Chapter 4

Durham and the PlayPen were still a day out when Matt felt the final jolt in his spirit that let him know the [Cracked Phantom Armor] skill was in the core spirit.

The skill’s structure was clear in his spirit, like an infinitely complex 3D blueprint it sat waiting to be used, begging Matt to try out the skill.

It was eating him alive that he couldn’t test the skill. Using a skill outside of designated areas was considered automatically hostile. No one wanted a [Fireball] to burn down a building or injure a person, so a blanket ban on all skill usage was enforced.

Matt would have to wait until he reached the PlayPen and their training grounds to see what his skill could do. He was confident it would be better than most. One mana a second into a channeling skill was more than most mages could easily manage. They would have to eat heavily into their mana reserves to pull something like that off.

It just grated he now had everything he dreamed of but was stuck waiting.

To spend his time, Matt searched the PlanetNet for anything he could learn about the PlayPen. There wasn’t much information readily available. The only guide cost 2000 credits, and when reading the reviews, one stated that the author deleted any negative ones.

Considering Matt couldn’t find any negative reviews, he deemed it fishy enough that he wouldn’t risk that many credits.

What public information Matt found was sparse and only general to all PlayPens, not the particular one in Durham. PlayPens were man-made islands that used the five-mile safe zone between the essence convergence of land and water to create an island that was usually teardrop-shaped so they could have one of each Tier 1, 2, and 3 rifts.

They would then dump essence crystals to force rifts to form. If the rift had an acceptable monster type and didn’t have any peculiarities, they kept it. Otherwise, teams would delve the rift until it lost enough essence and mana that it dissipated.

It was incredibly expensive to make and then just as costly to maintain on a low Tiered world. The rifts had to be supplied with mana stones because the ambient essence wasn’t enough to keep up with the rate of delves that PlayPens needed. Some speculation Matt saw said it cost a Tier 6 mana stone to run a PlayPen per day.

That explained why others didn’t copy the method. With 100 credits to a Tier 1 mana stone and an exchange rate of ten Tier 1 mana stones for a single Tier 2 mana stone until Tier 5, where it was fifty to one. It was estimated it cost a quarter of a billion credits a day to just run the rifts in a PlayPen.

That number completely disregarded the cost of the facilities the Empire staffed, said to be state of the art and the test the newest technology it might cost double that to run.

The sheer amount of credits was nearly unbelievable. It made Matt even more grateful Dena and Eric got him in.

***

When Durham came into view, Matt was already at the door, bag over his shoulder. Stepping off the train, Matt was confronted with a rush of people trying to board the train, fighting the people trying to leave.

Once Matt got through the crush of people, he saw a tall man with two signs. One read ‘Darius Blackwell’, and the other had his name ‘Matthew Alexander’.

Matt walked over to the man, glanced at him, and then down to a pad. After looking back and forth, he said: “you’re here good, try and find the other guy.” Then turned his pad around and showed two pictures to Matt, one of himself and another of a youth with black hair and silver eyes.

Almost the exact opposite of Matt’s sandy hair and hazel eyes. It turned out Darius had waited until the rush to end and walked out as the doors were closing. Bag rolling behind him, he quickly spotted Matt and the man with the signs.

“Ok good, you two are the only new entries to the PlayPen this week. The name’s Griff, and I’m the second in command here. Tier 15 I’ve been an active delver for the last 90 years. A bit slower than The Path, but better slow than dead. I’m here as a break and to raise my kid. He just turned two.”

Griff then showed the two newcomers far more pictures of a small child than Matt felt necessary. He wished the man would get back to talking about the PlayPen. Any nerves about being near the strongest person Matt ever met quickly vanished as Griff swiped through pictures of his kid.

After various compliments from the boys, Griff returned to the subject of the PlayPen. “Sorry about that, me and the wife have been waiting forever to hit Tier 15 and have a kid. Having a kid before Tier 15 is a great way to kill your momentum as a delver. After Tier 15, you have all the time in the world. Immortality, it’s a beautiful feeling not having to worry about old age.”

Matt was envious. Immortality and Tier 15 seemed so far away it hurt. And Griff had done it in around 100 years. That answered why he only looked to be in his mid-20’s. Matt wasn’t sure how that was ’a little slow’. It seemed fast to him. Matt craved that, and a glance at Darius showed the same look on his face.

