Elder Cultivator

When the time came, Matousek was the first to go- at least among the Order. It was expected, as Matousek was one of the oldest… and had been in mid Life Transformation when Anton joined the Order. The only others who might have gone first had perished in battle.

The loss of a Grand Elder was a significant change for the Order, and it was a serious loss for the Order… but also a big step forward. Matousek arranged everything ahead of time, and it didn’t come as a surprise. Not like Rahayu, who had ascended in the midst of battle.

Even so, Matousek’s ascension felt very much like a death. It was at the minimum a permanent departure from life as it had been known. The details about what happened after ascension were still incomplete as far as the Order or any continental force was concerned. This was the Order’s very first ascension, but other powerful sects had some in the past… but seemed to lack a way to communicate. Unless the upper realms were so cutthroat that they had been instantly eliminated, but while that was a possibility it would be strange that none succeeded.

Of course, methods to communicate easily at long distance had been lost in the past. Or rather, the repeated invasions certainly had the intent to keep the continents set back from advancing too far and working together in unity. That was just one cycle they knew about, but the bare minimum of information from before that made them assume that all lost information was intentional on some level.

There had been a moment of tension after Matousek’s ascension- which was impossible to doubt as being successful. Communication plates were available, but no message was received. Not that they had expected much. The fact that they worked pretty much anywhere on their own world was already impressive, but there were many possibilities for them not working. Even the Exalted Archipelago seemed to take time to get a message transferred to them from the upper realms, and they had a well established link. It was also uncertain whether ascension was actually instant, or took time.

That information had not been retrieved from any in the Exalted Archipelago, as during the war it had not been deemed top priority… and afterwards it seemed the various groups were some combination of unwilling or unable to share more. The Worthy Shore Society was quite open with sharing what they could, within whatever rules remained upon them. And though they had an advantage in terms of information exchange, they were still quite interested in learning about things the continent knew. They seemed especially interested in Everheart’s works, though they never actually admitted to it.

-----

Anton looked up into the sky. He knew there was a fairly reasonable probability that he was looking in the wrong direction for Matousek, but simple convenience said that the upper realms were ‘up’, even if the nature of living on a globe made that basically arbitrary. Still, the invasion had come from the skies, so there was some relation to physical space.

He’d now personally witnessed two ascensions. Rahayu was the first, and now Matousek. There had been other ascensions about the continent, but not all were predictable nor available for public viewing. There were certain levels of trust built up between different sects, but they weren’t completely open with each other in as a general rule. The Order had allowed some trusted individuals to witness Matousek’s ascension, but only long term allies.

Personally, Anton couldn’t help but be disappointed. Not that Matousek had chosen to ascend- that was the ultimate goal of many cultivators, the next step on the path. Matousek had made sure that there were no immediate risks to the Order from the loss. Anton was disappointed not with Matousek but himself. Or at least, his own prospects.

Truthfully, if given the chance to ascend he was not sure he would take it. The power was tempting, but the inability to affect the world he’d spend so much time supporting, and all of the people in it… that was the problem. And though there was some indication that there were ways to affect their world’s future after ascension, it was not easy nor guaranteed.

Seeing another ascension, not so violent as Rahayu’s but equally natural, Anton knew that it was the proper path. Sometimes taking a more difficult route resulted in benefits… but sometimes, it was simply more difficult because it was the wrong way to do something. He had the intuitive sense that ascension was the natural progression of cultivation beyond Life Transformation. And he found himself no closer to figuring out something for himself. And even thinking about it was disheartening, because it felt greedy. Seeking more power, living longer… when he had already lived a full life nearly eight years prior.

Ultimately those feelings were born from frustration, like when his cultivation had been stuck at the previous Prime Tempering. Cultivation became ever slower, and though it was natural he didn’t like feeling his limits. That was the case even before he became a cultivator. If someone told him he couldn’t do something, he would rather prove them wrong. Can’t hunt at a hundred? He’d go out into a snowstorm and drag back a deer. Unpredictable consequences notwithstanding, he’d succeeded.

