The Path of Ascension

Book 4 Emp Chapter/ Book 5 Pov Chapter.

Emmanuel watched the presentation his Generals had laid out for the first line of defense of the Empire and let his mind run through the counters he expected the others to use in the war.

Once the war started, he would need to stay out of it like all assets over Tier 36, but he could direct his defenses in peace time.

Rusty nodded to him as he pointed out a weak point in a sector by the Sects. We are hoping a slightly weaker area will draw more attention, but we cant make it too obvious.

Hearing that, Emmanuel flexed his fathers Tier 50 Talent and checked the possible futures of that world.

Sixty percent chance the plan worked.

Not ideal, but good enough.

Forwarding the pertinent information to Rusty so they could refine the plan he continued to listen to the generals.

The meeting ended a few days later with Emmanuel feeling slightly better with the upcoming war.

Sadly, even a Talent to peer into the future wasnt perfect. Any action taken by the other Tier 50s wouldnt be predictable and wouldnt be accounted for by the Talent. Even with that restriction, it took almost a billion mana for him to check most of the possibilities for the important sectors and chokepoints with the Talent.

With Rusty leading the Generals to make the necessary changes, Emmanuel went to his throne room to hold the monthly open court.

Thousands of nobles from the lowest barons to the highest dukes attended, but they had nothing of import or relevance to report to him. Most just wanted him to solve petty disputes or give them tax breaks.

The thought of giving someone a tax break was laughable, but people still requested them nonstop. The Empire simply couldnt afford a tax break and would quite possibly need to raise taxes on certain luxury goods in the coming thousand years. It would slow down the economy a little but the war was already going to do that so it would just be another thing to weigh down his people.

Not that the mortals would feel the effect, but his immortal factions would be up in arms. Of that, he was sure.

Wanting to mitigate as much of that as possible, he knew what he needed to do. Win the war as quickly as possible. Or at least keep the war away from the centers of production. If those systems were captured by the enemies, their output would be theirs by treaty, and he couldnt afford that loss.

Thankfully, he had a meeting with Allister, the Overseer of the Guilds, to better coordinate their defenses.

They met in an unmarked and unremarkable spot in chaotic space to ensure their meeting was private but, even then, they both kept their spiritual perception scanning for any watchers.

How are your preparations Allister?

Allister nodded. We are ready for the war. Are you? You will be taking the brunt of the attacks.

Emmanuel nodded despite not being so certain. We must, so we shall. Its that simple. But Im confident in our preparations. We can hold for a few centuries without issue. Its if the war drags on for longer than five hundred years when things will get dicey.

Allister returned his nod with one of his own. Thats our assessment as well. But we also predict the Sects and Republic wont want to push the war much longer than that with us, which means we can go on the offensive if needed. We have large borders, and they cant keep both of us on the defensive. There is just too much land, and any opening will let us counterattack any occupations they hold.

Emmanuel agreed. They will try to get concessions out of me. But I have plans of my own that are coming into fruition which will make that difficult.

Allister seemed interested but Emmanuel shook his head. Nothing is so certain that Im willing to share. If things change you will be the first to know.

They chatted for a while longer, sharing and comparing deployments of their troops before going their own ways. Both of them as Tier 50s were far, far too busy to idle chit chat. At least chit chat in person.

But some things couldnt be trusted with communications, and war preparation was one of them. Returning to the Empire, Emmanuel learned that one of his Earls had defaulted on their debt and had caused a local recession.

Sighing, he started moving around budgets while trying to solve the latest issue the Empire faced.

***

Turstal nodded as she listened to the reports from her various ministers, nobles, and important figures from her Flowers.

Even though the Tier 10 Pather Tournament was going to happen on a specially prepared planet, all her planets would see an influx of visitors, and her people needed to get ready to bear the brunt of such an influx.

Everyone had issues, some real, some imagined, all apparently very important for her to deal with. Still, that was part of her duties as a queen, and she needed to at least hear out her petitioners in open court or there would be no reason for the venue.

It was still annoying.

As a weaselly looking man came up to her and explained how he needed his entire towns sewage system replaced for the influx of visitors, Turstal checked her own records and agreed with him. His town only housed a few million of her lowest Tier citizens, but that would make it a prime target for people trying to find cheap accommodation for the event.

Approving him for access to the funds she had set aside for this, she gestured for the next petitioner to come forward. This woman was clearly just trying to line her own pocket with funds by offering her cousins construction crew for assistance with the upcoming work. She was politely declined and sent away just to be replaced by a dozen other petitioners who either exaggerated their problems to try and skip the normal improvements queues or were trying to line their own pockets before the tournament even happened.

Two days later, she saw the last of the petitioners and, after changing into something more comfortable, listened to her own staffs reports about the status of her planets.

Most of the issues had already been addressed with the open court, but her people had noticed a hotel company lapsing on their maintenance. Clearly, they were trying to save money to increase their profit margins for the tournament when housing would be at a premium.

Making a note that they needed a surprise inspection, she finally turned her attention to the last-minute preparation for the tournament itself.

Everything looked good. The reserves were full of mana to fuel rapid delving of the rifts, the safety procedures were working and had been thoroughly tested by her own security teams, the guards she allocated to the event had passed all the checks and tests, and the more standard rewards were already gathered and ready to be given out even with the changes they were making this year.

Everything looked perfect.

And it needed to be, considering that the Emperor was coming to this event in person and called for all the other royals to arrive as well. Not that she would have slacked if he was only coming as a [Clone]. Rather, she simply wanted her planet to give the best first impression to all the young Pathers who would one day step off and might decide to settle down on her Flowers after seeing how nice they were.

Turstal looked out at her capital and smiled.

This would hopefully be a tournament to remember.

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