The Path of Ascension

Chapter 119

Liz stirred the mixture as Regina stood back and watched the culmination of three months of experiments.

When the dour woman first arrived, she hadnt seemed like she wanted to be there. But the worst of her personality seemed to slough off with each passing day as they worked on alchemy projects and lessons. Liz had been debating getting Kurt to send the woman away at first, since she had been so ornery.

It hadnt helped her own attitude that Matt was off-planet working with Erwin, Achlys, and Luna to make rifts. He had been so excited to leave to go create rifts other people would use that she hadnt even thought about what being planets away would mean. They were completely uncontactable in anything but the slowest means, as messages had to be routed to all the planets in the region, since no one actually knew where Luna was taking them. It hadnt been so bad at first, but as the weeks dragged into months with just herself, Kurt, Regina, and Aster, she wished she had gone with them.

Still, she was learning. Regina expected Liz to understand things with little to no explanation, and to intuit things with minimal experience.

Liz didn't work like that. She understood better when she could get her hands on something and play with it. She needed to try things out, make mistakes, and form questions that she then would research.

Regina expected her to glance at a concoction and know exactly what was going on, and it was causing friction between the two of them.

It was quite the change from the few other trainers they had dealt with so far, but both of them had to shift their expectations and meet somewhere in the middle.

Erwin, the big cheater, had given her an idea about how to solve Matt's mana issues when he was helping her with alchemy. But that was a rare occasion, as he was far more enamored with Matt and aperology.

He had mentioned that he wished he could use his Talent to just make a higher Tier material, but he was unable to do that for Matt's potions, as it would count as true help from a Tier 32. Of course, that would be far beyond anything they could afford.

During the time that she, Matt, and Aster were delving, Luna, Kurt, and Erwin had worked on creating concentration potions that could get more effect out of the lower Tier herbs, but failed to make any progress. The first problem was, Erwin's Talent directly Tiered up the materials with essence that he hadnt yet allocated. The second was that he had to use essence at his Tier, which meant he needed to get a delve slot for a Tier 32 rift. It was cheaper for him if he used his Talent on the finished product, but that was still a lot of essence, and it didnt really lower the value of his help.

He had the idea of taking Tier 10 herbs, and changing the formula for mana concentration potions to produce more mana reduction per single dose.

When they had first met, Liz had mentioned her project to Regina. The older woman had scoffed and asked, Do you know how all cultivation enhancing potions work?

Liz was about to answer when Reina spoke over her, Clearly not. Potions are already concocted to maximize the benefits of the herbs of their Tier. A Tier 7 potion can only do so much because of the base materials; materials at a Tier are meant for people of said Tier. They strengthen the spirit and body to produce their particular effects, but theres a delicate balance to walk between a potion and a poison.

Liz finally interjected, Yes, but thats the traditional potion for a standard cultivator. That's not what I'm trying to create. A normal potion can only do so much, but clearly, that isnt limited by the Tier of the potion's user, as Ive seen a Tier 4 use a Tier 35 potion.

Regina rolled her eyes and said, Wasteful, but yes, it's possible. But remember girl, it's dangerous to push your mana pool with higher Tier potions. There can be some undesirable side effects if you unbalance yourself.

The older woman scowled at the potions that Liz was making and sniffed. Ill agree with your decision to start with mana concentration potions. Theyre far cheaper to make at your Tier. Still, it's unnecessarily wasteful to try this. The potion formulas for the lower Tiers were set millions of years ago, after rigorous testing.

Liz resisted the urge to berate the woman for her lack of understanding and impatience. Her time away from court and high society had made her less willing to tolerate such jabs.

Putting on her best smile, Liz gestured to the herbs on the table and the storage case that she had sitting at the edge. It was a nifty thing that she and Sam had bought when they saved up enough money. It was a spatially expanded storage case that could keep the herbs in their ideal states, with various little rooms inside p that could dry or preserve anything stored. The box wasn't as ideal as a storage ring with stasis, but it was the next best thing.