“So, we have a few things to do before we board the boat to the island. It shouldn’t take long.”

The few things Griff needed to do was shop for baby things. Massive amounts of clothes and toys were purchased; Matt assumed the Tier 15 must be loaded because if his running calculations were close, he spent a hundred thousand credits in the two hours.

It made Matt look up the mana stone to credit the chart up to Tier 15.

Tier of Mana Stone Credits to Mana Stones Mana Stones to next Tier Tier 1 100 10 Tier 2 1,000 10 Tier 3 10,000 10 Tier 4 100,000 10 Tier 5 5,000,000 50 Tier 6 250,000,000 50 Tier 7 12,500,000,000 50 Tier 8 625,000,000,000 50 Tier 9 31,250,000,000,000 50 Tier 10 3,125,000,000,000,000 100 Tier 11 312,500,000,000,000,000 100 Tier 12 31,250,000,000,000,000,000 100 Tier 13 3,125,000,000,000,000,000,000 100 Tier 14 312,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 100 Tier 15 31,250,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 100

It boggled his mind that a single mana stone could be worth so much. The little information he found about it simply said after Tier 5, most people didn’t use credits as a currency but the mana stones themselves.

He could only assume that all spending was like throwing away spare change to the Tier 15.

All of the purchases were absorbed into the ring on his finger. When Darius asked, Griff said, “It’s a spatial ring, can’t use one till your Tier 15 because of the strain it puts on your spirit. But damn, they are useful.”

Matt felt that by the end of the shopping trip, he and Darius were far closer from the constantly shared looks over envy and awe at Griff’s spending.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they boarded a small, sleek looking boat.

Once the boat was underway, Griff talked more about the PlayPen. “So you are both sponsored and on The Path, which has some benefits and limitations.”

At their questioning looks, Griff continued, “That means you get better discounts and top priority at all facilities on the island and preferential treatment in most larger establishments throughout the Empire. The limitations are all about ‘The Curve’” Matt could hear the capital letters in the last words.

Darius asked the question Matt was thinking, “My Sponsor mentioned that, but I wasn’t able to find anything on the PlanetNet about it.” Neither had Matt, so he wanted this answered as well.

“Yeah, you’ll need access to the EmpireNet to have access to information like that. Only sponsees are on the path here, so no need to make everyone else feel inferior. ‘The Curve’ is how The Path of Ascension is graded. It’s an Empire-wide race to the top, 90 percent of people will fall behind by Tier 5, and the rest are true powerhouses, future pillars of the Empire.”

Griff looked around and said, “It’s hard. You have to keep ascending Tiers fast, really fast. Tier 3 by seventeen is easy, but Tier 5 by twenty one is harder, Tier 10 by thirty nine is absurd for most people.” Matt swallowed. That was absurd by what he knew of this planet, at least.

“It’s easier to show you.” With that, Griff tapped at his pad, sending Matt a message.

Tier Age Tier 1 15 Tier 2 16 Tier 3 17 Tier 4 19 Tier 5 21 Tier 6 24 Tier 7 27 Tier 8 31 Tier 9 35 Tier 10 39 Tier 11 44 Tier 12 49 Tier 13 55 Tier 14 62 Tier 15 69 Tier 16 78 Tier 17 88 Tier 18 98 Tier 19 110 Tier 20 123 Tier 21 138 Tier 22 153 Tier 23 168 Tier 24 183 Tier 25 200

Matt had no frame of reference for the numbers. It seemed impossible to reach Tier 25 before turning 200. He hadn’t even heard of people reaching Tier 3 before their mid-twenties.

“And no, you can’t just have a guild or noble family power level you or give you resources. That’s a part of the other restrictions. While you can join a guild, you can’t take anything from them, not even use guild-owned rifts without paying the public price yourself. Its meant to be a solo climb, and most just can’t keep up, but those who do are stronger than anyone else at their Tier”

Griff looked off into the sea for a long moment before he cleared his throat and continued.

“If you stay on The Path, the rewards are immense, there are tournaments for only those still competing, and the prizes are beyond your imagination. Speaking of prizes, if you are still on The Path, your sponsor’s rewards are equally absurd.”

