C_Mantis
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Chapter 447
🕑 Added 2025-08-18 18:59:01 +0000 UTCChapter 447
They arrived at their base a few short minutes later, where they checked in with Liz before picking up one of her clones. She would be tagging along as far as she could, but given the more limited spiritual ranges they had to deal with she might not be able to make it all the way.
Still, there was a possibility it might work.
Liz hadn’t been idling away her time while on semi-permanent guard duty, instead she had been testing the strange realm's spiritual perception limiting fog, trying to increase her spiritual perception range. She had already made small but noticeable progress, and Matt was already theorizing how they could set up a similar environment back home. Ultimately, she was still bound to a singular spiritual perception spread between all instances of herself, and even making more copies to bolster the connection as they traveled, Liz still had to stop a few dozen miles short of their expected destination of the Republic Clipper crew’s tower.
Seeing that, Liz was decisive. “Go on ahead. I’ll keep this body here but weaken it so it’s harder to detect. The other copies of myself will go underground and do the same. If you need help, I’ll transfer over if it turns out there is a coordinated ambush or something.”
Matt didn’t linger, but leaving his wife behind annoyed him more than it should have.
Sadly, the fog was just as restrictive to most sounds as it was to spiritual sense, and all they could feel was the occasional gusts of air shoved around by someone else's clash.
Pushing forward, Matt and Susanne took the lead with Susanne slightly off to the side, ready to back step if anyone rushed Zack or to flank if they attacked Matt.
It wasn’t much, but it was the best they could do at the moment.
When they breached the larger than normal barrier of fog around a base, Matt witnessed the Federation team leading an attack on the Clandestine Clippers.
If that had been all, Matt wouldn’t be all that surprised, but the Federation team was led by a blood soaked and tattered Marve, who looked beyond simple emotions like anger. The ten remaining people from his team had similar levels of rage or fury. It was strange to see such relatable emotions on a man he was so predisposed to dislike.
The Clandestine Clippers looked smug inside their defences and that made him lend a tad more credence to the idea of them being the true culprits of the incident. That, or just gleeful at the loss of a competitor, which wasn’t a glowing endorsement of their character.
Matt still had no idea what was going on, and was about to reach out to one of the other people who were lingering on the edge of the fogless area. Thankfully, one of them was willing to share and reached out preemptively.
On the far side of the fog free zone, a single Corporation man stood in the air like a lone sentinel watching two groups of children play.
The spiritual fluctuations were as abrupt as the man’s posture and demeanor. “Marve’s group was attacked by a massive roaming boss. It just so happened to counter their fire mage, being a water monster, which led to casualties. Marve insists the Clippers set it up, as there were several other targeted elemental monsters attacking them that were the opposite of their party members.”
Matt’s eyes went into his eyebrow at the information sent over about the roaming boss. They had speculated the pocket areas would start to change as the overall danger of the monsters was improving, and the bosses leaving had been on their list of speculation, if they weren’t killed before the reset.
What they hadn’t expected was that the pocket space collapsed on the boss, enlarging it and turning parts of its body into Natural Treasures, which had been absorbed into their gems once it died, leaving the corpse in a miserable state.
Matt shared a look with Zack and Susanne before asking questions, “Did they scout the area this monster came from? Did this destroy the pocket space? Will a new boss spawn from it every day?”
The Corporation man shook his head, replying, “They came over here wanting retribution instead of scouting, saying they had seen evidence of a Clipper being near their bases. I suspect we'll all find out about the boss the same way in a day or so.”
Matt agreed with his speculation and could only hope the pocket space wasn’t gone, but instead changed. It might offer the opportunity to aim for some truly rare, unusual, or never before seen Natural Treasures.
He could see the same question in the others and knew they’d have to do their own tests in the coming days to see.
Amusingly, if Matt’s initial conjecture about the boss simply leaving a pocket space that wasn’t cleared properly was correct, any such attempt to set up a rogue pocket space near them would prove futile.
Matt might even thank someone who found another pocket space near them. They had combed every mile of their territory looking for more pocket spaces to convert before the monsters started growing too strong. While they had mostly paused their expansion efforts not wanting to overextend, they had pushed deep into the endlessly revealing territories.
As far as they had managed to discover, there was no end to the strange realm. Allie had teleported for over an hour in a single direction, but never found an outer edge to the strange realm.
Those tests however, would depend on what happened with the two teams.
Below them, they watched as the Federation team led by Marve continued to attack the Clippers’ fortified base.
The base wasn’t exactly what Matt would call well designed, but it was well built. Simplistic, but sturdy in nature, it allowed the more numerous Clippers to defend themselves without taking any injuries.
Matt did notice they were deliberately not retaliating with lethal force, which he found slightly weird until he realized the Clippers were probably worried about one of the watchers swooping in once they started attacking, as they would need to leave their defensive layers to truly finish off the Federation team.
Seeing that, Matt turned to go, knowing that nothing major would come of this incident at this time. If Marve was smart, he’d disregard his own tower in the evening and rush to set up as many hostile pocket spaces he could nearby the Clippers’ base before a monster broke through defences and destroyed their crystal.
It was either that, or be cut down when either the Clippers attacked as soon as everyone else returned to their own bases, or one of those other teams returned to finish them off whilst weakened. Even if the Clippers hadn’t set up the initial ambush, they had been attacked first, giving them enough reason to lash out in return.
If the Clippers had set the situation up…
Matt considered that possibility and considered if it would be better to wipe them out here and now. Ultimately, he wasn’t a savior righting injustices, nor did he know if they had actually committed the crime in the first place.
The second reason he disregarded it was that he wasn’t particularly worried if they tried it on them.
They would have to set up any such boss up so far away, even with the spiritual perception reducing fog they would have ample time to respond.
He was, however, worried the Clippers might try something against the other Empire team. After mentioning that thought to Zack and Susanne, they rerouted to the other base to warn them.
The Clare’s team didn’t take the news that someone was playing games any better than they did, but appreciated the warning, thanking the three of them profusely.
On the way back, the three of them started considering how they should best test the boss creation. It was probably just as easy as leaving a pocket space undelved, but they didn’t actually know if that was true, it was simply the most likely answer.
After talking with the others, they sacrificed two of the more common elemental type pocket spaces they had, Fire and Air, for the first two tests. The Fire pocket space they left entirely untouched, while the Air pocket space was cleared of everything except the boss.
So far, they had fully cleared the spaces, wanting both the Tier 30 Natural Treasures as well as the boss essence, but they were all nearing Tier 29 and would gladly trade the essence lost for not killing the multitude of monsters leading up to the boss for a chance at even more energy rich Natural Treasures.
Their intentions proved only mildly useful, as Allie managed to find not the Federation team’s pocket space that had created the boss, but rather the bodies of bosses in the Clippers’ territory. Not just any bodies, but copies of the same body.
That told them both the Clippers probably were guilty of tampering with the Federation team’s pocket spaces, and that the pocket spaces seemed to continue to create boss monsters after the first.
Zack poured water on their excitement. “You all realize this news combined with the increase in power the monsters experience every time they come back to life means we might not last as long as our initial predictions.”
Aster punched her hand into her fist. “The solution is easy. We just need to get you all to catch up- I mean Tier up to Tier 29! Then these puny Tier 30 monsters won’t be as difficult to beat for you guys. Soon you too can defeat them with the ease that I do as a Tier 29.”
Her bragging aside, Aster had a point, so they all roamed back out, rushing to push that last little bit before evening fell and their test bosses spawned.
They nearly made it before night fell. They hadn’t minded the darkness and would have continued clearing pocket spaces, but they once more felt air movements indicating a fight in the overworld.
Matt rushed forward this time with Allie and Aster, the three of them having been working together for the crew’s Natural Treasures. They had been considering whether they should also let the Body type pocket space cycle for the full day when they felt the wave and rushed over.
Carried along by Allie, they crossed the distance in short rapid teleports, the world flickering before arriving over Marve’s base mid assault.
Scanning everything over, Matt pieced together some of what happened. The Clippers had, as he expected, attacked in the evening, but Marve’s people had expected that and littered the area with a mine formation, causing serious damage to the attackers.
The two sides were in a fierce and vicious fight in the ruins; both sides seemed driven on by rage and vengeance instead of logic.
That all at least, made some amount of sense.
What he couldn’t piece together was why the Monster Collective team was being attacked by a familiar corporation man along with two others by his side, pressuring the other team into a steady retreat.
He fought in his civilian clothes, but where Matt could only identify there was an illusion of some kind covering him, Aster easily penetrated the illusion and shared with him the real appearance of the man with a glance.
It looked like a Paladin, one of the Corporation’s Minkalla created elites, but lacked all identifiers usually associated with the group, such as color or rank insignia.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t a Paladin in disguise, but it could just as easily be an imitation. That, however, didn’t mean the man would be weak.
There were factions in the Corporation that mirrored their central government and used Minkalla to also create growth armor items. It would, in fact, be more likely to run into one of them than the real thing.
Matt was interested in discovering which this was. He really hoped they had found a real Paladin group. Even a few friendly spars could be good fun, and a serious fight could prove enlightening.
The man, having felt Aster subvert his illusion, turned his anger onto them in a palpable manner, but he didn’t stop his assault on the Monster Collective team either.
Matt wasn’t going to involve himself and felt Aster agreeing with him, but fate took the option out of their hands as another four Corporation Paladins arrived and started attacking both the Federation and Republic teams.
They completely ignored the three of them, moving to ruthlessly eliminate the survivors of the attack.
The matter was further complicated by one of the Monster Collective cultivators pulling out a small harp and strumming it, sending out a subtle but powerful spiritual attack with each now audible note.
Rage tried to flood into Matt, but he easily deflected the outside influence now that he had felt it with no subtlety. The ‘sound’ had been playing silently under a layer of obfuscation in their last meeting, seeming to penetrate the fog.
The three of them were in the minority, as most were driven mad. Both the remaining Federation fighters and Republic Clippers descended into maddened states, their blades turning on everyone unaffected, indicating a measure of control and threatening to shift the tide in favor of the Monster Collective.
Matt deflected a blade, out of habit more than need. The rage made the wielder sloppier than otherwise, and their blows were easy to ignore with his armor, but he didn’t need Luna sitting on his shoulder to avoid taking an unnecessary hit, given where they were.
His caution turned out to be unnecessary as the blow had no hidden mechanisms or spells.
Matt drove an arm into the gem on the woman who rushed him, ignoring the half of her body that was charred from an earlier attack.
Despite now heavily suspecting that the Monster Collective’s songstress was the reason for the initial conflict, Matt had no real way to solve the situation beyond removing those attacking him with as little extra damage as possible.
Matt almost felt bad about being so excited with each burst of Natural Treasures that flowed into his gem when he destroyed his opponents’, but he hadn’t started it.
He wasn't going to help save them, and neither could he defeat them, in a way that they wouldn't transfer their collected items to him, making him just another opportunist—
Matt froze mid punch and figured he could at least help the Federation team slightly. They had played fairly and been schemed upon.
Turning his sight onto their still mostly functional fortress, he launched himself forward, to the surprise of everyone else.
One of the paladins shouted at him, “What do you think you’re doing?!”
Matt felt it was very obvious what he was doing and so didn’t respond, but Allie was never one to let such an opportunity pass. She immediately replied in a taunting manner, even as she engaged the third wave of Corporation cultivators.