I have a few thousand sets of ingredients for all three concentration potions from Tier 6 through Tier 9. I also have enough for a few hundred potions of Tier 7 and 8. I want to find a way to get more out of the normal herbs. Reducing maximum mana to zero isnt an issue.

Seeing the woman's skeptical look, Liz used her prepared half-truth. I found a few rifts on a new world that had tons of useful herbs, and delved them as much as I could before the planet went into a controlled state. I was able to make out quite well, then traded what I didnt want for more of the herbs that I needed.

For the first time during their conversation, Regina seemed pleased. Liz scrutinized the woman's face closer. Maybe it was even pride. She wasn't exactly sure, but the scowl was gone.

I just want to try and create a potion using lower Tier ingredients, but with more potency. It doesn't have to be perfect; I'll settle for using Tier 10 potions instead of Tier 20 potions.

Seeing the woman's horrified expression, she added, I know someone who needs to get as much mana concentration from outside sources as they can. But

Regina nodded. The Path, yes. Hmm That's an interesting conundrum, to be sure. I still dont think it will be possible. But if nothing else, it will be good training.

With that, the woman dropped her own bags and donned gloves and glasses. Even from across the room, Liz could feel the enchantments on the two items. They were like miniature suns that blazed with power.

Regina popped open Lizs herb box and rifled through each section, commenting on the amount and variety of herbs.

When the older woman resurfaced, she nodded, Youve got a small fortune for your Tier here. I'd have slit your throat for this many materials when I was Tier 8. Her sigh seemed almost wistful.

Anyway, if that's your goal, who am I to stop you? I'm getting paid as long as I help. But you're going about this wrong. All wrong. Backwards, even.

All Lizs prepared ingredients swept themselves up and into her herb box with a gesture from Regina.

We must first start with the physical cultivation potions, as they are a better example of why this is impossible.

Regina put action to words, and the nine herbs for a permanent strength potion came out and arranged themselves.

These are nine herbs used to make a strength potion. Regina peered over her glasses and waited for Liz to nod before she continued. Most people don't know how these work until Tier 10 at least. They just don't have enough of an effect to be valuable enough for most of us to make.

She moved three of the herbs to the side and asked, What do these three do?

Liz had already tried to make the potion, so she actually knew the answer from the top of her head. Ascent's Virtue, Boar's Feather, and Cinder's Heart. The three of them make up the strength increasing effect.

She pointed at the next three herbs. Kepler's Nibblers, Morning Sun Dew, and Frog's Tongue make up the potion's mediating effects. They ensure that the potion has the intended effect on the intended portion of the spirit. In this case, to the physical cores and body.

Moving her finger, Liz finished, Lapis Return and Harpy's Sanction are used for all Tier 8 potions, with Origin's Awakening used to properly merge the two.

Regina nodded. At least you've read a textbook. Now let me ask you what happens if you remove or change one of the ingredients.

Depending on the ingredient, and what you're substituting it with, your actions change the potions effect. For example, there are at least five different strength potions at Tier 8, with various formulas.

Liz didnt miss the subtle gleam in the woman's eye as she asked, And what are the differences between formulae?

Knowing where the woman was going, Liz walked into the trap. There are only minor differences. Small enough that for the consumer, there is no practical difference. Sighing, she added, The potions are limited by the Tier of the herbs in their effects. I know this, but Im trying to find a way to get more into or out of a potion of that Tier.

Regina tapped the table with a gloved finger. That would be wonderful, but the potions are limited in two ways. First, the herbs can only make a certain amount of change with their power. That isn't easily circumvented by using more of the herb, as one might think. You also have to consider how much your secondary ingredients can handle. If they don't properly balance out the primary effect, you can hurt or kill someone. You need to balance things properly.

