Every time she’d thought about it since coming to this place, Juli had the exact same thoughts about the Scarlet Alliance’s information network. And she wasn’t talking spies, but the stuff that was available to everyone.

“I can’t believe how much stuff they just let people see,” Juli commented to her brother for perhaps the thousandth time. “These techniques are just…” she shook her head. “And how will they maintain any sort of power if the planet development methods are security level 0?”

“Ah, but the thing about that is… that’s what got them here,” Misi shrugged. “That’s what earned the loyalty of all of their citizens. Can you imagine anywhere in the Trigold Cluster making use of that stuff? Sharing resources across a whole planet?”

“Well, the sects and stuff, yeah,” Juli said. “Why not?”

“Because it’s literally everyone. Seriously,” Misi said. “It doesn’t work if you don’t let your menial laborers train in energy. And if you try to restrict them from growing too strong, you limit the effectiveness. So, yeah it could work against them if the established sects were willing to implement a new power structure from the ground up. But unless literally all of them do it, it will create internal instability. It’s just… not going to happen.”

“I mean, not everyone is a powerful cultivator,” Juli pointed out. “It doesn’t really matter how many Body Tempering or Spirit Building people are up against an Integration cultivator, I don’t think they could possibly win.”

“I’m pretty sure I saw a janitor in Integration,” Misi said.

“What do you mean by that? That it’s possible they weren’t a janitor?”

“I mean I’m not sure I saw them,” Misi shook his head. “It’s possible I hallucinated it. I was walking along and then bam. Something passed me in the hallway and it was clean. I literally couldn’t react.”

“... But you’re an Integration cultivator,” Juli said. “You have to have been able to see them.”

He shook his head. “Early Integration, yeah. And… they had no intent towards me, you know? Maybe if we were fighting it would be different. I could predict something there. But that level of power, even if focused away from martial abilities, is still significant.”

“Why would anyone even put so much effort into other pursuits?” Juli asked.

“I mean… why did we learn to fight?” Misi countered.

“Because we had to.”

“And that hasn’t changed,” his sister replied. “Though… I guess if we just wanted to continue existing…?”

“I’m learning so much about formations,” Misi said. “I… don’t know how I compare to the great formation masters here, but I’m able to experiment without spending huge piles of treasure. And all I have to do for that learning privilege? Not cause trouble.”

“And fight in an inevitable war,” Juli pointed out.

“Well, yeah. But that’s pretty normal. Besides, we can opt for non-frontlines roles. And… isn’t this something worth fighting for?”

Juli looked at the device she held in her hands. “I have so much knowledge at my fingertips I’m honestly baffled. They don’t even charge for it. Well, they kind of do indirectly.” Apparently those who provided information could get paid whenever it was accessed. The whole system was supported by taxes. Taxes that seemed strangely low sometimes, though perhaps that was the various layers of sects she was used to dealing with.

“There’s definitely some information not freely available,” Misi admitted. “But… we could access pretty much any of it with some effort. It’s never just… completely denied.”

Both of them agreed it was crazy. But also, it was working. In a way, the entire Scarlet Alliance was treated like one big sect that was trying to make its disciples grow… and not just the ones at the top.

The twins hungrily soaked up knowledge, almost worried that they would lose access. That they would find out everything was a joke somehow. Or maybe there was a catch, though unless it required giving up more than half of their souls they honestly couldn’t think of a price that was too much.

Juli noticed that one thing that required a higher security clearance were the blueprints for their ships. Not ships in general. Indeed there were some startling revelations about what this technology stuff could do just available to browse. If she had the parts and time she could make a ship. Just not the ones with the best military application.

-----

At just a few years old, a young girl’s memories began to pile up enough she actually stood out. Before that, she had simply seemed to learn how to walk and talk more quickly. She didn’t entirely understand what was happening, just that she was alive again. And that she had apparently been a cultivator called Jyotsana.

Sometimes she could dredge up things when she thought about specific memories. When she thought about her parents she got… well, nothing resembling her current parents. They took care of her well, and it wasn’t because they expected to get anything from her.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

She was afraid. Afraid of how they would react, when they found out their daughter had been replaced by someone else. Even more so because she might lose her connection to them, which only mattered because she was their daughter. It didn’t really make any sense.

Rather than share what was happening, Jyotsana kept things hidden. The more memories she revealed, the more she thought she might have previously been a bad person. Yet… she also had fuzzy memories that someone had helped her, a group of people she could only think of as kind. And when she was being pessimistic, naive. Too trusting.

Or maybe, since she wanted to be worthy of that trust, they weren’t too trusting? It was confusing. Unfortunately, she didn’t remember enough to figure things out easily. She only knew that when she started cultivating, it felt weird. Both because she’d definitely done it before, and because she knew it was too early. Except that apparently, it wasn’t. Because there were special techniques to help her.

