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Chapter 337
🕑 Added 2024-06-14 18:59:01 +0000 UTCChapter 337
Matt tiredly flew over to where Liz and Aster were floating with the rest of Team Zero.
Joy was still flying back to the battlefield, but Darrow was already giving post battle organizational orders. Part of Matt noticed how even those officially surrendered to the other side were staying with their own sides. What was more interesting was how the Great Powers who were just fighting side by side split into three distinct camps while they all waited.
With Tier 50s doing the negotiations, things could be over in seconds. Their perception rates were so fast that exhaustive debates would happen before Matt even reconvened with his teammates. Still, none of that changed the fact that they were all still human, and key points in the treaties could stall for long periods if no consensus could be reached.
Matt wouldn’t be surprised if the treaty took an hour or two.
He wasn’t going to spend that time idling though, and he forced his tired mind into action.
He finally let himself take a moment to feel Morgan's loss. Another team member, another friend, had fallen in the last battle. Matt wanted to rage at the unfairness, but he was too drained emotionally to do more than glare at where the last remaining rune soldier stood with the Federation cultivators.
Instead, he forced himself to muster some congratulations for Liz. As much as he wanted to pass out, erupt at Morgan's death so close to the finish line, and be happy that the rest of them had made it through alive, Liz had made an amazing accomplishment, and he didn’t want to ruin that moment for her.
Not that it was hard.
She looked radiant.
Literally.
His wife was glowing, even if only softly.
A bird Liz flapped her way over to him and bounced into his chest, silently squawking and looking for attention.
After she got a perch on his left arm, she started to show off her new form, striking a few poses to let Matt better inspect her.
“Aren’t I pretty?” There was a smile in the message’s tone, but it was obviously forced.
Still, Matt appreciated the effort and he wouldn’t rebuff it. “Gorgeous. Now we are matching blondes. Kinda, at least.”
It was true in the same way that yellow was similar to gold. Matt’s hair, while somewhat changed by his Tier ups, was still at its core his baseline mortal blond. Liz, meanwhile, looked very nearly like a golden statue of a phoenix. She was a medium-sized raptor with almost scaly-smooth feathers, burning with a golden substance the texture of liquid fire. Underneath that, he could tell that her feathers had become more golden and orange than the previous red, and her body had lost a bit of bulk in favor of being slightly lighter and more maneuverable. She’d probably be adjusting to the new form for a while, but she already looked spectacular.
Once he reached human Liz and Aster, they pulled each other into a three-way hug.
They held each other for a long minute until Aster sighed and pulled away. “Ugh, the other side keeps asking for everyone in my spiritual space, and messages are growing annoying.”
Flying off to the side, she made a gesture, causing ice and wind to appear out of nowhere. Without dozens of layered spatial locks, her spiritual space expanded almost instantly and rectangles of ice started appearing in neat rows.
Over a dozen elites Aster had recently captured appeared and were whisked away. It was at least quiet until Gan Le appeared, shivering with his hands stuffed into his armpits.
After glaring at Aster, who responded by sticking her tongue out at him, he flew away to join the other Sect members.
Through their private chat, she softly laughed, “He was sure I was lying about the war being over and was trying to trick him into something.”
Matt almost worked up a chuckle at the mental image.
Fifteen minutes later, a message went out to everyone all at once. The war was over.
Terms had been agreed upon.
As an Ascender, he had access to high level information, but Matt didn’t even really need it. The peace deal wasn’t classified in the slightest. If he was reading the transmission receipts right, even the civilian populations had gotten the message.
Seeing the first line, Matt sighed.
The Empire had lost.
He had expected it, but he had hoped their efforts and Aiden’s would be enough to push things the other way.
The feeling that they had failed vanished the moment he dug further into the actual peace deal.
Inside was a breakdown of the warscore earned on both sides, and it was simple to filter by contribution. Team Zero as a unit had the largest war score, with only Aiden even close to their scores.
Almost one fifth of the Empire's total war score had been earned by them, with another seventh earned by Aiden.
Together, they had earned one third of the Empire's war score through their efforts.
Digging into the peace deal, Matt felt like he understood what had happened. The Emperor had traded a majority of their warscore to keep all occupied planets under Empire control, and even traded for a number of planets from the enemy Great Powers.
In return, the Empire would limit expansion, put some undisclosed restrictions on The Path, and a number of resources changed hands.
That was it.
Matt nearly laughed at the peace deal.
They might have lost on paper, but they had undoubtedly gotten what they wanted out of the war. Seven thousand years of peace with three of their greatest enemies in the Realm.
He almost choked while reading the section that talked about buyouts.
Allie and Zack had each been bought out of future wars. He wasn’t privy to everything they’d be getting, but he was sure he’d be able to ask, and what he did see was staggering enough. They’d need to agree, but he couldn’t imagine them ever declining a heap of treasure that surpassed what they’d gotten for completing the Path.
What really surprised him was that Aiden earned an even larger payout, but what prompted that wasn’t mentioned. Still, with this new information, it was obvious that he had won his fight with the armada.
They had fought and bled for the war, and while they had technically lost, the Ascender’s efforts still made all the difference. Before he could keep reading, a pulse of shadow appeared next to Synoid and Crastor.
Matt didn’t need his [AI]’s screeching warnings echoed in Darrow’s remaining mind-link to recognize Jai Sien when he saw her.
It was fruitless, but he readied himself for a fight. Yet she didn’t even look at them.
Instead, she fussed over the twins, patting their wounds. She didn’t even attempt to hide her words, so Matt and everyone else got a front row seat to the Jai family show.
“Oh, you two did so well! My little boys are all grown up.”
She licked her thumb and rubbed a bit of blood off Synoid’s face in a motherly gesture. He tried to squirm away, but it was futile, as his own shadow wrapped his upper body and held him perfectly still.
“Come now, don’t pull away from Mommy.”
Crastor chuckled at his twin's fate, but that proved to be a mistake as Jai Sien finished up with Synoid and turned her attention to him. He tried to flee, but it was just as futile as his twin's attempt, and he was inspected for any wounds before being let go.
Aster elbowed him, though he barely felt it. “Relax, Matt. The fight is over.”
She was right, so Matt made a mental effort to unclench and watch the show.
Through it all, all Matt could think about was if Mara and Leon were in the wings ready to do the same to Liz, and just how long Jai Sien had been watching them.
