The Path of Ascension

Chapter 135

Zack studied the stream of information as it rolled in, looking for any clues as to the abilities or identities of the masked Pathers.

Glancing at the time, Allie was now forty minutes late for her shift. If the patterns over the last week were anything to go by, he expected her to be late by another ten. And yet, that somehow managed to be an overall improvement.

He pulled up the information feed on the top ten Masks again, and reviewed what details theyd sniffed out over the last two weeks.

Currently in tenth place, and determined to stay there, was a team of four who had matching masks, each emblazoned with a different number written in the same, dead language. The fact that they were using thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four, and fifty-five from the golden ratio was interesting. Zack had whittled away hours looking for a connection between that and the abilities they had revealed so far, but he hadnt cracked the riddle.

Yet.

He hadnt found the answer yet, but he knew that he eventually would. People never did anything without a reason, even a dumb one. Zack would find said reason. Eventually.

So far, the team, which Allie had dubbed the Math Club, had only shown off pretty standard skills. They had yet to reveal any of their Concepts. However, he pegged them as having hidden depths, and being unlikely to ever be knocked out of the top ten from a personal loss. No, so far they had only slipped from their chosen position due to a higher ranked team being beaten, knocking everyone else down a rank with them.

Their team would have been more inconspicuous had they not repeatedly moved back into exactly tenth place. Anytime someone new entered the running above them, and shifted them into eleventh, they would immediately challenge the new tenth place team and reclaim their old spot. The Math Club always won handily, and they never advertised any new abilities, which ultimately highlighted both their strong capabilities and their poor sense for subterfuge.

As he continued on to the ninth-placed team, Allie rippled into being via a spatial distortion, loudly munching on what smelled like salted roasted peanuts.

Taking a second sniff, he noted a faint aroma of honey as well, and cringed at his friend's crude palette.

Zack Attack! Anything new and interesting? Allie leaned over his shoulder.

Zack maneuvered his chair seven and a half inches to the left, giving his partner and begrudging friend enough room to see the screen without forfeiting his own designated space.

He refused to venture into the disaster zone that was Allies section of the hideout.

Yes, hello to you, Allie. Why yes, I was happy to work late for you while you goofed off and got roasted peanuts. He tried to keep the snark out of his voice. He failed.

Still, Allie grinned as she popped another peanut into her mouth, completely unbothered by his lack of restraint.

Zack zeroed in on the crumbs that sprinkled to the floor, and with a strand of mana and effort, swept the offending debris into a pile. He then incinerated them with a puff of fire mana. The smell of smoke even helped to cover up that hint of sweetness desecrating her peanuts.

Allie still peered at the screen and quizzed, Anybody new?

Knowing from long experience that it was better to simply humor her, he started his report with the relevant details.

The authorities still havent caught on to our hacking of the spatial orbs, so were still getting full recordings of the actual battles. Here are the latest challenges.

In a compressed video, streamed at a rate that he knew his partner could comprehend, the latest fights raced by.

Allie just chewed and bobbed her head as everything flashed past.

Finally, she broke the silence. Ooh! I like Quill. His eyes are gorgeous! And hes got good quips.

Zack fought the urge to roll his eyes. He failed. Of course that was the first thing his partner would address.

Personally, Zack found the boy's partner, Torch, far more intriguing. But that could wait.

Before he could mention those oddities, Allie asked, Oh! Have you found a weakness in the teleportation matrices yet? That would make this job a cakewalk.

Shaking his head in the negative, he said, I tried, but Tur'stal set the network up herself. The reports on her crafting abilities were not overstated. If we even look at it wrong, well alert her to our presence. Then were done for.

Even at Tier 23, and with their Talents, they had a zero percent chance of escaping if the Tier 47 caught wind of their espionage. The Tier 35 responsible for crafting the dueling arena orbs had overlooked a small vulnerability in the spatial enchantment that they had been able to exploit. However, the orbs were mainly intended to hinder espionage between competitors before the tournament. Comparatively, the teleportation beacons were in place to keep all the masked Pather identities secret, to help protect them from assassination and harrassment. Thus, the Royalty took measures to ensure it was vastly more secure than the orbs. But not even the highest Tiers were infallible, and the duo had hoped to find a loose thread to pull somewhere.

Allie chewed her lip as she nodded.