He just wondered if he might do more good for the world by not trying and instead devoting that time to what he could do now. Teaching… besides archery, few needed him for anything specific. But doing his best to promote and maintain peace among the various sects, clans, and cities- between the continents and to the Exalted Archipelago- that was something that had a great impact, even if it felt like climbing up a mountain of scree constantly causing him to slip down. Two steps forward and three back.

Yet he was reasonably confident that he could find an alternative to ascension given time. Not as confident as Catarina was in ascending herself, however. He can’t believe she’d picked a specific year for her ascension, as if she weren’t still ten stars away. Scheduling such an ethereal event was… exactly like her.

“Timothy and I will be going together, of course,” Catarina explained to Anton. “I intend to keep us together… I’d rather not have us scattered who knows where across the boundless ‘upper realms’.”

“You really want to go?” Anton had asked.

“Of course. I have no intention to stop at some arbitrary limit of cultivation. And there should be much to learn beyond here. I might even meet Everheart.”

“That sounds like a mistake,” Anton laughed. “Plus, he’s dead.”

“Says who?” Catarina asked.

“The Exalted Archipelago has let some information on that slip through. Some sort of combined effort to eradicate him. Plus, he admitted it would happen himself.”

“And you’re just going to trust that?” She grinned. “Coming from him? Besides, I’m sure he left some interesting things about regardless. And I can’t set up an intra-realm communication method without being on the other end.”

“You can do that?”

She shrugged, “Not yet. But I have two decades. Plus a few years.”

“I’m not going to try to stop you from ascending, but have you considered the effects on people here?”

“Who? Other formation masters will have access to what I have learned. I’m not needed for everything. And as I noted, Timothy will be coming with me. It’s not like we… have any children.”

Anton nodded. After a certain amount of time it had become clear to him that it wasn’t that they had chosen not to have any children, but that they could not. And there wasn’t a simple solution either. There were miraculous medicines that cultivators had access to, and while it might have been impossible for them to obtain at some prior point, there was basically nothing in the world they couldn’t get their hands on. Including obscure or completely new formation techniques. So it seemed to be impossible… at least with the knowledge available in their world. Another motivation, though they would have certainly chosen to ascend regardless.

-----

There had been a series of duels between Anton and Kseniya that proved she was pulling ahead in strength. That didn’t discourage Anton, however. After all, he didn’t have the intention to be the best archer in the world… or the one who was best at solo combat, at least. He was focusing more and more on his wide area techniques, including extending multiple strands of his perception over long distances. Where previously he could stretch a narrow slice of his senses to the distance of a hundred kilometers, now he could have four separate ones, as long as they were vaguely in the same direction. Or he could maintain two in completely opposite directions at that distance, focusing on two separate individuals or close groups. And as things got closer, he began to be limited not by his perception but simply how many energy bows he could handle… which was over a dozen, or several times that if he was willing to sacrifice power and speed- only useful if he were to target much weaker cultivators.

Whenever the next war came, anyone who had to contend with Anton would do poorly if they overestimated the amount of damage he could do to their ranks as a whole, even if he could only match a more modest amount of Life Transformation cultivators- from one to a few depending on the individuals involved. He didn’t like shooting down weak individuals who couldn’t fight back, but he had to admit it was quite effective. And enemies were enemies. Most of them chose to fight and had to face those consequences… the few exceptions would be treated differently, if he was made aware.

The worst part was that Anton was thinking about the next war, as if it was inevitable. And it was, given the nature of humans and sufficient time. He could hope that it wouldn’t be during his lifetime, but in truth what remained of that was probably less than a pair of normal generations. It was not bothersome for him to be reminded of his mortality, except where he considered he might have more work to do, and how he might provide for others up to and potentially beyond his end.

-----

Anton was quite pleased to be meeting with someone new, specifically the Hardened Crown Sect in the Exalted Archipelago. The more groups that recognized the mere potential to talk, the better future negotiations could proceed.

The Hardened Crown Sect were actually one of those who had maintained neutrality throughout the war, but not because they had been friendly. Specifically, their sect head Naamah stated it thusly. “It was practical. We decided to wait and see your strength without risking our own position.”

