The Path of Ascension

Chapter 244

Liz arrived just three days into his little vacation with Tally, which Matt found endlessly entertaining as Tally immediately challenged her to a duel and was promptly slapped around.

Tally was quite good with his spear, having made it to Tier 16 on the Path with it, but Liz was simply on another level with the weapon. Most of their initial bouts ended within four exchanges, and it wasn’t until Tally was allowed to increase his cultivation to Tier 17 and use his core skills that he won once against Liz.

When they brought all their spells into the mix, Tally started off strong and won three matches in a row, but within an hour, Liz was countering every trick he had. Blasts of sand melted on contact with her flames, illusions were ignored, and Liz punched through Tally’s [Bulwark] with her corrosive tipped spear. Tally had wisely refrained from using any fire spells, but when he did finally decide to try a [Fire Lance], it traveled all of ten feet before it reversed course, reformed into a pillow, and started smacking the man upside the head.

Though a week of messing around with Tally and giving a few lessons to some of the younger Pather, Matt and Liz had to get back to their actual job and see if Eleanor Mallick was worthy of joining the Path of Ascension. If nothing else, their time at the local PlayPen showed him that the staff who worked there were both committed to their jobs and tried their best with the kids.

He also got a few glimpses into how the PlayPens worked.

Most of the day-to-day staff was hired from the local populace, but things like the healers and trainers were all contracted to the PlayPen for half-decade-long tenures at a minimum. Some, like Tally, were just there for priority healing, while others were after the rare treasures or general generous compensation which the Empire provided for those willing to train the young.

It reminded Matt of his own time at a PlayPen, which was why he tried to pass on some of the easier lessons to the mages. He was careful not to pull a Luna and expect the kids to do the impossible, but he still pushed them. Abigail the lightning mage was a bit of a surprise, as she came to every one of his classes. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t spoken a word to anyone about his showing her his Quill mask, which was a mark in her favor. With that in mind, he tried to give her some extra tips and points that were valuable to a solo mage and were usually only learned through blood and tears.

Most of it was stuff she didn’t want to hear, but needed to learn. Getting her to agree to take classes on how to fight in melee range was like pulling teeth from a hungry crocodile. He eventually convinced her by explaining to her that learning how to fight as a melee fighter would help her predict the flow of a fight better. It ran contrary to common opinion, which had mages simply filling their role and only learning the flow of battle from that position, but that kind of hands-off approach was incompatible with the Path. It was what set the novices apart from the truly successful, and shoving a spearhead on the end of a staff was one step of many involved in staying safe in rifts.

Others just needed some tips on the best way to handle specific encounters that they would deal with in rifts, which forced him to enter the local rifts and scout them out. He wanted to fill them up after surveying them, but he restrained himself from acting on the impulse. That was far too risky, and would draw too much attention to himself. Instead, he just donated a handful of the lower Tier mana stones he had rattling around in his storage rings, with a glare at the planetary AI, daring it to intervene.

Tally thanked him, expressing how he wished he could help out. But, for as long as he was on the post he couldn’t even leave the island, let alone delve.

Matt was fairly surprised that he was literally unable to leave, but he supposed it did explain a few questions he’d had about the rift breaks on his homeworld. The entire PlayPen arrangement was built upon the foundation that only the PlayPen was ceded to the Empire as a whole, and the nobles who had first established the agreement had been very adamant that they weren’t accepting a spy into their own midst.

Legally speaking, the Tier 20 stationed there wasn’t so much as allowed to look outside of their island, or hear what was going on, as though the entire rest of the planet was private property. Whether or not they actually saw or heard what was going on was irrelevant, they had to pretend that they saw nothing, heard nothing. So much as acknowledging anything happening outside of the island was strictly illegal, no matter what. Someone could be murdered half an inch past the island’s border, and Tally would be forced to ignore it. If he did anything, even tell a Pather inside to go take care of it, that could be taken as an action violating the Emperor’s treaty and possibly lead to the unraveling of the Path of Ascension’s first steps. Intervening to stop a rift break, or passing along a hint about the abysmal state of a planet’s nobility would be taken as a direct violation by the nobles, and would decidedly not go well.

