The Path of Ascension

Chapter 132

After a few days of downtime with her parents, Liz was itching to get out of the house. While Matt wasn't nearly as bothered by the duo's antics as Liz, he was still happy to look around the area and mingle.

The Tier 10 tournament was an Empire-wide affair, and even with months left before the official start, people were swarming to the capital planet in droves.

In the region set aside for the Pathers (a few massively spatially expanded blocks in the city), a number of facilities had been set up beforehand, catering to the needs of the contestants.

Both the combat Pathers and their crafter counterparts were present, and both plied their wares in the open market. At a quick glance, it was easy to tell which group was which just from the goods they were selling.

Combat Pathers were mostly peddling raw materials, be they animal parts or pure metals pulled from the rifts' grounds. Meanwhile, the crafting Patherss stalls were packed with finished products.

Prices were ridiculously high, and Matt expected them to only get higher until the final months of the tournament, when only the big three events were still active.

The big three had strict rules concerning what could and could not be used during the trials, especially when it came to consumable items that werent self made. However, the various other competitions had far looser restrictions on single use items.

With such amazing prizes at stake, many competitors would eagerly shell out money for any edge they could get. If a powerful consumable could push you forward even a single extra round, then it more than paid for itself. That resulted in an inflated market for products like talismans and potions. It was something that both Quill and Torch intended to exploit by hawking some of their wares to rake in some extra money. After all, their poor alter egos didnt enjoy the same excess of funds that Matt and Liz did.

As the three of them meandered through the stalls, Matt took note of the few enchanters booths. While they typically focused on enchanting completed weapons and armor, each one also advertised a small selection of talismans.

Most were standard shielding talismans, though the exact means used to achieve the effect varied slightly. Among them, the most common was the standard, neutral mana barrier. It was a good, versatile defense, but even that had its own weaknesses, as Matt well knew. None of them seemed particularly impressive, until he came upon yet another stall with the same, standard talisman. Only this one was somehow recreated with all the major elements, instead of just neutral mana. Matt immediately stopped and started leafing through the papers.

A more thorough inspection revealed that the enchanter had used the same base enchantment that he used for the standard mana shield. But this time, he managed to incorporate the basic elements into the effect without changing the base enchantment. Matt hadnt even known that was possible.

The stall's owner picked up on his interest and walked over. Howdy there. You looking for a defensive talisman?

Matt nodded back. Yeah. Ive used talismans once or twice before, but these seem different from the patterns Im familiar with. He stuck out his hand, Im Matt, by the way.

The woman smirked in a way that only someone who had done something unique could manage, and took his hand. Im Sally. And yes, those are my special little side products. Good eye, by the way. I used the standard mana shield as the base runes to create those talismans, and wove in the elemental effects.

She reached over and pulled out a box from a few spots down and tossed him one. These are the standard versions of those talismans. Built from the ground up as shields of their respective elements.

Matt, playing the normal delver, shrugged. What's the difference then?

He had an idea of where she was going with her comments, but he wanted to play his part properly.

Sally tapped the prices labeled on each box. If you don't make enchantments, it's not a surprise that you don't know. The big difference is in the price. The basic mana shield is far, far cheaper than the specialized elemental shields to create, even with the elemetal additions Ive added. That's just in mana cost, then you have to consider the difficulty of the runes needed for the other shields, assuming you even know them all. This isn't a new idea or anything, but I figured out a way to make similar elemental talismans far cheaper, just by enhancing the basic mana shield. The results arent as strong as the real thing, but they still offer the same elemental synergies and counters at a fraction of the cost.

Matt carefully kept his face blank, but already intended to come back as Quill, and have a much more in-depth conversation with this enchanter.

Sally saw the look on his face and wrapped up the topic. Basically, I only recommend these to people who specialize in the element. They can use their own skills and Concept to boost the power of the shield massively, or use the shield to introduce some of their element into the environment for no mana cost. The starting strength of the shield matters far less in those cases.

Matt nodded, but put the cheaper version back and bought two of the standard mana shields.

He was pretty sure that his own shields were better, by virtue of his endless mana type and mixing of other sub-aspects, but he wanted to see what the woman had to offer. If nothing else, it would let him gauge the capabilities of other talismans that people might be using.

