The Path of Ascension

The group quickly found out that Annie was right. Each and every building was full of the same two kinds of monsters. Time and time again, they had to fight their way through a horde of wyrms, to then take on an increasing number of adult wyverns.

At the start, the entire group was forced to take mana refilling or essence allocation breaks after every third building, when they were only ten or so floors tall. Then, as the buildings grew to thirty or forty stories, they rested after every clear.

When they neared the dozen tallest towers, the fighters even opted for a long, half-hour break.

As exhaustion set in, people started to slip up and lose synergy as old instincts took over, leading to getting in each other’s way more than once.

So far, the errors had been mostly harmless, but they still didn't want to risk their lives on something as foolish as rushing to the end of the rift.

Said exit was located at the top of a skyscraper that was around two hundred and fifty floors tall. The portal out was only visible because of a complete lack of clouds in the rift.

It towered over the surrounding buildings, which were less than half its height, and had at least a hundred wyverns flying around it.

They decided to fight their way up the building as they had with the others, as being swarmed by that many monsters while outside would mean certain death.

Once they reached and stormed the final tower, it took them close to eight brutal and bloody hours to go from the ground floor to the roof. The boss, a bottom Tier 14 wyvern, had made its nest at the highest point in the rift.

The fight started well enough, as they had long learned the monsters’ fighting style and created their own counters. Fen and his bonds started the encounter off similarly to most fights, with Garnet shooting a volley of earth infused spikes out of their back. Then, as the wyvern struggled to cope with the opening salvo, Ruby the earthworm dove into the floor and started clearing the area debris, creating a clean fighting area for them.

Bow and Arrow, the two wolves, then joined the front liners and harassed the wyverns’ flanks with their incredibly strong and sharp teeth, and their agile maneuvering. Tired as all of them were, the two wolves were so in sync with their timing that it was hard not to pull back and watch them work.

Fen himself kept to the backline and played the role of assisting mage, helping to distract and entangle their targets.

Emily and Tara were a devastating combination and had learned to blend their styles together. Tara would shoot lightning arrows from her growth quiver into the wyvern’s right flank, while Emily charged her combo for her empowered [Jolt]. Once her finishing skill was ready,Emily would use a lightning arrow as a conduit to bypass some of the boss’s defenses.

The tactic was strong enough to two-shot most of the Tier 13 wyverns, but it proved less effective on the stronger monster facing them now.

Emily was forced to increase her combo of spells to the fourth layer, but that more than doubled the strain on her spirit. Still, the boost in power helped the pair incinerate large swaths of the boss’ scales.

Tara was shooting as fast as she could at the more vulnerable parts of the Tier 14 boss while Emily fired off skills for another combo. But like its smaller brethren, the boss always seemed to know when to duck its head, making most of their finishing shots ineffective.

Vinnie was a floater, oscillating between offensive and defensive casting while creating small berms and obstacles for the boss. He was still able to get some attacks in when the opportunities presented themselves..

Matt, Mathew, and Conor kept themselves in front of the boss, trying to block the rampaging monsters from rushing their backline. The task was made all the more difficult by the monster's size and Tier advantage, but they were barely able to keep the monster at bay together, despite constantly fighting in a circling retreat.

They were slowly whittling the boss down when disaster struck.

Kevin had to roll out of the way of a wing slash that was followed up by a [Fireball], while Mathew was still recovering from blocking a slashing stomp that almost flattened their mages.

Matt, seeing that he was the closest one, dropped his sword and did the only thing he could do within the constraints of his identity. He caught the monster's upper and lower fangs in his hands

The boss' attack was halted for an instant, as Matt threw all of his Concept and physical strength into resisting the wyverns forward momentum, growling and snarling with feigned strain. Had this been a normal fight, he would have thrown enough mana into [Mage’s Retreat] to yank the beast from its feet with the proper purchase. But not now.

Not with the majority of the Empire watching.

