The Path of Ascension

Matt flew in formation with his team to their objective. It was a fort, a part of a larger chain of fortifications protecting a mountain chain. They had been called upon at 4 am their time, but the sun was shining high in the sky where they had teleported to on the planet.

Their side had captured three of the neutral and newly made cities, for a total of five on their side. The other two were under the control of the Queendom. Their cities were being flooded with personnel who would staff and defend the city, since the Kingdom used them as teleportation platforms.

It was incredibly expensive to do the intra-city teleports, but the Kingdom still sent their strike forces through as fast as they could load them onto the platforms.

Their team had been called up not long after they went to bed for the night. Thankfully, as Tier 6’s, their need for sleep was lessened compared to the unawakened.

Their advanced scouts had noticed that the Queendom was mobilizing forces to these forts. From their mission brief, the Kingdom was assuming that the enemy troops were trying to create a chink in the outer layer of the city’s defenses. It seemed that they were trying to claim a foothold, so that future operations could be initiated from the base in order to break through the defensive layers. Defending this forward base from the Queendom was the Kingdom's war AI’s decision. They weren’t entirely sure why this singular base was being targeted, but their trajectory didn’t leave much room for debate.

According to Juni, they needed to move quickly, so they were out on their various flying devices only minutes after being roused from their sleep.

They would need to hold the fort until reinforcements could arrive and take over.

Matt didn’t understand why the Queendom was trying to take the base without the surrounding area being controlled. Still, from the limited information he had about the ongoing war, it was mostly a game of sending out small token forces to gather control of as much territory as possible.

There were points given to each side depending on the amount of territory they held. The territory’s worth was determined by the value of available rifts and natural resources like metals in the controlled area. Both sides were overextended to cover as much land as possible, while also contending with teleportation costs and traditional travel times.

The Queendom hadn’t advanced very far past capturing the city neighboring the one they had arrived in, but they did have to gather their forces from their own territory after all. Their interplanetary teleporters were constantly active to help consolidate their strength. The lack of initial push from the Queendom meant that they had less than a quarter of the planet’s area under their nominal control to start. The Kingdom could have pushed their initial advantage, but it was considered a waste of resources to try and contend with the Queendom over the territory directly around their cities.

The attack that Matt’s team was intercepting was just part of a larger offensive on the part of the Queendom. As an opening move, he felt it was a little lackluster, but he didn’t know what their greater plan was.

Even if they took this fort, it was surrounded by other controlled territories, and they had no teleporter to get reinforcements through.

In the end, Matt decided that it didn’t matter. They just had to sit on the fort and defend it while earning war contribution points.

They would earn ten apiece for taking and holding the fort, along with an additional point for each hour they held it. It wasn’t a large amount, but it was better than nothing, like the team’s current point total.

Matt glanced at the map that was overlaid on his vision, and spoke to the team over voice coms. “We’re two miles out. I’m going to scout ahead.”

His flying sword was the fastest of the group’s devices, so he moved ahead through the air and performed a large loop around the fortress. The landscape mainly consisted of scrubland that gave little cover, but he kept half a mile above the ground just in case of a hidden ambush. The sky was clear, which protected him from surprise attacks from above.

Seeing nothing of note, he pushed an all-clear message to his team. He landed in the three-story fort and started to inspect it for any hidden enemies.

He didn’t run into any opposition as he cleared empty floor after empty floor. The forts that the army built were barebone stone fortifications, and were clearly meant to be filled out later by whichever force took them over.

On the bottom floor, Matt found the item that he was looking for. With a quick scan of the room, he walked over to the head-sized crystal and started to pump mana into it. A few seconds and 1000 mana later, he pulled his armored hand off the crystal as the base’s systems came online. The fort’s preliminary shielding and anti-flight formations activated a moment later.

It only took a heartbeat for Matt to get a ping asking if he wanted to claim the base for the Kingdom. As he walked to the door, he mentally selected yes and stepped back into the light.

His team landed in the clearing around the fort, and he saw Conor step off his flying carpet. He moved to check the fortification’s doors while his carpet rolled itself up and flew into his bag.

Liz and Emily started to climb the tower stairs to get in a position where their ranged attacks would be the most optimal. Annie pulled out a chair and sat behind the parapet, looking out into the open land around them.

Conor was moving to the opposite wall to do the same, so Matt went back inside. After deactivating his armor, he started to get a good charge on the mana reserve built into the fort.

