C_Mantis
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Chapter 23
🕑 Added 2021-04-05 07:16:41 +0000 UTCChapter 23
Matt fiddled with the skill shard in his hand. It was pretty.
It glimmered along with the high powered lights overhead. This was the fruit of his hard work and risk taking. He'd be using the skill for essentially forever.
The skill went into a band that locked and secured it to his wrist. The timer was set for two days, as he didn't have a core slot to dedicate the skill to.
That brought his thoughts to the future. He'd be close to the peak of Tier 4 when this training world closed, and he needed to start deciding what Tier 5 reward skill he wanted for his core slot.
The arena grabbed his attention. There was a duel going on that caught his eye.
A short woman in Dual Stars colors was blasting at a Republican mage. The mage was using a silver colored dome for defense.
The skill gave his spiritual sense an impression similar to a spatial distortion. It felt just like the sensation that interplanetary teleports gave.
The Dual Stars woman was panting, as she threw [Fireball] after [Fireball]. It seemed ineffective, but she kept on firing with persistence. Either it was her only skill, or she had already tried everything else in her arsenal.
The fight ended when the fire mage realized she wasn't going to break down the barrier, and decided to stop wasting her mana.
That unusual skill made him turn to Liz, who was idly brushing Aster as she was curled in her lap.
"What skill are you thinking of for your Tier 5 reward."
The blood mage barely reacted to his question, her eyes flicking around. She was doing something with her AI. When he was about to turn back to the fights, she answered.
"I'm going to get [Endurance], and so are you."
Matt opened his mouth. Why would he get [Endurance]?
Quickly looking up the skill, he found it in his Tier 8 skill shard database.
[Endurance]: A channel skill that removes fatigue.
That was it. The only other thing was that it was a rare Tier 8 skill.
It didn't seem all that valuable to him.
"I just looked it up. Why would I get it?"
It once again took her a moment to answer him. "It’s because of how the skill actually works. [Endurance] functions by enhancing the second layer of directed physical cultivation for regeneration, the one focusing on muscle recovery. With [Endurance] in the core of your spirit, you can expand its capabilities to all of the second layer regeneration directed cultivation. Essentially it makes it the best option for a low Tier self heal. It's never gonna be as good as [Regeneration], but it is the next best thing."
That shocked Matt. Then it irritated him.
"Why is that not common knowledge? I could have made a terrible choice without that info." A channeled self healing skill was perfect for him. If not for Liz, he would have passed over the skill, without a single thought of how it could be improved upon with his Talent.
This lack of knowledge was infuriating. The Empire might be doing what they thought was best, but to him, this was a step too far.
It was another long moment before Liz answered. "It's from Madam Del'vir's guide on Tier 8 skills. It's a common repository of knowledge. It's also given to all Tier 5's on The Path before they can choose a skill from the Empire's stock. [Endurance] usually sells for a Tier 14 skill shard, and the Empire buys a lot of them up. They always keep a stock of valuable skills, to be used as rewards for those on The Path. Acquiring [Endurance] through other means has always been incredibly challenging. Most have to wait until Tier 14, when they can trade a common skill of that Tier for it."
"What’s that name again? Madam Del'vir, that's just a pretentious pronunciation for Madam Delver. And besides, how do you even know this?"
"My brother had a physical copy at his house, and I read it. The name is a pseudonym, or at least, that's how it started out. The original author has either ascended, or faded into obscurity at this point. They’re on like version two hundred of the book. The digital copy is free and updated with crowdsourced information now. The name is just kept as a nod to the original author, who tried to get the information out to the masses. You can still buy it but most wait until they get it for free."
That mollified Matt. At least he would’ve had access to the book before making an uninformed decision. But still, the fact that he had started to make plans without it was irritating.
He left Liz to whatever it was she was doing, and pondered how he could use the [Endurance] skill. It was an amazing match for him if what Liz said was true. Not that he doubted her, but he had never heard of skills being able to expand like that in your spirit.
He looked down at the band that [Mages Retreat] was locked in. He had already started cycling essence through the skill, bringing it closer and closer to his inner spirit. Would he be able to expand its abilities in the same way that [Endurance] could be expanded?
A quick check with his AI brought back no results. He'd have to wait until he got off this training world to get a true information packet about expanding [Mages Retreat].
Idily rubbing his fingers over the band, he ignored Aster's subtle pushes to go get her some ice cream. The fox’s nose caught a whiff of the frozen treat, and she was carefully sending suggestions of a quick snack. However, her idea of subtlety was actually a tidal wave of sensory information that interrupted his musings on skills.
Matt scratched her head, and went back to watching the fights. The Republican with the strange space shield was still on the stage, and a melee opponent was futilely trying to slam through the layer of silver with a mace.
The woman stood there, not even deigning to look at the ineffectual battering her shield was taking.
It was only a few minutes later when the man gave up and walked off the stage as well.
Looking above the arena floor, he found the screen with her information and ranking in the tournament.
Name: Tu
Tier: 5
Rank: 4th.
This girl was simply out lasting her opponents, and had climbed to fourth in the rankings.
How many people had she outlasted on this stage?
Matt didn't know, but watched as another contender stepped on the field. This guilder was a painfully thin man, with cheekbones so prominent, he looked like he was being starved.
The man seemed to say something, and at the Republican's nod, he produced and threw out three beakers that shattered once they hit the ground.
