The Path of Ascension

Chapter 228

The day after the ascension ended, things changed from lackadaisical and relaxed to bustling and frantic, and not just for the locals who were hosting the Tier 10 Tournament for the second time. Rather, it was the out of towners who wanted to leave the cramped and overpriced heartland of the Empire as soon as possible. The mad dash was jacking up prices to extremes, especially for modes of transport like teleporters, as everyone wanted to beat the rush.

Matt, Liz, and Aster weren't any different in their desire, but were limited in their capabilities. All the other siblings either hitched a ride with Leah, or left on their own chaotic space capable ships, like Keith and Travis.

They had wanted to slip out on a ship as well, but Luna hit the three of them with a bit of news they had expected, but hoped to avoid.

“People are looking into the three of you.” Looking at Matt, she continued, “Especially you, Matthew, and not just for the announcement that you are marrying Liz. People are looking at your recent exploits, and that's not what we want. While we had fakes running around pretending to be you the last few years, nothing will stand up to scrutiny when Talents get involved. Prepare yourselves, as your identities as Quill and Torch can and very well might be dug up.”

Matt nodded as he mulled over the implications and asked, “So what is our countermeasure?”

Luna grinned, and while her teeth were no longer the ivory daggers they had been in her cat form, Matt felt the same menacing energy. “We hopefully bait out an assassination attempt and let you get as injured as you should be with your public persona. That won’t really prove anything to someone sniffing around, but it will muddy the waters enough to buy you enough time to reach Tier 15, get married, and step off The Path. That is really our end goal. While Aster is away, we can set half a dozen false trails without too much effort before having you fade away to do young noble things with Liz somewhere remote.”

Liz raised a finger in question. “What was that about baiting out attacks? That seems risky, and it’s a good way to actually get kicked off The Path. I don’t really follow the logic there.”

Luna waved that concern off with a nod. “The idea is that you continue with our normal goings on until someone loses patience and sends a subordinate to provoke you in some way. The easiest way is to send an assassin, though, with your background and connection to Liz, that's unlikely. Other times, they might use a local to try and fight you. The idea is to see if you’re dumb enough to display power beyond what you should have for your identities. Our hope is to just throw any peering eyes off your trail enough to buy us time for you to step off. Thankfully, a man and woman pair on The Path is hardly a rare combination, which limits our overlap on identities.”

Having said that, Luna's eyes narrowed as she looked at Matt. “Speaking of which, your little stunt of selling your mana to that guild on the training planet has become a pain in the ass. It's a massive flag, even if we’ve covered most of it up. It was hard enough hiding all of your sales before your audit, and we were able to act immediately there.”

Matt shrugged. While he’d change that choice if he had the power to go back in time, he didn’t, and felt he had good reasons to do so back then.

Thinking of giving him mana, Matt raised a question. “Can we visit Amelia and Kelley? I’d like to check in with their progress. I’ve given them a ton of mana over the last few years since we left Minkalla, and I think the decision to visit a friend makes sense for an official reason to go there.”

Kelley was a crafter he had befriended during the Pather war in the vassal kingdom, so many years ago, and they had kept in touch. That had led Kelley to introducing them to Amelia Galley, the crafter who had shocked the Empire with her double inspiration Tier up a few years ago. If she had only two inspirations, that would have been one thing. In fact, the most recent inspiration had been her ninth regarding crafting, making her a leading figure in the field.

Matt had been so impressed with her, he had set up a long standing contract where he supplied her with mana in return for future help with his guild, and making the research she did with his mana public information. He also earned a bit of money that was kept in escrow until he left The Path, but the money meant practically nothing to someone like Matt.

Rather, he wanted to see what Amelia had been up to in the last few years, and possibly get a few upgrades to their armament, which they were owed. Or rather, Matt wanted to get Melinda and the rest of her team a few sets of gear that they could use for their time after they reached Tier 15, now that they were off The Path.

Good, Talent made, Tier 17 gear should be far better than anything they could get their hands on themselves.