They had been sent with fifty Tier 7 mana stones to charge the fort quickly. That was a Tier 8 mana stone worth of value, but the pile of little crystals had 40,000 mana in total. It always amazed him how much value an increase in Tier could make. From Tier 7 to Tier 8, the mana capacity only increased from 400 mana to 500, but the cost was fifty times larger.

Even with the economics explained to him during his schooling, such an increase felt strange to him. The mana stone value was set from the top down, with the stone’s value being more representative of their worth as the Tiers increased.

Matt charged the stone himself and pocketed the money. The job was being done either way, and he felt no guilt in taking the stones for himself. To the Kingdom, a single Tier 8 mana stone’s value wasn’t anything of note, but that was a few nights at a really nice hotel for Matt, Aster, and Liz.

Five minutes later, he exited the fortress and took up his position on the wall. Being the last one out, he got the worst spot of them all. It was built up the side of the mountain, and he had to crane his neck just to observe his section of the wall. Luckily, it wasn’t all that bad, as he just leaned his chair against the inside wall to recline.

Not even ten minutes later, a message from Juni came through, asking about their situation. Liz quickly reported in. There was nothing to see, and they were told to sit tight until they were relieved or given other orders.

With little else to do, Matt let his AI use most of his available mana running simulations of their team fighting various opponents or completing random tasks. While his AI worked, he alternated between practicing his mana manipulation and using his Concept to make fields to stand on. The first task was actually going well. While his new mana generation rate was hurting his mana control, he was picking it back up.

On the other hand, using his Concept to will the air to repulse him was nearly nonfunctional. With his weight pressing down on a disk, he just sank through what little resistance he could muster with his Concept. It was like standing on quicksand. It was enough to slow his descending foot, but it wasn’t anywhere close to keeping him aloft.

As he continued to practice, he kept most of his attention on the surrounding area in front of his position. Even his AI was analyzing his vision for any anomalies. Two hours later, he was still wrapped up in his distractions when Annie messaged them through their team channel.

“Got something on my side. Scrub grass moved perpendicular to the wind for a moment.”

Matt wanted to turn and look, but kept his vision on his area instead. He hopped off his chair and changed his position. If there were hidden lurkers, he didn’t want to be an easy target for an archer.

Liz’s next words gave him a little more detail on the situation. “The one I highlighted?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok. We see it.”

A second later, and there was a thunderclap that echoed off the mountain cliffs and fortress walls.

Someone jerked in front of Matt, and an arrow slammed into the crenelation beside him. He and everyone else called out variations of “Hidden enemies!”

Matt summoned his sword with a thought and started charging it with mana. As it neared 2000 mana, he swung his sword forward while activating [Mana Slash]. The crescent-shaped mana attack rushed forward, but dissipated before it could cover the two hundred-foot distance between him and his retreating attacker. He cursed his impulsive use of the skill. If he had used his crossbow, he might have hit his target when their camouflage was disrupted.

Conor asked through their voice chat, “Do we engage?”

Liz answered immediately, “Our orders were to only engage if we thought we had a chance.” She paused before continuing, “Besides, they look to be retreating. Let me call in.”

During the lull, Matt scanned the area around the rocky outcropping where his attacker had disappeared. He didn’t quite fancy fighting in those tight quarters. Flying would be iffy, as the anti-flying formation spread out for nearly half a mile, and unlike the city’s formation, this one couldn’t tell friend from foe. It was a trade-off for its cheaper operation cost.

After another minute, Liz came back on and said, “We are to pursue and try to capture the attackers. Note that if you do so much damage they would die, they'll get pulled away by the army, and we won’t get to question them. Watch out for suicide. That’s been a common tactic of theirs to avoid capture.”

Matt took over at that point. His AI had been burning mana by the millions since their spars last night. He had run simulation after simulation with their group in every scenario he could think of.

“Annie, go invisible and see what you can find. Watch out for traps to cover their retreat. We’ll form up and forge a path behind you.”

“I know what to look out for.” Her tone wasn’t snippy, but it was a good reminder that his team knew their jobs better than he and his AI did. He wasn’t too worried for the woman. From what he could glean after their spar, he didn’t believe that her Talent was solely invisibility. No matter what she said, [Invisibility] and its lower Tier variants didn’t stop water ripples, or weight creating impressions in soft mud.

