Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1231

As time continued to pass, Bear Hug found themself torn about what they should do with their future. On the one hand, the lower realms were big and they could probably continue to make friends with people for centuries of centuries. That was how numbers worked, right? Whatever, it was a long time.

On the other hand- not that Bear Hug actually had hands- there was a whole planet that was going to be sad. Bear Hug understood all the parts about building up a planet’s natural energy and responsibly harvesting portions of it. Even they consumed energy, air, and nutrients from their surroundings to grow their bodies. Most of those things had been alive or part of something alive at some point, it was just that humans used things that were alive more recently. That was fine.

It was sad that a whole planet was going to die without even getting a name. It had a designation, but numbers and letters were hard. People usually just said ‘the second one’ or ‘here’, depending on the context. That, Bear Hug thought, was sad.

That was why they asked Lev to bring them to the upper realms. Lev didn’t want to, but ultimately Bear Hug convinced people with logic and threats of throwing themselves across the border alone. But they probably wouldn’t have done that. It was a thing humans did to indicate seriousness.

So Bear Hug was in a ship going between the realms, and everything felt bad. Even when traveling in ships normally and missing out on proper sunlight, the funny lights humans made for them were kind of nice. It wasn’t really sunlight, but it helped Bear Hug feel less like they were dying. But that was when Bear Hug could also properly absorb energy.

Bear Hug didn’t normally feel a lot of physical sensations. ‘Touch’ was still a mystery, though energy touch was nice. Hearing was weird. Hot and cold were some of the things Bear Hug felt, along with ‘thirst’. The need for water should be similar, probably. Maybe that was the same as hunger.

Sick wasn’t a thing Bear Hug had known. Wounded? Yes. But what body they possessed had always operated properly, at least as long as they remembered existing.

But this was definitely ‘sick’. Some of them was perfectly fine, basking in the sun. But this part in this ship? It was not happy.

“We can turn around,” Lev said. “We should turn around.”

“But there’s a bunch of people who won’t get places on time! Humans care about that stuff,” Bear Hug protested weakly. “And I want to feel ‘ascension energy’.”

“You won’t feel anything if you die,” Lev pointed out.

“That’s okay. Even if I die, I’ll survive.”

“You presume.”

“It’s happened once or twice. Don’t tell Anton.”

“I’ll consider your request. But this is a different scenario, right? And just because you survive doesn’t mean you’re fine.” Lev held up his arm. “Look at this. Does my body seem normal to you?”

Bear Hug stared intently. “... it moves normal?” Were there any parts missing? “Everyone else moves weird, though. I can’t even tell how their body is going to go. Like animals.”

Lev let his arm drop. “That’s because my arm doesn’t work. I’m just puppeting it. Perhaps that’s normal for you, but for humans it’s not normal. It’s harder than it should be.”

“You’re talking about injuries.”

“That’s right. Some can recover, but others never do.” Lev took a few moments to survey Bear Hug, sprawled out in a tub. “How bad is it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been sick before.”

“Can you hold on?”

“I’m a cultivator,” they replied. “That’s what we’re supposed to do, right? Whatever we think we should.”

“Something like that,” Lev said.

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Bear Hug regretted making a fanciful promise that they could hold on. They should have said they were a weak baby that needed to go home. Then they wouldn’t be experiencing so much unpleasantness.

Dying would have been so much easier, but it was probably bad. Bear Hug didn’t like rebuilding mass, and if it happened from running out of energy it might be worse. The connection to the rest of them, where they belonged in the lower realms, was only strong enough to be the same person still, not to get energy. Maybe they should have waited until reaching Assimilation. Except there was a problem with that.

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Because if Second Gift- Bear Hug had their own name for the planet now- was going to the upper realms, wouldn’t they need to ascend? But then they wouldn’t be strong enough to protect the planet on the way. That was why things were hard. Bear Hug was being pulled in different directions, and algae could only withstand so much tension.

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Things sort of got worse when they reached the upper realms, because there was different energy everywhere. It was trying to push out all of Bear Hug’s natural energy. And everyone else’s, too. Lev was only fine because he was a strong cultivator with external sources of power in his trees. Plus, he had experience adapting to the upper realms. He wasn’t like an Ascension cultivator that fit naturally, but just like they could work when they descended, people could replace their energy and kind of work.

But humans didn’t need energy to survive. Without energy, Bear Hug might just be a pile of plantlike matter. That was not something that had bothered them before, until it seemed likely to come about. It was possible they could replace their natural energy with ascension energy… or they might die along the way.

They almost tried anyway. It would be a good learning experience. However, ultimately, they decided that making people sad and potentially causing lasting damage to their cultivation might not be worth it. So instead, Bear Hug sat in real sunlight that felt fake because it had the wrong kind of energy. But at least the physical part of them was being properly maintained. There was also a really small amount of natural energy- or lower energy- present in the upper realms.

