Chapter 126

Chapter 126

After receiving Kelley's message, the three of them headed to the indicated location, where they found the older crafter standing off to one side.

Kelley was only Tier 12, which almost surprised Matt. Though, the man sat at the upper limits of that Tier, and seemed only a baby step away from advancing. It had been so long, Matt had expected the man to have advanced much further.

Kelley shook each of their hands and said, It's good to see you all, but honestly, I'm surprised to see you guys here so soon. He took a massive breath and grinned, Can you feel that? It's amazing, isnt it?

Matt reached out with his own spiritual sense and tried to make sense of what was giving him such a weird feeling. It wasn't the gravity that he could feel was enhanced through a series of formations to increase the gravity to a planetary standard.

No, this feeling was different.

Aster had no desire to figure it out herself; she just directly asked, What is it?

Kelley tapped his foot a few times on the concrete and continued grinning. This moon was found and brought back by an exploration team. It was orbiting a gas giant situated a pretty substantial distance from a Tier 20 planet.

That explained the moon only being Tier 2, despite currently orbiting a Tier 27 world. Essence was just light enough to escape a standard planet's gravity well, but not enough so to escape the greater gravitational pull of a sun. Solar systems would slowly Tier up as long as a rift-bearing planet existed, but the further away from the essence producing planet that a celestial body was, the slower the growth would be.

That still didnt explain the weird sensation Matt was feeling now, though. There was something like an aura of spiritual lightness to it, but that didnt particularly help define the other sensations he had picked up on. Similarly, the moons normal gravity could easily be explained by a formation, but that didnt feel correct either.

Kelley kept tapping the ground with a growing smile. This moon had three subsatelite moons, and through some luck, all three formed with nature aspected rifts containing strong wildlife elements. That created an aspected feedback loop between this moon and the sub satelites. The essence here is nature heavy, leading to a fantastic number of rifts with large open areas, and a preponderance of monster rifts. The situation makes this place perfect for our crafter goddess.

Matt assumed he was referring to Amelia Galley. The adoring look on the man's face was comical. Or, it would have been, if it didnt awaken memories of what Cindy had done with her little cult.

Carefully using his own Concept, Matt probed for signs of foreign influences on Kelley, but found none. The man was just plain old star-struck.

Matt, Ill try to get you a meeting with Master Amelia. I'm super junior on her team of researchers, but she's amazing. Her thought process is just so... so different. Matt, she can use Tier 2 monster hides and produce the defensive bonuses equivalent to a Tier 6 item. It's incredible to watch.

Liz seemed unbothered by being left out of the conversation and asked, How did you get involved with her, Kelley? Weren't you planning on working with the enchantments that you and Matt figured out?

Kelleys face scrunched as if he wanted to spit. Yeah, that was the plan until someone stole the planet we were on and the prismatic rift with it. Who the hell steals a planet?

Liz must have forgotten about that, as she pursed her lips and nodded along.

Matt chuckled but prodded Kelley back to the topic at hand, and the man continued his story.

Right. Yeah. I was actually still working on that stuff, and even making some inroads with a few smaller guilds about trading mana samples. Then, some influential people started questioning our little aspect-trading organization. A few said that people were showing serious interest in my malleable mana type too. Honestly, I got a little scared and skirted their questions about it for a while. Eventually, Master Amelia came knocking personally. She offered me a job, and I took it. Best decision Ive ever made.

That made enough sense to satisfy Matt, so he decided not to pry. But he still didnt understand why the moon was so special. Yes, it was rare. Useful? He wasn't so sure about that.

But what's the big fuss about this moon? There are several elementally aligned planets in the Empire, and none of them seem like that big of a deal. At least not the ones I know of.