The only other talismans of note were incredibly cheap weather control talismans. That was an interesting use of the disposable spells. He had never considered it before, and intended to replicate some himself.

Eventually, he met up with Aster, who was mingling in a private lounge for Pathers bonds. He didnt miss the engraved red feather that hung over the door, nor the chaperon quietly sitting in the corner and tapping at a pad with a smattering of scales around his eyes..

Waves of power radiated off the man. Matt harbored no doubts he was plenty strong enough to ensure that none of the bonds accidentally hurt each other. So after spotting Aster happily romping around with a number of other bonds, Matt wandered back into the crowded market once again.

He stilled for a heartbeat when Quill and Torch came into view, walking around the market, before realizing that Kurt or Luna were ensuring that both sets of personas were seen together. Even if not interacting with each other.

They had warned him of their plan, but seeing his own alter ego sauntering about was disconcerting.

A Pather next to him laughed. First time seeing the masks in person?

Matt took the excuse and shot the man a grin. That obvious? The movies never make them look so real.

The man was shorter than Matt and whipcord thin, and he continued chuckling while reaching out for a handshake. Felix. And I recognize the look. I had the same flabbergasted face when I first saw one in public. The question is, are these majestic masked men of mystery hiding their identities because theyre really strong, or because theyre really weak?

Matt grinned back and introduced himself. Pleasure to meet you, Felix. Im Matt. And I heard the same thing, but it seems silly. Even the worst competitor here is stronger than the average delver. Just qualifying is an accomplishment. Even last place is nothing to be ashamed about around here.

Felix shrugged dramatically. No argument here, but then again, Ive never been one for pride, so what do I know?

In a moment of unspoken agreement, they started off, walking through the stalls together while chatting about the items on display.

They were jointly musing over a pair of Tier 11 vambraces with a repulsive effect, when Felix was violently shoved from behind. He was forced to tuck and roll under the table in front of him to avoid colliding with the crafters display.

Matt withdrew his longsword from his spatial ring and performed a whirling sidestep to place the blades tip against the shover's chest.

Four people stood in a semi-circle surrounding the shop. Two shifted towards Matt, but he flexed his arm slightly, showing how precarious their friends life was, which kept them back. Looking between them, Matt quickly picked up on the body language cues and intuited the groups dynamic. The attacker was definitely the leader of this little band of belligerents.

The leader, for all his anger, didn't seem bothered by the blade pushing into his chest. Dont know who you are, but you aren't involved, so keep the fuck out of it. I have a pressing debt to settle with this asshole.

He pointed to Felix, who had just jumped back over the stall. It's okay, Matt. I kinda deserved that one, I suppose.

Understanding that there was more going on than he knew, Matt slid back and stowed his sword back into his ring.

Unwilling to be waved off without a word, he addressed the leader. Attacking someone in the market is a pretty fucking stupid idea. Take it to the arenas.

The leader only took his eyes off of Felix long enough to nod slightly at Matt in acknowledgment.

Turning back at Felix, the man spat at his feet, You two-timing fuck! Are you not in the least bit guilty over what you did?!

Felix sagged, just looking tired. I had no idea she was your girl, Grady. Honest. She came onto me at a bar, and I went with the flow. While I couldnt have known better though, Deb definitely did. Blame her for starting trouble, not me.

Realizing what was going on, Matt sighed and stepped back, letting the drama play out.

Apparently, Felix had met up with the other team as they traveled into the city, and they had become decently friendly. Last night, they had split off, and Grady's long-term girlfriend had arrived at the city with her own team.

That night, the pair had supposedly gotten separated. Deb ended up meeting Felix at a pub while wandering around on her own. One thing led to another, and theyd found their way back to Felixs apartment for some fun.

Based on how the event was described, she hadnt been black-out drunk. In all likelihood, she had deliberately chosen Felix to try and start a fight.

Said woman arrived upon the scene, and his hunch was only confirmed when she immediately sidled up against Felix and tried to hang off him, despite his repeated attempts to shrug her off. All the while, she side-eyed Grady. Matt could admit that Deb was attractive enough, but her attitude was extremely off-putting.

