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Chapter 433
🕑 Added 2025-06-23 18:59:03 +0000 UTCChapter 433
Matt opened his eyes as he stood up from where he was sitting, wishing he had another week or two before he needed to stop, but his [AI] had let him know it was time to get going.
He had been finishing up the last of the modifications to his [AI] in preparation for his upgrade. It had been close, but he got to where he wanted to be just in time for the end of war Minkalla meeting between the Federation and the Monster Collective. He had planned to be entirely done so he could get Max’s approval for the next steps.
They didn't necessarily have to go, but Gideon and Eclavorn had announced they had something important to share and stipulated they would only do so in person. Given that the war between their Great Power and their former Great Power was ending about a decade earlier than anyone, including him, had expected, the proclamation made for tempting bait the Empire Ascenders just couldn’t resist.
Exiting the meditation room, Matt did a quick check and found their ride looming large over Palustris’ capital city, where their island was floating.
Lila’s ship was modeled off her dragon form, complete with movable wings and tail which were flapping above his planet.
Matt looked agape, wanting to go back inside.
He had known Lila had a hoard and loved a lot of the stereotypical dragon tendencies, but it was incredibly embarrassing to have such a ship, let alone actually use it in such a flaunting manner.
Aster poked her head out of a spatial fissure and snorted. “And you guys complained about my idea for an ice cream ship. I think her new ship turned out great.”
Allie’s head appeared next to Aster’s, shaking back and forth. “I’m a gaudy bitch, but this is a step too far. Do you think I can buy one in human form?” Turning to Matt, she asked, “Can we get a pull? Kinda stuck between realities.”
Feeling Aster's sheepish expectancy, Matt reached out and dragged the duo fully into reality. As he fully extricated them, he found himself dragged into the spatial fold where a pile of snow was dropped onto his head.
Shivering, Matt tore himself free, trying to shake all of the snow off of himself like a dog, wanting to get the duo back for their prank. As quick as he was, he was still slower than Aster and Allie, who flew laughing to the ship, their pillows and blankets clutched close.
Remembering their little prank for later, Matt waited for Liz and flew up to the ship with her.
She, however, had no mercy. “You really fell for that?”
Matt sighed, having hoped she managed to miss that. “Let's just say Aster played her part well. I thought they really had been stuck. Do you have the aura samples?”
Liz shook her hand, and a small bottle of intangibility aura appeared. “Got 'em. Sien and Maya are going to pay out the nose for this.”
Matt laughed and had to resist rubbing his hands together like a villain. Titan’s Torch, in the pursuit of creating a mirror aura for Ernest Baxter’s Knightly Order, had stumbled upon something else.
It wasn’t exactly intangibility aura, in that it wasn't a match for the known intangibility mana types, but it did exhibit similar properties.
Their brief mention of it in the Ascender chat had both of the reality specialists keenly interested and wanting to bet for the samples.
Being the youngest Ascenders, they had correspondingly few things to offer, so having such was good for all five of them. Though, Zack and Allie had agreed to pay some amount of value if they did bet and lose it. The three of them already internally agreed to not accept any such effort to pay them back should the worst happen, but they appreciated the gesture.
Personally, Matt was slightly more miffed about the damn thing’s creation and their total inability to recreate the rift in question, but it was a close comparison.
The team who discovered it had been going for a mirror aura based on the mana samples they had been given. Light and reflection were the main mana types they had been using. But with no true successes, the team started playing around with related mana types in the rift’s formation, hoping to stumble upon a new avenue to explore.
They had been having decent success with an added heaping of shadow mana at Tier 3 and Tier 4 Tier ups, but as a result of that added instability, their rift had de-aspected on the Tier up to Tier 4. As such, they had only been testing the rift to do their due diligence when they discovered a rift full of incorporeal monsters leaking aura.
Being made during a de-aspecting made it basically impossible to recreate. Even the team in question was trying to figure out what had happened, because it was one of only a handful of instances where a rift de-aspected upon a Tier up and was still an aura rift. Matt suspected that was a hopeless endeavor until the field became far more advanced, but didn’t try to stop them either.
It was a useful side project.
Still, they had a unique aura type and were willing to bet its product to people who might be interested.
A small part of Matt almost felt guilty that he was bartering with such materials, but given its status as a fluke and it being nearly impossible to recreate except by copying the rift in question entirely, he didn’t feel too bad.
After one last check on the duchy, Matt opened a [Portal] instead of flying up directly.
As he and Liz stepped out of the portal, Matt smiled at their reception.
Lila waved at them impatiently. “Get inside so we can leave. Tur'stal’s convoy is waiting for us. Chop, chop.”
Matt tried to think of a quip, but Liz beat him to it. “This looks awful, Lila.”
Lila snorted. “Looks an awful lot like me, you mean.”
“That too. Maybe it's the same thing?”
Matt didn’t miss the piles of sand that gathered in the corners and crevices as they stepped inside.
The moment they did, they were transported via a river of sand to the center of the ship, where they found everyone else waiting for them, including Zack, Susanne, Rah, Aiden, as well as a few of Aiden and Lila’s closest friends— or rather their delving-capable same-Tier friends.
Aster and Allie arrived a moment later on a similar river of sand, each still clutching their pillow and blanket.
As Lila dug herself into a sand pit, lowering her head to a comfortable talking height, they all began chatting, with Aiden poking Matt in the side. “I smell something foul on you.”
Matt blinked, mildly offended. Once he confirmed that he didn’t in fact stink, he glowered.
“That’s fucked up to say.”
