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.