Elder Cultivator

Acting as a star wasn’t the highest intensity thing Anton had ever done, though that was because he was constraining himself to a single planet. He could have managed that for a while with his Enrichment strength, but a number of years was out of the question. With the power of Unity, he could have kept up the process forever. The issue at the moment was the distance.

As far as Anton could guess, he would be similarly effective where he was next to a bound star directly channeling everything else through his connection compared to if he were physically closer to his intended destination drawing from a distance. That balance might change as time went on, but currently Anton was concerned about approaching too close to the upper realms himself. Projecting his own energy that way might draw less attention than going himself, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way. Having some of his energy annihilated was fine, but having his self annihilated wouldn’t be great.

Bounty wouldn’t make it to the lower realms that way. Anton had a million other things he wanted to do. Oh, and he’d be dead. But that would just stop him from doing all the other things he needed, it wasn’t important in and of itself. Though people who cared about him might argue differently, he intended to continue to live for their sake.

The people of Akrys were great. They just so happened to be the closest to Bounty, and they had been the first to offer their assistance. Unlike Anton, few of them were actively contributing energy at all hours of the day. However, there were always some. It was Anton’s job to channel that energy through their connection to the local star. As more of the lower realms became aware of what was happening- it hadn’t been widely publicized ahead of time- they would contribute more.

Anton reminded himself that this was the hardest things would ever be. Which was good, because he would be dripping sweat if it didn’t immediately evaporate. He wondered how Maheg did it. It probably helped that Maheg was born a star. Still, Anton had connections to approximately two hundred stars. Drawing upon a fraction of their power and the power of their people… Anton still found it difficult.

He wanted the temporary star to be as good as possible. He paid careful attention to the planet ‘below’. The people, the crops, and the oceans. He needed to provide light and heat, but not too much. Blasting away the atmosphere or boiling the sea would ruin what they were doing.

Proper seasons would have to come later. He didn’t have the capacity for anything more complex than a steady orbit of energy. He was already close to needing Anishka to take over again, but while she would keep people from freezing to death, her flames simply weren’t sunlight.

-----

Despite her hesitancy, Ji-Eun had actually been quite excited to visit Paradise. So much so that she hadn’t considered energy for the ship. It was actually sufficient to leave atmosphere which made her arrival at Paradise almost inevitable but… she couldn’t stop. Ji-Eun tried of course. The ship didn’t have anything left except just enough to power the barrier, but she used her own energy to try to slow things down.

It was like ants throwing themselves at a rolling boulder. She hadn’t thought she would be gaining more momentum in space, but Ji-Eun hadn’t thought about the fact that Paradise was big enough to have his own gravity. Less than a typical planet, but a truly real amount.

She exhausted her energy in the attempt. What an embarrassing way to die. She was going to crash into the docks- if she was even aimed correctly and didn’t just hit the shell or crash into the sect. And what’s worse, the sect head was watching. She was waiting on the docks and Ji-Eun was going to crash.

Erin was even smiling. Ji-Eun was pretty sure that was her name. She reached out her hand and… the ship was flooded with energy. Lower energy, Ji-Eun thought, but she couldn’t be quite certain because it was far too strong for that. Wasn’t this more power than an Integration cultivator had?

That great power formed a powerful cushion that slowed the ship down, as well as the people on it, causing them to stop directly at the docks.

“We’re going to have to take on ferrying duties ourselves,” Erin commented to the woman next to her. Aerona, perhaps?

“Sect Head!” Ji-Eun clasped her hands. “Thank you for-”

“You’re a guest. Obviously I am responsible for your safety. And it appears that the ascension energy is beginning to run out everywhere.”

Ascension energy? Oh, yes. Actually, now that she thought about it… she had no more energy herself. And having been somewhat unexpectedly pulled away from the upper realms, she might not have any again. There was still some, down on Bounty, but lower energy was becoming dominant.

“You are worried,” Aerona said, her face calm. “Don’t be. Do you think we offered cultivation techniques for nothing? You can pick something suitable for making use of natural energy. All of you can,” she said, addressing the rest of the ship. “Do be careful with the texts. We won’t be able to easily replace them.”

Ji-Eun frowned. “Will we truly be allowed to view such precious texts?”

The woman’s laugh was melodious. “They are important. But I simply meant we’ll have difficulty retrieving anything. Our ships won’t function this far out. Paradise here is a fortunate sort of exception, as he carried much with him. And now Anton is providing ways for us to replenish,” she gestured.

“That’s… the sun? And the explosions?”

“They were arrows,” Erin commented. “Though I suppose you wouldn’t have been able to tell at that distance. Come, let’s walk. Welcome to Paradise.”

The turtle’s shell was made of mighty peaks upon which sat great forests and cities. Ji-Eun knew that some sects had entire planets they called their own, but usually they didn’t move. Not even though it could be considered only a small planet.

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Ji-Eun didn’t notice as most of those with her were approached by various disciples, taken away to deal with their particular needs. But eventually, she found herself in the company of two women far more powerful than she had ever seen up close. An Augmentation cultivator had passed by her home planet once, and there had been some fighting over it. And attacking Bounty. But actually walking with and conversing with them- when she could find words- was a surprise even to her. Especially with how easy it was.

