The Path of Ascension

Chapter 207: (1/2)

(1/2)

Aster stretched out across the floor, nose tucked between her front paws as she thought. Being a human was still an unusual situation, but now she was trying to readjust to her fox body and take a few minutes to process.

Shed certainly never seen herself as that much of an artist, but she also couldnt deny the enjoyment shed felt being an animator, and Matts little sister besides. It had been peaceful. In many ways, it had been dreadfully boring, and certainly wouldnt be a life shed want for herself out in the real world, but as a vacation and a way to destress, well... She was beginning to understand the immortals who would spend a thousand years pursuing some odd and mostly-useless skill.

Her Concept in that life was a prime example. There was little real use to her ability to freeze a moment in her memory, then apply it to her art; not when an AI could do all that and then some. But it was fun and neat to play with.

Eventually, Aster scrambled to a standing position and meandered over to her ice cream bowls. Perhaps the life that smelled like spring? Hopefully it wouldnt be quite so slow as her last one.

***

Aster stretched as her pack leader growled and stared at her, ignoring the command to get moving.

Frankly, she didnt care what he thought.

Hard Tooth was an asshole, and only remained in command of the pack because his father was a Tier 25 of the neighboring pack.

Honestly, Aster was getting tired of the pack as a whole. and was thinking about entering human society early. It was almost taboo in the Winter Wolf society, but the nearest city was already mostly populated by the various beasts that lived on this planet, so it wouldnt even be that hard.

She even had a Concept which she had practiced manipulating objects with. While she wasnt as good as a human with hands, she had managed to carve out a few letters in the snow that were mostly legible.

As she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.

While she loved the pack, she didnt love this current iteration of it. As an orphan, she had been well taken care of, but once Hard Tooth took over and tried to woo her, things had taken a turn for the worse. Especially when shed let those advances fall on a cold shoulder.

And the Winter Wolves had a level of distance to human civilization that she never fully agreed with. Yes, they should stay connected to their heritage, but was there really a good reason that they had to forgo the convenience of having an AI? Or for not getting any more than the minimum Empire-mandated education?

The Pack leaders said yes, but she thought differently.

And at Tier 12, she believed that she had the right to choose for herself.

Personally, she thought they were all hypocrites about it anyway. After all, they gladly used the bottled Concept to advance past Tier 5 while banning nearly everything else.

Others now avoided her, just in case Hard Tooth took their attention for interest, and that isolation made her decision easy.

Stretching, she walked away from the group to use the bathroom, but once she finished, she just kept walking. Even as her paws moved, and she plowed her way through the snow banks, she kept moving. Slowly, enough so that she didnt even really feel the difference, her walk turned into a lope and then full blown run.

As the wild winds ruffled her fur, she took in deep breaths, enjoying the familiar, but now somehow different smells of her home.

It was the same windswept hills as always, but now that she had decided to break with the pack, it felt new and different.

The mundane had turned exciting.

With her mana mostly full, she threw some at her Innate [Winter Manipulation] and kicked the swirling eddies of snow into a proper snowstorm, then barreled her way through it, enjoying the feeling of the ice trying to bite at her.

It took her most of the day, but eventually, she started to smell it. The city was right up ahead.

Normally, if they were close enough to smell the city, the pack leader would immediately turn them away, but this time, she ran directly toward it.

She was both nervous and excited as she padded into the citys outer limits and looked around.

She was hardly the only wolf, but she immediately noticed the difference between herself and the others.

The city wolves were still Winter Wolves, but she understood why most of the True Wolves called them dogs. Their fur was sleeker, their nails were cut back where hers made soft clicking sounds as she walked, and their eyes less wary of everything around them.

There were also humans.

She had only seen a few of them before, on the rare occasion, some of them got permission to enter one of their Winter rifts. But here, there were so many.

Aster was standing off to the side of the road, basking in the new stimulus, when an older looking human with a white tail and ears walked over to her.

Before he reached her, he shifted and morphed into a Winter Wolf, like herself.

He was well groomed, but there was a scar on his flank and a glint to his eyes that told her he wasnt born in the city.

She growled a greeting at him, and he returned it and allowed her to sniff him.

The first thing she got from him was that he was strong. Tier 30 at a minimum, but possibly higher.

She also got the scent that he was older than his appearance suggested.

After she finished, she looked at him and in her politest-but-not-submissive tone, asked, Can I help you? I don't think I know you after all.