The three beakers were each filled with different colored liquids, and with a wave of the guilder's hands, a summoned golem rose out of each puddle.
The red puddle was giving off heat waves, and produced a flaming golem that shot out balls of fire. They were potent, but seemed too small to be [Fireball]. Matt's AI determined it to be an application of [Fire Manipulation].
The green liquid summoned a golem that seemed to give off a poisonous or possibly acidic impression. Matt’s Tier 4 spiritual sense was only able to narrow it down to one of the two.
The third vial contained a thick purple liquid that reeked of void affinity, and a twig-like golem rose from the puddle it had created.
The battering from the three golems seemed to get the Republican's attention. She began to retreat from the bombardment, but was cut off. The golems boxed her in and continued pounding at her shield. In response, the girl slashed out a hand, and an arc of silvery light flew forward and cut each of the golems in half.
The fight seemed to be over, until the guilder mage waved his hands again. Out from the puddles of goo left by the dissolving corpses came three new, completely intact golems.
The golems charged, and herded the Republican mage until she was over the original fire puddle. His trap sprung, the guilder mage quickly dismissed and re-summoned the fire golem, directly under the Republican’s shield. The fight ended quickly after that.
The republican mage surrendered, and the gaunt guilder didn't press his advantage.
At the conclusion of the fight, Matt's attention wandered to an arena on the far side of the central plaza.
There was a gun mage, an odd variant of mage and archer. They used enhanced variations of mortal weapons that threw bits of metal at opponents. After a quick search, his AI provided some data about two variants of the archetype. One used magic to propel the metal 'rounds', and the second used various alchemical substances.
The drawback of the former was that the mages relied on hyper specialized wands. The ‘guns’ were enchanted wands, fashioned into the shape of their mundane counterparts. The wands still threw bursts of mana like normal spells, but according to his AI, most of these mages just transitioned into true spell casting at Tier 8.
The second variant used alchemical propellants to launch the metal rounds. They usually allocated essence, essentially like a standard archer, but with less strength. They were similar to crossbow users in that regard. There were two main drawbacks to this variant. The first was the ever increasing difficulty of manufacturing the propellants with Tier advancement.
On top of the cost, if the weapons had any problems at all, they were prone to exploding in the user’s hand. Even with his AI’s negative assessment of the fighting style, he was interested in watching the duel. The gun wielder used two different types of guns. One was a dark blue and the other a burnished rose gold.
His opponent was a standard sword and shield user with chainmail armor. The shield glowed with either a skill or enchantment. It did a good job of blocking the golden gun’s blast of energy. Gaining confidence, the melee fighter charged, but when the gun mage fired his blue gun, it spat out a projectile that cracked the shield with ease.
Giving up on cautious movements, the melee fighter simply ran at the gun mage, trying to close into sword range. The gun mage was able to keep his distance, and slowly whittled the man down with rounds. The finishing shot again came from the blue gun and ripped out a chunk of the melee fighter's leg.
The gun mage’s next opponent was a standard mage. They had a very familiar dagger in hand as they approached the arena.
Matt looked to Liz to see if she was done with her AI. He wanted to get her attention so she could see their dagger get put to use. He saw her eyes still fluttering as she stared into space, so he left her to it.
This fight was far more interesting. The mage with the dagger instantly conjured a sphere of wind that stopped energy blast and physical projectile alike. Next, they channeled [Wind Blade] through the dagger, and shot out empowered slashes of compressed wind that screamed towards the gun mage.
The gun mage was able to dance away from the blades, but struggled to get through their opponent’s [Wind Barrier]. The Tier 14 skill was a wall that blocked and redirected all attacks weaker than the skill.
After watching three more similar exchanges, Matt became bored of the stalemate. Suddenly, the gun mage was able to land a grazing blow on their opponent, timing up the air currents of [Wind Barrier], and firing at the perfect moment.
The woman looked down in shock at the bleeding hole in her side. With one hand pressed to the wound, she slashed out again, but instead of [Wind Blade], it was [Cyclone]. The mini-tornado chased after the gun mage, forcing him to focus on avoiding the deadly swirl of wind, rather than shooting at the wind mage.
As the gun mage rolled out of the way from another [Wind Blade], the wind mage dropped her [Wind Barrier] for a moment, and launched a [Fireball] at the still active [Cyclone].
The now flaming tornado raged towards the gun mage, lashing out with tongues of flame. They ignited the newly erected [Wind Barrier], as well as the [Wind Blades] that the mage sent out from the safety of her flaming barrier.
Dagger empowered wind attacks combined with wind strengthened fire spells lead to a quick conclusion to the fight. The gun mage was unable to dodge the final slash of flaming wind, and with his clothes on fire, rolled out of the arena.
Matt was amused at the wind mage still lashing out with [Wind Blade]s until the referee called out and stopped her. He gave it fifty-fifty odds as to whether the red in her cheeks was from her now flaming wind barrier or pure embarrassment.
Seeing no other fight that caught his interest, Matt wandered to the smith he had contacted earlier. When he arrived, he talked the options over with the smith one final time. In the end, he decided to go with Liz’s suggestion of three minor runes that allowed the blade a bit more safety.
The smith didn’t have any problem with making the weapon to his specifications. After some deliberation, he decided to make the weapon a bit longer, and a lot heavier than his past weapon. It was closer to a typical greatsword in length and heft. Only Matt’s height would let him use longsword techniques with his new weapon.
