The Path of Ascension

Matt felt like shitting himself again. It wasn't just from the proclamation that was out of a nightmare he only now realized he had, but the pressure crushing him from the man floating mid-air.

Liz managed to gasp out, "We don't cheat."

She tried to say something else, but it was more gargle than intelligible words.

The man, Gregor, floated down and walked towards them with a fire in his eyes.

"I am Gregor Hanson, Tier 41, and have been an investigator for longer than you could imagine. No one admits to cheating, and no one expects to get caught. I have a laundry list of flags from the AIs regarding both of you. Mr. Alexander more so than Miss Moore."

Matt was able to squeak out, "We’ve done nothing wrong."

Gregor just smiled, and the area lit up like daytime, though Matt couldn't see an active skill or spell. It was like the light was always at the corner of his vision, but when he turned to look, it was gone.

The Tier 41 chuckled, and a chair and table hovered over the sand. He gestured for them to sit, saying, "The name Investigator gives the wrong impression. You have already been investigated and found suspicious."

He pursed his lips and wiggled his hand like he was thinking. "This is more of an appeal. For the rare few who actually don't cheat."

Without looking up to them, he gestured, and three more chairs appeared on the other side of the table. It was out of Matt's control, as he was lifted and placed in the chair.

The Investigator brought out a pad and tapped at it for long enough. Matt tried to send a message to Liz in the lull.

His panicked message was only half coherent. 'The fuck do we do? What did we even do?'

To Matt's surprise, it wasn't Liz who answered him but Gregor. "I can see all AI messages while the investigation is underway. If you have something to say, please do so out loud."

"That's an invasion of our privacy." Liz seemed confident in her assertion, but Gregor shot her down instantly.

"No. I am intercepting messages, not reading your AIs history."

He spun the pad around and showed the three of them a screen. It had a list of alleged transgressions so long, he had to scroll to reach the bottom.

"These are your charges. Or a list of suspicious activity. First: Mr. Alexander, you came to the PlayPen with a skill that neither of your sponsors reported."

Before he said anything, Liz got out, "Just tell the truth. We did nothing wrong, and as this is an official investigation, everything will be sealed no matter the outcome."

This caused Gregor to look up at her. "Correct, Miss Moore. You seem prepared. Did your parents prepare you if you were caught?"

"Oh, go fuck yourself. I joined The Path to escape their influence."

The man ignored the last bit and looked back to Matt, clearly waiting for an answer to his last question.

"That was, uhh... Stolen. Kinda." Seeing that the man clearly expected more, he continued, "The Emperor even said that it was battlefield salvage, as someone threw it to start a fight. I didn't have an AI at the time, so I can't prove that, but Griff and the others at the PlayPen were nearby. Maybe they heard something."

The man glanced down, and when Matt followed his gaze, he found words typing themselves at a blinding speed.

"Yes. The assistant head of the PlayPen, Griff. He gave you a gift equaling a Tier 5 mana stone."

Matt had almost forgotten about that. It happened so long ago. "He had chewed my ass out about taking a risk in a rift challenge, and to apologize he gave me a collar for Aster."

He looked to his bond, who had her own higher seat. To his surprise, she was face-first in a bowl of ice cream, oblivious to his predicament.

The Tier 41 just nodded at that and continued, "Yes, it says there was a dispute that ended with a healer's death. The recordings show you weren't at fault, but it doesn't look great on your record. What does interest me is the unique AI that you went and looked for, and received through a special contract. How did you become aware of such a thing existing?"

"I uh..." Matt remembered Griff explicitly expressing to him that he never told him about the AI, as he wasn't supposed to deviate from the prepared briefing.

He didn't know what to say without one of them getting in trouble. "I had a hunch about it when Griff said most AI use reserved mana, and decided to call them after to see what I could do."

The Tier 41 cocked an eyebrow at him but didn't question it, and moved on.

"And did you guess about the training world that you went to? That was meant to be a secret for most people, and only the best were to be informed. But you were given special treatment. Why?"

Matt didn't have to lie for that one, and honestly answered. "Maybe because I had talked with the Emperor? I didn't even know I wasn't supposed to be told that one."

To Matt's surprise, the Investigator looked to Liz next. "And you, Miss Moore. You had a Tier 3 spear given to you while at Tier 1. Care to explain? Did your parents pull strings for you?"

