Elder Cultivator

Chapter 885

Once more, for probably the tenth time in the last decade, Three Squeaks was taking part in a meeting with the Turtle Triumvirate. It was unfortunate that not even setting Meep upon them caused them any consternation, and they had been dragging their feet. Or rather, Three Squeaks and the Akrys Alliance had slowly been dragging them closer, since the tortoises werent doing anything to make the process more reasonable.

We dont see how such a thing benefits us one of the tortoises said. Again.

Three Squeaks sighed aloud, not bothering to hide such things anymore. As has already been explained, in the long term we could easily double or triple the amount of natural energy you have available, speeding up your cultivation.

Does it matter? One of them asked. One decade or three decades are much the same.

Three Squeaks twitched. One would think that people like this would be the ones most interested in long term benefits. But instead, they were like this.

A slight twinge of energy turned his attention downward, where he spotted Fearsome Mandibles. Im going to devour them whole, she said. When Three Squeaks shook his head and looked away, she yanked on his natural energy again. This is diplomacy. Youre supposed to translate that.

Wha-? No, Im not translating that, Three Squeaks said.

You should, Another of the Tortoise Triumvirate spoke. We wish to hear it. Three Squeaks didnt want to start a war. No wait, he knew he shouldnt want to start a war. He kind of did, though. Even if the tortoises probably didnt deserve to die, he was sick and tired of them. Fearsome Mandibles says that shes going to devour you whole.

The first among them let out a small squeak of delight. As if such a puny creature could damage our bodies. We would crush it.

Ill chew you apart, starting in from the neck. Three Squeaks shrugged and translated.

A weak thing like you? the second one said. You could do nothing.

Three Squeaks was going to remind them how void ants worked when the third one joined it. We will not be defeated in martial combat by a mere ant. The tortoise stretched its neck, trying to see something. Ouch.

Three Squeaks saw blood trickling down from the tortoises neck and dripping down the shell. So it was going to be that, huh? He hadnt even noticed Fearsome Mandibles moving.

The old tortoise folded up rapidly, which was the one thing they were swift about. But it didnt help. This still hurts.

Obviously, Three Squeaks said. Did you actually think you were invincible?

Make it stop, the tortoise said.

Shes a queen. She can do whatever she wants when you insult her and provoke her, Three Squeaks shrugged. I dont make the rules, thats just how it is.

This may become a problem, one of the others said. Your defensive energy seems ineffective.

And your scales are not able to protect you there, said the last one. Though it should normally not be a problem.

Three Squeaks thought these tortoises were pretty chill about one of them getting mauled. Then again, he was fairly certain Fearsome Mandibles wasnt going all out. She might be rather small relative to them, but he had seen her create cuts a centimeter long and a handful of millimeters deep. More than enough to cut an important vein or artery.

I request that you cease, the tortoise being chewed one said. Ow.

Three Squeaks figured he should probably help. I imagine she wants an apology for calling her a mere ant.

The tortoise nodded, as much as possible with its neck scrunched up into its shell. This one was mistaken. Clearly, you are the highest class of ant. The tortoise waited, before slowly unfurling.

Three Squeaks spotted Fearsome Mandibles crawling out from from under the shell, ending up on the back of the third tortoise. For a moment, he thought everything would be fine. Then she somehow jumped towards the second one. Three Squeaks wasnt quite sure how it worked, but he thought it was partially aided by creating a flow in the surrounding natural energy.

The second Tortoise was ready, sending out a pulse of natural energy along with a burst of sound. That would have sent Three Squeaks flying, but for a void ant it didnt do much. The motion of the air was reverted to its natural state, meaning the force was no more than a normal sound with relation to her.

The tortoise tried to snap at her with its mouth, but it was far too slow for that. Things went much the same way, with her snipping at its neck. What have I done to deserve this?

You should probably ponder what you said, Three Squeaks replied. Theres a pretty obvious thing.

The tortoise gazed off into the distance, not even bothering to try to defend. I dont know if she would take offense to stating facts about my brethrens natural energy, the second tortoise pondered aloud. Ah. You are upset about my factual misstatements concerning yourself. It seems you can do something. Ouch. The tortoise looked at Three Squeaks. I require aid.

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Three Squeaks slapped his forehead. Its the part where you called her a weak thing.

I apologize for my words, the tortoise said at an unhurried pace. Or perhaps that was not so. This may have been the fastest this particular individual ever spoke, but it sure didnt seem hurried.

The third among them, or perhaps the first one, showed no signs of worry. Which didnt actually tell Three Squeaks much. Obviously that one got chomped a little as well. Why? What have I done?

Probably the comment about crushing her.

I apologize for the offending statements, the tortoise said.

