The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure

35

In retrospect, it made sense, as it explained why cultivating with ambient essence was so slow and difficult. It also explained why monsters in rifts didn’t have any type to their essence. Even a fire rift would make mostly neutral essence.

Matt didn’t understand that, but Erwin hypothesized that the ratio was how planets with a single rift didn’t become singular elemental planets. If that rift only produced elemental essence, it would eventually spread and change the whole planet.

Their testing continued for another two months, along with Luna’s training, before he, Liz, and Aster decided to train in more rifts. It was time to prepare for a second attempt at the Tier 9 rift and Luna had a [Fireball] lesson waiting for them.

7

Emmanuel stood in Mara’s and Leon’s capital world estate as he scolded the newly returned couple.

“You idiots! Do you know what you’ve done!?”

Leon pursed his lips and tapped his chin, while Mara inspected a fingernail that looked more like a talon as she buffed it with her shirt sleeve.

As if he had an idea, Leon snapped his fingers and said, “We didn’t come into the designated reality stepping location and came into our house directly. Sorry!”

Mara nodded without looking up. “Oh yeah. Whoops.”

Emmanuel had to resist actually smashing the two idiots’ heads together. If he didn’t know them as well as he did, he would’ve believed that they actually were idiots. Normally, their antics were a source of stress relief. But dumping that much wealth into a small vassal state had centuries of repercussions, if not handled promptly.

“You gave out enough wealth on that world to crash their entire kingdom’s economy. You gave them credits fifteen tiers above their own. That much money dumped into the economy at once will make any savings or local currency totally worthless! It’s caused a crisis. Most of the people were Tier 6, and now millions of them are walking around with Tier 21 wealth! I carefully regulate the prices of things so that the nobles can’t do what you’ve just done.”

Mara looked baffled. “But last time we took a planet, you said we can’t do so without proper compensation.” Emmanuel didn’t miss the smirk that flirted on the corner of her lips as she finished.

They were deliberately trying to get a rise out of him. Unfortunately…it was working.

Emmanuel felt his blood pressure rise. His heart didn’t need to beat normally, but these two drove him to fall back into old habits.

Through gritted teeth, he said, “No, no, no. I said that you need to stop stealing entire planets. And then, I told you to go pay the refugees that you displaced for their inconvenience.”

Leon nodded along. “Yeah, so this time we brought a new planet, and paid them beforehand. We even paid the other people on it for the inconvenience, too!”

Emmanuel battled with his self-control and decided that it wasn’t worth it to hold back anymore.

If they thought playing stupid could get them away from his ire, they were sorely mistaken.

Punching out, he started whaling on the two idiots.

When he felt better, and their living room was destroyed, he brushed the dust off his shirt and toed the two lumps of flesh.

The two blobs quickly reformed into his friends and subordinates. Though, they did so with exaggerated lumps covered with bad bandages, as if they were characters in some sort of children’s cartoon after a fight had taken place.

He knew why they were acting up. They were bored. They were the type who enjoyed the climb more than the power and influence that it brought to them. They had fallen off The Path due to lack of focus, more so than lacking the necessary combat prowess. Stealing planets and creating little shrines to their children’s accomplishments had only started after they had their own lands well in hand, and their territory was running smoothly.

That didn’t change the severity of what they had done with their little stunt. And he was going to make them pay for it.

Emmanuel found more than a hundred spatial rings scattered throughout the estate with a flick of his spiritual will.

Knowing he wouldn’t like the answer, he asked, “Why do you have so many spatial rings? And why are most of them in places that a mortal would lose them?”

Mara used her leg, which now had a large single talon, to scratch her head. “The kids get really mad when we use our spiritual senses to watch them all the time, so we promised to not use it while in any of the houses. So, we’ve lost a few spatial rings over the years.”

Leon nodded along as if that made any sense.

“Are any of the kids here now?”

Leon picked up a fragment of the broken table, peered under it, and said, “I don’t think so, but if you give me a few hours, I can check.” He then had the audacity to say, “It’ll take that long to check each room, one by one.” Emmanuel had to fight back a smile at that.

If nothing else, they knew how to get him to laugh. “No! They aren’t here, so use your spiritual senses, you idiots.”

Mara looked at Emmanuel and scoffed. “But we promised! It wouldn’t be nice if we went back on our word.”

Leon tapped his chin, only to wince as he touched a cut. “A promise is a promise after all. So, we have to be one hundred percent sure.”

Giving up on that line of inquiry, Emmanuel pulled the various rings to his location and changed his Tier 25 Talent to one that let him see inside spatial items. The ability to peer into unbounded spatial storage didn’t come up often, but when it did he was always pleased to have it.

After cataloging the rings, he threw nearly half of them at the two. “Why are thirty of these filled with s*x paraphernalia? One wasn’t enough? And why is one completely full of identical couches?”

Seeing the two happily pick up the rings, Emmanuel moved on. He wanted to avoid any more discussion on the topic. Otherwise, he’d learn something that would probably make him feel like he needed to shower in the nearest volcano to feel clean again.

Keeping a ring chock full of Tier 26 skills, he tossed the rest back to the two. “I’m using this one to fix your blunder. I’ll offer Tier 26 skills at Tier 21 rates to get rid of most of the money you just dumped into their economy.”

Seeing Mara pout, Emmanuel shot her a dirty look that kept her quiet.