Elder Cultivator

Chapter 1141

Blending in within Klar wasn’t that bad once Anton got used to it. Seeming like he belonged didn’t completely insulate Anton from assault- carnivores would always be looking for something to eat and pretty much anything might want to tap into his natural energy. However, it was possible to go one step further.

Back when he had been a normal hunter, it had all been about avoiding senses. Sound, sight, smell. All could tip off creatures in the woods. The way his natural energy felt was one more thing. Anton didn’t intend to go for a complete lockdown of his energy, but he also didn’t want things chasing him from halfway across the system.

The first asteroid he had set foot on likely had enough new things to study for the rest of his life, if he wanted to understand them in detail- but Anton was happy with larger categorizations. He wanted a broad overview of Klar, to see if he could discover how so many different species adapted to the vacuum of space. Perhaps it was simply that they had enough natural energy, but something had to reach the point of using such techniques first.

Klar was the least empty system he’d ever been in, and Ceretos had people zipping around between planets all the time. But nobody lingered elsewhere, except for brief periods of time.

Here, within a certain distance of the local star, there was always life. Microorganisms both in the form of miniscule animals and even plants.

Normally all forms of life involved a certain environment- usually that meant a certain range of temperature and a certain mixture of gasses. That was required for respiration by plans and animals. Even underwater fish typically extracted oxygen from the surrounding environment.

The methods the local creatures used were quite varied. The large ones mostly seemed to be using natural energy to directly handle internal processes that would require such things like breathing, as well as maintaining their own body temperature.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were tiny plants surrounded by fine hairs that captured a miniature atmosphere around them, encouraged by a bit of natural energy of course. It wasn’t possible for them to grow to any relevant extent without capturing more atmosphere around them, but merely maintaining their current state was possible. Some creatures consumed said tiny plants to make use of their air and their nutrients.

Anton had the mind to try to ‘plant’ such things elsewhere, but without exactly the right conditions he doubted a star could sustain them. With an ecosystem like Klar’s, half replication would likely result in total collapse. Though on the actual planets with proper atmospheres it would be easier to achieve a reasonable balance, as the building blocks of life were more readily available. Yet despite the ease of living in such places, it seemed that the local populace almost shunned them.

Not entirely, of course. It was hard to describe any part of the system as anything but teeming with life, but Anton would have thought that some of the larger creatures would have taken advantage of easy terrestrial resources. Then again, at a certain point their bodies might only be able to thrive in zero gravity.

Anton picked out one particular solid planet as his next destination after the far asteroids. He intended to descend upon a mountaintop, because while he could fly around and land anywhere, that would cause a larger disturbance. However, even said snowy mountaintop wasn’t entirely without inhabitants.

There were a number of creatures that Anton could only describe as bubbles. He supposed that like the tiny plants they would be carrying their own atmosphere into space, but internally instead of externally. They seemed to be fairly easily able to ascend and descend, using their buoyancy within the atmosphere until it thinned, then propelling themselves further with energy. Active energy usage was widespread, though Anton still had difficulty in determining if there was any sapience behind any of it.

One of the first things Anton encountered on the mountaintop aside from said bubbles was a strange plant. Anton could liken it to a pitcher plant, but it was living in nothing at all like a jungle. Instead, it was freezing cold. Anton didn’t think it could have survived if not for the natural energy it carried.

Rather than a trap of some sort, the water the plant carried within it seemed to be for its own use somehow. Anton watched as a vine was dipped into the liquid- which should certainly have been freezing- before being pulled out, coated in ice. The plant did that again and again, creating an ever larger icicle upon it which was used for… Anton had no idea what. Nothing it was doing in the hours he spent observing it seemed practical and likely to contribute to its survival. Perhaps if he watched for several days he might have seen something. Maybe the strange motions simply allowed it to absorb more natural energy somehow.

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Klar continued to surprise Anton with creatures that made their homes in rocks. He discovered that when he stepped close to one and it rolled backwards. That motion caused Anton to focus more clearly on what he’d thought to be a normal boulder.

Something was living inside it. In another place, the natural energy within the creature would have stood out, but here Anton had simply expected the rocks to be full of energy like everything else. He checked a few others just to make certain and they were indeed normal rocks infused with natural energy.

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Cultivators might see this system as a place of treasures to scour for profit. Less so the Lower Realms Alliance, since they knew the value of imbuing things with their own natural energy- they didn’t have to wait for it to occur naturally.

Taking from nature within reason was fine- Anton had been a hunter, and he didn’t see foraging for plants or using stone to build a home as inappropriate things. But everything required proper balance. Anton could have made extra money one year by hunting the largest bucks, and the next year there would have been hardly any deer in the forest for him to feed his family.