As they were talking about security, Zack inquired, On that note, have you set up the next set of burn rooms? We need to abandon this one in the next few days.

Allie brushed her sandy blonde hair away from her eyes. Three are all ready to go, except for the snacks, and I got some space set aside for a few hideyholes on the planet itself.

Zack nodded. The small tournament planet was far out in the distant reaches of the star system, and under constant surveillance by Tur'stals personal guards. At Tier 35, they would normally sense a Tier 23 like Allie, but she had far too much practice infiltrating places where she wasn't meant to be for them to notice anything amiss. Combined with their focus on the rifts and critical equipment, an extra worker slyly fashioning their tiny little hideaways would simply escape their notice, especially when a wetworker like Allie was the one making them.

If she even suspected someone noticed her, she would have already enacted a complete burning of their operation, after all.

For all her faults, Allie could be adequately competent when the situation demanded it. If she could just be more serious the rest of the time, Zack could relax more.

Even as he mentally complimented his partner, the menace seized his collection of markers. In the process of plucking out the purple one, she jumbled all the other colors from their careful arrangement of descending wavelength.

Allie strutted over to the whiteboard and started listing what they knew about the Pathers, as he turned and carefully laid out his poor markers. Then, one by one, he returned them to their proper positions in the cup.

Even while doing so, he was still listening to Allie.

So, we have a talisman user mage hybrid and a fire specialized melee fighter. She drew a line under them after writing their new position on the board, bumping everyone else down a slot.

The Math Club also managed to get back to tenth place after being pushed down to eleventh. Again.

Allie perked up, Oh! Did those geeks finally use any new skills?

Zack just shook his head, to Allies disappointment.

She frowned. Whatever. Theyll have to bring out more power and tip their hand eventually. Back to the new duo. Quills a talisman flinger, but with some skill at real spellwork as well. Good sense of battlefield awareness and positioning too. That rounds him out much better than the stereotypical paper cannon. Do we have any real leads on his prospective Talent?

She twirled around, and he saw that his marker's cap was being chewed on. Immediately, he set an AI reminder to go buy another few packets of markers. That whole pack was ruined now.

Still, Zack hesitated with his next conjecture. Eventually, he relented and voiced what he had learned. Yes. Quill told a crafter he challenged that he has the ability to take others' mana types and store them. Considering he knows about mana sub-aspects and uses them in his talismans at this Tier, Im inclined to believe its at least partially true, but well discuss why I remain skeptical in a minute.

Allie shot him a familiar look, and he slumped, knowing where this was going. To his surprise, she didn't ask what he expected. And hes actually able to use different sub-aspects? Effectively?

Zack nodded. Yes, most definitely. I was able to get a good read on his fight and He brought up and replayed the talisman array Quill had used. He's actually utilizing at least five different types of complementary ice-aspected mana, including notes of stillness, slow, draining, cold, and one I couldnt quite catch. It's quite ingenious, honestly, and Im almost jealous. The layering adds to their power, giving him a greater spell that even punched through Sapphire Shields Talent in less than two seconds.

Allie whistled. Impressive. I thought all that power came from the array. If not, thats strong craftsmanship. Inspired even. Any chance hes walking the divide?

He strummed his fingers against the desk. I considered that possibility. Walking the divide between The Paths is very rarely permitted, but Quill really does check off all the right boxes for it. However, I ruled it out in short order. Dedicated talisman craftsmen on The Path are far too rare. Too notable. The potency of his work would make big waves in a very small pool, and Id have easily narrowed down his identity already from that alone. No, hes been keeping his work to himself, which he couldnt do if he was trying to stay on the crafters side of The Path too. For whatever reason, Quill must have chosen to be a combatant, and just a combatant, on The Path. Arguably an odd choice, given his preferred weapon, and especially given a Talent that even lets him copy mana sub-aspects. The potential crafting applications are manifold.

She smirked, and he knew what was finally coming. So Quill has a better version of your Talent?

He struggled to hold in a sigh. He failed. She knew just as well as he did that was not the case, but if he didnt refute her now, hed be mocked about it all day. Probably longer even, given the one time hed actually tried to wait her out. Hed failed then too.

