Chapter 23

Matt fiddled with the skill shard in his hand. It was pretty.

It glimmered along with the high powered lights overhead. This was the fruit of his hard work and risk taking. He'd be using the skill for essentially forever.

The skill went into a band that locked and secured it to his wrist. The timer was set for two days, as he didn't have a core slot to dedicate the skill to.

That brought his thoughts to the future. He'd be close to the peak of Tier 4 when this training world closed, and he needed to start deciding what Tier 5 reward skill he wanted for his core slot.

The arena grabbed his attention. There was a duel going on that caught his eye.

A short woman in Dual Stars colors was blasting at a Republican mage. The mage was using a silver colored dome for defense.

The skill gave his spiritual sense an impression similar to a spatial distortion. It felt just like the sensation that interplanetary teleports gave.

The Dual Stars woman was panting, as she threw [Fireball] after [Fireball]. It seemed ineffective, but she kept on firing with persistence. Either it was her only skill, or she had already tried everything else in her arsenal.

The fight ended when the fire mage realized she wasn't going to break down the barrier, and decided to stop wasting her mana.

That unusual skill made him turn to Liz, who was idly brushing Aster as she was curled in her lap.

"What skill are you thinking of for your Tier 5 reward."

The blood mage barely reacted to his question, her eyes flicking around. She was doing something with her AI. When he was about to turn back to the fights, she answered.

"I'm going to get [Endurance], and so are you."

Matt opened his mouth. Why would he get [Endurance]?

Quickly looking up the skill, he found it in his Tier 8 skill shard database.

[Endurance]: A channel skill that removes fatigue.

That was it. The only other thing was that it was a rare Tier 8 skill.

It didn't seem all that valuable to him.

"I just looked it up. Why would I get it?"

It once again took her a moment to answer him. "It’s because of how the skill actually works. [Endurance] functions by enhancing the second layer of directed physical cultivation for regeneration, the one focusing on muscle recovery. With [Endurance] in the core of your spirit, you can expand its capabilities to all of the second layer regeneration directed cultivation. Essentially it makes it the best option for a low Tier self heal. It's never gonna be as good as [Regeneration], but it is the next best thing."

That shocked Matt. Then it irritated him.

"Why is that not common knowledge? I could have made a terrible choice without that info." A channeled self healing skill was perfect for him. If not for Liz, he would have passed over the skill, without a single thought of how it could be improved upon with his Talent.

This lack of knowledge was infuriating. The Empire might be doing what they thought was best, but to him, this was a step too far.

It was another long moment before Liz answered. "It's from Madam Del'vir's guide on Tier 8 skills. It's a common repository of knowledge. It's also given to all Tier 5's on The Path before they can choose a skill from the Empire's stock. [Endurance] usually sells for a Tier 14 skill shard, and the Empire buys a lot of them up. They always keep a stock of valuable skills, to be used as rewards for those on The Path. Acquiring [Endurance] through other means has always been incredibly challenging. Most have to wait until Tier 14, when they can trade a common skill of that Tier for it."

"What’s that name again? Madam Del'vir, that's just a pretentious pronunciation for Madam Delver. And besides, how do you even know this?"

"My brother had a physical copy at his house, and I read it. The name is a pseudonym, or at least, that's how it started out. The original author has either ascended, or faded into obscurity at this point. They’re on like version two hundred of the book. The digital copy is free and updated with crowdsourced information now. The name is just kept as a nod to the original author, who tried to get the information out to the masses. You can still buy it but most wait until they get it for free."

That mollified Matt. At least he would’ve had access to the book before making an uninformed decision. But still, the fact that he had started to make plans without it was irritating.

He left Liz to whatever it was she was doing, and pondered how he could use the [Endurance] skill. It was an amazing match for him if what Liz said was true. Not that he doubted her, but he had never heard of skills being able to expand like that in your spirit.

He looked down at the band that [Mages Retreat] was locked in. He had already started cycling essence through the skill, bringing it closer and closer to his inner spirit. Would he be able to expand its abilities in the same way that [Endurance] could be expanded?

A quick check with his AI brought back no results. He'd have to wait until he got off this training world to get a true information packet about expanding [Mages Retreat].

