While waiting for the numerous prisoners to be taken off his hands and properly contained, Anton had a lot to think about. Like how he had used two of his precious stars for a single gambit. Regret… wasn’t quite what he was feeling. That would have been the result if the enemies were stronger than anticipated and he foolishly bound only one star. Strictly speaking, the location opened up a decent area around it. Anton’s full power didn’t quite extend to neighboring systems yet… but perhaps it could. And the position the binary star system was in had only been unimportant before they discovered Trigold Cluster agents moving through the area.

Even so, Anton had a conundrum. He simply couldn’t sustain the rate that he was venturing to new territories. His own cultivation simply didn’t grow fast enough to bind new stars. And then there was the question of whether or not he even should. Not that he thought he was harming them or anything, but it was a matter of stretching himself too far. He might do better to stick to familiar territory. As unpleasant as it was, he was going to have to accept some limits on where he could move. Right now, he could bind a few more stars total but they would have to be chosen carefully.

If there was a significant presence of Trigold Cluster enemies still, he could only be involved with three systems unless the approaching war dragged on for a decade or more. Because that was what it would be, with both the Shining Cooperative and part of the Lower Realms Alliance having been targeted.

Should Anton stay out of the war until he was needed? No, perhaps that was the wrong way to think about it. Should he stay out of things entirely, except for defending territory the Lower Realms Alliance already held? It was a problem he had engaged with many times before. And ultimately… he was aware that he had to accept his limits. Now might be a good time to begin.

That let Anton’s thought drift to other things… like that very limitation on number of stars he had bound. He was aware that not everything had to line up with the stated path of cultivation methods. Humans were fallible and could easily make mistakes about how things worked. Even so, wasn’t he a one hundred and thirty seven star cultivator? Why then was he limited to far fewer than that?

It was something Anton had pondered in the past. At some point, the answer was because it just didn’t work like that. But was that a hard limit of the universe, or something that had come about due to his own limitations on understanding?

Anton supposed he could find out, though he knew the connection would have to be something different, otherwise he would just use up his ‘normal’ limit first. And he might then find that he couldn’t do it any other way, which would put him in a tight spot.

Various theoretical ways how flowed through his head, until finally someone arrived to take people off his hands.

The first of them was Varghese, who was quite apologetic upon realizing what had happened. “I didn’t know it would cost you so much,” he admitted. “With this level of danger, I should have chased after them myself.”

“But you didn’t have accurate information,” Anton added. “And you couldn’t leave In’istra without your presence on the spur of the moment. They need you, after all.”

“Even so…” Varghese frowned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Anton said. “I’ve done enough worrying about the state of the world myself. Instead… get some proper restraints on everyone. I’d like to have a nap.”

-----

Because the timing was not terribly far off, Varghese and the forces from In’istra waited until the Shining Cooperative’s group arrived. At their head was a military type fellow that Anton didn’t recognize, which he found to be a good thing. First that they weren’t hiding people from him, and that they had people in different locations that could be called upon.

“Greetings,” Anton said. “I am Anton. This is Varghese, branch head of In’istra’s Order of the One Hundred Stars. Ultimately all of the information from these captives should be shared, but one of our factions might find more effective interrogation techniques,” Anton said.

The gruff man nodded. “Krunoslav Herceg. Thank you for catching them. We should have been more judicious with the application of our forces during a crisis.”

Anton somewhat agreed with that. Though if they had simply sent a large number of cultivators to solve the issues on Mazlerth, it might have only resulted in more deaths if they were ill prepared. “Nobody had suspected it was an attack until too late,” Anton said. “None of us were even aware of the presence of others to the galactic east, or we would have certainly acted differently.”

Looking at the man’s cultivation, Anton determined it was along the weapon-focused line. He carried a long bladed polearm- a glaive. He couldn’t really give much guidance there… which was too bad, because the Shining Conglomerate could use some Assimilation cultivators as soon as possible, especially if a war was coming.

“I believe I will no longer be needed here,” Anton said. “So I would like to return to what I was doing. However… there were some promises I made. How much authority do you have to make decisions for the Shining Conglomerate, Krunoslav?”

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“In what capacity?”

“I promised a young lad I would teach him cultivation. I would like to do so, but I don’t like taking half measures. That would ultimately mean giving him enough information to start a branch sect.”

“If he has the talent,” the man said.

“There are only very few who could not manage with proper instruction and determination,” Anton said. “Though I will admit that it is hard to judge such things.”

