C_Mantis
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Chapter 378
🕑 Added 2024-11-25 19:59:01 +0000 UTCChapter 378
Matt couldn't help but look at the ascender in awe as Manny talked to him. It was just so strange to think of someone ascending into their Realm.
They didn’t get many people from lower Realms, as there weren’t any Tier 25 Realms directly connected to this Realm, but they still tended to pop up every few generations as the complex currents of inter-Realm cosmology pulled someone off-course. Weirdly, they knew a lot more about higher Realms than they did lower Realms, thanks to the cosmologers who had made it their lives’ missions to learn as much about the structure of Realms and how they related. But Tier 25 Realms were subtle and difficult to spot, and there were some people who thought that they simply couldn’t see the lower Realms connected to their own, with the people there simply not developing the Intents needed to survive ascending.
The man in front of him was a mark against that theory, as a Tier 26, which implied he had advanced the whole way through Tier 25 without accidentally ascending, or he had had an inspiration which caused him to advance. If he was a front-runner of the Realm, it was possible he was just the first of many ascenders.
Which might not be a good thing.
About a year ago, Manny had sent Allie on a mission to the border world of Exalon, just to monitor the situation. Not wanting to do a long-term recon mission alone, Allie had grabbed Aster, who had in turn messaged him and Liz, who then decided they might as well brings the whole group and told Allie to go get Zack, who had been with Susanne at the time, which was why they had all gathered for the Ascension.
Who wouldn’t want to meet an ascender?
It was a good thing too, because the actual process of Ascension was quiet. It wasn’t like an Ascension leaving the Realm, which had benefits to those around the ascender and was impossible to miss. No, Ra’thala had not been there one minute and had appeared the next like a ghost.
A good thing for their own possible Ascension, but that was a thought Matt didn’t really want to consider quite yet. He had way too much unfinished business in this Realm to even consider leaving.
There had been a bit of last-minute panic when the cosmological sensors they were using indicated the proximal lower-Realm crossing had fully vanished, but Zack’s insistence on overbuilding their observatory array paid off when they identified that it had just spontaneously shifted four planets over, into Federation space.
He didn’t even land on that Federation world, instead showing up two planets away from there, and it was only a combination of sheer luck and the fact they were already scouring the surroundings for their missing readings that they found him at all.
Not that landing in the Federation would have been a good thing. Matt might have had some moral scruples about ‘stealing’ an ‘Ascender’ from any other Great Power, but he had none when it came to the Federation.
Even if Ra’thala wasn’t as pleasant as he was showcasing, he didn’t deserve to be subjected to the Federation and their perversions.
And what they would have lost if they hadn’t grabbed him.
Matt had, of course, surreptitiously scanned his spirit, but what he’d seen was just kind of weird. It was recognizable, but it was just different.
Ra’thala had two overlapping cores, one magical, and one physical, but instead of peaks and valleys where his essence was distributed to raise his attributes, his essence swirled and eddied in complicated patterns Matt had never seen before. He wouldn't have thought them possible without a living example.
A quick search with his [AI] told him that such cultivation methods had been seen in their Realm before, but not for at least five generations of political entities. Even then, which was the last record they had of such things, the practice had already been falling out of favor for the current methods. Or so the historians believed from the tidbits of information they had found of such old civilizations long lost to the sands of time.
Though from what he could see of Ra’thala’s cultivation, he had a veil up but it wasn’t the most complex one he had ever seen and while it was unique it had flaws that let Matt see through it without too much issue even if some things were still obscured. That was still more than enough to know Ra’thala was doing something wholly different than even those records. Not a single report mentioned pulsing lights at certain spots in each Tier layer of the core. Really the only similarity was the way the essence wasn’t static.
Which was another thing that was strange. Matt could see that this Ra’thala had twenty six bands of cultivation but they weren’t crushed together like his own. Instead, each seemed to be its own swirling mass of essence that flowed into nodes reminiscent of embers. Also, the way he grouped his essence was… weird. Most modern forms of cultivation recognized seven physical attributes, though what those seven were could vary, but Ra’thala only had five physical groupings.
A node seemed to represent favoring a specific attribute like leaning one way in physical cultivation did.
From what he could see, Ra’thala favored a slightly off-pure strength location that overlapped with endurance for a lot of his nodes but not always. His second most allocated area was a mix between mind and durability, which was a strange combo: Matt wasn’t sure what it would show as.
His inspection was cut short when Manny summoned a handful of skill shards onto the table. “A suite of the [AI] skill shards and their auxiliary skills. They are like an artificial mind that acts in conjunction with your own. With them, you should be able to better integrate into Empire society or any Great Power society you choose to settle in. A gift free of obligation or need for return.”
