Elder Cultivator

Chapter 872

A single individual could keep a secret. When dealing with their enemies, a small group of highly dedicated individuals might be able to hold onto particular secrets they could not afford to share. But where a large number of individuals were involved, they might not even know what should be kept secret, and there were various ways to manipulate them into revealing information that were more effective than torture.

The captured cultivators were kept separately so that they could not conspire with each other, though it was rather pointless for them to try. It only took a small number of people to monitor them constantly, and they had no way to escape from their bonds. Once a cultivators energy was sealed, they required outside help to be able to escape from such. And there would be no sympathizers among the people of Inistra or the Shining Cooperative.

Inistra managed to gain significant amounts of information about ships, occupied planetary systems, and other things of that nature. It was more difficult to learn information about their overall plans, and most of the crew members didnt even seem to know their mission to begin with. Only a small number was aware what the capsules they had released actually did.

They werent really that complicated. They were basically small concealing around the shell, which was then designed to split apart as it entered the atmosphere, releasing the mold spores from their encapsulation along with a burst of natural energy. Then, the winds would spread them around the target planet. Simple, but effective.

Varghese didnt fully understand the details, but the formation masters on Inistra were quite intrigued by some differences in formation design. They were still able to pick them apart and determine how they functioned, so they werent necessarily higher tier- though it would take some adjustment to be prepared to deal with them in the future. Eradicating the mold infestations as they cropped up wasnt terribly difficult, when they could be anticipated and countermeasures were known, but preventing them or other similar capsules from reaching any of their occupied planets would be best. Who could say if they didnt have something worse to unleash.

In sum total, what Varghese found most worrying was that they existed at all. The Trigold Cluster seemed to have control over a decent number of systems- a dozen or more, though they couldn't quite tell the limit as those who were more complete in their understanding were also more hesitant to share, realizing the value of simple names and locations of systems. It would take more time and effort to extract the complete information.

The good news was, while there were hostile forces nearby they didnt seem to have specifically been targeting anyone. That is, they didnt have clear knowledge of the Shining Cooperative or the Lower Realms Alliance or even Inistra specifically.

The bad news, of course, was that there were hostile forces vaguely nearby that would have to be dealt with one way or another, and they seemed to have already wiped out and taken over a number of occupied systems. It seemed the Trigold Cluster hadnt actually been above trying different tactics for domination- theyd merely only been exposed to a particular one. And both had been far too effective up to the current point, the invisible occupations setting back planets many cycles and this other option clearly having spread for some time.

If they were closer to the core of the Lower Realms Alliance, Varghese wouldnt have considered them a threat. There were no indications they had Assimilation equivalent cultivators among them, nor did their ships indicate a level of advancement that would allow for it. No doubt they hadnt seen everything with regard to ships and formations, but at most Varghese expected bigger ships instead of particularly better ones.

In short, they could be overpowered. But there were only a small number of Assimilation cultivators available between Inistra and Poriza, plus their colonies. They had to make certain they were well defended while at the same time going on the offense. Or, alternatively, they could focus on defensive tactics.

It was just clear that the Shining Cooperative had no such intentions. They wanted to wipe out the Trigold Cluster systems as soon as possible. The only thing stopping them for the moment was caution- they hadnt even scouted out any of the enemy systems yet to verify the true level of threat they might be.

The timing was truly unfortunate. While Inistra was in communication with the Shining Cooperative, the latter hadnt yet shared with them technology for more effective- and importantly fast- communications. Theyd barely established the non aggression pact and trade agreements in the last couple decades. Effectively, they had just met.

But perhaps things werent all bad. Now they had a mutual enemy to draw them closer together. Or rather they had always had that mutual enemy- they just hadnt been aware of any more accessible pockets of them. Having spoken with the leadership of Poriza, Varghese knew that military action was inevitable, and it would mostly come down to how things were organized and who took the lead. Of course, they could both independently act against this newly revealed threat, but that would be wasteful.

It was an awkward position, though. Inistra was about as developed as the best systems under the Shining Cooperatives control. They had some ships that Varghese found quite impressive. But on the other hand, they had no actual Assimilation cultivators. Not yet- or perhaps not publicly revealed. Theyd had many at the threshold, so the right inspiration and knowledge could have vaulted some over the threshold.

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Then there was the fact that Anton was planning to stay out of the war which Varghese actually understood quite well. Aside from the practical considerations of picking a few locations where he could use his full power, there was also the burden of such power. Anton was likely strong enough to wipe out an entire planet by himself. No, he was more than strong enough for that. And even if they were controlled by hated enemies that was a large burden for one person to bear. They didnt know if there were any innocents that might be involved as well. Were there native populations to deal with?

