Elder Cultivator

Though Anton was making progress on the local star, he was coming to a realization. The more he managed to remove the corruption and push back against its growth, the more a certain sort of pressure was building up in the quarantined zone. He thought it would become easier as he was able to work with a small area, but it was staying fairly constant… and it might even grow more difficult.

As always, situations turned out more complex than things appeared on the surface. The Lower Realms Alliance couldn’t just show up and make everything okay, even as they grew strong. Even if they could solve some of the current problems, they couldn’t bring back the planet everyone had lost. Not without it being something else entirely, a recycled mass of rock and little more.

Between Moturn and Unov, there was less than a single percent of the previous population. If they were going to rescue the planet, they needed to have done it at the end of the cycle. But they simply hadn’t reached far enough.

Not that it had been feasible. Time was required for everything. The Alliance couldn’t suddenly expand into every star in the galaxy just because they wanted to. Though they were making a good effort at least to visit.

The smaller scale growth that individuals from the system were undergoing also took time. Even discounting cultivation, developing skills to fit into necessary industries took time. Finding people suited for particular sorts of work was a long process, though fortunately there were specialists. The Lower Realms Alliance couldn’t guarantee matching people with a career that was a perfect fit, but they could guide them towards something at least suitable. Ultimately, that would result in people being happier and more efficient- and they could always try to experiment on their own.

Abder was carrying around a bundle that was heavier than himself. Anton wouldn’t have suggested that level of physical training at any point, particularly not after just a couple of years, but the young man was only partially his responsibility now. He liked body tempering, and Anton wasn’t going to say that he was putting in the wrong kind of effort. He was working towards what he wanted, and Nthanda was teaching him in the way she thought would be most effective.

The one insistence Anton had was that the pack he carried be for a practical purpose, so the young man was running between districts distributing finished goods and materials to various places that needed them. Flight was barely available for the locals, and for Abder who was focused on a low-energy style it was even less achievable at his low cultivation. Though there might eventually be a certain point where he could manipulate matter around him like Nthanda. He might end up on a different path, though. Nothing could be certain, especially with unique situations like Nthanda. Cultivators who focused on advanced body tempering rarely made it past Life Transformation- though Anton supposed that neither did most others, stagnating a bit lower even with reliable methods.

Despite being trained by Anton and Nthanda, Abder had not adopted the shared combat style they had. That was to say archery, though their styles there had also quite diverged out of necessity.

Rather than rejecting it, Abder had rejected combat as a basic part of his training. He learned basic martial arts to be able to defend himself, and because they suggested it he had practiced with the bow- but it was clear his heart wasn’t in it.

It was one thing to pick a non-martial path. Anton certainly saw the value in those. But to combine that with body tempering, what else was there to do? He would be an inferior porter compared to simply having a good storage bag, no matter how strong he got.

Far be it from Anton to discourage anyone’s path when it was functional, however. Maybe Abder would choose a combat style later. Or maybe he didn’t want to be useful. Being strong and capable just because he could wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

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In their period without any energy within them, Catarina and Timothy had grown older. Over time they were slowly rejuvenating their bodies after reaching Domination, though they would likely not return to a prime age anytime soon, if ever. They could of course make cosmetic alterations through various methods, or display false images… but they felt that was unnecessary.

After a few hundred years, vanity tended to fade. Either that or it could grow into an obsession, but for those who were secure in their self image their actual looks weren’t necessarily as important. After all, who would the two of them even be looking good for, aside from each other?

Of course, they still would prefer to be youthful again, they just weren’t going to rush the process. Especially not with an unfamiliar type of energy. Domination energy had more in common with upper energy than the latter did with lower energy, but it was certainly a qualitative increase and required some effort to handle properly. Drawing out power was actually easy- it was gentleness that required practice.

Actually using Catarina’s platform to teleport… well, it was a good thing that they tested with a few unnecessary things first. Some calculations were slightly off, leaving things floating nearby in space or occasionally dumping them in the star.

Meanwhile, Timothy was connected to the barrier which worked pretty much as intended even with excessive energy, though if he concentrated on things a little too hard he prevented useful things like maintaining a relative momentum with the star. He only severed the pull of gravity on the orbital platform for a few instants, though.

Timothy found himself the sparring partner of quite a few people now, as they both wanted to test their limits and gain insight into Domination. He didn’t find that to be a bad way to spend his days, as he’d done that before- he was just the favored partner now. Because fighting Chidi was difficult and Catarina didn’t really spar.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

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Officially, only Koronis came to visit the Scarlet Alliance as a Domination cultivator. Her visit was short and decidedly neutral. Her mere presence accomplished more than any attempt to get a political commitment of some sort from here. At most, she didn’t object to the passing comments of how the Alliance would be demanding retribution from the Silver Fang. That was the best they expected to get. ṙ

Having an actual visit provided legitimacy, however. If they could get a friendly- or at least not unfriendly- Domination cultivator from the Exalted Quadrant, the Scarlet Alliance might be seen as something like a third great power. Though perhaps they didn’t want to rush anything like that, in case anyone became eager to disprove it. Just because they had Domination cultivators to defend themselves didn’t mean they wanted to have to use them in that capacity.

