The Path of Ascension 5: A LitRPG Adventure

47

Tur’stal waved her hand, and an arm band hovered in front everyone until they took it.

“This is linked to our planetary AI and monitors your health at all times. It’s powerful enough to punch out of rifts, so we can monitor your health even during a delve. We do not wish for any deaths and will be actively preventing them if needed. That doesn’t mean you should be reckless in your battles. Know your limits and push them carefully. We have the best medical staff the Empire has to offer here, but we can’t remove healing cooldowns, and we will block you from delving if you reach that limit.”

Matt wanted to poke Melinda but resisted the childish urge as he took the slim band of metal and put it around his wrist.

Still, her warning was a good one. They were going to be pushing hard, and a bad injury could take the most promising contestant out of the running if they were unlucky.

Tur’stal smiled at the reaction from the crowd said, “Back to the fun information.”

A three-sided pillar of stone rose out of the crowd and the surface rippled as a listing appeared.

“Here is, at least for most of you, the most important ranking. The Big Three. The crafters’ challenges will start preliminary rounds in three months, while the solo duels and team battle will start at the six-month mark.”

Everyone’s gazes were drawn to the pillar as it rose hundreds of feet into the air.

Matt couldn’t wait for his and Liz’s names to top the two combat pillars.

The challenge of beating everyone else as Quill was invigorating. Especially after his latest conversation with the Emperor.

A woman appeared next to Tur’stal, standing smartly at a modified parade rest. She was dressed in a sharp looking uniform that was reminiscent of military dress uniforms, but in green and silver. Tur’stal’s personal colors.

“These are our guards, the personnel who will be staffing this event. They are all Tier 20 at a minimum, and while they are here to assist you in your time here, they aren’t servants to be ordered around. If they tell you something, please know that they do so for your own good. If you believe they are acting out of turn, just call out my name. I will be watching everything closely and listening for any such calls. Otherwise, they are here to assist you all, so I ask that you listen to their orders.”

The unnamed guard nodded before saying, “We will do our best to ensure your stay is as comfortable as possible. Simply calling out or messaging the planetary AI the phrase ‘A bud needs care’ will draw our attention to your location in short order.”

With that single remark, she vanished.

Matt wanted to smirk at them being called buds, as it matched the theme of Tur’stal Talent, but it was also a reminder of what Matt had mostly forgotten after living with Mara and Leon for so long.

A Tier 47 could easily see and watch the entire planet, all at once.

An uncomfortable thought, but one he had long since come to terms with.

“With each Tier 10 tournament, we try to change things up, and this time is no different. For this tournament, everything you do will be judged and awarded points. Complete a Tier 10 rift speed run and earn a point. Do it in under a specified time and earn more. Have the fastest time at the end of the month, and you’ll earn even more points. The harder the challenge, and the better you do, the more points you will earn.” Tur’stal’s grin was palpable through her voice as she smiled at the Pathers under her. “These points will be cumulative throughout the entire year, and at each month, you will receive rewards depending on your total ranking in the various challenge categories.”

A second but flat pillar of stone rose from the ground and had a hundred listings waiting to be filled.

“These rewards will not be insignificant. If you’re a generalist and are able to compete well enough in each challenge to take the top places, you will find your rewards similar to those of the final victors of the Big Three.”

That set the Tier 10 Pathers aflame. The rewards for the winner of the Big Three were always stunning. Even the top 100 earned rewards that usually were out of range for any Tier 20. Rare and unique items were commonplace at that level, and Tur’stal had just said that there was a new, fourth way for anyone to earn rewards of a similar caliber. They just had to be active and able to spread themselves out.

The competitive edge that had been simmering under the surface now exploded out from each Pather team in the crowd.

Those who had been their neighbors and fellows in the celebrations were now their competitors.

Tur’stal, having anticipated this, added one final bomb. “Also, your accumulated points can be spent for a variety of rewards at any point. They can be anything from time with a high Tier personal trainer to new weapons or armor. Or, for those more spendthrift individuals, lavish evenings of decadence and pampering, the likes of which you have never imagined possible.”

The available rewards were then sent to each of them in an information packet. They were everything that Tur’stal had hinted at and more.

Growth items of all types were commonplace and plentiful. As were items personally crafted by Tier 25s, which also appeared with turnaround times that Matt had to question the possibility of. A personal weapon being made in a single evening seemed impossible, until he realized that the Queen of East Flower was probably going to be sending the crafters into the rifts on her Tier 43 worlds. She would most likely be abusing the time dilation to get the orders done quickly.

With the ability to buy things at any time, everyone needed to balance the possible rewards and power boosts they could earn with the loss of points that would set them back in the overall standings.

It would make for an interesting balancing act.

Even with his inflated view of money from his Talent, Matt found dozens of things he wanted. They had previously been impossible to afford or were just not sold on the open market.

It all just cost points.

Matt was going through the listing of point-earning activities when Tur’stal finally said, “With that, I wish everyone the best of luck. We will be eagerly awaiting your showing.”

Matt turned to Liz and saw a matching fire in her eyes.

They had two identities that they needed to start earning points with, after all.

They needed to get moving if they didn’t want to get left behind.

11

Zack observed the projection of the opening ceremonies with half a mind, until the Pathers were teleported to the now much closer trial planet.

They weren’t going to be making a move until most of the royals, and most importantly, the Emperor, left. At that point, moving over would no longer be tantamount to turning themselves in, just recklessly risky. That, they could handle.

Families and people close to the Tier 10s could get visitor passes to the Tier 15 planet, a method he and Allie would be exploiting as their way in. Anything else was too risky.

Zack was watching the cloned health monitor they had been able to get their hands on and started his own tracking of the Pathers’ health statuses. Those bands were not new technology by any means. Still, this was only his third time seeing them in action. Each band was ludicrously expensive to produce. Only a Tier 35 with a good grasp on space and teleportation could create the runes that they relied on.

The damn things only worked reliably when the transponder was crafted from rare materials at least double the rank of the rift it was meant to broadcast from. Even these bands were only rated for up to Tier 14 rifts, but the sheer amount of exotic Tier 28 materials that went into producing this many would make anyone flinch. Tur’stal’s many times predecessor had personally invested in this health-tracking system, and the security protecting the network reflected that even to this day.