Instead, he landed on one of the inner walls and punched out.
Enchantments flared to life along the wall's length, but the wall didn’t crumble, so he hit it two more times in rapid succession.
A hole large enough for him to enter formed, and with his intentions clear, two of the nearest Paladins turned their focus on Matt instead of attacking the still rage-addled cultivators.
One was the woman from before, but the other's outward appearance was of a ‘simple looking’ male who would pass by in any crowd.
The man's armor was the physically largest of the Corporation team that he’d seen so far. Though the armor was unusually small and thin for their standards.
The official Paladins made countless variations of power armor every cycle of Minkalla, ranging from thin sets like the ones before him to ten foot tall humanoids that could expand even farther; their typical profile was more like the one Matt had fought with in the army.
Suits that, while still human sized, were a tad more bulky than all but the heaviest traditional armor.
That discrepancy, combined with the sheer number of power armor wielders, gave him a hint at what this group might be.
Despite that apparent armor frailty, they were strong enough Matt felt a small level of danger as the woman punched out at him.
Matt prepared to take the blow regardless, and just before it landed, he felt the battlefield freeze over. Aster's initial spell failed as all of the Paladins’ armors glowed an orange light, dispelling their various illusions and leaving them free from the suppressive effects that maligned everyone else, who could now hardly move faster than a typical Tier 28.
Another five paladins arrived, keeping Allie and Aster from immediately reinforcing Matt.
Matt took the blow with a raised eyebrow.
The blow was a good, strong attack that shattered most of his internals, but it had basically confirmed she and her group were just a privately raised mercenary company for a Corporation powerful enough to make decent growth power armor.
He further suspected they were someone's attempt to imitate the Pearlescent Paladin, Eli Taien, and create combat capable stealth-based power armor squads.
It also raised his expectations of the upcoming fight.
As he turned and deflected the next attack from the woman, she shouted, “If you don’t want to collect some rewards, don’t try and prevent us from doing so. If you—.”
Matt didn’t wait for her to finish her threat.
Instead, he raised his left pointer finger and cast [Mana Beam].
The arm-thick bar of mana was ink black as Matt activated his Intent, concentrating his mana.
The massive gem the Federation wanted to protect from onslaughts of monsters was layered in defensive wards. Layers of walls and as many enchantments as they could carve all shattered upon being struck by the empowered [Mana Beam]. The moment the gem broke, it ejected the few surviving Federation team members with their collected Natural Treasures, minus whatever the strange realm took.
There wasn’t anything Matt could do, or particularly wanted to do, for the Clippers, but his move had still infuriated the Corporation team.
One of them tried to say something, but the woman launched herself at Matt with a guttural scream that was amplified into a spiritual attack that tried to bypass Matt’s armor and hit his more vulnerable spirit.
Already on the spiritual defensive alert, it did nothing to him, but it signaled the true start of the fight. Seeing that Allie and Aster fully engaged with the possible mercenaries above, leaving Matt the two below.
Not that Matt minded one last romp as a Tier 28.
The man’s armor was only slightly bulkier, but it packed at least twice as much punch as it should have, showing just why he had so much extra suit to hide. Instead of dodging, Matt used the flat of his blade to deflect most of the physical force, letting the wash of poison mist settle harmlessly on [Cracked Phantom Armor].
The woman, in perfect sync, teleported next to Matt, her blow aimed at his heart, but Matt was already twisting low, dodging.
He used his position to bring his blade up and around, slamming into the Tier 30’s armor with his best triple layered attack.
The woman's armor protected her, but she was sent flying through the remains of the Federation team’s base. She wasn’t dead, despite the smoking and dented armor, but she was seriously wounded.
The man used the opportunity to reach out, his fingers spread and glowing, aiming for Matt’s head.
Feeling a palpable danger from the spell, Matt let out a large breath he had been holding, sending a wave of incredibly hot flames washing out with [Dragonflame].
The attacking man seemed to consider pushing through the damage, but almost immediately, his secondary magical armor layer shattered and his armor started to glow cherry red, changing his mind.
With a flash of silver mist the man vanished, his hands appearing from the ground, grasping for Matt’s ankles.
They tried to lock Matt down both magically and physically, ensuring he was an easy target for his squadmate who had recovered and summoned a glowing, oversized great axe from nowhere.
The blow was aimed directly at Matt’s head, further proving the team to be around the mid to high elite levels at a maximum.
He wasn’t particularly worried about the blow until the moment just before his own blade was ready to deflect the axe. In that instant before their weapons collided, the woman’s cultivation flared and she broke through to Tier 31.
Suddenly, a two Tier gap turned into a three Tier gap. Alone, that would have been bearable, but the woman's armor immediately advanced to Tier 31 as well, and that seemed to include her axe.
Changing his reaction mid-movement, Matt reached up and grabbed the descending blade with his left hand.
[Cracked Phantom Armor] lasted for a moment, but the blade, bolstered by its Tier up and momentum, cleaved through.
Matt felt like he had been hit with a descending moon, but instead of trying to redirect the power to better defend himself, he activated [Cosmic Pressure], increasing the gravity around him and further empowering the overhead blow.
Matt flared his Power, his river of stars glowing and empowering his arms catching the blade.
The mercenary below him shuddered as the increased gravity affected him most of all, given he was directly underneath Matt. To their credit, they didn’t let go, instead Tiering himself and his armor up, his grip growing even firmer.
Matt felt but couldn't pay attention to the other mercenaries, who quickly followed suit. Allie was protecting Aster well, and that was the limit to how much attention he was willing to pay when he had such good sparing partners.
Roaring, Matt pushed his Power to its limits. His nigh invulnerable left hand was left in a mangled mess, but he successfully blocked the blow.
For a moment, Matt wished [Cracked Phantom Armor] wasn’t opaque, but rather translucent, because it meant the woman couldn’t see the fierce smile on his face as he blocked the descending axe.
Laughing, Matt gave in and returned some of the earlier trash talk. “I bet you expected that to go a little differently, didn’t you?”
Before anyone could respond, Matt forcefully raised his left leg, ripping it free of the man's grip, and slammed it down into the ground, rather than casting [Mana Beam] at the woman who was already dodging that possibility.
His blow shattered the ground, sending cracks radiating outward for miles.
That, in turn, shattered the [Earthen Strangle] spell that had been preventing Matt from manipulating the terrain while the man was inside of it.
The male paladin knock-off was a second too slow to break free of the ground as Matt seized control of the earth around him.
Matt kept the leg that he caught, pulling it deeper inside the ground in case the armor proved unexpectedly valuable.
The axe-wielding mercenary-paladin didn’t let the initial failure stop her, and after wrenching her axe free of Matt’s already healed hand, she brought it up and back around.
This time, the weapon morphed mid-movement into something more similar to a sword-staff rather than a spear, its blade long and narrow to maximize penetrative power.
Matt met its blade with his own, aggressively advancing despite now being slightly physically weaker than his opponents, not letting her use her range advantage.
Undaunted, he took a blow from the man that managed to punch through [Cracked Phantom Armor]. The needle-like dagger pumping a massive amount of toxins into his body, but he ignored that in favor of rushing down the former-axe wielder.
Slicing out, Matt cut through the now harder armor, his own sword screaming at the force needed, but managing it nonetheless.
Along with the armor, a chunk of flesh was exposed, finally allowing Matt to scan the woman inside.
Matt was shocked by the amount of fleshly enchantments they were operating under, more reminiscent of Federation technology than Corporation. She wasn’t only using alchemical potions, but physical implants that boosted her body directly.
Matt stopped his follow up attack to deflect a blow that was aimed at his heart this time, and more importantly, the gem centered there.
They had devised a few ideas on how they wanted to protect their oh so important gems, but he didn’t want to be forced to use any of them.
Twisting, Matt took the blow on his shoulder blade, continuing his spin to drive a fist into the attacking man’s face.
Matt felt the armor try to dissipate his attack, but while it slightly compensated for the physical power, it failed to account for Matt using a tiny [Mana Beam], no bigger than a pencil.
The man jerked his head away upon seeing the beam of mana, but Matt had never meant the move to be truly lethal, instead aimed downward, cutting a clean grove into the gem in his heart.
A massive wave of Natural Treasures poured into Matt’s gem, but he wasn’t able to appreciate it as the man vanished, along with his buried leg, and the axe wielding paladin tried to avenge her teammate.
“How dare you defeat him! I’m going to tear you into a million little pieces! I’m going to…”
As her attacks rained down on him, she screamed out with enough emotion, Matt had to reconsider if she had been affected by the original emotional boost from the Monster Collective.
Her emotions were just too high for most kinds of elite groups, let alone one that valued discretion like theirs.
Not that he minded.
A fight was a fight.
Matt lifted his blade once more, grinning. Wanting to see if it was an act or not, Matt put on his best arrogant noble voice and said, “You Tiered up and that is the best you can do? Pathetic.”
Her words morphed into a single syllable scream of rage and hatred in such a way Matt was fairly confident she had in fact been affected by the earlier power. He could hear as her vocal cords tore themselves apart, and that wasn’t normal for anyone who could earn such armor.
Attacking in a predictable pattern he could easily block, Matt took the opportunity to scan Aster and Allie, but found the two of them chasing three of the five remaining paladins away, with the other two already expelled.
When he saw an opening, Matt rocketed forward, tackling the power armored woman and earning a hammer to the face in return.
Not flinching, Matt took the hit, blacking out for a moment but grabbing and taking the woman down to the ground.
[Cosmic Pressure] ended what little struggle there was, with Matt finishing the fight off with a fist driven through the woman's heart gem, feeling another burst of Natural Treasures transfer to him.
Matt realized that was actually, multiple people's month of effort, and better understood the nature of this strange realm.
The moment conflict broke out, it would undoubtedly escalate as people got a taste of the additional rewards.
Matt hadn’t expected it to escalate that far, that quickly.
At least one full team had already been fully removed, and at least two others, the Clippers and Monster Collective team, were seriously damaged, with the Corporation team losing at least four people out of their initial dozen.
The other Empire team was up in the air, but so long as they had stuck to their earlier intentions to stay in their base, they should be safe.
Standing up, Matt shook some of the worst dirt off of himself before cleaning himself with a proper spell.
Returning back to base, the three of them found everyone waiting. Together, they debated going to the Corporation team's base and finishing them off, but they decided not to bother. In fact, the only thing they did was have Allie go and check on the other Empire team.
Thanks to their warnings, they had in fact stayed home, which put them in a possible second or third place.
Best of all, the next day they encountered bosses from the pocket space they hadn’t touched at all. Further testing showed that so long as more than half of the realm hadn't been cleared, the boss would leave and that an area that spawned a boss would need to be cleared a second time that day to prevent further breaks with the caveat that there were no Natural Treasures for the clear not letting them double dip.
The fights were more difficult, but not so difficult that they felt the need to prevent the outbreaks. Most interesting of all was that the Natural Treasures were all seemingly of a much higher energy level than what they usually encountered.
Zack postulated it was because all of the Natural Treasures' energy was concentrated into the single creature's body, but either way, they quickly settled on letting all of their pocket spaces turn into bosses.
That next day, all of them broke through to Tier 29, turning the difficult fights back into fairly easy ones.
The only one who would need more time was Rah, but even he was close, given the abundant ambient essence.
In the end, they lasted a little over three months before voluntarily leaving.