The first thought was amusing, but the second was dangerous. He almost never left his armor and its anti divination wards, but Matt was still worried about her seeing through their lie about mana stones and realizing his true Talent.
As if sensing his thoughts, Jai Sien turned to them and waved. “It is most excellent to greet you in person, though I cannot stay overlong. I have bets to collect on, and the others are being most unkind in their actions, ignoring my clone. Proper introductions, therefore, must wait until Lila inducts you properly. Fare thee well!”
With that, the woman’s form shifted and roiled alongside her children, coalescing into an unnerving black horse made of smoke, and galloping into chaotic space. The relief in the air was palpable, but it only lasted for a moment before sheer presence slammed into him, shifting the world in its wake.
The power was overwhelming in a way that only really happened when he was dealing with the Emperor, but he still readied himself for battle once again, only relaxing when all of Team Zero appeared in Camp Lightfoot.
The moment he realized where they were, Matt activated his armor’s release and let it fall away, hardly noticing the strips of flesh that stuck to the armor when he pulled away. His [Regeneration] took care of that damage in moments.
His good mood was once more quashed with the arrival of Morgan's personal assistant, Pace, who had arrived with a bottle of water and a rag to help Morgan clean up post battle.
Seeing her liege, boss, friend, and possibly lover laying dead tore a wailing shriek out of her. Dena seemed to have expected something like that, as she was immediately at Pace’s side, cradling the distraught woman even as she clung to Morgan’s body.
It was just as heartrending as Eric’s death, but before Matt could move, the trio were teleported to the hospital.
Less than an hour later, the funeral for Morgan was held. Like Eric’s, it was a quiet, somber, and most of all quick, affair.
Her ashes were given to a still shell shocked Pace, who hadn’t left Dena’s side.
Matt wouldn’t call himself friends with Pace, but he knew her fairly well. She doted on Morgan any time they were in the rift and would hover ready to take care of any of Morgan's needs. They had all tried to tempt her into joining them as an equal, but she always refused, insisting she was happy to just serve. Matt had never figured out if the two were romantically involved. Morgan only laughed or joked at the question when asked, and Matt had figured they hadn’t really figured things out yet themselves. None of that changed the fact that Pace had clearly taken true enjoyment out of helping Morgan.
Now Morgan was gone, and Pace was left picking up the pieces.
He shouldn’t have been surprised, but Dena never left Pace’s side and helped her through it all. It must have been all too familiar and raw for her, but Dena kept up a steady stream of reassurances and helped Pace through everything.
When Matt messaged her and asked if she needed or wanted help, she responded to everyone saying that Pace needed time, but she herself was fine and would spend a while making sure Pace pulled through.
Matt respected her decision, but did stop by to make sure she knew she could call on them should she need anything.
It took a visible effort on her part to accept that he actually meant it, and wasn’t making an empty offer, but she eventually thanked him and agreed she’d call upon them if she needed anything.
Orders came down and they were given two days of downtime, which they all took advantage of.
Matt and Liz slept for close to forty hours, and were only interrupted by a furious Allie kicking at their door.
“How could you guys end the war without me? I could have helped. I could have gotten you into the ship. I cou—”
She was still mostly see through, but there was at least a reasonable approximation of a woman there, unlike last time they had seen her as little more than hands and a stomach.
Matt rolled out of bed and helped a boneless Liz pour herself into a standing position before moving to open the door, where he saw Aster choking Allie.
“Sorry, she slipped her leash.”
Matt snorted a laugh. The long rest had done a lot to reset his feelings and emotions, so he didn’t even mind Allie’s antics.
“Nice to see you too. How has your recovery been?”
“Boring as shit without anyone else here to spend time with. I’m wasting away being trapped inside here.”
Liz slunk past, now with a sleepy bird Liz perched on her shoulder, who squawked at Allie and jabbed a wing at the teleporter.
It was the perfect distraction. “Ohh, I heard you completed the blood fire thing. Wow! Your feathers are so pretty. Can I have a pillow made out of them?”
Bird Liz smacked Allie with a wing but she seemed unbothered, instead shoving her face into Liz’s feathers.
“Oh yeah, I need a pillow made of these. They even smell good.”
Liz, clearly offended at the implication that she had smelled bad before, pecked Allie hard enough to draw blood.
“Ow, damn it! That hurt.”
Matt rolled his eyes and steered the teleporter to the kitchen island to distract her with breakfast.
He went all out, going so far as to make half a dozen courses before being forced into a seat by Liz, who wanted him to do more than snack.
Their little breakfast was interrupted by Aiden's arrival. Like themselves, he arrived by what must have been the Emperor teleporting him. They were all curious about the details of his battle and rushed over.
They were in the capital system, and word hadn’t even arrived to them yet. Allie couldn’t make the jump to the Citadel and get the news there, which left only speculation based on the war score.
Aiden looked almost as bad as Allie, with more than half of his body just gone, until Melinda came over to where he had been teleported in and slapped him with a healing spell that rebuilt his body.
After doing some dance moves around the motionless Zack, he laughed. “I’m the fucking best!”
Allie immediately shot him down. “Yeah right, shit for breath. I earned more war score than you, therefore I'm the best.”
Aiden blew bubbles at her. “That means nothing. I no longer need to hide it. I’m the best in the realm, therefore I’m the best.”
Suddenly Matt felt a pressure weighing down on him similar to the feeling he had when he first met Aiden back when he was only Tier 14, right before his wedding. It was fear and terror mixed like blood in the tide. Then the pressure fully unveiled itself like an umbrella unfolding.
Matt had felt Aspects, but this was a step beyond.
“I created the next step of one's Domain. I shall let you all bask in its presence as you try to name its magnificence.”
“It's called an Authority.” Aster's seemingly nonchalant comment deflated Aiden.
“Who told you!? They ruined my surprise.”
Liz snorted even as bird Liz screeched in laughter. “Luna. It was an early, early lesson, before we’d learned to not question all the trivia she insisted was of vital importance to learn. Because like, come on, nobody’s made one in how many millennia? She was very smug after we heard about Hastor’s ascension.”
“Fucking Hastor. This is the second time he's upstaged me.”
Matt was still genuinely shocked at the revelation that Aiden had his Authority, but he did his best to not let it show, and reached over to pat him on the shoulder. “It's ok. It's still super impressive. Wow, so cool!”
