Elder Cultivator

Quite a bit of Bear Hug’s time with Buddy, the black hole, was spent talking to or at it.

“You do know that it’s not conscious, right?” Anton said. “Just because we’ve run into quite a few things that are doesn’t mean this one will be too.”noveldrama

“I know,” Bear Hug said. “But what if there’s someone in there? It would be very sad if people came out all this way and didn’t even say hi.”

Anton nodded. “I see. Is that where the name came from?”

“Only a little bit. I just thought that it was kind of scary and that a nice name would make people less afraid. Like, Buddy might be a black hole that devours all matter and energy within its grasp, but not because it’s mean. It’s just how reality functions.”

“True,” Anton agreed. It wasn’t evil, just a bit frightening and rare. “We should probably be moving on soon.”

They could potentially stay longer, but there wasn’t much else to observe. Of course, a scientist in the proper field would probably give anything to stay for a longer period… but he’d taken all the measurements the drones he had brought along could manage, swarming around the thing from all different angles. Any more would require proper input. Maybe they would get more people to spread out far beyond the borders of the Alliance in the future.

It was dangerous and terrifying, but it might be worth it. It was possible that people were growing too comfortable.

Or maybe that was old man grumpiness trying to infiltrate Anton’s thoughts. Just because his generation had to fight against the upper realms with only Life Transformation cultivators didn’t mean others should have to experience similar hardship. On the other hand, resistance produced growth. People should be able to choose which struggles they wanted to face to develop themselves into something more.

Before they left, Bear Hug said a proper goodbye. They then spent an excessive amount of energy, crossing it around and behind the black hole and letting it be pulled in. A hug, just in case someone actually happened to be in there. One theoretical person out of a galaxy of vast and unknown total people.

“I’m not next to all those other real and theoretical people right now,” Bear Hug said. “But I am next to this one. And a bunch of other people, including Reneden. And you!” Bear Hug and their energy wrapped around Anton. “Thank you for being my first and best friend! Don’t tell anyone else that you’re the best though.”

Anton chuckled. “Okay, I won’t.”

“Yeah, that’s my job! But other people are very good too.”

“I see. Is there anything else we should do here? It won’t be easy to return…”

“We just have to say goodbye!” Bear Hug turned towards the black hole. “I don’t know if time passes in there, but I’ll come back to visit at some point. I can’t say when, but it won’t be forever.”

“Goodbye, black hole Buddy,” Anton waved. It was a bit silly, but it wasn’t like anyone was around to make fun of them for it. Humans talked to inanimate things all the time, so it wasn’t any weirder to try to talk to something that was maybe a person. Though Anton suspected that any attempts to communicate would have broken apart at the threshold, since they were no longer in active control of the energy.

-----

For the sake of the secondary objective, they weren’t heading straight back. Instead, Anton and Bear Hug went north towards the border between the realms. They were so far east that any information they gathered wouldn’t be of much practical use for the Alliance. Not in the near future, at least. By the time they reached any of the groups in question, they could be vastly different.

Anton did hope that the Alliance would continue to exist and spread their ideas. It wasn’t entirely impractical, either. They were always working on reducing the ‘distance’ between places, either literally like the upper realms or by increasing speeds of travel and communication. That, in turn, brought connections.

Anton had picked out a particular system along the border, with its current position sticking out somewhat further into the border. There wasn’t a perfect line, though stars didn’t tend to cross the border due to the repelling and attractive forces of the different sorts of energies. At least, that was the explanation Anton had heard. That applied to natural movement- not so much pushing a planet across the border in either direction.

Either way, he’d picked out a particular system, but now he wasn’t sure if he should enter. “It appears to already be occupied.”

“Perfect! We’ve seen so few people. We should go say hello.”

“I’m not quite certain about that,” Anton said. “Not everyone is happy to receive unexpected guests. Especially potentially dangerous ones.”

Anton reached out from a distance, trying to figure out why the system felt so strange to him. It was the flow of energy, acting in an unexpected manner. Strangely, some of the local energy seemed to be clinging to Anton’s probing tendril.

Then he was spotted, but before he could withdraw his energy…

“Greetings, stranger,” a voice was projected into Anton’s sensory strand. Usually, nobody noticed something so small. It only allowed Anton to pick up broader strokes, but the message was amplified by the power of the speaker. And what power it was- Augmentation. No, it shouldn’t have been. The system was still firmly in the lower realms. Yet Anton found it difficult to deny. “Our energy here seems quite interested in you.”

Anton didn’t know what to do but respond. It would be rude not to. “I’m finding it a bit unusual. I didn’t expect anything like this at all.”

“Few do. We have quite an unusual setup here.” Anton’s energy followed his conversation partner to reveal the man on a moon near the planet Anton had been inspecting. “I would say this reaction is a good omen. What do you think from… way out there?”

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It certainly seemed pleasant enough. “I’m not certain about omens of the future,” Anton replied. “But it is still quite agreeable. May I ask for your name? Or that of your system. I am Anton.”

“You may have both. I am Caomh, and this around me is Lantilwe.”

Anton vaguely felt a number of other strong presences, much like Caomh himself. This system was more overtly dangerous than anywhere in Aretis, but Anton could better understand it. He knew cultivation and energy, even if it was a bit strange.

Bear Hug poked him in the side. “Do you see anything good? Can we visit?”

Anton thought for a moment, during which Caomh had more to say. “It would be easier to speak from close up. Would you like to come visit?”