Even the Tier 15 second in commands in the PlayPens were strictly limited, only allowed to leave the island to receive new Pathers and with proper notice given to the ruling nobles that they would be leaving the island. Similar practices were in place for all external staff, though usually with a day of ‘shore leave’ each month.

In retrospect, it neatly explained why his first day as a Pather had been occupied by Griff dragging him along to shop for his then-newborn. It was him and… someone else.

Thinking back, Matt tried to remember who he had come with but came up blank. He remembered the young man had dark hair, but he couldn’t put a name to the fuzzy face. He couldn’t even rely on his [AI]’s memory, as he didn’t so much as have the pseudoskill at the time.

Making a note to look into it later, he entered the suite he had rented and changed into the second-hand clothes he bought. He’d even had to adjust his mask’s body to keep the boots from pinching. If he wasn’t careful, he’d break through them and cause a scene.

Liz, however, had found clothes that fit her masked persona perfectly, and he was a little jealous.

Walking through a few puddles, he made sure to get some dirt on himself and joined the long lines to enter the fairgrounds.

It was kinda fun to listen to people chat and just people-watch. Their problems and joys seemed too mundane, but he found that beautiful. In front of him, a couple’s largest problem was which direction they wanted to circle the fairgrounds. There was a single mother behind him with two kids who was nervously checking her bank account on her pad, clearly wondering how she would cover the bills this month while forcing a smile for her kids’ barely restrained joy at the fair in front of them. A man who was already munching on a pretzel had gotten some condiments on his shirt, and was trying to hide the mark as a cute Tier 5 Mallick clan member offered snacks to those in line.

If Matt wanted to be unkind, he could say it was all pointless, but he knew this struggle and knew that it was everything for those involved. His being a high Tier might put him above most of those problems, but it didn’t make those problems less significant.

He could solve most of their worries with a thought but chose not to. It wouldn’t even cost him a rounding error of his net worth to pay the mother's rent, or more than a thought to clean the stain off the man's shirt with a burst of [Wash]. He could tell the couple they should definitely go counterclockwise as there were fewer people in that direction.

But he didn’t.

It wasn’t his place.

And, no matter how annoyed he was at the planetary AI for ruining his plans… he agreed.

Solving people's problems for them at best babied them unfairly and created a dependency that would be hard to break. At worst, trying to solve people’s lives for them was dehumanizing and led to all manner of atrocities.

Immortals needed to stay in their lane.

He cursed himself as he paid for his ticket, struggling to let the single mother struggle more than necessary when she was clearly trying her best to do right by her children. He was also unwilling to single her out, and so paid for the next fifty people's tickets. That was small enough, and affordable enough by even the Tier 4 his mask said he was, that the AI allowed it with only a small fee.

As Matt argued with the planet’s omnipresent guardian, the teller tried to make a fuss about it and let everyone know, but Matt told her to just comp those behind him who needed it and keep it quiet.

She gave him an odd look, but smiled and marked the back of his and Liz’s hands with a small smiley face, letting them know it was a VIP pass they could use to skip the lines of any rides or attractions they wanted.

To keep in character, he and Liz thanked the girl and then slipped through the barrier and kept up their act as happy mortals to escape the scrutiny of the Tier 15 acting as a guard. And acting was the proper word. The mortals who passed by the clown doing a tumbling act as entertainment would never think he was strong enough to crush them all with a thought.

Matt ogled the display and pretended he couldn’t see the hyper-fast movements being made between each roll across the stage, and couldn’t sense the spiritual probe testing his veil and mask making him seem like any other Tier 4.

After a few moments, when the tumbler turned their focus back towards the rest of the crowd, Matt knew they were in the clear, but they kept watching as if they were impressed. It wasn’t even that hard, practically everything absolutely radiated care and attention. The stalls were carved from exotic woods and were sometimes painted with vivid colors, other times inlaid with shining metals and glowing rocks, with even the magic around the stalls flowing in pleasing and impressive ways. It didn’t seem to matter that none of the guests would be able to see mana, or that they’d never be able to see the intricate carvings hidden behind curtains or on the other side of the counter. It didn’t matter that even Matt strained to see some of the hidden details within some of the paintings with his full perception, that even a Tier 15 couldn’t spot all of the carefully-painted expressions on the animals feasting beneath a tree, let alone the mortals wandering around awestruck. The details were there anyway, and it was all the greater for it.

