Sixty-four hours during which there were five major changes in orientation and no stops. A journey of over a week, if one were to consider mundane traveling hours. Not an insignificant one at the rate they had been moving, especially since the horses pulling the carriage had to be more than just the average sort- or they would have needed to stop.
“We’re here,” Runa said, though that was fairly obvious from the way she opened the door and let Velvet see outside.
“Finally,” Velvet replied. “That was unreasonably long.”
“Was it?” Runa asked.
“For not being able to do anything, yes.” Also to travel to another spot on the same planet. Then again, moving on land had significant limitations.
Velvet’s senses naturally spread out, taking in the general picture of what was around her. She didn’t know what else to say except that it was a sect. There were cultivators, formations of various types, buildings to house said cultivators and formations… though it didn’t seem to be a terribly large sect. Maybe a few thousand that she could sense. For a group that had Integration cultivators like Runa, their numbers should have been higher- but perhaps that was simply all that was here. Or that she was allowed to sense.
Because the limits of her senses came up against a barrier, merely letting her know the shape of the surrounding valley but not critical information like the area around it. Her paranoia actually reduced slightly because of that. If she had been able to spread her senses without limit, there wouldn’t have been any point in hiding the actual location from her. Like this, she might approximate- but she wouldn’t necessarily be able to pinpoint an entrance.
“Come on,” Runa said. “Sect head Emrik will want to be introduced to you.”
Velvet understood it was natural for an Integration cultivator to meet a sect head, but it was still odd to go so directly. As she moved along, taking in the people she passed, Velvet saw a good number of them equipped similarly to Runa with one exception- an actual void blade. She could feel them quite easily from a distance, but even though she spotted another few Integration cultivators, only one had a void blade. And none below Integration. Obviously they would have to rely more on technique for the ‘Spirit Slicing’ they were supposed to do.
Like Runa had said, it was a temporary location- which for cultivators still meant setting up ‘permanent’ structures. They just didn’t have lavish palaces or anything like that, instead focusing more on the practical aspects of things, like defensive formations.
The one building that had a bit more ornamentation was their destination, though perhaps the walls and doors with purplish inlays of void metal were that way for more than just decoration. Nobody stopped them as they passed, though there were dozens of guards along the way to the inner chambers.
“Sect head Emrik,” Runa announced as she opened the door. “The Integration cultivator Velvet, here to meet with you.”
The man Velvet saw inside had a clear power about him, but not a recklessly displayed one. He seemed neither young nor old, which fit well for a man of his position. “You don’t have to call me that, you know.”
“It is only proper,” Runa said. “I will leave you two to speak alone.”
The doors thudded closed behind her, leaving Velvet standing awkwardly as she looked around the room. “Trying to figure out if you can kill me and escape?” Emrik asked.
“Just admiring the decor,” Velvet deflected. Saying no would have been half a lie. The key difference being that she would only kill him if necessary. The pair of guards outside wouldn’t be much of a problem, but combined with Emrik himself… she was a bit iffy. Then again, it could have been much worse.
“You don’t look impressed.”
“Impressed with what?” Velvet asked.
“My cultivation.”
Should she be? “I have encountered others at the peak of Integration. From what I know about the Spirit Slicing Sect, I half expected an Augmentation cultivator.” Velvet hoped that they still called them that in the Chaotic Conglomeration. It was entirely possible they referred to the stages of cultivation differently- though Integration, at least, was the same.
“Plus your own power more or less matches mine,” Emrik pointed out.
“Certainly, in strict cultivation level,” Velvet said, not bothering to pretend otherwise. If he could tell, lying would just sour the mood.
“What do you know about me as the head of the Spirit Slicing Sect?” Emrik asked.
“Just what I have overheard from others in the Conglomeration. I didn’t even know your name until just now,” Velvet admitted.
“That’s surprising. I would have expected someone like you to research figures of interest.”
“I was transferred here rather suddenly,” Velvet shrugged. He hadn’t offered her a seat, for which she was glad because she didn’t have to decide if she would have taken it.
“Ah right. That was upon Adrian’s orders, wasn’t it?”
Velvet remembered the name. That was who Runa had assumed sent her. “Who else would it be?”
“Funny, he didn’t mention you to me.”
He was sitting down. That would add a tiny fraction of a second for him to reach her. Had the doors locked behind her?
“Perhaps because I was traveling directly to the mines.” The more truth she could squeeze into her words, the less likely he would be certain of anything. He was probing for information because he was uncertain. Probably.
“My daughter spoke highly of you,” Emrik suddenly said.
