Chapter 143

Chapter 143

As Matt and Liz quickly stripped and jumped in the shower, Liz started to give him one last rundown on the Royals. They had done this before, but Matt appreciated the refresher.

Tur'stal is nice enough, though she has little patience for fools, so no issue there. Out of all the Royals, she's my favorite on a personal level.

Matt nodded, even though Liz couldn't see it, as she took his place under the stream of water while he soaped himself up.

Coming out from under the water, she continued, Rusty will definitely try to get you, or even more likely both of us, to spar with him. Do not accept. He doesn't hold back nearly as well as he thinks he does. Hes nice and a great uncle, but he will try to fight you. He tries to fight everyone. He tried to fight me when I was five.

Matt nodded along as he took his turn under the water.

Harper won't say much, but theyre far deeper than you'd expect. They run foreign affairs, which includes all the spies of the Empire. So yeah, don't let them drag you into a conversation about anything to do with the other Great Powers. You wont escape anytime soon, and youll have to listen to detailed breakdowns about the other Great Powers political structures and strongest representatives.

As they toweled off, she shrugged about the last Royal. I don't know Frederic very well, outside of his reputation. Which is to say, hes a politically savvy noble who champions noble rights over the more progressive measures that my parents and uncle Manny are pushing. His faction is newer than Tur'stals and Rustys. Its made from the more radical elements of those factions, and those who left for greener pastures and ended up settling the border.

After putting on semi-formal attire, the two of them entered their room to find Emmanuel sitting on the small desk provided, sporting a smirk.

Is that all you think of my precious Royals, Liz? Im devastated. Youre lucky I blocked the room off so they couldn't hear you. They would weep at your words.

Liz didnt hesitate to shoot back, If you weren't listening in, you would be blissfully ignorant as well. Hardly my fault.

Emmanuel's smirk turned into a full-blown grin. Sorry, my earplugs are only Tier 47. I'm listening to everyone's conversations on all six planets of this star system, whether I want to or not.

That comment gave Matt pause, but for only a second. The Tier 50 hardly seemed overwhelmed by the influx of information, but Matt wasn't sure he would be able to function with that much sensory input.

Higher Tiers were almost a different species altogether.

After Liz ran a brush through her hair a few times, they were ready to go. With a snap of Emmanuel's fingers, they appeared in a small, but luxurious lounge.

Everything was made of woods polished to reflective levels, or metals with rougher, brushed finishes to contrast with the sleeker wooden facades.

If the objects had been made from lower Tier materials, it would have been one thing, but Matt only recognized one wood type. It had the distinctive alternating black and white layers of spirals that belied its identity as an extinct Tier 46 tree. It was being used as a coaster holder on a side table.

If everything else was comparable, he figured that this single room could be worth more than some star systems.

Mara and Leon were the first people to grab his attention. They were wearing kids' party paraphernalia, which included small hats and noisemakers. Of course, they were blowing and shaking them wildly.

What caught Matts eye was the poster that they had written on. The first letters were oversized, and the rest of the letters grew progressively smaller, until they were microscopic.

The sign could only be described as distracted. Happy meet the Royals to explain your Talents and why you are going to change the Empire. Why do I always forget to plan writing these things out? I say I will every time, but I always forget, and now the first letters are way too big, and Im running out of space

Matt couldn't read anything else after that, since the writing got too small, but he had to laugh at the commitment to the joke.

Having met and lived with two of the Royals, and their being the strongest besides the Emperor, helped Matt brace himself as he met the other four Royals eyes.

Tur'stal stood next to a table with a glass of wine in her hand as she watched him and Liz silently. She wore a different but less formal dress than the one she was wearing a few hours ago, at the start of the tournament.

As she watched Matt inspect her, she just smiled as he moved on to the mountain of a man standing to her left.

Rusty was a massive man, and only seemed bigger in the small room and dim lighting. He had also changed into more casual clothes that seemed like a version of sparring gear, but Matt wasn't sure. The style that he thought Rustys clothes were based off of was at least a few thousand years old.

Harper had on the same mask and cloak they always did, which gave Matt nothing to inspect. Though, that might very well have been the point.

They were at least neutral in the political tug of war between the Emperor and the old nobles, which made them more of an ally than the others.

At least, in theory.

