The Path of Ascension

Matt removed his shirt as well. The man had a point. It would be humiliating to be beaten while naked. But he forgot that the inverse was equally true. Being beaten by a naked man was arguably even more humiliating.

Left with just his tight-fitting boxers, Matt stretched. If this was a show, he’d play his part. The crowd around the arena found his display amusing enough that he heard some whoops and cheers. He was even sure he heard a catcall or two.

Matt just smiled and waved. The guilder, tired of waiting, charged. Matt just waited, acting cool and nonchalant.

When the man swung, Matt slipped the attack, weaving between each of the heavy blows.

“What, can’t you hit a flitting fairy?”

The man growled, “You can’t dodge forever. When I hit you, I’ll break you, and wipe that arrogance off your face.”

That was exactly what Matt was waiting for, the perfect opportunity. “Then I’ll stand still.” He did just that, and waited for another wide swinging blow to approach his left side.

He activated [Cracked Phantom Armor], and stepped into the blow. Surprisingly, the attack had enough force that Matt felt the blow under [Cracked Phantom Armor] ’s protection.

It was only a mild force that got through, a heavy punch at best. Matt could take a punch.

This time, Matt didn’t follow up with a witty comment or snarky remark. Now was the time for violence.

His punch landed on the man’s armored face, and rocked his head back. The guilder was frozen in disbelief. Not only was his attack ineffective, but the little fairy had the means to actually fight back without a weapon. Matt took advantage of his opponents hesitation, and grabbed the hammers head, while chopping down at the hand holding it.

It was enough to disarm the guilder, and Matt threw his hammer out of the arena. If his opponent tried to retrieve it, Matt would have a clear violation of dueling rules.

Breaking a weapon wasn’t technically against the rules, but it certainly wasn’t condoned. It set a bad precedent. A precedent Matt was going to enforce in front of everyone here.

Matt had proved he could take the man’s best attacks, and now he would outlast him. It didn’t matter how strong or defensively capable the man was. He'd simply keep punching until the guilder ran out of mana.

Matt was an endless spring, whose reserves would not falter.

He felt the world sharpen slightly, as he focused all of his attention on the adversary in front of him. Matt turned on his AI, and sent every drop of mana [Cracked Phantom Armor] wasn’t using through the construct. The guilder wanted a real fight, and Matt was determined to make sure that he wasn’t going to like what he asked for.

Matt’s fists rained down blow after blow. His skill protected him from the usual problems of fighting with one’s fists. That allowed him to keep up his relentless assault without any fear of pain or recoil. While his barrage of blows was not dealing visible damage, they were clearly disorientating.

The armored man eventually had the wherewithal to start blocking. Without his hammer’s strength multiplier, his attacks no longer had enough power to get through a fully powered [Cracked Phantom Armor] ’s defenses.The fight turned into two armored men trying to bash each other into unconsciousness.

Matt suspected that the other man was counting on his physical armor to last longer than Matt’s mana. The guilder was tanking hits he easily could have blocked, deflected, or dodged, as if he was trying to burn through Matt’s mana reserves.

It was a good tactic against defensive types who relied solely on a skill for armor. It was a vain hope against Matt, however, as his Talent made his mana endless.

It made him endless.

The world went blurry for a moment, but when everything came back, Matt wasn’t disorientated or waiting for his opponent to strike. He was moving on autopilot, slamming ghostly gauntlets on the man’s helmet over and over again. Each blow was smooth, with clean contact that rocked the guilder. The man was now simply defending, just trying to stop the rain of fists landing on his head.

The guilder used an ability that enveloped him in a barrier of light. Two heavy blows from Matt's anger fueled fists shattered the barrier, and sent the guilder stumbling. Before Matt could take advantage, the guilder charged forward and tackled him, deciding to take the fight to the ground. There at least, his armor would give him a weight advantage, if nothing else.

As soon as they hit the ground, Matt started using the advantage in maneuverability that his ghostly armor gave him. The best armors allowed for near perfect movement, but they were still bulky. While his opponent had more mass to throw around in a ground fight, Matt’s quickness allowed him to counter any technique the guilder threw at him. As they battled for dominance, he latched onto the man’s arm, and quickly transitioned into an armbar.