Before he could let go, the Tier 14 wrenched its head back and shook vigorously, trying to dislodge the human holding onto its mouth. Saliva flung from its jaws and onto Matt’s hand, loosening his grip ever so slightly before it shook its head once more, with even more strength thrown in.

Matt’s grip slipped off the massive teeth, causing him to fly off of the building. That wouldn't have been so bad, except his left leg clipped a part of the building that was still intact.

Despite all of his armor, both magical and mundane, his leg shattered as he was sent tumbling through the sky.

The pain was blinding, but nothing he hadn't learned to deal with during Luna’s tourture resistance training sessions.

As he cast [Ranged Heal] on himself and felt his bones start crawling back together, he caught himself with his Concept and started to fly back inside. He had a bone to pick with that wannabe dragon.

As he neared the entrance, he could hear everyone except Melinda’s crew, who knew he could fly with his Concept, start to panic.

His AI was reporting that he would be on a four day healing cooldown when he saw what had happened during his impromptu flight.

Even with his blocking the wyverns lunge, the beast was fast and vicious, quickly lashing out with its tail and cutting through Vinnie’s leg cleanly.

Melinda had already moved to reattach the limb, but Janet had taken the opening to cut through the boss's wounded leg, while Tara was able to finally put an arrow into the beast's eye. Emily used that as a conductive rod to the monster’s brain, and ended the fight with an overpowered [Jolt].

Matt flew over to Melinda to get his healing cooldown removed, even if unofficially. He still needed to be able to delve as Quill, after all.

Liz shot him a worried look, but didn’t say anything.

Janet apologized profusely for not positioning the teams better, but Matt waved her off. This boss outclassed them and was smart. Mistakes were bound to happen.

They had been delving for nearly a day and a half, and mistakes would always happen as fatigue grew.

When they opened the rift distortion, they all paused. A shiny, overtly obvious bond egg sat on the ground. It was white with clear tips on the craggy edges, where Asters had been ice covered. But otherwise, the new egg looked similar in size and shape to Aster’s.

Matt, along with everyone else, looked to Fen as the most obvious recipient of the bond.

To his credit, Fen raised his hands and said, “While I get it, we all earned this reward. Besides, I don't think I can afford to buy out everyone else's shares.” He then dropped an interesting fact. “There are no wyverns bonds, which means that isn't a wyvern egg. I'd bet everything I own and can borrow that that egg contains a true dragon.”

That rekindled everyone's greed to unimaginable levels.

Rift-born dragon eggs were rarely sold, and always fetched a fortune. Most were bought by the beast kingdom to be raised by worthy people they hand-selected, and kept inside the dragon community. But they also reached the open market often enough for them to know that the price would exceed Tier 30 wealth.

Everyone knew they couldn’t access most of that while on The Path, but just knowing that they would have a windfall awaiting them when they stepped off The Path made the offer tempting.

Tier 30 wealth would ensure that they live like kings, or at least guarantee a smooth cultivation journey.

Matt wasn't interested. His dance card was already full with the ever-growing and learning Aster, but he watched everyone else and read the thoughts on their faces. A dragon with Liz could be interesting, but that would be a lot for her to focus on while giving her all towards this competition. Another proverbial mouth to feed with essence wouldn’t necessarily kill their growth speed, but it wouldn’t help either. So, Matt sincerely doubted that she would be interested in the creature.

To his surprise, Janet was the first to speak, even though it looked like someone was pulling her teeth with each word. “I think Fen should still take it. It's better to keep rewards on The Path. We couldn't get most of the wealth, and when or if we do fall off The Path, we will have far more generous offers. I think the best choice is to keep this with one of the teams here.”

That caused everyone to look around. No one would say no to a dragon bond, but that same thought process meant that Fen was still the best person to take the egg.

Janet’s next words followed Matt's own thought. “And the best person to get the egg is clearly Fen. He has a Talent for it, which will ensure that the bond gets the best treatment and growth possible.”