The older wolf chuffed at that. No, you don't know me, but I know you. Or, I know your type. Got tired of the pack and decided to come into the city. He turned, and she was forced to dodge his tail as he did.

That should have been rude, but it reminded her of the elders and how they never seemed to watch their tails when she was just a cub.

A good if distant memory, and that same thing set her at ease.

Call me Harold. Im what you might call a liaison of the Marquese that owns this planet. I also work with the city governor to help acclimate kids like yourself who get tired of the old ways, and ease your transition into Empire society.

They walked through the city for a little bit while he asked her about herself, and she answered.

Before too long, though, they arrived at a building where the doors opened automatically. She felt slightly confined in the halls that were only two wolves abreast, but she didnt smell any hostility from Harold, and was relieved when he led her to a large, open area filled with snow and trees.

She was looking up to see how they managed to fit trees inside when she smelled it.

Cooked meat. Bison, if her nose was correct.

Harold snorted and indicated with his snout. Go ahead and eat up. It's free. Room and board are free for the next year if you need. You shouldnt need it too long as a Tier 12, but it's here for your use, even after the year. Though, you will need to pay a Tier 5 mana stone per week.

Aster might be from the wilds, but she understood money and knew that was cheap. Very cheap.

Seeing her look of hesitation, Harold explained, We have found that if we offer a safety net, less of you idiot kids will turn to crime the first time you have a bad delve, or whatever the case may be, and lose a lot of money.

Nodding to that, she started eating the slab of bison that had been placed in front of her by a helpful human woman.

After chuffing a sound of thanks, she started digging in while Harold sighed. Ugh. I forgot they dont even give out AI anymore. In my day, we got them so we could learn to understand Empire common at least. If you only know the beast language, were going to need to get you one sooner rather than later.

Aster didnt stop eating, but flicked her tail to indicate her understanding.

Once she was done with the plate of goodness, she got up and stretched before the two of them padded their way to a building a few doors down, where there was a helpful fox lady in human form who explained what the AI chip was and how it would help her.

Hearing it would allow her to talk to baseline humans who couldn't naturally understand the beast language, she readily agreed to the procedure, even though it meant they had to shave a tiny portion of her fur to make the incision, and it wouldn't really work for three days.

She didnt have enough skills to even fill her Core spirit, so there was no need to move them around to make room for the AI.

After that, she was quickly brought up to speed and taught everything she needed to know to live a life in the city.

Harold even helped her get a job watching over children who were learning how to delve. Or, she considered them children. What else would you call someone who needed an escort through a rift, no matter their age?

It only paid a Tier 7 mana stone per run, but she was a good fighter, and was easily able to take three groups through the rift a day.

That allowed her to get her own place and afford her own things, which she found satisfying. It was nice to have a place to call her own.

Better yet, she had made friends, and been recommended to a team who needed a mage and melee fighter.

It was when she met the woman of the team, a red haired front liner specializing in metal magic who introduced herself as Elizabeth, that she froze.

That wasnt right, was it?

Liz was a blood mage.

A blood mage?

Aster had never even heard of a mage that controlled blood, but the thought lingered, and as she tried to chase it down, she felt her mind expand.

Aster, the fox, was startled as she woke up.

She hadnt expected to be a wolf, let alone a Winter Wolf, though she did find life in the beast kingdom fascinating.

Luna had told her things were catered to beasts and their myriad of forms, but she found it really cool how different things were.

It also gave her the idea that she really needed to bring Matt and Liz to a place like this, even if just to explore.

If they did it post Tier 15, Liz could even join her in beast form!

Settling back into the reflection, Aster waited for her wolf self to reach Tier 15 and end the life.

***

The cup shattered in her hand as Liz awoke from her latest reflection, sending what remained of the spiced wine across the ground, still dancing with the remnants of faint flame. A few fragments were trapped in her fist, and she ground them into powder before throwing the dust across the false room. She grabbed the goblet her Blood Queen life had been in and threw that across the room as well, before sitting herself down on the ground and screaming into her remaining hand.

It was okay.

Everything was fine.

That life that life wasnt real. It was little more than a dream. It wasnt real.

She was Elizabeth Moore. A future Ascender. She had a loving boyfriend and practically a little sister in Aster, always by her side. She was Torch.

Yes! She was Torch! She still was the best damn pyromancer of her generation and a blood mage. Shed burned her way to where she was now, and nothing could ever take that away from her.

Slowly, she calmed herself, wiping away a few tears and grateful nobody was around to see her reaction. She thought shed be better about it, but Seeing what her life might have been if her Talent was fire based hurt. even if it was just a figment of Minkallas imagination.

