The Path of Ascension

Chapter 293

It took them another three weeks of dodging patrols to make it out of the occupied territories, but Joy managed it despite the ship trying its best to fall apart around them. While Arthur had been able to put all of them back together in a reasonable enough time frame, their ship wasnt so easily fixed, and would need time in the Capital shipyards before it was combat-capable once more.

Even once they were inside Empire controlled space, that didnt mean they got to relax. Not by a long shot.

The Federation, the Sects, and The Republic had taken Duke Waters' absence as an opportunity to push the frontlines forward, now that their Tier 35 battlefields weren't at risk of being crushed . Therefore, they couldnt just drop their payload of stolen war supplies off at the nearest unsieged planet, as there were roaming squads looking for worlds they might catch off guard. Now that they were flying through nominally friendly space, they didnt need to be too on guard, but that restriction slowed them down.

Allie couldnt teleport a supply depot's worth of goods, so if they couldn't drop their payload off, they wouldnt be able to teleport back to base like they usually did. It didnt help that Allie had been the worst injured on their mission, and while she had been healed from the worst of her injuries, she was far from peak condition. It made her grumpy as a wet cat. Arthur was a fantastic healer, that was the reason he was chosen for Team Zero after all, but even he could only do so much before running into the healing cooldown.

Being left in that half healed limbo made Allie a ball of fury, itching to go out and assassinate Maven. They all agreed with the sentiment, but that brought them to the question of how she had gotten so strong between encounters. General Darrow had offered up a few suggestions he figured to be likely, based on the readings he got from her. His theories ranged from incredibly strong potions, secondary boosts from others before the fight, to unique hidden gear. But it was all speculation in the end.

That didnt stop them from hoping Maven had to spend a dozen times recovering or otherwise dealing with the backlash of using that power as they had to spend flying through chaotic space. Allie, in particular, repeatedly hoped Maven was given months of uncontrollable diarrhea. That seemed unlikely, but it would be gratifying if she had to suffer such.

If nothing else, they knew she was down for the count, as she hadnt been seen near any of the battlefields, which Team Zero took as a good sign.

Three planets deeper beyond the frontlines, they finally arrived at an Empire supply depot and were able to dump their stolen loot off.

And dump they did. Aila just shoved dozens of boxes out of one of the holes in Joys ship and let the loot pinata, as she called it. The spatial enchantments fell apart without her constant preventive maintenance and the ensuing explosion of goods was memorable.

Matt wanted to feel amused by the faces of shock and exasperation from the base personnel who flew around gathering materials, but he was too tired for such feelings.

The moment Joy brought them back into chaotic space and they saw that no one was observing them, Allie teleported them back to Camp Lightfoot. The instant their ship touched the ground, Joy passed out, and the ship literally fell apart around them. In fact, it would have fallen on them, but Matt flared his Concept and blew the tattered roof of the ship off, not caring about the additional damage he did to the ship.

Healers rushed in, and Allie and Joy were rushed off and accompanied by a dozen healers. The remaining healers looked like they wanted to cart off the rest of them, but they were ambulatory and were happy to walk under their own power.

For the first time since they joined the war, Matt really appreciated the time dilation of the rift and Allies ability to bring them back to said rift at a moment's notice.

The week of downtime they would get between missions seemed like a personal gift from the Emperor at this point, and it would take less than a full day of real time for him to experience it. And he needed it. Matt was exhausted emotionally and mentally. Being on high alert for so long was bad for the nerves, and being immortal didnt alleviate the issue, even if it extended his thresholds.

It also helped him understand why Aiden acted so flippantly. The man was just trying to not let the stress get to him. Or at least, that was what Matt assumed. He might throw someone through a wall if they asked him about his latest mission right now.

His thoughts were interrupted by the very person in question walking over to them. Instead of his usual easy smile, Aiden had a flat expression as he inspected them.

Catching their eyes, he asked, You ok?

Matt knew that Aiden didnt mean physically, as their conditions were pretty clear, and was instead asking about their mental states. That was a kindness that he hadnt really expected from Aiden, but he was grateful for the man checking in on them.

Seeing the rest of them were ok, Aiden looked to Zack and simply raised an eyebrow.

Allie took a bad hit thanks to an ambush by Maven. Hearing that, Aiden's eyebrow rose even higher, and Zack continued to explain how Maven had been far stronger than before, but waited to reveal that power until she had already closed in with Allie.

