Chapter 167

Allie kicked her feet up on the breakroom table and winked at an intern who scurried by.

He was cute in a mortal, still goofy kind of way, and she liked to see him squirm a bit.

She wondered how long she’d have to tease him for him to make a move. It had already been six months, and she was beginning to wonder if she had lost her charm.

If he just asked her out, she’d rock his world at least once. What happened after that would depend on how he performed. And after her last few stressful months, she could use the release.

As soon as Zack sat down, he brought out his tea set, carefully and methodically setting it up before boiling some water, then steeping his tea as she watched.

She pulled out a fresh mug, used [Create Water] along with [Fire Manipulation] to steal a bit of the ambient heat, and flash-boiled the water before dunking a tea bag into the cup. She was sure to slosh some over the rim so it ran down the side of the cup.

She started to whistle as she saw the tendon on her partner’s neck stand out, but that was the only rise she was able to get out of him.

Allie was about to take a nap when another intern, a more senior one, poked her head in. “Sorry to interrupt guys, but Management wants to see you in briefing room three. New mission.”

Allie groaned as she let her chair slam back on all four legs. “Already!? We just sat down! Literally. Poindexter here hasn't even finished his thirty-seventh step of drinking tea yet.”

The woman shrugged. “Bring it up with Management. I pass on the orders, I don’t make them.”

Allie grumbled but acknowledged the point.

Poor Zack just silently packed up his tea set after pouring out what was left in his cup. As much as she liked to fuck with him, she didn’t actually bother him after he poured the drink. It was a meditative act for her stuck-up partner, and everyone needed a release valve in this line of work.

Reaching up to pat him on the shoulder, she consoled, “We can get you a hooker on the next mission. I'm sure there's a cleaning supply store that sells nice long sticks. You can shove it right up your —”

Zack patted her shoulder and nodded, which ruined her fun. If he was serious, it wasn't right to tease him.

Stepping forward, she called over her shoulder, “Come on, big guy. Sooner started, sooner over. Maybe this mission won't be as shitty.”

Zack nodded. “Too many variables and surprises. Hopefully, this next one is simpler. Simple is good.”

Allie had no response to that. It was true. It was also true that their missions were never simple. If they were simple, they wouldn’t be the ones getting assigned to it. And they both knew it.

***

Quill felt like the end of the tournament was not only abrupt, but jarring.

After the final award ceremony, the contestants were immediately teleported off the tournament planet and back onto East Flower.

The million and some odd Pathers were welcomed back with cheering and excitement, and the crowds were unlike anything Matt had ever seen before. The very sky was blanketed by anyone who could fly, and the streets were packed to the point that Matt worried about people being able to breathe.

Luckily, the Pathers were teleported to the city block that had been used for their accommodations before the start of the tournament, which was being kept clear of all crowds. Quickly entering their room, Matt and Liz stripped out of their Quill and Torch identities.

Luna appeared and said, “Toss the Shawn and Jules personas off as well. They're compromised. We had half a dozen major pings on the trails we set up.”

Before he could do it, Liz asked, “Which ones?”

“The enchanting ones mostly. They quickly started to dig around the seeds we planted in that regard. Mostly the false diaries we set up, but once they found that, they started to pull at every string they could about the identities. We even had our contact in the black market get asked about Jules inquiring about a Tier 20 fire spell.”

Matt nodded, but was personally a little sad to know that the Shawn, Jules, and Lassie identities would have to be given up as well. He had enjoyed their time living as normal Pathers in those identities. Hopefully, the imperial agents that assumed the identities would enjoy them too.

Luna tossed them each a plastic chip and said, “We leave two days after most of the parties have ended, which should be in about four days. Go and enjoy yourselves, but be ready to work when we leave. We don’t have much time, and you’ll need to reach the peak of Tier 11 in less than three years.” She paused, and though neither her expression nor her speech changed, Matt could almost feel frustration oozing from her very being as she continued. “Normally, you’d have around five years at Tier 11 to reach Tier 12. And while I despise rushing through the Tiers, the potential benefits of going to Minkalla at Tier 11, especially if you ally with Queen for that trip, outweigh the risks. We can’t risk the off chance the next cycle taking longer than usual, and forcing you to decide between stepping off The Path or going in at Tier 12.” Her lip twitched up into an almost imperceptible smirk. “You’ll just have to train even harder to make sure that your abilities don’t fall behind where they should be at that Tier.”