Vinnie raised his hand and wiggled it in uncertainty. “Is that true though? Fen already has his hands full. Will another bond be better treated with him, or being raised alone?”

Matt nodded at the point. It was valid.

Matt could see that if someone truly wanted the bond for themselves, they could argue that the bond getting their full attention was better. As opposed to Fen having to split his focus equally between the bonds he already had. Bonds, like children, required a great deal of time and attention.

That was enough for her team to nod reluctantly, but they all looked like they had swallowed a lemon as they looked to Fen.

Fen nodded slightly but said, “My Talent lets me bond with more than one beast, but it also lets all of us know each other's thoughts and feelings to a degree. I call it my pack for a reason. We are all family, but I won't contest if someone else wants a bond.”

Matt scanned everyone else to see their reactions.

Deciding to let that argument come if it did, Matt paid careful attention to the micro-expressions and emotions of those around him.

Vinnie, Tara, Sam, looked disinterested, and were scanning everyone else like he was. Janet and her team looked slightly more conflicted, but were also staring more at the people around them than the egg.

Matt interpreted Melinda’s expression and body language as more interested in the outcome than getting the egg herself. She just stood by Mathew and whispered something to him while watching Fen and the others.

Annie, Conor, and Emily all looked at the egg with naked desire, but there was a measure of restraint in their eyes. He had a good idea of their thoughts. They could use such a formidable addition to their team, but also agreed that Fen was the best to get the egg.

Felix’s thoughts were unknown to Matt, as the other man seemed to want the egg, but also was holding himself back.

Liz asked a follow up question in the contemplative silence. “How did you get your other bonds, Fen?”

That finally pulled his attention off of the egg and he smiled sheepishly. “Rift rewards. I don't have a Talent for it, but when I have an open slot for a new beast, I usually get an egg drop.”

Liz shrugged and said, “That pretty much settles it. Bonds believe that the one they are meant for is the one they drop for most of the time. I'm not going to try and stop it.”

She looked around to everyone, but no one tried to counter her words.

Felix looked the most conflicted, but in the end, he shook his head as he said, “It wouldn't really fit my style, but damn. It would have been cooler than any movie to fight from the back of a real, live dragon.”

That was enough to cut the tension, and the majority of those gathered around the small object chuckled together. Seeing that the matter was settled, Liz walked over and picked up the beast egg, then pushed it into Fen's hands. He was reverent as he took it, but Liz still said, “My mom is going to want to talk to you about this, so expect a visit.”

Seeing the surprised looks from everyone not in the know, she explained, “My mom is Mara, Queen of the beast kingdom.” She nodded to the egg. “And dragon bonds are rare enough that the dragons are going to want to ensure that Fen can properly take care of a baby dragon. At minimum, they’ll offer him a buyout, and if he turns it down, they’ll assign a dragon to offer advice to the bond.”

Matt smiled as Liz completely ignored the surprised looks from the revelation of her parentage, and the stupefied looks from everyone but Melinda’s team, even Emily, Annie, and Conors eyes winded at that bit of information. Seeing how open Liz had become about her heritage always made Matt happy, and she hadn’t even hesitated to warn Fen in front of the others.

Janet and Felix both had the largest reactions of the group, while the twins, Harvie and Adam, just looked tired and ready to pass out. Kevin didn’t even seem to have heard the comment, and just rested on the nearby wall, staring out to space.

With that settled, Fen said, “I’ll pay this back as much as I can now, and then as we go on. I know you guys don't really know my Talent beyond more bonds, but I promise that the dragon will be the best and strongest he can be with me.”

They weren't five feet out of the rift when Mara appeared in a flare of fire and glanced at the egg.

Matt half expected a joke or a quip to them, but she was cold and professional as she said, “That's a dragon egg, alright.” The Queen of Beasts then looked at everyone else and asked, “And you all agree to give it to Fen to bond with? No last minute changes of your minds?”

