The planet wide announcement came as a surprise to most citizens of Xankeshan, though everyone higher ranking and especially military officers were already in the know, so they could be certain they were prepared.

A mechanical recorded voice made the announcement, flowing through the planet’s formations to spread the sound everywhere. “We apologize for the inconvenience, but the use of formation based amenities will be unavailable for a short time due to maintenance and upgrades. All traffic will be diverted directly to landing.”

As people began to wonder what was happening, they also expected the flow of energy through the formations to slow or cease. But instead, the rate of energy usage ramped up even as the barrier fell, the upper energy of the planet being diverted for different uses.

It ultimately flowed to one place, Catarina’s position at a temporary nexus of the formation. Timothy was there, of course, to see whether she was able to accomplish her impossible task. He was a bit disappointed he hadn’t beaten her to Augmentation, but he knew he had some decades left to go himself. As for her chances of success, Timothy had nothing but confidence. He simply wouldn’t allow himself to feel anything else. He trusted that all of the work she put in wasn’t for naught.

Chidi was present as well. The flow of upper energy made him tingle, though he had a particular position to stand so as to not disrupt things with his internal partial formations. But there was something about the mass of power that called to him. He hesitated to reach out, not wanting to disrupt anything, but it sat at the back of his mind.

The process was not a short one. Chidi felt energy flowing into his mother, but it was being absorbed greedily. Not all of it went directly into her, of course. Most of it was reserved for various safety measures- for her own sake, and for the sake of those watching. But even so, the flow of energy directly entering Catarina was greater than that an Augmentation cultivator normally dealt with, based on Chidi’s observation of Tauno.

It was more than a few hours of energy continuously pouring into her before Chidi felt her reaching her limits. Power coursed through her, formation markings inside of her but not quite so flagrant and wild as Chidi’s that were cut into his body. All of the energy was directed with intention, either by the formations or by Catarina’s own will.

Then all at once, the influx of energy stopped. The dense energy inside Catarina felt like it would explode outward, but instead she kept it tightly controlled. But it had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was back into the formations, reversing the flow. Not all of it, but a significant quantity.

When everything ended, Chidi didn’t think Catarina felt much stronger. Then he realized that part of that was because he’d lost his focus for a moment, subconsciously reaching out for that flow and simultaneously improving himself. He had thought he might reach Integration in a battle, but instead it happened extremely naturally as he finally came into perfect sync with upper energy. Or as perfect as could be expected for that level, anyway. True perfection was always the goal- though nobody could agree what perfection was.

“Well,” Timothy said. “I honestly didn’t expect two breakthroughs today. Congratulations.”

Catarina moved over to her son, whose senses were quite clearly locked onto her. “Well?” she asked. “Something you wish to say?”

“You don’t feel all that much stronger,” he admitted. “Did everything go alright?”

“It went exactly as intended,” Catarina said. “Do not worry. I am stronger. But I’m also not really… a combatant. Likely there won’t be as much improvement in my direct battle prowess, as it was focused on other areas.”

Chidi nodded. “That makes sense. Can you tell me what, exactly?”

“It’s difficult to say,” Catarina admitted. “Because I am still comprehending the changes I set up. But ultimately, I should perform better in the expected areas. The ability to gather and channel energy, especially for formations. And hopefully… my rate of gain of understanding. I achieved some insights. Time will tell if they were wrong.”

-----

News of his granddaughter’s Augmentation quickly reached Anton’s ears, though of course he was part of the loop to begin with. He had known when she was going to make the attempt, and had been waiting impatiently for messages from the upper realms to reach him since that point. The message had been a simple and straightforward acknowledgement of success, which to Anton assured him that nothing had gone wrong. It was quite like her.

He had the feeling that the upper realms would remember this as the start of a great time of change. He hoped so, at least, because the alternative was things remaining as they had been- and that was exactly the situation they wanted to avoid.

In the lower realms, Anton didn’t know of anyone closer to reaching the next stage than himself. That did not mean there weren’t any, but they would have to be among the Sylanis Cluster. If it was any of the others, they would have to be working very hard to make it a surprise.

Lev would probably achieve something in time, but the fellow wasn’t in a rush. Nthanda… was no longer on a path similar to any they had on record, so it would be difficult to say. Annelie would have once been high on Anton’s list, but her cultivation speed had slowed after Anish’s death. Devon was a bit further behind. He could expect anything to be separated by periods of decades, instead of the several times more frequent Ascensions and Assimilations among their population. Not quite yearly, even among their many billions. Though of course, a diminishing rate was always to be expected between cultivation stages.

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Anton was at the peak himself, one star short of his next prime tempering. He wasn’t quite certain if he would immediately reach the next stage upon completing that star or not, but he did know it had to be something more than usual. And he already had plans in place. Should they fall through, he would simply have to spend time solidifying some of his other opportunities.