In short, despite all they learned there were just as many unknowns. Varghese volunteered to spearhead some of their first scouting activities. If they got into conflict, they would need his strength.

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Izaak was now a cultivator. Hed been learning for months already, and he had reached the second star. The rest of his family was hot on his heels, and he was especially worried that Marianna would pass him. His parents he could accept, but his sister would be unacceptable.

It was unfortunate that all of the fields had already been sewn. Master Anton was very particular about tempering the body through proper work. Izaak had eventually volunteered to work on neighboring farms, tilling fields and pulling out weeds, but that work eventually ran out too. He was surprised, really. He knew how hard his parents had worked to keep the farm running. How hard they did work. Yet at the first star he had found his body able to keep up with a normal adult. For the second star, hed chosen Muscle as his prime tempering so that he could be even stronger. And he would have been, if they werent also cultivators. He couldnt wait to grow older properly.

And he supposed it was already happening, because hed already reached another birthday- one he thought he would never see. And it was at least in large part thanks to the mysterious cultivator. His father had come back with medicine, but he wouldnt have lived long enough for that otherwise.

Master Anton was like a sun, bright and hot and powerful. Izaak didnt quite know what stage of cultivation he was supposed to be in, but it was more than anything he sensed even when they went to the city. And they could do that now, since the work on the farm was being dealt with so easily. They were looking into expanding their land. Izaak looked forward to breaking up rocks and getting them out of the way. Smashing rocks was fun.

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Two years. That was how long Anton predicted it would take for Izaaks cultivation to be in a stable place. But he was not simply remaining in place for the young man and his family. He needed to observe the planet as a whole over that time to make sure things were going in the right direction. Right now the planets natural energy was in a state of flux as they learned to implement new policies. And just because some people were informed didnt mean the entire planet heard within a short few months.

So he came and went, spreading information on the developing planet with glee. Hopefully, it could be a proper example to the rest of the Shining Cooperative. It was more difficult to implement such widespread change on planets with a greater population. And, though he didnt want to attribute any positives to the plague, it had made people willing to accept radical change. Dealing a population in the tens of millions was much simpler than dealing with planets of billions- as long as it was possible to communicate between its various locations. For Anton, it was simply a matter of going from place to place with haste.

He very much hoped they had those two years, but war was clearly on the horizon. He wasnt certain if it would be better for the war to start sooner so that Izaak and Nikodem werent capable of participating, or for it to begin later when they had some cultivation experience and could try to make a difference. If they reached Spirit Building Anton could tell them they were still too weak, but it would be somewhat hypocritical.

He himself had wanted to begin acting as soon as possible. It was almost torture, the time he spent in the Body Tempering Phase imagining what might have been happening to those dragged off to Ofrurg. And while this family might not have lost anyone, it was still very reasonable for them to bear a grudge when they learned that there was a real cause instead of it being a freak accident.

More than once, his resolve to stay out of the war swayed. How many lives could he save, if he participated? That was the question, wasnt it. Because he might certainly prevent people from dying but if he was then not around and there were further attacks, nobody would have any experience.

It was something that never got easier, first with his children having to deal with struggles and more recently various disciples. He wanted to shelter people from all pain, but that wasnt correct. And if he showed up on the front lines, it was inexcusable for him to not put in his full effort to take down the enemy.

The more years that passed, the more important it would be for others to be strong. In hardly more than four hundred years the tides of the world would allow access to the lower realms once more, and the reaction from the upper realms for their previous losses was something everyone dreaded.

Four hundred years before he was a cultivator, it had felt like quite a long time. Even at the age of one hundred, living four times that was nearly incomprehensible. Now, Anton was nearly five hundred himself. He felt like if he got careless and blinked, a century would slip by. That wasnt quite true, but it wasnt as far off from reality as it could have been. From the end of the first invasion, they were at the halfway point to this third invasion because of the unnaturally short cycle in between.

He could already feel it. It was like a vague itch, but his perspective was very wide. After all, he had a vague sense of being many different stars in different locations. The tides of the world were more clear to him. This cycle would be a natural duration after the previous one, within the normal tolerance of a few decades on either side. And the more people they found in the lower realms, the more that needed to be raised up to a proper standard to resist incoming assaults. For all the systems they controlled, it was only in the area of dozens while the upper realms controlled hundreds and thousands with vast quantities of cultivators. Even if only the tiniest portion attacked, it could be disastrous if they werent strong enough.

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