The Path of Ascension

Matt just looked down at his arm. He had felt pain there when he had gone through the cleansing, but had completely forgotten about the implant that he had received the day he arrived at the PlayPen. It had simply been too long ago, and wasn’t relevant to him at the moment.

They were alone. Matt was about to question Gregor’s fast disappearance, when he got a message from his AI about getting access to the Empire’s internal contribution point systems and exchanges.

He ignored it and looked at Liz. “Did that just happen? I’m still in shock honestly.”

She plopped to the ground and said, “Did you see the message?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you look at it yet?”

“Nope.” Matt just didn’t care at the moment. Sitting next to Liz, with Aster sprawled across this lap, was worth more. After the high tension of being accused of cheating and fighting in a Tier 7 rift, he needed a moment to mentally reset.

“Me either.”

They watched the sunrise for nearly an hour as they sat there, just enjoying the quiet companionship.

Finally, Liz bumped his side and asked, “Can we go get a proper room and just crash for the rest of the day? I’m exhausted, and a real bed sounds amazing. I could use one.”

Nodding, he pulled Liz to her feet, and the three of them flew back to the city. They reserved the best room that the nicest hotel had. It cost a Tier 8 mana stone for the weekend, but they had money to burn, and decided to splurge a little.

A long shower and having breakfast delivered led to them sitting on the bed in the provided robes, and pecking at the spread of food. It was heavier than they usually ate, and Matt made a note to get the chef’s pancake recipe, as they clearly did something different, but he couldn’t guess what. Either way, it was divine, and he wanted to see what he could do with it himself.

It was mid-afternoon when they slowly woke up from their nap and got moving, but none of them were in the mood for anything strenuous. So, they walked around the growing town and window shopped. Matt only broke off long enough to get his birth control reimplanted. It was so fast, he was back with Liz and Aster before they left the shoe shop that they were in.

Matt decided to check the message he received this morning about the Empire Market, and was shocked by the numerous items listed. They only had access to the Tier 5 and below market, but there was everything and everything listed. He was shocked to find that the market’s biggest ticket items were in fact, growth items.

There were even crafters of all types selling their services, and it wasn’t limited by Tier. If he wanted to spend a few thousand Contribution Points for a Tier 7 tailor to make him a leather vest, like the under armor he was wearing now, it was possible.

He came to a list of Tier 8 skills that he was interested in. As of now, it was unlikely that he could find the more rare ones listed on his own, even with his creation of rifts. They were still the lowest priority though, as the rifts that dropped them were known quantities. When they increased in Tier, they could farm the rifts in question with some travel and rift charging.

In the end, his eyes kept being drawn back to the growth items section. It only took a quick search with his AI to find items that interested him in the massive list. Thankfully, everything had descriptions and tags to help narrow the search. Otherwise, even his AI would have been lost in the endless array of items.

The list was as long as the prices were high. Matt wasn’t sure what ten thousand Contribution Points equaled in mana stones, but that was the typical price for the average but good swords, like the fire sword they had found and sold for a Tier 15 mana stone.

He quickly found a few items that were close enough to their last sale for him to be able to get a figure for comparison.

It wasn’t great.

The best and most expensive weapons he saw all had more exotic or rare effects, while still being Tier 5. They were, like most growth items, worth tens of thousands of Contribution Points. One bastard sword had the ability to negate its own weight, so it was as light as a feather, but the wielder could flicker the effect on and off at will. On top of that, the item grew heavier as it Tiered up. It cost thirty thousand contribution points.

That’s a lot of rift delving to get a sword like that.

When he read the description, he was surprised at what some of the weapons could do. After skimming through the list for what felt like an hour, Matt found that doubling an elemental aspect was the most common effect on the list. It seemed to set the standard price for the rest of the growth items.

He could understand the draw, especially for any melee fighter who was branching into a hybrid fighting style. It was a massive boost to combat prowess that few things could equal up to, if you wanted to specialize in a single elemental type. Matt didn’t think it was ideal, unless you had a Talent to bolster the elemental affinity, or naturally aspect your mana. But, it allowed people to specialize, and increase their mastery over their skills. They could grow and strengthen a select few skills, instead of spreading themselves out.

