Chapter 876
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Chapter 876
At some point early on, Varghese realized the war had begun with no words spoken between sides. Not really, at least. They had captured the fleeing ships, but they were already on the path to war at that point. They hadnt prompted any conversations, and the Trigold Cluster had never attempted any of their own.
When their scouts had been spotted, the enemy immediately opened fire. That spoke volumes, though they really werent certain yet how much the enemy knew about them. Even after a few years of skirmishes, only the closest border systems on either side had been involved.
Capturing more people wasnt as easy as Anton had made things seem at first. Only overwhelming strength allowed that without risk. They might pick up a few survivors from the wreckage of a battle, but they couldnt pick and choose who they got. And enemy commanders, especially those related to the Twin Soul Sect, seemed especially eager to off themselves if it seemed they couldnt escape.
Varghese did not have the strength to dominate the battlefield all by himself. He was a fairly new Assimilation cultivator, in the grand scheme of things, and without any bound stars he could only display a certain level of power. With just a few stars available and dozens of enemy systems, he could only save himself to greatly affect a few critical, core systems.
They just didnt know what those systems were yet. But that didnt mean he couldnt participate in the war- he just couldnt be a driving force for most of it. And perhaps that was alright. He was still young, as far as cultivators went. And hed heard enough from Anton to know that the glory of war was at best lackluster and at worst completely incorrect.
And there were a few places Varghese could use his full power. He had bound the stars of Inistra and Poriza, either of which could be targets. Inistra had already been targeted once, and though they hadnt been sure at first if the information of its location made it back to their enemies, there had been a few more squads probing their defenses.
So for the moment, Varghese waited on the defensive. Once they could confirm important targets he could join the offense and bind their stars. Until then, he could focus on protecting his people.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.
-----
An opportunity to use his power came sooner than he thought- though it was not an assault on the enemy. Instead, a fleet had been detected entering the system perpendicular to the plane of rotation. Most likely they were trying to avoid defenses, and in some ways they were correct- but the entire system had sensors that formed a spherical formation around the system. Any anomalies would be logged. There were exceptions, such as the ships that had slipped past with the mold- but not every ship could be equipped with similar stealth capabilities and they had dismantled those captured ships and tuned their sensors to their style of stealth.
Now that they were on high alert, enemies were spotted sooner, and there were fleets ready to maneuver to any point. Likewise, one was ready to mobilize to deal with this threat- currently angled towards some mining bases without much population. They had their own defenses, but couldnt stand against a proper fleet of assault ships.
But Varghese had the local fleet hold off, except for a smaller portion. He wasnt sure if they were trying to draw the defenses away from other parts of the system, but they didnt want to mobilize too much.
Of course, that didnt mean he was going to leave their people undefended. It was quite the opposite. The few ships being sent were just backup for him. Not because he doubted his ability to take on the fleet as described, but because he could only be in a single place at a time- and he didnt have the ability to shoot across a system like Anton.
He wondered what the fleet thought when a single person approached. Perhaps he would get an answer, if there were any survivors.
Varghese had used a variety of weapons in the past. Swords and spears and even heavy maces. Given the way he had developed his skills, he was actually best when he had a few things available- but they were best used to fight against individuals. Varghese knew he could take out the ships one at a time, but there were over a hundred ships between personal sized and troop transports. It would take too long to bring them down individually.
That was why he pulled out a large number of metal plates. He did not make them himself, but instead had them crafted by formation masters to augment his abilities. These plates were sent out in all directions as he approached the fleet. Once the furthest of them passed beyond the fleet, Varghese began to draw upon the power of his local star, and the properties of Azun just a single system away.
Well, wings wouldn't let most of you fly through space to begin with, Nthanda reminded the Great Queen. And few are as durable as you either.
It is true, the Great Queen admitted. Which is why I am here and no other. I will visit these planets, and report back to you. And you will report my findings to our people.
I guess I cant really enter the boundary of a planet, Nthanda admitted. I cant fight off a whole planet myself. Probably.
It would be better not to try, the Great Queen said. And more specifically, you would not want to start close up.
Well get a bit closer, Nthanda said. Then Ill set up on a rock somewhere. Youll be able to find your way back, I assume?
My memory is more than sufficient to keep track of the orbiting bodies in a single system. And your concealment of your energy is only good enough to hide from those who dont breathe the stuff.
I understand that spying is important, Nthanda commented. But Id rather fight.
And Im sure you will. But we must check out a few places first. If only Anton were here but he cannot create more to take over his responsibilities. Or rather, it is quite a bit different when humans do so. Theyre so picky about such things.
