Intricacies Of Cultivation

A year later… In the boundlessness of space, where a Kingdom used to be. Histrionic Grand Universe, Inco Facio Upper Galaxy…

Within the endless blackness of space, a young man with overly pale skin huddled, his legs and knees were up to his chest. At this very moment, his darkest eyes slowly opened. His arms released his legs, unfolding them as they revealed a slightly comical yet impressive sight. Nevertheless, Heian Ciemnosc wrapped himself in a dark Vigor Energy twirl as a dark outfit gave him his usual charm as always.

Pfwuop!!

“Father, have you finished? Congratulations!” Halonso appeared from nowhere in front of Heian Ciemnosc’s left shoulder. Heian Ciemnosc was engrossed in his thoughts as he lightly knitted his eyebrows. He extended his right arm, looking at it as he comprehended other things unrelated to his body and progress.

His Spirit Sense proficiency became as powerful as an Everlasting Universe because of the breakthrough into the Planet Gate realm almost-zenith stage. His dark Vigor Energy also gained astronomical quality, and this was considering his always more impressive innate dark energy.

However, if that was all, then Heian Ciemnosc wouldn’t be so adamantly pensive and have seen through so much just because of his breakthrough into the almost-zenith stage. His knowledge was like a purposely hidden piece of puzzle. Every time he completed his path towards a new realm, he would unlock it and improve from within, as if something locked it away for the time being. Then, his breakthrough would spread the clouds of confusion away.

In this case, Heian Ciemnosc immediately broke into the Universal realm. His power sources trembled with enormous magnitude, and his dark Vigor Energy storage increased like never before. This had been his largest and most abundant evolution from his Dantian’s energy storage ever. In both, quality and quantity.

His dark Vigor Energy increased by more than tens of times, and the quality had become so fantastical that it almost seemed invisible in a colorful surrounding, let alone in the middle of space. Heian Ciemnosc relaxed his body as he pondered of other things, looking at his right hand. It wasn’t just a few curious pieces of information that troubled him.

‘The result of cultivation through endless periods of times is this…’ Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes went through several things. The memories of breaking through and experiencing each cultivation realm filled his mind as if it all happened just a day ago.

‘But it is too lengthy…’ Heian Ciemnosc’s frown slightly deepened. He rotated his arm and formed clawing stances with his hand, passing it around in space. ‘Every realm is important. Especially the ones where a cultivator is only required to break through stages and realms by merely refining pure energy. However, all of that could have been reduced, with the only difference being the massive amount of energy.’

‘There is a problem with the energy a cultivator can store within each realm, and how much they can refine in it. If it wasn’t for my [All-Devouring Force Chronicles], my fights would always lead me to exhaustion in the middle, probably vulnerable to anyone’s attacks and tiring my physical body. My dark Soul might even become damaged because of the exhaustion.’

‘If She didn’t end up helping create my body and go through cultivation, and was just born as a high-end cultivator, I would’ve noticed this, but never experienced it. It’s different seeing than living, even with my nature reading.’ Heian Ciemnosc’s eyebrows slightly relaxed, but remained knitted.

‘It is necessary for the Steps to exist. Without them, the cultivation realms might have suffered a tremendous instability that no one in this world, not even the Lords or Elemental Masters from before, would've known how to deal with. Let alone my Master,’ despite Heian Ciemnosc’s thoughts belonging to the unthinkable, he still thought of Calisneia as his Master.

‘Without these 3 Steps, and their lengthiness, those in the beginning might experience a variability with their battle prowess. Instead, everything is as solid as it can ever get, but that’s the only good thing these cultivation systems have had… I can fix that, but now is not the time, nor am I truly capable.’ Heian Ciemnosc’s eyebrows finally released his eyebrows, and a comfortable sigh of something heavy had burdened his chest.

Heian Ciemnosc lifted his left arm and caressed Halonso’s head, who patiently waited for him to ease his mind and come back to the world of the ‘mortals’ to grace them with his existence. At the same time, Sara spoke in his mind, curious as she felt his thoughts. “You just went through many things, take a break, something important is coming up. No?”

“Mn, thanks, little wife.” Heian Ciemnosc grinned as he replied to her. Sara narrowed her eyes, leaned forth, and fidgeted her feet back and forth with her palms up against her cheeks. “Hee hee heee~!”