Even the tumbler, who Matt had assumed was performing Tier 15-level movements as a way to try and catch them out as secretly being immortal, actually appeared to be undertaking a wholly separate performance while entertaining the mortals, pushing himself to undertake feats even Matt didn’t know he could replicate.

Only once the routine started to repeat did they move on with the rest of the crowd and start bouncing around to find their target. Or rather, targets, as Liz found Eleanor and Ethan working together at a game where the contestants needed to knock down weighted cups with sandbags.

The two of them seemed oh so young to Matt, but he respected how they effortlessly worked the crowd together and egged people on to give it one more try, creating hype and excitement for the watchers and players both.

Flashing his little stamp, Matt earned himself a raised eyebrow from Ethan, but the boy never stopped his stream of words.

“And here we have a Mr. VIP! What’s your Tier, Mr. VIP? We wouldn’t want to make this too easy for you, you see?!”

Ethan paused just long enough for the crowd to laugh before spinning an oversized dial, designed to control how heavy the cups and beanbag were, and ‘accidentally’ set it to Tier 1000.

Eleanor threw her hands up in exaggerated exasperation, and threw a feather at her cousin. Matt noted a tiny illusionary dice appeared at the end of the feather, rolling down the quill’s gentle curve until it and the tip of the feather pinged into the floor with a fifteen, still leaving no mark.

Eleanor and Ethan ignored the Talent even as she yelled at him. “No! Stop spinning the dial that hard. Nobody is a Tier 1000, nobody’s even Tier 100!”

The crowd laughed at Ethan's sheepish expression, so Matt answered them. “Tier 4 melee fighter.”

As the crowd oohed, Matt hefted the sandbag and pretended to gauge its weight while Liz backed off a little.

Ethan pretended not to be impressed as Eleanor fell over herself in ‘awe.’ “Guess Mr. VIP is stronger than I thought! But we’ll get him before too much longer. We do go all the way to Tier 1,000 after all.”

Laughing maniacally, he struck a pose as Eleanor picked up his line. “I believe in you, Mr. VIP! You just need to believe in yourself. You do well enough, maybe Ms. VIP will believe in you later on, eh?”

A few yips, and one whistle from the crowd made Matt laugh as he decided to play along.

Tossing the bag around a few times, Matt pretended to wind up like he was about to throw a heavy ball. He carefully lobbed the bag, aiming for and hitting just above the middle of the pyramid of cups.

While he knocked over the top two rows, the crowd behind him ahhed and Eleanor made a fart sound. Ethan said, “First throw only took out the easiest cups. Guess the grandest prizes aren’t to be, Mr VIP. But maybe you can still get something a bit less impressive?”

Eleanor worked the crowd and waved for them to cheer. “Come on, let’s give him some help! We don’t want to disappoint Ms. VIP, after all. Maybe a loud enough yell will scare the cups into falling over?”

It was then that Matt realized a good half of the crowd were young kids, many of whom were around awakening age and staring at the young cousins.

With a hidden smile, he realized the Mallick clan was quite exotic for the locals, and they were crushing hard. This planet was fairly standard, with fairly tan skin and dark hair, whereas the Mallicks were very pale, with dark purple hair streaked with silver, and graceful swirls along their skin reminiscent of stars and galaxies.

Matt was used to the background appearance of capital systems, or even just immortals in general, and the Mallick clansmen just weren’t that unique by those standards. It did explain some portion of the crowds, though.

His next throw only knocked three of the four remaining cups off, and Ethan play mocked him by covering up the middle row of prizes, leaving only the smallest ones.

“Aw, Mr. VIP, guess you just can’t beat it, and now you’re down to… just the smallest treats.”

Ethan’s hesitance was barely noticeable at normal speeds, but Matt’s higher-Tier perceptions let him witness a momentary back-and-forth interaction between the two cousins told entirely through body language. It mostly amounted to just an exasperated “Really?” from Eleanor, and resigned agreement from Ethan.

“Yeah, I had such high hopes for you, Mr. VIP, but now it’s just sad. And I’m sure Ms. VIP is too, isn’t she?” Eleanor prompted, and Liz turned away from Matt, to the crowd’s laughter.