His daughter? “Runa? I am aware,” Velvet said. “It seems they were in desperate need of backup. I hope someone is holding things together now that she is back here.”
“They arrived in the same carriage that brought you back here. But you might not have sensed them in the mines because of the interference.”
Velvet nodded. “Runa just dragged me away.”
“Yes, well, she didn’t want to be stationed there.”
“And yet, it was necessary,” Emrik shrugged. “You’ve surely sensed how few people we have here. Especially in Integration. Regardless, my daughter mentioned your interest in a void blade.”
Runa had apparently said quite a bit. “That’s true. I doubt anyone would lack interest in such a weapon, and daggers happen to be my primary weapon.”
“Indeed. I don’t recognize your aura, precisely. Where were you trained?”
“The Order of Light and Darkness,” Velvet repeated the name of a believable sect.
“I’ve never heard about you among their ranks.”
“And how many do you know?” Velvet asked.
“... Not many,” Emrik admitted. “You know a void blade isn’t much use except with the right techniques. Up close, they’re not as useful as they might seem.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“I have seen one in action,” Velvet pointed out. “I know the utility of such a thing.” She still couldn’t tell if he was going to try to kill her.
Emrik leaned back in his chair, gazing out the window. “It would be so much easier here if we just had an Augmentation cultivator.”
“Wouldn’t everything be?” Velvet said.
“That’s right,” he said. “Unfortunately, the path to Augmentation is difficult. Two centuries, I’ve been at the peak.”
“Unfortunately, I have not the understanding to give you any sort of advice,” Velvet shook her head. “Especially not for a style with which I am only recently acquainted.”
Emrik’s eyes narrowed just slightly. “Perhaps not. But who can say? Some might carry a puzzle piece for others unknowingly. Regardless of what you think you know, you are peak Integration. We should test each other. One of us might learn something.”
That was exactly what Velvet didn’t want. It was best to not reveal more just yet. If it was Runa who was the sect head, Velvet might consider telling her more of the truth. But she simply hadn’t known these people enough to trust them. “I might take you up on that offer eventually,” Velvet replied.
“I’d appreciate it,” Emrik said. “Now then, I do have patrols to organize, and I should let you get settled in. Until later.”
“Until later, Sect Head Emrik.”
-----
By the time Three Squeaks actually got around to heading to check out the remaining beavers after burying and planting and teaching the basics of cultivation, a few days had past and most of their pond had drained away. The ground was still soggy, and there were chest high pools everywhere, but it was possible to plot a route where he didn’t have to swim the whole way. At least he knew how to swim, though he wasn’t great at it.
Big Howl came along as well. After all, he was the chief of the beaver’s neighbors. “I don’t like walking along the ground,” he complained.
“I know. Too vulnerable. You need to improve your energy control,” Three Squeaks said.
“I only learned about it just today,” Big Howl pointed out. “Going outside of instinctual forms is difficult.”
Three Squeaks nodded. It wasn’t as if people never learned how to use their own energy- it was just that it tended to be for specific activities. Usually fighting. A lion would naturally learn to apply it to their claws and jaw. Of course, even without outside guidance the beaver king had learned how to use it. It was proof that he hadn’t advanced to Essence Collection entirely from consuming massive quantities of natural energy. Though the devastated forest certainly showed some level of truth to that.
Half Oink was running around in the mud ahead of them. She didn’t care if she got buried up to her shoulders. Of course, she was bigger so there were fewer places that could actually happen.
Three Squeaks felt a prodding, and looked down to the princesses. “Yes, we’re almost there,” he said. “You might be able to sense them now.”
The void ants were quite sensitive to concentrations of natural energy, though the princesses didn’t have his range. He wasn’t sure if that was a way they would ever develop, because he had to send energy out to receive feedback for long distances. Though by the Great Queen’s level their senses would definitely far surpass a handful of kilometers without being limited to a narrow sliver. Three Squeaks wasn’t quite sure how long that sort of thing took, except ‘centuries’. That was way too many years to think about.
As they approached the beavers, they all responded more or less as expected. They turned and ran- either into their dens which were located in flooded pools, or trying to swim upriver or otherwise get away from the approaching group.
“Half Oink,” Three Squeaks said. “Corral them in. Keep all of them here.”
There weren’t enough powerful warriors left to be a threat to the warthog, even if every beaver attacked her at once. And likewise, they weren’t fast enough. Only the few that immediately began to swim away gained some ground, but that was because Half Oink herded the beavers in an arc. “You’re staying to talk! Anyone who doesn’t gets cut up!”
