Within the reasonable course of time, Anton had formed the hundred and first star. By itself it was nearly inconsequential, simply marking continued improvement. A small portion, but a necessary step along the path of cultivation. Anton wondered if there should not be more to it, like Body Tempering or Spirit Building. Essence Collection and Life Transformation focused on general improvement in personally relevant areas, so perhaps it should be more like them. Either way, Anton felt there was something missing. He could continue to advance and grow in power, but if there was some fundamental improvement to be made he didn’t want to gloss over the opportunity. Yet his instincts felt safe with forming the star, so it should not be too much trouble to integrate whatever he thought of later, assuming it was possible. If Anton had not spent so much of his time guiding others he would be fumbling around in the dark, and even with that experience he was not really sure how to continue carving a new path. Perhaps he would run into a dead end… but so far, he felt he had done well.

He certainly didn’t feel his power was lacking. He’d had no opportunity to truly test himself since advancement, but based on his power capacity and his experience fighting against the invaders, he should be more than adequate- though the invaders seemed to be somewhat restricted even without anti-ascension techniques being used against them. Personally, Anton was quite pleased to be able to continue incorporating those in case of future troubles- those who had ascended found it extremely difficult to achieve the same results, since their own energy was now ascension energy. Or upper energy, though Anton was uncertain if it was fundamentally better- just typically a higher density. That was important for cultivators, but it wasn’t the only factor that mattered.

Along with his own cultivation, Anton was intimately aware of the sun’s energy. For most it was so distant that they barely felt it, but having attuned himself to it he felt more. Fluctuations of energy beyond a level he could fully comprehend were commonplace, though most were not directed towards Ceretos even in the broadest sense. Even the one he’d chosen to help him advance had ultimately had little effect on the planet- some people might have noticed, but more took note of his advancement.

A few years was not enough to be certain of everything that could happen with a power source of such a size, and Anton was learning more every day. Perhaps he might approach closer to study it directly at some point, but that could involve a significant time away from home so he didn’t want to do it spontaneously. Even so, he felt something new- something that didn’t quite fit. It was buried among the more powerful energy of the star, nearly insignificant in scale. Perhaps it was unimportant, but it was new to Anton. He added it to his list of things to monitor- along with everything else. People and places and the stability of the planet were important, and he was doing all he could to keep things trending in a positive direction.

-----

Day and night cycles still existed on Everheart’s Tomb- though they were harder to comprehend inside the Library. Artificial light sources provided no sense of time, and it was easy to lose track of things. Outside, the lines waxed and waned with the daylight- while powerful cultivators were less beholden to the cycles of light and darkness than others, they still retained the same habits. There were more dangers at night, so most chose to rise during the day.

Outside the Library, Vari planned to take advantage of this, specifically the reduction in lines. She didn’t want to make a public spectacle of herself, and interacting with Everheart’s projection outside of necessity was unusual, especially with the light guides. But she had to speak to him directly, and it was risky enough to do that even without other people around.

So she stood around awkwardly until for at least a few brief moments nobody was around. Everheart’s projection stood tall and straight, waiting for more people to approach. Vari approached from behind, slowly. “Excuse me, mighty Everheart. I have a question.”

He turned towards her, hands clasped behind his back. “You can ask the light constructs to direct you to anything you need. Bounty board is over there.”

“It really does need to be you,” she said carefully. She was always polite to powerful figures, but even the saints did not individually control a planet she’d been on. Not that Everheart was greater than the saints. Or was he? She honestly didn’t know their individual strengths, and it didn’t matter if she thought less of them when they thought of her not at all. “There was information denied to me and I was wondering-”

“Rules for reaching deeper levels of the library are clear.”

Vari ignored the interruption, except to let him speak. “It was denied for other reasons. A group has been seeking information you possess and seems to have offended you, and I am separately seeking the same information. So I was wondering if… I could be allowed access?”

For the first time Everheart was actually paying attention to her. The projection wasn’t the same as an actual person, but she felt energy sweeping over her nonetheless, whether the product of a formation or a technique it was much the same as being scanned by energy senses the normal way. “Ah, the Harmonious Citadel. I do believe I have already been quite clear. My tomb is open and equally fair to all, but I am wondering if I should consider banning the entrance of your kind.”

“Could you? I mean, not me. Others from the Harmonious Citadel. Because I know I seem like I’m with them but… I’m trying not to be. Oh Great Everheart.” She wasn’t sure if she’d ended up too casual. Being around Alva and the others made her somewhat careless in that regard, as they didn’t even like being called Lord or Lady.

“I certainly don’t intend to involve myself in intrasect conflict,” Everheart said. “If you want to leave your sect, just leave and don’t get me involved.”