The Corporation team lasted the second longest, at two months and two weeks, their pillar falling to a wave of Tier 30 bosses who fought more like weak Tier 32s. They had lasted a full two weeks longer than the other Empire team, and possibly could have lasted longer if not for the fight with them reducing their numbers.
The seven of them didn’t find too many difficulties fighting the larger roaming bosses, even with the three Tier difference, and could have lasted another week or so longer. But they had decided to invert what they thought was the weaker of Liz’s two Ichor pocket spaces in the final days to see what they might get, and it nearly cost them the strange realm.
The boss, a wereboar, empowered day after day with more Ichor mana until it was allowed to break out, was a different breed of boss they hadn’t yet encountered. It was faster and stronger than everything else they had fought, even when it first emerged.
To make matters worse, its daily changes were nigh perfect, unlike the other monsters which seemed to be more random.
The second to last fight had been a slug fest, where the bulky wereboar regenerated from injuries thanks to the three glowing light sacks that looked like cancerous pustules growing off the monster's golden circulatory systems.
In the pocket space it had been a fairly simple empowerment method of the boss that had never changed since it formed. While the pustules were intact, the boar could recover from almost any injury in an instant at no cost. It had also been its own weak spot, and slow to recover if destroyed. Better yet, when they all were destroyed, the boss’s regeneration turned off entirely.
Except with a day's changes, they found the wereboar’s glowing pustules had the same regeneration as the rest of its body, making it that much harder to kill. It took Matt and Zack half an hour to kill the boss, but they had managed it.
The next day, they were prepared with everyone there.
From the moment the boss stepped out of the pocket space, Matt had felt a pulse of danger from his spiritual sense.
The major change of the boar was obvious, its pulsating light sacks were even more vibrant, turning from something grotesque into something almost ethereal.
At Tier 29 and fully boosted, Matt could keep up with the boss, but its strength tried to send him flying and forced him to use his Intent to lock himself in place. The monster was at least forty percent stronger than had been the day before, its light sacks pulsating in tandem with its heartbeat, empowering it further.
Liz slammed her shield into the wereboar’s back, her spear driving into its brain to little to no effect.
Instead, the boss tried to eat at Liz’s spell’s grasp at the ichor mana and blood alike, its regeneration a step above its previous incarnation.
At the same time, in perfect coordination, Susanne darted forward, a clone and herself both stepping past the boss, cutting through two of its pustules and dodging the tendrils of ichor that tried to entangle her.
They hadn’t yet been upgraded and were easy enough to force through, but the creature's regeneration meant a single missed drop of blood would let it come back. That had been Matt and Zack’s issue the day before, as the creature kept cropping back up just moments after they destroyed most of its body.
Unlike Liz’s ichor blood, which needed to convert some form of energy into new ichor, the boss could seemingly convert any matter it touched into blood, a single drop devouring rocks and trees alike to grow a new body, which would merge with and empower the boss or reform if it was the new largest collection of blood.
The only saving grace had been the boss didn’t try to collect new blood once it was at peak strength, once fully powered it only wanted to fight. Notably, it was also perfectly willing to fight in the air and it took time for the blood to fall back down, letting Matt and Zack destroy it all before it reached the ground.
The final things weren’t so easy, but they were ready for it.
Matt hit the boss and felt like he was hitting a wall of concrete with a stick, but at Tier 29 he had enough strength to cut into it, his blade burning its way through as it crackled with enough spells and enchantments to turn the metal red hot.
The body didn’t flow around the blow like Liz would, but the effect was the same as the wereboars flesh knit itself back together moments after the sword passed through.
Aster’s debuffing spell froze the burnt flesh and slowed it down further, but combined, it gave Matt an opportunity to punch the boss into the air.
It hardly worked.
Thankfully, Susanne adapted rapidly and her blade still cut through one of the pustules. At the same moment, Rah brought a sword down on the wereboar’s back, splitting it in half, similarly cutting through one of the glowing areas.
Allie teleported in and cut the final one, removing the other two and leaving just Matt and the boss.
Matt immediately flooded [Cracked Phantom Armor] with arcane energy from his ring, aspecting his armor arcane as a bubble of void from the [Cracked Mana Trap] beneath his foot appeared around them and shrunk.
Stabilized and contained by the arcane mana formations they prepared beforehand, they hoped the void mana would be a surefire way to kill the boss, but Matt had to be close to lay the trap.
As the bubble of void passed over him Matt was safely protected, but the boss wasn’t so lucky, its flesh melting away.
The bubble having passed him, Matt watched with the others as the void continued to shrink. But horrifyingly, the three pustules of light remained behind and pulsated mid air, creating Ichor out of nothingness.
They threw themselves forward, but the boss was already regenerating.
It took over an hour, bought in large part by Lizzes throwing themselves at the boss and fighting for domination of its very blood, but they finally stumbled upon the correct method to kill the boss. It required Matt and Rah to take the beast’s attention and together use his unbreakable earth constructs to create a talisman that could hold a sizeable portion of Matt’s mana generation, landing a blow that dealt enough damage that it instantly evaporated the boss’ physical body, leaving only the three energy pulses.
Zack then disrupted the magical energies while Allie, Susanne, and Liz cut the light pustules apart before they could start producing ichor once more.
Then, in the split moment when they were separated, Aster flash froze the light orbs, finally killing the boss.
Only one Natural Treasure light formed rushing into Liz’s gem, being the closest, and Matt cursed they hadn’t been able to inspect it beyond knowing it had formed from the light pustules which had caused them so much trouble.
They were in awful shape, all except Matt and Liz were injured. But with unlimited mana, they managed to get back on their feet.
That fight also signified the end of their time in the secret realm.
They could have possibly eked out another day or two, but they didn’t know if wounds would carry over. Given the contention in the beginning of the exploration, they didn’t want to risk being the victors while heavily injured.
That would only invite foul play.
When their pillar fell by their own hand, they were immediately ejected from the strange realm, which Matt was gratified to see hadn’t been destroyed.
He was less happy in seeing the fight between the Federation, Republic, and Monster Collective teams starting immediately. Each group was blaming the others for their early removal.
Before attention and aggravation could turn to them, they flew back to their ship to learn only three days had passed while they were inside the strange realm.
Seeing the other Empire team as well as the Corporation team. following their lead and entering their ships the moment they exited, Matt didn’t bother to look at the palm sized storage crystal his collected Natural Treasures had been given to him in instead watching out for a sudden attack.
The Unsparing’s crew were obviously eager for a detailed report, but were professional enough that they were ready to leave the moment they returned.
Instead of explaining, Allie pointed upward with a nervous laugh. “Get us out of here and quick! Our pockets are full and we don’t want anyone else getting ideas! Go!”
***
After authors note: If you have cool Natural Treasure ideas share them in the comments. They might show up in the next chapter.
In order of likeliness:
General Natural Treasure that sound interesting or have cool effects and get bundled into a small list with a few tidbits about them.
Rare and notable Natural Treasure’s from their experiments that might get a few lines.
Natural Treasure’s game changing to other people (other Ascenders or people MLA might know/want to trade).
Natural Treasure’s directly relevant to the main cast. I won't say it's impossible for one of these to show up but those are mostly set but I always love good ideas.
Comments
James Meredith
Figurine of a little Hippo that will always turn itself towards the nearest source of your favourite food.
jebediah norton
Natural Treasures: "Unfeeling rose" the petals of this rose can be used in a potion causes the drinker to never feel pain again. seeing how damaged matt and liz get these days just to fully regen i would like to think that they dont feel the massive pain
Miss O.P.
I always feel like Queen doesn't get the respect she should. If she was in a decent duo she'd be Matt and Liz. But it feels like she got the short end of the stick being a solo. Now she had this change with the item she got. She should be a beast now. And I'm just waiting for that moment for her. Hopefully in this explorer arc she will get some insane moments :) and good items.
jebediah norton
Natural Treasures: 2 items for the archer and molten metal couple from minkala that dropped off the path at t17 (cant remember the names), one that aids in heating metal for cheaper mana and one like matts gossamer but only for the size of 2-3 fingers that makes them that size much more resistant to help her when shooting arrows
jebediah norton
Natural Treasures: I cant remember her name, mat and lizzes path sponsee girl that rolls a d20 each action the treasure will add a tiny amount of good luck, it should work very well with her talent.
jebediah norton
Natural Treasures: for Melissa a item that adds an active ability to heal spiritual damage, it will be very slow but hopefully it helps her learn how to heal sprits like she wanted
Julie Smith
Natural Treasures: Mana condensing herb, Bloodline strengthener. Memory enhancer that enables you to learn new skills perfectly. Seed of chaos - changes your skin to endure against the chaos energy of Realm space.
François Turcotte
I'm a bit late on the suggestion but here you go : a wheat variant of a plant from which grains can be harvested and made into a few buns of bread maybe up to 3 with a competant cook/baker. When still warm out of the oven, breaking the bread induces a warm feelings of nostalgia, restoring lost memories of their past. Could be nice to recover some information from their minkala run, like when they had their special projects and only remembered if they succeeded. Narratively it's the perfect flashback item and maybe only Aunty would know about it's preparation method.
Michael Ferguson
Some joke stuff. 1. Fruit of invisible teeth 2. Perfect hair scrunchie 3. Smelly Socks that make body oder smell like roses 4. Glasses of perpetual musical 5. Mask of nudity- clothes turn invisible 6. Ball that makes you sweaty 7. Book of loud noise
Michael Ferguson
What about if a planet aspects on its own? When they get back the planets that farmed Aura rifts are now Aura aspected.
Michael Ferguson
What if Matt could grow clones with regeneration? Mental boosters are always good. Time stuff is awesome!
Michael Ferguson
Forget me knot, a rope that blocks suggestions when you tie it on.
Michael Ferguson
I was hoping for some crafting tools. Or a crystal shaping skill. Don't know how that works for natural treasures.
Michael Ferguson
I like this one ⬆️. That armor was baddass!
Jacob
I love your idea. Absolutely love it. When I always thought about Matt getting a bloodline, I always Imagined him becoming an elf. Matt is good at everything and he is gifted with magic. Just like an elf would.
Jacob
I want to see the return of blood golum Liz from the early books... A natural treasure that allows Liz to change in size. Big and small.
J.L. Calren
A treasure that can turn an ordinary item into a growth item without any drawbacks, similar to what minkalla does. I want Matt’s mech armor from the war to come back. It was so cool
Sean Shivers
The rainbow nails are also 10/10 fashion statement. Coifed crusader (the hair one is really fun) The lucky one can be refined into a very subtle and reviled poison of ineffable arrogance.
Sean Shivers
Lazarian Brine (reference to lazarus) - if poured into the ears it improves proprioception (inner ear and all that) and functions to restore spiritual damage by a small amount no matter the severity of injury. Doesnt work well with fire or ice because its saltwater. Hearthstone of home - made from healing, stone, and a touch of fire mana this natural treasure soothes the aches and pains of anyone who sits for an hour or more in front of it each day. It can also be ground down for potions, or refined into equipment but the there are cheaper alternatives. This treasure also serves as a focus for family-oriented concepts empowering them and passively accumulating power when used in this way. Inviolate chaos - a fancy name for a somewhat unremarkable treasure. It makes anyone who consumes it slightly more resistant to talents and skills which predict the future (including ai).