She turned away, and was mostly invisible when she stopped and turned back to point at the rings on the table. “Don't forget to go over your rewards, then leave the rings to me before you exit the room. Matt and Liz didn’t earn them, and the rings are far too conspicuous right now. Later, no one will question it. But for now, we need to remove them.”

As she vanished, Aster dropped onto the bed and scampered over to Matt to slam into his chest, where he picked her up into a hug before she squirmed out of his grip and lunged into Liz’s outstretched arms.

Aster’s excitement was infectious as she started to prattle on about the battles. “Then you burned the armor right off her! Only time that fire is acceptable. And then when Matt used the sword rain? That was sooooo cool! We need to make an ice version for me! I want an ice rain array! Then there was the illusion guy. Him grabbing the cape was too funny. I bet with Cammie and Hazel that at least someone would try. They didn’t think anyone would be so dumb. But then when you beat that stupid gem team with the —”

Aster went on for nearly five minutes, until she ran out of breath from talking and running around the bed without pausing to breath.

Matt and Liz were just happy to let her burn herself out for a while.

When she finally settled down, they looked at their rewards, and to no one's surprise, they found Matt’s rings to only contain a few bottles of mana concentration potions, and two shining skill shards. The rings had a way for their spiritual perception to view anything stored inside at a glance, which made it easy for them to see the potions and skills in the otherwise empty closet sized space.

Matt was still happy with the potions that would ensure him an easy advancement to Tier 16 without issue. But the larger prize was the ring itself. It was only as large as a standard closet, but anything inside could be retrieved with just a thought. That was a step beyond even the bracelets they bought from Jamie, the unique enchanter. His bracelets were like fumbling in the dark to withdraw items, whereas the rings were like having a well-lit room which was also organized.

Liz’s ring was chock full of items that were thankfully labeled. The most obvious, because of the size, was a pile of alchemy ingredients. While their size was large, they were actually part of the cheaper rewards. In the corner of her ring, there was an armor stand covered in a bulky, but sleek-looking armor that felt like it was Tier 14. Paired with it was a spear that looked to be made from simple iron, but felt more complicated to his spiritual perception.

In addition, Liz got a number of items to assist in increasing the potency of her blood aspected mana. The various items would allow her to take her blood aspect to the next level in various ways. Next to those, there was a single drop of blood that looked like glistening amber.

The Tier 13 Ten Thousand Monsters' Blood Crystal radiated power like a bloody battlefield, but the note placed under it explained its uses. While it wouldn't provide any instant gratification if she cycled the blood’s power, the crystal would allow her to understand blood on a deeper level, in all its various forms.

That same note explained it would be incredibly useful for solidifying her Concept, and then starting to take the next step towards an Intent.

Neither of them quite understood how the Blood Crystal was actually supposed to work, but they knew that Luna would help Liz get the best out of it.

In addition, Liz had a small pile of Tier 14 skills, and a larger pile of Tier 8 skill shards. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to the skill selection. Most of the shards weren’t particularly valuable, nor were they widely sought-after skills. Rather than an explanation, there was just a list detailing what each skill was with a hand-drawn winky face at the bottom.

Off to the side, and almost lost in the cutter were three upgrade orbs, but what Tier they were they would only know after having them inspected. Still, Matt assumed that they were Tier 14 orbs, instead of any of the rarer versions.

Matt was almost upset with the seemingly disproportionate reward, but if the bottle of mana concentration potion that was labeled for Tier 16 was actually able to condense all his 81,920 mana to nothing, it meant that the potion was Tier 32, and was probably worth more than the rest of the rewards given for the Tournament combined.

It only reinforced how much Aunt Helen had pushed the rules of the Path when she had given him the four bottles of mana concentration potions when he was at Tier 4. That still felt wasteful, but he wasn’t going to question it, or her methods.

After inspecting the rewards, Matt, Liz, and Aster left their room to meet up with their friends. Every establishment on the planet had opened their doors to anyone who had participated in the Tier 10 tournament, which is what the chips Luna had given them signified. Anyone with them was treated to all the food and drink they wanted, as long as it was under Tier 15. That was more than enough of an excuse for the planet to party with the Pathers, which meant that each and every bar, restaurant, and lounge was packed to the brim with people.