Matt didnt miss how Aiden's eyes narrowed, but Liz beat him to asking the question that was on all their minds. Do you know what she might have been using?

Aiden slowly shook his head. No idea! Bet youll do great though. A good, tough fight is always so nice.

Matt was a little disappointed by the fact Aiden didnt know, but knew that wasnt exactly fair to the older Ascender. Aiden wasnt some all-knowing entity, but Matt had been hoping he knew something so they could go into the next fight ready to counter Maven.

No boost that strong was perfect. That kind of trick had a long and well-trodden history throughout the wars. That kind of gimmick, whether it was some crazy-strong bit of tech from the Federations, a potent ritual from the Clans, or a revolutionary new power source from the Corporations, they always had some form of drawback that drastically undercut their usefulness.

It was always possible that the Sects had come up with something new, but if so that advantage would only last until, once again, it was identified and the Empire could replicate it. Then, it would just become another part of everyone's tool kit. When Matt could, he drank a handful of potions before he knew he was heading into battle. But once upon a time, those potions would have been rare secret trump cards of their various Great Powers.

After a little more small talk, Aiden seemed to grow bored and fell apart into a puddle, and then even that vanished. Taking that opportunity, Matt shook his head, clearing it from such deep thoughts as they were checked over by the healers.

By the time they were given the all-clear, Allie was already free and looking perfectly normal. The only one from Team Zero who wasnt up and about was Joy, who was suffering from pushing her Talent and therefore spirit so hard in their escape. She wasnt in any danger, but the healers were insistent on keeping her for observation until she woke up on her own, though they expected her to wake up in a day at most.

That left the rest of them to their own devices, and without fail, they went to their houses to crash. Even Darrow, who usually went to report to Chess and the other Generals, went straight to his house.

Matt didnt even make it to his and Lizs room. It just seemed too far, and the couch was that much closer. Liz joined him with a long sigh, and Aster flopped over his lap and into Lizs.

Time seemed to have zero meaning thanks to the unmoving suns that hovered in the rift, and it was only thanks to Matts [AI] that he knew they sat there for a full two hours before Aster rolled over and fell onto the floor with a groan.

Im pretty sure my armor is glued to me with all this sweat and blood.

Hearing his bonds comment, Matt inspected them with his spiritual perception. They werent actually that bad, but there was definitely blood and sweat that had escaped the [Cleanse]s they had used en route back to the Empire.

Casting [Cleanse] a dozen times in rapid succession, Matt got rid of the worst of the gunk before standing up and stretching until his back popped in a dozen spots. Looking down, he saw Aster had put her hands out, not wanting to do the hard work of standing up on her own. Reaching down, Matt pulled her to her feet, just for Liz to catch a ride by draping herself over Aster's shoulders.

And from the way she was sliding off Aster, Matt knew his wife hadnt bothered with making bones. Chuckling, Matt started to strip his armor even as he walked to their room. [Cleanse] wasnt nearly enough and Matt needed a proper shower.

The next day, Matt exited their house feeling a million times better. A good rest in his own bed was exactly what he needed, and he felt ready to take on the world once more.

Though, his first step wasnt to take on the world at all. No, his first step was to go get his mana concentrated. In what marked an actual first for him, hed managed to return from a mission with a basically-clean bill of health. No malignant curses, spiritual damage, or any other ghastly wound, and that meant he was, at long last, able to crunch his mana fully once again.

Unfortunately, Allie was still in her no-teleport phase while her spirit and body recovered, so Matt had to take a ship to a very familiar research facility back on the main Capital.

Knowing how badly the last incident had affected him, Matt knew he needed to go sooner rather than later. Spending most of his week off suffering from the potion and formation reaction didnt sound like a great way to spend his vacation, but Matt couldnt wait. With the current war footing, every day was precious, and Matt might be needed to go back to fight the moment their week of vacation was over.

That, and Melinda was here, and he was hoping that if she hit him with a spell the moment he got out of the enchantment circle, he could avoid the worst of the follow-up sickness.

A researcher made her way over to Matt and introduced herself. Geneva, nice to meet you again.

Matt gave her a polite smile and nodded to the formation that looked suspiciously similar to the one he used last time. How is the formation? It looks Matt pondered how to politely ask his question and gave up. Similar to last time I saw it. I kinda expected something far more polished with it being close to a hundred years.

