Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1235

It was so very hard to still be Bear Hug. Whatever happened to the part of them in the upper realms, it made the connection difficult. So much so that most of them was focused merely on sustaining things.

Even so… Bear Hug was content. After all, they had successfully made a step towards their goals of supporting Second Gift.

Some others might have been more concerned with the part where they accomplished a unique cultivation feat, but Bear Hug hadn’t done it for recognition. They hadn’t even told anyone yet, though anyone who sensed them would figure it out. Even if they felt a bit different from human cultivators, there was a quality difference in energy from Life Transformation to Assimilation.

Hopefully they would stabilize with time. This was just new. Taking time to adjust was probably reasonable. Thinking about that too much was hard, though. At least the vague feelings from the upper realms indicated things were probably safe enough.

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A mountain toppled onto Bear Hug and friends.

They’d slowly been making their way towards daylight when there was a loud crack, and then there wasn’t more time to think. The mountain was falling.

Bear Hug, of course, protected Mister Snowcat and Mister Dig as well as a couple other friends that had been picked up along the way. Rocks crashed against a green barrier- though Bear Hug was becoming an unhealthy shade of green, which was to say hardly green at all.

It wasn’t so bad when it was just boulders. They rolled off to the side easily enough as Bear Hug infused themself with energy, creating a curve. It was the wave of combined soil that was the problem. It was a constant press, wearing away at tenuously balanced energy.

Fortunately, there was a quick thinking badger among them. Mister Dig clawed his way into the stone and dirt beneath them, lowering the menagerie’s profile and allowing Bear Hug to cover them.

Eventually, the mountain settled. Sadly, it seemed like half of it was on top of them. “Whoa. This is heavy,” Bear Hug said. “I don’t know if I can hold this up long enough to dig out.”

“Do not hold,” Mister Dig suggested. He’d been talking for a little while. Simple words, but with clear thoughts. “Move under.”

The badger gestured to the ground.

“I can’t really do that either.”

“Burrow I dig.”

And at that, the giant badger started to fulfill his words. They didn’t have much extra room to shuffle things around, but Mister Dig actually had some ability to compress earth so they were slowly gaining area. Not air to breathe, though- which was going to be a problem soon, since Bear Hug had to provide it.

When the others had moved into a little side chamber that Mister Dig guaranteed wouldn’t be filled by the landslide, Bear Hug let the mountain drop a little bit at a time. Since it was pretty much settled, it was only a few meters of falling and not as impactful as it felt like it should have been. Then they began to dig out at an angle, carving through only sort of frozen stone.

Hitting daylight was beautiful, and not because the lungs of everyone were probably burning. Most of the friends weren’t active cultivators, and thus could only rely on instincts and durable bodies- as much as emaciated individuals could be durable.

They slowly made their way to the top of the slope, coming ever more into sunlight. It was bright. “This might be too bright.” Bear Hug never thought they’d say the words, but they were true. It wasn’t that far from being directly next to a star. Not that they’d actually gone that close, but moving around Klar in the bubbles and travels with Anton had given a decent impression of what it would be like.

The good news was that air was more plentiful. It wasn’t all frozen. Bear Hug looked off into the distance, seeing the softly glowing landscape. There were even a few plants. It was quite a tolerable temperature.

Bear Hug had noticed some plants before- seeds that could withstand the bitter cold, either by burying deep in the ground or simply making a shell of material that almost completely blocked the transfer of heat. Or cold, in this case. Theoretically, some of that material broke down and released the plants to grow greedily. And grow they did.

The planet did have plentiful upper energy, after all. Even just a few ‘days’ out some of the plants were bigger than Bear Hug. Of course, physical mass wasn’t the best measurement, but the fact that they could grow several meters during that time was impressive.

“Don’t eat that one,” Bear Hug said as they approached a plant with pods more than a meter across. “It’s probably bad for your tummies.”

Mister Dig sniffed. “Much energy.”

Mister Snowcat just gave Bear Hug an incredulous look. While naturally a carnivore, being picky wasn’t good for survival on such a planet. Everything had adapted to survive.”

“I think the fruit is poisoned,” Bear Hug explained. It was a bit rude to do, but they cut open one of the pods, revealing a skeleton with very little meat left on the bones. “And then it eats anything that tried to eat it.”

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Mister Snowcat made a horrible noise as he sprinted away.

“Bad smell,” Mister Dig commented before plodding off.

All of the others generally moved away too. Just a few small mammals and some insects. They weren’t as clever as the first two- and certainly none of them could talk- but they had recognized safety… eventually.

Bear Hug was the leader of the group sort of by default of being the strongest. The others did in fact know how to survive on their own world. Some had simply been unlucky with the night, like Mister Snowcat. Mister Dig had slightly better than even odds of surviving until day, but that was it. Trying to travel towards day would have been impossible, as being exposed for so long was a risk. And not all of the natives recognized the planetary cycle.