His Talent may be superficially similar to mine, but I am inclined to believe that his is significantly less flexible in combat, as all mana used in real-time was purely neutral. Yes, I am aware that this could very well be a misdirection, particularly considering some additional facts that well go over momentarily. But given his reliance on talismans, Im more likely to believe that its a genuine limitation of some form or another. Perhaps its an efficiency penalty, perhaps it simply takes time, but I am skeptical that he would have invested so heavily into pre-prepared spells on a whim. Thus, preparation is his strength. If he is given adequate time to create a counter, I am confident that he could manage as much.

Raising a finger to emphasize his point, he lectured, However, if taken off-guard by an unexpected tactic, or simply worn down over time, he is unlikely to perform very well. In this tournament, where all potential foes may be studied beforehand? Where the fighting is limited to single isolated encounters? With long breaks in between to restock his talismans? He will do extremely well, but that strength will be something of an illusion, and we should keep that in mind during our final threat assessment. Dont mistake me, if his Talent is what he claims, he is very strong. This is just an optimal environment for him. Unfairly so. Its for all the same reasons that he might make a good hit man, if he can be less flashy and a little more limited in his attacks. The amount of danger he poses sharply fluxuates based on his ability to either predict or choose his battles. Comparatively, my Talent sacrifices his extra variety for far greater flexibility. While its perhaps ironic to say that in this circumstance, it is nonetheless accurate.

Gesturing to the mans partner and a particular moment in her fight, he continued, Now, keeping all that in mind, the melee fighter is substantially more interesting, and makes him all the more curious for pairing up with her. Torch.

Allie butted in. Meh, I saw her fight. A melee flamer isn't that interesting. Curious, sure. And shes adequate with her spear, much better than the average Tier 10 Pather even. But that's to be expected. Nothing truly exceptional.

Zacks lips twitched upwards. His thoughts had been similar, until his third breakdown of the fight.

Maybe, but watch this maneuver.

He replayed a moment where Torch twisted in a dodge and, on a burst of flame, glided to the side.

He let the scene continually replay until Allie caught the moment, the tiny irregularity.

Wait! She was already moving the instant before the expulsion of flame. His partner paused. Huh. That's a good catch. So how did she actually start gliding to the side?

Zack nodded. That was the real question, after all. I do not yet know, but I strongly suspect shes a Muzzled Mask. Otherwise, why would a fire Talent, even a minor one, utilize a melee build? And such an aggressive one at that? If my guess is right, she has some form of innate spatial awareness too. Watch this moment where she dodges one of Rubys arrows.

On the screen, Torch was attacked from behind, but without turning her head, she sailed to the side with a perfectly timed jet of flame.

The moment she reacted timed up with when the magic arrow was exactly fourteen feet away from her elbow, which was unnaturally specific enough to imply a Talent at work. And a sphere of total awareness would explain why she chose to fight in melee range, when distance would be better for a weak fire Talent.

That was why he thought she was a Muzzled Mask. Pathers who took extreme measures to obscure their abilities, even during the tournament itself, were dubbed such for their harsh, self-imposed restrictions. Their primary goal was to remain as anonymous as possible, while placing higher in the tournament remained a distant secondary concern.

Maybe its some kind of energy-based perception or precision ability? Plus whatever trick shes using to move. Allie suggested, Though youre right, it does mean Quill is worth another look too. If his partners hiding this much, that means he probably is as well. Then again, it could just be an odd Concept. Maybe how flames flicker or how their heat radiates into the air? Some sort of danger sense coupled with limited flight? It wouldnt be that strange.

Zack nodded, and they brainstormed Torchs potential Talents next to Quills. Both agreed that the pair would go far. Even without their Talents, they had hit far above their Tier, as shown by their grudge match against the Gems.

Sapphire Shield herself was a fortress of a tank, and overwhelming her in a full frontal attack was previously unheard of. While that could partially be explained with the talisman array, Torch had also been holding her own against both Sapphire Shield and Emerald Blade, who was a prodigy with that saber.

Allie asked, Anything new with the rest of em?

No. In fact, Queen has still not dropped the manifestation of her Concept.

He projected an image of the masked woman and showed the massive greatsword she hugged as she watched video after video of swordsmen in the top ten private lounge.

Allie looked shellshocked. Still? Its been at least two months! Are we sure that keeping her Concept manifested isnt her Talent?