He was about to have [Mages Retreat], which at a 2 mana a second throughput, would give him a twenty five percent strength increase. With all of his essence allocated to his physical cultivation, that would be a sizable boost. It would mostly be boosting his strength allocation, but there was a bit of enhancement of his durability as well.
The graph he found regarding [Mages Retreat] read:
Mana Per Second Percent Increase
2 25%
10 50%
50 75%
250 100%
1,250 125%
6,250 150%
31,250 175%
156,250 200%
That was a lot of mana, at least before mastery of the skill kicked in, and made it more efficient. Still, if the graph was accurate, Tier 8 Matt could double his strength. Permanently. That was an increase even the most gifted of mages couldn’t sustain.
It meant he could get a slightly larger weapon, and use that advantage to deal more damage per hit.
The problem was the price.
“Look man, I can’t make a sword that heavy with only Tier 5 materials, it needs a core of Tier 6 tungsten. That’s expensive. Best price for just the materials is two Tier 6 mana stones. With three lesser runes of durability, repair, and sharpness, that adds another twenty five Tier 5 mana stones a piece. With the personal mana converter formation, that’s another Tier 6 mana stone.”
The man waved his hand around, and Matt leaned back from the wildly swinging hammer. He didn’t want to get battered because he tried to haggle the price down.
When he went to open his mouth, the smith overrode him.
“And you want a rush job. If I mess any of the runes up, I'll need to re-smelt the entire blade, and burn that mana all over again on a second, or even third attempt. City mana is still expensive. So if you want a weapon that won't fall apart, and want it in three days, it's gonna cost more. If you want to wait a week, I'll cut half a mana stone off. But otherwise seven Tier 6. Upfront.”
Matt debated, but he liked the guys style of blades, and he was asking for a rush job after all. It just was so much money. He'd need fifty Tier 4 mana stones to equal one Tier 5, and another fifty to equal a Tier 6. That was seventeen thousand five hundred Tier 4 mana stones, or two thousand five hundred Tier 4 rift delves with normal rewards.
It hurt even worse when he converted it to credits. Seven Tier 6 mana stones was one billion seven hundred fifty million credits. He could buy his old city with the price of his new sword.
With great pain, he handed over the mana stones, and they finished the transaction. It physically hurt to see so much wealth gone.
As he was walking away, he stopped and paused.
I have two Tier 7 mana stones. Wow, I... I could buy nearly anything I could possibly want on my home world.
The realization of just how far he had come shocked him slightly. It didn't seem so long ago when he was a Tier 1, working his fingers to the nub to get ten thousand credits for a delve slot in Glesie.
All the thoughts of money made him remember the hammer guilder's bet. He was owed ten Tier 5 mana stones. It wasn't going to pay for his sword, but he would get some satisfaction out of relieving the asshole of his mana stones.
Wandering about until he found the guild's reception desk, he waited in line with a smile on his face. When he was directed to the teller’s desk, he flashed a smile of someone ready to dish out some just desserts.
“Hi, I had a wager on a duel with one of your guild members, and he wasn't able to pay up after the duel. Can I get my payment here? Or should I head to the medical wing and pester him for it?”
Matt knew he would get his money here, but he hoped his words would somehow make their way over to the idiot while his spine was recovering. If he couldn't even move when he heard Matt’s challenge, all the better.
Let the idiot stew while he waits for months for his body to adjust to the healing.
The teller looked slightly shocked before he said. “Yes sir, this is the place here. If you would send the desk a verification of the bet, we'll verify it with the ship's AI, and get you paid out.”
“Wonderful. Thank you so much.” Matt had no reason to be discourteous with this man and sent the verification.
The man paused, looked at his screen, then back at Matt before pursing his lips. “Sorry sir, there has been a slight problem, the cost of the healing has put Mr. Kline under the amount that he wagered with you.”
At Matt’s raised eyebrows he hurriedly continued, “Don't worry sir, you'll get your payment. It will just take my manager to charge the account into the negatives.”
Matt saw the man's cheek pinch in slightly. It took him a moment, but he realized the man was trying to remain professional and not laugh. Either the idiot he fought had a bad reputation, or this guy got a kick out of having to call his manager down.
Wanting to test which one it was, Matt asked, “So how's your day been? Anything interesting?”
The man's facade slipped, and a large grin appeared. “I just got fantastic news, and even after work entertainment. So, it's been wonderful. How about you?”
That just made Matt chuckle. The man clearly had a grudge with the armored bastard.
Wanting to know how bad this would screw the guy over, he asked, “What are the consequences for overdrawing like this?”
The smile that the receptionist had gotten control over, slipped back out. “It's a double fine of the overdrawn amount, and a black mark on the account, which will prevent him from leading anything for two years.”
The man's professional demeanor returned, as a man in a nicer suit consisting of the guild's colors rounded the desk.
“What's this about?”
The manager didn't even look at Matt, and just elbowed past the man in front of the pad.
The man looked at the screen, and tapped at it a few times, before looking up to Matt’s still smiling face.
“Listen here son...”
Matt cut him off, smile still plastered on through sheer force of will.
“I'm not your son. My parents are dead.”
That seemed to shock the man. He spluttered, “Umm, well still. Do you know who Eden’s parents are?”
“Nope! And I don't really care.”
