Chapter 18

He and Liz talked long into the night about topics far and wide. He told tales of Aster's misadventures in the PlayPen. Liz seemed to particularly enjoy one about Aster trying to jump over a serving line, to get at some smoked rabbit they had been serving.

She came back with a story of her own, about her mother when she was still a Flame Sparrow. Her mother burned down her dad's tent while they were stuck in a blizzard, simply because he had bumped the stand the small bird was resting on.

Eventually, they broached the topic of Matt’s Tier 1 Talent and its detrimental rating. What Liz had to say about it threw him for a loop.

"Detrimental ratings are not common, but they all have one thing in common. They all carry a condition where the cultivator can't do something. It doesn't matter if your Tier 1 Talent comes with free fire skills. If you can't use other skills, it's deemed detrimental. Even if fire spells are completely free. Still detrimental."

Matt was shocked. "That's so stupid. The AI has to be smarter than that. It... It doesn't make sense."

Liz simply shook her head. "Nope. It's not perfect, but that kind of scenario only turns up about a quarter of the time a detrimental Talent is determined. The rest are truly..." she shrugged, "Detrimental."

"But what about the others? I was lucky. I got into the PlayPen, which gave me the chance to grow, and got a perfectly synergized skill, all by chance. If it weren't for Zephyr, and Eric and Dena, I would be..." He trailed off. He didn't want to accept it. The AI just saw an arbitrary negative in a Talent, and slapped on a detrimental rating with no other considerations. That seemed incredibly wasteful. And stupid.

Liz rolled over to face him. "Matt, you didn't get lucky with your sponsors coming to the bar you worked at."

"It was an inn."

"Who cares. Same difference. My point is, when people get a detrimental rating, the planetary AIs start watching. If the individual is driven, and doesn't give up, a team of past ascenders is dispatched. They’re a team who made it to at least Tier 5 while on The Path, and are now higher than Tier 15. Your sponsors were sent there to scout you. See if you were an asshole that would abuse people if you got strong. As long as they liked you, even if your Talent was 'I’ll literally never progress', you would have gotten the invite."

Matt was shocked. It hadn't been an accident? He reviewed all of his past interactions with Dena and Eric. They had questioned him about his desires quite a bit, now that he thought about it. What had been casual conversation now seemed like an interrogation.

"They said they were Tier 6." Matt paused. They had never actually said that. He had assumed that. "Well, I assumed they were Tier 6. They didn't feel that strong."

Liz looked at him like he was crazy. "Matt, you’re using a veil right now. If you loosen it up a bit, you can give the impression of any power level under your own. They must have figured Tier 6 on a Tier 4 world was high enough to not have to take any crap from the locals."

His veil reminded him of his skill. "Did they somehow manufacture getting my skill?"

Liz raised an eyebrow, and he gave her the details. "There was a party that came in and scanned the skill. They knew it was cracked, and made the fact very public. When the skill was given a detrimental rating because of the high mana cost, a brawl started. They threw it at someone to get a punch in. I was able to swipe it, and hide the skill up my sleeve during the chaos."

The blood mage next to him just smirked at his story. "Na. I doubt they did. Maybe, but it seems like you actually did get lucky there. The only times where people on The Path are allowed skills are for healer Talents, or if you need a skill for your Talent to function. Even then, The Empire only allows for Tier 14 or below skills to be given. Not cracked ones. They would have just handed it to you."

He stayed silent as he processed what Liz told him. The couple may have been evaluating him, but they still treated him well. It was a revelation that he hadn't just caught their attention.

Why doesn't The Empire just rework the AI system?

When he asked Liz, he didn’t get much of an answer. "I don't know. I think people are afraid that someone will steal information about Talents if they’re allowed access to the underlying code. So no one dares to propose touching it, for fear of drawing suspicion to themselves. The Empire does what it can to mitigate the detrimental rating mishaps. The AI handling Talents is so old, it can't even learn or grow on its own. The thing’s a relic."