Zack shook his head. That still seemed wrong for all the reasons they had previously debated. Its almost unheard of for a Talent to focus on something someone doesnt even have yet. Unless you're suggesting she managed a Concept manifestation even before her Awakening. Thats all the more absurd though. She wouldnt have the cultivation cores to even sustain that. At best, she could know her image and phrase, but that shouldnt be enough to spark a Talent for its manifestation.

Allie tapped his marker on the screen and then circled the sword. Yeah, but the girl is Tier 10 and has kept her Concept manifested for two months. Even if shes instantly dismissing it the second she's behind closed doors, theres no way she has this much willpower. Heck, even a Tier 15 wouldnt be able to make their sword last that long. It would even be a slight hassle for me. She said with a wry smile before she resumed gnawing on the back of his marker.

Humming to herself, she pitched an alternative. I mean, it could also be a greatsword Concept thats almost completely geared towards manifestation? It would be a weird one, but how else do we explain it? The top contenders are now cracked skill, Talent, or something with the Concept itself. I got close enough to rule out some kind of insanely unique growth item at least. Definitely would have felt that. Maybe the Talent is related to object summoning, and she was able to weave her Concept into it? A cracked skill not sure. The glitchy things can be too unpredictable to really rule out.

Together, they trawled through the woman's fights again.

The first one occurred when she had first arrived on West Flower and joined the masquerade. In her first duel with the rank two-hundred-eleven solo Pather, she had wielded her greatsword so elegantly that most people didnt even realize it wasnt a real blade made of metal. In just three exchanges, she eviscerated the man with nigh perfect sweeps of her blade.

Zack appreciated it for the meticulously controlled attacks. She knew the length of her blade and perfectly maneuvered her opponent into backstepping, just not quite far enough to completely dodge.

Her movements recited poetry in visual form, and the precision of them resonated with him down to his core. He even caught his hand idly drifting to where his rapier usually hung. Of course, it wasnt there, which meant hed annoyingly moved his hand all that distance for no reason.

It was similar to how hed analyzed decades worth of lower Tier mundane blade tournament records in search of Queens identity for no reason. Given her prowess with the blade and obsession with dueling, those competitions should have been her domain to conquer and rule with an iron fist. Yet not a single competitor seemed like a viable match for the mysterious fighters skill level, age range, and general description.

The next fight showed her battle with the then third-placed team. Even in a five versus one showdown, she decimated her opponents in under five minutes, despite being outnumbered and bombarded at long distance by both a ranger and mage.

With her presumed greatsword Concept, Queen deflected all of the projectiles without interrupting her attack patterns. That was the only battle so far that had forced her to use a skill, a simple [Mana Slash]. With it, she had eliminated both her ranged opponents from the fight.

That act would have been impressive if she had been fighting normal combatants, but the Pathers she had been fighting never slipped below the sixth rank, and had preserved their ranking despite three other challenges.

That single [Mana Slash] had simply moved so quickly, it crossed the fifty-five foot distance in less time than it took for the teams mage and ranger to blink.

Zack had timed each, just to be certain.

While increasing the movement speed of a skill was possible, it was one of the hardest modifications to make to a spell, and usually resulted in a notable reduction in power. Queen's attack suffered from seemingly no side effects, but that could be explained through the use of her Concept.

Except, that brought them around to the fact that Queen had her Concept manifested at all times. To imbue her Concept in a skill and send it out would be easy, but her sword didnt even flicker. That wasn't something seen until after Tier 15, when people had long years to train their Concept.

To manage a double layering of her Concept at her Tier made her an enigma. The Empire seemed to have a surplus of those these days.

Allie drew a tongue sticking out of Queen's paused mask and sagged her head. Ugh. She's a pain in my ass. Let's just move on. What about first and second place? Still squabblin?

Zack brought up a projection and played their most recent fight.

The two solo Pathers had been duking it out incessantly for the last two months. Their current record was a near-even split, but they carefully kept their little feud out of the public view.

That may have helped them, if Zack didnt have the feeds to all the glass orbs.

Currently in first place was the Pather code-named Adam.

The man's mask changed consistently, but with an illusion Talent, even they weren't sure what his real face looked like.

Sometimes he wore actual masks that covered his identity, but other times he wore nothing or just a mask that covered his eyes and cheekbones.