Aiden leaned forward and sniffed several times before leaning back. “No, I can smell it. You smell like a Power. Didn’t I say that shit was useless?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Fuck you. And I said it's useful for everyone not named you. In fact, I’m struggling on how I’m supposed to boost a part of myself. It’s so damn hard getting a single part of myself out of harmonization without sending everything else out of whack that I barely get minor boosts, if I get anything at all.”
Instead of being helpful, Aiden started opening and closing his hands like they were a mouth. “Blah, blah, blah. Shit’s useless stuff anyway, I already told you that, but if you want my advice, because obviously you do—”
“I really don’t.”
Matt’s comment was ignored as Aiden continued. “What you need to do is use your harmonization to amplify a single part of yourself. That means singling out a single part of yourself. As for how to do that, I have no clue, but it can’t be that hard. Try different things until something clicks.”
At first, Matt was nearly surprised by what seemed like coherent advice from Aiden, but before actually saying something helpful, he reverted to his normal useless advice.
Pushing himself forward slightly, Matt asked Lila, “Have you dabbled with Powers at all?”
Lila caused a small wave of sand to lap at his feet as she said, “Nope. Or at least not the second stage, which is what you really meant. Most of us have at least that much. I know Eclavorn has gotten to the third stage. Might ask him for some advice after he's done having a hissy fit at your Truth. We think Maya has gotten to the second stage as well, but that's speculation. Same goes for Sien, but no one’s ever been able to prove that either way.”
Matt wasn’t that surprised and let the topic drop, listening to the others chat as they met up and merged with Tur'stal’s convoy. The second stage was something few people ever managed.
With the plant-themed Royal were clones of Manny, Rusty, and Harper, but the four of them were holed up and not accepting outside visitors of any kind.
Matt didn’t mind and used the time to relax while catching up on both war fronts and finishing his [AI] modifications.
The Republic and Clans war had only been going on for less than a hundred years, and so hadn’t really pushed their battle lines beyond a few border worlds that were occupied, neither side having fully committed yet.
As the Republic had just been at war with the Empire, a majority of their soldiers were recently battle-tested in one of the fiercest wars since the Monster Collective rebellion, and as such, had fared slightly better under the initial wave of attacks with fewer total losses.
Not that the Clans’ warriors were inexperienced as a whole; they had their own immortal contingents who had fought in many, many wars. Rather, in their initial attack, the Clans had mostly fielded their newest generation of soldiers, letting them gain combat experience the fast and brutal way.
What caught Matt’s eye in the battle records was that their old acquaintance Seasaidh had disguised herself and her weapon and was fighting on the lower-ranked battlefields. She wasn’t using her greater power to crush the non-elites. In fact she hadn’t even used her mace except when she was ambushed. She seemed intent to hone her skills from the bottom up, which was admirable.
More personally interesting were their fellow Ascenders.
Maya and On The Last Line had clashed once early in the war, with Maya revealing she had only been using a Domain clone while she forced back an attacking elite army halfway across the Republic on another battlefield.
Not that the Clans Ascenders let that go without retaliation. They returned her actions by diving deeper into Republic space and smashing a major supply depot, which Matt found amusing, given that they had done something similar.
Inside of the Ascender chat, Matt got to see a slightly different story than what most did. Both sides sniped at each other in the general chat, endlessly trying to bait each other into a stand up fight on their own terms.
He didn’t quite know what he was expecting, given the war was a generally friendly one, as much as such things could be, but it hadn’t been that.
On the other hand, the Federation and Monster Collective war had been far more interesting, given their past rivalry.
The two sides hated each other with a passion, and Matt, along with everyone else, were surprised that things were ending as quickly as they had, with the war lasting only two hundred and fifty odd years. Doubly so when one considered the Federation’s front lines were about to collapse.
That was the weirdest part.
While the Federation was willing to fight to the bitter end, their war with the Empire had left them battered and bruised. So when the Monster Collective attacked, it was all they could do to not get shoved into their core regions. Except, just as the Federation was about to buckle after holding on for so long, the Monster Collective accepted the call for peace.
If the two sides didn’t hate each other to the bone, Matt would have thought they were like the Clans and Republic, having a mostly friendly war, if any war could be called as such.
The Federation should have lost the war handily, but reported concessions were minimal and further complicated by the Monster Collective refusing planets and demanding correspondingly more resources.
Given the enmity between the two, that was probably the right call, but it became a sticking point. According to Lila, who had more experience, it was one of the things to be hammered out during the peace deal with the other Tier 50s, which Matt found slightly disappointing.
He wouldn’t have minded seeing the Federation take a black eye. No matter how bad the war was, unless it escalated into a true war, it wouldn’t seriously cripple the Great Power so long as they had a Tier 50.
Notably, a lot of the Federation victories, as few as they were, came from their specialized anti-bloodline tech. Developed while they still subjugated bloodline cultivators before the split, their countermeasures proved effective, making up for their fewer numbers.
It wasn't that the Monster Collective’s troops were weak, but more so that they hadn’t fought in any major wars since their independence, and so had a much larger ratio of fresh troops, especially at the lower Tiers.
That fact was why Matt personally believed the Monster Collective was willing to sign a peace deal so close to a decisive win. The Monster Collective’s average troop strength was on the rise, and they were able to fill in their casualties with fresh troops, but they wanted to give those troops time to grow up instead of being sent into a meat grinder of the Federation holding out on a smaller number of total worlds.
Or at least, it was the best reason he could think of, given he was pretty sure Tobias wasn’t suddenly being nice to his most hated enemy.
That, and further incursion on an already weakened enemy risked escalating the war into a true war, which neither side actually wanted.