“What are these?”
Matt expected Ra’thala to ask for clarification on what [AI] actually was but he hadn’t expected him not to recognize skill gems.
Did skill shards look different in other Realms?
That was a very interesting hypothesis and Matt instantly wanted to interrupt and ask Ra’thala all about his world and the nuances of cultivation there but knew this wasn't the right time and instead just marked it as a note for later.
Even Manny looked confused as he explained. “These are skill shards. I’m not sure what you call them but they contain the activatable abilities found in rifts, the areas where monsters form up.”
At the mention of rifts, Ra’thala nodded. “Monster Dens. Yes, foul places that spill out beasts who seek nothing but destruction. Containing them is a pain but I don’t know of any Constellations that come from the slain monsters.”
“No not from the monster but from clearing the rift, the Monster Den itself.”
“Clear it?” Ra’thala looked apologetic as he continued, “This translation Constellation is good but I believe it is confused. What do you mean ‘clear’? The monsters pour out in waves. Their foulness is then returned to the sky and the stars where it is purified and returned back down as energy for Celestials to absorb.”
Realizing what Ra’thala was implying, Matt's eyes went wide.
Manny was faster to speak however. “Where did you get your skills, Constellations, from then? Are they all self-created?”
“No.” Matt nodded but froze almost immediately, “Only half or so are unique to me. Others are from various Celestials Guides I gathered in my travels.”
Even Manny looked genuinely surprised at the revelation and Zack looked like he had found an entirely new specimen he could dissect to find new knowledge. Not that Matt disagreed.
A Realm that seemingly used entirely self-made and replicable skills to function was an incredible find for a million and one reasons. It made sense they would need to do something like that if they didn’t enter rifts to advance and instead considered them pests, but he had never considered the ramifications of such a cultivation civilization.
As for them not entering rifts, Matt thought he had an answer for how that came about. Whether accidentally or intentionally, they had run into an aperology-based strategy to increase the speed of Tiering up their planets.
By letting rifts constantly stay full of mana the rift would be pouring the maximum amount of essence into the air as it converted ambient mana. Consequently, that same overflow would lead to rift breaks and possible ruins without any direct rewards such as skills shards.
It explained why Ra’thala didn’t seem to understand what skills shards were but that seemed anathema to having any sort of functional society.
Matt then had the thought they might not have any kind of structured society, but that couldn’t be true, as Ra’thala was clearly educated and intelligent. He also implied that he found various skills in cultivation methods, which implied linages and methods to pass down knowledge, which meant there had to be a base level of civilization.
After a moment of stunned silence, Manny looked at Zack. “Can you project a [Fireball] spell structure in the air please.”
Once Zack had done so and Ra’thala had been given a few moments to inspect the structure, Manny asked, “How complicated would you rate this skill?”
“Moderate for a mid-level Divine but too complicated for a Celestial to create in any reasonable amount of time.”
Matt mouthed the words as they were translated and the general confusion reignited as each side explained the steps on cultivation.
A [Fireball] being hard to replicate for a Tier 4 or under seemed normal but it being only moderately hard for a Tier 5 to Tier 8 seemed ludicrous. Carving a skill into one's spirit was not trivial. He could have managed it as a Tier 10 given a decade or so but that didn’t make it easy.
Ra’thala cocked his head and nodded to the skills. “Do you not do that? Because of these ‘skill shards’?”
Liz waved and summoned a pile of Tier 8 skills they kept on hand. “I wouldn’t say they are common, they don’t start dropping consistently until Tier 8, peak of the Divine Realm for you if I understood the conversion of names correctly, but they aren’t that hard to get in our Realm just by clearing a rift.”
Ra’thala made a hand gesture Matt interpreted as a shrug. “There are so few peak Divines, even if we know they would be extraordinarily rare. I suspect that even Almighty's, your Tier 15s or 16’s, I believe, would struggle to bring out so many.”
That caught both of them off guard before everyone made noises of agreement.
All but Zack who leaned forward. “Would you mind sharing what one of your beginner skills would look like?”
Ra’thala copped Zack's hand gesture and created a skill structure out of stone in something that Matt would have called [Create Stone] but that worked very differently. Where [Create Stone] made real but low-Tier matter, the spell Ra’thala used condensed ambient essence into stone. It felt non-permanent but Matt wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it wasn’t so simple.
The skill structure he created took Matt aback.
It was so… simple.
“This is a general physical enhancement spell that many Celestial Guides use and anyone can get copies off. It is considered a good starting point for most physical Constellations. I mean skills. I apologize for the slip up.”