Matt had his opponent’s hand near his face, and both legs wrapped around the man’s chest. He had to remind himself of the grappling teacher’s words of wisdom from his orphanage days. Don’t cross your feet. They’ll break your ankle given the chance.

There was no hesitation. Hesitation meant the guilder could wiggle out of the hold. So, he leaned back, and extended with every muscle in his body, while the man tried to resist with just his bicep.

The struggle ended quickly.

The snapping sound from the man’s elbow was louder than Matt expected, and he felt the shattering bone and tearing tendons reverberate in his groin.

The guilder let out a piercing scream. Usually, Matt wouldn’t have pressed the advantage, and would have instead given the man a chance to surrender. But his earlier actions of scrapping Matt’s sword had eliminated what civility Matt had left in him. The only thing he could find in himself for the guilder was contempt.

Actions had consequences, and Matt was happy to deliver them.

He rolled up off his back, and started kneeing the man’s armored head. The coupling that kept the helmet mobile but sturdy broke on the second blow. The third blow snapped the guilder’s neck.

Matt stood up and looked around the arena. The referee had wide eyes, and the healer was already on the field, rushing to the still man’s aid.

Seeing the fight was truly over, Matt deactivated [Cracked Phantom Armor], and gave a smile and wave to the crowd. Still only dressed in his form-fitting undergarments.

The other members of Dual Stars were all glaring at him, but the rest of the crowd, including the Republicans, were all cheering with thunderous applause.

As he was walking to retrieve his pants, Matt was interrupted by a man in Dual Stars colors. He was stronger than what Matt’s ability could accurately judge, but he felt weaker than Simeon, Tier 9 or 10.

“You didn’t have to be so cruel in breaking his neck. He’ll be out of commission for weeks.”

Matt opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off with the man focusing his spirit sense on him. Matt’s spirit and cores slowed down. They were being suppressed, like he was covered in a thick wet blanket.

Matt pushed. He shoved with everything he had. He forced his cores to circulate as they usually did, along with his mana making its usual loops through his body. For a moment, the world brightened, and the man’s suppression was thrown off.

The world was clear, but Matt’s last thoughts were hazy and indistinct. The man’s next words brought him back to the moment.

“Children don’t need to speak in front of their betters. Take it as the mercy of the strong that I don’t break your neck here and now.”

Matt could feel his hackles rise. He had done nothing wrong. The idiot he had beaten would be fine with the healer already working on him.

His blood heated up. This wasn’t fair.

He stopped himself. The man had been right about one thing. He was too weak.

Matt just scoffed and walked away. The man was trying to save face for his guild when they had been in the wrong. Nothing Matt could say would change the man’s opinion.

It was only empty bluster. If a Tier 10 got revenge for a non-fatal duel… No, for a non-fatal duel with an Ascender, let alone an Ascender who was the challenged, The Empire would come down on the Dual Stars like the fist of an angry god.

Slipping on his pants, he saw Liz with her head cocked at the man, who was busy observing the healer. The look on her face said she wanted to press the issue, so Matt grabbed her sleeve and said, “Don’t bother. He’s trying to save face.”

“He’s doing it in the dumbest way possible. He’s just shaming them more. I can...”

Matt wanted this to end here, so he interrupted her.

“Let’s not bother with him. I need a new sword, and I’m not going to get robbed.”

“But if we press we...”

Boots on, Matt stood and just started walking. They couldn’t do anything to a Tier 25 guild alone. Elizabeth’s parents could probably put pressure on the guild, but they were planets away, and not stranded on a planet with the Dual Stars as the strongest power.

That didn’t mean Matt was going to forget this incident. He internalized it. One day he’d find that man and challenge him to a duel.

Still, there was no point in focusing on revenge fantasies when he couldn’t back it up. As he was now, they were truly just fantasies. If he wanted to slap the guild back for their blatant rule-bending, he needed to be strong enough to enforce his will upon them.