Idily rubbing his fingers over the band, he ignored Aster's subtle pushes to go get her some ice cream. The fox’s nose caught a whiff of the frozen treat, and she was carefully sending suggestions of a quick snack. However, her idea of subtlety was actually a tidal wave of sensory information that interrupted his musings on skills.

Matt scratched her head, and went back to watching the fights. The Republican with the strange space shield was still on the stage, and a melee opponent was futilely trying to slam through the layer of silver with a mace.

The woman stood there, not even deigning to look at the ineffectual battering her shield was taking.

It was only a few minutes later when the man gave up and walked off the stage as well.

Looking above the arena floor, he found the screen with her information and ranking in the tournament.

Name: Tu

Tier: 5

Rank: 4th.

This girl was simply out lasting her opponents, and had climbed to fourth in the rankings.

How many people had she outlasted on this stage?

Matt didn't know, but watched as another contender stepped on the field. This guilder was a painfully thin man, with cheekbones so prominent, he looked like he was being starved.

The man seemed to say something, and at the Republican's nod, he produced and threw out three beakers that shattered once they hit the ground.

The three beakers were each filled with different colored liquids, and with a wave of the guilder's hands, a summoned golem rose out of each puddle.

The red puddle was giving off heat waves, and produced a flaming golem that shot out balls of fire. They were potent, but seemed too small to be [Fireball]. Matt's AI determined it to be an application of [Fire Manipulation].

The green liquid summoned a golem that seemed to give off a poisonous or possibly acidic impression. Matt’s Tier 4 spiritual sense was only able to narrow it down to one of the two.

The third vial contained a thick purple liquid that reeked of void affinity, and a twig-like golem rose from the puddle it had created.

The battering from the three golems seemed to get the Republican's attention. She began to retreat from the bombardment, but was cut off. The golems boxed her in and continued pounding at her shield. In response, the girl slashed out a hand, and an arc of silvery light flew forward and cut each of the golems in half.

The fight seemed to be over, until the guilder mage waved his hands again. Out from the puddles of goo left by the dissolving corpses came three new, completely intact golems.

The golems charged, and herded the Republican mage until she was over the original fire puddle. His trap sprung, the guilder mage quickly dismissed and re-summoned the fire golem, directly under the Republican’s shield. The fight ended quickly after that.

The republican mage surrendered, and the gaunt guilder didn't press his advantage.

At the conclusion of the fight, Matt's attention wandered to an arena on the far side of the central plaza.

There was a gun mage, an odd variant of mage and archer. They used enhanced variations of mortal weapons that threw bits of metal at opponents. After a quick search, his AI provided some data about two variants of the archetype. One used magic to propel the metal 'rounds', and the second used various alchemical substances.

The drawback of the former was that the mages relied on hyper specialized wands. The ‘guns’ were enchanted wands, fashioned into the shape of their mundane counterparts. The wands still threw bursts of mana like normal spells, but according to his AI, most of these mages just transitioned into true spell casting at Tier 8. In the end, they weren't used for the same reason staves were better than wands, larger items meant more runes and enchantments could be imbued in the weapon.

The second variant used alchemical propellants to launch the metal rounds. They usually allocated essence, essentially like a standard archer, but with less strength. They were similar to crossbow users in that regard. There were two main drawbacks to this variant. The first was the ever increasing difficulty of manufacturing the propellants with Tier advancement.

On top of the cost, if the weapons had any problems at all, they were prone to exploding in the user’s hand. Even with his AI’s negative assessment of the fighting style, he was interested in watching the duel. The gun wielder used two different types of guns. One was a dark blue and the other a burnished rose gold.

His opponent was a standard sword and shield user with chainmail armor. The shield glowed with either a skill or enchantment. It did a good job of blocking the golden gun’s blast of energy. Gaining confidence, the melee fighter charged, but when the gun mage fired his blue gun, it spat out a projectile that cracked the shield with ease.

Giving up on cautious movements, the melee fighter simply ran at the gun mage, trying to close into sword range. The gun mage was able to keep his distance, and slowly whittled the man down with rounds. The finishing shot again came from the blue gun and ripped out a chunk of the melee fighter's leg.

