“I trust you kept a few stars free?” Anton said to Varghese.

His apprentice nodded. “Of course. I likely would have done so on my own, but certainly with your wisdom.”

“Good. Because that is the main feature that allows us to be mobile. Now then, do you trust your branch?”

Varghese actually looked offended, but he replied evenly. “With my life.”

“Then I would hope that you would trust them with the lives of In’istra- and everyone else. I know you wish to act as a defender… but that’s not what is needed at the moment.” Anton gestured broadly towards the east. “There is a wide area to cover, and we need people who can act if necessary.”

“That may be the case,” Varghese admitted. “But away from bound stars, I am little more than a Life Transformation cultivator. Once we find targets of course I could bind to local stars but I would be at risk alone otherwise.”

Anton thought for a few moments about what to tell his apprentice. Directly telling him might guide him down the wrong path, but so could saying too little. “Sometimes, we must take risks. You have among your branch those who can take over your responsibilities while you are away, but I doubt any can take over for you out in the field. I suggest you take a group of sufficient size to support you to help hunt down the precise locations of our enemies. I will move too quickly for any to come along with me, so I will be alone.”

With that, Anton changed the topic to give Varghese some time to think about his suggestion. Anton could order him to do what he wanted, but that wouldn’t achieve the desired effect.

“I felt the way you adapted to the invaders. I was quite impressed by your versatility even within the same domain. Clearly, your own control overwhelmed their own. I imagine you can do even greater when you next encounter them.”

Varghese nodded. “Yes, but they will adapt to me as well.”

“Will they?” Anton asked. “I suspect they will try. But tell me this- can they perfectly share the feeling of battling you with each other? We found no traces of computers or any sort of formation based recording device that could do as much. How much can each individual adapt to battle you, and you alone? Certainly it is important for them to try, and maybe some will be ready when you next meet them. But not all of them. And if they somehow happen to perfectly counter you… then you will have a clear example of your flaws. Survive and return with them all erased.”

“All of them?” Varghese raised an eyebrow.

“Might as well. Though you don’t have to let them see that. Now then, I’m going to see if I can beat the scouts in reaching the territory we’ve heard about. Stay in contact with me if you need any further advice.”

-----

The attacks upon the lower realms felt like a very delayed reaction to the failures in the previous invasions. Whatever the reason- be it a lack of understanding, a large communication lag, or some sort of belief that they had a usable opportunity- the Lower Realms Alliance, at least, was quite ready for more trouble.

Even without considering the presence of Assimilation cultivators, the Alliance itself had far outgrown what had been seen at the end of the first cycle where they surpassed the invasion. They had no lack of Essence Collection or Life Transformation cultivators, whereas once only the strongest sects had Life Transformation cultivators. Any powerful planet had at least a few Assimilation cultivators- with Ceretos having over a hundred.

But so far, they had only a very few Enrichment cultivators. That could only be explained in part by many of the cultivation generation around Anton choosing to ascend. It also seemed that advancing far into Assimilation took greater insights than a similar increase in Integration, perhaps due to the nature of the available energy. Enrichment was a step more difficult. Even the latest war hadn’t been sufficient to push many beyond the threshold.

Yet now there was one more opportunity, and people flocked to it. They’d had decades to digest their insights since the end of the war, and now they might have a chance.

-----

On the way out from In’istra, Anton passed by Azun. He was able to sense that Varghese had more influence over the neutron star than himself, which was a comforting thought. It didn’t mean that Varghese was weakening Anton’s own position, but instead that he was focused on his particular style properly- and the area around him. Meanwhile, Anton doubted there would ever be a cultivator more in tune with Ceretos’ star while he was alive. That was his home, even if he ranged far and wide.

Anton sensed ships passing in another system. He debated trying to take them out, but decided against it. It was only a small group of scouts, and he would do better to report their position. There should be enough spare resources to deal with them. It would be good practice for someone.

Besides, Anton didn’t know what they already knew about him, or if they had some way to send a communication back to their sects from their ships. If they had long range communication easily available, there might be warnings about him. If he thought that this particular group would be dangerous he wouldn’t mind, but he had other goals beyond simply winning. There was a reason sect heads didn’t clear out secret realms themselves. Aside from the fact that Everheart’s in particular wouldn’t let them.

Now that there weren’t lost pieces of history hanging around on their own planets, such formative experiences had to be found elsewhere. Anton was most interested in the growth of his people- whether that be the Order of One Hundred Stars or the alliance- including those in the upper realms.

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-----

Only vague directions had been given to the locations of enemy territory, and while they weren’t much more useful than the approximations the Alliance made independently, it did give Anton a better idea of how far he was going.

He was surprised at how far the sects were willing to go for an attack. It was a big risk, as that left them effectively without supply lines. It took Anton weeks, which meant it likely took them months. But he saw where some of their confidence might have come from when he saw the first of their planets.

