Elder Cultivator

Chapter 985

The Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance moved around freely on Rezdu, which was of course entirely unsurprising. It was their planet, and they didn’t need to hide anything. There was a significant difference between that and displaying their techniques, however.

Velvet wouldn’t risk intruding on their cultivation grounds, so she mostly got what she could absorb from moving around. Some of their members were better at hiding their true cultivation than others, and she observed varying amounts of natural training. That is to say, there were quite a few people at the training grounds… but nobody just wandered around using stealth techniques.

That wasn’t inherently bad, but one never knew what casual experience would reveal during critical moments. Both in the upper and lower realms, Velvet had learned that integrating training into every part of life was vital. Of course, she wasn’t doing much training at the moment except the concealment of her true cultivation level. She was still disguised as a late Integration stage.

After the initial trouble, there hadn’t been anyone actually trying to start a fight, but she still overheard comments about Durff. Especially about him being dropped on his head as a child. It was quite prevalent, which was interesting as that meant people knew of him. That didn’t make it true, though.

“People sure say a lot of things, huh…” Velvet commented.

“I guess so,” Durff shrugged.

Ah right, his policy of ignoring idiots. Must be lonely. That would explain why he didn’t live here, though, despite the advantages in terms of facilities.

“That’s a pretty vicious story, but not very imaginative. Seriously, you being dropped on your head?”

“I know, right?” Durff said. “My head is part of me and falls with me. I’d have to be dropped on something else. Like someone else’s head.”

“... Did that happen?” Velvet asked.

“I heard about something,” he shrugged. “But I don’t really remember anything like that.”

Now Velvet had made things awkward. “So, you studied the Veiled Brilliance and found it didn’t fit. What part of it?”

While he said he didn’t have much insight to offer, he might know more than he thought.

“They said all sorts of things. Gather energy, but keep it secret. Even though everyone knows where energy goes.” Durff pat his belly, around his dantian. “It just becomes more obvious when you have more of it. Doesn’t make any sense.”

“True enough,” Velvet said. “So this aunt of yours. Many generations removed. Does she have a name?”

“I think it’s Aunt Eka,” Durff replied.

“You think?” Velvet asked. “Didn’t you contact her?”

“People are smart. They’d have figured it out anyway.”

“Seems a bit of a stretch to ask for favors when you don’t even know her name.”

“Aww, she doesn’t care,” Durff said. “She said names are only as important as you make them.”

A single piece of wisdom didn’t make someone wise, but Velvet at least found she agreed with it. As for the actual woman, she couldn’t say until later.

-----

After living hundreds of years, one month could pass in the blink of an eye. Even with an enhanced sense of time, cultivators all too often let things slip by. In Velvet’s case, she was looking forward to a particular event, but she did her best to make use of the intervening time. She didn’t learn that much, but perhaps more than the locals would have wanted.

Assuming Durff’s aunt would appear after exactly one month was a bit questionable, as it wasn’t really a strict time frame. However, it was the morning of the thirty-first day when there was a knock on the door.

Velvet sensed a cultivator in Augmentation. She was surprised, but perhaps she shouldn’t have been. After all, with so many generations between her and Durff, with Durff being in Integration, it was only natural.

“Oh, that’s her!” Durff commented. “Come on then, let’s go say hi.”

Aunt Eka’s looks didn’t really give much away about her. She certainly didn’t look youthful, but she wasn’t a crone either. She almost certainly had to be older than Velvet, as she wasn’t in early Augmentation, but judging precisely wasn’t going to be simple.

“Hey kid,” the woman said as Durff opened the door.

“Hello, Aunt Eka. This is the friend who saved my life,” Durff gestured to Velvet.

“We didn’t do that much,” Velvet said truthfully. “I would have felt awful leaving someone like him behind anyway. Especially since he was counting on us.”

“Yeah?” Eka stepped into the room. “It was still enough for him to recommend you, so that’s something. You wanted training?”

“Well, given my style I am quite interested in the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. I’m not planning to change sects or anything, though.”

“Too bad. You seem like a decent specimen, kid. Star based cultivation, huh…? I don’t recognize your sect.”

“We’re not that populous,” Velvet said, in a way that was technically true. The alliance promoted all sorts of cultivators among their ranks, so the One Hundred Stars hadn’t grown that large. And certainly when compared to the monosect population of the local systems, they were lower.

“I guess I could show you a few tricks,” Eka said. “Got any specific questions?”

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“I have quite a few,” Velvet admitted. “But I also find myself interested in Augmentation… and Domination. I heard you have a Domination cultivator?”

“Ratna,” Eka nodded. “Sect head, when we’re formal. Not that I have occasion to use such fancy words often.”

“As you can imagine, I’m quite interested in advancements to Augmentation. Domination is… more of a stretch,” Velvet said. “And perhaps you can’t share any of that information, if it’s even available.”

“Augmentation?” Eka shrugged. “Let me say… it’ll be a piece of cake for you. I guarantee you reach Augmentation in a century or less, feeling your current cultivation. You just need the right insights and such. Well, it’s a bit more complicated but it should come naturally enough. Domination is a different beast. Secrets locked up tightly.”

“I understand,” Velvet nodded.

“Buuut… that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard a couple things,” Eka grinned.

“I’d be very grateful for whatever you could share.”

“Hmm, now then. What can I say…” Eka pondered. “Well, let's start with what we know about our enemies. You’ve heard of the Citadel of Exalted Light, naturally.” Velvet nodded. “Their sect head, Zaur, is a Domination cultivator. I’ve heard he’s gotten into some battles with Ratna. Shame she didn’t kill him.”