He went around to all the stalls that had longswords, and couldn’t find what he wanted. All the swords were either the wrong size, had enchantments he didn’t want, or were absurdly overpriced.

Liz finally broke him out of his single minded pursual.

“Hey. I wanted to say that was a good fight.”

Matt breathed out slowly, “Yeah it was pretty fun, honestly. I wasn’t even that mad about the sword after breaking the idiot’s neck. He broke my weapon, and I broke him. Then that Tier… I didn’t get a good feel for him. 9 maybe 10?”

“I think he was peak Tier 9, that or he’s a really weak Tier 10.”

“Then he swung his dick around. That pissed me off. He must know I’m a part of The Path of Ascension, and he can’t touch me. But because he’s a little stronger, and has a Tier 25 guild behind him, he can say whatever he wants. It’s fucking infuriating”

Matt forced himself to calm down and finished, “It’s a reminder that the only reason people aren’t literal slaves to the higher Tiers is that the strongest people want social mobility.”

Liz just patted his shoulder and said, “Remember this feeling.”

He looked at her in confusion. Why remember feeling weak? Then he understood, and the question answered itself.

“If the people who become strong don’t enforce the rules, the people who become strong after them will just make it worse.”

She looked at him and wiggled her hand.

“Not quite where I was going, but sure. It’s not wrong. But I was going to say, when you're a Tier 45 and have the power to enforce your will on others, remember this feeling of being powerless. And chose to be better.”

That wasn’t what he expected to hear from the woman who slit someone’s throat yesterday for disrespecting her.

“You want me to drop this? Not get revenge in the future?”

She looked at him like he was the odd one.

“Fuck no. Get revenge. It’s your right as the wronged, but also, don’t turn a broken sword into a reason to butcher the entire guild. Get strong enough to break that idiot’s face, then get stronger than the leaders, and break their faces for not enforcing better discipline. Just don’t go too far.”

That actually made a lot of sense, even if he wasn’t planning on doing more than breaking the face of the idiot who stepped in. He felt that beating up the guild leaders was both impractical and unneeded.

Liz might have a point about them needing to enforce better discipline in their guild, though. He mulled it over, then tossed it to the back of his mind. He was a long way away from beating up Tier 30’s.

“You should just get a Tier 5 sword. Get a weak one. While you won’t be able to use the skill more than once or twice a day, it’ll be better than getting a Tier 4 sword.”

Matt weighed her words and asked, “Is that really worth it? I thought of that, but a weak Tier 5 sword that I can use now would be pretty shitty when I get to Tier 5.”

Liz thought for a moment and said, “Kinda yeah. I guess you could get a decent Tier 5 sword now, and just not use the spell.”

Matt hadn’t thought of that. The reason a Tier 5 weapon was difficult to use was the strain it put on the spirit, but that only applied to the embedded skill itself, not the weapon.

“Why doesn’t everyone just use high Tiered weapons then? Seems like everyone should.”

Liz chuckled at that.

“It’s not that simple. Think about it further; you can only do that when your opponents don’t have skills on their weapons either. If they do and you don’t, you’re already at a one skill disadvantage. And that could be deadly. There’s also the fact that stronger materials get heavier both physically and spiritually. While wielding a Tier 10 weapon won’t kill you, it will stop your spirit from cycling. So no mana, no skills.”

That made sense to Matt, so he decided to stick to looking for a weapon closer to his Tier. There were a lot of Tier 5 smiths here, so the price of a Tier 5 longsword would be less overpriced than the rift made one he had been looking at earlier.

They spent the next half hour looking for a smith who was willing to do a rush job, or had a longsword Matt found perfect. They decided that if they were going to spend the money on a Tier 5 sword, they might as well do it right the first time.

Most who had good Tier 5 weapons used them until Tier 7, when skills could drop, and allowed for delvers to start filling out their weaknesses.

It was another weird period, as Tier 8 rifts were where skills became truly ‘common’ at a twenty five percent drop rate. At Tier 7, it was more like a two percent chance, but even so, any skill drop at all allowed for bartering for the one you needed.