Some was imbued in things, which made them quite valuable. That was the whole point of Second Gift. As for why it was valuable, apparently training with it before reaching Integration was good. Like Ascending, for those who were born in the upper realms.

Upper energy was powerful. It was also hard to work with. Bear Hug could see why cultivators might like it, as it was naturally more compressed. Instead of relying on external sources or swift replenishment like Assimilation cultivators, they could just hold everything they needed. And it settled into people nicely.

Bear Hug would probably like it if they ascended, but without that it was just… unpleasant. Like trying to swim in oil instead of water. How was Bear Hug supposed to know that the clear liquid wasn’t water? It had always been water before. That mistake didn’t happen a second time, though.

Bear Hug probably wasn’t going to die, but they were going to take the first ship back to the lower realms. Which was probably the same ship, since they tended to go back and forth across the border. Better ships existed for the rest of the journey.

But until then, Bear Hug was an unhappy puddle.

-----

Not feeling sick made Bear Hug appreciate just how good being ‘normal’ felt. They could do anything. Walking, talking, flying (sorta), fighting, and also relaxing. People were supposed to rest when sick, but Bear Hug was pretty sure that trying to relax while not maintaining an equilibrium of natural energy would have been a good way to die. It wouldn’t have been fun.

Resolve to never again take a trip to the upper realms filled them. And yet… Second Gift needed someone who not only cared about it but for it. Someone who could make the planet the best it could be. And nobody else was stepping up for the job.

Too bad it was impossible. Maybe Bear Hug could guide the planet on the way to the upper realms, and the people there could deal with it. They might let it freeze though. That would be sad, and waste all the effort before that.

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Experimenting with cultivation was a good way to get yourself killed. Zazil knew that. She’d recently experienced Prasad attempting the most orthodox methods they knew to reach Domination, and that still failed.

The problem with experiments was that even if the ideas were solid, they could still fail. The other problem was that they were extremely tempting, because proving a method correct was one of the best feelings in the world. Advancing along a cultivation path that others hadn’t established was exhilarating.

Zazil crossed the eastern border expecting to die. Not intending to, but resolved to what would likely happen. She had left behind notes on all of her thoughts, so that at least everything up until her final attempt might be preserved. She didn’t bring any form of recording device with her. Going into enemy territory, leaving behind valuable technology or other information that they might make use of would be a waste.

So she brought only herself and what she thought she might need. That did include several storage bags full of high-energy resources, but theoretically all of that would be consumed. She couldn’t bring a constructed anchor with her for various reasons.

She moved from system to system, staying on the outskirts. Zazil didn’t approach any occupied planets, merely taking short reprieves where she could. Her end destination was the Creeping Fire Nebula.

It was probably crazy to go into the heart of a Domination cultivator’s domain in her own attempt to break through. It was also provocation, in a sense. However, Koronis probably deserved it the most. The Creeping Fire Sect had never really had a reason to have conflict with the Scarlet Alliance, except as a way for Koronis to throw her weight around. When she had an advantage she acted arrogantly. She regained timidity when she wasn’t backed up by others.

Most likely, she would be a problem in the future again. Zazil might accidentally accelerate that timeline, which would be unfortunate. She’d rather do it on purpose. Which meant she had to survive.

Step by step, she drew closer to a point of no return. Technically, until she actually began her advancement, she could take it back at any time. Probably, nobody would even know. There was time before people would begin to miss her. She’d made it clear she would be focused on her cultivation in the near future. Normally she might still be contactable, but it wasn’t that odd to go completely contactless, even if long term closed-door cultivation tended to be a poor substitute for gaining experience.

Zazil had a plan, based on the origin of the Dark Ring. There, they had built their bases in the scattered asteroids of the Harmonious Citadel’s own systems. Why not do the same for an anchor?

There were, of course, a thousand reasons not to, chief of which was that having an anchor deep inside enemy territory was a good way for it to be destroyed by a coordinated siege. But, theoretically, it would be very valuable in the middle of a war.

Obviously, Zazil couldn’t pick a place. Even if it worked perfectly, it would be a shame to create a base in the territory of one enemy for a single instance and then just be done. And the concept of creating multiple anchors felt a bit off to Zazil. Obviously Catarina was doing well with linking more solar platforms to herself, but that wasn’t really the same.

Ultimately, Zazil wanted a concept. A mobile anchor, which sounded like an oxymoron at first. But Assimilation cultivators did just fine with such ideas, and they weren’t that different from Domination cultivators. Besides, if one went back to a nautical anchor, they were precisely meant to be picked up and moved. The concept made sense to Zazil. Moving a physical thing might be a bit tough, but if she could temporarily designate anchors…

Well, she thought it would be great. Or she would die. Probably that second one, but somehow she was okay with that.