The gun mage’s next opponent was a standard mage. They had a very familiar dagger in hand as they approached the arena.

Matt looked to Liz to see if she was done with her AI. He wanted to get her attention so she could see their dagger get put to use. He saw her eyes still fluttering as she stared into space, so he left her to it.

This fight was far more interesting. The mage with the dagger instantly conjured a sphere of wind that stopped energy blast and physical projectile alike. Next, they channeled [Wind Blade] through the dagger, and shot out empowered slashes of compressed wind that screamed towards the gun mage.

The gun mage was able to dance away from the blades, but struggled to get through their opponent’s [Wind Barrier]. The Tier 14 skill was a wall that blocked and redirected all attacks weaker than the skill.

After watching three more similar exchanges, Matt became bored of the stalemate. Suddenly, the gun mage was able to land a grazing blow on their opponent, timing up the air currents of [Wind Barrier], and firing at the perfect moment.

The woman looked down in shock at the bleeding hole in her side. With one hand pressed to the wound, she slashed out again, but instead of [Wind Blade], it was [Cyclone]. The mini-tornado chased after the gun mage, forcing him to focus on avoiding the deadly swirl of wind, rather than shooting at the wind mage.

As the gun mage rolled out of the way from another [Wind Blade], the wind mage dropped her [Wind Barrier] for a moment, and launched a [Fireball] at the still active [Cyclone].

The now flaming tornado raged towards the gun mage, lashing out with tongues of flame. They ignited the newly erected [Wind Barrier], as well as the [Wind Blades] that the mage sent out from the safety of her flaming barrier.

Dagger empowered wind attacks combined with wind strengthened fire spells lead to a quick conclusion to the fight. The gun mage was unable to dodge the final slash of flaming wind, and with his clothes on fire, rolled out of the arena.

Matt was amused at the wind mage still lashing out with [Wind Blade]s until the referee called out and stopped her. He gave it fifty-fifty odds as to whether the red in her cheeks was from her now flaming wind barrier or pure embarrassment.

Seeing no other fight that caught his interest, Matt wandered to the smith he had contacted earlier. When he arrived, he talked the options over with the smith one final time. In the end, he decided to go with Liz’s suggestion of three minor runes that allowed the blade a bit more safety.

The smith didn’t have any problem with making the weapon to his specifications. After some deliberation, he decided to make the weapon a bit longer, and a lot heavier than his past weapon. It was closer to a typical greatsword in length and heft. Only Matt’s height would let him use longsword techniques with his new weapon.

He was about to have [Mages Retreat], which at a 2 mana a second throughput, would give him a twenty five percent strength increase. With all of his essence allocated to his physical cultivation, that would be a sizable boost. It would mostly be boosting his strength allocation, but there was a bit of enhancement of his durability as well.

The graph he found regarding [Mages Retreat] read:

Mana Per Second Percent Increase 2 25% 10 50% 50 75% 250 100% 1250 125% 6250 150% 31250 175% 156250 200%

That was a lot of mana, at least before mastery of the skill kicked in, and made it more efficient. Still, if the graph was accurate, Tier 8 Matt could double his strength. Permanently. That was an increase even the most gifted of mages couldn’t sustain.

It meant he could get a slightly larger weapon, and use that advantage to deal more damage per hit.

The problem was the price.

“Look man, I can’t make a sword that heavy with only Tier 5 materials, it needs a core of Tier 6 tungsten. That’s expensive. Best price for just the materials is two Tier 6 mana stones. With three lesser runes of durability, repair, and sharpness, that adds another twenty five Tier 5 mana stones a piece. With the personal mana converter formation, that’s another Tier 6 mana stone.”

The man waved his hand around, and Matt leaned back from the wildly swinging hammer. He didn’t want to get battered because he tried to haggle the price down.

When he went to open his mouth, the smith overrode him.

“And you want a rush job. If I mess any of the runes up, I'll need to re-smelt the entire blade, and burn that mana all over again on a second, or even third attempt. City mana is still expensive. So if you want a weapon that won't fall apart, and want it in three days, it's gonna cost more. If you want to wait a week, I'll cut half a mana stone off. But otherwise seven Tier 6. Upfront.”