Aiden shoved his arm off, tears streaming down his face in two rivers. “You don’t have to pretend. It's not the same if you pretend.”
Allie cackled. “You hear that often, Aiden?”
Righting himself, Aiden snorted while wiggling his eyebrows. “As if. I got the motion of the ocean on my side.”
“So,” Liz assessed him, “Is this what you keep leaving out that makes everything impossible to understand when you try to teach people?”
“What? No. It’s not my fault you can’t keep up with me. That’s the epitome of what I can only describe as a skill issue. But because I know you’re just dying to find out, I call the new part a Place. It’s-”
“No!” The unifying cry came from nearly everyone present, and Aiden looked slightly taken aback.
“What?”
“None of us have determined so much as a singular piece of our Aspects,” Zack patiently explained, like Aiden was a toddler. It probably wasn’t unfair. “Healer Wellspring has yet to even finalize her Intent. Knowledge of the Authority will only serve to hamper our development at this stage.”
“Oh come on, you kids will be fine, I knew about Tru-”
Allie teleported Melinda to the other room.
“-ths when I was your age.”
“You had your Aspect at our age,” Liz pointed out, “Of course you knew about Truths.”
“Fine. When I was working on my Intent, then. I knew what it was.”
“If you’re going to be unhelpful, at least don’t be harmful,” Aster sighed as Melinda returned to the room. They’d started talking at full Tier 25 speeds when Aiden had nearly slipped up, so she probably hadn’t heard anything harmful, but it was still good discipline to be careful.
“We’ll be pushing for our Aspects soon enough, tell us all about what you’ve figured out then, when it can’t pollute our thoughts for how we want to build out our Aspects. Not that any of us are likely to actually build out our Authorities this Realm.”
“Though you have to admit,” Matt pointed out, “Getting the Ascension bonus on an extra Domain stage would be amazing.”
“Without substantial aid from the master, of course,” Aster smoothly finished. “But there will be plenty of time after we’re ready and don’t run a risk of making our Aspects to be even harder to form. Got it?”
“Fine, fine,” Aiden waved them off, then slowed himself to Tier 17 speeds, an example followed by the rest of the room.
Melinda blinked, “Sorry, what? Also, you said you’d developed the thing after an Aspect? The Tier 75 Domain stage? That’s really impressive. Congratulations.”
That seemed to be exactly what he was waiting for, as he dropped the effect and wiped a nose bleed away. “Thank you. A proper reaction. I can’t hold it for long though. I’m fucking tapped on willpower.” Elbowing Allie, he added, “I’m moving in with you in the willpower recovery unit.”
“Yeah fuckin’ right. It's my wing of the hospital. No leaky sinks allowed.”
“So kind of you, Allie. I appreciate the invite.” Before Allie could explode at him, he continued. “Not that we will be here long.”
“Oh?” Aster asked the question that was on the tip of Matt’s tongue.
“End of the war ceremony. In a month or so real time we, and everyone else who did exceptional in the war, will get pulled to whatever system Minkalla is in and be given rewards for how well we did. Considering there’s two of us getting bought out, all the Great Powers will be sending representatives. Wouldn’t be surprised if we get all the Tier 48s and 50s, and even a good chunk of the Tier 47s attending. It was pretty cool last time I got to go to one. More importantly, it’s a chance for you guys to meet the other Ascenders.”
That didn’t quite seem feasible, and Matt asked, “Seems dangerous to have everyone gathered like that, no?”
Aiden waved his concerns off. “The Tier 50s will show up in person with at least one Tier 48, with everyone else usually sending clones, so the actual combat power is a bit lower than one would expect. And with the Boss there, what can anyone do? Any action to kill us would start a seven on one beatdown. Considering we are being bought out, they obviously don't want that.”
Matt wasn’t entirely sure he agreed, but it seemed like this was a common occurrence, and he didn’t really have a choice then. Still, he would be staying as close to Emmanuel as possible doing the trip and using as little mana as possible.
With both of those precautions, there was almost no chance anyone would realize his mana generation. After all, if his mana was mostly full, he made no mana, which would fit with the profile of someone who relied on absorbing mana stones for mana.
Aiden demanded all the combatants of Team Camp Lightfoot get together to celebrate, and while it wasn’t quite as boisterous as some of their other celebrations, everyone was at least in a good mood. Eventually, everyone went their separate ways, still exhausted from the fighting.
Matt snuggled in closer to Liz, warping his body thanks to his Rubberfruit so that he half-engulfed his wife as they lay in bed together.
“Hmmm. You’re warm,” he teased. Since her transition to an ichor bloodline, and ichor blood, Liz’s core temperature had gone up quite a bit. She’d never been cold, but now cuddling her felt a bit like hugging a burning log, albeit not quite that hot. It also came with a faint tingly feeling, which Matt was still making up his mind on how it felt. “But could you turn down the lights a bit?”
The other main side effect of her ichor bloodline was that she now glowed a faint yellowish-gold light.
“Jerk,” she flicked his nose, but turned on her side to return his hug. “I’ll have to pick up some makeup soon. I do not want to be corralled into serving as a heating lamp for Allie or Luna until I can fix my appearance.”
“But you’re so radiant,” Matt pushed back, kissing her neck. “Why would you ever want to change?”
“I’m not sure if yellow is really my color.”
“Mmm. I like it, though. Very striking.”
She laughed, “You always think I look striking.”
“Well, that’s because you do. Especially when your blood finally looks on the outside the way it’s always been on the inside, my double princess.”
“Oh, you’ll pay for that one,” she snapped at his ear, then rolled on top of him, pinning him to the bed. She playfully glared at him for a moment, kissed the tip of his nose, then collapsed on him in an embrace. “Long day today.”
“No kidding,” he agreed, returning the hug and tracing the outline of her shoulder blade. “It’s hard to believe it’s all over. It feels… good?”
“Good question mark, or just definitely good?”
“Well, we lost. But Emmanuel seems happy with how it turned out?” They’d gotten a brief message from the Emperor during their celebrations confirming that he was quite ecstatic with how it had all gone in the end. “And I suppose I can’t really argue with peace. We won, in that way at least.”
“Seven thousand years of peace will bring us to almost a third of the way through Uncle Manny’s reign. It’ll give plenty of time for a new group of elites to come to power, for him to have and raise his kid, and for us to build out our family if we so chose.”
