If asked to state the specific time he advanced, Hoyt wouldn’t be able to. He was flying around in a ternary system, weaving in and out among the stars. He got into a nice rhythm, basking in the heat of the stars as he acted as fire himself.

So there he was, simply on one side of the Augmentation divide, and later on the other. It wasn’t as if he didn’t feel a significant change- he just hadn’t been focusing on that aspect of himself when it happened.

He felt good. Powerful. Not that he was planning to go out and challenge cultivators from the great powers to a duel or anything. He was well aware that Augmentation had a wide range of power within it, and regardless of his own estimations of his power he knew that their previous successes had been based on good tactics. The Scarlet Alliance had only gotten into direct confrontations when it suited them, until finally they had been able to tip the balance sufficiently.

They had actually been lucky that the Harmonious Citadel launched a full scale attack on Xankeshan, because even without as much time to prepare as they would have liked the defensive formations were a huge factor on the battle. And they should have been, because there was a great expense spent repairing and advancing the formations. Now, they were working on expanding their influence to allow them to have a tighter hold on other systems. Because letting enemy fleets infiltrate all the way to your core system was not a sustainable method.

Still. Augmentation. Hoyt wished he could show Anton or others in the lower realms, but at least there were many he could work with in the upper realms. He was quite interested in sparring with Tauno- though he expected to lose, he could at least get an accurate reading of his power. Catarina was another matter, because if they fought directly without formations it wouldn’t matter how many years ahead she had advanced. But asking her to fight without formations was the same as asking himself to fight without a weapon. Or potentially even fire. It was part of her, but it made comparisons tricky.

Hoyt hadn’t yet ceased his movements, dancing around the stars. Instead, he continued to bask in their power. It didn’t do as much for him as Anton, of course, but he still felt a small portion of their strength. It was just much less direct, more of a matter of insight and methods than actual sharing power.

His advancement not too far behind Catarina said good things for their people from the lower realms. There was no guarantee they would all advance to Augmentation, but they had several centuries which should be plenty of time to be certain. Every one of them that did would be a critical component in future conflicts.

-----

Devon was very much focused on close combat, and while the definition of that was greatly stretched as he grew in power, dealing with his grandfather who could attack him from further away than Devon could sense was more than an order of magnitude outside of where he or most cultivators acted.

Even in the empty void of space with nothing to inhibit his senses or distract him, Devon could find himself facing incoming arrows with only a small fraction of a second to react. He could block or deflect them with his chains, even when they came in great quantities, but sitting and taking attacks was not a winning strategy. If he couldn’t even counterattack there was little he could do… and he couldn’t just assume Anton was in the direction the attacks came from. As long as they came from outside his sensory range, they could originate anywhere.

Thus it was that the last few hours had involved him going in every direction, trying to find Anton. He knew this was a training exercise for his senses, but it wasn’t limited to simply that. He believed Anton when he said he would not change his personal speed or trajectory except to stay within the agreed upon range, but there was some aspect of Devon moving himself in an unexpected way that might allow him to gain a greater sense of the actual trajectory of attacks.

But he doubted he was going to be successful today. And despite them not being in a system with Anton’s star, Anton had quite a bit more stamina than Devon. Especially since he didn’t have to expend energy on movement, and his senses were refined to be more efficient.

Eventually, Devon signaled that he was done… and he waited for Anton to approach. Unfortunately the direction Anton came from was not one Devon would have guessed, which either meant he was much further off the mark than he expected, or that Anton could circle around to such a position in a short time. The worst part is that Anton was barely even hiding his energy. It wasn’t stealth in the normal manner, but rather accomplished through sheer distance.

“How long will it take to learn this?” Devon shook his head.

“Who knows?” Anton shrugged. “A few years, a decade, a century…? But no matter how long it takes, I am certain you can learn enough.”

“A century might be a bit… slow,” Devon admitted.

Anton shrugged, “That’s up to you, ultimately. I’ll do my best to help you learn, but I can’t guarantee speed all on my own.”

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Devon said. “The fact that we can spend so much time on these things, I mean. Our lives before didn’t seem short, but we could not have focused for so long on something so… specific.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to widen your areas of growth,” Anton admitted. “But I can’t instruct you on everything, so you’ll have to learn from yourself… or from anyone you teach.”

“Again with that,” Devon shook his head. “I’m not particularly against it, but would it really help my growth? I’ve taught people before, after all.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“But only the broader things of cultivation. Which can be beneficial still, but your particular path might provide more insight. But perhaps my particular path benefits from such more.”

Devon nodded. “I know you don’t use the same metrics as others to pick your students but… meerkats?”

Anton shrugged, “I happened upon them at just the right time. And besides, those who are the weakest need the most help.”

-----

On Xankeshan, Aconite watched her sister train with her best friend. That wouldn’t have been odd, except for the particulars involved. One was a human, and the other a wolf. That was the same with Chidi and herself, but they fought as allies with different styles. Here, Agom was using a sword along with Chidi. It was just… handled somewhat differently.

