Elder Cultivator

Down in the mines, Durff was very seriously working with his pick. He wasn’t thinking of swapping weapons or combat styles or anything- this was merely a form of labor. And despite what people might think about pulling apart rocks, it was a sort of skilled labor. Though people in the Scarlet Alliance were pretty good about that kind of stuff, Mundi had implied that working in these mines wasn’t a particularly sought after position. It came with decent enough rewards, but as it meant most of the day without access to upper energy cultivators weren’t terribly fond of it.

Which was why they should have been more serious about their bodies. Oh, they were strong and had gained more strength working in the mines… but even the Body Tempering stage wasn’t just exercise. It involved using energy to promote growth- and while that wasn’t possible in the void ore mines, that didn’t mean it was the only method.

Durff thought a lot about his muscles as he swung. It wasn’t just because he liked his muscles- though he was growing rather fond of them- but because the mental focus on them actually helped a cultivator promote their growth. That was much of Nthanda’s path, and some of the insights were from after she surpassed Life Transformation, almost entirely giving up on energy.

It would be nice to meet in her in person, she seemed like someone that would be fun to train with. Unfortunately they were in different realms, and the Scarlet Alliance didn’t have any ships that could go between the realms whenever they wanted. Though the way they said that made Durff think it was more of a ‘not yet’ thing. Or maybe it was a secret and they already had some? They had a lot of things he thought were impossible.

His pick stuck into the wall, and he twisted and pulled. Huge chunks of rock tumbled to the ground, and Durff realized he was getting pretty good at this whole mining thing. Mundi was next to him. When they’d gotten out of the mines Durff realized the guy was a peak Spirit Building cultivator. He’d been a bit surprised that Durff was in Integration, but it hadn’t changed Durff’s offer, and made Mundi even more ready to accept watching the videos. Complete with energy replication, though that was not good for the battery life so they could only watch a certain amount each day.

Durff and Mundi together were tunneling the width of an offshoot vein, leaving huge piles of stone and ore beneath their feet. A half dozen others were responsible for picking up whatever they stepped beyond, so that they didn’t have to stop to carry things away.

Mundi’s body wasn’t as strong yet, but he was definitely better with his pick. Durff could drive his all the way up to the handle and wrench things apart, and he could do it several times faster, but he still barely managed to pull down more material than the experienced miner. Mundi’s body should grow faster than Durff’s, but of course Durff had a lot of improvements to make in technique so they weren’t too unbalanced.

It was technically against protocol for them to be standing on the piles of rubble they made, but unless either of them collapsed the ceiling or got in the way of each other’s picks they were safe. Even if a pick rebounded off a particularly dense rock, Durff could prevent his pick from hitting Mundi with his muscle control and Mundi simply couldn’t damage Durff’s body. They still remained far enough apart that it shouldn’t really be an issue anyway.

The rubble beneath their feet made positioning more awkward, but that was just an incentive to improve their stance and technique. A few other people had begun training with them, but not everyone was willing or able to put in the effort required to develop bodies beyond normal limits. It was exhausting. That was one of Durff’s favorite parts, going up at the end of the day barely able to stand.

Being poked and prodded by Misi afterwards wasn’t too bothersome either, because the man’s enthusiasm was plain on his face. Durff liked learning some things, but he seemed to want to know them all. Even if Misi was not that great at advanced body tempering himself.

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Juli had finished drawing up plans for the mine in the first week, but production of various components would take some time and her personal guidance. Unsurprisingly they didn’t have an industry that grew the proper trees for producing rubber, but there were various ways to get something similar. It was important to have insulated wires both for safety and because they had determined that electromagnetism did indeed cause a deterioration in the ore.

That shouldn’t be a huge issue, as any fluctuations would be blocked by insulation and also the shell of the elevator itself. Though before elevators, they were making shafts for air circulation purposes. Most of the length of the shafts could be dug out using energy, and that also meant that the installation work could be done with energy as well.

Technically, the locals could have gotten almost ninety percent of the way with purely mechanical components. Big cranks up at the top with drive shafts to spin fan blades could have done fairly well, but creating something that could extend the whole distance and maintain its form would not have been trivial. Making something durable enough when enchanted was simple, but the last segment where they actually got to the void ore would have to rely solely on material properties.

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There was also the issue of consistency, and making sure that the outer temperatures didn’t damage the ore. Juli had gone through several iterations of design documents to that end, just to make certain that there was a gradual shift in temperature in the mines.

Dealing with any poisonous air that came up top wasn’t actually that hard, as they could use formations for that. Juli left the details to the Spirit Slicing Sect and instead focused on the tech things that they really didn’t have a good basis for understanding.