The awkward period between Tiers 4 and 8 created a lull in weapon and armor power between the Tiers. The general power of gear at those Tiers changed with the needs of the delver. On top of that, the common skills blacksmiths and enchanters could add to a weapon became less useful than specialized skill shards. The shards could only be added during the forging process, so that left most delvers with a dilemma as far as what Tiered gear to buy.

Bringing his wandering thoughts back to Tier 5 weapons, Matt thought on what he wanted from his new longsword.

Ideally, he’d get a ranged attack like mana slash, but the mana cost in weapons was much more expensive than a spirit bonded skill. [Mana Slash] cost 100 mana for a self cast, but when embedded in a weapon, the cost ballooned to three or four times that. That was if he could even find a Tier 5 or 6 blacksmith who could imbue such a complicated skill into a weapon.

Rechargeable mana stones only went up to 200 mana in the standard mana stone size. It was the reason the rift mana stones got more valuable as the mana increased, they never increased in size.

The man made versions were hard-capped by current technology. It was impossible to squeeze that much energy into a small space and not create a bomb. The rifts did it, but no one had replicated the feat.

So Matt couldn’t just use a Tier 7 mana stone every time he used the skill in the future. Not knowing his other options, he and Liz found a smith that specialized in larger weapons, and had no other urgent orders.

When he specified the type of blade he wanted, the man said he’d have no problem creating it in the next three days.

The enchantment and skill was a tricker matter. Eventually, he just sent Matt and Liz a list of what he could do and the expected cost.

They retreated to a diner, and had a light lunch while they threw out ideas.

The list was comprehensive. There were the standard runes for buffing the weapon’s attributes or the wielder’s. But Matt was contemplating getting the durability and sharpness runes again. It was a potent combination. It was critical to fighting armored targets that would be difficult to damage otherwise.

“What do you think about a Void affinity enchantment?” Matt thought of the blade he had seen at the auction.

Liz pondered the question and said, “I don’t know. The Void would eat into the blade quickly. You’d be repairing it every week.”

Matt crossed that off his idea list. As they snacked on potato skins, he reread the list once more, waiting for something to stand out.

Liz mumbled around a chewing mouth, “What about a size spell? That’s pretty standard.”

Matt mulled over the idea; it was a fairly standard tactic. A size spell allowed a melee fighter to extend their blade with solidified mana. It wasn’t a bad choice. It just didn’t take advantage of his unique mana situation.

As he looked over the list again, he stopped at [Mana Charge]. It was a mana variant of the skill [Momentum Charge]. Both skills siphon off excess energy, and store their respective types of energy, before allowing the user to release them on a blow.

As he looked into [Mana Charge], the more he liked the idea. He could trickle a bit of mana into the spell and build up a few hundred mana’s worth of damage, finally releasing it in a swift blow.

From his searching, mages used it as a defensive measure, in case someone got into melee range. The accumulated mana from casting spells would give them one heavy hitting last resort.

He tossed the idea to Liz, who said, “Not a bad idea, but at that point, you have to drop one of the enchantments to a lesser Tier. Otherwise, it would be tough to have the enchantment allow for the use of personal mana.”

“Eh, that’s not a terrible trade off. I’d have to start that eventually. I’m still thinking about using a sharpness and durability enchantment.”

“You might want to think of using a repair enchantment as well. Three lesser enchantments aren’t great, but durability can only help stop damage. If it gets twisted out of shape, a repair rune can fix that for some mana and metal. And it’s a pretty standard combo until you can fit three greater enchantments on a weapon.”

“Does the loss of efficiency of a weaker durability rune get offset by the repair one? It seems like if the weapon was stronger, you won’t have to fix it.”

“Only until you take or give a hit that snaps the weapon in half. Then the weapon is fucked. Durability enchantments are great, but they end up creating a hard cutoff where the weapon simply goes from handling the damage to shattering.”

Matt looked up the information and had his AI run the numbers. It was as she said, not that he doubted her, but he wanted to see why it worked that way. It wasn’t a problem until higher Tiers, when the damage done was higher. Ordinary steel had its fracture point, and a durability enchantment raised that, but then the weapon would just explode if that was bypassed.

