The Path of Ascension

Matt tiredly flew over to where Liz and Aster were floating with the rest of Team Zero.

Joy was still flying back to the battlefield, but Darrow was already giving post battle organizational orders. Part of Matt noticed how even those officially surrendered to the other side were staying with their own sides. What was more interesting was how the Great Powers who were just fighting side by side split into three distinct camps while they all waited.

With Tier 50s doing the negotiations, things could be over in seconds. Their perception rates were so fast that exhaustive debates would happen before Matt even reconvened with his teammates. Still, none of that changed the fact that they were all still human, and key points in the treaties could stall for long periods if no consensus could be reached.

Matt wouldn’t be surprised if the treaty took an hour or two.

He wasn’t going to spend that time idling though, and he forced his tired mind into action.

He finally let himself take a moment to feel Morgan's loss. Another team member, another friend, had fallen in the last battle. Matt wanted to rage at the unfairness, but he was too drained emotionally to do more than glare at where the last remaining rune soldier stood with the Federation cultivators.

Instead, he forced himself to muster some congratulations for Liz. As much as he wanted to pass out, erupt at Morgan's death so close to the finish line, and be happy that the rest of them had made it through alive, Liz had made an amazing accomplishment, and he didn’t want to ruin that moment for her.

Not that it was hard.

She looked radiant.

His wife was glowing, even if only softly.

A bird Liz flapped her way over to him and bounced into his chest, silently squawking and looking for attention.

After she got a perch on his left arm, she started to show off her new form, striking a few poses to let Matt better inspect her.

“Aren’t I pretty?” There was a smile in the message’s tone, but it was obviously forced.

Still, Matt appreciated the effort and he wouldn’t rebuff it. “Gorgeous. Now we are matching blondes. Kinda, at least.”

It was true in the same way that yellow was similar to gold. Matt’s hair, while somewhat changed by his Tier ups, was still at its core his baseline mortal blond. Liz, meanwhile, looked very nearly like a golden statue of a phoenix. She was a medium-sized raptor with almost scaly-smooth feathers, burning with a golden substance the texture of liquid fire. Underneath that, he could tell that her feathers had become more golden and orange than the previous red, and her body had lost a bit of bulk in favor of being slightly lighter and more maneuverable. She’d probably be adjusting to the new form for a while, but she already looked spectacular.

Once he reached human Liz and Aster, they pulled each other into a three-way hug.

They held each other for a long minute until Aster sighed and pulled away. “Ugh, the other side keeps asking for everyone in my spiritual space, and messages are growing annoying.”

Flying off to the side, she made a gesture, causing ice and wind to appear out of nowhere. Without dozens of layered spatial locks, her spiritual space expanded almost instantly and rectangles of ice started appearing in neat rows.

Over a dozen elites Aster had recently captured appeared and were whisked away. It was at least quiet until Gan Le appeared, shivering with his hands stuffed into his armpits.

After glaring at Aster, who responded by sticking her tongue out at him, he flew away to join the other Sect members.

Through their private chat, she softly laughed, “He was sure I was lying about the war being over and was trying to trick him into something.”

Matt almost worked up a chuckle at the mental image.

Fifteen minutes later, a message went out to everyone all at once. The war was over.

Terms had been agreed upon.

As an Ascender, he had access to high level information, but Matt didn’t even really need it. The peace deal wasn’t classified in the slightest. If he was reading the transmission receipts right, even the civilian populations had gotten the message.

Seeing the first line, Matt sighed.

The Empire had lost.

He had expected it, but he had hoped their efforts and Aiden’s would be enough to push things the other way.

The feeling that they had failed vanished the moment he dug further into the actual peace deal.

Inside was a breakdown of the warscore earned on both sides, and it was simple to filter by contribution. Team Zero as a unit had the largest war score, with only Aiden even close to their scores.

Almost one fifth of the Empire's total war score had been earned by them, with another seventh earned by Aiden.

Together, they had earned one third of the Empire's war score through their efforts.

Digging into the peace deal, Matt felt like he understood what had happened. The Emperor had traded a majority of their warscore to keep all occupied planets under Empire control, and even traded for a number of planets from the enemy Great Powers.

In return, the Empire would limit expansion, put some undisclosed restrictions on The Path, and a number of resources changed hands.

