The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

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[Like A Reed In Spring] was harder to find a good deal for, and she eventually had to settle for buying it from a skill merchant who didn’t even have it in stock, and had to order up a shard from the grand exchange. Still, the ability to make a polearm shaft flexible was too high on her list to pass up just because she had to pay ‘normal’ rates. A similar fate befell [Scatter Shot], which was basically an earth-aspected volley of [Fireball]s, but at least the Tier 14 skill wasn’t too expensive to begin with.

A bracer capable of summoning a mana-construct elephant finished its auction for a bit less than she’d hoped as she settled into an auction room, but it was still enough to stretch the budget for a couple of natural treasures.

A Mirage Shadow was a treasure earmarked for Aster, and the shimmery, ethereal substance would act as a second mind of sorts when controlling illusions, giving it the benefit of her full attention while requiring no concentration on her part. April got it fairly cheaply after the Corporations woman bidding against her suddenly ran out of the room in a small panic.

A Cinder Heart was for Liz, which would enable her to store and later release flames from her own body. She might not have much use for her Torch persona, but little was not none, and while absorbed, it would provide her with additional defense against ice and cold besides, giving her a bit more of a buffer from the backsplash from Aster’s wide-scale spells.

The Profound Snowflake, which would help Aster in splitting her attention between ice skills, was a harder fight than April had expected, but she’d won out against a Federation woman in red. She lost the first Shimmering Bloodcrystal to a Clans spearman. The crystal would provide a wave of healing proportional to the amount of blood ‘stored’ within, so she felt fortunate that two more were on the docket. She was able to get the second one, letting another Empire shopper acquire the final one.

The Dewdrop Jadechip would turn Matt’s thumbnail green until he reached Tier 15 and could suppress it, but it would aid him in any mana manipulations involving physical contact with the digit. Unfortunately, The Last Gleam of Sunset went out of her allotted budget after two Guild shoppers, a man and a woman in white and black respectively, got into a bidding war. Each of them seemingly was more interested in ensuring the other wouldn’t get it than actually winning the item for themselves. The woman won in the end, and she outright cackled in victory, claimed her winning, then dashed out of the room with the man in hot pursuit.

The Golden Apple of Abador didn’t go over her budget, fortunately, and she happily claimed the fruit and its ability to enhance self-cast healing spells for Liz.

Stygian Gossamer did go a little over budget, but the Monster Collective humanoid bird she’d been facing had bowed out right as she placed her last bid. It would render any part of the body it was draped over and fused with practically invincible, or it could be processed for a universal durability boost. Which way Matt went with was up to him.

The Infinite Diamond was more straightforward in its use, simply boosting the power of neutral-mana skills used by whoever consumed it. Fortunately, it could be ground up into a powder and drunk with water, though missing even a single speck of dust would render the entire treasure useless.

The Crimson Dawnflame was for Liz, a treasure well-known for its use in aiding the bloodline growth and cultivation of phoenixes. While the crestfallen look that appeared on the Monster Collective phoenix she was bidding against each time she raised her own bid nearly persuaded April to just let the poor creature have it, she hardened her heart with the reminder that Luna had sent her to get gear for the kids at any cost. The bird was escorted out after a heart-wrenching cry accompanying its loss for ‘attempted emotional manipulation,’ but that just caused April to want to deck the arrogant Empire man who laughed at its misfortune. She knew she might be being played but it seemed like honest desire and loss from the bird and she could only hope another Dawnflame came up for auction soon so it might get the treasure.

April restrained herself—after shooting the man a glare—well enough to get Aster her Breath of Boreas, which would help the fox further develop her own winter affinity, and she nearly cheered when a Fragment of the Rainbow Bridge appeared in an auction itinerary and that she was able to afford it, her only other contenders being a Corporations man in a white lab coat and a Federation woman wearing an iridescent set of armor.

Unfortunately, it still finished off her ‘natural treasure’ budget, and she moved on as one of her own items, a nugget of heavy iron, came out onto the auction table. She had more skills to buy.

She found a ‘hologram’ store selling illusion skills, and picked up [Illusion Manipulation], [Cast Illusion], and [Afterimage] for Matt and Aster. The first two were a basic part of any illusionist’s kit, enabling them to create and then control illusions, while the third was a Tier 20 version of [Mirror Image] that created an entire series of illusory duplicates in the wake of swift movement. But with [Illusion Manipulation], they could be manipulated into running in different directions and generally causing a ruckus. Aster also got [Illusory Summons], [False Skill], and [Solid Image], letting her create illusions of monsters or cast skills, then provide actual substance to the illusions. They wouldn’t do much damage, but any opponent that didn’t realize they were dealing with something beyond only illusions could still be knocked around.

One of the masterwork suits of armor went through on its auction, giving April a new influx of cash as she tracked down a good vendor for [Diffusion Shield], a defensive skill which was meant to be cast in conjunction with other defensive spells as it spread out the penetrative power of an incoming skill over a larger area. The skill would make it easier for self-regenerating shields, like all of Matt’s defenses, to take on armor-piercing skills. A few modifications would also make it work with outgoing skills, too, and make it even easier for Matt to utterly annihilate weaker enemies. It might not be on Luna’s list, but she bought it, nonetheless.

She bought [Illusory Fang] from the same vendor, after a bit of consideration. Someone must have just sold an absolute mountain of the skill somewhere, because the price crashed while she was watching, and she was able to get it for less than a single kilocredit. It was an illusion skill, which made it decent for Aster, and made a single bite illusionary, dealing no damage in the process. It instead inflicted a fear effect that mostly just discouraged those afflicted from attacking the caster. Not a truly useful skill, but one they expected Aster would get good use out of for practice, if nothing else.