After her initial fascination with the weapon, the cub had swiftly learned what the hilt was for. Holding the sharp part away from her was good. While she sometimes experimented with holding the sword directly in front of her, the hilt clenched lengthwise in her jaws, it was not optimal even with the modifications Chidi was making to the grip.

The small wolf was charging back and forth, swinging the blade at Chidi’s legs. Instead of parrying with his weapon, he simply stepped over her swings or made swift steps back. Agom didn’t seem to notice how easy it was for her to be avoided, simply enjoying the rush of ‘combat’.

Then Chidi finally acted on his own end, his sword cutting Agom in half. Or at least, it could have. Instead, it simply cut a thin line through the outer fur all along her head and down her back to her tail. To her credit, the wolf pup dodged- but not until after the attack was complete.

*Clatter clack* came the sounds of the hilt in the wolf pup’s mouth as she tried to speak with her mouth full. Then she tilted her head and stabbed the point of the weapon into the ground at an angle, so she could properly bark and grow. “Not fair. You said you would use little power.”

Chidi nodded. “I did. This is all the power of a Body Tempering cultivator.”

“How do you see my attacks coming?” the wolf sniffed around his legs. “You can’t even see.”

“I feel the flow of energy and anticipate it,” Chidi said, not taking offense at her words. It was simply a truth of the world that he couldn’t see, and the young wolf had little metric for politeness. “If you focused more on it, you would have better anticipated how I was going to retreat… and counterattack.”

“Can’t hit if you lift your legs…” Agom grumbled.

“Then swing higher. I already taught you how to shift your grip to slash at upward angles,” Chidi demonstrated, his fingers holding the grip of his sword in a rough approximation of fangs.

“It’s slippery.”

“We can work on that,” Chidi said. “But it has to have some freedom to move or you’ll break your teeth.”

“Small teeth useless anyway,” Agom said.

“They’re the only ones you have,” Chidi shook his head. “You must take care of them.” The training session over, Chidi made his way to Aconite. “Interested in learning?”

“No thanks,” Aconite shook her head. “I like my teeth as they are. Besides they’re… more functional,” she said after confirming her little sibling was out of earshot. “I don’t need to learn the blade, and I wouldn’t look as cute doing it.”

Chidi shrugged, “It can’t be helped. You ended up something like a normal size, despite all those toxins you put into yourself. And Agom is… like that. She’ll probably continue to grow larger, but her teeth aren’t ever going to be potent weapons.”

“I can’t believe your master told you to instruct Agom how to use a sword. Weapons like that don’t even make sense for wolves.”

“Well, that’s true. Chikere’s an odd one, but since Agom was so instantly drawn to it…” Chidi shrugged. “Your other weapons aren’t swordlike enough to help her, so this was an opportunity.”

In general, the wolves relied on their natural fangs and claws, plus upper energy and whatever techniques they developed. But some augmented their claws and fangs with facsimiles of the same. It had been assumed that Agom with her underdeveloped teeth would eventually do the same, but instead she was attempting to use the sword. And as far as such things went, she wasn’t terrible. At the very least, her effort was making up for physical limitations.

“Do you think it’s actually helping?” Aconite asked. “The simple concept of something cute using a sword… doesn’t seem like it should overcome something so severe.”

“Certainly not on its own,” Chidi admitted. “But as part of something greater, it doesn’t seem like it is hurting. And this is the one area she still shows her old interest in swords. If she truly hated them with all her heart, I think her time as a cultivator would be over… but as things are now there’s still a chance. Our alliance could use her power, and I would like her to be happy again. Hopefully, this can lead to both.”

“Hopefully,” Aconite agreed.

“Now then, help me work on making better grips,” Chidi said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Agom. “I’m trying to figure out whether to discourage her… grip changing tendencies… or to encourage a variable hold. And my jaws are entirely the wrong shape. I know your teeth are longer but it’s still something to compare to.”

“Very well. Though I am somewhat concerned about her social standing.”

“For using a human weapon?” Chidi asked. “I would say your style is far stranger and you… did fine.”

“I got along with my siblings as much as I desired,” Aconite agreed. “But I have few friends beyond you.”

“It’s not much different for me,” Chidi admitted. “It’s not necessarily a problem but… you think it will be an issue for her?”

“She’s so friendly,” Aconite said. “It would be a shame for her to change for the worse.”

“You could be her friend,” Chidi said.

“I’m her sister. And like a hundred years older.”

“Better than her sword master who is similarly older,” Chidi shrugged. “And as far as I know siblings are allowed to be friends. But I won’t stop you from trying to bolster her social life… if you’re careful.”

“I will be. I don’t intend to push her away from what she really wants. I’m just… concerned.”

Chidi nodded. “Sounds good. Almost makes me wish I had siblings of my own.”