The Path of Ascension

Chapter 152

Tur'stal looked around to her fellow Royals and Lila, who, while not a Royal, merited a say in the upcoming decisions.

Are we in agreement to increase the number of the children we allow into the legacies for this tournament, along with the next four? Anyone after that wont be on the timeline to fight in the upcoming war, so they don't matter nearly as much as these upcoming generations. Her question was met with frowns and nods.

No one wanted to increase the burden on the legacies, but now was a critical period to forge future elites.

Rusty punched the air twice before uppercutting an invisible enemy. This isn't the time to hold back. Better to have a few of them break than to lose everything. The only ones worth squirreling away are the pair Harper and I called dibs on for Project Straw Shirt. And if Ciceron is careful, most won't even break. Theyll just need an extra long time to recover.

Harper nodded slowly. Agreed on both points. Those two particular assets represent too much potential for the project for us to risk them here. Otherwise, if we cycle the other legacies set aside for this, and pull them after the second use, I don't think we will encounter too many problems. The real issue is that rotating almost our entire stock out at once will alert the other Great Powers as to how many surviving legacies we actually possess. At the very least, their overall estimates will get significantly more accurate, and theyll get an almost exact count on the scarcer varieties. That means we wont have as many surprises for our elites in the Army and spy branches. Not the end of the world, but not ideal by any means.

Tur'stal nodded and sipped at a sauvignon blanc that she saved for when her nerves got the best of her.

She had waited to broach this topic until Emmanuel was long gone for a reason.

Access to the legacies was normally limited to the top three ranked competitors from each specialized category. That restriction was put in place because they had so few, and repeated usage in too short a period of time rapidly increased the risk of the legacy shattering.

Per type, three total uses of the obelisks every ten years was considered a safe number. That was enough to make a difference without risking the stress levels in any single one of them reaching a catastrophic level. While one particular legacy recovered from use, it would be removed from rotation for a decade. In prior times of conflict, their Royal predecessors had risked up to ten candidates at a time for each of the larger categories. As Harper said, allowing far more people to use them at once would give the other Great Powers a better guess at how many the Empire actually had possession of, something they would rather keep hidden.

If Tur'stal wanted to increase the number to ten, that would be one thing, but she didnt. She wanted to increase the number to fifty.

For the most common types, they had more than ten obelisks. For the more uncommon legacies, each single obelisk would have to survive five back-to-back uses, at least. For the rarest and most unusual of specializations, the Empire might only have one or two.

Ten per specialization isnt enough. For at least the major categories, I want to give everyone in the top fifty a chance. For the rarer types, we increase the slots by the same scale, four to five people per available legacy.

That crash landed as poorly as she expected.

Lila was the first to speak. That's certainly ballsy. However, if those reports are to be believed, then we might not be around to use them in the future anyway.

Having said her piece, the dragon sat back and pulled out a sandwich from her spatial ring, and began to unconcernedly munched away.

Mara shook her head, serious for once. I don't think this is a good idea. We risk too much. If this goes as badly as I expect, we will gimp the next two or three tournaments. Well have to increase the restrictions in response to this lackening of standards.

Tur'stal pursed her lips and refrained from commenting that 'lackening' wasn't a word; pettiness wouldn't help her argument.

Thankfully Leon disagreed with his wife. I don't think we should increase it to fifty, but it's not so bad. At worst, this is bad until we can get some rifts made that drop legacy obelisks. Then, we just find people who meet the requirements.

Everyone but Lila knew he meant Matt, but the dragon didnt seem bothered by being left out, continuing to crunch her sandwich as she listened.

Frederic raised a finger and said, I think allowing twenty would be a palatable compromise. It's enough to make a difference in this tournament, but shouldn't truly strain the more common legacy types. For those we dont have ten of, well still cap it at two per legacy.

Mara looked hesitant before shaking her head. I think it's still too many. Theres a reason that ten is as far as we go, even in times of crisis. This will cost us dearly. Remember we still need Legacy slots for the Pathers who were rated highly by their mangers and are below Tier 15.

As one of the two Tier 48s, she and Leon technically outranked everyone else and their words were final. But neither were unwilling to listen to others advice, and Tur'stal could see Mara wavering. With Leon on her side, they just needed to find a compromise.

