Elder Cultivator

The room containing the Triumvirates had them sitting at one end of a round table, laden with food. Velvet noticed Chidi sniffing, though with his energy senses that shouldn’t have been necessary to determine what food was available. For the most part, energy senses were more complete than vision.

“Please sit,” said one of the two women. “I am Triumvirate Nasimiyu, and these are Gosia and Ardashir.”

“If any of you have particular requests,” said Ardashir, the only man of the three and clearly much older, “We can certainly provide additional dishes to your taste.”

Velvet sat opposite of the trio, given her position as leader of the excursion. She looked at the various options available on the numerous serving trays, some of which were suspiciously familiar. “I doubt that will be necessary. Did you use your techniques to predict what we might like to eat?”

Durff began scooping mixed meat and veggies onto his own place. He seemed like the sort who might demand meat alone, but he had already been conscious of the balance of nutrients his body needed even before he undertook advanced body tempering. Some cultivators just used their energy to replace deficiencies, and as long as they didn’t care about the minor differences in bodily functionality, it really didn’t matter.

The second woman, Gosia, smiled at Velvet’s question. “Normally I would say something like perhaps. But I doubt you are not a fan of such mysteriousness. Any techniques we used were far more mundane.”

“So you’ve been spying on us.”

Nasimiyu shrugged. “No more than you’ve been spying on the Chaotic Conglomeration, I think. But I must say, it is quite unnecessary to try to predict such things with the use of complicated techniques. And perhaps quite unreliable, even as it pertains to the affairs of the strongest cultivators.”

Velvet was not overly subtle about how she inspected the food she served herself for poison. It would be rather strange for these individuals to attempt to assassinate them, but she didn’t want to get sloppy.

“What’s this?” Misi finally asked the question on his mind- which was of course about one of the exotic fruits placed in the middle of the table. That was what the twins seemed to like most- novelty. And fruits that could be eaten on their own were one of the greatest sources of that.

“That is turtlefruit,” Gosia explained. “You must pry open the ‘shell’ to reach the edible parts inside.” The twins had many more questions of the same sort which were answered during the course of the meal.

Though Ardashir had mentioned there was much to discuss, the Triumvirate didn’t immediately push them into action. Everything seemed designed to make them comfortable, which of course made Velvet uncomfortable. But the fact that they didn’t hide what they were doing kind of made her relax again. Well, she was never going to be a great guest for people she hadn’t known long term anyway. She decided to just accept what she felt.

Finally, when everyone had eaten at least their first round, Ardashir began the actual discussion. “I am certain that the seven of you are aware of your significance, even without the support of the Spirit Slicing Sect,” he said, inclining his head to Runa. “Two Augmentation cultivators, four Integration cultivators with significant prospects, and… one other,” he looked towards Chidi. “What was it you named your stage? Negation?”

Chidi nodded. “Indeed.”

“Unique paths are quite rare, and even fewer are successful. But considering just the battlefields you have set foot upon in this last year, it is clear your path is more than successful. Which is good, because we need all the strength we can get.”

“Who is ‘we’, in this context?” Runa asked.

“The Chaotic Conglomeration,” Nasimiyu explained. “You will be one of the first to hear this. We expect you will be discreet with what information you share.”

Durff grunted. “She’d have to actually hear something first. Why bring us here?” He looked over at Velvet. “Or should I not speak?”

Velvet shrugged. “The table has no greater or lesser positions. I trust you to make your points as necessary.”

“As straightforward as we’ve heard,” Gosia smiled. “Very well. We need your help dealing with a surge in Exalted Quadrant activity that we have predicted.”

Velvet considered what she knew. “They’ve suffered significant losses in the lower realms, and we’ve taken out an Augmentation cultivator ourselves. Perhaps that alone is not enough to cripple the Exalted Quadrant, but as I understand it most of the recent conflicts have been victories on the side of the Conglomeration.”

Durff seemed determined to finish all of the food on the table, one dish at a time. Though he didn’t begin with anything the others seemed to favor, it was likely he could eat more than all others put together.

“We have been winning,” Nasimiyu agreed. “Which is why we need to keep doing so. But we must also be prepared for the inevitable. Our predictions indicate that at some point in the near future, the Exalted Quadrant will press for the advantage, and if they are serious we have little hope of combating them.”

“Where have you heard this intel?” Runa asked. “I wasn’t informed of anything.” She looked peeved that the Spirit Slicing Sect hadn’t been included.

Gosia shook her head. “Nobody has heard of anything. Our main source of information is the past.”

“Oh!” Misi was suddenly excited. “Were you reading through old documents, only to find that they had been altered to hide a secret cycle of betrayal?”

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Before anyone could answer, Juli butted in. “That’s why you’d come to us as outsiders, since we’re the only ones you can trust!”

Nasimiyu raised both eyebrows. “For how far off both of you are, you also aren’t entirely incorrect. We were, in fact, looking through old records of the war. And while there isn’t exactly a specific cycle, it is quite clear that the Exalted Quadrant isn’t usually trying to win.”

“... Why have a war, then?” Durff asked.

Chidi shook his head. “For the same reason we’re here, I suspect. To train their next generation of cultivators.”

“Precisely,” Ardashir confirmed. “Of course, we don’t have anything directly admitting that, but what we do know is that occasionally, when we are too advantaged, they mobilize greater forces and push us back, effectively resetting the war. Except they end up taking many of our resources as well.”