Matt debated, but he liked the guys style of blades, and he was asking for a rush job after all. It just was so much money. He'd need fifty Tier 4 mana stones to equal one Tier 5, and another fifty to equal a Tier 6. That was seventeen thousand five hundred Tier 4 mana stones, or two thousand five hundred Tier 4 rift delves with normal rewards.

It hurt even worse when he converted it to credits. Seven Tier 6 mana stones was one billion seven hundred fifty million credits. He could buy his old city with the price of his new sword.

With great pain, he handed over the mana stones, and they finished the transaction. It physically hurt to see so much wealth gone.

As he was walking away, he stopped and paused.

I have two Tier 7 mana stones. Wow, I... I could buy nearly anything I could possibly want on my home world.

The realization of just how far he had come shocked him slightly. It didn't seem so long ago when he was a Tier 1, working his fingers to the nub to get ten thousand credits for a delve slot in Glesie.

All the thoughts of money made him remember the hammer guilder's bet. He was owed ten Tier 5 mana stones. It wasn't going to pay for his sword, but he would get some satisfaction out of relieving the asshole of his mana stones.

Wandering about until he found the guild's reception desk, he waited in line with a smile on his face. When he was directed to the teller’s desk, he flashed a smile of someone ready to dish out some just desserts.

“Hi, I had a wager on a duel with one of your guild members, and he wasn't able to pay up after the duel. Can I get my payment here? Or should I head to the medical wing and pester him for it?”

Matt knew he would get his money here, but he hoped his words would somehow make their way over to the idiot while his spine was recovering. If he couldn't even move when he heard Matt’s challenge, all the better.

Let the idiot stew while he waits for months for his body to adjust to the healing.

The teller looked slightly shocked before he said. “Yes sir, this is the place here. If you would send the desk a verification of the bet, we'll verify it with the ship's AI, and get you paid out.”

“Wonderful. Thank you so much.” Matt had no reason to be discourteous with this man and sent the verification.

The man paused, looked at his screen, then back at Matt before pursing his lips. “Sorry sir, there has been a slight problem, the cost of the healing has put Mr. Kline under the amount that he wagered with you.”

At Matt’s raised eyebrows he hurriedly continued, “Don't worry sir, you'll get your payment. It will just take my manager to charge the account into the negatives.”

Matt saw the man's cheek pinch in slightly. It took him a moment, but he realized the man was trying to remain professional and not laugh. Either the idiot he fought had a bad reputation, or this guy got a kick out of having to call his manager down.

Wanting to test which one it was, Matt asked, “So how's your day been? Anything interesting?”

The man's facade slipped, and a large grin appeared. “I just got fantastic news, and even after work entertainment. So, it's been wonderful. How about you?”

That just made Matt chuckle. The man clearly had a grudge with the armored bastard.

Wanting to know how bad this would screw the guy over, he asked, “What are the consequences for overdrawing like this?”

The smile that the receptionist had gotten control over, slipped back out. “It's a double fine of the overdrawn amount, and a black mark on the account, which will prevent him from leading anything for two years.”

The man's professional demeanor returned, as a man in a nicer suit consisting of the guild's colors rounded the desk.

“What's this about?”

The manager didn't even look at Matt, and just elbowed past the man in front of the pad.

The man looked at the screen, and tapped at it a few times, before looking up to Matt’s still smiling face.

“Listen here son...”

Matt cut him off, smile still plastered on through sheer force of will.

“I'm not your son. My parents are dead.”

That seemed to shock the man. He spluttered, “Umm, well still. Do you know who Eden’s parents are?”

“Nope! And I don't really care.”

“Now listen here. You’re on our training world. You should be more respectful to your hosts. I think you should let this matter drop.”

Matt smiled, “And you are?”

That seemed to take the man back. “I'm the manager here.”

“No, I want your name.”

The man looked around before Matt just said, “You know what it doesn't matter. I'll take a picture of you. See, I don't know how you are, but I know who I am.”

With his arms spread Matt said, “I’m Matt, ascender on The Path. The challenged in the duel.”

For maximum effect, he crossed his arms and tapped on his lip. “Also a guild VIP for services rendered. Now you know who I am too, and I want what I’m owed. Now.”

