Looking at the grim battlefield in front of him, Anton knew he had seen more death for less reason… but he was never going to enjoy it. Even so… he looked down at the creature sitting in his hand. “I’m fairly certain that was cheating, you know?”

The Great Queen gestured with her whole body. “Someone had to do it. You were too slow. And unlike my ants, each and every one of these are special.”

Anton sighed, “I just didn’t want them to get overconfident and take a bigger loss later. But you’re right. This was already too much.”

“Just enough,” the Great Queen disagreed. “They must be able to stand strong on their own. And… we have to know how they react.”

Anton had little choice but to agree. Rather than being concerned about the instincts of beasts and how they might act, he was more concerned about how thinking beings would respond to a rapid increase in power.

He was pleased to see there was a discussion as they began cleaning up the battlefield. It wasn’t a pleasant one, but one that had to be had nonetheless. He listened to what they were saying with great interest.

“What do we do with them?” Contented Grunt asked. “Or with… us?”

They were currently shuffling the bodies of their own dead- warthogs, meerkats, and the single eagle- to one side of the battlefield. Forceful Snort nudged one of his fellow with his snout. “We must honor them with this… burial thing. We can’t leave them on the surface to be eaten by scavengers.”

“And the lions…?” Three Squeaks asked, looking towards them.

“Their power should be ours,” Deep Purr said. “Though eating them… wouldn’t be much good for us meerkats.”

Contented Grunt tramped forward to one. “It made my stomach feel bad,” the large hippo commented. “But I think the slow one said something about this. From death… comes life? Plants can grow from them, maybe…?”

Three Squeaks nodded, “I know some of this. But they would likely have to be buried too.”

“So they would get the same respect as the rest of us?” Forceful Snort grumbled. “I don’t like it.”

“Perhaps we will figure that out later,” the meerkat Sustained Chittering added her own angle. “There is another problem. They must have young somewhere. They must be dealt with… somehow.”

“We can’t let them live here!” the captain of the guard commented. “But I also… don’t want to kill them?”

“They would have killed ours,” Forceful Snort complained. “But they will die on their own regardless. I say let them.”

There was little consensus on what to do with the lions, and much resentment. Ultimately, they simply began to bring their own dead along with them, however they could. Anton wanted to provide them some assistance, at least in terms of tools like sleds or the like. But ultimately he wanted to let them try to develop tools on their own and he didn’t want to interrupt their tasks. Though he would be available, should they ask for assistance, he expected they would handle things on their own.

-----

An artificial arm reached up towards Chikere’s head, its sharpest part extended. It drew closer and closer to her face, and then… she scratched her nose. She very much appreciated that. Not the fact that her nose had an itch to begin with, but that she could resolve the matter. She was trying to do her best to appreciate such things.

At the current moment, she had precious little besides herself. Friends didn’t count, of course. They were an entirely different category. And while she wasn’t going to just assume they would always be around, she knew that her particular friends would be if she had the option. And the same was true in reverse. She just didn’t know if she had anything to offer right now.

Her technical cultivation still existed, she just couldn’t use it in combat. Swords were the only thing she knew how to fight with, and it really wasn’t great to be using her own blood for that. After all, she didn’t have nearly enough to make as many swords as she would like.

But beyond feeling sorry for herself, and using what she could of her cultivation to try to recover from her longer term injuries, she was also talking with some lady recommended by Engineer Uzun. Though she didn’t really know what talking was supposed to accomplish.

“Hello, Nola,” Chikere said as she entered the office once more. It was obviously supposed to make her relaxed, but nothing could match how she used to feel about swords in that regard.

“Welcome back Chikere. Have you thought about what we talked about?”

“Something about… respect…?” Chikere tilted her head. She didn’t really get it. Nola was supposed to be a head doctor, but she hadn’t looked at Chikere’s head a single time. At least, not up close or anything.

“Respect for what?” Nola asked.

“Respect for… me?” Chikere nodded. “I think I had a lot of respect for myself. I was very strong.”

“I see,” Nola said from her chair. She always offered for Chikere to sit or lie down on the couch thing, but Chikere preferred cross legged on the floor. “And what about your body?”

“I respect that too,” she said. “Especially this arm. It’s very important, even if I can’t use swords anymore.”

Nola sighed, “You put a lot of emphasis on that part of yourself, don’t you?”

“What part?” Chikere asked.

“The part about swords.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“That is because it’s basically all of me,” Chikere said. “Or it was. Now there’s just less of me. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? It made me strong.”

Nola pursed her lips. “I can’t say how cultivation is supposed to work. There are many different avenues of thought there. Certainly, it was effective for you for a long time as it has been for others. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best way. After all, with the right setback… Well, I’m sure you know better than I how difficult it is to recover.”

“Yes,” Chikere nodded. “Do you think I should get more blood?”

“I- what?”

“It’s not good to use my blood as a weapon because I don’t have enough of it. But if I had more, it would be okay.”

“That’s… somewhat true,” Nola admitted. “But I don’t think such a solution would work for you right now.”