Not that they weren’t eager to learn. They were especially interested by the various motors that converted electrical energy into mechanical energy. An unnecessary detail when upper energy was available as it was an easy to use and power-dense medium, but still suitable for various purposes. Like not causing energy fluctuations that would disturb surrounding formations.

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Despite what everyone had said, Yuval really did enjoy battling on the frontlines of a war. He would have preferred to be defending the Scarlet Alliance directly, but battling alongside Chidi- and Jyotsana- against mutual enemies was still a great experience.

There was a huge difference between actual battles and sparring. The same was true with warfare and seeking out other trouble. For example, Yuval couldn’t always take breaks whenever he wanted. As they were part of the fighting force, they had to fulfill the duty they signed up for. They had some privileges others didn’t, but when they went out to the front lines they had to listen to orders just like everyone else.

Energy suddenly disappeared around Yuval. That would be Chidi again… and while it seemed like continuing to fight his opponent during that instant was pointless there was a lot he could do. For example, kicking someone upside the head could still give them a concussion. Alternatively, if he could grapple them during that instant then when their defensive energy returned he would already have effectively punctured through it, creating flames from his body directly against his foe’s armor and body.

He just had to be conscious of forming his own defenses tight against him when he did so, or he would be equally vulnerable. Either way, he usually came out ahead because the enemy never really got experience with Chidi’s Negation. That was because they tended to die unexpectedly. Even if they heard about it or experienced it from afar, it wasn’t really the same.

Yuval was well aware how much stronger Chidi was… but it wasn’t as if that was unreasonable, given the several centuries of age between them. Yuval didn’t have to compare himself to Chidi now, just the Chidi of the past… and himself of the day before.

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Despite what Yuval thought, Chidi was well aware that anyone expecting Negation in any form was much more difficult to deal with. Day after day, he found himself on the edge of life and death. Which was exactly why it was such good training.

If he was unable to negate the energy in an area precisely when intended, it was actually much more dangerous than it might seem. He would be expecting his cut to go through without issue, but would instead face the energy defenses of his opponents. With his base energy being weaker, there was only so much his insights could do for his offense. He could still cut down Integration cultivators consistently, but if it took another second or two for each individual he could easily find himself flooded with enemies.

Unsurprisingly, allies from the Chaotic Conglomeration did not prefer to fight near him. There were a few who tried to take advantage of his techniques, but otherwise they preferred to avoid having their own energy interrupted.

Fighting against greater number of opponents meant dealing with more chaotic energy flow… but when he was successful it was also much more satisfying. It was even better if he could get allies to harm each other during the moment of negation, their attacks not following the course they planned. That was difficult for him to set up against anyone who wasn’t a sword cultivator, but against them he was able to plan another few steps ahead.

Every time he properly achieved Negation and the world around him faded, Chidi grew more used to the sensation. He just needed to maintain a picture of everything that had been within his senses, and to predict the most likely reactions of his opponents. Once again, easy against sword cultivators and more difficult against others.

He never achieved quite the same results as he had against Zaur. Obviously he did more than cut off a couple fingers, but killing an Integration cultivator was far less impressive than damaging a Domination cultivator. But even though he had been fighting in a formation that limited the fluctuations to his own, that of his father, and Zaur… it had been the most difficult moment to achieve. He’d been pushed to his limits, and he was trying to recreate it.

Without risking such a high chance of death, of course. He was well aware of how odds worked, and had no intention to flip a coin enough times that he died. Then again, cultivator odds weren’t exactly fair.

Often times it appeared that Chidi was in greater danger than he actually was. Even if he had a dozen sword cultivators attacking him, blades nearly slicing along his throat, he was perfectly fine. The same was true of smaller numbers of other enemies. Twisting his body to slip between a pair of staves was nearly as comfortable for him, as he was trained to fight against all weapons. But if he fought a dozen coordinated spear cultivators, he would likely have to retreat- though that depended somewhat on their cultivation.

The Exalted Quadrant had too many people. That was what Chidi decided, when day after day they were successful on the battlefield and their numbers never seemed to deplete even after they’d lost so many people in the invasion of the lower realms. Perhaps that was why they were fine with keeping in the current war forever. Losing Augmentation cultivators might hurt, but there hadn’t been many opportunities to take them out since the arrival on the western front. Or were they on the eastern front, since they were fighting on the side of the Chaotic Conglomeration?

Regardless, Chidi felt like the Chaotic Conglomeration had an issue with their own population. They weren’t suddenly running out of people, but it was clear they needed to tap into a wider population somehow. Not that any of that was Chidi’s business. He’d just cut down as many enemies as appeared in front of him and let them worry about the far future.

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