Elder Cultivator

It was a shame that Ratna had only stayed for a short time, but Timothy understood that they weren’t really allies. Either way, she likely had many responsibilities to get back to as she might not be able to rely on anyone else at the top. Fortunately for the Scarlet Alliance, they had come together in a manner that let various groups stand together on common ground without fear.

There had been something she hinted at that Timothy didn’t quite get, even with years of follow-up practice. He was certain of that, because while he was certainly growing more comfortable with his new abilities there was still something missing.

The first person he asked was as always Catarina. They would frequently go to each other first, even if they didn’t expect the other to be able to provide an actual answer. “What do you think it could be? She didn’t show much interest in sparring with you for example.”

“Maybe I already understood it?” Catarina tilted her head. “Or maybe I’m the wrong type. Truthfully, I’m having difficulty figuring out how to work with my new power. I’ve been working on new formations, but I keep having to put in limiters instead of expanding into anything new and exciting, and I’m running out of space. That’s for using my own energy without active input, I mean.”

“It sounds like you need more robust materials and runes to handle Domination energy to begin with. For the current moment, have you removed the energy gathering portions? If you already have too much…” Timothy shrugged.

“I did limit them, but I suppose I could scrap them entirely. It’s a difficult shift in functionality. Some energy intensive things are so easy, but outside of the anchor we transformed everything else is too fragile. I have been working to replicate that, but that doesn’t seem to be a common practice. I don’t want to dilute my energy somehow.” She frowned. “It might be worth taking risks for the Alliance though. We could discover so much as long as the results aren’t crippling.”

Timothy supposed they had been rather timid. He wondered what the limits of what they could do might be, and it was difficult to know without testing. At a moderate level of output, he expected he would never run out of energy. Maybe even much higher, because he couldn’t actually tell if there was a proper limit. Zaur’s example hadn’t exactly been clear.

They had worn him down through consecutive wounds more than actually depleting his energy, as could be seen in the explosions upon his death. Certainly, it hadn’t been unlimited but Zaur had never felt particularly empty.

Day after day, Timothy had been sparring with Augmentation cultivators but it hadn’t been enough. He could handle small groups, but he wasn’t quite living up to Zaur’s level of expertise. The potential was certainly there, but whether he needed centuries of growth or there was something else Timothy wasn’t sure.

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It was a shame that Chikere was gone. Chidi was skilled enough to replace her in certain manners, but he wasn’t equally functional as part of a team. They were more than lucky to have lost only Chikere, but Timothy could have used her deadly attacks as a challenge. With Chidi, it was more of an all or nothing, where Timothy was untouchable or Chidi actually managed to successfully negate him.

Tauno was a pretty good replacement in terms of savagery, and Prasad kept Timothy on his toes. Against the two of them, he was constantly having to shift his defensive energy. Tauno was just as likely to try to stab him through the guts as to try to bite out his throat or chop off his leg. Prasad could wield his palms as versatile weapons, either launching large attacks that completely encompassed Timothy or small ones that came from many directions.

If Timothy committed to counterattacking he had sufficient power to take them out, and defend himself, but only if he could shift his energy in the right ways.

Prasad rarely got close enough to attack, and while Timothy could augment the reach of his sword the power rapidly fell off to the point even his Domination energy wasn’t sufficient to take down Prasad at mid range. That range simply happened to be hundreds or thousands of kilometers, because people like them weren’t suited to fighting on the surface of planets anymore. The point was that Prasad’s own range was better, so he was able to fight effectively at a distance Timothy couldn’t easily take him out.

At least, when Tauno was added to the mix. The man certainly knew how to extend the reach of his weapons, but he rarely ever did. He had a spear made of the spine of some beast that he’d slain that he clearly wanted to drive directly through Timothy, and an axe made from a wickedly curved claw for all his cutting needs. He could wield either in a single hand, or swap to a two handed grip by hooking either weapon onto straps around his body.

Attacks came high and low, but Timothy knew that wasn’t the end of things. Prasad would definitely strike his back- but would there be anywhere else?

Shifting his energy to guard the most likely locations, Timothy managed to just read his foes’ intent- this time. More than a few times his energy had been battered to a thin edge that might have spelled his death if his foes had been serious… but in such a case his own blade would have taken lives as well, regardless of his actual proficiency.

Tauno’s instincts for dodging were legendary, and he was able to twist his body in all directions, a fact that he happily used to try to throw off his foes. However, after a few times of him flying sideways or upside down at Timothy it grew old.

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Timothy’s blade stopped as it touched Tauno’s ribcage, cutting through layers of defensive energy. His remaining energy was more than sufficient to break the physical barrier. But that brought only a momentary pause to that match.

It was a good matchup that pushed Timothy, but it wasn’t quite right. What other options made sense? How could he go further?

-----

A list of the most likely prospective Domination cultivators lay in front of Velvet. Once a cultivator was active in Domination it was difficult to hide any of that, and there were a few sects that had ties to the Citadel of Exalted Light that fit the bill.

