It took time to get used to being someone of status, and for Raul that status had changed too much for him to get used to anything. His previous status of third best alchemist in the city really meant worst alchemist, since it didn’t count Oden’s apprentices. Whether or not he was actually better than them at that point he hadn’t been certain. His self esteem would have told him he was worse. John told him he was better.

He had learned much, his cultivation growing rapidly under John’s tutelage. An improved understanding of the local spiritual energy structure had helped immensely. It was known that spiritual energy of all sorts could be extracted from the local environment, but the general difficulty of it made people think that the area was low in spiritual energy when in fact that was only true in the most remote sense. Specifically, the individual levels of a specific element were lower than the single element areas- but if one could make use of two elements with any efficiency, they would usually come out ahead.

So now that he was in the Foundation Phase with two totems, his cultivation speed was most likely higher in Astrein than elsewhere. Perhaps the border between the Stone Conglomerate and the Green Sands might be more effective, but that wasn’t really a comfortable living zone.

Beyond his personal strength, he was also the head alchemist for the Six Elements Crossroads. Not that they had other alchemists, but Raul understood the honor. Even before the recent events with the Platinum Tower Society, he had felt somewhat important. Now, Oden was gone and Raul might be the highest ranking alchemist in the city. Though he wasn’t certain he was the best.

Durga still existed, after all, a fact he was reminded of when she came to visit him in his office. He had an office now- separate from his lab. His nicely outfitted lab… that currently had mostly stuff from Oden’s lab.

“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?” Raul asked.

Durga shook her head. “Pretty sure these days I’m the one who should be honored you let me in. I know we’re not on particularly friendly terms but… I was hoping you would allow me to study Alchemist Oden’s notes. I am willing to pay, of course.”

Raul thought about that. Truth be told, he didn’t really have any objections. Durga hadn’t been helpful to him, but neither had she been antagonistic. She hadn’t been willing to go against Oden to take him in as an apprentice, but who would in such an environment? “I’m not sure…” Raul began.

“Please,” Durga interrupted. “I’ll… work as an apprentice, if that’s what needs to be done. But I can’t… the information he knew is too valuable to pass up. You can pick and choose what you show me, if necessary. Keep watch on me as I study. But this might be my best opportunity to advance my abilities.”

Before she could go on, Raul held up a hand. He just needed a moment to think. It wasn’t really that difficult of a decision at the moment, though. “I can sell you a copy. Of his notes or books or whatever you want.” He didn’t really know what he would do with an apprentice, especially an older one. Not that Durga was old, but there were a few years between them. And he also doubted he could actually teach her much. Maybe something related to mixed elements, but she certainly had more experience with other things.

“You’ll just… sell me a copy?”

“Sure, why not?” Raul shrugged. “I don’t lose anything from that transaction.”

“But the secrets-”

“Will have been paid for. Honestly, are you trying to advocate for me not doing this?”

“I just don’t understand your reasoning,” she admitted. Then she frowned, “Am I not even a threat as a rival?”

“John chose me when my skills were still pretty garbage,” Raul said. “And now I’m officially the alchemist for his sect. I’m not worried about losing business to you, since you’ve always been an option. Worst case scenario, you gain some insights into a new sort of elixir or something and either sell those or the technique to the sect. I’m not afraid of a little competition, unlike Oden.”

“... Oh.”

“Also, I think you’ll be more interested in the manuals he’d manage to accumulate than his notes specifically. As an alchemist his notes are… uninspired.” Raul wasn’t sure why he was being nice about the wording there. “Kinda bad, even. I don’t think he came up with anything original. He just had the resources and a captive market.”

“The latter I can definitely confirm,” Durga said. “So, uh…”

“It’ll take some time to get copies made,” Raul said. “Let’s negotiate a fair price.”

-----

John had taken some time to reflect on his efforts with the Six Elements Crossroads. In retrospect, things with the Platinum Tower Society could have gone much worse than they had. They were too much of an opponent for the budding sect while at the same time he’d seen them as beneath him. He had taken them seriously enough to hire extra protection while he was away, but things could have still gone wrong.

Obviously nowhere was ever perfectly safe, neither in this world with cultivators nor a world without. Even so, he wanted things to be more secure. The best method to achieve that at the current moment… was simply time. Two years of groundwork and a founding ceremony weren’t nothing, but they were hardly comparable to the decades or occasionally centuries of history that relevant sects and clans had.

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The Platinum Tower Society had been around for quite some time in some form or other- though in truth it was mostly the dominant groups taking on the same name as they took control of various things in Lunson. Their sect had little going for it except being somewhat in control of the arena.

Though that was a matter that now fell to the Six Elements Crossroads. What remained of the Platinum Tower Society would be allowed to continue to operate as long as they didn’t cause trouble, but they had lost their leadership all at once, along with a good portion of their wealth as retribution. John didn’t want to just wipe them out, though he was aware they could potentially develop into a threat. On the other hand, that gave something for the sect’s disciples to involve themselves with- specifically threat assessment. They were assigned to watch for dangers in the city, and of course specifically those they’d previously had conflict with.

