The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

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The next morning, the three of them were waiting near one of the dozen space ports for Melinda and her team to arrive in The Citadel system, their ship having arrived just two weeks late because of a pirate attack on a convoy in front of them. Thankfully, all of them were fine, but they had been delayed while their convoy rendered aid to the survivors of the battle.

Chaotic space, for all its conveniences in travel, was extraordinarily dangerous to basically everyone. Technically a Tier 15 could survive the destructive energy, but that survival time was rated in minutes, where before that it was just a death sentence. Materials without a living spirit fared even worse without arrays to bolster their resistance, though Tier helped like it did with everything else.

A Tier 25 could survive for weeks, if not months, but unreinforced Tier 25 materials would only survive a few hours. So an attack in chaotic space was dangerous for everyone involved, as even the victors could find themselves stranded and waiting for a slow death if their ship was damaged in the wrong way. There were even generous rewards established by the Empire for rescue operations. Of course, some pirates would try to destroy a ship and then ‘rescue’ everyone they endangered. It never worked, but there was always someone who would try.

The Unbroken were at least not in any danger during the almost weeklong operation as they tried to save the compartments with mortals, which apparently wasn’t easy for their lower Tier transport.

Thankfully, they had been able to save nearly all the survivors and get them to safety.

As the tired group of six walked out of the spaceport, they were almost surprised to see Matt, Liz, and Aster.

Matt was hugging Vinnie and Tara when Melinda grabbed his left hand.

“What did you do to yourself? Your hand is so weird. I⁠—”

She paused trying to think of the words, but Baxter appeared next to her and explained before Matt could. “Stygian Gossamer, I’d recognize it anywhere. Good luck trying to replicate the effect, no one even really understands how it works.” Before vanishing once more.

Mathew hugged Matt around his wife, even as Melinda examined Matt’s hand.

Samantha and Kyle were forced to get half-hugs as Matt’s hand was still being held by Melinda.

“What does it do?”

As Melinda looked up at him, Matt asked his own question. “What do you see?”

Melinda pursed her lips as she thought for a minute. “The spirit of your left hand is…well, it’s like the difference between a Tier 1 and a Tier 15, but even more extreme. It’s like…golden and shiny is the best description despite being awful. It’s odd as all get out, and I can’t see a reason for why it’s like that. There seems to be no cause, just an effect. And that’s weird, even for a natural treasure.”

“Well it makes my hand nearly invulnerable. I had a Tier 18 monster try to eat me, and my hand only got scratched.”

Melinda made an appreciative sound even as she kept twisting his hand and fingers.

She even tried to bend his finger back, which would have broken it, at Matt’s insistence, but she couldn’t hurt the hand even when Matt suppressed his cultivation.

As she examined his hand, Matt and Liz’s attention was brought to Tara, who was so nervous she wasn’t able to sit still for more than a minute.

Liz finally asked as she kicked at Tara’s knee, “What is your problem?”

Samatha groaned. “She’s lovesick.”

“I am not.” Tara immediately snapped back before groaning and lowering her head. “Ok I am.”

Seeing their confused looks, she grabbed Aster and pulled her into a cuddle to the fox’s enjoyment. “So you guys know how Emily and I kinda sort of started dating at the tournament?”

At their nods, she continued to explain. “We may or may not have agreed to keep things casual as we were going to be separating. That lasted all of a week of separation, and we agreed to try the long distance thing. We both expected it to not last, but it has. That isn’t to say it’s been easy, but both of us really like each other, and this is the first time we’ll see each other in person since our own Tier 10 Tournament, and I’m a little nervous.”

Mathew snorted, “A little is an underestimate. I’m pretty sure there’s a circle in our room on the ship that has a hole worn through the carpet from her pacing.”

Matt, seeing an opportunity for gossip and romance, leaned forward, wanting to get the rest of the scoop. “When do they arrive? We’ve kept in touch, but we never got their exact schedule.”

Tara looked like she might vomit as she said, “Late tonight, early tomorrow.”

Matt retrieved his left hand from Melinda, who had started trying to dig into his palm with her now third scalpel, and patted Tara before having his hand reclaimed by the healer. Between Ciceron, Erwin, and now Melinda, Matt was starting to wonder if there was something about higher Tiers in general that made them compulsively curious, or if he just had luck in attracting them to him.

They stopped at the Feathered Nestled Inn, where the group was staying. Matt was pretty sure Mara or Leon had pulled strings, as two adjoining rooms to their own rented room had magically opened when Melinda and Emily’s respective teams had started looking for rooms.

While they weren’t actually sleeping in that room, they had rented it out, and it made for an easy way for the three teams to meet up and hang out without getting underfoot, so Matt didn’t ask too many questions.

Marcus and Olivia weren’t wrong. A little corruption, if it could be called that, was useful, and sure was convenient when it was working for you.

When they arrived at The Unbroken’s room, they found Luna waiting with Baxter, who gestured at Luna.

“Hit her with a healing spell, please, Melinda.”

Melinda did so without question, and Matt got to watch as Luna cast her own healing skill to reinforce the healer’s spell and sweep through the cat’s entire body. His mentor stretched and was suddenly replaced by her human self.

Luna rolled her shoulders. “Thank you, Melinda. That would have taken me another two decades without your assistance.”

She and Baxter vanished as Melinda opened her mouth to ask a question, leaving his friend to spin around and start to formulate a question.

Matt grinned and shrugged, cutting her off. “So I may have had an Inspiration coming out of Minkalla, and Luna may have had to stop it for me.”