TurboTKC
While I feel you probably have an expliantion (at least vaugley thought out) for the ancestor of the dwarf's. I hope this doesn't prevent you from having a NT that gives a normal person a bloodline, as I agree with others that this is a perfect time to give them either a blank slate bloodline natural treasure that unlocks that core or leans into Matt's epithet. Since minkala and the suspision regarding the origin of the dwarfs I have hoped that if Matt ever did get a bloodline it would be related to gaints (mainly to keep him as base human as possible while still requiring a bloodline to transform) since we already have two animal based powers on the main team. With that in mind how about a NT like "The Omphalos stone of Kronos" that would give him a Titan bloodline and lean into his epithet. Also since Titans in greek mythos were basically gods, a side effect of this bloodline that could be passed down is a body naturally risitant to electrical current and massive changes in temperature (a possible solution to not just Matt and Liz having children but for any of their potential grandchildren without having to have specific NT's to make it possible and since it is cannon that bloodlines wane as the generations progress having the solution and problem weaken at the same time could help explain away some of those issues). But I do think if he gets that type of bloodline and his and Liz's successfully merge like the dragon tortoise, a Titanic Icor Phoenix (or just Titanic Phoenix) would be cool and a potential true rival to the dragon's as having the best bloodline. I know this is due to main stream fantasy fiction loving dragons in general because we readers also love it but I can't help but desire a story with an alternative take on the old legends to make it feel truly fresh.
Steven Burke
Mana font : concentrates the mana gems that Matt can produce or let him aspect them with numerous elemental combinations. Blood of the earth: transmute stones, metals, and plants into ichor like the boss was doing. Arcane template: aspects the uses mana to arcane, can then copy other mana type aspects except void. Increased performance with familiarity with a copied mana type.
Drew G
Something with the name ATLAS in it that reinforces the body/internals would be pretty cool
Browney
Green Scarf of the Silence Veils aspects of your cultivation. The effect strengthens when viewed by those of higher cultivation. As they look away, the scarf is forgotten—they lose all memory of having seen it. This is a temporal parasite and a retrospective ally to your past self.
TwoMoreYears
I’ll throw my hat in. Gem of False Fates. - When bonded to the spirit this gem obscures attempts to scry the owners future by substituting the gem’s fate for the users own. Note 1: this item obscures the future by leading scrutiny attempts down a false path, it does not hide scrutiny attempts of the past or present. Note 2. Though a high enough tier disparity will overcome the obscuring function of the stone, the scryer will still see two futures, the users and the stone’s future and have to spend the extra required mana to do so. Maybe good for Sien as well as general. Brine of the Empty Ocean: When mixed with aspected mana, the brine will impart a new ability, function, or aspect to any other item or treasure that can be completely submerged in the Brine. User cannot choose new function, only choose the direction it takes with the mana mixed in. Item must be fully submerged. Time necessary for new feature varies. This new feature will always be additive to existing features. Could be good for anyone wanting a unique ability for an item based on their own subtype of mana. Adamantine Rubber: It bends but does not break. This metal has the flexibility and consistency of rubber, and is almost indestructible through physical force alone. Unfortunately it comes in small amounts and so far as anyone knows, cannot take enchantment or conduct mana. Impractical for armor or weapons but useful for mundane purposes. (Designed to be good chew toy material for eclavorn)
Justus Halbach
Id love to see a treasure specifically for boosting the crap out of overhealing by having a percentage amount that you overheal be added to your own health pool until its "used up". Nothing like being able to out tank gods because you have centuries of stacking health bars. I'd also like to see a natural treasure that increases the density of your neurons to the degree that you can comprehend speeds of a couple tiers above you. Not so much as to get your body to be able to do anything faster, but to make it so you can increase your own personal time dilation. I think Matt could really benefit from this if he could somehow feel the time/density dilation and use that feeling to boost his concept.
Browney
Loot Box - Skills or Talents that uses money may open the Loot Box and receive random items, with varying degrees of rarity and usefulness. Amount of money spent increase with use.
Mark Palmer
Void gossamer- fuses with the persons skin and increase physical resistance to void mana, however it decrease overall infinity to Arcane mana The storage crystals they got at the end. It can be absorbed into their bodies/ spirits. And becomes like internal storage / tower / world Divine tears of regret - The Divine granted you your talent, but now regrets their choice. Allows you to (slightly) change one aspect of your talent. Thinking of Tim changing hid talent from requiring coins to mana
Edwin Cross
Pandora's Arbor. Probably from either the arcane or void spaces. As long as a continuous supply of mana is provided to the spirit of the absorber, allows the user to contain and transport a rift up to (5?) tiers below their own tier. Allows them to manifest or dismiss the rift back to their spirit at will. - basically a pocket rift that could provide some interesting shenanigans to the user with abilities mostly already in the universe. Moving rifts has already been sorta established by high tier individuals due to the dragon rift. It could also have combat applications depending on the allowed tier of the rift. Causing a rift break mid fight from your pocket rift would add a lot of chaos and uncertainty to a fight.
JustAHuman
A unique natural treasure that is not consumed by humans but by planetary cores. Significantly hastens the aspecting of a planet. Look I just want Liz to have an ichor planet.
Meyster
Boreal Aster: prismatic asters that form a small dome of aurora around themselves, maintaining their habitat regardless of weather. Improves the physicality of aurora mana.
Jonesy
Natural treasure that helps with combining differently aspected mana pools (such as storm) Natural treasure that allows for changing elemental aspects of skills or abilities to void, just because there are so few void skills out there
Bob of Doom
An Ichor Blood Drop that transforms a portion of the blood permanently into Ichor. Like Matt’s indestructible hand. General is a natural treasure that makes it easier convert your mana into another type. Beneficial for the rare types of mana. Piercing Eye of the Void. Allows the user to peer past anything they choose such as time, illusions, space, matter, whatever. Think ultimate version of x-ray vision. Different types of mulch that help grow different natural treasures. Tongue of the Arcane. Replaces users tongue and allows significant reduction in spell cost if done with a verbal component. Rainbow Nails. Replaces fingernails or claws. Acts like Matt’s ring but only for claw attacks. A natural treasure that makes styling your hair easier and makes it harder for your hair to get disturbed. A natural treasure that makes you feel lucky. Does nothing else, just gives you a feeling that you’re lucky.
Corvid
Not sure on specifics exactly, but something for matt to either throw in Eclavorn's face as a taunt or as a peace offering. Or something about illusions for Maya that he gives to DW for the meme
Meyster
Night lily: purple lily flower that aspects your mana to Shadow, with a stealth subaspect.
Jordan O'Hare
Leaf of the Shy Venus Flytrap: 6th sense for when you are observed, and from what general direction. This allows Matt to finally catch onto how the "anytime anyone says my name I can see them" lady is stealing all his guilds secrets.
Browney
Duality Equilibrium Lotus Orb Lotus Flower suspended in perfect balance between implosion and eruption. One hemisphere is obsidian-dark, absorbing light and sound like a miniature black hole; the other gleams with radiant energy, expelling power like a miniature white hole. This natural treasure grants the ability to compress and expand time, matter, mana, and essence to a small degree—scaling with the wielder’s level. it replaces all allocated essence in your mana core, resetting it as if you were level 1.
Raghav Rao
Oooh ... This is an exciting prospect 😁. How about something like ... The bean of a Nekoiak cat-tail plant (working name - you'll see why soon), which passively assimilates and concentrates a small amount of ambient mana inside the spirit of the person who consumed it over time, allowing them to occasionally use the assimilated mana to empower their next attack (kind of like a trump card) i.e. being stronger, faster, and more perceptive for the one single instant of the attack. The factor of increase being dependent on how long the natural treasure has been assimilating mana since it was last expended, as well as the resilience of the user's own body and spirit (since channeling 2x+ of one's strength, speed and mana through one's body and spirit can be pretty taxing on the body and spirit). This also prevents the treasure from making the user too OP, limiting the overall buff, and frequency of usage of the treasure's benefit. Based on the Kaioken attack from Dragon ball Z. Nekoiak is a hetero palindrome of Kaioken 😁, and also inspired by the Senzu bean cultivated by Korrin the cat from the same series 🙃
Tom C
I wonder if the tree fruit could be the fruit that is linked to Greek mythology (since Greek gods were supposed to have ichor in the place of blood I think). So golden apples maybe? I believe someone stole one of those and Zeus was upset right? Or was it ambrosia. Idk
Endgame
Thats gross. Imagine walking around with a 9 year old eye booger lol
AMangoOpinion
Greek gods all had their own divine treasures as well. Like zeus lighting bolt or apollo's harp. What if a natural treasure allowed you to choose one growth item that can be nourished to your current tier with your blood? So you never have to look for the materials to upgrade it again. Not super usefull now, but when they get to a higher tier will make sure she always has a growth item her own tier. Even at tier 50.
AMangoOpinion
Ichor is the blood of the gods in greek mythology. What if there is a natural treasure that plays on those qualities? Making their children have ichor instead of normal blood like demigods. Ichor is said to be toxic to mortals, so what about a natural treasure that makes it toxic to immortals as well? Or a natural treasure that removes the toxicity and makes it beneficial to mortals as well. Not super powerfull, but feels like a unique power natural treasures might give.
Burgismik
Tea tree of enlightenment When steeped and consumed, projects your spirit out from you, allowing for testing of dangerous changes to the spirit without repercussion of failure example, skill changes, skill merges, skill creation, domain aspect tests, but the changes are not permanent. It is a tool to see what will work or be effective while gaining the experience making it easier for the cultivator to make the spirit changes after
Gjim
Whispered Winds of Winter: A small, chilling wind that can be held in the palm of your hand. Once consumed, it allows for the wielder's spells to leave behind small gusts of wind that the wielder can use to cast spells from at 1/10th of their original strength. Though the winds fade after a couple of minutes, they are easy to destroy. Virulent metastasization: A golden yet angrily quivering drop of golden blood. When used, it allows for blood outside of the body to slowly increase.
Jay Bettinger
The reality one made me laugh for a full minute
Vastenova
Mind root sapling- connects the mind to the spirit (helps to prevent blackouts in thought when brain is damaged during battle) Fragment of Minds eye- increases visibility with spiritual perception Thought crystal core- boosts the users calculation speed
Gordon Tucker
Treasured Bosses Gem Heart - consuming it will grow a gem near your heart that gives a minuscule chance for rift bosses to spawn a natural treasure (basically a mini/weaker version of the strange realm itself)
Vastenova
Condensed reflection crystal: Looks like a crystal with infinite reflections inside itself. -boosts a domain ability making it stronger Sword sight lotus: looks like a lotus with sword shaped leaves around the center that resembles an eye. -helps to passively focus on swords within spiritual perception Stellar radiance stone: a stone that glimmers like stars - improves ambient mana cultivation when under the stars
Jason Becker
Ichor’s Touch - Use Will to convert any material touched into Ichor Endless Mana Stone - Mana stone that slowly recharges from any energy source nearby (heat, light, ambient mana) and will convert to the attributed mana type. Not enough to power a city but very useful for a small cultivation team. Umbra Silk - Allows the wearer to more easily move between dimensions. Can increase the base range of a teleport skill and make it more cost effective. Mana Polarization Crystal - Can be used to see mana. If absorbed will allow one to change an active spell from one mana type to another. Cultivator’s Cocoon - A plant whose leather-like leaves can form a wrap that allows for natural condensing of essence. Will condense ambient essence in a persons spirit to the same level as monster essence. Soul Steel - A metal that allows for the merging of a physical object and a domain manifestation. This lowers the drain to keep the domain manifestation active. Frosted Buds - A early blooming cherry tree that has fruits that cool the air around them. Can be used in the creation of never melting ice cream.
