The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

13

“Well done. A resource like that has many uses. Don’t permanently integrate it into anything without consulting Kurt or I first, and certainly don’t sell it.”

Matt nodded, and Liz took that as a cue to continue.

Given the subtle shifts Aster and Susanne gave when Liz described their encounter with Essential Civilizations and its rift development as ‘interesting,’ she assumed what truly happened was Matt found something that sparked his interest during the civilization, and promptly talked about it until only Liz could bear to listen. She made a note to message Erwin. The man was involved in some project for the Emperor, but at his Tier he would be a nonessential assistant at best and would probably jump at the chance to work with Matt again.

Her team would need new rifts, and Aperology would be an excellent way to keep them all busy with new delves.

She would need a few years to recuperate, after all, and keeping them busy and close in some isolated area would be ideal.

Liz carried on, describing their respective floor challenges, and Luna nodded at the ‘Chaser’ approach Matt and Susanne took, as well as Liz’s ‘Seeker’ tactic. Fittingly, albeit irritatingly, the challenge was best entered blind to the various ways one could modify your approach for the most fitting reward.

The ruin they had found themselves in midway through Genesis Cultivation was unusual, and its rewards matched the rarity. Their seeker compass was certainly one in a trillion, but not all that interesting in its functionality. It had a substantial range of items that it could point to—anything below Tier 14 that the user didn’t already consider to be ‘theirs’ in some sense—but it wasn’t terribly useful to any of them, save perhaps Susanne but even she would quickly out Tier it. The Seeker’s guild tended to offer a premium on such items besides, so it was unlikely they’d keep it.

The mirror and key were similar. The mirror sounded strong for its Tier, but they hadn’t tested it against a dedicated illusionist to know how it truly compared. The key, meanwhile, needed an actual keyhole to work, and that cut its utility drastically.

The three items were still incredibly strong inside Minkalla and would probably be bought by the Empire to send in with future teams. Then, either they would lead to better rewards, or would possibly bind to someone and potentially become incredibly useful.

Their cornucopia showed no signs of being anything more than just a food-creation item, leading Luna to explain that Minkalla occasionally handed out similar rewards, a token prize and an enhancement of previous rewards, as an indication that a given challenge was complete.

Matt’s domination of the floor challenge made Luna proud, though she didn’t show it. Experimentally proving that essence could be made from pure mana was novel, albeit of limited practicality. The same thing went for making pure Aura. Interesting but not directly useful for his training. She hadn’t heard of anyone attempting it previously, but she’d have to ask Erwin about it when they met up with him again. He’d certainly know of any similar test if they were public record, and she was sure he would want to pick Matt’s mind over what little he could remember about the test.

Back to Basics was treated even more dismissively than Eternal Darkness, though even she had to privately admit that Matt having his full mana would make the floor trivial for them. Susanne’s Talaria Seed would be useful, as would Liz’s vampiric blood. Though she would ensure that their next hospital ran some tests on Liz to ensure there weren’t any long-term complications from the blood they ought to be aware of.

Liz’s voice was starting to sound rather hoarse by the time she finished explaining their strategies for the floor challenge, and Matt’s awarded AI enhancement left her feeling rather conflicted. She really didn’t like over-reliance on the damn things, but she would need to fully explore his new ability and see how best it could be utilized without becoming a crutch. Liz waved off talking any more in favor of a warm cup of tea, leaving Matt to tell of their expedient trip through Courtly Warfare.

“First, our idea was to create an autonomous reconnaissance system which we did with a number of others on Winter’s side.”

Luna nodded. It was an intelligent use of resources while not revealing too much as to his true capabilities.

Her eyes shifted to Aster as the fox took over the story, explaining how and why she entered Winter’s castle. “I felt something familiar and decided to explore, and Matt was the only one free, so he came with me. Winter was nice enough, and she gave me a boon almost immediately, which helped settle my bloodline a bit.” Her AI-created voice turned bitter as she continued. “When we left the floor, I asked her for a final floor: Blood is Thicker, but she flaked on me. Though, all I really did was explore the place, which led to Matt meeting Winter.”

The fox could be flighty at times, but she had good instincts. Winter must have welcomed her, but her request to Minkalla was pointless. Floors were set at the start of the cycle, which she knew, but the young were ever wistful.

Matt sighed, filling in the details she skipped. “While Aster was passed out, Winter and I had a chat. That was when we learned the Fae forces were created with mana. I started feeding the court, with Winter concealing the output. We then used the increased production to rush down Spring and then Fall.”

As he continued telling of their time in Winter, Luna’s mind raced. Minkalla lied often, yes, but it could be very honest at times, particularly in its promises in Courtly Warfare. If it said that it was hiding Matt’s contributions, to enable him to better contribute, it was likely doing just that.

Still, discretion was the better part of valor for such things, and between his approach in Courtly Warfare and him being forced to double his mana in an all-too-public manner, it would be best to ensure that no rumors about his capabilities were circulating. The only good thing was that the four of them had rigorously tested if his mana was obvious, so she would have to go off the assumption that they were correct, and no one had noticed.

And in the end, they had proven the decision to make more foot troops was the correct one, as they were able to get out of that floor before even more people caught up with them.