“The finish line is Tier 25 by age 200. By the end, you have to ascend a Tier every 15 years.” Griff shook his head. “I and my party fell off at Tier 10”

“It’s easier for solo delvers as you don’t have to split the essence, but even then, my party was delving every two days. Everyone who makes it past Tier 10 are delving rifts at least one Tier higher than themselves. It’s dangerous and gets many a” Griff made finger quotes “genius killed because it’s hard.”

“I won’t tell you not to push to stay ahead of the curve. I even encourage it till at least Tier 5, but after that, take a good hard look at yourself and ask yourself if it’s worth it.”

Matt had to ask. Griff mentioned rewards better than he could imagine. His imagination was pretty big. “What’s the reward for getting to Tier 25 while on The Path?”

Griff sighed as he answered, “The last person to hit Tier 25 was Duke Waters. He wasn’t a duke at that point but given the title and a Tier 35 world as a personal fiefdom and management over nearly 60 other worlds, all under his command. His Sponsors were rumored to have gotten a Tier 30 world as well, but that’s not confirmed as they never went public.”

Matt took it back. His imagination wasn’t nearly big enough. He had seen movies about Duke Waters at the orphanage. He was a legend. He had been the last person to complete The Path of Ascension?

Darius asked, “Isn’t a Tier 25 far too weak to rule a Tier 35 world? Wouldn’t those under his rule be discontent to be ruled by someone so much weaker?”

That made Griff laugh, “Yeah, a few thought the same thing and sent their sons to try and duel him. They thought they could get him killed by sending Tier 27 to Tier 30’s to accidentally kill him. Those that went are called the lost generation now. He killed every single one that stepped up. When their parents went to get revenge, the old Emperor himself stepped in and told them to fuck off.”

“Remember he’s the first person to ride The Path to the end in the last 1000 years or so. Duke Waters was soloing Tier 28 rifts to make it to Tier 25 before 200. It’s not easy, and any man or woman crazy enough to do it and survive isn’t someone to mess with.”

“Alright, enough of that. We are almost at the PlayPen. When you get there, I’ll take you to the administration building to get you both your Empire IDs and then medical, gotta get your shots and birth control set up.”

“After that, you both will be assigned delve slots. You shouldn’t get night slots because you are both off-season newcomers. We usually get waves of newcomers right after the school year ends. So it shouldn’t be crowded for you.”

“Any questions?”

Matt and Darius had none, and soon they arrived at the island.

As Griff dropped them off at the administration building, he left them with one last piece of advice “Don’t delve more than once every three days. You can request more but don’t. Take one day for the delve, one for training, and one for leisure and classes. That’s the schedule the best go with at these Tiers to avoid burnout.”

As he left, he gave them a hard look and finished with, “Don’t die, kids.”

The admin process was easy enough. At one point, the clerk had them fill out identification cards, and when giving the forms to Matt and Darius. He stressed that if anything was wrong, it would be years of work to change, and this information took precedence over any other.

Matt noticed Darius inputting a different last name. He didn’t feel it was necessary but assumed there was a story behind Darius’ actions but wouldn’t press.

Arriving off-cycle, he was able to get a delve slot for the next morning and, after being shown to his room, quickly found a general store. The place was massive and seemed to sell anything Matt could think of.

Matt found the pads and found they only sold a single model, and looking at the specs, it truly was better than anything on the open market. The pad was better in every way than his current one.

It not only had a battery that held twenty mana which was ten times more than his current pad, that much mana would last for weeks. But it also could slowly absorb ambient mana or be directly charged from the user. That took time for it to un-aspect the mana to ambient mana but was still amazing in longer delves.

The pad also came with permanent access to the EmpireNet as long as he was on The Path. The screen was even made from artificial mana stones, so it was scratch resistant to anything weaker than diamonds. It also had storage enough that Matt didn’t think he could ever fill it.

All of these features came with a corresponding cost. 15000 credits, as Matt was about to walk away, an employee approached him. “Are you a sponsee and on The Path? If you are, you get fifty percent off all indicated prices throughout the store, and the first pad you purchase is eighty percent off.”

That put Matt in a fantastic mood. He felt Griff had undersold the benefits of staying under the curve and on The Path.

