Ursel met up with the caravan traveling to Lunson around the border. The Order of the Amber Heart didn’t have any official business with the group and would be traveling separately, but Ursel herself wanted to join. She might have met them earlier at the Tenebach clan, but the timing simply hadn’t worked out.

  John felt her coming before he saw her or heard her, which was quite something as she had a significant physical presence. Her boots rang heavy on the roads of the Stone Conglomerate and her armor shone brightly. However, more than all of that she had a heavy weight around her like a mountain. She didn’t possess the greatest amount of earth elemental spiritual energy John had ever seen, but perhaps she simply fit the most. Even if he considered Renato’s talent, Ursel was happy in her skin whether that was the one tempered with special materials or the metal one atop.

  “Hey dad! Sis,” Ursel nodded pleasantly as she projected her voice towards her intended recipients. Not that her voice needed much of a boost. “Doin’ alright, Ereli?”

  Her niece nodded, but didn’t seem interested in chatting much more at the moment.

  Then came the last one. “Empress Aldara.” Ursel’s voice was steady, but she reached towards her back. “I got the materials you sent.” She swung forth a massive club made of purest jade, the action menacing in a way that caused some of those around Aldara to tense up. However, most of them couldn’t have done much to defend the empress even if she had needed it. “You have good stuff.”

  “Of course,” Aldara said. “The Empire of Elements possesses bountiful resources, capable of crafting the highest quality weapons and armor.” She moved forward, reaching out for the club that really should have been held in two hands. She didn’t quite touch, instead stopping just short. She didn’t really need to be that close to take a good look at something with her spiritual energy, but it broadcast her intentions. “It seems you formed the core yourself. Excellent.”

  Ursel nodded. “Not many people can work the materials I need, so I started doing it myself.”

  John nodded. It wasn’t that there weren’t more skilled craftsmen throughout the continent. His equipment was made by others, even if he sourced some of the materials himself. It was simply that Ursel focused on materials that were more durable at their base. It took a vast amount of spiritual energy to manipulate them at all. No doubt skilled craftsmen familiar with materials could manipulate them with a bit less power, but it simply made sense for Ursel to make things herself at some point. And the weapon was simple in form. Armor was a bit more complex, but she was more than familiar with the form.

  John had helped her with certain iterations. She’d been bugging him to try to make Planet Steel- in effect whatever an Exalted Soul Phase earth cultivator might form themselves. John would eventually, of course. It wasn’t like she wanted him to do all of the work, he was just the only real option. Though perhaps Aldara could manage, he simply wasn’t certain where her time had been spent. A majority of it should have been focused on her own growth rather than utility abilities, though.

  Ursel was looking at Aldara suspiciously, as if the woman would try to destroy her new club. Not angrily, though. She’d been terribly upset when her armor was destroyed, but she had moved beyond that by now. “We should spar.”

  Besides the material repayment, that was the reason. Ursel liked to test herself against strong people, and even if Aldara had been an enemy, her personal grievances weren’t quite as much as John’s. She might also try to reveal whatever of Matayal was in there in her own way.

  Aldara smiled gently. “Should the opportunity arise, I would gladly take you up on that offer.”

  It was really better it didn’t. John might have to emphasize how they had no formations that could stand up to an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator. Whether that would work was another question, because it would be pretty much impossible to accidentally injure Ursel. Most people had trouble doing while actively trying to kill her, after all.

  Still, it might be better to hold off on even a friendly spar. Just for the near future.

  -----

  Tirto was already in Lunson when they arrived. It would have been a particularly long detour for him to meet up with them anywhere else, and there would be plenty of time to catch up with his sisters during the tournament. He would also have sufficient time for any interactions with Aldara that might occur.

  John’s feelings on the latter were complicated to say the least. Was this what it was like to be divorced? Not really. After all, he had loved Matayal and never stopped. She hadn’t either before she died. Then she came back to life, but before he knew that she became responsible for the death of his new wife. All these thoughts filled him far too often. It was a wonder he got anything done, cultivation or otherwise.

  He didn’t mind if the children were trying to reconnect with their mother. As long as she wasn’t manipulating them for some sort of political plot, whatever happened with them would be fine. John was fairly certain she wasn’t, but he still kind of wanted to kill Aldara. Though… less and less the more he experienced things.

  That was probably for the best. It wouldn’t be productive even if he did. It wouldn’t even provide proper catharsis.

  He let the thoughts float away, trying to focus on the opening ceremonies of the tournament. As the sect head of the Six Elements Crossroads, he was responsible for the ceremonial stuff. The real work had already been done by others, and they would likewise be managing things along the way.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  John shouldn’t even have to step in to break up a scuffle. There were plenty of security for that, and conflicts were usually minor. Stronger folk knew better and would bear harsher consequences. If John himself actually had to get involved, things were far from how they should be.