At times like this, he was overjoyed to be happily taken by Liz.

Being in a committed relationship let him avoid all of this drama.

Digging through his spatial backpack, he extracted a foldable chair and a beer, and sat back to watch as the juicy drama unfolded.

The city guards arrived not long after, while Grady was still screaming at Felix. Their response wasnt what Matt expected.

Alright lads. Youve made enough of a racket for one day. Are you going to break it up, or do you need to settle this ugliness with a fight?

Felix looked resigned to the outcome as Grady eagerly accepted the guard's offer and roared, Felix, you rotten shit! Meet me in the ring so I can beat your ass properly.

Felix just let out a long breath. I think youre a good dude, Grady, but youre getting played by your girl. I'm not going to stand there and let you pummel me. But fine, Ill humor you I suppose.

Seeing a consensus between the two parties, one of the guards withdrew a small glass orb and tossed it between the two of them.

The instant the orb hit the ground, the two of them were sucked inside. After the orb settled down, it rocketed into the sky and started growing rapidly.

With its expansion, a massive projection of their fight took over the sky between the skyscrapers.

Matt leaned back in his chair to watch the duel.

Felix and Grady appeared in a seemingly perfect replica of the market, just without the crowds of people, and quickly charged at each other.

The fight wasn't nearly as entertaining as Matt had hoped.

While Grady summoned a sword and shield from a storage device, Felix simply flicked a dagger that shot forward copies of itself in an undulating, wave-like pattern. One of the blades slipped under Grady's shield and sunk deep into his chest, before flickering out of existence and leaving a gaping wound behind.

In just seconds, the fight finished. The aggressor lay on the ground bleeding out.

As Grady failed to rise after a ten count, the orb dropped, and both of the fighters plopped back in their original positions.

Grady, in contrast to his dying figure, was perfectly fine, but rubbed his chest in shock.

Deb tried to simper to Felix, but the shorter man just shouldered past her.

Matt slung his chair back into his backpack and grumbled, You could have at least made the fight more interesting.

Felix just smiled. I thought about it, but since I didnt have time to put money on the outcome, I decided not to bother. If Im putting on a show, I want to be paid for my performance. Unlike that idiot. To think dick-for-brains over there actually started monologuing before the fight. A fight he started, no less. Who does that?

Matt side-eyed Felix, who caught the look and questioned, What?

Matt quirked an eyebrow. Thats not what we saw. At all.

With a mental tug, he forwarded the man the AI recording of what the spectators witnessed.

Felix snorted and reciprocated, sending his own view of the duel.

The real fight proceeded differently than what they had seen.

Where Matt had watched the both fighters immediately start and end the fight in near unison, Felix had to listen to Grady ramble as a countdown happened.

As the number hit zero, he withdrew that same dagger in one hand, but in the other, hurled a throwing knife that split while it flew.

Those knives all speared into Grady's chest the instant before he was able to pull out his sword and shield.

Huh. That was all Matt could say. Checking the local PatherNet for recent uploads, he found that everyone had seen a slight variation on the truth.

Pondering what it could mean, he sent the links back to Felix. Apparently, everyone saw something different. Or at least, different regarding the details. The outcome was always the same.

Maybe they're hiding our abilities before the start of the actual fights? Felix offered.

Noting where he was going, Matt asked, You think the chick was trying to find out your abilities and skills?

Slowly, Felix nodded. It would seem that way. I cant say it's a bad idea. I know I already tried looking up some of the more impressive Pathers.

Matt asked, Who's your information broker? Im looking to get a copy of those records myself.

Felix shrugged and sent him an information packet. I didnt get anything too fancy, but here's what I bought. Call it a thanks for having my back when that dumbass shoved me.

Matt skimmed the packet and agreed. It was a very general dossier about the highest-profile Pathers who were expected to participate in this year's tournament.

Matt found it amusing that Talous, the man who had instigated a fight during the vassal war, was considered notable enough to rate a mention. It wasn't much, just a blurb about him having done quite well in the mundane blade tournaments over the last decade.

What was more interesting was seeing both Melindas team, and Conor, Annie, and Emily all getting their own posts. Melinda's team, from solving some kind of problem in a newly settled world that suffered unexplained monster attacks. Though, it didnt say what the actual issue was, just that the team had resolved it.