The only two examples Matt could think of were fire and ice planets that had been too close to one another, and too far from their respective suns to start. When essence finally reached them, it was filtered through their extreme environments, leading to a cascading effect. Most of the essence aspected into fire and ice respectively, before spawning rifts with those elemental types. That cycle repeated itself for millennia or eons before most, if not all the essence in the planet's core was aligned to that element. At that point, not even terraforming the planet could change the cores affinity. They made great training grounds for anyone who wanted or had to specialize in those elements, but they were otherwise normal planets with unvaried ecosystems.

The wildlife subtyping might be rare, but it didnt seem nearly useful enough for a famous Tier 21 to relocate their entire operation to a Tier 3 moon.

Kelley looked ready to shake Matt.

This means that the rifts here are all but guaranteed to include animals with high quality hides. Theres also a ton of plants suitable for making natural fibers. It's perfect for Master Amelia. She worked out a deal with Duke Fletcher, stipulating that he'd provide essence to help the moon Tier up. Hes just thrilled to have her based out of his territory. Just in the last two years weve been working here, Master Amelia has discovered new methods for curing hides and layering enchantments that allows far more power to be inscribed into low Tier materials. She wouldve had her latest inspiration within the first year, but shes been repressing it.

Matt didnt really see the appeal, but he also recognized that he was a mere amateur in the crafting professions at best. It just seemed no different to him than if she simply had the hides ordered from a variety of planets and rifts.

He wasn't dumb enough to say so out loud. Amelia had found over a dozen inspirations, and he had had zero. She was clearly doing something right, and to devastating effect, if her very presence could inspire near zealotry in someone like Kelley. The man used to have issues with authority.

Kelley led them into the building, where he bypassed half a dozen security measures and got the three of them into clean suits for a tour. They were able to enter a hallway that let them see into a lab, where half a dozen people surrounded what looked to be a boar's skin. They were brushing the hide out while stretching the skin as someone else brushed vague rune forms onto the skin with a liquid.

Kelley was helpful enough to explain. A part of the process that Master Amelia figured out was better prep work on the animal skins. By using a mixture of slightly higher Tier liquids, we can massively increase the amount of energy that leather and cloth armor can hold. And that's only the first step.

They were then led to the next room, where a team was blasting a hide with a truly massive amount of mana. Matt, the man with limitless mana, even felt that it was a waste, seeing how much energy they were hitting the material with.

This is our example chamber. The normal enrichment chambers are far more effective, as theyre just boxes that the materials are placed in while their mana parameters are calculated. Helps give the material a higher threshold of power.

Kelley took them through another three rooms, where the process continued on to one of the final steps. At this point, the leather was cut and hardened into a shape resembling armor.

That was where Matt found Erwin, Kurt, and Luna standing next to a woman with a massive, brown braid that reached her knees. She was tall and graceful in her movements, and positively towered over everyone but Kurt, whom she only loomed over.

It was Amelia. Matt had to admit, the woman definitely matched her pictures. But her physical size, while well documented, was much more apparent in person.

Kelley whispered, Master Amelia has been giving VIP tours, trying to drum up money. Let's move on before we disturb her.

Matt had no intention of doing so, and messaged Erwin, who turned and waved.

Amelia said something, and with a familiar burst of power, the four of them were inside the cleanroom.

Matt didnt miss Kelley starting slightly, but he had half expected this. Or at least hoped for it. Erwin was a well-known and respected figure in the scientific community, which gave him the ability to meet and greet crafters of high status.

As his half assistant and friend, Matt had been toying with the mere hope of riding the older man's coattails to get a meeting with Amelia. But he honestly hadnt expected it this early.

Erwin made the introductions. Amelia, this is Matthew, the one I was telling you about earlier. Also, Elizabeth and Aster. I don't know the other one. I assume he's one of yours?

Amelia, in a deep but lilting voice, said, Yes. Kelley is one of the more recent and promising additions to my team. He's the one with the malleable mana type I was telling you about.

Erwin, in his forgetful way, immediately ignored everyone else and started pestering Kelley about his mana and Concept, while Luna just rolled her eyes at his antics.

