It only took the most meager amount of insight to guess what the message meant. The group from the Exalted Archipelago showed up, and a single word said everything necessary. There were some possible interpretations that could be made, but the basic idea was simple. The pact was up in flames. Perhaps that part of it was not literal, and it simply meant the pact was gone or retracted. The difference would be the stability of the region, but the general importance was the same.

Messengers had already been sent throughout the continent- and through the teleportation platforms to Aicenith. There would be much discussion in the future, but for the moment the Order was meeting alone.

“This possibility had been considered previously,” Grand Elder Matousek said morosely. “We simply didn’t have the information to know how it might happen.”

“It was not a quick process, I think,” Kseniya noted. “The invasion was decades ago, yet the message was delivered with haste. That seems to be another relevant part of the message. Along with the… secrecy.”

“It hardly seems secret to show up with a great ship and mighty force and tell everyone to spread the word,” Fodor pointed out.

Matousek grinned, “Perhaps not, but it is not us they were keeping the secret from, was it? Besides, by their standards… maybe that was the bare minimum to make up a squad. Either way, the fact that they did not reveal anything but being from the Exalted Archipelago shines some light. We have determined that they were likely from the Worthy Shore Society, with whom we had previous fruitful interactions. The word must eventually get out but… perhaps they simply required plausible deniability.” Matousek looked to Anton and Catarina, “You were among those who visited. What can you say of the Worthy Shore Society, or the Exalted Archipelago as a whole? It has been some time since I delved into the specific reports.”

“They were strong,” Anton noted. “At the time we estimated they had somewhere between twenty-five hundred and three thousand of them. Not terribly great in number, but with at least twenty Life Transformation cultivators their ratios of higher ranking cultivators were much better than ours. Which is understandable, given the knowledge they had access to.”

“And that was almost forty years ago,” Matousek frowned, “With time to grow and no catastrophe, they could have twice those numbers easily. Maybe triple.”

Catarina shook her head, “I wouldn’t be sure about that. The Exalted Archipelago certainly had some impressive knowledge and resources, but… they have been in a stable state, presumably for at least a cycle. I would estimate their growth is less than what we have here. The problem is how many sects were a match for them. We were wise to ask for information on the makeup of the Exalted Archipelago long ago. Though we can’t expect it to be totally accurate, we can actually make some reasonable predictions.” Catarina thought for a few moments. “Presuming they were stagnant would be foolish, but they should not have undergone the rapid growth we have here on the continents. After the invasion we have more than recovered, and even raised most of a new generation of Life Transformation cultivators. As for whether we match them… it is unclear. But we would have no trouble destroying the invaders if they came again with the same armies.”

“That seems a bit overconfident,” Kseniya said, “Though it is true our numbers have more than doubled since then. Many have flocked to the Order and other sects as they find themselves limited in their everyday life.”

“I truly doubt the initial attack would get through our defenses now,” Catarina explained. “And of course, we have the practical experience. As for fighting others from our world, unfortunately our advantage is greatly diminished. The Exalted Archipelago made use of natural energy still. We also lack the advantage of preparations on a continental scale.”

Anton sighed, “People might be reluctant to fight together. Though we’ve been doing our best to keep people friendly. Ambati will be the first target… or perhaps somewhere on the east of Aicenith. They could easily target either.”

“Who knows how long we have to prepare…” Matousek frowned. “Our plans for this were merely theoretical, since we hoped the pact would continue. The invasion was over twenty years ago, but I can think of no other possible cause. Perhaps we were… too successful.”

“It could be,” Anton admitted. “And twenty years might seem long, but one would imagine the politics of ascended individuals could be… frustratingly glacial. I already feel the years slipping away like sand and I am not even a hundred and seventy yet. They might have lived twice as long… or more, who could say?”

“There’s another factor to consider,” Catarina pointed out. “Communication. How did they receive word from the… ‘upper realms’ that the pact was annulled? Sending a message might be easier than entering and leaving, but they could have had to wait for the right moment.”

“Perhaps a combination of both, then,” Matousek shrugged. “On the topic of messages, there have been some recent developments in that field, have there not?”

Catarina nodded. “During the invasion it was extremely inconvenient to have communications be limited. The most recent iteration is the best.”

Zajoc furrowed his brow, “If I recall correctly, it involved teleporting pieces of paper?”

“That was the early stuff,” Catarina commented, “Terribly inefficient. It could only go from one specific location to one other. Well, we still have some in place but we have something better.” Catarina pulled out a message plate, about the size of her hand with outspread fingers. Each letter of the alphabet was inscribed on it. “These still have limitations, as they are paired to another sending stone, but…” she pulled out another one. As she tapped her fingers the letters lit up on both simultaneously, “Instant communication, over any distance. It requires someone to be paying attention, of course, so we generally start with some sort of alert.” Catarina just dragged her palm back and forth across the whole surface, lighting up everything as she did so and making easy to sense fluctuations in the natural energy around either.

“Impressive,” Zajoc nodded. “How would these best be utilized? By scouts?”