Geneva blinked at him. Ascender Quill, I believe you may have some misunderstanding as to the nature of our work. The device is one-of-a-kind, we arent creating any more, simply modifying this same device. Weve made substantial progress, but we have had no need to replace much of what you see.

Geneva gestured for him to walk with her and explained as he followed her to a backroom, where grand columns of topaz and amethyst thrummed with potent magic. We have decreased the energy clashes by two percent in the last decade alone. Look at the change in circuitry, it's completely reworked with future expansion in mind. And our alchemists have created a new version of the potion that will hopefully have less secondary side effects.

Matt wasnt sure he liked the phrasing that Geneva used, but just nodded as she excitedly showed him around their laboratory. Despite not following most of the high-level concepts Geneva talked about, Matt was very interested in what they were doing. He did understand the general workings of most of the formations they were using, which let him gather a fairly detailed picture, even if there was no chance he would be able to make one of these himself.

That was a bit of a problem. His Intent might slowly but surely condense his mana, but the massive boosts he could get by using this formation werent something he was going to pass up going forward. After all, now that he was off the Path, he could abuse this kind of device and not only catch up to the mana concentration that others had, but eventually surpass them.

Beyond all of that, these people were incredibly smart. They were exactly the type of people he wanted to recruit for his guild in the future, and he wanted to get familiar with them before anything more than rumors of his Talent spread. Team Zero might know of his Talent, along with a few select members from the other Groups, but beyond that, it was a tightly kept secret.

His schmoozing was made incredibly easy by the fact that the researchers seemed eager to please, which made him wonder if Frederic had given a few hints about Matts Talent out. It was unlikely, but always possible.

Matt wasnt going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though.

Melinda had tagged along with one of her mentors to observe, and when they indicated they were ready, Matt entered the formation and downed the potion. Power surged, and Matts spirit was shredded and reforged once again.

The agony lasted for what felt like hours. He should have expected it, as he had so much more mana than the last time he went through this procedure at Tier 17, but he hadnt taken that into account when psyching himself up for this little torture session. The researchers, on the other hand, had taken that into account, and Matt found his mana concentration slowly increasing as his mana pool reached single digits.

With a maximum mana of 3, Matt crawled out of the formation just to be caught by Melinda, who hit him with a healing spell that felt like it did nothing at all. Creating a few small mana crystals, Matt quickly returned his mana to his current maximum of 40 million mana. It was only after his mana was restored, when he was sitting on the floor answering the researcher's questions, that he came to a jarring realization. While he hadnt told the researchers his Talent, he had shown them his Talent, which might as well be the same thing.

Oh well.

Anyone who was still on the team at this point would be trusted, and if they hadnt already figured it out, they would after a few more trips. Who cared about a realm altering secret that would jeopardize his freedom when his mana concentration was now one fifteenth as concentrated as a mage of his Tier, and one third as concentrated as a melee warrior of his Tier.

For the first time since the Tier 40 potions had stopped condensing his mana, he was making appreciable progress on his mana concentration.

While the pain was mostly gratifying at this point, it did mean he missed the entire trip back to the rift. He properly came to when he was in the middle of raiding Aster's freezer. He swayed back and forth a bit like he was drunk, then refocused and rooted around for something that caught his eye. He grabbed a pint of something bright yellow that tasted like a sunrise, which was exactly what he needed. Matt then downed the entire pint before he even finished the show he had thrown up on the living room screen as an attempt at a distraction.

A Liz came out of the room he had put the garden orb in and started making him tea from the herbs in her garden the moment she saw his condition. It didnt pair with the ice cream at all, but it was good in its own right, and helped soothe the pain of his over-stressed spirit.

Thankfully, the upgrades achieved by the research team, or possibly the healing from Melinda, curbed the worst of the side effects. Instead of purging his insides over a week, Matt only had to deal with having gone bald overnight.

That was an easy enough fix, and a trade-off that Matt would happily make.

Feeling good, Matt threw himself into working with Zack and Erwin on the fast mana type.

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They were deep in a test they were hopeful could succeed when Matt got a high priority alert. He was worried they were being called back into the war at first, but Zack hadnt gotten a similar alert, which meant it couldnt be that.

A little frustrated, Matt made his way out of the research lab just to find King Frederic waiting in his house with Liz and Aster.

