Elder Cultivator

Chapter 973

From all sides of Yoron, the final system controlled by the Numerological Compact, fleets approached together. Their mission was to free everyone still enslaved, with the knowledge that those same people were directly under threat.

The required timing left open only a very small window- they had to be close enough to actually do something without the enemy forces having reacted.

Most of the population was present on inner terrestrial planets, though some portion of it existed on the moons of gas giants or otherwise in and among the outer planets.

The combined fleet, Alliance ships packed full of as many locals as they could fit, moved synchronously towards their targets. They were barely inside the system when Numerological Compact fleets responded.

The exact trigger was unclear, even in the aftermath. All that was clear was that the intermingled members of the hiveminds called upon their energy together, perhaps prompted by a single individual or perhaps some connection between them making them decide. Either way, everyone acted in concert.

From every angle, gathered strands of energy pushed towards their targets. None of the individual cultivators were prepared to reach out for the distances involved, but together they created a stable structure.

Planetary barrier weakened their efforts, but on the outer planets said barriers were weaker- and there was one important mitigating factor. That energy was precisely what they intended to reach. The energy of the barrier traced back towards those enslaved to support said barriers. A pulse of thought and meaning from the various coordinated hiveminds made the cultivators react. City by city they provoked a chain reaction much like what happened on Turilia.

However, it never stopped. The flow of energy from one to the other spread not only between cities on a single planet, but the surge of energy that followed from vast numbers of cultivators being freed came with an instinctual joining of their energy.

At the edge of the systems, the combined energy of various ships were like streams that fed into the planets, which then grew into proper rivers as they dove deeper into the system. There, they connected with those already working.

Along the way, ships were swept up in the flow- every Numerological Compact ship carrying between hundreds and tens of thousands of enslaved cultivators used as batteries. The outside forces overcame the confines of the formations limiting them, power surging and tearing through the Numerological Compact’s protections.

The first of the inner planets was reached by the tide of energy so quick that it was impossible to react to- it was outside of the hands of any individual, and even the hiveminds hardly knew what part they had in the surge. They only knew that it had to continue.

On the outer planets and the ships streaming forward to intercept the incoming fleet, formations began to burst as their energy capacities were surpassed by orders of magnitude over what was expected. That surge of energy carried to the inner planets, crashing against their barriers- and intertwining with the energy there.

That signal reached the people on the planet below, destroying their physical and mental bonds. The event was far more forceful than what had happened with Turilia, as formations all over the planet exploded- and everything was covered in formations.

However, while the surge of energy was already uncontrollable, it also wasn’t inherently destructive. Walls cracked and ceilings crumbled as formations were torn apart within them, but the energy never concentrated enough in any single point to replicate the tragedy on Waral, where an entire city and the surrounding area had detonated from the inside.

The surge of energy continued, covering the most populated planets in an instant. The energy of millions had stretched out throughout the system, each strand ground tenuous and weak on its own- but with each they freed they grew stronger. Excess energy tore apart formations meant to channel natural energy into something like the Compact’s will.

The energy was also directed against said cultivators- those on the ships first, followed shortly by the people on the planets. The flood of energy had some sort of motive from the combined will of the people, not causing completely wanton destruction, but collateral damage had been part of it from the very beginning of the path.

The surge did not end with cultivators of the Numerological Compact, instead seeking out those ‘neutral’ cultivators. Those who had been potential slaves, while at the same time some portion of them were contributing to the system that would lead to their inevitable ruin. Energy surged through them, directed by a combined purpose that no individual could fully comprehend.

As quickly as it had come, the surge of energy found itself at the end of the path. Everyone on the planets freed, the formations binding and draining them destroyed. With no further targets, the energy came to a halt. Then, like waves upon a beach, the energy withdrew- pulling away more or less along the route it had come.

It was unclear whether it was the initial surge or the withdrawal that caused most of the casualties. Most of the sensory equipment within the fleets were blown out from the surge of energy. All that was clear was that when the dust settled, somewhere around a third of the former slaves had perished. Those proportions remained true both within the ships and on planets.

Unassociated cultivators also experienced something similar, though in smaller proportions. Somewhere around twenty percent of them ended up as casualties, some being severely injured with their cultivations ruined while others perishing directly. It was unclear if that was many or few, considering that without a previous connection they had been directly drawn into the new hivemind of Yoron.

Many of those who had been helping to direct the energy from a prominent position- including Byron and the local experts associated with him- experienced the same. Byron himself survived, though he was in critical condition with his meridians overloaded and his dantian heavily injured.

All of the Numerological Compact fleets were completely without mobility, and a portion of the Lower Realms Alliance ships had to function purely on the basis of technological components, their formations burnt out.

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Yet in all of that, the faces of the hivemind cultivators both living and dead were filled with contentment. Those who had oppressed them were eradicated, and they took solace in that fact.

With many of their ships crippled, landing all of the cultivators on the closest planets was an ordeal- but one that was aided by the locals. Ships dropped off anyone not part of their crew- leaving for the most part members of the Alliance on board- only to leave atmosphere and go immediately to begin gathering people from Numerological Compact ships, or any vessel not functioning well enough to land in atmosphere on its own.