Velvet thought for a while. “I don’t know if that would benefit them right now. Now more than ever they need the continual war for training, wouldn’t they?”

“Ah, I see my words weren’t quite clear. It isn’t as if they sent a pair of Domination cultivators and wipe our forces clean off the planets. No, they just take a more serious posture, pushing us back over the course of decades. A sufficiently long time to train up a generation of warriors.”

“We’re not going to be around for that long,” Velvet said. “And there’s only so much long term impact we can have before we must leave.”

“We understand that,” Ardashir said. “But we also know that the Scarlet Alliance can provide us with additional information of use. If we could raise more Augmentation cultivators, we might stand a better chance. Enough to make them accept a lesser victory, at least. We understand that the Scarlet Alliance is open to sharing cultivation information, in the right circumstances.”

“That would depend upon what you can offer,” Velvet said.

“We can offer pretty much anything you might want. Exotic techniques, rare materials… and of course we will also be keeping mutual enemies in check.”

“I want you to outlaw slavery,” Yuval said. He looked around at the others. “What? Velvet said we were equals here, or whatever. Did that only apply to Augmentation cultivators?”

Velvet just waited to see what the response would be from the Triumvirate.

“Unfortunately,” Nasimiyu said. “That is not something we can necessarily offer. We do not speak for the whole of the Chaotic Conglomeration, we merely have the interests of all of us in mind. It’s more of an alliance of convenience, so even if we had greater sway it would be quite an excessive use of political capital to even begin such a task.”

Yuval nodded, carefully watching Velvet. Since she didn’t stop him, he replied. “Clearly two or five Augmentation cultivators isn’t sufficient to convince you. So how many would it take? Because our methods are several times as reliable for advancement.”

Velvet was fairly certain he didn’t actually have specific data to back that up. Fortunately, Misi did. Or at least he spoke with that level of confidence. “More than several. Eight to ten times as much per cultivator, and that’s counting our entire population in the figure. We’ve got not only our own experiences to rely upon but stolen guidance from the great factions around us. The Exalted Quadrant, the Trigold Cluster, and… Everheart.”

Juli grinned. “Too bad we haven’t got much on his path to Domination.” While it might seem like that admission would weaken their position… implying that they did have some knowledge on his path to Domination was something serious. And not untrue, though Juli herself hadn’t gotten her hands on any of it. She just knew that people had been there during the event.

“This is still a difficult request,” Gosia said. However, it was clear the Triumvirate were both surprised at the suggestion, and seriously considering it. “A universal change would be nearly impossible to achieve. However, if you were willing to treat with particular factions, you might yet accomplish what you desire to some extent.”

That was where Velvet felt obligated to speak. “We’d need a way to know that what information we shared was not spread beyond where it was intended.”

“You wish to monitor our activities?” Nasimiyu asked. “That might be possible. But even if you had a number of mentors present, I doubt we could fully convince you that each and every one of us was upholding our bargain. And should a number of Augmentation cultivators develop without your additional guidance, we would prefer not to have the flow of information caught up if the circumstances are under suspicion.”

“An interesting admission,” Velvet said.

“We don’t expect you to simply share an entire library’s worth of information with us all at once,” the old man shook his head. “And we are well aware that some of our sects are less than trustworthy. Even if all involved were following any restrictions to the letter, espionage is still possible. We would not wish that to influence the outcome. Perhaps we could offer something else. We have some idea of the resources various factions might be willing to exchange.”

Yuval grimaced, but didn’t say anything. Durff looked thoughtful as well, but he was well aware that not everyone liked hammers as much as him.

Velvet considered for a while, trying to judge Chidi’s reaction. He was the only one who could be considered of the same status within the Scarlet Alliance at the moment. Durff being an Augmentation cultivator would mean something, but without broader backing he was still just one man. And one who really didn’t like politics and negotiations- more than Velvet, even.

“I don’t think there is anything else you could offer,” Velvet said finally. “Not if you wanted the full cooperation of the Scarlet Alliance.”

There might be a few from older factions who might not care about slavery, though even most of them would have been won over by the Scarlet Alliance’s style. And ultimately, when there were significant quantities of Integration cultivators about, slaves really weren’t worth that much. They were inefficient for the vast majority of labor.

“We might be able to offer some lesser amount of information without,” Velvet said. “But at some point, that would have to be the result.”

There was of course a question of how such things would be monitored. If they had a permanent presence in the Chaotic Conglomeration, their association would be confirmed rather than suspected. And while that wasn’t a terribly huge difference on its own, that would motivate the Exalted Quadrant to secure the further edges of its borders, such that circumventing them could end up impossible.

Their ability to be everywhere and making sure there was no untowards exchanges of information would require far more people than the Scarlet Alliance could spare- or they would be far too weak to actually fulfill their duties. Furthermore, being hundreds of lightyears away from home, their own long term loyalty might fall into question. It was a difficult matter, and perhaps not something they could actually draw a hard line on. Either way, it would require years of negotiations.

The Prospect Shapers didn’t actually speak for the whole of the Chaotic Conglomeration, and even they weren’t able to make that promise. Which meant much more complex faction by faction negotiations, most likely. Or some other compromise that others would be better qualified for. Velvet would need to get advice before actually going much further- and a simple exchange of information could take many months.

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