Burgismik
Cherries of Duality, Needs to be consumed with partner. While your spirit perception is overlapping with your partner both cultivators can perceive what the other’s spirit does Drop of Sympathetic Chakra, When cycled into the eyes allows the cultivator to see the emotional disposition of people as an aura. The insight is stronger the better known a person is Something that makes integrating mana tech into your body easier
Hunter Bierce
Shard of Realm’s Domain - domain strengthening. Increases willpower pool, domain range, domain strength, and domain efficiency. One of the rarest and most sought after domain treasures Sapling of Boundless Ichor (nature and ichor) - grows into Tree of Boundless Ichor. Produces fruits that boost natural regeneration, resistance to fire and lightning.
Hunter Bierce
Spirit fist (For Rusty) - Every physical punch landed also strikes directly against their spirit. (Simple but incredibly strong) Well of explosive potential - pulls a small amount of power and strength off of every spell and attack made, accumulating the potential damage within your well. Released at will all at once and added to current attack. Becomes harder and harder to hold in as fights continue, straining the body and spirit. (Can be used in semi consistent bursts for random unexpected attacks, or for a fight ending ultimate attack). Arcane Aegis - added to a part of the body. Gives near perfect magic invulnerability. Consumes magic attacks, giving a boost to magic regeneration. Shadow slip - become one with shadows. Allows for a temporary slip into an in-between plane of shadows
Hunter Bierce
Ethereal moment - short period of complete physical intangibility. Gains slight vulnerability to spirit attacks during the duration. (The more it’s used the more spiritual strain) Chosen of the Realm - become the center of the realm. Stop any external forces from moving you. Temporarily boost your physical strength. (NT of Matt’s intent pretty much. Would be fun to see a natural treasure copy his potent abilities and his reaction to it) Eye of the Aurora - greatly enhance the ability to see through illusions, as well as increase the realism of cast illusions Aurora’s touch - gives illusion spells true tangibility, allowing them to cause damage. Ichor clone - allows for a weakened natural clone to be formed. It naturally regenerates slowly and can take on part of your consciousness. The clone is at least 1 tier lower in strength, and isn’t as durable.
Jay Bettinger
The Mage's Mango- Can be used in 1 of 2 ways. Either you eat the whole mango and it permanently increases some aspect of your mana cultivation (capacity, concentration, etc.) Or you can extract the seed, which you pay a lot to have grown into a tree that makes a steady stream of mana. Of course, not nearly as much as Matt. Still, it could be acknowledged to people in the guild. This would stay some of their fears and allow Matt to hide some more of his money laundering. Then, you have Matt not even use it in the guild. The best part is that it gives a clear target for the opposing cabal, allowing Matt to set a trap and expose whoever's spying, and the tree wouldn't even be there to destroy.
Matthew Smith
Parasitising Ichor: Imbues Ichor with the ability to infect, consume and/or convert the mana of both non-living and living organisms into Ichor.
Jay Bettinger
You could do some fruits for spiritual and/or mind repair or rewind that would allow Max to help the surviving members of the Master of All's harem.
Jay Bettinger
"Mind for the Past"- An apple that looks like a brain. It allows you to more clearly remember some time from your past. The narrower your scope, the better you remember. With AI, its mostly useless... Unless you choose to remember some important part of your Minkalla experience, like how to convert mana into essence.
Polyist's Apostle
Shard of a Void Glacier- something Aster can use to tier up her bloodline. Seed of a Blood Orange- general bloodline booster 3-part treasure Arcane Lotus 🪷 Plant The roots/ rhizome, flower, and Fruit all help boost arcane mana production. Stellar Drift Seeds- Travel and maybe Void mana seeds with the intent of helping Allie out with her Talent Giant Bamboo water- a general treasure that absorbed ambient mana (or in this case, the mana from each experiment) and stores it in the stalk, concentrating the mana over time until it crystallizes the Bamboo plant itself.
Burgismik
Aiden touched on this, you can but you have to use your domain to scrub the essence of the other cultivators domain otherwise it will taint you. From Aiden’s description it is difficult.
Throngler In Chief
Whorefrost - icicles that look like single, flawless, shapely legs that have a strange allure when sparkling in light. Useful in skin creams and cosmetics. May be processed into aphrodisiacs and has been used to craft very memorable lamps. When consumed without processing, allows extactly one leg to become unnaturally shapely and seductive at will. Bacon of Eternity - A slab of constantly regenerating pork belly that restores itself using any available energy. Regeneration rate is dependent on available resources. It is succulent and filled with tier 30 vitality. Splitting it in half will destroy it unless sufficient energy is present to immediately restore both halves into full slabs. It does not spoil. Any curing, seasoning, maranade, or cooking method applied to the slab will revert over time. For best results, only use slices harvested from the slab rather than the slab itself. Multidimemsional Bramble - While appearing to only be an inch in length, the thorns on this bush project themselves into every possible spacial approach. As a result, it is impossible to harvest the plant's berries without being pricked from every potential direction. The berry's are sweet and may be used to produce a truly delectible wine. The thorns themselves can be processed into a potion that permanently increasss dimensional senses. The bush may also serve as an improvised weapon that is all but guaranteed to strike an opponent, while its branches can be used in crafting dimensional weapons.
Wheels42
Shard of the Void - shape like a piece of coal but coloured like Void mana. The natural treasure is a distillation of Void mana, like a diamond formed from carbon under extreme pressure, but can be burned like coal to provide addition oomph to Void mana based abilities. It's obviously game changer and Matt/Liz/Aster should buy it out from the expedition team to give as a present to their loveable Void Cat that stares back and wants (Void) snacks. Bonus points if you include Aster convincing the others that the NT smells like catnip for some reason
Jay Bettinger
It would also be cool if you could use the thought leaves to trigger an artificial inspiration, limited to the tier of the fruit. Give it to Rah and let him get an inspiration that helps him with his weird cultivation problem.
Polyist's Apostle
Reminder request, why dont they not harvest essence from people kills?
austin kutz
In theory, Rusty can already have as many arms as he'd like
Kazith
1. Genie Lamp - rub the lamp and a genie pops out but he only answers 3 questions. Grants knowledge not wishes. 2. Arcane Quartz - aspects 1 spell to arcane. Aspecting the entire pool feels broken. 3. Bloody Popcicle - allows the user upon consumption of the popsicle to weaken bloodline barriers for ease of breaking through bloodline tiers. But it tastes like blood so aster hates it. Liz loves it. 4. Egg of Enforcement - directly enhances an already consumed NT. 5. Eye of Protection - enforces the eyes. I don’t like how Susanne’s eyes bleed on continuous use of her eye treasure. Easy upgrade to stop that from happening. 6. Tails of the Feather - a NT that lets whomever consumes it to help form an intent if they’re older than 1 mil years looking at you Aunt Helen. 7. The Golden Switch - allows the user to mentally flip any switch within their domain. Absolutely useless but funny. 8. The Golden Spatula - grants a boost to physical essence core.
Meyster
The teeth fortifying grapes would be great for this
Joel Magnuson
Eternity stone/jewel(Aspected from Matt's Eternity mana) A jem or stone that emits a constant level of essence or mana. If left near dungeons they passively gain mana/restore faster. Can be slotted into equipment or devices as a sort of eternal engine. Can upgrade itself if left in a higher tiered environment and not in use for an extended period of time. Possible upgrade if it reaches Tier 30 it will produce other Stones at a semi regular rate IE every 1000 years or so.
BSAlien
1. Moment of the Supernova: one time use enlightenment NT that lets someone experience the power and magnitude of a supernova 2. Some way to give Rusty more arms so he can use fist blast more
Jacob Cox
How about a treasure that allows one to perceive time like they are a tier higher than they are? They wouldn't move that fast, only think that fast.
Jason Hardman
I can't help but think about paying homage to the void lollipop in Primal Hunter, although I've do idea what it'd do in universe.
Austin Gillespie
I’m not sure if it was explicitly said, but did they experiment with travel mana at all? I know Matt and Zack wanted to do void and arcane for their rarity and usefulness, but you’d think they’d want to seed at least one boss for the mana type they made together. If so, I think a travel mana dynamo type treasure would be cool. Some kind of spinning orb with a circle contrarotating around it, slowly enhances speed more and more the further in one direction it goes with no upper limit. Becomes more “efficient” than other methods after at least galaxies worth of distance. So cool, but functionally worthless, especially to them. Possible name, Traveller’s Dynamo
BSAlien
Make it like a tier 8 mana and everyone is dumbfounded that what seems to be an absolutely terrible mana type so hard to get
Kerradeph
Something that aster calls dibs on to put into ice cream would be amusing. Some kind of elemental based fruit I'd guess, particularly if it is known for a particularly unusual flavour.
Truhalo
name tbd: Convert your blood to ichor and become immune to adverse effects it cause. Trait can be passed to offspring
Meyster
Essence dewstone: palm sized river rock with a groove in the center. Slowly gathers ambient mana which it condenses and forms an essence crystal in the groove.
BlueFox
Nested crystal: A crystal of a perfect box, containing a perfect triangle containing a perfect sphere. It allows supreme 3d dimentional awareness, boost spatial understanding and helping notice minute changes. Giving someone the ability to easily plan storage, and movement within other things. (Very gimmicky jokey item.. It could be something mara or leon would love as a sex joke item)
Jacob
Liz needs a NT to finally turn her staff into a true spear
Jacob
For Kurt?
Jacob
Cracked skill clay A clay like substance. Wrap a skill crystal in the clay and it creates a cracked skill. Apply a mana type to create a cracked skill with that mana type. Tier 30 skills and below. For king Fredrick
mrt
Leather hide natural treasure, from a leather (t4 mana type?life+death+stone+time?) aspected boss, which when absorbed allows one to turn one's skin into tan, armored clothes of any shape and size. Commonly worn by some character as shoes with patterns that are never quite the same
Samuel Britt
Ichor Phoenix Dew: when consumed grants an extra life to anyone at or below the tier of the treasure. If they tier up past the tier of the treasure it no longer works Sapling of Yggdrasil: a reality aspected natural treasure that can be nurtured to create pocket worlds that can be controlled. Useful to Titan's Torch to perfectly control environments for aperology
Jacob
Quantum entangled box An oldie but goodie. Two boxes. You put an object in one box and it appears in the other. This NT would bring a smile to my face because I can envision king Fredrick pulling his hair out as another large portion of his hard work becomes redundant. I just listened to book 9 where Fredick is disappointed that Matt got a storage talent and all his work buying up mana storage companies becomes useless. Good by Matt's mana storage ring.
Jacob
Space forged bone marrow Creates a pocket space inside one's bones to hold a mountains worth of blood. This could be given to Liz or Matt to create a legion of Lizies at any moment.
Alfcam
Ten Year Eye Gunk, you will slowly build up the eye gunk over a long period and when you wipe it your perception is boosted by a tier for a short period.
