The Path of Ascension

Matt carefully watched the surroundings while on watch from his place near the camp. The world was so active. This was a living planet that had a functional ecosystem well before the Empire arrived. The world was teeming with bugs, trees, and native animals.

It shouldn’t have been a shock to him, as his own planet Lilly was just the same in the not so distant past. It was his time on the desolate training world that had tainted his perspective of what uninhabited worlds were.

Just as the old mnemonic said... Life makes mana. Mana makes essence. Essence creates rifts. Rifts convert all three.

It didn’t account for the fact that essence multiplied on its own, given enough time. Or that essence could break down into mana given the right environment. Or even that rifts created life itself.

But the self-propagating feature of essence was the reason that Tier 15 was the watershed Tier for immortality. The amount of essence one possessed at Tier 15 was enough to replace the body’s needs, allowing the cultivator to become completely self-sustaining.

That was why Tier 15s had complete control of their body’s shapes and features. They could manipulate their spirits and essence, which let them transfigure their bodies. The further they advanced past Tier 15, the further they deviated from the restrictions of humanity.

In theory, it was possible to advance solely from the essence production of your cores, but that was so slow only the crazy would pursue that path. You needed so much more essence to advance, that it would take eons to go from one Tier to to the next. A single delve would be trillions of times more effective than relying on one’s natural production of essence.

Still, it was interesting to ponder while he was on watch.

The small stone in his hand was the reason why Matt’s mind kept going back to essence. Their reward from the delve of the boar rift had been an essence stone. Much like mana stones were pure ambient mana condensed into a small form, an essence stone was rift essence condensed into a small oblong. It was about the same size as the last knuckle of his thumb, with perfectly smooth edges.

They contained essence equal to the amount that the rift would contain in a complete clear. The small stones were incredibly valuable, as they would allow someone to advance with all the advantages of rift delving, but with none of the risks.

Matt twirled the stone in his hand. It wasn’t hard to understand why they held so much value. The rich would pay out their noses for a resource like this. It was also useful for them, but there was no way to split the essence between the four of them who actively cleared the rift. So, they intended to sell the stone, and split the rewards equally.

Malcolm hadn’t contested a share of the reward. The man had cowered behind them, and rushed from massive mushroom to mushroom for cover, while the other four killed everything that moved.

He had gotten a small share of the essence, just from being near them. If he had complained about the free ride, Matt wasn’t sure who would have hit him first. No one wanted the freeloader claiming a share of the prize.

Malcolm, for having done nearly nothing all day, was currently nodding off on the log he was sitting on. Matt shook his head and walked the perimeter once more. He had done some searching through his survival guides to occupy himself. According to one, night watch used to be called fire watch, which made him chuckle for a minute. How primitive would you have to be to be worried about a fire going out? Even a [Fireball] skill could be used in a pinch.

Matt flicked the stone in his hand, sending it spinning in the air. This essence stone was worth something like twenty-five Tier 7 mana stones in the Empire proper. It was crazy that people would pay that much for a little bit of essence, but he wasn’t complaining about the small windfall.

A part of Matt couldn’t believe it. If someone could afford that price, they should be able to afford an escort through a Tier 5 rift. At the same time, it took time to be guided through a rift, whereas the essence stone was nearly instant. Besides, if you were a Tier 15, it would be chump change to buy essence stones for your children.

Considering how mana stones increased in value, buying down was of little concern. The reward was good for their team, though. Even with a quarter going to Camilla, they would be able to get a nice item or two.

Watching the night sky slowly start brightening as dawn approached, Matt’s daydreams drifted to how different his life could have been if he had been accepted to a guild.

Would they have taken advantage of him after he hit Tier 3?

Would he have even hit Tier 3?

Matt tried to think of the possibilities. He couldn’t see the future, but it was fun to come up with scenarios while keeping his friends safe. He had already run through all the possibilities of random calamities he could think of, and how he would react to them.

A blip interrupted him, and his AI’s draw on his mana decreased. Trying to not get his hopes raised too high, he checked the results of the enchanting test that his AI was running. The results were conclusive.

“Ha!”

His outburst jolted Malcolm out of his stupor. After being abruptly woken up, he wiped his face and started walking around.

Matt called out, “Hey, keep watch for a few minutes. I want to test something.”

At the nod, he pulled out a plank of wood, and used his carving tool to begin removing wood in strips. While he worked, he injected his mana into the wood’s cell structure. When he completed the runes and connecting formations, he started pouring mana into the roughly carved plank.

