Chapter 116

Chapter 116

When they left the rift, Matt threw himself into training to work off his frustration. His flying sword's destruction didnt matter in the grand scheme of things, but he was still upset about the loss.

The sword had served him well over the last few years, and had saved their lives on more than one occasion during the golem disaster and vassal war. To see it reduced to slag hurt far more than he would have expected.

Still, he wouldnt let his frustration hinder his progress. The next morning, he channeled his simmering anger into planning for the rift.

Matt sat down and started contemplating their next delve. It was a habit he had fallen out of after his time in the PlayPen, and he felt that he needed to return to it.

He went back to basics.

Analyzing the rift's strengths and weaknesses.

The assassins were deadly. If they moved too fast to focus on their surroundings, and failed to stay vigilant for the signs of an impending attack, they could easily die. The more they killed the orcs, the more shadowy killers appeared in the city.

The orcs were incredibly strong and well-coordinated, but that was secondary to their ability to destroy any active spells used against them for too long. That ability didnt have many workable counters, but they could be defeated with some effort. The squads with the red armored orcs were a little harder, but if they could kill the leader first, the fight was no harder than the fights without them.

The chicken was another type of problem.

Its little tower provided a clear view of most of the island, and the glass walls allowed it to shoot out massive bursts of energy, and take down anything flying in its airspace.

Matt paused there. That was a pattern that was exploitable. If the chicken always attacked anything in the air, they could drain its mana with a series of flying devices.

As he ran through the possibilities, Matt liked the idea more and more. He could make some simple flying constructs that were large and would attract the attention of the chicken, thus wasting its mana.

The water snake was the real issue. It countered Liz perfectly, and he and Aster didn't quite have enough oomph to take out a creature that strong on their own. They needed a plan to coordinate their attacks if they wanted any chance of defeating it.

Eventually, his train of thought led him to the forest, and the small mountain that ringed the edge. His gut told him that things wouldn't be quite so simple there, but it was their best option for their next delve.

The rift was large, but if they destroyed the chicken, they could fly with impunity, and bypass most of the rifts challenges.

Matt paused at that thought. Would Luna even count that as a win? Regardless, he refrained from scrapping the idea because of his first, knee jerk reaction. She very well might see it as them simply using the tools they had available. After all, she was all about efficiency, and getting the job done. Shortcuts and cheats were fine, as long as they didnt harm their foundation, or directly interfere with her orders and limitations to assist in their training.

He put the idea on the back burner for now. If they failed again, he would proffer that strategy. There was nothing wrong with attempting it again to gather more intelligence either, so they could further nail down the best path forward.

If that failed, he figured they could try leaving the chicken alive, and use something flying to lure its attention and fry the sea snake. Its refracted flame attack was incredibly strong; it just might be able to overwhelm the serpent and its water manipulation.

His team had their own advantages too.

Liz was able to attack up Tiers as if they didnt exist, and had a ton of versatility in how she could fight, but she was limited to her own element for combat.

Blood skills were the only ones she could modify and increase in power, so they were the only skills that she could effectively and efficiently use in combat, outside her melee attacks with her halberd.

That left her at a loss when it came to the water snake. It could completely dilute her blood, thus rendering her offensive and defensive skills essentially useless. Trying to go in on the massive thing would leave them susceptible to the waves, and If they were unlucky, they could be washed away from the bridge entirely.

Aster was strong in her own right, and had a slightly greater degree of versatility in her skill set. She had made overwhelming the fire chicken seem an easy task, even if Matt could still feel a touch of weakness in her Concept a day later.

His bond might be able to kill the water snake if she could freeze enough of the water around the bridge. He changed his mind once he had his AI calculate the sheer volume that she would have to freeze. It just wasn't possible in the time frame available to them.

Matt turned his attention to himself.

He didnt like what he saw.

He was a melee fighter who could take a hit, but he lacked a way to hit above his Tier, like his teammates did. There was nothing self-deprecating in the line of thinking; it was just a matter of fact. That disadvantage would disappear as he Tiered up, but for now, he was handicapped against these beasts that wielded their elements as naturally as breathing came to him. Mana was a huge gift, but without the strength and right avenues to use it, there was little more he could offer of himself in those situations. He was basically relegated to becoming a meat-shield.