With that good news, Matt’s shopping spree began in earnest.

New pad, into the cart. New boots, cart. New well-fitting clothes both for delving and leisure, cart. A new close fit backpack that he could fit an emergency kit and water bladder in, cart. Matt filled his cart with anything he thought would be useful.

As he was shopping, he found out what the gloves Dena had given him were. They were mage gloves. They let mana seamlessly pass through but blocked the physical manifestations from harming a mage, no burns from casting to many [Fireball] ’s. According to the packaging, they were a good unarmored alternative for melee fighters because of the same resistances.

He couldn’t even find the same gloves she had given him, so he wasn’t sure how much they cost but was by looking at the quality of the gloves, he thought they were higher quality than what they sold here.

The employee only suggested wearing them to Tier 3 because, after that, custom orders would be a better option because of enchantments being available.

His final purchase was an essence accumulator. It was a thin bracelet that let parties share essence. It allowed mages and other backline fighters to collect essence without having to get in close and finish off monsters.

Matt was skeptical that he needed it as a solo delver, but the clerk pointed out that it improved essence accumulation even if by only a few percent. It would still add up.

Pushing his overflowing cart to the checkout, Matt happily paid the 5000 credit cost and stopped by his room to drop off his goods and set up his new pad.

Once that was taken care of, Matt inputted his schedule. Before he could get too engrossed in the new features, he forced himself to change into his new combat clothes and head to the weapon shop.

When Matt entered, he first noticed it wasn’t a store like he expected but a workshop with at least a dozen active forges and twice that number that sat cold and empty.

A resting blacksmith near the entrance saw his obvious confusion and waved him down.

“You new here?” at Matt’s nod, he continued, “that means you are a new sponsee and on The Path. Makes it easy then.” He waved at the surroundings

“The Path isn’t only for combatants. There is a separate path for crafters. It’s just as hard, just about what you can make, not how fast you climb the Tiers, though that’s a part of it. That’s irrelevant to you though, what you need to know is how this works. There are around 40 blacksmiths on the island right now, no clue on alchemists or other professions. It’s the same basics that apply to all crafters in all professions.”

He pointed at a screen in front of his area. “Any crafter has to have a sign with five pieces of information, their profession, their specialty, their Tier and the Tier of equipment they sell and if they are on The Path of Crafting.”

“Blacksmiths usually use a shield with the weapon or type of armor they specialize in, that’s two of the requirements right there. The border of the emblem will be gold if they are on The Path, silver if they were on The Path and fell off, and bronze if they never were on The Path. then somewhere, they will usually spell out what Tiers they work with.”

The sign was a gold shield with crossed daggers inside with a stylized 3 next to the arrangement. Underneath it was Smith’s Ironworks and Enchantment.

The smith is named smith? What are the odds he changed his name?

Smith the smith smiled and asked, “I’ve still got unenchanted works if you are in the market for a shortsword or daggers. Until you are Tier 3 can’t sell you any enchanted pieces” and pointed to a rack of beautifully made daggers.

“I will want a shield and some kind of single-handed weapon eventually, but I’m a longsword user first and foremost.”

“Welp I don’t have those. If you want that, you should be fine in the rifts here with a longsword, no cramped spaces really though a dagger is always good to keep as a backup, even have a back sheath, here only 3k for both.”

Matt was tempted but didn’t want to skimp on a longsword because he bought a backup weapon first. Matt only had 15000 credits left on his credit card, and if the price of daggers indicated the price of a longsword, he would need all of it.

He was leery of dipping into what he had saved from Benny’s, if he needed healing, he’d be screwed if he had neither credit available or liquid funds.

When Matt said as much, Smith pointed him in the directions of the smiths that specialized in longswords. Thanking the man, Matt promised to come back for a dagger if he had the credits.

Matt came to Tun’s area. Next, the sign was a shield with gold trim and a longsword inside and an ornate three next to it.

When Matt approached the smithy, Tun was hammering away, so Matt browsed the displayed longswords. Finding the section with the length Matt preferred, he proceeded to test each one for weight and balance, carefully performing a few swings.

After a few minutes and debating on two similar swords, Matt was still undecided, switching between the two. They were both good swords that fit him, but one was a tad shorter than he wanted but had superb balance and the other was slightly blade heavy but his preferred length.

