Truthful Transmigration

"I can't wait until I can fly," Rukiye commented. "Then I don't have to let you carry me."

John raised an eyebrow. "Is that right? You know, you are pretty heavy."

For just a moment- enough for Rukiye to feel the pull of gravity- John released his spiritual energy's grip. Her eyes widened. But when he caught her a moment later, she grew indignant. "Hey! That's not funny!" She huffed. "And Ursel is right there!"

Ursel grinned at her- though they could only feel it through her helm. "Did you call me fat?"

Rukiye threw up her arms. "Ugh. Why do you only care about your weight when it's convenient to weaponize it? Just the other day you were proud of crushing a rhino by stomping on its back."

Ursel held her head up. "A proper woman must be delicate."

John wondered if anything about his daughter had been delicate since she was a young child. Not many things, he thought. Maybe her heart, when Matayal died, but she grew beyond that.

"You're right," Rukiye admitted. "My apologies." She turned back to glare at John. "Anyway, this delicate woman would die if you dropped me from here!"

He shrugged. "If you've properly been practicing your water element techniques, you won't get flattened when you hit the water."

"Of course I- wait what? Flattened?"

"Water is nearly incompressible," John commented as he continued flying up towards the Sky Islands. "So it's like hitting rock."

"I'd die!" Rukiye said, flailing her arms angrily. "That's cheating!"

"You probably wouldn't, unless you landed wrong," he commented. "... Protect your head, and you'd be fine. Normal humans can survive amazingly long falls."

Usually onto something relatively soft, though. Snow. Tree branches. Loose enough soil. Still, a proper cultivator should be able to lower their terminal velocity.

"I could have done it at your rank," John commented. He wasn't actually one hundred percent certain about that, but Soul Expansion Phase cultivators were far from weak.

"That doesn't count! You had an air totem."

John shrugged. "A giant shell of water would slow you down quite a lot. Anyway, if you want to fly you can probably do it now."

"Wouldn't I need a totem?" Rukiye asked.

"Gather as much air element as you can," John said. "We can see."

Rukiye didn't argue, as she knew John was serious about testing her limits. Besides, she wanted to know as well. Spreading out her spiritual energy, she followed John's lead to neutralize her weight. "Huh," she said. "This is… surprisingly easy?"

"I'm still holding some of the weight," John reminded her. "Stay focused."

The whole time they had been flying upward. When he let her go, Rukiye felt herself drop… but she was able to recontextualize it in a moment. It was scary, but she was actually just not keeping her upward momentum. She wasn't falling.

Moving upward was much harder than simply keeping her position. Doing it quickly?

"Hey, wait up! I can't go that fast!"

John let her push herself… but he picked her up just before she reached her limits.

"See? I told you you could do it."

Rukiye made a face. "I guess. But it was basically just not falling."

"That's why you have to practice. And it will naturally get easier as your overall strength increases."

Her progress was interesting for John, because her training had been unusual. Since she went into it with the intention to become a six element cultivator, he frequently had her practice without focusing on totems. She was actually quite capable without a proper elemental totem. She would never match someone with the right totems, of course, but she had flexibility. Familiarity with the elements should help her attune to her later totems, which was important. John honestly wished he'd focused more on fire and light earlier, even if they wouldn't have been practical for battle.

The Six Elements Crossroads could advance their training methods with his new knowledge… though John would have to verify with a wider variety of individuals. After all, Rukiye might just have sufficient talent. It wasn't something that could be easily measured, merely observed. Determination was likely a large factor. Proper instruction was critical as well.

That didn't just mean powerful cultivators. The teaching style had to match the student. Fortunately for Rukiye, she managed fairly well with John's natural teaching style- though he'd learned to be flexible in some ways to match certain points of stubbornness. She performed better when they were having fun, even if her original motivation had been revenge. Not thinking about past traumas was probably the best state she could be in, but mentioning that could pull her back in.

-----

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Flying in the Sky Islands was actually easier than reaching them. There were 'bridges' of spiritual energy between the islands which were not only elementally dense but eased the strain of flight. John intentionally brought them some distance from the Peaks, so that Rukiye could make progress on her own.

Ursel, meanwhile, found her own challenges. John was glad his most boisterous daughter still took joy in life, though he did think her particular choices could be a bit odd. Trying to jump between islands which could be several kilometers apart was a bit much.

Even so, she took it very seriously- to the point that she placed her armor in a storage bag so it wouldn't weigh her down. She also got a running start. The ground beneath her feet was pushed downward, away from her. The counterforce propelled her forward at great speed, allowing her to build up faster than running with friction would allow for. Then at the very edge, she pushed a giant spike of earth up at an angle. John felt the island tremble… though just a bit. The Peaks were smaller than the lower islands, so they had a lot of mass. But John knew he could move one, and Ursel probably could at least move a big chunk.

John watched his daughter sail through the air while he fixed the terrain she had run over. He was going to make her flatten the other end, if she didn't do it herself. It was one thing to do something similar in an expansive territory, just a strange occurrence for people to see. This was like smashing up bits of the main road.

