The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure

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Luna then added, “Right now things aren’t a huge issue. Just your delving speed and mana generation are enough to buy items above your Tier. But remember that mana stones increase in value and mana capacity massively as they Tier up and you don’t have growth items to let you jump Tiers of wealth anymore. Even if you just sit in a box right now and charge batteries all day every day, with the rift mana stone to produced mana value difference it will take you over a year to buy a Tier 17 mana concentration potion at Tier 7. We can cope for the next few Tiers, but why wait? If you don’t reach zero in your current mana when you Tier up, you are wasting potential mana concentration. That’s where the weakness will creep in. Every Tier that you don’t maximize your mana concentration, you will grow a little weaker then you otherwise could have been.”

Matt was honestly tempted, but a glance at Liz told him that she wasn’t willing. She wasn’t saying anything, but he could see it in her eyes. She’d agree to it if he wanted to leave, he knew she would, she had said no many times before but that wasn’t her desire.

Liz was on The Path to show everyone, including herself, that she wasn’t relying on her parents and their influence.

They had even had a conversation where she worried about relying on him and his Talent in the same way.

He could see it in her eyes that she wanted to remain on The Path. Her being willing to let it go for him wasn’t enough of a reason for Matt to take Luna’s offer. And while in theory, they could break their team so that Matt could leave The Path while Liz remained, neither of them wanted to do so.

Staying on The Path was better for Liz, and Matt didn’t think there would be that much of a difference in the effectiveness of their training in the next few Tiers. After they had participated in the tournament for Pathers at tier 10, they could reevaluate. But he couldn’t think of anything better that would prove to everyone that Liz was strong in her own right.

She was willing to sacrifice for him, but a good partner didn’t force someone to make that choice. And Matt wasn’t willing to let Liz lose one of her largest goals for him, in exchange for only an extra bit of training.

Knowing it would make no difference to ask Luna to leave, he asked Liz, “What do you think?”

Liz shrugged. “If that’s what’s best, we should do it.”

Matt shook his head. “No. What do you think? What do you feel about it?”

Liz repeated her shrug. “If that’s what’s best, I won’t hold you back. That would be too selfish of me. I refuse to do that.”

Matt sighed internally but was careful to keep that out of his voice. “No Liz, that’s not fair at all. You can’t just sacrifice everything for me. We’re partners. That means equals. If I just let you give up on your dreams for me, I’d be the biggest asshole in the world.”

He looked to Luna. “How much of a difference are we talking here?”

The dark-haired woman quickly said, “Several percent to half as strong at the very worst case. There are a few…risks that we’d have to mitigate, but if I had my way, we’d just shove the best Tier 35 plus natural treasures in you which will ensure you don’t have any inefficiency in your mana concentration. I won’t lie to you and say the half as strong is the end of the world, but it would put your mana concentration closer to a melee fighter than a mage, which is a travesty of wasted potential when you could be the best of both worlds.”

Liz pointed at Luna. “See Matt, this isn’t nothing. I’ve said it before, I will step off The Path for you if we need to.”

Matt had to refrain from snapping. “But this isn’t necessary. It’s a minor thing that there are workarounds for.”

Seeing Liz willing to give up so much for him reaffirmed his decision. “No. Liz, If I asked that of you, I’d be the worst partner in The Empire. If we can’t solve the problem before we run out of Aunt Helen’s potions we can reevaluate then.”

Keeping eye contact, he grabbed Liz’s hand and squeezed to reassure her that it would be okay.

“No, we’ll stay on The Path.”

Luna didn’t seem surprised or angry as he expected. She just nodded and moved on. “If you want to delve a Tier 9 rift, we do it my way. I choose the rift and the mana types you make it with, as well as the items used to seed the rift. I will not put any restrictions on you. There is no advancing until you beat that rift, and you will only get one attempt at the rift per day. I’m going to make it hard. And if you want to keep on The Path despite the disadvantages, you need to survive this rift and not need rescuing. Prove that you are good enough to hand the obstacles.”

Matt and a now smiling Liz were ready to agree when Luna shook her head. “That’s not all. If you want this, you need to have Melinda on standby. Tier 9 rifts are normally a large jump in difficulty. They usually have three monster types and are much larger. They can range between one hundred and five hundred square miles. But that’s not what makes them hard. It’s the first Tier where true sub-bosses appear. If you want to, we can continue, but you need to remember that if I have to pull you out of the rift, you’ll be kicked from The Path. Just like you would be if any other higher Tier saved you. If you do make it, I won’t bring it back up, and will put my full effort into making the best out of The Path for you.”

With that warning, Luna vanished. Matt grinned at Liz, who looked emotional.

“Well, I guess this is her way to try and force us off The Path. If we don’t leave willingly, she’ll force us off if we aren’t strong enough.”

Liz ignored his comment and said, “Thank you. I know it’s dumb. But I…”

Matt pulled Liz into a hug and cut her off. “Don’t mention it. We’re a team. Without an exceptional reason, if one of us wants to do something, we should do it. I know you want to stay on The Path, and that’s enough of a reason for me. No need for thanks. It’s not like you don’t help me all the time, and I think this is too large a sacrifice for you to make for something so small.”

Liz pulled back and smiled at Matt. “Thank you.” Seeing that he was going to say she didn’t need to thank him, she added, “I do agree, that’s Luna’s plan for us, and it’s a normal rule for management teams. The logic is, if they weren’t there and you died, you’d be dead. So, with this, you leave The Path, but keep your life and potential. We’ll just need to be extra careful.”