From everything he read, it was a valid and successful strategy to get to Tier 14 safely. After that, when time mattered less, people could branch out, and widen their pool of skills to cover their weaknesses. At that point, they wouldn’t have to worry about old age cutting their advancement short.

If a cultivator only delved the already known rifts that didn’t counter them, it was fine, but Matt and Liz didn’t have that luxury. He created his own rifts, and they delved them blind. It meant that they had to be prepared for any and everything.

Speaking of luxury…

Matt thought of their room and accessed the EmpireNet. He liked living with Travis and Keith. It would be nice to have that comfort, along with Liz and Aster. A quick search killed that thought process. Even the smallest and best made flying houses needed a Tier 13 spirit to handle the stress of using the spatial runes. That spirit limitation meant that even the easiest to bag away houses were much more expensive, and in bulkier bags instead of a convenient ring.

Matt shrugged it off, and went back to the Empire Contribution Point Market. He kept browsing the items while they sat on a park bench.

Out of morbid curiosity, he cleared his previous search and looked for the most expensive growth item. When he saw it, he blanched.

One hundred and twenty thousand Contribution Points for a cloak that absorbed all void damage of its own Tier, and could repair itself with ambient mana. The price was still increasing, as it was placed as an auction, instead of a straight sale. The damn thing had two days left as well meaning the price would only increase.

“Fuck!” He wasn’t able to control himself, and it slipped out, causing Liz to look over at him in question.

“Sorry. I looked at the most expensive growth item and was shocked.”

Liz just shrugged. After her eyes flickered for a moment, she said, “It’s a lot. But anything that protects against void always sells for a lot.” She paused and then added, “Have you seen anything you want in particular? I was checking out prices, and if we delve for a few decent growth items, we can kit ourselves out. Buying too many growth items isn’t great because of the spirtual stress, but one more for each of us isn’t a bad idea. The only problem is finding the items to upgrade them, but it’s not that hard while still under Tier 15.”

Matt didn’t see a reason to disagree. He was still tired from the long night of delving the Tier 7 rift, even after his nap. But now, the new shopping platform was holding his attention. There were just too many things that he wanted.

If he was being honest with himself, he was at least mildly interested in almost every item listed. But after a few hours of scrolling through the various growth items, he found one that he felt paired well with him.

As he laid in their bed, he reviewed it for the umpteenth time.

While not perfect, the growth item was relatively cheap, and it accentuated his existing advantages more than a powerful enchantment would. Really, it was as good for his combat style as he could ask for. It had drawbacks that kept the price reasonable, but wouldn’t hinder him in any meaningful way.

It was a longsword that bordered on greatsword length. Even for his height, it was longer than most preferred, but he liked that added reach and weight. Unlike most growth items, it had a distinctly lackluster growth aspect. However,it had the ability to take on different enchantments, which was rare to the point that it was nearly unheard of. Growth items usually just had their unique effect, and were unable to do anything else. This one was able to purge itself for a new enchantment, at the cost of materials of its Tier and a lot of mana. Just as improving upon the sword itself did.

The only downsides were that the weapon was heavier than most swords of its Tier, and it had to be enchanted by the person it was bound to.

It wasn’t the perfect growth item for Matt, but it was the best he had found. Anything that generally worked for him would most likely work for anyone else, and that kind of flexibility always drove up the cost. That made him want this particular sword all the more, as it was cheaper and leaned into his unique advantages. The price was low, at only three thousand Contribution Points. Not out of their grasp by any means, after another few weeks of delving. The item had already been sitting on the market for two weeks, so he wasn’t worried about someone buying it before he could.

Looking for Aster, he also found what seemed to be a perfect item for her. It was similar to the Blood Iron that Liz had gotten, but for ice-aspected cultivators. It was a natural treasure called Winter’s Embrace, a seed from an Ice Rose.

The Ice Rose was a creeping vine-type, natural predator plant. It slowly sapped the mana and life-force from any creatures that had the misfortune to enter its thorny domain of ice.