Still, he was a good shield. Even his most pessimistic side couldn't deny that. With Lunas training, and his second layer of armor, he could take hits from the Tier 9 monster without instantly dying.

Not letting himself sink into a pity party, Matt honed in on what he did have; unlimited mana. Outside of combat, that translated into near infinite wealth, even now.

He paused to correct himself. He had unending wealth, which was slightly different.

Either way, at his Tier, it was nearly the same thing. He passed on getting into another philosophical battle of numbers with himself over the subject, and moved on while shaking his head.

Matt tapped his fingers in a rhythm as he continued his musings. He could do what most people were unable to do; throw wealth at a problem until he was able to crush any opposition.

Turning to the PlanetNet, then EmpireNet, Matt ordered a new flying sword. This one was a Tier 9 variant that would stress his spirit to use, but was incredibly fast, and had a built-in suite of onboard enchantments. It even came with an expandable windscreen and temperature regulators.

It wasn't a combat variant, as they only were available after Tier 15, but this was one of the fastest flying swords on the market at its Tier. It was even top ten in maneuverability. It would have ranked higher, but the insane top speed meant that no amount of enchantments could allow it to corner more than it already could.

The price of fifteen Tier 10 mana stones made Matt wince. That was fifteen hundred Tier 9 mana stones, but he had the money from selling the growth items before they reached Tier 6. They were Tier 14, and far more highly valued than just Tier 9 stones.

And its a good investment.

Matt tried to convince himself of that before he purchased anything; the incessant worry over the usefulness of the items procured always needled him. But it got easier as he continued to buy more things.

The next item he bought was a set of Tier 7 scouting drones. They were small, and had worse optics than even the ones he had taken from the golem ruin, but he wanted them to be disposable.

The Tier 8 harvesting drones he bought were dozens of times more expensive for just a set of five, but Matt didnt intend on carelessly risking them. They were meant to move behind them, and pull resources like herbs and other materials that they didnt have the time to tend to themselves.

He was offered a deal for a better version that included small-scale mining and body processing attachments as he was checking out.

The price was quite a bit higher, but Matt recklessly hit accept for the better versions.

Then, he started looking into a new skill to practice.

Talismans were technically a subskill under enchanting, but were less prestigious. They were formations put on objects and were pre-charged before use. In combat, you could send in a tiny amount of mana to activate the stored mana, and let loose any spell or function that the talisman creator placed on the device.

The craft was slightly looked down upon, as they were creating expensive, one-use items that required almost too many resources. Meanwhile, normal enchantments were less expensive, and were permanent.

Few people wanted to pay more money for something that could only be used once.

While Matt didnt know much about the craft, he had seen enough movies and read enough books to know that their advantage was being as strong as the enchanter could make.

He wasnt a master enchanter, but Matt was pretty good. He also had the advantage of being able to overcharge the talismans to an absurd degree without worry. Unless the talisman couldnt handle the sheer amount of mana he thrust into it. But he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Buying a set of books about talisman creation was more expensive than he would have expected, but once again, the problem vanished once he threw money at it.

After reading the information, he purchased the materials he would need from the nearest city.

Monster skins were the safest and best items to create the talismans on, but were also one of the most expensive options. The parchments needed to be specially treated before use, and Matt bought the beginner's guide on that as well. As he skimmed through it, he found that it was fairly easy to make the talismans.

At least for him.

It was all about removing the monster's mana and essence through the use of time or mana. Then, it needed to be treated with a series of normal enough chemicals, which he was able to buy in bulk.

The way enchantments were created on the talismans was different enough. Matt expected that he would need some practice, but he doubted he would have any real issues. They were normal enchantments, just with a portion of their diagram shifted out of place, or otherwise cut off, ensuring that the power was contained. Once the user wanted to activate the talisman, they just needed to send mana into a secondary component that would overlay the missing piece, thus unleashing the stored mana.

