Chapter 683


    Though he wanted to put on a strong front for the sake of morale, Anton also didnt want to make his allies overconfident. Thus, he informed everyone who needed to be aware of his injuries. He received more than a few offers to give him miraculous medicines that would <em>probably</em> help. But while he expected many of them could indeed aplish the task, most would be an intense experience that would put him out ofmission for a time. Even if it was only a few days, now was the most critical period.


    For those who wanted more details, he showed them his chest without any visual illusions, horribly damaged with muscle and bones charred away. And while most of the offers to assist him were cultivation medicines, Gabri had another option for him.


    Your biggest problem well, I guess I cant really say what part of that is worst, she shook her head. But theres something we can provide a short term solution for. Replicating the damaged ribcage and sternum would be pretty much trivial. We could stick some flexible metal in there and youd hardly notice. She shrugged, Except for how youd have to stop your body from rejecting foreign materials. But thats got to be easier than hardening energy to rece bones. Youd have to go meet up with the Wayfarer though.


    It would be nice, Anton agreed. But could you make it out of something different?


    Like what? You have special materials?


    I was just hoping for a ceramic.


    Sure, we have that. Though Im pretty sure we solved all of the problems with leeching.


    Its just an issue of things being maic.


    We have non-maic options, she assured him.


    How non-maic? Does that include at the level of a neutron star? Because its very important.


    Uh I think youd have to talk to the doctor about that, Gabri admitted.


    I would be d to consult, Anton said. But will this take long?


    We can throw you to the top of the line. And making a sturdy mold shouldnt take long with our functioning equipment on the Wayfarer. We have to be able to provide most major medical services, so simple prostheses and recement bones are fairly easy. Especially if its only temporary.


    I would like to speak to one of your doctors, then.


    -----


    Among cultivators, sses were rare- and everyone from their systems were cultivators to some level. Body Tempering was the first step on the path, so seeing someone with sses was umon. But here he was.


    I was almostpletely blind, the man said before Anton could do more than look. He tapped his sses, These fix up thest vestiges, and have some additional features.


    I wasnt going to say anything.


    But you thought about it. Its my job as a doctor to make sure patients arefortable, so Im good at reading people. And I really dont mind this. Besides, people constantlye to me with worse. Im Gareth, by the way.


    So I was informed, Anton nodded. I need some recement bones.


    Alright, that will probably involve some surgery and- oh. Its pretty essible, huh? Doctor Gareth stroked his chin. Well need you to go through some scans. And uh if you could contain your energy to a minimum, at least within or in front of the area. The machines can be pretty sensitive. Theyre not really made for Assimtion cultivators. The process was actually rather swift. Anton put his body in the tube, and came out ten minutester. Gareth was looking at a screen. Alright, so youll need a recement here, he circled his fingers on the screen. The blue ribs are the parts that are missing or severely damaged. Well try to cut out the minimum amount of healthy bone.


    Would it be easier to just chop off an extra centimeter?


    I mean, we really couldnt


    Im going to have a long process to fix all of this anyway. Id rather not have toe in and out as you make adjustments. And the less time you have to spend on me, the better.


    Gareth nodded, Fine, I get it. But we do need to make sure what we do is functional. The muscle its going to take a lot longer to help with that.


    I will handle that myself, Anton said. If you can provide a basis of proper bone structure, it will significantly recover mybat effectiveness. I do have some stiptions, though.


    Unless you have top tier materials, we dont have ess. Even for you, Gareth shook his head. Sorry.


    I just need something non-maic. And not just low on the charts. But something that wouldnt tear apart if you put it near a neutron star. Specifically, a maar. Or at least many times more than thergest maic fields normally experienced.


    Oh, I see, Gareth nodded seriously. Well take a careful look at the specs then. Youre right, most metals that are considered non-maic still have a very real interaction. So not even paramaism Gareth frowned. We can at least get something equal to or less than the human body. Actualpleteck of it requires purity levels we cant achieve.


    That will have to do, Anton said. I do have control, but I would rather not have to consider potential harms to myself. The whole point of this is to free my energy to do other things.


    Great, Gareth said, adjusting the parameters on the screen. So these red parts will be oveps. Well have to make surgical cuts to remove bone


    I can do that, Anton said. It <em>is</em> my own body, so if I have clear guidelines


    If we had the luxury of time, Id push you towards epting regr surgery.


    How long would that take?


    Hours, Gareth said. Probably just a few.


    During which I would bepletely incapacitated. Anton held up a hand, Its not that I dont trust you. But I might be needed.


    As long as you can manage the right precision Gareth said, Well have to ept that. Stronger cultivators usually get involved with their own health directly anyway. Ill have someone go over some things with you, just so you dont miss anything.