But for the moment, his plans lay with Poriza. He’d begun his influence mainly on one side of the planet, but he’d been slowly spreading. He couldn’t say he’d achieved world peace, even with all his power. However, he’d come to know people from every region of the planet. Just like others, they were all capable of living lives in peaceful community. It was simply a long tradition of violence among cultivators that perpetuated- a few decades wasn’t enough to erase that. But he saw the opportunity was there, if they kept working at it.

-----

Anton put together a worldwide conference of cultivators, pulling representatives from all over. It took several years to organize, and another to come to fruition afterwards because of travel times. But ultimately, thousands of individuals representing every part of the planet- even smaller sects who worked up the confidence to send their own representatives. And that was exactly what Anton wanted.

“I’m sure you all wonder why I gathered you here,” Anton said. “As you have been told, it is something of great importance to the whole world. All of you know the Order of One Hundred Stars,” Anton could say that without reservation, as he’d personally met with everyone for at least a few moments. “Needless to say, I am a disciple of the celestial bodies,” Anton gestured towards the sky. “There is great power in the stars. However, the local sun… has missed a great opportunity. One for a greater conflux of power that it could share with the inhabitants of its planets. But perhaps this very feature has cast a shadow of safety over you.”

Anton saw people had questions, so he pointed out one of the many who he knew would ask the same question in slightly different ways. “What do you mean? Safety from what?”

“A good question,” Anton said. “The answer is… some particular bad actors in the upper realms. Unfortunately, as far as my information goes these bad actors dominate several of the nearby regions. Regardless, the Trigold Cluster is the most immediate threat. They are known to ravage planets on a regular basis, letting them develop for some time then stealing their resources.”

Another question on everyone’s mind. “How do you know this?”

He had to answer that question eventually. “I come from another lower realm planet that was able to withstand their attacks.” Some murmurs of surprise and a bit of discontent, but also more than a few individuals simply confirming the detail in their heads. Many already knew something was different about Anton.

“What do you want with us?” someone called out without being acknowledged first.

“I have been quite straightforward about that from the beginning,” Anton said. “I want exactly the results I have been working towards. The growth of your people. But there are risks. I do not believe if you continue as you are that you will ever be discovered, however the greater improvement I have in mind is certainly a risk. Your star can be transformed. It would bring with it a several fold increase in natural energy and the rate of growth. More light. And a bit more warmth. But ultimately, it is a difficult undertaking. One with both inherent and external risk factors to consider.”

There were many questions for Anton to field over the next coming days. Ultimately, he hadn’t gathered people for them to make a choice in one single event. Perhaps it was a bit manipulative on his part, but he knew people. And he knew that these particular people wouldn’t give up on an elevation of their planet just because of theoretical risks. Even if Anton had told him that there was a powerful faction one system over ready to attack them, he thought they would have been strongly inclined to want to grow. And he knew that attitude held among most of the people- as he had brought representatives even of the common folk, those involved primarily in industry that involved no combat. Those who produced food and clothing and buildings and everything that allowed humans to live their lives. They had all seen that they could have more, and they would not want to give it up. And importantly- to Anton at least- it wasn’t simply personal greed. Wanting more was a good thing, within reason. And he believed these people could see the difference.

-----

Before he tried to advance to the next stage of Assimilation, whatever he might call it, Anton knew he should balance his internal and external cultivation. Which was to say, he didn’t want to leave any potential unfulfilled, any stars unbound. He picked out a few more good specimens around the area and along the path between the Alliance and the eastern region. He only had one more, in reserve for In’istra.

While Anton hadn’t been a public figure on In’istra for as much of his presence, he had about half a century longer that he was in frequent interaction with them. He still intended to ask for their permission to bind to their star, simultaneous with but not codependent with their introduction to the larger galactic community. They were far enough from all of the other systems Anton knew had humans that they would still be effectively alone, but there was still much they could gain from open interaction. Or they could make the choice to be isolated. Not that Anton expected that result.

Most of those who had fought in the invasion had died, but many people still had memories of it or the aftermath. And the idea of others who had gone through the same and would fight together would certainly be appealing to them. Along with Anton’s personal influence, he didn’t expect them to reject either option. And there were still five centuries until the next shift in the tides of the world for everyone to prepare. Anton was quite pleased, even if Poriza was likely to be somewhat behind, should they choose the route that increased their risk.

Anton had some reason to believe that binding to a star wouldn’t make it exclusive to him, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to willingly share with anyone. Ultimately, he hoped that he could- because he knew that if a local wanted to draw upon the star and they couldn’t both do so safely that he would unbind it, ultimately dropping in cultivation. Because while he would have wasted some of his own time, he also didn’t want to stifle other’s potential. Getting permission might not change that dynamic, but it only seemed fair to ask.