Mister Dig sort of understood it after Bear Hug explained that the planet was rotating very slowly. It took about half a day, in fact. Which wasn’t useful at all, but was perfectly true since that was the definition. But in terms of standard days it was more like fifty. Not the longest day any planet had, but certainly rather extreme.

Together, the two who could sort of speak to each other named the planet Scha. It didn’t mean anything, but Mister Dig said it was a fun sound and the energy sign was fun to do, scribbling out letters. Though obviously most of the time they’d just gesture to the planet, since that was sufficient.

Bear Hug found it difficult to watch their friends trying to eat. Partially because most of the plants tried to murder said friends. They helped, of course. Letting friends die was no good. But letting them grow complacent wasn’t good.

After all, Bear Hug had to leave eventually and not all of them would come. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to. Before anything else could happen, though, Bear Hug had to figure out a way to get off of Scha. Maybe after basking in the sun for a while they could fly, but that came with some issues. Because the sun was going to get very hot.

Right now, they were just past the twilight border. It was plenty bright, but it would only continue to get hotter as the sun continued to beat down on the planet. It would probably get as hot as it had gotten cold. The bits of water that existed would probably become vapor. In short, it was difficult to consistently get any sort of resources. Even moving with the dayline would be tough for most things. The planet was big, and things could only move so fast for so long.

There was a pretty large tolerable zone where things were growing but it wasn’t terribly how, though. Bear Hug hoped that his menagerie could stay there long enough to do… something.

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Ylvali and the Starstriker were a constant fixture in the Trigold Cluster, just about. They only moved around areas either known to be friendly or at least neutral, but they kept building up the perspective that they belonged. That it was normal to have people from outside the great power.

And maybe it should have been. There had always been a few, of course. People from the Scarlet Midfields didn’t entirely respect the borders… but those from any organized group had very little interaction with the greater Trigold Cluster except violence. Both sides were pretty much at fault.

The Starpiercer wasn’t going to annihilate thousands of years of precedent in a few short decades. Even centuries might be optimistic, as there would likely be some sort of cultural pushback. Furthermore, she could only visit a very small slice of the upper realms even if she lived forever.

But even if they didn’t have a major impact on the whole of the Trigold Cluster, Ylvali could absolutely make a difference. Each planet they visited would remember them, and there were individuals who were even more greatly affected.

Like Adsila. She was now an approved crewmate, though her position was mostly an advisory role. She had local knowledge, at least, so she could be helpful in that regard. And if anyone tried to poison them, she’d certainly be ready.

Mostly, Ylvali brought her along because she wanted to. Having a friend wasn’t against the rules, and Adsila wasn’t costing them anything but standard fare. A decent cultivator was worth more than that.

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Adsila influenced their route by including interesting planets. Some were occupied, some were not. Most of the exploration involved was safer than Niont, since it happened on the surface where the Starpiercer could be a proper factor. The ship itself was the greater factor in the strength of Ylvali and crew… so as long as they weren’t investigating any subterranean oceans, they were probably set.

Niont was still on the list, though, unless every time they went, they got attacked by particularly massive sea beasts immediately. It seemed unlikely given that the locals survived and had found it abnormal, but sometimes dangers were drawn to particular auras. Some level of caution was warranted.

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The Swirling Swarm was… nothing. Even if Zazil had revealed herself, she wouldn’t have been in any danger. Unless, of course, their Domination member was present. Or members? It was still unclear. The bodies hadn’t been whole, and just because there were multiple didn’t mean they were different people. Theoretically.

Zazil wouldn’t want to try to destroy the Swirling Swarm on her own, obviously. They might somehow wear her down through attrition even if she killed thousands at once. However, they literally only had numbers as their advantage. No tactics or anything else. She wasn’t even certain how their planets survived, because their infrastructure was garbage. Then again, raiding was part of that- including other members of the Trigold Cluster. She would have thought they would have been eliminated by now, but the tolerance of cultivators for certain behaviors could be quite high.

Maybe they knew how to pick their enemies. Even if they’d suffered greatly against the Scarlet Alliance, they hadn’t been the only ones who misjudged. And some of that was luck. They could have easily been wiped out if the battles had angled in a different direction.

That was what Zazil wanted to avoid. Her own strength would be a great boon, but it would be best as a surprise. She just needed to stay aware enough of events involving the Scarlet Alliance- specifically the movements of Domination cultivators. Those weren’t exactly public, but they were also not entirely secret. If they came with fleets, no amount of secrecy training could keep thousands of systems silent. Zazil just needed to be close enough to chase after them.

She could probably use another half century testing out her abilities and moving her Domain around. She doubted that any Domination cultivator would ever be done experimenting, but that would get her past the early stage. She would feel established. After that… she’d have to use her best judgment about revealing herself to anyone, if at all.