Relationships between neighbors often tended towards the extremes, either becoming enemies or steadfast allies. The particular relationship could change over time, but wherever competition might arise usually there were strong opinions.
The Winding River Sect had not gone over their conflicts with the Frozen Heights in detail, but the Lone Spire hadn’t seemed to be part of that. Either way, John intended to take their challenge at face value. John didn’t know what actual value growing the spire provided for them, but as long as it was not harmful to his disciples it hardly mattered.
The young man who was leading the Lone Spire disciples, Akkat, suggested that lower phase disciples go first. John could understand the merits there, because even if another disciple got higher up the spire they wouldn’t necessarily have better technique. And if they did, it would be fine for the weaker disciples to take that into account next time- though if such a time would exist for the visiting Six Elements Crossroads was rather nebulous.
Those cultivators who didn’t have any water totems were looking at the spire with significant trepidation. Fedel and Chi were among that group. The former gathered a large pile of snow in his arms while the latter prepared for the climb.
Fedel’s control of his spiritual energy was at least sufficient to not melt the snow unintentionally, but he didn’t seem to know what else to do with his energy as Chi began to walk them up the slope at the bottom of the spire. She treated the spike of ice like solid earth, attaching to it with her own earth energy. Not everyone would be able to properly accomplish that task, getting hung up on it being ice and thus made out of water element. Of course, there were other limitations if one took only solids as ‘earth element’ but flexibility had to be learned over time.
The slope quickly increased from merely a steep incline to something like a forty-five degree angle. Even using earth element to attach them to the spire, its slippery nature began to get to the pair. More than that, weaker parts of the spire were prone to crumbling away, where previous challengers hadn’t managed to make solid attachments. The shape of the spire also became more irregular the further they went. At ten meters the two were struggling, and at twenty they looked to be at their limits.
As the two were using Chi’s earth element to walk up the slope, they were finding themselves having to use more of their energy to support their torso, which wasn’t meant to function at such angles for long. For stronger cultivators it might not have been such an issue, but with all the other factors it was holding them back.
Fedel tried to shift forward to a more vertical position, but his movements squeezed some of the carried snow out of his arms. Desperate attempts to catch some actually lost him more before he realized he had to give up.
Then the two of them came to a particularly unstable bit, which slipped out from under them. Fedel had the presence of mind to toss his armful of snow in front of them- melting a portion of it only for it to immediately refreeze to the spire. With the two having lost their attachment, they then tumbled down the spire. Fortunately they had some training in how to properly take a fall, and they turned their bodies so they weren’t going to land headfirst or otherwise snap their necks. Their spiritual energy did the rest of the job to protect them from serious injury.
Subsequent attempts were allowed, but it seemed the pair had already exhausted much of their efforts on their first time. John knew quite a few ways they could have been more efficient without even needing particular training, but he thought they did alright. Either way, they could learn something from this.
Disciples of the Lone Spire with similar cultivation performed a bit better, though they had the advantage of prior experience and being water element. Relevantly, very few of them chose to carry snow, either forming it into ice around them or letting water flow within their spiritual energy, carrying it without use of their arms- which they used more to climb the spire than walk up it.
Some formed handholds in the spire, but every expenditure of energy had to be carefully calculated. John saw another technique that looked much more efficient, though it required a higher confidence. That was to effectively freeze one’s hands or feet to the surface with each motion, creating an attachment much like a tongue could get stuck to a frozen dessert. Or to a flagpole in winter, though John hadn’t lived somewhere that got cold enough for that- though he had known a few people who would have been dumb enough to do it.
Freezing just a thin layer was remarkably effective, and if there were no other factors at play John thought even some of the weaker disciples could have climbed almost any distance. However, no matter the method they used they had to carry extra weight with them. Furthermore, the higher they got the more wind became a factor, forcing them to have a stronger connection to the spire.
The spire itself was also less structurally sound above a certain point, in large part made by hastily attached depositions of water as people tried to reach as high as they could. John saw some examples of that with disciples flinging water up the slope as they felt themselves nearing their limits.
The Lone Spire disciples were also aware that they had to conserve their energy for the descent, as tumbling down was not a pleasant prospect- and on the steeper slopes could result in significant and unpleasant drops. Fortunately, the weaker disciples who were the most at risk were also less capable of reaching the more dangerous heights. And while there was hard packed ice under the snow at some points, there were many meters of fresh snow to help out if someone actually fell off.
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Plus watchers like John and Akkat, though their efforts would be entirely for emergency. The disciples had to learn to take care of themselves, after all.