As he was still pondering, the smith paused his work and approached with a hand out, “Tun. I see you’ve got good taste. They are both good weapons, but that one was a commission where the other party never picked it up.”

Matt shook his hand and replied in kind, “Matt and I was wondering why it’s blade heavy when clearly it’s not an accident.” buttering up the person he was about to make a massive purchase from felt like a smart move to Matt.

“Yeah, the guy wanted to have a heavier blade, not a huge difference, but enough that it has been sitting there a while. Not many styles need a heavy blade that’s not a bastard sword.”

“If you like it, I’ll cut 1k off the price if you want it, even throw in a back sheath for it.”

Taking 1000 credits off the price only put it at the same price as the other weapon, but Matt liked this blade more than the shorter one. He used blades balanced worse at Benny’s, so it wouldn’t be a huge change to his style.

Seeing Matt hesitating, Tun said, “Why don’t you take it and give it a few tests, there’s a small sparring room over here.”

Matt saw small was an understatement, a six-foot square room. There was only one training aid that pivoted to focus on Matt as soon as he entered the room.

Exchanging a few blows, Matt decided he’d take the sword, it was a blade made for attack, and it sacrificed defensive speed to do so, but Matt’s singular skill was defensive. While he’d need to test exactly how much damage it could block and how [Cracked Phantom Armor] performed in combat, he was confident enough in his skills to take the risk.

After completing his purchase for 10000 credits, he stopped by Smith’s and bought a cheaper dagger for 1000. It was a simple curved dagger if his primary got stuck.

Matt quickly scanned his map and found the training yard. It was a little after 4:30 pm, and he wanted to get a few hours of sparring and testing his [Cracked Phantom Armor] before tomorrow.

As he arrived, he was almost run over by a group of six who came out the door right as Matt was opening it.

“Sorry, dude, bad timing on our part.” The man in front was Matt’s height and a year or so older, if he had to guess. “Hey, are you new? Don’t recognize the face. Names Mat” and stuck his hand out.

“Mat? Well, always nice to meet a fellow Matt.” The Matts shook hands, and each laughed.

“Well now that I know you have good taste in names. We have to be best friends! So new best friend, I’m assuming this is your first time at the training center?”

At Matt’s nod, he continued, “Well let’s give you the tour before we leave. By the Emperor’s balls, we could have used a guide when we started.”

A tall blonde behind Mat poked his side and said, “You’re supposed to introduce the rest of your party, dumbass. I’m Melinda, that’s Kyle, Sam, Vinnie, and Tara. Since Mat is rude, I’ll do the introductions. We are a sponsored team, peak Tier 2.”

After her introduction and handshake, Mat looked sheepish and murmured, “I got excited at the name thing.” before wilting further under Melinda’s glare.

Melinda turned back to Matt and said, “You have new gear, and that’s good, so you’ll want to break it in.” she then pointed towards a hall lined with rooms. “That hall is the melee training rooms. As long as you are on The Paths, they are free to use and those,” She then pointed to another adjacent hall. “Are the skill-testing halls, you can sync up your pad with the room to get training metrics and analysis of your fighting skills. It’s useful, but if you want real improvement, go to that counter and hire a personal trainer.”

Before Matt could say anything, she preceded on, “If you need a skill analysis, you need to talk to the front desk. They have tasting rooms where you can get hard numbers on any skills you have.”

Well, that’s good to know. “And that info is confidential, right?” Matt said before she could pass that comment by.

Mat answered this time, “Yup, only your sponsor can see that info, and only if you give them special permissions that they have to request.”

“Thank you. You guys have been super helpful, I would have had to bumble my way around until I figured it out myself, so thanks for the time save.”

That put sheepish looks on the entire party, “Yeah, we were in your shoes, and well, we try and help where we can.”

Mat asked, “When is your first delve?”

“Tomorrow at 11 am.”

Melinda jealousy said, “ugh, lucky. Our Tier 1 was at 4 am, and I hated waking up that early. You got lucky coming offseason.”

“If you eat around 6 pm, find us at the dining hall, that’s when we eat, and we’d be happy to talk to you about the Tier 1 rift, share our experiences.”

