Given Anishka’s relatively limited area of travel during her early life, it was easy for her to underestimate how many things there were. There was a vast amount of things within one country, let alone throughout a continent or planet or an entire realm. There was just so much of anything. Obviously Anishka knew there were many types of animals, but even among things that were considered the same there were so many varieties. And that was just one grouping of things.

It might have been intimidating if Aniskha wasn’t so excited about everything. “Look! Those cherries are darker!” she pointed excitedly at a stall, grabbing a handful. “Oh, and these are yellow!”

Annelie sighed. “Anishka. Manners. Do make certain you pay before you start grabbing things.” She looked at the stall owner apologetically, handing over a few coins. “I’m sure we’ll end up with a handful of everything.” She looked down the entire market, glad that at least for the moment Anishka wasn’t interested in cultivation related things. Then again, that was what she’d grown up with. At this point everything on Ceretos carried some traces of natural energy inside it, but there was still a significant difference between the low and high end. Price, especially.

“Ooh, plums!” Anishka continued moving along. “And what’s this awning made of?”

At least she was exciting about something. Or everything, Annelie supposed. She just hoped that her daughter would eventually end up on a path that actually accomplished something. One couldn’t just study everything. At the very least, at some point Anishka would have to make her own way in the world to pay for her own eccentricities. Given her status, Annelie could cover her expenses forever. But she wouldn’t. Not unless her daughter could prove she was accomplishing something, though it was fine to let her experience her childlike wonder for a while longer.

-----

Along Anton’s route, there weren’t many other astounding astronomical features to observe. In most cases, they were things he had seen before, different sorts of common stars and planets. He did come across a few planets that bore the scars of battle, signs of once having life but no longer. They’d been scoured clean. And one system he was fairly certain should have had another planet found it missing.

Most of the damage was clearly old, but instead of being comforting Anton instead found it a depressing sign of how long the cycles had continued, and how difficult it would be to bring the invasions to an end. Worlds like Ceretos were just one among many to the upper realms, a small but not quite insignificant place. Surely they would at least miss their Augmentation cultivators. Which meant they could expect some trouble, come the next change in the tides of the world. But that should be the ‘normal’ duration of six centuries, as far as Anton could tell.

Anton was glad to fight and kill members of the Trigold Cluster, but he hoped that by the next cycle he could divert the flow away from their own systems. It was better to not fight at all, if they could manage it. Though Anton also did not want to push their problems off onto others. It seemed unlikely they could ever truly be at peace, except for a time. Was that an inevitability of the world, or just the way things had turned out?

Journeying through the void gave Anton far too much time alone with his thoughts, so when he arrived in a system he was quite glad to focus on it. Especially when it was immediately apparent there was something beyond the norm.

“Regular energy flow…” Anton murmured to himself. “Directed between the planets?”

As Anton approached he was clearly able to discern it was caused by a grand formation spanning the system. He also found it unwise to approach closer, as it seemed to include a proper barrier. He didn’t want to tangle with one of those.

That did leave Anton somewhat stumped. He prodded it with his energy. That might give away his location, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He did want to meet whoever inhabited this place. Though he did prepare himself to retreat if necessary. Being entirely incautious would be foolish.

The only question was how long he should wait. A week, a month? Perhaps he could slip through the barrier at some point, but that wouldn’t build much in the way of trust. It didn’t take long for Anton to get a response. It wasn’t even two hours when he sensed a ship approaching- based on its trajectory, he would presume it was from the outermost planet that he’d been angling towards.

Judging the ship and its cultivators… Anton considered himself safe. There were five Life Transformation cultivators, nothing insurmountable. He felt a general sense of caution and preparedness from them, but they slowed as they approached, their cultivators standing on the deck of a fairly traditional ship.

There was no simple way to speak to others in a vacuum without some sort of extension of energy, but as Anton began to ponder slipping his way through the barrier, they actually passed beyond. Their lead cultivator- an old woman clutching a spear- extended her energy to meet Anton. Before he could even make a remark, she began. “Greetings. You must be far from home.”

“I suppose you can say that,” Anton agreed. “Anyone outside of their home system is rather far, are they not?” And truthfully, though he was most of the way back home after his trip to Azun, he was still a good fifty lightyears away from Ceretos. “Do you get many travelers?”

“Not at all,” the woman said. “Though we have had to deal with trouble from the upper realms.”

Anton nodded, “They are quite… persistent. This grand formation must have been quite difficult to set up, to keep them out.”

“It was a project of centuries,” the woman said. “I suppose I must ask, though it seems pretty clear. Are you friend or foe?”

“I would hope to be friends,” Anton said. “I am known as Anton. If I might have your name…?”

“Aoibhin.”

Anton could determine that her name was from one of the categories where he’d default to a different spelling. More like Eveen. “Frankly,” he said after he clarified the spelling, “I’m surprised we don’t end up with much more radical differences. The upper realms seems to have a large amount of influence on language…”

“Not by coincidence, I think,” Aoibhin replied. “Would you like to speak somewhere more comfortable, friend Anton?”

“Gladly,” he approached, sensing no deception. In the worst case, he could still defend himself even without a local star.

