The Path of Ascension 6: A LitRPG Adventure

95

All four of them nodded. They had information about all the top enemy Pather equivalents, and Young Master Lunar Fang was a known monster. At Tier 12, he had a reputation for using his Talent for moonlight attacks to slay a well-known Tier 16 after a dispute.

That would have been impressive even if he had assassinated the Tier 16, but their information suggested that Young Master Lunar Fang had told the Tier 16 exactly how he was going to kill him before doing so.

That had catapulted him from obscurity to fame in a single attack, earning him a place on the Great Powers’ watch lists.

After they digested that bit of information, the second guilder continued, “We also personally encountered Silver Phoenix from your guys’ faction. He was fine last we saw him, but warned us about a group of ten people running around as a team. He said they’re strong and coordinated and told us to watch out if encountering them in the depths. They attacked him on sight.”

Under his mask, Matt furrowed his brows. Not at the news that Silver Phoenix was there or ahead of them, but the fact he had found a group of ten people in Minkalla.

Larger groups might have more safety, but they struggled to keep up with smaller groups with their increased Genesis Energy needs. Silver Phoenix himself was the third-place contestant in the solo fights of the Tier 10 tournament before their own and was said to have entered Minkalla at the peak of Tier 12.

Luna even spoke to them about him and expected him to do well…as long as he wasn’t killed.

Silver Phoenix was named for his Talent, which gave him silver flames that he liked to shape into a bird form. Whether or not he had a bloodline was a matter of debate, but he was strong enough that a group of subpar fighters who needed to travel in a pack of ten shouldn’t have given him an issue.

Which meant they were strong individually.

That thought just brought Matt to the question of why they were delving together.

After that bit of information, the duo started to inform them about the others who were in the room with them currently.

Gabby’s group was a Tier 12 team of three elites from the Clans. They weren’t Knights, the Ascender equivalent of the Clans, but they were a team of their local nobility.

Matt took a few seconds to inspect the dwarf in person, but quickly realized that there was nothing to see. They just seemed like short and stocky humans, rather than anything else.

Still, he didn’t doubt the reports they had learned of from Luna and the information brokers. The team was strong, and despite being funded by their clans, were as formidable as any ascender team of equivalent Tier.

The only obvious beast in the area was a wounded Seven Light Panther who had a gash on his flank. Gareth was a known beast with a strong bloodline and power. He was an Alpha contestant from the Monster Collective, but not much was known of him beyond the fact that his Talent was illusion based which was normal for the species.

No one had seen him fight, or at least no one reported it to the media, and their spies had found nothing. The large cat had decided not to participate in the Monster Collective’s Tier 10 tournament equivalent, so hardly anything about his abilities was public or privileged knowledge.

After going over the other few people in the room, Matt set up a formation to block people’s spiritual sense and sight while he brought out a number of the armor sets they had taken from the fishmen armory.

The Guild duo, after seeing the armor, decided to buy two full sets apiece, and after some negotiating, traded Liz a number of rare herbs that they had found. Susanne also scored a bracelet that increased the efficiency of weapon manifestations.

As the pair were about to leave, a new face appeared.

A lone young man stood in an open area.

That would have been unremarkable, save for the fact he was nude and Tier 12.

He didn’t even seem to have a spatial ring.

As if nothing was wrong, he sauntered over to the pillar in the center of the wall while whistling a jaunty tune.

After the naked man vanished, Matt called out to the guild duo and asked, “Did you recognize him? I don’t.”

They shook their heads, and the two of them walked over to the pillar and descended to the next level of Minkalla, leaving the four of them to their own devices.

Setting up a better formation for privacy was a matter of removing then empowering the formations Matt had prepared before they entered Minkalla.

They didn’t want to take out their house in front of so many people unnecessarily.

After setting all of that up, Matt withdrew the mirror that the cornucopia had empowered to check on Gareth. It let them see through illusions, and had proven useful in the second floor.

Matt nodded to the others as he saw that the Seven Light Panther was neither wounded, nor where he pretended to be. The healthy cat was sitting next to the dwarven team, spying on their conversation.

Aster chortled softly through their AI. “Silly kitty. Illusions are for foxes.”

Matt finally took the time to inspect his cultivation cores. Or rather, core.

His mana core was as small as it always was.

But his physical core was a different story. Where once had been a small sphere of white essence now resided a coating of golden Genesis Energy.

The top three layers of his essence had been converted, which he suspected was the maximum the reward on the second floor could give.

Through their AI, Liz asked. “How did you all do? I got two and a half Tiers converted in each of my cores.”

Aster yipped back. “Same! I feel really strong. The Genesis Energy I got from [Heart of Power] even stacked a bit more with the conversion, and it feels like a larger peak.”

Susanne agreed with Liz and Aster. “About two Tiers but more in my physical side, personally. The power is noticeable. Sadly, we are just keeping up with the rest of the best here, though. Once we leave, it will have a noticeable impact though and set us apart.”