-----
The Great Queen hurtled towards a planet at great speed. There was a thin planetary barrier that was meant to react to intrusion. When a thumb sized hole opened in it, its reaction was just as it was intended to be. Nothing at all. Many tiny space rocks would pierce through it every day, and if it reacted to absolutely everything they would drain their energy reserves immediately as it remained at full power.
Not that she would have had trouble going through a greater planetary barrier either. There was only so much durability one could put into a small section. Given that the Great Queen could consume more energy in an instant than a Life Transformation cultivator could put into an attack, it couldnt do anything but let her through. It just would have been a bit more obvious if they lost a huge chunk of energy.
Those looking up in the sky at just the right angle might have noticed a small sparkle as bits of atmosphere ignited due to the drag on the Great Queens body. But she was already slowing her own descent, manipulating the natural energy around her to guide her path. Then she slowed to her own terminal velocity, which had her land with a plop upon hard stone roads.
The most important place must have the most energy. So she began to tread towards the tastiest seeming place. She wasnt actually going to eat whatever she found there, of course. Unless it seemed to be an immediate danger to their Alliance, it would merely be reported back for others to deal with. And she knew that even a single individual mysteriously dying was something humans would go mad about.
Well, actually mysterious deaths were problematic for the void ants as well since usually they were watching over each other. If they didnt know how some of them died, they had to investigate. It was just that humans were less aware of their surroundings, being so big and all.
But the point was, she didnt intend to cause any ruckus. And if she did, it would be carefully calculated to be more beneficial to the Alliance than the potential backfire.
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Chapter 876
At some point early on, Varghese realized the war had begun with no words spoken between sides. Not really, at least. They had captured the fleeing ships, but they were already on the path to war at that point. They hadnt prompted any conversations, and the Trigold Cluster had never attempted any of their own.
When their scouts had been spotted, the enemy immediately opened fire. That spoke volumes, though they really werent certain yet how much the enemy knew about them. Even after a few years of skirmishes, only the closest border systems on either side had been involved.
Capturing more people wasnt as easy as Anton had made things seem at first. Only overwhelming strength allowed that without risk. They might pick up a few survivors from the wreckage of a battle, but they couldnt pick and choose who they got. And enemy commanders, especially those related to the Twin Soul Sect, seemed especially eager to off themselves if it seemed they couldnt escape.
Varghese did not have the strength to dominate the battlefield all by himself. He was a fairly new Assimilation cultivator, in the grand scheme of things, and without any bound stars he could only display a certain level of power. With just a few stars available and dozens of enemy systems, he could only save himself to greatly affect a few critical, core systems.
They just didnt know what those systems were yet. But that didnt mean he couldnt participate in the war- he just couldnt be a driving force for most of it. And perhaps that was alright. He was still young, as far as cultivators went. And hed heard enough from Anton to know that the glory of war was at best lackluster and at worst completely incorrect.
And there were a few places Varghese could use his full power. He had bound the stars of Inistra and Poriza, either of which could be targets. Inistra had already been targeted once, and though they hadnt been sure at first if the information of its location made it back to their enemies, there had been a few more squads probing their defenses.
So for the moment, Varghese waited on the defensive. Once they could confirm important targets he could join the offense and bind their stars. Until then, he could focus on protecting his people.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.
-----
An opportunity to use his power came sooner than he thought- though it was not an assault on the enemy. Instead, a fleet had been detected entering the system perpendicular to the plane of rotation. Most likely they were trying to avoid defenses, and in some ways they were correct- but the entire system had sensors that formed a spherical formation around the system. Any anomalies would be logged. There were exceptions, such as the ships that had slipped past with the mold- but not every ship could be equipped with similar stealth capabilities and they had dismantled those captured ships and tuned their sensors to their style of stealth.
Now that they were on high alert, enemies were spotted sooner, and there were fleets ready to maneuver to any point. Likewise, one was ready to mobilize to deal with this threat- currently angled towards some mining bases without much population. They had their own defenses, but couldnt stand against a proper fleet of assault ships.
But Varghese had the local fleet hold off, except for a smaller portion. He wasnt sure if they were trying to draw the defenses away from other parts of the system, but they didnt want to mobilize too much.
Of course, that didnt mean he was going to leave their people undefended. It was quite the opposite. The few ships being sent were just backup for him. Not because he doubted his ability to take on the fleet as described, but because he could only be in a single place at a time- and he didnt have the ability to shoot across a system like Anton.
He wondered what the fleet thought when a single person approached. Perhaps he would get an answer, if there were any survivors.