Liz actually looked embarrassed when she answered, "I won it in a poker game."

When Gregor just stared at her, she bristled. "I'm good at poker."

Matt actually believed her when he thought of how she said she won a favor from Aunt Helen. He also made a note not to play poker with her.

"Back to you, Mr. Alexander. On the training world, you were suddenly given preferential VIP treatment by the Dual Stars Guild, which is currently under investigation for tax fraud. Why?"

That was easier to answer if they were committing to telling the truth. Matt trusted Liz and the Empire. He could also admit, with all the oddities being laid out in front of him, that his actions and encounters were rather suspicious.

"I traded them for half a million mana to jumpstart the shielding, so they could send people out faster."

Seeing the clear disbelief on the man's face, he sent an AI verification, which only caused an eyebrow to raise.

"Who provided the mana for you to make that deal?"

Matt sighed and just let it out. "I did. My Talent lets me produce a lot of mana."

To prove it, he activated [Hail] and [Mage's Retreat] at full blast. and dropped his veil so the man could feel his mana generation. Though, he felt removing the veil might be redundant.

Gregor tapped his finger for a moment before he nodded, saying, "We'll explore that more in a few minutes. You reportedly found a pair of growth rings. A bonded set. Right around the time you met Miss Moore. Very convenient.”

Matt shrugged; this one was easy. “I found that before I even met Liz. Here, watch it. I have no clue what a higher Tier can do. But I don't think her parents influencing something on my behalf, before we even met, makes any sense.”

He sent the recording of his delve in the office rift to the Tier 41, and showed the reward from the extra area. Just to be thorough, Matt sent the video where he met Liz as well. The time stamps would prove more than any arguments would.

Gregor just considered him sternly and said, “A Tier 48 could be standing in between us and I wouldn't even know. But I actually agree with you, they wouldn't have reason to interfere with your life before you met their daughter.”

He shook his head and refocused. “After you left the training world, you went to ‘Helen's Hearth’, where you were given a reward far out of proportion for anything a Tier 4 could sell to a Tier 48."

He glanced at Liz, finishing, "Sold to her mother. With a note of Meritorious service to the entire Empire. Care to explain how that isn't favoritism?"

Matt shrugged, "I gave Liz some dragon blood that wasn't possible in this realm supposedly, and Aunt Helen said they were gonna copy the rift or something."

The Tier 41, who had looked so unflappable, looked rattled when Matt sent the same video that he had sent Liz’s mother.

"I'll look into that."

He then went back to Liz. "For someone who says she wants to get out of her family’s influence, you spent an awfully long time with your Tier 17 brother. Just before an ascension no less, and then came here selling growth items."

"I said I wanted to get out of my parents' shadow. Not that I hate my family. If you want to complain about us finding out about the ascension early, blame Aunt Helen. She told us to visit Travis and Keith, but refused to tell us why. Go argue with her." Liz's answer felt flippant and confrontational.

Liz, don't get us killed, please.

Matt didn't think it likely, and the Tier 41 didn't seem angry. He just took the snark in stride.

Gregor just moved on. “What about you meeting up with one Camilla Anderson?”

Liz took this question as well. “We met up with her, but her combat prowess wasn’t as significant as ours, so the AIs said it was fine.”

“Yes but why did she seek you out?”

“Uncle Waters sent her. Apparently, Uncle Manny already punished him for that, so deal with one of them. This feels like a lot of bullshit. We did nothing wrong, and only used our abilities in the best way we could. So either let us prove that we can do what we say, or would you like to bring up more of our past? Should I list every time I took a shit, so you know we didn't have help there as well?”

There had to be a special irony about hearing the person you were interrogating calling your boss uncle, but Gregor didn’t seem bothered, even though Matt felt weird about it.

He still felt that it was best to step in and explain the rewards, as they seemed to be the big thing that brought The Path AIs’ attention to them.

"If you check the island over there, you'll see a dozen rifts we've made. If you let us go there, I'll make one in front of you."

Gregor stared at him for a long time, before they were suddenly in the clearing, surrounded by the dozen rifts they had decided to keep as they made new rifts each day.

Gregor looked around, and actually looked impressed when he looked back at Matt.

He gestured and said, "Go ahead, prove it."

"I need my spatial bag. I need the..." Before he finished the statement, his and Liz's spatial bags were floating in front of them.