Emily, Conor, and Annie had participated as a team in both Tier 8 and 9 open tournaments, making a name for their relentless assaults and massive damage capabilities.

Suddenly remembering to check his messages, he saw that they said they were still a month out and grinned, happy for their success after the vassal war as a combined team.

His own team was missing from those reports, which amused him all the more. When he looked his team up specifically, the reports stated they were expected to wait for the next tournament, where they could take advantage of a greater time at Tier 10.

No one expected them to be here at their age.

For any normal team, the smart play would be to wait and accrue wealth, power, and any extra advantages they could before participating in the tourney, after all.

Based on that, they would probably be rated quite low once their participation was noticed. Matt smiled at the thought. That fit perfectly with their plan to publicly settle in the middle of the pack, and disappear into the anonymity of mediocrity.

Eventually, he and Felix met up with Liz and a group she was chatting up.

A pair of men stood to meet him first. Dark, metallic-looking skin contrasted sharply with silvery eyes, giving them each a distinctly unique look that Matt hadn't seen before. Or, it would have been unique, were their two faces not identical.

I'm Johnson. The first twin stuck out his hand to shake.

The second twin proffered his hand right after. Im Johnson as well.

That brought Matt up short. Really?

The first twin burst out laughing. No! Not at all. Im Harvie, and that's Adam.

Adam smirked. Sorry, we just can't resist. It's a funny story. Our parents joked that we looked and acted so similar, they should have just named us both Johnson and been done with it. Now, we just fuck with people with the joke.

Now aware of the joke, Matt grinned and was introduced to the rest of the team. A woman nearly his own size, Janet, and a smaller man who had a moving band of air swirling around his arm named Kevin. If his spiritual sense was to be believed, that little feat of magic was done with [Air Manipulation], and was incredibly well controlled.

After acquainting himself, Matt introduced Felix, who launched into a retelling of his own story as drinks were ordered for the two of them.

Liz snuggled into his side. Did you have fun?

Matt grinned right back. I did. What about you?

She smiled. Oh yeah. Saw a few really nice items that I'll probably go back for in the next few days, and started chatting with Janet when we were looking at a chest plate. After that, we moved here to network. You wouldn't believe what Ive learned so far.

Interested, Matt asked, And what have you learned?

Kevin must have heard that question, as he scooted over with Janet while the twins shamelessly flirted with Felix in their own little corner.

We learned a lot about the upcoming challenges. Or, at least what was seen last time Tur'stal hosted the Tier 10 tournament, twenty-five years ago.

Liz snuggled deeper into Matts shoulder while tracing distracting patterns into his chest as Kevin continued.

The endless rift has the largest amount of information, as they don't ever remake it. Too hard to. But the information is pretty helpful. The monsters are always random every round, so there isn't much you can do to prepare, but we did learn a few good tidbits. The rift starts the monsters at Tier 10, and works its way up every ten rounds until hitting Tier 14 levels. At that point, it just repeats bigger and bigger waves of Tier 14 monsters forever, until you eventually get worn down. The broadcasts of those delves are always a hit, so the info was easy to find.

That fell in line with what Matt had learned of the rift, so he asked, What else did you learn?

Janet sipped at her beer before she added, That was just the easiest one, since we know it won't change. Apparently, most of the other competition rifts are brand spankin new, so we can only speculate based on what the other tournaments have had before. There are always the rift speed runs, but that's all about finding a flaw, quirk, or vulnerability in the rift that you can exploit in some way.

Matt nodded along, as he had done his own research on that event. Have the rules about sharing information been released yet? They always handle it differently, allowing some information leaks before the rift is closed, after all.

Martial abilities werent the only things being put to the test here. The organizers always left avenues for participants to leverage their less combat-oriented skills too, like information gathering and espionage. At least, that was what Luna said.

The rules for the beginning challenges were lax enough that a contestant could gather intelligence about the contest beforehand, as long as they were only using their own capabilities.

The testing went far beyond the obvious first layer of combat strength that the general populace focused on.

Kevin shrugged. Nothing yet, but we got a lead on a private viewing of the old tournament, cut down to only the highlights of what we can expect from the rifts here.