“Oh? So soon?” Matt wasn’t against the idea of having children but the idea seemed… distant. They had spent so much time fighting and progressing for a dozen reasons that children were both improbable and ill timed. But now? But now there was truly time for it, if they so choose.
Liz glanced off to the side staring at nothing and everything. “Maybe. It's not like we need to decide any time soon. My main point is, you’ll be able to build out your guild without having to worry about being called to defend the Empire at a moment’s notice, we can find our footing ruling our duchy, and properly consolidate all of our power. My blood type just changed. Actually, that’s an understatement. My blood’s state of matter just changed. I have so much to learn about what I can do now, yeah I could use a few decades to settle into our new normal, figure out if I want to go back to my old appearance, maybe try something new... Peace is exactly what we need.”
“But seven hundred decades?”
“Hey, that’s seven hundred decades where you can work on getting stronger. Seven hundred decades where there will be no Ventillyrias. Seven hundred decades where we don’t need to look over our shoulder for the next disaster.” At Matt’s snort, Liz corrected herself. “Or at least look over our shoulders any more than normal.”
When she put it that way, Matt couldn’t help but agree. He did need to get stronger, to grow in Tier, and he could help the Empire with his mana without needing to be chronically fighting. It wasn’t like he wasn’t protecting the Empire, he had protected the Empire. Even if Aiden and Allie were getting most of the spotlight, he’d done his part… or at least he tried to tell himself that. And the parts of him that disagreed he shoved into a corner, and did his best to ignore. It was inevitable that there would be another war in time, a true war at that. And every scrap of peace they could squeeze in before that was all for the better.
Seven thousand years was just a long time. He’d honestly lost track of how old he was exactly, though the answer would be just a quick query away on his AI if he cared to find out. Between time in the rift and in the war, he understood why immortals stopped bothering to keep track. But no matter how he counted it, seven thousand years was more than twenty times his current age, and that thought was daunting.
He rolled over, turning Liz on her back and now pinning her to the bed, their faces mere inches from one another. He gazed into her golden eyes, seeing as the color flickered and pulsed like an electric flame. As he watched, her content adoration took on a distinctly more predatory look, as though the phoenix underneath was peeking through.
She smiled, “That’s enough about the future for now. My body changed a lot today, and I’d like some help getting used to it.”
Matt winked, “Hmmmm. You know, I do think that I noticed your legs seem a bit longer, it’s definitely worth looking at.”
Grabbing the appendage, he started running his hands over it. “Yes. I can see. I can see so many interesting things. Let's start with your calf.”
***
As though they were trying to drive home the degree to which the war was truly over, Camp Lightfoot started being dismantled the very next day. The first to go were a lot of the lower-level personnel. Those who weren’t just the families of more critical individuals were still quite skilled in their own right, and with Project Breach reaching its conclusion, they were being either reassigned or allowed to go on indefinite leave and return to their civilian lives. Plenty had happened in the millennia that had passed on the inside of the rift, but they were all quite eager to get back outside.
For the service they would earn a number of things, from preferential treatment when entering imperially owned rifts to merits that could be exchanged for rare resources. These resources included essence stones, skills, natural treasures, higher Tier upgrade orbs, or really anything else that was buy-able.
And even if it took a little while for the stock to recover the items they wanted, they were immortal, and would eventually get their desired rewards. It would take Matt some time to get used to life without the urgency and pressure of the Path or a war, and he was looking forward to the process.
Then, the buildings themselves started going away, and that was… weird. They certainly hadn’t looked temporary during the decades he’d spent in them. But now, they were all being carted away one section at a time, and Matt was suddenly faced with the fact that his home was coming apart right before his eyes.
Matt had felt restless, and helped in packing some of the science gear up with Erwin and his team. He then helped other research groups so he was able to hear all about the things they were excited for. What made him feel even better was the knowledge that he would be appreciably contributing to those rewards.
Emmanuel had already messaged him and asked if Matt was willing to increase his production of mana stones for the next few years to a trillion mana a day. That would mean Matt needed to spend close to six hours a day making mana stones, but he was more than willing to do so. In fact, he went as far as making mana for double that a day. He had gotten good enough over the years to create mana while doing other tasks, so long as the task wasn’t too complicated. With his ring to dump the mana stones into, he was happy to help the Empire start the post war recovery process.
For all the good things on his personal horizon, he wasn’t blind to the broader picture, and had heard about the mana shortages that had been only growing worse as the war drug on. Almost four percent of the buildings on the capital had to be shut down due to lack of mana, and all the heavily populated capitals had been suffering similar fates.
A few trillion mana wasn’t going to immediately change the situation, but it would help stem the bleeding. Now that the war was over, Matt was sure part of their orders would be to reach Tier 35 as fast as possible, which would turn his mana generation from 42 million a second to 43 billion a second.
The difference would be astounding. In the same six hour period, he would go from making one trillion mana to one quadrillion mana.
That would make a significant difference to even a capital planet's mana deficit.
Matt was looking forward to it. Fighting in the war had been necessary, but it came at a cost. While his mana would undoubtedly cause a war in and of itself, it was a pure benefit to the realm. It would make things better for those who struggled and for those who simply did their best in the system they found themselves in, like those who volunteered to assist in the wars.
More than anything, Matt was happy the Emperor had put them back inside the rift with its eight times time dilation. Having close to eight months to decompress helped him prepare himself for the upcoming awards ceremony. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of being so close to the most powerful people in the realm, but like Aiden had said more than once, the Emperor would protect him.
It was just one more thing to get through before the war was truly over, and they could officially leave active duty. Matt really wanted to delve into his guild in the decade or two before they would officially be given their duchies to rule. He was looking forward to being a ruler, hopefully a good ruler, with how many things he had considered throughout the years. While there were Imperial laws he couldn’t change, he had his own ideas, and hoped at least a few would pass testing phases and actually make things better for those he ruled.
Ideas and plans.
He had too many of both.
He at least secured Erwin’s agreement to join his guild as soon as it was officially formed. Zack even made some noises about being interested in joining as some sort of freelancer. Matt had made it clear that he was willing to fund any tests that Zack wanted to do whether or not he joined the guild, but the other Ascender seemed a bit adrift with being bought out of the war Tiers so soon after his entrance to the wars. Matt suspected he and Allie would end up just traveling the Empire, but he also suspected they would be doing it separately.
Both of them needed some time to reframe their worlds after so much change in a short amount of time.