In short, to live somewhere long term moderation had to be achieved. Cultivators lived a long time, but they didn’t always live where they harvested. That was where the negative aspects of the upper realms had come into play most clearly- though even the invaders tended to have some sense of sustainability, leaving a core population to live in the world each cycle before snatching up what they had.

It was quite rude, though, to treat other humans like livestock or crops. Rude in the sort of way that required the deaths of those involved in self defense. It was far different from the care a good farmer gave to their livestock.

Anton’s feet continued to carry him down the mountain, observing the rock-encapsulated creatures and many more things. Some plants took familiar shapes- grasses and the like thrived for a reason, taking up little mass but gathering much sunlight and air. Here, they seemed to subsist easily even in the cold and thin atmosphere.

There was a forest below. Like grass, trees existed for a reason. Being big and tall to outcompete everything below you for light was a huge advantage. It worked just as well for absorbing the natural energy from a star, as they would still be closer. Though more mobile animals took advantage of that by using trees as perches… and Anton saw vines that were quite happy to live among them as well.

Anton’s steps were light, not wanting to crush anything underfoot. This was a strange place where he was just a visitor, and even though he’d been met with violence, he had no reason to respond in the same manner. More than that, something told him to be cautious. Anton had learned to trust his insight even when it was at its most vague.

Sometimes, the subconscious could pick up on things far before the conscious mind. One might think that it was easier for cultivators to turn those thoughts into conscious ones, and it was true to some extent- but a healthy development made the subconscious even more insightful, keeping it ahead of even the most acute of rational thinkers.

The amount of life the planet could sustain was far higher than it would have been according to its climate. Anton might think he was in the tropics with the way that the local area almost resembled a jungle, but he knew that this wasn’t even close to being the most density of life, based on his wide area observations.

His mind always wanted to put familiar names to what he saw- trees, vines, birds, snakes, and the like. Usually, that worked. Here, he was often surprised. A winged creature might indeed be a bird, but it could also be a bat. Or, apparently, they could be reptilian.

There was one particular that Anton had thought was basically just a snake, until it flew between trees. He’d seen snakes that were good at jumping, and this one did use some natural energy to boost it, but the largest factor was the wings it unfolded from alongside its thin body. It could certainly glide without any natural energy, and with a bit of a boost pushing it upward it seemed able to control its movement to loop upward.

It snatched something dangling from a tree- surprisingly, a fruit. Then it caught its tail around a branch, dangling downward. The wings folded back into its sides, seeming as if they were never there, as the creature slowly pulled the fruit vertically into it.

So it was something like a snake and flying squirrel combined. And it ate fruit, though Anton supposed that anything might eat fruit infused with so much natural energy. As it dangled, the snake would be able to watch for most incoming predators. If attacked from above… Anton supposed it could drop down beneath the canopy safely.

So the animals were weird, but the plants even more so. He’d seen more than a few examples of carnivorous plants. There were various forms of traps, from entangling vines like the grasping willows to latching leaves or sticky surfaces, but that was only the beginning.

Anton almost missed it, but one plant actually shot a zap of electricity at a beetle climbing above it, causing the insect to drop next to it. Roots- or something similar- slowly began to wrap around the beetle, dragging it into a sort of cagelike center where presumably it would be digested.

There it was again. Active energy use. Anton knew that even beasts could cultivate, using certain elements almost instinctually when they had sufficient natural energy. Here, it was the norm instead of the exceptional creatures that seemed able to make use of such things.

Without even touching it, Anton managed to trigger some sort of sinuous thorny groundcover to snap out and flail around his leg. If he didn’t have defenses it could have pierced into him- and he detected poison on the thorns. “Sorry, but I’m not for eating,” Anton said as he pulled his leg away. The plant seemed to recoil as he stepped away, not quite resetting to its former position.

It wasn’t long before Anton encountered a mushroom. He’d come to like them as a vision of robustness. They could grow quickly in many different environments, and though they needed something suitable for their particular needs they were often an efficient use of space or a good way of recycling unwanted resources.

This mushroom- or colony of mushrooms- was a bit larger than typical. By which Anton of course meant that head height was usually reserved for untouched paradises, brimming with natural energy. Technically Klar fit into that category, so maybe it was more odd that it was only as tall as him.

Anton looked at it. The mushrooms shook, releasing spores downwind. Better to avoid those, or be very careful to make sure they didn’t reach his lungs. Regardless of whether they meant to, it would be easy for such delicate organs to be harmed. Especially when imbued with such powerful natural energy.