If they were to follow that plan, they’d have a fairly short trek through a dozen systems, where they’d be able to take advantage of a realspace crossings to get to Harper's Kingdom and out of Rusty’s Kingdom in short order.

The realspace crossings were in high demand, but that actually lowered the cost of a ticket, as they had more than enough people to split the mana cost for a dozen teleport swaps between the neighboring star systems, meaning they didn’t need to cover a larger than normal cost.

Matt had to wonder why the Empire didn’t move the star systems closer to reduce costs, but when he idly asked April, who had finally rejoined them, she laughed and said the royals had more important things to do with their time. Safely moving a star system in real space was actually harder than moving one though chaotic space. While both methods required moving the entire weight of a star and its surrounding planetary bodies, they didn’t need to worry about putting too much pressure on one planet and shattering it to dust, or accidentally crushing the sun when in chaotic space. To accomplish it, one needed enough strength to ensure a most gentle trip, which was something even a Tier 45 couldn't guarantee.

When Matt pointed out they could easily get a few Tier 45s to join together, April laughed and showed him a high Tier job listing for that exact job. A Tier 47 could move the system in a few short days, but the Tier 45s needed to be more careful, which meant moving slower. The issue was that the job paid next to nothing to a Tier 45, and they would be stuck doing it for ages, leaving few who would agree to take the job.

That said, the royals usually did step in when a realspace crossing was found or created, but that help was limited to giving the star system in question a shove in the right direction, and then making sure their successor came back in a few million years.

And Matt had to admit, even a dozen teleports on asteroids really wasn’t that bad of a price to pay for the convenience of cutting off close to a year of travel, if using the more conventional method of interplanetary teleports that most people below Tier 20 used.

It also made Matt start looking into chaotic spaceships, as once they reached Tier 15, they could actually pilot them.

The prices made him raise an eyebrow, but they weren't so bad that he was completely unwilling or unable to pay it. The cheapest shuttles were fairly limited in their capabilities, most notably the distance they could safely travel, but if one was only using them to travel along the already established tethers between worlds, they were more than capable.

One of the largest drawbacks of the cheaper ships was just how mana-hungry the shielding enchantments that prevented the ship from dissolving into nothingness in Chaotic Space were.

For Matt, that was practically a non-issue.

Still, they would be able to afford Tier 17 or 18 ships by the time they could actually use them, and the increased Tier resulted in more features and higher capabilities. They were all a bit beyond his discretionary budget at the moment, but he did find a few ship models that he was interested in and saved them for later.

Then, because he was having fun, also looked for ships that Liz and Aster might like if he wasn’t with them. When looking for the generically best high-teens ships, there were undeniably ‘right’ answers at each price point, depending on what was being prioritized. Maneuverability and top speed in real or chaotic space, weapon systems, comfort, some combination of the others…

In the end, he’d need to talk more with the girls to see what they’d want, and in reality, they would just pick what they wanted themselves.

Personally, Matt couldn’t wait for his own ship, as traveling through the Empire planet by planet would be interesting, and it would let him see some interesting places over the next few decades. But it was slow, especially when they needed to wait on a teleporter to cycle for sometimes days, and he had a dozen other things he could be spending his time on.

Not that Luna, Kurt, or even April let them sit idly when they could be working on something.

Matt could happily spend a three day train ride working on small scale elemental manipulation skills that could be safely done inside, or work on small safe enchanting projects, but they weren’t perfect substitutions for the large scale fighting he usually did.

In the end, their travel didn’t take too long, and they arrived to where Amelia Galley had moved her moon, along with the substantial number of new factories dotting its surface.

Matt and the others spent a few minutes walking around the populated areas before heading into a familiar building where Amelia actually worked.

Following the manager who led them deeper into the facility, Matt stopped in front of a sealed room with a dozen other people, all in suits that protected them from the compound they were spraying on a number of animal hides, working on various points in the process of turning hide into leather.