Frederic was still in a suit and seemed just as average as he had during the opening ceremony, but Matt noticed something different about the man's eyes. They were like lasers that tracked every one of his movements, and seemed to miss nothing he did.

They had all been silent, except for Mara and Leon, for long enough that Liz moved forward and said, Hi, everyone. Long time no see. Always good to get the extended family together. As I'm sure everyone is salivating to hear my Talent, I do blood things. That's all. We can all go home now.

Tur'stal met Lizs sarcasm with a small smile and a slight rise of her wine glass in Lizs direction, while Rusty laughed outright and extended his arm far enough to ruffle her hair from the other side of the table.

Harper was covered by their mask and robe, which let nothing slip, but they did nod slightly to Liz.

Frederic smiled politely but otherwise did nothing, as the clear outsider..

Matt moved forward and said, My Tier 1 Talent was rated as detrimental by the Talent system, and for good reason. I can't allocate any essence into my magical cultivation, and my starting mana pool was lowered to 1 mana.

That earned him several pairs of narrowed eyes aimed at his midsection, where his cores were located, as they looked to confirm his statement.

None of the Royals seemed bothered by the fact that he had a very good veil up to prevent exactly that sort of snooping, but Matt didnt let that get to him.

But that wasn't all that my Tier 1 Talent did. It changed how my spirit creates mana. Instead of being a normal, flat rate dependent on my allocation of essence, my mana regenerates faster the lower my current mana pool is. If I'm under one percent of my maximum mana, I regenerate the value of my entire mana pool continuously over the course of a second. A useless Talent without my Tier 3 Talent, which increased my mana pool to 10 mana, and then allowed me to double it for every Tier after that.

Pausing for a deep breath, Matt continued, That means that I can currently generate 1,280 mana per second, as long as my mana total is below 12.8 mana. I also can use mana concentration potions down to nearly zero mana, then return my mana pool back to full without issue, which is kinda nice.

Not knowing how to end that, he finished with a lame, Yeah, that's pretty much it. But then he remembered his Concept. Oh, and my Concept is about endlessly making mana, which lets me give out some mana to those around me. Its also given my mana an endless sub-aspect. Essentially, my mana kinda lingers and keep effects going on for longer than they should. So, single cast spells fly farther and channels just run on their own without input for a second or two, depending on how much mana Ive put into them.

Matt looked around to find three shocked faces and one masked figure looking at him as if he was under a microscope.

***

Frederic paused for a full three-quarters of a second.

An eternity when he lost control of his mental cultivation and started to perceive time as a Tier 46 would.

Still, he was so shocked by the boy's Talent and the ramifications it would bring, he couldn't help but lock up.

Thousands of plans he had carefully been preparing for had been dashed and rendered useless or redundant, but in the best way possible.

He didnt need his AI to do the math for him, but used it anyway to confirm he wasn't dreaming.

At Tier 30, the child in front of him would have access to more mana than a Tier 50 mage. At Tier 13 just three Tiers higher than his current Tier the boy would have a greater mana generation than a Tier 50 mage.

The potential impacts were staggering.

When they went public with this, the entire Empire would have seismic reactions to the news. Most would take this as good news, but some would see this as the end of their business.

The price of mana would plummet anywhere Matthew spent even a small portion of time.

The worst-hit industry would be the mana traders. They bought mana from the Empires citizens, and held onto it in massive caverns that were spatially expanded to hold rechargeable mana crystals. They then sold that mana back to crafters and the nobility at a small markup. Selling the traders mana was also a small lifeline to poor people down on their luck, as they always bought it at a slightly higher cost than the local guilds and nobles.

He had significant holdings in several of those companies. They normally provided a certain, but slow return on investment.

When the news of Matthew's Talent hit, those stocks would plummet to record lows. They would eventually recover to a degree once people caught on to the fact that Matthew would still need a place to store said mana for distribution. The mana traders would be the only ones with the necessary infrastructure in place.

If he positioned himself right, he might be able to buy out those businesses for little more than the cost of their facilities when the news first hit.

He filed that away as something to do once this tournament was over. If he wanted to pull out of those companies without tanking the stock prices, he would need to move slowly.

Frederic had to give it to Emmanuel. The man had even more luck than cultivation. The Emperor had just put the entire noble faction into check with not a scheme or power play, but one single Talent that his biggest supporters daughter just happened to stumble upon first.