In a mockingly high-pitched voice, the woman asked, But Regina, why can't we just add more of all the ingredients? She slammed down her palm and said, We aren't making soup. You can't just condense things down by boiling off the water. Your parts per dose must be correct. Changing it will change the final effect. A concentration potion reduced too far might turn into a color changing potion. Or something else. I wont know until we try, but I know it won't do what you want.

Liz knew all of that and said so. All things I've considered. My idea is to substitute some ingredients for higher Tier ingredients. Mostly the secondary ingredients, which might allow me to add more of the more expensive concentration herbs. The secondary ingredients are generally more common, and therefore cheaper.

Liz ruffled through her bag and found a strength potion. The physical enhancing potions are different from the magical ones, though. Their only similarity is the fact that the physical ones can only be used once per Tier. But with the physical cultivation potions, you can't even use the same physical potion two Tiers in a row. You can use the magical ones back to back, and magical potions can also be mixed together without an issue. At least, as long as you stay below the maximum change allowed by the Tier of the potion, as defined by Nancys Law. The physical potions are different enough in their application. I think by playing with some of the principles of the theory, I can get a stronger concentration potion. The older physical potion recipes used secondary ingredients a Tier higher than the main ingredients, until more stable concoctions were discovered.

Regina nodded. Yes, Nancy's Law is exactly the problem. We need to account for the Tier of the herb and the Tier of the user.

Liz interjected, Yes, but we have higher Tier potions able to impart their full effect, so it's not a hard rule.

Regina rolled her eyes. The law has a long track record, and one known exception isn't enough to shake its foundation. The full version of the law even explains the phenomenon. The Tier of the potion can, if higher than the drinker, impart a greater effect than a potion of their own Tier. But it's dangerous. The potion can grow the spirit, and some nobles and higher Tier guilds even do so for their children and prodigies. But it's expensive, and dangerous if mixed improperly.

They went around in circles for the next hour until Liz gave up arguing and started going over her attempts.

Liz didn't expect to come up with an idea that would work for everyone. She only needed a potion that work on Matt.

She had realized the problem before, but things hadn't become clear until she sat down and did the math. The short answer was that Luna was vastly overselling the problem that Matt would face with his mana concentration at lower Tiers.

Both she and Matt should have checked before this but now that she had things became clear.

Mana concentration was useful in and of itself, but the main reasons that any mage put essence into it were the residual effects of increasing maximum mana and mana regeneration speeds as well. If they didn't put essence into mana concentration, the essence in the other two sections wouldn't be as effective, after a point.

The returns would eventually get so bad that a mage without mana concentration cultivation would have weaker mana than a mage with less regeneration and a smaller maximum pool. The spirit needed mana concentration to allow for stable growth.

But with Matt, that wasn't a problem. He just needed enough mana concentration to hit harder than a pillow. Luna made that seem like a huge problem, but it really wasn't.

Considering how mana concentration affected the power of spells, it wasn't that imperative for a normal mage to prioritize cultivating it. They just needed enough to avoid any losses in potential regeneration speed and mana pool size.

She had looked up the numbers. When a mage was Tier 50, they would have about a billion mana if they stuck to the standard of being able to completely refill their mana from empty in three days. That meant they regenerated about 230 thousand mana a minute. It was a lot until Matt came into the picture. He would be regenerating more than that much mana every minute at Tier 11, when under his one percent.

But all of that wouldn't matter if the difference in mana concentration wasn't similar. With log10 scaling, a thousand mana concentration made a spell four times stronger than someone with a mana concentration of one.

The problem was after Tier 35. At that point, a mage would have a mana concentration of over a million, and their mana would be seven times stronger than that of a mage with a mana concentration of one.

While she didnt know what exact concentration a mage reached at Tier 50, Liz didnt think that it was a billion. At most, she expected it to be a few hundred million, which would yield mana only thirty percent stronger than it had been at a million. Being a strong mage was more about improving spells, having more mana to throw around, and knowing what spells to use and when, as opposed to pure mana density.

