Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1241

It was very nice of Paradise to teach Bear Hug about water control, but they had the feeling that wasn’t going to be enough. Unless they could control enough water and keep it from freezing to block out an entire planet, it wasn’t good for much more than cultivation growth.

Insights were always desirable, of course. Cultivation insights were delightful morsels of thought that allowed them to do surprising things. Ultimately, however, they were limited to what could be done with something. There was some overlap in schools of thought, but water was never going to supply sunlight to an entire planet. That just wasn’t a thing it did.

Bear Hug was certainly too late to learn how to do that, their cultivation path already selected. Perhaps it might have been redefined before Assimiscension. Ascenscilation? Splitting up and down. After, it was probably four phases too late, which was one or two more than it had already been.

Just because it was too late didn’t mean there weren’t some options. Bear Hug might be able to combine various things they could do with the help of other people. They just had to convince them one or a hundred at a time, and maybe Second Gift would survive.

There was a lot less of them in the upper realms right now, so it would have to lean more towards the one side. But there would be several extra decades before that mattered- or when they had already failed to protect Second Gift. After all, it wouldn’t even reach the edge of the lower realms for a while, and then it was twenty years across. If it didn’t even reach the midpoint, why bother sending anyone to unfreeze it on the other side? That would just be worse.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

Bear Hug’s first plan was to learn from someone else nearby. They also wanted to learn from Paradise, but apparently they had an intersystem flight schedule to keep. Or something. Bear Hug really wished more of them were present so they could go with Paradise while also staying on Ceretos.

-----

Bear Hug was returned to the Grasping Willows by a local ship, though they could have probably dropped back to the planet on their own. There was a big barrier around the planet, though, and people seemed particular about what went through that even if it seemed mostly inactive at the moment.

Once back at the Grasping Willows, Bear Hug set out towards their destination. Not once did they consider that they could have been brought directly there. Instead, they set out along the road.

Anton had once walked these roads. Or at least, some roads in the area. It had been long enough they might have developed new ones and replaced old ones many times. Bear Hug knew that happened with animal trails.

Probably the road wasn’t paved when Anton walked it. Bear Hug heard that sort of stuff was more recent. Either way, Bear Hug walked along a road that went in the same direction as Anton of the past, through a forest that definitely existed at the time. Some other people walked by too. Or rode strange two-wheeled contraptions.

And a lot more people flew over, both with and without vehicles.

But Bear Hug walked, and bowed respectfully to everyone they passed. Most people returned the gesture. They probably said things, but Bear Hug couldn’t understand them. Bear Hug just displayed respectful energy.

There weren’t any good ponds when Bear Hug wanted to stop for a rest at night, so they dug out a little spot by the side of the road, filling it with their carried supply. In the morning, they pick it all up and put most of the dirt back where it had been. Some of it was mud, and there were a few bits of grass that had been dethroned, but Bear Hug gave them some extra energy to compensate for the move.

Then Bear Hug came to a big city. More people were flying overhead, buildings towering everywhere. People walked the streets, going from place to place- all of which were meant to accommodate humans.

Buildings were made of stone, metal, and glass. Plus some weird forms of stone that didn’t appear in nature. Energy was everywhere. Everyone cultivated- which was both normal for Bear Hug and not. All the people they knew from Klar cultivated, since they probably wouldn’t have existed as people without it. But even animals had high amounts of natural energy. Bear Hug was pretty sure they were animals because they didn’t feel like they actually cultivated. Plants were brimming with power too. And the buildings. Even the road beneath them.

Bear Hug took special care to not flood a walking path for void ants. It was an impression in the ground that people couldn’t accidentally step on, but water could probably get in there if they carelessly dragged it about. And void ants wouldn’t be able to do much about that. They could probably stop Bear Hug’s control, but the water would just sploosh everywhere which was the problem they would want to avoid.

Talking to void ants was harder than talking to humans. Though if Bear Hug learned what their movements looked like, they might be able to figure it out. Only if they could improve their sensory resolution of the tiny negations in ambient energy, though. Bigger ones would be easier.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It was only reasonable to learn how other people talked. Bear Hug also needed to figure out sounds. That might take a while, though.

Bear Hug was uncertain if they were receiving abnormal amounts of attention. By comparison, others they passed on the street weren’t directing senses at each other as much as at Bear Hug- but Bear Hug was also extending their senses to everyone, so it could have been reciprocal. They were new, though, so maybe they were interesting. Bear Hug was aware that novelty was of interest to people, because that was true to them too.

Nobody stopped them. Bear Hug wouldn’t really have known what to do. Sometimes people were standing in the way accidentally, but Bear Hug could move around them. Nobody tried to block them, though it wouldn’t have done much because they could just sort of schloop around.