If they could even be called that anymore. He’d seen asteroids stripped of their precious metals that had more structural integrity than the planets. He was fairly certain they had to be held together by formations.

While Anton found himself directly revulsed by what he saw, he had to admit that at least it was functional. Whatever they’d done, the remaining skeleton of the planet had dense natural energy. And presumably the rest of the planet had been used for something.

Anton could sense the two sects that had attacked In’istra. The Imbued Fragments made use of metal, while the Broad Eyed Harvesters dealt in stone. He somewhat doubted it was efficient to tear apart planets, but perhaps it was training?

He noticed that they seemed to have little effect on gas planets, except for any terrestrial moons. Frankly, Anton thought that if they were going to be scouring everything they should have gotten in good with a sect that would want everything that gas planets had to offer.

Anton eventually drifted back towards one of the largest rocky planets, intending to take a closer look. He would have to actually enter the system instead of simply sensing from outside their influence, but he thought it would be worth it. He didn’t want to give away his presence so he was trying to constrain his energy signature, but that couldn’t be perfect. Perhaps he’d be discovered and have to fight- or flee. Appearing weak might be to his advantage.

The ‘planet’ was even more strange than he’d first imagined. He had felt the general shape, but it was more extreme than he’d even thought. Once again, even calling what remained a planet was a bit of a stretch.

Currently, there was a metal core in the middle of an earthen cage. Upon that cage, with spindly stone perhaps only a couple hundred kilometers thick at any point, was what remained of the planet. Stretched long the protrusions and up the structural spires from the core were all the cities. Not that there was anywhere else for him to be, but it quickly became apparent that it was all city. They’d effectively turned the planet into little more than sprawling skyscrapers, stuffed with everything people needed to survive.

Anton didn’t think that people were really living. Just producing sufficient food and consuming it, with some small portion of them absorbing the natural energy that was clinging to the remains of the planet. In a way, it was a clever setup. The natural energy would tend to gather around what structure there was, and thus it could be much more dense if there was little planet left. The logic just barely checked out… but that didn’t mean it seemed sane.

All the effort they put into tearing it apart and then keeping it from collapsing with formations could have just gone into energy gathering formations directly. It was absurd. What were they even doing with all the material, evaporating it?

That clearly wasn’t the case, and Anton managed to find some examples. The most obvious was found all around him, with ships flying every which way between the various ‘planets’, as well as in and out of the system. Anton had kept out of their paths, of course, but it was far more traffic than he was used to even in the core systems of the Lower Realms Alliance. Then again, most seemed to be small, individual ships. An inefficient use of resources.

Unless one had many planets’ worth. But even then, there were certain requirements for quality. That, Anton found, they seemed to solve another way. It took him several days of snooping around at their various uses of energy until he found the right one. A great factory that seemed to take in a constant stream of rocks and junk ore. Anton knew the best ore was taken away separately. What then did they do with all the junk?

They transformed it. Technically, that was something the Lower Realms Alliance could do as well, but they never did it on such a scale. No, they didn’t make such extravagant uses of materials and energy anywhere.

Anton saw many tonnes of ore compacted into something like a tenth of its size. At first Anton thought they had simply made it more dense- and they had, transforming it into different elements. But as he continued to watch, he found that some was missing. It was just… gone.

Or perhaps transformed into energy. Not necessarily natural energy that was usable… but heat and light and vibrations and perhaps a million more kinds that Anton would only be partially knowledgeable about.

He’d seen matter annihilated before, in large cultivator battles. The link between matter and energy was well known from the perspective of natural scientists and cultivators alike. However, it was massively inefficient to convert between them. There was a reason Anton didn’t make arrows but Spirit Arrows. He achieved the solidity he needed in the moment, but it wasn’t a permanent effect.

Likewise, turning matter into energy through nearly any process was extremely inefficient, because even if technically the same amount of energy or matter still existed, that didn’t mean it was usable.

But perhaps they didn’t care. They had a result they wanted- certain types of stone he recognized both as making up the structures around them and the stone ships- and they had a method to get it. That might be the end of things from their perspective. Who cares if it was wasteful? As long as it was more efficient than finding another planet with the materials they wanted naturally present… though wasn’t even sure about that.

Anton didn’t like these people. They did exactly the opposite of everything he stood for. Where he wanted to build up, they tore down. Where he wanted to grow, they took away. They were fine with ending up at a net worse situation because they had the specific things they wanted- and to an extreme Anton had never considered before.

The deep Trigold Cluster that spawned these sects and then established these in the lower realms were an abomination Anton hadn’t heard about. He wished he’d seen them earlier so that he could have already finished annihilating them.

But he didn’t start the process immediately. There was likely more to learn… such as who might be innocent in the process. Certainly there would be some, living among them somewhere. Ignoring them wouldn’t sit well with Anton.