Even with the sheer number of drunkards, all of Matt and Liz’s friends were able to gather together in a bar without issue. Everyone was there, from old friends to new. With two of their party ranking in the top fifty, and another two ranking in the top one hundred, they were treated like kings at the bar they went to.

Annie and Tara were the heroines of the evening, with Kyle and Emily taking a slightly less prestigious but still respected spot. With their rankings, anyone at the bar came over to them and shook their hands at least once. It was surprisingly cordial, with the citizens of East Flower making sure not to linger after greeting them, before moving off to their own area of the bar.

Mathew stood up and toasted the table, “A group of friends that grows every time we meet up! To never forgetting where we came from.”

Janet's team had joined them in their celebration, and Matt nodded to Mathew for including the newer additions of the friend group. With Fen and his bonds taking over a corner, they had a crowded section of the bar for themselves, and before long, they were all eating and joking as one whole.

They all knew that they might not see each other for years as their managers all took them in different directions. Matt had already heard about how Kurt was taking over Melinda’s team's position of manager, and would be branching off with them for the next year. It was his responsibility to ensure that everything was ok with their foundations, before returning as Luna’s Trainer in their team. He even said that Luna was one of the only Managers who never left her charges side during their training, preferring to focus all of her attention on one team at a time.

Kurt had no issue managing them from a distance, as it was perfectly normal.

Annie still hadn’t stopped complaining about how her own manager was forcing her to return to book learning like some school kid. But no one missed that while she complained about the work, she never complained about the results, or Brett himself.

Janet’s team seemed happy to have gotten a manager, and tried to gush about the upgrades they had been able to cash their points and top two hundred rewards in for.

They were conscious of Matt and Liz taking the lowest ranking as a collective, and tried not to rub it in, even while they were too excited to keep it repressed. The teams as a whole were just happy to get themselves managers, and increase their power.

But mostly, everyone just relaxed and enjoyed their remaining time together.

Melinda and Mathew absconded off into a corner after the dinner was served and eaten, which started a cascade of people splitting off into small groups as they chatted with those they wouldn’t see for a while.

Emily and Tara were the most tragic, as neither was willing to sacrifice their Path for a relationship, nor were they willing to let the other do the same. It ended with them in an odd stalemate, where their relationship was left in limbo with no easy solution. Matt wished them the best, but didn’t know if they would be able to work it out.

He doubted his relationship with Liz would have lasted if they had been separated in the early years.

Still, they all had fun, and were finally able to relax after months of hard work. Even the teams who weren't in the finals were delving for money and points, which meant long days in the rifts, even if they didn’t make it into the top fifty of their respective tournament.

Their evening lasted until Aster passed out, which signaled the end of the activities.

The parties would go for a few more days, and no one wanted to burn themselves out too early.

After agreeing to get together in the next day or so, they all went back to their rooms to sleep.

Matt, Liz, and Aster returned to her parents' apartment, and rejoined her extended family.

They chatted for a few minutes, but quickly made their way to their room for some sleep.

The next morning, the excitement that Mara and Leon had been repressing exploded forth with a variety of noisemakers and confetti.

“Congratulations!” Everyone cheered together and shouted for them. Even Sam and Erin, who were the quietest of the bunch, cheered for their participation in the tournament. Matt wasn't sure if they knew which masks they were, but Liz’s siblings had seen him and Liz fight, so they knew that the pair was sandbagging in their real identities. It was just a question of whether or not they knew who they really were. Since they didn’t specify about winning the tournament, he could only guess.

As they ate a massive breakfast, Travis and Keith chatted with them about everything they had been doing while exploring the planets they whizzed by in chaotic space, which led them to a discussion about their portable house.

Once that was brought up, breakfast was interrupted as Mara and Leon demanded to see their new home. At least, they asked privately through their AI. In front of the rest of the siblings, they pretended to give them the ring with the house inside of it. As giving them a portable house was a flagrant violation of The Paths rules he wasn't sure any of the siblings bought the ruse but no one called them on it either.

