When Abder’s business with Draza drew to a close, the rchant held him for just a mont longer. Privacy was provided for business dealings, augnted by formations to protect against people snooping.
“You are aware that people are following you?” Draza asked. “My people noticed so watchers lingering about.”
“I’ve noticed,” Abder confird. “I’m hoping to figure out what their goals are without ending up in danger.”
“Can you handle them?”
Abder shrugged. “I either can or I can’t. If sothing happens to , you know who to watch out for. Recently, they seem to have grown bold. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I could give to the peacekeepers just yet. Following soone around in public is rude and suggestive of ill motives, but difficult to prevent.”
“With Anton gone… things will be more dangerous.”
In full agreent, Abder nodded. “We have to show we can take care of ourselves. Otherwise, we’re just back to the collapsing civilization we had when he first appeared. Except with more mushrooms.”
The mushroom comnt was just that. They had far more food options now than they used to… but for a ti, that had been the largest impact everyone saw because they could grow them pretty much anywhere.
Not wanting to delay any further, Abder moved on. He didn’t wish to draw any trouble to his friends and allies, but in turn he needed to ensure their safety. It was unlikely the people following him would be surprised where he went, and attacking when he was surrounded by other cultivators was far less likely. Thus, he shouldn’t really be bringing any risk with him.
-----
The Gathering had a longer na that the current Abder thought rang of false humility or self-condescension, so he was happy to call his people what they naturally defaulted to anyway. The Gathering of the Lowly was a na filled with regret, even if it was nad with good intentions.
It was a true gathering of people, drawn from different districts into one part of the city. The buildings were built tall, like others under the protective do. Now that they had better ways to carve out stone, they used the material they removed to build up while they went down at the sa ti. The Gathering didn’t stand out from its surroundings, however. At most the heights were slightly different from the other buildings in the sa district, though personally Abder thought the quality was higher.
Ultimately, it was sothing like a sect compound without walls. That was a sign of trust and inclusion… and an ultimate concession to the fact that they could not fully control their own space. The Twisting Spike Sect had previously possessed the strongest walls, in addition to those separating the districts, but most of those had been brought down as they served little to no purpose except separating people.
Very few others in The Gathering practiced advanced body tempering like Abder. In fact, it was difficult to find more than a handful who practiced the sa cultivation thods. That was in part because they were not terribly nurous- a few hundred in all- with wide access to different thods.
The natural energy in their surroundings was cultivated to grow strong, though they didn’t contain it with formations. It was a disadvantage to them in so ways, but it represented hope for the future. Others had also been open at least until the Alliance withdrew, when they began to put up barriers. They could have their own energy… but Abder thought it would lose them friends.
Their greatest source of life was in fact fungus. They didn’t need to eat all of them, but having them growing throughout the buildings with everything else that took minimal space lessened the sense of lifelessness that the dense stone otherwise possessed. That was sothing difficult for Moturn to get away from, as their environnt was a harsh one. But they chose to wrestle with it to grow strong. So grew discouraged and tried to make their way to New Ibbore, and Abder didn’t bla them, but he was born on Moturn and really wanted it to be the best it could be. It wasn’t short on natural energy, at least- though it was a delicate balance how much could be let in from outside the barrier.
Though Abder minimized his own practice of using energy, he could feel the various different kinds the disciples used. He made his way through them, feeling different elents. Fire and light to fight off the darkness, while others embraced it. So walked the path of weapons, studying their implents in isolation or together in their reinforced courtyards.
Abder made sure to stop and speak to everyone he could. Many were forrly from the streets, and all who beca part of The Gathering had great difficulties in their past- though that was just humanity in general. The insights he could provide into cultivation were less important than the interactions he had. Having heard the story of Vincent who was the branch head of there Order of One Hundred Stars on Ceretos, Abder didn’t think he was anywhere close to that level of connection even with far fewer disciples, but he did his best.
His goal was ultimately the library, which possessed not only a great number of tos and scrolls but also sothing else- a repository of knowledge. Technology, apparently. Very few of the locals knew how it worked to any significant degree, aside from basic operation. Thus, they treated it very carefully. It had copies of pretty much every physical piece of information they possessed, plus more.
It even had the ability to search for certain topics, finding centuries of insights and guidance from cultivators experienced in many of the styles they currently practiced. It was important… but not unique. Anton even said it wasn’t that valuable- except that it would take ti to replace. Even Moturn had a few, so The Gathering shouldn’t be envied for it… but Abder could see the Twisting Spike Sect might want it if they wanted to return to their monopolization of knowledge and power.
Stolen novel; please report.
But they wouldn’t be following him to know that. Even if the exact location wasn’t public, nothing would be revealed to the watchers just because Abder visited here. His reasons were fairly simple, just making so notes about his future acquisitions. He’d also find those who requested the styles so they could know that sothing was coming.