Or rather, neither side thought they had a guaranteed victory and so were unwilling to risk doing so with five other Great Powers more than happy to jump on a weakened victor.
Looking over the final battle lines, Matt quickly reviewed the advances and retreats.
The Federation actually had less of its territories occupied than the Empire had in their war. All he could see was how they were about to collapse and lose thousands of worlds before the armistice went into effect. He couldn’t help but wonder what the real reason for the peace deal was, and hoped Gideon knew.
His musings were interrupted by them arriving at Minkalla.
Tur'stal appeared inside of Lila’s ship the moment they did so, rising out of the sand with a blooming desert flower that mimicked her movements. “Listen up, the Emperor is not here to bail you out, so do not go around making trouble. We're keeping our heads down this meeting. Remember that.”
Matt nodded, not wanting to get caught up in whatever the others were going to inevitably get mixed up in, but still earned a hard glare from Tur'stal.
He was mildly offended, but she left, her plant withering into dust as quickly as it had arrived, before he could defend himself.
Allie tutted. “Look, now mom’s mad at us. I told you guys to clean your rooms before we arrived.”
Lila stood up to her full height, her head nearly brushing the ceiling as she looked down on Matt. “Okay Matt, portal us to the Corporations’ Minkalla base.”
Matt didn’t mind helping where he could, given that Allie couldn't teleport with Aiden or Lila, but he wasn’t sure why they had to teleport at all. The duo were higher Tier and could run there just as fast as any [Portal] taken at Tier 28 speeds.
As his gaze went to a grinning Aiden, Matt felt a sinking feeling that he was being used to set up a larger play.
He briefly considered refusing to see what would happen, but instead cast the spell with the other end appearing in Max’s room on the space station.
They quickly filed through with Matt coming face to face with Max, who stared at him unblinkingly for a moment just inches away.
“Hello?”
Max continued to stare for another moment before she snorted and sent him a private [AI] message. “I’m annoyed with you right now.”
Matt raised a silent eyebrow even as he closed his [Portal]. He didn’t feel any danger, and with Lila right next to him, he was safe, unless one of the Realm’s Royals decided to act personally.
Instead of getting annoyed, Max nodded continuously. “Keeping myself from realizing your Talent is costing me almost 0.01% of my total minds. It's quite annoying. Mind telling me what it is so I can open them up.”
A shiver went down Matt’s spine, but he didn’t let it show. He had always known, or at least heavily suspected, that Max had already figured out his Talent, but he knew she had been paid by Manny to not reveal any information to anyone, not even herself. Still, hearing it said so bluntly made him uncomfortable.
What he hadn’t known was that she was shutting down her minds. Given what he saw of her mind space, 0.01% could be dozens, if not hundreds, of minds, and the thought made him shudder.
How many times had she put things together?
Or no. Matt corrected himself.
How many times did Max think she had figured out Matt’s Talent?
While she was probably correct at least once, she wasn’t necessarily always correct.
That was a minor relief, and Matt tried his best to play the comment off, even as none of the other Ascenders said anything about their silent communication.
“Not today,” he eventually replied, and felt the playful annoyance from Max. It wasn’t serious though, he could also feel the bit of excitement that came from her being excited by an increased challenge.
Max snorted lightly even as she leaned away. “Gah. Fine. You’re lucky I’ve got my principles. Also that I like you. Because I don’t get it. I was only paid to erase the minds’ last few seconds of thought process but, instead of following that procedure, the minds are fully shutting down and putting themselves on cold storage. That's only short of a self deletion, and I don’t sell either of those levels of security to anyone. So what is your Talent that made almost a dozen minds shut themselves down as soon as I saw you [Portal] inside?”
“Why are they doing that? Seems strange,” Matt deflected.
Max leaned in even closer, her fractal pulsating. “I don’t know. That's why I’m asking. None of my main minds figured anything out. It was all subroutines, information processing minds, and extrapolation minds that did so. I simply can’t figure out why they are choosing to go that far. I like you, but I’m not sure I like you that much, ya know.”
Matt inextricably felt slightly better at hearing that, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. It might have been her cold reading him and playing up her helplessness, but given their time together with the mental training, Matt believed he had a pretty good understanding of Max and it didn’t feel like she was doing that.
She was making some friendly complaints, like he would when Allie demanded a snack or when Zack needed help processing a complicated problem on Matt’s [AI].
Finally, Wun got tired of the silent communication and leaned in and blinked at Matt’s face. “What are we looking at? Oh. I see it. You missed a spot when you trimmed your beard.”
Thoroughly insulted, Matt lost his train of thought. He most certainly hadn’t.
Max, however, laughed as she backed away. “Oh nothing. I was just looking at Matt’s efforts of getting his [AI] ready for a full integration. Slightly behind schedule, but enough is done we can start cutting into his brain shortly.”
A small stutter passed through their connection, and a new chat log regarding some details about Matt’s [AI] integration backfilled in his messages, complete with accurate responses from him as part of his side of the conversation.
“But yeah, it looks good,” the last message came through, then she piped up vocally, “Let me know when you’re ready for the brain surgery to start!”
Oliver snorted. “That's bullshit. However, I hear you guys are working on Powers. That's fun. My rates for lessons aren’t cheap, so do pay up.”
Sien glided over, nodding. “Speaking of payments, I hear you brought a sample. Let me see.”
Liz was about to bring out the sample bottle when Matt met Eclavorn’s gaze and decided to get the unpleasantness out of the way first.
“Oh. I want to share this now, while everyone is here. My Truth shares a passing resemblance to Charl’s Truth in wording, but they are polar opposites.”