The repair enchantment allowed the weapon to fracture and crack before exploding. If mana and a similar Tier of metal were available, the sword would fix itself to its peak condition.

Matt wished he had known this. Liz seemed so knowledgeable at times. He understood that having Tier 25 plus parents had its advantages, but that was what he envied the most. Well, that and having parents.

Matt crushed that line of thought.

He ate another potato skin while leaning back. “Well I guess that’s the best option, I’ll send th...”

The ping of his AI stopped the words in his mouth, and as he read the message he looked at Liz with a grin plastered on his face.

Their trade had been successfully completed.

They got their skills.

***

Liz watched Matt out of the corner of her eye as she typed in her AI. He was looking at the skill shard in his hand with wonder. He was alternating between the shard and the fights down in the arenas. The fights were boring, she had seen bigger and better duels. More skills, higher Tiers. This was almost mundane, no need for her to pay attention.

She analyzed her own emotions. She was happy she had earned the skill, and proud that she had done it without her parents’ help, but that was the problem.

This was a Tier 8 skill. Her parents could get her millions of them just by checking their old spatial rings.

Liz looked to Matt, and tried to channel a little of his enthusiasm.

It worked, barely.

They had earned this skill with an amazing fight, and it was all hers. That helped. There was a small glow in her chest now. No one could say she was relying on her parents now.

The worst part was that they understood and loved her, even though she wanted to escape from their shadows. They were so supportive of her and her decision, that it almost made it worse.

She looked back to Matt. He was the first friend she was sure was her friend because of her, and not a desire to cozy up to royalty.

All her life, lower Tiered people sent their kids to try and worm favors out of her parents. Or they told them not to challenge her in any way. “We don’t want to upset the daughter of two of the six royalty.”

It didn’t help that she had been a surprise pregnancy. Tier 48’s had a hard enough time getting pregnant with fertility treatments and decades of trying. Her six siblings had been planned, and had others of similar backgrounds to grow up with.

Matt knew none of that. He was with her because they made a great team and got along.

She’d have to tell him eventually, but she was determined to push that day far into the future. If he looked at her differently, it would hurt far worse than any of the others growing up.

Liz had nearly had a heart attack when he had asked about ‘Mara’. She had nearly panicked, and asked how he figured it out. But no, he had just been trying to learn about Phoenixes in general, and stumbled upon her stupid mother’s fight for the throne.

She was going to strangle her mother for letting that bit of video stay public. It had taken some inventive truth-telling to keep the illusion up that her mother wasn’t the very person he was studying.

She was just happy her mother hadn't taken her concerns very seriously when she was awakened. Liz being petulant had formally asked her mother to go into monarch mode to address the issue. Her mother was flippant but Mara the Queen was anything but.

The conversation had only gotten more awkward when he had asked if Mara was stronger than Leon. Liz’s parents would have gotten a kick out of being compared. They always said the other was stronger.

That was the longest, tensest conversation of her life.

Liz had gotten through it, though. The topic hadn’t come up in the last few hours, and she hoped it wouldn’t reappear at all.

That was a problem for future Liz.

It didn’t help at all that her parents would absolutely love Matt.

She already knew what they would say. ‘Oh they’re just like us when we were young.’ Then they would stare into each other’s eyes, and one of them would drag the other into their bedroom.

Liz knew it wasn’t fair to criticize them for being in love, but they still acted like newlyweds. It was so embarrassing.

Her mother had also broken every record of high Tiered births, it was unheard of to have seven children at her Tier. It had led to rumors. She had only been called a ‘broodmare’ once. Her father had ripped the woman in half in front of the entire court. His being fined for the cost of the women’s recovery bills had not stopped his point from getting across.

None of that changed the fact they were still overly romantic about companion pairs. Each and every one was a reflection of them as a young man and a flame sparrow, struggling on The Path.

Liz vowed to keep Matt and Aster away from them. At least until Tier 10. That was the deal, she’d have her privacy until then. She had tried for Tier 15, but her parents had flatly refused to go without seeing their daughter that long.