With a shaky hand, Liz snatched a random cup and downed it.

Hmm, grass tasted better than she would have guessed.

***

Liz was a princess.

That was her life, and she accepted it.

Born from two of the Empires royals, she had an elevated status few others could match.

It was a little lonely, but that was fine. She didnt need friends. She learned to love the solitude, and gravitated to the Empires science and arts.

Her Awakening as a blood mage managed to focus that gravitation onto a specific target: bloodline powers.

It was only natural, really. She had among the strongest bloodlines in the entire Empire, and her Talent and Concept only made it easier for her to explore the branch of cultivation it unlocked for her. Despite so, so much research, they were shrouded in mystery.

Common sense dictated that research on bloodlines should wait until after Tier 15, but Elizabeth Moore was a scientist. She had eternity to live once she was immortal, but she was uniquely qualified to provide a mortal perspective on bloodlines until then.

It was generally accepted that beasts born in human form could only transform after Tier 15, because they lacked the spiritual control required for the transformation before then. But was that a hard limit? Was it really just a coincidence that it happened at the same time the body became immortal, or were they connected on a deeper level?

Similarly, were bloodline powers harder to control before Tier 15 because the beast form was absent, or was it just a lack of essence and practice? Clearly, it wasnt completely cut off, as her bloodline had enabled her to utilize rudimentary fire magic before her Awakening.

There were so many questions. Why did bloodline powers last exactly three generations without maintenance? Why were pure humans completely unable to utilize bloodline cultivation? What was really happening when a beast absorbed another bloodline? How did they borrow a different set of powers?

So, so many questions, all of which nobody could answer.

It was only right that she, the Beast Princess, should seek to answer them. Few people felt that Talents represented fate or destiny, but what other explanation was there for her to get a Talent that so clearly showed what she should devote her time and energy to? Her parents were more than happy to help her, providing funding for the most sophisticated sub-Tier 15 bloodline research center the Empire had ever seen.

Some people may have found it weird, to be Tier 10 yet bossing around Tier 30s a hundred times her age, but she didnt find it that strange. This was her project, she was the most determined to find the answers.

And learn she did.

For phoenixes specifically, their rebirth was tied to their beast form, and the molting/burning they regularly underwent. As a human, she couldnt molt, and thus her resurrection wouldnt work. Some other Rank 2 bloodlines, like dragons, didnt have the same restrictions, even though it was hard to confirm that, as most dragons with two draconic parents were born in dragon form. But there were a few born of alternative unions that she had been able to find and test.

Meanwhile, some Rank 1 bloodlines did depend on the beast form for their sole power.

She felt like she was getting close to some new breakthrough, some aspect she was missing. After all, once she reached Tier 15, she wouldnt need to be in bird form to resurrect. There was clearly something going on that wasnt fully tied to just what body she had. The math in some areas just wasnt adding up, but she just didnt have the data to figure out what was happening.

Her latest volunteer padded through the lab doorway. An oddly familiar ice fox named Liz consulted her notes Little Star?

She froze.

No, that wasnt right.

That fox should not be named Little Star. Aster. She was supposed to be Aster.

With that, Liz, the blood mage on The Path of Ascension, awoke and almost instantly faded back, allowing the dream to take back over.

It was interesting to see the results of her efforts into studying her bloodline. It had always been something of a passing interest of hers, but never something she truly devoted time to.

Liz shook her head as she felt some off putting thoughts come to her, then she almost seemed to forget them as she worked with Little Star, who described her bloodline powers and how she was transforming them into a Winter bloodline.

The real Liz couldnt help but chuckle at Minkallas clearly prepared script, meant to jar her to wakefulness, if Little Stars mere presence hadnt already. Meanwhile, her alternate life reached out with her Concept.

Power Through Blood was focused on bloodlines in particular, and could seriously boost the bloodline of her and any willing participants close to her. The dependence on the existence of a phoenix body prevented her from fully using her Rank 2 power, but her pyromancy was second to only Talented pyromancers when she used it on her Rank 1 power.

In this case, she would be helping the fake Aster undergo the change from Ice to Winter. An interesting use of her Concept, but one which would provide invaluable data.

And with that data, Liz managed her breakthrough. That phoenixes could only resurrect themselves a certain number of times before they molted was well-known, but molting wasnt really what reset their extra lives. It was a complex interaction with their Rank 2 power which molting triggered.

And she could trigger it with her Concept as well.