That was it.

Matt nearly laughed at the peace deal.

They might have lost on paper, but they had undoubtedly gotten what they wanted out of the war. Seven thousand years of peace with three of their greatest enemies in the Realm.

He almost choked while reading the section that talked about buyouts.

Allie and Zack had each been bought out of future wars. He wasn’t privy to everything they’d be getting, but he was sure he’d be able to ask, and what he did see was staggering enough. They’d need to agree, but he couldn’t imagine them ever declining a heap of treasure that surpassed what they’d gotten for completing the Path.

What really surprised him was that Aiden earned an even larger payout, but what prompted that wasn’t mentioned. Still, with this new information, it was obvious that he had won his fight with the armada.

They had fought and bled for the war, and while they had technically lost, the Ascender’s efforts still made all the difference. Before he could keep reading, a pulse of shadow appeared next to Synoid and Crastor.

Matt didn’t need his [AI]’s screeching warnings echoed in Darrow’s remaining mind-link to recognize Jai Sien when he saw her.

It was fruitless, but he readied himself for a fight. Yet she didn’t even look at them.

Instead, she fussed over the twins, patting their wounds. She didn’t even attempt to hide her words, so Matt and everyone else got a front row seat to the Jai family show.

“Oh, you two did so well! My little boys are all grown up.”

She licked her thumb and rubbed a bit of blood off Synoid’s face in a motherly gesture. He tried to squirm away, but it was futile, as his own shadow wrapped his upper body and held him perfectly still.

“Come now, don’t pull away from Mommy.”

Crastor chuckled at his twin's fate, but that proved to be a mistake as Jai Sien finished up with Synoid and turned her attention to him. He tried to flee, but it was just as futile as his twin's attempt, and he was inspected for any wounds before being let go.

Aster elbowed him, though he barely felt it. “Relax, Matt. The fight is over.”

She was right, so Matt made a mental effort to unclench and watch the show.

Through it all, all Matt could think about was if Mara and Leon were in the wings ready to do the same to Liz, and just how long Jai Sien had been watching them.

The first thought was amusing, but the second was dangerous. He almost never left his armor and its anti divination wards, but Matt was still worried about her seeing through their lie about mana stones and realizing his true Talent.

As if sensing his thoughts, Jai Sien turned to them and waved. “It is most excellent to greet you in person, though I cannot stay overlong. I have bets to collect on, and the others are being most unkind in their actions, ignoring my clone. Proper introductions, therefore, must wait until Lila inducts you properly. Fare thee well!”

With that, the woman’s form shifted and roiled alongside her children, coalescing into an unnerving black horse made of smoke, and galloping into chaotic space. The relief in the air was palpable, but it only lasted for a moment before sheer presence slammed into him, shifting the world in its wake.

The power was overwhelming in a way that only really happened when he was dealing with the Emperor, but he still readied himself for battle once again, only relaxing when all of Team Zero appeared in Camp Lightfoot.

The moment he realized where they were, Matt activated his armor’s release and let it fall away, hardly noticing the strips of flesh that stuck to the armor when he pulled away. His [Regeneration] took care of that damage in moments.

His good mood was once more quashed with the arrival of Morgan's personal assistant, Pace, who had arrived with a bottle of water and a rag to help Morgan clean up post battle.

Seeing her liege, boss, friend, and possibly lover laying dead tore a wailing shriek out of her. Dena seemed to have expected something like that, as she was immediately at Pace’s side, cradling the distraught woman even as she clung to Morgan’s body.

It was just as heartrending as Eric’s death, but before Matt could move, the trio were teleported to the hospital.

Less than an hour later, the funeral for Morgan was held. Like Eric’s, it was a quiet, somber, and most of all quick, affair.

Her ashes were given to a still shell shocked Pace, who hadn’t left Dena’s side.

Matt wouldn’t call himself friends with Pace, but he knew her fairly well. She doted on Morgan any time they were in the rift and would hover ready to take care of any of Morgan's needs. They had all tried to tempt her into joining them as an equal, but she always refused, insisting she was happy to just serve. Matt had never figured out if the two were romantically involved. Morgan only laughed or joked at the question when asked, and Matt had figured they hadn’t really figured things out yet themselves. None of that changed the fact that Pace had clearly taken true enjoyment out of helping Morgan.