Matt had to admit that it was a pretty plant, despite the danger. It was a mimic of a true rose plant, with grasping vines entirely made from ice.

The natural treasure had more restrictions than Liz’s Blood Iron, but it was more offensive. Any creature that entered the zone of control would be entangled and tied down by the flowering ice vines. If they were unable to escape, they were drained of mana and energy. But unlike with the plant that the treasure came from, the energy didn’t go to the caster of the vines. It was instead used to sustain and strengthen the vines themselves.

It was still considered an amazing AOE attack for ice mages. Unfortunately, the natural treasure came with some drawbacks as well. Namely, the fact that the cultivator had to already have ice aspected mana, or using the skill would cripple them. The second hurdle was that the caster couldn’t move while using the skill. They were as rooted as the plant that the natural treasure came from.

As they made their way back to the city, Matt started making plans for the next few weeks. He had ideas that he wanted to try, now that he had official approval for his rift creation and delving for growth items.

***

The rift in front of Matt flickered, and he checked his surroundings.

This new rift was created in an effort to give Aster something unique to delve. It would also let him test his new theory, before his order of aspected, fast recharge mana crystals came in.

He had taken her fast converting mana stone and was pumping mana into it, allowing it to feed the output into the formation. It took longer because they weren't perfectly efficient, but he thought that it could lead to some interesting experiments. If it worked.

When the rift flickered to life, a few dozen white deer jumped out, and were immediately slaughtered by his new and improved formation plates his AI had planned out. It had been a task the AI had been working on for the last few weeks when it didn't have any testing for TrueMind to do and when he wasn’t using his mana.

The results had been worth the wait; an attack formation wasn't easy to get to work at Tier 5. It was complex and difficult to enchant, let alone the sky high mana cost.

It worked!

With the anticipation unbearable, he jumped into the rift and discovered a winter wonderland.

It worked!

Retreating, he continued to Tier up the rift.

As he waited, he went to message Liz, but stopped as he remembered that she was busy practicing her melee skills in a Tier 5 rift. He had forgotten that she told him she wanted to practice while he spent the day testing things with the rifts. She practiced all the time, but lately she had even been doing it on their dedicated off days.

When the test rift hit Tier 5, he reentered to find himself on a flat plane of ice and snow. When he flew through the rift, he quickly killed the boss and found a skill shard that he already had. He dispelled [Hail] from the reward distortion, but an ice type skill from a rift made with ice aspected mana was exactly what Matt was hoping for.

Matt pumped his fist into the air when he exited the rift, and shouted into the sky. He had proven that he could influence the rift and its drops by using different types of aspected mana to create and fill the rift.

Millions of possibilities flashed through his eyes, and he exited the rift to check his next test.

This time, he prepared an area consisting of a hole filled with water. His second theory was about creating a water rift on land, which was nearly unheard of. He thought it would be possible, but didn’t know if just having water would be enough. Water aspected mana might be necessary to overcome the difference in location, but he needed to test it either way.

After charging the rift at Tier 1, Matt was still hopeful, until the monsters came out. A bunch of weird, green and brown squirrels. The rift was a murky forest.

Matt sighed and tried again. The testing still didn’t work out as he wanted, and he tried a third rift before moving locations.

No matter how many times he Tiered up the rift or moved locations, he only got land rifts containing lots of water. Even when he created what could only be called a pond, with the rift fully submerged, he only got a murkier forest. After hours of testing, he had nothing to show for it.

It caused Matt to sit and think about his rifts, and how they were actually made.

His AI agreed with his hypothesis that it was possible to influence the rift creation and get a water rift on the land. But he was missing something that was influencing the rift’s makeup.

The obvious answer was that it was the land under them. He made a note to repeat the test with water aspected mana on land again, and flew out to test the rift in the ocean.

Flying over the ocean, he came to a good distance away from shore, and dove down. Using the underwater breathing item they had found, he created a rift under the water, and unsurprisingly found it to be an underwater rift. From his reading, it was a pretty standard one, with various fish trying to eat him.

