The time came once more for Anton to meet with those from the upper realms. None of the Trigold Cluster- they likely wouldn’t appreciate the attempt anyway. No, instead it was those beyond that represented a variety of different factions.

    At their head were Leontiy, representing his own Sharp-Eyed Watchers sect as well as the overall interests of the Steadfast Union, as well as Diederik, representing the Fertile Field of the Prosperous Congregation. Anton had only minimal familiarity with any of that, as his previous contact had been brief. If he’d known what a mess things would have turned out, he would have more strongly urged preparations against the Swirling Swarm- though he hadn’t been timid about it before.

    Anton did recognize Zahara- the Augmentation cultivator of the Shrieking Spirit Sect- though he didn’t know her name until she was introduced. It wasn’t particrly easier for them to have a conversation now than before- especially since the effort would be better spent on addressing the people as a whole.

    “Thank you for all gathering together once more,” Anton began. “I would love to speak more thoroughly, but each word takes more effort than arrows that reach the upper realms.” Zahara seemed quite interested in that- she had emseen/em those attacks, after all. Anton extended his energy to the group, doing his best to properly absorb any iing words.

    At a lesser range, voice projection was trivial. At over twenty lightyears between realms, Anton had enough trouble keeping his energy from being destroyed that anything more was a bit rough. And he couldn’t rely on speed for a conversation, unless he wanted to hit people with individual words.

    “I would be interested in seeing these arrows…” Leontiy began, but Diederik red at him. “... But we must ask the pressing questions. Do you know of any further danger?”

    “None but what you experienced before,” Anton said. “The standard risks of the Trigold Cluster.”

    Diederik was impatient to speak. “Why didn’t you tell us?!” he demanded. “Clearly you knew when it would happen!”

    It was a bit much for someone with his status. Maybe Anton should show emhim/em the arrows? No, he had to be better than that. “We told you what we knew.” That was true. The Alliance hadn’t been able to predict that oue. However, admitting that showed weakness in a way that didn’t provide any benefit to either side. “I still did what I could, even with no defense agreements in y.”

    Zahara nodded seriously. It hadn’t been just the Shrieking Spirit Sect that he defended. It would have been them and many systems beyond them. The various groups had still suffered casualties from the Swirling Swarm that was further inward, but nobody could say he hadn’t made a difference. If they wanted more, their expectations were far beyond the reasonable- and even surpassed the extravagant.

    Diederik still couldn’t help but frown. “Our people…s that had been developed for millennia…”

    “A terrible price to pay,” Anton transmitted his words with all sincerity. He wasn’t willing to hold back his effort for such a thing. It still would have been easier if he could justunch attacks, in various ways. “It won’t make the damage the Swirling Swarm caused any better, but you can rebuild.”

    Reminding them who was at fault for the destruction was important. Even if they couldn’t actually be a problem for the Scarlet Alliance in any reasonable capacity, they emmight/em help put pressure on the Trigold Cluster. Over the course of decades and centuries. They wouldn’t even have to fight.

    “It’s difficult,” Diederikmented. “And the border…”

    “I suggest you expand,” Anton mentioned that to make them feel like there was something to emgain/em. “Specifically, into the southern area the Swirling Swarm once held. The outer ring ofs… still have hope.”

    Anton was tired. Technically, his energy had recovered in the time since the war. Just speaking wasn’t enough to wear him out yet. Part of it was constantly thinking he could have done more, even though he knew better. Such thoughts would never leave him- nor would he want them to. If he didn’t at least emconsider/em if he could do more, he might wind upcent. He did want a longer vacation, though.

    “Won’t that provoke the Trigold Cluster?” Leontiy asked.

    “How?” Anton countered. “They will be dozens of lightyears distant.”

    The Swirling Swarm had taken up quite arge area. Pouring out over the realms, they eradicated the poptions of systems ten, twenty, or even thirty lightyears beyond their former borders. With the gaping hole that was the dead worlds, it was easy to maintain a buffer zone by curving around the side facing the lower realms.

    “Eventually they will renew their ims,” Diederik pointed out. “Given enough centuries.”

    “There will always be friction, with neighbors such as them. However, if you take your current borders and wait for them to move into the Swirling Swarm’s area… they will find many of theirs on a sort of penins. They might want to expand their borders regardless.”

    That might not precisely be true- depending on whether they expanded around the domain in all directions. However, most popted systems tended to be closer to the midpoint of the gctic ne- usually within a hundred or so lightyears to either side. In terms of total systems, they might not feelfortably surrounded. But of course, the choice was up to the various groups who would have to deal with whatever reaction the Trigold Cluster had.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition.

    Neither side was likely to go to war in the near future. The normal pressure for expansion and more resources could both be fulfilled with now-empty territory. It was a horrible result, for so many people to die- but if they could at least prevent conflict for a time they could partially bnce out the negatives. That was all that could be done sometimes- dealing with the consequences of people’s actions.