Eleanor closed her fingers to show he was that close to making it, and one of the young men in the crowd yelled. “It’s not the size of the prize, it’s how you use it!”

Eleanor and Ethan both laughed with the crowd, and Eleanor waggled her eyebrows. “I’m sure you know best.”

The young man suddenly seemed to lose all ability to talk, much to the delight of his friends as they started ribbing him.

Thankfully Matt didn’t have to resist laughing and used that as an excuse to miss his final throw.

Eleanor, knowing how to play the crowd, picked up the sandbag and tossed it back to Matt. “Mr. VIP, you can get a second shot. Unlike some people.”

The young man in question had regained his composure slightly, but his face was still quite red as he squeaked out, “A second shot is a second shot, which is all that matters.”

By now, even some of the adults were laughing, and Matt decided to play with the situation a little.

Matt landed his throw and claimed the physically smallest of the first row of prizes, a small wrapped caramel. He walked over to the embarrassed young man and passed along the candy, “I think you’re going to need that second shot more than I will.”

The crowd roared with approval, and the young man was pushed to the front by his friends for his own attempt, made somewhat more difficult by the fact he refused to look at either Ethan or Eleanor.

Leaving the area, Matt and Liz kept their attention on the duo as they worked the crowd and kept them entertained as they pretended to play a number of games and ride the rides.

It was genuinely fun, and impressive to see the sheer amount of attention given to absolutely everything. Even the prizes. Most of the minor rewards were various candies or exotic fruits themed in some way corresponding to the game they could be won at, with medium rewards as stuffed plushies or carved knicknacks, and the grandest prizes as often as not having some minor enchantment upon them to either make the wooden eagles circle above the tabletop and follow bits of food held out in front of it, or the lockboxes only open at the touch of a specific person, or enable the tops to spin on the wall or the ceiling. There was nothing truly major there, but it was all whimsical and just fun.

Matt did wish that Aster was along to share the experience, and missing her dampened everything slightly, but he and Liz turned it into something of a date so it was far from a strictly work-related evening.

But most importantly, he didn’t see anything from Eleanor or Ethan that would suggest they wouldn’t be good Pathers.

That didn’t mean they were going to approach them immediately. He had worked at Benny’s, and knew that all the waitstaff were as sweet as sugar when the customers were around, but could have a million and one different personalities when away from them.

Fortunately, he and Liz had an observational warrant for the pair, and more than enough range on their spiritual sense to keep an eye on their candidates for the rest of the evening, even all the way back from the royal suite if they were so inclined.

The fireworks and mock battle of Duke Waters fighting against Unyielding Anvil were a little over the top, with some flourishes he knew wouldn’t have happened in a real fight. But the crowd ate it up, and even Matt could admit it was well done.

He of course didn’t miss Eleanor and Ethan’s responses to the show, as they lay on top of their booth staring up at the sky.

Ethan’s desire was patently obvious as he imagined himself as Duke Waters, even twitching in time with some of the Ascender’s attacks, but Eleanor’s desire was a bit harder to put into words. Wistful was perhaps the most accurate, with a mixture of sadness and hope as she played with a pebble in her pocket.

Leaving with everyone else, he and Liz returned to his royal suite, where he watched something local on the screen while watching the duo clean up their stall and then pick up the few pieces of trash that were left on the ground nearby.

He only half paid attention as one of the Tier 15s talked to everyone about the evening's activities, but did note that he called the youngest pair of Mallicks out for their good job, which seemed to please the kids.

Mortals could often be overlooked, but it seemed to him the clan had a handle on that. Then again, they did have a few thousand mortals in their ranks, so they had a lot of practice so it wasn’t that much of a surprise.

The next few days, Matt and Liz wandered the city during the day and watched as the duo did the same for the first few hours of the afternoon before the fair would start back up.

He watched as they interacted with normal people, wait staff, and higher Tiers alike. For the most part, he liked what he saw.

They were polite to everyone, and Eleanor even had the amusing habit of thanking the automated taxis for driving them around. Someone who was nice at work when they had to be, but then an asshole to others when they could let loose wasn’t someone he would sponsor. Sure, that was a behavior that they could grow out of, but considering they worked in customer-facing jobs already, if they treated others as they hated to be treated, he wouldn’t waste his time with them.

