The Path of Ascension 3: A LitRPG Adventure

5

“I was thinking about when we aren’t preparing for a fight. I at least have my sword in a spatial ring. This would give you something to defend yourself with around the city or wherever we are.”

Matt kept a straight face. The argument wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t his primary motive. Liz typically kept her red hair in a long braid that fell to the side of her head. She rarely tied her hair up, which was a shame, because she had a long elegant neck that he couldn’t resist. Liz was a weapon in and of herself and didn’t need any further protection, but if she bought his excuse and got the hairpin, he’d get to enjoy the view of her seldom seen neck.

Liz ran a finger over the glass, then started to play with her hair, raising it and spinning it into a bun before she shrugged.

“Yeah, I can make it work. It’s not a bad idea. It just seems kind of expensive. It’s a Tier 7 mana stone for a Tier 6 item.”

“I don’t see us advancing that quickly in the next few months, so it’s a good investment.”

Matt didn’t say they weren’t lacking money, but they really weren’t. Now that they were Tier 6, it was no longer economical for them to delve Tier 5 rifts for growth items. However, they still had made more than most guilds could have earned in a comparable time. So, they were insanely wealthy for their Tier in both mana stones and empire contribution points.

With a mental fist pump, Matt watched as Liz picked up the little slip by the glass container and slipped it into her hand cart.

As they wandered the store together, Matt made a few mental notes for things to try and recreate. A bracelet that created a bubble that blocked rain while flying seemed easy enough, while also being useful, so he set his AI to research the design. With his extra mana regeneration of 80 MPS, he had mana to spare. He figured while he wasn’t fighting, it was a good way to stay productive.

He reached the clerk, put on his best smile, and asked, “Hi, is the enchanter in?”

The man seemed unimpressed and stared at Matt blankly for a moment before asking, “Why?”

Not used to the curt attitude, Matt c****d an eyebrow but answered truthfully, “Well, your LocalNet listing said there was a Tier 10 enchanter here that was on the Path. I wanted to get his help and look over an enchantment for a weapon I bought.”

“So, you want a weapon enchanted,” the clerk replied in a bored, monotone voice. “Put it in the bin over there, and Kelley will get to it in the next few weeks. For an additional Tier 6 mana stone, you can be bumped up to a higher priority.”

Seeing where the misunderstanding came from, Matt smiled at the man. “No. I need to enchant the weapon myself, but I want to see if there is anything else I can get out of the weapon, and possibly have the enchanter watch me lay the enchantment.”

“So, you want a lesson?”

Seeing as how the man seemed incapable of understanding what he wanted, or at least didn’t care to, Matt just nodded. “Sure. When can I meet with him?”

The man lazily swiped at the pad in front of him for what felt like a year and finally said, “He can do an hour lesson now for a Tier 7 mana stone. Standard disclaimer applies. He’ll teach you what he wants, no matter how much or little that is. Though he’ll target your wants or desires.”

Just wanting to end this pointless discussion, Matt nodded and sent the payment over with his AI. He didn’t carry that much money on hand; they kept it stored in their team’s bank account for safety reasons.

The clerk looked disinterested to the extreme as he led Matt back behind the counter and to a room with a metal banded wooden door. With a loud rap, he waited. When nothing happened, he started to pound and kick on the door until it opened abruptly.

The clerk only said, “Lesson,” before he walked away.

The man, Kelley, Matt assumed, looked wild with his beard and hair spiking in every direction.

“You here for a lesson?”

“Not really, but that was the best way to get past your receptionist.”

Kelley glared at the wall and growled, “Sorry, he’s my sister’s kid. So, what do you want, if not a lesson?”

Matt cut to the chase and summoned his weapon from its ring, holding it parallel to the ground so the enchanter could inspect it.

“I have a growth sword that only I can enchant, but it’s got a few advantages.”

He didn’t get any farther before the Tier 10 man snatched the weapon and turned back into his room, shouting, “Shut the door when you come in!”

Matt did as he was told, sending Liz a message to keep her in the loop. Aster, who was still in his arms, stopped pouting and started sniffing around while still being held.

The enchanter had his sword on a table with a light so bright, Matt had to squint. He pulled out his and Aster’s sunglasses to spare their eyes.

Kelley hummed over his blade for a while, and without looking up, asked, “It’s a Tier higher than you? Is that intentional?”

“Yeah, I can handle the physical weight, and I figured the spiritual weight isn’t a huge problem if I just keep the enchantments at my own Tier.”

Kelley tapped at the blade then ran his finger down the flat, as if he was inspecting something through feel.

“You can remove the enchantments, right? Hmm. Yeah, I can feel that. I can also feel that only its owner can do the work.”

He looked up at Matt and shrugged. “While this whole thing is interesting, what do you want?”

“I have a blueprint here bought from the Empire Market, and wanted to get it inspected. It was done by a lower Tier enchanter than yourself. If I had known this city was going to be here, I wouldn’t have wasted the contribution points.”

Kelley looked at Matt in a new light. “You already have access to the Empire Market? Huh, must be a seeker.”

“Something like that, yeah. Can you help?”

The Tier 10 glanced at a pile of armor and then firmly nodded. “As long as you aren’t total garbage at enchanting, I think I can walk you through the process. I have some scrap iron you can practice on. And I don’t want to work on that armor anymore, so you’re a useful distraction.”

Kelley asked for the blueprint and inspected it, finally asking, “Can you afford these enchantments? They’re pretty standard, but this sword doesn’t have a slot for a mana stone like a crafted one would, so it’s unable to have its own reserves.”

Matt carefully said, “Mana isn’t a problem for me. Act as if I had a functionally unlimited supply of it for the purposes of the sword’s enhancements and skills.”

That earned him another odd look, but the man was a part of the Path, so he knew that everyone had their own secrets. Matt didn’t expect him to ask anything more, but when he did, it was a question he hadn’t thought of.

“When you say unlimited supply, do you mean as a stream? Or as a pool? I can do some interesting things depending on each answer.”

“As a stream. Think regeneration, not capacity.”