Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1276

When Velvet looked up at the night sky, she could see the stars of her homeworld. Both of them, really. It took enhanced eyesight, but the stars of Ceretos and Xankeshan were visible to her eyes. If she’d planned ahead a few centuries, she might be able to see herself in both positions. As long as she could also enhance her eyesight another thousand times or so.

She casually strode up into the sky, getting away from the interference of the planet below. There was something… something she had to do. A place that was no longer home, but still held important friends. No, two of them. At some point, the Little Alliance had become more home than the core of the Scarlet Alliance. A different place, but with people that were part of the same thing.

Behind her, another star that sought to overpower the others with its intensity.

Velvet didn’t really make a decision. She just acted. She hadn’t even been thinking about it for the last few months… but she knew. This was her opportunity. Nobody was watching… but people still knew of her.

Light from distant stars that used to be home crossed each other. There was nothing special about Velvet’s spot except that she was there. Her anchor wasn’t going to be made out of anything… but that wouldn’t make it any less real. Certainly it would be better defined than Zazil’s ‘unwatched position in enemy territory’.

Any hesitation would have ruined her opportunity. Instead, she let the light that reached her spot with hardly any intensity build up upon her. Sometimes, creating an anchor was quick. Others took it slow. Velvet was more towards the latter… spending several days in meditation as her energy didn’t exactly vault into a higher realm. Velvet couldn’t even name the moment when things changed- and neither could those who ended up watching.

“Neat,” Durff said when Velvet finally looked around. “Does this mean you’re Domination now?”

Velvet stepped aside, finding a lingering image of herself remained. Made, of course, of light from former homes. “It sure seems that way. I don’t know if I wish to advertise it, though.”

“Of course,” Runa said. “People will know something happened, though.”

“You’re far less obvious than most,” Juli commented. “As should be expected. Perhaps you can erase the presence of your anchor?”

Velvet thought about it for a few moments. She didn’t want to somehow erase the anchor itself. Then, its light faded. She sighed. “Maybe I should have gone further from the planet. Anyone who runs into the area will have a chance to notice something. And no, we can’t cover it up. Light has to reach here.”

“We could make an art installation,” Juli suggested. “Suspicious? Absolutely. But it really doesn’t feel like Domination. I can barely even tell with you, and I know it’s the case.”

“How about now?” Velvet asked.

“Normal Integration cultivator,” Durff said. “Right?” he looked around.

Everyone agreed. Velvet was of course trained to hide her energy. She’d been doing that far before ascension.

She tried to take things a bit further.

“Nobody’s going to believe Spirit Building,” Runa shook her head. “The ease with which you move about will give you away, even if you don’t do anything.”

Velvet shrugged. “It was worth a shot.” Integration it was. Powerful, but not notable.

“So…” Runa bit her lip. “What are you going to do?”

“Probably… breakfast,” Velvet said.

Maybe later she’d try spying on their neighbors. But she wasn’t eager to leave home.

-----

Catarina didn’t even hear about Velvet until years later when she was told in person- after a successful one way trip from the Scarlet Alliance. It wasn’t transmitted through secret channels, and it certainly wasn’t said through BHCP.

“I take it the secrecy means you aren’t up for stabilizing the spatial connection?” Catarina asked.

Velvet shook her head. “Do you even think I’d be good at it?”

“More power would be nice. I don’t believe we’ll be able to sustain these connections as it is.”

“Isn’t that better?” Velvet asked.

“Only on this side. We’d like more obvious access to the Veiled Brilliance.”

“You’re combining short and far with hidden and visible. A difficult balance.”

“And yet…” Catarina said, stroking her chin. “I think you might have helped provide a solution.”

“Glad to help,” Velvet commented. Catarina did strike up conversations with the hope that people would provide insights- she rarely expected someone to actually know the solutions themselves. “What do you think, Misi?”

The formation focused twin was deep in thought as well. He looked like he might have the answer. Not that Velvet had it, so if he didn’t she couldn’t say much. “I can see the balance,” he said. “But we might be missing an element.”

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“Active and inactive,” Catarina said simply. Apparently, she didn’t think that particular insight was valuable enough to wait for.

“Oh, of course,” Misi nodded. “If they’re tied together such that only one can be active at any time, we can make it work. Though that means it’s required for them to alternate every once in a while.”

“Yes. It should not be on a schedule. It would be too risky,” Catarina said. “We must apologize to the locals that they will only get a short notice. Keeping a few vessels at the ready for exchanges of goods might be pertinent.”

“What about the duration?” Velvet asked.

“We’ll have to negotiate that with the systems involved… and with spacetime itself. Potentially just a few weeks out of the year on this end.”

Velvet looked at Misi. “That’s not too bad, right? It would still always be faster to wait instead of our current routes.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Misi agreed. “It’s not quite as connective as I might have wished, but this might be what we have to do for now. It’s still a vast improvement. We’ll obviously have to consult with the sect heads about what they might want.”