When no one changed their mind, she smiled gently and said, “Good. I’m stealing Fen for a conversation, but know that I saw your generosity and level-headed determination to make the best choice. If any one of you want, when you fall off The Path, I, on behalf of the dragons, offer you all a boon. That's standard procedure with rare bonds, though dragons take it even more seriously than most. We believe there is a reason that bonds drop for the groups that they do, and while we won't stop a group from selling a bond, we prefer that it goes to its destined partner. So thank you.”

With that, Mara, Fen, and his bonds were just gone.

No one else, except for their group, even seemed to have seen the exchange. But everyone who had seen the royal looked to Liz, who shrugged and just said, “Told you.”

Before anyone could respond to her quip, Emily said, “Look at our ranking!”

Her exclamation caused everyone else to look at the board next to the rift, and they saw that they were firmly in first palace.

The group in second place had only a little more of half their points in the rating from the AI judges.

Matt shuddered to think of how badly those other delves had to have gone, considering their own issues with multiple teams mixing, for them to earn that high of a ranking. Still, they were a firm contender for winning the first place prize at the end of the month, which was two hundred points split between the teams evenly. Thirty three points per team wasn't a small amount by any means, and would help them rise in the rankings.

They all agreed to celebrate the next day, but as of now, everyone was tired, and they all wanted to go to sleep.

***

One day later, Matt donned his Quill persona over his Shawn identity, and went outside for a walk. Not for delving as they had the last two days, but for the project he had been working on since he saw the Burning Hearts guild’s [Bandage] talismans.

After he had seen the [Bandage] talismans being sold, he had asked Luna for a report on the guild and their actions. Nothing he learned had dampened his anger at the price gouging activities, which was why he was here to put on a show.

By ‘accident’, he came across the largest stand selling the [Bandage] talismans for Tier 10 mana stones. It also had the benefit of being staffed by one of the guild's upper echelon members. While none of the guild members selling the talismans here were low Tier, this man was one of the actual decision makers, so Matt had no qualms about making a scene in front of him.

Instead of buying one and walking away quietly, as he had as Matt, he bought one then started examining it before tossing it back into the table.

“You want to charge people Tier 10 mana stones for this dog shit work? This is an embarrassment to enchanters everywhere. I want to vomit seeing such clumsy work, which would make these raggedy talismans very convenient, since wiping it up is really all they’re suited for. You didn’t even use Tier 10 materials, or anything to even begin justifying the price. It’s crap enchanting smeared across already crap-soaked toilet paper. This is shameless extortion by your guild, to an almost cartoonish degree.”

The man behind the counter had lost his smile, but kept his calm as he said, “Those are bold and profane words, young man. Our people have worked hard on making a new and unique skill into a lifesaving measure. We charge more to recoup the cost of simplifying the Tier 8 skill into an enchantment that can be inscribed into talismans.”

Quill pretended to spit at the man's booth.

Having a mask was sometimes an annoyance for his performances.

“Are you serious? That just makes it even worse.” He pointed down at the enchanted paper he’d tossed back onto the table and then made a show of thumping the table before he spoke again. “Your guild is taking a new life-saving skill that is extremely limited in supply, and then you threw your patent at the first faintly viable enchantment you stumble across! Then you cranked the price to the highest possible level you could get away with. All for a barely functioning prototype. I'd even accept that if Burning Hearts didn’t then make the license for the design ridiculously expensive. You didn’t even include the typical discounts or waivers for military and emergency medical use! All so that no one who would need such a spell can afford to make it, or buy it from anyone but you scoundrels. And most of them can’t afford to buy from you anyway.”

The man interjected with a smirk, “If you feel so strongly about it, we welcome you to get the skill and make your own version. Then let's see if you are so altruistic after all that effort. Research like this takes time and money. We aren’t monsters for ensuring that our R&D costs are recouped. Since that seems so unreasonable to you, why don’t you do your own research and show us how it's done? ”

Quill let a smile grow across his mask and loudly shouted, “You know what? That’s a great idea! I rather think I will. You may have obscured your enchantment so that it's impossible to make knock offs, but I don't need to copy your pathetic scribblings to make my own.”