“Haven't you already seen it?” Matt had to ask. They were Royals, and he doubted that they couldn't see through spatial rings. At least, not the non-bound ones, like their prizes had been stored in.

Leon looked at him like he was stupid and asked through their AI, “And ruin the surprise? Of course not!”

Mara just tisked at him like he didn’t understand them at all. Though, to be fair, Matt supposed that he didn't. At least, not completely. “We really don’t even have anything to do with the rewards. The Royal who’s hosting the games is the only one who deals with it normally. Even then, we just interface with the tribunal. The other Royals usually have little to do besides sit around and pretend to be real people.”

Matt couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that.

Leon understood and filled in his gaps. “Normally, we're far too busy to do more than send a clone. Clones aren't that great for anything besides chatting and looking good at the distances we normally operate at between kingdoms. The only reason we all had to arrive this time was because the Emperor showed up. So, he told us that we all really had to appear. Same with the tribunal. We normally don't have the time to come to these every five years. A clone is usually more than enough to deal with everything.”

Liz looked from the ring on the table to her parents and asked, “And you haven’t peeked?”

Mara and Leon shook their heads while all of Liz’s siblings nodded in affirmation.

Mara shot a look at Travis and Keith and grumbled, “You should have let us buy you two a house as well.”

The couple rolled their eyes at her antics, but they didn’t fall for the bait, and refused to respond.

Matt looked around and saw that they had a distinct lack of space to plop out a house, so he asked, “Where can we open it? I’d like to see it as well.”

They had been asked about their preferences when they secured their place in the top ten, but despite both of them securing a ranking in the solos and team battles, they didn’t get a house twice as large.

In fact, they only had around thirty percent more spatial expansion than the teams and individuals who had earned just a single medal, and the house that came with it.

As Luna explained it, that was more so a limit of the rings themselves than the rules of the Path.

While rings that were built around a single, specific item were easier to make for lower Tiers, they still weren't easy to make. They also had some pretty serious size limitations before much rarer or higher Tier materials were required. Even that extra thirty-ish percent likely tripled the cost to make their shared house and its ring.

Mara clapped her hands, and they were on top of the very hotel they were staying at.

Seeing the wide open space, Matt trusted Mara and Leon as Tier 48s to protect them from observation, and activated the ring to withdraw the house.

The spiritual weight of using the ring hit Matt like a kick to the gut, but he was able to activate the ring, which was all that really mattered.

Their house sat on the gravel of the roof and looked very much out of place, but Matt was happy with it. The style they had chosen was called ‘village cottage’, which meant the one-story building was made of brick with wood trimmings.

The wood of the door was adorned with a brightly stained number that stood in contrast to the grayish bricks of the wall.

Everyone oohed and ahhed appropriately as Matt, Liz, and Aster led them into the building to explore.

They entered into a kitchen living room combo that, while not spacious, had a decent amount of room for cooking, as he had asked for. The island also acted as a table for them to sit at, which gave him more than enough room for everything he needed to do. The stove and fridge slots were empty, but standard sizes were cut out for them, so he could get anything to fit inside. The cabinets weren’t spatially expanded, but Matt figured that he could probably cobble something together.

The living room wasn’t massive, but it was enough for the couch and loveseat that they didn’t have yet. If they could find a place to plop their house down with a view, they could even have a nice way to enjoy it from the comfort of their home, thanks to the large bay window they had asked for.

Aster hopped up and explored the window before hopping down. The first door they tried off the living room was the bathroom, which wasn’t large by any means, but was functional. Though, Matt noted that there was no way he'd be able to enjoy the bath part of the shower-bath combo. Even Liz would be half out of the water if she tried to use the tub. Aster seemed more than happy to jump inside of it before exploring the rest of the bathroom.

It felt a bit cramped, but it was theirs.

Just looking at Liz, he could see the happiness in her eyes that matched his own.

The master bedroom was as empty as the rest of the house, but they had enough room for a large bed and a dresser. The closet wasn’t massive, but it was large enough for them to store their clothes somewhere that wasn't a spatial backpack, which they mostly lived out of for the last few decades.

There was a second slightly smaller bedroom that was ostensibly Aster's, but considering that she usually slept in the bed with them, it would probably turn into a guest room. Next to the second bedroom were two workshops for Matt’s enchanting and Liz’s alchemy. They were the only places furnished, and they had spent a large amount of their budget for the building to perfect each set up.

