Chapter 192

Chapter 192

Luna watched the planet spin below her, not blinking.

It had been too long since the last of the people who exited had done so from a new floor.

The first half of the cycle was about as promising as she could have dared to hope.

Eternal Darkness as a first floor was a good floor to get the children's feet wet, and allow them to pull ahead of the pack.

Genesis Cultivation was a counter to Matt and Aster, but Liz and especially Susanne would do fine on that floor, ensuring that the two more mana dependent fighters wouldnt get screwed over. It also had a fantastic reward that would catapult her children into powerhouses with four Tiers of essence converted into Genesis Energy, even if they were only average before this floor. And they were anything but average.

Then came Back to Basics. Other than Opposite Day, it was simply the best floor to get after Genesis Cultivation.

It would shift however many Tiers of Genesis Energy they had earned down to the first Tiers of cultivation, making them fifteen percent stronger than their same Tier peers who only got Genesis Cultivation and thirty percent than people who got neither.

The theme reward theyd earn was certainly useful as well, giving them an excellent practical application of her lessons on internalizing an external Concept.

Liz and Matt each had promising strategies to draw upon, with Matt using the Daedalus Gambit common to people with enchanting experience, and Liz aiming more for a Fruits of Labor approach. That she didnt want Mind cultivation made it much harder to actually utilize her alchemy to the full extent allowed by Minkalla, but Liz knew what she was doing.

With an already Internal concept, shed get the most out of the theme reward amongst the four of her charges.

While it was the second half of Minkalla that was truly impactful, this cycle had the potential to be most excellent. This cycle would see lots of people flooding just for those first three floors alone.

But after that floor, no one had come out after having reached the fourth floor.

The walking fossils were usually the first to come out, and then throw themselves a party of the ages.

There were even businesses that catered to their exuberant whims upon getting their Concepts and breaking through to Tier 15.

Parties, orgies, feasts, and general extravagance were the name of the game, and they paid for it.

At least half of the Tier 14s who got their Concept on the fourth floor blew every mana stone they had saved up and earned in Minkalla upon exiting, just wanting to enjoy their immortality.

It usually meant that at least one team was usually out of that floor just a week or two after entering. Someone always got a lucky challenge room, a lucky boss fight, or even killed some other competitors that earned them enough Genesis Energy to leave the floor with the exit reward.

But not a single team had exited from the fourth floor in the last month and a half.

Not getting an answer was an answer in its own right, most of the time.

There was only one floor that outright prevented people from leaving like this.

Courtly Warfare.

It wasn't one of the floors Luna would have chosen for the children. The reward was fantastic, there was no denying that, but the timing of the floor was awful.

A fourth-floor Courtly Warfare would serve as a dam, allowing all the chaff to catch up to her charges and remove any advantage that their speed had earned them.

It wasnt a problem. She knew that the kids would be fine, but not everyone else was so calm about the situation.

Zula Cortez, a Tier 39 from the Clans, had already blown her top at a Federation man that Luna didnt know, simply for a snide comment. They were currently destroying a large portion of a small gas giant in the outer reaches of the star system.

Honestly, this place was a dump. All the major planets were cracked, if not outright destroyed, and the asteroid belt was scattered like flung sand in the outer system.

Luna suspected that Minkalla would be jumping to a new star system in the next dozen cycles or so, judging by the state of everything.

Letting her mind wander, Luna wondered what version of the courts they got. There were thousands of variations, with the courts and their outward appearances changing. Human courts were the best, as they lacked most of the magical abilities and advantages some of the more exotic factions had. Trying to make them hold a city when the monsters of the floor were earth golems was an exercise in futility, and could stall them for a year or more.

On the other end of the extreme, the elves were annoyingly accurate archers, and their moving cities could take months to track down as they migrated around the area that Minkalla created.

But still, it was the challenge that had been laid before them. The observers could do nothing but watch, and Luna could feel tempers running hot amongst the highest echelon of the Great Powers.

It was just a question of how long it took for one side to win, which at least meant as soon as anyone came out of Minkalla on the fourth floor, they would know that someone had won.

Luna blinked once as she refocused on Minkalla after checking someone who came out on the Sects planet. Third floor useless to her.

