The Path of Ascension 3: A LitRPG Adventure

51

Liz nodded and gave a noncommittal answer. “We’ll need to think it over. Getting our points back helps, but we’re still on medical leave for two weeks. That’s not nothing.”

“It’s not. And if you want to do some grunt work in the headquarters or working a station, we’ll be happy for the extra hands. But that’s optional, and not worth a ton, really. I can’t do much more than that right now. All I ask is that you hear the prince out before making a decision. I know he has a few ideas that he’s bouncing around, and you can always choose after with little issue.”

“If any of you have more questions, please let me know. I just got word; Prince Albert will be having a meeting in two days, when everyone can leave the hospital. And the people responsible will be in attendance so you will have your chance at revenge. And while we can’t force them to accept a duel, you might be able to pressure them to accept a challenge. Maybe even offer a large enough bribe to get them to risk it. You can’t fight for two weeks, so you should have plenty of time to figure it out.”

With a few more pleasantries, Juni ended the call.

Emily said through gritted teeth, “Did you notice how he didn’t say there would be personal punishments for the b***h?” She reached out and strangled the imaginary person in front of her before turning to her sister.

“What are your chances of getting a license to kill thing that Conor heard about? Passing the test or whatever.”

Annie looked around, and to Matt’s surprise, she looked slightly panicked. “I don’t know. Pretty good, if it’s a practical test. But I don’t know. The idea sounds amazing, but I don’t want all the pressure on me.”

Matt had never seen the team’s rogue be quite so vulnerable.

“It’s harder to work in a city than most people think. There are more layers to security than just getting into a door. Even while invisible, there’s a dozen things to bypass. It’s not that easy.”

Liz brought their focus back to the main topic. “Are we all okay with the kingdom’s proposal? We’ll get half our points back, and…”

“Half!?” It wasn’t just Matt who exclaimed. Why would they only be getting half the points back?

“Did none of you read the actual rules? Go try to buy back in.”

Matt did as Liz said and found a message greeting him.

You have accrued 35,552 points since your last death.

If you choose to leave the war, you will be able to spend all of these points, but will have one standard day to leave the world, and will not be able to participate in any fighting.

If you choose to stay in the war, you will have to spend all of the banked points. Half will be lost, and half will be saved until you choose to leave the war. The half that is set aside will not be accessible in any way, shape, or form, until you cash out. If you die once again, half of those points will be added to the cash out pool.

Your current cash out pool is 0 (17,776).

Please, think carefully. All decisions are final.

Stay in the war?

Yes. No.

Matt looked back to Liz. Once she saw that she had everyone’s attention, she repeated Juni’s words. “The prince intends to reimburse everyone for the points lost, if they choose to come back into the war. He said the points lost, not the points earned. So, if someone cashes out now, they would get nothing. If someone comes back, they would pay half the points we had. It makes us whole, but it’s not perfect either. That’s why I mentioned the time we lose with the healing cooldown. It was a long shot, but I was hoping for more points.”

Matt wanted to sigh but refrained from it. Those kinds of word games were exactly why he hated dealing with people in power. He would have completely missed the difference that Juni’s phrasing made.

It was one of those things he just never wanted to deal with. But a smaller part of him whispered that he needed to at least try to learn some of Liz’s interpersonal skills. If he read the book she bought, like she suggested, he would have known that they kept half their points upon dying.

He had taken the army leader saying that they lost all their points at face value. He figured that they were permanently gone. Not half of them gone, and the other half put into what was essentially a savings account.

The revelation also changed how he saw the overall strategy of the war. Dying still was something that should probably be avoided, if for no other reason than to not build bad habits. But it wasn’t so strong a detriment that it was to be avoided at all costs.

Even if they had died and lost half their points, standing their ground had earned them quite a few as well. It mostly meant that teams with fewer points could make more desperate stands, as they had less to lose.

Matt redirected his attention back to the conversation just as Liz finished her thought, and he missed it. His teammate was on a warpath, getting teams together and bargaining for support. He agreed that amassing their political power was a good move. At the very least, they could demand points being returned for unjust deaths going forward. But from the look in Liz’s eyes, she had more planned.

“What do you need us to do? How can we help?”

Almost everyone she approached seemed interested. Even Annie had stopped pestering Conor to stay engaged. Emily was also locked in. They were all far more engrossed in Liz’s appeals than Matt himself.

Liz nearly glowed while she was the center of attention. “We can’t talk to the queendom side until we’re out of the rest area. It’s a pretty reasonable restriction, considering we just killed each other. But, if you could all talk to the other Pather teams, that would be great. A word of caution, though. When I approached a team, I got a warning from my AI, but now I know that we can skip that step. Don’t approach anyone if they look to be in distress or talking to a therapist. Honestly, I’m going to make one round here, then move into the rec rooms. This is meant to be a mental health recovery room. Actually, now that I think about it, we probably shouldn’t talk to any more teams here. I kinda got ahead of myself with that one.”

She pulled herself back to the topic at hand. “Anyway, my idea is, we get as many of the top teams together as we can. Then, we argue for better terms for ourselves, and harsher punishment for anyone who purposefully abandoned allies for points. Although, if the prince is having a larger meeting, he’s probably already planning something along those lines. It would be silly to gather everyone and show leniency toward the people responsible. It would be like asking for a riot. Still, we can demand our own terms. I’m not certain on what exactly I want, but if we talk to the other teams, we can come up with something appropriate.”

The crowd appeared as if they were ready to leave, so Matt motioned for everyone to sit down.