Janet nodded to Liz, who finally sat up and joined them.

Yup. I already agreed for us to go as well. It's next week, and while we won't learn much, it can't hurt.

Matt smiled down at Liz.

They had spent years undercover and created their own understanding of subtle signs, and her drawing on his chest was one of them.

She was indicating that the team was one they should get to know, as she expected them to do well enough in the tournament that they were worth becoming acquainted with.

The drunk act was exactly thatan excuse for her to get close without anyone questioning it.

Janet leaned back as a waiter dropped off the drinks for him and Felix.

Matt reached to take his drink, but Liz snagged the green liquid and coyly sipped at it before he could.

Her playful demeanor shattered before the glass even left her lips.

Gagging, she shoved her ill-gotten gains back into his hand. Harpy shit! How does something called an Apple Drop taste so foul? Ugh. That's vile.

Matt ventured his own sip and instantly concurred. The cocktail was somehow sickeningly sweet and oppressively bitter at the same time.

The wretched flavor was already massacring his taste buds anyway, so tilting his head back, Matt downed the rest of the drink and quickly ordered something called a Sunflowers Dew. It couldn't be worse than his last drink.

Janet had been waiting for him to finish his drink and asked, So, I hear you're quite the swordsman?

Matt smiled back and, after checking he had room, withdrew his blade from his spatial ring and handed it over to the woman.

She whistled. I'm jealous. A growth item. I want to get a spatial ring, but I change weapons so often, it's just not worth it yet.

As she ran testing fingers over his blade, inspecting the enchantments etched in the metal, he said, Yeah. Though, theres always the reward for some of the challenges that will get you a Tier 10 general spatial ring.

Without looking up, she nodded. Sure, but that's a little later than Id prefer. I'm just waiting for the guy who sells the spatial bracelet-bag thingies.

Matt wasnt surprised that Jamie's product was well known. He had gone around the Empire selling his cloth bracelets in the last years. Luckily for his customers, Jamie had figured some way to lower the prices of his goods from a kings ransom, down to mere highway robbery.

Trusting Lizs instincts, he offered, While I wouldn't say we are friends with the guy, I do know him, and can probably get you a meeting with him. Should at least ensure you get one before he inevitably sells out.

Janet smiled up at Matt. Thank you. I normally wouldn't take that offer from a new friend, but I just can't say no right now. Though, I do have to ask how you know him. Coughing slightly, she said, Sorry, feel free not to answer that.

Matt waved off her faux pas. I was at Amelia Galleys big meeting a few years back, and won a cooking competition that earned me some face time. I leveraged that to get Jamie a meeting with her. Nothing crazy.

Janet turned her attention back to his blade. Huh. It's a fantastic blade, but I can't tell what it does. It feels almost empty?

Matt chuckled, That's because it currently is. This blade is just the best I could get as a growth item. It weighs more than it should for its Tier, which is good for my physical strength, but its actual growth aspect is that it can clear itself of enchantments, and be re-enchanted at each Tier. The only downside is, I have to do the enchanting myself. I just Tiered the blade up, so I havent gotten around to that yet.

That was true enough, as Matt wanted to keep the blade free from enchantments until he could consult a professional enchanter about the next design. While he was a competent enchanter, he was about to embark on an important challenge, and wanted to see if there were any Tier 11 enchantments outside his knowledge that would better match his melee identity.

After giving back his weapon, Janet pulled out a greataxe that had two gleaming blades.

As she passed it over, he noted that the weapon, like his own, was far heavier than what most Tier 10 melee fighters could handle. That made him belatedly realize that Janet had handled his Tier 12 blade in the same way, showing her physical strength far surpassed the average for their Tier.

This baby is my new weapon. Tier 11, and as heavy as I can reasonably handle.

Matt traced the runes engraved on the side of the weapon and bobbed his head. I feel sharpness, durability, and repair runes, but there's something else... Lightning maybe? Im not getting a good feel for it.

Janet grinned and tapped the wooden handle. With a big ol axe, I get the ability to have a lot more wood than most, which lets me shove an extra enchantment or two into my weapons. I used this lightning-ironwood-tree-thing to add a bit of extra damage to armored foes.