Their love was like a heavy blanket. After a bump in the dark, it was the greatest comfort, but it was hot and smothering the rest of the time.

Liz absently ran her brush through Aster’s tail. Aster was a problem. The dragon’s blood she absorbed was a great help for her future, but if the little fox wanted to use the bloodline, it would burn itself out. The bloodline not being a natural part of her makeup made it a consumable resource instead of a permanent part of her.

The bloodline was still amazing. Liz still felt somewhat guilty about eating it. Logically, she knew that it was going to start fading, and eventually become useless. It was still a kingly gift that she struggled to accept. Her mother would love to get her grubby talons onto a source of that dragon’s blood essence.

Liz made a note on her AI to have Matt send a report of the rift to her ‘mother’, to be passed on to ‘Mara’, so he could get credit for the find. She knew as soon as her mother saw the video and ran the numbers, she’d be on the planet in minutes.

Liz looked around. It was pointless. Either of her parents could be inches away, and she’d only know if they allowed it.

It was a perfect plan to distract her parents for a year or two, as they tried to restabilize the rift. Matt had said the rift had been dissipated, but a Tier 4’s spiritual senses and a Tier 48’s were two completely different things.

Freedom. Blessed freedom.

She might even be able to get favors from her siblings for distracting the pair.

Liz thought over the high Tiered Phoenixes she knew. Who would be willing to give up some essence to the little fox on her lap?

Aunt Helen is probably the easiest. She even has a restaurant on Bladefall, so it could be an ‘accident’ if we run into her.

Liz liked the plan. It shouldn’t be too suspicious to Matt. It would allow Aster to bind the phoenix bloodline power of rebirth to the dragon’s massive power, creating a strong, regenerating source of power.

She had already shown Aster how to spread the bloodline out so it would nourish and empower her. At this Tier, Aster couldn’t use even a fraction of a percent of the power of the bloodline, but binding the phoenix bloodline earlier was always better.

It would also help the fox advance her own bloodline. Phoenix bloodlines and essence were highly sought after, because they made the best support bloodlines. Rebirth was an absurd ability, and while binding a small portion of the power did not let others cheat death, it did let bloodlines regenerate what was otherwise permanently gone.

Liz turned her attention to the Dual Stars dueling arenas. She was not happy with them. The Tier 25 should have intervened when the weak idiot of a Tier 10 stepped in.

People in power thinking they could do anything was how the tragedy of et’Tithil happened. It had only happened two years ago, and already, people were throwing their weight around. Did someone need to burn a city of millions down again for the lesson to sink in?

Liz had seen the look in Matt’s eyes as he left the area. They were dead and resigned. Empty.

They looked far too similar to Lizar, the young man who had felt the only way to get revenge was to kill the entire city.

The worst part was, it was true. As a Tier 7, it was his only way to strike out at those who had raped and tortured his little sister.

Liz remembered his eyes. They still haunted her.

His story was one of tragedy. He was a gifted blacksmith who had won a city wide competition. What should have been a day of celebration turned dark, when the mayor’s son took an interest in his younger sister.

The sister declined the son’s advances, and was kidnapped and raped as a result. Lizar tried to get justice for her, and was shot down at every turn.

With his sister’s mutilated corpse dumped on his doorstep, Lizar did what only those with nothing left could do. He doomed everyone.

He waited until the shields were raised because a rift spawned near the city. With the shield raised, he broke the Tier 20 family heirloom. It was a forge with a massive fire core inside. Normally the resulting explosion would have done little more than kill him and a city block. Most of the energy would be vented up.

The shield that was supposed to protect the city had in fact, doomed it. It had registered the fire inside as an attack, and strengthened the defenses, trapping the raging inferno until it burnt itself out.

In a twist of irony, Lizar survived. His Talent was a massive resistance to fire, and he had lived long enough to tell his story, and verify that his sister’s killer had perished. After that, he cracked his own core. Death followed quickly.

Uncle Manny had quickly issued justice to those who had caused the tragedy. Lizar had tried to get the crime punished, and while he didn’t have the power to force change, the Emperor made sure heads rolled.