"What about people whose Tier 3 Talents fix their Tier 1's?"

"They get a rating of corrected if the AI sees the build as viable. You probably got one. I don't know what your Talent is, but you put out a ton of mana. No way that doesn't count."

That made him wonder why he didn't get another call from the Emperor. If his mana projection had ever been calculated out for more than a few Tiers, the Emperor had to have been notified of the results.

Thinking back about the Emperor's words encouraging Melinda's party to stay on The Path, he figured it might be the same for him as well.

Who am I to guess at a Tier 50's thoughts. Let alone the Emperor’s. Maybe he doesn't need mana at the higher Tiers? There's no way my Talent didn’t set the system off. Or am I being arrogant?

Matt didn't know, and didn’t care to guess. So he asked his new repository of hidden knowledge. "What about the ping for good Talents? Do you think I got tagged? How does the AI work with that?"

Liz just shrugged and curled into the extra sleeping bag, looking at him with just her yellow eyes visible. "How am I supposed to know? Most of that is just second-hand info from my parents and their friends, or my older siblings. It's not like I can call up the Emperor and demand answers."

Liz wiggled into a comfy spot on the plush pillow they found [Puddle Jumper] on, while Matt, stuck with his crappy camping pillow, turned over. That ended the conversation.

Matt thought over his Talent. Why did he get a max of 10 mana at Tier 3? If it was backtracking from Tier 1, it should have been 8 mana. And if it didn't, why didn't he just get 2 max mana?

He had so many questions running through his head.

He still didn't have any answers when Aster came back for the night. Matt was glad for the heater's warmth, because her presence was like an ice cube had curled into his sleeping bag.

The next morning, as they were eating breakfast, Liz hesitantly asked if he was willing to fill the pair of mana stones she had.

They were the fast converting type. They used more mana to speed the process up, but they would allow her to fight longer, if she didn't need to expend an abnormal amount of mana.

It took nearly 2000 mana to fill each of the stones up near its limit of 200 in Liz's aspected mana. But, the extra mana would potentially allow them to hit an extra rift today.

He tried to remember what Melinda's party had told him this type of mana stone could cost. It was supposed to be expensive, but he thought he'd never use a mana stone back then, so hadn't committed the information to memory.

When they got to the first rift, they found it already had a beacon outside without any entries, so they assumed the delvers were still inside and moved on.

The next rift they came upon was clear and felt full, so they entered. It was a standard rift that they easily cleared. The rewards were equally standard, with only ten mana stones given.

On the way to the next rift, they passed a group of four that had just exited as they were approaching. There were a few tense moments, until Matt and Liz backed off, trying not to show intentions of robbing the group of their prizes.

After that, they spent an uneventful day delving. Three more rifts netted them 27 more mana stones, and a bottle of reagent that was good for Tier 5 alchemists.

That night, they repeated their dinner of a stew cube, and watched another movie on Matt’s pad, before they went to sleep.

When he woke the next morning, he found Aster curled in Liz's arms. The traitor was seduced by the brush the evil woman had used to great effect.

As they walked to the rift, Matt enjoyed Liz's mutterings on the unfairness of his skill blocking the cold, and letting him eat without dispelling the mask.

So he made sure to exaggerate his slow, deliberate bites of the snack bar.

He delighted in the murmurs of pure hatred she growled in his direction. Threats abounded of boots in swapped places so they were backwards, and shirts turned inside out. His favorite threat was that of a spitefully rotated bowl, so it felt weird when he ate.

They were so comical, he just had to press his advantage. He started scratching his nose and running his hands through his hair without dispelling the armor. Her pathetic attempts at muffling curses were music to his ears.

That was payback for seducing his traitorous fox.

Their playful banter ended when they exited a rift, and encountered an ambush.

They had gotten a small enchanted dagger that they hoped would be valuable. The group that shouted at them wasn't from the Dual Stars guild, or they at least weren’t wearing the guild’s colors.