He stepped into the air behind him, then floated above the crowd while raising his arms out to his side and shouted, “They think that they have something we all need and want. A life saving item! The problem is that they’re right. If I’m going to beat them at their own game, I need the actual [Bandage] skill to work off of. Is there anyone here who has the skill? I ask that you come to me and demonstrate the skill in action so I can make a completely free version for everyone to use.” Theatrically, he bowed, crossing his arm over his lap before standing and loudly proclaimed, “If you don’t recognize me already, I am Quill, one of the top masked Pathers, and someone unwilling to stand by while we are all taken advantage of. I won't pay anyone for their help, but I won’t be taking anyone’s money either. Any enchantment for [Bandage] I make will be released to the public for free.”

Quill plummeted to the ground amid a near-silent crowd.

No one approached him, but half a dozen people called out from enchanters in the crowd, eager to offer their help in his endeavor.

He was going to ask Melinda to offer her services as his official [Bandage] skill source when a large man stepped forward and said, “I have the skill. I was in that region of the Empire before the skill was realized to be as useful as it is, and already got one myself before the rush. If you’re really willing to give the enchantment away for free, I am willing to let you study it.”

The volunteer shot a vicious glare at the man behind the table before saying to the crowd, “I don't know if you’ve heard yet, but the guild isn't only price gouging their goods here. They’re selling to hospitals and worlds in general at the highest markup they can manage. A single one of those Tier 8 [Bandage] talismans costs more than the average Tier 8 worker earns in a decade.”

Quill did in fact know that from Luna's report, but pretended he, like the rest of the crowd, was learning it now.

That statement caused a murmuring in the crowd that Quill jumped on. “See? The Burning Hearts are just profiteering scum who would put shameless greed ahead of saving people. It is detestable. Those who offered their expertise in enchanting, I just rented a work area and would welcome your help. Tell your enchanter friends who know how to simplify skills to come as well. I'm confident in doing it myself, but more hands will help make the process faster.”

With that, more than half the crowd followed Quill and the large man, whose name was Ulster.

He led them into a workshop, and after the enchanters were gathered around Ulster, they started to track the skill and try to work out the runes that they would need to create or merge to copy the effect of [Bandage].

It was all theatrics.

Matt had pumped his AI full with his crazy amount of mana generation during his down time and sleep over the last four days, directing it to make a Tier 5 enchantment version of the skill.

Erwin had trained his AI well. Despite Luna’s distaste for them, it had proven its worth by creating an enchantment rune for [Bandage] in less than a week. It wasn't pretty, but it was functional.

The first layout that his AI created was audaciously inefficient, as were all the things he made with his own abilities in mind. Mana efficiency was readily sacrificed for better throughput and stronger effects since his AI knew and worked with his own Talent. It wasn’t until the third iteration of the skill, which had been developed in the rift during their sleep break, that the AI returned a rune he felt satisfied with.

By normal standards, this version was still moderately inefficient. But by his standards, it was downright economical.

With the finished product already in his hand, Quill simply guided the others into discovering the runes and alignments needed. Despite him cheating shamelessly, the other enchanters seemed unbothered about taking the supporting roles. Most of them even had good ideas to offer about tweaking the design, and helped create a fourth variation that was better suited for the average enchanter.

The work was still an incredibly arduous process. Taking a skill and translating it into a runic formation that could be miniaturized, then simplified into something that a lower Tier crafter could replicate was an incredibly tedious and complex process. Few enchanters ever bothered with even the idea of accomplishing it, and for good reason.

One of the key metrics used in the rating of enchantments was the Tier of the enchantment. A Tier 5 enchantment meant that it was enchantable by the average Tier 5 enchanter, and could be put on Tier 5 materials without destroying or burning the items from the inside out. Unlike the proper skills, enchantments didn't fall into narrow bands of drop rates and Tiers.