Right. Three Squeaks was going to have to be the reasonable and friendly option here. Or maybe that would be Big Howl. Either way, the beavers were sufficiently afraid of Half Oink they ran where she directed as she made a half circle around their dens. They all dove inside, though Three Squeaks wasn’t certain if they actually believed that they would be sheltered by the structures. They were certainly quite thick with sticks and even some interwoven trunks, but it wasn’t something that could stand up to natural energy for long.
“Alright!” Three Squeaks declared. “We need a few representatives to come out and speak for all of you! And I don’t want to keep yelling, so you do have to come out.” He waited for a big, listening to their whispers. “And yes, we can force you out but we don’t want to be forced to do it.”
He waited for a while, as each den discussed who would be sent. Possibly as a sacrifice, but also someone that could actually talk.
Finally, a handful of beavers emerged one by one, staying near the water for comfort. “Why are you here?” one of them finally asked.
“A simple question with a simple answer,” Three Squeaks said. “I personally am here because I saw the devastation of the forest. Then I talked to Big Howl and he pointed me your way. And then your border guards tried to kill me instead of talking.” Three Squeaks did his best to put mental pressure on them, though mostly he just flexed his cultivation. “Then your king or whatever came as well. And as you can see, none of them are coming back. So we came here to figure out what to do with you.”
“We didn’t have anything to do with that,” one of them said.
“That’s right. It was all the chief,” another explained.
“Lying doesn’t really help your situation,” Three Squeaks said. “You were all part of the Widetimber Colony the whole time. Now these friendly fellows here,” he gestured to Big Howl, “All had their homes destroyed because of you.”
“That’s right,” Big Howl said, confident with his cultivation relative to theirs. “You should be glad that Three Squeaks here is a kind soul. I would not have chosen to speak with you.” He looked around at them with his large eyes. “Your colony has ruined our homes. What, then, shall we do with you?”
“Please don’t kill us,” one of the representatives pleaded. “We aren’t a threat.”
“Not right now,” Big Howl agreed. “But you were, not long before. Perhaps you will be again. How can you pay us back?”
“Well, we, uh…”
“Replanting the forest would only be a start,” Big Howl said.
“Planting?”
“We can teach you,” Big Howl said. “In short, you would make the trees grow, and let them do so unhindered.”
“Then what would we eat?” one asked.
“You should have asked yourselves that before you destroyed the forest!” Big Howl waved his arms. “Just because your leader gained strength, you acted however you pleased.” He turned to Three Squeaks. “I must speak to my associate. Wait here.”
Three Squeaks and Big Howl went out of easy earshot. “What is it?” the meerkat asked.
“I don’t trust them. Even now, I only feel they cower because of strength. It would be better not to have them.”
It was true, Three Squeaks didn’t think they sounded particularly repentant. “Still, not all beavers are bad.”
“Perhaps not. But I will never trust these. The more I speak, the more I know that for certain.”
“What should we do with them, then?”
Crossed Antennae drew his attention so he could pass on her signs. “They must be removed. You cannot have enemies who live next to you, if you can deal with them. It isn’t pleasant, but they should die.”
The damaged form of Fearsome Mandibles- which was the only thing that made Three Squeaks certain he hadn’t mixed up the sisters- provided a different opinion. “Exile them. Perhaps they will be better behaved in the future, but if you can’t accept them here, make them go elsewhere. They are not entirely helpless.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” Big Howl said. “We should exile them.” His large eyes watched for Three Squeaks’ reactions.
“I wish there was a way you could work together.” Even feeling their dens, he could see how useful beavers were. “But you are the one who will be living here. You have to make the decision, and I don’t think it’s a wrong one.”
“Very well.” Big Howl held his head up high as he moved back towards the beavers. “Having discussed with my associates, we have decided that you cannot be trusted. However, do not be alarmed. We don’t intend to kill you… even if that was what you were choosing to do with us. Instead, you will be exiled. You are to leave, and never return.” Three Squeaks could tell Big Howl was trying to memorize the particular energies of these beavers so he could recognize them. He certainly wouldn’t be merciful if they returned.
“Where do we go?”
“I don’t care. Just not on this river.”
“... We can guide you to another source of water,” Three Squeaks said. “So that you do not die on the way. Prepare yourselves to leave within the next day or two.”
He didn’t really want to, but he had to at least accept some responsibility for the way things were. And he could spend more time to determine if they were planning to build up their power and try something similar again. He certainly didn’t want to let them repeat their troubles elsewhere, and knowing where they ended up would allow them to be monitored.