The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure

4

The group landed on the small front lawn of the floating house, and Wrangle waved them in.

As they walked in, the man held the door open for them. Matt nodded and echoed the thanks of everyone else.

Wrangle just responded with a gentle smile to each of them.

Matt reached out with his spiritual sense to inspect the man but found nothing. If it wasn’t for his vision, he wouldn’t believe the man was even there. Matt couldn’t stop himself from scrutinizing the man as he shut the door, and the scorching heat was replaced by a refreshing breeze.

“Everyone, please drink. I know how hot it can get out there.” Wrangle smiled and waved a hand as glasses of icy water hovered in front of them.

Matt took large gulps until his thirst was quenched, then quizzically peered at the glass in his hand. It was still three-quarters full, though the cup should have been drained many times over. Unlike the others, he’d been protected from the heat by his armor, but he was still parched enough to enjoy the refreshing water.

“Thank you.” Matt received another smile in return, and a table appeared in front of him, set with coasters for each of them. Wrangle hardly brought his attention off Aster while providing for them.

Looking at his bond, he saw that her entire face was submerged in the provided bowl, and she was blowing air bubbles as she tried to guzzle the endless water bowl dry.

Shaking his head, he told Aster that she was being rude. But she shot back, “I’m not climbing inside.” A hint of threat tinged that statement. Even if he didn’t think Aster meant it that way, he still let it be.

Wrangle didn’t seem bothered, so Matt let Aster cool off. His bond really was suffering, and he didn’t begrudge her any comfort she could find.

As everyone else drank their fill, Wrangle waved them to a seating area with enough chairs for everyone. It faced a massive window that had a view of the oasis and desert all in one. It was a stunning sight, and Matt was only pulled out of his trance by Wrangle beginning to speak.

“Let’s get introductions out of the way. I am Wrangle. Peak Tier 24 and a summoner.” The man nodded to them as Melinda introduced herself, and the rest of her team followed suit before Matt’s team did the same.

Out of nowhere, Luna stepped to the side of the two groups.

Matt was startled but managed to restrain himself. In contrast, Wrangle only stood straight and clasped his hands in front of his chest as he bowed deeply. “Great Lady, it is a pleasure to welcome you into my home. Please, treat it as your own.”

There was a traditional cadence to his words, and Matt worried they might have broken some protocol with their entrance to Wrangle’s house.

Luna matched the clasped hand, but her bow was more a nod than the deep bow Wrangle had made.

“Thank you for the gesture. It is received in the spirit it was given.”

Wrangle seemed quite pleased with the response, judging by the smile on his face. That, or he was a fantastic actor.

Luna snapped twice, drawing their attention. She then glared at Aster, who was passed out on the pillowed chair next to Matt. He moved to nudge her awake, but Luna’s hand seemingly stretched across the intervening space and snatched his bond off the chair. She then dunked Aster into a pot of steaming water that suddenly materialized.

Aster screamed her torment both through their bond and out loud. Matt was going to race over, but he didn’t miss that Aster wasn’t burned or hurt, just indignant.

Luna, still holding a now dripping Aster by the scruff, met the fox’s eyes as she held her suspended in the air.

“Need another dunk, or are you awake?”

Aster yowled at Luna, “That wasn’t nice! I’ll—”

Luna dunked Aster again to more yowling and protesting. Afterwards, a now thoroughly soaked Aster replied that she was awake.

With a flick of her wrist, the fox was mostly dry and back on her seat.

Luna met all their eyes. “Does anyone else need extra incentive to pay attention?”

When no one dared speak, Luna smiled.

“Good. Your break is over. I’m glad you took some effort to train while you traveled, but playtime is done. Now, your time is my time. You will not waste my time. The start of training is harsh and hard like the land around us. For a better foundation you must break what you have and reforge it.”

The shorter dark-haired woman nodded to their host. “Wrangle here will be supplementing the next portion of your training. If you would, please.”

Wrangle nodded. Next to him, a ghostly blue beetle appeared and clacked its pincers.

“As his chosen name suggests, Wrangle is a summoner, and an exceptional one at that. This little bug is an elemental beetle. Matt, fry it.”

Matt paused and looked around the house they were in before saying, “I don’t want to burn anything.”

Luna met his eyes, and he swore he saw swirling pools of purple darkness in them.

“This is your one warning. When I tell you to burn down a forest, I expect you to light it up and not ask questions. You don’t know enough to question me. Torch the bug.”

Every hair on his body stood on its end, and he swallowed. It felt like something harsh was caught in his throat, but he turned to do as she said.

With a thought, he activated [Flamethrower]. To his surprise, the flames took a few seconds to destroy the mana construct. Nothing else was even scorched, which put his prior worries to rest.

“Wrangle, please.”

Half a dozen more beetles appeared in a formation at Luna’s words. A glance at his manager was the only prompting Matt needed to activate his skill and fry the summons.

This time, only a few seconds passed when Luna called out, “Enough. Now, look.”

Matt halted the gush of flames and saw that only one of the beetles was dead and that the rest of their carapaces were now a mottled red.

Wrangle seemed to take this as his cue to speak. “Elemental beetles are a fascinating monster that can change their bodies to perfectly negate a single elemental type of damage. A single beetle is weak, but a swarm is a death sentence to a singularly specialized mage. The higher Tier and element of a spell, the harder they find it to shift their defenses against it. Unfortunately, these little guys are only Tier 21. They can’t change to resist higher-level mana aspects like storm or void. I can make them weaker but…”

Matt swallowed. If they were expected to fight these things, Liz and Aster would be effectively countered. He doubted that blood skills ranked anywhere near void or storm mana. He might be able to fight them with a combination of [Flamethrower] and [Hail], but Aster only had ice skills to use. Plus, if he used [Hail], he might prevent her skills from being effective.