SqrlyGrly
A rare alchemy ingredient that can be grown. A dandelion that produces seeds that make it easier to convert standard skills to channel skills or widen the channel so they take more mana. A niche product for most, but incredibly useful to Matt. Has the downside that it can grow like an invasive weed and liz has to do something to prevent it from taking over her garden.
just.in.case
"Fruit of Rumination" is a durian-like fruit with a crystal amethyst exterior that has a crown of 7 multicolored leaves at the top. If you eat the fruit as well as it tasting quite good, you can heal mental fatigue and strain while temporarily increasing your mental calculation abilities. However, doing so will waste the true treasure of the fruit. The real prize is the 7 multicolored leaves that will wilt and die quickly if the fruit is eaten even partially. The 7 leaves are loaded with Thought mana. Should they be harvested correctly, and act that will rapidly spoil the fruit, they can be made into an extremely bitter tea that can permanently increase all mental processing and increase mental defenses to mental intrusions and illusions. A skilled alchemist can even use the leaves to make a potion to aspect a users mana pool into thought mana up to 5 tiers above the natural treasures tier.
Jacob
I like this idea. It could also be as simple as giving a normal animal a cultivators core.
Samuel Britt
Travis, in case that's bothering you
Meyster
Mana-light quartz: mana passes through like light, aspecting it randomly.
Hovi
What about a «blank» bloodline NT, enabling someone base human to open their bloodline cultivator core and start toward developing or absorbing a bloodline. Could spin into a research topic for titans torch and reopen a lot of what was previous thought impossible/unprovable for base humans and could finally get Matt a chance for a bloodline. Maybe even a side story with a shady millions year old corporations mogul who in his quest/ jealousy of not having a bloodline having set out to be the progenitor of several bloodlines by taking in monster collective refugees while oppressed under the feddies and trying to steal Matt after he publishes his NT findings and sparking a true war early. Haha maybe not a side story.. btw good chapter Mantis!
R. Maxwell Steele
A clone boosting natural treasure that is some kind of weird fig tree that melds endless mana sap and ichor. But the cool part would be that it can root and absorb essence and tier up. A gift that keeps giving kind of thing. Give a fig to Liz and her clones get marginally stronger. Give a fig to Susanne and Manny and the other royals that often use clones. Small effect at first but if they keep tiering it up with them, eventually it could add up to something significant. Something interesting would be an unexpected treasure for Rah to help mitigate missed essence from his weird cultivation. Doesn't necessarily solve the problem going forward, just gives him a stronger foundation. A bonus sand natural treasure, might be too low of tier for Lila but if it was pretty she might still like it. And she did lend them a ship and crew. Natural treasures to boost seeker powers to reward the seekers that have brought them out there.
Derze
“Arcane apple sapling” : a small sapling that can generate an apple every decade. Very Slightly increase ambient cultivation.(similar to a already introduced Royal honey. For Rah) Also something for him to retroactively fix his cultivation(artificially compress his essence so he can fill it back to a modern standard) Dead fish eye: an aquatic natural treasure that allows you to slightly interfere with water themed skills.( passive disruption effect) It’s my cake! : “it’s cake that u will fondly remember” Jade of everlasting storm: a small gem that constantly rains. (I was imagining a small cloud effect with lightning hitting the stone) - can aspect your mana skills with a t2(water+wind+lightning?) mana type? ( one for Matt to complain it’s not what he wanted 😂) disclaimer: you already need to have a variation that includes 2 of the 3 or slightly approaches in concept) I don’t know how to describe, but I would like an item that Matt and Liz could have their rings absorb. Maybe grant extra range, or power to bypass locks. Or slightly boost their power if they are close. Nothing broken. Just something that they could gift each other. Tier appropriate Soil for Liz garden or something for their house. Like silk or cotton they could make a pillow out of and it helps heal the mind.
Raven_Point
“Divine mana gem” a perfectly cut gem of golden mana. Effects allows for the user to alter a skill or skills to take more mana based on skills tier. Matt looking at you
StanLemon
Twin mind lotus: when consumed it gives the user an extra mind for parallel thought processing.
Raven_Point
“Leaf of the bladed tree” a metal leaf with razor sharp edges. Effects- adds air aspected damage to attacks with a sword. Example swings will send out what looks like a lesser air aspected mana slash for manna cost and thrust will send out air based attacks similar to mana bolt out after the thrust. Susanne got this
The lord of chaos
A natural treassure for the teir 17 Moore brother (whose name has slipped my mind) that will allow him to volintarily 'overheat' making his fire spells increase in damage for less mana while damaging his body. It is really strong and a last ditch option for him and his hubby because of the self damage.
Browney
Pony’s Beard Lichen Slightly increases the accuracy of divination for each goat within a 1-mile radius. Goats in the affected area will increasingly emit random, high-pitched screams: "AAAHHH!!!"
Raven_Point
“Divine granite” a chunk of white granite with swirls of gold throughout. Effect changes any summoned earth to divine granite which is stronger and can hold more mana. Thinking of you Rah
Matt
A void heart that gives you void resistance at the expense of all emotions. A dream catcher that changes your body to some element you dreamed of the last time you slept. (As long as it wasn't a controlled dream.) A lumb of crystallized salt that allows the body to absorb anything soluble through osmosis. (Water nt?)
Raven_Point
“Void dweller’s stinger” a pitch black thorn about a foot long that is surrounded by a purple aura. Can Change one weapon skill to void based with restrictions on those unaspected to void. Looking at you Allie, can see her make a crass joke if she sees it lol
Raven_Point
“Globe of the astral sky” an ice encrusted sphere that displays an active aurora inside, the size of a grapefruit looks like a snow globe. Can slowly emanate aurora mana to aspect an enclosed area or be used to slow convert mana to aurora if cycled. Thinking of asters pocket world
Brandon Cleveland
Eon Aspen Seed: a small nature-aspected seed that when planted and fed a minimal amount of essence, will spawn a large colony grove of aspen as if it had a thousand years to grow. Not super useful as it only produces a small woods worth of at tier Aspen wood which you could get from the right rift fairly easily. Has some uses as a potion ingredient to cause rapid growth in non natural treasure plants.
Samuel Britt
A natural treasure that adds a very minor antimemetic effect to spells and skills, making it harder to recognize that a spell/skill has been used could be very fun when paired with illusions Edit: or when used by Allie
Gibby
Arcane: Slowly changes the mana type of natural treasures around it to a random other mana type. Not void or Arcane. Second Chance: When combined with another natural treasure, a small piece of it is left behind. This piece can be grown into a new copy of the added treasure. Teleporting metal. If used in a weapon it will always return to you. Duality Flower. Two flowers. When used by 2 people they become connected and When in physical contact can partially mold their spirits together. (Liz clone with matt allows they to duel cast spells with Matt's mana) Item that when applied to a bond egg changes the basic Elemental talent (like asters) into a random talent (Maybe still similar to the original) Illusion/reality. Creates etherial copies of items placed near it. They last for a short time but are identical to the original otherwise. Perfect for rift making. Improved olfactory senses when it comes to food.
Raven_Point
“Arcane opal” a pearlescent gem roughly the size of an eye. Effect can crystallize any external spell. Example fireball has fragmentation from the crystallized mana. Matt or Zack for this idea
Trey
definitely want to see melinda get a nt from this whole event. i would be happy if she could help those who are still struggling because of the one asshole ascender max thought matt might have a truth similar to.
Nick O'Gara
Arora soil. Plants grown in the soil have a sheen to them. Hot rocks. They never cool down. Magma pieright. When consumed cristlin stone touching the user becomes liquid, or liquid stone becomes cristlin.
Raven_Point
“Drop of the golden phoenix” a drop of golden ichor that has the physical properties of the philosopher stone where as it can be liquid or solid depending on the environment. Effect aspects mana to ichor Or can augment one skill to ichor. I’m thinking this for Liz
C_Mantis
I will say, Strange Realms break after too many uses and there are a wave of people coming in behind them.
C_Mantis
Ill take that feedback to heart and try to cut down on factions going forward. I'm exploring how to handle thing as well and when things dont work I do appreciate feedback.
C_Mantis
Its funny you mention one of these because its already one of the items going to show up.
crusty pickle
Natural treasure that when shared with others can distribute damage between parties as long as both are willing One that allows crystallized mana to be stored in the blood, allowing for more overall mana capacity/ more damaging blood attacks
Rory Halliwell
A nt for Matt that would allow him to blend different mana types together instead of it just being a flat percentage of different types would be cool and could work well with his ring and also help him with rift stuff too. One for Suzanne that would let her leave spectral images of herself when she’s using her future sight
EmmieCurls
I like the Nyx tears… maybe one of the teams found a formula to create natural treasures that help people deal with chaotic space
EmmieCurls
I was totally thinking a cooking-relevant natural treasure would be awesome. I think some interesting non-combat ones would be great. Maybe something that helps with research? A probability-type treasure that can give you a sense of which variables to change, or what direction yo alter them?
StabAlloy
An unidentifiable Reality NT that appears differently to each of the characters. Someone holding it in their hand would make others watching uneasy in a way they can't make sense of. A Body NT that makes it impossible to accidentally bite your own tongue
Nicholas Anton Larson
So my idea for a natural treasure. Stone of the compressed void: this slightly void aspect stone will compress ambient essence cultivated cultivated in course to the same density as monster essence. The caviot, is that the essence to fuel the compression takes one tier from the user when consumed.
yannick schwende
Turns out the treasure is something ridiculous and/or utterly useless in this day and age. Like a book of tasteful art of the last emperor's wife or something
Tom C
Voidflame essence: Can turn a fire mage’s flame to be void aspected. *insert other potential aspect Infinite hyperloop: travel mana natural treasure. Not sure what it does 🤣 grants minor teleportation ability in local area? Abyssal fist: allows fist fighter to conjure copies of their fists when punching, from void mana. TFTC!
Meyster
Evernight cordycep, a shadow aspected mushroom that once absorbed infects any shadow skill you have with its spores. If you kill something with enough spores its shadow will rise as a minion under your control.
Zack
Mara and Leon would steal that in a heartbeat
Thransk
"National Treasure" a slab of marble that sends a seeker on an increasing complex goose chase for the ultimate treasure left behind by the previous great power.
Tijay Arnie
Like Matt's "endless" aspect?
Dallin S
A natural treasure that combines with a skill to aspect it to a different element type. Make fire ball electrified or make a fireball that causes frost burn type of deal. A natural treasure that makes it possible to change your bodies composition like make your fingernails made out of void or something permanently
Etoyrt
An idea that can apply in many different ways: A natural treasure which causes all instances of its element to be very slightly stronger around the user. In the case of fire: mundane fires would burn hotter and longer by a bit, the user's fire spells/skills would get slightly more bang for their buck, and the same would apply to nearby enemies.
yannick schwende
A treasure that creates ice cream aspected mana. No idea what it would do other than being cold and taste good. But yeah, Aster would likely go crazy over that
Tijay Arnie
I think a broken NT would be like a rose that mingles bloodlines, (yes I'm reading The Storm King, what of it?)
yannick schwende
The legendary morning wood. A certain tree, that increases vigor and fertility if you spend time near it. I bet nearly every single noble family will want to spent their holidays next to it.