“Halonso, it’s time to return. Ah, can you send me elsewhere first?” Heian Ciemnosc turned to the little worm on his left and said, requesting one more time, with a semi-apologetic expression. Halonso looked at Heian Ciemnosc, as if he could wait Archeons just for his Father, before replying in a cutesy tone, “Alright, Father. But this is the last time. Before, it was to help you. But Mother specified to me that I can only aid you outside battles and to aid your cultivation. Okay?”

“Mn, oh,” Heian Ciemnosc caressed Halonso’s head with both hands and commented before Halonso activated his teleportation capabilities. “How about those lovers of yours? I can see you’re ‘successful’ in meeting new girls every time you return to me, lazy and contented.”

“EHEHEHEH,” Halonso put on a stupid expression and responded in a similar manner. “Slurp. Father, I didn’t know you made the world’s living beings so beautifully! Humans are the second-best, below the Elves and Demons. AH! I haven’t tasted Fairies yet, sigh. So much to work with…”

After hearing Halonso’s excitement like a child with new toys, Heian Ciemnosc gave him a good deal of advice to deal with them, not just their bodies. After all, Halonso was his creation. If he did low things like Evans, it’d be simply embarrassing for his image. Thus, once Heian Ciemnosc was finished giving the one and only— for now —Space Devouring Worm life lessons, Halonso teleported him somewhere far away in the Quiongu Fanhui Existence.

… Elena had just finished a meeting with her personnel. It shouldn’t have been difficult. However, the time meant something else for them this time. Thus, it was a bit exhausting until it ended. Just as she was writing dozens of documents with her Spirit Sense moving an energy pen, she felt something as her long, braided, blonde hair jolted towards the ceiling.

Thud! Rustle~… She didn’t have enough time to discern things before she felt the aroma and arms she missed for so long finally return to her when turning around.

. . .

2 months later. Today Heian Ciemnosc was 92 years, 12 months, 1 week, and 4 days old. It had been 10 years, 11 months, and 4 weeks since the start of the Lsefattern Kingdom operation.

At the center of the Lsefattern Kingdom’s Turtle Hiding Region’s south, the Turtle Fortress was finally finished. Its size was at least 3 Medium Cities, but still lesser than a Large City. However, it had definitely better defensive properties than any City ever could. It had better chances to even face 100 Universal realm cultivators in varying stages than a Large City, which could be assaulted from vastly spread-apart distances.

The Turtle Fortress was prepared to deal with any enemy coming near the center, let alone to defend itself from a direct assault against it. Even the Medium Cities couldn’t compare to a portion of the Turtle Fortress’s arsenal if all of them were attacked and the fortress had to defend itself and the center altogether.

The large watchtowers spread to the front, forming a blockade to the Mountain Pass, were now surrounded by new towns, made purely from the desire of civilians. This worked well for everyone, though. The towns could proportionate some liveliness to the garrisoned units at the large watchtowers, and the civilians there would become used to their military.

Either way, within 10 years, half a 3* Region became reconstructed and changed completely from its past shadow. It was an incredible feat, but not one without hard work. Every group within the chief’s forces was put to develop the Region. The military, consisting of soldier and auxiliary units, citizens, and garrisoned units, never stopped expanding.

The military’s soldier units increased to 450 million cultivators, and 460 million citizens, according to the agreement between the south and northern territories. The garrisoned units had been worked out after several years, and 2 billion garrison units had been spread throughout the forts, watchtowers, and Small Cities at the outer and inner perimeter. There was more work to do about the towns in the inner perimeter, but it was enough to defend against a plethora of enemies invading the south.

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The auxiliary unit number increased to 3 billion in the short span of 10 years. After receiving the ‘care’ of the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s style, the numerous inhabitant cultivators gladly accepted their new role. As for the soldier units, the citizens were more than contented, while the cultivators were recruited from mostly rogue or isolated groups of cultivators.

As for the population, after 10 years of improved livelihood and a growing army, and navy, the numbers were approximately 50 trillion, with the prospect of those babies growing well within 15 to 20 years and amassing many more babies themselves.

The navy became the favorite child, each port had 3 Fleets. They packed those ports until not even a fishing boat could smoothly travel in between the docked warships. Having 12 Fleets was no small matter, because according to the new military reforms, these had to be fully operable and with even ‘spare’ numbers to navigate them.

The population was no trifling matter. Even with the fact that the south was half the Region’s Heraxle Clan’s territory, the mountain range ate away a large growth that any other Region would have no trouble with. However, the entire Region’s population wasn’t even past 100 trillion, as any other 3* Region would have achieved through time.

