Even as he arrived at the base of the tall spire of stone, Anton knew he had been noticed. There was a sharpness, as if a blade had been held to his throat. He wasn’t entirely ready to say it was just a feeling, either. A sword could only cut what it could reach, but perhaps Swordmaster Rahayu’s reach could extend all the way to where he was. A peak Life Transformation expert should certainly have abilities that he could barely comprehend.

“Hello up there,” Anton called. “I would like to speak with you, Swordmaster Rahayu!”

His voice didn’t even echo back to him, but instead there was silence. Not that he’d expected much different. The locals had all told him that the man wasn’t particularly sociable, but he also wasn’t known as being a violent psychopath. Not as sword cultivators went, anyway. He wasn’t social, but he didn’t just kill those that approached. Anton had to at least try.

Perhaps one of the Life Transformation experts they had brought should have been the one to make the trip. Here Anton was, just a mid Essence Collection cultivator. Not an insult, but not really an honorable visitor either. But Anton was chosen for several reasons. First, all of the Life Transformation cultivators were dealing with those who cared about that kind of thing. They wouldn’t be able to impress Swordmaster Rahayu with their cultivation anyway, so they thought it best to continue with what they were doing. It also wasn’t a particularly strong lead, since the man might not know anything about the smith. But Anton did know Chikere, who was supposed to be in his favor.

As Anton began climbing the rock face, he supposed Rahayu had a strange way of showing favor. Anton fully believed that training should push people to their limits, but he didn’t think injuries had any place where they were avoidable. He was of the opinion that people could remember something that almost caused serious injury as well as if they had been actually wounded. Rahayu seemed to be different in that regard. Though he was clearly avoiding causing fatal or irrecoverable injuries, he also wasn’t doing the minimum damage possible.

Hands and feet stretched for places he could push up the cliff face and hold on. He might have created his own little places to hold on if this had been any other stretch of rock, but wearing away at the stone pinnacle where the swordmaster lived seemed a bit rude. So it was better to take his time.

Besides, then he might not interrupt the sparring happening above. He kept his senses away from the swordmaster, once again to avoid seeming as if he was intruding on the man, but Chikere’s state told him a lot. She had numerous cuts and stabs all over her body. Her face, arms and legs were filled with wounds both fresh and scarred over, and her torso had more holes than a colander. Anton wasn’t even quite sure how she was standing, but she was- though her body itself barely managed to maintain its position. The swords she had around her were doing their best to seek out the swordmaster and attack him while still blocking for her.

Anton wasn’t sure if he could count the infrequent interactions of her swords and Rahayu’s as parries, but that was the closest thing he could call them. Her blades never got close to the old swordmaster, and his sword never failed to meet its mark.

The pinnacle was tall, but there was nothing about it that particularly prevented Anton’s climbing. With his muscles and energy he was easily able to pull himself up with just a single finger finding something to grip, and he could easily manage at least that much.

When he reached the top, Rahayu was just sheathing his sword. He found it odd considering that Chikere was still standing, her swords moving, but Anton realized that her expression was blank. She didn’t seem to be conscious… which gave him a good reason not to approach her.

“Swordmaster Rahayu,” Anton bowed his head. “I have some questions for you, if you’re willing.” There was one more reason Anton had come- alone. It was possible he was a member of the Twin Soul Sect. They would certainly desire a lone swordmaster to be among their ranks, and his origins were not particularly well known. The fact that he had killed one of their members before he could spill any secrets was something that needed to be investigated, but the easiest way was to simply try to find out. And Anton was one of those who had the right combination of skills.

He did his best to subtly infiltrate his energy into Rahayu’s. The more obvious move was a more straightforward sweep of energy, feeling over the man and sensing the depths of his cultivation. That was a mistake, not because Rahayu took issue with his probing but because he was so open.

Without any form of resistance, Anton found himself in the man’s dantian. There was no trace of anything hiding, only a great blade of indefinable attributes. Its size and shape were a mystery, and Anton felt it could have been anything from a single edged curved sword to a straight double edged blade. But either way it was sharp, and merely feeling it cut him. The moment he was there he felt himself split cleanly in two, and he stumbled onto his knees.

Rahayu didn’t react much as Anton gathered himself together. Anton felt pain, but found he wasn’t physically damaged. In normal circumstances if his energy was cut through it would hardly matter. At most, he might lose access to whatever was severed and require some time to restore his reserves. In this case he wasn’t cut off from anything, but instead something deeper had been cut. His Essence, perhaps, or the spiritual side of his dantian.

“Don’t worry,” Rahayu said. “It will heal. But you ought to be careful.”

Anton nodded. “I understand. But I had to try.” He shakily stood to his feet. If he was a sword cultivator, he felt like he might have been able to glean an important insight. Even as it was, he definitely felt something. Was that how Life Transformation worked? The man literally formed the core of his soul into a blade. He had avoided probing so deeply on any others, but he’d spent plenty of time with Vandale and Kseniya. He had the feeling they hadn’t gone so far. He wasn’t sure what that meant though.

“You feel like that other archer,” Rahayu said. “The one out on the ship.”