The best of the weaker Lone Spire disciples only made it thirty or forty meters out of several hundred, mainly for reasons of technique and endurance. Still, John thought they did quite well overall.
The next batch of disciples made it a bit further, and Soul Expansion Phase cultivators made it to around the hundred meter mark- though it wasn’t actually marked so John had to rely on his spiritual energy senses to estimate.
Eventually, it came to the few Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators among the bunch- the last of those around except Akkat and John. Akkat was still in the Consolidated Soul Phase, but he was looking out for one side of the spire. John had naturally taken position on the other, and he’d only had to catch a few disciples.
The climbers John paid the most attention to were Lir and Ayhan, some of his first disciples. The two of them now had a cycle of four elements, so he had high expectations for them. At the very least, they appeared to have learned from those who came before them.
The two of them wore something like jackets of ice, evenly distributing the weight around their torso and requiring little active upkeep. Mainly, they had to protect themselves from the cold of the ice, which went along with the supernatural cold they would have to deal with higher up the spire.
They used their hands to climb, using a variation of the freezing technique where they used fire element to melt just a tiny portion of the surface, being more efficient with the process than using pure water element. From the way they were using air element, John suspected it was becoming rapidly more difficult to breathe during their climb. A distance of just a couple hundred meters shouldn’t have normally had such a change, but when dealing with supernatural forces it wasn’t always so clear.
The two insulated themselves from the wind with a combination of earth and air, redirecting larger gusts and simply blocking weaker ones. With their momentum John almost thought they would reach the top, but they were caught up at a particular section he had previously missed. There was a particular lump sticking out that overhung the section below it.
That appeared to be a symbol of significant improvement as a group, and John understood it would naturally smooth out as cultivators reached just beneath that area and added more material- but for now it was a difficult limiter.
The two climbers didn’t seem willing to lose to it, however. They dangled from the ice, creating solid grips. Ayhan climbed over first, followed by Lir. John could see the way their spiritual energy was being drained from the deep cold and other exertions. Shards of ice were whipping around in the wind. But they surmounted the obstacle, standing atop the odd lump. The two of them immediately placed their carried ice in front of them, lessening their own burden and beginning their way back down.
About half of the other climbers had already concluded their journeys, some of them smoothing out the path at a level beneath them, but several disciples of the Lone Spire seemed to take them surmounting that point as a personal challenge. A few simply looped their carried water element around the blockade, while others wanted to make the climb in person. Either way, their competitive spirit was strong.
One woman got caught up in a gust as she was on the furthest out point, losing her grip and being pulled away from the spire. She flailed her arms as she tried to push herself towards the spire with her spiritual energy, but in her disoriented state she actually flung herself further away.
Akkat immediately moved, rushing to follow her downward trajectory. Snow spiraled around him, turning into something like a fluffy cloud with a lake of water beneath it. The woman crashed into the safety construct, and when she finally impacted the ground icicles were immediately forming in her hair and everywhere else it was dripping off of her. But worst of all- at least she seemed to take it the worst- was that she’d lost her package of ice and hadn’t even placed it on the spire.
John had to assume that the Lone Spire knew how to prevent hypothermia, as the woman was rapidly being de-iced. Lir and Ayhan were only about halfway down from their final position at that point, but the last part of the descent was far easier and like most they arrived without incident. John was quite certain that the woman who fell this time would either learn a lot- or her life as a cultivator wouldn’t last much longer. Even if it was a difficult situation to react to, it could have been anticipated. Surviving against the odds over and over was how cultivators rose to the top.
Finally, it was time for John and Akkat. While nobody would be around to catch them if they fell, John wasn’t worried. It wasn’t even that high, and relevantly… he could fly. He figured that would be against the spirit of what they were doing, however, and resolved to climb the spire properly.
Akkat formed a bubble of water around himself, with a shell of ice atop that- sticking out the back like that of a turtle. John could immediately see how it would help deflect wind while not restricting his movements- though at such a large volume it would still increase his profile and thus at the same time make wind worse. The shape was meant to minimize that.
John visibly gathered slightly more than Akkat, making his own personal adjustments to how he carried it. He went for a flatter, wider shape that he intended to conform to the shape of the spire as he climbed. And there was one further component he included. According to the spirit of the rules he was supposed to gather all his water element before starting the climb, so John reached out into the air.
The cold allowed very little humidity to remain in the air, but over a wide enough area it still had a significant amount. John spread out his ‘grip’ to include a large amount of airborne water. He might find that he had to drop if things proved more difficult than anticipated, but he hadn’t seen anyone else make use of that particular state of matter. That made sense, as it was by far the most rare form of water in the climate.