Matt nodded to the man and pulled out his formation plates. He made a level area and cleared it of debris. He was going to trust the man with his Talent, because he had to. Liz was sure that it wouldn't leak out, but he wanted to keep the influence of rift archetypes a secret.

Once the plates were set up, he pumped his mana in while keeping an eye on Gregor and Liz, who was holding Aster. When the rift formed and the break happened, the monster, a purple lizard, floated to the Investigator. He examined the creature before it disappeared.

"I want to check the rift."

With that terse statement, the man was gone for a heartbeat. Matt was looking at Liz, and was going to ask what they should do, but the Tier 41 reappeared before he could get anything out. He immediately told Matt to continue.

Gregor repeatedly entered the rift after every rift break, until the rift reached Tier 5 Then, he asked them to delve it. The monsters that broke out were killed so quickly, Matt didn't even have time to see what they would be.

"I want to see you delve the rift." The Tier 41’s tone was much more congenial and less terse, but there was still an air of command that implied it wasn't an option.

Matt was nervous, but pulled out his flying sword, which was met with a raised eyebrow.

"I fell off a tree once."

That got a grin that quickly returned to the neutral, flat line that the Tier 41 had worn most of the night.

The Tier 5 rift was no challenge for the trio, and they quickly cleared it. It was fast and efficient, like all of the Tier 5 rifts they had been delving for weeks now. They had fought ambush leopards like this rift had enough to know their tactics.

Gregor watched them pull out an odd herb that was stuffed with essence, while simply nodding. Matt had been worried that they would get lesser rewards with the vastly stronger cultivator accompanying them. But either the man did something to hide his presence, or because he had only floated behind them and observed, it wasn't counted as help. Whatever the reason, they got the full reward.

"Do it again. This time with a Tier 6 rift."

Matt went to charge the rift until it reached Tier 6, but the Tier 41 waved a hand, and the rift dispersed like mist.

"Start over. I don't want the rift to stay the same type."

It was a reasonable, but irritating approach. Matt had been hoping for exactly that. Any advantage he could scrape out of this was good. He wasn't sure why he was making them do this. But seeing that Liz wasn’t questioning it, he didn't either.

He trusted her, and while she looked apprehensive, she didn't look scared.

The Tier 6 rift was a tropical jungle filled with brightly colored birds and giant, armored hippos. They found a pair of hippos getting stuck food plucked from their teeth by the birds, which took to the sky as soon as they noticed the interlopers.

It took them only a few fights to figure out the monsters’ tactics and counter them. The birds were fast, and used [Wind Blade] to great effect during flying attack runs, while the hippos tried to crush them under their bulk.

Unlike the Tier 5 rift, where they were left alone, Gregor called out to them when he saw that they had worked out a strategy. Liz was fighting the birds while Matt killed the hippos.

"I want to see you each fight a pack alone."

They did so. It was easier for Liz, who quickly killed the birds with a volley of [Blood Bullets], then used her blood whips to slice the legs off the hippos. She was able to cut her way through the rift monsters, and avoid any real danger.

Matt was able to complete his task as well, but the Hippo was much easier for him to handle. With just two [Mana Charge] blows, he had removed most of the monster's head. The birds were harder, as he was only able to cast [Hail] at them. He was only able to connect with slashes of his sword when they dove a little too close.

He was nearly as fast as Liz, and the look on the man's face was still neutral. When they were allowed to finish the rest of the rift together, they were able to quickly sweep through it. They even pulled a skill shard for their efforts.

Matt half expected their little test to be over, but Gregor dispersed their rift and simply called out, "Tier 7."

Matt looked at him like he was stupid and said, "This is only a Tier 6 planet. I can't do that."

"Yes, you can. It will just take more mana."

The man's tone screamed confidence and surety, so Matt did as instructed.

It took nearly as long as it did to take a rift from Tier 1 to Tier 5, but eventually, the Tier 6 rift warbled and broke as it stepped into Tier 7. Matt assumed that it was because he was pushing the Tier of the rift over the Tier of the planet. The discovery gave Matt quite a few ideas, but he wasn't able to think about them before they were ordered to enter.

Matt looked at Liz, who had backpacked Aster. She had a hard look on her face, but nodded at him. They didn't need to speak to understand each other. If they found the rift beyond their abilities, they would retreat.