"Wow," Rukiye said. "She's fast."

"Yep," John agreed.

Rukiye had rested enough to fly between the islands, though John was ready in case she faltered. He had to carry some of the others anyway, since he didn't travel with only air cultivators. Though some had sufficient pride they still figured out how to make their own way, like Ursel.

-----

Flying up to the Sixth Peak was more difficult than traveling between islands, partially because of the rise in elevation. The connections were also weaker to some extent- functionally keeping the island in a similar relative position more than aiding movement. Rukiye was still able to do it, but John was fairly certain she would find her limits at the fourth peak. Maybe the third, if she gained some insights during their stay.

They could absolutely go directly to the Second Peak. John was respected enough that he could make Venera come to him if he wanted. But that was unnecessary, especially since this was a good training opportunity for his apprentice.

"You're going to challenge the Sixth Peak," John commented. "They have a unique fighting style here."

"Understood," she nodded. "I will do my best to learn."

-----

Sky Islands arenas were all quite similar- individual platforms floating around within a larger barrier. Touching the ground or being knocked out of the area was an additional loss condition, aside from simply overwhelming one's opponent.

Rukiye's opponent was a woman approximately a decade her senior. Their cultivations were decently well matched, though Rukiye was still of a lower rank. She went into the match confident, knowing that she could defeat opponents with more spiritual energy than her. It was an earned confidence.

Her opponent also used a sword, but didn't seem to possess any ranged attacks. At first Rukiye thought she could take advantage of that, but as she stood on one platform and her opponent on another, she realized her mistake. An important part of her style- John's style- was being able to conceal throwing dagger attacks, or be able to threaten in another manner. For example, by closing the distance while daggers were flying.

Rukiye tried to attack from multiple angles, but her opponent created a thin but strong current of air around her platform. That meant much of Rukiye's power was absorbed before it even reached the woman, and she deflected the attacks with her blade or simply stepped out of the way.

When Rukiye tried to close the distance, she always found her opponent standing at the edge of one of the floating platforms. When she tried speed, her opponent moved as light as the wind. When she went in for heavier attacks, the woman stood firm with the strength of earth. Either way, Rukiye was forced to retreat or knocked backwards. She was able to maneuver herself towards other platforms, but she wasn't making any progress.

Concealing herself with darkness in an open area wouldn't do much unless she could completely overwhelm her opponent. Water was weak against air, so there went another totem. But she could use other elements. She infused her next throwing daggers with fire, while using air to propel her forward. Then, before blades clashed, she created a flash of light to blind her foe.

Rukiye's sword locked with her opponent. She pressed further inward, trying to force her back a step. One foot lifted… and kicked her in the stomach. The woman's legs turned into a straight spear, pushing against the platform.

Several platforms whizzed past Rukiye's head as she tried to get her bearings. And then…? She was outside the arena. Falling.

But John was waiting there, and he would catch her. Or not. She realized he hadn't mobilized any spiritual energy at the very last moment, so she only barely softened her impact into the floor.

"... When would anyone even fight in a place like this, practically?" Rukiye complained from the ground. "This is stupid. I can still fight, why does this count as a loss?"

John did help her get to her feet. "The arenas are just miniature representations of the Sky Islands as a whole. If you get knocked off… you fall. All the way."

"... oh. Right." She didn't even have to walk close to the edge to know how far down it was. She'd seen it plenty on the way up.

-----

John hadn't actually expected Rukiye to lose, especially on the newly established Sixth Peak. He knew it was a possibility, but he'd still favored her in his head. But based on the actual matchup, it seemed the result was nearly inevitable- as long as she didn't improve her tactics over the course of the battle. He took it as an opportunity to make her appreciate different sorts of terrain and the advantages and disadvantages. She understood solid ground and water combat extremely well. Airborne combat was newer, and limited ground wasn't something that would only appear in the Sky Islands.

The Molten Sea could be quite similar, and Rukiye wouldn't do well swimming in acid lakes either. Though perhaps she would be able to counter acid well enough to do it anyway.

He did like that she did her best to use every element, though she had some work to do on the timing. Once her trajectory was set, it hardly mattered if her opponent was blinded. She either needed to fake her movement from the start or suddenly change it at the end.

Of course, John didn't burden her with all of her failures at once. It was better for her to work on one or two things at a time. Either way, she was allowed to progress to the Fourth Peak on her own merits. Victory wasn't an absolute requirement, after all. She had still made a fairly decent showing against an opponent of higher rank. At some point she wouldn't be able to meet the standards, but that was to be expected. After all, Viriato hadn't reached the First Peak during his initial attempt, and he had been in a higher Phase.

John was glad he had access to so many varieties of challenges for his disciple. Challenging victories and diverse options for setbacks would help her grow from practical experience. She could spar with him every day for decades, but that would only bring her so far. Even if John's style was flexible, he did have his limits. Besides, there was only so much 'fairness' to be had in a spar when two people were three Phases distant. He couldn't realistically create scenarios where she won even with significant restrictions.

She needed to win sometimes. Just not too much. Of all the things that might hold back his disciple, a big head was one of the most likely.