With his spiritual sense, Matt inspected the room and the liquid in particular, and was surprised to find that it was highly corrosive to anything spiritual. Retracting his now slightly injured spirit, he looked over to Amelia, who had appeared next to them as if she was already there.

Instead of speaking, she inspected him head to toe and back again.

“Are you Matt? You seem to have grown up. You look so much less naive.”

Matt returned the inspection. but was more subtle. and simply looked her in the eyes. She was a Tier 22, but he felt no fear.

Not that he thought he could fight her, but he had seen so much in the last few decades, and the childish Matt she had met before and made a deal with was long gone.

“So, two hundred billion mana. It’s been three decades, and I’m very curious what you’ve done with all of that. Care to enlighten me?”

While a measly twenty years weren’t much in the time frame of immortals, Amelia had not put out a single new product in the meantime, and Matt found that both unbelievable and suspicious. That question was one of the main reasons he had wanted to come here in the first place. Once he had noticed the discrepancy, he started digging through public records and realized that Amelia had almost vanished off the face of the EmpireNet after her double Inspiration Tier up, which was why he had asked Luna to come here.

Amelia's eyes narrowed as the humorous air she had when arrived vanished. “Are you accusing me of something, Mr. Alexander?”

Matt looked back into the facility where the others were currently working and said nothing for a few long moments. “It's slightly more than the equivalent of a Tier 35 mana stone, and with no strings attached. No investors to pay back, no board of directors to explain where it went to. No restrictions to what it should be used on. But the mana has seemingly vanished. It makes one wonder.”

Amelia worked her jaw like she wanted to say something, but ended up sighing. “I’m not stealing the mana. two hundred billion is a lot, but it's practically nothing to the high Tier guilds, who can drop a single Tier 45 mana stone and get five hundred trillion mana to work with. And despite the local noble's assurance that he’d go to bat for me, I have had a number of higher Tier guilds interrupting things, like supply lines and such. They don't want me publishing secrets, and are using every trick in the book they can get away with to slow me down. And frankly, it's working.”

Matt scanned the crafter once more and tried to see if she had any signs of lying. In the end, he didn’t find anything, but that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially for an immortal with full control over their body.

“And you have nothing? That's the part I find unbelievable. Nothing new to publish in the last three decades? Not even a new way to stitch patterns into armor? I thought you said you wanted to share information. Was that all bullshit?” He didn’t want to believe it, but it wouldn't be the first time a seemingly noble person had decided their values weren’t as firm as they led others to believe.

Amelia shook her head. “No, we’ve had new inventions, or rather new innovations, but I’ve been hit with recently filed patents and cease and desist letters any time I go to publish anything. And when I show that we independently developed —”

“They try to slow down the court process and waste everyone's time, eating any fines and ensuing penalties.” Matt didn’t like it, but everything she said was both feasible and exactly what his training said the more established guilds and corporations would try to do to protect their agreed upon secrecy of higher Tier crafting strategies.

“If you think you are the first backer I’ve had come to try and chew my ass out in the last decade. you are sorely mistaken. I told all of them we would have to deal with this from day one, but now that they aren’t seeing the returns they would like, I’m getting push back.”

Liz stood forward for the first time and asked, “Are the guilds putting pressure on them to pull out? Try and bankrupt you by forcing buyouts?”

Amelia shrugged. “As far as I know, not yet, but that's most certainly their next move. I have my own strategies and counters. They just take time.”

Saying that, she nodded at the clean room. “One of my Talented crafters had an idea to create a liquid that can temporarily suppress the spirit of an item, which would hopefully make it easier to enchant, but it makes the material weaker when the potion wears off. It doesn’t de-Tier the object or anything, but it makes the enchantments more fragile once it returns to its normal level. That said, I don't believe we’ve hit a wall, and we’re still making progress. Even a weaker enchantment could still have its uses.”

Amelia then proceeded to lead Matt around to a dozen more facilities where she showed them everything they were working on, and then took them to an area where they had two inventions they had recreated or discovered, depending on who asked.