Personally, she hated this part of a Minkalla run.

All her power, and nothing to do with it.

Infuriating.

***

Matt watched as the now defeated cultivators of Spring were brought out of the city and then separated.

He and the other people who had earned hundreds of captives were sitting around and motioning for their victims to be brought to their own areas.

It wasnt a perfect system, and a few of the people that his team had defeated were claimed by other teams, but it worked well enough that no one complained about a little loss in Genesis Energy.

Thinking of Genesis Energy, Matt looked to where Susanne was trying to get one of the captives to release their own reserves of Genesis Energy. The man had put a quarter of his Genesis Energy into the ring, but then refused to give the rest of it.

Susanne had an interesting method of persuasion. She just repeatedly tapped the man on the head with her greatsword in a slow but steady rhythm.

It wasnt an attack, but it also wasn't a pleasant massage on a sunny beach.

The cultivator in question was old, and was clearly at the peak of Tier 14, meaning they didnt have their own Concept to protect them from her Concept battering their spirit directly.

Matt was content to watch the man, if only to see how long he could hold out, but Bradley lost his patience and walked over, slinging an arm over Susannes shoulder and guiding her away.

Silver, you need more finesse in things like this. Watch how I do it.

Turning back, Bradley sat down on the snow-covered ground and shot the man a friendly smile.

Hey, there, friend. Got yourself into a pickle? As the man just glared at him, Bradley nodded as if he had responded verbally. A shit show if ever there is one, but buddy, you are looking at this the wrong way. You didnt lose. You won! And you won big.

Hearing that, everyone within a few dozen feet turned to shoot the man incredulous looks that ranged from hostile to bewildered.

Bradley laughed with a cocky grin plastered on his face. I'm serious. You don't believe me, but let me explain. Pointing at the older man, he said, You don't want to give up your Genesis Energy because you need it to form your Concept on the way out of this floor.

His eyes swept the rest of the captives and added, Most of you are in this situation. Or, at least half of you. But believe me, this is perfect for everyone. A win-win. This is the fourth floor, and it's Courtly Warfare. You geriatrics should be thanking the Tier 50s for your luck.

There was some grumbling, but Bradley spoke over it. Really, you should. Think about it for a second. The Fae courts will endlessly make new soldiers, meaning, once we leave, you can resume the war and not have to deal with all us frontrunners. At that point, you can fight in the battles that happen and easily earn enough Genesis Energy to leave here with your Concepts. We don't want to have to kill you. Some of you are Empire and Guilders. Id love to give you all special treatment, but you chose Spring, and we beat Spring. There is a cost to losing, after all. Let's not make that cost death.

As the captives started to relax, Bradley stood up and clapped. See, this is a good thing for you guys! A little Genesis Energy lost today, but when we leave, youll have the run of the place.

Having said that, his face went blank, and his eyes started to glow brighter, like fresh molten metal had broken through the cooling surface to show the ire of a forge.

But if you fuck with our victory, all of the representatives have agreed to execute the lot of you. We can't be having people trying to slow us down. Play nice until we leave, and do what you want after that.

Despite the coldness of Winter that the captives were feeling, they all started to sweat as Bradley flexed his Concept.

Tuning back to Susanne, he smiled. See? That's how you deal with people.

Susanne looked to the cowed people and then back to Bradley before saying, Why say so many words when only a few will do?

Bradley looked stumped on how to respond to that, but ended up chuckling and speaking to them directly through AI. Queen, you are an odd duck, that's for sure.

They shifted, preparing for combat, only stayed by the complete lack of concern Bradley displayed.

With Aster covering her, it only took Liz a few seconds to steady her blood, running [Blood Endurance] and [Bloody Lesser Regeneration] to end the [Blood Ragdoll] effect, and then she was back into the fray. The [Blood Sprites] had served their purpose, and she allowed the spell to collapse, instead focusing on calling every drop of blood that she had access to and wasnt otherwise needed in her body. A massive [Blood Tidal Wave] rushed out, eliminating the chaff and staggering the other lieutenant still in the fight, a Fae armed with a pair of daggers like a rogue.