Entering the house, Frederic stood and nodded to Matt. A pleasure to see you again Matthew. How has life as an Ascender been treating you?

Matt smiled as he went along with the small talk, answering a few benign questions before pointedly looking at the wooden chest Frederic had sitting on their kitchen island.

Frederic smiled softly. Now that you are here, we can begin. As promised, I have brought a number of unique cracked or otherwise rare skills which I feel may interest the three of you.

Matt rubbed his hands together as he peered at the box. This would be their last large shipment of skills that they had requested, and that didnt even account for the unique stuff Frederic had sitting in his vaults.

Opening the box, racks of velvet extended out, and each rack had a skill shard nestled on it. They were shiny and pretty, but Matts eyes were drawn to the egg-sized orbs sitting in one of the lower racks.

Skill orbs were stupidly rare, and he hadnt expected to see one, let alone a full dozen of them in the collection Frederic brought to them. Skill orbs were like skill shards in that they were able to give someone a skill, but instead of being one use per skill shard, the orbs were capable of being used a random number of times. It wasnt endless, as even skill orbs broke, but they were capable of being used thousands if not millions of times, and were incredibly rare for just that property alone.

Their advantages didnt end there though. They also enabled someone to modify the skill inside, which allowed for a higher Tier to adjust a skill before anyone used it. That feature was the most popular aspect of skill orbs, from what Matt understood of them. It was a unique advantage, and helped a group give out skills that matched their fighting or design philosophies.

The box even had its own [AI] infotags, and as Matt focused on the orbs, he got a readout for each of them in turn.

The first and least interesting to him was a combat-focused [Fire Manipulation] that had been altered to fit what was sometimes called either physical or kinetic casting. It was a relatively common type of modification that tied control over the element to the physical motions of the caster. That came with the obvious downside of requiring mostly-unrestrained movement to make full use of it, but came with the upside of drastically reducing costs, to the point where the [Fire Manipulation] actually acted as a viable replacement for normal fire skills.

What really struck Matt was just how robust the modifications were. Dozens of fire skills were listed as being easily and cheaply replicable with the [Fire Manipulation] orb, meaning that so long as someone had the requisite physical training, they could immediately start throwing around fireballs, breathing fire, parting fire around them, and more besides. All at the cost of a single skill slot. It was nothing Matt couldnt quite replicate by simply throwing more mana at his own skill, which meant that other than the skills ability to create as well as control fire, there was nothing there for him, and he moved on.

The other orbs were similar in that they were heavily modified lower-Tier skills, but none of them were anything Matt wanted.

It was still interesting, and Matt was forced to look up to Frederic. Where did you get these skill orbs? I only know they are exceptionally rare.

Frederic snorted. They are rare, but just about any rift can drop them. Most that enter the market are bought up immediately for a massive markup. Contrary to what anyone else will tell you, the army has a few hundred, but they are rarely pulled out, for obvious reasons. I can bring these out because they are part of my personal collection, but they aren't too interesting for you, I don't believe. Not as these will be.

Frederic gestured to one of the racks, and Matt read the tags that stated the skills on there marked for him.

A few were the skills he requested, and after a look to Frederic, who nodded in approval, Matt grabbed them off the velvet. Nothing there was too interesting, with the really important skills having been delivered already. Instead, his attention turned to the other skills he hadnt asked for.

Just what did Frederic think he needed?

The first skill Matt looked at made him stare at the Royal inquisitively.

It was a [Cracked Dragonflame] whose crack removed all elemental affinity. By itself, that wasnt an appealing prospect for most people, outside of the ease in which neutral-mana spells could be modified to match the casters own mana. But it wasnt like a torrent of pure magic was useless. It just seemed less useful than most of Frederics normal collection.

Frederic pointed to the skill with a sweep of his hand. I was saving this for any dragons with an unusual mana type who came looking for a skill, but I believe you could get the best use out of it, with your Tier 25 Talent.

Matt raised his eyebrow in question. [Mana Beam] crystallizes itself. Great for punching through barriers which just defend against mana, but it's not that useful, all things told, as it slows the beam spell down for no real extra damage. You think this will work differently?

Frederic gestured at the skill. I spoke with your advisors. They and I believe the most likely form your Talent might manifest with them is by crystallizing mana once it strikes a target, rather than upon first manifestation. Or, if it does not do so natively, that it could surely be modified to reach that effect. It would be less of an extra-powerful attack, and more a means to reshape the battlefield as a part of an attack.