“I understand. I was just wondering if the restrictions were in place because it was them, or if I could study the copies of the techniques. I was hoping to find a way to get back my devotion.”

“Sorry, what?” Everheart tilted his head.

“I’m a practitioner of the Holy Harmony Technique so I’ve been offering devotion to the saints and disciples my whole life. I just wanted to try to get it back.”

“That’s stupid,” Everheart said bluntly. He took a step forward towards her, looming over her even though he was not particularly taller. “Audacious. Impossible.” With each word he stepped closer. Vari wanted to turn and run, but that wouldn’t do any good and might harm her instead. Then his nose nearly touched hers. “Interesting. I imagine the most likely outcome is you kill yourself, or draw unwanted attention for no benefit.”

Vari swallowed. “Maybe. But I don’t know since I haven’t even had a way to try it.”

“And you no longer consider yourself a member of the Harmonious Citadel?”

Vari nodded. “I’m not.”

“Swear that you will never again join their ranks.”

“I swear it,” Vari said. Something twisted inside her, partly of herself… and partly some sort of compulsion. Though she couldn’t tell if the latter was locking into place, coming undone, or both.

“Swear that if you ever get a good chance you’ll kick the Saint of Light in the balls.”

“...” Vari blinked a few times. “Could you repeat that?”

“I want you to kick Hans Sigismund in the nuts.”

“Ok so… that’s the name of the Saint of Light?” Vari asked. The saints were never called by their names, so she didn’t know it. “Umm, if I get a chance, I swear to do it. I guess.”

“Good,” Everheart nodded. Vari didn’t feel any change on compulsions upon her, but then against she’d never felt them being established in the first place. “Good luck, don’t die. Though if you do it doesn’t concern me.”

-----

A floating orb of light took Vari through a winding path in the library… which was odd because everything was literally arranged in straight rows and columns. Any obstacles that would stop construction from proceeding exactly as intended had been carved away, and supports were extremely regularly placed into the pattern. Yet Vari could swear she made a full loop around a specific bookshelf, and she definitely zig-zagged past a certain section a few times.

After a good deal of that, she came to a door that opened for her. She was quite certain the door had not been there when she was on the other side of the bookshelf approaching it, and things behind her also weren’t the same. The shelves themselves were all the same size, but the contents were all shapes and sizes. The contours were definitely different, but Vari couldn’t stay to look. She had to keep up with the light.

They stepped into a hallway full of doors, of which only one opened. When she looked inside, the light spoke- increasing and decreasing in intensity as it did so. “You are reminded to only take the items from units B4C-17 and nothing else. Noncompliance will be met with nonstandard consequences.”

Vari didn’t want to think about what that meant, but being denied access to other things made her more curious. She didn’t recognize the sources of the various techniques though she did see something labeled Golden Heart which looked even older than the one she’d seen donated- though without reading either of them she couldn’t know if it was even the same thing. She carefully reached out for the books for the Holy and Glorious Harmony Techniques. They were thicker than she remembered, and upon beginning her perusal she saw there were more guidelines for cultivation included. In fact, there was much more commentary about cultivation than the actual basics of the techniques.

She would need to browse further, but she didn’t want to just stand around awkwardly. “Is there somewhere I can sit?” she turned to the light.

“Tomes cannot be removed from the area. Feel free to use the adjoined sitting room.”

“What room?” Vari said. There was only the door she entered in, but as she looked out it was in fact a small sitting room. Comfortable chairs as well as tables and a writing desk if she needed it. “Oh. Thank you.”

-----

There was a weird paradox that Fuzz found in studying the beast techniques. The most critical one said it improved ‘cognitive function’. Thinking, apparently. Yet it was written. If he hadn’t been able to read, it would have been difficult to comprehend. Of course, Alva could have read it for him- and she did read it aloud for the sake of Spikes, though Spikes didn’t fully understand human speech. In short, to learn it he needed to kind of know it already. But he also couldn’t think of a way to avoid that restriction.

Fuzz wasn’t sure how much the technique worked, but it felt good to practice. Spikes didn’t really get it, but she was able to replicate what he did if he was slow. Minimal interaction with humans meant she hadn’t developed the same way Fuzz had, and so she was still used to the idea of practicing in general. In the wild, Spikes used her natural abilities when they were necessary, and would otherwise conserve her energy. She was still able to improve with hardship, but humans improved before hardship and thus were more likely to survive it to grow more.

All of this Fuzz was trying to communicate to Spikes, and some of it got through. They had half a language between them, and she understood a portion of what humans could say… but the most important thing that could be communicated between them had already happened. Spikes had chosen to follow after him instead of staying with the great stone wolves. It seemed all of her efforts talking about his pack, and how they benefited from not being exactly the same, had paid off. Though she was still reluctant to admit it. Then again, she was still getting used to the mere possibility of clear communication.