With anticipation, he watched as the center of the rune started to glow. Ever so slowly, the light it was producing increased. At first, he thought it was just the sun rising, but soon, the rune was outproducing the sun in brightness. It became a veritable beacon in the predawn glow.

“Ha! Fuck yeah!”

Liz poked her head out of her tent and called out, “Why didn’t you wake us up if it’s so late?”

As she squinted her eyes to adjust to the increasing brightness, she asked, “Why are you making so much light this early?”

Matt didn’t let her tone get him down.

“My AI figured out this light rune all on its own!”

She tilted her head. “...So?”

“This is a new light rune combination! That’s so cool! And my AI did it, all on its own!”

Liz shrugged, “Is it better or something?”

Matt shook his head with a smile. “Nope! It’s five percent worse than the standard model.”

Liz crawled out of the tent and came to sit next to him.

“I’m proud of you. I really am. But do you realize that you cut my sleep off by half an hour?”

Matt looked at his clock in his HUD and gave her a weak smile.

“Sorry.”

Liz rolled her eyes and poked his ribs, causing Matt to flinch. “It’s just enough time that it’s not worth going back to sleep. I want a good breakfast.” A pout accompanied the comment that he could only assume was meant to melt his heart.

He didn’t have it in him to tell her it was ineffective, especially after the look had been used on him so many times by Aster. The fox had the fluffy factor working in her favor too.

“Sure. I’ll get on it.”

It was close enough to sunrise that it was reasonable to start cooking anyway.

With the plank of wood spreading enough light for him to work with, he started cooking. Without more mana being added, or a rune to draw ambient mana in, the light slowly started to dim. His AI was recording the output the whole time, and he kept a part of his view covered with its readings.

For the first time, he was enjoying enchanting something. While he knew the rune probably wasn’t entirely new, it wasn’t in the common rune collection for Tier 5 and below. It was just so cool that his AI had created something from just the beginner books.

Still in a good mood, Matt cooked for everyone, and even used a few of their perishables to apologize for disrupting Liz’s sleeping time. Camilla and Aster crawled out of their tents not long after the smells started wafting through the clearing. Neither said a word, but Aster didn’t hide her irritation at the plank of wood through their bond. Her sitting on the rune carved plank told Matt everything that her emotions didn’t.

After they sat and ate, everyone’s eyes started drifting to the hole in the side of the mountain that they had camped out next to. None of them could resist the allure of a ruin.

Once breakfast ended, there was palpable anticipation that caused everyone to hurry to pack up and move to the tunnel entrance.

The tunnel brought with it its own series of problems. It was so small, Matt had trouble advancing, even while turning sideways. He was still pressed on his back and chest by the walls of the crevice. Dirt scraped off from his passage joined the rough, stone-littered floor.

It was getting so tight, Matt was going to call a halt, so that they could start digging the tunnel a bit wider. But then the dirt and rock changed to cut stone, and he found a fissure in the wall.

“Hold up, there’s a wall ahead. We’re bisecting it. This is less of an entrance and more a hole in the wall.”

Matt twisted his head and asked their guide, “Any reason your Talent would have brought us through here, and not to an actual entrance?”

Malcolm shrugged over Camilla’s head. “No clue. I wasn’t asking for the ruin itself, but the item that will help me the most.”

Matt nodded as much as he could, and thanked all the past ascenders for [Cracked Phantom Armor]. He was grateful for whatever property that allowed it to block the dirt from entering his personal space. When he looked behind, he had seen that everyone else was absolutely covered in dirt, despite being less cramped.

He could feel Aster’s discontent with the dirt that was marring her pristine fur. She was already pushing demands of a bath when they got out of there.

Turning back around to press on, he edged closer to the hallway that they would exit out of, and moved his light around. It seemed to be a standard hall, just with a hole in the side of the wall. While staying hidden, he spun the loose stone around the exit with a kick, and when nothing happened, he used the wall as leverage, and released all of his breath.

With an effort and wiggle, he pulled himself out of the crevice tunnel, and he half fell into a ready stance. When nothing attacked, he reached back and pulled out two new makeshift flashlights, and set them up to shine down the halls. Then, with his hands free, he withdrew his longsword. This was a fairly wide hallway, and he could half-sword if necessary.

He preferred to do that than use his cheaper Tier 5 mace and shield combination. They only had the durability and strengthening enchantments, so while they would be useful, he only intended on using them if they encountered an enemy that swords couldn’t cut.

The others came out of the crevice after he gave them all clear, and they all looked to Malcolm for directions. He closed his eyes and, after a minute, opened them and shrugged.

