The Sergeant was feeling much better about her mission, after having spent a whole year without being compromised twice. And being able to openly visit Anishka made everything easier. Such as the transition to another location. It would have been possible to sneak onto another ship going towards the poles, but that would have required waiting around in the proper location for a long ti. And she would have had a difficult ti finding Anishkas location in such a situation, except for the particular circumstances they were in.
Specifically, the Northern Glacier Sect was located exactly where one would expect, and with as much population and traffic as could be expected. Which was to say, they had a sizable population of cultivators making up their sect and few other permanent residents.
Everything was cold. The area was cold. The people were cold. Their energy was cold.
The only thing that ward the Sergeant up was nibbling on Anishkas energy, unless she was training- which was kind of the whole point of her being in the area. If only Patka were around, she was doing a good job of learning the basics of cultivation, and thus was half fire. But sadly, she had not been able to co with them. The Northern Glacier Sect was willing to accept a visitor from Ceretos, but not so random peasant from their own planet.
Technically, they didnt say peasant- but the Sergeant knew what people were thinking. And for an ant coming from a society with a defined group of queens, the local class structures were both insulting and inefficient. That might put Ekict on the uninhabitable list.
There wasnt really much for the Sergeant to do, so she put up with the freezing cold and chomped on people energy. Cold. Cold. Cold. Existential. Cold.
Wait what was that one?
The Sergeant focused on the feeling. She had been carefully inspecting the upper echelon of the sect. The energy was a bit strong for her, so she wasnt digesting it. She went back just in case.
Her initial impression hadnt been wrong. There was an icy tint over the existential uncertainty, but the flavor was quite clear. It reminded her of nothing she had ever tasted. But was sohow familiar. What was it? And why was it so potent?
This wasnt the first odd source of energy. There was the nothingness and one more thing while she was in Arioron. An impossibly powerful taste that shed convinced herself was a mistake both tis, given how far apart they were. This could be the third mistake. But it was easily replicable.
Who was this person? A young woman. Too young, for her strength. Except that was never true. Human cultivators had the possibility to grow with frightening speed on occasion, based on natural talent and circumstances. This, then, should be the sa.
But it was still highly suspect. How could she find out more? Obviously it was too risky to ask Anishka for information. That would only lead to many questions, and people looking for answers that couldnt be given along with danger for the young woman.
She had to think. Who could she follow, to learn this information? Then she rembered sothing. Sothing very human, yet so useful shed forgotten. Writing. Humans did that, and she even knew how to read it. Mostly. She hadnt thought she would be sent off on a spy mission, and it wasnt necessary around the colony.
So, written records. Those would have to exist- Ekict didnt have technology, like everywhere normal. Though many sects kept their records apart from technology anyway. That gave her a goal, and it only took a day of wandering the overly large halls while freezing her lower limbs off. But fortunately, her durability had grown during her mission, possibly due to eating such powerful energy. And that wasnt counting the three anomalies. A little bit of cold wouldnt actually kill her, which was a serious concern if she had been a normal ant.
She found the records, and proceeded to walk under the door. It almost worked, too. But a formation extended beyond the door itself. Chewing through it didnt work. It replenished the damage too quickly. If the Sergeant was bigger and stronger no, that wouldnt work. The gap was really quite small. Stronger, then, without growing larger. That gave her a goal, though she wasnt sure if she could accomplish it.
-----
Shutoll. Chidi rembered the great relief he had felt upon reaching it. That relief didnt last long, however.
Not because the city was compromised, or anything of that nature. No, because even as Captain Tiras was giving reports to the local leadership with Chidi waiting out in the hall, Chikere decided she was done holding back with training.
It was silly of him to ever imagine Chikere cutting a city in half. She didnt even scratch the walls as she ca for him, avoiding all collateral damage if the strings holding his storage bag didnt count. Which for her, they must not have.
That was fair enough, because she wouldnt let sothing stop her attacks. On the other hand, Chidi was fairly confident that the grandmaster could maneuver her weapon around any obstruction without slowing. That was what it felt like every ti his sword ca up to block, or parry, or anything.
Then Chidi had to give a report while covered in blood- not dripping, because his wounds were stitched up. But he didnt have ti to clean.
We really need to step this up, you know, Chikere comnted afterwards. Im not saying youre learning slow. But if you want to achieve your stated goal of defeating Rakiya in twenty-five years, we cant afford to waste ti.
That was your goal, Chidi said.
Even more important, then.
He would have complained, but everything hurt and he did want to be strong. Anything to let him sort through his actions to conclusively determine whether everything had been a big mistake.
-----
Even at his age, or perhaps especially at his age, Anton needed to take so ti for himself. Hed spend one lifeti focused on others, and he couldnt say that his second had been all that different. But he still recognized so difference. Perhaps it was just that he was more capable of doing what he thought he should be able to do. He hadnt dealt well with getting old.