The final step and why they weren't used more was to shove thousands of mana into the talismans and then wait. It was also why beast skins were used. They had, at least after treatment, the highest mana storage factor of items of their Tier. Greater even than woods and miles better than metals.

They just weren't as durable. Which they didnt need to be for a once use item.

Not a lot of people could afford that which regulated talismans to Tier 10 emergency use.

It all seemed easy enough to Matt.

While they were waiting for the new items to arrive, their team tackled the Tier 8 wave rift three more times.

They discovered that as long as the rift was full, and they cleared all twenty waves of monsters, they always got an extra skill in the hidden basement. But it was always the same [Lesser Sacrifice] that they had gotten the first time.

That was rare enough to pull Luna, Kurt, and Erwin into examining the rift. Higher Tier rewards for completing difficult challenges were common enough, but always pulling the same, otherwise rare skill was nearly unheard of.

Erwin speculated that it was because they were so far below the Tier of the rift, and Tier 7 or Tier 8 teams would get a corresponding lesser reward. That information drove Melinda and her team to redouble their efforts to delve the rift.

When they did complete all twenty waves, they were also awarded the same skill. It gave everyone a way to refill their mana in the middle of a rift, which was invaluable.

Erwin even confirmed that the skill had no known rift that it reliably dropped from in the Empire. It was seen as a rare drop from various rifts, but never as the set reward of a rift, especially not for one of such a low Tier.

At that information, Matt wanted to try creating a rift with one of the skill shards, but Erwin flatly refused, saying that they weren't at that step yet. Matt bowed to his expertise, but was itching to try after they finished the Tier 9 rift.

He expected that Luna would allow them Tier up once they cleared it, and that added mana generation would allow Matt to create rifts faster, and advance them to a higher Tier. Considering it took him hours to charge rifts above his Tier, but minutes for rifts below, he didnt argue.

Melinda's team didnt get any other rare Tier 8 skills or rewards from the distortion during their first twenty wave run. Eventually, they did find a natural treasure that looked like a drop of salt water that had crystallized into a perfect sphere. When they brought it out, Erwin became quite excited.

Ooh! Ive been looking for one of those! I managed to get the basics of course, but thats sea, yeah? Yeah! Neat He turned to Luna, how much am I allowed to pay them?

Her answer seemed half hearted at best. Keep it reasonable.

Thats not helpful! Ugh. Tier fourteen?

The dark haired woman spun from where she was lounging in the air as she said, No! Eleven at the most.

Sheesh, this is why I asked! Anyway, a Tier 11 mana stone for the Sea Seed?

But what is it? Kyle seemed more interested in what the item did than the price.

Oh, well if were keeping things simple, seeds in the crystal sense mind you, not the plant work by slipping inside of your spirit. They create a transmutation in someone of your Tiers mana pool, aspecting the entire pool to whatever affinity that the seed is attuned to. It can also be used in a potion to affect someone of a Tier higher or so. In this case, the affinity in question is Sea, which is a lovely little aspect thats about as complex as yours, Liz. Lots of fun things to do with it. So, Tier 11? He pulled out a mana crystal, looked at it, stowed it again, then pulled out a new one before offering it to them.

Matt wasnt entirely sure what Erwin was planning on doing with the Seed, and was surprised when the man just swallowed it whole as soon as he was handed it.

Hm. Salty. He burped quietly then patted his stomach, before acting as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary.

Melindas team, meanwhile, seemed slightly shocked at the amount of money theyd just been handed.

Matt was yelled at when he said that they would get used to it. Rare and useful rewards were a benefit of delving rifts that were full of mana.

After a month of preparation and training, Matt, Liz, and Aster entered the rift for the fourth time.

***

Luna watched the children with a bittersweet mix of emotions running through her.

They had learned most of the early lessons she wanted to teach, the hard way.

She was proud that they were growing strong and successful, but that clashed with her irritation at what would come in the following years, as she skirted and bent the rules she would need to until Matt stepped off.