Stephen Phillips
That reminds me of Fermochemy from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. There the trade off is different. Given the right metal, you can store lots of things to use later by paying the cost up front (eg 3 days of weakness for 3 days of strength, or 1 minute of extreme strength)
Asur
Natural treasures to fix Rahs cultivation issue. My idea is a set of miniature star (cores) he can fuse into his cultivation base stabilising it. This should allow him to cultivate with monster essence and increase his base power. A eye treasure matching Queens time eye power. Either a time treasure enhancing her future sight or a space treasure to combine into spacetime. Because eye powers are cool. For Matt a treasure to turn his indestructible hand into a secondary life core letting him regen even if the rest of his body is destroyed. For Liz something to enhance her Feather armoury skill. No idea for the rest.
Charlie
Natural Treasures (I'll add more if I think of any): 1) UnDew Drop Lotuses: a curiously void aspected lotus that unmakes any moisture that comes into contact with it. 2) Rainbow Hops: Arcane aspected hops. Beer made from this tastes of many things. 3) Liquid granite: very rare but also very also easily mistaken for a weird kind of mud. 4) Voidflower: a void aspected sunflower that always turns to face the nearest black hole 5) New Blood for Old Bones: an Ichor aspected liquid that, when flooded through a dead body, will give rise to new life within. That life will have a different spirit and talents, start at tier 0 and be a completely new person. It will, however, retain all the knowledge left in the brain of the old body as well as everything else about that body that hasn't degraded. 6) Frozen Buttercups: When held near a person's chin will reveal whether they like ice cream. 7) Pearlescent Snail Shells: an arcane aspected snail shell which can be rendered into an arcane mortar which can be used to increase the efficiency with which enchantments draw on ambient mana - regardless of the nature of the enchantment so long as it isn't void. 8) Spintering Everblade: a wind and sharpness aspected metal that naturally looks like a sword and which will only ever splinter or chip into pieces that look like it. Any time a piece is remove it restructures to look the same as before 9) Infinite Skipping Stones: Travel and water aspected pebbles that, when skipped across water, will continue skipping, floating indefinitely between bodies of water to bounce off of. 10) Sweatless Flax: Water and Wind aspected flax from which linen can be made that immediately moves moisture from the inside into the ambient air.
yannick schwende
1. NT A ball of void yarn, that can help develop void affinity the more you play with it. 2. NT A bowl of endless ice cream (takes on the flavor of the last ice cream placed into it) 3. NT A kind of weed that grows in your spirit and can increase your spiritual resilience the more you care for it. 4. NT Ever fertile soil. Basically allows anything to grow in it, including other natural treasures up to its own tier. But only has a limited volume and can't be increased
Anime Problem
Void Singers Cords/Chords: A natural treasure that allows the user to augment vocal magic with void mana.
Richard Merlin
I gotta be honest. I liked the chapter but got lost very often. It is difficult to remember 7 different factions, what the corresponding name for them is and what each faction's champion is called. Especially when groups within the factions might or might not be allies. So when multiple factions are colliding, like in this chapter, I lose tracking of who is from which and if they are allies, neutral, or enemies. I thought the clans very neutral/allies but MC attacked them...? I was sure Monster faction was a very good ally but have been treated like enemies for the last few chapters.... ? It would REALLY help if, for chapter like these, there was small glossary on the many groups.
Nathaniel France
NT: Inert Ichor Pomegranate Seed. A plant type NT that must first be nourished with a (lot) of mana. After nourishing the seed may be planted and grown into Ichor Pomegranates, which when consumed increases the viability of conception from someone with a Ichor bloodline. When eaten by those without an Ichor bloodline/a diluted bloodline it strengthens it. The idea here being it accomplishes several points. 1. They’ve referenced the idea of having kids in the future so this would continue planting those seeds (pun intended) 2. It functionally draws on both Matt and Liz for maximum effectiveness, (needing mana+her garden+her alchemy skills) which thematically fits in with the idea of kids being taking the best parts of their parents and 3. It helps sets up any future kids to have a solid future foundation.
Zack
Your Tuft of Midnight spurred an idea for an aurora/illusion cotton candy treasure that gives illusions a clinging effect, like walking through cobwebs, so that even when broken you're not quite sure you got them all and they have lingering sensations.
Brianthas
Easier way to explain a mote is that it cracks the skill and gives you the ability to mold the crack a bit - which could have interesting consequences!
Cteatus
Oh a Natural Treasure capable of giving an item sapience would be awesome.
Matt K
Random dump of ideas, some might not be in scope: Has Matt used Natural Treasures as a base for rifts? Treasures stolen from other teams that aren’t directly useful, but may be used as a base for rifts aspected to higher level mana types. Useful for auras/betting/finding Melinda a potential anchor. Bloodline based treasure specifically for Chimeras, valuable to Soddus/Girang. Would be fun to revisit those characters. Mana concentration treasure, effectiveness could be based on the proportion of essence allocated to phys cultivation. Treasure allowing one to benefit from a Legacy past the tier limit, or perhaps just enhancing the effect one receives. Treasure allowing one to control the rate of their mana regeneration, never above their allowed max value. At a glance, it’s shit, but gives Matt a way to better hide his abilities other than hard capping his mana when visiting other t50s. Treasure giving the ability to reflect a portion of damage taken, interesting for Matt, but game changing for Gan Le
Brianthas
Natural Treasure: Mote of Chaos A one-use treasure that fuses with a chosen skill, rewriting one of its core variables. A mote can shift a skills element, alter how it scales, or graft on new properties. For instance, making a fireball scatter lingering napalm, or increasing its scalability with mana (1 mana = 1 meter of radius now turns into 1 mana = 1.25 meter of radius, etc.) this is influenced by the user when they incorporate it in. Once a skill has been reshaped by chaos, it becomes permanently fixed and can never again be touched by another mote. Grows in places that suffer cataclysmic change - super volcano, asteroid impact, etc. The fragments of unstable mana and energy from those events coalesce into this treasure. Natural Treasure: Hunger Seed This seed implants the essence of hunger into a skill, granting it the ability to consume mana from other effects. A beam imbued with hunger might chew through enemy wards, while a shield might siphon energy from spells that strike it, dulling their force and reinforcing it. Hunger seeds grow on planets that have been touched by the void in some way. Maybe a void creature attack, or some energy bled through and touched the planet.
Jason Hatter
Golden Fleece - usable only by somebody with natural fur, it turns their fur into armor equivalent, while retaining it's natural feel and consistency.
Darkarma
Blooming Titan's Foot, a pearlescent root shaped like a hair foot covered in scales with rather ugly spotted flower coming out of its 'ankle'. Consuming causes the skin of of any being to be more durable. Those who have consumed the Titan's foot often find that any grime on their body or near by will dissolve away. Tuft of Midnight A glowing cotton candy like cloud that is an Arcane natural treasure. When integrated into someone's cultivation, the tuft can be assigned to skill slot and overwrites that skill's mana type to become arcane in nature. Pixiestep Lily A crystal lily with five glass like petals. Each petal can be integrated into someone's cornea to be able to see mana. Multiple petals can be used to increase the definition of one's sight in this manner.
Derrick Blacketter
How about a NT of seeds that help with mana control. My idea is that the person has to delicately thread their mana through the inside of the seed, kinda like a unique organic maze thats different with every seed. Once they reach the center of the seed, the meat of the seed becomes attuned to their mana and they can eat it for a boost/reward. The size or quality of the boost/reward is determined by how fast they made it to the center and how well they controlled their mana while going through the maze, like if they scrapped the walls or put too much power in it would lessen the reward. So kind of a training aid that becomes a personal mana control treasure.
Charles Axelrad
How about some Non-combat natural treasures: Honey drops: Can be absorbed to give perfect pitch. Flavor Leaf: Makes a tea that will enhance the flavor of the next meal eaten. Can also be brewed into a potion that allows a chef to taste and break down all the components of the dish they taste for the next day. (ideal for judges in cooking contests)
Zack
Or get a thought treasure that can increase learning speed
Zack
Fun chapter!! Natural treasure ideas: - an arcane treasure that allows for flexible adjustment of your mana type, or boosts it if you already can . (for Matt's enchanter friend from the panther war with the flexible mana type) - spatial treasure, that when turned into a tattoo becomes a small storage space that can tie/bond to a single item. Major benefit over a ring is it's much harder to disrupt/negate than regular spatial storage. -some sort of neutral Endless treasure that can boost mana efficiency at the cost of higher initial input, basically more mana-inertia -since the void mana is likely Luna's, a void treasure that adds a cutting/dispelling effect to all attacks. Call it a Cat's Paw Thistle. (May add other later. My lunch break is almost up)
Matt
Maybe a dream natural treasure that lets the kid at the academy earn exp more easily. Or like a water globe natural treasure that gives Aidan his own water plant, similar to Liz’s snow globe
Jonathan Robichaux
I think that's the mosty laughably overpowered bloodline I've ever read. Good job lol
NeverNaught
NT: Golden Quince- increases Intelligence, side effects: may go crazy. biblical reference- it's believed that the forbidden fruit of the tree of good and evil (knowledge) was a quince, not an apple. NT: Xanthium Strumarium (commonly known as cocklebur) Increases toughness throughout entire body. NT: Star Brim Light: Increases Eclipse type magic affinity NT: ampullae of lorenzini (organ that sharks possess)- Gives electroreception. (sense electromagnetism) NT: Nyx tears: Increases Chaos resistance / affinity NT: Erebus Gloom shade (mushroom) - Soul darkness Boost Item: Wizards hat: allows user to cast cantrips (tier 0 D&D spells, literal magic trick) Item: Power bracer: allows user to lift heavy objects Item: Penguin Flippers: Increases swimming speed.
Ryan Romano
maybe something like an eye, crystal or something that makes it easier to see through illusions, or one for Aster that when used always keeps your tail perfectly groomed
Celas
Because it is the first clear of this strange realm ever, a stupidly rare item only rumored of before, a bloodline seed (thing that created dwarf bloodline) for a "titan" bloodline. Tier 2 bloodline. +size, +muscle density, +strength, +endurance, +regeneration, triple -mana regen (negated by talent), innate mana affinity: core (no aspect, essence spark subaspect), T2 bloodline ability: Core ignition (ignite essence cores of any celestial object.)
Mike222
You could do a Draupnir tresure that makes really shity copies
J.L. Calren
When Winter Horner gave him the manuals he mentioned that there were rare treasures which could compress essence in former tiers. I’m betting we’ll see those
Sean McClain
Thars a good idea but I think the way it interacts with his talent is that he still has to raise them but he doesn't have to sacrifice them as he only sacrifices a simulacrum. But then his talent need new creature regardless. Now instead of killing them, he retires them.
A Flashy BR
I don't have a specific idea right now but I would love to see something that would help Rah start catching up
Sands
A natural treasure that creates a true simulacrum of non-awakened animals that can be used in any rituals to replaces animals. It can be used by that seeker who sacrifices animals
Michael Flattery
I'm hoping for some overpowered fire-bloodline-boosting NT, just to watch the inevitable shenanigans Liz's family get up to fighting over it before unanimously agreeing to give it to Aunt Helen. Also, shot-in-the-dark bet that last ichor treasure stabilises ichor bloodlines so Mat and Liz's kid can live a normal life pre-T15.
A Flashy BR
Thank you for the chapter!!
Charles Axelrad
Space or Nature aspected Hornet nest: A Hornet nest that can be absorbed into the body. A pseudo bond is created between the host and the hornets produced by the nest. The Hornets can be sent out to to scout allowing the partial extention of your spiritual perception.
