From battlefield to battlefield Anton flowed like the heat from a star warming a planet. Or from the perspective of his foes, the scorching heat of the height of summer. Perhaps something much worse.
The Enrichment stage was a great step ahead in power, and Anton made full use of it. With the reinforcements from the alliance, their enemies couldn’t even flee. All who stepped onto a battlefield with Anton- the size of which had a very generous definition- were destined to not return. There would be no mercy for cultivators of the Trigold Cluster. Likewise, the cultivators of the alliance and the ships that carried them moved swiftly, and from battlefield to battlefield they overcame the Trigold Cluster.
But that victory was an inevitability. The Trigold forces didn’t or perhaps couldn’t work together within the lower realms, and for the most part those who were left in the lower realms focused on ascension. Something like Anchoring, which they usually stamped out, was a new development for them.
Anton came across many duplicitous members of the Twin Soul Sect, hiding their reality behind a facade. However, they had no counters to the perceptive techniques- at least not in the lower realms. They might yet develop something, but the alliance had various methods intended to stay a step ahead.
In Anton’s hands was an arrow of spectral energy. In exchange for his own potential reincarnation, he had received that power from beyond death. It was the least used of his special energies, often taking a back seat to the direct power of ascension energy. But here, he had a purpose for it.
His arrows flew into the dantians of twin soul sect members, those of sufficient cultivation to potentially reach the upper realms. One by one, he felt their life force fade away, and with that their spirits would be drawn away. Clearly, spectral energy alone was insufficient, but that was what the formations were for. Any who had created the proper connection to the upper realms was instead caught into the net they formed, partially powered by the sun and Anton himself. Everheart had been able to set up something more comprehensive in Weos, but Anton found the results more than adequate considering nobody involved was an Augmentation cultivator.
Another arrow. Each arrow was slightly different, to try to coax out the response Anton desired. Finally, he got results. A partial dissolution of the soul. A terrible fate, but Anton had little pity for those who would betray the worlds they spent their entire life upon. The people they lived among deserved better.
For some Life Transformation cultivators, Anton saw that they didn’t drift away. Especially among many of the stronger ones, and Anton would be willing to be they had started to prime themselves for Anchoring.
Among the Twin Soul Sect, there was only a single Anchoring cultivator. The woman was in a truly unfortunate position, where her search for power had led her to practice conflicting techniques. Or perhaps she had been forced to do so by political pressures. Either way, Anton’s arrows killed her- but did not fully dissolve her soul. Yet she showed no signs of drifting towards the upper realms, forever unable to reap the promised rewards for her betrayal.
It was sad. A pitiful woman. Better she return to nothing, and the remnants of her soul dissolve, perhaps to form something new and better. In truth, Anton had little knowledge of what happened to souls after death, outside of cultivators interfering with the process. Obviously some kept memories with them, but most did not. And new souls must form from something. There was never a problem in that regard.
Anton lowered his bow. “That’s the last of them,” he commented to Devon.
“I heard some others have fled into the mines,” Devon said. “I’m sure they could use your help rooting them out. And then…”
“Then I sit and wait while the important business is done by others.”
“Does that bother you?”
Anton shrugged. “To some extent. I should be happy that power and violence aren’t the most important thing sometimes, but the areas outside of my expertise such as formations… Well, it actually makes me want to focus more on others reaching this stage. I have hope for a few formation masters who could reach Enrichment within the next century.”
“Unfortunately I’m not a formation master either,” Devon shrugged. “But I think… I’m not so far from Enrichment myself.”
“I can tell. You only have to ask if you need any guidance. Or perhaps you will be able to correct me on some of my own mistakes,” Anton grinned.
-----
Though being sidelined for a short time wouldn’t actually have been a terrible fate, Anton found that he actually had a reason to be involved with the formation process. Not for the formations themselves, but for the information that would be transmitted. It wasn’t enough to simply have it fail, but instead they wanted to provide some false insights. For that, they called upon everyone who had an understanding of cultivation beyond Life Transformation.
It hurt every fiber of Anton’s being to think he would be providing bad cultivation knowledge. He had to keep reminding himself that the information would be going to enemies. Even so, he kept wanting to qualify every statement or flash of inspiration with “but I later learned that was a dead end” or something similar.
Anton was sitting around chatting with Taalay, Heath, and Devon. At this point, with the Trigold Cluster’s forces out of the way they could speak more in depth about cultivation. The only risks were the information being used against them by the actual citizens of Vrelt, but that was just a risk they would have to live with. The same was true throughout the alliance- there had to be some level of trust for their people, or they would fall back into the old ways of keeping all cultivation knowledge secret, only for a sect or high enough ranking members of the sect, stifling advancement rather than propagating it.
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“Attaching yourself to a people, place, or concept seems to be the basis for all of the paths I have seen,” Anton said. “With Ascension being the alternative, and the more automatic path. Ascension is something between a call from the upper realms and a rejection by the lower realms. Though we have seen it is possible for upper realms cultivators to return to their home system or the lower realms in general and achieve a reasonable level of effectiveness, it requires effort.”
