Elder Cultivator

Second Gift made it halfway between the realms. At that point, the cultivators from the upper realms met up with those from the lower. That included Bear Hug, who found it fascinating and odd to observe themself externally with different energies flowing through them. It was also odd internally.

Prospero was there. Ratna wasn’t, yet. Unless she had come along stealthily. However, many members of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance were there to be part of the solar brigade. The same was true of the Order of One Hundred Stars.

Then there were wolves and other friends. Chidi was there too, and Bear Hug was glad. Even though Chidi was one of the hardest people to talk to, they were still friends. He probably wasn’t much good at being a sun though.

Rather than those from the lower realms instantly running off, they took the time they had to exchange personal guidance. And more than that, they had to gradually shift their additions. Spikes began making stone pillars where pillars of ice had once stood, supporting what was currently an icy shell but could be something else with time. Though Bear Hug was pretty sure that most of it would still remain the way it was. Having a more solid foundation was good, though.

After a year- there was a lot of work to be done making sure things didn’t immediately freeze as they approached the upper realms- they began to split off. Some lower realms cultivators remained for a while, keeping up their duties. But the closer they got to the energy of the upper realms, the less effective they grew.

All of the Bear Hugs rode back with Paradise, who was among the last to go. Most of those who had come on ships were already long gone, because they rapidly lost effectiveness unless they were the very particular ones made to work in energyless circumstances. They had a few, but they could only store a little bit of sunlight. Mostly, they were for emergencies in case anyone needed to be evacuated to one side or the other.

As they began to slip into the upper realms proper a full decade later, Bear Hug realized how hard the project was. Even if they could keep the planet from freezing- which they were pretty much an expert at now- there was still one issue.

Different energies didn’t like living together. The main value of Second Gift was that it was imbued with natural energy. It was all trying to run away.

Planets were big, though so it would probably just be the top layer that drained away. Maybe not even all of the top layer. The problem was that all of the stuff was on the top layer. The trees, bushes, and grasses. The fishes, squirrels, and insects. The lions, tigers, and bears. All of these were on the surface of the planet… and they weren’t ready to have their energy swapped.

That wasn’t the plan either. The issue was keeping all of it around. Bear Hug found that they completely stopped being sunlight themself, and instead focused on keeping the right energies in the right places. They were pretty good at encouraging things to recycle natural energy, even when Bear Hug was filled with upper energy. It wasn’t at all what they had anticipated, but cultivators had to be adaptable.

The others who were nearly as effective were mainly Ascension cultivators. Integration cultivators who had otherwise practiced with natural energy did nearly as well, but there was something about living in a world that was a certain way for a century versus training for a while, even a long while, but not entirely bathed in natural energy.

Bear Hug currently had both in different parts of them- very distantly removed parts- so they were keeping constant practice. Except for all the parts of them that would be sleeping for the next century or so. Maybe less, but they sure felt

Just as the crossed the border proper, they were attacked by a massive fleet of Swirling Swarm cultivators. There were so many, Bear Hug couldn’t even count how many there were! Though, that wasn’t that abnormal.

The first thing that happened was that Prospero tossed a Falling Star at them from about halfway across a system, exploding in their middle. Huge numbers of them died… but they kept coming.

Bear Hug found themself fighting countless cultivators atop the icy shell defending Second Gift. It was probably the first time they killed a person. But none of these were friends, and Bear Hug wasn’t completely sure they were people. They seemed more like beasts that were human shaped. Sure, they wielded weapons and used energy attacks, but those were minor details.

Either way, they weren’t friends. A lake full of water surrounded Bear Hug, channeling around several of their bodies. It covered the masses of cultivators. They were crushed into each other, drowned, or both.

None of them fled, except for those who broke through and stole some materials from the surface, scouring trees of bark or tearing apart animals. Like a plague of omnivorous locust, but bigger. Bear Hug didn’t like them at all. Nobody else did either.

It was sad that humans had only one body. Specifically, the ones Bear Hug liked. Because some of them died. Was a planet worth the lives of people? Apparently yes. And Bear Hug couldn’t argue, because it was not only their own dreams poured into this but also the blood, sweat, and tears of humans. Bear Hug didn’t have any of those, so it was mostly dreams and natural energy so far.

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They suffered some other attacks along the way, fending them all off. They actually left an intentional weak point where cultivators could land. It was bad for that one part of the planet, but it kept them from causing damage elsewhere. In addition, they were less likely to get away.

Relatedly, Chidi found something for himself to do. Bear Hug had literally no idea how he could cut down people without touching them with his sword and seemingly without energy, but Negation was a special thing- and he was far enough in that he’d killed a Domination cultivator. Not entirely alone, but he probably could have.

Bear Hug found it strange for the part that they thought was the hardest- keeping it from freezing- almost became secondary. Except it was still required. It would be a shame to give it up. Merely defending the planet could and would have been done already.