Underwater rifts were less common than land-based rifts, but they existed. Matt found nothing in the rift guidebook about why they were rare, but his test proved that his rift creation was at least partially based on the surroundings.

Rifts could be influenced by it, but they were not wholly dependent on the area where they were formed..

Matt floated into the sky, climbing in altitude as he pondered the mystery of rift creation.

If rifts were influenced by their surroundings, he either needed to work with that, or negate the influence completely.

He gave his AI a task to create a rift feeding formation that blocked and removed all ambient mana from the enclosure, instead of letting it seep in and help charge the rift. That might be enough. If he isolated the area that the rift was created in, and formed a sterile zone without ambient mana, he might be able to levy greater influence on the rift makeup with the items placed in the formation..

Maybe if I dig out the sphere that the formation makes completely, so there’s no dirt in it at all?

Matt made a note of that idea, and watched as he was swallowed by a passing cloud. It was surprisingly peaceful, flying above everything and everyone else.

Why aren’t there midair rifts?

He paused in his pondering and rubbed his forehead. He had too many questions for now. One at a time, and he would eventually find the answers.

Matt rolled off his flying sword and let the free fall take him.

He closed his eyes as the wind fluttered through his hair. It was freeing to be weightless, and one with the surroundings.

As his AI started to beep at him, he called his sword to catch him and slow him down. He landed next to his failed rifts, and pulled out his next test subject.

Swords. He wanted to try a bundle of swords, and see if that could change the rift’s monsters, or the rewards that he received.

The ones he had bought were shortswords that bordered on daggers and so cheap to be nearly trash, but that was fine for the experiment he had in mind.

Matt used his formation plates to section off a new area, and threw in the Tier 1 sword from the bundle. He started to charge a new rift over the sword. When they were used to create a rift, he found that all the monsters had nearly identical swords. But every time the rift Tiered up, the monsters changed, so he was pretty sure that he hadn’t just gotten lucky from the initial rift creation.

If nothing else, they had a way to replicate standard items. He had a few ideas on how they could take advantage of that.

Matt rubbed his hands, and he placed the Tier 3 sword into the formation. As the rift charged and broke through, he found that the weapon had disappeared. Not unusual, but he hoped it meant good things. The monsters that broke through were killed so fast, he could only tell that they were goblinoids. Scrambling, he once again found an identical sword, but was unable to see if it was enchanted like the blade he had fed to the rift.

That was his hope. If they could get a rift to create enchanted swords for the monsters, he could probably influence the reward drop. It took four clears of the rift to get his answer.

Yes, the rift made more swords with enchantments, but while the sword only had slight variance, the enchantment could be anything. A sword that was enchanted with durability was great. A sword that was enchanted with flexibility was usable. A sword that was enchanted with brittleness was useless.

It still gave Matt a data point.

I wonder if I feed all the Tiers with items with a specific enchantment if I can make it only drop that enchantment?

It also painted a daunting picture for the future. At Tier 5, it wasn’t that bad to create a rift with the specifications that he wanted, but it wasn’t perfect or guaranteed. Maybe one rift out of five had the same item used in the drop table, even if the rift adopted the theme of the item that was sacrificed to it.

At Tier 20, it would be expensive to do these tests. At Tier 40, it would be nearly impossible. That meant that they needed to flip a coin fifty times, and expect it to land on heads nearly every time. It wasn’t practical, and he needed to find a way to increase the probability, if he wanted to make this viable for the higher Tiers.

It was a problem for future Matt, but he didn’t know when he would have a nearly uninhabited planet to perform uninterrupted tests on again. Matt didn’t want to pass up the time he had.

He was also sure that when the management team was created, he would be forced to focus on his fighting prowess. It was in line with what he wanted to do, but experimenting with rifts was so much fun, he didn’t want to stop until he had to.

Matt was enjoying himself too much to stop right now. The research mania of a mad scientist had ensnared him.

***

Two weeks later, Liz landed next to him on her own newly purchased flight item, a pair of ankle bracelets. She gave him a questioning look after seeing the dozens of new rifts.

“I thought today was our day off?”

“It is, but I had a few ideas...?”