The Scarlet Alliance also got a visit from Ambassador Vlasta. It was quite informal, given that Aminu was still present to represent the interests of the Distant Shadow Sect as well as the Creeping Fire Sect. Extremely informal, in fact, such that they only received word she was coming slightly before their sensors went off. The good news was that they could reconfirm they worked on someone concealing their energy- at least to some reasonable limit.

Vlasta was, of course, not just a random ambassador. The Scarlet Alliance knew she was Ratna, and she knew that they knew. The only person of note who didn’t know was Durff, because the man could be a massive security flaw. Not that they held it against him, it was in his nature to be open and trusting. Even so, that meant they had to keep some things secret from him. They didn’t think he would begrudge that fact, and Ratna could keep in touch with him in other ways, even if they were less personal.

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Timothy had been disappointed that they might not be able to spar, but it was somehow arranged that both one of their Domination cultivators- him- and the visiting but not actually assigned ambassador would both disappear for a few days.

It still required quite a bit of setup to prevent their energy from escaping their sparring location… in deep space far from any system. Because if they were to be at all serious, people would feel them from adjacent systems. Fortunately, a bit of restraint and some formations should dampen the effects enough. Only a modest group of necessary individuals including Koralo were present.

“I appreciate your willingness to do this,” Timothy said.

Ratna grinned, not bothering to hide her true self. “I don’t often have an opportunity to find… appropriate sparring partners.”

“People strong enough to matter that don’t want to kill you?”

“That won’t want to kill me,” Ratna emphasized. “I can’t just expect people in the Trigold Cluster to not change their minds later. But as long as your alliance doesn’t go completely off the rails, I can’t see that we would come into conflict.”

“I’d sure hope not,” Timothy agreed. It was good to have some allies… or at least enemies of enemies who were otherwise neutral.

Timothy had vaguely witnessed Ratna battle once before. It was one thing to be standing on the sidelines, barely able to perceive the battle, and quite another to be the target.

Ratna’s killing intent was powerful, but its sharpness wasn’t quite there. That was simply the signal that they were starting. It was actually more disturbing when it faded away along with her person and he couldn’t anticipate her movements at all.

Timothy almost tricked himself into believing she’d never even been there at all, that was how thoroughly she was gone. And then he was stabbed in the kidney. Or at least, that was the intent. He couldn’t move to avoid the attack, but he did manage to fortify his armor enough to actually resist the blow.

The only question Timothy had was whether that was Ratna’s true power or not. He imagined not, as it was only a probing attack. Furthermore, she’d been a Domination cultivator far longer than himself. He’d leapt over a massive chasm, crossing the gap of magnitude once between him and any Domination cultivator, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still just be stronger than him. And even a ten or twenty percent difference could spell the end for a cultivator.

If there was one thing Timothy was good at, however, it was defense. He continued to take her attacks while attempting to counter. His shield was little good since he couldn’t bring it to bear, but that was an excellent thing to learn. And Timothy had a couple tricks to try.

Ratna could be anywhere, which made his life difficult. So he intended to stop that. When she came close for her next attack, he amplified his defense so she would have to actually push closer. Their energies clashed for a moment, then she disappeared.

A moment later, Timothy felt an impact on the inside of a barrier he created. Or maybe it was more appropriate to say he called upon it. Timothy had drawn out the stored energy and formed it around them, trapping the pair in an arena just a few dozen meters across. That was practically touching, as far as such high level battles went.

Ratna had tried to casually cut her way out without revealing herself beforehand, but the barrier stood firm. Unbreakable… was not the case. Timothy didn’t want to be arrogant. That was just asking for someone to actually break it. Enduring and powerful… definitely.

He swept his blade, trying to catch her as she moved, but her reactions were more than fast enough. Even so, Timothy slowly began to restrict the radius of the barrier, and thus her mobility. If he were using his energy directly, maintaining such a barrier away from his body would have vastly weakened it. But by calling upon his connection to his anchor, it was almost maximally efficient. He was easily able to keep up his bodily defenses at the same time.

When the barrier shrank to about half size, Timothy suddenly felt something prod his ankle directly- having pierced through his defensive energy. Obviously his ankle wasn’t a particularly vulnerable location, but that didn’t matter because the attack had gone through his outer defensive energy without him detecting it. That meant Ratna could have pushed her energy through his relatively undefended body. Timothy might have only lost a leg if she did, but it showed some flaws in his style.

“Want to tell me what I did wrong?”

“Don’t be silly,” Ratna said. “How would I have any fun then? I should at least be able to beat some young folk occasionally. But I’ll give you a hint. Your thinking is too limited.”

He’d have to figure that one out. He didn’t want holes in his defenses.