When they practiced in the sparring yard, the woman didn’t leave these, or any other indications of her presence when invisible.. No matter what she said though, he didn’t buy it. But that was ok. She had the right to her secrets. It wasn’t like he didn’t lie about his own Talent.

If his AI was right, she could have a cracked skill variant that gave some form of invisibility and intangibility. That, or her Talent did something even more unorthodox, like make her entirely unnoticeable. He didn’t think the last option was very likely. When he checked an area she had walked through an hour afterwards, there were still no signs of disturbance.

Either way, she would be fine if she didn’t walk into an ambush. That was what took her out in most of his simulations. He didn’t have enough data on her ability to detect traps to accurately model her actions. It was an oversight that he intended to correct when they got back to the neutral city. There had been training rooms dedicated specifically for stealth and reconnaissance, and he wouldn’t mind picking up some of those skills himself.

The rest of them gathered at the front entrance and unbarred the door. It left them vulnerable, but anyone who wanted to come in after them would need a way to scale the twenty foot wall. Even with their enhanced bodies, jumping that distance was nearly impossible to do without a climbing rope or a ladder.

Either way, it would take time, and they had their orders to sally out.

Annie sent a message ten minutes later that she had found the rendezvous point where their attackers retreated to. It was half a mile away and just outside the no-fly zone. Matt nodded and lowered the locking bar behind his team as they exited the fortress. Running, he climbed the stairs and jumped down from the wall with a crash of dust.

They moved at a pace only made possible through their bodies’ enhancement from cultivation. As they neared the location marked by Annie, they slowed and watched the AI updates from their teammate. While it was unlikely that they had the ability to detect the hidden AI frequencies, it wasn’t impossible. So, whenever she sent a message she moved to a new location.

Matt was impressed that he didn’t need to warn her about that. He hadn’t even known it was a thing until his meeting with The Path investigator.

They saw three people with crossbows loading their bags in a hurry and with their flying devices laid out. It didn’t look like they would have time to do more than rush in if they wanted a chance to stop the retreating team.

Matt sent a quick attack order to his team and charged forward, while cranking [Mage’s Retreat]’s throughput to 50 MPS for its seventy-five percent boost. The team of three all looked at him and froze for a moment. That moment cost them their freedom.

As Matt and Conor charged, the mages attacked the flying devices. It was unlikely that they would destroy them, but it caused the fleeing group to backpedal away from their means of escape. Conor proceeded to tackle a woman to the ground, while Annie appeared from nowhere and threw a rope around the second man’s neck.

Matt punched out at the last man, who raised a glowing dagger to defend himself. The man crumpled under the blow to a degree that even Matt cringed at. He felt the man’s rib bones crumble under the strike. He had checked before he attacked, and felt that the man was Tier 6. He figured that he would have to strike with his full strength for his blow to have any effect. But before he could worry about potentially killing the man, a woman in army fatigues appeared and quickly vanished, along with the downed man.

Matt refused to freeze up from seeing the man get pulled away for medical treatment, so he moved to help Annie restrain her captive. They struggled for a moment, but the man was taken down after Matt kicked out his knee from behind.

He was much more careful with his power this time, and was sure to only send the man to the floor, instead of whatever hospital the army was using.

Conor had his woman already tied up with her hands and feet restrained behind her, forcing her to arch in an uncomfortable position.

The mages arrived soon after, and Liz started mouthing words, already communicating with someone back at the neutral city or one of the captured cities.

She came back to reality and looked at the two downed captives. “Ok, you have two options. One.”

“Fuck you. Just kill us and get it over with.”

Liz just nodded while Matt debated the ethics of kicking a captive man. He decided it would be cruel and unusual, but interrupting someone while they were talking was his pet peeve. Especially when the someone being interrupted was Liz. Besides, by the look on the man’s face, he intended to do it again.

Liz shrugged. “No. We aren’t doing that. The Kingdom knows your side is doing some sneaky shit, since you have less area to defend and can send out parties like this.”

“We won’t tell you anything.” It was the woman this time.

“Listen to me first, please. If you interrupt me again, I’m breaking something nonvital.”

Both prisoners blanched at that, but as the man fixed his mouth to call Liz’s bluff, Conor placed his foot lightly on the man’s bound hands. That quieted the captive down, and Matt nodded at his teammate.

“We won’t kill you. We’re going to capture you and hold you for points or prisoner swaps.”