“And this branch sect would be loyal to you?”

“To our ideals. And they would most likely end up with sympathy towards me, yes,” Anton said. “If not, I have other cultivation methods I can teach him. Though all are inferior. At least regarding my ability to teach them.”

The man frowned, thinking for a few long moments. He looked between Anton and the local stars- and also Varghese. “Could he end up as strong as you?” Which of the two he was referring to was unclear.

“He could,” Anton shrugged. “But that’s up to him. And… how much the quality of Mazlerth’s natural energy is improved, I suppose.”

“... You will guide that process?” Krunoslav asked.

“I mean, as much as people will accept me. But let me tell you, I love nothing more than seeing planets improve.”

“... Something tells me your capital planets are truly astounding.”

“Maybe ask if you can visit,” Anton said. “Someone should get to do so, at least. Or you might think we’re just making stuff up.”

“Assimilation and your cultivation are quite clear at least,” he said. “As for your teachings… I can convince the right people. I think it would be worth attempting.”

“Plus, you can just have us cart them off to another planet if you don’t like it.”

The man laughed, but Anton wasn’t fully joking. It would be better to uproot a branch sect than to be in conflict with locals- though he hoped to have people in harmony. People of In’istra and Poriza were still locals of their planets, after all, and that should be the case here.

-----

After that, Anton was free to return to Mazlerth. He was pleased to see that pretty much all of the mold had been dealt with in one way or another. And people were both aware of how to handle it and capable of at least basic techniques to deal with it. And in the more than a month Anton had been gone, Izaak had recovered his health. Enough to begin cultivating, at least.

The only issue there was convincing his family that he should be allowed to cultivate- but even the mother wasn’t serious with her objections. With a season of crops about to come in, their family was about as happy and healthy as they could be, given the circumstances.

And of course, he offered to train the others.

There was some special care that had to be taken on account of Izaak’s youth, but that had been studied quite extensively. It wasn’t recommended except under the guidance of a proper master, but Anton happened to know at least one of those.

-----

Anton couldn’t and wouldn’t dedicate every moment to a single farm- though he did always keep an eye on what was happening. If Izaak slacked off he would know, and more importantly he could try to assist if he tried anything stupid with his energy.

But he was needed all around the planet… showing people how to cultivate basic techniques and how to incorporate that into their daily life- raising food, gathering materials, crafting necessary goods, and everything else. Anton had done a little of everything over time, and those things with which he had less practice he’d at least studied how various experts iterated upon the basic process.

Energy came from the surroundings, was drawn into a cultivator, and then imbued into crops- as his best example. Over the course of the season, the food would grow healthy and strong. It would provide not only nutrients, but more powerfully condensed natural energy that would help raise the level of a cultivator. It almost seemed like the energy was coming from nowhere, but really it would be the crops absorbing more natural energy from the local star instead of it dispersing.

Even the area around the crops, once they reached a certain level of saturation, would actually increase in natural energy rather than being depleted. One or two seasons wouldn’t be enough to show people the full effects, but Anton could help nudge things along by bolstering the effects.

All the while Anton looked up at the local star. He certainly had no intention to bind the star near Mazlerth. That would be a political nightmare. But he could at least familiarize himself with it, and ponder the idea. If he were to apply its power to one of his earlier stars… no, that wouldn’t be quite right. He’d have to replace one. As Anton advanced in cultivation, each step forward was now leaving something like a gap waiting to be filled. It did increase his maximum energy stored, but it wasn’t truly complete until he bound the stars.

And conversely, if there was something in that place already he would have to remove it. Which was a bit tricky, since those were his foundational stars. Could that part of him even handle that much power?

The answer was… not just yet. And Anton wasn’t even certain if that was the right way to think about it. He might have to limit them in some regard to avoid hurting himself. So he might not increase in power so much as just having more options. After all, each star was another location. As for where he would want them to be… well, anywhere along the unfortunately shaped form of the Lower Realms Alliance. Between In’istra and the core worlds, as well as more up towards Akrys. That would let him reduce travel times and improve his ability to combat anyone invading.

He just didn’t know how long it would take- if he could figure it out. No, Anton was confident it was possible now that he’d delved into the weeds for a while. It was more of a matter of being worthwhile. Would it draw him away from his primary cultivation? For how long? Conversely, it might simply help him grow. If he was lucky, it might even be especially effective, saving a year or two for new stars. Depending on how long such a thing might take and the efficiency, it could go either way.