***

At the start of the fourth-month announcement, Tur'stal and Lila said a few words about the legacies to inspire the participants. After their speech, Matt and Liz went back to their rooms to go over a message they received from Kurt.

When they all arrived, Luna immediately asked, Both of you have an open spot for a skill in your core spirits, correct?

Matt and Liz both nodded before Luna continued, Ok, good. Now you need to make a decision on which identity you want to compete as.

Kurt quickly wrote, You can only use one legacy every decade or so. The strain on the spirit is simply too massive. No healing or special methods will fix that for you, so you need to choose wisely.

While Matt was still formulating his question, Liz asked, Ive only heard rumors about legacies, but not how they actually work. What can you tell us?

Both Kurt and Luna exchanged a look before the dark-haired woman finally said, Not much. Everything about them is backed by AI oaths, and even we don't have exemptions from those. Normally this isn't an issue, but you are walking the line with two fighting styles. The real question is, what do you want most from your fighting styles.

Kurt nodded to Matt and took up the thread of the conversation. Matt, do you want to focus on more magical abilities, or do you want to increase your prowess with the blade? If you want the first, participate as Quill in one of the magical tournaments. If you want the second, go as Matt and take part in the longsword bracket.

The mute man then turned to Liz. Do you want to take advantage of your Talent, and lean into your bloodline and fire skills, or possibly hone your spear abilities more?

Matt and Liz tried to get more out of them, but their managers flatly refused to explain any further. With that in mind, he and Liz strategized about what their most dire needs with regards to their combat abilities.

Lizs decision was easier than Matt's; she quickly decided on furthering her blood abilities, and Luna signed her real identity up for the water mages competition.

Matt waffled back and forth with his decision.

In a few Tiers, he would have enough mana to be best suited for a mages fighting style, but he didn't want to give up his longsword in the future either. Melee fighting was a core component to any fighting team, and for good reason. It was strong in its own right, and a perfect counter to mages who lacked in physical cultivation.

Matt could see himself starting most battles as a mage and firing spells, but in his mind, he always devolved into a blade mage style, mixing spell and sword. When someone who thought he was only capable of casting spells got in close, he would then be able to punish their assumption, as he out muscled most other melee fighters at his own Tier.

The question was just what exactly the legacies did, and how useful they would be.

Is there a reason that I can't get another legacy later? Matt hedged his bets.

Luna immediately dashed his hopes. You can only use them before Tier 15, so while you might physically be able to use one in a few years, no. The policy on legacies is only contestants in the Tier 10 tournament are allowed to use them. There just aren't enough of them to go around, and the stronger the person using them is, the greater the chance of them breaking.

Luna paused for a moment before contradicting herself. At least that is how it normally works. Masked Pathers are usually allowed to come back for a second round most of the time. But for our purposes, make your decision as if you can only have one.

Matt frowned and threw ideas back and forth with Liz until he started to settle on an idea. His magical abilities would naturally increase as his repertoire of skills increased, but his melee skills would only go so far.

Looking towards the blade-mage in the room, he asked, If I want to keep a hybrid, blade mage fighting style, which legacy do you recommend I take first?

Kurt looked like he was struggling to write, as his usually fluid pen jerked around in the air for a few seconds before he said, Starting at the basics is never a bad choice.

Matt turned that less than obvious statement over in his head before translating it as a blade mage is a melee fighter first and foremost. He even vaguely remembered Kurt saying something similar to that when he and Kyle started going through his training together at Tier 6.

Liking the decision more as he thought it over, Matt said, Ill stick with my original idea and fight in the longsword division.

Kurt just nodded firmly, but the smile that flitted around his lips told Matt that he made the correct choice.

Luna then threw out two sheets of paper and said, Then your tournament starts in the second half of the month, as one of the more popular events.

Matt checked and saw that he and Liz were signed up for the longsword and water mage categories.

He had half hoped there would be a true blood mage legacy for her, but he knew that Luna knew what she was doing.

With that settled, Matt noticed that some of the brackets for the less common weapon styles and magic types were starting as soon as tomorrow.

Seeing the greatsword tournament, Matt decided to watch Queen and see how she fought with more restrictions.

***

Matt sat with his friends in the stands as he watched the start of the greatsword tournament. There were only ten thousand or so people who favored the weapon type, and were good enough to compete with one in a skill-less tournament.