Hed tried directly manifesting mana crystal offensively a few times, but over the timescales of a fight, he really wasnt able to get anything larger or more complex than a sword, and even that was sometimes pushing it. The idea of leaving trails of lingering mana-crystal flames wherever he attacked spoke to that deep, core part of him that stemmed from his childhood that wished he was a dragon. And really, what more of a reason did he need?

If it completely failed, hed figure something out. Maybe he could find a blank skill shard and give it back.

Having that thought, Matt got up and dug around through his old storage rings and came back holding a skill shard.

Handing it to Frederic, he said, Thank you for this. [Cracked Mana Spear] served me well. I

Matt lost his train of thought and his words petered out. [Cracked Mana Spear] had been with him for so long, it felt weird giving it away, but he truly didnt need the skill any more. He could have kept it without Frederic complaining, he was sure, but it felt wasteful for Matt to just shove a skill shard that someone else might find just as useful into his outer spirit. If anyone could find someone who could abuse [Cracked Mana Spear] like he had, it was Frederic. And that felt like a more fitting end for the skill.

Weapons werent meant to be ornaments on a wall. They were meant to be in one's hand.

I dont want such a skill to just languish in my outer spirit when I know Ill never use it again. I figured I should return it to you the next time I saw you and well Pausing, Matt nodded before finishing. Thank you.

Frederic let the skill shard roll around in his hand before he carefully nestled it into a velvet nook of the opened collection.

I didnt start my collection. My grandmother had a few rare skills she left rambling around, but my father fell in love with them and started collecting any rare skill he could get his hands on. My father used the skills to bring in helpful retainers, but he was a true collector. He enjoyed the pursuit of rarity. I also fell in love with that feeling, but I also know that a collection of weapons isn't best used as a display. His smile was small, and Matt thought it might have been the first real smile he had seen from the man, which made it even more interesting that they had had the same thought about weapons. Maybe it's just the weight of a crown that makes me reprioritize, but I have been giving out a number of skills, and I hadnt expected to get any of them back.

His pointer finger gently stroked the skills faceted surface. I can see so much history from the changes you made to the skill. You pushed its limits, the outer edges of the skill structures are slightly strained. You wrangled control over the skill with brute force and determination, and there is warping in the junctions that speaks of your iron control. You relied on the skill to get you out of tricky situations, and the initial intake widened as you activated this skill at full force with no gradual buildup of power.

Standing back up with everyone looking at him, Frederic coughed slightly. Ahh, well, no reason to listen to an old man ramble. Please continue to peruse these skills. If there is anything you like that isnt listed for you, just take it.

Letting Frederic segue them back to the skills, Matt looked at what else was there.

[Cracked Shared Destiny] was interesting, and Matt intended to take it. [Shared Destiny] was a damage-split skill for use on allies, and while Matt had decided against getting the base skill, this crack allowed the caster to share a part of their armor with the target in question. In practical terms, it would let him strengthen the armor of any of his allies- probably Aster, most of the time- an incredible amount. It would weaken his own armor but with [Regeneration], that wasnt much of an issue. And once he got his full set of Ascender armor, he would probably have toughness to spare.

If Matt had had this, Aster might not have taken such a bad hit when fighting Maven, which might have turned the tides and allowed them to score a kill. Or maybe not. But he wouldnt allow his bond to be hurt if he could help it.

None of the skills were uninteresting, but Matt had learned to be a lot more selective with his skill selection and distribution in recent years. He also didnt want to abuse Frederics generosity, so most of the skills he passed over on account of their not providing a truly unique role in his kit. He had enough channeled attack skills, [Regeneration] took care of nearly all his healing needs, and while he was rather tempted by a pre-upgraded [Water Shield], he passed over the red skill shard. He was more interested in taking armor-type skills for his defense, and [Water Shield] didnt synergize with his upcoming power armor, but [Water Armor] did.

The skill next to it, however, was far more interesting.

[Mana Claws] was a standard Tier 14 skill that created blades of mana around one's nails, and was generally considered a beast-only skill, despite not being so limited. Humans just didnt have enough of a claw to really allow the skill a place to form.