“Then we at least appreciate your… respect?” Anton couldn’t quite find the right word.

“We understood you might have strength that others did not, yes. They believed the excursions that regularly set back your development would make you weak, even after a full cycle lasting six hundred years. Meanwhile, I held onto caution. Cultivators who survive adversity grow strong… and we did not know how strong.” Naamah snored, “We know very little of the continents even know, besides geographical features. Now we know of prominent sects and your strength. It is impressive, without a backer in the upper realms.”

“Like the Exalted Quadrant or the Trigold Cluster?”

“Yes. Or even something smaller. A proper planet in the upper realms giving their support might have done much.” She paused, “It does not seem you know much about the Trigold Cluster.”

Anton nodded. He couldn’t exactly refute that. “Even the Worthy Shore Society said little.”

“They are cautious,” she acknowledged. “Personally I think far too much. For all that they have done, they kept themselves… safe.” Naamah shrugged, “We aren’t allies with the Trigold Cluster, though. I see no reason sharing some information on them should be impossible. Though we admittedly don’t know any of their secrets, given our position here.”

“We would gladly hear anything you would tell us. Mostly, we know of the Twin Soul Sect infiltrating us, and not much more.”

“So you did learn about that. Are you aware they had… methods to pass information to the upper realms?”

“Through death, mostly,” Anton said. “Some sort of tampering with reincarnation.” That already seemed like much information to give, but they had found it to be common knowledge among the Twin Soul Sect, at least among higher members.

“And you found a way to stop it. They seemed to be decades behind on information. Quite impressive, really.”

Some measure of that had been discovered during the invasion, but Anton still didn’t know how they had been stopped. They’d simply killed them to prevent them from causing further trouble, anything beyond that was secret even to him in his current position. Though he was quite grateful to whoever it might have been… and he had some suspicions who might be able to pull it off. “We were fortunate to find signs of the truth early enough to react.”

“Hah! A vague response. Though letting on who was responsible wouldn’t make a difference to us either way. Well, that’s about as subtle a method of gaining information we get here. Truthfully, we’re usually more straightforward.”

“Is that so?” Anton asked.

“That’s right. In some ways, at least. Tell me, how much ornamentation have you seen here?”

He looked around the chamber. It was impressive in its construction, the large pillows they were sitting on next to a low table comfortable and made of clearly fine materials. Yet… “Not much, by cultivator standards.”

“Right,” she nodded. “The others here almost think of us as primitive.” She knocked on the top of her head.

Ah. The crown. Though Anton imagined the rest of their bones were fortified as well. And they didn’t have the same appearance of body temperers that he considered normal- large frames for powerful muscles. And though she said it, Naamah seemed to have the potential to be crafty if she chose to. “I’d like to know more, if I could. Not just about the Twin Soul Sect- though knowing how widespread they are in the upper realms would be useful- but the others from the Trigold Cluster. And whatever else you can say.”

“Of course. Where should I start? Perhaps it is easiest to say that they have quite a different method of raising their younger cultivators than us. Instead of establishing permanent branches, they prefer methods similar to what you have seen.”

“Invasions, to gather what lower energy they can. Resources they need, that seem unavailable in the upper realms.”

“Well… uncommon might be a better word. But basically, yes. You’ve learned much.”

“Not as much as I fear we need to. With this next cycle coming early…” he looked for revelatory signs in Naamah’s eyes, but couldn’t confirm much of what she knew about it. Not that he would have expected different. If they gained some real matter of trust, he might go for a more straightforward question, though he was unsure if it could be answered. “What else could you tell us?”

“Not much, I’m afraid. The Scarlet Midfields separate us… though it has been some time since the area truly ran red. Nowadays, it is generally enforced that any of theirs can go to their side, and we ours. The locals learned to stay out of it, of course.”

That was something worth hearing. Another place, where it appeared perhaps people who ascended ended up? Was it all of them, or simply some portion? Maybe that could not be answered, but he would press for more… cautiously. He wasn’t sure he wanted to let on how little they truly knew, not to an unfamiliar sect at least.