“I’m not getting anything from my Talent. Each side seems to be as good as the others for reaching the item I want.”

Liz nodded, and confirmed what they had talked about last night after the rift. “And you still want to be escorted out of here after you find the growth item? Don’t want to stick around for the rest of the rewards?”

Malcolm shook his head. “No. No. I think I’m good on the actual adventures for a while. I like the idea of chaotic space more than this...” He waved around at their surroundings. “Constant danger.”

Matt and the others didn’t try to persuade him. The man wasn’t cut out for the constant vigilance and expectation of danger that delving required. Matt wasn’t sure what exploring chaotic space for new planets entailed, but for the man’s sake, he hoped it wasn’t fraught with danger. Otherwise, Malcolm would never leave his home again.

Their goal was to carefully explore the ruin, proceeding in the direction of the item Malcolm wanted, then escorting him out. Once they were rid of the coward, they could return, and fully clear the ruin. If they were the first to find the items, who knew what they would find. They just wanted to get rid of their baggage first.

“Left or right?”

Matt looked around at everyone to see their reactions, and found that only Camilla had an opinion.

“Left.”

With that, they started walking down the corridor. Matt was wary of traps, and that proved to be for good reason when he stepped on a pressure plate. A log lined with spikes dropped from the ceiling a split second after his foot sunk into the ground. It was connected to an arm, so that the log would spin at chest height.

Matt caught the swinging log, with his longsword acting as a bar. It only took a moment for the energy to be spent, and he carefully lowered the log, its momentum gone.

With the trap disarmed, they inspected it for clues of what this rift would have been like before it came to the real world.

Liz pondered the spikes and connecting arms. “It’s not amazing craftsmanship, but it’s all uniform, and the spikes all appear to be well crafted. I don’t think it’s goblins. It would be cruder.” She tapped her helmet where her chin would be. “Maybe an entire trap rift?”

Camilla brought out a piece of paper, and checked the sharpness of the spikes.The paper was easily punctured when she lay the paper on the tip of the spike.

With a sigh, Matt inspected a spike, before wiping it off in case this didn’t work. It didn’t look poisoned, but he could never be too sure.

They weren’t sure of the Tier of rift this ruin had been before it inverted and became real, but the easiest way to check was with [Cracked Phantom Armor]. Pressing a forearm to the spike, Matt increased the pressure. Higher Tier metals were harder, stronger, and held edges better. With the feedback of his armor skill, Matt could get a pretty accurate guesstimation of its Tier.

As the pressure he applied increased, the strain on his skill structure rose. Finally, just as he was about to break through, he stopped and shrugged at the rest of the group.

“Tier 6.”

Malcolm swallowed audibly and asked, “Any chance you are wrong? I... I don’t have that good of a defensive skill.”

Camilla shrugged next to him, and said with a little too much ice in her voice, “Then don’t get hit.”

The man wasn't wrong, this was getting dangerous but Matt ignored them, and met Liz’s eyes through her helmet. She didn’t need to hear the request, as she immediately scooped Aster up and deposited her into the backpack. Aster grumbled slightly. She liked being held just as much as she did before her increased intelligence, but there was something about being held through a rift that irritated the fox.

Matt reached over and gave her a good scratching, while pushing thoughts of comfort at the fox. They didn’t know what traps would appear, and anything that was aimed at their ankles would be deadly to her, since she was so much closer to the ground.

Ducking under the log trap, Matt inspected the floor for a second, follow-up trap. When he found nothing, he walked a few steps down the hall, then returned to his team and lifted the log so they could step under.

They continued down the hall at a much slower pace. Every step Matt took was carefully considered, and only taken after he poked the space in front of him with a large stick. He had stored one in his spatial bag for just such an occasion.

Their pace slowed down to a near crawl, but no one suggested that Matt hurry. He would have offered to let them try and find the Tier 6 traps with their bodies if they had.

Without a second incident, they came to another intersection, and Matt looked to Malcolm for which of the four directions they should head in. After what felt like an eternity, their guide told them to go straight.

Matt made sure that his AI was tracking their progress through the ruin, and building a map of their route. As they continued through the hall, they found a stairwell that gave Matt the shivers. He wasn’t sure what it was, but after the trap in the hall, he was sure that they would find something troubling on the stairs.

“Wait here. Let me check it out.” While Matt put on a brave face, he was cursing this lack of an actual tank and front line. He was, at best, a hybrid with a good defensive skill.

He ignored his AI. It had responded to his griping by showing him how [Cracked Phantom Armor] was better for its Tier than most skills used by defensive frontline melee fighters.