As he landed on the ship, Aoibhin gestured with her free hand, “Let us get inside. I apologize I can’t receive you somewhere on planet, but we are responsible for system security. We can’t just let people in through our defensive formations, and we don’t really know each other yet.”

“I fully understand,” Anton agreed. “Especially since you’ve had trouble with the upper realms.”

“I can at least determine you are not from them… directly, at least.”

“Did you run into their spies?” Anton asked. “The Twin Soul Sect, specifically?” It was now habit to scan for them anywhere new he went. He was glad to not find any on this ship, though that didn’t mean much.

“Oh yes,” Aoibhin nodded. “They were quite a troublesome group.”

“You’ve met them?” Anton asked. “I suppose they could have been around as recently as a couple decades. Hopefully you’ve gotten rid of them?”

“Centuries ago,” she said. “It was quite an effort.”

“I’d love to hear more about how you dealt with them,” Anton said. “If the information is not secret.”

They sat in a tight cabin, with barely a desk and some stools. Quite reasonable for a ship, as space was important. Anton checked the food for poison. He didn’t sense any treachery, but he could never be too careful. He didn’t know the local politics- even if Aoibhin was friendly, someone with access to the kitchens might not like Anton’s presence. Or they might want to get her in trouble somehow. There was also a chance that everyone in a local area developed a resistance to something and no longer considered it poison. That had come up before.

Either way, Anton’s cautions proved unnecessary as he snacked on a polite amount of mediocre bread and cheese.

“Particular details would be secrets of different sects,” Aoibhin said. “But the general idea is simple. It was a long, bloody war where we killed their Ascension cultivators one at a time.”

“I wouldn’t expect much different,” Anton admitted. “That was about what the first invasion I experienced was like. But we managed to drive them back, and were ready for the second. Did you encounter difficulties with the short cycle?”

“We were fortunate that the two-hundred-year cycle came after our successful counterefforts,” Aoibhin explained, “And they did not return this most recent opportunity.”

“Does your formation help with that?” Anton asked.

“That is not my area of expertise,” Aoibhin admitted. “It would certainly make it difficult for them to enter, but I don’t know if it would prevent them from lingering outside.”

“It’s good to find others who have been successful,” Anton said. “There were others I have met on my journey who did not fare so well,” Anton admitted.

“Is that so?” Aoibhin sighed, “I was hoping we might meet with them.”

“They’re many systems away,” Anton said, “Same for my home.”

“What are you doing so far from home?” she asked. “I don’t imagine a kind soul like yourself to be exiled.”

“The journey was for the sake of improving my cultivation,” Anton replied. “I found what I wanted, and am now returning.”

“You’re not in a hurry are you?” Aoibhin asked. “Certainly, you don’t seem to be. I am sure others here would wish to speak to you. And many would likely not be averse to opening up diplomatic ties with another system, even if it is a bit remote. I sense we have more in common than our disdain for the upper realms.”

“Are you able to travel between systems?” Anton asked.

“We have explored the neighboring area,” she admitted, “Though we found nothing worth leaving our home for. The resources here are still sufficient to sustain us.”

“That’s good to hear. It’s likely best not to rush into expansion, especially if it would leave you open to further attacks from the upper realms.”

“Indeed. The short cycle caused us to be quite uncertain about how safe we are.”

Anton was quite pleased he’d come to this system instead of simply passing by. They were a bit distant for convenient diplomacy, but they could certainly work something out. If nothing else, communications could reach them faster than simple travel.

-----

It took a week for Anton to be approved entry into the Ekict system. That was both speedy and slow, depending on how he looked at it. He was constantly escorted, of course, both because of his nominal diplomatic status and because he could be a danger. To the average individual, if not their system as a whole. At least as far as they knew. To them, he should seem like a particularly strong Life Transformation cultivator, which wasn’t exactly wrong at the moment.

The system itself was nothing amazing. Their planets fell within normal parameters, with their capital world exactly in the middle of standard habitability requirements. It was much like Ceretos, including the local star. It was perhaps a bit closer to the smaller orange range of stars rather, but it was on the same scale at least. Not a giant or dwarf star, or anything exotic.

He didn’t see any signs of recent damage, but he shouldn’t have expected to find any. It had only been two decades since the last potential chance for invasion, but it was another two centuries before that when their previous conflict should have happened according to Aoibhin.

As for the other details, Anton paid the most attention to people. Many people were not cultivators, or could barely be counted. Anton understood that was the norm, but with proper techniques and some global restructuring everyone could be. But he didn’t need to worry about that right at this moment. If they could properly interact with the system, it was possible to have them handle the transfer of information, rather than Anton throwing techniques at the first handful of people he met. Though that did happen to ultimately work, it was unlikely to be the most efficient. Even Anton wasn’t the best diplomat… he was just the strongest person Ceretos had that happened to be able to wander around on his own. That was often good, but it could also make people cautious.

Ultimately it was determined that ships would be sent from the trifold alliance, as that should be the fastest method to transport anyone. It wouldn’t exactly happen quickly… but that wasn’t as important as the fact that it would be happening at all. And cultivators could afford to spend a couple years waiting, if necessary.