“Indeed,” Velvet nodded.

“There was a recent incident between them, actually?”

“Are you talking about the thing with Everheart? I heard he threw out some pretty widespread taunts.”

“Oh, that asshole?” Eka spit. “Well, I meant before that. But since you brought it up… you didn’t hear it from me, but someone said that he tipped of Ratna about Zaur’s presence in the actual incident I meant to talk about. The one in the… whatchamacallit. Mid zone.”

“The Scarlet Midfields?”

“Yeah, probably that,” Eka nodded. “Anyway she showed up where she was tipped off and chased him to the border, but she couldn’t get to his Anchor.”

“Anchor…?” Velvet asked.

“Ah… well, it’s one part of things,” Eka furrowed her brow. “I can’t say too much, but do you think people build fancy crystal palaces for nothing?”

“Is that a trick question?” Velvet asked. “Because some people definitely do.”

Eka chuckled. “Alright. I’ll admit that. But yeah. Anchors. I don’t have all the details but… sometimes devotion isn’t enough.”

“And these Anchors… they just work? I heard that he was almost halfway through the Scarlet Midfields during that incident. Is there no falloff for distance?”

“How would I know?” Eka shrugged. “If there is, any Domination cultivator would be even more unstoppable around their sect. Not that any have a weak sect to begin with.”

“Right,” Velvet said. Assuming her words were true, there wasn’t exactly anything they could do. They’d have to basically take out the Citadel of Exalted Light to make it possible to fight Zaur… but he’d be there, stopping them. That was ignoring literally all of the rest of the Exalted Quadrant. Maybe the Scarlet Alliance would just have to struggle to survive.

“I heard Everheart died,” Durff commented. He looked to his many times removed aunt, “Didn’t you say you were there?”

Eka just smiled and gave him a few pats on the head. “We hear lots of things, kid. They’re not always true.”

“People saw it, though.”

Eka shrugged. “People saw Everheart die to Fajra,” she pointed out. “And then bam, there was an incident and that new sect popped up. The Scarlet Midfields.”

Velvet almost corrected her that the Midfields was the name for the whole region, but she held herself back. “Yeah that guy… is never as dead as people want.”

“I’ve never met him,” Durff said. “Is he bad?”

“He makes the most terrible traps,” Velvet said.

“Worse than the Nightstar sect?” Durff asked.

“Way worse. More like the last part where you almost got stuck behind,” Velvet said.

Then it hit her. Yes, Everheart usually put his face and name all over things… but maybe that wasn’t true in the upper realms. Or… maybe she was being paranoid and someone else did it. They might even find some rational explanation for why things had been set up the way they were if it wasn’t some sort of trap. Only the fact that she hated it really connected things for her at the moment.

“Speaking of the Nightstar sect,” Eka said. “You helped the sect a lot with that. I appreciate you retrieving Durff, but we also found information that old sect was spread more widely. Here, let me show you.” She pulled out a scroll, which unfurled into a three-dimensional star map. There weren’t many markings, which slightly disappointed Velvet.

“There are a few all the way out west?” Velvet asked. “Even into the Exalted Quadrant?”

“Unless their own information were lies,” Eka shrugged. “It’s odd, either way. They’d be far too spread out to function. But at least we gleaned this from the records people found. We’d like you to help explore some.”

“I’ll definitely consider it,” Velvet said. However, she’d somehow stumbled into getting most of the answers she ever thought she’d acquire all at once. Not giving away her excitement was all she could do. “You mentioned training?”

“Oh, indeed,” Eka said. “I can’t give away any of our secrets, but an exchange of pointers could be arranged. Or a stealth match.”

“What’s that? Velvet asked.

Durff had an answer there. “It’s fancy hide and seek. I was never very good at it,” he sighed. “And even when I won people complained.”

“Sounds petty,” Velvet said. “Why would they complain?”

“I don’t know!” Durff said. “Just because I smashed all the walls to reveal my opponent, they said I wasn’t ‘using proper detection techniques’. But I saw them!”

“I think that counts,” Velvet crossed her arms.

“Honestly?” Eka grinned. “I do too. In a roundabout way, my nephew here might have the highest potential as an anti-spy operative I’ve ever met. But they had a good point that he’s anything but stealthy.”

“Hmm,” Velvet pondered. “He does lack subtlety. But I bet he could learn it.”

“You’re welcome to try to teach him,” Eka said. “But I certainly don’t know how to get it to him. Not that he needs to learn any of that. As for people who do need to learn…” Eka laughed. “I heard from Gulmira some idiots tried to get into it with you two.”

“Sorry to cause a disturbance,” Velvet said.

“They’re the ones who should be sorry. If they wanted to do something, they should have been more subtle. Of course it would have still ended up with Durff whacking them through a few walls, so really they picked the wrong target. That’s the thing with kids like that. They don’t understand intrigue. You’re never supposed to let your enemy know that you’re enemies. Otherwise they have an advantage over you.”

Velvet nodded. She took that very seriously. And she’d found it worked out quite well, when she could. Here she had come looking for questions, and they had just been handed to her because Eka thought they were friends. Which they weren’t, but they might not be enemies either. Depending on whether Ratna’s ominous words about not being there for the Scarlet Alliance ‘yet’ as a threat or just a turn of phrase.

If possible, Velvet wanted to learn something more about Ratna, but prying too much would be dangerous. Perhaps it was best to take what she’d learned and go. Though without looking like she was doing that. Maybe a bit more exploration first.

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