As Matt inspected the skill structure, he realized what he was seeing. It wasn’t simple. Or rather it was, but that wasn’t the whole truth.
It was… large, for a skill. Very large. Matt wasn’t certain if it would even fit in a normal skill slot were he to have it in his spirit. It would possibly take up as much space as one and a half, even two skills, and it was crudely created. Or perhaps simple would be the better way to phrase it.
But what it lost in elegance, it certainly made up for in robustness. If a normal skill was like a carpenter’s finishing hammer, this skill was like a sledgehammer. There was nothing delicate about the skill, in any sense of the word. It was unsuitable for fine-control work, but anything that tried to break it would just find itself shattered. As a consequence it also had a lot more room for error when inscribing it in your spirit, making doing so significantly easier.
It was a general physical enhancement but Matt could see where, with an expansion and multiplication of the skill structure in one quadrant, you could multiply the speed of the user. On the other side of the skill was what he would call the strength nodes that would make the caster physically stronger and more durable.
It might be simple, but for a Realm without ready access to enchantments and skill shards, something easy to carve into one's spirit like that, which something even a Tier 1 or 2 could manage, would be invaluable.
Matt also didn’t miss the comment about how other more-specific or stronger skills were built off this base.
He could see how that was not just possible but by design of whoever created this skill originally.
It also made him wonder just how advanced a Tier 26 who had been at the peak of the Realm’s skills would be.
Without the ability to just get new skills, Ra’thala’s skills were probably incredibly robust and hyper specialized to a degree even the Sects couldn’t compare to.
Another part of his mind went to this more simple skill creation-based method and wondered if his guild could create anything interesting with it. He doubted most people would prefer this method over just getting enchanted equipment until they could afford proper skills but this method did give one an actual skill that would grow with the cultivator instead of items needing to be replaced every Tier or two.
Matt just hoped that Ra’thala was as affable as he seemed and would be willing to share some more of the details of skill creation. Even if it didn’t become popular, it could be useful for those who lacked the funds but wanted to have access to skills both mundane and combat-oriented. And that was reason enough to have his guild look into this method of skill creation more.
Manny brought them back around to the original topic and gestured at the skill shards. “This is an [AI] skill shard. Once absorbed, it will give you the ability to link into our information networks where you can get answers to most questions as they come up. It is also just useful as it allows or assists most of daily life and its many conveniences. You don’t need it but few choose that route and it is a gift freely given.”
“I will accept them then. Thank you.”
“The other shards are skills that are meant to supplement the [AI] skill to boost its capabilities. They are also gifts but you should learn more about our methods of using skills before deciding on whether or not you wish to use them. If nothing else, they can act as seed money if you choose to sell them.”
Manny’s eyes hardened as he said in a more formal tone, “Now, as for something slightly less pleasant. The choice of your new home. As per long standing treaties, anyone who ascends into this Realm is given the option to move to another Great Power that more aligns with their beliefs. I can tell you about the Empire but I am unable to let you wander around unless you wish to remain here.”
Matt felt Ra’thala stiffen, but it was only for a moment before he relaxed once more.
From there, Matt and everyone else listened as Manny gave short but factual rundowns about the various Great Powers and their cultures.
In the end Ra’thala said, “I see nothing egregiously wrong with you and your people, Emperor Emmanuel. I shall take your offer of citizenship and settle down. I think it will be nice to be in such a vibrant world. You and your people have so many cultivators. It's refreshing to see from what I was used to, and I like the idea that everyone is given the opportunity to cultivate. In my Realm, it is only for those who awaken naturally or like me take the shameful route of killing a monster when unawakened.”
Manny genuinely looked like he wanted to pry into that but stood. “If that is the case, and you are amicable to the idea, my head librarian Ciceron is immensely interested in hearing what you have to say. I, however, must sadly return to my work. Once you are settled in, I will follow back up for a few more conversations that can only really happen once we both have a better understanding of each other's cultures.”
Ciceron was already waiting as they filed out of Manny’s office, but one of the Imperial staff arrived and interrupted him with a courteous bow. “The Emperor has assigned me to guide you while you are at the Capital until you have settled in or otherwise dismiss me. Before you are taken away by the head librarian, I can show you a room where you can refresh yourself.”
Ra’thala took up the offer but didn’t linger long. When he came out, his stone clothes had been replaced with comfortable baggy clothes tied tight at the ankles and wrists that Matt was sure the aide had had created on the spot for him via a high-Tier tailor.
From there, Ciceron led them to the library where they listened to Ra’thala tell his life stories in great detail.
