Elder Cultivator

Chapter 972

After the victory on Turilia, the Numerological Compact was defeated forever and there were no continuing problems with them.

That was the ending Anton would have liked. After all, hadn’t they killed all of the important ones? Everyone else would just lay down and die after that. That would have been quite convenient, but that was not how humans worked.

If they believed they would die, they would do pretty much everything to try to survive. And since the spread of information from the planet wasn’t completely cut off, they were aware of what was happening.

The rest of the system was taken over in short order, before anyone organized any sort of viable defense. While the hivemind had chained across Turilia, it had not spread so far as to reach other planets. But dealing with the rest of that system was easy enough.

However, they still had to deal with the Yoron system, which had by and large managed to stay out of the skirmishes. It was between the size of the other systems, and without any of their elders it should have been relatively easy to remove the Numerological Compact from power. Unfortunately, before an assault could be prepared they received a message.

The message itself was clear and concise. Should any ships- or cultivators without a ship- enter their system, they would kill all of their slaves. Obviously, they knew what the Alliance cared about. And even though following through with that threat would lead to complete societal collapse, they still had to be taken seriously. After all, if they already believed they were going to die… they might feel it was an appropriate reaction.

To be fair, they were right. The cultivators of the Numerological Compact were by and large going to die, and trying to hold an entire system hostage wasn’t exactly doing them any favors. But in turn, it caused some trouble.

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A council was quickly gathered to discuss the problem, specifically from those who were trusted. That included members of the different hiveminds, based on the system they had already freed. And of course Alliance cultivators. Those ‘neutral’ cultivators that made up the largest portion of the local population were the greatest risk, and very few of them were included- only those vouched for by members of the hiveminds or Byron’s group.

“Taking this threat seriously, as we must,” Anton said. “We either need to act decisively before they can accomplish whatever they are buying time for… or give ourselves proper time to come up with a solution. With a few months time, the Alliance might be capable of countering whatever they have set up, but it would still come with risks. And there isn’t much we can do faster besides a direct assault. As it chiefly concerns your people…” Anton looked to the locals. “The decision making will be in your hand. We intend to help you weigh the risks and help you in whatever way you decide.”

“Months…” Ammar spoke. “I think we can agree that is too long, if they are not already prepared to act. Those of us here believe them to be bluffing to some extent. Most likely, they could only partially accomplish their threat. The losses might be acceptable, to prevent worse.”

The local hivemind of Turilia had their mouthpiece speak next. An old woman who went by the name of Ramalas. “We agree in spirit. However, even if we should manage an approach in secret, how long would they have to respond? An hour would be sufficient time to perform a slaughter, if they were well prepared.”

“What of the void ants?” Ammar asked.

Anton translated for the Sergeant. “There aren’t enough of us present to meaningfully impact a sizable planet in a short time. And any capsule carrying us close could potentially be noticed.” She paused. “We will help, of course, but we would not wish to be the catalyst.”

“Can we get messages to them?” Aerona asked. “No, to the planet in general?”

“What is your plan?” Ramalas questioned. “It is possible. But unlikely they would negotiate for something we could convincingly promise.”

“I wasn’t thinking we should negotiate with the Numerological Compact,” Aerona said. “Instead, we should contact the other sects, if it can be done in a reasonable fashion.”

“One moment,” Ramalas said. “There is another message that just arrived.” She furrowed her brow. “They are calling for the complete withdrawal of the Lower Realms Alliance forces from the region.”

“We can do that,” Anton said. “If it’s actually beneficial.”

“Perhaps that can be part of the plan,” Ramalas said. “We have many thoughts. Your ships cannot be noticed without provoking them. However, if we state your agreement then you will be able to move your ships. They are fast, are they not?”

“Comparatively,” Devon agreed.

“Meanwhile, our local ships will still be expected to trade between our systems. Not with Yoron, of course. Not at the moment. But we could transport a large number of us offworld, to meet up with your ships.”

“So it would be an assault?” Devon asked. “We can agree, of course, but the risks are high.”

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“We speak of us here,” the voice that came was not from Ramalas, but from the combined energy of the local hivemind. “Should we manage to bring a sufficient quantity of us, we may be able to trigger an awakening within the people of the system, allowing them to free themselves. Like what happened with us, but planned.”

Byron cleared his throat. He and some of his associates were present as well. “Coordinating such a large amount of energy will be difficult. Specifically between your groups. I don’t know how much I can aid that, but I should have some success.”

“We will have to find a moment to experiment,” Ammar agreed. “Now, what if the plan fails?”

The Turilia hivemind replied directly. “Then we save as many as we can. Are we in agreement that waiting brings many risks?”

