To the west of the Spirit Slicing Sect’s base, just a few dozen kilometers away, began a vast forest. Anyone hiding on the near edge of the place would have easily picked out by those within the sect, especially if they were around for a sustained duration. Perceptions naturally expanded for higher tier cultivators, and an Integration cultivator could cover such a distance in minutes or less. A number of cultivators could also fight at such a distance, though that depended somewhat on the conditions. Certain snipers could cover much greater distances, of course, but those were rarer breeds. Even if someone wanted to train more people like that, not everyone had the aptitude. And while it was certainly an advantage to be able to attack from afar, most cultivators simply erred on the side of being able to close the distance between themselves and their foes.
A forest teeming with life was a good place to hide almost anything. In Velvet’s opinion, it was only slightly worse than simply hiding something in the most remote location- but what counted as ‘remote’ was variable. The Exalted Quadrant’s ships were mostly meant for intersystem transport, but they were still capable enough to fly over the surface of a planet picking out large installations. Formations could hide things, but they were rarely perfect.
Velvet wasn’t actually convinced that there was anything in the forest as she began to patrol it, but she was well aware that there could be. Most likely there wouldn’t be anything permanent- it would require much greater deception to hide an entire section of the forest from view without bringing awareness to spatial distortions or the like. And expensive. No, if there were spies or an awaiting army, she expected them to opt for a mobile approach.
Upon entering the forest, Velvet felt someone watching her. Not visually, or she could have picked them out in turn, but using some other sorts of senses. Rather than alert them to her knowledge, however, she continued to move along with a similar amount of stealth.
How had they picked her out? Her energy was concealed, and while she didn’t have a target to feed illusions she made practically no sound. There was no way they simply spotted her. At least, she didn’t think she had been that careless. But maybe she was simply up against someone she was no match for. It wouldn’t require an Augmentation cultivator or even someone who matched her cultivation. Instead, a properly specialized Integration cultivator might pull it off.
Obviously Velvet thought she was well above average in her field, but if she believed herself untouchable she would surely find herself dead sooner rather than later. But she understood her imperfection.
The thing that most irked her was that she couldn’t find the source. The feeling was constant. Were they following her? Was it a series of guards even she couldn’t pick out? Some sort of grand formation she’d stepped into, leaving something on her?
Velvet considered all of these options as she scoured the forest. She found more or less what she expected. Birds and beasts didn’t even notice her, and she could walk close enough to touch them if it pleased her. Her scent was another thing she concealed, so that shouldn’t be how she was found.
Velvet considered bending the light around her to become invisible, but at best that would reveal her ability to her foes. At worst, it would reveal it and they would still be able to track her movements.
She found something. Tracks. More than a few, but barely perceptible and scattered. She couldn’t make much sense of them, but it was clear people had been here and were trying to hide it. She was leery of going too deep, should she stumble upon people waiting for her. And if she waited too long, they might come for her. Instead, she curved around, trying not to make her route too obvious.
What stood out? Everything seemed to fit, but things weren’t quite right. Dead trees were too prominent. One or two occasionally would be one thing, but she could hardly go far without spotting two or three in the same vague area. What was it, then? She inspected the dead trees, and found little of interest on the surface. But her senses sunk into the ground, finding their roots entangled with others. Those roots led to-
Velvet stopped herself, trying not to let anything be seen in her movements or her facial expression. She didn’t know how detailed of information her foes might be collecting. She turned, catching a glimpse of a tree. Someone would know what sort of tree it was, but she could only vaguely place it in the category of oak- and even then, she wasn’t certain.
She’d learned some about such things from Anton, but that involved varieties local to Ceretos. Here on Taon, a planet a whole sector away and in the upper realms besides, she couldn’t say if she had forgotten something to find new trees or if they were truly different. The important thing to her was recognizing dangers.
And now she knew one. She continued her search, though mostly for show, as she made her way back around to another edge of the forest. She didn’t relax when she no longer felt herself being watched, but instead picked an arbitrary point on the horizon to head towards. She concealed herself beyond a hill, stopping to see if she was followed. She would leave few traces, but it wasn’t impossible.
It had been the trees, of course. Not just any trees, but particular ones that seemed to feed on the lifeforce of others. She had no idea if it was required or simply allowed them to grow to significant sizes in a short time- unless these particular enemies had inhabited the forest for decades, in which case something should have come up sooner.
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Either way, the trees had been watching her. And while Velvet was good, she wasn’t always hidden from every side. That simply wasn’t practical, unless she shoved herself in a room- and merely being unseen wasn’t sufficient to be properly hidden.
