The flickering flames of the perpetually burning grass continued deep into the core of the Summer Sun Sect. Most of the sect was kept open, so as to maximize the area that sunlight reached. That continued even into their core.
As he observed more of the flickering grass in shadow, John decided that the wilted stalks not in direct sunlight weren’t as pathetic looking as he’d first imagined them. Instead, he considered them to be waiting eagerly for their next opportunity to thrive.
The disciples of the sect stood among the fields in the center of the sect, surrounding an individual who could only be their sect head. John found something odd about the view. A grand presentation for a visiting sect wasn’t abnormal, so that wasn’t the issue. It was something he recognized only subconsciously at first. Then he realized that the disciples seemed to cast no shadows on the area around them- allowing the sunlight to reach all of the sun-dancing grass. It was an eerily unreal picture, but once he recognized what it was it was fairly easy to reconcile.
“Greetings to the Six Elements Crossroads.” Astrid’s voice was filled with supernatural warmth and her hair moved like tendrils of flame, similar to the grass around her. “We of the Summer Sun Sect welcome your presence. May the light of the sun bless your path.”
John hadn’t been prepared for that exact greeting, but his years of diplomatic experience allowed him to come up with a passable response. “We feel the warmth of the sun, and bring in turn each spectrum of spiritual energy.” That was passable enough. “We look forward to exchanging insights on the nature of cultivation.”
Astrid strode forward, reaching out to clasp his hand with both of hers. “You are just as seen and heard previously. Powerful, and full of a stable flow. I even sense within you the building blocks of light element. A talent like yours is perhaps seen only once in a century.”
Though her words seemed sincere, John thought they were perhaps too complementary. He didn’t quite know how to respond. “You are most kind,” he bowed slightly. “I have heard of your successes as well, and see around us a thriving sect.”
“Your words are most appreciated. Come then, my disciples will lead yours to their temporary lodging. Guests of your caliber must of course be placed among the elders.” She gestured to Ayhan and Lir as well- even if they were a handful of ranks lower than her, they were still in the Consolidated Soul Phase. It was expected that the strongest of any group would be treated with utmost respect, and their cultivation likely matched many of the sect’s elder’s regardless.
Buildings were carefully placed with segments of grass to the south, such that they would not block the light of the sun from reaching the grasses. Though it seemed quite common for members of the sect to trod through the grasses, the guest houses had a greater proportion of paved paths- likely to accommodate those of different elements. The flames were, after all, a real enough hazard for those who were not using them as a source of inspiration. At the very least, many would have to expend extra energy on their own protection.
They were settled into their rooms, though none carried heavy burdens they needed to divest themselves of. The rooms themselves were quite comfortable, with accommodating formations for those who might wish to minimize the intrusion of spiritual energy.
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Rather than having any sort of sacred ground, the Summer Sun Sect’s potential was evenly distributed throughout their territory. It seemed everyone was able to select whichever somewhat private patch of long bodied flaming grass they wished to train among for the day, with little more to it than that. There were probably still social pressures that kept people in particular groups, but the structure wasn’t particularly rigid.
Astrid was happy to share her understanding of the sect’s techniques, while at the same time John shared any relevant insights of his own. The basics were fairly simple. As allied elements, light could easily support the more destructive fire. Going slightly deeper, it could provide a sort of lively vigor, an on demand fuel source.
Obviously if John only thought about things in terms of old world physics, it made little sense. Light wasn’t flammable, and even if it was there was so little of anything there that it wouldn’t have produced flames of any merit. But here, in this world, fire elemental spiritual energy could form a flame without any source but the spiritual energy itself. The energy wasn’t fuel for the flame any more than other spiritual elements were fuel. They contained a certain amount of power that was transformed into another sort of power temporarily.
Anything that remained long term was an aftereffect of spiritual energy. Water conjured by spiritual energy wasn’t real, though water element could condense actual water out of the air just as well. Likewise, a wall of earth or a plant energy projection lasted only as long as the spiritual energy- but a boulder that was given momentum by earth element acted according to the laws of inertia.
None of these were astounding insights, but rather some of the very basics of cultivation. However, John found he had to review some of the concepts as he moved along, to keep himself grounded.
John watched as Astrid sat in meditation. Sunlight was both absorbed by her and passed through her to the grasses beyond, flickering them into living flame. John did his best to replicate the effect, and didn’t find it too difficult to somewhat manage. Light element already liked to be free, so in the worst case he sort of absorbed and released sequentially.
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The flames around him were individually weak, but intense together. It was strange to interact with the grass, as it was so tangible. Solid flame, if he had to describe it. The structure of the grass bent and twisted like a flickering fire, but it never stopped being both things- except when it lacked sunlight. Then it was somewhat like a burnt out wick… just waiting to be lit again.