No, that was all fine. What he and Liz didn’t like was how they treated the obvious immortals. They were a touch too skittish around them, which made Matt wonder if they had a bad experience with someone, or if, contrary to what he saw last night, the immortals of the clan were abusive.

It wasn’t anywhere close to a dealbreaker, more just a point of interest than anything truly bad, but they still kept a closer eye upon the rest of the clan as they continued their observation.

Matt had the most experience here, as Liz had been recruited the normal way, so he intended to recreate a scenario similar to what Dena and Eric set up with him. While he had thought their plan with him was a simple ‘customers who need a sparring partner’ interaction, he now knew better. Here, he wanted to do something similar, as he could see the multitude of information such interactions gave.

A great idea in theory, but a lot harder in practice.

He was pretty sure that the kids and even the lower Tiers of the clan were unaware, but there was a Tier 18 Mallick watching everyone who went into the city at all times. So, he couldn’t just bump into the kids without causing a stir and making things even harder than necessary.

He also wanted to spend a good amount of time with the pair, and Liz circumvented his complicated plans with a much easier one.

Eleanor and Ethan both stopped by a number of fighting halls and clearly wanted to practice, but Eleanor’s Talent made that almost impossible. One out of ten rolls had the possibility of breaking either her weapon or the training dummy, and no one would be happy with their equipment being damaged like that.

Sighing that he didn’t want to do it this way, but saw no other option, Matt flexed his Domain in a very obvious way, then took to the air alongside Liz to meet with the Tier 18 watcher.

The woman tried to pressure them to leave her alone, but despite her higher Tier, he could feel that she wasn’t a fighter. At least, not in the same way that he was. She had clearly delved and knew how to fight, but she didn’t live battle and bloodshed, which made her display a little hollow.

When she saw their credentials as Quill and Torch, the woman froze and called for backup. He could already feel the Tier 20s moving to close in on their location, but he didn’t make any aggressive moves.

“We're not here for trouble.”

“Then why are the two of you here?”

Matt looked up to the side at the first arrival, a grandfatherly-looking man with gray hair but a strong physique befitting his status as an immortal. “Call me Howard and her Willow for now. We are here so you can facilitate our mission.”

The older man's eyes narrowed, and he nodded slightly. “My name is Everett Mallick, and we will serve the Empire as is our duty and to the best of our abilities.”

Matt smiled, as they clearly thought they were here to ruin another noble's day, and he found the idea amusing. It was tempting to let Everett sweat a little under the misunderstanding, but he shook his head as Liz spoke.

“No, we are here as recruiters.”

That was clearly the wrong thing to say, as all seven of the Mallicks immortals stiffened as though Liz had struck them with lightning.

That was less than ideal, and Matt readied himself for pushback as he felt Liz do the same next to him.

Everett was choosing his words carefully, but Matt didn’t let his expression change. “None of our children are worthy of such attention. Please leave.”

Matt sighed, “No. The Path of Ascension is for any willing to struggle against impossible odds, those who seek to fight fate. And in that, you do possess someone worthy of our notice.”

Everett locked eyes with him, narrowing his gaze and controlling his voice as he spoke, “Eleanor.”

Matt inclined his head, “It is the right of all adults, even when newly awakened, to make their own choices apart from the pressure of higher tiers. If Eleanor wishes to reject my offer, that is her decision, but it is her decision to make, not yours.”

The woman shook her head before Everett could. “No, it’s too dangerous. Her Talent will fix itself at Tier 3, we’re certain of it. There’s no need to throw her into that butcher’s house. If you’re concerned about how long it will take, we can even do so now.”

A couple who arrived late, who Matt identified as Ethan's parents, also shook their heads. “Ethan will not be joining the Path either. He’s young and wants adventure, but he doesn't understand the dangers therein.”

Matt looked between the assembled crowd. They weren’t wrong, the Path was dangerous. It wasn’t an accident that nearly everyone who joined didn’t have normal backers of their own, from lower-Tier worlds and lower-Tier families, and wanted a chance at greatness. He had been one of those reckless fools, after all. The people like Liz, who joined it because they had something to prove, were in the minority.

After all, there was realistically nothing that the Path could offer Ethan and Eleanor. Their families, while mid-Tiered at most, were capable of providing rift slots, gear, even skills in abundance. They would be gaining little and risking much by joining the Path.

