[NR] Eh, Neither - Chapter 515

Jason shrugs, “The military shouldn’t get their hopes up too high, at least to start. Part of why only low-level cultivators tend to be in the army is because you need someone stronger at the top. Not by a rank or two, either.

“You need someone who could keep them all in line by themselves. Now, I’m sure this world will fare better on the war front. Many people still see it as an honorable duty to serve.

“However, while you can have cultivators mixed into the general populace, that doesn’t work for combat. We’re dealing with people who not only have superhuman strength, but can think deeper about things as well.”

Courtney interrupts, “What do you mean by deeper?”

Jason pauses to gather his thoughts. “Deeper thoughts. Um, not smarter, per se? It doesn’t even necessarily mean faster, though that tends to go hand in hand with higher physical speed and reflexes. Rather, it means a person is more capable of thinking, well, deep thoughts?”

Courtney rolls her eyes, “And deep thoughts are?”

Jason shrugs, “It is sort of hard to explain because there isn’t a good comparison because it isn’t directly connected to speed or intelligence. More than one person who here would qualify as having a severe learning disability managed to reach unseen heights in my last life.

“Deep thoughts are about seeing things, both breadth and depth. Imagine a candle flame. Now keep adding details until you begin to lose other details. A cultivator who has mediated on the concept of fire would, after a certain point be able to hold the entire reality of that flame within their mind all at once.

“Not only that, but if they put enough effort into it? That candle flame can affect reality even without them putting actual power behind it. Remember what I said about raising the temperature if I cultivated a fire method? This is what it is about.

“To think deep enough on a subject that it changes reality. A more direct application of this is what you’d call spells. It isn’t quite the same, but it is similar.”

Courtney, “So what does thinking deep thoughts have to do with the military and low-level cultivators not putting up with it?”

Jason, “Even if the focus of their cultivation isn’t in the martial way, being in the military will have them thinking about such things. I guess a good comparison for that is Chess or more properly Go.

“While they might not be able to think too far ahead in those games. They can take in the entire situation and they will realize they are pawns on the board. So while normal troops will be able to handle being just a soldier and follow orders, only able to see the chess spaces right around them. The cultivator will see not only their own place, but other things such as how many conflicts aren’t actually about the nation so much it is about those at the top.”

Courtney coughs, “Yeah, I can see that not going over too well for everyone. But would it really cause them all to leave?”

Jason laughs, “A low level cultivator can’t do much, but they certainly are better spent elsewhere. Having a cultivator army requires either an active force directly threatening a place or a strong enough leader. Otherwise those cultivators would do more for their home spread out instead of gathered in one place.

“A single cultivator who focuses on metal? Just having them live near an important piece of metal equipment is enough for them to passively notice when something is beginning to go wrong. In my last life? A single low-level plant focused cultivator is almost enough on their own to assure a small farming community always produces a decent harvest.

“So tell me. When given a choice between going out and risking death on foreign soil or living near their family to make sure the arcology isn’t going to fall on them. Which do you think they’ll choose?”

Rosha shrugs, “That doesn’t even sound like a choice. If there wasn’t someone invading, I wouldn’t even bother signing up if I had an alternate source to learn cultivation. But why would a strong leader change that?”

Courtney nods, “While I don’t totally agree with what you’re saying, I’m sure some would stick around, but what is your focus on a strong leader?”

Jason, “I never said all of them would leave. I’m sure you would have an elite team or two kicking around. That and, of course, you’ll always have people who will sit back and guard a gate. Just that you wouldn’t be able to field an army of cultivators, which is important.

“An army of cultivators is able to ignore so many restraints that a mortal army has, even with modern technology. Once you start mixing things? You lose the advantage they could provide.

“Now, why the whole hullabaloo about a strong leader? There is one thing that will call out to a cultivator more than anything. A chance to grow their cultivation.

“Those who enlist in the military? They’re walking the martial path. What does a stronger leader represent? Someone who has walked that path a good bit farther than others.

“The cultivator who would leave to help maintain the area around their home? Well, if they were just a bit stronger, that protection would extend so much farther!

“Oh, and not quite as important here, but in my last life a strong cultivator as a leader represented a powerful backing. Random people won’t mess with the various villages that soldiers were pulled from. The more people pulled from a village and the more of those who made a good showing? The stronger that protection would get.

“It wasn’t even out of the question for certain villages to focus entirely on raising soldiers. Do enough and then not only would they have the retired soldiers there to protect them, but leaders would even leave detachments to protect the village.”

Courtney, “I still don’t quite see it. You might be a little attached to your previous life’s sensibilities on this matter. The arcologies have changed a lot about life that you might not have fully internalized.

“Not to say what you just revealed isn’t important. However, we are a culture that has risen to the stars on information sharing. Our military is there to defend against the last holdouts of a worse time, and just in case something comes from the stars to smack us back down.”

Jason shakes his head, “I suspect that part of our differences on this comes from our sources. My mom has connections within the military that your family doesn’t seem to. Not all things are as they seem on the surface.”