Astrid didn’t convert the light element she absorbed into fire element. If that was the sect’s style, they would have likely been considered a pure fire sect. As he had observed earlier, she used her light element as fuel, augmenting not the quantity of fire elemental spiritual energy but its instantaneous power. That required manipulation of both elements simultaneously, but she performed the task with perfection.
As she continued to meditate, John saw flames grow around her. They were brightly colored as they continued to grow taller until she resembled one of the stalks of grass around her. From what John could tell she didn’t seem to be uncomfortable. He could feel the heat from where he was positioned, but the flow was constantly away from her- out and up.
John was quite pleased to see such technique in action- even in the more passive form of meditation compared to combat. He had practice with allied elements supporting each other, but very few sects focused on that as a primary function. With light and darkness being the rarest elements, it wasn’t that surprising, but John wanted to promote such techniques.
He frequently used darkness to hide his intent, and while that was a good use of the spiritual energy it wasn’t directly supporting another element. John figured he could do more of that himself, potentially. He liked to explore every possibility, even if it wasn’t something he would ultimately use long-term. And while he might be cautioned that he couldn’t do everything, he had kind of committed to that to a certain extent. At least, some portion of every element. Learning every technique in the world would be more of a burden than a blessing, as he would likely subject himself to choice paralysis, but taking time to pick out ones he thought suited him was an excellent idea.
Using light element to bolster fire was great. He couldn’t accidentally hurt himself by including darkness if it was all used up. He might change his mind about whether he wanted to do things that way when he was closer to actually selecting a light element totem, but he had four ranks before the peak of the Ascending Soul Phase.
John focused his thoughts, offering up light to be fed upon by fire. It wasn’t as easy as Astrid made it look. John had to pass through a whole lot of hoops before he got a mental construct that worked for him, and he was a hundred percent certain that it was unrelated to the typical understanding of the sect.
Sunlight originally was produced from fire- or plasma, if he were being technical. It produced more than one form of light- far more. A broad spectrum of light, including of course visible light, but also infrared and ultraviolet. Some portion of that light was then absorbed on the planet as heat, especially some of the higher intensity infrared. Thus, in terms of spiritual elements, it became fire again.
Forcing concentrated infrared light together was supposed to build up heat, but it didn’t quite work. John recalled it needed to be absorbed by something to transform into heat. He added some earth element which he then combined with flame created directly by fire element. It certainly wasn’t the same method as Astrid had used, but it was still an amplification using mostly light element.
As he looked at the flames held in front of him, he also noticed Astrid watching. “An interesting result,” she said. “I can’t tell exactly how it works, but you’ve certainly made impressive flames.”
John held it for a few moments longer, but he wouldn’t take long to run out of light element. He only had about a quarter as much compared to anything else, even if that proportion was very slowly increasing. “It’s not all that practical until I can get a totem,” John admitted.
“Even so, it is noteworthy. Can you explain how you achieve those results?”
“A certain sort of light is more easily absorbed by common materials to rapidly generate heat,” John explained. “I added a fragment of earth to be the catalyst. I doubt that would be of much use for you in that manner, but if you wanted to light something in particular on fire…” John shrugged. “It might be faster.”
“I didn’t even sense the earth element,” Astrid admitted.
“It was a small amount. Most cultivators can’t distinguish anything below a certain proportion without active effort.”
“Is that a technique you had before?” she asked.
John shook his head. “It’s new. Inspired by you.”
“Amazing.”
“You may say so, but I think your method is far more interesting,” John said. “I don’t understand it very well. Is there some secret I’m missing?”
“The secret is all around us,” she gestured. Of course, it was the flaming grass. John had inspected it, but he couldn’t figure out how it functioned. “We create light reactive flame by watching its behavior.”
John watched as she formed some in her hand, the brightness increasing rapidly, before it darkened slightly and the heat intensified. He understood the general idea, but it was more difficult than she made it sound. “It will take me some more time to familiarize myself with the surroundings before I can actually use a similar method, I think.”
It was pretty much impossible to see anything relevant from looking at the grass. It was visually just flames- nor did it look like a stalk of some sort on fire, but like a flame with its own shape. The solid core almost completely faded away when exposed to sunlight.
John wondered if he should wait until night to study the structure, but he realized he was sitting on some. And despite his best efforts to minimize his visual blockage, some of the grass directly below him wasn’t getting much light.
It was long and thin, but rather than being a single flat blade three seemed to join together around a central stalk. When it wasn’t alight, it sort of curled in on itself. John didn’t know what those features might have to do with how it functioned, but he was certain he could familiarize himself with it given time.
