Chapter 850
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Chapter 850
Brightness and heat suffused everything around Anton as he slipped around a star. His speed was improving, but mere speed was not satisfactory. Unfortunately, his attempts to develop a better travel technique were limited by his bound stars. He was making some progress when moving among stars he was attuned to, but elsewhere he was restricted to simply pushing himself further.
As he had recently traveled around the perimeter of the Lower Realms Alliance, Anton was keenly aware of the vast distances involved. And that was ignoring anything beyond their settled areas. The Shining Cooperative was of an unknown size, but even the most generous estimates would only have them spilling out of that area a few systems to the east. Of course, they could be wrong.
In an unbound system like he currently was, Anton could only pick up a little bit of speed by wrestling momentum away from the local star and planets. He could recover energy just fine between systems now, so it wasnt always necessary to stop or even pass through particular systems. Moving only in the void between systems also had its merits.
Currently, Anton was circling around through his bound systems to the south. Hed spent a good portion of his time lately traveling, but that was a consequence of his wide ranging interests. He had grown more confident in Inistra with Varghese advancing to Assimilation, but the Shining Cooperative loomed too close for him to fully relax. Thus, his plan was to make certain that the following diplomacy would go as well as possible. That meant a safe and preferably comfortable location to stay. The Lower Realms Alliance had already sent a few security ships that should at least verify specific dangers, but Anton planned to check out some of the nearby systems just in case.
Instead of taking a direct route through unexplored stars- a tempting proposition- Anton had decided it was best to follow a mostly familiar. It was a longer distance, but the actual travel time should be similar. And if his technique finally showed any gains as he hoped it might, he could even arrive more quickly.
Once in the neighborhood of Ceretos, starting with Weos, Anton accelerated his advancement while trying to achieve specific insights. Hoping to instantaneously cover the distance between systems was a bit more ambitious than Anton was willing to strive for. However, he could do more.
What he was already doing involved using the power of his bound stars to accelerate himself as quickly as possible, but he didnt think that was the right route. Instead, he had been working on another method that was similar in appearance from the outside.
From Weos, he focused on his connection to that star- and its rather odd effects on gravity- then his most familiar and first bound star in Ceretos. The two systems were neighbors, though perhaps over the course of thousands of tens of thousands of years that would change slightly. They were drifting in more or less the same direction, but not at precisely the same velocities relative to the galactic plane.
That double connection was what Anton wanted, and he strengthened it slightly. He propelled himself forward and dove into subspace once beyond the gravity well of the system. He was moving fast, certainly, but he hadnt quite accomplished what he wanted. It was a matter of days before he arrived around Ceretos, ready to turn to the northeast. This was where his technique was more critical, as he had greater distances between bound stars. Though had had over a dozen bound stars along the path from Ceretos to Inistra and Azun, that put them at around an average of thirty to forty lightyears apart, enough to pass through a handful of systems.
Antons next leap didnt quite get it but he felt something. His next star was about halfway to the Twin Planets, though perhaps the name was no longer apt considering the whole system was being expanded into.
Velvet just hoped that the sluggish and traditional powerhouses on either side of the Scarlet Alliance took too long to properly see what was happening, and reacted slowly enough for them to actually fight back. Because while they had some amazing things, what the Scarlet Alliance lacked was raw numbers. That was something only time could fix, as new people had to be born and rise in cultivation in either the upper or lower realms.
There was an internal debate about whether she should destroy the ship, but ultimately Velvet decided that there were no useful traces left on the ship. It arriving empty in its target system in a couple years would at most be a mystery, assuming it didnt go unnoticed along its course into the sun.
As for herself, she directed her course around the system. She had a particular goal for where she wanted to first set her feet, as well as a new cover identity to help her be on her way. She even had an identity token from an Exalted Quadrant sect. Some would darken when their attuned cultivators died, but this one had had its connection severed by the Spirit Slicing Sect. Thus, it would look real enough as long as nobody took a deep look at her cultivation.
Obviously Velvet would be hiding that. If someone noticed she was an Augmentation cultivator, there would be too many questions. Obviously she had an excuse for why she was trying to travel incognito, just in case, but at that point it would probably be too late. Her cultivation wouldnt match any local techniques well enough under a thorough inspection, and while that was acceptable for those of weaker cultivation, Augmentation cultivators were more of the definition of a techniques look and feel. Even if she picked another sun based sect, Velvet knew she wouldnt perfectly match. So she would be acting as a member of the Western Mirage Sect.