The trickster was slippery, as his control over his illusions was so refined that even the cameras couldn't pick him up. If Zack was there in person, he could have shattered the facade, but that was asking to be discovered, so he had to resort to videos only. Passive recon was safe recon.

While the Tier 10 Pathers didnt know it, the little ballroom they were congregating in was inside Tur'stals palace.

The second-place Pather went by the name Pause. And what an apt name it was.

The girl didnt even try to hide her Talent, just her identity.

As near as they could figure, every three seconds, Pause reverted to a physical form she had previously chosen. That included her clothes and stamina, just not her mana. Though as far as they had seen, the Talent didnt depend on mana to function. More than once, Adam had cut the woman's head off from an invisible hiding point, only for her to reform perfectly unharmed.

A monstrously strong Talent. Nonetheless, not even the greatest Talents were invincible. It must have some limitations that they hadnt puzzled out yet.

For that matter, Adam hadnt either. His wins were from when he managed to entomb Pause in some entrapment skill or another. She usually had ways to wiggle out of them, clearly knowing her own weakness, but that didnt stop the tactic from being effective half the time.

So, most fights devolved into seeing if Pause could stumble upon and stab the invisible man before she was trussed up.

While entertaining, the pair never revealed new skills to each other, and just applied the same few skills in new ways.

They also never really visited the top ten lounge, which limited their ability to track the top two Pathers.

After covering the other things he had learned during his watch, there was nothing else worth discussing.

Zack stood up and carefully pushed his chair under the table at his spot. Taking a moment, he inched it slightly left, so it lined up with his stationery, and turned to bid Allie farewell.

Even at Tier 23, he needed the break after a week of being perpetually alert and observing the Tier 10s.

That, and he had to report their latest findings to their handlers.

Sighing, he paced to the teleportation formation and vanished.

***

Allie watched as Zack winked away and then leaned over, poked his chair a smidgeon, and slightly tilted his pad of paper.

A finger flick moved his markers into a counterclockwise spiral instead of a clockwise one.

She grinned and let loose her best evil laugh.

Having been partners for well over a century, she knew all the best ways to mess with him.

She practically had it down to a science; maximum annoyance with minimum effort.

Leaning back, she swung her feet up to put them on the desk, but her chair slipped off the pole, and she crashed to the ground. Crawling to the base of the chair, she saw that her chairs' bolts had been carefully cut through so when she leaned back, she would be sent tumbling.

She giggled as she reached up, grabbing the peanuts from where they still hovered in the same spot.

Having been partners for well over a century, he knew the best ways to mess with her as well.

Still smiling, she pulled a plusher replacement chair out of her spatial ring and settled in for the grind.

***

Shoving away from her alchemy table, Liz let out a huff and waited for the latest potion to finish its final stage of boiling down.

Looking over, she saw Matt carefully tracing out the runes for his talismans, and once again, she wondered if she could keep up with him.

Even using [Blood Manipulation] to move her body like a marionette, she was still weaker than his persona.

Quill was a force of nature, with enough trump cards to fill a dragons hoard.

With only skills unaffected by her Talent at her disposal, namely in her outer spirit, she was heavily limited.

Even with her blood doping methods and [Blood Manipulation], she only held so many other cards she could play.

And if you consider each of the talismans as a card, Quill would have a million cards to play. Almost literally.

Liz squashed that train of thought, as it would only lead to jealousy. Besides,she believed that she might have a way to massively increase her power shortly.

If only she could perfect the process.

Originally, the restrictions on her Torch identity had sparked the idea. While she was barred from using any outward blood skills, she still had free reign within her own body.

In theory, that gave her an advantage over even her hulking partner, who couldn't use the repulsive or mana charging effects of his Concept. In practice, even with an internal Concept, she was limited in what abilities she could exhibit.

Against normal opponents, even Tier 12 monsters at Tier 9, that had been more than enough to carry her through. Against the other best Pathers her generation had to offer, she struggled to overwhelm them as she had the more predictable monsters.

She needed an additional edge. That had gotten her thinking about her alchemy.

Battle potions were their own field of alchemy for a reason. A boost to strength in the middle of a battle could be the deciding factor.

The problem with most potions was their immediate side effects, which usually entailed the drinker getting weaker for a time, combined with an increasing resistance to the effects of the potions if used back to back.

There were some serious drawbacks to overcome if she wanted alchemy to be more than a last resort or finishing measure.

