Things had finally settled down enough on the western border that Velvet felt safe beginning her own infiltration efforts. At least, as safe as such a thing could be. Going into a region where everyone was enemies, even if they werent actively at war, was always a risk. Velvet made certain she had so alternatives to capture, just in case.
A long term infiltration mission ant she couldnt simply slip around unnoticed. It was impossible to stay concealed for months or years. But there were better options. She just had to look like she belonged. The success rate of such a thing depended on the particular training of those in the Exalted Quadrant, and of course her own abilities.
Her intended disguise was as a mber of the Citadel of Exalted Light. A close fiction would be more effective than a vast difference in her aura. The One Hundred Stars had the potential to make use of light, and her own training had resulted in so proficiency in that area. Of course, she would be missing specific techniques to fit in, but that would only be relevant if she displayed her fighting ability. At that point, it would likely be too late. Even if the Exalted Quadrant didnt work as a coordinated whole at all tis, they could at least be incentivized to hunt her down if they thought she was worth it. Like what happened with Chikere though the swordmaster had gotten quite a bit further into their territory without issues than expected. Then again, that could have been a trap.
Ultimately, Velvet found the risks acceptable. She wasnt intending to delve deep into the hearts of sects. It was far too early for such a thing. No, she just wanted to determine the overall movents of the Exalted Quadrant. Especially with relation to the Scarlet Midfields, because while they were certainly enemies how soon they would act on such a thing was a mystery. Were plans already in motion? Would it be decades? Centuries? Or was the damage caused so minor that they barely even registered their existence? The last one seed unlikely, given theyd killed an Augntation cultivator and ssed up a long term infiltration of the Harmonious Citadel but it was hard to say how many millennia long plots such a juggernaut would have.
She would take her ti, traveling via their normal routes on their ships to arouse the least suspicion about soone appearing from nowhere. All she had to do was pass a few border worlds that might be more suspicious. Shed done the sa in the Trigold Cluster, and while they certainly didnt operate in the sa manner overall humans kept to the sa tendencies, and there were various ways to exploit their lapses in attention.
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The passage of several springs resulted in the significant expansion of the Lower Plains Coalitions territory. Their numbers more than doubled, not rely because of births but also more individuals joining from surrounding groups. They maintained the sa core, with erkats, warthogs, eagles, and a small number of hippopotamus.
Along with growth in numbers, the strongest individuals among them also reached greater heights that most of them hadnt witnessed. From Antons perspective they were still barely beginning their cultivation journey but they slowly began to step into the Spirit Building stage. Even the best among them seed a bit slow to advance- but there were various factors at play that might result in that.
First was that the translation of human cultivation techniques to work for them was imperfect. Likewise, the natural energy in the area wasnt lacking, but it was far behind the developed levels of Ceretos and their allies. Finally, they were also basically the first generation of cultivators. While there had been so amount of energy ingested by previous generations of erkats and the like, active participation in cultivation was basically brand new. Especially for the erkats, who werent able to out-compete stronger animals to obtain that growth.
It wasnt much of a surprise to Anton that Three Squeaks had been the first to reach Spirit Building. He was rather partial to his disciple after all. He both consciously and unconsciously spent more ti training Three Squeaks, so surpassing Deep Purr wasnt that odd, even with the other erkat now learning from Ty.
If hed been betting on the second place, it would have probably been Contented Grunt. The hippo was simply capable of obtaining more resources on her own, and she had the initiative. Echoing Cry would have been high on the list as well. And again, Deep Purr wasnt a poor choice with a proper instructor focused on him. Forceful Snort was a tough warthog as well, so he could have been the next choice. Even the erkat Sustained Chittering worked hard.
So it was a bit of a surprise when ep showed up with his cultivation at the eleventh star. The old erkat didnt even make ntion of it, simply coming up out of the burrow to tell Anton about how well so roots were growing. Anton was glad hed been giving lectures on Spirit Building, because the writing system was still being developed.
Theyd taken to the idea of writing rather quickly, as they understood the value of passing knowledge between people when one wasnt around. Anton was willing to teach the human thods of writing, but that was tied to their own languages so it was a slower process for most. Only Three Squeaks and Echoing Cry really devoted themselves to that.
On the matter of Echoing Cry he was still at the peak of Body Tempering, but not from lack of effort. Instead, hed been making sure to perfect his body as much as possible, knowing that he would have little opportunity to enhance it for the first half of Spirit Building. It was more energy intensive to go off of the predetermined course to correct flaws in the body, and the modified Soaring Air Sects cultivation thod paralleled the One Hundred Stars in that regard.