“I can vouch that it's different.” Max’s comment went unnoticed as Matt’s words caught everyone's attention.
The only people who didn’t react were those who had already known, being the Empire group, the five Clans Ascenders, and Max.
Even the Maya clone looked taken aback and ready to fight.
Eclavorn, however, reacted exactly as Max expected.
Plasma started leaking from his maw as he growled, “Explain.”
Matt didn’t back down even an inch, letting his gaze meet and hold the dragon’s.
It wasn't easy.
Eclavorn was Tier 40 and a Rank 3 bloodline, making him an Elder Dragon with the corresponding ability known as dragon fear.
It was similar to the Sects’ general domain ability to spread and manifest their emotions, but it was stronger and more insidious.
The air trembled under Eclavorn’s building rage, making a part of Matt want to quiver in instinctual fear.
However, Eclavorn wasn’t the only one watching with their full attention locked onto Matt. Even Sien looked like she was ready to react should his explanation not be good enough.
“I said I discovered my Truth and it apparently shares a surface similarity to Master of All’s in Empire standard. I am the Master of My Own Destiny.” Seeing the anger of the group build even higher, Matt started cycling languages as he repeated his Truth.
It was only once he said his Truth in three different Sects dialects that everyone except Eclavorn relaxed.
Even Eclavorn’s bond, Gideon, stopped looking so hostile, but the dragon seemed unphased by Matt’s explanation.
“I don’t like it.”
Sien waved the dragon's concern away. “It's fine. Worse in Empire, I do agree, but it's radically different in Sect, so furl up your wings there, you big baby.”
Eclavorn didn’t relent. “There is only one way to really know if it's real or a fabrication. I won’t have the only place I can truly relax in tainted by another Charl.”
Feeling the rising tension, Matt was ready when Eclavorn jumped at him.
Bringing out his blade, Matt slammed a [Tribulation Strike] on the dragon’s snout, evaporating half of the room they were in.
Together, they plowed through the Tier 0 Corporations space station as if it didn’t exist, metal tearing like tissue paper.
The fact that Matt could react at all to the Tier 40’s attack showed he wasn’t actually aiming for a kill, but rather some form of test.
If he wanted a fight, Matt was more than willing to give him one, though he felt it was childish to settle things like that.
Seeing that their surroundings were clear of people, Matt slammed a fist into Eclavorn’s nose and cast [Mana Beam], trying to burrow a cut through his skull to his brain. It wouldn't have done much, given their Tier gap, but Eclavorn had lowered his cultivation to match Matt’s.
Sadly, the other Ascender had long since removed such a weakness, and Matt’s spell splashed off a bone and scattered everywhere. That lance of mana would have caused untold devastation if Lila hadn’t stopped the beams a few feet away from their fight.
He wasn’t sure who had moved all of the people out of their way, but when they finally pierced the outer end of the space station, both of them stopped holding back.
Matt cast a quickly powered up [Breach] the moment they had gotten some distance, but the skill harmless splashed on the twenty copies of magical armor Eclavorn summoned.
Despite being a bond, Eclavorn wasn’t born as a rift-dropped bond egg, but instead chose to bond with Gideon of his own free will, which meant he didn’t have the typical dragon Talent set. The Federation had long outlawed any method which could increase a bloodline’s average strength, including the potions that could guarantee a bloodline's default Talent. It had simply backfired in Eclavorn’s case.
Instead of getting a weaker Talent, he got something far more powerful, as evidenced by his shields.
When he cast a spell, he was able to create copies of the cast up to half his Tier, making every one of his skills incredibly strong.
And that was when he wasn’t abusing his Talent.
Instead of twenty [Meteor Swarm]s of compressed plasma, Matt found himself facing sixty, as Eclavorn [Barrage]d the spell, his Talent amplifying the already multiplied spell.
Matt found it interesting being on the other side of such a tactic, given he was usually the one throwing around spells like they cost nothing, but his anger prevented him from really enjoying the moment.
Flooding [Cracked Phantom Armor] with plasma mana to aspect it, Matt easily pushed through the wave of attacks to swing at Eclavorn with his blade.
The dragon was entirely unafraid of such a collision and met sword with claw, blocking Matt’s attack but still earning several cracked and damaged scales as the layered attack spells washed over him.
“Is this really necessary?”
Matt sent the message not really expecting an answer, but to his surprise, Eclavorn responded immediately.
“Yes! I refuse to allow another Charl. You may seem different, but this is the second major similarity. I wasn’t able to test you when we first met, but I’ll taste your measure today or die trying.”
Part of Matt understood, but he was irritated at the repeated accusations.
Even as they exchanged another round of attacks, Matt said, “That's bullshit and you know it. I’m no more similar to him than Allie or Zack.”
As Eclavorn spoke, Matt felt a rising tide of fear. “If that was true, then why do you act so much like him? Secrecy beyond the norm for your Talent might be understandable, but we know what it is well enough that it shouldn’t be a sore spot, yet it is. Your actions to the mortals also resonate with him. You demand mortals respect you, which is exactly like him, always requiring obeisance and taking it as a personal slight when he didn’t get it.”
As he finished, a flurry of what looked like [Fireball]s arched out at Matt in parabolic trajectories that followed him even as he dodged.
It was [Wrath of Eclavorn] and a fairly famous Tier 38 homing spell in the Monster Collective.
An original of Eclavorn’s, he had designed the spell to not only contain simple fire, but for each projectile to hold a core of plasma that grew stronger the farther the spell traveled.
[Cracked Phantom Armor] struggled against the dual energy attacks, as whilst fire and plasma’s elemental composition was similar, aspecting it to either still allowed too much of the other through. Matt was pierced dozens of times, only managing to protect his head from the onslaught, ensuring nothing was even close to lethal.