Shed already done so, though it had taken her nearly a year of solid meditation. She was Tier 14 now; shed devoted far more essence than any phoenix before her to her bloodline powers. Shed worked and massaged her Concept until it was as strong as it would ever get.

She was old, and on the cusp of immortality, but she needed to prove that it was possible.

She was in the middle of an operating room, with her parents and siblings watching nervously. No healing could be used or it wouldnt work; her life was truly on the line. But this would work.

She was sure of it.

Her fellow researchers adjusted their measurement devices as Liz raised her dagger. Her hand shook a little, but as she settled her resolve, it steadied out as she plunged the blade into her heart.

The world quickly went dark, and Liz pushed her Concept to its breaking point, straining her willpower as she spun her Bloodline into overdrive.

And Elizabeth Moore died.

Then Elizabeth Moore lived.

Golden flames engulfed her body, spilling out of her chest and consuming her body. It crumbled away to ash before that ash revealed her, unblemished and unharmed.

A complete success.

***

Susanne woke up from her third life and took a slow breath.

The last life hadnt been bad.

Not as bad as the first, at least. Though, that was hardly saying anything.

They had been relatively simple lives. The second life, she lived in the Sects and became a Young Mistress of a low Tier Sect, fighting her way to prominence with a blade that could stretch and shrink in any way she chose.

She hadnt minded that life, as it was so different from her own that once she woke up, she felt detached.

The third life had been one where she had a wind hyena bloodline, and used the speed that came with it to dual wield daggers to deadly effect. She even had a Concept to boost the power of blades around her as well.

Not a bad life, all things considered.

Still, she had three more lives, and her instincts told her that her luck had run out, and Minkalla was going to play with her family once more.

Despite that misgiving, she brought the fourth cup to her lips.

Fear was just an emotion to overcome.

Acknowledgement wasnt a show of weakness, but rather the first step to dealing with it.

***

Susanne pulled her little brother along with her to the testing station.

He was a year younger than her. Almost. Technically. But with their birthdays so close, by delaying her own awakening and urging him to get his a little early, she was able to maneuver things so they could get awakened together.

And what more could they ask for?

Susanne, the real Susanne, had already woken up in this dream, and simply watched as the reflection lived its life.

This life was remarkably similar to her actual life. Her asshole father had left when her mother started to age, and had thrown himself a party to celebrate as her health declined.

While Minkalla prevented lives from being too derailed, it was distinctly possible to make fairly small changes. She couldnt say things her simulation didnt know, or go somewhere that her other self didnt know existed or had no reason to go to. But she could help make choices that her simulation was already considering. Like what shirt to wear, how much time she spent with her mother, or push harder when trying to convince her mother to take them all to therapy.

That small change had saved her mother's life, and while she was depressed, she was getting better with each day that passed, and that was all that mattered to Susanne.

For everything else, she just watched.

It was interesting to be the observer and the observed at the same time, but it taught her a lot about herself. She took everything with a pound of salt, but she soaked in this version of her younger self, so full of vibrance and joy.

Not needing to shoulder her family's burdens had allowed her to be more carefree and act like an actual child.

Susanne suspected some of that was because her brother was only one year younger than herself, and with that change, they were much closer.

The analytical part of her found it interesting that Minkalla didnt change much of her brother's core personality, despite it being impossible for him to be exactly the same with such a change, but she welcomed it.

It was nice to spend time with her brother.

Not a replacement for the real thing, but they were too old to try and shove mulch down each other's shirts now.

Some things could only be done as children.

But she enjoyed them nonetheless.

Still, while this version of her brother also loved the arts, he wasnt as driven to create as he had been before. He was pulled more towards being a mage.

It made her wonder if Minkalla would give him a new, more combat oriented Talent.

As they were awoken, she learned that the answer was a resounding yes.

Her Talent remained unchanged, but while her brother had gotten one similar to her own before, now he got one that reduced the cost of a skill the more recently hed used it. It reminded her of Matts Talent, really.

But unlike Matt, her brother was just as vulnerable as any mage. She wouldnt let him get hurt. She couldnt.

The swell of pride her simulation felt made it easy to nudge things just a little, and this was a situation wherein they were in full agreement. Her brother needed to be protected, and she would be his shield.

When the opportunity to join the Path presented itself, Susanne jumped on it eagerly, hand in hand with her brother. In her real life, shed been pushed to rely on herself and herself alone. It had driven her to succeed, to master the blade and always, always rely on herself.