Matt needed to get to at least one hundred thousand mana concentration to stay relevant in combat. That was what a melee fighter usually cultivated to, and their spells were still effective. She figured that Matt would increase his beyond that, but it was the minimum that he required.

While Luna was exaggerating the drastic need for maximizing his mana concentration at these Tiers, she wasn't entirely wrong either. If Matt didnt exploit his advantage of being able to restore his mana cap, he was wasting potential.

But Luna was also underselling the fact that Matts mana concentration at the early Tiers would be a rounding error after Tier 25, when he would have millions of mana to condense. While it might hurt him in the short term if they did nothing, Matt would have no issue getting to one hundred thousand mana concentration with Tier 40 plus mana concentration potions.

Mana concentration was, after all, directly and solely proportional to the amount of mana sacrificed. It was what made the Tier gaps so tall at the later Tiers. They had to get more essence to Tier up one Tier than they had earned from all the collective Tiers before.

One potion at Tier 25 could give Matt more concentration that he had in all the previous Tiers as well.

Currently, Liz and Aster both had a bit over four thousand total mana, and a mana concentration of nearly twenty at the peak of Tier 8, thanks to the potions theyd taken. Aster, with [Heart of Power], was even slightly ahead of Liz in regeneration, as the effect was permanent and gave the fox an edge.

Matt had 320 total mana, and a mana concentration of 7.3 after the latest concentration potion he had used at Tier 7.

He was behind, and wasnt catching up as quickly as she had expected with Lunas insurance. That discrepancy was what had prompted her to look into the numbers herself.

With more mana to sacrifice, he should be able to gain more mana concentration, but a mage had millions of essence to allocate at the higher Tiers. He wouldnt be able to find a potion in the realm that could reduce his mana by millions.

That was a pipe dream.

But Matt didnt need to worry about Tiers 8 through Tier 20, because one potion at Tier 21 would give him tens of thousands of mana concentration, where those other Tiers would have given him far less.

If Liz hadnt known Luna from her parents stories, and hadnt seen the woman in action, she wouldve believed that she was purposely sabotaging them. Luna was a perfectionist, and Liz believed that was tainting her viewpoint, and causing her to overvalue the concentration problem.

Her realization that the mana concentration problem wasnt much of a problem at all was a guilt laden relief. Liz wanted to finish The Path, and wanted Matt with her as she did. Together, with Aster, they could prove that they were the best of their generation.

Liz was eager to solve the main issue keeping that dream from becoming reality. She had two ideas for how to rectify it.

One was to make a new potion, with greater effect, from lower Tier herbs. It didnt need to be safe for anyone but Matt.

For all her taciturn attitude, Regina was correct that a mana concentration potion with the potency she needed would cripple a normal mage. But Matt wouldn't have to contend with the same limitations.

Her second idea, the one she was less hopeful in, was to find a way to make Matt's spirit accept the potion over a longer time frame. If she could figure out how to do that, she would be able to drip-feed him even a Tier 1 potion, and just have him cycle his mana for hours. Eventually, he'd get unlimited mana concentration.

She would also break one of the most fundamental understandings of alchemy, and change the Empire forever.

In theory, it was possible.

There was a Tier 32 natural treasure that reset the spiritual resistance once, as long as you were its tier or lower. The treasure couldn't be used more than that single time, but it showed that there was a way to help the spirit stay malleable.

If she did manage to figure that out, she would make it possible for anyone to have nearly unlimited mana concentration and mana regeneration. Along with a mana pool that would make Matts Tier 50 look small.

For that reason, if nothing else, she doubted that it was possible. If it was, someone else would have figured it out long before her.

She was just one woman after all.

She knew that every other organization in the realm was trying to do the same thing, so she refocused on creating a stronger potion just for Matt.

If she had to, shed step off The Path, but she didnt want to give up her ambitions for what would be a rounding error in the future.

It was a quandary that she didnt know how to solve, with him so far away. This wasn't a conversation to have though the slowest of mail.