Other hiveminds from different cities on Waral, Alyni, or various other planets concurred- at least based on the members they had present. “Should we wait several months,” one of them said, “Any imperfection in the plan of the Alliance might prove fatal. And you yourselves have acknowledged a lack of perfection.”

“It would be hypocritical to say otherwise,” Devon agreed. “And a plan involving your own people… you are the ones with the greatest stakes. We would be glad to support you.”

“We should contact more of our members,” Ammar said. “Everyone can bring sufficient supplies for themselves for a few days.”

“I have one thing to add,” Aerona said. “We should delay just slightly. If we seem indecisive, they will be more relaxed. Coming to an agreement here within the hour… would be a warning sign that we had a plan. Perhaps we should respond by appearing as if we wish to negotiate for the Alliance to stay. That would give some time to begin gathering locals, though doing that subtly…”

“It will be easier than you think,” Ramalas said. “We already move rather suspiciously. A large crowd of us passing by streets, only for a few to disappear towards some ships… nobody would notice. We are aware they fear us. Even whoever spread information, intentionally or not.”

“I would gladly help with wording the responses,” Aerona said. “And gauging their reactions. I would know how far we can push the negotiations. We simply have to decide on our approach. Forceful? Timid? The former provides more volatile results, but might gain more time while they likely aren’t implementing their plans.”

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The Numerological Compact wasn’t made of complete fools. While for the most part negotiations went as planned, they threw a couple wrenches into things. Twists such as requiring Anton and Devon to remain visible on Turilia while the Alliance pulled out of the systems.

That was a request difficult to counter. It wasn’t as if they were required for the fleets to return through safe territory, nor would they be obviously placed in danger. The time it took messages to go back and forth between the systems was approximately an hour, plus the time to concoct responses. Negotiations were ongoing for about a day, before the Alliance officially agreed to the terms.

There was no particular enforcement method except the Numerological Compact’s threats. It was clear who held the power, but the compact believed they had sufficient leverage… and they weren’t entirely wrong. The Compact might value their own lives above a population tens of times greater, but the Alliance was not so callous or spiteful to want to take them out at any cost.

The negotiations ended with both sides believing they won. Hopefully, the Alliance was right. Their ships began withdrawing from the systems, leaving where they could be detected. A complex set of rendezvous points had been set up, as fortunately there were quite a few individuals with organizational talent- and the hiveminds were quite capable of such themselves.

Anton waited. The worst part was doing nothing. He couldn’t safely keep his eyes on what was happening, so he kept his senses local. He stopped a few petty crimes, and dealt with some larger incidents as well. The population of Turilia wasn’t exactly full of well adjusted individuals with a balanced system to rely on. The hivemind permeating the planet could only pick up what its individual members noticed, and little more- and people tried not to commit crimes when they knew they were being watched.

It didn’t bother Anton to see what people were doing. He understood humans well, and that it took quite a long time to drift away from a mindset that looked out only for the individual. It also took time to develop the wisdom that selfish acts weren’t always even beneficial to the person doing them. These were planets that had centuries of terrible role models to rely upon, so they couldn’t be blamed. But that wasn’t going to stop him from putting an arrow through some people- though most got off with one floating right in front of them as a warning.

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Nothing about the plan was perfect. They didn’t have formations to help fuse their energy- except a few slower ships already retrofitted. The Turilia hivemind had only been free for less than a week, and was far more widespread than any other. Yet that could potentially mean that a smaller portion of them would coordinate less effectively. There were many unknowns, but there was no time to test and verify.

If the Numerological Compact chose to, they could likely destroy any safety mechanisms for their power stations. A surge of energy would potentially be able to kill an entire planet full of enslaved cultivators- or worse, trigger city-leveling explosions in all of them.

Yet making that an intentional part of things would take time. There were no indications that Yoron had been working on those plans before Turilia had been freed, so they should only be half implemented.

Ships were packed full of cultivators from the hiveminds, and an air of nervousness spread between them. And yet, it never grew to be unbearable. An individual in a group going off to war might find things too much for them, but these were not individuals. As much as their connection built their nervousness higher, the camaraderie helped calm them down as well. They had a plan. They would make it work.

Even in the worst case scenario, they were confident they were making the right move. Allowing the Numerological Compact to continue to occupy the Yoron system, to build up defenses or to expand all while continuing to enslave more and more people to power everything they did… that was worse than them dying. That was not the judgment of outsiders, but the full hiveminds that had been in the same situation as recently as a week ago- and no longer than a few months.

But they would save their people. This was a unique opportunity, and if the consequences of failure were too dire to imagine… they would simply not fail. Slowly, that confidence spread within each hivemind- and between groups, as they engaged with each other as individuals and communities.

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