Matts first assumption when he saw the common-but-niche skill was that it had some crazy powerful crack, but closer inspection revealed that it was actually modified, being stored in a formerly-blank skill shard. And incredibly, that modification made it void affinity.

Void skills were incredibly rare- [Void Presence] and [Sphere of Annihilation] being the only two he knew of, and they were both Tier 44- leaving cracked skills and modifications made by people with void aspected mana as the only reliable source of the skill. Even then, it was far rarer than it had any real right to be, as even skill transfer rate was negatively affected by the sheer annihilation that Void represented. The affinity destroyed everything it came across, be it friend or foe, and even channeling the affinity into a skill could be quite hard on the spirit.

If Matt tried to use the void [Mana Claws], assuming he either modified the skill to work on his hand, or had his gauntlets modified to count as natural claws for him, it would tear his hand apart just as surely as whatever he hit.

Or he would, if he didnt have a nigh invincible hand. And where else would one cast a claw spell from.

Looking deeper, Matt winced.

The modifications made to the void [Mana Claws] werent all upside, however. The skill had a cooldown of an hour, and like most void-modified skills, caused spiritual damage to anyone without void aspected mana who used it. It would be like [Cracked Mana Spear] all over again, and hed been more than happy to replace it with [Mana Beam] for many reasons.

Matt just didnt think he could pass up on an actual void spell he could use.

It was the ultimate attack type. Sure, multi-layered defenses and higher-level, more complex elements served as an adequate defense, but it was still potent enough that most higher-end armors would include void resistance as a core part of their defense. If they didnt, it left one all too open to dying before they knew what hit them.

But even if he couldnt effortlessly tear Mavens head in half with his hand wreathed in purple, that didnt mean it wasnt an incredibly powerful attack, especially if he paired it with his black hole mode.

And none of those limitations meant he couldn't be sneaky with the skill. If Maven could hide a powerup until she was able to nearly kill Allie, why couldn't Matt do the same?

Even if he needed to wreck his spirit for the chance at a sure kill on that hateful woman, that single reason was more than enough for Matt to take the skill. That, and after spending so much time with Luna, a void cat, he was interested in seeing the mana type in action.

After he was done picking through the skills, Matt looked at what the others took.

Much to his delight, Aster had managed to get ahold of a [Deathly Cold] skill shard. There werent many of them in the Empire, thanks to it being a Republic-exclusive, in-demand, and rare Tier 38 skill, but it had been pointed out as an incredible choice for his bond almost immediately by Group Chess. Of course, with them being at war with the Republic, the skill was all the harder to come by, and Matt idly wondered how the King had gotten ahold of the shard.

Fundamentally, the skill made the caster immortal. Even if their body was entirely destroyed, theyd persist as an immaterial entity so long as the spell was still active.

The self-necromancy spell was understandably fairly finicky, as it relied on the spirit itself being frozen solid, and as such, could be disrupted by simply raising the bodys temperature. Or, if the body was completely destroyed, raising the temperature of where the spirit was. Then, the more damage the body had taken, the higher the ongoing mana cost required. It was nothing that Matt couldnt afford, of course, and if he even just focused his mana regeneration aura entirely on Aster, it should be sufficient to keep her alive through anything short of complete bodily annihilation. At least, long enough to get her to a healer capable of putting her back together. Arthur was one such healer, which was why the skill had come up in the first place.

There was a story about a man whod used the skill to survive dying for years, only to be undone when the cooling enchantments on his house failed. Matt wasnt sure if he believed the tale, but it was still a famous anecdote about the skills power.

Aster might need to adjust a bit of her human body chemistry to make sure it stayed as cold as her fox form at all times to keep the skill active, but Matt was thrilled that his bond would get so much added resilience.

Liz didnt end up taking any skills from Frederics personal collection, but she was quite pleased that the king had brought with him a lot of her remaining requested skills, including [Water Spirit], the Tier 44 elemental body-equivalent. None of them were entirely certain how it would interact with her Tier 25 talent, but quite well was the general consensus.

Frederic wasnt just bringing them a bunch of skills, of course, but was also in charge of delivering the last of their first set of Natural Treasures. Theyd already gotten quite a few, of course, but the King served as the high-Tier escort of some of their hardest-to-find loot.

