The Path of Ascension 7: A LitRPG Adventure

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Even as his hands worked without pause, Antonio looked up and grinned. “With that expression, I assume you’ve never seen a Tier 10 work? If you think this is impressive, let me tell you. It ain’t nothing. I worked for a Tier 30 chef on Old Rubarthan, and they would have all the prep done in about fifteen seconds. My paltry strength is nothing in comparison. And don’t worry. A lot of this speed is from repetition. You do this long enough, and one day you’ll look back and wonder how you could ever be so slow.”

He paused his blurring blade and said, “Here’s some advice I once got that meant a lot to me. Going fast isn’t about speed. It’s about consistency. ‘Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.’ So, if you want to be fast, you need to slow down.”

Matt mulled that over for a moment and nodded. It made sense, and he concentrated on his pile of potatoes, making each cut as perfect as possible, not worrying about trying to keep up.

As he deliberately slowed down, Matt found each cut a little easier, and before long, he fell into a rhythm.

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, he was shown how to prepare each ingredient for that night’s dinner with Antonio. Around two, the rest of the small staff filtered in, and Matt met them all and was paired with the potager chef Martinez, who made the soups for Antonio’s.

Thankfully, the man was only Tier 3, and Matt could follow and actually help him with his job that evening.

It was nearly ten when they finished up the last order; Matt was wiped out like never before, but he felt good.

Even as he almost fell asleep on the bus home, he couldn’t wait to do it again.

Matt waited outside the school and looked for a dot of white hair in the crowd of children.

The kids had been steaming out for a few minutes now, and his sister was still not out causing him to get annoyed.

He wasn’t worried, as he knew Aster’s classroom was on the far side of the school, and it would take her a while to walk through the twisting halls of the building. No, he was annoyed, as he knew his sister all too well, and she was probably chatting with some of her friends instead of walking.

Minutes later, he was proven right as a bob of white hair walked out of the school surrounded by five other kids.

Aster’s little pack of friends finally separated to their respective bus or guardian, and he saw the moment Aster noticed he was there picking her up instead of one of their parents.

Normally, it was their mother, as her job at the bank gave her a bit more flexibility, but his father always picked her up once a week. Though, his day was always random depending on what they were doing that week in the construction of the new skyscraper.

She rushed over and slammed into his leg before grabbing onto his hand that was reaching to ruffle her hair.

Holding his hand, she jumped up and down. “Oh! Why are you picking me up today? Can we go get ice cream?”

He saw the moment the thought came to her as she blurted out. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work? Did you get fired for flirting with Leah again?”

Seeing the little monster was more concerned with getting ice cream rather than seeing him, he pushed past her futile defense and ruffled her hair.

“No, short stack. Mom and dad had to leave the city quickly, as Aunt Katya went into labor early. And unless you want to get on a six hour train and then spend the next two or more days helping them get settled in, I figured you might want to stay back.”

Aunt Katya was one of their mother’s friends from the bank, and she had moved to the neighboring city for a promotion a few years ago. Despite that, she remained close with their mother.

She had gotten married and pregnant in short order, but her labor wasn’t supposed to happen for another week at the earliest, and her husband was on the neighboring planet, bringing his parents over.

Bad timing on the teleportation platforms meant there was no way he was getting back to be there for Katya, so his parents had called out of work earlier that afternoon and headed over to assist her as much as anyone that wasn’t a medical professional could.

Aster looked up at him as she started swinging their hands before observing. “I think you didn’t want to go and used me as an excuse.”

Matt shamelessly nodded. “Yup! But at the same time, I know you didn’t want to go either. So really, we’re helping each other out here.”

Aster nodded back at that before saying with an evil grin, “Sure, but you owe me ice cream.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “We’re going to Mark’s Market, but we are not buying ice cream.”

Aster immediately went limp and started dragging her feet in protest.

Matt, now Tier 2, rolled his eyes and picked her off the ground where she dangled.

Aster giggled before pulling herself up and biting his hand.

It hurt.

Despite that, he pretended it didn’t and teased, “I don’t feel a thing with my higher Tier.” That caused her to bite down harder, and he had to hide a wince.

It worked.

In fact, it worked too well, as Aster changed from biting his hand to licking it and he jerked to get her off him.

Landing on the ground with a giggle, the little terror laughed as Matt looked at the small half circle of teeth marks on his hand.

Wiping the saliva and indentations off, he groused, “I swear you got replaced at the hospital with a dog.”

Aster giggled even harder even as she dodged a patch of water on the sidewalk.

“I’m not a dog, I’d be a wolf!”

She growled for effect while Matt ignored her.

“As I was trying to say before you so rudely bit me, we aren’t buying ice cream. We’re going to make it.”

Aster, who had started to pout once more, perked up and grabbed his hand, trying to race ahead.

Sadly for her, she was a little girl, and Matt was a six foot tall Tier 2.

“Come on! Hurry up, you slime! I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Matt pulled the little monster back to his side so they didn’t run over an older man and said, “First, we’re going to make dinner, which you need to eat all of if you want dessert.”