The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure

18

Even Mathew shot a mock glare his way. “Bro, I really wish you could just, like, run out. Maybe then we could get a break. Half of us are meatheads that only have internal skills anyway.”

Tara added, “Yeah, this is good training, but we aren’t getting as much out of it as our more delicate mage companions.”

Matt returned to the topic he wanted to talk about. “But mana manipulation, if done right, only burns like one mana every ten minutes. You all should be able to do this even without me. You’re just sloppy.”

He stifled a grin as he threw an exaggerated glare at Melinda. “And we wouldn’t be able to go nearly as hard if not for little Miss No-Healing-Cooldown always patching us up either.”

There was a round of good-natured ribbing at Melinda until Sam tapped on the table. “Sure, Melinda’s also a d**k. But you’re worse, you enable her as well. Sure, the team mommy can fix our boo-boos, but she can’t normally do it forever. Even without that, your endless mana nonsense is still so much worse. First off, I’ve never even heard of anything remotely like half of these training methods. So, either Luna concocted them herself, or they’re normally reserved for higher Tiers. Considering she had us all doing different things, I’d wager a mix of the two. Secondly, we would normally be delving to train, and would need to save our mana for that. It’s just not usually plausible for us to burn through all our available mana in a single day, let alone multiple times. And lastly, my feet f*****g hurt. I’m not sure how that’s your fault, but I’m gonna blame you for it anyway.”

Matt then got facetiously blamed for all of everyone’s little problems. It culminated with Aster being actually upset that Matt hadn’t made her a bunny ice cream rift yet. She had made her request months ago, and he was a failure of a bond for neglecting her vital needs for so long.

That, in turn, led to another repeated argument between Kyle and Aster about the best flavor of ice cream. He insisted that all ice cream was built of vanilla, and therefore it was the best flavor. Aster disagreed because all ice cream was good, and therefore equal.

The rest of them left the fox and fighter to it as they moved on to the train’s workout room. With their cultivation back, they didn’t have to do much to maintain their fitness levels, but it was a nice way to relieve stress.

Their travel was easier because of the lack of space for Luna to really work with them. Those two months were a nice break from the intense physical training.

What was mentally tiring was the tactical training. Things started simply, with examples seemingly pulled from their time in the vassal kingdoms’ war, but they continually grew in scope and difficulty.

Their hypothetical tasks ranged from acting in small scale units, to forcing them to complete virtual missions in larger scale conflicts.

Matt didn’t need to be a genius to piece together that they were being trained for the time after they finished The Path and started fighting in the Empire’s wars for real.

That realization gave Matt pause.

He had long known that the purpose of The Path was to create powerhouses like Duke Waters, or Light and Shadow. But having now fought in the subjugation of a planet, the golem ruin incident, and the follow-up training war, he held a better appreciation of what war really entailed.

The fighting wasn’t like how it was depicted in the movies or books. Real wars were brutal, and next time, a safety net of higher Tier people wouldn’t be in place. There wouldn’t be anyone standing by, ready to rescue them at any second.

Death was a very real possibility. He had to confront that, as he fully realized that Luna was trying to teach them how to do things like go behind enemy lines to kill high Tier commanders or disrupt supply lines.

He’d already been ‘killed’ in the vassal war. It might have been only once, but it was a moment that he saw in a new light, now that he knew what he was being trained for. Once was all he had from here on out.

The lessons of fighting through pain and missing limbs also took on a more serious tone.

Luna fully expected them to have to deal with that one day and wanted them to be ready.

Matt wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with taking up that responsibility. He enjoyed the physical training and pushing himself daily, but he didn’t know if he truly wanted what that led to. Still, he knew himself well enough to understand that he was prone to floundering and relaxing without a goal.

In his free time, Matt looked into the news sources, and when that didn’t answer his question, directly asked Luna what the future entailed after a group lesson on mana manipulation.

She didn’t sugarcoat her answer. “War is coming, Matt.” She looked to the others, clearly meaning that they were not exempt from the consequences of this answer. “The other Great Powers are eyeing the Empire and its changes. They see us rising above them, but it’s too late to stop us. They’ll still try though. They can’t afford not to.”

“What do you mean? Can’t they just do the same as us?” It seemed like the easiest answer to Matt.

Luna wiggled her hand. “They are, some in different ways but they are. The problem is they’re too far behind the curve. Meanwhile, we’re growing exponentially. Even if they start now, or had they done so centuries ago, they have no hope of catching up. Unless of course, we run into a major roadblock, or get taken out at the knees.”

Matt didn’t understand, and after looking around, he could tell that his friends didn’t either. So, he asked, “But why? Why fight to the death at all? Rifts give us everything we need to live. Why doesn’t everyone just work on expanding their borders and just leave each other alone? It seems so wasteful.”

Luna floated down from the ceiling where she was lounging and met everyone’s eyes. “Because we are human. Even the beasts are still human in emotion and desires when we hit Tier 15. We are greedy and stubborn. Why spend millions of years building up your planets slowly, when you can take someone else’s already established planets?”