Matt was touched. It was far more than strangers had to do after bumping into him and happening to share a name with one of them.

“I’ll take you up on that offer, though I don’t know if I’ll make it tonight. I need to practice my skill and break in the new gear.”

Mat looked like someone had kicked his puppy until the other girl of the party, Matt thought she was introduced as Sam, said, “Then take our notes about the Tier 1 rift, it’s nothing the official information doesn’t have but also has what we figured out worked for us.”

“There’s an official guide?”

Melinda asked, “Didn’t you get one when you checked in? With the check-in classes? Who was your guide?”

When Matt said Griff, they all winced. He assumed they had also been subjected to his baby craze.

“Well, that explains it. If you see him run the other way, we got stuck looking at baby pictures for three hours once.” The entire group shuddered. “Yeah, well, now that you are on the PlayPen, there is a local network that has a bunch of good information. Guides on all the rifts, a ton of general information about Tiers, it’s a mini EmpireNet in a sense.”

“Well, I’m glad I ran into you guys, thanks. Who knows when I would have found that on my own. So what’s your party name?”

That was the wrong thing to say because all but Melinda started arguing. With a strained smile, she said, “We are still deciding.” she pulled out her pad and said, “let me send you our notes, and then I have to settle this.”

He quickly got the file and escaped the conversation that was turning into an argument with every word.

Matt went to the desk Melinda had pointed out and was helped into a testing room by the receptionist. Once the door was closed, he pulled the room’s testing options upon his pad and selected ‘defensive all types’. The information said the room would stop before he was hurt, and it would let him know exactly how powerful his skill would be.

Settings prepared Matt, with great anticipation, directed mana into the skill structure resting in his spirit.

As soon as he did, his reflection along the wall was covered in a mist like covering. [Cracked Phantom Armor] was a slightly see-through gray and had the vague shape of full plate armor.

Searching, the couldn’t find any gaps where normal joints would be. The skill covered everything, including his face, although he could see and breathe as though there wasn’t anything covering his face.

As Matt moved and stretched [Cracked Phantom Armor] didn’t restrict him in any way or seem to weigh anything. So far, it was a perfect armor, all the advantages of plate’s coverage and none of the weight or restricted movements.

With building nerves, Matt initiated the testing.

A flat voice called out, “Please hold still, defensive skill test engaging.” a bladed arm extended from the ceiling and proceeded to swipe at Matt’s chest. The strikes started feather-light and slowly increased in force until Matt was afraid it would pierce [Cracked Phantom Armor] and carve him up.

When Matt was about to stop the test, finally, the blade pierced the misty armor and was retracted before it could touch him.

“Physical testing complete. Analyzing results. Results determined. Skill will protect up to low Tier 2 slashing attacks. Any attacks that breakthrough will have damage reduced by that flat rate. Please increase mastery with skill or increase mana expenditure to increase the effect.”

Matt was elated with the results. One mana a second was a lot of mana for his Tier, and it showed he would be near-invincible in the Tier 1 rift. Even better, the Tier 2 rift would only be half as dangerous.

It was an amazing advantage.

His happiness froze as he heard the flat voice ask, “proceeding with piercing test.”

Matt spent the next twenty minutes being poked, smashed, set on fire, frozen, electrocuted, and even attacked with void.

The last terrified him as it was the most destructive affinity at its Tier, cutting through defenses like they didn’t exist. Matt was quite happy when the [Cracked Phantom Armor] was slightly resistant to the element, not immune even at Tier 1 but better than most defenses that weren’t specialized in defending against the type.

[Cracked Phantom Armor] was everything Matt hoped it would be and more. The original [Phantom Armor] was a stored skill that was meant as a life-saving measure, and its conversion into a channeling skill was just as resistant but permanently active.

Matt was happy even if he didn’t get more mana at Tier 3, he would still be able to improve his mastery with the skill and, therefore, its effectiveness.

Feeling like he was floating on air, Matt went to the training room and sparred with the training aids until almost 9 pm. With [Cracked Phantom Armor] active, it allowed him to trade blow for blow with the Tier 2 training aid, and what would have been deep cuts were turned into light scratches and bruises instead of broken bones.

While eating, Matt reviewed the information Melinda had sent him and, with the official guide, felt ready for tomorrow.