But before he knew it, it was time to go to the ceremony.
Comments
nolan saylor
The last rune soldier... so likely means that they will all be reborn. They are truly annoying. So close to finishing them off. -I know what they remind me of, they are like the 'Abyssal Feeders' from 'Claymore'. They keep regrowing if one is alive. They aren't really super strong but their ability to keep learning from death makes them eventually strong even if not peak. They even are built by an evil organization, using the power of a being much stronger than themselves. Lol, now Matt is gonna have a thing for blondes! She really does sound cool though. -Matt needs to let his white hole seep into his hair, going the glowing anime look. Less Dragon Ball and more 'D' from the 'Magician' manga. Liz is a phoenix 2.0 A phoenix who ties together the rebirth/life and the fire parts of their bloodline even more closely. So, won the battle, lost the war.... but won the peace deal? Immortal family relationships are weird. They are making it into the group chat! Poor Pace. Their arrival to an empty place forces T0 and the readers to process the actual death, and it sucks more than when we actually read they died. I like that more than an offer, it is reaffirmed. Support is great. Golden Fleece is out (though I still want a bloodline of that), golden feathers are in. Yeah, poor Aiden. I don't know who created their Authority first, but Hastor definitely upstaged DW. Oof, Aiden is just getting slammed, and in his moment of triumph. Melinda can even heal DW's ego, her overhealth really is impressive. Matt Alexander, super snuggler. Double princess callback. I'd say it's a cute pet name, but pet name may give the wrong connotation for a beast. Oooh. Matt and Liz may have a kid! Possibly one with a bigger chip on their shoulder than Double Princess Liz? -I do worry how a kid would go. Main characters having kids can be hard to write well. Some alter the feel of the story entirely and others just feel like the author has no clue how to build a character, particularly without the MC watching everything. This novel has been good with other PoVs, maybe it would be side chapters of them experiencing things MAL did at their age. And we see them in the main story once telling a toned down version of the dangerous adventure we just saw in the side chapter to MAL. 'I got a scratch but it was fine, flashback to them bleeding from a lost leg.' Maybe MAL has a minder on them, maybe not. I wonder if Hastor had kids. We didn't see a wife when he ascended, but that isn't quite required for kids. We may not have been told if there was a wife anyways. I'm just curious if he provided his own inspirations for any kids. I somehow didn't think her blood type would change. I guess I had thought it would be something like A+ ichor. Matt doesn't feel like the main character. Even a MC with a power so broken it is still hiding can feel down. Realistic. Oh Laa Laa. Matt took Luna's training and aced it. It would be weird to see your hometown packed up like a tent. I wonder if it is done for saving the high tier materials or to not accidentally provide too much material for the rift and cause a rift break. A shut down on buildings makes sense but reads weird. Maybe Matt would make a good Emperor. He does care and wants to see the Realm advance. He seems similar to Manny, more than them both being flexible in their Talents. If Matt is the next emperor, or otherwise able to be T50 due to his Talent, Manny would also be able to copy his T50 before he Ascends. -Bonus as Aster could be his Royal. Though she wouldn't make a bad Empress either, if Matt doesn't need that to be T50. He can then just stay with his guild. I wonder what fellow rulers we'll see. Would be funny to have Sara, Albert, and Juni visit. A change in place of who is the boss. Sara has at least been working on being a better ruler. Would be some good comparisons. Zack and Allie planned for this since they were tweens. Now their goal barely happened and they had no time to prepare for what comes after. They are adrift. Being adrift sucks. Though at least they are adrift and rich. Ceremony time. Time for all the introductions.
Chris Porada
Bit of cheeky foreshadowing that Melinda’s intent domain and aspect could need help in the future, super healer, super death touch or both?
Alex
Still, none of that changed the fact that they were all still human, and key points in the treaties could stall for long periods if no consensus could be reached. Well, thats just objectively not true. They're all people, they're not all human. JRs a crow, Tobias is a tortoise, Aiofe is a dwarf :)
Cajun Terror
1 Matt and Liz should definitely have kids before the next war. 2 I hope Manny and Matt and Liz kids are friends Or 3 surprise twist and aster ends up with Manny's kid after a time skip and aster is the empress
Lacrimosa
Kinda surprised the emperor didn’t ask to buy 80yr rift time of mana stones from Matt to recover from the war.
Julie Smith
Thus ends the war. The Empire achieved all its goals, retained all its worlds, and gained many more besides. I can take that kind of 'loss'. The real laugh is that the other realms think they've achieved their goal of stopping the Empire from advancing--not knowing their real danger. The next war is Beast realm versus the Federation. Any bets? I expect a draw after a time. The Beast realm may gain some territory, but neither side will be able to conquer the other.
adam1
The thing is, the Empire is planning for a true war. A quick word to Zach and Allie to keep their skills sharp and stall at Tier 45 would be a quick way to keep them focused for the next 7,000 years.
adam1
No one is going to force Matt to ascend. They'll want him in the realm as long as possible. I am hoping he either becomes emperor, or is allowed to advance to Tier 50 to get his next Talent to aid his mana production before ascending. In fact, if he creates a series of Tier 49 and 50 rifts, I am betting there will be a general push to allow more people to tier up higher before ascending with some restrictions on them, maybe extreme cost to access, or an agreement that they can advance but must ascend right when they leave the rift or something similar.
ZillyChu
I have the same suspicion. I also wonder how JR's interest in Matt for his crafting ability plays a role in this.
Scott Lyon
Am i the only one who pictured Aidens dance around zack as bully maguire
Lidja
I think Manny mentioned if Aiden or Allie wanted something more he would have to make up the difference. This is why he left certain provisions as temporary (such as which planets in particular or whether or not Aiden would talk to JR about Authority).
Violet
@Jeff Wells - would you quote the text in question to me? My attempt to use ctrl-f to find it has failed me.
Coorsbie
Not in my head cannon 😁
Shaal
Oh my, yes this should happen!. The void cat would certainly do this.
Alex
Max (Cosmind) refused a buyout for a few Tiers because she thought people weren’t giving her the respect she was owed after she got captured by Lila. I’d assume the enemy Great Powers would just up the buyout price until the deal was too good to refuse. They might also start playing games that made it so the Ascender couldn’t really fight (i.e if their Great Power tried to declare a war to give them some action, the other GP’s would form an unbeatable coalition to force them to negotiate instead of fight).
