The Path of Ascension 5: A LitRPG Adventure

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She slinked into his armored side and, in her most sultry voice, taunted, “Is that all you’ve got, big man? Your lead seems to be slipping. I can use blood doping, and if that isn’t enough, I can finally go buy [Mana Strength].”

As she teased him, she actually ordered the skill. [Mana Strength] was such an obvious melee skill that she really should have bought it already, but Luna had advised her to better master Torch’s more melee fighting style before adding passive physical boosts into the mix. By then, Torch had had no issues delving even Tier 12 rifts without the skill, so it just sort of slipped her mind.

Come to think of it, she should look into some of the other physical reserve skills too. If their blood-versions didn’t come out detrimental, she could actually slot them in her inner spirit for the tournament.

Matt turned and pulled her into a lingering kiss until her toes curled and then some.

Three-quarters of the potion still awaited in her body that she needed to expend, so she needled, “Want to spar a little? I might overpower you now, ya’ muscle head.”

That was enough of a reason for them to retreat into the sparring room, where she employed the final potion remnants to great effect. With their help, she overpowered Matt for brief instances.

Seeing him glad about her progress was the greatest reward she could have asked for. Now that she had advanced, she knew that Matt would be looking for anywhere he could increase his own power. They would drive each other to greatness.

What an incredible feeling.

As their duel started to end, she hypothesized how to better play this new card of hers.

First, she needed to recreate the same type of concentrated potion for flexibility, regeneration, and durability, at a minimum. That would allow her to fully utilize her increased strength.

After the final portion of the potion faded, she sagged. Matt came over and slipped an arm under hers.

“Liz, you need to get some sleep. Or at least relax for a while.”

While experimenting with the new potion application exhausted her, she didn’t feel ready for bed. Or at least, not ready to sleep in bed.

High on her success, she let her instincts take over.

Trying to entice her boyfriend, she nipped at his ear. “I don’t know, babe. Maybe you can give me a massage, and then once I’m extra limber, we can move on to something a little more fun.”

Matt just raised an eyebrow and snorted, “If you’re even awake at the end of the massage, sure.”

She pouted in response.

Still, as he started kneading sore and overworked muscles, she contemplated how to further lessen the side effects of the potions. Mixing the other physical aspects and using them in conjunction might help, but she would then need to recreate three new potions.

She also reasoned that if she could ration out smaller bursts of power, or somehow created a constant steady stream of less power to match her advanced regeneration rate, courtesy of her bloodline and Talent, she could hypothetically negate the side effects altogether.

Liz continued pondering her latest achievement as she relaxed under Matt’s practiced hands, hitting all the right spots for her to drift into sleep.

8

With the official starting date of the tournament approaching, things started to ramp up.

It was something Matt could feel in the air as soon as he stepped outside of their apartment.

With Liz’s eldest brother having arrived and taking a well-earned vacation from the army, they had a calming presence nearby that somehow managed to stay unbothered by almost anything. Even his parents’ antics were brushed off like water off a duck’s back.

Matt found Sam to be a treasure trove of information. At least for things relating to the army. The oldest sibling was completely unwilling to let Matt peek into higher Tier only knowledge.

After his promotion, Sam was going to be in charge of one of the Tier 35 battalions. They were a prestigious unit composed of only the strongest in the army. Men and women who had fought up through the Tiers, going from battle to skirmish for a minimum of four thousand years.

The cultivators who made it that far were all hardened elite troops who would be equal to his Tier if not his rank, and Sam readily admitted that he was nervous to command such a unit. If he succeeded in his duties during the upcoming war, there was nowhere else for him to go in the active military.

If he wanted to advance past Tier 35, he would need to leave the battlefield and take up a strategist position or retire altogether. Both options meant an end to his career on the battlefield.

Even now, he had no idea what he wanted to do.

Matt found it refreshing to see a Tier 35 having the same problems as anyone else.

Despite knowing several immortals, he had always figured they had everything planned out. They had the time, after all.

He’d even cajoled the man into a few friendly spars, as he wanted to see how he compared to a man who had been fighting for thousands of years.

The answer, to his surprise, was pretty damn well.

When Sam limited himself to a Tier 9 level of cultivation, Matt was able to dominate the older man, even when spells were incorporated after they fought with just melee weapons.

Even with his years of experience, Sam wasn’t able to bridge the gap in physical ability between his Tier 9 strength and Matt.

When they fought on an even Tier, Matt started to lose, but only in a small minority of their duels.

It surprised Matt despite knowing that he was good with his blade. All the lessons with the trainers Luna had arranged for him usually resulted in him getting smacked around, even with a Tier advantage.

Still, that didn’t mean he was able to actually fight against a Tier 35. Sam wasn’t used to fighting with such slow and limited reactions or without even an Intent, let alone the reduction in his spell repertoire.

When they fought with Sam’s cultivation limited to Tier 11, but with Tier 14 skills, Matt started to lose more than he won.

Sam was able to chain skills and predict the battle in ways that Matt wasn’t able to with his short two decades of combat experience.

Sam’s instinctive reactions were leagues above Matt’s own in both ferocity, timing, and judgment of the battle. He always seemed to know what Matt was going to do before he had even planned it.

Matt wasn’t upset with the results, as he had honestly expected to barely be able to fight Sam, even at Tier 9. But Luna just rolled her eyes and asked why he thought they cared about The Path of Ascension at all if years of battle experience couldn’t be overcome with ability, talent, and Talents.

Sam was good. He was one of the best Tier 35s active in the Empire’s army, but Ascenders were on another level for a reason.