Kyle was down there as well, and while Matt supported his friend, his attention was centered on the woman in the stoney mask.

Each month, she had repeatedly ranked in the top ten for gathered points, despite being a solo fighter.

The announcer started his spiel, but Matt ignored it until he said, For this year, instead of only the top three competitors being able to browse the legacy library, the top eight will be given that opportunity.

That announcement perked everyone up except for Queen, who looked unfazed. And Matt understood why.

To her, only the first slot mattered. A single spot or a thousand meant the same thing to the person who would win easily.

When the rules were announced, Matt tuned back in. As usual, we will provide everyone with standard greatswords that have no enchantments. Additionally, no skills or Weapon Concepts are allowed during the duels. If you have a relevant Talent with the weapon, please ensure that it has been registered with the tournament AI. Failure to do so will result in immediate disqualification from the entire tournament, and pending your public judicial hearing, possible ejection from The Path. Appropriate measures have and will continue to be taken to level the playing field as much as feasibly possible. You will respect that.

This was the rule Matt wanted to see.

Just how good was Queen without the strange weapon she always used?

The preliminary round was a combative test through everyone's AI, which reduced the number of qualified competitors down to a scant few thousand in a quick and dirty VR test.

After that, a hundred floating stages floated away with ten people each, setting the stage for the initial battle royale. Matt tuned into the feeds for both Queen and Kyles platforms.

The first true round was a quick way to knock out most of the remaining competitors into the losers bracket, where if they did well enough, they would be able to challenge anyone in the top one hundred who they believed they could defeat.

To his surprise, Queen kept her greatsword strapped to her back, and after testing the weight and balance of the provided sword once, stood off to the side and didn't move.

The other nine contenders on her platform didnt hesitate, and immediately turned as one to attacked her.

Matt had studied her fights, but he was still shocked at how easily she cut down nine other competent fighters with identical weapons, all while carrying a second blade on her back.

The woman wasnt merely good. For a Tier 10, her skill rivaled the mythical stories that her namesake came from.

In eleven strikes of her blade, she eliminated everyone on her platform, and was the first competitor to settle back down to the ground.

The announcer went wild, along with the rest of the crowd.

Matt chewed his lip as he pondered how he could beat her.

If he leveraged all of his skills and physical strength, he believed that even if he couldn't match her technique with the blade, he could just overpower her with a combination of magical spells and his own ability with the blade. He just needed to engage her in an open battle, which this event was definitely not.

But if he didnt have access to all of that, he doubted that he could match the masked woman, blade to blade.

His Quill identity stood a better chance, but even that would mean pulling out and revealing one of his final trump cards. Nonetheless, if he caught her off-guard by pulling an ace out of his sleeve, he believed that he had a ninety percent chance at beating her. If he was forced to reveal that trick before fighting Queen, his predicted odds at winning dropped to an even split.

The woman was just that good.

Kyle did well, and was also the final remaining competitor on his stage, but his fight was much harder than Queens.

Still, he moved on with the other top one hundred victors, and made it to the one versus one matches.

That started the losers bracket and their own elimination brackets, where they fought amongst themselves to find the hundred best fighters in one on one duels.

To prevent anyone from complaining about a bad matchup, anyone remaining was now able to challenge and then replace any of the top one hundred before the start of the points round. This way, everyone would have the chance to fight everyone else, which prevented a bad match-up from eliminating a top contender early.

After the tenth match, anyone remaining in the loser bracket was able to challenge anyone on the stage, and if they won, the challenger could take their place and half of their previous score. It gave them a bit more information than the first group of challengers, but it meant they started at a heavy disadvantage.

It was a similar, if truncated, structure the solo and team battles used. Just replicated in a smaller format.

While a few of the losers took a few places from the top one hundred, they mostly took the places of the weaker fighters with the worse skills that would make it harder for them to rank well.

Queen, as expected, never lost a single fight, and never needed more than three strokes of her blade to end her opponent's hopes at victory. If not for the judges, there would have been a pile of neatly butchered corpses left in her wake.

After her thirtieth win, where she cleanly beat the number two ranked competitor, people just started to surrender as soon as they had to fight her. The masked Pather seemed unbothered, and simply sat off to the side and inspected the borrowed sword she had been given, as if it was more interesting than her opponents.