  -----

  John didn’t feel like there was any distance between him and Aldara at all. He had said he would answer any questions she had, and he’d meant it. He just hadn’t expected there to be that many.

  “What is the purpose of throwing such a heavy ball? Is it useful in a siege?”

  She was in the box next to him, so they were still physically distant. Her voice was carried to him securely by their spiritual energy, but some people would certainly notice they were having private conversations. Maybe that wasn’t the worst, though. In fact, it could be a political move.

  But John was also certain she was just curious. He recognized a certain tone in her voice that lingered from a previous life. “It’s just a competition,” John said. “It has no meaning except what people assign to it. A contest to be the best at something with mutually agreed rules. And people can do a lot more of this than sparring.”

  “Surely the javelins are for war?” Aldara asked.

  “Do you think there’s any significant impact there?” John asked. There were a few target destruction contests, but stationary targets without active spiritual energy defenses weren’t good training for combat. Sometimes sieges, but being a bit more efficient in that area might not be that relevant when people could fly over walls- or leap over, or burrow under. There were barriers, but they were far weaker when not supporting a structure.

  “What swiftness they have, running around the track,” Aldara commented.

  So, it was going to be like that. He supposed he should respond.

  “Obstacle avoidance is quite interesting to watch, but sometimes it is best to see the purest form of competition.”

  Matayal had seen the tournament before- even participated. However, that was many decades prior, before John and the Six Elements Crossroads took over. Not only had they expanded the size of the tournament, they had added a great many different sorts of competitions. There were always people wanting more, but they couldn't have them all for various reasons.

  Some people wanted cooking competitions. John liked the idea, but it simply wouldn’t fit their structure. Plus, the judging would be much harder as it was subjective. It was one thing to rate an acrobatic competition, but fairly assessing dishes from different regions was going to be a step harder. That said, Viriato wanted to drive more traffic towards the area on the off years. Perhaps they would include more things of the sort. Not a lesser tournament, but an alternate. John doubted everyone would believe that, but there was only so much one could do.

  “I’m astounded that people from the Sky Islands are involved,” Aldara continued. “I suppose they were fighting against the Molten Sea, but they were quite disconnected.”

  “It was a rocky relationship,” John replied. Should he mention tossing down the first peak? He wasn’t sure what that would accomplish, and it might just sound like bragging. If she wanted to dig into the details, she could doubtless find someone to tell her. None of that was secret. “However, Sitora has been a steadfast ally among them.”

  “Ah yes… there was that connection between you,” she commented.

  Sitora had been Alva when she was on Earth. Deirdre had encountered her and solidified that revelation during the invasion. Matayal was aware of that.

  As Aldara spoke, her face showed no expression. However, John felt emotion within her words. “At that time, I hoped to rebirth with my memories. It was a hope I never truly expected to be fulfilled, but with the examples of Renato and Yustina I was willing to bet on the fractionary chance.” She paused for a moment. “I never expected to lose so much. You retained all of your memories, correct? That seems more common among transmigrators.”

  “Ah… you studied the phenomena during your current life, I recall?” It was true, John remembered everything as well as before he had departed Earth. The memories had been bitter once, a family lost even as he gained another. But now, it was simply another moment in his past. It wasn’t as if he could change anything. John risked another glance at Aldara. “I couldn’t bet my future on something so unlikely.”

  “It had to be done regardless. And I didn’t expect there was any chance you remained in this world. Or at least, I think that was my justification.” She smiled slightly, “That creature that was swimming along with the fleet is a child of that leviathan, is it not?”

  “His name is Carl,” John said. “Ereli named him.”

  “I’m sure his name strikes fear in the heart of your foes.”

  A wonderful deadpan joke. They weren’t even talking about the tournament now. “Not really. Most of those who saw him are dead. And we don’t tend to shout his name.”

  “Perhaps you should. Nobody will expect him.” She pondered for a moment. “I would like to see the Shimmering Islands. Perhaps not on this visit. I hear that it is doing quite well, and it has many mighty guardian beasts.”

  A few others had managed to raise leviathans to some extent, it was true. No matter what might be most proper, however, they weren’t allowed to live in the wild on their own. They could be devastating to ecosystems if unchecked- they could survive merely off of spiritual energy, but they could grow faster by eating, and their instincts would lead them to do so. It wasn’t so bad when they were the size of whales. It became a greater concern once they became the size of battleships and then small islands.

  The Shimmering Islands simply wouldn’t have the biomass for a single one that was the size of a large island. Not even in the deepest depths and the darkest trenches, no matter how many ancient monsters lived in the various layers.

  “The balancing competition is too easy,” Aldara said, turning the conversation back to trivial but topical matters. “They should have to stand on a thin needle ten stories tall without letting it sway.”

  “We’ll take your comments under advisement,” John said.