Taking a Tier 8 [Fireball] and making a Tier 8 enchantment wasn’t easy, but it was leagues easier than making a Tier 1 [Fireball] enchantment. The latter needed to be simplified until a Tier 1 with the weakest of spiritual sense could comprehend it in its entirety, and burn it into an item.

That was also only taking the example of a single, common spell.

With an entirely new skill like [Bandage], a second issue came up: there were no known runes that properly mimicked the skill’s effects. For something like [Hail], you could just take the same-Tier runes for ice, falling, and chill before shoving them into a diagram defining the size and intensity of the spell. That would let you fake the effect of [Hail], even if you didn't have a simplified single rune for the skill.

There were no Tier 8 healing spells, and the Tier 14 versions could only be stripped down so far before they became nonfunctional as an enchantment.

That was the issue Matt’s AI burned over 200 million mana trying to figure out. It had to, from scratch, create an entirely new rune that would mimic the effects of the Tier 8 spell [Bandage]. The first draft of the rune had been Tier 12, but once it had the initial working prototype, it was able to quickly lower the Tier of the rune through subsequent iterations.

The lower the rating for a rune, the better, but there were a number of factors that could make that rating higher or lower. Matt’s AI was only able to bring the enchantment level to Tier 5, but even then, it was just inside the upper expected limit of a Tier 5 enchanter.

With the others' help, Quill and his AI improved the efficiency and effectiveness, but it brought the skill into the lower level of a Tier 6 rune from the Tier 5 version his AI had originally made. Still, the decrease in mana usage was worth it for a public version.

All the while, they kept pinging the patent AI repeatedly, it continually confirmed their ongoing design was sufficiently different from the Burning Hearts guild’s patent.

After a fifteen hour extensive session of enchantment work, the whole group walked out of the room together to meet a large crowd.

Quill quickly noted that half a dozen Burning Hearts guild representatives stood in a huddle off to the side, their faces ranging from vindictive glares to cock-sure sneers. Better yet, the vice guild leader Jacob was there.

Their presence was mirrored by two dozen of Tur'stal's Gardeners mixed into the crowd, though the guards were a bit more professional in their bearing. The crowd that started as a few dozen curious tag-alongs had grown into at least a thousand people gathered outside.

Quill looked behind himself and knew that some of the other enchanters had spread the word to gather up for a show, and he couldn’t blame them.

He had deliberately cultivated a persona that liked to make a splash, after all.

Before he could prepare for his speech, a message arrived to his AI from Jacob. “The Burning Hearts guild is willing to offer you a very lucrative deal if you don't offer that patent to the public. Making friends is always preferable to enemies, don't you agree?”

Quill looked over to them and plastered a sneer across his mask before jeering, “I’m sorry… It's ‘better to make friends than enemies?’ Yeah, I don't believe you know who you’re talking to. You ingrates are a half-rate guild, and you want to threaten me?” He looked around at the gathered crowd, a look of mock shock on his mask. “You can barely paste together a viable enchantment and now you’re stooping to threatening me, one of the top masked competitors here, to try propping up the shakedown you’re running. You couldn’t stop someone like me if you wanted to, even if I wasn’t on The Path, and thus untouchable to the likes of you. Honestly, I bet I could dog walk my way through your guild with half my gear and my hands tied behind my back. All while being hungover from a three day bender. And I would still butcher the majority of you filthy animals. Make that threat again, I dare you. Can your Tier 15 guild leader cash the bill your mouth is wracking up?”

The leader, Jacob, was a man who looked to be in his forties with a touch of gray at the temple. He took a step forward and replied with an amiable smile stretched over his face. “Oh my! I think you misunderstood, young man. That was hardly a threat. We just believe that anyone would be happier to make friends. And you don't make friends by undercutting someone else’s hard work. That's not nice, after all. Everything would be much simpler if—”

Quill raised a middle finger to the man in a salute that was cheered on by the majority of the enchanters behind him. “That's all you'll get from me. Burning Hearts guild? I hope your future profit margins give you all heartburn.”