Kyle, on the other hand, started off strong and kept his streak up. He was initially ranked in the top fifteen, then slowly crawled his way to the top ten, and eventually to sixth place, where he ferociously defended his position.

Matt and all of their friends cheered for him as he won, and cried foul when he lost to someone else. But as the day progressed, Kyle held strong at his sixth place position.

Finally, as the sun was setting, the top eight were decided, and everyone remaining was given the chance to challenge them for their spots.

No one was crazy enough to waste their challenge on Queen, of course. Everyone else was challenged, but no one was able to dislodge one of the top eight who had already proven themselves.

After that, an older man came out and escorted everyone who was getting a legacy away.

Kyle was able to send a message, but it only said that he was going to be out of communication for four to five days, and not to worry about him.

The news that some of the best fighters would be out of commission for longer than half a week after winning a legacy tournament reinvigorated the competition for the rift ranking, but neither Matt nor Liz had any intention to focus on those, with the more important legacy fights on the horizon.

Amongst their friends, Kyle, Melinda, Tara, Emily, Janet, Felix, and Annie all earned a place amongst the early legacies for their weapon types, as they were some of the first to compete. But everyone other than Tara and Emily wouldn't have rated the opportunity without the massively increased pool of legacies offered.

As one of the more popular styles that could be tested quickly, archery had a staggering twenty places available, but more than two hundred thousand Pathers tried their luck at earning a spot.

Tara had been forced to go through the entire tournament with a higher Tier suppressing her spirit, and in effect, the expression of her Talent. But she still managed to take the second place spot from her peers through sheer dint of skill.

Annies competition with the other rogues wasn't publicized or viewable by everyone else, but she only squeaked in the top six, taking the last spot.

She seemed happy she even got that far, but wouldn't or couldn't say what they had done. Considering that she still didnt have her own Concept, Matt was just impressed she had done as well as she had.

In between cheering on his friends, he took time to scope out more of the top Pathers in their own events. To his surprise, the funnest events to observe were the extremely niche specialties that his investigation eventually brought him to.

Unusual weapons like slings, whips, katars, hook swords, and tridents often had equally unusual conditions involved in the event. Additionally, the relatively minuscule starting pools lead to the duels feeling particularly personal, with many of the better competitors seeming to know each other. It was a pity that few of them had legacies as prizes, and even those exceptions that did were only available to the top two places.

The blowgun competition ended up being Matts favorite so far. Instead of simply shooting targets or dueling in an open ring, everyone was first given an hour to mix poisons from scratch. Then, they were stripped of their armor, released as groups into a densely wooded area, and given a time limit to hunt each other. The results were bizarre and intense. In his opinion, those two winners had earned the hell out of that obscure legacy.

Matt did see a familiar face at the sword and shield preliminaries that were held earlier, as the single most used melee weapon combination.

Talous, the man from the vassal war, was competing, and after the initial fights, even nodded to Matt, but said nothing. The neutral expression after their last bloody encounter just rubbed Matt the wrong way, but he wasn't sure if that was his opinion of the man showing itself. When Liz heard about it later that night, she suspected his look wasnt as simple as it seemed on the surface, and he might be planning something.

The fact he took the fourth spot in such a competitive legacy as sword and shield was impressive, but Matt didnt let that get to him.

Finally, the time for the more popular events started, and Matt joined the longsword competition.

Like the greatsword competition, he was pitted against nine other people on a floating platform with a judge flying next to them, watching the fight.

Matt didnt hold back, and tried to recreate Queen's feat of taking out each of his opponents in a single strike, but didnt quite manage it.

He was able to easily defeat five of his opponents, but his final enemy had killed the remaining three people himself, and dueled Matt to a deadlock for several exchanges. Eventually, Matt got a lucky blow to land on the man's leg, and ended the fight with the resulting advantage in mobility.

Unlike the greatsword tournament, there were slightly over a hundred thousand longsword users trying out, and there were another ten rounds of eliminations to get the top one thousand. Before they moved on, they offered anyone who had lost the chance to challenge the top one thousand contestants.

These fights took two days of challenges, but Matt was only challenged once. His resulting victim was skilled enough that no one else bothered him, and instead chose to take on people they perceived as weaker.