Ratna continued to be absent, even when some Slithering Serpent Sect attacked. It was weird because they were definitely humans. Bear Hug thought they were a little snakelike, but personally they could do better. Humans weren’t even the right shape.

The Slithering Serpent Sect attacked in much lesser numbers, and Bear Hug still couldn’t count them. At least, not all at once. Maybe eventually.

Their attacks focused on piercing into their foes and leaving behind poison. Like a snake.

Bear Hug, possessing neither a torso, internal organs, or anything else that they could effectively harm, found themself quite effective. The poison that got left behind in their water was gross, and a cultivator could probably still explode Bear Hug if they got careless… but every time they struck Bear Hug attached more water to them.

There was one Integration cultivator that swapped to sweeping attacks, but Bear Hug just crumpled around their attacks, using the momentum reduction of water and the natural flexibility of, well, algae. Even the longer strands just sort of bent double around the incoming attacks. Sometimes energy still chopped through them, but they were minor wounds at best.

“None of this stuff is worth your life,” Bear Hug commented. “You should leave.”

Apparently, the man thought Bear Hug’s synthesized voice was funny. The last sound he made was some kind of mean ‘snicker’. Water flowed into his mouth and nose. Bear Hug didn’t make him suffer, though. That was mean. A sudden rush of ice froze his head quickly, and he died.

No wonder Anton said he didn’t like fighting. Seeing people die wasn’t fun at all. But all these people were being mean for no reason, trying to take something that didn’t belong to them. The effort Bear Hug and everyone else put in was meant for Ratna and the Guardians- who were still protecting it.

Ratna still wasn’t visible. And an Augmentation cultivator had slipped past Prospero, who was wiping out whole squads with his Falling Stars. Bear Hug moved to intercept the man, though they weren’t sure if they could do much. Ultimately, they were still relatively fresh to the upper realms.

Bear Hug was right. Their entire lake was blasted away, and half of the mass of one body was destroyed. It was a huge difference from it being completely destroyed, though. There was something special about each body, not just the bits. Maybe a bit of soul, maybe something else. Bear Hug didn’t understand souls. Either way, death was scary.

They were going to run. But the Augmentation cultivator was moving to attack Spikes. The nice wolf lady had made a bunch of stone things, and could definitely be stabbed and poisoned. No, she did get stabbed and poisoned. Fuzz was burning his way through another pack of enemies. Aconite wasn’t nearby.

Bear Hug wasn’t strong enough to help, but they did anyway. With their remaining mass and energy in a tattered body, they jumped onto the back of the attacking man. That forced him to redirect his energy to blast Bear Hug into pieces.

All of them curled up in pain. They weren’t strong enough. And worse, Spikes was still in danger- only a few moments had been saved.

Bear Hug felt the battle from a distance, too far to influence.

A spear stabbed towards Spikes, mirroring a wound she had already received.

Then the man’s head fell off. And not because Spikes did anything. Bear Hug certainly hadn’t managed to do that. There was just a flicker of energy. Light and dark. A hazy image of a person. Then it was gone.

That moment of power alerted the battlefield, however. Ratna was here. And she was not going to be merciful.

Losing an Augmentation cultivator wasn’t a small thing. The Slithering Serpent Sect began to retreat, taking with them their ill-gotten spoils. Even together, the defenders couldn’t take them all down.

“Sorry I was late,” Ratna said after the battle. Spikes was being looked at by Aconite, who had ripped all the poison out of her mother. Ratna’s energy reached out to say the same thing to Bear Hug, specifically. It wasn’t perfect, but it was Bear Hug’s language.

“You weren’t just hiding?”

The energy shook back and forth. A private conversation off to the side, while she spoke with her mouth to others. “I wouldn’t have waited so long for an ambush. Especially not at the risk of one who has worked so hard for my sake.”

“Is that me?”

“You’re still working hard,” Ratna commented. “Even now… you’re back to stabilizing the energy.”

“Second Gift needs it. I can’t wait.”

“I see. Well… be careful with yourself.”

“I don’t get hurt on purpose. Did you manage to do something cool on the way here?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘cool’. But important, certainly. I have punished some sects to avoid future trouble here. I am certain there will be more… but rather than fighting it, avoiding it to begin with is best. Or fighting on our terms.”

“Why do people want this so much?” Bear Hug asked. “More than their lives.”

“Because they have terrible leaders, and they don’t believe they will be the ones to die. It’s easy to rationalize that it will always be someone else.”

“What about the Swirling Swarm? I didn’t see any leaders.”

“They’re even worse, in terms of terribleness. But there’s at least one big one left. Strong, able to hide among the others. We need to be careful.”

“... Can they swim?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure they can fly,” Ratna said. “Which accomplishes much the same things.”

Bear Hug probably wasn’t going to fight a Domination cultivator anyway- that’s what Prospero and Ratna were there for. But it was good to ask. Sometimes people forgot things like that.