“Now listen here. You’re on our training world. You should be more respectful to your hosts. I think you should let this matter drop.”
Matt smiled, “And you are?”
That seemed to take the man back. “I'm the manager here.”
“No, I want your name.”
The man looked around before Matt just said, “You know what it doesn't matter. I'll take a picture of you. See, I don't know how you are, but I know who I am.”
With his arms spread Matt said, “I’m Matt, ascender on The Path. The challenged in the duel.”
For maximum effect, he crossed his arms and tapped on his lip. “Also a guild VIP for services rendered. Now you know who I am too, and I want what I’m owed. Now.”
As the man's eyes shifted, he looked around, searching for any means of escape. “Please hurry, or I’ll have to send this interaction to Simeon.”
Matt had no intention of using Simeon as an actual threat. The man had helped him, and he didn't want to drag him into this mess. Who knew what the kid’s influence was. And while Matt was untouchable by the guild, he didn't know if they had power over the Tier 15 engineer.
With his ten mana stones jingling in his pocket, he sauntered around until he found an ice cream stand. Deciding to get Aster and himself a treat, he messaged Liz and asked what she wanted.
The blood mage wanted a strawberry daiquiri flavored mix. She also said that Aster wanted peanut butter and banana.
It still slightly bothered him that Liz could actually understand Aster’s yips and body language as actual words. He still couldn't, even with the link between their spirits. Liz’s explanation of being able to understand the instinctive language of beasts was hardly enough to pacify him.
He got their sweets and headed back to where he left the duo. Aster scampered off Liz's lap as soon as she saw him, and tried jumping into his arms.
“Ohh no. Aster this is the last ice cream I’m getting you until the day we teleport back out. Savor it.”
The fox’s ears dropped and she tried to garner some pity, but he just calmly placed the bowl down for her. Aster’s facade quickly disappeared in her haste to eat the treat.
Plopping down and passing her order over to the now attentive Liz, he asked, “So did the book you read have anything about [Mages Retreat]?”
Liz finished her mouthful of ice cream and said, “Eh I think so. I didn't really remember that one. I saw that everyone took [Endurance] and just skimmed the rest. If I had to guess, I’d say you have two options. You can use [Mages Retreat] to either boost your durability in conjunction with [Endurance], or you can use it to boost your flexibility. I'm not sure honestly.”
Matt thought about that. The point was mostly moot, as he didn't have a free core skill slot, and getting [Endurance] to function like [Regeneration] was more important. But he could still work on expanding [Mages Retreat]. It would just take conscious effort instead of the nearly automatic process of improving a core skill.
While snacking on his cookie dough ice cream, he turned his attention to the dueling arenas. Now there was a sprinkling of cheering. He saw a man getting his face tended to by healers. Judging from the blood, the man had a broken nose and a split lip. Nothing that he couldn't fight with, but to limit contamination, he was being healed before he could fight again.
When the fighter stood up, Matt realized how truly big the man was. Easily seven feet tall, and so wide it looked abnormal. The odd patterning of his hair suggested that he was the child of an evolved beast.
“Is that guy a bear?”
His question to Liz was answered with a nod, “Some highland variation. First generation, and a high concentration too. Or both of his parents are evolved companions.”
That brought him up short. “Then wouldn't he just be an actual bear?”
Liz laughed at that. “No. If both of his parents were the same species of bear, they could shift back to their monster forms and have a bear cub that way. Most chose to have the kid in human form, either because their animal sides aren't compatible biologically, or because they want to live in human society.”
She waved her spoon at the arena. “Say his parents had him as bears, and he was born as one. He'd be of nearly human intelligence, but trapped in a beast form. Not a lot of species chose to do that. Some do, but it's mostly when they don't procreate outside of their lineage.”
Liz pointed down at the fox, who was still licking at her already spotless bowl. “Aster will grow in intelligence until she's at a human level of sapience. That will happen by Tier 10ish. At Tier 15, when she gets her human form, she'll be taken away by the monster kingdom.”
“Wait what? They can't do that.” This was the first Matt had heard of this, and it immediately got his blood thrumming through his veins. If anyone wanted to take her, they’d have to do it over his dead body.
When Liz looked at him this time, she gave him a hard look. “It will happen. And it’ll be for a few years at a minimum. Ten percent of the time it took her to reach Tier 15, minimum of ten years. Matt, you have to realize that she's only known you. Codependence is a real possibility. Well you can leave as early as five years with a psych eval, but there are less rewards if you don't finish the ten.”
Before he could protest she said, “It also lets the monster kingdom stop any grooming that might have occurred. You'd be surprised by how many sickos think they can just make their perfect spouse with a companion. Or worse, a sex toy that only knows their bond. The kingdom does not take kindly to that, and will crack down on it.”
That made Matt look intently at the fox. He couldn't even imagine wanting to raise her as anything less than a full person. He wasn't sure what he thought of her as, but it was more than a pet.
She was Aster.
She may have a fox’s body now, but he knew she'd grow smarter, and he never treated her like she was less than him. She was a partner to grow alongside him.
The thought of someone raising something to disregard its feelings and treat it like an object sickened him. He pushed his half finished ice cream away from his seat. This talk had ruined his appetite and good mood from screwing the idiot guilder out of his money.