Ra’thala had struck a deal with Manny that anything he shared would be paid for and anything that ended up being useful to the Empire would be bought for at an appropriate price.
Matt got the impression Ra’thala didn’t quite believe Manny would pay for his life's story, but he seemed willing to share nonetheless and Ciceron was eager to absorb it all.
And all of them found it fascinating; even Allie who could hardly sit still, only vanished a few times to top them off with snacks as they listened to Ra’thala tell his story and explain things about his world.
Matt knew he had suffered some as a child, but he was also self-aware enough to know that his life was still better than others. Ra’thala’s life on the other hand seemed like one of pain and hardship for the vast majority of it. Being forced to fight for a Tier 4 in wars of conquest, becoming a cultivator through what he felt was a shameful method, and then being talented enough to reach the peak of Tier 4 through hard work and dedication on a planet Matt suspected was only Tier 4 or 5 itself. None of that could have been easy and they were only getting the highlights of his adventures.
Ciceron speculated that at least part of Ra’thala’s advancement speed was thanks to his cultivation method which, after a little examination, seemed built around the idea of cultivating uncompacted ambient essence. It neither required monster essence or even seemed to particularly want it if Ra’thala’s comment on those who tried to cultivate using monster essence crippling themselves wasn’t due to an unrelated reason.
If Ciceron’s speculation was correct, the reason Ra’thala wasn’t crippled by his less dense cores was because of how his cultivation moved essence around in the complicated eddies they saw in his cores.
In an amusing turn of events, Ra’thala seemed downright aghast at how ‘unrefined’ and ‘simple’ their cultivation methods were when Susanne, Aster, and Allie dropped their veils long enough from him to inspect their cores. The new ascender not quite believing that they all followed the Path.
“What are the advantages of his method, doc?”
To answer Allie’s question, Ciceron spent a few seconds at Tier 40 speeds going over information but once he dropped back down to Tier 26 levels he said, “Our Realm probably used something similar, but as our new friend Ra’thala explained, it has issues. If it is similar, which is a big if, this style of cultivation method can be difficult to advance and any imperfections in the early stages can lead to being wholly unable to progress into the later ones. It also comes with significant difficulty in breaking through Tiers as a baseline, whereas our method might be simple but it's been refined enough where there aren’t any additional requirements than gathering a volume of essence and squeezing it down. Based on previous research, the eddies and complexities of this style of cultivation method is to make up for the weaker essence and lesser amount used. Look at his cores. The volume of his cores is the same but he has used roughly twenty percent less essence to get what I’d speculate is a similar amount of power to someone of a similar Tier who uses our cultivation methods. It's truly fascinating to see the differences that result in similar outcomes, and fills in a lot of questions we have had about such methods and their use in the past.”
Ra’thala looked very interested at that comment and asked, “Is there anything in your histories about using monster essence to advance with a method like mine, Master Librarian? Or even anything about advancing past my current Realm?”
Ciceron shook his head. “Nope. We in fact only have two complete methods that used to be used. A few dozen fragmented methods, but from everything we know, which let me reiterate that these methods have not been used for close to a billion years, they all needed ambient essence to function. They were all closely guarded secrets as well, but the current means of cultivation utilizing monster essence took precedence simply because of the ease by which one could achieve near-perfect compression. It has some limits, certainly, but they are ones that are easy enough to work around.”
Ra’thala looked awkward even as he looked eager. “I am new here, so I don’t have anything in the way of value, but can I trade my services to access these information tomes? Even if they don’t follow the path of the stars, they might prove useful guides for my next stage of advancement.”
Matt was going to offer to pay for the books, but Ciceron beat him to it. “I’ll be honest with you Ra’thala, my Domain revolves around gathering knowledge, so if you share what you feel comfortable with sharing to me, I’ll make anything not highly classified in the library open to you.”
Ra’thala looked around at the tomes before nodding decisively. “I’ll take you up on that deal.”
Matt leaned forward, gathering Ra’thala’s attention before they could get distracted. “I’d also like to offer something similar. You don’t have to decide now and honestly you should gather more information before deciding but I run a charity guild. I—”
Seeing Ra’thala mouthing the something he expected was the magical translation of charity guild while looking extremely confused, he spent a few moments explaining the purpose behind the guild and the reason for its existence.
“I really like the skill form you showed us earlier. I personally am not a master of such things, but I can afford to gather the masters and see if they can take what your people did and share something with our people. Some might not feel it's useful and prefer to stick with simple items until they can afford skill shards, but some people might really like a skill they can create for free so long as we can mitigate most risks. I can pay you handsomely for such knowledge, but I believe that there is value in researching this method. Your own experiences would be very helpful in that, and I would pay for that separately and generously.”
