Plant cultivators were new to Anton. Oh, there were many plants that gathered natural energy and used it to improve themselves- but this was different. Recalling the various encounters he had in Klar, he saw a more active participation compared to simply using an expanded form of photosynthesis or the like.

The algae being in front of him was actively responding to his movements, and while it had at first mirrored him it was now independently moving its limbs trying to get responses from Anton. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have a concept of how his gestures would work, and speech didn't work either.

"It was worth a try," Anton commented to himself. If he continued speaking, he hoped that something might pick up on that, even if they couldn't replicate it or directly understand.

While he continued to interact with the algae, he reconsidered his previous encounters upon just this particular planet. First, there was the out of place pitcher plant. Whether it was naturally more adapted to cold environments or not, if he recontextualized it he could easily figure out what its odd motions were for. Freezing layers of ice onto one of its mobile tendrils was a perfectly reasonable thing to do as cultivation training, either for the purpose of learning to use ice or to resist it.

Anton used his senses to track down that particular individual, which hadn't moved far from its spot. He got a sense of a similar sort of distributed cultivation as the algae in front of him- though it was actually a bit more clear. The algae being made of many parts had made it particularly difficult to discern until it all clumped together. And here Anton was assuming it was actually a single individual and not some sort of hivemind or just a group that was exceptionally good at working together.

Regardless, now that he was looking for it in particular he was able to pick out something resembling internal cultivation, though he did still have to focus on individual targets to get a clear sense of it. Picking out a dozen random plants, he only got the sense that they were filled with a standard sort of energy infusion.

The spine-fruit tree, however, struck Anton as something with more active cultivation. Upon reviewing his interaction with it, he decided that it had offered the fruit to him either as a gift or as a bribe. He couldn't guarantee it was actually friendly, but perhaps fending off others trying to steal its high energy density fruit in that manner was easier. It could tempt some to want to fight it, but receiving something for free could also make it seem like getting more by undergoing danger less worthwhile.

Determining the full motives of a plant was not actually simple. Anton didn't expect them to think like humans, as if humans all thought the same. Akrys natives were fairly similar in thought process, but they still had their own quirks from bodily differences. Void ants were a step further removed. Maheg was perhaps a step beyond plants, but Anton couldn't say he truly understood the star's thoughts despite their bond.

How would plants communicate? Considering the algae in front of him, Anton considered smell as an option, since they didn't have any sort of root network to send chemical signals between each other. Ultimately, he could smell various things but he didn't know if any should be treated as pheromones attempting to communicate particular information.

The algae hadn't picked up on sounds yet. It had vaguely formed a mouth that it moved, but since it didn't have ears it was unlikely to be sensitive to low intensity noises. Anton could yell, but that might be perceived as an attack or otherwise bothersome.

Eventually, Anton had to decide to leave. He did his best to indicate he would be leaving with gestures, but he didn't think that his conversation partner understood until he began walking. He kept his senses on it in case it tried to follow- he wouldn't necessarily object, but he didn't want to draw it or them away from home.

But the algae made a purposeful spin, taking several steps towards its pond. Then a creature leapt out from behind a tree.

Anton had not gotten perfectly used to the local populace and the flow of energy they had, but something like a beast he understood had clear enough signatures, especially at such a distance. The creatures that lived in space were alien enough to slip past Anton's notice, but this one was not so.

Instantly, Anton had energy in hand, forming a bow. He had come without intention to harm the local populace, but something attacking a sapient individual he had been interacting with was unacceptable. The creature in question was something like a snake, if one put a blade all along the sides of one. Anton could imagine how those could cut into something when constricting it or when simply passing by. He could feel an animalistic predatory intent towards the algae, but he didn't wait to see if it would be successful in its attack.

He pulled back a string, letting it snap forward at blinding speed. The arrow pierced the snakelike creature from head to tail. Its velocity was diminished by the attack, slowing it enough for the algae to leap out of the way of what was essentially a sharp corpse. The conglomeration of plant matter splashed into the water, spreading over the surface and raising defensive energy- but it was already safe, the threat contained.

Anton felt threads of energy lock onto him, most likely sensory in nature as they were too weak to do much else. They particularly focused on the bow. No doubt it seemed an unusual construction, for something unused to anything having arms or hands.

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Anton turned and waved goodbye, continuing his journey. He wasn't here to make friends with a single individual… and watching what the algae did without him around could be enlightening.