Now Morgan was gone, and Pace was left picking up the pieces.

He shouldn’t have been surprised, but Dena never left Pace’s side and helped her through it all. It must have been all too familiar and raw for her, but Dena kept up a steady stream of reassurances and helped Pace through everything.

When Matt messaged her and asked if she needed or wanted help, she responded to everyone saying that Pace needed time, but she herself was fine and would spend a while making sure Pace pulled through.

Matt respected her decision, but did stop by to make sure she knew she could call on them should she need anything.

It took a visible effort on her part to accept that he actually meant it, and wasn’t making an empty offer, but she eventually thanked him and agreed she’d call upon them if she needed anything.

Orders came down and they were given two days of downtime, which they all took advantage of.

Matt and Liz slept for close to forty hours, and were only interrupted by a furious Allie kicking at their door.

“How could you guys end the war without me? I could have helped. I could have gotten you into the ship. I cou—”

She was still mostly see through, but there was at least a reasonable approximation of a woman there, unlike last time they had seen her as little more than hands and a stomach.

Matt rolled out of bed and helped a boneless Liz pour herself into a standing position before moving to open the door, where he saw Aster choking Allie.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Sorry, she slipped her leash.”

Matt snorted a laugh. The long rest had done a lot to reset his feelings and emotions, so he didn’t even mind Allie’s antics.

“Nice to see you too. How has your recovery been?”

“Boring as shit without anyone else here to spend time with. I’m wasting away being trapped inside here.”

Liz slunk past, now with a sleepy bird Liz perched on her shoulder, who squawked at Allie and jabbed a wing at the teleporter.

It was the perfect distraction. “Ohh, I heard you completed the blood fire thing. Wow! Your feathers are so pretty. Can I have a pillow made out of them?”

Bird Liz smacked Allie with a wing but she seemed unbothered, instead shoving her face into Liz’s feathers.

“Oh yeah, I need a pillow made of these. They even smell good.”

Liz, clearly offended at the implication that she had smelled bad before, pecked Allie hard enough to draw blood.

“Ow, damn it! That hurt.”

Matt rolled his eyes and steered the teleporter to the kitchen island to distract her with breakfast.

He went all out, going so far as to make half a dozen courses before being forced into a seat by Liz, who wanted him to do more than snack.

Their little breakfast was interrupted by Aiden's arrival. Like themselves, he arrived by what must have been the Emperor teleporting him. They were all curious about the details of his battle and rushed over.

They were in the capital system, and word hadn’t even arrived to them yet. Allie couldn’t make the jump to the Citadel and get the news there, which left only speculation based on the war score.

Aiden looked almost as bad as Allie, with more than half of his body just gone, until Melinda came over to where he had been teleported in and slapped him with a healing spell that rebuilt his body.

After doing some dance moves around the motionless Zack, he laughed. “I’m the fucking best!”

Allie immediately shot him down. “Yeah right, shit for breath. I earned more war score than you, therefore I'm the best.”

Aiden blew bubbles at her. “That means nothing. I no longer need to hide it. I’m the best in the realm, therefore I’m the best.”

Suddenly Matt felt a pressure weighing down on him similar to the feeling he had when he first met Aiden back when he was only Tier 14, right before his wedding. It was fear and terror mixed like blood in the tide. Then the pressure fully unveiled itself like an umbrella unfolding.

Matt had felt Aspects, but this was a step beyond.

“I created the next step of one's Domain. I shall let you all bask in its presence as you try to name its magnificence.”

“It's called an Authority.” Aster's seemingly nonchalant comment deflated Aiden.

“Who told you!? They ruined my surprise.”

Liz snorted even as bird Liz screeched in laughter. “Luna. It was an early, early lesson, before we’d learned to not question all the trivia she insisted was of vital importance to learn. Because like, come on, nobody’s made one in how many millennia? She was very smug after we heard about Hastor’s ascension.”

“Fucking Hastor. This is the second time he's upstaged me.”

Matt was still genuinely shocked at the revelation that Aiden had his Authority, but he did his best to not let it show, and reached over to pat him on the shoulder. “It's ok. It's still super impressive. Wow, so cool!”

Aiden shoved his arm off, tears streaming down his face in two rivers. “You don’t have to pretend. It's not the same if you pretend.”

