Of the many great things Everheart was responsible for- great in magnitude if nothing else- perhaps the most significant in the current times was his infusion of anti-ascension techniques into the minds of many of the greatest elites. Yet like anything else he did, it was not without its flaws. Merely having knowledge of such a technique didn’t immediately make people proficient with it. Even though the memories thrust upon them gave them a small amount of experience, they would need to use the techniques with their own bodies to make optimal use of them.
So they practiced, at least the majority of those involved. Very few had any sort of personal interaction with Everheart, given his last appearance had been so many years before. Even those whose sects had held a grudge for the man were mostly convinced of the truth of his words. Enough to include the techniques among the others they trained, at least.
The only difficulty was the limit of what people could achieve merely through self practice, without any practical usage. There weren’t exactly a large number of ascended people running around for people to practice with. In fact, that very scenario was the danger they were preparing to face. Though the theoretical timing of the event should still be decades away, the more experienced cultivators realized how quickly that time could pass. The difficulty then became finding a target for their practice.
That was an area with quite a bit of focus on it. The Order was willing to share Fleeting Youth, but that wasn’t practical for many reasons. The requirements to practice it strongly overlapped with those who were the closest to reaching ascension, at least in theory. Actual instances of Ascension were rare, and there were none in the public records since the battle at Black Soul Valley. But just because they probably would not reach that point didn’t meant most cultivators would be willing to give it up.
It was mainly taken up by those who had given up hope of advancing any further, generally those who couldn’t even step into Life Transformation after decades riding the edge. Unfortunately for them, the effects were also limited by the fact that they were no longer growing. They were able to gain some proficiency in Fleeting Youth, but it was not as much as someone properly situated like Anton. It wasn’t just that he had longer years of practice- after a few years, it was clear their rate of advancement in the technique was also slower.
Even if a talented elder in each sect was willing to give up the potential of ascension, they would still find themselves unable to provide for the needs of everyone. Other methods were being developed, including formations derived from Everheart’s work and that of the Luminous Ocean Society. A formation that contained ascension energy was at least a viable test of whether or not it was possible to disrupt the energy, though it wouldn’t measure up to actually being used in battle. Even so, such formations helped push people to a higher level in their techniques.
Because he was the first to use the technique and one of the most skilled with it, Anton was able to provide the most accurate representation of what they could expect, and with a significant amount of power. It was thus that he often found himself sparring with Life Transformation experts, though calling it a spar was perhaps a bit too generous. They had to lower their power output and speed for things to be even remotely a challenge. It was a bit unfortunate, as it meant the Vessel of Insights was able to glean less from them… except in the case of specifically anti-ascension techniques. Anton had a constant stream of those to internalize, though seldom had the opportunity to make use of them himself.
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A deep breath synchronized with the way energy was pulled from beyond the world. Unless he was seriously mistaken, ascension cultivators would hold their energy with them at all times instead of gathering it when they intended to make use of it. All of his attempts to hold on to it in the long term were futile, and in fact Anton thought the more he tried the more it slipped out of his grasp.
For the sake of sparring he held onto the maximum amount he could at any time. In a way this was a disadvantage, as it left him open to disrupting attacks that would disperse everything he had gathered without effect. On the other hand, it meant he wouldn’t telegraph when he was planning to make an attack with ascension energy. That was less relevant against new opponents who wouldn’t necessarily understand what Anton was doing, but against those with proper training it helped.
Heat poured over him as Anton faced off against Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace. She was in early Life Transformation while Anton was still in mid Essence Collection. Over the past several years he was only managing a single star per year. That was still a significant rate, but he was beginning to see how years might begin slipping away from him.
The radiating heat from the woman was higher than the magma chamber a few years prior. That was what focused intent allowed, an effect incomparable to nature. Though by Anton’s understanding, there were also natural heats that surpassed even that of molten rock and volcanoes. Not counting stars, of course, which were something else entirely.
Anton nocked an arrow on his bow. To most it would have appeared to be just a normal Spirit Arrow, but his studies of the stars had led Anton to develop some alternate forms for his arrows. It still didn’t really match up to starstuff, but that was the angle he had come across the ideas.
Since Elder Sarka overpowered Anton, he was allowed the advantage of making the first move. Or at least… initiating it. She was under no obligation to let him finish it. As he pulled back on his bowstring she immediately began to move. Flames coiled around her as she began to charge towards him. He released the string, flinging his arrow forward. As it left the bow… it disappeared. The same instant, at least to the best reckoning of any cultivators, his arrow hit its target.
It was unfortunate Elder Sarka had prepared her defenses immediately, because that particular attack was less powerful than most of Anton’s abilities. Less powerful… but much more swift. It reflected the properties of light, including a near-instantaneous speed of travel. Sadly, he seldom found a good use for it in spars. On the battlefield it would be much more effective as he could target anyone with their defenses down for even a moment, but against a single opponent they would be ready even if they didn’t know what he was going to do. Unless they were exceedingly reckless.
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Glorious Flame Palace cultivators might be seen as a bit over the top in some cases. Too straightforward. However, they weren’t crazy enough to go into battle without energy defenses.