Now that the south increased their numbers from more than 35 trillion to a prospect of 50 trillion within just 15 to 20 years, nothing was a joke. On the other hand, the north remained ‘sterile’, with 15 to 25 trillion civilians per territory.

All in all, the general growth of the south was overly growing, blooming like never before, and where only the most rich and fruitful 3* Regions would experience at their peak. This was a monumental change. How could the north not notice? It’s just that they were aware the south’s chief of operations had found a rare chance to rapidly break through the Planet Gate realm…

… Currently, the famed, infamous chief of operations walked out of his mansion with his 3 Fairy lovers following behind him. After several years when he was still in the Region, they became notorious, although their image wasn’t elevated too much. Only if their goddesses back home accepted them would these 3 Fairies deserve a nod or ‘lady’ before addressing them.

The other Fairies didn’t stay behind, but left with Anastasia a few hours ago. Now that Heian Ciemnosc finished ‘meeting’ with his lovers again, he was finally allowed outside his mansion’s doors. He couldn’t help but sigh elatedly as he walked into the Turtle Fortress, his command post from now on.

Without needing to signal Evans, or lift his arms, a Peaksky Swan appeared in the sky and habitually shot towards the ground, nose-diving until a whistling noise spread throughout the fortress. Although this was a command post, about 30 million civilians moved here out of curiosity and stayed, from several tens of millions more that initially arrived.

Heian Ciemnosc breathed in and out before telling Etherea in a slightly cold tone, who waited for him after receiving yet another reminder that the north was waiting for his confirmation for the next meeting.

“I’ll be ready in a month, I need to stabilize my cultivation base and consolidate it,” Heian Ciemnosc’s words were responded with a nod as Etherea wrote it on her digital clipboard. Heian Ciemnosc kept looking at her, and when she finished writing his words, she looked up and noticed his stare.

Heian Ciemnosc grinned before calmly asking her, “Am I that scary, now?”

“Chief, your aura was a little suffocating when we reunited again. I don’t know how… they managed to be with you for other matters,” Etherea blushed a little, lowered her chin, and hinted at his 3 Fairies teasingly smirking at the side. “Did you… perhaps break into the Universal realm?”

“Oh, I did. What gave it away?” Heian Ciemnosc smiled and stepped forth. Etherea hugged her clipboard and said with a slight pout, acting differently than normal. “It doesn’t matter. Chief, I’ve been hurled with constant messages by the north’s people. Especially the Est Soul Empire, they are the most feisty of the 2. They must have sent spies to their ‘other ally’ in the north and found out they already had some knowledge of training the citizens.”

“Mn, I bet that happened. And this ‘other ally’ didn’t give them what they wanted. Now, they are more stressed out. After all, they are our ally, but we didn’t show them the same gesture,” Heian Ciemnosc nodded and patted Etherea’s head. She looked up at him without minding it.

“That woman must be worth it, then.” Etherea commented, knitting her eyebrows as she contemplated. Heian Ciemnosc slightly smiled before patting her left shoulder. “Okay, that’s enough. I’ll go meet with your apprentice sisters soon. Go ahead, I am giving you the order; initiate operation barnacle.”

“Yes, sir!” Etherea’s tremendously excited face became emotional as she punched her left chest with her right fist. She smiled beautifully and cute before turning around to directly fly through the streets. Heian Ciemnosc saw her Fighter fly upwards in a line after a few minutes as he continued walking with his lovers, who were extra clingy after his return.

Looking up, the four watched as the civilians did the same, showing surprise and confusion… before their eyes glowed and excitement colored their eyes. Was it starting?

. . .

2 weeks later. The north. Est Soul Empire’s territory. Just a few kilometers from the foot of the mountain range, where a town and several villages shared territory in a 50 km radius, whose full territory spanned over 1,000 kilometers. The town’s gates were opened, and numerous civilians peacefully traveled in and out, picking their path amidst the endless, green grass.

Vrooom… vrooomm… whooosh, whoosh, whoooosh…

“Huh? What is that?” An old villager lifted his flat straw hat and looked in the distance. A few armored vehicles traveled from the south to their north, together with blurry but surely flying bodies through the air just 20 meters above the ground level.

He couldn’t tell for sure, but those had to be either Fighters or cultivators. He frowned and stood up from his lazy break, sitting on a trunk in the village’s south, before placing his left palm on his forehead. His eyes squinted as he noticed the military armor and uniform some of those people wore, especially the uniform.

The old man remembered the news he watched with his cultivator grandson through his Universal Conveyance. Although he couldn’t discern their emblem, it looked similar to the ones those ‘Crimsons’ had!