Bob Bryan
Maybe a second glossamir, think I spelt that right, wing for matt to put on his other hand so he has 2 of them. Also a national treasure that let's liz and/or aster change the color of their fire/ice. I think both characters would find that fun. Also definitely something to do with psyhokinetics. All could use that.
Brad Thomas
1. Natural treasure Box of Glitter: leave behind a small amount of glitter where ever you touch or walk. 2. Natural treasure The first kernal of sand: All sand visable by spiritual sense gathers at the will. 3. Natural Treasure Chaos Apple: Randomize elemental alignment. 4. Natural treasure (NT) Golden Frankincense Convert Mana Crystals to gold coins. 5. NT Pink Grave Dust (Choose a hand) Slapping an undead will inclict emotional distress and shame on them. Leaves behind a light pink dusting grave dust. 6: NT Pixie wing Gain an innate knowledge of all small creives near by.
Zero
Ichor natural treasure that allows for easier conversion from the three main ingredients of ichor to ichor. Arcane natural treasure that can help the spiritual ability to identify different mana types. Void natural treasure that allows empower attacks with the affinity but only for a single attack when you are at 100 % mana (so if you are at 100% mana you will generate 3-7% void mana that you have to expel at once so it doesn’t interfere with you existing mana. So when fresh 107% mana with 100 your normal one and 7% void) Space natural treasure that allows better detection of Spatial abnormal or changes Travel mana natural treasure that makes it easier to build up speed when you start moving Blood natural treasure that help lower cooldown for healing or improves fertility.
SqrlyGrly
I really hope Allie saved this location with her pathfinding skill. Taking a cut to ferry the empire army and other elites to the strange realm would be insane. And if they are all army, they probably won't sabotage each other. Empire makes bank. Allie makes bank.
J.L. Calren
Fun treasure ideas that I enjoyed brainstorming: -arcane treasure that allows a person to negate a portion of any spell that hits them and turn it into mana (with the exception of void mana) - a mind treasure which can turns AI’s sentient/more intelligent and efficient -reality treasure which can allow someone to use two mana aspects in a single spell, shifting reality and allowing them to coexist -Travel treasure which can be used for extreme/nigh-uncontrollable bursts of speed -a void treasure that obliterates foreign influences/mana in the body at the cost of self-damage (similar to Matt’s current treasure, but it causes quite a bit of self damage in exchange for extremely strong void-based scouring effects) -reality treasure that makes one partially immune/resistant to changes in reality (I just think it’d be funny watching Maya try desperately to buy it and stop another ascender from getting their hands on it to screw with her) -body treasure that can partition mana veins so he can use two different types of mana at once.
Ryan Berends
For mind mana maybe something that can combine with mats A.I. and something to help with that mega A.I. project that was talked about right after they ascended. For reality mana an item for aster to make her dreams a reality. She needs ice cream hearts but it could be something also that improves one’s connection with the realm.
Brandon Cooley
Chaos seeds from a world tree that took all the essence from a high tier world. Might be able to help compress rahs essence
Olof Karlsson
Thanks for the chapter!
Havokk
how about a NT that adds, or converts, a certain percentage of physical healing into spiritual healing? What Manny would pay for that to give to Melinda would be worth more than almost anything else they could bring back from this
Jordan O'Hare
Some natural treasures to help with his fellow Detrimental Talenters? For the girl with the pain->pleasure talent perhaps that can be helped accidentally with a treasure like "Bottle up own feelings of happiness at will. Let them all out in one go later when desired" Something for Kurt (the guy that can't talk without people being mind controlled) like talking through someone elses voice box, or writing notes in the air. The blind Guild hero that can apply his blindness to others: some way to take over more of thier senses, like thier spiritual sense or whatnot.
Alex
A natural treasure which creates an auxiliary mind to coordinate spells in the [Clone] family: most obviously useful for Liz, but it'd potentially be useful for Matt assuming he decides to start using [Clone] skills in the future to take advantage of his ridiculous mana pool.
Ali Sha
Something for Aunt Helen would be nice. Maybe a fire or ichor based treasure that allows her to provide a buff/boost to those she considers family and is connected with.
Tom
Ooh, I wonder if they got a fancy void thing that Luna would like. A void ball of wool for example
Ryan Berends
Would be awesome if there was some plants for the garden orb that could be slowly grown for profit or cooking. Like the void berry from at tier 11. Lizz has been doing her blood alchemy and trying to create a creature from blood maybe some sort of natural treasure that allows her to finally do something with ichor in that regard. Something to combine with that rare metal he has for a weapon? Some stuff for seeding rifts or a fire natural treasure to help elevate their fire planet.
nolan saylor
Thanks Mantis! Thanks Dae! Dang it, so far it looks like the Feds aren't the (main) bad guys here. Not sure that is how this is being set up, but it's an interesting idea to boost bosses specifically to counter other groups. Not focusing on profit. It's what happens when genocide isn't an option in war, grudges last. It is why the Ascenders are so careful about their group chat. Roaming bosses, interesting. The boss powering up from the pocket realm. Multiple NTs in its body? I wonder if there could be tunnels underground that lead to Pocket Realms. Or maybe clouds that are PR. Oh, maybe a roving PR that is a storm cloud or some animal with a PR on its back. -Just thinking of options for Matt & Co. to get more PRs, as he wants. -A roving PR may be a special NT, bonus if it's on an animal and creates some truly fun fight. Maybe a double boss thing. -What if PRs intersect and combine, forming extra funky NTs. -What about a roaming boss entering another PR? That could have some fun interactions depending on the result. A strategy might be attacking a tower, not truly to win but to make all the bosses into roaming bosses. The fleeing and let the roaming bosses that surround the tower release their ire at the tower at the center. -and Matt agrees. It is a simple option, but still effective. Everyone empowered the PRs closest to themselves first. Maybe Matt isn't about justice, is still good to be aware of what group is most likely to scheme against you. -It's not easy to see injustices happen. Oh, so once you don't finish clearing a PR you get the same roaming boss released every day. If you go the Matt & co route of making the boss as strong as possible that results in a truly monstrous roaming boss every day. I wonder if the SR has a time limit, otherwise the option is to create many weak roaming bosses and farm them forever. -or after the first time it might not have the NTs? So it's just an essence farm and not a NT farm. Then that sucks. -dang, no double dipping or farming. I do wonder if the repeat roaming boss is stronger the first time. If it gains any boosts from the NTs on/ in/? it? I am glad to read about copy-cat paladin armors. Let's there be more fun fan creations. Weaker, but fun. Well, it is a fun fight at least. Oh, A Fed who joined the Corporation? A Fed disguised as a Corporation mercenary? A Corporation mercenary being merely mercenary and incorporating any method of strength? I wish they'd kept at least one PR for delving seeing if there is some super NT they can get or some secret reward. I don't know enough to know if SRs can have secret bosses or hidden stuff like rifts can. Oh... we get to think up fun NTs!!! That is certainly a fun opportunity. Maybe even some good enough to change Mantis's opinion on the set items. -though I'll focus on the discord for the ideas
Cteatus
Not sure what type of Natural Treasure it'd be, but it'd be cool if there was a treasure in there that let them interact with higher levels of energies. We've seen that Ascension Energy is unique, and so is Inspiration energy which is unique from the energies in Chaotic Space. And we know that there are talents that work of different enerigies (Faith for example) and Minkalla had Genesis Energy. Would be cool for maybe an Arcane, or Reality, or Ichor treasure to work similarly.
Havokk
Ahh Allie, always the one acting like she just stole the crown jewels while laughing at the surprised get away driver.... Really enjoyed the combat but man i am looking forward to Fridays loot pinata
austin kutz
How about a wind/prophecy natural treasure that gives the consumer a seeker ability that helps them find advancement opportunities? Accidentally generated by Queen killing a wind type boss, given to the empire because the ascenders damn well don't need it. Then, Manny can give it to a new side character eventually
Alex
A natural treasure that can be tossed into a Rift to convert it into a Ruin, or a natural treasure that could revive a dead Ruin.
Raven
Tyftc
Nathaniel Ownbey
An arcane natural treasure that increases the knowledge of arcane mana. A possible graduation present for Tim
Kbzzy
A natural treasure that turns mana into physical strength? Like you can fill it up with mana and then release it all at once for a brief instance of drastically increased physical cultivation?
Alex
I'm thinking Bloodline stuff: A natural treasure that lets a human gain a Bloodline would be cool (although it's unrealistic that a group of Tier 30s would get their hands on something that mythical). A natural treasure that can be merged with any elemental treasure to allow a beast to alter their Bloodline element. A natural treasure that be used by a beast to guarantee that their child will have Bloodline Talents (wonder what Bloodline Talents for an Ichor Phoenix would look like).
Alex E
Travel Mana natural treasure that gives effectively very weak thought based telekinesis. minor boost to control of the actual skill but just moves stuff around as you think about it. An Arcane Treasure that works like a prism splitting a higher level mana type into its composites (only the level 1 types, so even if multiple higher levels combine you only get the level 1 ratios) A void based natural treasure that removes flavors or smells from food (I was thinking of a lot of cooking ones that all turned out to be basically irrelevant as other skills already can do that) An ichor based treasure that alters a plant to become carnivorous and only grow from blood/flesh but to be able to grow faster in trade
William Johnson
A tree that converts the blood of people who eat its fruit in to ichor. Intensely deadly poison or a valuable opportunity depending on the consumer.
Alex
Back in the post-vassal war training arc when we first learned about mana pool splitting/merging it was speculated that Matt wouldn't be able to split his mana pool because it's Talent based, which I agree with. Talents are jealous mistresses, so I can't imagine Matt's Talents would allow a natural treasure to split his pool given it operates on totally different principles than normal mana pools do.
RedLeaf
Thanks for the chapter!
J.L. Calren
Ok, so an idea I’ve had for the last couple chapters, could Matt partition his mana pool and aspect both arcane and void? I remember that Leon originally aspected to three different mana types before combining them, so I think theoretically it should be possible.
Eric Alex
A thought based natural treasure that adds a second mind or consciousness, like Cosminds talent adds
noah radencic
A game changing natural treasure could be reality or dream one that restores the sprit to a prior shape Could be used to fix liena Or something that enchances your connection with a bond could be interesting for matt aster or fen
Owen Kaz
A void black hole that seems to not actually consume all the mana is sucks up. How the mana not consumed by the void is stored and how the treasure Manges this/actually functions is something Zac becomes interested in for his own power use. An Ichor treasure that is reminiscent of a bloodied vine, while giving off a fairly menacing aura and presumably attacking anything nearby to drain, consumption of the vine leads to increased vitality storage within the blood of the consumer. Both allowing for wounds to recover faster, as well as allowing for one to extract a measure of their own blood which can be used for a better-than-standard self-use-locked healing concoction Finally, one of their final Arcane treasures given from one of the later bosses being a shiny moss that, when turned into a paste and spread across the body and allowed to absorb into the body, boosts passive magic defense by a reasonable percentage. Permanently
kofer99
Maybe a natural treasure that changes your blood to ichor. Giving you some manner of resistance or changing your blood spells or something
Kasamuri
Thanks for the chapter!
MinE
NT based on spiritual strengthening, extra skill slots, or Domain strengthening would be generally useful.
MinE
An Ichor or Blood NT that lets Liz convert other material to blood would be nice.
Luna_1001
Ty
J.L. Calren
Tftc