The Baron on the world and the Viscount he reported to were executed. They had both seen the report of a rape and murder, and had completely ignored it. They felt one Tier 2 girl was worth far less than a mayor’s son.

The whole debacle was preventable. Lizar had only wanted justice, and when he was denied that right, he took matters into his own hands. Rape and murder were illegal from Tier 50 to Tier 1. If anyone had done their job properly, 32,756,621 people would still be alive.

Liz wouldn’t let Matt follow down that path. What had brought on Matt’s frustration had been much less severe, but his eyes had been the same.

She wouldn’t let a small issue get escalated. She already had messages for her parents and uncle Manny, with the recording of the entire incident, waiting to be sent.

It was overkill for such an incident to make it to royalty, but she still remembered Lizar’s words, “Why did no one help?”

Liz had pushed Matt to see his reaction, but she wasn’t sure if his resigned words were because of his current weakness, or because he wouldn’t go overboard.

She made another note to get him into a therapist when they left this dust ball. He had waved off the question of why he hadn’t seen one, saying that there were others who needed the time slots more. It was infuriating.

He still needed to process the death of his parents. As far as she could tell, he just shoved it down, and focused on the present. It seemed like he had been doing that since the rift break.

The fact that the planet he had grown up on had more than ten rift breaks was completely unacceptable.

Uncle Manny had apparently already dealt with it, but she still had written a strongly worded message, ready to send when the information portal opened. She’d make sure more got done for the planet. A decree and the help Matt had detailed just wasn’t enough.

If the powerful didn’t set an example, who would act kindly? Who would ever refrain from abusing their power?

Liz was determined to make sure Matt got the help he needed.

What else were friends for?

A small part of her whispered that she was only doing this because he had potential. She squashed that voice. She would help any friend she could. The fact that he could keep up with her was the reason she had formed a party with him. Not the reason they were friends.

In the maze fight, she had gotten the smallest whiff of a concept from Matt. It would be difficult to tease it out, but Liz was sure she could do it. That whiff had only been confirmed in the duel with the guilder. He had touched upon it, but getting him to actualize it would be the hard part. Concepts had the habit of disrupting memories involving them, until the individual could fully realize them.

That advantage would ensure that he could keep up with her when she used her own concept of blood to form the core of her Tier 5 advancement.

Concepts at Tier 5 would become a larger advantage as they advanced, like a stone rolled down a mountain. The earlier it was started, the more momentum it could gather.

Matt was impressive, even by her standards. He used a crippled Talent to advance, and when that handicap turned into a boon, he didn’t get arrogant, and he kept his head down. That didn’t even account for his synergy with his skill or talent with a blade. [Phantom Armor] was a good, life saving skill on its own. [Cracked Phantom Armor] synergized with him well, and was used to amazing effect.

Skills that could offer that much protection with almost complete coverage were rare. Liz made another note on her AI to teach him some tips and tricks to direct the growth of his skills.

Matt was as determined to advance on his own as she was. Together, they might just do it.

She still intended to shove him into a box and market him as an unlimited mana source. The look on his face had simply been far too amusing.

Her smile was back.

Liz reaffirmed her reason for joining Matt and Aster. They were strong, and she wouldn’t have to leave them behind as she advanced. They were friends. That and the rings.

The rings.

Another thing her parents were going to gush about. They had tried to give her a growth item, but she had refused. She joined The Path to stop that. She wanted to escape their influence, and now she had a good growth item anyway.

It wasn’t perfect, but it could take advantage of Matt's mana regeneration, so it was better than nothing. At least they wouldn’t have to swap it out for a better fitting one.

If she had asked any of her aunts or uncles, she never would have heard the end of it from her parents. Better to use a somewhat useful item than listen to her parents gloating.

If the world truly was on her side, they would have gotten the rings her brother and his husband had. It allowed them to share mana with no compatibility issues. That would be perfect to have with Matt's Talent, but this was still good.

Liz shook herself free. This was a happy moment.

As Liz looked down at [Create Water] she felt pride. She had earned this.

She felt a smile on her face that matched Matt’s.

With Aster in her lap, and Matt next to her...

She was happy.