Ra’thala mulled that over before saying, “I will keep that offer in mind. Thank you. I can say that I don’t mind sharing things that aren’t directly related to my own skills. In my wanderings, I have seen and memorized many cultivation methods. For posterity's sake, I’m willing to share all of them. Maybe they aren’t as good, but I am a stranger to a strange Realm and it would make me happy to know that a bit of my Realm lives on here if nothing else. And at that point, the skill’s creation methods would be known. But unless there is something I learn that changes my mind, I have no reason to reject your offer. I wouldn’t dare to call myself an expert, but I’m fairly good at creating skills. Self-made ones at that. A few that I shared even got popular and were widely adopted.”
Aster elbowed Matt out of the way, sending a phoenix Liz squawking, as she said, “Is your Talent about skill creation?”
Ra’thala shook his head. “My manifestation, what you call a Talent, isn’t related to skill modification or creation, it would have been helpful if it was, but I was not so blessed. I believe that my —”
Ciceron held up a hand, silencing Ra’thala even as Zack and Matt were about to do the same.
“Ra’thala, as a stranger to these lands I realized that you might not have a way to quantify your Talent. Now, that is a limitation which we can rectify in a moment, but it's considered taboo to share one's Talent. Friends—” he nodded to them, “good friends mind you, might share it, but I know of spouses who haven't revealed the whole truths about their Talents to each other. I’d recommend keeping that private or at most sharing a general idea of what it is.”
Ra’thala nodded solemnly even as Aster apologized. “Sorry. I got excited. I wasn’t trying to pry. At our level, sharing stuff about your Talent is more common, but even then…”
Ra’thala just shrugged. “I take no offense, as it wasn’t a secret in my home. What one knew about it was often shared. That said, I will take your advice on this, Master Librarian. Maybe if we become friends, I will share.”
That led to a detour where they brought Ra’thala to a Talent scanner and he took a few minutes to inspect the thing.
He seemed impressed by the complexity of the enchantments and ogled the way the system prevented anyone else from seeing the readouts. Aster even demonstrated it for him twice, trying to remove her metaphorical foot from her mouth.
That then led to them showing Ra’thala an awakening machine.
That seemed to truly shock him. “I wish I could send this information to my home. My taking essence from a monster was considered a shameful secret I had told no one. Something like this, that can awaken many with just a single monster? Amazing.”
Liz asked her own question. “It's considered a right to awaken in the Empire. Even just low-level cultivation is so useful for anyone. You mentioned your family, did any of them become cultivators? Which let me applaud your people, inspirations are rare here. Matt, Zack, and Ciceron are the only ones present to have had one.”
Ra’thala smiled lightly as he shook his head. “Sadly, no. By the time Warlord O’dchigin was slain in battle, my parents had already passed away. A famine combined with a long winter were too much for them. As for my younger brother, he survived but it had been almost a decade since I had been taken away to join the army and he hardly knew me. Combined with me becoming a cultivator, there was too much distance between us for much. After I saw to his needs and ensured he and his offspring would be taken care of, I started my own adventures, eventually leaving my world on a Sky Bridge.”
Ciceron was the only one who didn’t look surprised as Zack asked the question they were all thinking, “How did these Sky Bridges work? They seem similar to our tethers and associated teleporters.”
That information meant a trip to a teleporter, where Ra’thala inspected it before saying, “These are beyond me. I know little about how Sky Bridges work, though I can certainly predict when they will appear given some time to set up some divinations.”
Ciceron nodded. “Hmm, natural formation? Interesting. Perhaps I do know something, then. Our tethers are an expansion of conceptual linkage, wherein two worlds that drift near one another in chaotic space will tend to influence the other, creating a space wherein it becomes possible to traverse between the two worlds. Naturally, they’ll only last a few decades to centuries, and keeping them connected beyond that can be dangerous, but that is likely what your Sky Bridges are akin to. The teleportation platforms use that to permanently lock the two locations into a tether.”
Ra’thala surprised them all but shaking his head. “That isn’t wrong, but my people did discover how to create permanent Sky Bridges. Or at least permanent enough that even with thousands of years they haven't broken. I even know how to create them. There are more temporary versions that only last for about that long without stabilization and we use them to go and harvest planets that are worthwhile.”
“Oh?!?” Ciceron looked like a puppy as he turned a feverous gaze onto Ra’thala.
“Any advancement your people might have made could prove useful in lowering the costs of creating the tethers. Currently they take Tier 20 materials for even low-Tier worlds—.”