She let the realization that their capture would mean weeks or even months out of the fight sink in. Once the desperation started to take hold, Liz offered them a lifeline.

“If you tell us what you know, we’re willing to let you go after a few days. If what you tell us is really good, we’ll kill you now, and move to try and stop whatever it is your side is planning.”

The man cracked first as the woman tried to yell at him to stop.

“They’re attacking another fort deeper in the mountains as a diversion as well. I don’t know more than that, I swear.”

Matt looked at Liz and sent her a message, “He’s not lying, but I don’t believe it. Seems too easy. Shit, we don’t even know other groups’ movements.”

Liz played along with the two, and nodded while driving her spear into their chests lightly. It was recorded as a way to ‘kill’ someone without needlessly burdening the healers. They would be out of the fight as if they took a spear through the chest, which meant at least two weeks of downtime, but without the cost of healing a massive and deadly wound.

A heartbeat later, they were both grabbed, and their scattered belongings vanished as well.

Matt was about to open his mouth when a series of notifications from the planetary AI appeared in his message window.

Team Merits.

Fort defended from attackers. 4 points.

Queendom Tier 6 scout killed. 5 points.

Two Queendom scouts captured and interrogated. 8 points each.

Items and equipment looted but returned. 4 points.

Personal Merits.

Queendom Tier 6 scout killed. 5 points.

34 war contribution points wasn’t bad, considering they were added to the 10 points received for capturing the fort, along with the additional 3 they earned for guarding it in the meantime.

It was a good start, if Matt said so himself. He also liked that he seemed to be able to double dip with personal achievements and team points.

Annie whistled softly. “Wow. I need to do more covert shit. I got 10 points for discovering the ambush and then another 40 for tracking and discovering the base.”

Matt had to agree. It was a nice haul, and was 10 points more than what he got in total, most of which he assumed that she got as well.

Liz interrupted their chatting and said, “Juni wants us to push into the mountains and check the other forts, but be wary of traps. He agrees with us. Something is funky here.”

Matt used his AI and scanned the area, but neither of them noticed anything that stood out. It wasn’t like there would be an obvious spot that said, “Trap here!” In the end, they just decided to fly around and look for obvious changes in the terrain. If they got lucky, they might be able to find enemies on the move.

They all removed their flying devices from their spatial bags and took to the sky without much more talking. They inspected the other unoccupied forts for nearly two hours, and found nothing. The only other Kingdom occupied fort in the chain had been attacked, but after wounding two of the defenders, the Queendom’s troops retreated without trying to take the now lightly defended fort.

Together, the six of them hovered in the air high in the sparse cloud cover, where they were unable to be observed or easily ambushed.

Matt’s AI had noted a slight discrepancy in the fort’s coverage. It wasn’t obvious, as the fort’s anti-flying formations weren’t active, but the designed overlap had a small gap in it. The space coincided with a valley that was closed off from a landslide on one end. If the formations could pass through rock, they would be covered, but their effects were reduced with physical matter obstructing the path. Thus, the debris from the landside created a slight gap.

The gap would be obvious when the formations were up and running, but since they were still shut off, none of them would have noticed the discrepancy. It was the best place for a party of ambush troops to be hiding. They had flown past it in a test, but they had seen no evidence of human presence or signs of a hidden base.

Emily said over their voice channel, “The logic checks out. This is a good location for a hidden base, but they don’t seem to have one set up.” Her sister tried to interject, but was punched in the shoulder for her trouble. “And no, I don’t think it’s a good idea for my sister to scout by herself. We’d be so far away that she would have zero back-up.”

Conor nodded along with everything the twin said and added his own two cents. “I think we report in, and strike at the area hard and fast. We should tear the place apart. Either we find an enemy and fight them, or we find nothing. We can always retreat if they have a numbers advantage, and if we find nothing, we won’t lose anything but some time.”

Matt liked the man’s idea, but from how Liz cocked her hip in the air, she didn’t agree. As Liz expanded on the ways that it could backfire, he ran the scenario with his AI.

Their impromptu team was strong for their Tier, and the other three had all run Tier 7 rifts easily enough at Tier 6. Unless the base was chocked full of Tier 7’s, they should be fine. If the Queendom was doing the same thing as the Kingdom, they would have broken open their vaults and given each Tier 7 a full kit of weapons and armor at their Tier, with a single Tier 8 item for attack or offense, depending on the person.