There was a vaguely associated Northern Mirage Sect as well, but their problem was actually being local. And thus more easily recognized. Even if Velvet was good at faking her outer layer of cultivation, the best disguises were the most believable, where people didnt even try to inspect them. Just like the best stealth was simply going where nobody would look.
Obviously that didnt work all the time. If Velvet wanted to be the most safe she could be, she would have crawled along either the northern or southern border, staying just within the boundary of the upper realms. But she still had information to gather for the Scarlet Alliance, and it was better to do it now than risk another trip deep into enemy territory.
-----
Saying that he could predict all of Aeronas actions would have been foolish, and Devon knew that even with his encouragement she could have gone either way. Even so, he was comfortable saying that he expected the eventual outcome that she arrived at.
Which was to say, she actively chose to participate in more parts of the diplomatic efforts on Nidec. She hadnt been lacking in options before, but she was pushing for more invitations to various events. And of course, for his part in that Devon had to support her. Both emotionally, and in the manner of being a powerful and intimidating cultivator.
So it was that he was both surprised and not surprised to be challenged to a duel by a member of the Hardened Crown Sect- the Nidec branch, not the other one. Though Naamah looked like she might want to fight him too.
He accepted, of course, though he wasnt sure if it was particularly fair to stomp a Life Transformation cultivator. And so he asked Aerona to help come up with some appropriate handicap that wouldnt be insulting and could improve their opinion of him. When she gave her suggestion, he almost thought she was crazy. Then he remembered who they were dealing with and he decided it was fine.
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Chapter 850
Brightness and heat suffused everything around Anton as he slipped around a star. His speed was improving, but mere speed was not satisfactory. Unfortunately, his attempts to develop a better travel technique were limited by his bound stars. He was making some progress when moving among stars he was attuned to, but elsewhere he was restricted to simply pushing himself further.
As he had recently traveled around the perimeter of the Lower Realms Alliance, Anton was keenly aware of the vast distances involved. And that was ignoring anything beyond their settled areas. The Shining Cooperative was of an unknown size, but even the most generous estimates would only have them spilling out of that area a few systems to the east. Of course, they could be wrong.
In an unbound system like he currently was, Anton could only pick up a little bit of speed by wrestling momentum away from the local star and planets. He could recover energy just fine between systems now, so it wasnt always necessary to stop or even pass through particular systems. Moving only in the void between systems also had its merits.
Currently, Anton was circling around through his bound systems to the south. Hed spent a good portion of his time lately traveling, but that was a consequence of his wide ranging interests. He had grown more confident in Inistra with Varghese advancing to Assimilation, but the Shining Cooperative loomed too close for him to fully relax. Thus, his plan was to make certain that the following diplomacy would go as well as possible. That meant a safe and preferably comfortable location to stay. The Lower Realms Alliance had already sent a few security ships that should at least verify specific dangers, but Anton planned to check out some of the nearby systems just in case.
Instead of taking a direct route through unexplored stars- a tempting proposition- Anton had decided it was best to follow a mostly familiar. It was a longer distance, but the actual travel time should be similar. And if his technique finally showed any gains as he hoped it might, he could even arrive more quickly.
Once in the neighborhood of Ceretos, starting with Weos, Anton accelerated his advancement while trying to achieve specific insights. Hoping to instantaneously cover the distance between systems was a bit more ambitious than Anton was willing to strive for. However, he could do more.
What he was already doing involved using the power of his bound stars to accelerate himself as quickly as possible, but he didnt think that was the right route. Instead, he had been working on another method that was similar in appearance from the outside.
From Weos, he focused on his connection to that star- and its rather odd effects on gravity- then his most familiar and first bound star in Ceretos. The two systems were neighbors, though perhaps over the course of thousands of tens of thousands of years that would change slightly. They were drifting in more or less the same direction, but not at precisely the same velocities relative to the galactic plane.
That double connection was what Anton wanted, and he strengthened it slightly. He propelled himself forward and dove into subspace once beyond the gravity well of the system. He was moving fast, certainly, but he hadnt quite accomplished what he wanted. It was a matter of days before he arrived around Ceretos, ready to turn to the northeast. This was where his technique was more critical, as he had greater distances between bound stars. Though had had over a dozen bound stars along the path from Ceretos to Inistra and Azun, that put them at around an average of thirty to forty lightyears apart, enough to pass through a handful of systems.
Antons next leap didnt quite get it but he felt something. His next star was about halfway to the Twin Planets, though perhaps the name was no longer apt considering the whole system was being expanded into.