Matt was also interested but knew his guild probably wasn’t the best place for such research; Allie finally lost her patience.
“Enough with the nerd shit. Ra’thala buddy, pal, friendo, wanna spar? I’ve been dying to see what someone from another Realm can do with an ascension bonus and y’all have just been talking for way too long. That shit can wait for a few hours. Duel?”
Ra’thala grinned and formed a blade out of stone. “I’d never pass the opportunity to test myself. I also feel the ascension has greatly benefited me and what better way to test myself than against new friends?”
Allie smirked. “And what better way to make friends than to try and kill each other?”
Ra’thala just grinned.
Comments
Jonathan Campbell
I'm really unsure about how the vacation dates line up for the 3$ tier, when should we expect to see posts resume?
King Nereus
Yeah, it is a shame that word had to become overloaded with two meanings. It can make certain conversations, and at least one chapter so far, a little confusing if you’re not paying close enough attention. I’m surprised one of the more cocky Ascendors hasn’t brought up how bothered they are by it and insist a new word be used. Maybe in ascendor chat if nothing else, just to poke fun at the situation and acknowledge the issue in the text, which hasn’t really been addressed yet.
Jonathan Campbell
I'm not sure if it's due to the eastern influences inherent to cultivation stories, but I definitely notice that the idea of "You only really know someone once you've fought them." is quite frequently included in both cultivation and LitRPG stories.
KnightRider007
Not to mention we actually have very little idea of his combat style
KnightRider007
It's kind of amusing to see the contrast and reflection. Empire cultivation is dense, compressed, and solid, but their skills are intricate, complex, and delicate. Ra'Thala's cultivation is complex, intricate and finicky, but his skills are simple and extremely robust, what I'd call *foundational*.
KnightRider007
This does raise the interesting question: Inspirations make the cultivation for the current level "perfect", as noted in several examples we've seen. But does the FORM that "perfection" takes get influenced by the cultivator's method of cultivation? To expand: if an Empire cultivator gets an inspiration, their "free" level is perfectly compressed, dense Essence. If *Ra'Thala* gets an inspiration *in the Empire*, will his free level looks all intricate and flowing like his current cultivation, or dense and compressed like Empire-standard?
KnightRider007
A few points to address: "He is the definition of Ascender material." - No, he's not. He has Ascended, but he wasn't an Ascender (This is where Empire nomenclature gets ambiguous). He made it to the top *eventually*, but there's no indication he was the equivalent of a Hero/Alpha/Master. He's at least 90,000 years old. "Also, we have learned that he is 20% stronger than a normal rank equivalent" - No, he's about the same as a normal rank equivalent, he just took about 20% less Essence to get there.
Julie Smith
Are you referring to 'Stranger in a strange Realm'? It was definitely a Heinlein reference, but my mind went to the the Bible, from which Heinlein got it: "I've been a stranger in a strange land". Moses said that in Exodus.
Julie Smith
"Allie smirked. “And what better way to make friends than to try and kill each other?” Ra’thala just grinned." I have no idea how these battles are going to go. That said, Allie is VERY hard to kill or even hit, and no doubt she has become better since the war. Matt's inspiration and Talent would give him a natural advantage over anybody. So would Liz's. I don't see how Rathala gets around Aster's freeze and space storage. But none of them have ever fought anyone like Ra'thala.
Alex
Besides, less than 10k years from now (which it would take to reach T35) Mannys baby is gonna be born, as well everyone else's babies. :) that deserves some chapters too. And the peace treaty will run out.
Alex
Maybe Allie finally found someone to settle down with :) at the very least she probably found her next temporary boyfriend.
John
Thanks!
Asura_Vyri
I wonder how this cultivation will work with the rift essence. Is someone delving a rift practices a cultivation method, then would they be 20 percent more powerful than regular rift delvers?
MikeL
Edit: slightly off-pure strength location. I think it should be allocation.
Alex
@King Nereus, Ra'thala's cultivation method is designed to maximize the efficacy of cultivating ambient essence - i.e, it's meant to make the most of a type of cultivation that is inherently inferior. At BEST, I think his cultivation would be on-par with somebody who advanced with monster essence. It also seems incredibly finicky? Ra'thala mentions a 'celestial guide', which implies that he can't just shove essence into his core and advance, he actually needs to follow a particular allocation pattern as he advances - which is going to be a problem because nobody uses Ra'thala's cultivation method in MAL's Realm, so he'll have to work out his allocation pattern on his own from now-on. I think Ra'thala's cultivation style has a lot of potential for people who have no interest in delving, since it seems like it would allow them to remain on-par with delvers; that's HUGE for the future of the Empire, because most people probably don't want to delve for essence, and they'd be much happier cultivating ambient essence.