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Anton and Devon felt what had happened more clearly than everyone else on Turilia- even more than the planet wide hivemind. The surge of energy in the neighboring system was the greatest thing they had ever felt.

“... I’m not sure what I expected, to be honest,” Devon admitted. “What do you think happened?”

“Same thing as here. But it seems when it’s done with intention, the effects stretch further. That energy… it doesn’t feel like a catastrophic surge. I can’t feel any individuals at that distance, however, especially not with the remaining energy ripples disrupting me. So we’ll have to wait for a message.”

“How long?”

“From a neighboring system? Potentially an hour, now.”

“I hope this dread is from within me,” Devon said.

Anton breathed out slowly. “Many people are dead. But I believe we will be able to accept the result, compared to what could have been.”

“I suppose we have to,” Devon said. “The past can’t be changed.”

The two of them in particular were some of the few people from the Alliance still on Turilia- given the demands, they had to help with the deception by pretending to go along with things. That meant staying where they could be felt.

They exchanged a look the moment before someone knocked on their door. After the fist rang, Anton called for the woman outside to enter. “Is there something you need?”

She shook her head. “We came to inquire if you were aware of the results.” A mouthpiece for the hivemind- which was much more pleasant than it speaking directly with combined voices. Turilia had learned that normal people didn’t particularly enjoy that, though Anton and Devon weren’t as off-put as others.

“Only tangentially,” Anton replied. “We felt the surge, but there’s no clear result. Except that Yoron should be generally intact, still.”

The woman looked up into the sky. “There is something… calling for us.”

“Another hivemind?” Anton asked.

“Initial impressions indicate a similar result,” the woman replied. A very long way to say ‘yes’.

“What do they say?” Anton prompted.

“They reach out.” She closed her eyes. “Our brethren throughout the system are connecting to them.”

“If you want advice,” Devon said. “I believe we are woefully inexperienced in this topic. Can you detect any malice?”

Rather than answering directly, the results came in the form of additional threads of connection stretching from the planet. Then, she looked at the two of them. “Little has changed, except we are connected to the rest of those within this system. Yoron is… distant. As if behind a veil.”

“Well, they are a handful of lightyears distant,” Anton pointed out.

“... Waral is close,” the mouthpiece said. “Why is that? The population is smaller.”

Devon frowned. “You’re connected there as well? Perhaps it had something to do with the length of their connection.”

Anton shook his head. “No… I don’t think that’s it. The stars are resonating with each other.” He stood. “I need to go take a look at Yoron. To speak with them.”

“I suppose there’s nothing tying us here,” Devon agreed. “Though… am I needed locally?” he looked at the mouthpiece.

“We will be fine for the near future. Though it seems likely we will need your continued guidance for transitioning out society. And perhaps food, in the near future.”

“If the war is over,” Anton said. “It will be much more viable for us to send supplies.” It wouldn’t be exactly easy to supplement the food needs of several systems, but there was a certain amount of excess within the Alliance. They certainly had emergency stores, and they could focus on replacing those without disrupting normal lives. Still, local growth would be critical for these systems.

There was going to be a lot of farming necessary. Anton thought that would be good for them. But first… he had to see if there were any more urgent matters to take care of.

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Several rounds of messages were exchanged while Anton was in transit to Yoron. It would take him barely a day to reach them, but the situation was explained in detail. The details increased the urgency of the situation, with much of the local infrastructure being devastated.

Yet in some ways, it was actually a good thing. Anton was never going to say massive losses of life and property were good, but the free flow of energy was something he was a great proponent of. The whole ecosystem needed to maximize energy levels to grow, not just wherever a sect could contain.

This was going to be a massive project. They’d barely started work on Waral and throughout that system, and transforming a system wasn’t something that could be done overnight.

Then there was another matter. With many unassociated cultivators being pulled into the hivemind that sprang up in Yoron, it had simply been an unintended consequence. Obviously they had anticipated all of the former slaves, but for the rest of the population to be drawn in? That was something else.

Members of the Lower Realms Alliance hadn’t been expecting that sort of risk at all… but some of them had been drawn in. As far as anyone had ever been able to tell, everyone who remained in the hiveminds was willing. Waral had been around long enough for people unhappy with the situation to withdraw.

Thus it was both surprising and not that surprising that Grain and the locusts ended up as part of the hivemind. They were literally on the edge of such a structure themselves. They had simply been along to help with the ship-to-ship combat that hadn’t really happened. Yet apparently, when they’d felt something calling out… they’d naturally joined.

Anton found all of that out when they were among the first come to greet him. He wasn’t upset, but it was worrying for them to be drawn into something they had no guarantee was stable long term.

The new systems would be an important focus for the Alliance for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, they only had to deal with the nearly complete lack of functioning infrastructure in Yoron and reworking everything in the other systems to deal with voluntary labor rather than forced extraction. Anton couldn’t help with any of that, except for the parts that had to do with farming. Which was actually quite a big part of things, and Grain would have to agree. His name wasn’t Cultivates and Consumed Grain for nothing.