Upgradeable workshops were not cheap, but they had bit the bullet so they could ensure that they could modularly upgrade their workshops without ruining anything.

That wasn't an immediate concern, as they had gotten Tier 13 workshops, which should be more than enough for their needs over the next few years but neither of them wanted to move again any time soon.

Just between Matt’s enchanting workshop and Liz’s alchemy room, there was their mana accumulation room. A pillar of mana stone rose to the top of the 10-foot ceiling, and would be able to hold around five million mana. It served as the heart of the house’s defenses and storage capabilities. Luna had insisted on them getting the largest model of artificial mana stone they could fit in their house, and pairing it with the strongest shield slots they could fit.

They didn’t actually have the shield units, as they were far, far too expensive to fit in their budget. Especially when they could delve Tier 15 rifts in a year or two, and would be able to afford something better in short order.

Seeing the mana stone, Matt sent his mana into it, and instantly, the lights and other environmental enchantments were activated, illuminating and cooling the house.

The mana accumulation room was cramped, which left only Matt, Liz, and Aster in the room, with everyone else just poking their heads through the door.

Leah winked at them as she said, “Oh good, you have lights. I was getting worried. Now it's time to go shopping!”

Sam sighed and offered, “Anyone who doesn’t want to go shopping, come with me. I’m going to do literally anything else.”

Keith, Daniel, and Erin joined him, while the rest of them went shopping to furnish their new house.

It ended up being a lot of fun, as Mara and Leon both hid their appearances while they walked through various shops, sauntering about with perfect anonymity. They ended up buying everything they needed by dinner time, and Matt hosted their first family dinner in their new house.

In return for his cooking, they ‘helped’ put everything away and settle in the new furniture.

Not that it would have been hard, as Leon demonstrated when he and Mara were completely stumped on how to build the bed frame. The storm mage eventually just waved his hand, and the ‘damned thing’ assembled itself. Still, other than that one incident, everyone kept the use of their higher Tier powers to a limited amount, and acted as normal mortals when helping them.

Eventually, everyone was sitting around watching a tv show while eating, and Matt was able to test the last thing he had asked to be added to the house.

Taking off his socks, he wiggled his feet into the carpet and felt a small, cold spot, and directed his mana into it. The entire house was littered with little nodes for him to send his mana into, and charge the mana reserves.

They had talked about using wireless charging, but it was less than 0.1% efficient, and even for someone with unlimited mana, it became a huge waste while his idea was documented and tested. While it was less efficient than just going to the store room and charging the mana stone directly, using the network of connected nodes was seventy percent effective, rather than a thousandth.

The next day, Matt and Liz returned to see their friends one last time, and even donned their masks once more to meet up with Queen for a late dinner.

They didn’t discuss anything of particular merit, but they did find out that Queen was leaving East Flower early. She and her manager were eager to get her to some training opportunity that was time sensitive.

It meant she was off immediately, but she expressed her willingness to continue their communication over the next few years, as to get to know each other better before they started their delve into Minkalla.

After that, they met Light and Shadow for their promised meet and greet, but the duo were far more reticent than Lila had been. They didn’t offer any advice that the dragon hadn’t already, except a few tips about hiding their other identities.

The two of them chatted a bit with their senior ascenders, but Light and Shadow had little to offer that they hadn’t already heard or experienced during their time on East Flower and the tournament planet. The only thing that the ascenders pressed upon them was to enjoy the dwindling amount of time they had left before serious responsibilities were set upon them. Shadow made sure to remind them that they should listen to their manager as well, which earned an exaggerated groan from Light.

Overall, Matt felt like the answers were too… rehearsed, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was the managers pretending to be Light and Shadow, rather than their true seniors. Matt felt slightly cheated with the whole experience, and it left a bit of a sour taste in his mouth.

Then they returned to their real identities as ‘Quill’ and ‘Torch’ made one last public appearance before leaving the planet.

Matt wished his other persona well. It had been fun to be a little more abrasive than his normal self, but it was hardly something that he wanted to do forever, and he was happy to take a long break from the exaggerated persona.

Liz just sighed as she saw the two masks leave.