“That’s the main idea, yes. They could be much further out to provide enough advance warning for groups to converge on a location.”

“I like it, but… what stops the enemy from taking them and distributing false information?”

“That’s… an issue that has been raised before,” Catarina admitted. “Unfortunately to make them significantly more secure requires significantly more rare and expensive materials to hold under the complexity of formations. If it were something easy like exploding in the hands of ascended cultivators…” Catarina shrugged, “Simple. But the best we have is tying them to specific individuals or cultivation methods, both of which have their flaws. The former, if an individual dies it’s unusable without reconstructing it. But at least it’s secure. The latter makes it easier to emulate what is required and fake it. We’ve done some testing on that.”

“What about codes?” Zajoc asked. “Those have been used to keep messages secret for a long time.”

“They’re not perfect either, and slow things down… but we’ve been working on them. They’re not finalized yet, and we’d have to coordinate with those outside our direct alliances to make it truly useful. But if we have a few months… maybe just one, we can reach an acceptable point.”

Matousek nodded. “Good. Those can be made use of on scouting ships, at least. Even if the Exalted Archipelago has superior sailing capabilities, they probably can’t eliminate an entire ship before it can send a message…” Matousek looked hard at Anton and Kseniya.

“They’d have to be even better snipers than us,” Kseniya admitted. “Which would be difficult.”

Anton followed up, “Even if I reached the peak of Life Transformation, a Life Transformation cultivator would still be able to react. Or a good handful of Essence Collection. And if they don’t know about the messaging plates, they might simply attempt to stop more traditional methods. Visual signals, messenger animals… survivors.”

-----

With no knowledge of exactly when problems might arise, there was a scramble of activity. Yet Anton found himself without anything productive to do. His main efforts took effect over a long scale of time. He still thought they were valuable, but he couldn’t just throw together messaging plates or formations or even siege weaponry like Grant could.

He’d also run into an issue with the seventy-seventh star. The last Prime Tempering before the end. He’d been stagnant in his cultivation for a handful of years, even. As roadblocks went it was one most people didn’t even have the chance to get stuck against, so he couldn’t really complain.

Breaking through to Life Transformation had required attuning himself to a type of energy. In a way, it was the precursor to Ascension where a cultivator did something similar with ‘upper energy’, but in the case of Life Transformation it involved tying tightly to a small subcategory of energy. Many attuned to elements long before, but it was narrower than even simply ‘fire’ for the Glorious Flame Palace. Anish focused on flames that were obedient to his will, burning what he chose and nothing else. Anton had attuned to the power of the sun, the closest and in a way most powerful star. It had elements of fire and light, but also consuming power. There was some element of risk involved in the process, though Anton had completed his breakthrough with a balance within himself.

The midpoint of Life Transformation was proving to be more difficult, not because Anton had no idea what sort of power he wanted, but how to use it. Oh, he knew he wanted to help others. He was quite glad of his role as a teacher, but his area was somehow too broad. Improving everyone’s live through teaching cultivation, advancing the world… nothing was wrong with any of those. He was even being effective. But it didn’t ignite the right spark to let him break through.

He’d first gone to Kseniya. She had managed to keep just ahead of him, and in fact rather smoothly transitioned past the Prime Tempering. Her focus was on being the foremost archer in the world. That was the best way she could explain it, anyway.

“You understand, of course,” she had said. “Do I want others to learn archery? Absolutely. Do I want to teach them? Certainly. But I’m not really good at it, and it’s not my passion. You have already rewritten every technique I’ve created for the Order and made them much more widely accessible. I’m not sure I could ever have done that. But I can strive to reach the peak of understanding in my particular way. Your talent is perhaps greater than mine in that area, but I doubt the same path is suited for you.”

Anton agreed. But just considering the differences between them didn’t change his ability to advance to the next step. One issue was that he simply didn’t need more power to accomplish his goals. While each star would continue to come with improvements to his lifespan… he didn’t even really care about that. It was only an indirect benefit.

The possibility of an approaching crisis certainly made him more motivated, but Anton didn’t find himself any closer to finding the right path for the Prime Tempering. If he chose the wrong one he could achieve mediocre results that wouldn’t really help his combat power… or if something was forced he might harm himself or die. That was a result that had happened to some impatient cultivators in his lifetime, though details were difficult to collect. Sects didn’t exactly publicize failures, and instead such cultivators gradually faded from memory unless they caused a commotion at their end.

Perhaps it simply didn’t matter. In a short time Anton would still be in mid Life Transformation. A breakthrough would come with a not insignificant increase in power, but would hardly influence the outcome of a war on the whole. He would fight regardless, and do his best to maintain the world he had been fighting for. He might hope that the Exalted Archipelago would be less dangerous than the invasion… but considering that they weren’t cut off from information entirely like the invaders, it seemed unlikely they would underestimate the continents in the same way. And in turn, it was better for the continents not to overestimate themselves. Everyone would be needed. It might be time to call in some favors, though the majority of people who owed Anton would already be simple to convince to provide proper support for a potential war… or whatever it might be. Whatever it was, they couldn’t afford to show weakness.