Varghese had used a variety of weapons in the past. Swords and spears and even heavy maces. Given the way he had developed his skills, he was actually best when he had a few things available- but they were best used to fight against individuals. Varghese knew he could take out the ships one at a time, but there were over a hundred ships between personal sized and troop transports. It would take too long to bring them down individually.
That was why he pulled out a large number of metal plates. He did not make them himself, but instead had them crafted by formation masters to augment his abilities. These plates were sent out in all directions as he approached the fleet. Once the furthest of them passed beyond the fleet, Varghese began to draw upon the power of his local star, and the properties of Azun just a single system away.
Well, wings wouldn't let most of you fly through space to begin with, Nthanda reminded the Great Queen. And few are as durable as you either.
It is true, the Great Queen admitted. Which is why I am here and no other. I will visit these planets, and report back to you. And you will report my findings to our people.
I guess I cant really enter the boundary of a planet, Nthanda admitted. I cant fight off a whole planet myself. Probably.
It would be better not to try, the Great Queen said. And more specifically, you would not want to start close up.
Well get a bit closer, Nthanda said. Then Ill set up on a rock somewhere. Youll be able to find your way back, I assume?
My memory is more than sufficient to keep track of the orbiting bodies in a single system. And your concealment of your energy is only good enough to hide from those who dont breathe the stuff.
I understand that spying is important, Nthanda commented. But Id rather fight.
And Im sure you will. But we must check out a few places first. If only Anton were here but he cannot create more to take over his responsibilities. Or rather, it is quite a bit different when humans do so. Theyre so picky about such things.
-----
The Great Queen hurtled towards a planet at great speed. There was a thin planetary barrier that was meant to react to intrusion. When a thumb sized hole opened in it, its reaction was just as it was intended to be. Nothing at all. Many tiny space rocks would pierce through it every day, and if it reacted to absolutely everything they would drain their energy reserves immediately as it remained at full power.
Not that she would have had trouble going through a greater planetary barrier either. There was only so much durability one could put into a small section. Given that the Great Queen could consume more energy in an instant than a Life Transformation cultivator could put into an attack, it couldnt do anything but let her through. It just would have been a bit more obvious if they lost a huge chunk of energy.
Those looking up in the sky at just the right angle might have noticed a small sparkle as bits of atmosphere ignited due to the drag on the Great Queens body. But she was already slowing her own descent, manipulating the natural energy around her to guide her path. Then she slowed to her own terminal velocity, which had her land with a plop upon hard stone roads.
The most important place must have the most energy. So she began to tread towards the tastiest seeming place. She wasnt actually going to eat whatever she found there, of course. Unless it seemed to be an immediate danger to their Alliance, it would merely be reported back for others to deal with. And she knew that even a single individual mysteriously dying was something humans would go mad about.
Well, actually mysterious deaths were problematic for the void ants as well since usually they were watching over each other. If they didnt know how some of them died, they had to investigate. It was just that humans were less aware of their surroundings, being so big and all.
But the point was, she didnt intend to cause any ruckus. And if she did, it would be carefully calculated to be more beneficial to the Alliance than the potential backfire.
Chapter 876At some point early on, Varghese realized the war had begun with no words spoken between sides. Not really, at least. They had captured the fleeing ships, but they were already on the path to war at that point. They hadnt prompted any conversations, and the Trigold Cluster had never attempted any of their own.When their scouts had been spotted, the enemy immediately opened fire. That spoke volumes, though they really werent certain yet how much the enemy knew about them. Even after a few years of skirmishes, only the closest border systems on either side had been involved. Capturing more people wasnt as easy as Anton had made things seem at first. Only overwhelming strength allowed that without risk. They might pick up a few survivors from the wreckage of a battle, but they couldnt pick and choose who they got. And enemy commanders, especially those related to the Twin Soul Sect, seemed especially eager to off themselves if it seemed they couldnt escape. Varghese did not have the strength to dominate the battlefield all by himself. He was a fairly new Assimilation cultivator, in the grand scheme of things, and without any bound stars he could only display a certain level of power. With just a few stars available and dozens of enemy systems, he could only save himself to greatly affect a few critical, core systems.They just didnt know what those systems were yet. But that didnt mean he couldnt participate in the war- he just couldnt be a driving force for most of it. And perhaps that was alright. He was still young, as far as cultivators went. And hed heard enough from Anton to know that the glory of war was at best lackluster and at worst completely incorrect.And there were a few places Varghese could use his full power. He had bound the stars of Inistra and Poriza, either of which could be targets. Inistra had already been targeted once, and though they hadnt been sure at first if the information of its location made it back to their enemies, there had been a few more squads probing their defenses.So for the moment, Varghese waited on the defensive. Once they could confirm important targets he could join the offense and bind their stars. Until then, he could focus on protecting his people.