If he did so at Tier 10 or 11, there would only be a little extra effort needed to get him his mana concentration potions, but she wasnt sure that they would want to leave once they tasted fame and glory.

So many young people found that they enjoyed the overwhelming attention when they got their first lick even she had.

Still, Liz was up and moving with her armor's assistance. Despite Matt's protesting, she insisted, and eventually proved that the wound didn't hamper her mobility.

He was just impressed that she had been able to get her spear into the monster's shell hole, and then used her Blood Iron to create a cyclone of death that minced the sub-boss from the inside out.

They exited the tunnel and found themselves in a palaces rear entrance, in front of what seemed to be a nearly forgotten garden. The flower beds were overgrown with small trees and other weeds, but they hid the entrance of the tunnel that they came from nicely.

Just on the other side of the overgrown shrubbery, hiding their egress from the turtles tunnels, the sight was something to behold.

For a deathtrap designed and approved by a sometimes-sadistic cat, it was breathtaking.

The walls of the palace cut into the sky, with roofs that matched the chickens tower in shape, but cleaner and much more well kept. The pointed roofs of the guard towers pierced the clouds, with the sides sweeping down to cover the grounds and lower portions of the place in a canopy of sorts. There were walkways and ramparts along the walls meant for guards and watchers, with stations that had braziers that could be lit. Matt could only guess at their purpose, but they were all similar in style to the ones that glowed in the garden.

Inside, they discovered entire squads of red armored orcs that grew stronger with each of their allies' deaths. Still, the three of them were strong enough to carve a path of death to the exit rift. They could feel it in the area as they moved through a section of the palace with thick, red logs that acted as fine pillars. Matt and Liz used them to their advantage while engaging with the squads patrolling the area.

The forest orcs, with their ambush tactics, also started appearing as they entered an even more ornate portion of the palace. Carvings of Jade, gold and other precious-looking pieces in the shape of vases and urns adorned every nook and cranny of the network of halls. The air of luxury, power and wealth only intensified as they got closer to the exit.

They took breaks inside cleared-out rooms when they needed to. The thin, paper-like walls offered more cover than being in the open, but the rooms were rare. Rest came at the cost of a loss in potential damage, as they could convert all the essence from their kills thanks to [Lesser Sacrifice], which encouraged them to kill as fast as possible.

When they reached the boss, they found a massive throne room laced with more ornate decorations lining the walls, as flames crackled in braziers, despite offering no warmth to those inside.

Within, they found a massive orc sitting on a throne, with armor that looked to be made from silver and gold. It was gaudy enough to make Matt almost consider it ornamentation, rather than armor that served any realistic purpose. But at their Tier, they would still be tough metals for the trio to cut through.

Flanking him were five other orcs, each representing one of the sub-bosses' elements, with corresponding symbols engraved on their armors. Their bearing and appearance was as intimidating as their first encounters with the armored foes had been.

The fire and water symbols glowed faintly, which told them that they were empowered somehow, but they had already decided on an aggressive plan of attack. They wanted to start the fight with as much of a boost from [Lesser Sacrifice] as they could, so they didn't hesitate.

The final orc looked like the object inhabiting shadow assassins, but was more corporeal, as it had a steady form just standing there.

They retreated, then rested up before luring a pack of monsters near the boss room, and killing them for the essence boost.

Matt took the fight to the water and fire orcs, while Liz and Aster attacked the other four.

According to their plan, Liz would attack the boss, while Aster assisted him in attacking anything else.

When his sword met the first attack, Matt was engulfed in a bloom of fire that washed over his armor. It was strong, but not strong enough to take him down in a single attack, so he held his breath and fought through the heat. The flames still stressed [Cracked Phantom Armor] enough that he had to direct most of his mana into its two layers to defend against them.

Throwing out a punch, he knocked back the fire orc, only to be swept over with a wave of water. A number of alarms started to beep through his AI as the rapid temperature change cracked the stone around him, and penetrated his already stressed armor. Pressing on, Matt kept his head and arms protected as his blade cut into the orc's leg.

