Chapter 1149
The only negative thing Anton could say about his advancement to Unity was that it was a tiny bit… unsecret. Which was to say, the upper realms wouldn’t even need their spies to inform them something was happening. It wasn’t just the activity of people in various systems, but upon Anton completing his advancement a pulse of power had gone out from every star. So unless everyone in every system along the border and several systems deep happened to have gone on vacation all at once, the upper realms would be feeling the aftermath.
Then again, the Lower Realms Alliance wasn’t exactly secretly resisting the oppression of the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. The latest cycle had made that very clear, as they had decimated their forces and since then driven out many pockets of remaining presence. It was possible there were still some systems they inhabited either primarily or as part of a larger group, but they would be significantly more isolated.
The main downside of the lack of secrecy was straightforward- Anton couldn’t reasonably test his maximum range. It didn’t matter where he aimed, hundreds of systems would directly witness the energy, and probably thousands total would be able to watch from adjacent systems.
Anton was stronger and he would be able to test the power of his arrows on a personal level- he might add a handful of lightyears or two onto his range- but on the constellation-scale of things he could only estimate his power.
He could first conclude that he would be more effective than when he shot down Sudin, with the exception that he’d been utilizing the tides of the world and how they created a pathway that linked natural and ascension energy together. Without that, Anton would have to deal with the effects of upper energy interacting with Fleeting Youth. An unfortunate late term side effect, but even if Anton had been able to anticipate his ability to shoot into the upper realms some nine hundred years later, he would have still chosen to use the technique for how useful it was along the way.
And given Sudin’s death, the way ascension energy reacted to his presence wasn’t entirely negative if he just wanted to cause damage. It violently clashed with his own energy, so if he could sustain any attack for enough distance to reach his target, it should be quite effective.
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Alva and Catarina were watching a video from their grandfather. “And so, that’s done now. Anyone who wants to discuss insights can come visit me. I can’t come see you on account of my bad back and how existence itself hates me there.”
Catarina chuckled. “Did he ever have a bad back?”