Allie cackled. “You hear that often, Aiden?”

Righting himself, Aiden snorted while wiggling his eyebrows. “As if. I got the motion of the ocean on my side.”

“So,” Liz assessed him, “Is this what you keep leaving out that makes everything impossible to understand when you try to teach people?”

“What? No. It’s not my fault you can’t keep up with me. That’s the epitome of what I can only describe as a skill issue. But because I know you’re just dying to find out, I call the new part a Place. It’s-”

“No!” The unifying cry came from nearly everyone present, and Aiden looked slightly taken aback.

“What?”

“None of us have determined so much as a singular piece of our Aspects,” Zack patiently explained, like Aiden was a toddler. It probably wasn’t unfair. “Healer Wellspring has yet to even finalize her Intent. Knowledge of the Authority will only serve to hamper our development at this stage.”

“Oh come on, you kids will be fine, I knew about Tru-”

Allie teleported Melinda to the other room.

“-ths when I was your age.”

“You had your Aspect at our age,” Liz pointed out, “Of course you knew about Truths.”

“Fine. When I was working on my Intent, then. I knew what it was.”

“If you’re going to be unhelpful, at least don’t be harmful,” Aster sighed as Melinda returned to the room. They’d started talking at full Tier 25 speeds when Aiden had nearly slipped up, so she probably hadn’t heard anything harmful, but it was still good discipline to be careful.

“We’ll be pushing for our Aspects soon enough, tell us all about what you’ve figured out then, when it can’t pollute our thoughts for how we want to build out our Aspects. Not that any of us are likely to actually build out our Authorities this Realm.”

“Though you have to admit,” Matt pointed out, “Getting the Ascension bonus on an extra Domain stage would be amazing.”

“Without substantial aid from the master, of course,” Aster smoothly finished. “But there will be plenty of time after we’re ready and don’t run a risk of making our Aspects to be even harder to form. Got it?”

“Fine, fine,” Aiden waved them off, then slowed himself to Tier 17 speeds, an example followed by the rest of the room.

Melinda blinked, “Sorry, what? Also, you said you’d developed the thing after an Aspect? The Tier 75 Domain stage? That’s really impressive. Congratulations.”

That seemed to be exactly what he was waiting for, as he dropped the effect and wiped a nose bleed away. “Thank you. A proper reaction. I can’t hold it for long though. I’m fucking tapped on willpower.” Elbowing Allie, he added, “I’m moving in with you in the willpower recovery unit.”

“Yeah fuckin’ right. It's my wing of the hospital. No leaky sinks allowed.”

“So kind of you, Allie. I appreciate the invite.” Before Allie could explode at him, he continued. “Not that we will be here long.”

“Oh?” Aster asked the question that was on the tip of Matt’s tongue.

“End of the war ceremony. In a month or so real time we, and everyone else who did exceptional in the war, will get pulled to whatever system Minkalla is in and be given rewards for how well we did. Considering there’s two of us getting bought out, all the Great Powers will be sending representatives. Wouldn’t be surprised if we get all the Tier 48s and 50s, and even a good chunk of the Tier 47s attending. It was pretty cool last time I got to go to one. More importantly, it’s a chance for you guys to meet the other Ascenders.”

That didn’t quite seem feasible, and Matt asked, “Seems dangerous to have everyone gathered like that, no?”

Aiden waved his concerns off. “The Tier 50s will show up in person with at least one Tier 48, with everyone else usually sending clones, so the actual combat power is a bit lower than one would expect. And with the Boss there, what can anyone do? Any action to kill us would start a seven on one beatdown. Considering we are being bought out, they obviously don't want that.”

Matt wasn’t entirely sure he agreed, but it seemed like this was a common occurrence, and he didn’t really have a choice then. Still, he would be staying as close to Emmanuel as possible doing the trip and using as little mana as possible.

With both of those precautions, there was almost no chance anyone would realize his mana generation. After all, if his mana was mostly full, he made no mana, which would fit with the profile of someone who relied on absorbing mana stones for mana.

Aiden demanded all the combatants of Team Camp Lightfoot get together to celebrate, and while it wasn’t quite as boisterous as some of their other celebrations, everyone was at least in a good mood. Eventually, everyone went their separate ways, still exhausted from the fighting.

