Through no fault of their own, most people didn’t understand hiveminds. Thatck of understanding made them afraid. Aveksen understood more than most, as he’d been part of four. Well, more like three and a half. His original hivemind in Unified Sector was one, then the one he’d next transferred to, and finally ascending into the Scarlet Alliance was pretty much just a different part of the same overall organization. Then he ended up transferring to the western part of the Alliance.

    Moving between hiveminds was more or less like moving between cities ors. Rtively simply on the surface, and a muchrger impact than many people realized. The actual mechanics were simple- none of the hiveminds forced anyone to stay as part of them. Overall, they had been part of the same system and werepatible for linking up with other minds that had been in the same position.

    But it was still different. A big change. There were a whole lot of customs and a different culture to get used to. Different resources that could be essed, though learning emhow/em was actually far easier for a hivemind cultivator than a standard civilian. Just a simple thought and a number of helpful responses woulde. They could even answer emreal/em questions, not simply what people thought they wanted or needed.

    Aveksen wasn’t a confluence cultivator. He hadn’te with a whole bunch of people or tied himself to a power structure that would raise him up. Nothing was wrong with those- assuming people were willing. In short, not how the Numerological Compact did things. His path simply didn’t match up with that. He was interested in growth of the system. When the Numerological Compact in the upper realms fell, he had gone to be a part of that wholework. It emwas/em mostly onework, with the greater poptions of enved cultivators turning into a wider spanning hivemind.

    Only a few sub groups had been missed, and they had plenty of opportunities to join. A few more had actually split off, interested in smallermunities. All of that was emfine/em. It was a serious undertaking to swap hiveminds, just as much as it was joining one intentionally instead of being swept up in the original tides, but cultivators could make a lot of big decisions in their lives. Where to find their early education, whether to try to join a sect or a trade guild or pursue pure or mixed tech or anything else, all of those could result in simr magnitude choices.

    That was why it was important for them to do it right. And thus, Aveksen was responsible for induction ceremonies. Not even close to the only one, but he was one of those with the most experience, havinge from older hiveminds.

    He tended to take on groups of a few thousand. The process took a few months for it to be done right. First, it started by educating people on what bing part of the hivemind meant. What it emdidn’t/em mean was preferential treatment by the government. It was true that hivemind cultivators naturally gravitated towards businesses known about by their members- but not necessarily owned emby/em their members. Knowledge was important, convenience of ess, specializations, and everything else. Hiveminds just shared those things more easily.

    That was why some members were assigned specifically to assess different aspects of their worlds. If the skills of one of their members werecking, they could help them grow. If there was one outside that was superior in some way, they could learn from them. Not everything was taken to the extremes- sometimes people just followed their whims. Some things were personal preference.

    Exining to outsiders what it was like to be in a hivemind was an impossible task, but one that Aveksen took up every day. Once people were educated as fully as they could be and had self-selected in or out, an actual induction could begin. That worked by Aveksen introducing himself and the others to each other- mentally. This took the form of massive arrays that connected people, reminiscent of what the Numerological Compact had once entrapped people with- though with no restraints. Instead, it was up to the individual to retain their position.

    Forcefully breaking away would be ufortable for them, possibly even damaging. There was a reason there were many warnings about even beginning the process if they were uncertain. Some people would not believe the hivemind would release them, even though it came with practically no risks. With every batch, Aveksen observed a few individuals take mental strain due to ipatibilities of some sort, usually personal issues.

    For all who passed beyond that step, Aveksen would then introduce the group into therger whole. For the most part, there weren’t any issues at that step. He could smooth the impact that the new group might feel, though he would already anticipate they could handle it.

    In thest century, he’d only witnessed a few disasters. Nothing more than could be expected for a journey of cultivators, and indeed he might expect to witness more unfortunate happenings even among the general poption. A few people found themselves ipatible and tried to force things. No individual could harm the hivemind, but many minds could harm one. If the stubborn fools were lucky, they would pass out. Dying was another possibility and still better than the third possibility- their minds turning to mush in a way not even the best mental doctors could help them recover.

    But again, only a handful of incidents total.

    Until thisst year where there had been three. The first one had seemed pretty standard. A woman that was a little bit too eager to be part of something. Aveksen sensed that wasn’t emreally/em what she wanted and that had resulted in him pushing back on her. Yet she had kept trying, even when the rest of the cohort subconsciously pushed back.

    The incident left three in aa, including the woman herself. Without anything else, it would have been out of his mind already. He wouldn’t chastise himself for a failure on another’s part. Cultivators had to be resilient.

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    The second was a man. There was instability there that he had emseemingly/em ovee, until the time came. He didn’t try to force his way through, even making a sessful link, but Aveksen sensed it in the small group. The man tried to hide it.

    Aveksen cut off the man and he just… stopped. His mind shut down, but not from any sort of force Aveksen had imparted. He simply died. Noa, no middle ground. An anomaly. It could have been an unfortunate ident.