The Disciples of the Unending Void were one of them. The distortion beast focused cultivators likely hadn’t sent their best on Zaur’s crusades, and the Alliance was lucky. Two Domination cultivators would have more than wiped them off the map, no matter their plans and good fortune. Most likely they had expected Zaur to win, but perhaps they were fine with a rival being taken out.

Aside from a terrifying visage, very little information was available on Ramil, their Domination cultivator. Like the other known Domination Cultivators, he retained the title of Exalted One. It could be presumed his abilities were much like the rest of the sect, but they hadn’t been able to confirm much else.

Even such limited information had been difficult to come by. Petitioning Everheart for more was pointless, as he’d already shared as much as he was likely to. So Velvet and the whole information division had to work with that and whatever Lelka happened to know.

Next was the Ponderous Turtle Clan, which had possessed a presence on Ceretos. They fortunately had minimal participation in the wars but Cynbel, who was their sect head, was a Domination cultivator. He was rumored to ride on a massive turtle but… Velvet didn’t think the turtle sounded that big. A couple kilometers across at best. Maybe they didn’t feed their turtles well in the upper realms.

Finally was the Soul Piercers, who made their home on the western edge of the Exalted Quadrant. Apparently they were serious trouble for the Chaotic Conglomeration. They only used spears, and while that made them appear like a weapon sect it was said they didn’t quite fit with the rest of their style. From what information had been gathered, they used esoteric attack styles that simply fit well with long weapons, rather than focusing on spear skills above all else. Their Sect Head Korin had seemingly replaced much of her body with various non-living material.

That was the limit of confirmed Domination cultivators from the Exalted Quadrant that Velvet had access to. Then there were dozens of rumored individuals, ranging from highly likely to probably just to bolster their own ego. Confirming some of those would be useful, but mostly the Scarlet Alliance wanted to avoid conflict in general.

There were a number of others referred to as Exalted Ones, usually among the same sects. Ludek of the Citadel of Exalted Light had nearly claimed the title, but the destruction of the core sect had doubtless thrown that into chaos.

As for the Trigold Cluster, they knew of Ratna of course. They also had reason to believe that she was also the leader of the Distant Shadow Sect in addition to the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. That lowered the potential numbers by one. Then there was Koronis, who they had actually observed reaching Domination. Neither of those were enemies, for the moment, so that was comforting.

The Fearsome Menagerie had a Domination cultivator by the name of Yann, or at least they did at some point. He hadn’t been heard from in something like five centuries… which might or might not mean something. He could be dead, captured, or in a particularly long period of isolation. Even with their extended lifespans cultivators rarely went more than a few years in isolation, but Domination cultivators had the best chance to be the exception.

Then there was Shelach. His name wasn’t even written in front of Velvet, just for the sake of safety. That was about the limit they knew of the seemingly unattached Domination cultivator, except for the great danger.

The final ‘known’ cultivator was one in the Swirling Swarm. They operated far away from the Scarlet Midfields. Each sect member lacked individuality, at least from the view of outsiders. They had a Domination cultivator who had been observed, but nobody knew their name. They simply showed up among their ranks in battles, which on the surface was a straightforward game of numbers. Maybe that was all there was to it, but Velvet found it difficult to imagine they could have produced a Domination cultivator if they didn’t have some sort of deeper skill aside from attacking people with a lot of them.

This information gave them a list of people they shouldn’t make angry. Now that the Scarlet Alliance had defeated Zaur- and had two Domination cultivators- anyone who came against them would take them more seriously. Zaur Beridze had, to a certain extent, but only after the first attempt when they had sufficient information to try to combat him.

Some of the sects in question could potentially have more Domination cultivators- it simply wasn’t known. From the perspective of the Scarlet Alliance, the world was up a net of one Domination cultivator in the past century or so… but most likely that was an exception, both with the deaths and advancements.

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From what Abder had seen, being stubborn could be extremely detrimental… or equally beneficial. Fortunately for Suraya, she seemed to be in the latter camp. Once she saw slight improvements, she stuck with her training without fail. She also didn’t complain seriously when Abder consistently made it more difficult. Over the course of a few years Abder she didn’t even really surpass the first two ranks of cultivation… but she did improve.

Whenever he could, Abder tried to get her to follow more traditional cultivation methods, but she only accepted training for her hands. The way he got around that is by extending that slowly to her arms, which then affected her shoulders and following that her upper torso in general. At least he got her to train both arms.

There weren’t a lot of people who needed excellent calligraphy, but those who wanted it would pay well. If Suraya could have imbued insights into her writing, cultivators would have fawned over her but she simply wasn’t at that level. She could make excellent copies of the actual texts which were both embellished and highly readable while keeping any important formatting. The Lower Realms Alliance apparently had some way to produce exact copies of things, but Moturn hadn’t really adopted much technology. Abder had been a bit disappointed about that, but in Suraya’s case it was quite convenient. Now, at least, she wouldn’t be at risk if left on her own again- not that Abder intended to give her up.

Sometimes, people just fell into each other’s lives. That could be a meeting on the streets, or in their basement. Though the latter was likely less common.