“And all others are subject to diminished abilities,” Taalay nodded. “That, at least, we have been aware of from our histories.”
“It’s a matter of adaptation,” Devon said. “But those who have only lived centuries in the upper realms with no exposure to natural energy find it to be a longer process. Years, at least, which isn’t enough time to adapt during the shifts in the Tides of the World.”
“All of this is well and good,” Heath said. “But it won’t… how should I say this… provide much spice to the soup. Unless we can weave in some adjacent technique to ‘adapt to the lower realms’?”
“As much as I would like that,” Anton said. “A sudden insertion of something new might raise some concern, allowing them to unravel the rest of our deception more rapidly. As it is, the signal is already undergoing a suspicious distortion to give us more time. What if… we could find a way to encourage them to try such binding techniques in a disadvantageous way? For example, if they end up restricted to their own planets or even attempt to bind something in the lower realms from afar. Though perhaps those tricks might only work on one person.”
“Unless we emphasize how important it is to keep things secret,” Heath said. “We could… emphasize that finding out the concept an individual is bound to would expose their flaws.”
“That’s true, though,” Devon said.
“But only if you come to understand it, and study it yourself,” Heath said. “And it’s limited in its application. For example, I am aware I could weaken Anton if I destroyed his stars. If I were an enemy, I couldn’t make practical use of it. Likewise, it would be difficult to overcome your concept of chains.”
“Just difficult?” Devon asked. “It seems like you thought of something.”
“For the moment, I will keep those thoughts to myself,” Heath said. “Perhaps when we’ve known each other for decades and have a more durable trust built up.”
“Understandable,” Devon replied. “Then I agree. We overemphasize the fact that the mere knowledge of the concept is a weakness, rather than the understanding or negation of it. Even if the sects share this knowledge, they’ll be reluctant to consult each other and will be more prone to mistakes.”
“Then we shall capture and review some insights,” Taalay said. “Before we have the team transfer them upwards.”
Anton nodded. He wasn’t fully aware of how the process worked, and it might actually be different from what they did to transmit techniques, but he understood that recalling and intentionally implanting memories was the basis for such things. And he’d previously had a vessel that picked up insights from others, yet only if it was active when they formed nearby. They were a more tangible thing than they seemed, though obviously rather tricky to interact with outside of one’s self. And risky- because Everheart’s vessel hadn’t discerned between true and false insights, with him having to digest them and determine for himself.
He almost wished they could get Everheart involved for this… he would certainly have a thousand ideas for poisoning this well of information. But they had neither the time for the messages, nor did he wish to subject Vrelt to even indirect influence from Everheart. Best to have only a single world in the lower realms and most of the upper realms curse his name.
-----
Three Squeaks was… something. He didn’t have a good word for it. Bored wasn’t quite right. He’d been bored. Then he would find himself occupied by something important, and it would be handled for a while.
No, bored wasn’t right. He stimulated himself with cultivation day by day, roaming around the coalition to talk to who he pleased, being alert to fend off any enemies. Not that there were many people foolish enough to attack them.
He wanted something more. And while he missed the lectures and insights that Anton provided, it wasn’t teaching that he yearned for. Instead, it was experience. Yes, that was it. Three Squeaks felt… constrained. An odd feeling, considering he could freely roam further than most meerkats traveled in their entire life. But once he got it into his head, he recognized it for the truth.
What was he supposed to do about this? He tried to recall Anton’s advice and stories. Ultimately, he came down to the tales of wandering cultivators. Was that what he needed? Three Squeaks valued the coalition and wanted to continue working with them, but their consistent expansion simply didn’t fit him right now. And he could provide some benefits by roaming further, seeing the bigger picture. How big was a planet again? He honestly didn’t want to remember a number, and wanted to experience it himself. He would walk from horizon to horizon, until he had seen all of them.
What did he need? Nothing, really. Meerkats never had much in the way of equipment. His current bow was sufficient for his strength. Food he could find along the way, though perhaps he should have a pack to carry some as well just in case.
Of course, he should also let people know he was going. Maybe someone would want to come along. Echoing Cry was raising a nest of eggs, so Three Squeaks doubted he would be one of them, but he could start asking.
He never thought that, after beginning his inquiries, someone would come to him. Specifically two someones. Small ones with exoskeletons and a disturbing lack of presence.
The princesses.
“We want to explore too,” Crossed Antennae explained.
“That’s right. One of us will be the queen of this place,” Fearsome Mandibles signed. Three Squeaks began to regret learning their language, because he couldn’t pretend he didn’t understand now. “So we should know about it.”
“Well…” Three Squeaks began reluctantly. “We should probably ask the Great Queen.” Surely she wouldn’t want her princesses going off on a roaming adventure around the planet where they could easily die, right?