They were a method of enchanting the stitching of a fabric to further increase a single attribute of the item, and a method of more easily merging the spirit of metal inserts into leather items. While the latter didn’t increase the spiritual capacity, so the item couldn't handle more runes, it was a desirable outcome, as even shaving a few days or weeks off a complicated procedure like merging spirits was always valuable.

Sadly, as Amelia had said earlier, both of those patents had been held up in court, and would languish there until a decision was finalized.

Frankly, Matt wasn’t happy with the progress Amelia had made, but he also realized that was less a comment about her, and more of an indictment on his expectations.

After all, even minor improvements could lead to substantial increases in profit margins for the mass production industries, which is where most guilds and organizations focused their efforts. Single one off items were great, but far more expensive. And for the average delver, it was easier and cheaper to buy a standardized and enchanted blade, rather than something custom.

Seeing all of this, and the reality of pushing back at the established and entrenched powers that be, made Matt drop his anger. Amelia was just going through the same issues he knew he would be facing once he created his own guild in the future.

The only difference would be scale.

While Amelia was poking holes at the leather and fabrics industry, Matt intended to tackle every industry. A lofty goal, but a necessary one. Or so he felt.

Why should a method of saving potentially weeks of time or tons of mana waiting for two materials’ spirits to merge be restricted? Just so a guild could keep a local monopoly on cheaper steel reinforced plates? Matt found that unacceptable.

Amelia was being mired down through legal avenues, and her good work stifled, but Matt didn’t have a magic answer except keep pushing through. A guild would happily tie her up in legal battles for decades or centuries if possible, as that would let them keep their technique secret, hoping she would run out of funding without new inventions to license and earn off of. But Matt wasn’t going to make it so easy.

His contribution of a billion mana a month wasn’t single handedly keeping Amelia afloat, but it was damn useful in stretching her resources further, and allowing her to keep her research and development going without any new products.

Once they finished going over the situation, the four of them had a much more cordial dinner where Amelia went over the newest ideas they were testing.

Some seemed impractical or downright impossible without a dedicated Talent, but others had Matt’s interest.

After visiting Kelley and spending a few days with him to complete their cover story, the four of them moved on.

Still, in their real identities, they found a Tier 18 planet and started delving Tier 15 rifts. As Tier 13’s going up two Tiers was to be expected, and while that was all they did officially, they were delving a nearby Tier 17 rift under masks and the restrictions Luna set out for them.

Day by day, time passed, and before a year had elapsed, just as Luna said, someone came to test them.

A man started openly hitting on Liz while they were out, which turned into accidental meetings at the restaurant they frequented, the gym they worked out at, and the sparring field they went to. Generally each encounter consisted of him trying to get Matt to respond with violence of some kind but the methods were rough at best. Being able to look at it from an observer's perspective, it was so obviously a set up, they had to use Luna’s training to not outright laugh at the man's antics. His orders were clearly to feel out Matt and not antagonize Liz, as whenever Liz intervened, the man wilted like a depressed flower until he could target Matt alone once more.

All of that led up to the moment a man directly picked a fight with Matt.

Nothing serious, as he was similarly a Tier 13, though a peak Tier 13 versus Matt’s high Tier 13 but a fight nonetheless.

On his own and before his training, Matt might have thrown the fight, but with Luna’s decades of tutelage, he knew that would be almost as bad as pulling out a talisman and hitting the pest with a Quill special.

No that would be dumb, Matt just needed to act normal. Fight hard, limit his skill usage and personal buffing, don’t show too much in the way of talent, and look like he was pushing himself as hard as he could, while in truth feeling like he was in a pillow fight. Not the easiest thing to do but he had more than enough experience and at the very least there was no second attempt.

After that incident, and another couple of challenges directed at Liz, which followed the same general vein of pushing her bottom line before trying to fight her. They moved to a border area next to the Republic and started delving once more, trying to advance as quickly as possible.