How could she say that their experienced trainer was overstating how bad things would be if he didnt heed her advice.

As the days ticked by with no progress, she forced her efforts on using Tier 9 herbs as the secondary ingredients, to allow more of the Tier 8 herbs that directly increased concentration to fit in a single dose.

They had managed to increase the concentration by about two percent, but neither Regina or Liz considered that an acceptable increase.

Liz had to admit, as the days passed, she learned a lot from Regina. The woman, once she settled in, had a wealth of knowledge that she freely shared with Liz. Quickly, her own alchemy skills increased to the point that she could even concoct a Tier 9 potion with a seventy percent success rate.

She and Regina worked together for the several months that Matt was gone.

It was her first time being away from him for so long, and it was irritating. She and Aster had each other, which was nice, but Matt was a giant rock for them to lean on. Aster spent most of her time playing with the other bonds in the city while Liz worked, but they took time out of their day to train and spend time together.

As proud as Liz was, and as reluctant she was to admit it, even to herself, she also missed Matts mana.

Alchemy without him around was expensive.

Everything cost money, and without Matt there to create rifts with the herbs she needed, they had to buy them from the open market.

She wished Luna hadnt destroyed all the good rifts before opening the continent to the general public. Liz would have loved to slip over there and restock for cheap.

But the herbs werent their only cost; they weren't even the largest cost.

The alchemy room that they were in was rented, and it wasnt cheap, since she needed a Tier 9 room to handle the potions that she was creating. But even that didnt compare to the price of buying mana from the city.

A typical Tier 8 batch of potions took around 30,000 mana to create, on average. That included the purifying steps, the magical filtration, and separation. The final step, imbuing the brewing potion, was the worst part. It accounted for more than 20,000 of the mana usage per attempt.

With Matt there, it would have been a simple matter of just asking him to fill the massive mana stone that she had purchased solely for the purpose of conducting her alchemy without needing to constantly bother him. It held 100,000 mana, and was about six feet tall, which would have been incredibly inconvenient if it hadnt come with its own spatial bag.

Without Matt there for her, she had to purchase the mana from the city, which was expensive, but not something that she couldn't afford. She actually had so many excess potions that she was able to sell some off, which helped recoup her expenses. She even turned a bit of a profit from the whole endeavor.

The physical boosting potions she had created had helped. She and Aster both took a regeneration variant that seeped into their bones like digging worms, and gave them about a one percent boost in recovery speed.

The sections of physical cultivation: strength, proprioception, flexibility, senses, mind, regeneration, and durability, all had their potions that increased their effect. But at this Tier, the effects of the potion were minor.

Still, they sold out quickly. Even with their minor effects, the demand outstripped the supply. The potions were hard to create for an alchemist at the same Tier, and few would make potions below their Tier. Profit margins were always better when selling goods at ones own Tier, in any particular craft.

A batch of potions for Liz yielded anywhere from four to six bottles, with six being the max for the recipes that she was using. Regina considered any batch with less than the full yield a failure, but when pressed, admitted that her rarely failing completely was far better than what the average alchemist could do.

Liz had taken the compliment with grace and poise. She was good at alchemy, and had worked for years at maintaining a high success rate. Lunas mana manipulation practice hadnt only been good for her manipulation skills, but for her general application of mana as well.

Her and Aster, unlike Matt, weren't putting all their essence into physical cultivation, so a bit of extra regeneration would allow them to retain more muscle mass without exercising. It would take until Tier 9, even with the potion, for them to be completely immune to physical degradation. But it was nice to mitigate the backslide when they delved deep into other projects.

When Matt finally came back, she was overjoyed.

He tried to surprise her, but Aster, who had been napping in the corner, popped up like she had fallen into a hot bath.

She stood and started to look around until she started to track a path through the wall.

