Elder Cultivator

Chapter 1185

Though Anton mainly wanted to be left alone and have doctors stop pestering him, he couldn’t really tell them to stop when it wasn’t just for the sake of his own health. Also, one of them was certainly not a doctor.

A relatively large snout sniffed his hand. Anton had little opportunity to interact with Aconite in the past, given that she was born in the upper realms. Now, bringing a small number of people back and forth just took time. This particular necessity justified the use of the limited ships traveling between realms.

“I can barely smell the poisons,” Aconite admitted.

“It’s been a long time. I’m surprised you can smell them at all. Also... does that mean there are still traces in me?”

“The scanners must have trouble picking out small concentrations,” Aconite said. “Technology isn’t better than a specialist. Don’t worry, your healing is already outpacing the damage. You shouldn’t suffer any permanent harm. Aside from what already happened.”

Anton suppressed an urge to cough. It wouldn’t do any good, as the various harm to his body hadn’t particularly targeted his lungs or throat, but it was almost instinctive as the memory of illness. He hadn’t been poisoned often enough to associate such feelings with that rather than more mundane things, though Shelach’s poison had been far worse.

“What is your role here, Aconite?” Anton asked. “Determining that there are still traces of poison?”

“That’s a coincidence. I needed to observe. Can I take them out?”

“As long as it shouldn’t cause any harm.”

“... Usually poisons don’t hurt people after they’re gone.”

“The extraction process could be unpleasant,” Anton pointed out.

Aconite took some time to answer, before growling lightly. “Minimal puncture wounds.”

“You’ll have to convince the doctors. What are you going to do with it afterwards?”

“Obviously replicate it,” Aconite said. “And immunize myself and my best friend.”

“Does Chidi know that?” Anton asked.

“He will. And he’s the best choice for killing Shelach, even if not everyone knows it yet.”

Anton nodded. Chidi was the best choice for killing most Domination cultivators, really. “If you can’t get the Great Queen there. But the upper realms might have to consider their void ant policies given the news from the Chaotic Conglomeration.”

“Were they successful?” Aconite asked.

“They were.” Anton’s grin swiftly turned into a more sullen expression. “If only I could believe that wouldn’t mean more trouble in the future. The near future, if I’m not mistaken.”

-----

Velvet wanted to go congratulate her friend on successfully resisting an overwhelming force. What she needed to do was seek out the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. She had made the trip a few times before through various methods, though some additional care was required circumventing one of the Everheart Systems. Just because he’d delivered a message to her earlier didn’t mean she would survive if she ended up there. Even if she managed to get by unharmed, it might be a costly delay.

There were about a million questions that Velvet and the Scarlet Alliance had. Some of them Ratna could likely answer. Some she might actually answer. And another set that the Alliance could risk asking. Velvet hoped that the area of would and could answer overlapped as much as possible, but she wasn’t certain about that.

Fortunately, she at least had reliable methods to meet up with “Aunt Eka”. She still expected to wait for a while, but this time she was lucky and Ratna was available within a few days.

The old woman didn’t bother with pleasantries.“You don’t usually come here. Is there news about Durff?”

“Not this time. Just some questions about anchors.”

“I think I already told you what I know. You’ll have to pick your own carefully.”

Velvet shook her head. She didn’t have time to focus on personal development when her skills could be used directly. “I was wondering if you had additional information about the anchors of our mutual enemies.” ȐaNo͍ВÊṠ

“No.”

“It would be beneficial for both of us.”

“This isn’t a negotiation. I don’t have any.”

“I will accept barely founded rumors or speculation.” Velvet’s eyes filled with resolve. “A dear friend has recently been attacked. We must retaliate.”

Ratna sighed. “Do you know how much trouble you are bringing upon your people with your actions? The constant push towards prominence brings more than a few enemies.”

Velvet shook her head. “I can’t imagine it’s any more than we would experience if we let ourselves be stepped upon. Possibly less, if we get it over with quickly.”

“The Scarlet Alliance and the rest of the upper realms can’t both survive as things are going.”

“Not without great change,” Velvet agreed. “But it’s already too late for that, isn’t it? How many Domination cultivators usually die within a few centuries?”

“None.”

“We’re at three,” Velvet said. “And I can’t possibly see a conclusion without at least one more. Maybe two.”

“It would not be immediate,” she said. “You should be closer to the border.”

“I want a break. I thought you liked my peaceful mode?”

The Great Queen did not answer for a while. “You were not just attacked. You were attacked above the planet my daughter founded.”

“And had to leave behind,” Anton reminded her. “It wasn’t possible for your people to be there... and the humans wouldn’t have been comfortable if they were. Furthermore, he was only present for a few seconds, not enough time for void ants to join the battle. Maybe you need a vacation. You seem stressed.”

“I have not engaged in war recently,” the Great Queen countered.

“How are those feral void ant colonies?”

“... it is difficult to communicate with those from another bloodline.”

“You should see Bear Hug. They might be freaked out by you though.”

-----

“I know that shape! It’s an ant!” Bear Hug declared confidently- but only after completely surrounding the Great Queen with their algae.

“That’s right,” Anton agreed. “Now, you should probably let you go. She can’t speak like that.”

“I apologize, slightly-not-small ant!” Bear Hug indicated. “I did not mean to restrain you long.”

“She can’t speak the energy language,” Anton said. “Though she’ll probably learn to understand fairly quickly. But as for actually doing it herself, her people are mostly incapable.”

The Great Queen looked inquisitively at Anton, so he explained. “Yes. I will learn quickly. And I might be able to use an inverse language?”

“Good point,” Anton agreed. “You have significant control over what energy you personally devour.”

“I forgot!” Bear Hug said excitedly. “Did you see my new lake? How did you find me on another planet?”

“I found Lev,” Anton gestured. “And then I found you.”

“Lev is a good friend too! He says he is uncertain about planting a tree because it might interfere with nature too much. But there are many trees here.”

“Yes, but his tree would be from a different planet.”

“Me too!” Bear Hug exclaimed. “It’s very exciting. I didn’t explore all of that other planet, but now there’s a new one. I wonder how many more there are?”

There were a few. And from what Anton understood of the local phenomenon now, things might cycle between the planets occasionally? With some getting devoured by the creatures in space or remaining there themselves. Though whether it was actually a cycle or just planets randomly tossing natural energy towards other planets remained to be seen. Ultimately, it had to balance out or one planet would be clearly less prosperous than others.

“I’m sure you’ll get to explore them all,” Anton said.

“With Liberty!”

“Where is Liberty anyway?” Anton actually knew the answer, but conversation was conversation.

“Liberty is out finding new friends. They will come back here, or live over there. But you should see my new lake. It wasn’t a very good lake until I came around, but now it is the best lake.”

“Let’s see it then.” Anton knew where it was, obviously. Most of Bear Hug was there right now. Which was... a whole lot of them. If he didn’t know better, Anton might have stepped out onto the lake and assumed it was grass. It was that green over the whole surface. “Impressive.”

“This lake was super bad. What was the word for bad, Lev?”

“Toxic.”

“It was super toxic. Lev said no fishies would ever live in the lake. They still don’t, but maybe we can pick some up and put them in?”

“You might need to let them have some sunlight,” Anton suggested. “And they’ll probably need biodiversity.”

“What’s that word?”

“It means a wide variety of plants and animals.”

“We can have me, Helix, and Liberty. And fishes.”

“Helix and Liberty don’t live in water,” Anton pointed out.

“I don’t know how to do a biodiversity. Maybe you should help me.”

“I will,” Anton said. “But it might take a while.” Hopefully, it would be a very long while.