Elder Cultivator

There was a bit of a dilemma for Anton to resolve in the new system. He didn’t want to delay in visiting any of the locations he had spotted, but he couldn’t be in two places at once. That was still true. But he was more than capable of multitasking, and he could at least be a little bit in two places at once. It seemed a bit rude to not show up in person for first contact, but it was actually a better idea for the icy moon.

He didn’t want to have to break through the ice- though he could- and he likewise didn’t want to damage their seafloor habitats. Meanwhile, he thought he could get through the barrier within the gas giant without harming anything. So he could have a sort of projection visit the former. Unlike what Everheart did, it would just be him creating a simple illusion and not some sort of independent entity. It would be little more than a mass of energy, but he could manage something like that easily enough having bound the local star.

Anton could even manage it while pushing back their star’s corruption, since that problem would take a significant amount of time to resolve regardless. Anton could try to do more, but splitting his thoughts into too many potential conversations at once might be a bit much.

If he had to stretch his energy between multiple planets he might have more trouble, but a single planet and one of its moons were close enough for such a task.

-----

Solar energy slipped through the layers of ice, following Anton’s trail of energy he had been using solely for perception. Once he was beneath the ice, he formed something like a body. He kept the amount of energy relatively conservative to not attract too much attention. He’d sensed a few things in the local waters that indicated it wasn’t entirely a lifeless planet, and he didn’t want to draw them to the habitats. Or to scare the people inside.

Obviously they would still be somewhat startled to find someone show up outside, but there was only so much Anton could do to mitigate that. He continued to dive down at a reasonable speed that would give people some time to react if they sensed him coming.

He found a nice hatch to stop outside, though he didn’t know if it would still open. It seemed like it might be functional still, which was good enough for him. Anton reached forward and carefully knocked. His energy amplified the sound to carry further, towards a group of people somewhere around fifty meters inside the undersea habitat.

As he waited for them to sort out their response, he ‘looked’ at the habitat itself. It was artfully constructed of metal and thick glass. No organic materials as far as he could see, though whether that had been because it wasn’t optimal or because they didn’t have access he couldn’t tell.

The dome-like structure held together quite well with minimal corrosion. Part of it was likely due to their formations but Anton also thought it was due to regular maintenance of some sort. That made it more likely the hatch actually worked. He didn’t see any diving suits, but maybe the cultivators did without. They’d have to withstand a tremendous amount of pressure, but so would anything like a diving suit.

Though it was far less than the gas giant had to deal with. Anton was glad he was there in person to focus more of his energy on the task.

People had definitely heard Anton. They were speaking in hushed tones that he could just barely make out with his energy. It was strange to not actually have to suppress his abilities as he was already limited in that regard. He knocked again and transmitted some speech. “Hello. I would like to speak to you, if I may.”

A short time later people started moving. Mostly not towards him, though fortunately one man drew closer. “What do you want, stranger?”

Oh good, the language was divergent for less than a cycle. Though Anton could likely learn a new one, he preferred to avoid such a struggle. “I’m a visitor from another system in the lower realms. It seems to me that your people might not have chosen your current locations without duress. I can offer help with knowledge about cultivation growth, food, and transportation.”

“How can we know you’re not an enemy?” the man asked.

“I have no way to perfectly assure you,” Anton admitted. “But my energy signature should at least assure you I am not from the upper realms. I assume that’s who pushed you to end up in such a state. Oh, forgive me. I’m Anton Krantz. Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, and member of the Lower Realms Alliance.” It was always good to remind people that he, too, was a person.

“... Hadrianus,” the man responded after a significant pause. “Guardian of the Eighth Vent.” Another pause. “We did have trouble with the upper realms.”

“The Exalted Quadrant?” Anton asked. “Or the Trigold Cluster?”

“The latter.”

“They’re probably the worse option,” Anton admitted. Though the Scarlet Alliance had had more trouble with the former, so it wasn’t as if either was fully tolerable. In short, circumstances were complicated. “Are you just going to leave me out here?” Anton asked.

“Yes,” Hadrianus said without drawing anything out. “I don’t trust you yet.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Thus it was that Anton remained out in the crushing pressure of the depths, and he was getting annoyed. Though not with that, or with Hadrianus. It was perfectly reasonable to be a bit suspicious.

-----

Most of Anton was focused on his stellar repairs and resisting the pressure of a gas giant’s core. It wasn’t a trivial task no matter when he did it. There were only a few oddities who could survive on the merits of their bodies.

Anton was trying to figure out how to introduce himself to the habitat. They had a large bubble attached to the planet’s solid core. The shape was likely meant to equalize the pressure and thus improve the viability of their barrier. It had to withstand both the pressure of a hundred million standard atmospheres and an equally significant heat caused in large part by that same pressure and friction.