“You are not incorrect,” Matt agreed, and everyone around him relaxed. Everett was preparing to send him away, when he continued, “But it remains not your choice to make. I am fully aware of what the Path of Ascension means. It is dangerous, yes, but for someone like Eleanor? It could mean the world. The opportunity to stand with the entire realm arrayed against you, with nothing but your wits and your skills. To prove that she is more than simply a poor reading upon a Talent assessment, that being a danger to her and others does not mean she is incapable, does not mean she is lesser, does not mean she cannot help herself.”

That earned a flinch from some of the assembled group, and Liz spoke next. “This is simply a courtesy for you, that we are going to approach Ethan and Eleanor. We will offer them the chance to train, the chance to learn as we assess them. Should we deem them as likely to succeed, we will offer them a place upon the Path of Ascension, and that is something you cannot prevent. Even if you decide to leave the planet altogether, we will follow and we will offer. It is not your place to prevent their decision. This is simply a courtesy, informing you of our intentions. We would appreciate it if you did not seek to obstruct us, and that you would wait to try and persuade the two of them until after we have made our offer.”

Ethan's parents' fists were clenched, but they said nothing as Everett tried one last time. “We can take care of them. We —”

“You can. And you are free to persuade them of that, as well. Persuade them that they never need to struggle, never need to strive and prove themselves outside of the clan. You could succeed, you can even try to scare them off. But do not make the decision for them. Perhaps all that shall come of this meeting is some training and testing of your children’s abilities. But, perhaps not. We will not force them to join the Path, just as surely as you are not to force them to stay.”

It continued past that, but nothing more of substance was said until Liz and Matt managed to accept a begrudging agreement that Eleanor and Ethan would be trained for a little, and that they shouldn’t seek to dissuade them from the Path before it was offered as a choice.

It was trivial to set up an encounter with Eleanor and Ethan, and Matt felt nostalgic for his sparring with Dena as the kids entered the training hall Matt was based out of. An Illusory short sword in his left hand, he walked out of a training room like he was tired and acted surprised to see the two.

“Hey kids. Long time no see. What are you doing here?”

Ethan recognized him first and laughed. “Oh, Mr. VIP! Hey, it's a small city. We're just here to look around. It's fun to see people fight, and we want to get better. Where is Mrs. VIP?”

Matt played it dumb. “Willow’s still inside. But training? All those fights at the stage, don’t they have training, why do you come out here?”

Eleanor casually shrugged, “Eh, my Talent is a bit dangerous, and really hard on our training equipment, so it’s better to come out here for now until they get the chance to set something up. It doesn’t really matter.” she lied.

Matt nodded, “Makes sense. Danger isn’t great, but you can’t avoid it forever. But hard on training equipment, what happens?”

Eleanor perked up like a flower given water, her smile revealing a recently-healed tooth. “Yes! That's what I say. But my Talent. If I’m unlucky, I’ll just shatter any weapon I try to train with.”

Matt nodded and used [Cast Illusion] to create another short sword. It was partially transparent and obviously not real, and he saw the kid's eyes go wide as they realized what he was implying.

“If you can get your clan's permission, I might be able to help with that. I can always dissipate the sword if needed, even though I’m not sure it would actually be able to hurt you.”

Eleanor shook her head. “There's no way they'll agree. Thank —”

Ethan wasn’t taking no for an answer and cut his cousin off. “I’m calling Eve and seeing if she'll go for it. She’s on duty, and she likes us.”

Matt smiled as Eve pretended to waffle and then called him on the false identification number he provided them. They pretended to chat while she threatened him with every kind of torture if the kids were hurt.

He didn’t mind. He was glad the kids had such a support system. Even if they didn’t join the Path, he was sure they would be in good hands.

He was fairly certain they’d do well on the Path. The drive to accomplish the impossible was a major part of it, and while statistically they wouldn’t make it to Tier 10, if they could manage it and were able to get themselves a good manager? Well, he’d love to see what they could do when pushed to their limits.

He waved them into a training room, joining Liz just as finished smacking a training dummy around with a staff. With a wave of his hand, he conjured a pair of illusory swords and told them to attack the dummy themselves.

