even told you the purpose of these parties.”

“You’re right about that, he didn’t,” Nik agreed. Melanthina bit her lip, looking away. “But knowing what I do now, I would have come anyway.”

A slight intake of breath was all that betrayed Melanthina. “Is that so…”

“It is,” he declared. “And I should say, I enjoyed spending time with you even given the circumstances of the Prismatic Chambers. I think we worked well together. And I even enjoy fighting you the times I don’t feel like you’re actually trying to kill me.” Melanthina coughed, but Nik either didn’t notice or ignored it. “Should we get married? I don’t know if I could say that’s a good idea for many reasons, but… it’s going to be at least a few years, right? Do you want to at least spend some of that time getting to know each other?”

“Yes,” Melanthina said instantly. “Uh, to the last thing.”

-----

Small, previously imperceptible imperfections appeared before Ursel. She had no idea if she got anywhere close to the size of ‘atoms’ or ‘molecules’, but her father’s advice still helped. Regardless of how, there were imperfections in this Mountain Steel. She focused her spiritual energy to finer and finer levels, worming roots into the structure. Then she began to empower it, increasing the pressure around it. The Mountain Steel would be fighting against itself, as the roots of energy couldn’t be pushed out.

But, before it all came apart, Ursel stopped. She should show this to Master Renato. She was confident enough that she could do it. It would be better to display it in his presence. She doubted he would accuse her of cheating, but she also wanted to get feedback to see if he could find flaws in her technique.

Ursel was a notable figure among the disciples of the Order of the Amber Heart. People took notice of her because of her family, of course, but most cared about her being in the Soul Expansion Phase at an age where most were barely beginning the Spiritual Collection Phase. There were always exceptions, but all of the triplets had been born with a high affinity. Ursel trained hard to make sure she wouldn’t waste it, and she knew her siblings did the same.

Walking through the sect without getting requests to spar was a difficult prospect, so Ursel just prepared to accept all of them. Whether people were stronger or weaker didn’t really matter, since she could either learn something or it wouldn’t take long. And knowing exactly the right amount of restraint to use against weaker opponents was still useful.

Eventually she managed to wade through all of that and find Master Renato. She held out the heavy ingot, “I’m done.”

“Are you?” he asked. “Doesn’t look damaged to me.”

“It will be in a moment,” Ursel said. She focused on the flaws she knew about, and ultimately only a small amount of spiritual energy under extremely fine control wormed its way into the Mountain Steel ingot. Then she pushed, and it crumbled apart, breaking into a handful of distinct and craggy chunks. “See?”

“Your control has definitely improved,” Master Renato agreed. “But you’re too slow.”

“It wasn’t that slow.”

“Each second is an eternity in combat. And… you already knew the flaws. Can you do it just as fast with this?” Master Renato produced another ingot.

Given how much work it was to make those- and how impractical they were, as they could not be feasibly reworked into armor, set into form as they were, Ursel was surprised he had another ready. And not knowing where the flaws were, it did take her a few extra seconds to discern them- but she’d refined her ability to seek out small flaws quite significantly. “There. Done.”

“Next,” Master Renato said, somehow producing yet another ingot.

Though Ursel wasn’t expending all that much spiritual energy, which was the whole point of her totem, focusing her senses so much did come with mental fatigue. She got through the third and fourth, but on the fifth she needed a break. “... why do you have so many of these?”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Master Renato grinned, “That’s a secret.”

“It can’t be just to screw with me…” Ursel frowned. “Is this part of your own training?”

He just shrugged, “You can believe whatever you like. Either way, I’ll have more until you can perform this reliably and quickly. Though I should caution you to not get too focused on Mountain Steel specifically. Made by different people it will be only slightly different, but there will be other nearly impenetrable materials that will doubtless function differently.”

“... do I even need to break apart everything? Because even if someone wore an armor of pure Mountain Steel, I might be able to turn them into a soup inside it if I smacked them hard enough.”

“What lovely imagery,” Renato said. “But while I imagine you could do that once or twice, if they weren’t too skilled, it would wear you out much more quickly. You can’t always expect your opponents to be a fair match for you in either strength or numbers.”

“Yeah,” Ursel had to agree with that. “I guess that makes sense.” Though she could also just pretend to be smacking someone around and make use of her normal roots well enough.

-----

The time came for the Tenebach Clan’s blessing ceremony. There were some for whom it felt a bit late, while others would doubtless feel it was too early. Children who were too young would have to wait for the next opportunity in a few decades, meaning that the first Phases would take longer for them than others. But having to work with ‘only’ their inborn affinity would not be the end of the world. The Tenebach Clan still had sufficient resources for them to match most other powers, at least for a while. Other clans or sects still had their own methods, but the Tenebach Clan simply couldn’t perform the blessing ceremony as they pleased. Not even with Ciaritzal fully recovered. Though perhaps sometime in the future, they might be able to consistently provide enough resources to prevent the older generation of cultivators from having to make a sacrifice.