After the shuffling of the top one thousand, the primary brackets finished with a final few bouts for anyone who thought they had the chance to win a spot in the remaining competition. That event took half a day on its own. Even with ten stages always being used, they were sent home and told to be ready for a long several days of fighting.

The round-robin of the fighting took two days, but Matt came out in third place overall.

Matt felt he did quite well, and was happy with his performance. The final rounds were brutal fights between mostly evenly matched opponents, and without a competitor like Queen, who stood head and shoulders above the competition, they devolved into stalemates.

Once a fight reached the one hour mark, the judges called it based on the number of hits landed and theoretical damage done.

That was where Matt came up short, and because his style was built around [Cracked Phantom Armor], which he couldn't use, he had taken more glancing blows than his opponents. Because of his propensity to take unnecessary hits, he was declared the loser in a few fights.

Still, he was happy with his showing. He had done well, and showed everything he had in a skill-less longsword battle.

He wasnt the best, but he was good.

The longsword competition had twenty people allowed in the legacies, which was a number only tied by the other top competitions.

As they had seen before, an older man appeared to take them away, but on closer inspection, Matt realized that they weren't actually older. They just had gray hair, despite a face that looked like it was in the prime of life.

When their group left the stadium, the gray-haired man opened a portal in the air and led all of them through into a comfortable waiting room, before closing the circle in space.

Turning, he clapped to gather their attention. My name is Ciceron, and I am the Head Librarian of the Imperial Archives. That comes with a lot of privilege and responsibility, but this is one of my favorite times of the decade. Sadly, we only have two tournaments every ten years, and once you become as old as me, decades start to feel like weeks. Before I can say more, I need you all to take an AI-backed oath of the following. Its a pain, but someone a long, long time ago set everything up so that I can only talk to you about it if you take the same oath. I wont pretend this isnt incredibly stupid, but we still havent found a way around it.

On the wall, writing appeared and spelled out an incredibly restrictive set of rules that they had to follow. They essentially boiled down to tell no one who hasnt sworn this oath anything about legacies at all, and anyone who has sworn this oath shouldnt say any more than they need to.

Matt swore the oath easily enough, as did everyone else. They had already come this far, after all.

Once they all finished, Ciceron clapped and smiled. Okay, excellent. Can you all line up in the order of your ranking, please? As they moved, he watched with keen eyes. Good, good. Thank you. I know some information on Legacies has managed to leak, but in the interest of keeping everyone on the same page, Ill give a quick primer. So fundamentally, a Legacy is a spiritual imprint of a high Tier individual, saved to ensure their unique abilities arent forever lost. If the Shards of Reality are a shredded snapshot of an Ascension, then a Legacy is a stylized portrait of a high Tier master. Similar to a Shard of Reality, they also act as a miniature pseudo-Inspiration of sorts. However, the three have some major differences. First off, Legacies can potentially be used over and over again for eons, as long as theyre managed very carefully, and they don't randomly break. Second, unlike the Shards, which help advance Concept formation, Legacies dont directly help with Concepts. Third, while any Shards will help advance any Concept, the type of help a specific Legacy can offer is entirely dependent on whoever established it. Everyone good so far?

Ciceron gaze spread across them as the group nodded. Good, good. So in order to establish a Legacy, someone first needs an Endowment Obelisk, which is essentially just a blank, unactivated Legacy. They only begin showing up at Tier 45 as exceptionally rare rift rewards. Next, that person needs to meet the four criteria for using the Endowment Obelisk, which will then sculpt itself into a functioning Legacy obelisk.

The librarian held up four fingers and then lowered them one by one as he counted off. For one, the person imprinting themselves into the Legacy needs to be at least Tier 45. Second, they must have already solidified their Aspect. Third, they must have truly mastered and then personally refined a specialization of some type. And finally, they must have achieved at least one Inspiration directly related to that specialization.

Ciceron gave everyone a knowing smile. Now, do any of you know why a legacy is so valuable?