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.-----An opportunity to use his power came sooner than he thought- though it was not an assault on the enemy. Instead, a fleet had been detected entering the system perpendicular to the plane of rotation. Most likely they were trying to avoid defenses, and in some ways they were correct- but the entire system had sensors that formed a spherical formation around the system. Any anomalies would be logged. There were exceptions, such as the ships that had slipped past with the mold- but not every ship could be equipped with similar stealth capabilities and they had dismantled those captured ships and tuned their sensors to their style of stealth. Now that they were on high alert, enemies were spotted sooner, and there were fleets ready to maneuver to any point. Likewise, one was ready to mobilize to deal with this threat- currently angled towards some mining bases without much population. They had their own defenses, but couldnt stand against a proper fleet of assault ships.But Varghese had the local fleet hold off, except for a smaller portion. He wasnt sure if they were trying to draw the defenses away from other parts of the system, but they didnt want to mobilize too much.Of course, that didnt mean he was going to leave their people undefended. It was quite the opposite. The few ships being sent were just backup for him. Not because he doubted his ability to take on the fleet as described, but because he could only be in a single place at a time- and he didnt have the ability to shoot across a system like Anton.He wondered what the fleet thought when a single person approached. Perhaps he would get an answer, if there were any survivors. Varghese had used a variety of weapons in the past. Swords and spears and even heavy maces. Given the way he had developed his skills, he was actually best when he had a few things available- but they were best used to fight against individuals. Varghese knew he could take out the ships one at a time, but there were over a hundred ships between personal sized and troop transports. It would take too long to bring them down individually.That was why he pulled out a large number of metal plates. He did not make them himself, but instead had them crafted by formation masters to augment his abilities. These plates were sent out in all directions as he approached the fleet. Once the furthest of them passed beyond the fleet, Varghese began to draw upon the power of his local star, and the properties of Azun just a single system away. Well, wings wouldn't let most of you fly through space to begin with, Nthanda reminded the Great Queen. And few are as durable as you either.It is true, the Great Queen admitted. Which is why I am here and no other. I will visit these planets, and report back to you. And you will report my findings to our people.I guess I cant really enter the boundary of a planet, Nthanda admitted. I cant fight off a whole planet myself. Probably.It would be better not to try, the Great Queen said. And more specifically, you would not want to start close up.Well get a bit closer, Nthanda said. Then Ill set up on a rock somewhere. Youll be able to find your way back, I assume?My memory is more than sufficient to keep track of the orbiting bodies in a single system. And your concealment of your energy is only good enough to hide from those who dont breathe the stuff.I understand that spying is important, Nthanda commented. But Id rather fight.And Im sure you will. But we must check out a few places first. If only Anton were here but he cannot create more to take over his responsibilities. Or rather, it is quite a bit different when humans do so. Theyre so picky about such things.-----The Great Queen hurtled towards a planet at great speed. There was a thin planetary barrier that was meant to react to intrusion. When a thumb sized hole opened in it, its reaction was just as it was intended to be. Nothing at all. Many tiny space rocks would pierce through it every day, and if it reacted to absolutely everything they would drain their energy reserves immediately as it remained at full power.Not that she would have had trouble going through a greater planetary barrier either. There was only so much durability one could put into a small section. Given that the Great Queen could consume more energy in an instant than a Life Transformation cultivator could put into an attack, it couldnt do anything but let her through. It just would have been a bit more obvious if they lost a huge chunk of energy.Those looking up in the sky at just the right angle might have noticed a small sparkle as bits of atmosphere ignited due to the drag on the Great Queens body. But she was already slowing her own descent, manipulating the natural energy around her to guide her path. Then she slowed to her own terminal velocity, which had her land with a plop upon hard stone roads.The most important place must have the most energy. So she began to tread towards the tastiest seeming place. She wasnt actually going to eat whatever she found there, of course. Unless it seemed to be an immediate danger to their Alliance, it would merely be reported back for others to deal with. And she knew that even a single individual mysteriously dying was something humans would go mad about. Well, actually mysterious deaths were problematic for the void ants as well since usually they were watching over each other. If they didnt know how some of them died, they had to investigate. It was just that humans were less aware of their surroundings, being so big and all.But the point was, she didnt intend to cause any ruckus. And if she did, it would be carefully calculated to be more beneficial to the Alliance than the potential backfire.
