The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

25

She could have justified the item at the bargain bin price, but not anything above that.

A torch that could freeze fire spells cast through it to form the head of a mace caught her eye, as did an icicle-wand which drastically increased the control the caster had of a skill post-usage. A growth pendant which improved all bloodline powers sparked an incredibly fierce bidding war, until it was eventually won by a dragon five rows in front of April after he tripled the latest bid alongside a show of force.

He’d flared his presence for a brief moment, showing off his Tier 40 status as he raised his bid, blatantly breaking the rules of the auction. Despite Erik giving an extra-long opportunity for anyone to outbid the dragon, none took up the offer, and the dragon won his prize, much to the obvious displeasure of the crowd. April could practically feel the smug aura the dragon was exuding, even as a pair of Tier 42 guards showed up to escort him out. He’d received the item, but April couldn’t help but wonder if he’d still be smiling after he paid whatever fines were levied against him, and he’d learned how long the ban from the Corporations would last.

Judging by his attitude, he might not even care.

That had led to some discontented muttering from the crowd as well, leaving a bit of a darkened mood across the auction hall. It also prompted a couple other high Tier 30s and low Tier 40s to try their luck as well, but they made the mistake of not also raising the bid by an incredible amount and wound up being escorted out the moment the bid was raised again. In one notable instance, they didn’t even wait for the bid to be re-raised, instead force-marching the loudly complaining Guild man out the door, ignoring his shouts about how they ‘hadn’t seen the last of Doctor Impossible (the second)!’

That raised everyone’s mood a couple notches.

Then, she saw her prize. It was a staff, long and largely unadorned, made of some unidentified dark wood. It enabled the caster to control any of the four level one elements—Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—with any manipulation skill the caster had, even those of higher-level elements. It would be relatively easy to get a Talented crafter to affix a spearhead to it, and while the spearhead wouldn’t be growth, the staff’s effect would.

Even some kinesis skills would work if the original and resulting elements were similar enough. The example given was utilizing metal skills with earth affinity, but April already knew what it would be perfect for. It would allow Liz to control water or even air with all of her blood skills, utilizing her masterful kinesis abilities on a substantially more abundant element: something very important now that she’d lost her glove and accompanying blood reservoir.

On top of that, it would empower Torch a truly incredible amount, giving Liz a substantial boost compared to using [Fire Manipulation] in her outer spirit. Granted, between the lack of the young phoenix’s bloodline not properly applying to [Blood Manipulation], even if it was controlling fire, and the inherent inefficiency to the staff, it would ‘only’ be more of a two to three times multiplier all told. But it was still an incredible boost to her versatility. Even if she didn’t want it, and chose to delve exclusively into blood magic, Aster and even Matt could benefit from the incredible versatility the staff offered. It would transform an elemental specialist into an omnielemental specialist, and that was no mean feat, particularly as they began building their Intents.

Bidding was fierce, as she expected, but April had money to spare, as the mountain of loot her kids had brought out of Minkalla translated into pure credits. Even as the price rose, and rose, and rose, she matched and outbid every other contender. The Sect woman in multicolored robes, the red dragon in golden Clan armor, the stern-looking woman in Federation military garb, they all challenged her and lost.

It might have been the kids’ money she was spending, but she felt invigorated by her victory.

Still, it took nearly everything she had left, with only enough for a Tier 20 skill and two Tier 8 skills with her spare change, to be exchanged on the Empire market for contribution points, but she had won.

Now, she just needed to return to Luna and see if she had passed this test.

5

Matt slowly flexed, carefully controlling his motion as he pushed the weight off his chest. The fairly substantial difference in proprioception and strength between Tier 11 and Tier 13 was on full display, both allowing him to lift substantially more weight and feel each individual muscle fiber twitch and tense. The net effect was almost meditative and aided him in relaxing.

He wasn’t lifting anything heavy for his new cultivation or even trying to get a good workout. Rather, he was just trying to stretch his unused muscles a little before his date with Liz.

The two of them were now mobile, and with their newfound freedom, they had decided to do something nice for themselves.

The planet they were convalescing on was only Tier 15, but that was high enough to have a wealth of activities to keep them occupied for a single day, so long as they stood in the main travel-hub city.

Being a Tier 15 planet, it had a burgeoning population through both growth and immigration, but as the planet was relatively new, the largest city only housed a few dozen million people. The entire planet was Awakened, of course, assuming they were at least teenagers, and nearly half were in the Tier 12 to 15 range, like them.

Once Matt finished his set, he wiped off the bench he was using, waved goodbye to Susanne as she stretched for her own warm up, and then left to shower.

His prosthetic leg made a clicking sound as he walked through the halls of Luna’s house, which reminded him that he still had at least another week with the false appendage. Honestly, he didn’t even mind it that much after his AI had learned to properly integrate its assistive controls with his normal walking gait; the relevant software simply wasn’t compatible with his barebones researcher AI. His pseudo-skill had developed in a manner completely alien to the established programs, so there was an adjustment period. Nearly stumbling every time he took a step had not been a fun learning process, especially with Aster laughing at him with every pace.

Liz was still getting ready after he put on one of his nicer sets of clothes, so he went to bother Aster. His bond was doing what she had been for the last three hours or so, playing with her newest ice cream maker.

The thing was gargantuan and took up an entire room in her new house. A house which Matt now suspected she had only wanted in order to keep all of her ice cream making equipment set up permanently.

Not that Matt minded her using it in their shared home, of course. But unless she wanted to make her igloo in the living room her permanent abode, it was just too small for something like her ice cream maker to not be put away after each use.