When no one answered, he laughed and continued, Well phooey. Im eagerly waiting for the day when enough of this info has leaked that we can do away with this whole silly song and dance. Half the reason Im giving you all this lecture is in hopes youll find a way to leak more information past this oath. Simply removing your AI and replacing it wont get around this one, sadly. But no matter. A legacy, or more specifically for you, a longsword Legacy, is able to assist in the creation, refinement, and use of skills pertaining to the idea that was embedded into the obelisk. Take, for example, one of our oldest legacies, older than even the Empire itself. It will assist you in skills that focus on [Mana Slash], and skills like it. If you already have the skill, then the imprint in the legacy can help you modify the skill to be far more effective than normal when cast through a longsword. If you dont have that skill, the legacy can possibly even help you create a new skill variant safely from scratch. Be forewarned though, most of the subjects of these legacies honed their own skills specifically for use with the longsword. Any skill you modify or create will likely also sacrifice efficiency and usability with other weapons to better improve its resonance with a longsword.

After that, you are then placed into a time dilation state that will last for roughly a decade, while only three days pass normally. The legacies only have so much energy to do everything with, so you need to manage your time well. If you make a skill from scratch, you will have less time than someone who has or brings in a skill to be modified. But even they will have less time than someone who simply chooses to just be trained for the whole decade. You will enter into a semi-dreamlike state for the training portion, so you won't be alone for a decade in a white room with only a remnant of a person. That would drive most people crazy, after all.

Matt internally whistled. A decade of time with someone who had an inspiration about longswords was valuable on its own, but making or creating a new skill variant? Now he understood why Luna had been insistent that they both leave a core skill slot open.

He expected that the legacy would do something similar to the technique he had learned from Liz about rapidly modifying skills as they entered the core spirit, and before they stopped moving and solidified.

Ciceron then pulled the first-ranked man away through the single door before vanishing for over two hours.

When he came back the third time, it was Matt's turn, and he was led to an adjacent room with a small book placed on it.

Ciceron smiled and held Matt back before offering an AI blocking band and saying, For this part, I need you to block your AI and consent to having your memories altered of your time in the room. Matt recoiled slightly as the librarian brought out another helmet-looking item.

I know it's not pleasant, but you will be able to look through the entire catalog of legacies, and we can't let anyone know of what we actually have in storage. This little beauty will block out any memories of the legacies you don't choose. But I can't force you. If you don't consent to it, you can tell me about yourself and what you want, and Ill do my best to find you a proper match.

Matt frowned, but took the bracelet and helmet before sitting down.

The book had seventeen pages, and each had a listing of a legacy and what they knew about the creator of said legacy.

Some of the pages were just a few lines long, with simple descriptions about what the legacy specialized in, while others had short paragraph biographies introducing the person and their accomplishments.

What did surprise Matt was the fact that not all the legacies were from people in the Empire. One was actually from the Republic, two from the Corporations, and three from the Conglomerate of Guilds.

After glancing through the list, Matt understood the reason for secrecy, even if he didn't like the fact that he wouldn't be able to remember any of this.

From the side, Ciceron offered him a piece of paper and a pen before saying, Youre allowed to write notes to your mind wiped self, if you wish, about the legacy you chose and why. I can't allow you to say anything about the other legacies more detailed than they don't fit as well, but it will help save some time when you finish. Otherwise, take your time and feel free to ask me any questions.

Matt flipped back to the front of the book and looked over the first entry.

Quintus Octavius Maccalus only had a name and a description of the skills he modified; anything else was lost to time, as his legacy was expected to be at least forty million years old. It was from the political entity that existed before the entity that fractured into the current Great Powers.

That was such a long time ago. Matt had trouble even visualizing it, but the skill that the legacy specialized in was just as unique.

Quintus Octavius Maccalus and his legacy preferred to modify movement skills to empower both the body and the sword. If Matt entered the legacy with any Tier 8 or 14 movement skill, the legacy could allow him to modify it.

The example given was if he took in [Fleet Feet], a Tier 8 skill that increased the proprioception and flexibility of the legs for a degree of reserved mana, he could extend its effects to the entire body and the sword.

Matt had to check, and Ciceron confirmed that the very sword would be able to bend mid-attack. He could imagine a million and one uses for that ability, but didnt think it fit his more strength-oriented fighting style.

After dismissing the next two legacies as useless to his fighting style, since they were all about increasing the defensive abilities of his sword and spells, Matt found something that caught his eye.

Scthach Giollagin was a woman who took empowering skills like [Mana Charge] and increased their penetrating power to a razor's edge. The last reported person to take this legacy used only 100 mana in a [Mana Charge] to cut through a block of solid steel, three Tiers higher than themselves and their sword.