It might be a spar with no one else intervening, but Matt was angry and felt a trace of fear that only seemed to grow as they fought.
“I demand nothing from the mortals. I’m simply trying to help them. And yeah, it pisses me off when people take my inventions or try to steal them. Who wouldn’t be angry at that? Even if I’m giving the stuff away, it's still mine to do so. Calling me out for that is hypocritical as shit. If someone stole something of yours you’d fight back just like me. As for my Talent. Obviously, it's my secret. I won’t share the details any more than you would. I—”
Matt realized his growing fear was unusual as his entire being started to resonate against the outside influence.
“You hit me with a fear spell?”
Eclavorn grinned as his attacks stopped, but it wasn’t a friendly expression. “Obviously. And all were boosted, so it was more like sixty. What do you fear, Alpha Titan?”
The combination of the spells still bearing down on him, as well as Eclavorn’s dragon fear, was palpable and almost made Matt lash back out. But instead, he concentrated inward.
His entire being was in resonance, perfectly in sync, but as he tried to amplify a part of the whole, Matt felt himself start to fall out of his harmonized state. It was a stumbling block that most people never figured out how to cross, but one he felt he was close to grasping, so long as he could make an iota of progress.
Still, if this wasn't an actual fight, but a test, Matt knew what he needed to do. “I sure as shit don't fear you, Eclavorn. I am the Master of My Own Destiny. Not yours, nor anyone else's.”
Eclavorn took in a deep breath before nodding slightly. “I can taste the Truth on you. I don’t like it, but I can admit that it's sufficiently self-focused to be different from Charl’s. But do know, I’ll be watching.”
Matt’s patience had run its course and he spat right back, “Fuck you. I owe you nothing.”
Instead of getting angry, Eclavorn seemed mollified. “So be it. I hardly mind being the bad guy to protect what I consider important.”
That just made Matt even angrier as the dragon was reasonable in his desire, even if not his method of finding out the truth.
Matt debated saying something else, but instead cast a [Portal] back to Max’s already-repaired room, letting it close before Eclavorn could follow him. They hadn't made it that far, but he was being petty and the slight it felt good.
Max clapped. “Well done, E. Nearly half a million people could have died thanks to your little stunt.”
Eclavorn seemed unbothered. “There is no one here lower than Tier 5, so a simple rapid decompression wouldn’t instantly kill them. And even if they were unawakened mortals, I would have protected them if one of you hadn’t stepped in. I had everything under control. Send me the bill. Then don’t lecture me about things you don’t even care about yourself.”
Aster and Liz, however, weren’t so easily mollified. Each was in full battle gear and looked ready for a fight. So were Allie, Zack, Susanne, and Rah in fact.
Gideon, however, stepped forward to play peacemaker. “Okay, let’s calm down slightly and talk this through. We really don’t need more fighting. And if we are going to fight, we might as well do it properly.”
Phoenix Liz screeched at Gideon, but Eclavorn replied, “I won’t apologize, don't waste your breath.”
Matt held up a hand. “It's over. I have enough empathy that I get why everyone is wary. But let's put this to rest here. I’m nothing like Charl. I don’t want anyone treated like he treated people. That's why I’ve worked so hard to help the lower Tiers. With more resources at their disposal, they are less able to be taken advantage of. Not because I want to gloat or lord my status over them.”
Eclavorn looked unconvinced, but Gideon nodded and moved to clap Matt on the shoulder. “I like it. Let's have a drink and put this all behind us. Besides, we have interesting news to share. News that will make everyone forget about this and has the opportunity to make us all even stronger.”
It wasn't over. Not yet and not fully, but Matt allowed the others to play peacemaker, not wanting to reignite things. He was, however, perfectly willing to escalate them if they kicked back off, but he doubted that would happen so soon.
And if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to know what Gideon had to say that was so important that he felt the need to bring all of them and their friends along.
Comments
E H B
So quick question can the same anchor be use in both the intent and aspect like can liz use her blood twice or dise it have to be new every time I know some overlap in a domain is expected but can someone use the same phase overtime or is it so specific to an individual that as long as it work it works
Chimera80
278, though you may find it easier to read a significant number of the back-chapters on Royal Road (Patreon is really no the best-described interface for reading a lot of chapters in a row)
Julian
Hey sorry i don't know where to ask. I just finished Book 9 and swapped now to patreon. Where do i have to start
Chimera80
Matt looked agape, wanting to go back inside. => “looked up, agape,” or “looked on, agape,”. As written, it means “he appeared to be agape” but it was incredibly embarrassing to have such a ship => “would be incredibly embarrassing” (hypothetical) or “was incredibly cringeworthy” (reaction of outside onlooker). For it to actually *be* embarrassing, Matt would need to be the one owning the ship. Or at least not the second stage, which is what you really meant. Most of us have at least that much. => clarify that “that much” refers to what Matt has. Otherwise it reads as if “most of us have the second stage”, which directly contradicts her previous statement and the subsequent paragraph. She seemed intent to hone her skills from the bottom up => intent on honing making up for their fewer numbers. => lesser. (Fewer soldiers, but the *number* is lesser) Matt inextricably felt slightly better at hearing that, => inexplicably When he cast a spell, he was able to create copies of the cast up to half his Tier, => possibly clarify that the *number* of copies is what goes up to half his Tier? On first reading, I understood that as “the power of the copies was at half his Tier” (it’s very common for “copy”’powers to make the copies weaker)
Chimera80
“A small stutter passed through their connection, and a new chat log regarding some details about Matt’s [AI] integration backfilled in his messages, complete with accurate responses from him as part of his side of the conversation.” That’s fecking terrifying. How can AI logs be trusted if they can be so easily hacked!? *** “When he cast a spell, he was able to create copies of the cast up to half his Tier, making every one of his skills incredibly strong.” Ok, that’s is one *bullshit* Talent! 🤣 Truly worthy of an Ascender. Bet you he specialises in duplication skills (like [Barrage], which he does use). *** “Secrecy beyond the norm for your Talent might be understandable, but we know what it is well enough that it shouldn’t be a sore spot, yet it is.” If they “know what it is well enough” then *there shouldn’t be a fecking problem*, because they know that it isn’t anything like Charl’s. This undermines Eclavorn’s entire position *** “You hit me with a fear spell?” Matt should be getting these. Seems exceedingly useful, especially if he can overcharge them. Of course, Eclavorn would just consider that more evidence Matt is exactly like Charl.