Velvet just hoped that the sluggish and traditional powerhouses on either side of the Scarlet Alliance took too long to properly see what was happening, and reacted slowly enough for them to actually fight back. Because while they had some amazing things, what the Scarlet Alliance lacked was raw numbers. That was something only time could fix, as new people had to be born and rise in cultivation in either the upper or lower realms.
There was an internal debate about whether she should destroy the ship, but ultimately Velvet decided that there were no useful traces left on the ship. It arriving empty in its target system in a couple years would at most be a mystery, assuming it didnt go unnoticed along its course into the sun.
As for herself, she directed her course around the system. She had a particular goal for where she wanted to first set her feet, as well as a new cover identity to help her be on her way. She even had an identity token from an Exalted Quadrant sect. Some would darken when their attuned cultivators died, but this one had had its connection severed by the Spirit Slicing Sect. Thus, it would look real enough as long as nobody took a deep look at her cultivation.
Obviously Velvet would be hiding that. If someone noticed she was an Augmentation cultivator, there would be too many questions. Obviously she had an excuse for why she was trying to travel incognito, just in case, but at that point it would probably be too late. Her cultivation wouldnt match any local techniques well enough under a thorough inspection, and while that was acceptable for those of weaker cultivation, Augmentation cultivators were more of the definition of a techniques look and feel. Even if she picked another sun based sect, Velvet knew she wouldnt perfectly match. So she would be acting as a member of the Western Mirage Sect.
There was a vaguely associated Northern Mirage Sect as well, but their problem was actually being local. And thus more easily recognized. Even if Velvet was good at faking her outer layer of cultivation, the best disguises were the most believable, where people didnt even try to inspect them. Just like the best stealth was simply going where nobody would look.
Obviously that didnt work all the time. If Velvet wanted to be the most safe she could be, she would have crawled along either the northern or southern border, staying just within the boundary of the upper realms. But she still had information to gather for the Scarlet Alliance, and it was better to do it now than risk another trip deep into enemy territory.
-----
Saying that he could predict all of Aeronas actions would have been foolish, and Devon knew that even with his encouragement she could have gone either way. Even so, he was comfortable saying that he expected the eventual outcome that she arrived at.
Which was to say, she actively chose to participate in more parts of the diplomatic efforts on Nidec. She hadnt been lacking in options before, but she was pushing for more invitations to various events. And of course, for his part in that Devon had to support her. Both emotionally, and in the manner of being a powerful and intimidating cultivator.
So it was that he was both surprised and not surprised to be challenged to a duel by a member of the Hardened Crown Sect- the Nidec branch, not the other one. Though Naamah looked like she might want to fight him too.
He accepted, of course, though he wasnt sure if it was particularly fair to stomp a Life Transformation cultivator. And so he asked Aerona to help come up with some appropriate handicap that wouldnt be insulting and could improve their opinion of him. When she gave her suggestion, he almost thought she was crazy. Then he remembered who they were dealing with and he decided it was fine.
Chapter 850Brightness and heat suffused everything around Anton as he slipped around a star. His speed was improving, but mere speed was not satisfactory. Unfortunately, his attempts to develop a better travel technique were limited by his bound stars. He was making some progress when moving among stars he was attuned to, but elsewhere he was restricted to simply pushing himself further.As he had recently traveled around the perimeter of the Lower Realms Alliance, Anton was keenly aware of the vast distances involved. And that was ignoring anything beyond their settled areas. The Shining Cooperative was of an unknown size, but even the most generous estimates would only have them spilling out of that area a few systems to the east. Of course, they could be wrong.In an unbound system like he currently was, Anton could only pick up a little bit of speed by wrestling momentum away from the local star and planets. He could recover energy just fine between systems now, so it wasnt always necessary to stop or even pass through particular systems. Moving only in the void between systems also had its merits.Currently, Anton was circling around through his bound systems to the south. Hed spent a good portion of his time lately traveling, but that was a consequence of his wide ranging interests. He had grown more confident in Inistra with Varghese advancing to Assimilation, but the Shining Cooperative loomed too close for him to fully relax. Thus, his plan was to make certain that the following diplomacy would go as well as possible. That meant a safe and preferably comfortable location to stay. The Lower Realms Alliance had already sent a few security ships that should at least verify specific dangers, but Anton planned to check out some of the nearby systems just in case.Instead of taking a direct route through unexplored stars- a tempting proposition- Anton had decided it was best to follow a mostly familiar. It was a longer