A few short years wasn’t enough time for someone like Devon to grow appreciably in power, but it was enough time to develop a technique he could have trained a long time before. All his new World Encompassing Chains technique did was sense things, which wasn’t exactly novel for an Assimilation cultivator. The scope might be greater than most sensing techniques, but it came at a relatively higher cost. Most could keep their senses activated at full power continuously, but Devon would drain a significant portion of his natural energy using such a technique.
That said, he did anticipate that with more time to grow it could evolve into something else. It might merely take another decade or two of practice… or it may only establish its next form upon Devon reaching the Enrichment stage.
Overall, Devon was proud of his accomplishments. Each and every time his chains connected, completing the circuit covering the planet, it was one step easier and quicker. Soon enough, he thought he could accomplish what he intended… though he did need to test his ability to penetrate enemy formations. Otherwise, he would find a very uninteresting view of exactly what he already knew about Vrelt.
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Velvet was relieved when she managed to independently verify the stories of Margriet and Sly. Did she believe them before? Absolutely. But it was the job of a spymaster to make certain. Of course, she didn’t simply get by with public knowledge. Instead, she learned it while investigating the structure of the various sects that made up the Exalted Quadrant. Only a small amount of damage had been dealt to the portions of the Worthy Shore Society and Hardened Crown Sect with relation to their overall prowess. The loss of something they considered a single generation from a single planet wasn’t that much… though the talents of the individuals did leave them rather bitter.
And for the whole debacle that happened with Chikere, Nadzeya of the Citadel of Exalted Light lost some of her status. No doubt she would recover it given time, but this was a chance for her rivals to gain on her. It also meant she was motivated to do something of merit to restore her own status, though Velvet wasn’t going to attempt to get close enough to her to find out what in particular. She needed to maintain her presence long term, after all. She was satisfied enough with the potential that she would hear about Nadzeya’s movements, especially if she planned a move on the Scarlet Midfields. Obviously there was no guarantee, but she would take what she could get.
She was roaming throughout the Exalted Quadrant, doing her best to not be noticed by the Limitless Edge. She wasn’t sure how consistently she might be picked out, but it was easier for her to be sensing for any of them at all times than the reverse. Unless they had nothing better to do than seek her specifically, of course. From what she had seen, that didn’t seem to be the case. The Limitless Edge had a mere suspicion, and she had no intention to interact enough for them to advance beyond that.
There were other pieces of information that she was finally managing to pick out. Not exactly secret, but difficult to ask about if she didn’t know. She couldn’t, for example, walk up to someone and ask about any particularly significant enemies of the whole of the Exalted Quadrant and expect them to react like that was a normal thing to say. But she had heard references to conflicts with ‘western barbarians’. The exact scope of their threat was yet unclear, but it gave her something to look into.
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Over the course of time, Erin had grown quite used to Paradise’s new movement patterns. Roaming back and forth, diving down only to launch himself in the air with greater vigor. That made it much more difficult for visiting ships, but he was no longer the lone bastion of safety in the seas between the continents. In fact, people making stops at Paradise out of necessity was a thing of the past. Even ships that sailed in the sea were swifter and more durable, and there were established routes that took them to safe docks along the way. There were still dangers in the deep sea, but they were less likely to bother those on the surface. Regular patrols made sure of it.
He regularly achieved something akin to flight now. Unlike a human sized cultivator, his mass was generally proportional to his natural energy stores. In short, while it was possible for pretty much any Assimilation level cultivator to fly even without a proper technique simply by expending sufficient energy, for Paradise it was more akin to a human around the Spirit Building stage attempting to fly. He would reach a significant distance in the air- or perhaps not all that high, given it was barely a single body length. He would hover in the air for a while, generally a few minutes at a time. Calling it actual flight might be a stretch.
Every once in a while, Paradise focused only on height, managing to get more than a few kilometers into the air. That was quite a different feeling, as it involved a shifting of his whole body to nearly vertical. Fortunately, he held everything on his back in place as he did so- with Erin’s assistance. Paradise wouldn’t allow her to assist with the actual ‘flight’ part of things for whatever reason, but she could at least keep people safe.
She hadn’t expected that there would be anything special about this time. She made sure to stabilize everything so that people didn’t fly all over and the sect members’ things weren’t strewn everywhere in their domiciles. They went up into the air, and while it seemed to take longer to reach the height of their jump where they felt weightless, Erin considered that was just because of Paradise’s practice and effort.
But when things took longer than normal to settle down, she widened her senses… and made her way over to a number of excited disciples at the edge of his shell. Over the edge, she could see everything. Well, it felt like that at least. Once or twice she had actually been off world, and seeing all of Ceretos at once- or at least one side of it- wasn’t fully new to her. But they were high enough to see the thinning of the atmosphere. Fortunately, there were formations that maintained air for the island. They were meant for diving… but here, they were being tested for something else.
“Sect head! What’s happening?”
The worst thing she could do was appear panicked. The second worst would be acting uninformed. So she did her best without actually lying to her disciples. “I’m sure you know that Paradise has been working towards something. This is another step on that path.”
She was busy enough handling that, but as it turned out Ceretos was quite keen on managing the objects in low orbit, and the addition of an island sized turtle was a significant aberration. So she also had to deal with contact from them.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
She felt movement from the Grandfather Willow as they passed above. Not any sort of hostile intent but… more like a wave. Paradise flapped his flippers at the right time to wave back.