They found themselves in a rolling desert that expanded out as far as their eyes could see. The air was drier than a tomb, and the moisture was sucked from their bodies as they carefully walked up a sand dune.

With his spiritual sense, Matt could feel something in the distance. It felt like an exit, but the rift was so large that he wasn't sure. Throughout the desert, he saw stone outcroppings that peppered the landscape like a mockery of trees.

They hopped on Matt's flying sword and flew over to the outcropping, only to be sent tumbling to the ground when a boulder was flung at them.

The outcrop was in fact, a rift monster. It seemed to be a sandstone golem of some sort, and initiated a brutal fight. Every time they damaged it, the surrounding sand crawled up its body to heal any missing or damaged limbs.

With all the loose sand, they were at a massive disadvantage. The monster seemed to treat the sand as solid ground as it moved, but it was a naturally slow monster. It clearly had mastery over the terrain, on top of being healed by it.

In the end, it wasn't their skills that made the fight possible, but instead the Tree of Perfection. Matt hadn't really pushed himself before this, but while being forced into this desperate situation, he saw why the tree had the glowing description and reputation.

Matt felt nearly twice as strong as he had before the root. His AI said that it wasn't that exaggerated, only fifty percent stronger. Every movement was fluid and seemingly without effort. When he blocked the golem’s kicks and punches, it wasn't his body that struggled to keep up, but instead his gear and skills. His blade bent and flexed while [Cracked Phantom Armor] struggled to keep stable in his spirit. It was even shattered more than once, but where he expected to take broken bones, he wasn't even bruised.

Matt didn't feel like a new man, he felt like a god. Perfection was selling the effects short.

When the golem kicked at him, he caught the blow, and for an instant he pushed back. As he ramped up [Mage’s Retreat], he was almost confident he could have beaten the monster in a competition of pure strength. But the difference in footing meant that he was unable to get the leverage he needed, and he was kicked to the side.

Even though the hit shattered [Cracked Phantom Armor], it resulted in nothing worse than a tumble in the sand before he was back in the fight.

Matt finally landed a solid hit with [Mana Charge] to the monster's chest, exposing a pearl-like core. At that moment, they realized their strategy. From there, all it took was Liz distracting the monster for Matt to sneak in and disperse the protective sandstone covering the core again. Liz didn't miss the opening, and followed up his attack with a flying spear, piercing the core and causing the golem to fall apart in moments.

They each leaned against each other, panting heavily. Matt pulled out their canteen and passed it around, filling it with his [Create Water]. It took more mana than he was expecting to fill the canteen, but there was no moisture to pull out of the air, so his spell had to create all of it. Matt used the shade orb item they had to give them a slight bit of cover.

Aster was panting heavily, and Matt scratched his partner’s jowls before dumping the rest of the water over her. He had been blasting out his Concept during their break, and watched as his mages’ mana pools returned to full on his HUD.

Liz panted out, “Stupid thing had an internal Concept. Fuck!... Wasn’t expecting that. It clashed with my Concept when I punched through its core. Ow, my head is throbbing. Give me a few more minutes of rest.”

“Well, I feel good. I'm getting a lot out of the root. I’m probably around two times stronger than I was before. I think I could have wrestled the golem had we been on solid ground. Hits that made it though [Cracked Phantom Armor] barely hurt. How are your benefits from the leaf?”

Liz looked chagrined. “It's helping me as well. My skills are much easier to use, almost automatic. I was wrong about not getting anything out of it. Either I'm farther from perfection than I thought, or the effects were additive to what I already have. I don't know how to compare to wrestling a Tier 7 giant sand monster, but my skills feel effortless, and I only got a percentage of what you got out of it. It seems to have made you a new man. Thanks for convincing me to eat it. I didn't think having even a single part of us perfected would make such a change.”

She rubbed her face while looking off into the distance. “And it's not even done yet. The effects last for a year. I also didn't realize how much of an advantage that I had over everyone. I thought it was only a small boost; five percent at most. But, given how much the tree has helped us, it was probably closer to eighty percent. How were you even keeping up with me? I never realized I had such a big advantage over you.” She looked serious as she repeated herself a second time.

Matt wanted to lighten the mood, but the sun beating on Liz was causing her to sweat profusely, and Aster was panting her heart out. He felt nothing, as [Cracked Phantom Armor] protected him from the glaring sun, but he still felt for them. Getting out of the heat would probably help her mood more than anything he could say in the moment.