While those on The Path of Ascension were unable to partake of the free gear, they all hit above their Tier, so they should be able to handle a kitted out Tier 7 fighter. They would only have problems if they encountered someone who hit above their Tier, and was also well equipped. If they fought someone on the level of the Princess, they would be distinctly at a disadvantage. There was no rule that said all of the powerful fighters had to be on The Path.

“I think we can do it. The risk is minimal.” Seeing that Liz had stopped talking, Matt took his chance to interject. “There is a risk. But it’s unlikely that the Queendom would send a massive commitment for a small base like this. At worst, we’ll face an average Tier 7 overseeing a group of Tier 6s. It’s not impossible for us to fight and beat a squad of that caliber.”

“There’s still a chance that this is a larger play by the Queendom. They don’t have as much territory and they aren’t as spread out, so they have more wiggle room to send out stronger forces. We could very well fight a full team strong Tier 7’s. I don’t think it’s worth it if we die now. There’s a lot of free points to gather in the first few weeks.”

Matt didn’t really have a counterargument for that. It was risky, but it wasn’t guaranteed that they wouldn’t run into a situation larger than they could handle.

Matt could overrule her if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to do anything that drastic. They had already decided that he was in command of any combat operations. His AI was simply able to process more information than hers at any time, which let him plan fights better. Liz took charge of their interactions with the Kingdom, and was the official leader.

He looked at her armored form and shrugged, throwing the ball into her court.

Finally, Liz said, “Let’s do it, but we have to be careful. We’ll fly over first. Then we can go in at a hover. The anti-flying formations aren’t active; they don’t even reach here anyway. So we should be fine to make a quick getaway, if need be.”

With that, they dropped like rocks with the power of their flying devices. Matt kept with his team as they made an arc into the valley.

They did as Liz said and did a slow and careful search of the valley. Finding nothing once again, they moved to search closer to the ground.

They almost finished their sweep when Aster noticed something. Matt only got a warning through their bond, as his fox sent a message to everyone else in their chat.

“Smell human.”

They all went on alert, and Annie flew behind a tree. With a thud, she vanished into the sparse trees.

Liz looked over her shoulder and asked, “Where’s the scent strongest?”

Aster sniffed around and led them to a tree that looked like any other in the area. At least, that was what Matt thought until he looked closer. The surrounding trees were in the early signs of spring with small buds of green, whereas this one looked to be in the full bloom of summer.

Matt called out at the same time that a hatch in the side of the tree opened with a ringing sound of metal on metal.

Conor dropped to the ground, which kept him from tumbling like the rest of them did when an anti-flight formation activated. Matt landed with a thud, but rolled with the impact and joined Conor in holding the entrance.

The man’s [Demon Zone] was a red haze that encompassed the entrance.

Matt mentally ran through the skill description of [Demon Zone]: 5 MPS base cost. A portion of all damage dealt while in the area of effect would reflect back to the damage dealer as physical damage. There was a percent chance for any damage dealt in the area to affect all occupants. No designation of friend or foe. The user would take fifty percent damage from all reflected damage. The skill couldn’t be recast for two hours and channeling time didn’t count towards cooldown.

The skill was slamming energy blows against Matt’s [Cracked Phantom Armor] as he countered an attack from a woman. She escaped the tree and moved around Conor to flank the two of them.

Matt smiled as what felt like a hammer blow landed on his leg. His armor completely absorbed the damage, but the woman’s posture crumpled as the unexpected reflection hit everyone in the zone.

Not willing to let the opportunity go, Matt stabbed forward and took the woman in her lightly armored gut with a thrust. As he withdrew his sword, she was suddenly gone.

Pivoting, Matt moved right beside Conor to help hold the entrance. As much as he hated to admit it, his new melee teammate was a better fighter with more weapons than Matt. He was more skilled with a longsword, but the man was a miracle worker when he used any one-handed weapon with his shield.

Whether it was a mace, a short sword, or anything in between, the man struck with lightning-fast blows. Each had a chance to strike everyone in the aura. The light blows weren’t meant to cause any real damage, just to disorientate. Any time [Demon Zone] reflected someone’s attack to the Queendom’s fighters, Conor used [Momentum Strike] to finish off the nearest opponent during the moment of disorientation.

When they sparred, Matt had only been able to hold his own, but without battering the man down with spell cast after spell cast, he had been forced to call it a draw. Unless they were willing to go all out, there was no clear winner in their fights.