-----

A few hours later, Anton came across another large mushroom. He had already inspected the first one on a hunch, but had come to no clear conclusion. This one had similar quantities and arrangement of natural energy, not like a human cultivator nor resembling the various styles of plant cultivators, but Anton still felt more structure than he expected. Some people said that fungus were closer to animals than plants… but clearly the thing didn't have a dantian to make use of.

The mushroom reacted much like the first one, releasing spores. Anton let them move around him rather than entirely avoiding them, but still kept himself insulated. It was hostile for something curious to become hostile, and Anton had no intention of opening himself up to the energy of other cultivators without some assurances.

Picking through the spores like a puzzle, Anton couldn't discern any message- but he wouldn't expect to from a small number of incidents. The point was that he was observing. Anton tried to produce a similar response, but obviously he didn't have spores. Instead, he made a great number of little motes of energy that felt similar. Hopefully, if the mushroom had thoughts, it wouldn't take offense. Anton got no response, but he didn't expect much from what appeared to be a sessile individual.

Anton had many thoughts about Klar. First was that they would have to be even more cautious than with Akrys. Reading animal postures and learning a verbal language was one thing, but trying to peacefully discern alien thoughts with very little basis to pull from would be difficult.

It might be possible for Anton to brute force responses on his own, but he knew it would be best to consult others. That might mean bringing others in person, with the trouble that space away from the planets was quite unsafe and the planet he was on wasn't exactly peaceful. Still, he could at least get some opinions on how such things might communicate. Maybe there were some technological solutions that could help as well.

For the moment, though, Anton continued his journey. And when he was attacked, he tended to show mercy. The snake was an exception because it attacked a friend- and because he was nearly certain it lacked a sufficient level of sapience to be a person. But mostly the friend thing.

-----

Tauno could no longer even pretend he'd ever be able to scratch a hair on Timothy's head, at least not while the latter was in Domination and Tauno was still in Augmentation. Striking harder simply wouldn't do him any good against an omnidirectional defense that simply contained more power than he could force into a single point. Technique only worked when there was a hope of victory.

So he was going on a journey. No doubt many others were considering something along the same lines. Rather than being discouraged at his inability, Tauno wanted something of that form himself. He thought he could technically overcome those defenses with the help of someone like Durff, attacking at the same time to combine into a single large impact, but he simply wanted to grow that powerful alone.

Searching for the largest thing he could and killing it seemed like the correct route for Tauno to take. The Scarlet Midfields didn't exactly have an overabundance of wild beasts, but the Bloodsoaked Nebula had a few. Tauno had already visited a few planets there and killed some beast overlords. Some of them had been real challenges, but they didn't really get his blood pumping.

He wanted to fight something at least as big as a planet. Distortion Beasts were a good choice, but they didn't exactly have consistent homes. So he was going to poke around in the untamed territory that the Trigold Cluster technically claimed. It wasn't like they could do much about it if they didn't even know he was there. They tried to patrol their border, but when considering three dimensional space that was still thousands of worlds to watch. Once he was past, Tauno could pass for something like a member of the Fearsome Menagerie… assuming nobody had ever actually met one of them.

Just into the untamed systems Tauno found a decent candidate. It wasn't planet sized, no, but there was a beetle the size of a mountain. He could see it from space, patrolling the sizable planet it lived upon. The creature reached down and tore up sections of forest along its path, chomping down on them.

The upper energy it carried was sufficient for Tauno to accept battling it. Now then, how to go about it?

He charged downward, aiming for its head. He wasn't expecting a brain, but some sort of processing mass would be beneath the chitin there. Or maybe it had developed a brain to operate at that size, he didn't really care. His spear was meant to pierce something important no matter what it was.

Then it shattered on the chitin. Brilliant. Tauno grinned as overwhelming energy bore down on him, trying to crush him against the surface of the beetle itself. Searching legs skittered over its back, hairs the size of city blocks combing the area for him.

Tauno tore one of those off, but it was equally ineffective against the creature's body. He was tossed a few hundred kilometers into the sky by a sudden bucking motion, and on his way back to impact the creature it swung a horn at him. The sky tore asunder and tornados formed, with the sudden vacuum it left behind producing sonic booms.

He braced himself for impact, using his energy to redirect the blow. The creature was strong, but it had difficulty attacking something at his scale. Rather than thinking it unfair, Tauno thought using any advantage he had was reasonable. Besides, he fully intended to break this thing… it would just require a bit more joint-snapping finesse than pure power. Trying to rip off a leg actually seemed like a good place to start.

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