Matt snuggled in closer to Liz, warping his body thanks to his Rubberfruit so that he half-engulfed his wife as they lay in bed together.

“Hmmm. You’re warm,” he teased. Since her transition to an ichor bloodline, and ichor blood, Liz’s core temperature had gone up quite a bit. She’d never been cold, but now cuddling her felt a bit like hugging a burning log, albeit not quite that hot. It also came with a faint tingly feeling, which Matt was still making up his mind on how it felt. “But could you turn down the lights a bit?”

The other main side effect of her ichor bloodline was that she now glowed a faint yellowish-gold light.

“Jerk,” she flicked his nose, but turned on her side to return his hug. “I’ll have to pick up some makeup soon. I do not want to be corralled into serving as a heating lamp for Allie or Luna until I can fix my appearance.”

“But you’re so radiant,” Matt pushed back, kissing her neck. “Why would you ever want to change?”

“I’m not sure if yellow is really my color.”

“Mmm. I like it, though. Very striking.”

She laughed, “You always think I look striking.”

“Well, that’s because you do. Especially when your blood finally looks on the outside the way it’s always been on the inside, my double princess.”

“Oh, you’ll pay for that one,” she snapped at his ear, then rolled on top of him, pinning him to the bed. She playfully glared at him for a moment, kissed the tip of his nose, then collapsed on him in an embrace. “Long day today.”

“No kidding,” he agreed, returning the hug and tracing the outline of her shoulder blade. “It’s hard to believe it’s all over. It feels… good?”

“Good question mark, or just definitely good?”

“Well, we lost. But Emmanuel seems happy with how it turned out?” They’d gotten a brief message from the Emperor during their celebrations confirming that he was quite ecstatic with how it had all gone in the end. “And I suppose I can’t really argue with peace. We won, in that way at least.”

“Seven thousand years of peace will bring us to almost a third of the way through Uncle Manny’s reign. It’ll give plenty of time for a new group of elites to come to power, for him to have and raise his kid, and for us to build out our family if we so chose.”

“Oh? So soon?” Matt wasn’t against the idea of having children but the idea seemed… distant. They had spent so much time fighting and progressing for a dozen reasons that children were both improbable and ill timed. But now? But now there was truly time for it, if they so choose.

Liz glanced off to the side staring at nothing and everything. “Maybe. It's not like we need to decide any time soon. My main point is, you’ll be able to build out your guild without having to worry about being called to defend the Empire at a moment’s notice, we can find our footing ruling our duchy, and properly consolidate all of our power. My blood type just changed. Actually, that’s an understatement. My blood’s state of matter just changed. I have so much to learn about what I can do now, yeah I could use a few decades to settle into our new normal, figure out if I want to go back to my old appearance, maybe try something new... Peace is exactly what we need.”

“But seven hundred decades?”

“Hey, that’s seven hundred decades where you can work on getting stronger. Seven hundred decades where there will be no Ventillyrias. Seven hundred decades where we don’t need to look over our shoulder for the next disaster.” At Matt’s snort, Liz corrected herself. “Or at least look over our shoulders any more than normal.”

When she put it that way, Matt couldn’t help but agree. He did need to get stronger, to grow in Tier, and he could help the Empire with his mana without needing to be chronically fighting. It wasn’t like he wasn’t protecting the Empire, he had protected the Empire. Even if Aiden and Allie were getting most of the spotlight, he’d done his part… or at least he tried to tell himself that. And the parts of him that disagreed he shoved into a corner, and did his best to ignore. It was inevitable that there would be another war in time, a true war at that. And every scrap of peace they could squeeze in before that was all for the better.

Seven thousand years was just a long time. He’d honestly lost track of how old he was exactly, though the answer would be just a quick query away on his AI if he cared to find out. Between time in the rift and in the war, he understood why immortals stopped bothering to keep track. But no matter how he counted it, seven thousand years was more than twenty times his current age, and that thought was daunting.

He rolled over, turning Liz on her back and now pinning her to the bed, their faces mere inches from one another. He gazed into her golden eyes, seeing as the color flickered and pulsed like an electric flame. As he watched, her content adoration took on a distinctly more predatory look, as though the phoenix underneath was peeking through.

She smiled, “That’s enough about the future for now. My body changed a lot today, and I’d like some help getting used to it.”

