The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

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Matt wasn’t certain what exactly was going on in her head, but he had a few guesses. Then, quick as a snake, Liz snatched the staff in front of her so quickly and with such force, the wood splintered in her grip. With a pulse of essence, the mana flowing around the staff intertwined with Liz’s own, and she let out a shuddering sigh.

Matt gave his girlfriend a side-hug, and after a moment fixated on her new staff, she nodded and set it to the side, ensuring she kept the splinters broken off in her exuberance close by. It would fix itself in time and as a natural part of tiering up, but if they had all the pieces, it would be easier. With the growth item thus taken care of, they started going through everything else April had gotten for them.

Aster’s kit was the most expanded overall, with a number of new support skills and treasures that not only gave her tools for direct attacks, but buffs, debuffs, and illusions. The latter was especially relevant as she meditated with her Fragment of the Rainbow Bridge. The treasure didn’t do much beyond serving as a mana-dense shard of crystal filled with Aurora mana, but that was enough, as Aster was working to develop her bloodline in that direction.

Matt’s own set was about enhancing what he was already good at, and between his Stygian Gossamer rendering his left hand practically unbreakable, and the Infinite Diamond empowering his [Cracked Phantom Armor], his defenses would be enough to actually stop stronger attacks in the rifts they delved. The choice on where to actually use the Stygian Gossamer had been heated, with Liz wanting him to protect his face or neck, but Matt felt he could still do that with a nigh indestructible hand.

Besides, he wasn’t about to start intentionally blocking attacks with his face anytime soon, invulnerable or not.

The Sect scroll of modifications was interesting. Where most of the scrolls he had seen seemed less than practical, a more expensive [Analyze] wouldn’t really hinder him most of the time. He could make the relevant modifications gradually, increasing both the cost and the skill’s power as his mana pool grew. His innate skill slot would help there, cutting down the modification time needed each Tier from months to days.

If the more useful Sect skill modification scrolls were like this he understood where a portion of their combat prowess came from. If you could never know what a fighter’s skills would do, it was easy to fall into a trap.

Between his new Concept powers and the Dewdrop Jadechip, his enchanting also became substantially easier. Tier 11 to Tier 13 enchantments were a bit of a jump, but his new tools helped bridge the gap.

Liz found herself with a strong showing of new skills, and while only time would tell how many of them broke or converted to a dud form, as her Talent had its way with them, they were hopeful. Luna was fairly familiar with Liz’s Talent at this point, and she’d picked out the skills she thought would synergize well.

Newly kitted out, the four of them debated just what they wanted to use their eight upgrade orbs on, having gotten six more on the final floor. Given most of their new skills were Tier 20, they didn’t need to account for all their new toys when figuring out just what they needed to improve.

Aster was the lone exception, as her first choice was her new [Cracked Shatter]. The increased power of the Tier 8 skill didn’t disappoint, as not only was the power of the explosion itself increased, turning even a fist-sized hailstone into a legitimate threat, but so too did it gain an elemental ice effect that acted almost as an icy [Fireball] on top of its kinetic force.

She also upgraded [Kar’Tan Greets His Foes], or as Liz had taken to calling it, [Headwind]. From a simple aura of still air, slowing down hostiles passively, the upgrade made winds actively fight the progress of designated targets, with an effect quite reminiscent of Winter’s Great Working. On top of it all, the effect grew stronger with the mana she put into it. Taking a step or running invited sudden gusts of wind to try and knock the targets over, and in addition to Concept flying being suppressed, enemies who did get airborne would have to fight ferocious gales seeking to swat them from the sky.

Matt chose [Mage’s Retreat] and [Ranger’s Sight] for himself. While their power boost was fairly minor, all things considered, it extended their effective lifespan substantially. Because of the way that his channeling enhanced the effectiveness of essence, there came a point in the high teens for [Mage’s Retreat] and the mid-twenties for its Tier 14 counterparts, when the non-upgraded skills simply wouldn’t be able to have any appreciable effect on his cultivation. It would empower billions of essence, but he would have quadrillions empowering him passively. Even then, the price would rise, but by then he’d be well able to afford it.

There were, of course, higher-tier versions of the skills, culminating with the Tier 44 [Archmage’s Presence], but simply upgrading the skills was also enough to make them useful until he completed The Path at least. There was even a Tier 14 skill for strength that he could take. Well, technically there were two. [Strongman’s Buff] and [Sudden Sprint] both existed, but he’d need to use both to get the same boost as from [Mage’s Retreat], and he’d need to start modifying them again from scratch. Their buffs didn’t even stack, so it was pointless for him to try and double up on them.

Of course, it wasn’t just because of an overabundance of planning that he chose them. [Mage’s Retreat] provided an absolutely massive boost to his running speed, easily making him somewhere between two and ten times faster than he had been before, depending on how much mana he put into it, and putting the final nail in [Sudden Sprint]’s coffin. [Ranger’s Sight], by comparison, gave him the ability to sense past minor obstructions, such as seeing through foliage, fog, annoying helmet visors, and even hair in front of his face. He’d be able to hear a specific voice in a massive crowd or pick out a specific scent in a complex aroma. It had a similar effect on his spiritual perception, but that was more focused on seeing inside things, such as counting the rings inside a tree.

Liz’s first choice was easy, upgrading [Lesser Blood Sacrifice] to not only make the mana recovery more efficient, but also make the cultivation boost it provided last longer and become stronger.

Her second choice was substantially harder, until she’d narrowed it down to [Blood Dash] and [Hungering Blood]. [Dash], which the former had been derived from while retaining nearly full functionality, had its upgrade provide an incredibly powerful leap, letting its users fly through the air even faster than the base skill let them run. With Matt’s upgraded [Mage’s Retreat], she was uncertain how well she could literally keep up with him, but ultimately decided against it after her [Whirling Charge] was absorbed and converted to [Bloodrush], taking care of her additional movement-skill needs.