On the advisement of multiple people, from Group Kudzu to Group Firmament, theyd constrained their initial treasures, other than the ones meant to generically enhance their bodies and magic, to mostly cleave to a loose theme of some sort. While it was unlikely that theyd die from ingesting too many spirit-altering items in a short timespan, trying to pull the spirit in too many directions at once was still liable to leave them in a great deal of pain that could last years. They could deal with it, of course, but from a training perspective, Matt could appreciate focus.

Aster finally got her Second Shadow, a natural treasure that did exactly what the name suggested, but more relevantly meant her Umbral Lotus was finally usable. That particular treasure was one of the first things shed gotten, but sadly, her usage of a Mirage Shadow in the wake of Minkalla was mutually incompatible with hiding inside of her shadow. But, now that she had two shadows, she had no issues hopping into and out of immateriality.

Shed also finally gotten ahold of a Talaria Seed, and while she lacked the stamina to make maximal use of the treasures ability to physically control nearby air, she had enough demands on her mana that anything to offset the costs was welcome. Plus, it synergized with her North Winds Breath- one of many passive natural treasures shed gotten to enhance her magic- to leave trails of mist in her wake. That mist was in turn enhanced by Spirit Valley Whisps to be supernaturally concealing, and with sufficient practice, even make her selectively immaterial to some attacks.

Lastly, shed also be taking a Frozen Lifedew, which would turn most ice-based attacks she was hit by into healing instead. Even if it wasnt as good as being seen by an actual healer, it was still an incredibly effective way to make her even more resistant to ice attacks. After all, it wouldnt do for an ice Ascender to be harmed by their own element.

Matt had focused more on his own body. In addition to a few treasures that generally empowered his cultivation, a Rubberfruit made his limbs and torso quite elastic, giving him incredible impact resistance and enabling him to stretch his arms in unexpected ways. It was like [Extend Arms], but better. Hed combined it with a Lockjoint Crystal, which enabled him to freeze parts of his body in a single position for as long as he wanted. He could accomplish something similar with his Intent, sure, but the combination of the two made it easier on his Willpower, and gave him more flexibility in their usage. Then, a Chameleon Vine not only enabled him to change the color of his skin mostly at-will, but also combined with the Rubberfruit to help him change the texture as well. The end result left him feeling a bit like an octopus, and quite capable of entirely nonmagically adjusting his size, proportions, and appearance. He lacked the ability to also adjust his spirit, so it wouldnt work as a disguise on its own, but the combat potential alone was promising. With enough practice, he might even be able to make his new [Mana Claws] skill work on his bare hand.

Then, Dena had inspired and persuaded him to take a Ton-light prism, which let him manipulate his personal gravity to make him either super light and mobile, or extra-heavy with accompanying momentum. When combined with a Starspiders Web that let him treat any surface he was walking on as down, the total package made him well, not quite as agile as his once-sponsor, but with enough practice he might get there.

Lastly, there was the Millennium Willow Lifesap, which could imbue his body with his own mana. Most people used it as a base for body modifications based around their personal mana type, slowly changing their flesh over time. It was one of the more popular, if not most common ways to get body modifications like fire-hair or stone-skin. While Matt did have some ideas as to what he might accomplish with it in that way, he was more interested in the ability to just flood his body with his own mana to dislodge any harmful mana sticking around. It wouldnt do much against the kinds of curses and actual debuffs he could be threatened with these days, but it would cut off a lot of passive effects, like creeping frost from certain types of ice subaspects. Or, as a somewhat new angle, to help flush the void mana out of his body once he used [Mana Claws].

Liz was even more focused than he was, cramming just about every natural treasure she could manage into her blood, which was a lot. A Chillhart Thistle made her blood capable of transporting cold through it, and a Firestorm Droplet did the same for fire. The two combined let her freely freeze or burn just about anything she touched, moving heat or cold from any of her bodies. Antileech Nectar made her blood into a light healing potion, Sanguine Geyser Spores increased her blood pressure so much that a wound could be used as a bludgeoning weapon, while Waterfall Elixir would let her fit a lot more blood into a given space. Then, a potion made from Aerial Lifeblood didnt make her capable of transforming her blood, and therefore her body, into pure air like theyd hoped. But it did enable air itself to fill the normal roles that blood did, meaning if she exsanguinated one of her bodies, it would still survive just fine.

But most importantly, she received a solitary tan-and-white lemon seed. Liz held it above her palm, gently spinning it with her Domain as she stared at it hungrily, and began to cackle.

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