As with most things, her Talent proved both a curse and a saving grace.

What boxed her into a specific fighting style also potentially opened a door to something unique.

After enduring agonizing testing with Luna, she had confirmed that she could purge herself of a potion's side effects. With her control over her blood and body, she could locate the small remnants of the potions and expel them, while focusing [Blood Endurance] on regenerating the exact areas where the potion had stressed her body.

The required caliber of control forced her to push the scope of her abilities to a level she would never have thought possible at this Tier. But it was. She proved it.

A shudder ran through her as she remembered the training. Luna had no issue in dosing her up to the gills with untold types of potions to build enough toxins for her to learn how to identify them. Apparently, this type of training hadnt been planned for another few Tiers, but their manager was delighted to start early. That nightmare had left her bedridden for a week, and Matt had tried to convince her to give up on the idea entirely.

When she refused, he hadn't pushed, but she knew the whole tactic still troubled the big softy.

Regardless, he supported her and ensured that she had all the ingredients she could ask for.

And she had gotten the idea to work. Just not as well as she needed it to.

Now, if she took a potion, she could control the speed at which it affected her by controlling her absorption of the potion. She could also make a short duration potion only affect her when she needed it to.

That had been the first step, but she needed to push it further.

Scrutinizing her cauldron, she watched as the normal strength potion thickened and the liquids boiled off, When it was reduced to a few thimbles of liquid, she transferred it into a waiting pair of vials.

Aster, who was lounging on the chair next to her and reading a book through her AI, was more than happy to quickly cool the concoction.

Liz peeked up to see Matt paused in his talisman creation; the parchment in front of him was messily dissolving. He must have halted mid-enchantment to cause a failure so catastrophic.

He remained silent, but she easily guessed his thoughts.

Babe, weve been through this. It will be fine. I can direct the potion well enough to quickly shunt it out if something goes wrong. I have before. Even if that fails, you spent a small fortune on Tier 12 purification potions as backups.

He scooted his stool forward. Yeah, but you shouldn't have to put yourself through that much pain. But if you insist on going through with this, I'm going to be ready with a healing spell too.

Liz leaned forward to peck on his forehead and then moved over to their confirmatory testing station and observation center. It wasn't just for his concerns that she was going to pre-test the vial of concentrated potion. She wanted to do that for her own safety as well.

Liz wasnt stupid. That particular trait had skipped a generation.

After the concoction was verified as a viable strength potion, she put the vial in an injector and stabbed it into her thigh.

Her jaw locked open as she felt the concentrated potion suffuse her bloodstream. It was like molten lava as the thick solution oozed its way through her veins.

With what felt like limitless power stampeding through her muscles, she punched out at the Tier 13 strength measuring device next to her alchemy station.

Not checking to see what number flashed on the display, she shifted her concentration inward to see what was going on.

The removal of extra water wasn't the only thing she had changed during the formulation of her potion.

Potions were made with ingredients that would slow the absorption of the medicinal effects. Removing them greatly increased the efficacy of the potion, but came with the drawback of being much harder on the body.

Even now, she could sense enough damage to her muscles and veins to verify she would be needing that healing spell. Probably more than just the one.

Thankfully, they had just returned from the masquerade, and she would recover from the healing cooldown before the next one.

With only a month before the opening of the Tier 10 tournament, everyone was getting increasingly restless, and the masked competitors were all jostling for a place in the top ten.

They had already fought seven other teams in the last three masquerades, and she expected that number to drastically increase over the next four meetings. She also worried that numerous rival teams might conspire to deplete Quills talisman supply as much as possible before the tournament, by issuing them continuous rank challenges beforehand.

In actuality, such a tactic wouldnt even put a dent in his stockpile, but every fight was an opportunity for them to slip up and reveal something they shouldnt.

It took everything she had to control her blood and start to extract the lingering effects of the potions that tried to build up her resistance. As she had known it would, the increase in efficiency came with a greater reaction from her body.

Still, with precise control and a mountainous nudge from her Concept, she gathered the lingering remnants and shunted them out through the injection site on her leg. The rust brown ooze smelled wretched, but she hardly noticed.

After a healing spell from Matt, she gingerly picked up the remaining vial and injected it directly into her other thigh.

Instead of letting the potion run free, she strictly regulated its journey through her system with tightly controlled barriers of blood.