Liz, seeing his expression, finished with a softer voice. “Your reaction is the right one. It's disgusting and cruel to do that, and more than one bonded pair has been broken because of it. Either party can break the bond if they so desire, and as they gain intelligence they'll remember how you treated them. The separation is good. Even my parents did it. They were apart for nearly fifteen years. It took another half a century for their relationship to turn romantic.”
“That was with them both having relationships in the meantime. Eventually, they got together and never looked back. But they didn't rush into it, and made sure it was what both of them wanted. Only about thirty percent of bonds end up in a relationship. Most are like siblings or best friends. There’s a strong influence that comes with a bond, and that needs to be approached incredibly carefully if sex is involved.”
“Think about it, Matt. When Aster chooses a human form, she's going to take a lot of influence from you. Look at me.” She waved to her bust and rear. “I'm very much my mother’s daughter, all chest and hips. She wanted a form that was attractive, and she plucked it right out of my dad's head. I'm just lucky I didn't get the feathers.”
That gave Matt pause. “Feathers?”
Liz rolled her eyes. “Being the preening bird my mom is, she went with feathers instead of hair when she made her human body. They look so stupid. She has shoulder blade length feathers that act just like hair.”
“I didn't realize evolved beasts had that much control over the form they chose. I thought it would be fully human. I've uhh... Never met an evolved beast.”
The blood mage shrugged and said. “It's a common enough thing to see ears or a tail on evolved humans. They don't have to keep them, and can go full human if they want. But most identify with those traits and choose to keep them. My mom, being a stupid bird, did what every one of them does, and kept her feathers. Do you know how vain she is about them? It's insufferable.”
Liz reached out like she was wringing her mothers neck.
That led Matt to ask “So the hair color?” He pointed at her hair.
Liz’s response was accompanied with an eye roll that he thought her mother might be able to feel. “Yeah, the little flame sparrow just had to have red feathers like she always had. And that means red hair genes. That, and yellow eyes. Aster will probably have white hair and blue eyes. Those are the common two that most keep.”
Liz shook herself. “Back to mister bear over there. His parents could have been both bears, or just evolved beasts who took huge human forms. Hard to tell really.”
Matt let the conversation die after that. He was too occupied with his thoughts of abusive or predatory bonded pairs. He couldn't even imagine selling Aster's egg. At the time, he had simply not even considered it. It was his, he had earned it. With hard work and a unknowingly stupid risk, he jumped into a bond. He was now learning that it consisted of far more than just raising her until she could take care of herself.
Life was getting complicated. He had a responsibility to Aster. He had power, he thought, as he looked to his wrist, where [Mages Retreat] was cycling into his spirit. He had wealth, his thoughts went to his pocket, with more wealth than he could ever imagine a few years ago. And it had just been from a small bet.
He had so many possibilities now. His future paths were infinite and varied.
Maybe I can donate some money to the orphanage?
The thought cheered Matt up a bit. He still remembered the infants and toddlers who had survived the rift breaks. The staff of the orphanage had to work long hours while still supervising the older kids.
Matt decided that when he got off this planet, he'd see what he could do. Money might not solve every problem, but it sure didn't make them worse.
His eyes drifted to Liz, who was watching the fights and idly scratching Asters back. He had a friend. He may have only known her for a week, and she was clearly keeping secrets, but he trusted her.
She was strong and ruthless, but she thought of others and didn't throw her background around. Liz was someone he could see himself spending the rest of his life with. She wasn't perfect and liked to stir the pot a little too much for his taste, but he felt they'd even each other out a bit.
Sinking back into the chair and forcing his attention to the fights, Matt only had one thought.
Life is good.
Comments
C_Mantis
Fully agree and ive seen everything with that. They are all tragic. but that's not Matt he was savvy enough to save up enough to almost get his own rift slot. So he doesn't see that side of stuff.
HenryMorgan
"Matt decided that when he got off this planet, he'd see what he could do. Money might not solve every problem, but it sure didn't make them worse." Actually, money can make anything worse. Just google, "what happens to winners of lottery" and you will see how money can kill. Also, look how toxic welfare systems are in most first world countries, not enough money to live on, if you earn x amount you lose the gov benefits, traps people in a dept cycle. Then look at how australia and canada have ruined their indigenous populations with welfare. You give money to people who have no idea of money and shouldnt be surprised when they waste it and spend it on drugs and alcohol. Something as simple as trust funds for school, uni, business development, facilties on tribal lands, etc would have had the indigenous entering wider society as equals instead of dependants.
Sequal
Cracked Phantom Armor is in one slot, his AI is in the other.
Blaublue
He should have room for 2 core skill slots, no? Ch 3: "The amount your spirit could hold was dependent on Tier, but on average, at Tier 1, people could hold two in the core spirit."
Dragebar
the value does not increase proportional to the manacontent but rather content x density. I don't remember the correct values but the progression was not 10^X for X tiers. If anyone checks i would be glad but its more along doubling mana capacity each tier than exponential. However I would be interested as to why you can#t use cartloads of smaller stones @ C.mantis (if you planned far enough ahead to tell us why there is a processing limit^^)
Garend
I'm confused about why he needed to charge the shield. If Mana stones increate by value of a factor of ten per tier, then even if a tier one stone is only 10 mana, a tier 2 would be 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000. 5 tier 5 stones could completely provide what he did. Given the thousands of tier five rifts, that's nothing.
ALEXEI
Naw he had a post saying he changed it pretty sure cause it was to much work for 3 a week. You can see the Monday Friday schedule on rr.
