Though she might have liked to stay longer, Velvet didn’t let her team linger in the Chaotic Conglomeration. There had been several clear attempts to take them out, and the more their presence was known the greater the risk would be. It was too greedy to push for anything more, as Durff’s advancement to Augmentation was already a rare enough event.
As for the further cooperation between them and the Scarlet Alliance, that was something that would be worked out in the future. With faster and more secure communication, they could negotiate such things over the next few years.
A reasonable portion of their sects already fit within the boundaries the Scarlet Alliance considered acceptable, and they weren’t worried that the Chaotic Conglomeration would somehow use any knowledge given against the Scarlet Alliance- there was the whole of the Exalted Quadrant in between, after all. The only risk would be if the Exalted Quadrant conquered them or otherwise stole the information. A good portion of it wouldn’t benefit them, but there were always weaknesses to be found in information.
The return trip carefully avoided taking precisely the same route, even though most of it was through effectively empty territory. It was better to not get into habits that could be exploited, and they couldn’t know for certain how many people had noticed small details about their trip on the way over. Those small things could build up into useful leads, Velvet knew that very well.
She imagined she would find herself returning to the Chaotic Conglomeration sooner than not. However, there were things she needed to be present to properly relay. But she wanted to keep her promise to Runa to show her the Scarlet Alliance. She couldn’t say if it would be in one decade or two, perhaps even a century, but it would happen. There were simply so many things that had to be figured out.
-----
Uzun tended to show new developments to Catarina, not because she couldn’t find out about them elsewhere but because he was proud of what had been accomplished by himself and the tech focused teams. They coordinated on a lower level to ensure that duplicate projects weren’t undertaken- at least not without clear intent- but as they had continued to expand beyond Xankeshan the sheer volume of projects made it difficult for Catarina to stay informed on each and every one.
Not unless she wanted to spend half of her day reading up on things, which would be necessary even at cultivator-accelerated rates. So she mostly waited for things to be brought to her attention, unless she needed something specific. There were so many advancements in all walks of life involving technology and its combinations with enchantments and formations, but Catarina kept her own focus.
She did put in the time to keep up with even the smallest developments in the field of formations. Some techniques were actually better by the majority of conceivable metrics, while others had tradeoffs in efficiency and security which greatly changed which fields they were valuable in.
“I haven’t heard much about big projects from you lately,” Catarina said. “What is it you’re here to show me?”
“Well,” Uzun said. “With that whole invasion thing finally over and done with, we were finally able to do some proper testing around the border. The one with the lower realms, I mean. I’m pleased to say, it works.”
Catarina frowned. “I don’t believe you’ve explained what it is.”
“Right, right,” he said, leading them into a hangar. “What I meant is this. The ART.”
“Looks like a ship to me,” Catarina said. “Is it meant to symbolize something?”
“It stands for All Realms Traversal,” he pointed out.
“Ah,” Catarina recalled hearing about the beginning of the project some centuries ago. “And what sort of specifications has it reached?”
“Well,” Uzun waved his arm broadly. “This one is capable of transporting one hundred individuals across the border between the upper and lower realms. We based the work off of the much smaller pods designed for the void ants. In essence, it’s capable of interstellar travel entirely on the basis of technology- no formations or need for redundant systems when swapping between the upper and lower realms. It’s… extremely limited in cargo capacity. And it doesn’t do anything to support people,” he shrugged. “But it works.”
“What does that last part mean?” Catarina raised an eyebrow. “I assume it must be safe, at least.”
“Yes, of course,” Uzun said, activating a ramp that brought them into the relatively compact ship. “It just can’t replicate the smoothing effect of the Tides. Thus, anyone going from the upper realms to the lower realms will rapidly find their energy diminishing. They’ll have to undergo their own adaptations. Likewise, it doesn’t protect people from the crushing density of upper energy if they come from the lower realms. It’s also quite expensive, and doesn’t transport many people. Though…” he shrugged. “I shouldn’t expect that many people to want to make the trip.”
“Except perhaps every ascender with family in the lower realms,” Catarina said. “Or anyone curious about the other realm.”
“... Right. But practically, there are only a few reasons one would need to traverse between realms.” Uzun shook his head. “We are working on cargo capacity so we don’t have to rely on ascenders for materials, but sufficiently quick interstellar travel without any tinge of cultivation is not a simple task. Fortunately we were able to form some of the rarer materials with energy, it just can’t require any form to run. Oh, the fuel is another problem. It can’t just siphon off a nearby star.”
Catarina nodded, looking at the various systems, feeling them with her energy. Most of them were far beyond her level of tech understanding, and she was far above the average knowledge of such things, given she worked with overlap technology. “So is it actually ready, or just in the prototype stage?”
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“What do you mean?”
“Could I, for example, take this ship to the lower realms right now?”
“Well, we’d need to finish downloading the data from its systems,” he said. “And unless you want to go somewhere very specific, you’d need someone to bring fuel to you. But yes. Why?”