Then he’d take the ti to watch so of the recorded guidance himself- video lessons were one of the most helpful for cultivation. Abder could watch Nthanda’s guidance or so of the others who had undergone various levels of advanced body tempering. There were various different displays, so he wouldn’t be monopolizing the repository. Sustainable food production was the most necessary, but the repositories were probably the second best thing that the Alliance had brought.
Sotis Abder would stay the ‘night’ at The Gathering, but he had his own quarters elsewhere for when he wanted so privacy. Not that they were much more than a roof over his head- and even that wasn’t necessary. Just like there wasn’t a real night and day cycle, there wasn’t any weather to worry about. Aside from the massive storms outside the barrier, but everyone did their best to ignore those if they could.
-----
It was a week before anyone actually did anything. Abder had attempted to covertly contact those he could trust, but he didn’t learn much more about motivation before that ti. Eventually, so of those following Abder revealed themselves- though they did not approach.
Instead, they effectively herded him in a particular direction. He went along with it just so he could see what would happen- and to keep up the facade that he hadn’t noticed the others in hiding. He was wary of entering any sort of formation that might hide a use of energy, but he was ultimately led to the edge of the city, his paths of retreat seemingly cut off.
“Why did you lead here?” Abder asked. “We can speak anywhere, if privacy was what you wanted.”
He had serious doubts about that… but it was better to hope for the best. Perhaps they knew sothing and simply intended to warn him… though the leaking killing intent didn’t make him particularly optimistic about that.
n and won began to step out of the shadows around him. None of them were stronger than Abder individually, but he began to think he might have gotten in over his head. Perhaps he should have been more proactive.
“Do it,” one of the n said, gesturing to another. A needle flew towards Abder. He twisted his body, but couldn’t avoid its speed. That was too bad, because he hadn’t wished to display his durability so easily. The needle struck his body without puncturing, even amplified by natural energy. “Good. It provoked no reaction.”
Abder frowned. Was sothing more supposed to happen? Had he missed a poison? Fortunately, the man clarified things for him a mont later.
“You are a troubleso issue,” the man said. “But it seems your guardian is truly gone. Now we can remove you from the picture. It should be fairly easy to defeat a pacifist.”
There were several things wrong with what the man said. First of all, Anton absolutely had the acuity to tell if an attack was going to hurt him- though Abder did believe Anton was truly away so that didn’t really help him. He wasn’t a pacifist, though. He didn’t have much of an opportunity to make that case, however, as he was soon sward by needles, throwing daggers, and even spears.
So of the attackers had insights into puncturing that allowed them to bypass his skin. Fortunately, Abder wasn’t relying on that as his only defensive layer. He didn’t like being stabbed directly in the heart, but his internals were also quite durable.
Getting away with just a few bleeding wounds against over a dozen attackers seed like a good start, but Abder didn’t have an opportunity to counterattack. Perhaps he could or should have thrown their own weapons back at them, but it wouldn’t have been that effective.
He imdiately thought to flee, but with the streets blocked and cultivators standing on nearby rooftops, they converged on him from all directions- except the edge of the city itself. Abder made his best use of his training to entangle his opponents as they stabbed with various thin weapons, driving him back. He caught a pair of weapons in his hands, twisting the tal to the point of uselessness past their augnting natural energy, but others struck his body.
If they didn’t do any damage, he could withstand endless attacks as he wasn’t expending anything to resist. However, he also couldn’t concentrate his defenses against particularly strong attacks. The best he could do was avoid or deflect them.
Abder shoved a few cultivators into their allies, sending them tumbling dozens of ters down the street. He could and would fight, but there were too many enemies and he was pressed up against the barrier. He needed to move away but…
It was already too late. More attacks ca, but they were rely a distraction. While he was dealing with most of the attackers, several others pulled out strange crystal devices, which suddenly activated with a massive amount of natural energy.
He was surrounded by a box of energy he couldn’t break through. He struck several tis, using techniques for getting the most montum in a tight space. The energy of the box surrounding him continued to grow. Abder crossed his arms in front of him, prepared to be crushed or burned but he wasn’t prepared for what actually happened. The barrier behind him opened, and the box snapped towards him.
He wasn’t damaged, but the power did push him back… into the outside. The barrier reford instantly- which was actually a relief, because a man sized hole could potentially destroy the whole city. Abder couldn’t believe they would be so reckless. What if sothing had gone wrong?
Unfortunately, he couldn’t say anything to him because he was busy dealing with... everything. Endless winds, heat, and pressure. Abder imdiately fell to his knees, his wounds burning with acidity and heat.
His training had been going well, he thought. Yet here he was, about to die to his ho planet. His eardrums ruptured, and he squeezed shut his eyes and pinched his nose, hudding to protect himself as much as he could. It was a sha he wasn’t as strong as Nthanda. She had actually co to a place like this to train… but he knew he wasn’t ready for what she’d done. He could barely even keep his body intact.
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