Cities were big. Bear Hug was in the city- or cities?- for half a day. That wasn’t even the densest area they encountered along the journey.

-----

Bear Hug wasn’t sure how much further they had to go. They knew that they were supposed to go southwest, but it was hard to say how far. Maybe the biggest road wouldn’t even work. The biggest one with people walking. There were actually some big ones with many wheeled vehicles. Not too many, though. They mostly carried big stuff, and a few carried people. More than required to operate the vehicle, specifically. Some carried many more people, some only had a handful.

Flying would be faster. Not that Bear Hug could fly, but there were flying vehicles that didn’t even need the roads. But the big ground vehicles were more common in between cities, carrying stuff or people back and forth. Maybe it was easier. Staying in the air was hard, after all. You had to keep pushing. The ground did more of the work for walking.

Days passed. Bear Hug wasn’t certain how many, but it wasn’t that many. Less than a year. Probably more than was necessary. It would have helped if they could read ‘signs’. Anton had mentioned them at some point, or maybe it had been someone else. Human reading was an interesting thing, where they made information as flat as possible so they could pile it on top of itself. It was harder to understand than a big pile of logs, but certainly took less space.

Maybe it was because they had so many people already. They must have so many helpful things to say that couldn’t be carved into helpful statues.

Bear Hug was navigating by feel. It seemed to be working. The goal was to go closer to people that felt like Anton. There were some pretty strong ones that could be felt from far away, if Bear Hug took the time. And there were more weaker ones who felt similar the further they went.

They passed through forests and plains, cities big and small, crossed rivers- rivers were good- and streams. Took naps in real lakes once or twice. Eventually, they came to a mountain. On that mountain, there were a lot of people like Anton.

Surely some of them knew how to make sunlight. Bear Hug looked for a door to knock on, but there wasn’t any. It took some time to find a proper entrance, wandering outside the big city at the bottom of the mountain. Eventually, Bear Hug found the path. Many other people were going the same way.

They paid more attention to Bear Hug than normal. They were also, in general, slightly stronger than the others. Maybe not higher cultivation, but more dangerous? That was Bear Hug’s estimation. Not everyone from the One Hundred Stars would fight, but many of them would.

Most of the people walked by the guards standing along the road without stopping. Bear Hug stopped and pondered. Could they be talked to? Bear Hug approached, gesturing to themself and the sect. “I want to go in, please.”

The human guards probably answered with something. They didn’t wave Bear Hug through or perform any physical or energy gestures that indicated Bear Hug could pass. One of them actually held out a hand. Bear Hug thought it meant ‘wait’ or ‘stop’. They didn’t know if they could stop, but they could wait.

Bear Hug almost didn’t notice the biggest energy from the sect approaching. No, they fully missed it until it was just sort of… there. Not because the man had been fast or sneaky, but just because he blended into the surrounding energy like any single one of Bear Hug’s bits of algae among the mass.

A hand was extended. Bear Hug did recognize hand shakes. They were much less fun than hugs but some people didn’t like those, apparently. They shook the hand of the man.

“Hello,” the man said, sort of. “This speech is unfamiliar to me, but I try.”

It was pretty good, and Bear Hug said so. “You know how I speak. Did anyone tell you about me?”

“Of course Anton told me. I am Vincent. Branchead.”

He might have meant Branch Head. But maybe his head had something to do with sticks. Bear Hug kind of remembered being told about him, though. He was the one who first introduced Anton to cultivation! He was like an Anton to Anton… but not quite as strong. Maybe he didn’t grow as fast, but that was okay. “I am… bear hug.” It was sad to not properly perform the action, but Vincent spread his arms wide and moved close. Bear Hug. It was much better. “I want to learn to make sunlight.”

“I don’t know,” Vincent admitted. “But you are welcome. We will teach.”

He probably knew how to make sunlight. He probably didn’t know what Bear Hug wanted. Which was fair. Bear Hug barely knew any of that.

The things Bear Hug knew how to do with sunlight were to eat it, and how to make it very inefficiently and not usefully. With enough energy, a cultivator could produce most effects they wanted even if they didn’t know how. It was just many times worse. How many times? Bear Hug didn’t know, because counting was hard. They didn’t have to do it very often, after all. But if Anton was a planet, Bear Hug was a human-fist sized rock. The gulf between their cultivations was less significant than that. Bear Hug would at least be a hill. Maybe a mountain.

In the other direction, Bear Hug could probably create or manipulate more water than Anton- and Bear Hug was so much weaker. Unless he were literally just lifting it up, then Anton’s power might win out.

Of course, to support a planet Bear Hug would need to be a star, which was bigger than both rocks and mountains. But maybe they could figure out how to get closer.