Elder Cultivator
Chapter 1317

Though he had been keeping passive, Anton couldn’t help but extend his senses further when they approached the planet before them. According to the little information he had been able to pry from Felicitas, the woman guarding them, the planet was named Ecuma. The aligned system went by the name Aretis, which had come up previously.

Anton couldn’t help but survey the planet because it was empty. Most of it was oceans, of course, but it was the land Anton was concerned with. Most of it was… green. Anton could hardly believe that with technology that could restrain him the population would be so sparse. There wasn’t a perfect correlation between advancement and population, but they were tied together nonetheless.

Further investigation revealed Anton was only partially correct in his initial assessment. Ecuma truly was underpopulated- it made sense for a place they intended to bring a prisoner- but other planets were similar in their aesthetic. The reason? The vast majority of each building was underground. From the short snippets Anton sensed, people walked between buildings on the surface, teleporting up and down to the floors they needed to reach.

Ubiquitous teleportation was reasonable with what else he had seen, but it was still somewhat surprising. Even Rutera and Ceretos had limited teleportation, mainly between cities. Then again, it was still quite fast for many of those Anton interacted with to circumnavigate the planet via space.

They landed atop a large flare platform that sank under the ground into a mid-sized hangar with a dozen or so other ships. The surroundings were relatively subdued with little traffic as Felicitas led them along, flanked by numerous guards. If the circumstances had been any different, Anton would have considered this place entirely unguarded, at least with respect to his own abilities.

Even Bear Hug could have rounded up each and every guard present without hurting any of them. That required a significant advantage in power.

It was almost insulting how many Essence Collection and Spirit Building guards were present. Of course, this place wasn’t meant for Anton. It hardly seemed meant for anyone, and in fact half of the guards came in on the very same ship as Anton. It still seemed quite secure, as they arrived upon a teleportation platform and found themselves much deeper underground.

Bear Hug was clearly disoriented, as the two of them ended up separated from their guards, arriving inside a cell on their own. Anton could sense Felicitas’ Life Transformation cultivation outside a pair of locked doors, and a few others around her.

If they could teleport them into a cell, they could have also teleported them into a death trap. However, to kill Anton in a short time even in his bound state they would have had to do something like teleporting him into a star… in which case they would find themselves with a rapid regret of their actions. They could have split him and Bear Hug apart as well, but they did not. Perhaps it was a courtesy, or they thought them sufficiently subdued.

“I assume you’re watching,” Anton said. “Would you like to give any indication of how long we will be waiting?”

It was possible they were setting up to kill them somehow, but if so none of the guards were aware of that. Anton could sense hostility well enough to be certain of that. If they did try, they would need far more preparations. Anton didn’t want to go to any sort of extreme response, but if they forced his hand he would.

For the moment, he was still confident in a peaceful resolution.

He got no answer to his query. “If it is more than a few hours, might I ask that you pipe some sunlight for my friend here? Bear Hug will require sustenance. And perhaps a large bucket.”

Nobody responded, nor did they open the door at any point. However, half an hour later a large washtub appeared in the corner. Bear Hug immediately crawled in and relaxed. They did have to exert a small amount of effort to maintain wrists so as to not slip out of the restraints. Surely the locals of Aretis had to realize the flaw in their restraints as it came to Bear Hug, but they might not have anything better. Besides, it was a good test of cooperation.

Ten minutes later, they got a heat lamp. It did a remarkably good job of replicating sunlight, powered by an internal source. Anton might have noted how it was dangerous to be teleporting batteries into a cell with prisoners, but that seemed a bit rude.

“Thank you,” Anton said. “Bear Hug would also say it, but they can’t vocalize right now.”

That latter statement was a reminder to Bear Hug to keep quiet, because they could if they needed to. It was also a reminder not to speak the energy language, though Anton couldn’t say if that actually came across. Bear Hug seemed to be silently chilling.

Anton stood for a while, then sat down in a meditative posture. This had to be at least as boring for Felicitas as it was for him. The woman was just watching him, while Anton was able to inspect various things around him. Subtly. It was possible that the various devices built into the cell could sense any uses of natural energy, but Anton kept his senses extremely subtle. The various cells were separated by only a few meters of dirt, with Anton’s being about five meters on a side, and three meters high. It was quite sparse, but Anton wasn’t planning to ask for anything more at the moment.

Outside of the cell were the various guards, with several times as much space for a dozen or so individuals. None of the surrounding cells or guard areas had anyone. Anton also noted that while each cell was physically separated from each other, he would have a route to leave through the guard station. They all connected to a staircase that Anton wasn’t sure was ever used. It might be only for emergencies.

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It was a weakness, but one that Anton approved of. A failsafe mechanism to keep their people safe if teleportation failed. Even that slight concern for their own people over oppression and containment was somewhat positive.

Then again, against him no cell meant much. If he was not contained by the bindings he could destroy the whole planet- a bit of dirt wouldn’t matter. Anton had carefully inspected them and was fairly confident he could disintegrate the mechanisms in a few moments, though he’d have to take it seriously. Even if they were only meant for suppressing Ascension level power, they were still somewhat functional at suppressing pose-Life Transformation natural energy.