Her reflection was still quite self-reliant, but she carried the weight of both her and her brother everywhere she went. She eschewed the blade in this life; that was the one thing she didnt need. He was her blade.

And she was his shield.

With her focus and determination, the real Susanne could only smile as she developed her Concept right as she broke through Tier 5, giving her a shield every bit as reliable as her sword had been. Her brother took a bit longer, but the two of them made for a phenomenal team. She protected him, while he unleashed endless waves of attacks.

Torch and Quill werent at their Tier 10 Pather tournament, and so the two of them faced almost no resistance as they barrelled over their competition. Carol was her manager again, but they didnt enter Minkalla until Tier 12. There was no Folded Reflection floor this time, there never was in these lives, and they were a bit less bold than Susanne had been with Matt, Liz, and Aster. But the delve in this life was still a resounding success.

When she reached Tier 14 and was nearing the peak of Tier 15, she once more took over her reflection.

There was one more thing she had to do before this life ended.

Tracking down her father was easy. The man had a new family with a new mortal wife that he hid his immortality from, along with two kids. Same thing he always seemed to do.

She found him walking down the street, arm-in-arm with a low Tier woman, back to the same old tricks.

Hi, dad.

He took an embarrassingly long time to remember her, sputtering denials to his new wife. She didnt listen to his excuses, and just waited until recognition dawned in his eyes.

Once it did, she punched him in the face as hard as she could. He flew backwards to the horrified scream of his new wife. Cheating husband or not, she clearly wasnt happy that a Tier 14 had just murdered him. Her scream of horror sputtered out as he stood back up, little worse for wear, and Susanne could sense her putting the pieces together.

Good. In the real world, she planned to spite her father in the best way she could, exposing his tactics and hiring someone to warn everyone he ever tried to date about his history. Here, though, shed settle for just punching the man down the street. She wasnt a monster, even in this life she wouldnt mutilate or kill him out of spite.

But the punch had been everything shed wanted it to be.

With that, she spun around and left.

She promised her brother she wouldnt Tier up without him, after all.

***

Waking up in the living room, Matt thought about the last life, its chill still lingering on his lips where the tea slowly faded.

Things had been fairly standard, with him joining the path and getting Aster as a drop, but when they went to the training planet, they went to a new location and never met Liz.

Without her, they continued on their own, with Matt leaning into more of a tank while Aster went for more of a damage mage build.

Oddly enough, they even entered the Tier 10 tournament, and Matt did well enough to get himself a manager.

Kurt.

That was what had woken him up, and with Kurt's silent help, he created his Concept. An Internal Concept that boosted his body to incredible heights.

Then Kurt left, and Matt only interacted with his liaison, Julio.

Oddly enough, he even entered Minkalla, though it was during the cycle after the one he was currently in.

He was doing well, as he reached Tier 15 still going strong on The Path.

As far as he knew and once he gained control over the life, he did check Liz just never existed in that life at all. That, or she never joined the Path. Information on Royals was hard to get at times, and doubly so when his alternate self didnt care as much as him about finding the answer making it hard to pry too hard.

Still in thought, Matts questing fingers retrieved the gold-lined teacup and brought it to his mouth for a sip, letting the world around him vanish.

***

Matt walked out of the awakening center and started looking up jobs. Sadly, the only thing he found that might work, an inn called Bennys, rejected him when he messaged them about their open position.

That left Matt adrift, and he wandered around the city until he found a cheap hotel and spent some of his credits for a week's lodging.

He tried walking about to various shops, but no one was hiring anyone as inexperienced as him for a wage that would do more than get him a few credits saved up each week, which was wholly unacceptable if he wanted to earn enough to buy himself a delve slot before he was forty.

He was contemplating heading off into the wilderness, trekking deeper inland to find a rift on his own that he wouldn't have to pay for, despite knowing it was asking for death, when he overheard the waitress talking to one of her coworkers.

Beth, are you joining me to stop off at The Vault after our shift? I'm almost full on mana, and could use some credits to spend this weekend.

Hearing she was going to spend mana for credits and the name of the company, he immediately pulled out his pad and looked up The Vault on the CityNet.

It was a place he had never heard of before, but they bought people's excess mana for credits.

Seeing the rate, he understood why he had never heard of the place before during any of his training.

The exchange rate was awful. For every ten mana given, they would pay 1 credit. For a typical Tier 1 who just awakened, their entire mana pool was only 100 mana, which would earn them ten credits. That would pay for two meals, but not much else.