She spoke to Amelia, but Matt felt it was also directed to himself. If you want to make a contact yourself, this would be the person and time to do so.

She was leaving the ball in his court, but he wasn't sure if she was referring to his mana aspecting and its usefulness in creating things, or his endless reservoir of said mana.

While Matt was considering how to handle it, Liz took the pause in conversation to ask Amelia a question. Matt mostly ignored the ensuing discussion, lost in his own thoughts.

He decided that he did trust Luna, and figured that she must have meant his manas unique effects from his Concept, rather than his Talent.

Then, he remembered what Kelley had said. Amelia was looking for backers to fund her testing. Matt was the perfect person to do so.

Finally giving up, he looked to Luna and messaged her. I have no idea what you want me to tell her. Any suggestions?

Luna rolled her eyes and clapped her hands, and everyone but the eight of them vanished from the room. From the spatial ripples he felt resonating from the working, Matt knew that Luna had cleared the entire building.

Then, he felt the familiar presence of Lunas Aspect wrap around them, preventing anyone else from listening in.

Seeing Amelia narrow her eyes dangerously at the removal of her staff, Matt stuck out his still clean suited hand. Matthew Alexander. The go-to guy for all your mana needs.

He also extended Aster, who stuck out her own gloved paw, to the woman, while gushing out his entire mana regeneration. His 640 MPS was a noticeable expenditure, even for a higher Tier. And with his own Tier 9 strength that he did nothing to hide, Amelia grasped the significance behind the private session as she shook both Asters paw and his hand.

Well now, isn't that interesting. Erwin said he was working on rifts, but wouldn't explain how he was funding it. This certainly makes things clear now, doesn't it?

While Matt continued his outpouring of mana, she quirked her head and asked, And this doesn't cost you anything? You dont get tired? I can't imagine how your Talent works.

Kelley finally worked up the nerve to speak. That's gotten a lot stronger since I last saw you.

Liz slithered an arm through Matt's. Yes, hes quite the interesting specimen, but I don't know if telling people about his quirks is the best idea.

Kurt nosed his pad of paper into the conversation, writing, Amelia here has been fully vetted, and is trusted by the higher ups. Shes a good contact to have for your own reasons, and said higher authorities want to help her develop as well. Having the two of you meet and come to a mutually beneficial agreement suits both desires.

Luna took over. While no one is forcing anything, we were hoping that you two could come to some arrangement. You can uniquely help each other. How exactly you do that is up to you to decide. She looked straight at Matt. We practiced for this. Now is your first opportunity to put it into action.

Matt felt thoroughly out of his depth, despite their training. His nerves were fluttering crazily as he reviewed his lessons. What settled him down was noting that Luna wasnt giving off any subtle hints to him, so he decided to show off a little and establish his worth. While he had the more valuable goods in his mana sub-aspect and Talent, he was of a much lower Tier.

Even with Luna bringing people over with her greater ability, the moon was slow to fill up. Still, slowly but surely, the areas started to fill with crafters showing off their wares, or competing in official and unofficial exhibition matches that were held for every profession.

Matt, Liz, and Aster spent days wandering through the stalls and talking to other crafters.

It was humbling to see so many other exceptional crafters. Matt knew he was only an amateur, but seeing just how far he had to go was jarring. He learned as much as he could from the various books available, but his inventions rarely worked on his first attempts. Most of his projects were finished with patience and his unlimited mana.

The crafters he interacted with didnt have that advantage, and had to carefully plan and study every rune and material before attempting an enchantment. They were forced to be perfectionists in everything they did to cut down costs and waste.

Mana was the greatest limiting factor for any normal crafter. They needed to purchase the mana from cities, or wait and accumulate it themselves. The first cut into their profits, and the second would simply take far too long if they wanted to practice more than once a month.

Which was exactly what most higher Tier crafters did. They needed millions of mana at each step of the process, and few cities were able to supply them with enough mana.