"Give us everything in your spatial bags, or we’ll kill you all." One shouted. The voice shook.

Matt didn't think they'd risk killing, but he was sad that the robbing had started so early. He didn't expect it to start for at least another few days, when more loot was accumulated.

He sent Liz ‘Any behind us?'

'Seems like one archer behind a rock. They feel weak, though. We should be fine.'

Matt took that as the go-ahead, and charged the speaker. It only took two hits with the flat of his blade for the lightly armored bandit wanna-be to fall. The mage behind the speaker was dispatched when Matt brought the flat of his blade down on his arm, breaking it.

He didn't want to incite any more explosive rage, so he kept the injuries to a minimum.

He saw Liz dragging a smaller figure along the ground, with bands of blood restraining them.

Matt grinned at her, even though she couldn't see it through [Cracked Phantom Armor].

"Mighty fine catch you got there!"

He could hear the grin in her voice as well. "Ah, but you got two, and that's even better than one!"

Matt kept his blade pressed down on the speaker as they talked. The threat was clear, even if unspoken. If anyone tried to activate their emergency beacons, the leader would be finished.

Liz said in a singsong voice, "We should see what our little bandits have on them."

They had absolutely nothing on them, as it turned out.

Matt looked to Liz "what are the odds that these little rats don't have a single spatial bag among them? I think they’re hiding them."

"I agree..." Liz was cut off by the archer trying to speak, but the bands of blood tightened, silencing them. "I say we force them to go back without their goods. Have fun trying to get another portal without any loot to sell."

They stripped the trio of their armor and weapons, forcing them to activate their beacons essentially naked.

Once they were gone, Matt and Liz spent an hour looking around for the group's stash of rift loot, but found nothing. They were sure it was somewhere nearby, but moved on before they wasted too much time.

It was disappointing, as finding the stash could have netted them another spatial bag and more camping gear. But even with asters nose, they couldn't find anything in the surrounding area.

Liz did end up taking the leader’s short sword. It was only Tier 3 with a single sharpness rune, but it was better than the staff of wood she had been using.

The rest of the group's items, they tossed into a corner of the next rift they entered.

When they stepped in, they were in ankle deep water, and found themselves in the middle of a foggy jungle.

"I can't sense the exit. Can you?"

Matt pushed his spiritual sense out, but the thick mist blocked his sense after only a few feet.

"I got nothing. Think this is a maze?" he asked. He already was leaning that way but wasn't sure.

Liz hmmmed, then sent a glob of blood into the distance. It fell as soon as it was more than arm's length away from her.

"Probably. That's the only reason I can think of for a disruptor fog like this. I don't see a path. So we either wander or back out?"

As he thought it over, he wanted to push. But if they couldn't sense the exit, they probably wouldn't be able to sense the entrance either, and that could leave them wandering for hours.

"I think we should try it," Liz said.

"It's not worth it. Let's leave," Matt said at the same time.

He looked at Liz. This was their first disagreement, and he wanted to know what she would do.

She beckoned to him so he would follow her. One foot raised to start heading deeper into the fog.

"This rift can't be that big. It's only a Tier 4. Even if we get lost, it can't be that bad. Come on."

He gave her his thoughts. "I don't know about that. I think we can end up walking in circles and not know it for hours. Better to just leave, and go to a rift that we know we can complete."

That stopped her, and the armored head in front of him bobbed back and forth as she pondered his logic. When she answered, she seemed like she was leaning his way. "Well, there are only so many first delves to go around. Eventually, we’ll have to delve the same rifts or these less ideal ones."

That was a point Matt hadn't considered. As he thought it over, it only solidified his decision.

"That means we shouldn't waste time here. Especially while others delve the easier rifts." He stepped closer to the portal.

Liz called out. "Wait. Let's refill the canteen here with all the moisture. It will be cheaper on the mana cost here, than out on the dry ass planet."