Standing tall, she looked back up to Matt, whose hand glowed with a healing spell at the ready.

All good. I've got the concoction under control. Now for the next test.

Saying that, Liz waited as she stretched out the portion of controlled blood through her entire muscular system.

When the potion was evenly spread around, she dropped her control for an instant and punched out again.

The rush erupted through her so strongly that her vision faltered as colors instantly sharpened to a mind bending degree.

Still, her fist landed, and with her tight control over her blood, she had only burned through about a quarter of the medicinal effect of the potion.

Inhaling deeply, she focused on remedying the more broadly stretched out damage and checked the amount of force she had generated. While not a perfect indicator of her power, it was a decent metric that she could use before sparring with someone else.

Her first results with just the pure injection was poking into early Tier 11 territory for melee fighters. Nothing to scoff at, but also nothing special compared to the followup strike from when she had saturated the potion out through her entire body.

With that technique, her pure physical power approached the middle of Tier 11. Despite it being a single step within the same Tier, the difference amounted to a massive leap in qualitative strength.

Liz whooped and pulled Matt into an embrace. She had pulled it off.

It worked.

Matt squeezed her closer. Well done! I just wish you didnt have to torture yourself in your testing.

Liz sunk into her beau's warmth. Matt was her rock, and she knew better than to take him for granted.

Trying to lighten the mood, she teased, Ahhh. Youre just worried that I can wack things harder than you now, arent you?

As he leaned back with a grin, she realized that shed egged on his competitive spirit. Matt activated [Cracked Phantom Armor], and she suspected, or rather hoped, [Mages Retreat] too, before turning and launching a haymaker at the strength measuring device.

Assuming he wasnt holding back for her sake, that single punch edged into the middle of Tier 11.

She slinked into his armored side and, in her most sultry voice, taunted, Is that all youve got, big man? Your lead seems to be slipping. I can use blood doping, and if that isn't enough, I can finally go buy [Mana Strength].

As she teased him, she actually ordered the skill. [Mana Strength] was such an obvious melee skill that she really should have bought it already, but Luna had advised her to better master Torchs more melee fighting style before adding passive physical boosts into the mix. By then, Torch had had no issues delving even Tier 12 rifts without the skill, so it just sort of slipped her mind.

Come to think of it, she should look into some of the other physical reserve skills too. If their blood-versions didnt come out detrimental, she could actually slot them in her inner and spirit for the tournament.

Matt turned and pulled her into a lingering kiss until her toes curled and then some.

Three-quarters of the potion still awaited in her body that she needed to expend, so she needled, Want to spar a little? I might overpower you now, ya muscle head.

That was enough of a reason for them to retreat into the sparring room, where she employed the final potion remnants to great effect. With their help, she overpowered Matt for brief instances.

Seeing him glad for her progress was the greatest reward she could have asked for. Now that she had advanced, she knew that Matt would be looking for anywhere he could increase his own power. They would drive each other to greatness.

What an incredible feeling.

As their duel started to end, she hypothesized how to better play this new card of hers.

First, she needed to recreate the same type of concentrated potion for flexibility, regeneration, and durability, at a minimum. That would allow her to fully utilize her increased strength.

After the final portion of the potion faded, she sagged. Matt came over and slipped an arm under hers.

Liz, you need to get some sleep. Or at least relax for a while.

While experimenting with the new potion application exhausted her, she didnt feel ready for bed. Or at least, not ready to sleep in bed.

High on her success, she let her instincts take over.

Trying to entice her boyfriend, she nipped at his ear. I don't know, babe. Maybe you can give me a massage, and then once Im extra limber, we can move on to something a little more fun.

Matt just raised an eyebrow and snorted, If youre even awake at the end of the massage, sure.

She donned a pout in response.

Still, as he started kneading sore and overworked muscles, she contemplated how to further lessen the side effects of the potions. Mixing the other physical aspects and using them in conjunction might help, but she would then need to recreate three new potions.

She also reasoned that if she could ration out smaller bursts of power, or somehow created a constant steady stream of less power to match her advanced regeneration rate, courtesy of her bloodline and Talent, she could hypothetically negate the side effects altogether.

Liz continued pondering her latest achievement as she relaxed under Matt's practiced hands, hitting all the right spots for her to drift into sleep.