MikeL
Shadow is already perfect as a scout as she can never get lost in Chaotic Space. Too bad she would think it was boring.
King Nereus
The old ways were abandoned because they were less reliable, but what if that less reliable way actually produced more powerful cultivators? It would be an interesting twist, and I think hilarious if he’s somehow able to best these ascenders right now.
C_Mantis
Its also a known phenomenon in the Guilds.
T
Secretly going to the T45 planets out there to really get an edge up when the real war starts
Tommy
Can you imagine?! Pick up an ascender from a lower forking realm, and they have the ability to help the Empire expand! Other powers would go nuts
Shawn Treants
Loved the Heinlein reference. Or I took it that way lol. Glad you are back!!! Tftc!
Tsorov
@Jacob This! Also, we have learned that he is 20% stronger than a normal rank equivalent. But: we also know that all Elites in the Empire cultivate with higher tiered Essence, at least in the lower tiers. And Ascenders do that all the way trough to tier 25, now 26. And I think that cultivating with higher rank essence makes the core more compact, allowing more essence to be packed in at the next tier and in that way having an advantage over others. Another point is that, at least Matt, has all his cultivation in the Physical side, which makes him far stronger than normal people his rank too
Wandakin
Matt, Aster, Liz, Light, Shadow
Tsorov
Matt, Aster, Liz and Light and Shadow, just shortened
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
The lord of chaos
MAL, LS?
Jacob
No way. He's going to get his butt kicked. He has very little experience fighting people at his level while MAL have killed tens of thousands.
King Nereus
A guy can dream.
Jeff Wells
I don't think so. While he gets a big boost from ascending, his skills and cultivation method are inferior to begin with. Also bear in mind that, at least in this Realm, ascending to the next realm is much more common than what MAL & LS have achieved. They are a cut above those who are already a cut above. I do think he will be on par with them. He is the definition of Ascender material.
King Nereus
We will very likely learn his talent soon, there is just a lot to tease here so why not milk it a bit?
David
Yes, thanks for the correction. Idk why I said T26. They tiered up at the end of the war.
Adamas Shield
Yeah the ascender will ok^^. And so many data for the empire :D
Alex
Literally everything gets upgraded by an Ascension - the body, the spirit, the cores, Skills, Talents, Domains, Natural Treasures, Growth Items (if they're a high enough Tier to actually survive the Ascension), all of it.
AirSak2000
Just as a refresher, when ascending realms, is it just talents that get upgraded or do domains and anything else get a boost?
Tom
Probably something insane like: Anyone you like is now completely invulnerable to all harm
Kain
Well it seems like cultivation is the same in all realms there are just different methods that have slightly different results. The uncompressed ambient essence cultivation of the ascenders home realm isn’t unheard of in this realm it was just discarded in favor of other methods by the reigning factions with no one propagating it it fell to obscurity.
King Nereus
Are we about to find out the baller Empire ascenders are weak little babies compared to this guy? Once he beats Allie, they go at it five on one and he still kicks their asses? That would be super funny.
tem
So cultivators from other realms do get Talents? It's a consistent mechanic in all cultivation systems? Also why didn't we get Ra'thala's Talent read out? It'd be nice to have character exposition too.
Jason Hatter
Of course he's eager to fight. Definitely Ascender material.
Alex
@JB424222 yes, that’s how cultivators in Ra’thala’s Realm were ‘supposed’ to awaken according to cultural standards — although Ra’thala (and probably the supermajority of cultivators) actually awakened with monster essence.
JB424222
Is it possible to awaken with an inspiration then?
SunStar
It should be noted, they're T26. Progress was made.
C_Mantis
Their investment in a dockyard.
Blake N.
Based on what evidence lol?
Blake N.
From what I understood there was cultivation of ambient essence going on right? So it’s not purely inspirations causing the tier ups in the lower realm
eloi Boco
Ayyyyyye your back
Alex
Speaking of Tiering up, I can't wait to see what Melinda's T25 is.
C_Mantis
mostly cause thats too much of a time skip. They will advance more this book but t25 to t35 usually takes with just pure self delving 10k+ years. I dont want to skip that much cool stuff
Nathaniel Ownbey
Nope I think he has a thing for fox ears
RedLeaf
Excellent chapter! It'll be *very* interesting what the ripples from Ra'thala's presence and/or knowledge cause.