distance, but the actual travel time should be similar. And if his technique finally showed any gains as he hoped it might, he could even arrive more quickly.Once in the neighborhood of Ceretos, starting with Weos, Anton accelerated his advancement while trying to achieve specific insights. Hoping to instantaneously cover the distance between systems was a bit more ambitious than Anton was willing to strive for. However, he could do more.What he was already doing involved using the power of his bound stars to accelerate himself as quickly as possible, but he didnt think that was the right route. Instead, he had been working on another method that was similar in appearance from the outside. From Weos, he focused on his connection to that star- and its rather odd effects on gravity- then his most familiar and first bound star in Ceretos. The two systems were neighbors, though perhaps over the course of thousands of tens of thousands of years that would change slightly. They were drifting in more or less the same direction, but not at precisely the same velocities relative to the galactic plane. That double connection was what Anton wanted, and he strengthened it slightly. He propelled himself forward and dove into subspace once beyond the gravity well of the system. He was moving fast, certainly, but he hadnt quite accomplished what he wanted. It was a matter of days before he arrived around Ceretos, ready to turn to the northeast. This was where his technique was more critical, as he had greater distances between bound stars. Though had had over a dozen bound stars along the path from Ceretos to Inistra and Azun, that put them at around an average of thirty to forty lightyears apart, enough to pass through a handful of systems.Antons next leap didnt quite get it but he felt something. His next star was about halfway to the Twin Planets, though perhaps the name was no longer apt considering the whole system was being expanded into. Velvet just hoped that the sluggish and traditional powerhouses on either side of the Scarlet Alliance took too long to properly see what was happening, and reacted slowly enough for them to actually fight back. Because while they had some amazing things, what the Scarlet Alliance lacked was raw numbers. That was something only time could fix, as new people had to be born and rise in cultivation in either the upper or lower realms.There was an internal debate about whether she should destroy the ship, but ultimately Velvet decided that there were no useful traces left on the ship. It arriving empty in its target system in a couple years would at most be a mystery, assuming it didnt go unnoticed along its course into the sun. As for herself, she directed her course around the system. She had a particular goal for where she wanted to first set her feet, as well as a new cover identity to help her be on her way. She even had an identity token from an Exalted Quadrant sect. Some would darken when their attuned cultivators died, but this one had had its connection severed by the Spirit Slicing Sect. Thus, it would look real enough as long as nobody took a deep look at her cultivation.Obviously Velvet would be hiding that. If someone noticed she was an Augmentation cultivator, there would be too many questions. Obviously she had an excuse for why she was trying to travel incognito, just in case, but at that point it would probably be too late. Her cultivation wouldnt match any local techniques well enough under a thorough inspection, and while that was acceptable for those of weaker cultivation, Augmentation cultivators were more of the definition of a techniques look and feel. Even if she picked another sun based sect, Velvet knew she wouldnt perfectly match. So she would be acting as a member of the Western Mirage Sect.There was a vaguely associated Northern Mirage Sect as well, but their problem was actually being local. And thus more easily recognized. Even if Velvet was good at faking her outer layer of cultivation, the best disguises were the most believable, where people didnt even try to inspect them. Just like the best stealth was simply going where nobody would look.Obviously that didnt work all the time. If Velvet wanted to be the most safe she could be, she would have crawled along either the northern or southern border, staying just within the boundary of the upper realms. But she still had information to gather for the Scarlet Alliance, and it was better to do it now than risk another trip deep into enemy territory.-----Saying that he could predict all of Aeronas actions would have been foolish, and Devon knew that even with his encouragement she could have gone either way. Even so, he was comfortable saying that he expected the eventual outcome that she arrived at. Which was to say, she actively chose to participate in more parts of the diplomatic efforts on Nidec. She hadnt been lacking in options before, but she was pushing for more invitations to various events. And of course, for his part in that Devon had to support her. Both emotionally, and in the manner of being a powerful and intimidating cultivator.So it was that he was both surprised and not surprised to be challenged to a duel by a member of the Hardened Crown Sect- the Nidec branch, not the other one. Though Naamah looked like she might want to fight him too.He accepted, of course, though he wasnt sure if it was particularly fair to stomp a Life Transformation cultivator. And so he asked Aerona to help come up with some appropriate handicap that wouldnt be insulting and could improve their opinion of him. When she gave her suggestion, he almost thought she was crazy. Then he remembered who they were dealing with and he decided it was fine.