Just as the old villager wanted to turn around and rush into the village to alert the village, a group of a dozen armored soldier units walked near the village, just 30 meters before the old man. Additionally, a person from the village walked towards them. The old villager was in between.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here?!” The person walking from the village shouted at the Crimsons. He wore a uniform of a similar fashion to some Crimsons, but held a forearm-long firearm in his right hand, reposing it on his right side as he walked towards the nearby cultivators. The latter ignored the former and frowned before walking away on their path.

“Hey!” The northern uniformed person walked forth a few more meters, positioning his right shoulder in order to rest his firearm’s butt on it. The Crimsons stopped and looked at the village’s citizen with alarm. They walked towards the north citizen and loudly exclaimed, “Put that away!” - “What do you think you’re doing?!” - “Put it down!”

The enemy citizen didn’t listen and was about to place his firearm on his right shoulder for a shooting stance. But, suddenly, one of the cultivators dashed forth as the rest of their group walked towards here. The old villager was frozen on the spot as he watched this unfold.

Ta- tsi si si! Tuk tuk tuk…

The enemy citizen became nervous upon seeing a blurry shadow. He aimed and pulled the trigger, but the cultivator had already arrived before him and grabbed the barrel and aimed it below his right armpit. The firearm fired 3 light blue, electric shots that turned brown dirt behind the cultivator into burned, charcoaled, 3 cm in diameter holes.

The shots were fired at the same second with utmost precision. If it wasn’t for the cultivator’s left hand moving it downwards, his chest would’ve been hit. The cultivator ruthlessly flung the enemy citizen’s right arm and introduced the ground to his face. His left foot was placed on the citizen’s nape, twisting his arm backwards and up, immediately breaking it to uselessness.

“What happened here?” A citizen walked forth. He had been hidden by the other cultivators and belonged to the same group. When the old villager saw this, he was finally able to respond and became baffled. A citizen had an authoritative status within a group of cultivators?!

“Sir, this person fired,” the cultivator who broke the enemy citizen’s arm looked at the Crimson citizen with subservience and said, pulling up the latter with that broken arm to his bum. The enemy citizen watched the citizen walk towards them with a long sniper rifle on his back. It looked heavier than even a fridge, but the citizen carried it like it was a large leaf from a fruit tree.

Kneeling before another citizen, the enemy citizen forgot the pain of his right arm and the snot and saliva all over his face, stained with dirt, and looked at the other party imploringly. But the Crimson looked at the cultivator and commented with a slight nod, “You know the procedures. Beheading.”

“W- what?! No! Wait-” The enemy citizen shouted, but it was to no avail. The cultivator holding his broken arm formed a Vigor Energy cone around his left fist’s sides, extending half a meter from his knuckles to form an energy blade before swinging it down the citizen’s nape. The cultivator’s right hand grabbed the enemy’s wrist and pulled it so that the citizen extended his upper body before cutting down.

Meanwhile, the citizen Team Leader turned his head and twisted his neck to command his Team, “There’s a situation here! Alert the headquarters, we are taking the village under control until things are secured!”

“Hua, hua!” The other cultivators responded before a couple knelt and took their medallions out before becoming silent. As this happened, the old villager continued to show his befuddlement, when the citizen’s voice startled him. He was addressing him, “Are you from this village? You can be helpful. Come with us and tell the rest of your people to cooperate. We mean no harm to civilians.”

“Huh? Eh- eh- I- wha-…” The old villager couldn’t respond coherently. The citizen placed his right palm on the former’s left shoulder and softly commented, before the villager felt his vision blacken and something wrap around his head. “It’s alright. They are already waiting for us. Let’s not keep them waiting. It’s best you don’t cause trouble, it’ll only make things a little slower.”

“W- what about cultivators? And citizens?!” The old villager asked, worried about something. The citizen’s voice echoed again, but this time, the villager felt a different pair of hands grab his shoulders, guiding him towards an unknown direction. The villager could hear doors opening and closing, with gasps as they noticed him, before terrified gasps and cries from women and children sounded when they noticed the carcass beginning to rot a few meters from their village.

“If they surrender, they can live,” the citizen's voice echoed. The notion made the villager tremble with cold sweat. But before he could pray that a strong military unit from the Soul Race was nearby, the sensation around his head and the blackness disappeared. His eyes were revealed the sight of worried eyes from women, young and elderly, with touches of begging for survival.

His instincts were dealt a blow, and the old villager felt compassion for them all before deciding to… give in.

…