After Liz was ready, they moved in the direction of what they expected to be the exit, when they were ambushed by scorpions popping out of the sand. It was an easier fight, as Liz and Aster could more easily damage chitin than sandstone. The monsters even had blood for Liz to snatch up and use.

None of them, not even Matt, let an attack land, as they were two Tiers weaker than the monsters. Unlike the sandstone monsters that didn't have sharp weapons, these monsters’ claws gleamed with skills, and snapped audibly. The sandstone monsters didn’t have piercing weapons or skills, which made these scorpions much more dangerous.

It made for some scrambling, but their teamwork was good enough to cover for each other’s vulnerabilities, and that was enough to dispatch the giant insects. Matt distracted the monsters, and the mages slowed and killed them one by one.

When they thought the fight was over, giant vultures circled lower and lower, before they started to attack them with [Wind Blade]s. Liz noticed that they seemed to be covered in the scorpions’ chitin, and called for them to retreat. When they did so, the birds left them alone, and feasted on the scorpions.

They decided to just avoid the seemingly non-hostile vultures. The decision led to them walking for the remainder of the rift, as they didn’t want to fight the vicious looking birds.

Neither bothered to check to see what Gregor thought about it. The man just hovered behind them, and was ignored by all the monsters. He never asked them to fight alone either. He only watched them in silence as they fought brutal battle after brutal battle.

For all the hard fights and exhaustion, the Tier 7 rift was doing wonders for their cultivation. They had to pause to allocate their newly gathered essence after every fifth fight, just because of the sheer amount they were getting from the higher Tier monsters.

Nearly nine grueling hours later, they reached the end of the rift and fought a massive sandstone golem. It tried to crush them with lumbering steps and smashing hands. This one, unlike its smaller brethren, had five cores in its limbs. It was harder than any fight Matt had ever fought.

He had to fight as if [Cracked Phantom Armor] wasn't there, and that essentially meant being perfect. Every attack had to be anticipated, and damage had to be done at every possible opportunity [Hail] was up the entire time, and [Mage's Retreat] made it possible for him to keep up with the massive steps of the lumbering giant.

When the boss crumbled to sand, Matt tiredly stumbled to the reward rift, and dispelled two skill shards. Matt didn't bother to check them, and just fell out of the rift into the blessedly cool morning air of their island.

Liz and Aster stumbled over him, and didn't bother to get up from their position.

Gregor came out behind them, and they were raised up to sit at the table that had reappeared.

"Well done. I have to say, I'm impressed. I've busted thousands of cheaters, but have only had three groups, including yourselves, turn out to not be cheating."

A breeze blew off most of the dust that had gathered on Matt, Liz, and Aster from their time spent in the sandpit.

"The last thing I had you do was a test of sorts."

Liz interrupted Gregor with a muttered, "No shit."

The Tier 41 didn't seem bothered and just smiled. "Do you know what the purpose of The Path of Ascension is?"

He looked at Matt, so he tried his hand at an answer. "To find strong people?" It was more a question, but the man just nodded and looked to Liz.

"It's to find strong fighters for wars. People who can hit above their Tier."

Gregor nodded as he said, "Both are correct, but do you know why?" Seeing that neither had an answer, he continued. "The Empire and the other Great Powers all have an agreement to keep wars to Tier 35 and below. That's common knowledge, but why? It's because, after Tier 35, a cultivators' strength starts to destabilize worlds. It's hard to accidentally do at Tier 36, but with some deliberate effort, it's not hard to rip a hole into chaotic space on a Tier 5 or lower world."

The man looked off into the distance and shook his head. "So after a brutal war, the Great Powers agreed to turn wars into games. They all decided on rules to keep worlds from vanishing. One of those agreements is to keep Tier 36 and higher people out of them altogether. But that leads to a problem."

Matt couldn't help but to blurt out, "With a cap on a fighter’s cultivation, the wars turn into a stalemate or a numbers game."

The Investigator pointed at Matt excitedly. "Exactly. So what did they do?"

Matt felt like the curtains were drawn back, and he could finally see how the show was performed. "So everyone started looking for people who could fight over their Tier."

In a whisper, he finished, "The Path."