With Matthew's Talent, the Empire would be able to run high Tier rifts on the instance cooldown, instead of waiting months or years for the rifts to slowly absorb the sparse ambient mana.

The entire crafters' economy would change, as they would suddenly have more high Tier goods than ever before. It wouldnt be more than they could use, but certainly more than they could quickly adjust to. Even still, the limiting factor for the crafters would be the amount of available mana. But if Matt was pumping planets full of mana, theyd simply be able to collect it from the air.

The Emperor could leverage Matthew's connection to Elizabeth, Mara, and Leon to focus the boy's efforts on planets and regions that were loyal to him and his way of thinking.

If they did that, the hereditary noble faction would grow weaker and weaker, until they were irrelevant, hollow shells of their former selves. Their citizens would leave by the masses for more profitable regions of the Empire, and no amount of proper administration or leadership could bridge that gap. Before long, the current nobles would be paupers with empty planets and left in no position to bargain at all.

Even the unspoken threat of defecting to another Great Power would be moot. With Matthew, the Empire could finally have a Tier 50 capital. Then, they would be able to produce Tier 50s with no regard to the old international agreements and treaties. The rest of the universe would be at their mercy. Even the most stubborn of the nobles knew that it was better to be the tail of a lion than the head of a mouse.

Everything would change.

Frederic paused again as that thought crossed his mind.

Matthew was still speaking about the first word of his Concept when Frederic peeked over at Rusty and Tur'stal. They were of differing noble factions, but the three of them usually acted in unison to strengthen their position, even if their political bases didn't always agree on the finer details.

They had been there when Elizabeth was born, which meant they had a much greater attachment to Matthew through Elizabeth. Something he sorely lacked.

Maybe he could find an angle. A search into Matthew Alexanders background brought up that he was 38 years old, last registered as an early Tier 10, and a former ward of the state from the planet Lilly.

Oh no.

Of all the times and places for their new kingmaker to rise from, that might just be the absolute worst possibility. The age range and orphaned status matched perfectly with his rising fear too. A split microsecond later, the family records and death certificates popped up to solidify the mountainous dread.

Curse those thrice-damned Junipers! How many times must that wretched house of incompetents haunt me?

The Lilly Tragedy had been a disgrace to the Empire, a disgrace to the nobility overall, and a disgrace to his faction in particular. Despite the planet falling under the Emperors direct jurisdiction instead of Frederics, that Baron had loudly and publicly ascribed to some of his peoples most hard line rhetoric. A highly questionable set of policies, crudely justified by that same extreme philosophy, had been a major contributing factor to the disaster.

Most of his nobles were competent enough to know that the commoners had to be protected, but a few wanted things to return to the old ways. Back then, each planetary leader was a king in his own right, and ruled with an iron fist.

But that only led to disasters. Time and history had proven it over and over again.

It was the type of thing that happened in the Sects, the Federation, or the Collective, not a civilized society like the Empire. Yet, it had happened here, thanks to a single, lazy Baron. That PR nightmare had struck a blow to the nobility's image throughout the entire Empire back then. And on Lilly itself? Well needless to say, the boy would not be predisposed towards hereditary nobles.

Frederic was well aware that no political system was perfect, but he believed that the hereditary nobility was a key reason that the Empire had grown so well. Despite all the faults of such a system, the nobles had invested heavily in their fiefs. They spearheaded the growth of their planets on a scale incomparable to most of the other, more transient ruling systems. They only looked for short term gains, with little regard for anything else.

It wasnt even about the hereditary nobles being inherently superior. Hereditary families drew lessons and internal family culture from long legacies of governance. Additionally, children trained from birth to be leaders and societal managers simply ended up as much higher quality rulers on average. Lessons drilled in during those formative years tended to stick with people better. Even if commoners raised to the position had an eternity as adults to learn those same lessons, they very rarely seemed to bridge the gap fully, and many never even got close.

That sort of thing worked passably well in the Republic, and to a lesser extent, the Guilds, because the commoners that gained enough power and status still had to be voted in each term. On top of that, the prominent cultures in those Powers expected a degree of proactivity in their elected officials, which helped weed out the majority of subpar candidates. Their nomination requirements, by design, also favored potential candidates with strong backgrounds in law, finance, administration, management, and military leadership over professional delvers.