ALEXEI
Pretty sure he only posts Mon and Fri now
Dragebar
I know it's still totally in you schedule so no threats - but will the next chapi drop today and if yes when? I'm currently starved for entertainment and crave fiction!!!
C_Mantis
Because the mana stones are useful by their own. They can recharge off them if they are in a pinch. But there are banks and stuff but most hold a good bit of their wealth in physical form
Obran
must be able to transfer spreadsheets and databases
Obran
One thing I don’t get about the economy is why do people use physical mana stones in the first place. Why not just deposit them in a bank and then use the combination of AI, pad, and magic to buy sell and store things. I mean if people can teleport over vast distances instantaneously, they
Tomisgoofy
My God this comment, this economist has brought up an interesting potential story location. I could see mana stock piles existing and being used to good effect in this story though
Atoll
Congrats on hitting the Patreon goal, especially so fast! You've written a compelling story here and 500+ ppl have put their money where their mouth is. There are a few elements that are starting to strain my sense of credulity though, but hopefully that's just because Matt is an unreliable narrator and the first-person world-building hasn't got to my concerns yet. The first is Matt's decision-making, it's been covered before but it seems he's been making more and more impulsive decisions on big things when his early characterization is someone who is extremely disciplined, matured-early, and researches everything. Is his bond with Aster affecting him as well? Maybe because she's young Matt is a little more impulsive, more prone to making emotional decisions. The second is the economy, specifically the gigantic jump in value each Tier of mana stone has over the previous and how that affects an economy. Sorry, I know its a crunchy topic but it just keeps throwing me off whenever I think about it - you've went over it in previous comments but under my current assumptions it's just not making sense for me. [Note: I started rambling a bit towards the end] >Mana stones are generally found in rifts of equivalent Tier - got it. >Most value comes from their size not their contents - makes sense. >Generally, adventurers/rifters use Mana stones +/- a few tiers within their own as currency - human nature to be lazy. >Mana stones disappear after being used (I think I read this somewhere but it's an assumption) OR Very difficult/inefficient/impossible to "refill" high Tier rift made mana stones - basically mana stones are constantly be taken out of circulation about as fast as they're introduced, otherwise it'd be easier to just pay a ton of rifters to inject mana into an empty stone >High-tier rifters also can only delve every few days or so based on how fast they can regen their used mana, maybe less if they have higher Max Mana relative to Mana regen. >There's relatively little cross-Tier trade and a lot of 'civilian' functions (like city shielding) require a ton of high-ish Tier mana stones to function (excited to see what a City Mayor could be paying a Tier 20 rifter to give up his mana stones in exchange - patriotism? hahahah...). >The number of ppl at each Tier drops significantly the higher you go >Basically only civilians use credits on every world, including most mid to high-Tier worlds. And finally, the one scene that kicked off this thought-train; Dual Stars not using a Tier 18 mana stone back in chapter 13. It's stated that the Guild uses everything it makes so it doesn't have 'money to burn' but that becomes almost laughable if you're a Tier 25 asked to produce a Tier 18 mana stone. Chapter 4 only goes up to Tier 15 stones and says that it's value is 100x a Tier 14 stone. Assuming that doesn't change, one Tier 25 mana stone = (100) ^(Tier 25- Tier 18) = 100^7 = 100,000,000,000,000 Tier 18 stones. Even a Tier 20 stone is 10,000 Tier 18's - and it bends credulity that not one Tier 20+ guilder is willing to give a pitiful (to them) amount to significantly improve their guild's chances on a training world that opens once a decade. BUT, this is could be an interesting bit of world-building because that implies the existence of other forces on these hypothetical Tier 20+ rifters. As is we're looking at a currency system essentially backed by the value of rift-Mana stones (specifically the fact that they're portable). There's relatively little cross-Tier trade because high-tier equipment needs high-Tier mana stones that most rifters of lower Tier (not 'young masters' think Joe Schmoe) can't acquire and higher-Tiers wouldn't bother. There's no rampant inflation because ppl are using them roughly the same rate rifters are acquiring them, but where is it all going? If mid-tier (15-30, my assumption) rifters are using mana stones personally to power spells, they have to be using less than they receive on average per rift or eventually they go dead/broke. They can't be just exchanging it with crafters all the time unless they either make slightly more than they use up/per delve or have a ton of equipment attrition, even across a team, so they're definitely make a 'profit' each delve. And if they decide to stay at their current Tier they're almost definitely making a better 'profit' than someone who doesn't have nearly as much experience delving their current Tier (ascenders). But each mana stone is worth magnitudes more than one a Tier lower and for each given Tier world there's only so much they can spend for non-delving things if everything is priced in credits. So where is the 'profit' going? Do rifts not drop mana stones nearly as much the higher you go? Is almost every high-tier socking away their savings to support a clan/guild? If there is a high usage from city shields/other civilian functions, what do you even exchange for when the mana stone is what you want and an equivalent value of lower tier stones is less useful to you. Are credits only used on lower tier worlds and low-Tier mana stones used as currency by civilians on mid-Tier worlds? Are taxes/living costs on higher-Tier worlds super high? I assume mid-Tiers are basically the workhorses of the Empire and all the shielding/teleportation/ect. is based around mid-Tier stones, that or there are way more high-tiers whose one job is to provide mana stones to city shields for every city on every planet. And finally, are there external forces that prevent a Tier 20+ from 'gifting' a Tier 18 mana stone? Like, the gov't has a monopoly on all exchanges of mid-Tier stones and giving those mid-tier rifters/crafters a third currency for exchange (probably not credits given that they'd be stupid large numbers), buying from rifters and selling to crafters/businesses. Maybe 'black market' mid-Tier stones are stupid expensive compared to their actual value. Alternatively, maybe Dual Stars