Eleanor was a little too free with her Talent as she happily explained everything about it with only a little prompting, but he could tell she was trying to show off.

He was happy about that. Her Talent wasn’t stopping her.

It was just as bad as the recording suggested, though.

After a few blows, Eleanor's attack landed on one, and Matt felt an outside force trying to dissipate his spell. It was woefully too weak for that, and he expected the Talent to fade when he didn’t allow it to take effect on his spell. Instead, it seemed to slide off the spell like water, and a second later the girl’s right calf muscle twisted painfully.

Eleanor fell to the ground with a yelp, and Matt whistled internally as Liz helped to fix the sprain. It was nothing that a light touch of [Directed Heal] couldn’t fix with practically no healing cooldown to speak of, as they wouldn’t let the girl suffer for their curiosity, but it certainly represented one of the first times he’d actively seen a Talent try to hurt its owner.

“See. My Talent is dangerous. I want to delve and get stronger, but I know that I’ll just get myself killed.”

Matt nodded as he tapped his fingers. “Honestly, I think you would make a better mage.”

Liz offered her own suggestion from the floor next to Eleanor. “Or a ranged fighter.”

He fished around in his bag until his fingers closed on a wand. It was something he’d enchanted that morning, certainly nothing too impressive, “Try this. It’s just a weak mana bolt, mainly used for target practice. It won’t hurt anything.”

Eleanor eagerly grabbed the wand as she scrabbled to her feet and cast an attack at the dummy, while Ethan stepped back from her. Matt smirked at him as he covered his eyes with a hand and peeked through the cracks of his fingers. “Items tend to blow up around her.”

Eleanor sent the second bolt at his foot, forcing him to jump and dodge with a curse. “Watch it there, El!”

Matt smiled and threw up a recording of the bolt Liz had taken with her AI on the screen that the training room provided. The wand had rolled its own die as the enchantment cast the spell, but the projectile itself also rolled a die, manifested over top of the bolt, as it flew towards its target.

“I think that is your opportunity, Eleanor. Ranged attacks don't shatter like a weapon might. And you can always plan ahead.” Looking at Ethan, he continued, “Get help from your cousin. We should definitely check ranged weapons like bow and arrows, but that said, magic seems to be safer. I very much doubt that your spirit will explode like an item will if you get a bad roll. Some Talents are dangerous, but I can’t imagine yours would make your spirit actually explode.”

Ethan nodded eagerly. “That makes sense. And I want to be a blade mage so I can protect her if she's behind me. Magic and steel. It's the perfect combination, and I’m all about combining things. Or rather, I will be.”

Matt raised his eyebrow, and Ethan explained a little too freely. “My Talent isn’t harmful, but there’s just only so much I can do when merging items together when I’m limited to Tier 1 stuff…”

Eleanor waggled the wand before handing it back to him. “Thanks for the test, but I’d rather not use any of your items. They might explode if I keep using it. I’d rather stick to the illusions. Speaking of which, aren't they a high Tier spell?”

Matt took the wand and threw it into his gym bag. “I got a good Talent.”

The kids bitched a little about that, but Matt just let it slide. Not that he minded, and he was happy they were comfortable enough to snark to a Tier 4 like him to his face.

It meant they had a backbone.

Or, they were just used to relying on their clan, but it was the same thing in his eyes.

Liz clapped as she started their next test. “We can't really give you a spell, but we can test ranged weapons.” Already prepared for this, Matt summoned a bow and arrow. “Try the bow Howard made.”

Ethan snorted and murmured under his breath just loud enough for them to hear with a cheeky grin, “Mr. VIP is a better name.”

Eleanor, on the other hand, gleefully grabbed the bow and bundle of arrows Matt had created.

“Just shoot until you roll a one so we can test what happens to the bow. I’m hoping that just the arrow breaks.” he explained.

Eleanor happily plunked arrows at the far wall and Liz snorted as she poked his side. “She's a better shot than you were.”

“Look, there was absolutely a Desert Viper there. Just because you couldn’t sense it when it was burrowing, and only saw the Barn Owl, doesn’t mean that I missed.”

Sadly, when one of Eleanor’s attacks rolled a one, the arrow itself shattered into splinters and the bow cracked as well. It was only Matt’s control that kept the spell intact.