John
Thanks
Spicyice101
Don’t think so, he didn’t get the ability until tier 25, and he immediately joined the war right after, and spent his downtime inside a rift. There probably wasn’t any time to experiment, as I doubt creating a rift inside a rift is possible.
Andrew K
Manny certainly doesn't *want* a true war. However, unless his recent viewpoints have been written misleadingly, he seems to view one as essentially inevitable and is consequently seeking to prepare all the advantages he can. Allies are certainly a part of that, but the overall relationship between the powers doesn't seem like it there's a plausible path to actually prevent the war that way. He would only be able to count on extremely solid allies when the time comes and would need a clear majority of power in the alliance to prevent the war, but just getting close to forming that kind of power block would likely just kick off a true war even sooner due to the other great powers regarding that strong of an alliance to be an existential threat in and of itself. The best that seems reasonable to me to hope for is getting maybe one more solid ally while maneuvering 2-3 other powers into situations where he at least has enough leverage to keep them neutral. He could then leverage the possibility of the neutrals getting opportunistic against either or both sides to keep the true war from spiralling too badly out of hand, and try to leverage superior preparation to win quickly. Then he could use the peace treaty negotiations as a platform to push for the actual result he wanted all along, but from a position of sufficient strength to let it actually have a decent chance of working.
Matt H
I guess my main concern is that the next war feels like it's going to be uninteresting (or exceedingly railroaded). It seems like we're going to get a sort of Mexican Standoff where none of the T50s can be proactive without then being stabbed in the back (because none of them really trust each other) and then the T48s and lower can never be proactive because the local T50 would just swoop in and kill them immediately. Obviously some sort of war is going to happen so the standoff will need to be broken somehow, but Mantis has made the tyranny of tiers so absolute at the upper end that if it's Manny who dies/gets injured/forced to ascend The Empire (and MLA) SHOULD immediately lose. But, if Manny survives, he can be an absolute shield for The Empire between Hastor's, Allie's, and Matt's talents. About the only solution I can imagine is if the standoff between the T50s lasts at least thousands if not tens of thousands of years in real time to allow for multiple people to reach T49 at minimum, but T50 more realistically, once Matt and Manny start creating and charging high tier rifts.
ShivaMcTimber
What happens if an Ascender like Allie or Aiden refuses the deal? Has it happened before with significant game changers like them? Hammer out another deal?
Alex
I know that Matt is blonde with green eyes, but for some reason I always picture him as Guts from Berserk.
ShivaMcTimber
Manny doesn't want that outcome. I think his canny nature will plan more for forcing the GP's to accept that he is willing to share in the wealth that Matt's powers bring. He called this out already, with the big roadblock being their mistrust/hatred of him and the Empire. This is Manny's real challenge. We know he is going to clue in Allistair of the guilds, I think they will begin to lay these plans together, maybe include the Corporation too at some point.
ShivaMcTimber
Basically, it would join Warhammer 40k as the last fantasy/sci fi universe you would want to be in.
ShivaMcTimber
Hahaha Allie: "Here I go killing again!"
ShivaMcTimber
Yeah, maybe Pace and Dena will make a team and do stuff together. I kinda would like to see them connect with Luna somehow, become part of her training gang. I hope Luna does not retire again.
ShivaMcTimber
That would be the logical point. Matt's higher level rifts may change the typical ascension tier though. This assumes Matt is not forced to ascend in a deal.
ShivaMcTimber
Only applies to these organized wars. Lots of opportunities for progression exist: rifts are the obvious one. Think of what Liz's brother does - they explore uncharted space and worlds; Zack and Allie would be particularly perfect for that too.
ShivaMcTimber
Yep, what the other posters have said - Aiden even mentions two Ascenders being bought out (him and Zack & Allie). MLA are on the radar but, while remarkable, are still considered normal vs Allie's broken teleport. Of course, all this is because they don't know the truth about Matt, similarly to how they had no real clue about Allie's true capabilities. There will be no buyouts for Matt once the truth emerges as it is a paradigm shift for the realms
Alex
I suspect that JR knows about Matt’s Talent; he refused to let the Corporations join the war as it would be too costly for them (even though the Empire doesn’t seem to have bought the Corpies out of the war) and he advocated to have MAL sort of half bought out so they could advance faster. In the Minkalla chronicles on the folded reflections floor there’s a corporations delver (William I believe?) who notices that Quill’s reflection is using an impossible amount of mana too. While the evidence is pretty thin I don’t think it’s out of the question that the Corporations suspect there’s something funny going on with Matt’s mana. I could see that becoming an issue down the line, although if I’m right it seems that the Corporations are trying to set themselves up for an alliance with the mana fountain (playing nice with the Empire so as to not sour future relations with Matt, and trying to get him to advance faster so that he can start changing the Realm earlier).
Kain
Some of them will survive sure, treaties and alliances will be made and hopefully broken gotta have a little lying going on, but honestly I don’t see Virgil making it out alive or her GP intact nobody likes the feddies
Kain
Same I think I’ve learned this multiple times but his name is Matt and for some reason Matt’s are always brunettes in my mind.
Andrew K
Given Manny is a clearly solid schemer, I've been thinking for a while that the final lead-up to the true war could involve a carefully choreographed major "rebellion" that provides cover for getting into a ideal starting posture. This could look very plausible with the right preparation (e.g. a very public "falling out" with Mara and Leon over some excessive antic, MLA publicly side with them due to family ties, centuries of apparently mounting tension afterwards), and playing it right could actually allow a fair bit of political cover for some illegal preliminary tier ups that the other great powers might actually support in the short term (under the impression the whole situation would spiral into a hot civil war that would take the empire down a peg or two no matter who wins) and full military mobilization as the situation seems to be approaching an actual civil war. (Having a planet Matt has been secretly tiering up appear at just the right time would probably help if he can do it fast enough.) Then they arrange a "leak" of Matt's talent in a manner that makes the enemy powers think they need to go to war immediately and the attackers rapidly find the empire to be much more united than they thought. . .
James Harrison
I think we are all misunderstanding how Tier 50s would function in a True War. Its likely that even a true war will end with peace treaties or non-agression pacts at least afterwards. So isn't it far more valuable to kill another GP's Tier 50 and let them devolve into infighting because none of the GP's are really able to get someone to Tier 50 without massive amounts of resources invested. Its like, in a war, targetting the economy and infrastructure are far more liable to cause the destruction of a major faction than the elimination of higher level combatants.