Another year, another Tier, and shortly after their breakthrough to Tier 14, Aster got her notification that Red Feather Academy would be expecting her once she reached Tier 15, and she should start the sign up process sooner rather than later, as attendance was mandatory for all bonds.

While everything was cordial and merry in the initial letter, there was the implied threat that should its information be disregarded, they would send someone to bring Aster themselves, though that was their last resort.

Thankfully, they had no intention of delaying their advancement to Tier 15 or Aster's own time away. That was more than enough for Red Feather Academy, who simply asked for their best estimated time to reach Tier 15 so they could arrange accommodations and travel plans for her.

The fox in question, while sad to leave, was excited to spend time in the beast kingdom with other bonds and those humans with bloodlines, but it still marked their separation with a date for the first time.

With their lead on their ages and Path requirements, they expected to only be separated from their sixtieth birthdays to their seventieth, which kept them well ahead of The Path requirements of reaching Tier 15 by sixty nine years old, but it wasn’t a good feeling.

That didn’t mean Luna wasn’t pushing their training as hard as she could over the next several years on their way to Tier 15. Their training was as never ending as it was thorough, but they had good reason for that. After Tier 15 on the Path, teams who were expected to complete the Path started getting missions and assignments as sort of a real life training method, similar but larger in scope to what Luna had them doing right after the Pather war.

But all of that had to wait.

First, they needed to get married.

***

Darok waited in his office, watching Ha Eun walk through the halls of the compound. The Sect representative kept a calm but distant demeanor towards Gaven, his secretary. Considering the normal mannerisms of the Sects, he could only assume that Ha Eun had either been warned or perceived that Gaven was one of the more dangerous men in the compound.

That trick rarely worked, but sometimes, the other Great Powers treated anyone in a menial position as disposable or stupid, and might say something they regret. Not that it happened often, but it still would have been nice in this situation.

He ran his fingers over the butt of his rifle, contemplating if he was truly making the right call for perhaps the millionth time.

The war was coming, everyone knew that. Most Corporation Hired Platoons were ecstatic for this, as it meant an influx of contracts, both frontline and homeland protection, but Darok had always kept his ear to the ground and had been hearing rumors.

Rumors he didn’t like.

Rumors like the Corporations as a whole might be moving out. Rumors like the Federation intended to push this war far beyond what was usually acceptable. Rumors like the Empire having a few more Elites they were hiding beyond Light and Shadow. Rumors that the Guilds wouldn’t sit by and just protect their borders, and were fully willing to go on the offensive. Rumors that said the Emperor was insane, and had refused the peace talks that could have prevented this war for some small concessions about restricting their growth for the next few thousand years.

Rumors he believed, at least in part.

Most of it had little to do with a Tier 25 hired platoon like his own Vasilay Company, but had far-reaching implications. He and his people were more than willing to fight in a war, but they weren’t willing to throw their lives away fighting for or against fanatics.

That never ended well.

But in the end, the remunerations the Sect’s offered were too good to turn them down outright, which was why he was entertaining this meeting.

When Ha Eun entered the meeting room, Darok stood up and returned the small polite bow along with his second in command, Emily, and their supply officer Walter.

In perfect Corporation common, Ha Eun said, “It is good to meet with your outfit, and I thank you for taking the time to hear my offer.” The small smile she revealed showed glistening teeth that Darok’s reports believed were connected to her Domain in some way, having been used to chew her way out of an abusive marriage.

Nodding, Darok introduced everyone on his side before they settled into a small round of polite exchanges, but quickly pulled them around to the topic at hand.

“Exactly what terms are you looking for, Representative Ha Eun? We offer a number of standard contracts, but you indicated you wished for something more flexible.”

“Yes. I represent an alliance of Tier 35 sects with a number of Tier 25 assets. We have been given the glorious honor of forming a special Tier 25 team to both counter Light and Shadow, and to perform a variety of other penetrative strikes deep into the Empire. We want to contract your operation to both handle our logistics and fight beside us. Your reputation is sterling among your peers, and your record of completed missions is impressive. In particular, the loss of only seventeen members following your strike against a Monster Collective regional capital represents the exact form of determination we’re looking for. Best of all, the team will even be led by Dao Child Maven.”