    If not for another woman. This time, Aveksen almost didn’t notice. She really wanted it. Perhaps too much, but some people were obsessed. Being part of the hivemind absolutely wouldn’t fix all of a person’s problems… yet on the other hand it would provide an avenue for such things, if they were willing to put in the effort. The same was true of the Alliance as a whole, but there was somethingforting about constant mental support.

    It was only when introducing the iing group to the wider hivemind that it happened. The calm flow of the woman’s mind- he couldn’t even remember her name anymore- suddenly transformed. Aveksen reacted instantly. He had to. However, alone he couldn’t stop it. A horrifying feedback spread throughout the hivemind. Whatever it was had to be a targeted attack, and it was all Aveksen’s fault.

    A horrific wave of memories- real or not was unclear- burst out into themunity. Aveksen did everything he could, and what he actually aplished was minimizing the number of people who emactually/em died. But as previously considered, he wasn’t sure if that was better or not.

    Over half of the poption passed out all at once. It was only through instant responses of surrounding cultivators that further disasters were prevented, but loss of consciousness was the least of their concerns after the immediate threats like potentially crashing ships or unstable generators were handled.

    It was with no thanks to Aveksen himself that the disaster was mitigated. The hivemind cultivators as a whole withstood it, and those around them but not part of them saved the rest.

    There was an investigation, of course. Once Aveksen was conscious, he bared his memories. However, he didn’t know anything. The woman herself was no longer emanything/em. She certainly wasn’t part of the hivemind. Memories of her were carved out- with a rusty de. The only thing that survived were a number of recordings- physical things, not memories. Her cultivation method… wasn’t familiar. Neither were the other two, and they weren’t the emsame/em.

    Even so, Aveksen was convinced they were connected. When his brain did emanything/em.

    Induction ceremonies had to be cancelled, leaving thousands and tens of thousands adrift, cut off from the hivemind they had been nning to join. The hivemind couldn’t risk it- and those who were joining would be the most at risk if there was another disaster.

    The one thing that everyone was certain of was that it was not an ident. Instead, it was a targeted attack. Was it sponsored by some remnant of the Numerological Compact? Others in the Exalted Quadrant? The Trigold Cluster? They might want the Alliance to start a war with their eternal foes. Any possibility could be true, or multiple. Not likely emall/em of them, as the Exalted Quadrant probably wouldn’t want to start a war against themselves. There were easier ways.

    It was possible they wished to have usible deniability, but most of their sects weren’t strong enough to face an actual war. Not against the Alliance’s Domination cultivators- unless the whole of the Exalted Quadrant was ready to act together.

    Whatever the case, people had been used as weapons. Their minds and souls. Not every cultivator suffered the same long term effects after the mental shock. Some of those who passed out were fine immediately afterward- some who remained conscious had lingering effects. If it had been just a little bit worse, they might have created a chain reaction of death.

    If the hivemind had died… it wouldn’t have been just then. No doubt their deaths would lead to chaos in those around them. They could have erased multiple systems, all at once.

    Aveksen was mentally scarred andpletely determined to track down whoever was responsible. He had no idea where to start, and he could barely even think even a month after the event. Yet he wouldn’t give up. Paranoia told him to hide his intentions from the hivemind. Logic told him that if there were any true threats already within the hivemind, they could have done worse. But he wasn’t emcertain/em. Besides, they might not be willing to sacrifice themselves as easily as others.

    Considering his options, Aveksen needed to investigate sects that focused on the mind and soul. Possibly also reincarnation techniques, if they were sacrificing their own members. Alternatively, they might be brainwashing or programming others to unwittingly serve as their pawns. Would they need a Domination cultivator for something of the sort? Perhaps they had their own hivemind- if so, it was well kept secret.

    Maybe he could join them. It was a crazy thought, probably brought about by lingering mental damage. He wouldn’t emreally/em join them. Just do the same thing to them they intended to do to his people. No, that wouldn’t quite work. He would need to be at least an Augmentation cultivator to provide such horrific mental anguish, and merely experiencing it wouldn’t let him replicate it. Being a strong Augmentation cultivator would be better for that.

    He had no intention to subject himself to torture or twist his own mind into knots. Nor did he really want to kill however many people that way. If he could do so mercifully and swiftly… that wouldn’t be so bad. The Alliance would approve.

    It would also be extremely problematic if he screwed up his own mind and there emwasn’t/em an enemy hivemind. Then his head would be broken, and he’d at most get one or two people as they tried to probe him for answers- which would be far less valuable than just revealing them to the Alliance.

    Aveksen would hold off on any drastic measures. For the moment, he would dredge up as much of his own memories as he could. Small details about emany/em of the candidates in those batches- not just the ones that were a problem. He would need to work with someone outside the hivemind. Someone trustworthy but incorruptible. He doubted he could get a Domination cultivator on board, and even if he did they might be too obvious. Still, he wouldn’t reject them if he had an opportunity to get their help.

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