John paid special attention to his uncle Aydan. The clan was just a bit short of what they needed to be able to perform this time’s ceremony without loss. They would have managed by digging into savings or splitting the burden between the older generation, but Aydan had made his choice this time. It was hard to argue against, as Aydan was able to make his own decisions and the logic held. He was not going to stay a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator for long anyway, so it was better to get something from the loss.

Everyone involved gathered together beneath the clan, in the constructed habitat of Ciaritzal. That included everyone to receive the blessing ceremony, including most of the older generations and specifically Luctus, John’s grandfather. Of those still living, he had the most experience. Besides Ciaritzal himself, of course.

The special blessing John had received upon being transmigrated, involving just Ciaritzal, was an exception. The normal case was for there to be a group effort.

Though in theory only Aydan would give of his cultivation, the ceremony still required vulnerability from all of those involved. If the provided resources were insufficient, or if John’s affinity with Ciaritzal or the guidance of the others was insufficient, they could experience some setbacks. Because of that, everyone had to maintain optimum focus.

In the central position of those receiving the blessing was of course Melanthina. As the future clan head, the position of honor was hers… but it also came with responsibility. She would be responsible for a small portion of the distribution process. That was a divergence from tradition, but the ‘traditional’ ceremony had also been modified specifically for Ciaritzal’s injuries, and for what the Tenebach Clan could accomplish.

Darkness suffused the area, a comforting darkness even if it was also disconcerting. Ciaritzal was still only a vague bestial form, yet with more power than before. The ceremony began, and John was filtering energy through himself. It was not unlike a battle formation, though they did not have to worry about outside influences. The underground was sealed and guarded- though the exact timing was kept secret just in case anyone intended to cause trouble.

Energy swirled to and from John and Ciaritzal. The various materials, sources of spirit darkness, produced a heavy fog. Curved webs of spiritual energy filled the area, flowing from the upper generation to the younger. As predicted, they were a bit short- but Aydan freely offered of his cultivation base. John shuddered at an intrusive thought that it would be easy to take more power for himself.

Through John and Ciaritzal, the power flowed from the outside in, and back out from Melanthina. The entire process was less than an hour, but John felt as if he had been fighting the whole time.

But eventually, everything settled. For a moment, at least, until Melanthina broke through in a burst of power. While she’d technically waited until after the ceremony, that wasn’t exactly what John had in mind when she’d made her intentions clear. On the other hand, perhaps it was a good thing- shortly after that a handful of others picked either the first totems for the Spiritual Collection Phase, with a couple advancing to Foundation Phase. Reaching the Soul Expansion Phase was a bit more work, especially for the younger generation without a blessing, so Melanthina was the sole individual to immediately achieve those results.

And then the blessing ceremony was over. John wondered what totem she’d picked, until he found himself outside and saw that everyone had a light sunburn. Ultraviolet it was then. At least it would be usable in case things ultimately did not work out with Nik. Sure, they seemed compatible now, but as it turned out people were complex. On the other hand, even if they ran into issues that didn’t mean it couldn’t work out. Everyone had problems… John was just lucky that Matayal was able to talk to him straightforwardly about theirs. It wasn’t always pleasant, but it had to be done.

-----

Ursel returned to the clan to see her sister once more. The previous schedule had long been disrupted, and perhaps the triplets would never again spend most of the year together… but with the conclusion of the blessing ceremony, they would see Tirto again soon. “So…” Ursel asked. “How did it go?”

“How did what go?” Melanthina asked.

“With Nik.”

“... Why would you think there would be something with Nik?”

“Because it’s been obvious to us for… forever,” Ursel pointed out.

“... Really?” Melanthina frowned.

“Really. So, how’d it go?”

“It seems we’re officially courting… or something of the sort.”

“Parties called off?”

“They will be more… infrequent,” Melanthina said. “If nothing else, I still must maintain a social presence as the future clan head.”

Ursel waited until Melanthina was taking a sip of her watered wine. “So did you kiss yet?”

Liquid went everywhere, and Melanthina was hacking and coughing. “I- why would you… even suggest something of the sort?”

Ursel shrugged, “I dunno, I don’t even get why anyone would want to. But I’m going to assume that’s a yes.”

“I don’t like this subject.”

“I’m telling Tirto you did, whether you admit it or not.”

“... do as you please. But if any rumors spread about me, something unpleasant might find its way onto your pillow.”