It made them an amazing frontline duo. Matt wasn’t bothered by the light reflected attacks with [Cracked Phantom Armor], and Conor had never encountered someone who could effectively guard his side with his skill active.

They cut down another two Tier 6s before a larger presence moved up and out of the entrance like a charging bull. Conor retreated and let the man escape the confines of the tree facade.

The Tier 7 tried to turn and attack Conor, but Matt thrust his sword into the man’s side, causing him to abort the attack. The armor he was wearing was Tier 7, which meant that Matt’s blade was the same Tier, and would be able to pierce the armor.

The man was unwilling to take the blow to land one of his own.

Matt pulled the man away from Conor and engaged the Queendom’s Tier 7 on his own. He wielded a white-hot war hammer equipped with a glowing blue spike. It also felt heavier than the man to his spiritual sense, indicating that it was a Tier 8 weapon.

Cursing the worst-case scenario, Matt settled in to defend against the man, and looked for an opportunity to finish the fight with a single, decisive blow. It was either that, or batter the man down with a few dozen [Mana Slash]s and [Mana Charge]s.

***

Liz ducked under a barrage of [Water Bullets] cast from near the top of the tree and thrust her spear into an attacking Tier 6. The man bled an unhealthy amount before he vanished, leaving only more blood to use.

Aster jumped out of her backpack, and before Liz could worry about her, the world went white.

Everything was suddenly flash frozen. From the trees, to the enemies, and the grass. Everything was covered in frost that slowly grew roses.

Chancing a look back, she saw Aster anchored in ice that grew up her legs, while more ice-covered her body in spikes. The nine enemies around them had it much worse than the surroundings. Each was encased in thorny, blooming vines that sapped both life and mana from them. It was a visible process that withered them and all the frozen foliage to nothing.

Emily looked as shocked as Liz felt. She knew that Winter’s Embrace was strong, but this was beyond her expectations.

Seeing that her partner was ok and handling the small fry, Liz gathered the blood. She pulled all of it to her. If this was back when she first met Aster, she would have been unable to control frozen blood, but now it was only slightly harder than the liquid variety. It was still blood, after all.

Pulling it together, Liz created a modified version of her blood golem, while Emily fried a group of Tier 6’s who tried to attack Aster and her ever-expanding zone of frozen death. The now-empty vines reminded her that for all the blood spilled, no one was dying today.

After Matt had crumpled the Tier 6’s chest in a single blow, she had been hesitant to use her full force. She knew he was too.

Taking a barrage of skills on her heavily armored golems head, she punched hardened arms and feet into the metal tree and started to climb. It took only a minute for her to reach the screams above her. Once she got to the top of the tree, she found a crudely built palisade disguised as tree branches.

Liz let loose with tendrils of blood that broke bones and spilled more of her red dominion. She was nearly blasted off the tree when a Concept infused [Wind Blade] took her in the side. The man was Tier 7, and had a Tier 8 staff that glowed with light green energy as more wind built up around the staff.

She didn’t have time to savor the look of shock on his face as he realized his sneak attack hadn’t worked. Infusing her own Concept into her blood, she struck out, intending to swat the man away, but he was pulled away by a force greater than her own.

With the realization that she might have been going a little too hard, she toned it back as she finished off the rest of the mages on top of the tree tower. She was a mage, yes, but in the end, she was building her body more than most mages. She was going with a forty sixty split with magic taking the larger portion, but she got more damage out of building her blood than most. After the addition and upgrade of the Blood Iron, she was debating whether to transition into an even split of essence.

After all, the stronger her body got, the stronger her main weapon was.

Pulling a little blood from her glove, she moved it to the tips of her arms and started to spin her limbs like drills. It only took a minute until she was able to pry off the top of the tree, and she fell into the mass of people still trying to escape from the tree’s front entrance.

***

Annie moved through the forest with her Talent keeping her hidden from everyone.

When she found the back door, she slipped in and carefully weaved through the escaping Queendom people.

She was here for information gathering and to assassinate any leaders running the show from inside the hidden base.

It was a shock when she found a teleporter formation built into the floor. There was a pair of Tier 7s standing at a row of pads and talking as they watched the fighting outside. “We need to consider this a loss. Both Adam and Bret were taken out.”