Matt didn’t care about the facts. Walking face-first into a spinning log of death wasn’t on his list of things to do for the day. If it wasn’t to protect his friends, he would gladly let someone else take the lead position.

Climbing up the stairs was a slow procedure, as he used his stick to tap at each stair before he dared to step on it. The simple switchback staircase was fully checked over before he called up his team to follow in his wake.

At the top, Malcolm pointed them back in the direction from where they came. It wasn’t even twenty steps into the dark hallway when they encountered their first opponent.

The golem was surprisingly quiet for its bulky form and lumbering steps.

Matt was the first to strike out, using [Mana Charge]. The attack didn’t shred the humanoid figure of metal, but instead washed over it and was absorbed. The golem started to glow with a blue-tinged light, and its sluggish movements sped up.

“Shit, It’s a mana absorber!”

Having called out to his teammates, he tossed his longsword to the side and rear. Matt lashed out, and rotated to the side. His vambraces increased his melee damage, and with [Mage’s Retreat] active, he slammed a fist into the creature.

Instead of absorbing the blow and becoming stronger, the golem’s chest dented in, and sparks of mana flew out from some part of the creature that was cracked.

Camilla’s distinctive extending mace whoosed forward from behind him, and smashed the monster’s head. The blow caused some severe damage, and rocked the creature back. As it tried to turn, Matt drove a spike-covered gauntlet into its head, regaining its attention.

A [Mana Bolt] flew over from the backline and missed completely. The skill splashed along the wall and lit up a series of lights.

Liz shouted something at Malcolm, but Matt was far too occupied to hear it. The golem’s head and chest were heavily dented, but it kept trying to lash out with its long arms.

Two long minutes later, with him and Camilla battering at the metal golem, they eventually broke something critical, and the monster’s glow dispersed as it slumped to the ground.

Matt gave it a heavy stomp to make sure that it was really dead. When it didn’t move, he turned to Liz and Aster, who were glaring at Malcolm. He wasn’t even mad. The man was so clearly an amateur that he didn’t even know what a mana absorber was.

Shaking his head, he knelt down next to Camilla, and they inspected the golem. It was a creature made of steel and some other alloy. The mystery metal was flexible enough to give the creature a bit more mobility than a typical golem should have.

Camilla looked at the creature and the still glowing wall. Matt followed her gaze and made the same connection. This entire ruin was a mage’s worst nightmare.

Trying to be optimistic, he said, “Maybe it’s only pure mana that it can absorb.”

That wouldn’t be an unheard-of restriction. Just a rare one.

Liz and Aster had stopped yelling at Malcolm, and joined Matt and Camilla. Malcolm stood off to the side while looking scared and apologetic.

Before the man could speak, Matt clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Lesson learned. Right?”

At his nod, Matt didn’t press. The man had fucked up pretty badly by launching a mana skill, after knowing that the enemy was a mana absorber. Most of them used mana to empower their fighting style, and if he hadn’t missed, it would have made the fight that much harder. But he was an amateur and clearly didn't have any combat experience, so Matt tired to not hold a grudge.

Liz pointed at the wall and asked, “Any reason we don’t test all of our skills on the walls? Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it’ll turn out to be unable to take the mana out of me and Aster’s spells.”

Matt wasn’t hopeful, but they tested it anyway. While the mages cast their skills at the wall, Matt retrieved his longsword and swapped it out for his mace and shield.

Turning his attention back to the mages, they received some pretty terrible news. Aster and Liz couldn’t use their manipulation skills at all. When they touched the walls, and presumably the golems, their mana was ripped out of the skills, and they lost control of their elements.

Skills like [Ice Spear] and [Blood Bullet] performed slightly better, since they relied on the momentum of the moving elements to do damage. But they still increased the glow from the wall as it absorbed the damage from the skills, so using those particular skills was determined to be a last resort.

Camilla’s [Bolt] was entirely useless, as it was mana created energy, and performed no better than Malcolm’s [Mana Bolt] or Matt’s sword’s [Mana Charge].

Matt raised the question that he knew everyone was thinking. “This is a shitshow of a counter. Do we pull out and leave?”

Malcolm, who Matt expected to be the one who wanted to stay, was looking at the hall and stairwell behind them with longing.

Liz shook her armored head, and in the blue, mana-powered lights of the now bright hall said, “No. I think we push on. This is still a ruin. I have my spear’s butt and a backup mace that I can use. Aster can still use ice to block areas off or disrupt footing. This is bad, but not that bad. We can still do damage with our skills as well, it’s just a last resort.”