controls a LOT more training planets and this really does mean that this one planet is 'Tuesday' for them, so economy of scale means they want to lower the cost of each instance. Does that mean the guild itself is a waaaay bigger deal than we first assumed and that Tier 25/30 guilds are about as high as it gets? Or that there are just a lot more training planets out there and they're not as rare as first implied. Finally, this economy looks really fragile because if for whatever reason, such as a war, a bunch of Tier 25ish rifters get killed all at once, everything that depends on Tier 25 Mana stones grinds to a halt. Maybe higher tier rift stones can be used but there's almost certainly way less Tier 27-30 rifters than Tier 24-26, given that they're stronger they can probably do more delves/week in Tier 25 rifts than normal but the rifts would give less rewards because they're too strong. Does the Empire sit on a strategic stockpile of mana stones just in case something like this happens and they need to subsidize the economy until they raise more Tier 25s? Sounds...potentially explosive, with all that mana in one place like Fort Knox. Or maybe they're spread out in secret locations, potential massive score for thieves that know about them. People do things that make logical sense to them, they may not make sense to an outside observer but to their mind there is a chain of internal logic that makes sense to them. These two things seem to be examples where people aren't making choices that we, as the reader, would assume they would based -what we've seen- of their characterizations but could also imply outside forces, and the mana stone values and Dual Star's decision just implies a hell of a lot more going on in the background than what we see from Matt's perspective. At the end of the day, this is your story so I'll back off here, but I'm looking forwards to see what's coming up!
C_Mantis
How so? Im not trying to convey that, is it because hes not 'leading' so much right now? if so that will change fyi.
Aidan Geverdt
Good chapter. I still think relationships with bonded pets is weird but atleast they have a system in place.
King Lokajad
Matt seems to be losing his agency but maybe I'm just overreacting.
Daniel Persson
Thanks for the chapter! I see we hit the patreon goal. Wohoo! Have you given notice at your job yet? :)
Atoll
Hm, the way this chapter is written it kind of implies he can only use 1% of his Maximum Mana, but I think that's just slightly unclear word choice. Under 1% of his total mana, the regen rate is [total mana]/sec...which drops after that first 1% but without that restriction he could theoretically refill his entire mana pool in one second. It takes 10 min to get up to 10% of his mana pool, and literal decades to naturally get to 100%. So just to be clear -he could use any spell(s) up to his Maximum Mana so long as he was channeling it all, which is where I think the confusion comes from. At Tier 1, with a mana pool size of 1 mana, he could never use even a basic spell that required 1 mana upfront because it would take decades for his pool to naturally refill. But he could pay 1/100th of a mana every 1/100th of a second, which allows him to use CPA because its a channel not a 'lump sum' spell so he's effectively paying 1 mana/sec. At Tier 3 this goes up to a mana pool size of 10 mana so he can use 10 mana/sec - as we can see during his first 500k mana recharge scene.
How much mana can Matt regenerate per second? Is it his maximum mana, his 10% mana, or his 1% mana? Here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40920/the-path-of-ascension/chapter/645569/the-path-of-ascension-chapter-10 It says its his 1% mana.
C_Mantis
Ugh i had a huge Paragraph written up and it disappeared. heres the short version. Yes I use the trope about info but i try to hide the info from everyone so it at least makes scene. I might have gone a little to far on that, will watch it in the future. Liz is right he needs some professional help. i try and write it that way but not make him crazy. Matt does voice his own opinion in two chapters about her 'wild' behavior. Sorry i had a huge thing written but PAT shit the bed. qq
Sequal
Alright so I have finished my second read through of this entire thing, and I definitely like it, as can be seen from this being the second read through, but I do have some concerns. The first one is that I hate how Matt seems to be ignorant about everything. I realize that this is a common writing tool, where the main character needing to have everything explained to him allows the author to explain it to the readers. I also realize that as Matt himself has complained, a lot of information is being kept from him for reasons and he is now trying to research things. However, at the very start of chapter one it says "Matt could answer any question about any role or their sub-variations. He had studied every extra book that his instructors thought might be the slightest bit useful. He practiced with every weapon the training armory had." He was driven to learn everything he could about delving the rifts. He suffered some setbacks after that, but then he made it to the PlayPen where he spent a year spending a third of his time in classes while having access to EmpireNet on his pad. Yet every chapter it seems that he is being surprised by something new. Case in point, this chapter had him being surprised that he would be separated from Aster when she hit T15. Somehow he was never able to find out anything about his companion's future despite having ample reason to find out and resources to use/people to ask. And this seems to apply to EVERY topic, leaving him as a simple sword-brained idiot. Secondly, like Liz, I am concerned about Matt's mental state. He recklessly rushed into sharing the teleport rings with her, but it kinda makes sense. Matt keeps losing people. His parents died. All his comrades from the orphanage joined guilds. Eric and Dena were great to him, but then they sent him on his way and disappeared. Melinda's party moved on. His girlfriend did as well. The only one staying with him was Aster, and she almost died in the rock-slide only to be saved by someone Matt had been fighting 5 minutes before. At that point Matt was basically willing to do anything to repay Liz. They work (well) together for only five days before Matt is given the opportunity to bind them to each other so she won't leave him and he jumps in with both feet despite knowing nothing about her. Then he discovers that the constant companionship of Aster will be taken away form him as well, even if that is 50 years out or so. He needs to get his head on straight, Liz's plan to get him some therapy is a good one. At the same time, when she broaches the subject to him, I hope that Matt is able to voice his own concerns about her behavior and disregard for the consequences of her actions.