Matt nodded in appreciation. While a greataxe would fare better against an armored opponent than his longsword, it would still struggle against metal monsters or heavy plate armor. The lighting damage would bypass most standard defenses that didnt explicitly counter that. It made him wonder why she didnt go with the standard spike as a counterweight, and instead opted for a double bladed weapon. Still, her choices were her own, and she didnt get this far on the Path by being ignorant of basic weapon theory.

That's a good idea. One I should look into myself. When I cant cut something up, I usually just default to the club it with something blunt strategy.

Their conversation was interrupted by Kevin steering the topic back to the tournament.

So, we also know that the tournament will have a few multi-team battles to tackle some of the larger challenges theyve set up in pocket dimensions. Are you guys already spoken for?

At that prompt, Matts mind raced through all the information he had about pocket dimensions. They were technically made in real space, but were massively spatially expanded zones, used to make training grounds out of. Most of the time, they were larger ensembles of five teams, or twenty-five people, that went in to fight a massive challenge or scenario. During the last Tier 10 tournament, it had been a challenge of saving a city from a Tier 12 rift break. The more of the city, and more importantly, the citizens that the teams had been able to save, the better the rewards.

He had intended to gather Melindas team and Conor, Emily, and Annie for those challenges, but considered the offer.

Why us?

The twins came back into the conversation at that point, and shot them a matching pair of knowing smiles.

From the AI nametag Matt had placed on him, he saw that Harvie was the one to answer.

We aren't dumb. We did our research shortly after we started hanging out with Liz. Imagine our surprise when we found out that you two were the stars of that vassal war a while back. No one expected you two to participate in this tourney. Younguns as you are, everyone assumed that youd be in the next one. While we would have been happy to drink and make friends with anyone, were even more happy to make a connection with a strong team.

Sighing internally that they had been caught already, Matt shrugged, Well, were also weaker than average, being younguns and all. We really didnt want to sacrifice our age lead, which kinda bites us in the ass. But it begs the question, do you want to risk it?

Adam tagged in for his brother. Oh, while we expect you to get beat out in raw power in the top one hundred, we also expect you two to hit far harder than your advancement would suggest. And we aren't expecting to win everything ourselves. We just want to do well enough to earn some nice rewards. Were good, but not quite win the whole thing good either. Even a top thousandth placing would be fantastic.

Matt met Lizs eyes, and she answered for them. Were happy to join up, though we would want to bring our team from that vassal war with us. And a second team of friends. Both are strong, though. And of course, you can vet them yourselves.

That seemed to settle that, but Felix jumped in, Color me interested too. I'm a solo delver, and had written the entire venture off before this.

He then looked at Matt and had the decency to color slightly, And yeah, I noticed the same thing. I recognized you from the reports on your friends in the vassal war. Sorry.

Matt just shrugged, letting that go, so Kevin jumped in. What's your specialty?

Felix nibbled his lip for a second before saying, While Id prefer not to say too much before we have an agreement, I'm a dagger user, but not the standard assassin type. Suffice it to say that I can delve any Tier 12 rift on my own, if I'm slow and careful about it. If I counter the rift well, I can even fight a single Tier 13 monster, but that gets dangerous enough that Ive only done it twice.

That was impressive.

Enough so that Matt wondered if Felix had also qualified for a management team early.

Luna had made it clear that while she wouldnt tell him anything about other contestants, there were always a few in every tournament. And even the claim that Felix could delve two Tiers up solo was impressive enough, especially as a dagger user. Matt had to consider the possibility.

That, or he had a gimmick that worked on monsters, but not the more intelligent people he would be encountering. If they could figure out how said gimmick worked he might be screwed.

The twins pleaded, and after a second, Kevin and Janet acquiesced, We want to test everyone beforehand anyway, so it's not a big deal. That would be five teams, but we can always find a few other solo delvers to fill out any gaps we have.

With that settled, they dispensed with the important talk and started commenting on the challenges that were going on between various Pathers.

Challenges were rampant, with people trying to show their power off.

All of them felt it was dumb to show off any kind of hidden trump cards this early, but they were glad enough for the entertainment.

Backseat commentary was always a fun pastime, after all.

And making new friends was even better.