The Path of Ascension 5: A LitRPG Adventure

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Seeing a way to bring the Emperor’s own words back into it despite disagreeing with the man’s comments on self-sacrifice, he said, “We are helped and protected by a society that enables us to have strength. I believe the individual has a duty to stand up and protect that way of life for everyone who would stand to lose something without it. Self-sacrifice is a noble ideal, but if everyone else believes someone else will carry the burden, we will lose the very thing that enabled our growth. No, I believe that everyone has the obligation to give as much as they got, if not more. We must stand resolute and protect what is important to us.”

Matt felt the world sharpen for an instant, but the feeling was fleeting, and quickly passed from his mind like a fading wind.

Emmanuel leaned back, and suddenly Matt felt the Emperor return to the conversation.

The Emperor smiled, but there was a sadness to it that Matt didn’t have the life experience to really understand.

“A laudable sentiment, but one few share. I’ve learned from a long life that it’s a hard sentiment to live up to. Still, a commendable point of view. If that is your wish, then I won’t interfere, and I wish you the best of luck. Truly, I do. But know that you can change your mind and step off until Tier 24 or so. After that, I will expect you to do the job of an Ascender and be a bulwark for the Empire. Once you take that mantle, you will be expected to carry it to the end.”

Matt swallowed but nodded. He wanted to protect his home and didn’t feel comfortable putting all his safety in the hands of others despite how arrogant that sounded. Even in his own thoughts.

He may be a small cog now, but he wouldn’t always remain so. There were no shortcuts in life, and this felt right.

It wasn’t the easy path in life that gave the best results.

The fundamental law of rifts came to his mind. Greater risk brought greater reward.

As the conversation settled into a lull, Matt asked, “You believe we can complete The Path?”

While he was confident in his own abilities, doubly so after fighting his sponsors, he wanted to get the perspective of a Tier 50.

Emmanuel laughed and gestured with his hand as a view of him fighting Dena replayed in front of them, surrounded by a light golden haze.

“Matt, not everyone can fight those two evenly. Even with them being limited because of their cultivation, they are two of my best Pathers right now. They are the one percent that I am looking for from The Path of Ascension. While they aren’t quite up to the level of an Ascender, they are close. You beat Dena in a one versus one at the same cultivation level, which is impressive by any measure. While the lack of higher Tier skills hurt their normal strategies a bit, I think only one other team in the competition could even come close to matching them on an even footing. Let alone beat them. Dena and Eric aren’t lightweights, and I expect great things from them when they enter the special forces and are given the best gear and skills. You forcing her to use a greater level of cultivation to fight you to a draw is—” The Emperor snorted, not finishing his thought. “Let it suffice to say, while I’m sure they are proud of you three, the duo’s pride is sorely bruised about now.”

The golden-edged recording changed to the team fight. “Then, the three of you forced one of my best Pather teams to fight you with a two-Tier advantage. That is impressive, rare, and, dare I say, unprecedented.” He lifted a single finger and waggled it back and forth. “The other team I mentioned as having high hopes for in this tournament? I’d give them fifty-fifty odds of fighting Dena and Eric with a single Tier deficit. With a two-Tier disadvantage, I don’t think they would last for more than a few engagements before they lost. You three pushed them to the peak of Tier 12 power, while being bottom Tier 10s yourselves. I’m sure if I chucked you three into even a full, peak Tier 14 rift right now, locked the entrance and forced you to complete the rift, you’d figure it out. I’m also confident that even if I took away Matt’s ability to give you two mana, or charge rifts, that the three of you could reach Tier 25 in two hundred years. You have enough combat prowess to complete The Path in its intended manner, if push came to shove. You three make an incredibly well-balanced team after Luna’s training. You all are by any and all projections, more than able to complete The Path.”

Liz leaned forward and slapped the table. “Dish! Who else is as good as us?”

That broke the tension, and Emmanuel waggled a finger at Liz. “I’m not one to spread secrets.” He winked at her continued wheedling, but eventually gave a little more information.

“Other than yourselves and Light and Shadow, there is one other active team who I believe even has a chance of completing The Path of Ascension. And I have no doubt that in another few decades, another few centuries, we will have another.”

That was enough to force even Liz’s good nature teasing to stop.

Aster was the first to speak, as she asked, “That seems like a lot.” Her tail twitched back and forth faster and faster as she built up steam. “I’ve looked up the records before. Even having two Ascenders at once is usually considered rare.”

She raised her paw and started counting. “Light and Shadow are one. Duke Waters is another, which makes us number three. Three guaranteed Ascender teams, and one maybe…?”

“Yes. On average, Ascenders appear once every forty to fifty thousand years, and having a second group complete The Path within just a couple thousand years of our last one? Another set, just a few decades after that? Even the Clans, in their greatest golden ages, still see a few thousand years between each of their Ascenders, or Legends, to be technical. That’s the normal status quo, and it’s offset by the fact Ascenders are, to be frank, temperamental and often contrary.

“The same things which make them great ensure they rarely stay active for terribly long, at most only long enough for their replacement to be found. But I believe that we’ve finally hit our stride. Our mortal population is growing at a fantastic rate, with the subsidies on food and housing giving us more and more births to get lucky with. The Path of Ascension, in its current state, gives opportunity to nearly anyone who desires to improve from poorer backgrounds. That is why they fear our growth. Even if our rate of producing Ascenders stays the same as it is now, they can’t compete with the advantage this gives us.”