Daggers could be deadly with the right skills, and the Fae almost certainly had the full package. Still, there was only so much they could do to a giant elemental, and as [Hungering Blood] and her returned blood wave fed into her golem armor, she recast [Blood Crystal Armor], allowing the crystals to propagate to the much larger mass of blood surrounding her.

Like so many rogue-types, the lieutenant was fast but lightly armored. It took three tries to grab it with [Blood Manipulation], but once she had it in her grasp, crushing the lieutenant in her empowered golem claws was trivial. The rush of Genesis Energy and Favor served as a surefire signal of success.

There was a lot more energy around her than she had anticipated, particularly coming from Aster. It took her a moment to recognize the pattern of energy, and realize that it meant one of her items was turning into a growth item.

Normally, Liz would be ecstatic about that, but it happening in the middle of a fight was awful timing, so she rushed over to assist the fox.

As it turned out, her assistance wasnt needed.

It looked like Asters old pendant, which had previously only made an ice cream-flavored flying cloud, had gained the ability to create an extra pair of oversized snowflakes, each larger than Aster herself. They werent just decorative either.

Liz didnt know what she expected, but the snowflakes flying out and cutting two sergeants in half like oversized shuriken wasnt it.

Seeing Aster had things well in hand, she turned and crushed the final lieutenant before taking out the final few Fae.

Aster was sitting down when Liz rushed back over, and her tail was swishing the falling snow around her as her excitement bled over.

When Liz got close, she jumped up and landed on her flying cloud, which promptly sagged down to the ground.

It converted! I'm the luckiest fox alive! Endless ice cream flavor at my Tier!

Liz looked at the small snowflake shaped pendant that the fox proudly displayed.

Comparing the small snowflake to the giant blades of death they had turned into was a disorienting contrast, but Liz rolled with it. She had seen weirder growth items.

Holding out an arm, Liz said, Hop on and let's go take over the core of this place.

Together, they walked inside the keep to find the orb that powered the entire fortress. When they put hand and paw on it, their Favor flowed out of them before tainting the yellow orb a blue white.

More Favor than they put inside of it came back out, and Liz shivered as she felt her boon grow into something greater.

Mentally probing her boon, she understood the changes. You are capable of controlling frozen blood with [Blood Manipulation], which functions as both blood and ice. Any ice and shadow powers are strengthened, and you resist damage from them. You are immune to the cold while in Winters service.

Liz nodded appreciatively as she flexed her powers.

The boon felt like a cloak wrapping her Concept and spirit, less close than a natural treasure, but closer than an item. It was hers, but not truly a part of her

Not yet, at least.

When they left this floor, they could take the boons with them as long as they were on the winning side, at the cost of some Genesis Energy, as nothing was free from Minkalla. Still, as her first new ability, the ability to control frozen blood was quite nice.

Aster swooped down on her cloud, expanding the platform enough for Liz to fit. With the fort under their control, the anti-flying wards no longer impeded them, and they quickly soared into the sky.

Liz looked at the cloud beneath them and frowned. It feels weird being on a Tier 11 item.

Aster flicked her ears. Yeah, I need to try to upgrade it to Tier 14. I needed to put a bunch of ice into the snowflakes for them to actually cut anything.

When we get out of here, well figure out what we need to upgrade it. Those snowflake blades seem pretty good.

Aster yipped. Yup! Do you think we might have some upgrade materials in the crawlspace? Minkalla was too cheap in only upgrading it to my Tier.

Liz shrugged. We didnt pack any, but we have gotten a lot of loot recently. She let an evil smile creep over her mask. And we have lots of prisoners we can tap for items. Those Tier 14s must have plenty of materials for us to test.

Aster laughed, but before she could say something, a [Mana Bolt] tore through the cloud they were flying on and sent them tumbling. Aster caught them just in time, and started jerking them around to dodge the barrage of attacks.

Liz didnt hesitate and emptied her glove, shaping it into a massive spear and using it as a combined shield and weapon as they plummeted from the sky. Aster poured mana into the construct, freezing it into a single mass of blood-ice to form a countermeasure to the ambush.

Tens of thousands of gallons of frozen blood hit the ground.

The resulting collision was overwhelming even to Tier 11 senses, but Liz could feel it as her frozen blood broke and shattered when it struck the ground, sending a shockwave of half-frozen ground in every direction. Accompanying it was a thousand fragments of frozen blood, ranging from needle-sized to as large as Liz herself.