A friendly front. In a way, it made Anton nervous. However, he couldn’t exactly refuse the opportunity. Now that they had made contact, it was too late to ignore it. For those other groups he had passed previously, the Alliance could choose how to make first contact. Here, blowing off the request would result in bad blood for no good reason. Plus, Anton couldn’t hide the fact that they’d been invited from Bear Hug.

“Certainly. I have a friend with me as well,” Anton replied.

“Excellent. I look forward to a more relaxed conversation.”

Anton turned to Bear Hug. “It appears we have been invited to visit.”

“Yay! New friends!”

It was a bit early to say that, by Anton’s standards, but Anton would be more surprised if Bear Hug didn’t manage at least a few. Even if the invitation turned into an ambush of some sort.

-----

The system was surrounded by a giant formation… but not a barrier. Instead, it was some sort of energy gathering and containment system. Anton disdained sects that used such things instead of building up the area around them… but on the scale of a system that was more or less the most that was practical.

It was kind of a waste to let excess energy flow into the lightyears of empty space between systems, after all. This was simply practical.

The energy was weird, though. Not bad, just not normal. Anton hadn’t thought about it too much as he focused most of his efforts on approaching, but as he was observing their formation it became rather obvious.

His previous assessment hadn’t been off. Caomh was something like Augmentation. Not Enrichment, but something that utilized ascension energy. The formation drew in and contained the same. How they avoided ascension energy dispersing over the border was unclear.

Anton hesitated to approach, but he’d already felt the energy wasn’t reacting to him negatively. It should have, but when he tested it the energy was simply drawn towards him.

Bear Hug poked across the border. “Oh, interesting!” The way the energy reacted to Bear Hug was even more fascinating, being drawn upon their probing energy like liquid being drawn into roots. Anton trusted Bear Hug’s judgement about absorbing it. “Tingly! Also, there’s some upper energy in it.”

“I am aware,” Anton said. ‘Some’ didn’t seem right at first… but upon reflection Bear Hug was correct. It was still mostly natural energy, with a bit of ascension energy mixed in. That ascension energy was simply so unusual that it seemed like a far greater proportion.

Bear Hug and Anton knew more than most that the energies weren’t entirely, just difficult to get to work together. As they entered the system, Bear Hug was happily playing with the energy. Anton wondered if they would gain useful insights for managing Second Gift.

Nobody stopped them. Anton did feel various people watching their approach, but the locals seemed confident enough in their overall security that the pair just approached the moon where Caomh was waiting without issue.

Anton could sense some planetary barriers, though they weren’t active. Nor should they be as a constant thing- it was a serious waste of energy.

“Hi I’m Bear Hug nice to meet you!”

Caomh’s reaction was perfect, with the man initially shocked to be charged by a humanoid shaped bundle of algae. However, he appeared to rapidly interpret Bear Hug’s intent and accepted the hug. “You’re quite an eager one, aren’t you?”

“The last people we made friends with didn’t invite us in, but you’re really nice,” Bear Hug said.

“I don’t think inviting people to talk particularly counts,” Caomh answered.

Anton nodded. He would have the same advice.

“I can tell you’re nice though,” Bear Hug said. “I’m getting better at that kind of stuff!”

“Is that so?” Caomh grinned. He looked up towards Anton. “I really wasn’t expecting any visitors this week. It was quite a surprise.”

“Do you get visitors ever?” Anton asked. “Once you do, it generally becomes more frequent. But we don’t live near here.”

“If you did, I’d wonder what your definition of near was!” Caomh commented. “Because we certainly haven’t noticed you around. Where are you from?”

Bear Hug answered that one. “Far to the west! I’m also from other places.”

A bit too trusting still. Anton hoped they really were getting better at social cultivation, if that was what they were referring to. Bear Hug seemed to have quite a lot of areas they were pushing themself. Split between multiple bodies in the upper and lower realms… just keeping things straight must have been a huge task. Yet they still wanted to communicate with humans- and other thinking individuals. Even or especially when it was difficult.

“Any troublesome neighbors here?” Anton asked.

“Depends on how you count it,” Caomh said. “Not much in the way of neighbors in the lower realms. Not right now.”

“Is that so… what changed?”

“We moved,” Caomh shrugged. “You can’t expect a star to stay in the optimal position for a cultivation method such as ours.”

Anton nodded. “It is certainly a unique thing you have going. So, you rebuilt here?”

“Oh no,” Caomh said. “We took along our planets. It’s a lot of work to build up infrastructure. If we had to do that every millennium, we’d fall behind.”

“Oh! We moved a planet too!” Bear Hug bounced up and down. “It’s so difficult!”

“It is,” Caomh agreed. “Anyway, we do have some neighbors across in the lower realms.” Anton made a face. “Not a fan?”

“The vast majority of the time? No.”

“Sounds like you live in a bad neighborhood,” Caomh said. “You should come by the next time the Tides flow.”

“Sorry,” Anton said. “My schedule will probably be busy.”

“War?”

Anton shrugged. “That’s how it tends to be. Though perhaps this time they won’t have the guts.” With what the Scarlet Alliance was doing and the repeated victories, there might be nobody able to strike at the end of the next cycle. It was strange to think about. Anton kind of hoped he could go visit some random system fifteen hundred lightyears away. “Interesting style you’ve got,” Anton commented, looking at the energy wrapping around him. Ascension energy, but it wasn’t stolen nor angry at him. It was nice. “Oh, I won’t be able to visit the upper realms regardless. But if they come here…” he shrugged.