Chimera80
Yeah, Gideon is planting *deep* seeds of resentment by treating Matt as if this was a mutual antagonism, as opposed to a one-sided attack. He should be directing his comments about this solely to Eclavorn.
Chimera80
I think it’s more that the cost is determined by the size of the portal and Tier of the people/items being transported. The specific flag here is that he transported Aiden and Lila (where it’s specifically noted that Allie could not)
Chimera80
“You demand mortals respect you, which is exactly like him, always requiring obeisance and taking it as a personal slight when he didn’t get it.” Oh, F__K OFF with this bullshit! Time after time after time. I honestly think at this point Matt would be better off just leaving the whole group, if they endlessly keep demanding he prove himself innocent of their accusations he has done nothing to earn. “Secrecy of his own Talent”? - like Eclavorn is personally *entitled* to know! Matt’s Talent is an *Imperial* secret, which is made clear by the *Emperor himself* bribing Max to not reveal it. Also kind of frustrating to see Matt being made the butt multiple times without him getting his own back - THREE times this chapter: - the prank from Aster, who used his true-felt concern as bait - whatever’s going on with making him Portal Lila and Aiden - and now this, where Gideon “makes peace” by blaming BOTH parties for the unilateral attack.
Julie Smith
Correct usage of the term!
Julie Smith
I like it from a POV aspect, learning about other societies, but from a competitive aspect and a Realm pride aspect, I'm pretty skeptical it would be as smooth and easy as it is. It's like they're more attracted to fellow Ascenders than their own Realms. That's entirely possible in a fictional setting, but it just feels more natural to adhere more tightly to their realms.
Julie Smith
A battle between Matt and Ecklavorn was not expected, even if it was just a testing sparring match. I understand the concern about another Charl, but it's not my style, even if is consistent with Ascenders and the Monster Collective. That said, I wonder what Max's subroutines have figured out? If someone postulates Matt has unlimited mana, that matches all the evidence. The 'how' of the unlimited mana is what I doubt she's figured out. Doubling every level is not what most people would guess. I lost track of the wars. I knew about the Federation and Monster Collective, but I was surprised it finished as quickly as it did. I didn't know the Republic vs Clan war had even started, and now it's over. This callous disregard for human life appalls me and really strikes me as alien, to have play wars for political points and strategic diplomatic purposes.
R. Maxwell Steele
Sad that if they bail on this trip, it essentially means that the mortals in their school will be like 100 years old when they get back. So we will miss the best parts of Tim's advancements and likely just get a quick update.
Alex
Matt fighting is a bad idea. Isnt he supposed to keep full mana when around powerful people?
Booksaregood
Portal is probably one of the spells that has to be consistently fed mana, just like ai, and such and such
TimeDrawsNigh
Chapters are released at 3pm EST every Monday & Friday. So about 4 and a half hours until the next one.
TimeDrawsNigh
I thought Domain clones can only exist within a users domain range?
Brandon Cooley
No chapter today?
Drew Tunison
I just want to point out that eclavorn is also an ascender who is much farther along than matt and gang. Usually ascenders actually ascend and quickly by realm standards, so yeah he might have made a grudge but likely by the time matt catches up he will have ascended. An example of this is Lila as its been said that she would have already ascended if not for manny asking her to stay because of the upcoming true war because of matts talent.
Strato Junon
I don't really get your point here. He's the master of his own destiny. Doesn't mean he can't chose to accept a test/challenge? I don't see the contradiction myself
Maximilian
I have a question for you all, just to see if I'm the only one who feels this way. Matt's truth is ‘I am the Master of My Own Destiny’ and in my opinion it kind of conflicted with his actions. Am I the only one who felt weird that he reacted so calmly because attacking him and playing around with him is contrary to his truth? The rest of the chapter was otherwise awesome and I was glad to see the club back together. Especially Max. Keep up the good work!
Tyler Thompson
What a hypocrite
MinE
Well, you can still hate him he is annoying/biggest jerk in the series even when he isn't suspecting people of being the second coming of the Master of None.
Austin Gillespie
I feel like this is a good reminder that most Ascenders do what they want, when they want, and the crew from the Empire are pretty well behaved. It felt a little much at first, but when I thought about the standard dragon arrogance, the untouchability of Ascenders, and the true low risk to life of a move like this, it made sense. Also generally love the little Ascender club so far, it feels like such a better way to touch on their status than heavy handed work for the Empire or abusing their power in their political conflict. And it’s nice to have peers even at the top
Andrew K
The phrasing "actually use it in such a flaunting manner" came off as rather clunky to me, particularly considering "actually flaunt it in such a manner" as a potential alternative that's shorter / more direct.
