Elder Cultivator

Optimally, a scout would both observe the energy and bring back information all without being noticed. However, survival was the most important part. Being spotted but escaping, while inconvenient, was still a victory. Which meant that the best possible option involved being able to gather information in a way that the enemy couldn’t retaliate even if someone was spotted. Spyglasses were invented for that very thing… but they were only useful on scales where people could actually see things.

Having heard about people setting up near the border, Anton couldn’t help but be curious and go take a look himself. And while he had no guarantee they wouldn’t notice him… there wasn’t anything they could do if they did.

The end of the last cycle had already made it clear that the lower realms was far stronger than the upper realms ever thought they could be, and Anton’s presence wasn’t a secret by any stretch of the imagination. But if possible, he would avoid detection so that people would feel safe. After all, they would reveal much more if they didn’t feel like they were being watched.

Stretching his senses more than a system or two was already difficult for Anton, and reaching into the upper realms? That was an order of magnitude more difficult. It was an actively tiring process, not one he could simply keep up indefinitely. Ascension energy instinctively rejected him, and while it was inconvenient in this particular situation, Anton didn’t think that the drawback of Fleeting Youth was actually entirely a negative.

Certainly, it made things more difficult for him… but he had to consider one thing in particular. The most relevant factor that overrode all inconvenience. Sudin had perished. Anton wasn’t the sort to be overly humble, but he knew he simply wasn’t strong enough to kill a Domination cultivator. Even with a flash of insight and amazing technique, plus the man being fatigued after a marathon of hundreds of lightyears as he fled the lower realms, it still wasn’t enough.

But he’d died. Anton had been so focused on his energy holding up against the upper realms that he had only barely felt the surge of energy joining with him, trying to annihilate his energy. It just so happened to have not been concerned with not harming natives of the upper realms.

Anton wondered how Everheart had the insight to create such a technique while still in the lower realms, but it was clear that if nothing else the man was a genius at compiling and combining techniques. For the moment, he’d rather not think of him.

Instead, there were planets to inspect. It took Anton more than a few tries but eventually a thin strand of his energy, hidden from the upper realms itself, managed to inspect a particular planet. He couldn’t make out individuals except for the very strongest, but he could detect the overall situation on the planet. They were setting up many structures, and while Anton couldn’t guarantee anything it seemed to be a proper settlement effort.

He drew his energy back, towards border planets he’d known Crossed Antennae once had colonies on. Every member of said colonies had been part of the defense of the lower realms, though not all of them made it onto enemy ships. Anton had been far too occupied to see anything in real time, but looking at the planets now… they would find it difficult to support life again.

From what he could tell, each planet had been deluged with poison or scoured with fire- sometimes both. An extreme measure, but he supposed only by making the planets uninhabitable could they guarantee void ants would not survive.

He wondered if life could ever be established on those planets again. If he could reach them, he would be tempted to put in a good attempt of cleaning them up. Since they were in the upper realms, however, he could do nothing directly. Nor did he think it was worth the resources for the Scarlet Alliance to try, unless it became necessary for some particular reason.

Though based on what Anton could tell, the damage extended no more than ten meters into the ground. That was more than enough to completely ruin the vast majority of the planet, and it wouldn’t be feasible to try to replace that much over the entire planet.

However… that did mean that if the void ants were able to dig further down, they could have potentially survived eradication. Depending on how long the toxins lingered at levels that could kill them from mere contact, and food stores, and whether it was even practical for them to burrow so deep. Alright, there were all sorts of problems… but if they settled in such placed in the future, perhaps it was worth considering. Anton would relay his thoughts to the Great Queen. She was helping Crossed Antennae to manage her people. Fortunately, it hadn’t been that difficult to house all the surviving void ants from many different planets, as their total biomass was relatively small compared to the planets of the lower realms. At least, those who had survived.

The void ants deserved more recognition than they got, but they didn’t seem to want it. It was a shame that it was usually the best who took the brunt of the damage.

Rather than try to rebuild their population, Crossed Antennae’s descendents had stopped laying eggs. They weren’t mindless insects, after all, and they were able to work with other void ant colonies to stabilize, especially on Akrys. They didn’t move far from the upper realms, because it was always Crossed Antennae’s intention to return at some point. Now, there was an opportunity for that in the near future.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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Anton’s final assessment was that both great powers were pushing into the Scarlet Midfields, but they didn’t yet have worrying numbers or strength of cultivators on any of the planets. Obviously they would need to be carefully watched, but they were more than just forward outposts.

If the sects of the upper realms could live peacefully with the Scarlet Alliance, perhaps it wouldn’t have been an issue. Some likely could, but as a whole they had to be considered enemies. Whatever response the Scarlet Alliance had was up to them, of course. They couldn’t afford to make new enemies, but neither could they appear weak. A difficult balancing act.