It was not his best pun, but he had been working on it for almost a day straight.

With that, he rose into the air and announced, “Myself and the seventeen other enchanters who worked on this project can report that we’ve succeeded in the shortest of times. I'd like to also thank Ulster for being willing to reveal such a new and valuable skill, and allow us to test its effects.”

With an oversized smile on his mask, he finished, “We are proud to present an only slightly subpar [Bandage] enchantment that we are not restricting in any way, shape, or form. It's not the most efficient, or the prettiest work, but we confirmed that it works. Better yet, it’s sufficiently different from the current product on the market for the release to not be contested. With this, I wish everyone a wonderful evening.”

He turned around, but paused to make eye contact with the guild representatives. The way they glared after him made their ire known. Matt knew, under his persona, that he had earned an annoying enemy today, but the total victory was worth it.

Before he could leave, he received a message from Luna, which made him smile under the mask.

The Guild’s version of the enchantment was only a Tier 8, pushing Tier 9, runic version of the skill. It was why they were selling at Tier 10 prices. They could barely get the enchantment to take on Tier 8 materials, and they were trying to recoup all the money they could before someone did exactly what he had just done.

He and his AI, along with the others, had created a staggeringly low Tier version of their product.

The keys to their success was his AI taking advantage of his mana generation, and being able to send mana into his AI while asleep. Having spent most of four days on the project, his AI used nearly 200 million mana designing the rune, basing it off of the skill in his spirit. It was a feat only made possible by having plenty of field testing to work with. Even so, it was still a lot of mana, especially when translated into mana stones. He had spent the equivalent of two Tier 34 mana stones on the project.

No one with that level of wealth was willing to burn so much valuable mana on a simple Tier 8 skill when there was a license they could buy.

Matt simply could throw more mana at the problem than the guild could afford to as a Tier 15 guild. If they had that much mana, they would have never spent it on a simple Tier 8 skill. They would have commissioned a high Tier item, or bought some other valuable skill or material instead.

Quill paused dramatically as he asked the guild representative, still glaring up at him from below, “What Tier was your enchantment?”

Jacob must have felt the executioner's axe hovering over him as he tried to bluster, “That's proprietary information, we can’t divulge that.”

Quill waved the words off and said, “It matters not. Our version settled at the bottom of Tier 6. I suspect most decently accomplished Tier 5 enchanters can manage to recreate the rune, once they get familiar with it. Oh, and our version can also scale to at least Tier 12 without substantial changes to the base structure.”

There were gasps in the crowd that told him that there were more than a few enchanters in the crowd who understood just how impressive that was, from less than a day's effort.

To add to the insult he added, “Even better: here’s a proper Tier 5 version of the rune. It's a rough prototype and far too inefficient for practical use, but we still managed to make a Tier 5 rune. What was your runes Tier again? Oh yeah you wouldn't share.”

As he turned to walk away, he called over his shoulder, “Try to keep up boys, or at least don't put out so much trash for the real enchanters to have to wade through, okay?”

His revelation that they had created a Tier 5 version, no matter how bad, set the crowd off again; but he didn't stay to listen.

He was about to escape when the news reporting duo, Page Woodrow with Diego Heart, descended on him. Their camera was already blinking with a red light, indicating that it was live. They looked as physically exaggerated as they had last time he had seen them, but despite his dislike of their profession, he knew that this was a golden opportunity to sell his image and rune.

Page shoved a mic into his face as she badgered, “Quill! You say you just created a brand new rune in less than a day. Our experts say that’s an impossible feat without a dedicated Talent for someone at your Tier. How much was that of your own work, and how much was it of your impromptu team? That same idea confirms the suspicions of most that you have a Talent to create talismans unique to yourself. What can you say about that?”

Quill sighed audibly as he felt the other enchanters and Ulster arrive at his back like ducklings following their mother.