There was one awkward aspect of controlling the arena now. He would have to figure out some way for his disciples to participate while keeping the appearance of fairness- and actually being fair, of course, but the public cared more about the first one. Fortunately, he had more than a few years to figure that out. Until then, they had to maintain the arena… and maybe find some way to profit off of it more than once a decade. It seemed pretty inefficient.

Perhaps that required a change in the city as a whole. Even in the current day, with the Six Elements Crossroads being founded, most people still thought of it as a place between instead of a destination. And while that might always be true for certain people, he hoped the city could develop into something of its own.

Speaking of the city… they really needed something like an orphanage. While he’d recruited a good number of street kids into his sect, he didn’t want that to be the most straightforward method of joining… nor did he want everyone in the Six Elements Crossroads. He had standards- standards of effort and character and to a lesser degree talent. Though he also understood that basically everyone could develop their cultivation further with the right methods. The Six Elements Crossroads would strive to not just match each element, but the finer details of what people needed. Though at the moment they mostly had to learn from John, the older disciples, or guest elders from John’s friends and allies as they didn’t have an established history.

Overall, John was quite pleased. The sect was up and running… and he didn’t forget about the food stall. Or stalls, as they were expanding throughout the city now. While most cultivators could travel a bit further to visit a place they wanted to without issue, non-cultivators might find it cumbersome to walk halfway across the city for a quick meal. It also allowed more training opportunities for disciples, both those who would be on the martial path and those who would focus on the side of business and the like. Because as it turned out, money was an important part of any organization.

Viriato was a great help in that regard. Not only was he one of the rare Soul Expansion Phase cultivators associated with the sect, but he managed the finances… with oversight from John. John didn’t currently have any reason to doubt the man, either in terms of abilities or character. But it was better to dissuade intrusive thoughts that nobody would know if Viriato skimmed something off the top. Setting up methods of oversight would be important in the long term, so that people would be used to it. John wanted this sect to last, not just as a pet project to spend a few years fooling around.

He still saw great potential for Astrein- and the secret valley was only part of it. There were many natural resources that, if properly managed, could provide for the sect long into the future. That included the bison, and though John still preferred actual cow for burgers… he didn’t want to be responsible for something going extinct.

The conservationist inside of him wasn’t just because he came from a different world, but was a natural result of thinking about what he was doing. Even other cultivators understood to some extent- perhaps on Earth people might not care what happened in fifty or a hundred years, since they might not be around to see the consequences of their actions. But here… any decent cultivator could live past a hundred easily. Two hundred wasn’t unreasonable for Soul Expansion Phase cultivators.

Not that everyone took that to heart. There would always be people thinking only about the near future, those who were greedy or who didn’t intend to occupy a place and thus didn’t mind stripping it of resources. But a good number of people at least thought about long term prospects, for their own self interest.

-----

Darkness was the core of everything- ebony trees scattered across the landscape, roots buried in soil that came from previous cycles of life. The landscape wasn’t a thing of purity, but instead impurity leveraged to the greatest advantage. The trees of darkness absorbed the atmosphere around them, releasing something that could be used by the other ‘life’ to ‘breathe’. Water filled the seas and evaporated into the skies, feeding into the plants. And the fire of a false sun burned above, more heat than light.

If he didn’t have vivid memories of the great tree of darkness, John would hardly be able to find any signs that his dantian had been damaged. Now, it seemed as if things had almost always been this way. Except… there were occasional signs of death. Some of the seeds didn’t make it, or died as young saplings.

That might have seemed like a flaw in John’s cultivation- but even before, the leaves of the tree of darkness had fallen to the ground to become part of the soil. John thought the cycle was working as intended, even more so as time went on. His cultivation continued to grow, though not so rapidly as before. He could easily see himself spending several years moving through the Soul Expansion Phase. He was not looking forward to the roadblock at the end of that road. He already knew what it would be.

But knowing ahead of time meant he might actually be able to grow strong enough to face it. If only it was something he could defeat in combat, he would have nothing that could stop him. But his biggest opponent at the current moment was himself. He’d returned to being a functional human, and he thought he was managing to interact with his friends and family sufficiently… but there were still lingering thoughts he doubted would ever go away. And he wasn’t sure if he wanted them to, because along with the sad memories were the good.

Choosing only the memories of Matayal as she lived would build a false picture, and certainly hurt him more in the long run. The difficult part was that John knew he could probably come up with a technique to alter his memories. Sometimes, he thought it wouldn’t be so bad… until he thought about all the things that could go wrong. Besides, sidestepping emotional instability would leave him vulnerable to the future. He kind of wished there were therapists, though. Or that he had someone close he could talk to. He had friends, but there was only so much he was willing to burden them with the same thoughts, over and over. Nor were they trained to help.

Ultimately, everything returned to cultivation. John was highly motivated to become strong, so nothing like that could happen ever again. Not to him, or those he knew. Death was a part of life… but he intended to make certain that no lives he cared about were cut short. For that, he would continue to grow.