As the man's eyes shifted, he looked around, searching for any means of escape. “Please hurry, or I’ll have to send this interaction to Simeon.”

Matt had no intention of using Simeon as an actual threat. The man had helped him, and he didn't want to drag him into this mess. Who knew what the kid’s influence was. And while Matt was untouchable by the guild, he didn't know if they had power over the Tier 15 engineer.

With his ten mana stones jingling in his pocket, he sauntered around until he found an ice cream stand. Deciding to get Aster and himself a treat, he messaged Liz and asked what she wanted.

The blood mage wanted a strawberry daiquiri flavored mix. She also said that Aster wanted peanut butter and banana.

It still slightly bothered him that Liz could actually understand Aster’s yips and body language as actual words. He still couldn't, even with the link between their spirits. Liz’s explanation of being able to understand the instinctive language of beasts was hardly enough to pacify him.

He got their sweets and headed back to where he left the duo. Aster scampered off Liz's lap as soon as she saw him, and tried jumping into his arms.

“Ohh no. Aster this is the last ice cream I’m getting you until the day we teleport back out. Savor it.”

The fox’s ears dropped and she tried to garner some pity, but he just calmly placed the bowl down for her. Aster’s facade quickly disappeared in her haste to eat the treat.

Plopping down and passing her order over to the now attentive Liz, he asked, “So did the book you read have anything about [Mages Retreat]?”

Liz finished her mouthful of ice cream and said, “Eh I think so. I didn't really remember that one. I saw that everyone took [Endurance] and just skimmed the rest. If I had to guess, I’d say you have two options. You can use [Mages Retreat] to either boost your durability in conjunction with [Endurance], or you can use it to boost your flexibility. I'm not sure honestly.”

Matt thought about that. The point was mostly moot, as he didn't have a free core skill slot, and getting [Endurance] to function like [Regeneration] was more important. But he could still work on expanding [Mages Retreat]. It would just take conscious effort instead of the nearly automatic process of improving a core skill.

While snacking on his cookie dough ice cream, he turned his attention to the dueling arenas. Now there was a sprinkling of cheering. He saw a man getting his face tended to by healers. Judging from the blood, the man had a broken nose and a split lip. Nothing that he couldn't fight with, but to limit contamination, he was being healed before he could fight again.

When the fighter stood up, Matt realized how truly big the man was. Easily seven feet tall, and so wide it looked abnormal. The odd patterning of his hair suggested that he was the child of an evolved beast.

“Is that guy a bear?”

His question to Liz was answered with a nod, “Some highland variation. First generation, and a high concentration too. Or both of his parents are evolved companions.”

That brought him up short. “Then wouldn't he just be an actual bear?”

Liz laughed at that. “No. If both of his parents were the same species of bear, they could shift back to their monster forms and have a bear cub that way. Most chose to have the kid in human form, either because their animal sides aren't compatible biologically, or because they want to live in human society.”

She waved her spoon at the arena. “Say his parents had him as bears, and he was born as one. He'd be of nearly human intelligence, but trapped in a beast form. Not a lot of species chose to do that. Some do, but it's mostly when they don't procreate outside of their lineage.”

Liz pointed down at the fox, who was still licking at her already spotless bowl. “Aster will grow in intelligence until she's at a human level of sapience. That will happen by Tier 10ish. At Tier 15, when she gets her human form, she'll be taken away by the monster kingdom.”

“Wait what? They can't do that.” This was the first Matt had heard of this, and it immediately got his blood thrumming through his veins. If anyone wanted to take her, they’d have to do it over his dead body.

When Liz looked at him this time, she gave him a hard look. “It will happen. And it’ll be for a few years at a minimum. Ten percent of the time it took her to reach Tier 15, minimum of ten years. Matt, you have to realize that she's only known you. Codependence is a real possibility. Well you can leave as early as five years with a psych eval, but there are less rewards if you don't finish the ten.”

Before he could protest she said, “It also lets the monster kingdom stop any grooming that might have occurred. You'd be surprised by how many sickos think they can just make their perfect spouse with a companion. Or worse, a sex toy that only knows their bond. The kingdom does not take kindly to that, and will crack down on it.”