Now, when he was away from a bound star he was weaker than normal. That hadnt proved disastrous in the brief battle involving Shrenn and Tenouna, but the sibling planets could have certainly caused him to be in real danger had either focused on him for so reason. Even though he considered himself above Life Transformation cultivators, he was no so far ahead of them that the difference could be ignored. Outside of the proper radius of one of his stars, at least.
For his own sake, he had taken the relatively short hop over to Azun. Inistra was only a few systems over, turning the trip from a lengthy process to a short vacation asured in weeks on the top end. His ability to move through the void between stars was always improving, especially having traveled four hundred lightyears and back, then out again. Even if he hadnt necessarily been in all of the intervening space, it was a truly unfathomable distance that ant nothing to him except for that it was between systems. The sa was not true of travel in other ways, with roads built on the hard work of those who ca before.
Star roads. There was a thought. Not sothing he would actually get much done with, of course, but perhaps soone else could determine if there was a viable concept there. Though the various thods they had worked far better than he could have anticipated even when he was in Life Transformation. Assimilation was a big leap forward.
Azun was a great comfort. It was a roaring fire in winter, a heavy blanket coating him. And, yes, he understood that such a fire could overwhelm him and turn him to ash. The weight of the neutron star could crush him with himself. But the sa was true for many interactions Anton was involved with on the other side. He simply trusted that it would not do such to him, as he avoided doing to others. Though of course, Azun probably didnt think or have will.
Anton couldnt be completely certain of that, even if he hadnt seen any real signs of it from Azun or any other star. Because anything of such vast power could quite possibly have a consciousness he was unable to understand. If so, Anton was glad it did not mind sharing a little bit of itself.
He reveled in the fire and weight, as well as the magnetism which was so powerful as to reveal how it affected anything with the slightest notion that it was magnetic, the field affect it all with so much vigor that his clothes felt like tal weights holding him back. But as he moved around through it, he felt how it resisted the motion and cataloged insights to share with Varghese. Anton wanted to bring the young man to this place so day, but he would have to be able to survive the trip. Anton could manage most of that, but to be safe it was better if he was stronger. And perhaps facing the overwhelming power of it would have the opposite effect, if he was not ready. So people were discouraged by what they felt they could not reach. Anton had never been the sort, and now he was not truly convinced there was any height he couldnt reach.
Even if Domination was another order of magnitude beyond his comprehension, he could still envision reaching such a level of power at so point in the future. Assuming he lived that long. He was no longer considering that as a factor in anything he did, but it was an important point. He was fairly certain that his lifespan was growing and depleting at similar rates, or perhaps expired but sohow not falling over the threshold. The latter seed more unlikely, but he wasnt truly sure.
He should set up a farm. The thought went through Antons mind anything he was not on a farm, admittedly. But it was particularly ridiculous where he was. Azun wasnt exactly a good source of anything but gravity, and it didnt have planets anyway. Unless he could get sothing to grow in space, orbiting around the star
But Anton was not a creator of life. Even selective breeding of plants didnt reveal new traits, only recombining what was already possible. Anything beyond that was not in Antons wheelhouse. But should he stumble across sothing so miraculous, he would consider putting so here.
-----
Though there were no ssages going off planet at the mont, Chidi still gave one to be delivered should the ti co. It had alternated between asking his parents for rescue and telling them he was fine and without worry. Ultimately, he just noted that he was alive along with Aconite.
He was unsure if the ssage would reach them. Technically, he didnt even know they were alive- he just believe they would be, despite intending to go up against saints. And if they could plan to take down Augntation cultivators while only in Intregration, couldnt he do the sa thing? It was just he wouldnt even be peak Life Transformation in twenty-five years. In fact, he might not even be early Life Transformation. Did Chikere not rember how long it took? If he recalled correctly, she took around the full century that was the minimum training ti of those from Ceretos. Though information on her was often sparse, her ascension had not been subtle.
All of those thoughts were for later. Training, too. For now, he needed to enjoy the small break that Chikeres absence provided, before he had to contribute to missions for Shutoll. They would still be scouting, of course, but Chidi wasnt sure if he would be part of the sa squad, or what would happen with any of the others. He would still help train anyone who wanted it while they were together, if either side was up for it.
How do you feel about all of this, Aconite? Chidi asked. Weve survived. For now, at least.
And we will continue to survive, she declared. We cannot leave, not without considering our ability to engage in space combat, but I also do not think we must. This is what you wanted, a good tempering ground.
It is, isnt it? Chidi sighed. I wish it didnt co with so much death. On our side, of course. Though he wasnt fully comfortable with the enemies hed slain either. He had to do it to survive, but aside from a few of them, were the Harmonious Citadel disciples really here by choice? Even more reason to kill those leading them. But he was not going to hold back in a combat situation, especially not with how close things had already been.
Reviews
All reviews (0)