“We did mean it, you know,” Erin said. “You were very helpful and brave.”

“What sort of cultivation method did you practice?” Aerona asked. “We can find you one like it. Or adapt it for use with lower energy.”

“Can you?” Ji-Eun said, surprised. “Well, I only have a portion of the technique…”

“Ah yes,” Aerona nodded. “Some people still do that.”

“It’s not always bad,” Erin commented.

“But usually unnecessary.” Aerona looked at Ji-Eun. “May I see it? If you wish to keep it secret, that’s fine as well.”

Ji-Eun didn’t think she could continue to use it anyway. She hadn’t intended to leave the upper realms. Not consciously. But now that it was happening, she felt like she’d made that choice all along.

She pulled it out and handed it over. If people of this power wanted to take it from her they could have simply done so. She felt safe doing so.

Aerona gave it little more than a glance- a serious one, but only a short moment. “A vocal technique, is it? That would explain the singing. I can suggest a good number of replacements, unless you’re tied to this very particular style.”

“... It was the only sect that would accept me,” Ji-Eun admitted. “But I like it. Similar would be fine.”

She didn’t expect to find herself sitting at a table with a hundred options laid out in front of her an hour later. How were there even that many options? Who were these people? Could they truly be from the lower realms?

The last question, at least, was immediately obvious. They had to be from the lower realms. They felt like it. Their energy advertised it clearly. But all the rest would take her some time to absorb.

-----

The Ponderous Turtle Clan, along with some others from the Exalted Quadrant, had been butting heads with the Trigold Cluster for a few years now. Everheart was surprised it had taken them so long to actually begin fighting. Maybe they had really meant that treaty. Or maybe they were scared because of the Domination cultivators dying.

It seemed that way, until Cynbel left their home system. Everheart didn’t believe it until he got confirmation from a secondary and then tertiary location. He wasn’t sure what could have caused the man to move towards the front lines himself, but Everheart wasn’t going to miss the chance.

“Ready to cut up some turtles?” he grinned at Rahayu.

The other man yawned. “I wish the Limitless Edge was still around. They were more fun.”

“Fine,” Everheart shrugged. “Adhti?”

“Just to be clear,” the woman said. “We’re not just catching a single turtle this time, right?”

“Oh, now that you mention it,” Everheart said. “Try to avoid damaging their eggs. It’s fine if a hatchery or two goes down, but I don’t want to annihilate the turtles. Just the clan.”

Adhti’s eyes widened. “... Annihilate?”

Everheart frowned. “Do you have a problem killing them?”

“Not at all. It’s just ambitious.”

“Cynbel is gone,” Everheart pointed out. “I plan to weaken his base. Then if he comes to mess with number 17, we’ll take him out.”

“Sounds like a personal grudge…” Adhti muttered. She hadn’t intended to be heard.

“Never met the man,” Everheart said.

Somehow, she knew that was true. But at the same time, it didn’t sound true.

“Prepare your ship,” Everheart said.

“You’re serious?” Adhti said. “I haven’t gotten to use it.”

“Absolutely.The Numerological Compact’s ships are quite intriguing, but I think our modifications will be better.”

-----

The 13th Everheart System was mobilizing with even greater intensity than the 17th. Some of the Ponderous Turtle Clan’s enemies would doubtless have to respond to Cynbel’s movements, which would leave them vulnerable as well.

Making too many moves at once might be risky, considering he could draw the ire of multiple Domination cultivators, but that hadn’t stopped Everheart even before he reached the stage himself. He had contingencies in case he had to ‘die’ again, but the plan wasn’t to get that close.

The Scarlet Alliance was doing great with their two. They seemed to underestimate how much attention that suddenly fell upon them because of that. Or perhaps they knew and couldn’t resist continuing to be outrageous in their actions.

Frankly, Everheart approved. One of them had stolen formation knowledge and essentially a whole planet from him. The other was achieving a level of invincibility that made even Everheart jealous.

He wondered if it was Timothy who had drawn Cynbel’s attention. Maybe the lad had killed one of the turtles? There was a fine line between defending people and annihilating enemies. Maybe some favored nephew had fallen in the war. That news hadn’t reached Everheart’s ears yet.

He went over his plans. There was a vault, shared by several great sects. With all of them on guard, it was difficult for Everheart to do anything. But if just one or two were distracted, he thought he could steal it. The whole thing. He could already picture it now. The guards would be standing around, and a giant structure would disappear in front of their eyes. Or behind them.

He chuckled. And then the news finally reached him.

Everheart threw out his plans. The Lower Realms stole a planet? Nobody would even notice a vault if he did it now! Sure, he’d stolen a planet before, but never an important one. Never right in front of two armies. And most importantly, not across the borders of the realms. Could they even do that? Maybe they just disintegrated it outside the system.

He began to scrawl new plans. Was it more impressive to steal a whole system, or just the star? Where would he even put it? Maybe he could make a binary. Did he have a matching star?

Planning a star heist wasn’t the sort of thing you spent just a couple years on, but Everheart had some old plans he’d scrapped when he was young and foolish. Now that he was old and foolish, maybe could update them. Teleportation might not be viable, but what about spatial folding? Or maybe he could trick someone else into doing it.

He grinned. This was going to be fun.

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