"Correct, young Matthew. Exactly right. The Ascenders are able to fight well above their Tier. They have to reach Tier 25 by two hundred years old. It's a race where power shines because of the lack of rifts and mana to spend in them. Anyone who has an Ascender is never going to be attacked in normal situations. When you have someone at Tier 35 who can beat everyone at their Tier, it means you win any battle they are sent to. It also lets them act as lightning rods, and draw the attention of the other Great Powers. With the prestige and power comes responsibility that most never see."

His face hardened, and he caught Matt's eyes and held them.

"Matthew, that's where you become a problem."

Liz interrupted him, but was cut off by an upraised hand. "I know Elizabeth. Relax. Matthew, you are able to circumvent the main restriction of The Path. The time requirement means nothing to you, as you could buy the best items, or just delve ten rifts a day at your own Tier. With your Talent, any slightly above average cultivator could complete The Path in record time. What happens then?"

Matt thought on it hard, and Gregor let him. The man didn’t look at all impatient as the time dragged on. "If I finish The Path and become a representative of the Empire, I'll either quickly be killed or worse, and lose something. Sorry, I can't guess more than that. I come from a Tier 4 world."

Gregor just nodded. "Yes, exactly. You fall close enough into the same category that people with seeker Talents fall into, so I can apply the same rules to your situation. I can't think of a single instance where someone could create and refill rifts fast enough for it to be useful. But the seeker rules apply well enough. That was why I had you fight in the rifts. The Tier 5 was to prove you weren't incompetent. The Tier 6 was to see how good you really were. When that wasn't a challenge, I pushed you into a Tier 7 rift. I would have counted it as a success if you had been able to retreat without my help."

"But we didn't. We finished the rift."

The Tier 41 looked at Liz and grinned at her statement. "Yes. Yes, you did. You are your parents’ daughter, Elizabeth."

Liz flinched slightly, but Gregor continued as if he hadn’t noticed, "Your siblings are fine cultivators. Better than average in most ways, but you are just like your parents when they were climbing. "

Liz didn't seem to take that complement well, and hunched in on herself.

Gregor moved on. He looked to Matt, and finally got to the point that Matt felt he was working up to. "After Tier 10 on The Path, if someone does well in the tournament, and seems to have the drive, they are given a management team. They are offered to seekers early, to either push them forward on or entirely off of The Path. Depending on how strong the pather is, they are offered three levels of help."

"The first is a safe place to sell items to the Empire for contribution points or mana stones. All seekers get that. The second level involves you getting a manager who will monitor your progress, and will encourage you to push yourself, but nothing really special. They mostly check up on you and make sure you aren’t slipping. Finally, for the real monsters with outstanding potential, they get the Tier 10 treatment and a full team to assist them.”

“That means a full time manager who has at least a few centuries of experience overseeing your development, and a trainer who will make sure your performance is up to snuff and will also push you to your limits. There is also someone to help cultivate any secondary abilities that you have. Finally, you will have a liaison who handles the interaction between you and the team. They will also handle everything from PR to scheduling the rifts that the trainer suggests. They’re usually the most junior person on the handling team, trying to work their way up to manager. But they’re the ones that will spend time with you, and deal with the bullshit of trying to hide your identities. The team isn’t there to hold your hand or give you free things, just keep you moving and challenged. Their goal is to make you the best version of yourself. But pushing forward is still on you."

Gregor stretched and laughed a deep belly laugh. "The Tier 5 rift was to see if you were lying. The Tier 6 was to see if you deserved the second level of treatment. If you could retreat out of the Tier 7 rift, I was going to recommend the highest level. As you finished it, I’m sure I can push through the full team to back you up. At mid Tier 5, completing a fully charged Tier 7 rift is impressive."

The Tier 41 looked between Liz, Matt, and Aster. "It's up to you if you want this, though. I can just give you access to the Empire sellers, or give you everything. Just note that once you choose, there is no changing the decision. If you choose to take the full team, you will be taking on expectations. Even if you fall off, you will be expected to help the Empire. With your abilities, I doubt you would see frontline fighting, but I don't decide that. Let me put it this way... If you take the full team, you will be pushed forward, or off The Path entirely. There will be no waiting at the peak age of a Tier and advancing slowly."

Matt looked to Liz, and then back to Gregor. "Can we talk alone?"

The Tier 41 nodded, and before vanishing said, "I've removed your AI interceptors. Just message me when you’re done."