Even his crappy motel cost him 100 credits a week, which meant that for a normal person, selling their mana wouldnt even earn them enough credits for rent.

But for Matt, it was perfect.

He could sit there for two hours and give 7200 mana, which would get him 720 credits. He could sit there for a day and earn enough for rent for that week.

Even better was the rift slot in Glesie, the next city over. It only cost 10,000 credits, and he could earn that in

Doing some quick math, Matt checked then double checked his answer. In thirty hours, he could make 108,000 mana, which would convert into 10,000 credits.

He could knock that out in a week.

Screw getting a job, he would be able to earn enough for him to buy himself a slot in a rift next week.

If he took two weeks, he could even ensure he was able to get a decent set of armor before delving.

Feeling as if he had the cheat code to life, he got on a bus and went to The Vault.

Once he arrived, he found a regurgitation desk and signed up before being directed into a room with just a seat and large mana crystal connected to the wall with a cable.

It took him a few moments to get the hang of sending his mana into the crystal, but once he felt the mana leaving his mana pool, he settled in, watching his pad to see how much mana was being sent to The Vault.

As the mana ticked to 10 in the leftmost column, the second column changed to 1 credit.

Money in his True Vault account and ready to be withdrawn at any time.

Matt watched the number tick up for another minute, but then grew bored.

Seeing money appear in his account was nice, yes, but it was also as boring as watching water boil.

Wanting to stay for at least two hours, which was when the place would close, Matt sprawled out on the bench and found a movie on sale for a single credit and bought it.

Staying for ten extra seconds would be more than worth the distraction it would offer.

Two hours later, when his pad beeped warning that they were closing, Matt left and went back to his hotel. Sprawling across his bed, letting the happiness wash over him Matt thought about how lucky he had just become.

He had earned more money today than he would have at months of a normal job.

And that was only for two hours.

Tomorrow, he intended to stay from the time they opened till they closed. A full eight hours. That would earn him 2,880 credits.

Almost 3,000 credits in a single day.

An unbelievable amount of money.

Excited for tomorrow, Matt had trouble falling asleep, but after ordering a large but cheap meal, he fell asleep.

The next day, he brought a pillow from the hotel and spent the entire day watching movies, along with his bank account ticking up for every ten mana he sent into it.

Ten collective hours done, and only twenty left.

Next week this time, he would be in Glesie.

Away from this awful city and with a blade in his hand.

He was coming back from his third full day of selling his mana, and was sitting on the bus for his commute, when the world went black just as there was a loud explosion.

Matt tried to struggle, but all he felt was a suffocating blackness that weighed down on him like a blanket, and he couldn't feel his limbs responding to his commands. He wondered if there was another rift break, and he was attacked and knocked unconscious on the bus.

He hoped someone would find him sooner rather than later, but couldn't do anything to speed it up.

It seemed like hours or days later when the blackness was lifted, and an attractive but stern woman was standing over him.

Matt thought he was saved, but when he tried to get up, he felt the restraints that shackled him down to the bed.

The woman watched the horror trace itself over his face with a blank look.

Let me go! He tried to keep his voice stern, but the crack in his voice ruined that. Not that he thought the woman cared.

She seemed indifferent.

You have a useful Talent. A lot of mana. One could even say an endless amount. How interesting.

She pointed off to the side at a screen that resembled the display on his pad when he sold mana at The Vault.

36,000 mana a day. If you don't meet that quota, you will lose privileges. If you cooperate, you will even be given access to local stations and movies. If you decide you would like to not give us the mana we want...

Matt felt a jolt of pain like he was struck by lightning hitting him from inside his skull.

We implanted a pain device into your skull. It won't kill you. It literally can't. It only stimulates your nervous system. It's also well calibrated to not wear out your nerves. If you decide not to give us 36,000 a day, you will get pulses of that until the mana quota is reached.

The woman paused and let Matt take all of that in. If you cooperate, things will be quite comfortable for you. If not, pain will be your only company.

With that, she vanished, and Matt felt the restraints disengage from his limbs and sink into the bed.

He immediately jumped up and started pounding the walls as he didnt see any windows screaming for help.

No help came. As far as he could tell, the walls were solid, and he only hurt his hands.

Giving up a hopeless effort, he looked around the room.

It was simple, with a nice, small bed he knew hid restraints, along with a toilet and shower in the corner, not even behind a wall.

Beyond that, there was only the pad that was connected to a bendable arm he could move around to see it from any view.

And the cable connected to a mana stone that could reach anywhere in the room.

