The Path of Ascension 6: A LitRPG Adventure

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“Will that apply to my Concept?” Liz tapped her finger on her notes, “Or would it only work when I’m empowering blood inside myself?”

“It will likely empower the external use of your Concept, yes,” Kurt wrote, “Though likely not to the full strength as when using it internally.”

“How would that interact with my armor?” Susanne followed up, “It’s meant to make an external Concept also function as an internal one, but if my Concept begins to function as an internal one, would that make the enchantment less effective?”

Carol answered that question. “Like everything else on Minkalla, it won’t interfere with anything else. Most likely, the effects of your armor and using your Concept internally would directly add together.”

“Oh, that’s good. Very good.” Susanne rubbed her hands together and grinned at the screen.

Floating Islands: There is no floor, and flying items are weakened to the point of being unable to support additional weight. Falling far enough will result in a loop, though it’s unclear where exactly the lowest or highest point is, but it still requires falling a long way before a loop happens. The ruins are condensed in this theme to small floating islands and monsters, if not already capable of flying, gain wings or some other method of flight.

Reward: Improved ability for internal concepts to fly and external ones to move space around them. On floor seven, it’s the equivalent of a dedicated, very strong Concept for it that is nearly impossible to ground the user without overwhelming force. If a Concept is already primed to help with flight/spatial manipulation, it is strengthened instead.

“Some of the best Concept-fliers in the Empire got their start with a deep Floating Islands.” Carol added, “This is one of those abilities which everyone benefits from but can be tricky to really take to the next level. Minkalla provides that opportunity and will even help you pick up Concept telekinesis once that’s a skill you decide to develop. Your nascent spatial abilities would get a massive boost from this Susanne.”

Liz, who was still struggling to do much in the way of flying with her Willpower, also took eager notes. Matt and Aster both had that skill nearly mastered so it was less beneficial for them, but it would still be useful.

Unskilled: Skills are completely blocked, including Innate skills granted by talents.

Reward: Upgrade a Tier 8 skill at floor one. The number you may upgrade increases with each floor (for totals of 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 16). You may spend two Tier 8 equivalents to upgrade a Tier 14 or four Tier 8s to upgrade a Tier 20. These skills have more ability to be changed as the lower Tier you are, and elemental effects can be added at will.

“As I mentioned before, going in at Tier 11 will mean you have far more control over the end product. You could almost think of this as a Legacy combined with an upgrade, for the amount it’ll allow you to improve any skills you put into it.” Luna didn’t linger on the topic as they had already discussed it and quickly changed the screen to the next slide.

Mind over Matter: All physical existence fades, rendering everyone into spiritual beings. Physical cultivation does essentially nothing, and moving is hard without a skill or Concept to aid. Physical appearance also fades, and everything becomes more like the abstract idea of itself or its Concept.

Reward: Concepts become less willpower intensive. By floor seven, any foundational uses of a Concept—that is, any things which the Concept itself does, not general uses of a Concept such as locking down space or flying—are functionally free to use, costing less Willpower than most people recover. The further from the primary use (or uses) of the Concept a use is, the less this benefit applies to it.

“Nothing? Like, actually nothing?” Susanne seemed incredulous, “And it will work for maintaining my manifestation?”

“It is functionally free, not genuinely costless, but otherwise yes to both,” Carol affirmed, “In addition, the decreased strain makes it substantially easier to explore and push your Concept further. But beyond additional practice, I expect you’ll be able to maintain two swords continuously if you get this as your fifth or deeper floor.”

It immediately shot up on Matt’s hopes for a lower floor. If it could make Concepts so easy to use, he might be able to use his Concept’s repulsion mode more than in short bursts, maybe even continuously if it were easy enough. He had wanted his Concepts power to double but he felt this might be even more useful in practical circumstances.

If that weren’t enough, according to some of Carol’s further explanations about the floor, it also strongly applied to any additional abilities which Minkalla granted to their Concepts, provided they were close enough to some of the original abilities.

The floor quickly joined Matt’s growing list of hopeful final few floors.

All Paupers: Items don’t work at all, for anything. Not only are wands just inert sticks, a sword will not cut, armor will not block. Potions act as no more than water, and even the most potent foods do nothing more than provide basic sustenance.

Reward: A Growth Item lodges itself in your spirit. On floor one, this means you can instantly materialize/dematerialize it, and it becomes nearly impossible to permanently destroy. By floor seven, the item’s enchantments may be utilized as appropriate even without using the item directly and can even be modified in a manner similar to a skill. The exact abilities depend on the item, but the spiritual strain of the item likewise increases. Luna remarked “It pairs very well with Mundane Life, I will say. The increased strain and willpower usage which the item requires is more than offset by making the item self-sufficient, and if you get those two floors at the sixth and seventh floors, regardless of the order, they tend to amplify the other’s effects quite nicely.”

Opposite Day: Mana aspects are flipped, becoming the opposite of what they ought to be. Likewise, physical cultivation boosts mana, and magic cultivation boosts the body. This also applies to monsters.