Alex
You're touching on a big pet-peeve of mine: most writers have no fucking clue how to write immortal characters. Part of what I like so much about Mantis' work is that I feel he writes immortal characters and immortal society better than any other creator I've encountered. Immortals would be COMPLETELY different to mortals, even if they were identical in every way other than their inability to die from old age. For us mortals, time is the most valuable resource we have, because our time is finite and irreplaceable. For someone who doesn't age, $100 is more valuable than 100 years; that's an absolutely insane concept to us, but that's the reality of having an infinite amount of time to spend. An immortal's view of the world would be COMPLETELY different than a mortal's. We mortals know that if we kick a can far enough down the road, we can die before we have to deal with it; it's pretty common for people to create problems they know they won't live long enough to suffer the consequences of - just look at how our society treats climate change and the unsustainable harvesting of Earth's mineral resources. That isn't the case for an immortal - one day, an immortal WILL have to reap what they've sown; in the context of their INFINITE lifespan, it won't even be that long until they need to do it, so they'd be much more cautious about creating problems for themselves. Eclavorn's an asshole, but this issue of a potential Charl 2.0 clearly means a LOT to him for it to be worth pissing off a peer adversary that's going to be part of his life for a LONG time.
BigBuckler
Chapters like this make me wonder how grudges work when you're immortal. If I were Matt, I would wanna kick Eclavorn's ass, but that's simply not happening until he's within 3 tiers or so I'd guess. But getting there might take a bazillion years. Can you be a well adjusted person, and hold onto a grudge long enough to get revenge when you're strong enough? Not to say this is how Matt is behaving, but I'm curious what kind of lines need to be crossed to be worth eternal enmity.
Joakim Berube
Eclavorn keeps accusing Matt of being too similar to Charl yet he is the one acting like a little bitch who ruins the fun for everyone else
Alex
I think it's Olivier, not Oliver.
Christopher
It’s annoying that Eclavorn is so dumb; the truth is clearly different. It doesn’t come off as him being worried or concerned, just as somehow not being intelligent enough to comprehend the difference, and that he has chosen to interpret Matts actions with respect to mortals in a way that is convenient for his misunderstanding. It doesn’t feel like a natural way to create tension, it feels forced.
Etoyrt
Eclavorn's behavior is just so wildly inappropriate. There is nothing wrong with him wanting to take extreme measures to ensure that a destruction of trust in a peer group he cares deeply about does not occur again. Fighting Matt, secretly putting Matt under countless fear spells to get a better understanding of what his Truth is like, being annoying and untrusting. All of these things can be fine. What isn't fine is suddenly jumping Matt. What isn't fine is his degree of boundary pushing and emotional dedication that leads me to think that if he was too concerned he would go straight for the kill damn the consequences. What I find especially sad is that everyone else (besides the empire ascenders who know Matt and his circumstances better and maybe a couple others though I cannot be sure) have similar concerns they are not as willing to push boundaries for and thus even if they do not push them themselves they do not consider the boundary pushing to be as bad as they might otherwise. They would rather be peacemakers preventing worse conflict from Eclavorn's actions than actually push back. They clearly cannot stop Eclavorn from doing this type of thing without extreme escalation, and surely some are somewhat willing to see it happen, but they could punish it when it happens. Eclavorn can keep doing his nonsense and doesn't have to trust Matt, but pushing boundaries in this sort of way should cost more. One of Eclavorn's big complaints about Charl is that he subtly ruined the vibe. Eclavorn is really hurting the vibe. Eclavorn is far more sympathetic than Charl and not nearly as selfish and uncaring about treating others appropriately, but I could compare their effects and actions in some small ways. If the goal is to really prevent this sort of thing there should be careful and consistent pushback. The ascender community will always have some difficulties. They are excentric and driven people but also ones that come from different cultures with cultivated differences. There is always going to be push and pull. Boundaries will be negotiated because they cannot depend on their cultures' norms or how they learned to deal with non-ascenders. Yet, there is clearly far more allowance for Eclavorn here than that would allow. That is because it is personal for the others as well, but I think that in any group that is a trap. That is how you let the real problems slip by. Managing this sort of relationship is an effort.
JoshCalmick
What a cliffhanger. Thanks Mantis!
Kain
Gonna throw a wild bet, some way to second dip into Minkalla, maybe just for a single floor. Literally just because they are there.
HN
TFTC! Edit suggestion: the dragon seemed unphased by Matt’s explanation -> unfazed
Ali Sha
Gah the cliffy! Has to be something delving or fighting related right? Why else bring all their delving capable friends? Just how it would work when they are all radically different tiers though?
SunStar
My guess is he stands with the people going for the kill rather than risk Matt empowering anyone over his people.
Jason Hatter
Manny was there. Clone, but there. Given his abilities, I'm sure he was aware this was going to happen
MinE
No, Eclavorn has been consistently annoying, especially to Matt. He is the guy who found issues with Matt being mad his friend died.
Mick Gormley
Anyone else thinking Matt and Eclavorn r gunna become good friends. This meeting seems like a great opportunity for the start of a rivals to friends arc. They only don’t like each other because E doesn’t think Matt is being truthful with his intentions. Once the dragon realizes that Matt wants to punch the Feddys as much as he does, they’ll get along just fine
C_Mantis
Anything about it in particular? One person said it had too much exposition but that's really the only negative feedback I've gotten. If I need to do edits I will but I need to know what is wrong.