Liz looked at him weirdly, “Why is it a question? Are you unsure if you had an idea?” She grinned at him and asked, “Want to spar? I’m feeling antsy?”

Matt was always up for a good spar, so he quickly pulled out his sword and looked at Liz.

“Any restrictions or rules?”

“No. I’m trying to work on my melee combat, and incorporating my flying. This is why ankle flying devices are better. You can keep them on all the time.”

Matt shot back, “Sure, you have them, but I can block attacks with my sword. And I also have a higher top speed.”

Liz hovered while Matt stepped on his blade, while she leered at him and his sword. “Oh, compensating for something, big guy?”

Matt laughed and shot after the retreating woman.

A barrage of [Blood Bullets] tried to cut him off, but Matt opened up his sword’s throttle and corkscrewed around the attack.

Liz wasn’t wrong. At lower speeds, she had the advantage in maneuverability with her flying device, but Matt’s sword excelled in raw speed. If they got into a chase, he would win. But if they were maneuvering at lower speeds, she had the upper hand.

The model they had gotten her was a much more efficient, Tier 7 device. It sacrificed top speed for longer durations of flight time. For each unit of mana, she could stay airborne much longer than he could. They were perfect for a mage who needed to save her mana for fighting.

Liz wasn’t stupid, she dropped off the cliff and into the trees that covered the island. Matt didn’t hesitate to follow her, and used [Cracked Phantom Armor] to blast through the thinner tree branches that Liz was flitting around.

She never let up her stream of attacks while Matt chased her. He tried to dodge them and follow her as closely as possible. Her attacks hit a lot harder than a tree branch, and would easily punch through his armor if they landed in quick succession.

Matt pulled out and loaded his crossbow with a padded tip bolt, and fired it when he had the chance.

As if she had eyes in the back of her head, Liz countered with her own [Blood Bullets], and dodged the bolt by flying into the sky.

I have you now.

As she flew straight up, Matt followed, hot on her trail.

To his surprise, she entered a cloud. He expected her to use the cover to fly in a different direction, but he found her in free fall instead, launching a swarm of [Blood Bullets] as she exited the cloud’s cover.

Unwilling to lose that easily, Matt flipped his sword so the tip faced the sky. He tried to use the more powerful rear thrust to push him down, and out of the trajectory of her attack.

Realizing that the maneuver wouldn’t work, he bailed and kicked off his blade, falling towards the still descending Liz.

She shot him a message as he angled towards her. ‘I’m holding your sword hostage. It won’t come to you if you don’t give up. I win.’

Matt flipped over to verify her threat, and saw that she had wrapped up his sword in a coating of blood, locking it in place. His automatic calls were nothing compared to the force of her [Blood Manipulation].

He turned back around and grinned at his partner. She had well and truly trapped him. If it was anyone else at their Tier, it would have even worked. If he hit the water at terminal velocity, even with a Tier 5 body, he would be screwed.

Unlike most people, however, he had an armor skill that absorbed physical impacts almost perfectly.

Liz changed her trajectory, and Matt angled off to the side, shooting her a message in response. ‘Ha! I don’t negotiate with cheaters.’

‘What are you going to do? Hey, I let it go, don’t do anything dangerous.’

Matt deactivated [Cracked Phantom Armor] for a moment and enjoyed the wind blowing through his hair and enjoying the weightlessness of falling.

‘MAAATTT!!!!’

It was too late, and he dropped to the beach with a loud thump and impact of sand.

The combination of [Mage’s Retreat] and [Cracked Phantom Armor] did their job. While [Cracked Phantom Armor] was stressed from the impact, Matt was fine. Or he would have been, if he wasn’t chest-deep in the sand.

Seeing the worried look on Liz’s face, he deactivated his armor and held out his hands. “Can I get a lift?”

Liz, after confirming that he was ok, launched into a tirade about how reckless he was, and how dangerous his stunt had been.

His protests that his AI had indicated that he had a large margin of error didn’t mollify her at all. Instead, the position only egged her on.

All he could do was take it, as she sat in front of him and bopped him on the nose while he was stuck in the sand. She was satisfied to prove her point about how dangerous his hard-headedness could be.