Sudden anger raged through him, and he tried to destroy the cable, but he couldn't even scratch the surface of the mana stone, despite smashing it against the wall. He even tried jabbing it into the screen, but it did absolutely nothing to either object.

Without anything else to do, he started trying to disassemble the bed, but he found it was seemingly one singular unit.

Seeing nothing else he could do, he sat down and planned.

Not that he had any good ideas, but before he knew it, the pad started to beep quietly.

Idly checking it, he saw a message and countdown indicating he needed to start charging the mana stone to meet his quota in time for the next reset.

Ignoring it, the beeping stopped after five minutes, but the red blinking didn't.

Matt refused to cooperate with these kidnappers, and held firm for the entire ten hours.

In every movie he had seen, the hero refused to cooperate and then broke out of captivity before getting his revenge.

He would be just like them.

Strong and defiant.

He thought he was ready when the pulses of pain started, but after only a minute, when the pain stopped, he was on the ground sweating and panting, having urinated on himself during the shocks.

Matt had understated the shocks, thinking the earlier ones were as strong as they could become.

He had been wrong. Oh, so wrong.

These shocks were thousands of times stronger, and seemed to be trying to break something inside of him.

After another minute, the shocks started again, and Matt once more resisted, just telling himself he needed to resist, and the kidnappers would eventually stop once he called their bluff.

An hour later, his will broke. Sobbing, he crawled to the mana stone and sent his mana into it, just begging the shocking to stop.

He had even tried knocking himself out, but found the shocks woke him up even after he choked himself.

After that, he had just tried to power through, but he quickly found even his will power had limits, and once it became clear he wouldnt be given even a small respite, he gave in.

He just wanted the pain to stop.

Anything to make the pain stop.

Except it didn't.

Like the woman said, the shocks would continue until he had caught back up on his charging.

The only saving grace was that they went from lasting a minute to being a short jolt once every ten.

Like stubbing a toe, it hurt, but wasnt enough to do more than jolt him.

Clutching the mana stone like it was his safety net, he sent all the mana into it as if his life depended on it.

Ten painful hours later, he saw the pad blink blue before resetting and showing another countdown with 14 hours and zero mana given.

Seeing that, he cried some more, but at least the shocks had stopped.

It was also confirmation that his captors werent joking about the ten hours of mana per day.

If he skipped like that, he wouldn't be pushing back the total, but rather sending himself into debt.

He tried to stay awake and keep the mana flowing, but after a few minutes of not feeling the pain, he passed out.

He woke up to a beep and looked up in horror, seeing he was once more being warned that if he didnt start sending his mana, the shocks would start again.

Matt thought about resisting again, but even the memory of the hours of shocks almost sent him into tears.

Even as he sent his mana into the stone he called out, begging them to stop this until he was hoarse, but no one seemed to be able to hear him. Or, if they were able to, they couldnt care less.

Once he finished his ten hours of mana, a tray of food appeared right before his eyes.

He almost didnt believe it was real, but after poking it, he found that it was the genuine article

The food wasnt appealing, being a gray porridge, but it was something to fill his empty stomach, and he slurped it down, just wanting to feel full.

Seeing there wasnt anything else and noticing that his thirst was now awakened, he went to the shower where he washed himself and drank his fill.

The water at least seemed clean and filled him.

After that, with nothing else to do, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, his soiled clothes were gone and replaced with a chest of simple clothes in a pile, along with a plastic cup and towels.

Matt checked the pad that loomed over him and saw he had seventeen hours till his deadline, and started filling the mana stone.

He still wanted to fight back, but knew the obvious method wouldnt work.

So, he complied.

Days went by, and slowly he was given slightly nicer things, along with better food as well as shows and movies to watch on the screen.

That all came to a head one day when he fell asleep through the beeps and missed his deadline by twenty minutes.

As the shocks started, all of his luxuries vanished and he was left in the once more sparsely furnished room.

The message was clear.

They could give him nice things, but they could just as quickly take them away.

They were training him like a dog, but there was nothing Matt could do.

No escape.

It seemed like months or possibly years later when something changed.

An older man appeared in the room.

Matt thought help had come to rescue him, but the man's first words broke that hope. I do hope you will be as obedient for me as you were for The Vault.

Seeing the shock on Matts face, the man cruelly laughed. Oh yes. They are the ones who captured you. Blowing up the bus and putting a similar body in your seat was a good distraction, but they couldn't hide it from my noble family's eyes. Took us a while to find you, though.

