The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

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Upgraded [Hungering Darkness], the skill [Hungering Blood] had derived itself from, gained something of a feedback loop, as part of the life drained from its victims went to empowering the skill itself, making it both harder to break out of and spread across a larger area. Liz’s version couldn’t reinforce itself, but it could feed any blood it drained into another blood skill directly, strengthening it past its normal limits.

[Bloodrush] was actually one skill which held substantial synergy with it, as the skill would slowly accumulate a stream of blood trailing after Liz as she ran. The faster and longer she ran, the more blood accumulated, and the more blood she had following her, the faster she could run. Once she stopped, the accumulated blood would slam into whatever she stopped in front of. But, when combined with [Hungering Blood], Liz accumulated blood much faster than normal, substantially enhancing her feedback loop.

Susanne took a fairly straightforward pair for herself, with [Iron Skin] and [Counter]. The former gave a semi-straightforward defensive buff in that any metal, such as her growth armor, she was in close proximity to and in active contact with would benefit from the skill’s reinforcement, and even some of her cultivated durability.

[Counter]’s upgrade, meanwhile, added a minor shockwave to its clash, knocking nearby people off-balance. With a bit of practice timing her new [Retaliate] skill, she could magnify the effect and inflict reflected damage on everyone nearby instead of just whoever she countered, making it a great skill for fighting off hordes of weaker monsters.

While Matt and Susanne both wanted to have one last spar, one last fight before they parted ways, it simply wasn’t possible. While they were whole again, all four limbs intact and mostly functional, they were still on medical watch and could very easily fall back into a fairly nasty healing cooldown if they weren’t careful. That they were less than halfway done assimilating their new skills, and that Matt was a full Tier ahead of Susanne were also factors, but fairly minor ones all told.

They both would have had fun.

Still, because they were all whole once again, and past the point of unexpected, sudden complications from their healing, it was time for them to get moving once again. After several heartfelt goodbyes and promises to keep in touch and fight once again when they had the chance, Carol and Susanne boarded their ship, lifted into the air with a hum from the engines, and vanished into the sky.

Kurt stood beside Matt, Liz, and Aster as they looked after the swiftly-retreating vessel as it broke through the atmosphere and shimmered into Chaotic Space, leaving a smear of quickly-fading color in its wake.

Having seen their silent trainer interact with Carol a fair amount, Matt felt fairly confident that he knew why his eyes lingered on where the other manager had vanished for so long. Carol was a bit crazy from what he’d seen, but who knew? Maybe Kurt was into that.

They couldn’t stare for too long, of course. There were skills to be absorbed, magic control exercises to be mastered, bodies to be exercised, rifts to be delved, and progress to be made, none of which was going to happen on this world.

7

Their trip to the nearby Tier 18 planet took all of five minutes in Kurt’s ship, simply lifting off from their idyllic Tier 15 world. After a brief trip through chaotic space, they set down in a new spaceport on a new world.

From the nearly empty planet they were just on, the change was dramatic.

Even just leaving the spaceport, the difference was obvious. Where the Tier 15 planet had a few dozen people walking around the streets and a few more flying through the air, the Tier 18 planet had thousands of people in the air and hundreds on the ground. It was absolutely bustling, with a plethora of people constantly traveling to wherever they needed to go.

Luna, riding on Kurt’s shoulder, pointed with a paw and said, “Let’s check into our lodgings for the evening, and once we do, you three are free to do as you wish. The train to our rift leaves tomorrow morning. As long as you’re there on time, I don’t care what you do.”

Matt grinned and felt Aster’s own excitement through their bond. They had requested a little time to explore the city before moving on to the guild they would be staying at for the next few years.

As Aster stood on Matt’s shoulder and head to get a better view of the massive building, made of what looked like solidified light mana, Matt felt a presence barge into his spiritual perception.

If he’d been acting as though he were in a rift, with his perception spread over miles, that would hardly be notable. But for politeness, he was keeping his awareness to just within a few feet of himself, Liz, and Aster, and even that registered a fair amount of the crowd casually passing through the area. This presence was different, though, and wasn’t simply passing through. Instead, they were on a clear trajectory toward Liz.

Or, more specifically, her spatial backpack.

Matt’s hand shot out, intercepting the hand as it attempted to grab the backpack, and he pulled on [Mage’s Retreat] to yank the intruder away.

Though clearly Tier 15, his target was no combatant, as even the simple tug was enough to make them lose their balance. As Matt continued to pull down, Liz spun and brought her knee up and into the would-be thief’s face with a crunching sound, breaking cartilage and possibly even bone with the strike.

Aster teleported onto the back of the thief, weighing down the thief’s body and clothes with a restraining layer of ice.

The attempted thief was a young-looking woman with blue hair and bright pink skin, an only marginally rare combination in their current city. Matt couldn’t say he thought the pairing looked particularly good, but he’d seen worse local customs.

Off to the side, he noticed Kurt giving him a thumbs-up, carefully balancing a ‘napping’ Luna in his other arm. No doubt, they’d address a dozen different ways they could have done better on their next train ride.