The small grin she had held the entire time grew at that proclamation, and Darok had to admit he was surprised.

Dao Child Maven had been touted as the counter to Light and Shadow, and while he might not believe all the hype the Sects were spreading about her, she was undeniably one of the best of her generation.

“And what do you want us to actually do beyond logistics? What level of commitment? What level of deployment?”

Representative Ha Eun reined her smile in as they started to talk about the brass tacks.

“I want everything. I want your support personnel, and more importantly, I want all three combat outfits, including your unarmored men.”

Darok shook his head even as Emily spoke. “We can provide you with Skirmish Squadron, but our Cavalry and Juggernaut divisions are still recovering from our last contract. Repairs to armor don’t come cheap, and fast repairs in particular. What you are offering is not sufficient to cover the increased cost of repairs if you desire our armored squadrons to be battle-ready before the war begins.”

Darok nodded as Ha Eun looked to him in confirmation. “Money is of little issue. The contract we have drawn up states we will take over the cost of repair and outfitting you once you are under our command. That would naturally mean we can and will provide the materials for your teams to get back in their armor.”

Walter’s AI pinged his with a confirmation that with adequate resources, they would be able to redeploy within the next few years.

Darok narrowed his eyes at the documents presented, with [Analyze Information DV26-SI] aiding his comprehension. What they were asking for was substantial, particularly if they were to engage with Chosen-level threats, yet the remuneration was in theory equal to the task. That they would be under the full command of the Sects was to be expected, though their boilerplate limits on command were accepted wholesale.

So while they couldn’t be used as cannon fodder or left behind, they would be expected to fight along the Sect forces under the command of Dao Child Maven with the express purpose to counter the newest pair of Chosen in the Realm, and perform incredibly risky operations deep inside Empire territory.

It was risky.

Beyond risky.

But that was where the money was.

If they took this contract, they would be able to afford a full rise to Tier 36.

That was the dream of everyone in his outfit.

But those dreams were hard to realize when you were dead. Darok knew that better than anyone. Those seventeen men and women who were touted as his success still weighed on his mind. They had died so the thousand others of the company had been able to escape encirclement, but that was hardly the victory everyone else called it.

Not that they weren't ready to die, but no one wanted to, and this mission seemed far more risky than the last war they had fought in.

With just a scant thirty-one additional addendums and clarifications for the contract, Darok signed.

Vasilay Company was once more going to war.

Only time would tell how many of them would return.

***

Invar groaned from his hangover and blinked as the blinking notification in his [Assistive Intelligence] woke him up. It took him a few attempts to read the information, but when he did, he almost vomited.

He had been contracted to fight with the Feddy’s?

He much rather take jobs against the wackjobs, but a contract was a contract, and his bank account was nearly empty.

It was either accept the contract, or get a normal job and as a lone contractor, and he preferred the large paydays from doing one of the two things he was good at.

Killing.

That let him do the second thing he was good at, drinking.

Looking once more at the bank accounts balance, he sighed and powered [Self Empowerment HE8-EN] to clear the alcohol still in his system.

Stretching, he felt a number of things pop in his back as he summoned his cloak to cover him, and exited his rented room, blending into the shadows. The passersby were none the wiser that one of the best Tier 25 assassins in the Corporation was in their midst.

At least the contract for Light and Shadow would pay well.

Even for an attempt, he’d be able to drink for at least a century, and that was good enough for him.

***

Klare of the Indomitable Reavers watched as the Republican representative left her office as she thought over the contract they had accepted.

A team led by one of their little brainchildren specifically to counter Light and Shadow? A team meant to split behind enemy lines and wreak havoc?

She liked it.

Grinning, she sent a message to the entire Company. “Prepare for war!”