Matt had enough mana that he believed he could make something truly deadly with a skill like that.

But the legacy of Shen Ruogang from the Corporation caught his eye, and took the top spot on his list the instant he found it.

She took sword creation skills and improved them in a number of ways, depending on the base skill. If Matt went in there with [Sword Minion], instead of taking a real sword, and needing the casters' concentration to direct it, it would turn the skill into a reflection of the user's ability with the blade. Meanwhile it would increase the base speed of the empowered weapon.

If he took [Phantom Blade], she could modify the skill from simply summoning a short-lived weapon that recklessly charged at the enemy, to also violently exploding near the end of its duration. She could also remove the limit of, or at least greatly increase, the number of simultaneous phantom swords the skill could create.

[Shadow Sword] could be taken from creating a second strike a quarter as strong as the original, to leaving a trail of pseudo-real swords in the wake of every strike, which could be used to block attacks, interfere with regeneration with a lingering corrosive effect, or attack multiple people simultaneously.

But what Matt was interested in most was what Shen Ruogang could do with [Sword Doppelganger].

The original version of the skill was a weaker Tier 14 weapon skill that created a single sword. While autonomous and equal in sharpness to the original, the sword copy lacked durability, and could be shattered with a decently powerful hit. With her modification, the summoned swords hardness and durability scaled with the amount of mana used to cast the skill. Best of all, it could both function as an independent weapon, or merge with the original sword to boost the weapon's sharpness, durability, and magical effects.

With a growth longsword and a massive mana pool, Matt could have a strong, autonomous sword to defend himself while he cast magical spells. Then, when the fight devolved into a melee battle, he could merge the mana based weapon with his own to ensure that he could cut through higher Tier material.

It was the perfect skill for Matt, the warrior who was always fighting monsters and people above his Tier, and for Matt, the mage who would have millions and then billions of mana to throw at the skill.

After questioning Ciceron, he finally wrote himself a note and then chose the skill and legacy he wanted. The skill was part of the reward for ranking in the competition and was provided for him, which saved Matt from hoping that someone on East Flower was selling it.

At least the Empire made things easy for them.

***

Matt found himself sitting at a table with Ciceron next to him, along with a single sheet of paper explaining the abilities of a woman named Shen Ruogang from the Corporations. He was confused at first, until he saw the way she could modify [Sword Doppelganger]. He understood his past self's intentions, even if he couldnt actually remember them.

Being able to copy his longsword and then merge the weapons was already strong, but being able to throw his ridiculous mana into the skill would ensure that it was a skill he could use forever.

After confirming his choice with Ciceron and being handed a single [Sword Doppelganger] skill shard, Matt was brought into a room that contained row upon row of light gray obelisks. They sat surrounded by a ring of pillows with a single light above them.

Ciceron laughed and said, Not all of these are real, so we don't mind you seeing them and getting a count. We learned that letting people walk to the legacy obelisk with their memory intact reduced some of the side effects.

They walked for what felt like hours before Ciceron stopped at a stone pillar that looked just like all the others, and directed Matt to press the skill shard against one of the stone faces. He then had to send a strand of essence through, as if he was going to cycle the skill into his spirit.

When Matt did as instructed, he dropped to the ground as his mind was pulled into the legacy.

***

Ciceron watched the boy fall into the trance of the legacy for a few seconds before shifting him into a more comfortable position. He would be like that for three days, and if he was laid out properly, he wouldn't suffer so much.

In two steps, he exited the illusion formation and into the true legacy room. Sometimes, a small lie and a misdirection did more good than any memory wipe.

He was surprised that Matt had gone with that particular legacy and skill, but just filed it away to be reported to the Emperor later. The children usually had a few surprises for him every tournament, and he liked to learn where his guesses had gone wrong when he could.

Ciceron had long ago learned the technique for peering behind the Pather masks, and knew what this young man had done with his other identity.

He wasnt foolish enough to leak such information, and just made a note to keep an eye on Matt as he grew up.

The boy seemed happy to share his information instead of hoarding it, which was all Ciceron ever asked for.

If people hid information, it took him so much longer to find it.

Knowledge was power, after all.

And he wanted all of it.

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