Fearsome Mandibles wiped her face on a few blades of grass, settling on a rock next to Three Squeaks.

We are injured, the first tortoise said, as if Three Squeaks had not watched the whole affair. We must retreat to heal our wounds. The Triumvirate began turning away.

No way, Three Squeaks said. Youre staying here. The tortoises turned their heads, their expressions either completely neutral or outrage. Three Squeaks knew they could defeat him, individually or together. But he had Fearsome Mandibles next to him. If I let you leave now well never get any proper negotiation done. Youre not going to die from a little bleeding he glanced over at Fearsome Mandibles to confirm she hadnt done anything he couldnt see.

Negotiations will continue as proper, the second one said. We will not fail to attend.

What about the ones in our territory? Three Squeaks asked.

Of course, said the third one.

You didnt show up at the one scheduled for a year ago.

A slight mistake, the first said.

Or the one two years before that, Three Squeaks said.

Truly, we must have lost track of time, another said.

Ill lose your track of time! Three Squeaks shouted.

... What? they all tilted their heads, confused.

Honestly, Three Squeaks didnt know what he meant by that either. But he was going to toss some gauze at this Tortoise Triumvirate and finally get them to agree to join the Akrys Alliance. Or at least give a proper reason to remain independent, but he couldnt think of what that would be. Then the whole planet would be unified.

Except for those deep sea freaks. And he didnt use that term lightly, because there were a lot of weird freaking things in the ocean. Plus some deep sea fellows had joined up. It was just extremely difficult to talk to the rest as they kept trying to lure people in and devour them.

-----

Anton understood most cultivators choosing Ascension over Assimilation, and he knew the Scarlet Alliance needed all they could get. Even so, there had been more than a few Grand Elders and others from the One Hundred Stars that had chosen paths of Assimilation not involving starbinding.

That was not something that bothered him either. Indeed, if he only saw people who wanted to mimic him specifically, they would have a startling lack of variety within the sect. He had pushed a few people away from starbinding, or at least cautioned them to consider if there was a better path for them specifically- and they had all expressed gratefulness later. Grand Elder Fodor was one, and he had bound to a concept of logistics and organization. He might not have that much combat power but Anton was actually glad that such options were viable. They had enough warriors. Though he couldn't help but think about the current war, and how more would always help ease the burden.

But a society couldnt get by with only war. They needed to sustain themselves and grow prosperous without, or they would inevitably cause unnecessary suffering and eventually collapse.

There were finally a few individuals who wanted to try Antons method of reaching Assimilation, starbinding. Among them was a woman named Rheia. Relatively talented, at one hundred and fifty years of cultivation to reach the threshold. She was the perfect candidate for what Lev wanted, because her specialty was the control of light. Like everyone in the Order of One Hundred Stars, she had been infused with a love of growth. She was quite happy to work with Lev, once she advanced.

Anton took time to provide her and anyone else on the threshold with some personal guidance. Vincent was doing a very good job with the sect, but it always helped to have multiple perspectives- and for those interested in starbinding in particular, Anton would be the best choice.

He was a little nervous about sharing the power of Ceretos star with more people, but they wouldnt have lasted centuries as part of the Order if they werent decent people. Anton determined it was just his desire to be in control which was stupid, because he still was. They would listen to his orders.

But Anton staying out of the war was related to the very same thing. He was struggling against the desire to do everything himself even if it wouldnt actually be better if he could.

-----

Intel from the eastern border came infrequently, though as they grew more confident in their understanding of the Trigold Clusters formation expertise in the lower realms they were able to use certain communicators more based on technology that shouldnt have messages that could be intercepted.

Infiltration was difficult, as they were quite wary of ships approaching their borders. The Great Queen did perform some infiltrations herself, but while her stealth capabilities were sufficient, she could only gather so much information. Mostly what people said in her presence. They considered using more void ants, but that meant risking them getting caught which might then result in better countermeasures.

There were others, of course. Spies trained to fit in among the enemy, either emulating their cultivation styles or pretending to be something obscure. Direct stealth was sometimes an option, but riskier.

Valuable information was slow to obtain, though it was not as if smaller pieces werent worthwhile in aggregate. Each snippet of troop movements could show a larger picture. They seemed to be flooding back into the systems along the attacking path, fortifying the area and their borders.

Information on their attacking fleets was more difficult. Fewer people seemed to know about things such as the virulent mold and various other attempts to cause widespread population damage.

It was still uncertain what they knew about starbinding. It was unclear if they had predicted Varghese presence or not. That information should only be known to a select few among billions, scattered between many worlds. But a little bit at a time, they were picking up a picture of what their enemies' plans might be. They just hoped their own progress was faster than whatever spies were among them.

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