James Harrison
Matt: "What is my purpose?" Aiden: "You pass the Mana."
C_Mantis
He didnt have the talent at the time and he cant create a rift in a rift so not yet. But thats def going to be one of their tests. Keep the idea in mind because I'm going to poll good rift making ideas at the end of the arc.
James Harrison
@Jeff Wells. I've been re-reading PoA and just got past the Genesis Floor floor challenge/reward. From what I read, Matt succeeded in making a Pure Aura rift, where you get raw aura that can be used to assist ANY concept creation. As for Liz, I'm pretty sure she made Ichor Blood, but that wasn't confirmed. She only said she made or felt like her blood could become MORE than what it was. So it seems like she managed it finally. Matt will likely need to get very good at enchanting and probably get to Tier 30 or so to do the pure aura rift from what I remember of his Genesis Cultivation trial.
C_Mantis
The story ends when they ascend. We will have time skips but there is a lot of stuff between here and the True war. Worry not. Lots of cool arcs planned. That said we are probably over the halfway mark of the planned arcs. So like two more year of content left.
James Harrison
I really wanna see Luna drop a whole notebook on Manny's head about how to negotiate better lmao. Just for his reaction
Blake N.
To be fair, fighting in rifts is still going to be a major part of their lives so being warriors doesn’t go entirely away
Jeff Wells
We've got lots of content to go through before a skip to the next war, at least another books worth. Now it's the time for character development in directions other than raw combat power. For example, Matt can now develop his enchanting and talisman skills dirge, and Liz her alchemy. They'll be able to explore interesting new rifts like they hadn't really been able to when they were rushing to finish the Path. They've got Guilds and businesses to build, and plants to run. Pleeeeanty to look forward to before the True War needs to happen.
Jeff Wells
Matt mentions the promise to not hold them at tier, that's the soft buyout. He just didn't go into everything they get from it, because we already basically know that (and we'll probably get more specifics next chapter).
Jeff Wells
Adam has it right. The Empire didn't have 6 active ascenders this war, they had 3. The reason this war happened, however, is because 3 true ascenders at one time is a LOT. The Republic, Sects, and Federation combined only had 1 true ascender 3 quasi-ascenders (ascender-level powers without the true attainment of an ascender). And Aiden is such an overpowering ascender he beat their true ascender and 2 quasi ascenders by himself, with a 3 tier deficit.
Jeff Wells
Virgil already has one fresh declaration of war on her hands. Violating the peace agreement to kill ascenders she didn't even think were worth buying out? That would likely result in at least 2 more war declarations (Empire and Guild), and possibly even more, like the Republic and Corporation. If she's that stupid, that might be poor enough writing that I'd drop the series immediately. Mantis has proved himself to be a much better writer than that though, so I'm not worried. There's plenty of other avenues for good content that he doesn't need to do something dumb like that.
Matt H
@Violet Yes, there is. MLA can't even become T47 without the other T50s knowing about it due to their connection to the realm. If they all become T47 in violation of existing rules that's a sufficient casus belli for all the other Great Powers to declare on The Empire even if the secret about Matt hasn't been revealed yet. The only way MLA could become higher than T46 before the True War starts is if they all become Royals. However, that would require Manny to force/request three of his existing royals to Ascend so that's not much of a benefit.
Tommy
@owen kaz, I think I remember asking this question on discord ages ago - the series will end when they ascend. Unless I am misremembering this is what I was told!
adam1
Matt won't be rushed up, but he knows he needs to Tier up, and Manny struck the deal that he wouldn't hold MLA at Tier 35 to have a top set of Ascenders for after the truce.
adam1
Actually, it seems like the chances of a Tier 49 killing a Tier 50 are about as good as a person developing their Authority. When it happens its the exception that proves the rule. Also, just because Tier 48's can't beat a Tier 50, they should still be able to defend themselves long enough to Ascend and escape that way. It seems like you need to have at least 10 tiers over a person before you completely eclipse them in terms of speed and spiritual development. I think the major calculus in all combat over Tier 45 is how you prevent the person you're fighting from having time to Ascend if things go south.
Violet
I think you can turn off your 'one last mission before retirement' senses here. Not to say Virgil might not try some bullshit, but the other great powers know that blood is in the water. If Virgil fucks up, the Federation is over.
Violet
We've gotten direct evidence of a T49 killing a T50 once. As far as I can tell, it is implied that it has happened before. By Tier 48, Matt will have enough mana generation that his experiments in Minkalla with the direct creation of Essence become a relevant factor. That being said, there's no reason to assume MLA won't all be at peak 48 by the time a true war kicks off. Tier 49 rifts are within his ability to create.
SunStar
While strong and ultimately far more valuable, as revealed to the other GPs, MAL are fairly normal ascenders.
SunStar
It's likely that the breakdown in rules will come in stages. The T50s fighting will likely be the end of the war. Virgil comes for Matt, she gets a T51 sword in her skull for her troubles as the war blows up into its final stage.
Violet
Well, the Federation may well find itself hard-pressed to continue functioning, which could cause major fallout. There's also intra-Empire politics to keep in mind. The Empire is still very much in a subsumed conflict between reformists and reactionaries. The Emperor appears weak (he bet The Farm and 'lost'!), and you'd best believe his political enemies are going to try to take advantage of that. Matt's guild is going to make its own list of enemies by threatening the rents currently extracted by preexisting guilds. There's also just the old-fashioned training arcs that need to be done (now with additional mad science). We've already had the quest for Aspects directly presented to us in this chapter, and my conspiracy theory bingo card currently has a spot for 'Minkalla is more than we thought' after this chapter. Then we've got a bunch of lines of flight lying around that could turn up in the interim. 'WTF is up with that rift dragon?', for example. 'Huh, funny that that professional dueling scene keeps showing up in the background~', for another. 'What did Matt make in Minkalla and can he reproduce it now' for a third. There's plenty of hanging plot-hooks lying around.
J
@Owen Kaz, I'm pretty sure I've seen Mantis say he intends to end the book when they ascend. I couldn't link you a source though; it was quite a while ago and I could be remembering incorrectly.
NOpe Nope
Why do i get the feeling of death flags: looking forward to peace, to all the things they will do together ... Maybe even children? Okay maybe not death flag, but maybe captured or something.
