Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1201

Timothy held his place on the border for a year. Two years. Five. He made a very obvious retreat from the border for one year… and still the Swirling Swarm did not act. It was deeply disturbing that they launched no counterattack. They truly didn’t care.

That was the best result for the Scarlet Alliance, but the most difficult to accept personally. Usually, it was an endless cycle of violence. However, he supposed that for those who committed violence without reason to begin with, being given one wouldn’t necessarily provoke them to action. Usually, the deaths of friends and loved ones would provoke a response… but the Swirling Swarm might not have had any.

Or perhaps they were playing the long game, nursing their wounds to attack in another decade, century, or millennium. Cultivators could wait, even if far fewer would last until the latest of those timelines.

-----

Plans were tossed around to accelerate the rate at which the Scarlet Alliance expanded throughout the midfields. There was simply too much area to defend. On the other hand, expanding too rapidly would create weaknesses everywhere.

“I would love to accomplish something like that,” Catarina explained to the council. “But even if I was given total control of every formation master we have, it would be impossible. We’d have to cover a border ten times our own without any proper foundation.”

“Is it not possible?” Alva asked. “You’re a Domination cultivator now…”

Catarina shook her head. “I think we’ve proven well enough how little that means. Domination cultivators are just slightly stronger people, nothing more. It’s not a matter of simply modifying border worlds, though that would be difficult enough.”

“If the spatial distortion is extended to all corners of the midfields…” Prasad began.

It was Timothy that responded there. “Then we are moments away from an invasion. We’ve have no warning except what we can get across foreign borders. That’s the risk of expanding at all.”

“Then perhaps it would be best,” Zazil said tentatively. “To leave the planets to their own devices.”

“Even if you lack compassion, it is a tactical mistake.” Timothy warned. “We need to know where our borders stand. Letting enemies draw up on us won’t do. And if we confine the Trigold Cluster to friendly territory… let us say that visiting sects wouldn’t be accepted in the territory of others long term. We can make use of the lacking unity among them to protect ourselves. But if they can build up fortifications in the Midfields, then we’re in a problematic state.”

Prospero Vandale spoke up at that. “I have some concerns in that area. If it’s threats we’re talking about, Everheart has his system here… and he’s not becoming any less of a threat.”

That was something the council had to think about seriously. Everheart’s interests had been aligned with them more often than not, but it was somewhat inevitable that they’d come into conflict.

“I don’t want to sound biased here,” Vari commented, “But I think we should leave him. Not because he isn’t a threat… but to minimize how far we have to expand to the north. Unless that would result in some sort of difficulty? Maybe the distorted space couldn’t handle that. I also doubt he’d be approving of us cutting off the system.”

“What would be your reasons to leave him?” Hoyt asked.

“Because aside from him hating the great powers,” Vari explained, “He’s a good target. They send disciples to the system even though they know they will lose more than they gain overall. Even if we assume they are growing slightly overall, they might better make use of those resources elsewhere. I imagine he wouldn’t allow any fleets to settle near his system… though that does leave a significant zone of concern.”

Catarina pondered for a few moments. “Actually, the modifications to our spatial distortion might prove most useful in that regard. We can negotiate with him for however many systems he wants around him… and create direct access from the borders to him, so that those testing their luck don’t have to spend so long in our territory. Or any time at all.”

“Can you explain how that would work?” Prasad asked.

“Not in technical terms, unless you have a decade to learn the theory. But in simplified terms,” Catarina said. “We would be creating the same sort of thing we did with Xankeshan, linking the outer edge of the space to the inner. Except bidirectional. There would be no access to any of our systems through the borders.”

“It seems to me,” Zazil said. “That we would be best served by cutting off all outside access. Except, perhaps, at the southern border from the lower realms. Why not just link border to border? The Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster would make excellent neighbors.”

“We can,” Uzun commented. “Given time and resources, of course. However, completely cutting off access to the Scarlet Midfields would provide incentive for various groups to try to break our spatial distortions. However, if we leave access in consistent and obvious places- not that it’s easy to shift such things around- then the incentive is less. They will likely take the path of least resistance. A full bypass would look like we’re hiding.”

“I agree,” Timothy said. “We’d appear afraid, or that we had something of value to protect.”

“The latter is true,” Catarina said. “In general. But nothing specific. We could use the time, however. A few centuries of relative isolation to train up another Domination cultivator or two? I think that would solve most of our worries.”

“Assuming none of our enemies developed their own Domination cultivators,” Prasad commented.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.

Uzun pulled up some charts that people had seen several times before. “According to all our research, even if we have to account for the Swirling Swarm, it is not expected for the great powers as a whole to develop Domination cultivators so frequently. There was not a single one for many centuries before Koronis. They have been slow to adapt to our unified efforts, so even if they do pick up some things from us… we should still outpace them in that regard.” ṜἈ𐌽Ỗ฿Ëṣ

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“If not,” Catarina said. “We’d be no worse off, and hopefully they would have damaged each other significantly. On the other hand, our sources show that their lack of lower energy is causing some amount of stagnation among their ranks. We might even expect them to slow their growth. We need time to recover regardless.”

“I believe that discussion is moot,” Prasad commented. “Since you indicated it’s impossible to expand the spatial distortion formations fast enough to cover us.”