The Federation on the other hand, hated the Empire for helping incite the war that had cut their territory in half when they discovered a second Tier 46 planet.

Now that they had the possibility for a Tier 50 planet, Harper believed that Virgil, the Federations Tier 50 ruler, would see the whole realm stripped of mana before allowing Matt to give the Empire something the Federation had been denied.

That was the difference, though. A single planet only helped one Great Power. Matt could help them all.

Harper looked to the Emperor, and they conversed silently.

In the past years, he had Harper look into ways to keep the other Great Powers out of the wars, and now they knew why.

Their job was now a million times easier with a resource like Matt.

Still, this new asset needed to stay alive if they wanted to reap any benefits from him.

That would not be an easy task.

Maybe, if they played their cards right, they could be assigned to protect Matt. The other Royals all had public personas that they needed to maintain, but Harper never bothered, preferring anonymity instead.

Still, they had time before the other Great Powers knew of his Talent. The dual cover stories of an armor Talent and a talisman Talent fit well enough. I if they were careful, they wouldn't have to deal with more than casual assassination attempts until after Tier 25.

After the secret of his mana came out, though The other Great Powers might risk sending Tier 45s or higher to end the threat in the cradle, as it were.

Things were about to get busy.

Still, with his endless mana, they had to see if Matt wanted to learn about telekinetic skills. Telekinesis was an incredibly strong branch of magic, often forgotten about because of its high mana cost in both initial cast and channels.

Matt wouldn't care about either of those, and if he practiced, he could get his mana control to a passable level for a telekinetic mage.

And Harper had been looking for someone to pass on their skills to for nearly a thousand years.

Matt had too much versatility to ever truly dedicate himself to the branch of magic, but he could make a passable apprentice if they worked with him enough.

As they saw Frederic move forward, they stepped forward as well.

While the man talked to Matt, they would say hi to Liz. It had been too long since they had seen the young woman.

***

Tur'stal nearly shattered her wine glass as she heard Matt explain his Talent and Concept.

Everything would change.

She had quickly worked out a deal with Emmanuel as soon as she realized that the nobles' position had turned from one of slow bleeding to being decapitated.

Better for her faction to concede early and get a better deal.

From the results, she believed that Emmanuel was truly worried about the upcoming wars. And she understood why.

They were going to have to deal with attacks from every side if they wanted to make it out better than the Federation had.

Still, Tur'stal believed in their chances.

The Empire stood strong, and was only growing stronger.

Years of hard work had finally paid off, and they were rewarded with a young man who could single-handedly change the realm.

They might end up sharing some of that wealth, but she believed they would come out on top.

As she sipped at her wine, she smiled.

Matt would be creating Tier 50 rifts on the capital, she was sure. He would need to sit and feed the rift mana so it didnt Tier down, but based on the math, she suspected he could do it around Tier 35 or so. After that, he would just have a larger and larger surplus.

The Emperor would be delving the Tier 50 rift as fast as he could, and she couldn't wait.

With Matt around, there was no reason to follow the old treaties, which limited their Tier 46 and higher assets so no one ruined their capital planet to get a short term advantage in war. Now though, she would be able to reach Tier 50 in this realm, and upgrade all four of her Talents when she ascended.

That had been just a dream until a few minutes ago, but now she couldn't wait.

With the Emperor and Matt both using the same Talent, they should be able to Tier up the capital to Tier 50 before the Emperors reign ended in 28,213 years.

The math said it was possible. That was enough for her.

But what she really relished was the advantage for the people in her queendom. She couldn't wait to get Matt to do a tour of her queendom and Tier up her planets. Her people would grow and prosper in a way that they had never been able to before.

Her people were like plants in her garden. Each needed love and care to grow big and strong.

For too long, her people had been dealing with good enough, rather than an abundance.

Tur'stal had plans of creating smoothly ascending pyramids of planets, so there were fewer bottlenecks in people's advancement. A utopia of worlds, where no one had to wait to delve a higher Tier rift for hundreds of years. It would also allow her to finally get all of her planets to a Tier 5 minimum. Even as an old kingdom, they were still expanding into new planets, just at a slower rate than the borderlands. The Empire expanded in every direction in chaotic space, after all. As long as new worlds passed by her borders, she snatched them up.