She then turned and glared at her parents, who were both dressed in ‘I Love Torch’ regalia that only the two of them could see.

Growling at them, she said, “Ha ha. Very funny. Just wait and see who signs any merch in the future.”

Matt wasn’t immune to the glare, as he was openly wearing a variation of the shirt that said ‘I love Liz’, with her name scratched over Torch’s. Ninety percent of the Pathers who had made the trek out to watch Quill and Torch leave were wearing some variation of the shirt, and few noticed his change to it.

She stuck up her nose and stomped away before scooping up Aster and joining their other friends, who had all gathered to see one another off.

Matt earned himself a wink from Melinda, who he assumed was able to see the difference when Kurt and Luna took over their personas, but she had never said anything and he never asked. Besides, Luna had reassured both of them that their persona swapping was safe.

They stayed on East Flower long enough to enjoy their time with their friends before everyone started to splinter away.

Before they left, they spent some time with Aunt Helen, who was hosting Camilla. She seemed to be in a much better frame of mind, as far as Matt could tell.

Her rabbit friend, Hazel, was the perfect foil to Aster, and Matt simply couldn't handle their antics.

Hazel constantly complained about Aster, but more often than not, sought the fox out on her own to pick a fight with the fox.

Neither tried to hurt the other, but they pushed the limits of their higher Tier bodies constantly during their chases. It was a good thing that Aunt Helen's house was full of higher Tier items, or else their shenanigans would have destroyed everything.

After spending some time with Camilla and company, they stopped by Tur'stal’s to thank her for hosting the tournament. After a final dinner with Dena and Eric, who had to leave to go start their own training with the Army, they were off to a training area that Luna had prepared.

It took them almost a month of travel, but eventually, they reached the edge of the Empire. The only reason that their travel across the Empire was so fast was that they had used one of the four realspace crossings to teleport across most of the distance. Matt hadn’t even heard of the term before, but he looked them up once he learned they would be taking advantage of them.

Realspace crossings took advantage of how chaotic space and real space interacted. In chaotic space, anyone over Tier 15 could break through the bonds of reality, and enter a place beyond. Real space was everything inside the universe that contained ‘worlds’, the term the Empire used for every star system at Tier 1 or higher. Each ‘world’ was a unique flickering light inside of chaotic space, and all of the star systems they lived in corresponded to each light that existed in chaotic space but in real space. Each location in chaotic space was random and always moving, which meant that it was possible for two ‘worlds’ star systems that were next to each other in the real universe’s space to be vastly far away from each other in chaotic space. By taking advantage of that phenomenon, one could enter a ‘world’, then teleport through real space to a nearby Tiered star system, and exit from that world into chaotic space, and arrive at a vastly distant spot in the Empire.

There were only four known locations in the Empire where the phenomenon occurred, and each was treated as a transit hub for the rich. There were too many places for the other worlds to lead to in chaotic space, and most newly settled star systems led to unknown locations of world clusters, making them useless for realspace crossings as the Great Powers entanglement of chaotic space worlds wasn’t even within detection range of those distant places.

Teleporting through real space wasn’t in and of itself difficult, but the massive distances involved between real space star systems made teleporting ludicrously expensive for the average citizen. Chaotic space was comparatively easy to break into, and was much more efficient since when ‘worlds’ were a much closer distance comparatively. In chaotic space, when the light clusters that represented worlds were close to one another, they created tethers that the interplanetary teleportation platforms took advantage of, which greatly lessened the cost. That net of connected worlds drifted through chaotic space together as a whole, which was how new worlds were colonized, and why the Great Powers never drifted apart. They were linked together through their interconnected borders and always expanding outward with any worlds that were worth linking to the main cluster. That usually meant connecting low Tier worlds as intermediary points between more valuable worlds but it made expansion far easier.

But for anyone who had the wealth to purchase a ticket through the empty space between star systems, they could enter one world in the Empire, by ripping through to chaotic space the normal way then traveling through the empty space between star systems, and exiting on on the other side of the Empire by using that ‘worlds’ connected chaotic space teleport tether. That’s what was referred to as a realspace crossing. It was expensive, and took massive amounts of mana, but they were always active. Matt found it interesting that even with the cost of a Tier 15 mana stone per person, people were still willing to pay for the ten teleports, just to avoid the longer and slower travel through Interplanetary chaotic space teleports.

