The second Trigold system was much more populated than the first, with three planets occupied at least in part. A typical terrestrial planet, a particular moon around a gas giant, and a rocky planet that had further mining operations upon it.

There were also scouts throughout the system, though Varghese was fairly certain their own ships were not spotted. At least, the enemy didn’t seem to react. It was always possible they were planning some sort of trap, trying to catch them unaware, but as long as the forces with him didn’t fly too close to any planets it would be difficult to catch their ships.

Their ships picked up durable defensive formations and a significant volume of cultivators present. Without approaching closer and narrowing their scans they couldn’t count specific cultivators, but if they followed typical patterns each major area had dozens of Life Transformation cultivators. Not an unsurpassable barrier, but it put them not too far behind In’istra’s numbers, if they didn’t consider Assimilation cultivators. And while Assimilation cultivators were a large factor, this being just one system meant they would need significant cooperation with the Shining Cooperative if they wanted to wipe them out.

And that was the default intent as far as Trigold cultivators were involved. Varghese didn’t think that it was incorrect, either, given how this group had come to be known by them via a biological weapon of sorts. Instead, his thoughts were focused more on whether it was practical. How much of the Lower Realms Alliance would they have to call upon, and for how long?

They moved on to another system, but instead of going deeper into enemy territory they simply moved laterally. If they were spotted and their retreat cut off, the ships could probably jump past a system or two if they had to. Even so it was still better to avoid being in a position where anyone could try to block their retreat. They weren’t even close to a point where they were required to take risks. Better to maintain caution and see what they could learn before the enemy even had a proper idea that they were being watched.

The next system was much the same. Just two planets occupied, with one being more of a major planet. Given the size of the planet and the quantity of natural energy, Varghese could have easily accepted that it was the same. But something stuck in his mind. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Upon spending some days scouting a third system, Varghese had some thoughts. He shared them with the captain of the ship he was on. They would have group discussions about gathered information later, but they tried to avoid transmitting unnecessarily in enemy territory. Even if the enemy had no way to intercept their transmissions- unless they had been spied on quite a bit more than they thought- transmissions might still be noticed and indicate their presence.

“The Trigold Cluster isn’t particularly known for diverse architecture, are they?” Varghese asked.

“They’re quite a large group in the upper realms, aren’t they?” Xaliima replied. “With hundreds or thousands of planets, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had more than that many styles between them.”

“Maybe,” Varghese agreed. “But these… we haven’t really come across sects, exactly. There have been members of known sects with others, all in a particular style.”

“So they’ve finally learned to share?” Xaliima shook her head. “No, shouldn’t joke. I understand your feeling. It’s odd. If anything, rather than too diverse the styles are too… consolidated? Very few things stick out in the cities.”

“Perhaps they didn’t want to expose any of them as targets,” Varghese said. “But… there are still a few clearly more fortified places. I can only imagine they would be the important places.”

They weren’t able to resolve their thoughts into anything clear at that moment, but they kept them for later. More brains could work together to draw conclusions. Maybe it would be nothing important, but someone would have to convince Varghese otherwise. It was something itching in his brain, and he was determined to scratch it. He just had to find the right thought.

-----

Perhaps they had been lucky for three systems, or they might have merely been unlucky once in their fourth. Either way, their record of clean escapes was broken in the fourth as they were spotted.

Varghese could tell instantly, based on the change in how the passing ships moved. He delayed just long enough to make certain, feeling formations power up, before taking control of a particular weapon assigned to him. A sequence of laser bursts targeted different ships, tearing through their defenses towards critical components. Without a bound star in the system, Varghese was basically just a powerful Life Transformation cultivator with a slightly greater pool of natural energy, but he focused the power of light into the weapon, increasing its potency.

The weapon was only barely able to withstand his power, or he might actually have gotten more out of it. Though that was unnecessary, as the initial damage caused the ships to second guess their flight trajectories. But by the time they turned to flee, the rest of the scout ships were already opening fire. Not all were able to predict the trajectories of the enemies, especially as they changed directions, but the scout ships were more than capable of winning a skirmish such as they found themselves in. They weren’t random ships found patrolling a system, but the best available in the vicinity of In’istra. Unfortunately, even the best were vulnerable to unfortunate circumstances. One of them had been targeted by several enemy ships and while the scout ships were as durable as possible for their size they were focused more on speed and rapid offense. One of their ships was destroyed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The small patrol fell quickly, but the battle would be noticed in a few moments if it hadn’t been already. So it was time for them to turn about, unless they wanted to bet on the incompetence of their enemies.S lipping back into hiding with people actively looking for them instead of generically for anyone would be ten times more difficult. Better to leave before they were properly identified.