Anton continued to make his way east. The newly settled areas were all near the borders of the great powers, so there was a large empty gap along the edge of the Scarlet Midfields, then Anton had come to the Trigold Cluster. He could tell they were generally pushing their population more towards the border, though there was a buffer due to the uninhabitable planets.

Then Anton sensed her. It was difficult not to, and his curiosity couldn’t be denied. He’d felt her energy only through a recording, not that he would have met anyone from the upper realms that wasn’t an ally.

Ratna. The instant his energy sensed her, he tried to sense more- and she noticed his intrusion. His strand of energy was torn apart, exposed to the energy of the upper realms.

Why was she near the border? A curious question. And since he had already been found out, Anton was willing to extend his energy again. Once more his energy was destroyed… but he sensed she was moving closer.

He was not concerned. Even if for some reason this Domination cultivator wanted him dead, she wouldn’t be able to reach him. There had been no indications she had such a long range, as she had been observed when she chased her hated foe Zaur. Even if she were hiding something, a serious attack across the null energy of the border was bound to fail.

Plus, Anton was near a bound star. Part of his trip was making certain he had a nice smooth trail of stars, in case he needed to shoot another arrow using the lower realms as a framework. In the worst case, he could retreat to its shelter.

Ratna didn’t seem to be in a hurry, taking a week to get a couple systems closer. Anton continuously checked on her, but she didn’t deviate significantly from her path and thus he was always able to find her once in the vague neighborhood- about a system away. He reached out once more, finding it a good form of practice to solidify his senses and protect against ascension energy.

Her energy reached out… and he felt an echo of voice. “Are you now able to comprehend my words?”

Communication? So she’d been attempting that all along. “I am,” Anton replied.

“Do you intend to try to kill me?” she said.

“Should I?” Anton pushed as much of his true intent into those words as he could. “I just woke up from a nap.”

He felt her amusement in return. “I imagine we are enemies, are we not?”

“Only if we have to be. If you were to attempt to invade the lower realms, I wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate you.” Her energy resonated with a mighty element of light. As he should have expected. She was a member of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance, after all. Actually… how had he sensed her? She knew she was stealthy… when she wished.

“I don’t think you can,” she retorted. “You feel weak.”

She was provoking him. If anything, Anton was stronger than when he’d killed Sudin. And she shouldn’t know about the extenuating circumstances. “It’s a lot of effort,” Anton said, flaring the energy of the star behind him and passing the effect through his own connection to her. “So unless you do anything extremely foolish, I don’t see why I would bother.”

“... You know who I am,” she declared.

She quite clearly wasn’t asking. Anton wasn’t much for deceit to begin with. “I have heard of you,” he admitted. He wanted to immediately break off contact, but that would likely be more suspicious.

“That confirms a connection to the upper realms. And it’s not a mystery how,” Ratna responded. She increased the intensity of her own energy, perhaps to intimidate Anton somehow, but since the most she would do was actually destroy his connected strand it just let him feel her more clearly. “I have seen some members of your sect. And of course, everyone felt the shot you made… though don’t worry too much. That felt more like a supernova. Unless anyone gets a good look at your energy, they shouldn’t make a connection to the One Hundred Stars.”

So she knew- enough to know their name. Velvet had been to visit her sect once. Could it be? Anton smiled. Yes, while his deceptive abilities were rather limited, his insight into people was well developed. “How’s your nephew?” Anton asked.

“You tell me,” Ratna replied. “He hasn’t told me much of value.”

Strangely, those words rang true. “I expected he was a plant.”

“More of a rock, if anything,” Ratna chuckled in reply. “If you’d met him in person, you’d know. But don’t worry, I doubt he’d intentionally betray his friend’s secrets.”

Anton pondered as he looked at Ratna. Knowing who she was… she was likely already fairly confident about what she had spoken. “It’s in your best interests to focus your attention elsewhere. Like on the Twin Soul Sect. If you cause any trouble… you’d better be quite confident I can’t do it again.”

“Pfft. As if you could even hit me. But I can say this. Causing trouble for the Scarlet Alliance and especially my nephew is nowhere in my plans.”

“Good.”

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Technically, Anton reporting that conversation to the Scarlet Alliance was good news. One less potential worry. But while it was good for the Scarlet Alliance, it was not such good news for one member in particular.

“... She got me,” Velvet grimaced. “I can’t believe I let myself get fooled.” Then she sighed. “She even sensed my true cultivation.”

There was no shame in being outdone by a Domination cultivator. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t make plans to get her back… somehow. Velvet just had to develop her own skills more first.

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