She smiled. “I could visit my grandfather. And other family. Chidi and Yuval would probably like to meet him, as well.”
“You could have done that before,” Uzun said. “We’ve had working options for some time. Just… even smaller and less practical.”
“The timing is also important,” Catarina commented. “We’re up an Augmentation cultivator, and with the Trigold Cluster distracted I actually feel like I don’t have to be waiting for battle literally all the time.” Catarina frowned. “Why is it here instead of near the border?”
“Because we don’t have secure facilities out there,” Uzun reminded her simply. “Don’t worry, you can bring a ship with plenty of fuel to escort you to the border.”
“I would also have to consider my storage bags and literally everything else I have on me,” Catarina said.
“Oh yeah,” Uzun agreed. “All of that stuff could stop functioning. It’s not for casual trips, but we have guidelines available.”
“I also have to consider the risks. What if it gets stolen somehow?”
“Well, in that case you can say that the lack of energy shift protection is a feature. If, say, a Domination cultivator used one to traverse to the lower realms… their energy loss would be just as much as the same amount of time flying under their own power. Except for the actual travel part, but you know what I mean. It’s not impossible for cultivators to cross from the upper side on their own. Just highly risky, as they effectively shed a great portion of their power. The border would be a completely null area where they are constantly drained, and then they’d have to swap over to lower energy adaptation. And again, all of their enchanted gear would stop working.”
“The other direction would be less problematic for the traveler, though,” Catarina said.
“And we trust literally everyone beyond Life Transformation from the lower realms. Enchantments and formations still have issues functioning on upper energy, though.”
“I didn’t really notice the former part,” Catarina admitted.
“Ah, well, proper ascension is kind of an exception. It rewires things to some extent.”
“Ah yes,” Catarina nodded. “That was on my list of phenomena to study.”
“We actually have quite a bit more information now,” Uzun said. “There’s something special about the one direction.”
“Now I have to wonder if people can Descend. I don’t know if we could get anyone willing to try that, though.”
“It’s more than a bit risky,” the engineer agreed. “But there are more than a few quirky individuals. Someone might try eventually.”
-----
It took Anton some time to finally return to Maheg. He figured that the star wouldn’t notice a few extra years, after the various decades. And whether it did or not, it greeted him upon his arrival exactly as enthusiastically as it had before.
The star had grown far more gentle with its energy. It was more than capable of not incinerating things- otherwise it wouldn’t be so good at growing things. Speaking of which, their combined moon was doing great. They had split it into sides not to divide things in particular but just because it gave them somewhere for each to work as they pleased. Maheg’s side was almost fully covered now, courtesy of the extra years it had. Plus, Maheg didn’t sleep or rest at any point.
Anton got back to work himself. He didn’t need to do anything, but he liked to fiddle around with things, and he could help their attempted recreations to grow. No doubt half of what they grew was some form of weir mutants they had put together instead of the original plants, but there was only so much that could be done with the remnants they had found on the planets.
He noticed that some of the sensors had logged an event while he was gone, so he idly looked at the video. He was quite surprised to see invaders- they hadn’t expected anyone to make it so far south, and especially not to enter the system. He also watched as, in his interpretation, Maheg first tried to greet the intruders then gently warned them off when they started trying to take everything.
And then they had been annihilated. Any traces of the damage had faded.
It was somewhat frightening… but also exactly the sort of thing Anton would have expected. And he himself might have been less patient, as he better understood humans. He wouldn’t have needed nearly as long to discern their intent.
It was a worthy topic of discussion. Words weren’t much good with vast balls of plasma, but he could still convey meaning through emotions and other feelings, some of which Maheg shared.
The process was slow. Anton ultimately expressed that he agreed the particular people had been enemies and approved of the results, though he tried to convey continued caution going into the future. Maheg seemed to understand. In return, it explained its actions.
It wasn’t merely that they were taking without permission- and more relevantly scouring the land instead of properly extracting a few things- but also that they did so from Anton’s side. Maheg was more concerned about Anton’s effort and losses than what happened to things of its own.
After that thought was resolved, Maheg slowly reached out to convey one more idea.
“You’re right,” Anton said, mostly to himself. Though he did try to convey himself. “I did say I would consider the bond after the war.” Anton projected as much as he could a feeling of patience. He needed greater understanding, perhaps several centuries worth, before he was confident in bonding to the sentient star. He didn’t want either of them to risk their health and safety.
Maheg accepted his plan as easily as if Anton had proposed waiting for a day. And maybe that was the case, from a certain perspective. Maheg had only been conscious for a tiny portion of its existence, but it certainly seemed to feel little of the passage of time.
Anton had much to consider about the linking of stars. If he connected too many before Maheg, he would risk greater side effects. But he knew that a bond with a unique entity such as it would be more difficult to accomplish than any random star- or even more special stars like Azun. But Anton knew he could only do his best, relying on his insights- and the advice of others, as they all had different perspectives. That was what the best part of people was.