In the end, the busiest two hours of Erin’s life came to an end with Paradise nearly running himself dry on energy and crashing back into the ocean. But rather than feeling like a failure, Erin could tell that was exactly what he intended. If only Erin could predict exactly what he was going to do… she would be able to prepare everyone for the next time. But at least she was getting a better picture of what he wanted… even if it made her a bit nervous. Then again, the original purpose of the Island Tenders had faded… perhaps they needed this change as well.
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It wasn’t a trivial task to switch over from passive cultivation- which was to say, eating things with high amounts of natural energy- to active cultivation where it was circulated with purpose to develop an individual in a specific direction. But Three Squeaks and the others had access to some guidance that made it not quite so difficult for the lions as it might have otherwise been. Specifically, some wolves that cultivated had guidance. It was still an adjustment for lions, but it wasn’t nearly so different as meerkats or hippos.
At the very least, they were large quadrupedal predators. In some ways, that was more important than the difference between canines and felines. Meerkats might be ‘cats’, which meant they shared some features that were useful, but the way they cultivated was more different than similar to the much larger creatures. Among other things was the effectiveness of focusing on the body. A meerkat that grew double in size in all dimensions for a total of eight times its total mass and volume would still be an insignificant physical force.
Thus, the wolves’ cultivation was in large part based on growth. There was always the potential to focus on the energy control aspects to make use of various techniques, but the Lower Plains Coalition was still not particularly well versed in those things. Three Squeaks knew how to make fire- and how to stop fire- but most of them were just beginning.
“Why can’t I see the whole thing?” Mischief complained.
“Because you’d misuse it,” Rusty Mane chastised his sister.
“That, and…” Three Squeaks held up the tome in front of him. “You can’t read yet either. So it wouldn’t do much good.”
“There are pictures though!” Mischief said.
“And without knowing the purpose of those pictures and the circulation paths, you could hurt yourself. For example, this one…” Three Squeaks held up a paw to keep the lion’s nose out of the book. “Is specifically telling what not to do. Because it seems to build up the body but only breaks it down afterwards.”
“Or maybe they weren’t good enough at it.”
“No,” Three Squeaks said. “That is definitely not the case. Remind me, what were the four stages of cultivation?” He looked around at the siblings. “All of you can answer this.”
“Body Tempering,” Rusty Mane said. “And of course Spirit Building.”
“Then Essence Collection!” Mischief said excitedly. “We’re going to reach that level soon!”
No. No they were not. Well, by some definitions of soon Three Squeaks supposed it was true. But a ten year timeline where the lions were only three years old certainly made that unlikely. Even if they were particularly quick, it would be their whole lifespan again before they could reach that level. And with having to learn proper control, that could add another year or two.
Sleek Fur was last. “Then Life Transformation is the end of cultivation,” the calmer sister said. “I heard that in a far off country, there’s one of them. A bear that controls a domain a hundred times the size of the Kapok Coalition.”
“It’s not the end,” Three Squeaks said. “That said… it is an extremely difficult hurdle to surpass.”
“... No, there’s no one stronger than that,” Sleek Fur disagreed. “Dad told us.”
“That was the strongest one he knew about,” Three Squeaks said. “And it’s not precisely wrong. There may have never been any from here but… a higher stage certainly exists.”
“Really?” Rusty Mane asked. “It’s not anyone in your coalition, is it?”
“Not directly, no. As I said, we don’t even yet have Essence Collection individuals. But… there is a guest. One of those responsible for directing us down these paths.” If only Anton was around. But instead, he would have to settle for Ty. “Come, I’ll show you.”
Ty Quigley was training Half Oink, who had grown into her adult size and showed little signs of stopping, as well as Deep Purr and any others who were interested in swordsmanship- whatever that could be stretched to.
“He doesn’t look that strong,” Mischief said.
“Looks aren’t everything,” Ty, answered without looking, his voice stretching towards them. Then he turned his head slightly and smiled. “But if you’d like a demonstration, I can give it. Let’s see… I could part the skies. Splitting the ground would be too harmful, so that option is out.”
“I want to test you directly,” Mischief said.
Ty shrugged. “If you want. I have to warn you, it will be sharp.”
“Sharp? Hah, I’ve dealt with sharp.”
“Okay,” Ty nodded. “Come at me as you please. But do be careful.”
Everyone else watched- her siblings with curiosity, and Ty’s students with determined focus. Three Squeaks paid close attention as well, because he rarely got to see such power demonstrated. Anton had a good point that it would be rather troublesome for the locals if he just fired his bow as he pleased- though he always made his arrows fade away now so it probably wouldn’t matter.
Ty stood there with his sword out… but his aura flooded the area. Three Squeaks could feel his skin prickling, even with nothing directed at him. Surely Mischief should have felt more. She moved forward cautiously, at first.
“Hah, this is just to intimidate me,” she declared. “I’ll show you.” She then began to charge forward… before digging her claws into the ground and planting all of her legs, throwing up dirt as she tried to stop her progress. And she did… enough to only receive a few dozen bloody wounds on her front.
“I told you to be careful,” Ty said. “Imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t drawn back.”
None of the wounds on Mischief were deep. At least, not to a level that would be life threatening for a cultivator- and she’d learned to use her natural energy to promote wound recovery. Even so… there were more than a few, with significant quantities of blood dripping as she slowly backed away.
“... I don’t like swords,” she said as she tried to maintain some sort of dignity. Fortunately, Ty didn’t take the rejection of his style as an insult. Mischief’s two siblings rushed towards her, licking her fur and wounds. Mischief just collapsed in place with her head on her paws, looking lost in thought. Three Squeaks understood. Just getting a taste of that power required a lot of thinking.