Matts back! Her tail started wagging, and Liz was happy that she didnt have one of her own. It wouldve been wagging even more than Asters.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to get to them, during which Regina made ever-increasingly acerbic remarks, but neither of them let that put a damper on their excitement. It had been nearly half a year since Matt left.

When the door opened, Matt had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and an ice cream cake in the other.

Liz leaned into a hug and enjoyed his scent while Aster jumped up and tunneled into Matt's neck on the other side.

I'm glad you're back.

Glad to be back. It was fun, but I missed you.

Aster yipped her own greeting, You were gone for too long! Years! I had no one but Liz. The new woman is a grump.

Liz stifled a laugh at the snort Regina gave off and disengaged from Matt. She took the flowers he offered and sniffed them. It was a full bouquet, but it was centered around lilies and tulips, her two favorite flowers.

The smell was delightful.

Aster had already dug into the ice cream cake, and was murmuring about how good it was.

While she had gotten a jar out to put the flowers in, Matt had walked over and introduced himself to Regina.

He was at least twenty Tiers weaker than the woman, but he walked up with confidence that mirrored his greater physical size.

His smile was self-assured, to the point that it almost bordered on arrogance. His good looks and charm softened it, but the underlying message was apparent to those who knew what to look for. Matt was sure of himself in a way that she envied.

Regina wasn't restricting her spiritual presence at all, but Matt was ignoring it in a way that spoke of long exposure to people stronger than himself. Erwin wasnt the best at holding his power under a veil when he was excited, and Matt had become accustomed to the weight of his presence. And while Regina had neglected to tell Liz her Tier on introduction, the weight she gave off was less than that of Erwin.

They idly chatted, but before long, Luna strolled in and told them that they were leaving in the morning, and to be ready by dawn.

It was the first and only time that Liz had seen Regina quiet and meek, despite Luna never even looking at her.

They called it an early evening, and shared stories in bed of what they had been up to during their time apart. The next morning, things were slightly hectic as they packed up the apartment she had been living in, and moved to meet Luna in the lobby.

When they arrived, they were pulled through space and appeared in a chaos ship. Liz could feel the change in reality that indicated they were outside real space.

To her own shame, Liz had not worked up the courage to broach the subject about them staying on The Path, and just basked in their time together.

Seeing Matt unbothered, and flopped onto a couch as if he had traversed chaotic spae a dozen times, she mentally noted that Luna must have taken Matt off the normal paths during their travels. He hadnt mentioned that, but he might not have realized what it implied.

Luna came into the room, and Liz waited for the shorter woman to speak.

She had known that Luna wanted to have a conversation when they finished the Tier 9 rift, nearly two and a half years ago, but had acquiesced to Matt asking if they could delay that.

It seemed that now was the time.

Luna inspected her in a way that Liz had to resist shifting away from. Her slitted purple eyes were piercing, more like a predator looking at prey than a demanding instructor.

What do you think we should do next?

Since Luna was looking solely at Matt, Liz refrained from answering herself.

Matt shrugged. If we aren't going to be making rifts, I assume that well be returning to a more normal delve schedule.

Luna finally looked to Liz and waited.

Knowing it was her time, Liz said, I think your plans are more dependent on whether or not we're leaving The Path, and if so, when.

Feeling Matt tense up, Liz patted his forearm.

She wasn't happy that Luna was forcing the conversation now, but accepted that this was the time to broach the topic that she was avoiding. She could only hope that Matt could understand where she was coming from.

For her, The Path was more about proving her independence, and that she was more than her parents' daughter to the Empire at large. She also enjoyed her time on The Path with Matt and Aster. Growing together was fun, and she wanted to reach the peak of power with them. She knew that Matt was more pragmatic about it, but he still liked The Path for the opportunity it had given him, and how it had changed the course of his life. He was just practical enough to step off when it was no longer a net positive for his long term growth.

She just didnt want to be alone.

Gathering her courage and ignoring Luna, Liz turned to Matt and said, We don't need to leave The Path. Either of us.

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