    In this case, the Scarlet Alliance was partially at fault- but they were not the ones who had killed anyone with their own hands, nor was it their intention. Or something they could feasibly predict. That wouldn’t stop people from cing me on them regardless of how much of the truth they knew or didn’t know. Anton mainly didn’t want these groups to hate them just because he provided the best warning he could. It would be quite counterproductive.

    Zahara spoke. “The Shrieking Spirit Sect will expand. We invite others to im territory alongside us.” She was aware how close her people were to being destroyed- and it didn’t have to be the Swirling Swarm to bring about that sort of crisis. Many sects from the Trigold Cluster could have done so in a more organized manner- at least as far as any individual system went. More, if they were willing to suffer casualties of their own.

    That was the biggest danger of the Swirling Swarm, especially at the end. They hadn’t cared about their ranks being utterly destroyed. Normal people couldn’t handle losses thatrge- half of the poption was simr to total annihtion. A third wasn’t any better. Even a tenth was an immeasurable tragedy. It was ufortable topare to those systems that were entirely annihted… some of which had none to mourn for their loss.

    Anton continued his best to keep people from despair and hatred. The Swirling Swarm was gone, but it all happened so fast that the negative emotions remained without a target. If they wanted to hate emhim/em a little, Anton didn’t mind. As long as it didn’t extend to his people in general- or the people of Lantilwe who had kindly gotten him in contact.

    Somemunication had to be done like this- as close to in person as possible. In the future, the Alliance would be able tomunicate remotely over longer periods. It might not matter, though. There was very little reason for frequent contact- except perhaps to request certain trades. Anton hoped they might befortable enough to meet people of the Alliance up close.

    He also hoped that they would be able to fortify themselves against the Trigold Cluster. If they could regrow faster, they might even surpass them… though the Trigold Cluster emalready/em had a number of Domination cultivators throughout. It wasn’t so easy to gain more, no matter how the Alliance made it look.

    -----

    Anton’s two great talents, archery and farming, didn’t really have any ovep. At least, not at any scale. They had both been practical survival skills for living as a normal human. Farming provided food in the long term for both his family and hismunity. Hunting had filled in the gaps during thecking seasons.

    Other than that, in terms of cultivation his archery and farming were connected only via the power of the sun. Farming gathered and provided energy, archery used it. They weren’t ipatible, they just weren’t used together.

    But Anton was bored, and he had foolish ideas. Furthermore, there were a lot ofs that had rather poor ecosystems- ones that might copse entirely without humans involved. Then again, given that they were formers of the Swirling Swarm it was possible that process would slow. Either way, Anton was going to be starting with the ces that were worst, so that he couldn’t mess anything up.

    It was rather silly, trying to propel seeds across vast distances. Nor was a bow the best mechanism. A sling, perhaps, but Anton wasn’t familiar with those except in casual use. A generous single year of practice couldn’tpare to far more than a millennium of focused cultivation. Thus, arrows it was.

    The first thousand didn’t even make it out of Anton’s system. He wasn’t used to having physicalponents. Normally he shot Spirit Arrows. emVery/em rarely he used specialized arrows with additional properties, but those weren’t used at long distances. At least, not long by his current standards. Horizon Shot had once been something that went emjust/em beyond the horizon. Now, it more or lesspletely ignored that concept, shooting between systems just as easily as he had once shot over a mountain.

    That said, there was a fundamental difference in how he used energy for intra-system attacks and inter-system volleys. Shifting physical material not near himself into subspace was quite a bit moreplicated than simply energy.

    He could do it with arrows, but seeds were not arrows. Every archer and farmer he knew could tell you that. He ultimately messed around with making some arrows of his own- he didn’t normally carry any anymore- then recing the heads or otherwise securing the seeds to a proper arrow. The effectiveness of that depended on the size of the seed. Smaller ones could even be worked into a portion of the shaft, whereas some were the size of walnuts- or bigger.

    Fortunately he didn’t have to worry about air resistance or stabilization. He could also take his time. He also wouldn’t run out of resources. If he needed more seeds, he could just nt one and grow a whole new batch. It was trivially easy to grow any of the emnormal/em nts he was working towards, taking only a short time with active support. Some Anton could even grow in his palm without even touching a scrap of dirt.

    He had casually picked outs he wanted to start on. No void ants for the spying mission had gotten towards the eastern or southern sides of the Swirling Swarm territory, so he just picked a that had a decent atmosphere, too many buildings, and what he hoped was viable soil. Then he rained arrows through some of the non-functional structures.

    It was difficult to make his arrowsnd properly. He could make them go fast enough topletely annihte their matter. If they were too slow, the ambient energy caught up to his and destroyed both- along with the arrows and seeds.

    In a way, Anton was doing the same sort of thing he’d done during the war- shooting long distance, even towards some of the same ces. However, it was a million times more rxing. Nobody was in danger, he had no time limit, he didn’t have to overexert himself. He could just take a shot when he felt like it… and every once in a while he might get a seed in ce.

    Whenever people moved back in, thes would be a little bit better. That was all he wanted.