When Aster made her way over, he thought that he found his savior, and that she would dig him out. But when he asked, he was scoffed at.

“Not dog. No Dig.”

Shouting, he wiggled to get free and said, “Aster, you dig the rabbits out of their holes every day! Just help me get free. Please?”

She just cocked her head and flicked her ears at him. “Not Dog.”

Then she proceeded to kick sand at him.

“That’s digging, Aster. Do that but away from me. Please.”

His pleas were finally heard, and Liz dug him out. A smug look was plastered on her face the whole time.

When he was almost free, she asked, “Was it worth it?”

Matt thought about it. He was nearly free. After all, he could get out on his own from here.

“Yes, that was awesome. I’m going to do it again.”

When she looked at him like he was crazy, he shrugged, “It was fun.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Probably.”

After he was free, he moved to retrieve his sword, and they sparred with just melee weapons.

“Your extra work is paying off, Liz. Your moves are really smooth. Your spear is like a viper.”

It was true. While Matt was stronger and faster because of the cultivation differences, Liz knew her weapon and how to use it. She kept him at her maximum range, and tried to bleed him. For his part, Matt only punished her when she left an opening, and let her feel out her mistakes by putting pressure on her.

It wasn’t like there only existed a single style of combat that worked, so Matt let her discover what worked for her while fighting an opponent with near equal strength. Her strategy would change with every new opponent. Experience was the best teacher, after all.

He did notice that she was giving it her all, and not holding back. There was more than one blow that would have been fatal if he didn't have [Cracked Phantom Armor]. She was pushing both of them to improve.

Matt had to smile. Liz was getting stronger. He couldn’t wait until he could use spells and truly match his partner.

***

It had been three weeks of delving since the investigator had come, and they had a haul of loot that Liz was going to get appraised. She wasn’t selling their growth items to the auction house, but instead was using them to find out the effects of their items. With their identity and special seeker privileges, the Empire covered the cost, and ensured the secrecy of their items.

The items with better effects and growth items would go to the Empire’s market. The rest would be sold in bulk to the auction house.

They had two more growth items pulled from the rifts in the last three weeks of delving, so he was hopeful that they would earn enough contribution points to get the sword he wanted, along with the Winter’s Embrace for Aster. Only one of the two items had to be at least decent.

Matt was staying behind to test more rift combinations with Aster's ice mana. The results were hit or miss, with the various objects rarely mixing with the mana. The mana was either ignored and seemed to have no effect, or the object was overpowered. Still, he was learning.

He found Liz and Aster waiting behind him. Forgetting his experiments, he hugged them and asked, “How did it go?”

“Fine. Better than fine, actually. That crown growth item was a mage amplifier. Any water skills cast through it would take on a semi-autonomous homing function. I asked, and blood wouldn’t work for it. Otherwise, I would have kept it.”

They had already known that one would be good, but the second item was the true mystery. “What about the shoe?”

Yes, it had been a single shoe that felt off to both of them. It also felt surprisingly powerful, so they hoped that fact would overshadow it being only one of a pair.

“The shoe was weird. It apparently increases jump height. Kinda screwed, as it’s a single shoe and so small, but I brought it back. How was the testing?”

Matt quickly launched into a recap while he cuddled his bond, who had missed him greatly. He ignored the flickering thoughts about a particular rift filled with rabbits. No, she missed him.

Liz pulled out a bunch of items that he had requested. She had his order of fast charging mana stones, with all the standard aspects already attuned. With these, he could perform more tests, and hopefully narrow the items they got out of rifts.

He was running out of experiments that seemed to actually work in the last few days, so it was great timing.

“Did you put the crown up on the Empire Market’s auction netsite?”

“Yeah, the auction house is taking care of that. The Empire Market’s AI rated it at eight thousand Contribution Points, so that’s what I listed it for. I also put in the order for the sword you wanted, and the Winter’s Embrace for Aster. Hopefully, we'll get them in the next few weeks.”

Matt pulled Liz in for a hug, and let Aster go play in her rift. He wanted to test the new mana aspects and to test what would happen if they were mixed.