The other woman cursed, “Fucking useless. Neither of them lasted more than a minute. Disgraceful.”

The first woman shrugged. “This clearly is a very strong Path team. Better to learn about them now than during a more pivotal moment. We now know how strong they are, so we can start planning to counter them.”

The second woman spat on the floor but nodded. “Do we pull out with the teleporter, or do we destroy it?”

“Set the bomb, and we’ll teleport out before it goes off.”

Not liking the sound of that, Annie debated whether she could take the two women. They were Tier 7, and might be able to sense her if she wasn’t careful, but she liked the idea of being here when a bomb went off far less.

She took careful, quiet steps before she drove her dagger into the leader’s armpit, activating the enchantment at the last moment. She twisted and jerked it out before ducking low and stepping around her victim. As the second woman tried to attack, Annie hip-checked the leader into her path, causing the second woman to stumble slightly.

That was all Annie needed to throw a dagger into the woman’s throat. In under four seconds, both women were gone, removed by the unseen referees.

Annie started to download everything on the pads to her AI, and took careful scans of the teleporting formation. It might lead to other hidden bases, and that could be worth a boatload of points.

She checked her sister’s AI and saw that they were doing fine up top. It was weird to be in a team with others. Annie had expected to have to carry the team, but after their sparring yesterday, she was forced to acknowledge that her new teammates were heavy hitters.

Conor’s [Demon Zone] perfectly countered her, which was infuriating in and of itself. If she entered the zone and moved too quickly, he could feel the disturbance. If she attacked him, she would take a blow in return. If the blow was strong enough to kill him, it would probably do the same to her, as she was much less invested in heavy armor and durability. She was working on growing her Talent to counter that, but it was a slow process. If the man wasn’t so attractive in his quiet way, she would be even angrier.

Matt, Liz, and the fox, Aster, were another story together. Annie had missed it at first, but Emily had noticed that they were kitted out with growth items. It wouldn’t be suspicious if they weren’t on The Path, but as it stood, it let her know that at least one of them was lying about their Talent. She had met a seeker before, and they were the only ones able to gather that much wealth while on The Path.

Neither she nor her sister could figure it out, though. Matt’s Talent seemed straightforward enough, and its effects were obvious. Blood was rare enough that it seemed unlikely to be Liz, but that just left the cute fox. The problem with that was, with the fox being a beast, she would only have standard racial Talents until Tier 25.

Overall, their best guess was that they had a fourth member at some point, or one that wasn’t participating on the frontlines of the war.

She had expected paper tigers who relied on their items to fight, but the trio was as strong as her and her sister were, if their training duel was any indication.

So far, she was happy with how things were going in this little war. She and her sister had a little more than a year before they needed to advance to Tier 7 and stay on The Path. But with these four new teammates, gathering the points needed to slingshot themselves ahead of The Path seemed more of a certainty than a possibility.

They were doing fine as a duo, but they both saw this as an opportunity to gather skills and items that would normally be out of reach for the lower Tiers. The Empire was generous with the rewards for war contribution points. And they intended to leverage those rewards to reach the end of The Path of Ascension.

***

Matt gave up after the first two exchanges and simply charged up both [Mana Slash] and [Mana Charge]. He let the first strike out in a light blue crescent of mana, before following it up by releasing the stored mana in [Mana Charge] on the Tier 7’s gauntleted forearm.

Before he could see how much damage he had done, the man vanished, so Matt moved forward to help Conor once again. The man was still holding the entrance as the masses tried to push through him.

The fighting ended as Liz climbed up the tree tower and cut her way through the metal, and dropped down on their enemies as if she were a blood goddess.

Only a minute later, she called an all-clear, quickly echoed by everyone else. There were no more enemies remaining. They had won.

Not to be disappointed, Matt saw the notifications rain in.

Team Merits.

Thirty Queendom Tier 6s killed. 5 points each.

Four Queendom Tier 7s killed. 25 points each.

Secret base discovered. 50 points.

Various information gathered from enemy base. 100 points. Kingdom may award more based on contents of information gathered.

Items and equipment looted but returned. 87 points.

Personal Merits.

Solo takedown of Tier 7. 25 points.

Five Queendom Tier 6’s killed. 5 points each.

Matt smiled. Now that was what he called a haul. 537 points for the fight; 487 from the team and 50 from the personal merit. The benefit of double dipping between team and individual points was on display again.

Not bad for half a day's work.