Interlude XV

Gamma Cluster Observatory

The observatory was the last vestige of a bygone era. Old programming from millennia ago that still sputtered and clung to life by the barest of margins. Everyone who was sent to the Observatory was sent as a death sentence. For a true cultivator the observatory was a death sentence. Either someone who would be seen as too much of a threat, or someone who failed to reach the stages of enlightenment in time were sent. Of course, being sent to the observatory meant one’s cultivation would stagnate. The reason for this was clear, there was no qi in space. Qi was of course energy, the foundation of the universe, the building block of all life. Without qi there was no life, just as without qi there was no advancement.

In space there was no qi, well no real way to measure qi accurately. People had always come up with gimmicks and inventions that were said to measure the pulses of a planet. Each time a planet came closer to being habitable, there would be a pulse of qi so large that it would be measurable from space. The only problem was, the burst was often faint at best, and required one to be right on the equipment to measure the reading.

Garum Yual, was the latest cultivator to be sentenced to the observatory. Where he would slowly wither away from his body consuming his own qi, until he either perished, or took a plunge to one of the newly forming worlds.

Garum Yual had been a Paragon of knowledge and the arts. Yet, he had a low birth. Still despite his humble origins, or maybe because of his humble origins he was diligent in his training. When others would call it a day, he would press on. When others were content with their trainings, Garum would push himself farther. He had a dream that one day he would be seen as a true cultivator, a primordial god of the back water planet he was on.

Yet, he stepped on too many toes. He ruffled too many feathers. When it came to competitions and training, he was relentless. Even when others advised him to stop, he pushed forward. That was when he pushed his mind and body too far, he crossed a metaphysical line that he would not be able to come back from. Namely, he made the Planetary Leader’s son look bad at their competition. He bested the master in three quick matches.

That was enough to win him first place as a cultivator from the backwards planets. It also gave him a title. A title where the reward was handed out by the Planetary Leader. His reward? He was promoted to an officer. His first and only official posting would be to remain here at the observatory until he either found a planet worth investigating, or he died. That was it, there was no in between. He had the options, either find a planet that had not fully developed and would thus hinder or possibly cripple his future growth. Or he would die here, slowly being eaten away as his body consumed his own qi reserves until he was but a husk of the former cultivator he was.

Only once he was gone or deceased, would a replacement be searched for. Then the cycle would continue once more, some other pitiful soul would be selected to take control of the observatory, until they met one of the two prescribed fates as well.

Still Garum Yual was nothing, if not obstinate. He refused to let this ancient space vessel be his final coffin like so many before him. He decided early on that he would make the plunge, any planet that was over 50% would have to be good enough.

Garum Yual would have obviously liked a planet with a higher rating, one that wouldn’t be quite so toxic to his system, but he couldn’t afford to be picky. Also, he had grown up in the slums, where he had to work with far more toxic levels of cultivation. Such a planet that was clear of polluted qi, would surely be better than any planet he had witnessed so far.

Thus, he used the archaic instruments to find his next planet. One where he would spend the rest of his days, either breaking through his own bottleneck or die trying.

Still, he was surprised to see one planet that was nearly perfect. A planet that had blue waters and green vegetation, a carbon-based planet that was like how his home world had been. At least how it had been when it was first integrated. Now it was overrun with slums, where people tried any method, they could in order to get ahead. Most often this meant using chemicals that polluted the qi, not only for themselves, but for others around.

That was part of why the observatories were created in the first place. So many planets slowly had their qi get corrupted, that a planet that was at a qi saturation level of over 50% might very well be a healthier choice than his home world. These were of course rationale he used to psych himself up. The planet was close, within a solar year of distance, practically nothing in the grand scheme of things.

With everything pointing to this world that was nearing the 70% saturation level being perfect for him, Garum Yual rendered his own death sentence. He entered an emergency pod, with the pre-prescribed coordinates and fired.

Of course, Garum made sure to do a few acts of sabotage before he left. He made sure to delete his record of where he was going. While his direction would be able to be tracked, no one could get the true end point. Also, Garum manipulated the instruments to delete all records of the planet he chose, and severely hinder the chance that someone else could use this same observatory to find the same planet. He wanted to be a god on his rock.

Looking at the old manifests, it was clear that other settlers had gone to the planet, but those were weaklings, farmers at best. Garum was a true cultivator, one who lived and breathed the cycle and path of qi. He was prepared to make his claim as a god on this micro planet. While he wouldn’t be able to keep his actions hidden forever, he knew his location would be hidden for a few years. That would be enough time for him to establish himself as a God.

He also made plans to deal with another cultivator who had already chosen the planet. The reason why was that there were no active alerts coming from the terraforming equipment. That was why Garum first found this planet to be such an anomaly, it gave a pulse of a planet that had reached the seventy percent mark in qi saturation, a point that was impossible for a planet to turn back from. This meant that either the inhabitants of the planet managed to stop the beacons, or what was more likely another cultivator had made this planet their own and established themselves as a god. Either way, Garum knew this was his chance to shine, to take the path of cultivation that was before him and achieve his true potential.