It was obvious to even her parents that her mentality was more advanced than that of a normal child. That was why by the time she was ten years old, she was cultivating. Though that involved a lot more doing chores around the house than she remembered, she also couldn’t dispel the notion that doing practical things while training her body was just good sense.

Her parents thought she was a genius when she Spirit Building within a year, but she knew better. Anyone looked like a genius if they’d done it before. Even if she was using a different method, since she had only partial memories of her previous one- and the publicly available options seemed superior anyway.

Jyotsana, because that was the name she most identified with despite her current official name, didn’t know how much she remembered. Only that there was a lot missing still. She worried she wouldn’t dredge up the rest… but part of her reminder herself that she was lucky to be alive.

The one thing that kept bothering her was she couldn’t remember the people who’d helped her very well. If she’d met them she would know, but it was nobody in her city or anywhere she’d been on vacation. Or at least nobody who had come within the range of her energy senses.

Then she found one of them. No, that wasn’t right. It was a young woman barely older than her, a disciple of the One Hundred Stars. But she had the same aura. Actually, Jyotsana had almost picked that technique, as she was drawn towards fire styles. Now she was tempted to change. It wouldn’t be so difficult.

First, she needed to determine if she could figure out who had helped her. While she didn’t expect anything, she browsed for information about the sect as a whole. Oddly, they didn’t seem to have a sect head. Just a council of elders. Then again, that was just Jyotsana’s old thoughts confusing her. There were plenty of sects that didn’t have just one person at the top.

Then she looked at the council of elders. One being familiar would be a coincidence. Two of them? Some sort of distorted inner desire. When she recognized a full four of them clearly, and maybe some others, it was something else.

She remembered one of them more strongly. There had been something… near the end. Prospero was important somehow. Maybe she could get in contact.

When she sent a message to the sect, she expected to get an automatic rejection. Or no response at all. Her message hadn’t even been a good one, idly sent. “I think I know one of your elders” wasn’t exactly her best work, but she’d kind of been in a daze as new memories came to the surface.

So when Prospero himself showed up on her planet two weeks later, Jyotsana was surprised.

-----

“So it is you,” Prospero nodded. “Good.”

“Why…?” Jyotsana had many questions. “Why did I end up… with my new parents?” She didn’t know a better way to say that. “I thought I would… have parents chosen for me.” Strangely, part of her felt like she wouldn’t have wanted that, even though she seemed to be part of a perfectly average household and not related to anyone important.

“That’s not possible,” Prospero said. “Or rather… it’s not something we would do. We don’t have the expertise to do anything but confine a reincarnating soul to our greater domain. Even if we could, we wouldn’t have replaced an ensouled child.”

“Ah, that’s…” Jyotsana was still lacking many memories. Her strongest ones were still from her current body, so she still felt like a young woman. “Good. I’m glad you didn’t.” She really was. Some part of her very distantly screamed that she’d lost years due to some sort of inefficiency. But, had she? More importantly, did years matter?

“I’m glad to see your memories aren’t overwhelming you too much,” Prospero said.

“I don’t know, they seem kind of overwhelming to me?”

“You’re not rolling around on the floor in agony, so I’d say it’s good. Regardless… I merely came here to confirm your status.” He held out a storage bag. Her storage bag. “Here are your things. As promised, you will have support in cultivating. Though I think pretty much any sect would happily pick you up.”

“Do I… have to decide now?”

He shook his head. “I’ll give you my personal message code. Stay in touch. Oh, and promote the things about yourself you like most. You won’t ever regret that, as long as you give it a good ponder before picking out what seems best.”

-----

News from the upper realms- ultimately coming from Crossed Antennae and the void ants- indicated steadily growing forces at the borders. While the fact that they were beginning to build up already indicated that the invasion might indeed be as significant as they feared, it was also helpful. They could begin determining where the largest invasions might occur, based on their growing understanding of potential pathways during the shift in the Tides of the World.

So while there was much trepidation, there was also something of a morbid anticipation. They were ready, if it happened now. But they could be more prepared. Their forces, better proportioned between necessary locations. Ready to optimally fend off each and every invasion force depending on which planet they attacked.

Actually, they might be able to manage that without the void ants rising up and attacking enemy forces. But most of them recognized such thoughts as a bit arrogant. It would be foolish to give up any advantages against the might of the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster.

Still, that left a balance to strike. What forces could the void ants destroy without getting themselves annihilated? In some ways, it would be preferable if the invasions were called off- but in others, it was better to maximize the losses the upper realms took during the invasion, the resources remaining in the lower realms. If the damage was heavy enough, they could cripple them to make future attempts impossible.

They also had to consider what the impact would be for the Scarlet Alliance. It was unlikely that their connection was completely secret, and even if it was now by some miracle, remaining that way would be difficult. Would causing too much destruction result in greater retaliation, or begrudging acceptance of their presence? That was not an easy question to answers.

Fortunately, they had considered such matters before and still had a couple centuries. Yet the years continued to slip past, day after day.