David
No time skip.... I was hoping MAL would be T35. Why wait around at T25
nolan saylor
Thanks Mantis! Hope it was a pleasant break. Thanks Dae! I still stand by T0 realms if only as there needs to be a beginning, unless it is more akin to the Big Bang and everything started at one point and is moving further ways from that point. All the realms ascending upwards. Or how does a T25 realm form, from nothing? Not merely an ascender, but possibly a realm now connecting to this Realm?! Is that solely connected to this spot or will other GPs begin to get ascenders. Will this give rise to greater interactions among GPs? Maybe Ascenders window shopping on who to join, if they have to join, and searching for loved ones elsewhere? Oof, guy was lucky he didn't land in the Federation. Both for how they act and the fact they should hopefully be excised as a faction soon. I really am happy Mantis showed other styles of cultivation. More so that it isn't wholly worse than the norm. Oh, maybe I'm getting an answer on how a Realm may start. A realm so young they don't have anyone who has cleared a rift. It would explain some of their choices. Maybe creating your own skills is an honor, but its origin was a necessity. Well, still a necessity. Running rifts is an option for hastening planets. It is even a known one. Matt mentioning Ra'thala being intelligent just makes me picture a T25 caveman ascender. With brains of the trope. I do like the idea that they have a base, unrefined form. Finally Matt can understand the insults of the Sect's calling his skills simple. Both Ra'thal and the others are talking about a house, but the house Ra'thal's is referring to is many sticks bound together, the Empire Ascenders are referring to a modern house built to OSHA standards. -Nope, it is maybe more akin to the founding computers. Maybe more akin to Frankenstein making a massive man as it is easier to see and affect things. Why adults have computers with larger keyboards than kids. -Are people in the T25 realm forced to have fewer skills? Growth skills?!! Not merely using upgrade orbs but full on growing skills. It's cool to see Matt's joy at another way of helping weaker and poorer people have skills. I wonder how long it normally takes to make a skill, is it Path relevant. Another fun option with Ra'thal's cultivation. People forced to cultivate ambient essence are not necessarily crippled. Though I am curious what boon did his Inspiration give him. -Learning what boon his Ascension gave him would be nice as well but we know the basics of ascension boosts, an inspiration that doesn't seem to have focused on impacting essence is new and more interesting. -So not a perfect option. -Would it work if a person ate planetary cores to advance? Is it only comparable if the ambient essence is also of the same tier? -For both Methods; with enough time, say you're immortal or something, would you be able to advance to T50 with a good foundation utilizing your own essence? Huh, so sky bridges are already known. Just induced and reinforced. Ra'thal is gonna fit right in. All the people in the discord who wanted some action after so long, here ya go!
William Johnson
Welcome back, I hope the break was great! I'm looking forward to the spar, his skill use should be really neat since he has so few and so specialized. Man the Clans would go nuts for this guy!
C_Mantis
I will only note that Hastor didnt awaken with an inspiration but he did advance only with them.
M van Dongen
Ooraah.
Sean Elliott
Omg, I'm actually loving this
Jayson Legott
Ohh man can’t wait I’ll Friday!
Alex
I just assumed that different cultivation methods were just varying degrees of good, not actually fundamentally different. I think it's safe to say that the "right" way to cultivate is with inspirations - if that assumption is correct then it brings an important point to mind. Hastor. The man only EVER cultivated with inspirations - he awakened with an inspiration, and went all the way to Tier 51 exclusively with inspirations. I thought that just meant that his cultivation was "perfect", but what if his cultivation was something beyond perfect? If Ra'thala's method of cultivation is its own fundamentally different thing than MAL's method, then I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the "only ever cultivating with inspirations" method may be fundamentally different than cultivating with monster essence. It just makes you wonder what kind of fucking monster Hastor was. It's a shame we didn't get to see the guy in action.
MikeL
Yes, next chapter. FIGHT! fight! FIGHT!
Darune Albane
“And what better way to make friends than to try and kill each other?” .. talking through punching
Discordian23
Raise your hands, put them paws up, Stop all this talking. Allie might be a crashout
A Flashy BR
This chapter was great!!
Tommy
TFTC! Glad ur back! 🥳
JoshCalmick
Glad you're back! Loved the chapter
T
Uhh the skybridge might be the most valuable thing he knows if the distance between the two planets is big enough it might allow for secret expansion of the empire
Leander
I have a feeling the he will end up as Allies husband
James Skinner
TFTC!
John Smith
Welcome back, and this chapter and world building is fantastic
A Flashy BR
Tyftc !! Glad you are back
Jonathan Berman
Hope you had a good trip!
Mp2
Wooh!! Back baby