The last years had not been exactly peaceful, but there were no major threats to the coalition. Anton couldnt be certain about the next ones, however, given their expanding territory. Beasts lacking sapience couldnt stand against the coordination and focused cultivation of the coalition, but they were soon approaching possible conflict points with the Upper Plains Pride and even the Kapok Coalition. Just because the second group of lions had been friendly when they were far away didnt an they would accept others intruding into their territory. That was why the coalition was focused on expansions in other directions, more south and east using a river to their west as a natural boundary- for the most part. The hippos did tend to count the west side of the river as their territory, but not far from it.
If they continued expanding at the sa rate to the east and around the kapok coalition, they could transition from the plains closer to jungle territory. That would be another points of difficulty, even if they avoided conflicts with other sapients up to that point.
anwhile, Anton knew that the Great Queens efforts with the insects of that sa are were going well. Anton might be called upon to help with other sapients soon- the Great Queen couldnt vocalize, and they might not be patient enough to realize her signs were intentional. Beyond that, Anton also knew that the Great Queen was in the midst of properly establishing the first colony of void ants. She couldnt be everywhere at once, of course, so having subordinates who could assist her would be useful. Though most of them would likely linger below the higher level of sapience at the current natural energy levels of the planet, it was simple enough for her to raise a few officers to act in a manner she wished.
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Just because Anton was located on Aipra most of the ti didnt an he wasnt keeping track of other places. He got regular reports from Varghese and the people of Poriza. Their systems were close enough to support each other, though except for a small number of ships from the outside travel was slow even over a small number of lightyears. Then again, despite it being smaller on the galactic scale, simply being able to cover multiple lightyears in a matter of weeks or months was a significant accomplishnt.
Less regular, but all the more precious for it, were reports from Aipra. The planet locked in subspace had been quite successful with their restructuring. Which is to say, several seemingly small advancents in efficiency had freed up enough of their workforce to help them develop larger improvents. Digging through the ground that was mostly permafrost was tough business, but it allowed them more space where they could trap precious heat. Likewise, the growth of a small number of plants introduced that could thrive in the harsh conditions were helping develop the natural energy of the planet so that all could be sowhat stronger.
It was unlikely that Aipra would ever be a pleasant place to live. The semi-regular distortion beast attacks were one of the larger reasons that would be impossible but they had various defenders to deal with those crises. They had survived as they were for centuries, so they should continue to last longer.
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Watching the awkward Agom train with the blade, Chikere often wanted to call out to her. To tell her that was not how she was supposed to do sothing. But that was not her job. She was not a swordmaster, so what qualifications did she have? Besides, Chidi was taking on that job just fine. The young man- she was still multiple tis his age so he was young despite living more than a century- provided different instruction than she might have to the wolf.
When she made a clumsy swing, he would ask, Did that feel right?
Chikere hadnt always been direct in her criticisms. She understood the value of a student realizing mistakes. But Chidis questions were genuine. Agom was unable to replicate human swordsmanship so her feedback on whether sothing was good or not was important. And getting things wrong was just one step in the process of being right.
Even so, Chikeres long training and instincts told her certain moves were incorrect. It was, in a way, like watching the Limitless Edge Sect. Thinking about that was highly uncomfortable. Experienced combatants that acted like amateurs, even to the point of death. And yet that woman had fought in a similar manner. It made her nearly impossible to predict and so of the moves might even have been better. Though they certainly didnt feel like they should have been.
It wasnt simply a matter of style. Chikere studied the styles of every enemy she ca across, taking the best of what they had to integrate into her own abilities. That was normal and natural. But what the Limitless Edge did was different. They didnt just have alternate styles, but instead eschewed the very fundantals of swordsmanship. Perhaps that was what made Chikere feel so wrong about it.
But that also brought to her mind a question. Were the agreed upon fundantals truly perfect? Certainly, they were widespread throughout the upper and lower realms but ultimately, she had done very little questioning of those sa fundantals. She had seen they worked, and so that had been it.
Still, no matter how much her style should have worked it didnt. She completely failed to defeat the Limitless Edge. She didnt know what there was to learn from their actions that so completely went against her instincts. Maybe that was why she was broken. Or rather, it might have been one of the things that caused her to be broken.
One of the other things had been a lack of cute things holding swords, but that damage was rapidly being repaired. The erkat. Agom, right in front of her. Even that little warthog had four swords, even thought they might look to uneducated people like they were tusks. Yes, all of those were good things.
As for everything else Chikere didnt know if she could ever wield a sword again, but if she did it would be different sohow. It was just that she failed to comprehend how every ti she thought about it.
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