“Because I don’t like swords anymore.”

“Rejection is a natural response to trauma. However, in your case as it was part of your core identity… it is causing you great difficulties.”

“I know that,” Chikere said. Nola mostly said things she knew already.

“What did you like about swords?” Nola asked.

“I don’t like them anymore.”

“Certainly. But can you recall what you used to feel? What was good about them?”

“They were sharp. Otherwise, they weren’t good swords.”

“Is that all?”

Chikere shook her head. “They had to be balanced. Heavy enough, but not too heavy. Sturdy, but neither too rigid nor too flexible. Comfortable hilts were important.”

“Do you still feel any of that?”

“None of it matters,” Chikere said.

“Because you lost?”

“Because I’m not good enough. I can’t be.”

Nola nodded. It was a good thing cultivators had extended lifespans, because she could see this taking a while. But she wasn’t going to give up, and not because of Chikere’s potential utility. It was her job to treat each person as a person, and do her best to make them do the same. No matter how long it took.

-----

Udre was hot, but as far as complaints went with his position that was all Devon had to say. He didn’t necessarily think he was the best for diplomacy at first, but now that he had become familiar with the people it would be awkward to leave things to someone else.

Living among them as he had, he found no trouble recommending them to join with the larger lower realms alliance. It was beneficial for both sides, so once he was certain that their friendliness was not just a ploy like Ekict’s initial impression had been, the process had begun. Now, there was little need for him to stay among them any longer.

“You will be moving along soon, then?” Aerona asked. “Assigned to somewhere else, I imagine?”

“I can choose where I go,” Devon reminded her. “But I really should. I have no intention to linger here forever.”

“A shame,” Aerona crossed her arms.

Devon sighed, “You know things wouldn’t work out between us like this. If I am to remain in one place, it won’t be here but home on Ceretos.”

“We could have tried it,” she said.

“And what, we visit each other yearly? Or less often than that?” Devon shook his head. “You aren’t free to roam, and I’m not content just remaining somewhere.” Aerona was a fine woman. Personally, the fact that she was officially an Empress was a point against her in his book but only because he wasn’t a fan of official duties despite his recent position.

“Well, perhaps that is how things must be…” she shook her head. “I suppose it wouldn’t look good in the near future regardless. People might think things. So where would you be heading next?”

“Progress with Nidec and Vrelt is currently… glacial. The former is at least positively inclined towards us as far as we can tell, so perhaps there. At least our reconciliation effort with Ekict have gone well. Their older generation really left them in a difficult position politically and… well, everything. My niece had a good hand in the process, since the war could have easily resulted in festering bitterness for those who survived, regardless of the reasons for their losses.”

“Indeed. And your grandfather is the first… Enrichment cultivator, was it? Is there anyone in your family who isn’t exceptional?”

“Sure,” Devon said. “Lots of them. You just won’t hear about them. And ultimately, aside from making sure they aren’t living in poverty, we tend to drift apart. After all, those who aren’t cultivators… don’t live that long. It’s been over ten generations since everything happened, after all.”

Aerona nodded, then steered the conversation back in the other direction. “So, Nidec or Vrelt. Do you think you would be in danger at either of them?”

“That would depend on if they had a reason to go all out and kill me. I find that unlikely, though. They should understand how powerful we are. So even if Vrelt is unfriendly, at most they would chase me off. If they even accepted me to begin with. We could honestly use more cultivators trained in diplomacy from the beginning.”

“I am,” Aerona pointed out.

“And you are also the empress of Udre,” Devon pointed out. “Not a great representative for the lower realms alliance in general, no offense.”

“That is true,” she admitted. “But I was chosen for this position, and though there is not necessarily and end to my term… perhaps the structures of government might change.”

“I’m sure you could prevent that, if you wished to.”

“Indeed,” she said. “I have great influence here. But the same reason I was chosen is the reason I would not resist such changes, and perhaps encourage them. Besides, I feel little power as an Empress when compared to a single Integration cultivator.”

“Come now,” Devon said. “Udre was not weak before we arrived. You fought off an invasion from the upper realms, after all.”

“We survived,” she agreed. “At the loss of most of our best cultivators. We were only recovering slowly, before our interactions with you.”

“Regardless,” Devon said. “You could reach Integration yourself soon enough.”

“I might say the same of you and this… Enrichment stage, no?”

Devon shook his head. “I wouldn’t expect so. Perhaps a century or so, if I’m lucky.”

Aerona grinned. “You speak of it so casually, when I have yet to reach a single century myself. I have some distance yet to cover.” She paused. “So, which one would you choose?”

“Probably Nidec. Vrelt has too much potential for conflict. Not that I mind fighting, but I’d rather do so intentionally. Too risky for me. Nidec seems like they’re hiding something, which might be worse… but I’d prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

“Well then,” Aerona said. “Remember you are welcome to stay as long as you please, whether in an official capacity or not. And keep in touch, either way.”

“I can do that,” Devon said. It was good for him to have powerful friends, even if there wasn’t anything beyond that.