When he wanted to enchant something, or try his hand at crafting, Matt just attempted it. He wouldn't run out of mana or materials with his ability to fuel rifts.

He was good because he had the wealth to practice without worry.

To call his situation rare was an understatement.

Matt started to imagine what things would look like if he was able to gather those more talented crafters and remove their greatest limitation. Sure, material components were important, but the mana was the truest issue that they all faced. What if Matt could pull them to himself, and foot that most important bill on his own? The fantasy was enticing as he looked around at the vendors and stalls where people cautiously plied their trades. As the days passed and the moon filled up, and Amelia started to give more talks and guide other crafters with various lesions, his idea crystallized.

He wanted to start a guild of crafters. A guild where people were free to make whatever they wanted, with an unlimited mana supply backing them up. He wanted to push testing and advancement as far as he could.

It wasn't something that he would be able to do until at least Tier 35, when his mana generation would be truly monstrous. The idea of a place of crafting where he could gather the best and brightest minds was an intoxicating thought. Especially if, like Luna and Liz always suggested, he could get the best for himself. How much stronger and better protected could he be if he had the best and most-cutting-edge equipment available to the Empire at his disposal?

He kept the thoughts mostly to himself as he pondered the rough ideas and problems, but he figured it was possible. Few would be willing to turn down the opportunity to have every project funded, and materials provided through Aperologists making rifts, in which he could have delvers working to feed the crafters.

A wonderful dream indeed.

But in his current state and level of power, it remained just thata dream.

During his evenings, Matt spent eight hours filling massive mana reserves for Amelia and her future crafting tests. At Tier 9 and with a perfected body, he needed only two or so hours of sleep a night, and only really slept longer most nights because sleeping was fun.

At the actual start of the exposition, Amelia shocked everyone with her announcement.

She had not only one, but two inspirations ready.

Having seen an inspiration before, Matt wasnt all that interested, but Erwin brought him, Liz, and Aster to a vantage point just out of the moon's atmosphere. He didnt miss that Kurt came with them, but hovered slightly behind, not interfering.

Through an AI group chat, the older man asked, Do you know what an inspiration does?

Matt felt like this was a trick question, and kept his mouth shut, but Liz had no such compunction. Its when someone resonates with essence about a revelation they learned, and essence rushes into them, instantly Tiering them up.

Erwin nodded. Correct on all accounts. But that's not what I'm getting at. Let me re-ask the question. What happens when a Tier 21 has an inspiration on a world much lower than their Tier?

Matt's initial answer was that the planet might be cannibalized through the intake of essence, but that didn't seem quite right. Amelia had a vested interest in protecting this moon, not destroying it.

In the vassal kingdom, Kelley had had an inspiration. Being four Tiers above the planet's Tier at the time, he had absorbed essence for minutes on end, since the essence needed to accumulate to match the man's Tier.

But Matt had no idea how much essence it would take for a Tier 21 to reach Tier 22, then Tier 23 in short order. He became worried that it would be enough to hurt the core of the moon. Planets needed magnitudes more essence than a human would need to Tier up, but the difference between Tiers 21 and 22 was just so large. Matt's initial gut feeling was that Amelia would hurt the planet.

As a pulse of energy washed out, it was too late to ask Erwin, so he just turned and watched.

Just as he feared, even from miles up, Matt could feel most of the essence rushing into the woman. But as he started to worry, something like the energy he felt when they traveled through chaotic space appeared.

Except that it wasn't exactly the same. The feelings were like near-identical fraternal twins; they were similar, but there were subtle differences.

Matt pushed out his spiritual sense as far as he could reach into the swirling energy, but before he could catch on to what was going on, the energy started to transform into essence.

Tier 22 essence.

It rushed down into the Tier 2 moon like a tidal wave, and Matt could feel the moon nearly instantly Tier up. It shot through Tier 3, Tier 4, then Tier 5. Spots of purple void energy that felt like Luna's willpower flickered as the rifts improved qualitatively, and spewed their monster hordes out upon sudden Tier up.