With a beep to Matt’s AI with his ID, Gregor was gone.

"What do you think?" Both Liz and Matt asked at the same time, causing them to chuckle.

Liz looked awkward and shrugged. "This is up to you, Matt. I wouldn't be in this position without you. I can't make it for you."

Matt grabbed her hand. She looked so lonely at the moment. He needed to stop that.

"Liz. I'm not leaving you. If you decide to leave The Path right now, I'll walk off with you."

"That's not fair."

Matt laughed. "Who cares about fair? Liz, I started The Path as a way to get off my shithole planet, and not work myself to the bone. I would have taken any out. I'm with you. Always."

Liz looked misty-eyed, and she wiped the budding tears with her free hand. "Honestly, the only reason I'm on the Path is to escape my parents. To prove that I don’t need their help. But apparently, I’ve been relying on them more than I ever knew. Even my “perfect” mind, body, and spirit are better because of them. It’s like they gave me a gift I couldn’t refuse, nor return. I don't even know if I ever left their influence."

A frustrated look marred her face while she spat off to the side, “My parents’ daughter?! It’s like everything that I am and everything I accomplish is because of what they’ve gifted me. I don’t know why I’m on The Path anymore, if everything I accomplish is because of them. What would I be if I never had those advantages? What If I was born to a lower Tier couple? Would I be useless?

With her voice threatening to break, Matt pulled her into a hug, which she thankfully didn't resist. He just held her, his chin on her shoulder. After a few moments, he voiced the thoughts he had been having since they returned from the auction. "The Path might be more of a hassle than it's worth. Without the restrictions, we could do a lot more. So why stay? I can only think that it would be nice to be famous, but that's shallow. I also want to protect the Empire, as weird as that sounds. I never would have seen myself doing that, but for all its faults, the Empire at least tries. Even just looking at the vassal kingdom is enough to see what it could turn into. All it would take is a few people in power who don’t care about the common man. I... I think I'd like to be one of those people who prevent that."

Liz nodded into his shoulder. "The last bit is the same for me. I love my parents, as much as I hate being under their shadow. Even while growing up, they tried to spend as much time as they could with me, but I could still see how busy they were. I always wanted to help. If you’re up for it, I'm game. I think we can go the distance. Or at least you can. I don't know if I really am pulling my own weight."

Matt scoffed at her last statement and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Stop that Liz. I wouldn't have been able to handle the Tier 7 rift alone. Sure, I could fight the golem but I would have never killed it. The scorpions would have surrounded me and cut me to pieces in minutes. We’re a team. We cover each other's weaknesses. I don't hit that hard right now, and you do. Together, we’re stronger than the sum of our parts. We do this together, or not at all.”

She didn’t look as sure as he would have wanted, but she nodded.

Finally she said, “Let's do it. Added pressure isn't bad. And this way, we still have the tax exemption.”

With the decision agreed on, Matt messaged Gregor. The Tier 41 appeared so quickly, Matt had to wonder if he had just been invisible.

"From the smiles, I take it you have decided to push? ‘Ride the tiger,’ as it were?"

"Yes."

"Great! I'm sure there will be no issues in getting the approval, with the recording of your Tier 7 rift run, but it will take a bit of time to get a team ready. Maybe six months to a year."

That caused a spike of fear to cross Matt's gut. More people seeing his Talent wasn't exactly what he was looking for. "Who will approve of it?"

"The Emperor himself has the final say so. That's who oversees all the investigators. But there is a tribunal to go through first. Don't worry about them, they run the day to day operations of The Path and they are trusted. "

That caused Matt to breathe a sigh of relief. The Emperor would already know of his Talent, and this tribunal sounded important enough to have restrictions placed on themselves.

Gregor made some goodbyes, and Matt decided to ask one last question. "Why did you give Aster ice cream?"

The Tier 41 laughed. "She traded it for her AI recordings. I’m an evolved beast, so I just asked. It's an easy way to corroborate stories. Many people who cheat with bonds forget to block their AI." The man also glanced to the side. “I was able to corroborate it, which is all that matters.”

Matt turned to his bond and glared at her smug fox smile. She had sold them out.

Gregor turned around and pointed at Matt.

"Oh, that reminds me. I'm fining you twenty-five Tier 5 mana stones for being in violation of The Path’s birth control regulations. Your implant fell out of your arm when you ate the Tree of Perfection root."