Anton had no idea what the guards' weapons did. They were a full mystery, though some of them were obviously guns. Only a few had projectiles. The others used unknown tech. Perhaps others could have figured it out, but Anton wasn’t an expert in such things. No doubt they would be quite interesting.

-----

Six hours in, people began setting up equipment outside the cell. More than what was already built into the walls. Anton didn’t have long to speculate on what it did, as it was fairly obvious just from looking. And indeed, a few minutes later it was scanning the two of them. Much focus was placed on Bear Hug, which Anton thought was quite reasonable. A plant person cultivator was far more novel than a too-strong human cultivator.

A bit later, Felicitas’ voice came through some hidden speakers. The walls limited the passage of energy, so it was easier than projecting her voice, and they were far too thick to yell. “Dinner is on the way. Hopefully you can determine what is meant for your companion.”

First appeared a plate full of dirt. “Aha!” Anton said. “This must be for me.” He took a pinch of it and sprinkled it into his mouth. Felicitas shouldn't have known that Anton was watching, but her reaction was stone cold and expressionless. Several of the other guards chuckled at their monitors, though.

Anton had eaten dirt before. He’d had various things that tasted far worse. Ultimately, it was a nutrient blend not meant for taste at all that seemed to be quite appropriate for Bear Hug. Anton finished his analysis inside himself before dumping the plate into Bear Hug’s pool.

His own plate had arrived a few moments later, full of various cubes of gelatin. Anton held up a red one. “Have you not invented solid food yet?”

Anton consumed it. It was… as unappealing as food could get without actively being bad. A carefully calculated blend of calories and nutrition in a form that was pretty much impossible to choke on and that didn’t need anything risky like utensils. It was so ‘practical’ that Anton wondered about the entire sunlight producing lamp they’d been allowed.

Well, they probably didn’t have any other options, and they didn’t want their captives to get sick or die. The treatment was alright. Extremely cautious, but the people of Aretis should be cautious with him. Or any other outsiders that randomly showed up.

Then again, they could have let him leave.

-----

Bear Hug was bored. Their body next to Anton couldn’t do anything. Therefore, the rest of them had to do twice as much. It only made sense. Bear Hug busied themselves mainly on Second Gift, running around and gardening and soaking up real sunlight instead of mid tier artificial sunlight. Sometimes, Bear Hug would talk to themself. Externally, using the energy language. Humans did it, so it wasn’t weird. Or at least it was acceptable weird.

“Look at how the peas are coming in! Someone will be glad to eat those, maybe,” Bear Hug said.

“We can plant them as the next crop,” Bear Hug agreed. “Humans like their food to be big, so they might want to wait until these are bred to be the size of their heads.”

“This is quite true,” Bear Hug said. “But they’ve had centuries to perfect them and they’re only the size of…” Bear Hug found it difficult to measure them. Grapes came in many different sizes, as did cherries and other fruits. “Well, they’re not big enough to bludgeon people with yet.”

Bear Hug hoped that they got to do stuff again soon. And yeah, even if there were tons more of them the rest weren’t hanging out with Anton on a cool adventure.

-----

Two days, during which time Anton elicited precisely two reactions and one short conversation from Felicitas. He thought she was working very hard to minimize her reactions. Anton had things to say to the others, but he didn’t want to give away the game just yet. One of them absolutely needed some cultivation guidance or they were going to kill themselves within the next year. But Anton had to pretend they didn’t exist, for the moment.

Anton sensed teleporters activating, depositing a single man at the entrance to the guard station. After a short exchange he pretended not to listen to, Anton heard Felicitas once more. “Please stand back from the doorway. The interrogator has arrived.”

That sounded quite intimidating. The man himself didn’t appear particularly harsh, but Anton knew appearances could be deceiving. However, the way he had spoken to the others indicated something different to Anton.

The outer door opened up for Felicitas and the interrogator, a man in early Life Transformation. Only after it sealed behind them did the inner door open. Anton didn’t have to move back, because he was still seated in the middle of the room.

He did stand up once they entered. Best to be polite. He also didn’t want to put people in the awkward situation of having to order him around and him having to choose whether or not to refuse them. So far, they had been polite, if forceful. Anton worked well with polite.

“I am Janer,” the man swiftly introduced himself.

“I am Anton, though I’m sure you’ve been informed,” Anton replied. “This is Bear Hug. They can’t talk right now.”

“So you’ve said,” his eyes settled on the algae briefly. No doubt he’d seen recordings of Bear Hug moving. “I’ve come to ask you about your intentions.”

Anton decided to avoid any sort of snark at the moment. Flippant words were fine in certain situations, but now that someone was actually trying to talk to him he could perhaps get answers of his own. “We were on our way to visit a black hole. I don’t know what your people call it, but I’ve given the location. We ran into one of your systems- hidden from our eyes. Then another here.” Anton shrugged, “Then you didn’t let us leave, so we’ve been waiting around for you to change your mind.”

The man appeared surprised, even though he’d certainly heard Anton’s explanation before. Did he just not believe it could be true until he felt Anton say it in person? Actually, that was very possible. He was certainly some form of social cultivator, after all.