When he asked, he found out that part of the reason why it was so expensive was due to a lack of essence, since there were no planets with essence cores in the empty space between the star systems. It meant that there was no natural mana regeneration for the teleportation pads to take advantage of.

After learning about realspace crossings, Matt asked if there were any other unique anomalies like that. April, who had joined them on the trip, told him that there were. The most famous of which was two separate universes that were exactly the same, and could be reached through chaotic space.

Or at least, almost exactly the same.

April went on to explain how there are two planets in the Empire that were in seemingly identical, despite being situated in different universes. They were matching in every aspect, except that in the second universe, life must have started much later on the planet, as it was only Tier 4 when it was found, compared to the other planet that was found at Tier 19.

It made for an interesting study, as apparently, the rest of the observable universes were on the exact same timeline. Even meteors and asteroids were exactly the same in the two realities. When he looked into it more, those two mirror planets even shared their ore deposits locations.

It was an oddity as most ‘worlds’ existed in their own universes where life began first and grew to the point they started to produce mana then that mana built up enough to turn into essence.

No one knew exactly what to make of the phenomenon, but it was an interesting thing to study, and Matt put them on his list of planets to visit at some point, when he had time and more experience with chaotic space.

But before he could do that, they needed to start their climb to Tier 11.

Instead of finding a remote place on the edge of a half-settled planet, they actually left the star system’s main planet that was filled with life, and instead went to a planet that was farther away from the local star. It was much colder as a result, and was essentially a barren wasteland. It was a Tier 14 planet, so it would eventually be settled for its higher Tier resources. But as the main planet of the star system was Tier 19, no one was in any particular rush, since they would need to restart the planet's molten core without disrupting its essence core if they wanted to advance the planet. Luna said that it would take specialized earth and fire mages that were at least Tier 30 to manage the feat. And without the molten core, the planet was without protection from the sun's radiation.

If that was all it would be bad enough, but some disaster had happened on the planet a long time ago, and spread a large amount of Iron Rot, which ate away any exposed ferrous metals. The entire planet would need to be cleansed before large scale migration would be possible. It all added up to a planet that wasn’t under any observation or active jurisdiction. There was officially a Viscountess who owned the barren planet, but she was currently trying to raise enough wealth to terraform it through lobbying and political maneuvering but that was a slow process.

With the lack of any prying eyes all but assured, they were able to make as many higher Tier rifts as they and their manager could ever want.

The first thing Luna did was have Matt create a massive protection array, so the mortals had a place to go outside without dying. While he was immune to the bacteria with [Cracked Phantom Armor], Liz was particularly susceptible to the Iron Rot, which meant that none of them could leave the clean area after he set it up. Even for normal cultivators, long term exposure to Iron Rot bacteria, if at a similar Tier, would mean chronic anemia and other blood based problems. At least until they left the area, and used their essence to replace all their blood.

Thankfully, bacteria still started life as everything else did, at Tier 0, so it was easy for him to deal with.

It wasn’t hard to manage, but locking an entire valley down was expensive in mana, costing over a million mana a day. It was affordable to Matt, who just ate breakfast while charging the formation batteries for the day, but he understood why no one else bothered to do it.

After that, Luna made him create a number of Tier 14 rifts for them to delve.

There would be no more holding back and using half of their abilities. They were training to delve into what Luna called one of the most dangerous places in the realm, and they needed to be ready.

Their training wasn't just limited to delving, but they honed their Concepts and skills further.

Days turned into weeks, and then weeks turned into months.

They were able to reach Tier 11 in only nine months of intense training, and started delving Tier 15 rifts. Luna also set them to the task of trying to master a Tier 16 rift, but they had little success. They went through a different rift every day, trying to complete the high Tier rifts faster and faster. At first, it took them most of a day to clear a single Tier 15 rift, but eventually, they managed to get that down to just nine hours or so. Tier 15 rifts were massive, and even with them taking the most effective routes to the bosses, and killing as many sub-bosses as they could, it still took time. But with Matt's unlimited mana, they were able to delve at a constant rate, well above their Tier.

Before they knew it, the months turned into years, and their time to prepare quickly ran out.

It was time for their Path to lead them to Minkalla.