“About that,” Catarina said. “Nobody has to know, do they?”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“We don’t have to do it,” Catarina explained. “They just have to think we did it.”

“An illusory formation,” Hoyt nodded. “Not a terrible idea, if it’s… sufficiently easier to produce. As long as it doesn’t make them more eager to enter our territory, expecting to reach their long term nemeses.”

“A reflective formation, then,” Catarina commented. “Instead of a bypass. Or rather, the appearance of one that distorts space back upon itself, making it impossible to reach us. We’d need to leave the most heavily trafficked areas by Everheart open, though. Or someone strong enough to figure it out will do so far too early.”

-----

The lower realms were beginning to implement some of the ideas of the Scarlet Alliance on a different scale. The natural barrier of the border between realms kept them safe enough- and even if the upper realms were to try to invade once more they would find themselves outmatched outside of their territory. They were unafraid of Domination cultivators, after all.

But spatial distortions of a sort were still a valuable idea. It fit very well with certain concepts of long distance travel. Combining subspace travel with other movement accelerating options showed great promise.

Anton thought he had heard someone call something ‘warp gates’. The old idea was to have small scale access between points, but expanding it to larger borders was an intriguing idea. It didn’t even have to extend to the scale of a system, just something large enough to catch the necessary flow. A vast number of ships could fly through a flat plane a few tens of kilometers across, which was nothing compared to creating a spatial distortion around the whole Scarlet Alliance.

Of course, it wasn’t necessarily that simple. The Scarlet Alliance used their entire territory as the structure of their grand spatial distortion. It was an energy intensive process that used the particular qualities of Ascension energy to produce optimal results. The methods in place also protected the formations themselves from attack- since any attackers would bypass them.

If not worried about threats, however, creating smaller scale versions was possible. System to system might be sufficient, as a large network of them would allow someone to travel in a matter of days a distance that might have previously taken years for most ships. Though Anton heard there was still some debate about how far such spatial barriers might have to be placed from systems- they would be more efficient outside of the core of gravity wells- and keeping them away from the influence of planets would also be necessary for stability.

Even small fluctuations could be an issue, so measurements would need to be made, and tests conducted. If all went well, the lower realms would be much more connected. It would even allow Anton to reach the border in a very short time, if necessary. He never quite knew what people were doing up there in the upper realms, stomping about.

Though his movements were restricted, Anton believed he would have been satisfied sticking to his territory in the lower realms even if he were able to purge himself of the restrictions of Fleeting Youth. Even if he was able to carve out the core of his growth and still maintain sufficient power… he wasn’t actually certain he would benefit from entering the upper realms. Except to visit, of course.

It was a pretty serious matter to give up ascension- and reincarnation, but his future lives weren’t going to bother him in this one. Technically, he probably could ascend. He’d just be killed by the energy around him, which kind of made it pointless. Learning to fool it… wouldn’t improve his combat prowess in the upper realms. But he could actually set foot on Xankeshan, instead of watching video. Even if he had experienced three dimensional replications of some of the places, it left out necessary sensations of actually being somewhere.

It was impossible to replicate the look and feel of a place, including the energy, without actually replicating the whole thing. A recording could only go so far. Energy scans were good at sensing what reached one particular point of observation, but little more.

-----

There was absolutely nothing important for Anton to do on Aipra, which was precisely why he wanted to be there. He was just a very fancy tourist, nothing more.

Nalini was waiting for him when he arrived- even if he hadn’t sent a message ahead, his approach would have been obvious. The other archer was used to protecting the subspace dwelling planet, so either she or one of the others would have clocked Anton even if he limited his presence.

“It’s so different,” Anton commented. The planet was still dark- on the outside. However, its population had grown at least triple over the past centuries. That might not seem like much, given how truly long it had been, but considering they were in a position of declining population due to lack of resources, it was a vast improvement. Furthermore, the inside of the planet was practically overflowing with energy- usually mixed with technology. “I don’t know how you all managed it, with practically no incoming energy.”

“You forgot the regular infusions of distortion beasts,” Nalini explained. “That’s actually where we get the most natural energy.” Her tone had shifted. Rather than thinking of them as existential threats… she seemed more to consider them as resources.

“They keep coming?” Anton asked.

“They don’t know that the ones before them died. Or don’t care,” Nalini shrugged.

“I see,” Anton said. “So, when are you reaching Unity?”

Nalini threw back her head, laughing. “Just like that, huh? You think it’s so easy?”

“I know you’re already most of the way there. I don’t mean just you, either. I mean the planet. Aipra might have been the best candidate from the beginning,” Anton explained. “How could you have survived, otherwise? However, I suppose it might be difficult for you to choose who would be first to advance. They would have the greatest risk.”

“Really?” Nalini asked. “Why do you say so?”

“Wouldn’t they guide all others who came after?” Anton asked. “It is not as if you would cease to share your energy, should you advance. So even that would be easier. And your planet would suddenly become strangely more efficient.”

“Perhaps that may be so,” Nalini agreed. “Now then, why are you here?”

Anton wasn’t going to insult the people by offering once more to bring the planet back int normal space. They were already members of the Lower Realms Alliance… just a more ‘remote’ planet. “I’m just here to do nothing at all.” And if he could guide others in their cultivation even a bit while he did nothing? That sounded like a pleasant vacation to him. If only he could find an excuse to bring Bear Hug or Three Squeaks with him everywhere.