“I might also suggest,” Velvet commented. “Shutting down traffic on the other end for a wider duration. With some random variance.”

“I’m sure merchants will be annoyed,” Misi said. “But I agree.”

Catarina nodded. “That is something they will have to deal with for the vast improvements it will bring. We might even get a few shipments from Second Gift in the core worlds when we don’t have anyone ascending.”

-----

Tensions increased as decades passed, drawing closer and closer to the end of the cycle. Anton found that things with Temine had worked out close to as well as they could have hoped. They were provided with as much information as would be useful in the near future- sadly it was a bit too late to count on much natural energy buildup from careful cultivation. Then again, their ring system around numerous stars was already quite powerful.

Anton was spending most of his time along the border these days- either to the west or to the east. It wasn’t clear whether the Exalted Quadrant would be a bigger problem than the Trigold Cluster this go around. They were certainly planning to act.

Anton could shoot them. He was going to do so. His abilities were well enough known that he could completely ruin certain expeditions before they even reached the lower realms. However, that would be during the last few years. Before that, he had to pick out good targets.

The Scarlet Alliance was keeping anyone out of the Midfields, so the edges of the realms there were off limits. They were being quite aggressive about their borders, and while that might provide the great powers an excuse to attack- when had they really needed one? Especially not when they felt threatened.

They already had, but now they should be even more threatened. This might be their last opportunity to try to touch the lower realms. Anton didn’t think they’d get much out of any allied areas, but there were still numerous independent regions beyond the influence of the Lower Realms Alliance or the other powers. Even if they couldn’t all be contacted easily, that wasn’t necessary if they just assaulted any upper realms ships that were headed towards them. Half annihilating the forces should either guarantee a retreat or a victory for the intended system.

Anton had to admit that the Trigold Cluster was looking like the bigger issue at the moment. It might match up to both the Exalted Quadrant and Chaotic Conglomeration in terms of total threat to the lower realms, mostly because of the Swirling Swarm. Information coming in showed that their territory was still expanding at a concerning rate. For the upper realms, anything but nearly static borders was considered extreme.

Sudin and the revived fragments of the Twin Soul Sect? Concerning, certainly. If they acted, they would have plans to cause major trouble. They might cause trouble elsewhere, though. Such as the upper realms.

Anton couldn’t do anything if people attacked the Scarlet Alliance, the Veiled Brilliance, or the Distant Shadow Sect. But he would have his hands full with the lower realms and the Little Alliance anyway. Positioning himself for maximum value would be key. Ultimately, he wanted to hit the highest density of foes.

-----

“Oh. That’s relevant,” the assistant said.

Alin Kato looked over at him. “I thought we already reviewed those notes?”

“I thought so too. But some of the pile maybe got misplaced. Or maybe I’m just interpreting it differently on a reread. What would you say about this passage regarding resonance?”

Alin Kato looked it over. “I’d say it would be more relevant if Ramil wasn’t dead.”

“Fair point,” the assistant admitted. “I just thought that others might be making use of some of these techniques. Seems like info they could have sold.”

“Hmm. We’ll put the word out. People can take a look.”

-----

Nthanda was one of the first to seek out a distortion beast nest. If there was nothing of interest, she would simply leave. How could they stop her? Her cultivation didn’t advance along the normal path, but she was durable in a sustainable way. She would only be injured by large attacks, and she didn’t count a million separate teeth biting down on her.

Distortion beasts might be able to rip apart a planet- but she was much more durable per unit volume. They could slowly wear down the energy of an Assimilation cultivator, but it would probably take them weeks to kill her. Specifically if they trapped her somewhere she couldn’t do anything and her body began to break down from lack of sustenance.

Distortion beasts nests had been taken seriously throughout history, but more so after the particular discovery of those imbued with cultivation. They weren’t always annihilated, being considered far enough from civilization. Still, they were always tracked.

At first, Nthanda noticed nothing wrong. Well, not unusual. Obviously a limitless number of squirming tentacles, mouths that connected to nothing, bones on the outside, creatures that poked onto different layers of space, oceans of poisons and acids, and of course vast quantities of stolen energy were all wrong. Just expected of distortion beasts. Nthanda didn’t look like much of a snack to them, so any that tried to attack her were surprised when she avoided them.

They wouldn’t put that much effort into catching something with little energy. She couldn’t even get them to push into the territory of others.

But that was all her entrance into the area. Then she found, deep in the core of the nest where the lasting spatial distortion that drew the beasts in found its home, a number of cultivators. Nthanda was willing to bet anything that they weren’t in frequent contact with anyone.

When the ships around them holding together their formations happened to be filled with holes from high velocity projectiles, distortion beasts took note. That would make Nthanda’s job easier. Once they finished fighting the cultivators, she could tear them apart too. Just for the sake of being thorough.

Then she would send a message confirming something. The invasion wasn’t coming. It had already begun.