Pausing, they filled the canteen, and drank as much as they could while the runes pulled water from the humid rift.

When all three had their fill, they stepped into the bitter cold.

As they walked to the nearest rift, Liz sent to him, 'I feel someone following us. Don't look around or react.'

Matt did as she said, and kept his gait steady, but pushed out with his spiritual sense. He felt nothing. No living unveiled creatures were near them. He trusted the blood mage, so he kept his senses strained, and felt a blip.

Someone had let their veil slip for the briefest of moments, and they were trailing a few hundred feet behind them.

No one with a veil that good would be following this close with good intentions.

'What should we do?' He didn't know if Liz wanted to turn and confront the person behind them.

'I think there might be more than one, so let's just enter a rift, and see if they try to follow while it's still our instance.'

Having no issue with the plan, Matt followed as she walked directly into the next rift. They found themselves in a cave. It was dimly lit, and they quickly hid behind a bend in the tunnel. Aster was keeping a lookout, and when they counted fourteen minutes, they felt the ripple in the entrance rift.

The other group had snuck in after them. Coming in right at the end of the period that would allow them to join with Matt and Liz.

The two of them looked at each other's armored faces and nodded. When the light sounds of footsteps neared their bend in the tunnel, they stepped out.

Liz brandished her salvaged shortsword, and Matt swung his enchanted longsword in a sweeping arc that took up most of the narrow hall.

Matt’s blade bounced off the frontman, who was encased in full plate armor. As the thick armor deflected his blow, Matt took a mace to the chest. The weapon wasn't enchanted, but the force behind it pushed him back a step. From behind the tank, a spear lashed out at Matt's face.

He gripped the blade of his longsword in a half-sword style, and used the length to deflect the blow. This was too small of a tunnel to swing his blade, and it was useless against the armored foe in front of him.

Using the crossguard of his longsword, he slammed its edge into the neck of the tank.

The blow didn't break through the armor, but Matt used the opening it created to his advantage, and stabbed towards the man's less armored armpit.

His attack was able to penetrate, and blood flowed from the wound. It was quickly whisked away, and a shard of frozen blood shot towards the spear wielder. A cry rang out, and the duo of bandits pulled back.

As Liz and Matt pressed forward after them, they were blinded by a flash of light. While blinded, Matt lashed out, while stepping in front of where Liz and Aster were moments ago.

No blow landed, nor did he get a damage report from his AI. They were both still healthy. When his eyes closed and his ears stopped ringing, they found the entrance room empty. The pair had cut their losses, and made their escape.

"Well fuck them." Liz summed up his feelings about the encounter perfectly.

"At least they didn't stay and fight. They were pretty coordinated as well."

Aster yipped and pawed the ground. The flashbang had hurt her more sensitive ears.

"Think they’ll be waiting for us to leave?"

Liz rocked on her feet before saying, "Probably not. They clearly don't want to work hard, just take easy pickings."

"Wouldn't easy pickings be when we’re exiting a rift?"

"Sure, if we didn't know about them and came out unprepared. Now? I don't think they’ll make a move"

The two started down the tunnel. They had been walking for a few minutes, before Matt felt something give under his foot, and arrows slammed into his protected head, chest, and legs.

Liz and Aster, following behind him, froze.

"The fuck was that!?" Matt's racing heart was trying to leave his chest.

"It was a trap."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. I figured that out from the arrows slamming into me," Matt snapped back. That had come from nowhere, and he had only realized his mistake when the arrows slammed into him.

They got the lantern out, and put it to its highest setting. What they found were small holes all over the walls, and the loose ground was covered with rocks and dips. It was nearly impossible to know where it was safe to step.

"Well shit. How do we press forward? I don't know anything about traps."

"Neither do I. This is usually a Tier 5 thing."

Matt thought that over, then realized what had been bothering him since they started their delve. "Where are the monsters?"

Liz looked around, and said, "The theme would imply either no monsters, or ambush predators of some type."