Diego took one of the enchanters, stepping forward slightly to put a mic in their face. The reporter let Curt, if his AI was to be trusted, answer his partner’s question. “I can say without a doubt that we were just there to provide some extra muscle in the effort. As much as it hurts my pride, Quill could have made the same rune in maybe two days without our help.”

The other enchanters all nodded or spoke affirmations of Curt’s statement, but Quill interjected, “While I won't speak to my Talent, I do want to make sure that everyone knows that the enchanters behind me were incredibly valuable. I might have done a bit more of the leg work, but they took my rough designs and polished them up until they shone. The iteration I would have come up with would have been far, far rougher. Their contributions were much greater than they are implying.”

He thought he was going to be able to get away from them when Page asked, “Our in-house enchanters are already praising your group's efforts in the released version, and we have reports of at least two Tier 35 enchanters saying they will take up the mantle you’ve set before them. They are already working to help create even lower Tier, and more efficient versions of the rune for free as well. Was that your intention with your own design? Was that something that you wished to happen with this sort of interaction against a guild like the Burning Hearts?”

Quill leaned forward slightly, “I am more than honored that others have taken an interest in the idea, but I simply feel things like this shouldn’t be locked down behind extortionate patents, being locked away for half a millennium. Making a profit isn't inherently bad, but when you push an inferior version of a product that can disproportionately help others, and save the lives of the lowest Tier of delvers and citizens, it's just flat out wrong. After Ulster said what he did, I looked into it during our breaks. The [Bandage] skill is critically useful for people of all Tiers who can't be healed due to a healing cooldown, or lack of a true healer, and this is something that needed to be distributed freely. But while high Tier people can use the skills, there are no low Tier healing talismans, as the only other known healing spells are Tier 14. As we all know, that’s out of the price range of the average Tier 5, and there are a lot more Tier 5s than Tier 14s.”

He paused before taking a deep breath and saying, “If a higher Tier with more experience takes this opportunity to make a hyper-efficient Tier 1 version, slaps their name on it, and makes it free for everyone, I wish them the best of luck. If I could have done so myself, I would have. But a Tier 6 version is within reach of most enchanters, and they can make them for a small profit while helping to save lives. There’s a reason healing is free for everyone but delvers, who take injuries in a rift. No one deserves to die when it's preventable, just to pad someone else’s pocket. Hopefully, this can serve as a reminder of why such a policy was implemented in the first place.”

He was turning away for a second time when he felt Page's demeanor change, the set of her body and the tension in it physically shifted, if only momentarily.

It was a subtle thing he wouldn't have noticed before Luna’s training, but he felt her get ready for a confrontation.

“Quill, we have people already questioning what happened here today.” She tilted her head to the left slightly as she looked over to him from where her gaze had been at the camera. “They wonder if this was just a public relations stunt to help improve your image with your growing number of fans? And there are some among those fans, and even some of your fellow Pathers, who are making statements claiming that you’re only this capable from throwing money at your problems. Is there something you would like to say to the naysayers, and those accusing you of cheating? Those that are claiming you aren't really a good fighter in your own right?”

A message from Luna came in and gave a brief reminder of the delve that she and Kurt had done in the masks while he and Liz were in the group rift, so he just laughed. “Is it cheating, to be good, nay— the best, at something? Is it cheating, for a blacksmith to make a sword for their own use? Is it cheating, for Shadow to hide in darkness? If I’m a cheat, then so is everyone, shy of perhaps Duke Waters. If someone wants to throw around schoolyard accusations, I welcome them to say it to my face like a grownup in a challenge ring, or on The Wild Side. I'm happy to show them how painfully effective my cheating is. Let those naive brats throwing tantrums come see what a real Pather looks like.”

As he ‘inadvertently confirmed’ his Talent being one about talismans, he turned away and walked over to where Torch was standing, and they quickly jetted off to The Wild Side.

Overall, he considered that a successful encounter.

Now, he just had to wait for today’s fallout.