However, they didn’t just abandon the survivors of the destroyed ship… nor did they want to leave their technology to be salvaged in some manner. While the various ships coordinated to pick up their own cultivators- even without special gear they could survive in the vacuum of space for a surprising duration- Varghese exited the ship to make use of his magnetic abilities. He pulled together the various scraps into a single heap. That might be enough to make learning much useless, but he wasn’t done. He melted everything he could, the remains of the formations resisting him for a few moments. Then he flung the ball of scrap out of the system towards a random star.

It might be tracked down if they had anyone watching, but the enemy cultivators in the patrol were being dealt with just as they picked up their own. The less the enemy learned, the better.

To avoid the enemy learning too much, their escape route wasn’t directly towards In’istra. Instead, they moved towards the galactic south and a little bit east, towards systems they knew to be unoccupied but had marked as practical to replenish their ships. They used a combination of gaseous fuels and condensed natural energy, and while they could make do with just one of those they were more efficient with both. Then again, if they were ever truly without natural energy things had gone horribly wrong.

-----

They hadn’t looked back after fleeing the system. No ships had been marked as coming after them, but they still didn’t truly rest until they were several systems and more than a week’s travel away. Only then did they begin a circuitous route back towards home.

Still, at least away from the enemy they could openly discuss what they had learned. Varghese called for a meeting, and images were projected from each ship as captains and other qualified personnel joined.

Varghese wasn’t interested in who- if anyone- was responsible for them being spotted. That was something that would be analyzed so that they could make sure it didn’t happen again, but it wasn’t his job.

“We gathered quite a bit of information,” Varghese said. “I would like to try to make something practical of it. Beyond mere comparisons of military force, I mean. We can glean little about their overall power from engaging with a single patrol. I imagine we don’t have any expert architects among us, but feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Either way, I felt there was something strange about the buildings we have seen. This is time to either confirm my intuition or rebut the thought with practical knowledge.”

“I read your argument previously,” said one man. “I don’t know if your insights have any substance to back them up. Picking a few styles for each planet doesn’t seem unreasonable, given the level of direct control we know they exert over their people.”

Varghese nodded. He supposed he had been considering people had the freedom to choose. And that they would have more diverse cultures, outside of the particularities sects tended to require for growth of their disciples.

“That may be so,” said one woman. “But the spacing was odd. Too many empty, unused plots of land. We didn’t get close enough to determine conclusively, but I would postulate that they were used previously.”

“What would that imply?” Xaliima asked.

“Destroyed buildings that weren’t rebuilt,” the woman said. “For one reason or another. Perhaps they were unnecessary for the population. Or… perhaps the original population was gone.”

Varghese frowned. “Do you think they replaced another population?”

“While we tend to know them as infiltrators,” the woman began, “In none of these places did we see them hiding or living among any significant population of those outside of the Trigold Cluster’s factions. They openly occupy these planets. Quite different from what we know, but it has already been postulated that they would be the result of a different sort of large scale ‘test’ compared to the infiltrations and invasions.”

It was a disturbing and unfortunately easily believable thought that they might have conquered each of the systems that they had seen- most likely only the terrestrial planets had been occupied, though there was no certainty that some others had not developed space travel as well in the current region.

The first man spoke up once more. “I do find myself somewhat convinced by that line of reasoning. Though a larger scale analysis of the data we have collected will most likely be necessary. Even then, we will likely be unable to conclusively determine it.”

Varghese nodded. But his instincts told him that was what he’d been leaning towards. It only made him all the more eager to kill them… but given what they had seen already, they had to think very carefully about engaging in larger scale hostilities. The Lower Realms Alliance alone should be able to dominate them in battle, but not without cost. How much of their population and effort were they willing to spend on the war? How many deaths would be acceptable?

But that was just based on direct conflict. If they fought smart and took their time, they might do significantly better. But they hadn’t even seen the enemy’s core worlds. If they were significantly more powerful… well, Varghese might have to call upon Anton after all. And that would be a shame, pulling him away from making people’s lives better just to kill. Though of course, not having the Trigold Cluster around would probably be better for people.

Then there was the possibility of just… not fighting them. Varghese didn’t like that at all. But waiting a couple decades for an influx of Assimilation cultivators in the Shining Cooperative? That might be worth it.

Assuming they were willing to wait that long. Because the Shining Cooperative certainly wasn’t any more fond of the Trigold Cluster, and they had suffered much greater losses to the mold on attack on Mazlerth. And it could reasonably be called an attack instead of just an unfortunate circumstance with what they knew now.