He felt the blow pierce the water orcs wave molded armor and draw blood, but he was forced to parry a second slash from the fire orc.

As the fight settled into a rhythm, Matt saw that Liz was actually holding her own against the Tier 10 orc boss and shadow assassin, while Aster was easily fending off the earth and wind orcs. She actually had the earth orc half-frozen, and was trying to finish it off while the wind orc shot out small gusts to harry her away from her prey.

Her [Shadow Armor] and physical armor were strong enough that the much weaker blows were of no danger to her.

When Matt felt the first burst of essence rush into him, he knew the tides were turning. The power boost let him get another heavy blow to land on the water orc, and he took off its leg at the knee.

With a roar, he took a blow to the chest from the fire orc, and even with the blade penetrating his armors and piercing a lung, he grabbed the fire orc's head and repeatedly drove its armored skull into his knee. Eventually, the metallic crunching of armor caving in reached his ears. It sounded like a symphony of triumph when the final blow struck, and the second burst of essence rushed into him.

This essence reward was massive compared to the orc Aster had killed, and it was quickly followed up by a third burst equal to Aster's first kill.

She had finished her two orcs.

Matt took the extra energy, and found the water orc struggling to stand with its missing leg. He quickly drove his sword through its chest.

With four of the five lesser monsters dead, Matt and Aster were able to help Liz, but the boss had grown in size to match Lizs prodigious blood golem form. Even with her [Blood Crystal Armor], it was able to cleave great chunks out of her body.

Anger raced through Matt as he saw her AI readout. Liz had already lost an arm and a leg while fighting the orc.

Aster took the attention of the final shadow assassin, and Matt threw himself into the battle of giants.

He might be smaller than the two ten-foot-tall behemoths, but he had his own tricks up his sleeve.

With as much mana as his Tier 9 weapon could handle, he filled [Mana Charge], and let loose an incredible explosion on the orc's flank.

The blast was enough to crack its armor, but not destroy it outright, and he was forced to roll out of the way of a downward swing of the boss orc's sword.

It glowed a dangerous mix of colors that spiraled down the blade in a pulsating rhythm. Matt's instincts screamed that if the blade hit him, he would be killed, but was unwilling to let the monster hammer into Liz unhindered.

He was the front-line fighter of the group. If anyone wanted to hurt his friends, they needed to go through him first.

Taking hold of his Concept and digging deep, Matt embodied his phrase.

He was endless.

Matt would not die at the hands of a gaudily-dressed boss in a shitty rift of his own making. He would fight, because that was all he knew how to do in situations like this.

He didnt make any timely breakthrough, but kept digging deeper, despite having used most of his willpower to resist the turtle's [Earth Manipulation].

Using every bit of training he had gotten in the past two years, and every bit of experience he had accumulated with delving, Matt took the focus of the boss, and kept its attention as Liz and Aster hammered it from the sides.

Anytime it tried to turn its attention to his friends, Matt pulled out a talisman he had prepared before they ran into the room, and launched an overcharged attack at the boss, spending money and mana like they were nothing.

Over the drawn out battle, he eventually lost the boss orcs attention, and Aster was nearly killed with a single attack. To make matters worse, Liz stopped sharing the reports of her damage after a second hit.

Matt would not let his friends take the damage for him.

That was his job. And Matt would do his job.

The multitude of cuts through his body were a testament to that. He had avoided taking any hits that would be lethal, but he had still accumulated an array of wounds.

The boss was an amazing swordsman, and its weapon was enchanted with some form of protective measure, as it always blocked with the blade when it could. The multicolored sword would cleanly absorb any attack with no trouble.

Even intercepting the weapon with their own caused increasing damage to their items, making dodging their only real option.

The boss once pristine golden and silver armor was cracked and falling apart when Matt saw what he needed to do. They were just too slow with their attacks, now that the fight had dragged on so long, and the boosts from [Lesser Sacrifice] had worn off. The giant orc always got its weapon in between itself and their attacks, even while fighting three on one.

It was, after all, a Tier 10 monster, and they were only Tier 6. The gap in power was simply a bridge too far.

