Chapter 1179
As nice as it was to provide a much needed source of light and heat for an entire planet, Anton would really prefer to be done with it. This was probably the greatest good he could do at the moment, but once they got Bounty properly placed around a real, sustainable star then they wouldn’t need him. In fact, it would be downright selfish to attempt to be the sole source of life for an entire planet if he had any other option.
They were still quite some distance from crossing the border of the lower realms, not even quite halfway over the divide between the upper and lower. However, Anton felt himself coming to a point of balance. Beyond that point, he should grow stronger every day instead of becoming fatigued. For a cultivator of his level, sleep was not entirely necessary- but some form of rest was.
Anton would never say acting as a sun was easy, but he was able to focus and direct his power from up close- he didn’t even need a billionth of the true power of a star. And despite how trivial that sounded like, it wasn’t actually that small of an energy output. It was also difficult to handle with a human body. And more importantly, outputting such energy in a non-violent fashion took much better control. With all of that said, a direct comparison between Anton and a true star was mostly pointless. One was basically a giant explosion, and one was carefully directed energy. Even Maheg wouldn’t disagree.
Unsurprisingly, constantly performing the same function for years made Anton better at that specific task. If they had to do something similar again- which Anton hoped would never be the case- he would be much more effective from the beginning, not tiring himself out so much. Though he could also hope that the planet would be a little bit better prepared, because the transition from ascension energy to lower energy had been pretty rough for the natives. Even with a good number of Assimilation and Enrichment cultivators watching over them.
Anton had fallen into a good rhythm. During the necessary times of rest, Anishka took over with practitioners of the order that Anton could now say were truly his disciples. They had the spirit down, which was honestly the most important part.
Anton had just taken over for another cycle and was beginning to really get into it. A stable orbit wasn’t the optimal distance for acting as a sun, so he had to do minor adjustments as his energy blanketed the planet below.
He only felt something was wrong an instant before it happened. It might not even have been Anton that noticed something directly, but perhaps one of the others had a fluctuation of energy. Either way, he barely managed to reshape any of his power being output into a defensive form before a needle pierced into his heart.
Everything after that happened through experience and instinct. Anton’s senses flickered along the trajectory of the attack. He reached out for his stars, calling upon them and the people around them. Something told him that drawing his own bow from his back would be too slow.
A vast ocean appeared between him and further incoming attacks. The waters of Paradise and Erin were blown away in an instant, but they prevented further attacks from landing immediately.