The barrier clearly wasn’t meant to let anyone through. Anton considered contacting someone and trying to negotiate a way through, but he was fairly certain there wasn’t one. So it would be better to slip through himself. All he had to do was pull apart some of it- while making sure the outside dangers didn’t slip through, plugging the gap with his energy- and then letting it seal back up when he got through. He was surprised there weren’t any alarms he could sense, but perhaps they expected to die if the barrier were breached. The planet’s atmosphere and heat could flood the whole city-colony in a heartbeat.

In other circumstances Anton might have contacted the kid he protected first, but he was going to let them settle down for a while. No need to spook some kid by showing up with great power and unreasonable demands.

Already, Anton liked this place first. He’d noticed several more thugs causing trouble- and directly driven them away. He was likely to become less charitable as time went on, but he still didn’t want to truly injure people before understanding the whole situation.

There had been one guy who wasn’t willing to give up, though. Trying to break into a property that he definitely had no right to enter, Anton had knocked him back once, twice, ten times… and then he’d started amping up the damage. The man hadn’t left until he had three small holes in his arms and one through his cheeks.

Was it a coincidence that all the thugs happened to have the same energy signature? It could be. It was the most common cultivation method from what he felt, leaving people with what Anton would describe as a shifty aura. It didn’t take too long listening in on conversations to determine that they were in fact part of the Twisting Spike sect.

So that didn’t particularly endear Anton towards them. But he kept an open mind as he wandered around the little civilization. Tightly packed buildings atop numerous shallow tunnels- though it seemed digging deep was quite difficult due to the density of the material, having been packed by tremendous pressure.

There was one thing that Anton didn’t see as much of as he thought he should, which was any form of plants. Unov had some form of aquaponics, but the gas giant- Moturn- didn’t seem to have much. Maybe they didn’t have a good opportunity as they were fleeing, but their population seemed to outpace their food production. Not a great situation.

-----

Hadrianus kept Anton busy for a while, before finally more people showed up. That did involve some repeat introductions and statements from Anton, but he patiently went through everything.

“So what, precisely, can you offer?” someone asked.

“Well, if I could see your food production I could help you with your growth. Or,” Anton continued before anyone could react to him potentially going inside, “I could give you a manual on fungus growth as well as various seed products. Because I doubt you’re going to be able to grow much else until you get to higher level energy imbuement techniques.”

Anton was also going to make the same offer to Moturn. He just wasn’t sure in what manner. Maybe he’d find someone working in what limited farming fields they had and offer something, or maybe he’d reveal himself. Though he wasn’t fully hiding his energy there, so people would doubtless become curious about his presence.

“You’d just… give it to us?” Hadrianus asked.

“Yes. I don’t like people going hungry when they don’t need to. I don’t have the manual on me at the moment, however. Or rather, I’m not really here at the moment,” Anton clarified. “But I could have it to you with an hour’s notice easily enough. Are you in contact with the other vents?” Anton hadn’t yet pressed far enough to determine if they had connective tunnels, but he’d sensed no one trying to swim.

“Why?” Hadrianus asked.

“If you can give them copies and some spores then you could do it yourselves. Or I could make my own copies and visit them if you can’t. I imagine it’s rather difficult to reach them with the pressure out here.”

“You said you are not actually here,” Hadrianus asked. “I did feel your… insubstantiality. Can you handle the seas?”

“Absolutely. It’s less trouble than Moturn’s atmosphere.” Anton tried to judge their reaction. It was more difficult with a wall in the way and his actual body a moon’s orbit away, but they didn’t seem to be opposed.

“You entered Moturn’s atmosphere?” Hadrianus sounded incredulous.

“Your people did at some point. Why can’t I? Let me know when you want your copy delivered.” They could peruse the tomes before seeing the spores, if they were uncomfortable. Not everyone wanted to trust random fungus. Of course, as the source of both was himself they might still be wary.

-----

Anton was being followed. People seemed to have finally caught on to the source of his little love taps. Or at least some of them suspected. If he didn’t want them to, they couldn’t trace it back to him and they certainly wouldn’t have been able to see him moving. He didn’t need to fire his bow for such weak attacks, especially since he was inside the barrier now. He could form attacks anywhere within his aura which was diffuse throughout the city- and around where he was showing a version of himself on Unov, of course.

Rather than let on that he knew, Anton chose to interact with random citizens. He asked about many different things, though he didn’t spend long with any individual. Individually, they seemed to be casual questions. Some he already had answers to, just to throw off his followers. Soon he’d find some way to mention his tome of farming knowledge. Maybe he should try to sell it? It would be perceived as more valuable then. Good for people who were suspicious, perhaps.

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