After determining she wasn’t being followed, she relocated once more to a different angle. It was best to keep proper caution. She would be entering the forest again, this time prepared for what she might find. Invisibility might be insufficient, and illusions required a conscious mind as a target. But looking from afar, she could see there were none of the particular trees she’d noticed.
She spent another few hours scanning the treeline to look for them or anything that felt similar. It would be foolish to assume the trees only took a single form. That would be the way to get caught, assuming she knew all of her enemies’ tricks. In a long term conflict she might actually reach that point, but it was also the case that her opponents could come up with new options.
As certain as she could be, she once more approached. At the edge of the forest, she could feel a certain energy that she’d overlooked before, something diffuse throughout the area. A malevolent and poisonous sort of feeling. The energy of a particular sect, perhaps the Forest of Death- though she couldn’t be certain that the Exalted Quadrant didn’t have more sects along a similar line of cultivation.
With particular targets to hide from, even numerous ones, she was able to plan her progress through the forest, feeling each individual tree to determine if it was part of the sensory network. The density of their particular sorts of trees increased in a certain area, which she determined from circling the area. It was either a hidden base- if an imperfect one- or a trap. Either way, she wouldn’t be approaching in the near future. Options had to be considered, and reporting back to at least mention their presence was necessary.
Any large assault they would be prepared for- they might even be able to flee- but it might be possible to catch them outside of the forest, or at least their core. If not… well, they couldn’t cause too much harm if they never went anywhere. But it would be crazy to assume they set up to do nothing.
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One expedition became two, became three, and so on. Three Squeaks brought all sorts of folk with him. Soon enough Echoing Cry’s children could fend for themselves. Contented Grunt came all the way to the ocean and decided salt water was not for her- perhaps she might be convinced to help people cross it later, or they could try some sort of floating thing, but there was plenty more to explore first.
Three Squeaks had thought to pawn off the princess on the Great Queen since Fearsome Mandibles had almost died, but instead she insisted they continue to go to ‘help weed out such foolishness’. It wasn’t that he didn’t like them, but void ants made him uncomfortable and he really had been worried about their survival. But as a year or two passed, they grew to be almost the length of his paw, and their durability was… well, nothing amazing. But he might have trouble squashing them even if they held still, since he couldn’t use natural energy. In short, a fat warthog sitting on them might be more danger than him, as an Essence Collection cultivator.
Others weren’t far behind his cultivation. Forceful Snort of the warthogs had reached that level mostly on the merits of his body, but the passing seasons provided growth in natural energy for the whole coalition. More than just Three Squeaks and his group were traveling about now, but he still wanted to go everywhere himself so he kept at it. It was just one planet. Sure, planets were big, but Anton had seen many planets. He didn’t know if he’d ever reach such a point, but he at least had to have something to look up to.
The beavers… were behaving, for the moment. They had found other groups that were more conservative with their growing abilities, and Three Squeaks planned to invite some to join the coalition soon. They could do so many neat things as water and land builder types. Connected tunnels were cool, but things went so much further than meerkat burrows.
Time continued to pass, and Three Squeaks wondered where Anton was. How long would it be, before he came back? While it worried him for a time, he instead made it a secret goal to try to explore the whole planet before then. Could he do it? He had no idea. Was there another land beyond the west ocean? The planet was supposed to be a ball, but maybe the east ocean met up with it. North and south he hadn’t yet traversed far enough to find an ocean, but he felt he would eventually get there.
Wherever they went, they tried to do good things. Meep could recommend useful medicines- and steer adventurous individuals away from poisonous options. Sometimes, those were the same thing, which meant it required a lot of knowledge. Knowledge they were just beginning to gather. How many things were there too know?
Maybe it was limitless. Certainly, he wouldn’t ever know them all. No one person could. Anton admitted to not knowing everything, and he spoke of some mean person who tried to know everything but never truly made progress. He always had to have more, and while more was good… being content was also good. The Coalition had much they could learn from the failures of the beavers, because even if they hadn’t made the mistake of expanding too aggressively… who knows if they might have in a generation or two without an example to convince people.
Three Squeaks was vaguely aware of some event an unfathomable amount of time in the future. He doubted he would be there to see it, but then again he hadn’t expected to live as many seasons as he currently had. He’d expected to die in his first couple of years, as was the case with most- and more so with those who chose to fight. It was a sacrifice for others that had seemed necessary at the time, and while he still believed soldiers were necessary, it didn’t require sacrifice. They could just be strong enough to withstand the dangers.
Three Squeaks wanted to do that, for himself, for the Coalition, and for all sorts of people he hadn’t even met yet. And maybe, someday, they wouldn’t need to fight. But he would still practice archery because he wanted to see if he could shoot the sun and Anton had said that it wasn’t impossible.