Matt winked, “Hmmmm. You know, I do think that I noticed your legs seem a bit longer, it’s definitely worth looking at.”

Grabbing the appendage, he started running his hands over it. “Yes. I can see. I can see so many interesting things. Let's start with your calf.”

***

As though they were trying to drive home the degree to which the war was truly over, Camp Lightfoot started being dismantled the very next day. The first to go were a lot of the lower-level personnel. Those who weren’t just the families of more critical individuals were still quite skilled in their own right, and with Project Breach reaching its conclusion, they were being either reassigned or allowed to go on indefinite leave and return to their civilian lives. Plenty had happened in the millennia that had passed on the inside of the rift, but they were all quite eager to get back outside.

For the service they would earn a number of things, from preferential treatment when entering imperially owned rifts to merits that could be exchanged for rare resources. These resources included essence stones, skills, natural treasures, higher Tier upgrade orbs, or really anything else that was buy-able.

And even if it took a little while for the stock to recover the items they wanted, they were immortal, and would eventually get their desired rewards. It would take Matt some time to get used to life without the urgency and pressure of the Path or a war, and he was looking forward to the process.

Then, the buildings themselves started going away, and that was… weird. They certainly hadn’t looked temporary during the decades he’d spent in them. But now, they were all being carted away one section at a time, and Matt was suddenly faced with the fact that his home was coming apart right before his eyes.

Matt had felt restless, and helped in packing some of the science gear up with Erwin and his team. He then helped other research groups so he was able to hear all about the things they were excited for. What made him feel even better was the knowledge that he would be appreciably contributing to those rewards.

Emmanuel had already messaged him and asked if Matt was willing to increase his production of mana stones for the next few years to a trillion mana a day. That would mean Matt needed to spend close to six hours a day making mana stones, but he was more than willing to do so. In fact, he went as far as making mana for double that a day. He had gotten good enough over the years to create mana while doing other tasks, so long as the task wasn’t too complicated. With his ring to dump the mana stones into, he was happy to help the Empire start the post war recovery process.

For all the good things on his personal horizon, he wasn’t blind to the broader picture, and had heard about the mana shortages that had been only growing worse as the war drug on. Almost four percent of the buildings on the capital had to be shut down due to lack of mana, and all the heavily populated capitals had been suffering similar fates.

A few trillion mana wasn’t going to immediately change the situation, but it would help stem the bleeding. Now that the war was over, Matt was sure part of their orders would be to reach Tier 35 as fast as possible, which would turn his mana generation from 42 million a second to 43 billion a second.

The difference would be astounding. In the same six hour period, he would go from making one trillion mana to one quadrillion mana.

That would make a significant difference to even a capital planet's mana deficit.

Matt was looking forward to it. Fighting in the war had been necessary, but it came at a cost. While his mana would undoubtedly cause a war in and of itself, it was a pure benefit to the realm. It would make things better for those who struggled and for those who simply did their best in the system they found themselves in, like those who volunteered to assist in the wars.

More than anything, Matt was happy the Emperor had put them back inside the rift with its eight times time dilation. Having close to eight months to decompress helped him prepare himself for the upcoming awards ceremony. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of being so close to the most powerful people in the realm, but like Aiden had said more than once, the Emperor would protect him.

It was just one more thing to get through before the war was truly over, and they could officially leave active duty. Matt really wanted to delve into his guild in the decade or two before they would officially be given their duchies to rule. He was looking forward to being a ruler, hopefully a good ruler, with how many things he had considered throughout the years. While there were Imperial laws he couldn’t change, he had his own ideas, and hoped at least a few would pass testing phases and actually make things better for those he ruled.

Ideas and plans.

He had too many of both.

He at least secured Erwin’s agreement to join his guild as soon as it was officially formed. Zack even made some noises about being interested in joining as some sort of freelancer. Matt had made it clear that he was willing to fund any tests that Zack wanted to do whether or not he joined the guild, but the other Ascender seemed a bit adrift with being bought out of the war Tiers so soon after his entrance to the wars. Matt suspected he and Allie would end up just traveling the Empire, but he also suspected they would be doing it separately.

Both of them needed some time to reframe their worlds after so much change in a short amount of time.

But before he knew it, it was time to go to the ceremony.

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