Matt looked to the much easier targets behind him. "Can your blood block these arrows?"

Liz formed a wall of blood around him, and said, "step on it again."

He knew it was probably fine, but intentionally triggering a trap a second time felt foolish. Then again, he had just tanked the attack without any problems.

It was fine.

After two deep breaths, he raised his foot and placed it down again.

Three arrows slammed into him. They were slowed by the blood, but not enough to make the attack survivable by the mage or fox.

Forcing himself to calm down, he thought the situation over.

"I think we should continue."

Liz looked at him in shock. "Really? Why?"

"Well, this trap didn't really stress [Cracked Phantom Armor]. If that's the case, I just need to poke the ground with my sword, and find the traps. If I mess up, I should be fine. Then, you can hold Aster and take the path that we know is safe." He swallowed and finished, "Watch out for ambush predators. Please."

When Aster was safely in Liz's arms, Matt began poking the ground, and rooted out more arrow traps. They came from the walls, ceiling, and floor. This was turning out to be a tunnel of pain and torment, and Matt's stress levels were going through the roof, but he kept it together. The thought of the rewards at the end of the delve kept him going.

The hall of arrows finally ended as they came to a room with perfectly flat floors and walls. In the center of the room, there was nothing but a solitary podium. As they cautiously approached, they found a series of blinking lights.

Matt was the first to speak up. "I have no idea what this is. Is it a pattern or something?"

Liz looked at the podium and the walls. She even knelt down to inspect the underside of the podium.

On a hunch, Matt fed his AI with as much mana as he could, and found no pattern.

"I got nothing." Liz brushed off her knees as she stood, and they continued to search for answers.

Matt pressed the button when the color flashed purple, and suddenly a group of monsters dropped down from the ceiling.

Quickly he struck out with his sword, and took out the tall rhinoceros’ eye. The other was already charging at Liz, who launched herself and Aster over the charging monster. The lumbering giant charged into the hall the trio came from, and became a very large pin cushion, as it stepped into a multitude of traps.

Contemplating what to do about the podium, he and Liz exchanged a glance.

She looked at the rhino corpse and said, "Before you press anything else without warning me, let me gather some blood."

Once she drained the large monsters, she created a ball around herself,the fox still in her arms. From inside, she called out. "Ok, press another color."

When he activated the podium as it flashed orange, a pair of birds harmlessly flew out and down the hall.

He received a message from Liz. 'Did this rift get dropped on its head as a kid or what?'

With no way to answer, he touched the podium when it was silver, and a door on the far side of the room opened.

Liz exited her ball of blood, and had it orbit around her as they approached the door.

Looking at the blood, Matt suggested, "umm, can you send some to trap detect for us, now that you have a lot? I'd rather not get shot any more than necessary."

With a woosh, the blood went down the hall, and set off a pitfall trap consisting of a fifteen-foot drop onto sharpened stone spikes.

"I really don't like this rift," he murmured in protest. At least he wouldn't have to be the guinea pig for this hall.

They followed the wave of blood, with Liz creating platforms for them to walk over, as they came across sections of missing floor.

When they came to another room, it had a clear glass wall with pegs interspersed. There was an obvious entrance, and clear goal at the bottom.

"Plinko? Really? Where are our balls?" Liz shouted at the wall.

Another podium gave them the answer they were looking for, as it slid out from the ground. There was only a single flashing, cream colored light, and when Matt touched it, a goblin ran out of the far wall. It had a comically large head, one that was appropriately sized for the hole at the top of the Plinko board.

Killing the goblin with a blade of blood, Liz used her [Blood Manipulation] to try and guide the head into the hole, but her skill was blocked by the glass.

It took them over twenty heads to get one to enter the proper hole with the correct path. Once they hit the goal, a section of wall shifted away, which let them progress deeper into the rift.

The only positive the two muttering humans could find was their advancement towards the exit rift. They should only need to progress past two more hallways and one more room, until they could leave.