Eleanor looked dejected but Liz ruffled her hair. “Chin up. Your family is a big traveling circus. Do you know how to throw knives?”

Ethan nodded for the both of them. “We got some lessons when we were eight, but we aren’t really good at it.”

Matt made them both a dozen false throwing blades, and the two cousins had to see who could hit more of the moving targets that Liz had the room create.

This time when Eleanor’s attack rolled a one, they all cheered. The blade had twisted in air to land on its side and shattered, but there was no backlash on Eleanor.

“Oh this is amazing! Thanks Mr. VIP! Thanks Willow!”

Matt threw up his hands at his name replacement, but was happy the kids were that comfortable with Liz and himself to tease them.

“Yeah yeah yeah. Now, we learned something here. Throwing knives aren’t exactly the best weapons, but they’re cheap enough that you should be able to afford losing a lot of them in every rift. I’d recommend taking some forging classes, if you’re only paying for the raw materials then that’s even more profit per delve, though it’s a large time sink. Being a mage might be the best in the long term, but thrown weapons should work well enough to get you to your second Talent at least, and there’s a good chance that will help out. The real issue is the strength required to use throwing knives effectively.”

Ethan nodded as he rubbed his chin, trying to think of an answer as Eleanor rocked on her heels.

After a minute of silence, when it was clear the kids had no ideas, Liz spoke up. “What about an atlatl?”

Ethan mouthed the word while Matt could almost see the question marks appearing over Eleanor’s head. The kids were so used to emoting for their jobs, it was beyond easy to read their expressions.

Summoning a large stick with a notch cut out of it, Matt spun it to show the kids. “A super simple stick of wood cut so it can hold a javelin or large arrow. Unlike a bow that needs preparation to make and is expensive, an atlatl can be made in a few minutes. If it breaks, who cares?”

Eleanor took a few tries to get used to the extra lever she needed to throw with, but she eventually got a hang of it, and even when she rolled a one, the atlatl didn’t immediately break. It cracked, yes, but it was just a chunk of wood that worked perfectly fine until she rolled another one and it broke.

But like Matt said, an atlatl was dead simple to make and she could easily carry a dozen into a rift with her along with the javelins it threw.

With a light at the end of her Talent’s dark tunnel, both of the cousins were on cloud nine by the time they had to leave to go to work. Liz made an offer to train them for the next few weeks, which they gladly took them up on after seeing how helpful the two of them were.

Over those few weeks of interactions, he was sure the kids would take their offer to join the Path, so he made the offer a little earlier than he otherwise would have, with a little more than a week left before he had to leave. After all, they weren't trying to ambush them or their parents, and they couldn't decide on their own like he had been able to.

Liz was a good insight there, as she had sat down with her parents and discussed joining the Path with them so many years ago, where Matt had just had to pack and catch a train. Together, they met up with Eleanor and her parents and explained the Path to them. They didn’t diminish its dangers or rewards, and could see the eagerness in Eleanor’s eyes and the fear in her parents’.

They tried to temper both sides of the family, but knew that was impossible.

Mara and Leon fully admitted they always worried for their children, even Sam and Leah, who were both old and established, and nothing would change that.

As they said, it was what parents did.

He and Liz were even introduced to the clan meeting, where the higher-ups offered to give the kids all the assistance they could want after they arrived at the next planet on their trip, where they could buy the kids a few rift slots. It was a tempting offer, as it broke the normal tradition of waiting for the clan to return to their training system, but it didn’t tempt the kids. All of them could see the duo didn’t want to wait.

The two of them personally took the duo to the dock where Tally’s second-in-command met them.

He had wanted to give Eleanor a skill, but when he checked with the Pather AI weight system, he was rejected and found the conditions which justified giving a new Pather a skill. They didn’t apply to Eleanor, even if it would have made her safer.

With nothing else he could do, he waved them off with the duo's parents and a few clan elders.

It was an emotional goodbye, and he hadn’t even spent a full month with the kids.

He wanted to do more, but knew there was nothing else he could do.

Despite their intention to leave the kids after dropping them off, they ended up watching their first week at the PlayPen and made sure they settled in properly, but then they really did need to leave.

Eleanor and Ethan had stepped on their Path to Ascension, and he and Liz needed to continue theirs.