Camilla nodded. She was mainly a melee blunt damage fighter, so she was less affected by the ruin than Matt was. She couldn’t use her whip, but that was only half of her usual arsenal. Matt would be unable to use his primary weapon.

As they were about to continue, Matt’s AI flashed, and he called a halt.

Going through the readout, he returned to the wall and watched its brightness, then inspected the runes that were used to light the halls. They were a better version of light runes, and should be dimming faster than they were.

After sharing the findings with the others, they all looked at the walls and at the golem they could make out in the distance.

Malcolm asked, “Why isn’t this place just draining the ambient mana to power itself?”

Matt opened his mouth and paused. That was a good question. In his spiritual sense, he could feel the ambient mana. Most mana absorbing rifts were mana dead zones. At least, that was according to the information about common rifts in the Tier 5 through Tier 10 zone.

“I don’t know. But let’s not give this place any more mana.”

No one wanted to find out what the walls were powering the hard way.

With their intention to continue confirmed, they pushed deeper, and Matt continued to check his steps with his stick. It paid off again when a giant cleaver suddenly sliced out of the wall at waist high, and cut the stick in half. It slammed into the wall so hard, Matt was surprised that the blade didn’t end up cracking the wall, or shattering against it.

Matt didn’t think he could survive that kind of blow, and somberly inspected the two halves of the stick. They were less cut, and more crushed in half. Pulling a second stick out, he called to Liz and the others, who gawked at the now sprung cleaver trap.

“Did any of you bring any sticks? I only have this one and one more.”

At the shaking of heads, Matt cursed under his breath.

“If this stick gets broken, we’re going back out for more sticks. I’m not checking without them.”

No one dared to argue, and they continued down the hall. The next golem they found wasn’t far behind a second trap that Matt saw and triggered early.

As they fought with this particular golem, they had Malcolm start shooting [Mana Bolts] at it slowly. They wanted to observe the abilities of the golems. They were strong but slow when running on only ambient mana, so they wanted to test how much of a threat they would be as they charged up.

It was better to learn while they had control of the situation, rather than when shit hit the fan.

The results were... not good. When the golem was running on ambient mana, they operated at about mid Tier 5 strength. Not that strong for a Tier 6 ruin. But as they absorbed more mana for fuel, their attacks started to increase in speed and complexity.

Once it reached early Tier 6 in power, the golem created a mana shield around its arm. At the middle of Tier 6, it produced a mana blade, and at the peak of Tier 6, it produced a layer of mana armor that was hard to break through.

The increased arsenal was accompanied by an increase in combat ability that rendered the golem truly terrifying.

The fight was long, and only possible because [Cracked Phantom Armor] was so effective against magical attacks. Matt was able to handle blows that he would never have dared to take against physical weapons.

It also helped that the golem wasn’t using [Mana Blade], but instead runes to mimic the effect, according to his AI. The hits lacked the weight that perfectly distributed mana from a skill would have. Matt had to rely on Camilla to deal most of the damage, while he distracted the golem and kept its attention.

He still hit hard with his mace, but Camilla was able to strike at the vulnerable parts, while Matt just concentrated on hitting the shield and sword. His responsibility was to drain as much mana from the monster as he could.

Nearly twenty minutes later, they finally killed the golem, and the rush of essence caused them all to breathe a sigh of relief. Camilla was off to the side, struggling to catch her breath.

The only reason Matt wasn’t in the same boat as her was that he had been channeling [Endurance]. For once, he actually was using it for its intended purpose, and with it, was simply able to ignore the effects of a long, drawn out fight.

Aster sent him worried feelings through their bond, and he walked over and nuzzled her. She was very unhappy with the fact that her ice was hurting them more than helping. She took pride in being a valuable member of the team. He took the time to reassure her that it was ok, and Liz helped by assuring her that she was in the same boat, but Aster still wanted to help.

Camilla, from her place leaning against the wall, said, “While the testing was necessary, let’s not give any of those things mana ever again.”

Malcolm added, “Yes. I’ll not be using any of my skills unless I need to. I don’t want to deal with one of those again. Ever.” He almost sobbed, “I regret not taking [Earth Manipulation].”

He continued to quietly say something about this not being what he expected but Matt mostly tuned him out. The muttering man had a point. With [Earth Manipulation], or better yet, the higher Tier [Stone Manipulation], they would have been able to simply lock the creature down by shaping the earth around its feet. Even if it was empowered by the mana, it would still be encased in stone, and unable to move.

Matt shook himself and readied his stick. Wishing for skills they didn’t have was pointless, and he needed to play ‘find the traps’ again.