At that point, her people could safely advance. Those that would stop at Tier 5 or so would be able to live peaceful lives without worry of a lack of mana, and those who wished to advance and grow would be able to spend mana freely. They would no longer be limited by availability, nor have to gather their mana before doing anything.

She was already putting plans in place so her people could be ready to embrace the changes that would be taking the Empire by storm.

She could barely wait.

***

Rusty could barely restrain himself when he learned of Matts Talent.

Everything would change.

With a few spoken sentences, thousands of military super projects that never even left the theoretical design stage had just become completely viable. The absurd upfront mana costs to build them, which originally rendered them fantasies, would not even be a consideration soon. The armed forces would never be the same.

He had always wanted to make the moon laser base, but they never had been able to power it. Not without higher Tier mana stones than were allowed in the political wars.

Rusty also understood the societal ramifications of that Talent well enough to have a dozen plans ready to go. He personally knew of two guilds and a noble family that were trying to dabble in aperology, and had requested funds to push their projects past Tier 5, but he never had even a fraction of what they needed. Rifts worked well enough as they were for any additional funding to be allocated to it.

After learning about Matts extracurriculars, he had just the people to point the kid to.

If nothing else, the guilds and noble family would sacrifice any and everything to get into the Matterys good graces.

He smirked at his own joke. Mattery was a good pun. Almost as good as his own situation with his stamina.

Still, the kid would be a walking fount of changes to the Empire in both social and economical ways. But what he really cared about was getting the kid to Tier 47 and having a good brawl with him.

Even at Tier 10, the kid showed a deft hand with both blade and spell, and Rusty always enjoyed fighting a proper hybrid better than any more specialized fighter.

His Talents turned his mana into stamina, and his spells were all converted to have internal effects that further boosted his physicality to incredible levels. His stamana, as he liked to call it, allowed for him to be a hybrid in the truest of senses.

He even created more energy with [Endurance] than the skill's cost, giving him his own version of endless magic. Though, it was limited to himself, as his stamana couldn't be removed from his body.

Better than anything else, Matt and Liz both had potential to give him a good true fight. Matt, with his endless and absurd amounts of mana, might be able to match his physical might, with all of his essence going to his physical cultivation. Along with a few spells to boost it. Rusty doubted that would be enough to outdo the multiplicative effect of his stamana core, but it might get him close. And if he was right about how Little Liz's fighting style would grow, she would be a monster to beat.

But those were always the best fights.

As he saw Frederic and Harper going to talk to the boy and Liz respectively, he stepped forward as well.

If he caught them early, he might be able to convince Matt and Liz to spar before they started the boring talking.

***

Leon watched as his fellow Royals learned of Matty's Talent.

His not-quite-official son-in-law had been kind enough to share his Talent with him and Mara without any prompting, on only the second day they had met, which only warmed his heart more.

Still, he scrutinized his Royal counterparts more than the star of the show.

If any one of them were entertaining less than pure thoughts, he would not hesitate to kill them.

He and his wife had already planned out what they would do.

If someone legitimately threatened one of their kids, he and Mara wouldnt let it go unpunished. Whether it was their fellow Royals which was doubtful, but always a possibility or more likely, another Great Power.

And if that someone wanted to black bag Matty and shove him into a box, they wouldnt hesitate to act. In that event, Mara would take the kids out past the Great Powers until both Matty and BethBeth were strong enough to protect themselves and ascend. Meanwhile, he would protect the rear and keep any potential pursuers busy.

The simple truth was that she was faster than him in her phoenix form, and had the best chance to escape while carrying low Tier cargo.

As two Tier 48s, they had more than enough power to protect Matty, even if the power expenditure meant that Leon would probably be forced to ascend.

If he did that alone, without Mara ascending simultaneously, right beside him, there was only a one in three chance that theyd end up in the same higher realm.

That was less than ideal, but from the little they knew of the higher realms, not an insurmountable challenge to overcome.

Still, if you weren't willing to make sacrifices for your kids, then why be a parent?

It was a good thing that none of them seemed to have ill intentions, so he kept waving his noisemakers, trying to get a rise out of either of his kids.

Maybe if he tooted a song with the rollout paper thing?

It was worth a shot. If nothing else, Mara would laugh. That was always more than enough for him.

Some things would never change.