Sesharan
Thanks for the chapter! Love the idea of monster college.
Osamaru Ta
"Life Is Good" XD Because that Flag always ends well, ahahahahhaha!
Pawaidan
Man this book is great though.
C_Mantis
You are a hero lol
Thanks for the chapter.
For anyone who wants the function to describe the increase for Mages Retreat: f(x)=1/4(log(x/2)/log(5) +1)
C_Mantis
I don't see it that way. When there are established norms most wont fight back. and with even half decent reasons people will go along with nearly anything. This isnt earth and has been going on for a long time. people wont buck the system when the companion comes back and is happy for the separation. Thats my logic at least.
Aaron
Thanks for the chapter
Asur
"At Tier 15, when she gets her human form, she'll be taken away by the monster kingdom." I understand the plot point you try to make but it's completely illogical that this policy exist. There are so many problems with it. 1. People do not like being taken away 2. People do not like having their family members taken away. There are many more but these two alone are enough that a large minority if not the majority will fight back no matter how power full the enemy. Considering that these are people at the level of nukes the fallout would be catastrophic.
C_Mantis
We wont. I just want to show more fights and interactions, once they get to delving again it will pick up a bit. we'll be off the training planet in the next ten ish chapters at most.
ALEXEI
o and thanks for the chapter
J S
Thanks for the chapter.
ALEXEI
I'm hopeing that just because he can heal he doesn't rely on it to win every fight I like that he's good with a sword and while I enjoy fights where the protagonist has to push through with will over personal skill I'm hopeing every fight doesn't just become him tanking his way to winning vs more skilled opponents.
Dan
Have to admit, I'm becoming a bit concerned with the pacing. Not that I necessarily want to see this story go back to it's original pace but it seems to have swung too far in the opposite direction now. Isn't this the fourth chapter that was spent in the same day? Not that I don't enjoy getting more in depth into things, but at this rate it feels like we will still be stuck on this training planet a hundred chapters from now. It's also been extremely heavy on Liz exposition and I'm hoping that eases off a little bit soon. Still loving it though. Keep up the awesome work Mantis!
ALEXEI
I was with you till the incest comment not really sure how those could be compared they aren't related and what does forceing anything have to do with that? Kinda hot potato subject don't really wana get into the ins and outs of incest haha but I agree natural is better.
C_Mantis
We go into more detail next chapter but i added a bit here saying it enhances his strength and durability. Thanks!
Josef Blumers
At Tier 15, when he gets her human form, she'll be taken away by the monster kingdom.” =>> she gets
StickyP
Second comment because different topic. I don't get how [Mages Retreat] works. The only description I can find is "[Mages Retreat] Infuse mana into the body to increase physical ability. Channeling skill." I thought it would give a boost to all physical attributes. now it sounds like its a boost to one of the physical attributes (strength, durability, proprioception, flexibility, senses, mind, and regeneration). First only strength is mentioned but then it sounds like the attribute can be chosen? [Endurance] I also don't get completly. Does it enhance a subskill of Regeneration or Regeneration itself? What does it meas that it can be can be expanded as a core skill? does it encrease the efficiency or change the functionality? Can it synergize with a enhenaced Regeneration from [Mages Retreat]? Its all so extremy vague and really shouldn't be.
RottenTangerine
Great chapter! Glad to see Matt and Liz both seem to care for the other. I'm looking forward to future chapters.
Obran
I just think of the whole thing like hyperinflation. The outrageous numbers on core values remind me a lot of Zimbabwe dollars
Obran
Have to admit that I like that Astrid needs to go to monster college at tier 15. I was really uncomfortable with the whole idea of companions automatically becoming romantically involved. I don’t mind if it forms naturally but, forming because neither party had a choice felt a lot like incest.
StickyP
There seems to be a continuity error about the amount of the bet. It was 10 tier 5 stones in chapter 21 an now 5 stones of undefined tier. That threw me enough that i went back an looked it up. Edit: In the same vein and since the chapter isn't up here. In chapter 8 Grif pays a tier 5 stone for Asters collar and it's mendtioned that amount exceeds Mats credit 25 times. A tier 5 stone equals 10.000 tier 1 stones, half of Mats credit limit. Mats credit limit is 20.000 tier 1 stones. A tier 6 stone would be 25 times his credit limit. On the other hand, Mats paid 10 million credits for pet supplies for 6 months, which also makes no sense. Theses systems are fairly complex and I tend to calculate them myself to make shure that I get them. But sometimes I really don't get them.
Kyle Reese
I think you have a typo towards the end when talking about Aster getting a human form you said he instead of she
striderfighter
Nice...Still think he's going to have to get Simeon involved once the guildie gets his punishment.
Cody
😃