RedLeaf
Thanks for the chapter; and the quick fight? spar? warm-up?
nolan saylor
Thanks Mantis! Thanks Dae! I wonder who came out ahead in this war? I would prefer the Feds lose. I am just not sure if the Feds are being set up as a big boss to be defeated or a dying GP that will be torn apart. Not sure where it is headed narratively. In realm I'm not sure if their runes have given enough of a boost to win against the fresh Monster collective. -and answered A cool ship. A bit vain, but she is a dragon ascender. When resources aren't limited, extravagance is less wasteful. I wonder if everyone knows Eclavorn got to the 3rd stage, or if Lila knows because Eclavorn has a crush on her and so bragged about it. I do enjoy the method of Turstaal's arrival. I wonder if it was purely an artistic choice. Maybe just cheaper for her to move via plants. We were previously told that high tiers use up lots of mana and take lots of time to recharge, and Royals more often donate their mana/ use it in governance. Lol, I do enjoy Max. Her allegiance makes this all the more exciting. By how much the minds are wanting to stay with Max I'd believe that she has a good chance of knowing his Talent. The minds thinking the knowledge important and impactful enough that she'd want to know. This a person who laughs about people hiding super rare growth items and Talents and such as commonplace. She could also be exaggerating the numbers, just saying it for a joke -Though how she is not willing to delete the minds seems to mean that they are not easy/quick to remake. Or that they are more individual, their minds are more unique. Which would take time to happen, and also their uniqueness for trains of thought. Huh, we learn the dragon R3, Dragon Fear! And some fun background info on Eclavorn, a non-typical dragon Talent... and stronger than the Dragon Talent which is probably in the top 10% of Talents. Probably higher. I do love when karma comes for the douchebags. Fun that Matt gets to face the quantity instead of quality for once. I hadn't thought about how his secrecy about his Talent would appear. It is a reasonable worry on Eclavorn's part. Now knowing Charl I understand a bit of Eclavorn's actions. It is annoying when you can't even hate a guy. People on opposite sides aren't always enemies. I do love when both sides are real. Nazis are such unpleasant antagonists. At least have good motivations! Rah and Susanne were invited?! Eclavorn vs Matt reminds me a bit of the Talous fight. -Still another PoV that would be fun. Or seeing how Matt would react now, if he can overcome past resentment. A cruel cliffhanger. The way the chapter ended doesn't seem like they made progress in their Domains. It sounded more like they found some location that has potential to be fun. Some new planet drifting in with weirdness. Not sure how it would benefit the range of tiers though. At first I thought they would be ascending, but that doesn't seem right. A funny surprise would be if Lila and Eclavorn were getting together, Lila just hiding it for some funny reveal. I doubt it, but I would believe that they would Ascend together, being willing to give it a shot when what GP you are from matters less.
Derze
We got baited. Yikes. I want to know the scoop
Zack
That is such a big cliff to not hear what G&E have to say
A Flashy BR
Tyftc!! That was intense! I want more haha
Matt H
Max's actions this chapter give me slight hope when the true war eventually comes that some of the Ascenders from the other Great Powers might be willing to switch sides or, at least, stay out of the fight against Matt specifically.
Havokk
iirc that was established in one of the early books that there were two types of bonds. one from egg drops the other a willing bond made
Jana
I do understand that Eclavorn who most likely grew up in a society that saw his kind as more of a property (and that’s in good cases) would hate anyone seeking to control him or people on his power level. Pretty sure he has more in common with Matt than both would like to admit. I wonder however- where will he stand if people would come and try to lock up Matt for his Talent?
Benjamin Warlick
Since when can non egg bloodlines form bonds? If that’s a thing why wouldn’t Liz bond with Matt or Waters with his wife. Even if you can only have one, you’d think it would have come up as a discussion between MLA when the two got married.
Matt H
My initial guess was getting humans a bloodline albeit maybe at only a fraction of the power of a "true" bloodline. However, that wouldn't wouldn't benefit all the Ascenders, just most of them.
Bernardo Santos
Ok the build up to the true war is really starting to be interesting
Alex
Going all out when Virgil's around to get a good look at your abilities and Manny isn't there to shield you from her spiritual perception seems like a pretty stupid thing to do, Matt.
Alex
Max is anything but stupid - as soon as she pieces together what Matt's Talents are her next realization will be the kind of shitstorm they're going to create. Maybe she just doesn't want to know the secret that's going to restart The Shattering.
Tom C
Liz shook her hand, and a small bottle of intangibility aura appeared. “Got 'em. Sien and Maya are going to pay out the nose for this.” -> I think the expression is “pay through the nose” no? TFTC!
Havokk
lol Max having minds shut down rather than risk Matts secret, just what did the Emperor bribe her with ??? and C.Mantis....... hanging us out on this cliff till firday ??? thats cold man
DaWykitat
This is the first chapter I didn't like in years
Alex
It definitely isn't. That Rift was found on a border world shared between the Empire and the Republic. If the Republic found out where the Dragon Rift came from it would definitely start a war - maybe even a rule breaking war - because the Empire basically stole the most valuable resource (that isn't a Talent) that's been found in the past million+ years right out from under their noses. EDIT: Ironically the ACTUAL most valuable resource that's been found in the last million+ years is Matthew himself.
MinE
If the fact Matt discovered the dragon rift is public; he should throw shade on Eclavorn for using his resources.
MO
Is that a double space __ in the 3rd paragraph, the last line, between the words "Ascenders" and "just"
jacob butler
I can't thank you for a chapter with such a crazy cliff hanger lol
fruit dragon
Putting in my bet hidden realm
Alex
Maybe Gideon and/or Eclavorn has figured out part of their Authority?
Captain the Red Beard
Tyftc.
Kasamuri
Thanks for the chapter