They needed a second to actually hit the monster.

As the orc swung its blade in a downward arc, Matt partially sidestepped, and caught the guard of the weapon as he dropped his own, and the blade sliced through his left leg.

His armors didnt offer the slightest of resistance, but that didnt matter.

The multicolored light pulsed and ate right through his armor and hands as he gripped the weapon. Matt didnt just use his hands, but also used his Concept to lock the air around the pommel of the sword down, with [Air Manipulation] mixed in as well.

Aster, his lovely bond, felt what he was doing. From where she crawled along the floor, she threw [Ice Manipulation] and her own Concept into the effort.

Their combined efforts were enough to force the blade to still for a split second.

One endless second.

But that brief pause was long enough to leave the boss open to Lizs spear thrust, which took the boss in the throat and up through the brain.

As the essence hit him like a truck, Matt dropped to his knees, and his missing hands and severed leg finally registered to his senses.

Matt let out a primal, triumphant scream, and let out all the emotions he had bottled up in the day-long rift, giving an outlet to the pain racking his body.

They had finally done it.

***

Luna nodded. It wasnt a clean victory, but it was a victory.

Limbs could be regrown, and items repaired, as long as you were alive.

Matt had even lost his teleportation growth ring in the last attempt, and she was sure that he was going to balk at the cost of having Lizs ring regrow its missing partner. Even his wallet would suffer.

But they had succeeded.

While Matt had taken a sword through the chest, been hit by a plethora of other attacks, and lost his hands and leg, he was in the best shape of the trio.

Aster had a shattered hip, and part of her spine had been severed. The little fox had used her front paws to drag herself along the rubble-strewn floor to keep up with the battle, and assist as well as she could, despite the debilitating pain.

Liz fared the worst.

She had been cleaved in half just under the ribs, only saving herself when she shifted her position in the golem to avoid having to be rescued. Her Talent was also doing its utmost to keep her alive. The girl had an intrinsic bond with blood, and it showed its worth as her body kept functioning by burning some of the blood she pulled in with [Lesser Blood Sacrifice]. Being in a golem of blood was the safest place for the girl, as her Talent let her body use the blood as substitution flesh. It kept her alive, even with the monstrous damage she had suffered.

Grimacing, but needing to be absolutely certain, Luna went about checking her medical AI module and its report on the girl. She nodded at the confirmation to her own assumption. The girl had five minutes before she actually risked death.

More than enough time to stumble out of the rift on her own.

Lizs golem form shrunk as she lost consciousness, and Matt struggled to his knees. With great effort, he picked up Aster and shouldered the now exposed Liz. Or, what remained of her upper half.

He pushed them through the rift exit, and then shuffled to their weapons and tossed them through as well, before dispelling the rift reward. The gold and silver suit of armor was kicked through with his remaining limb before he dragged himself out.

Luna knew that Melinda would have them all healed up, so she stood where she was.

In his all too melodic voice, Kurt, next to her, said aloud, They're all damn good Pathers. A Tier 10 monster at Tier 6. A whistle rolled off his lips.

Even that simple tone felt like a blissful symphony, but Lunas Tier kept him from affecting her, so she got to enjoy the beauty without danger. It was a pleasure not afforded to most others who heard the voice. That was a shame, but Talents were never fair.

She sighed and said, Theyve done everything Ive asked of them and more. I expected them to retreat from this attempt and push through, on the next one. I guess we're going to have to have the talk that I was avoiding.

Luna rubbed her face with her wrist, a trait that she just didnt care to mask in the moment.

She was old and tired. Things would have been so much easier if they had needed to be rescued, but she was a cat of her word.

If they could complete the hardest Tier 9 rift she could make, she wouldnt try to force them off The Path again. She had even stacked the deck as much as she could without making the rift impossible, and they had still completed the fight.

Luna had no complaints. She would turn these kids into monsters.

They had what it took.

The path of destruction they had carved through this rift had proven that beyond any doubt. Even as tired and forlorn as she was, Lunas teeth shone in a near-sadistic grin.

The next few decades were going to be interesting.