The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

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As he walked in, her ears flicked to tell him he was noticed, but she didn’t turn her full attention away from the small glass viewing port. Aster had originally been annoyed when Luna said it wasn’t worth it for her to get a prosthetic tail, but fervent arguing had changed almost instantly to wholehearted agreement after she’d seen the tails on offer. Matt had jokingly suggested they tape a feather duster to her hindquarters, which had only gotten him a sniff and a comment that ‘at least it would be fluffy.’

Scratching her ears, he leaned down and looked inside to try and see what the flavor of ice cream would be. It looked like a dark purple mess, which told him very little.

“What’s this one?”

Aster wilted slightly. “Test four of my Berry Surprise. The flavors are getting too mixed, but I want it to be more unique than just vanilla ice cream with chunks of berry inside. I just haven’t been able to get the flavors to stay distinct.”

Checking the fridge, he found the other three test bowls and stole a bite from each. “Yeah, two was the best, but it’s more that the chaos it made tasted good than anything else. It’s definitely not what you’re going for.”

As her next concoction pushed itself out of the mixing chamber and into a bowl, Matt stole a spoonful and let the ice cream melt in his mouth.

“Peaches? Doesn’t seem to fit the berry theme. It’s good though.”

Aster shrugged as she licked up her own taste test. “I thought it might help balance things out.”

While Matt liked the ice cream, it still didn’t quite scream ‘berry surprise’, so he wasn’t exactly shocked that she put it away. Instead of letting her return to her ice cream science, he asked one more time, “Want anything from when Liz and I are out?”

Aster rolled her eyes. “No, nothing food related will last long enough, and Susanne and I are going to go see a movie in a few hours.”

That was a new plan he hadn’t heard about, so he asked, “Which one?”

Aster squinted at him. “The scary one you didn’t want to see.”

“I like scary movies. I like slasher movies. I don’t like suspense movies. There’s a difference. I’m not scared of a movie.”

Aster rolled her eyes yet again. “Sure there is, scaredy-rabbit.”

The two of them bickered until Liz came in and they caught a cab to the train station.

The hospital they were at was more of a long term care facility aimed at dealing with delvers’ injuries and other patients with long healing cooldowns, so it was on the outskirts of the city. There was plenty of room for everyone to put down their own portable house or rent one of the accessibility made apartments. The hospital was still technically in the city though, and the train stopped six times an hour on its loop through the outer boroughs from their stop. Afterwards, they could transfer to the tram that would take them downtown.

Frankly, with their cultivation, the two of them could have flown or even run to the city faster than the train could take them there, but they had been warned against that decades ago by Travis and Keith, and then every other member of Liz’s family. Part of it was so they didn’t fall into the habit of expecting everyone else to move at high Tier speeds, but another part of it was so they could enjoy the little moments together.

Matt hadn’t really understood that until after they had exited Minkalla. They had spent a year with people of a similar or higher Tier fighting, moving, talking, and thinking at those high Tier speeds, only to stop by a Tier 2 planet where practically no one was stronger than Tier 3.

It had taken a considerable effort for Matt to control his perception of time, and furthermore, his expectations of others. Watching a Tier 1 woman pouring him some tea had taken so long, he had been tempted to do it for her, which caught him off guard enough to snap him out of it.

Talking to Luna, he had only gotten an eye roll in return. “How do you think I feel with you kids? I could take naps with how slowly you talk. Just suppress your mind and sense cultivation a little. You don’t need to suppress it too much, even a bit will help cut the edge off. Eventually, you’ll be able to automatically adjust it on the fly, depending on who you’re talking to. If you don’t, you’ll lose your mind talking to people of a significantly lower Tier than you. How you distribute your cultivation is also exacerbating the problem slightly, and your rapid advancement makes it even more obvious.”

A slow blink told Matt everything he needed to know. Luna was dealing with a larger differential with him than he was dealing with a Tier 1, and if he was going to complain about that, she was going to complain about him.

That conversation had sent Matt on an information gathering spree, and after reading the accounts of others, he realized that he wasn’t alone and that Luna’s advice was the only practical answer.

One person had proposed high Tier only cities and such, but that was just being Tierist with a different coat of paint. After seeing how the Seven Suns Vassal kingdom had treated their low Tiers, it wasn’t something Matt ever wanted to be a part of.

That also had him realizing the advice of enjoying each other’s company and the slow moments that everyone in Liz’s family had given them wasn’t just about enjoying the time where he and Liz just lounged around together or did something inconsequential together. No, it was also telling them to literally slow down and act like mortals. There was no reason they needed to complete a date in fifteen minutes, just because they could. They may not have been immortal yet, but it was only a matter of time. They had eternity, why would they rush?

Even Mara and Leon, at Tier 48, had eaten together at mortal speeds when they were just dining by themselves.

So the two of them went about their date like mortals riding a train, instead of just speeding through the boring bits. In doing so, Matt had to agree it was nice to just sit with Liz and watch the city slowly draw closer as they commented on their surroundings.

“I like that park. The light features must look spectacular at night.”

Matt agreed with Liz’s comments. “We should stop by on our way home. Could be fun. I haven’t been to a light garden in forever. Well, actually⁠—”

Liz interrupted him with a snort. “No, the rift with light monsters and trees doesn’t count.”