That made Matt look intently at the fox. He couldn't even imagine wanting to raise her as anything less than a full person. He wasn't sure what he thought of her as, but it was more than a pet.

She was Aster.

She may have a fox’s body now, but he knew she'd grow smarter, and he never treated her like she was less than him. She was a partner to grow alongside him.

The thought of someone raising something to disregard its feelings and treat it like an object sickened him. He pushed his half finished ice cream away from his seat. This talk had ruined his appetite and good mood from screwing the idiot guilder out of his money.

Liz, seeing his expression, finished with a softer voice. “Your reaction is the right one. It's disgusting and cruel to do that, and more than one bonded pair has been broken because of it. Either party can break the bond if they so desire, and as they gain intelligence they'll remember how you treated them. The separation is good. Even my parents did it. They were apart for nearly fifteen years. It took another half a century for their relationship to turn romantic.”

“That was with them both having relationships in the meantime. Eventually, they got together and never looked back. But they didn't rush into it, and made sure it was what both of them wanted. Only about thirty percent of bonds end up in a relationship. Most are like siblings or best friends. There’s a strong influence that comes with a bond, and that needs to be approached incredibly carefully if sex is involved.”

“Think about it, Matt. When Aster chooses a human form, she's going to take a lot of influence from you. Look at me.” She waved to her bust and rear. “I'm very much my mother’s daughter, all chest and hips. She wanted a form that was attractive, and she plucked it right out of my dad's head. I'm just lucky I didn't get the feathers.”

That gave Matt pause. “Feathers?”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Being the preening bird my mom is, she went with feathers instead of hair when she made her human body. They look so stupid. She has shoulder blade length feathers that act just like hair.”

“I didn't realize evolved beasts had that much control over the form they chose. I thought it would be fully human. I've uhh... Never met an evolved beast.”

The blood mage shrugged and said. “It's a common enough thing to see ears or a tail on evolved humans. They don't have to keep them, and can go full human if they want. But most identify with those traits and choose to keep them. My mom, being a stupid bird, did what every one of them does, and kept her feathers. Do you know how vain she is about them? It's insufferable.”

Liz reached out like she was wringing her mothers neck.

That led Matt to ask “So the hair color?” He pointed at her hair.

Liz’s response was accompanied with an eye roll that he thought her mother might be able to feel. “Yeah, the little flame sparrow just had to have red feathers like she always had. And that means red hair genes. That, and yellow eyes. Aster will probably have white hair and blue eyes. Those are the common two that most keep.”

Liz shook herself. “Back to mister bear over there. His parents could have been both bears, or just evolved beasts who took huge human forms. Hard to tell really.”

Matt let the conversation die after that. He was too occupied with his thoughts of abusive or predatory bonded pairs. He couldn't even imagine selling Aster's egg. At the time, he had simply not even considered it. It was his, he had earned it. With hard work and a unknowingly stupid risk, he jumped into a bond. He was now learning that it consisted of far more than just raising her until she could take care of herself.

Life was getting complicated. He had a responsibility to Aster. He had power, he thought, as he looked to his wrist, where [Mages Retreat] was cycling into his spirit. He had wealth, his thoughts went to his pocket, with more wealth than he could ever imagine a few years ago. And it had just been from a small bet.

He had so many possibilities now. His future paths were infinite and varied.

Maybe I can donate some money to the orphanage?

The thought cheered Matt up a bit. He still remembered the infants and toddlers who had survived the rift breaks. The staff of the orphanage had to work long hours while still supervising the older kids.

Matt decided that when he got off this planet, he'd see what he could do. Money might not solve every problem, but it sure didn't make them worse.

His eyes drifted to Liz, who was watching the fights and idly scratching Asters back. He had a friend. He may have only known her for a week, and she was clearly keeping secrets, but he trusted her.

She was strong and ruthless, but she thought of others and didn't throw her background around. Liz was someone he could see himself spending the rest of his life with. She wasn't perfect and liked to stir the pot a little too much for his taste, but he felt they'd even each other out a bit.

Sinking back into the chair and forcing his attention to the fights, Matt only had one thought.

Life is good.