Matt shook his head in awe.

He, Liz, and Aster simultaneously asked, What was that?

Erwin laughed in the bubble of air he had brought with them and replied through his AI.

Theres a sort of defense mechanism for planets that are too weak if someone much stronger than them goes through an inspiration. Once the world starts to experience a significant degree of essence loss, to the point it will cripple the planet, there is an influx of energy from elsewhere.

The older man looked at them. It felt like chaotic space to you, right?

Aster yipped in the thin air, Yes, but no.

Erwin nodded in reply, A good enough answer, my quadrupedal friend. Yes. It's not quite chaotic space energy. That energy is anathema to life in real space. That was its bigger and far scarier cousin, the energy that separates realms. It's got a few more uses than pure destruction.

Liz figured it out before Matt, Wait, like an ascension?

Exactly like one. Except for the part about boosting Talents for the unawakened and a few other details. There is a rush of essence that will fill the planet, or in this case, the moon. Normally, going from Tier 21 to 22 wouldn't be enough to push a planet up so many Tiers, but it's a moon, and much, much smaller, so it needs correspondingly less essence to Tier up. That final condition is basically impossible to fulfill on planets, with their greater size and essence reserves. On a planet, even with the Tier difference, Amelia would need to be at least five Tiers higher than she is now to have an influx of essence.

There was a gathering of power, and Erwin quickly said, Get ready. Shes about to Tier up again. Try and feel the higher realm energy.

Once again, the essence on the moon rushed toward the place Matt knew Amelia to be, and the process started over again. She pulled in a substantial portion of the essence on the moon to her, and when it wasn't enough, that same energy appeared.

Being ready for it, Matt was able to get a better grip on its appearance. The energy felt like someone pressing their figure onto a cube of gelatin, but not hard enough to push fully through the surface tension. They pushed just enough to indent the gelatin and have their presence known. No more, no less.

That slight pressure was enough for essence to rush in, and it was a perfect match for both Amelia and the moon. Matt could feel two distinct types of essence mixed in with the rush of power.

The tailor's essence was like leather and cotton. Soft and pliant at the same time, while also exuding an aura that gave the impression of being as strong as metal.

Matt wasn't able to pinpoint the feeling that the higher Tier essence gave him to any degree greater than that vague initial sensation.

The moon's essence was, as Kelley had said, distinctly animal flavored. It smelled of the wilds to his spiritual sense. Not just one type either, but of all of them. From jungles to deserts, to cold mountain peaks, to the frigid depths of the oceans. Everything that was nature and animal was represented in the essence. Despite being far weaker in Tier, it had far more depth than Amelia had in her essence.

Matt watched on in awe as the moon advanced to Tier 7, then stopped.

They stood there in silence as the weight of the event that had just happened washed over them. Matt caught Erwin breathing in deeply a few times, despite the air being incredibly thin. Not long after, they were brought down to the surface of the moon.

Amelia was giving a speech that Matt couldn't focus on as he thought about that greater energy. The energy was on a completely different scale to be able to fill in the gap created when planets couldn't handle the presence of stronger cultivators.

Erwins remarks implied that inspirations were miniature ascensions, and Matt wasn't sure if that comforted him or scared him.

But he wasn't sure if that was right either; his gut told him that it wasn't the whole truth.

If inspirations communed with the Higher Realms, or something similar, Erwin would have said so. He didnt beat around the bush most times. It would also mean that inspiration Tier ups, like Kelleys, were different in some way. Maybe the location mattered, or the massive Tier difference forced the planets to protect themselves somehow.

There were greater powers out there that even the higher Tiers might not fully understand.

It was a beautiful and scary thought.

As Matt was finally swept up in the celebration, he had to put aside his questions and let himself enjoy the moon-wide party.

Amelia had earned it.

This was her day. Existential crises could wait.