Kevin DD
Will the 7,000 years of peace last? I can't see it happening. Will Matt be rushed up through the Tiers?
James Faulkner
Tftc!
J W Walters
Long Zhuyian is totally gonna notice some tiny little detail about Matt and put his clones into figuring it out I'd say. Or the Emperor will scan Long's Talents, and notice that Long will be able to figure things out much quicker than they anticipated.
Matt H
A T49 has killed a T50 ONCE. That's it. And there aren't T49s ready and waiting to fight. There are 16 total T48s in the entire realm and we know that Mara and Leon are both at the very beginning of T48 because they don't want to advance with lesser essence. And even if they did start to advance again there's still the issue of there not being enough high tier rifts, not enough mana to run those rifts on the instance cooldown, and those rifts taking a LONG time to complete even accounting for the time dilation. If the gloves truly come off none of the Great Powers will be able to afford having their T47s, T48s, and T50 spend decades or centuries of real time in rifts.
Violet
Zack and Allie are treated as a single entity, just like MLA are.
KollegvomMirgan
Tftc
Adam Andersson
Zack and Allie were on the path as a team, so they count as a single ascender.
Owen Kaz
We'll certainly get some timeskips, but nothing that big. Really, I'm kinda hoping we get confirmation from the author about if the story ends with them ascending, or if it continues with them ascending
Violet
> They're all going to be high priority targets and Matt at T48 will die just the same to Virgil as Matt at T25. T49s manage kills on T50s on occasion. If a true war kicks off, there's no reason to hold TWL at Tier 48. Boost them to T49 and dare Virgil to try something and find out what 3 Tier 49 Ascenders can do to a T50 more at home in a laboratory than on a battlefield... Pay no attention to the fact that two of the aforementioned three are pretty at home in a laboratory, too...
Sanairb
Why Zack? I totally understand why they want to buy out Allie, but why do they want to buy out Zack over MLA?
Violet
Interesting that no one has bothered to tell MLA that they've also been soft bought-out. I'm really curious what their response will be. Any chance we get Luna's perspective post-war? I'm kinda waiting for her to show up with several databases full of things TWL fucked up during the war.
Tijay Arnie
Are Zack and Allie going to still be bought out?
mitchell kaiser
Oh I wasn’t complaining, just always wishing for more, it’s an eternal curse with a debuff of eternal longing that can’t be fulfilled.
Snugglebadger
I do feel bad for allie and zach, I mean yeah they have everything they could want or need, but all they've done is train their entire lives to be warriors...and only a couple hundred years into their immortality they're never going to participate again (at least until the true war they might not know about). Also gonna need Aiden to get up into the 40s before the true war so he doesn't get killed by an opportunistic tier 45 or something.
Matt H
If even the rule about not attacking down tiers is gone what's the point of any of the Ascenders tiering up in the intervening time? They're all going to be high priority targets and Matt at T48 will die just the same to Virgil as Matt at T25. A war where a T50 can just suddenly appear and make everything and everyone else irrelevant doesn't sound particularly interesting to read. MLA will either need to remain in the Capital for the entire time or have the Emperor accompany them anywhere they go. And if Manny goes with them why did they even need to go anywhere in the first place? They can't do anything that Manny can't already do as well if not better.
James Townsend
There's no way something doesn't get fucked up. I mean, I'd be interested in a 6999 year timeskip, but it just feels like the time won't pass peacefully.
Tommy
Final line feels a tad abrupt? It starts with “But…”; maybe a quick line before it saying how like this time passed for Matt and the others in the rift as they decompressed after the war, then the final line? Anyhoo, great chapter! Can’t wait to read about all the LOOT they will receive 👍👏
Tommy
lol did a number on me too. For some reason I’d forgotten 😂
Jason Scott
So a good question has poped into my head Mantis. Has Matt attempted to make rifts using his solid matter mana cubes as the reagent instead of gear or other items?
Discordian23
Damn... Lots of people are gonna die.. lots of People we know. That sounds horrifying.
R.M.
Wait a moment! All along Matt was a blond? 🤯
Havokk
and one more gut punch with Pace and Dena.. Though Im glad Dena looks to be dealing with her loss by helping another I really didnt want to see her spiral after the war
Jana
Well planned and logical - which is why I’m only mimimi-ing around. Feelings don’t care much about logic and seeing people react to Matts talent never gets old :-P
C_Mantis
Its 'only' 5.4k when the last chapters have been on average 7k.
JM O'Hare
I am now reading Aiden’s dialogue in the voice of Rick, from Rick and Morty. It works incredibly well 😂
C_Mantis
That is correct. Alister pov will be after the ceremony and how we wrap up the book .
C_Mantis
Her human hair is still red. Just the bird feathers.
C_Mantis
True war meaning no rules. IE a t50 killing everyone he see's. A Tier 45 killing entire star systems. A Tier 35 killing an army base of Tier 30s. A Tier 36 tearing a hole in a low Tier world so chaotic space leaks in and kill everyone. Its war without rules.
MikeL
So what exactly is a True War? Other than over T35’s, do fights still stay at their tier? Do mortal worlds get involved?
MikeL
I’m guessing it will be the Emperor’s end chapter. Even thought the last few already felt like that.
Coorsbie
Knew she was going to be a blonde
Estevam Paulo
It’s so funny to think that yes I understand concepts of millions and billions, but these are such astonishing numbers that it’s just a word now. Can’t really grasp the concept at all. Love the chapter, can’t wait for the slice of life upcoming reads.
Trevor Mergen
Thanks
Jana
I want to write a formal comment of mimimi - teasing us with Alisters future reaction and not giving it to us is just mean…
Isley
good chappie
mitchell kaiser
Man can’t believe how fast that chapter went. Thanks for the great reading Mantis!
C_Mantis
The Alister thing will be our end of chapter Pov so he has time.
IWannaBeATiger
Wasn't Manny supposed to ask Matt if he could inform Allister or is that gonna be done in the next chapter?
Thomas Brusilovsky
Delightful as always. Lots of changes happening, looking forward to the next arc!
s476
Aw, was kinda hoping for the emperor Matt + ally talk. Well, we will get there in time, this was nice too
Yellowfrog
Shellshock from the armistice speed.
Kasamuri
Thanks for the chapter
Luna_1001
Thanks
Captdeth
Yaaaa
James Getgood
tyftc 😁