    -----


    Less than a dayter, and Anton had something resembling a fully functional ribcage and sternum. The muscle oveying it was still just as bad as it had been, and he was encouraging the more functional parts to attach to the fake bone. It wouldnt be a good long term solution for many reasons, but it wouldst for some weeks or months. It was at least as strong as his tempered bones- for most cultivators, that didnt really change much after reaching Essence Collection. It not being his own flesh would slightly limit his ability to infuse it with energy, but it was still a step better than dead bone or nothing at all. Anton was d his internal organs had remained mostly intact, and he <em>had</em> epted medicines to promote general internal healing. These relied on augmenting his own energy to fulfill specific purposes.


    He had been pleased to learn about the Wayfarer shooting Otakar, and he hoped Otakars injured were at least as bad as his own. However, sensors from the Wayfarer had been unable to receive detailed enough information about that, even when he came to attack them. The only thing that was certain was that he <em>was</em> weaker. And that the connection in the sun was definitely to him, and Anton could influence it. Probably somewhat less from here, but if he could also attack the man at the same time it should be worth it.


    Or he could attack basically anyone on the. It might involve a bit of flying around in space, but nothing could stop him. Except Otakar, who they were having trouble finding. Perhaps <em>that</em> should be his job instead. Though finding the man or drawing him out could happen in parallel to targeting troublesome enemy cultivators.


    -----


    Much of the next few days involve escorting local cultivators around- whether or not they knew he was doing so. The amazing thing about technology was that they could share information easily, so nning routes for them that should take them only through territory that was <em>rtively</em> safe was easier. But who could say what would happen if ships were brave enough to move around, or someone on the ground set up some sort of trap or artillery. Not that therge sects really knew what was going on- the aforementionedck of ubiquitousmunication- but no doubt someone had spotted ships flying as they werent supposed to.


    Anton wasnt the only one doing the same, but he was capable of covering the most distance. He could shoot down both attacks and attackers if something came up- and he didnt even have to truly concern himself with the time for his attacks to arrive, as he could mainly use light. It was a bit weaker, but for the vast majority of cases it would be sufficient. Basically unless Integration cultivators showed up, in which case he would personally approach and take them out, along with any other members of the Trifold Alliance in the area.


    As Anton roamed about, he came to a conclusion. Otakar was nowhere on the. No, that wasnt quite right. Others had postted the same, but hed still shown up to battles. In that case, it should be said that he was nowhere on the <em>surface</em> of the. Even just a few dozen meters or dirt or stone blocked most peoples senses, and it didnt take more than a couple hundred to stop even Anton. So as long as the entrance to wherever he was didnt happen to take up an obscene amount of space, it would require luck to stumble upon it. Or some sort of guidance. Anton might be able to sense all sources of natural energy within hundreds of kilometers, but that didnt mean he knew where every pothole and worm was. He would have to focus on a tiny area to get the fine details.


    Someone with Otakars power seemed like they should stand out like a sore thumb- or a burning star in the sky. But that wasnt the case. Either he was an expert at concealing his energy when it was out of use- clearly not the case when he was active as he revealed himself hundreds of kilometers away to <em>normal</em> senses- or there were formations helping conceal him. Or perhaps both.


    If they could get him to appear a few more times, they could triangte possible positions. But Anton didnt want to wait for him any longer. It was unclear if he would be able to recover from his wounds quickly- but it hardly mattered. It should take at least weeks, and though they could be gone by that point, that would be asking for him to put the whole system under his heel more directly- possibly killing anyone who had epted peace. And then they would have to worry about him showing up in their own systems to cause damage. Assuming that he was only able to create a conduit in a single star was not ideal. No, he had to die. The sooner the better.


    So they were going to either draw him out with the next big move, or if they were lucky they wouldplete their assault on therge sects and then Anton would use the conduit in the sun to try to track him down through that connection. He might be able to resist that, but if they could spot him for even a moment that might be enough.


    But Anton was also worried about something else. If the connection went one way, could it go both? As far as he could tell, he couldnt do anything but stifle the flow of energy to Otakars conduit, however it was formed. Sensing where it flowed was basically the next step. His Assimtion applied to the star as a whole so he doubted Otakar would be able to exert any sort of restrictions on him in reverse- but he had to consider that. Just because the man hadnt tried yet didnt mean he couldnt or wouldnt. And he had been <em>quite</em> interested in Antons effects on the sun. So in the case Otakar could influence the sun as a whole, what was Anton going to do? He pondered that question, and didnt particrly like the answers he came to. But at least none of them involved destroying the sun. Unless things got much worse than he could possibly foresee.