He no longer needed a cane, a fact that seemed to amaze him every day. But he still limped occasionally, when he wasn’t paying attention. Everything physical had been cured, but after so many years, he had to learn how to walk properly again.
Kelsa, meanwhile, had advanced to Lowgold.
Lindon spent a few weeks nurturing up a White Fox Remnant he’d taken from Sacred Valley. He had to cleanse it with his own pure madra, then supplement the Remnant with White Fox madra he’d refined until it met his quality standards.
Once he considered the Remnant advanced enough for his sister, she had no trouble bonding it whatsoever. Jai Long had been very concerned about that, which Lindon supposed made sense, considering the man’s own abnormal advancement to Lowgold.
Lindon had the materials for another Heaven’s Drop, and some of the refiners onboard were skilled enough to help him make one, but Kelsa had a much more difficult time adapting to the control over her Gold madra than he had.
At first, he had assumed she was suffering from the effects of spending so long in Sacred Valley, or from practicing low-quality cycling techniques for so long. But it turned out this was common, even in those with flawless foundations. Some people just didn’t have a good sense for madra control.
She would gradually adapt, but it left Lindon surprised. He had intended to forcibly advance his entire family to the peak of Truegold immediately, and had expected Kelsa to break through to the Lord realm without much trouble.
He wondered aloud if maybe not everyone could advance as quickly as he did, even given the chance.
Yerin had stared at him for five straight minutes when she heard him say that, while Eithan laughed himself sick and then stored the memory in a dream tablet to share with others.
Lindon still didn’t see why it was funny.
Eithan, as usual, was everywhere.
He hopped from ship to ship, keeping an eye on everyone—though he could have done that without moving—and popped up randomly to give advice to every guard, soldier, servant, deckhand, and fighter in the fleet.
Lindon wondered once again when Eithan found the time to work on his own advancement. But then again, the cloudships had never been cleaner.
Eithan ate dinner with Lindon and Yerin almost every night, regaling them with stories from all over the fleet, often including stories that he hadn’t been privy to and that the subjects would probably object to sharing.
His greatest contribution to the trip was undoubtedly giving Lindon and Yerin tips on their advancement.
As it turned out, there were reasons beyond the mystical why Heralds found it difficult to comprehend Sage techniques, and vice-versa. They required almost entirely opposite training methods.
To become stronger as a Herald, Yerin had to push herself to the limit and accumulate power. It took a mind-boggling quantity of resources to push one to the peak of Herald, which was the way to maximize the chances of a successful advancement to Monarch.
She had to cycle diligently, take every elixir she could afford, and fight often.
Yerin found that an easy road to travel.
But to advance as a Sage, Lindon had to meditate on his Icon, and take actions to “align himself conceptually to its deeper meaning.” Lindon began to wish he had another Icon, because “aligning himself” to the Void Icon meant long hours of reaching out toward it and trying to empty his thoughts.
Yes, it was boring. But Lindon found it easier and easier to gather his willpower and exercise his authority, which made the boredom much more bearable.
Reaching Archlord, Eithan said, would come to them with time. Advancing to Archlord required insight into their future, which Lindon and Yerin had already glimpsed by touching on Sage and Herald respectively.
As for how exactly Eithan knew how to train Heralds and Sages to become Monarchs, despite spending so many years stuck at Underlord, Lindon had asked him almost immediately.
“The sacred arts aren’t as reliant on personal experience as people think,” Eithan had responded. “There’s an underlying structure that can be comprehended, if you look at things the right way.”
He wouldn’t elaborate any further, saying that Lindon was already on the right track to see for himself.
Honestly, Lindon was just happy to have gotten a straight answer out of him.
As for Yerin…there had been other times that they had lived together for months at a time. The Blackflame Trials, working for the Skysworn, even not so long ago in Ninecloud City, between rounds of the Uncrowned King tournament.
But in each one of those, they had been working together toward one purpose. Now, they were just living.