The next hall was full of sticky tar that refused to release the blood Liz tested it with. Aster came to their rescue by freezing the tar to the point of losing its adhesive quality.

The trio made their way down the hall, and found a room with a pattern set into the tiled floor.

There were six symbols on this podium that matched the ones painted on the tiles. Fire, a lightning bolt, a blade, a vine, a tornado, and a snowflake.

The foot-long tiles on the floor matched the ones on the podium next to the entrance.

"So is it a pattern game to cross, or is it a what can you dodge or tank?" Matt asked Liz.

"I don't know, but I'm tired of this stupid fucking rift." With that, she sent the blood hovering behind her onto the tiles. It was torn apart from the combination of attacks from all the “stepped-on” tiles.

Matt's AI pinged him, and from her sigh, Liz saw the message as well. This was a pattern game where they had to guess the solution correctly. The first tornado tile the blood had hit hadn't gone off.

It took them forty minutes to scout out the correct path with Liz's blood, and Matt was still nervous as he traversed the solved puzzle. Their testing, along with their AIs, had found the safe path to the exit, and all three were able to cross without mishap. Still,Matt's nerves were frayed, and he wanted out.

This rift had started with an attempted robbery at best, and an assassination attempt at worst, and they hadn't even been able to settle the score. Now he was getting toyed with by a rift that wanted to give their AI's a workout.

When they reached the far hall, it was a perfectly circular tunnel. Not a crevice or blemish on the wall, and when Liz checked with her blood, there was nothing.

With gritted teeth, Liz growled, "Traps on all the other halls and nothing on this one? This rift is truly fucking with us."

She turned out to be right, as they had nothing to contend with while walking down the long tunnel. Every uneventful footfall only served to raise their anticipation, and when they finally reached the end, Matt really wanted a nap.

The final room was just a rift reward and exit distortion. There was nothing to fight, no monster or trap waiting, only sweet, sweet victory. When Matt dispelled the reward distortion, it did not provide a single bit of loot. Instead, it turned out to be a giant mirror, enchanted to trigger a blade hidden in the ceiling.

It slammed down from a hole completely hidden by stalactites, shattering the trick distortion. A smack from Liz's blood just barely knocked him out of the way in time.

As he stood, Matt kicked at the remaining shards of glass. "An entire rift of games and puzzles, and then that bullshit right at the end? This rift was so unbelievably fucked. The reward had better be worth it. And no essence from that last kick in the nuts?"

As he walked to the real reward distortion and dispelled it, he found a pair of earrings. They didn't seem to have any enchantments, and felt pretty ordinary.

He showed them to Liz. "can you feel anything from these? Or did this rift just give us ordinary jewelry?"

Bringing her face close, she said, "They seem normal to me, but we'll still need to get them appraised. Maybe it's a hidden enchantment or something."

They walked out of the rift, weapons ready but found no ambush. They cautiously went to another rift, and waited the fifteen minutes, ensuring there was no way for someone to follow them in again. This rift was a standard kobold rift, with a clan who roamed the tunnels, waiting to overwhelm the trio at every turn. They battled their way into the center of the mountain, and found the chief and his largest warriors.

The fight was bloody, and exactly what the three of them needed to blow off the steam from the earlier rift. It was simple, fight the monster in front of you and don't die.

No worrying about hidden traps, or puzzles, or fake rift rewards.

Still, they ended the day with heavier pockets, and enjoyed a rest in the tent while they waited for their dinner to finish cooking. They were yet again watching the food cubes dissolve into the water, as they formed the stew that would fulfill their dietary needs, if not the desires of their palates.

"You really cheaped out on the food." Liz's tone suggested she was trying to joke, but he wasn't in the mood. He flopped back, and had his AI turn on the pad they hung from the ceiling. It was a comedy that he hadn't seen, but it didn’t hold his attention.

He and Liz had a quiet night as they fell asleep.