Of course he’d noticed her. If someone could attack from a certain distance, another cultivator should be able to respond in some manner. And Rahayu was a significant margin higher in cultivation than Kseniya. “That’s right, I’ve learned many things from Grand Elder Kseniya.”

“Not a copycat, though,” Rahayu nodded. “Perhaps you might have gone further in your cultivation if you followed the path she blazed, but you’d never reach ascension that way.”

“I can’t anyway,” Anton mentioned. “I had to give it up for something else. Even if I reach peak Life Transformation, I can’t ascend.” Anton wasn’t sure what it was that made him speak so freely. The man wasn’t particularly friendly or anything, but then again what did he have to hide? At least about that. “I haven’t asked my question though. When you and Chikere first met, there was a man. Lestari. You both indicated his sword had been made recently by someone. We were hoping you knew who that someone was. Or could at least point us in a probable direction.”

They would have followed up on that lead earlier, but other matters had been more pressing. Like getting along with the local sects. It had also taken some time to track down exactly where Rahayu lived, since the information wasn’t widely known even if it wasn’t secret.

“The one who smithed those swords, you say?” Rahayu frowned. “Never seen him. Would have remembered someone who could make swords like that. So I don’t have any information, except that he didn’t come to Blackstone Harbor.”

So that was that then, Anton supposed. Alva and some others were currently working with Marvelous Rabbit Mountain and would bring any information about Elder Lestari’s recent activities if they could, but this might just be a dead end.

“What do you even care about this Twin Soul Sect for? Were they a big problem where you came from?”

“I thought you knew about them, given how you killed him so easily,” Anton replied.

“Nah. I just don’t like people lying to me. Especially in such an unrepentant manner.”

“I see.” Anton didn’t really have any reason to worry about that, as he wasn’t prone to lying, and had no reason to here. “They’re part of a group working to destabilize the sects here before the invasion by ascended cultivators.”

“I can see why you might be concerned about them,” Rahayu nodded. “Not that it has anything to do with me.”

“The invasion will be coming within the next few decades. I don’t imagine you’ll be dead before then.”

“Of course not,” Rahayu said. “But if they’re coming here, I doubt we’ll meet up.”

It took Anton a moment to realize what he meant. “You’re going to ascend?” he asked.

“That’s right,” Rahayu nodded.

“I don’t know the specifics, but it’s not exactly what it seems. Though I suppose that’s information from Everheart.”

“Well, despite my personal distaste for the man…” Rahayu pondered. “I have to admit he’s probably right about that. But I plan to check it out for myself.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Anton smiled idly.

“Well, it’s not like I’d have made it here without supreme confidence. I just have a single step to go, and I have the feeling I’m not far from figuring it out.”

“While that might be true, the Twin Soul Sect might come kill you anyway.”

“You think so?” Rahayu stroked his chin. “That might do it, actually. Think you could spread the word about me killing some of their members a bit? I don’t want to have to hunt them down.”

“... sure,” Anton said. “I can do that.”

“Great. Oh, and you might try to the northeast. For that smith. Seems like it was quenched with lakewater from Niverlam Depths.”

“I appreciate the guidance,” Anton inclined his head. How the man would know something like that Anton didn’t bother to ask. At the very least, it was a direction to go in.

Since his primary business was done, he looked over at Chikere, still standing there unconscious with her swords swirling about. “Is she going to be alright?” he asked.

“She’ll be fine,” Rahayu assured him. “I’m not going to let someone with her potential die so easily. Gotta set myself up with someone to spar against in the future.”

Anton nodded. That made about as much sense as anything else the man had said. Niverlam Depths, was it? He’d have to gather up some others and take a look, though it would be better not to be too obvious about it.

-----

Anton brought along exactly two others. Life Transformation cultivators would be too obvious, though Essence Collection cultivators wouldn’t be ignored either. But they could at least be mistaken for locals by casual observers. Not local to the area, of course. Nobody had a cultivation technique that felt much like the Ninety-Nine Stars. But it was possible that they could be assumed to be from elsewhere on Aicenith, instead of a part of the group of foreign cultivators that had recently arrived. That would give them a chance to not spook off this smith, and whatever connection they had to the larger Twin Soul Sect.

The other two with him were everyone present of his most frequent companions- Hoyt and Velvet. With Timothy and Catarina still back home, it was just the three of them. Anton considered bringing more members of the Order, but they should only be necessary if there was a fight. They planned to avoid that, though Hoyt would be there in case of that trouble, and because a group of one old man and one young woman who were pretty clearly not a master and apprentice would be more suspicious, even if it would also mean they were less stealthy as a group.

But if everything went right, they could gather information through safer means than sneaking around cultivators who were bound to be of high ability, or at least protected by those who were. If this were the same smith as had been supplying weapons back home, the Twin Soul Sect had to be taking care of them. And that also meant they had a way to get between the continents. Maybe it was basically the same, but they wouldn’t have sent an important member on an expedition they weren’t reasonably certain would keep them alive. Or maybe they would, if it kept them from being captured and pried for information. It wasn’t as if they were afraid of death.