With that, they vanished, and Matt found himself in a similar room but noticeably different. This one at least had a door that was open and had a bathroom inside it.

The man smiled at Matt as he looked around. Same rules apply here as they did there, but there is one more.

A white, pearlescent stone appeared in the man's hand. You will absorb and cultivate the essence in the essence stone as well, or the shocks will come. The Junipers arent content with only 36,000 mana a day. No, we suspect you can do much more than that after you reach Tier 3.

Hearing this was the Junipers, and the local noble family, something in Matt broke.

He might have been able to escape from a company, but a noble family had far more resources.

When Matt reached Tier 3 and his second Talent was awakened, things got worse and better.

They still expected him to give ten hours of mana generation a day, but the amount increased. They also started giving him slightly better things if he gave them more than ten hours of mana a day.

And why not.

He might as well make his prison as comfortable as possible.

That continued until he was Tier 5, and someone else came and took over from the Junipers.

That same pattern repeated for three more capturers, but eventually, someone much stronger than the rest of them appeared.

The man seemed older, and was built like a fighter.

It took a moment for his mind to wake up.

It was Emperor Georgios.

The man just looked at Matt for a while before shaking his head and speaking to the two people Matt now saw were behind him.

I don't agree with what's been done to him, but hes only full of hatred now. Or at least, he is when he feels anything at all. In every timeline, he turned against us the instant he got any degree of freedom. Nothing for it but to keep him locked up and working for the good of the Empire.

The other man shook his head. This isnt right, father. No one should be locked up and sucked of their mana for the good of the Empire. If the Empire needs its people in chains to function, we don't deserve to be a Great Power.

The woman shook her head. The sacrifice of one can improve the lives of quadrillions, eventually. That is a choice that is hard to make, but one that must be done. If it's not done, we only have an angry enemy. If he hadnt been captured, it would be better to create bonds of trust, but now that he has, we might as well continue with the draining of his mana.

The other man shook his head, and Matt felt like he had met him before, despite not knowing the Royal children.

Once, he had known them, but like most everything else, it had faded away in the endless boredom and monotony.

Before the two could argue more, Emperor Georgios raised his hand, which commanded silence. While not as ideal as other methods, it's what we have, so we must reinforce our control even further. But first, we need him to create his Concept. If he cant create that, he's of limited use to us.

A hand length crystal that seemed to have a picture inside of it appeared and then shattered, releasing an energy into the air.

With a voice that bricked no rejection, the man said, Absorb this energy and create a Concept.

The Emperor and the woman vanished, but the man stayed behind. I am sorry for everything youve gone through. Truly. I just wanted to introduce myself to you, Matt. My name is Emmanuel, and while I cant help you right now I will. If I become Emperor, I will free you. If you hate me, I will not blame you. If you attack me, I will not kill you. If you want to be left alone, you will be left alone. If you desire riches, they shall be given. I will do everything in my power to free you, and to make amends for what my father, and all those who have imprisoned you before, have done to you. I dont expect you to believe me, but this is my solemn vow. Nobody, nobody should have to suffer what you have suffered.

The promise broke something in him, mind and spirit. As the Matt of the reflection broke down weeping, reality shattered around Matt the Ascender.

It was the worst case scenario about revealing his Talent. If the Emperor werent so accommodating- or in this case, if Matt had been alive in the reign of Emperor Georgios, Emmanuels father, this would be his life.

Emperor Georgios was like Luna had told him, a hard man who would happily sacrifice one person for the sake of the whole. At the same time, it was heartwarming that Emmanuel was still steadfast in his belief that no one single person should set themselves on fire to keep the Empire warm.

Matt wasnt sure if that was just because he himself didnt believe that Emmanuel would do any different, or that Minkalla couldn't create a believable world where Emmanuel would choose differently.

That didnt change the fact that this life was horrific.

Not wanting to interfere with his reflections creation of its Concept, Matt watched as it absorbed the energy of Ascension from the Shard of Reality.

He was interested in what this copy of himself would create with its lack of stimulus and such a negative experience.

Seeing where the reflections mind went, he raised a mental eyebrow.

It wanted its mana back.

The reflection latched onto that desire, and grew a seed within it. That seed grew and flourished, until it finally awoke.

Its my Mana.

Like a sink with its plug pulled, all the mana in the room siphoned into his reflection, leaving behind a complete void.

Matt had uses for that.

Still, he felt sick at what even a fake him had gone through to get such a Concept.

This life couldnt end soon enough.