The cloud of debris may have occluded everything to her sight, but she felt several spirits to their right, and the rush of Genesis Energy that came with killing cultivators from that direction.

Controlling frozen blood felt different from normal. Easier. Usually, she had to keep track of hundreds to thousands of individual blobs of blood, direct them all individually or in groups, and control what shape they had. It required a good amount of blood reserved for [Blood Cunning], just to keep track of anything complex, let alone direct it. With ice, there was none of that. There were just chunks of ice, and all she needed to do to move one was to move the entire chunk.

It was freeing.

A person-sized block of ice broke itself on an enemy, and Liz forced a few of the fragments into her enemys eyes. The rest, she whipped around like cannonballs, slamming them into her opponents and either sending them flying or just breaking them. She could feel Aster doing something similar, but more focused on the smaller splinters. Liz relinquished control of those, redoubling her attention onto the ice bludgeons until she was certain that everyone she could sense was at least wounded.

[Hungering Blood] loved those wounds. Plenty of small holes for blood to escape.

She recalled the frozen blood she was working with, interspersing it with the small tide of new blood that shed just earned.

For the first time, she got a solid look at her opponents.

There werent many of them still upright. What had started as a group of twenty or thirty Fall cultivators had diminished to half a dozen still standing, all Tier 14 and none with Concepts.

The closest one to Liz was an older woman armed with two swords, mid-pounce. Despite the Tier difference, Liz felt no concern. Without a Concept, the woman had little protection from Lizs [Bloodthorn Vine], and delivered a cut on her upper arm.

It still took a good push of willpower to break the womans spirit, but it was doable, and the womans eyes widened as her blood vessels ruptured into barbed wire, slicing through vitals and skin alike.

By the time she hit the ground, she looked more like a crimson thornbush than a woman. Without breaking stride, Liz exsanguinated her corpse and used [Blood Slowing Shot] on a hail of [Blood Bullets] to close the distance between herself and the surviving cultivators.

She was, alas, too late. Asters snowflakes had beaten her there, and had already decapitated the next two she had chosen as targets. The final three attackers looked like they were starting to run, but they werent even hard to kill.

That was just what they got for shooting them down as they flew off.

Liz stretched as the Genesis Energy flooded into her spirit, recalling her blood. Annoyingly, her glove would only accept liquid blood, so she was contemplating how best to melt the frozen chunks as she started going through the motions of looting the fresh corpses. She popped her garden orb out of her general purpose spatial ring to store a bundle of Ironthorn Vines, then noticed how her Genesis energy started to swirl and churn.

When it landed on her portable garden orb, she paused for a second. It wouldnt be her first, second, or even third choice, but she wasnt unhappy with it. Her spirit reached out and connected to the orb, probing for what it might be able to do.

After a moment, it clicked as the connection between her and the item solidified.

The first thing she noticed wasnt an official power of the orb, but that her new spiritual connection to it allowed her to use [Blood Copy] with any plant inside it, so long as she wasnt too far from the orb.

Convenient, but that wasnt the main event, though.

Where once it had been able to hold and grow any herbs she harvested, it now allowed her to advance time inside slightly for a small, but constant stream of mana.

She was mulling that information over when even more came to her. She would also be able to separate areas, to grow things under more specific conditions, which was quite the useful effect. Together, it meant she could have a theoretically unlimited source of herbs and could experiment with them.

While neither effect was unique, they were useful and sought after, especially the time dilation effect. It was theoretically possible to do the same with a high Tier spatial ring, but it would be far, far more expensive, as everything the plants needed would have to be created by spells, whereas her orb handled it automatically.

It was why farming was done inside rifts and not enlarged spaces. It was too expensive to do inside a ring.

So, next fort?

After we finish looting these guys! And after you tell me what your new item does!

Liz surveyed the bloody battleground surrounding them, with its slowly-melting chunks of blood ice and the mangled corpses of the fools who tried to attack them. Well, their mistake turned into her new growth item.

Who knew, maybe the next large battle would bring with it another upgrade to her boon or her gear.

She certainly had a lot of those coming soon.