Anton changed tactics, firing his more usual brand of energy arrows. They were a nice balance of speed and power without any particularly special properties. As the woman charged at him with a spear he repositioned himself and occasionally changed up his method of attack. His other style of arrow was completely useless against Glorious Flame Palace cultivators, but he still had ascension energy to call upon. And that was the whole point of the exercise anyway.
The next arrow Anton shot had the energy to break through Sarka’s defenses, even if she were to make full use of her Life Transformation abilities. However, instead of trying to avoid it the woman simply stabbed towards it with her spear. She was fond of using her fist in battle, and of course her primary method of attack was simply her flames, but she had conceded that when battling ascension energy something with reach was more practical. As Anton’s arrow impacted her spear, there was an explosion of energy as it unraveled.
The undirected energy would be less dangerous than the focused energy of an arrow, but it was still enough to cause damage to a careless cultivator. It stripped away the layer of energy Elder Sarka had created around her weapon, and Anton followed up with another attack to take advantage of that fact.
It would have worked, too, if she hadn’t already formed an attack of her own. Though her spearhead was devoid of energy, she had gathered some around her hands, one of which released the spear and lobbed a ball of fire at Anton, striking near him before he could finish gathering the energy for his next attack. He avoided most of the explosion, but the attack sent out ripples of energy that disrupted his gathering energy. What he already had was dispersed, and he winced as his connection was briefly cut off. He wasn’t sure if the effects would be exactly the same on a real ascension cultivator, but they would also have more energy to disperse so the attack would still be extremely effective.
Half of the distance had been closed by Elder Sarka, and Anton was tempted to rush himself to try to land some sort of blow. However, he kept his firing rate intentional. A few normal arrows while he gathered ascension energy. He maneuvered around a large tree to mitigate the effects of another fireball, and the rippling energy. He focused on holding the energy to him and kept the majority of it, ready to use for an attack at a later point.
Anton had an interesting thought. If it were a real battle he might have followed through with it. Logically a real battle was no place for experimentation, but when a cultivator gained mid-battle insights it was often exceptionally useful to their exact circumstances. Anton didn’t decide against using his new idea because he thought it wouldn’t work, but because if it worked too well he might cause some serious damage.
Instead, he summoned up several additional bows of energy, each firing shots at Elder Sarka. He was able to maintain a higher level of output with such methods, potentially allowing him to break through defenses that were stronger than he could overcome with a single arrow. The technique also drained him more quickly, but that was always the tradeoff in battle.
With his physical bow, he nocked another special arrow while he at the same time dropped down to only using one extra bow. Its composition changed, from his standard energy to being fully formed from ascension energy. At the same time, the arrow he formed between his hands glowed the orange-red of flames. Both shot simultaneously, and as expected Elder Sarka focused on the attack of ascension energy. It was what their training was for, and it was absolutely the bigger danger. Even if Anton’s idea worked.
His ascension arrow was summarily destroyed, even with the extra power and speed from using it as a bow as well as arrows. The explosion at least caused Elder Sarka to take a step back, though she was still restricting her overall output of energy somewhat.
His other arrow was essentially ignored as it struck her side. After all, it was formed of fire, something that the Glorious Flame Palace was entirely used to. Just because it was also fire didn’t mean it would slip past her defenses, and it dispersed as it struck just below her ribcage. Most of it, anyway. A small core continued onward, piercing through her armor and even causing a small wound.
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she touched her side as if she couldn’t believe what her senses were telling her. It wasn’t a serious wound. Barely more than skin deep. But the fact that it had happened at all confused her. “What was that?”
“What did it feel like?” Anton asked.
“Ascension energy. But I was disrupting that.”
She was right, of course. Along with the spear striking his attack sending off shockwaves, she also had a defensive technique specially suited to more passively disrupting ascension energy. Anton should have needed much more energy to overcome that barrier, similar to one of his full attacks- but his maximum output was limited.
“Every technique can be countered,” Anton pointed out. “Even the anti-ascension techniques. The disruptive resonance they create makes ascension energy fall apart, but if the user of such energy knows it will happen they can attempt to work with it instead of against it. I just so happen to have developed some fire arrows, and they synchronize quite well with your energy. You were ready to block that, but not ascension energy synchronized in the same way.”
“Pfeh. You sure you want to tell me all that? It’ll just make this harder for you.”
“That’s the whole point of me being here,” Anton pointed out. “I’m not trying to win a spar with a Life Transformation expert. Besides, you would have figured it out in another attack or two. Better to be helpful about it.”
Elder Sarka nodded. “How much left do you have in you?”
“One more round, I think,” Anton determined. He could only call upon so much ascension energy in any one period. It wasn’t just tiring, but also as if he was pulling from an actual store of energy that had a limit. He couldn’t be sure if that was actually the case, but it at least felt like that. As he practiced more, his limits increased so it was barely different from his personal energy except the fact that it did not dwell inside him on a permanent basis.
Anton raised his bow once more. He was looking forward to reviewing some of his own insights after this, and perhaps he might get something from Sarka’s perspective as well.