C_Mantis
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Chapter 304
🕑 Added 2024-02-02 19:59:00 +0000 UTCAudiobook for book 5 comes out April 5th.
Chapter 304
Drifting through the emptiness of space, Matt listened to Dena grumble with Morgan and Joy. They should have been picked up well over an hour ago, but their teleporter was nowhere to be seen and they were all starting to get grumpy.
Finally, after three hours Allie appeared in the lounge with a casual wave and a murmured “Sup?”
Morgan, who was closest, kicked her right off the bench without hesitation. “That's all you have to say when you are three hours late!? What the flying fuck!?”
Allie teleported to another seat and shrugged. “Shit’s hectic as fuck right now.”
That got everyone's attention, and Aster asked, “What's going on?”
“Aiden slipped behind enemy lines, without my help I might add, and captured some idiot elite whose father is a big shot in the Republic on his way back to recover. They, in turn, lost their fucking minds about the situation and are calling it a breach in war law, despite the guy being a valid target, and despite his being away from the war front. Aiden, being Aiden, told the messenger to shove it up her ass and then proceeded to occupy the local system all by himself.”
Matt blinked as he processed all of that information. It sure sounded like something Duke Waters would do, but there was one thing he was confused on. “And how does that make you late? Are they escalating the war or something?”
Allie looked confused. “What? No, I just didn’t want to miss any of it. Buuuuut, things started to slow down and coming outside the rift is like putting the drama on fast forward.”
There was a chorus of insults hurled at Allie, who just grinned. “But really, the drama is juicy. Aiden is demanding the release of all Empire and Guild prisoners in return for this guy and the Tier 46 countered by saying if Aiden handed his son over he’d allow Aiden to leave Republic space only seriously hurt, which brought the GP leaders in. Rumor has it, Janet, the Republic president, put him under house arrest. But who knows if that's true. The Boss is apparently demanding that the father is immediately forced to ascend.”
Aster shook Allie before twisting her back and forth a little. “Where is the teleport button?”
Allie wiggled her eyebrows but did in fact teleport them back into Camp Lightfoot.
The moment they arrived, they were swarmed by healers from Kudzu, the crafters from Firmament, a pair of strategists from Chess, and finally, a bemused looking General Darrow who nodded to them.
“Welcome back, and I’m gratified to see you all alive. Is there anything you need to immediately report?”
When they said there wasn’t, he turned and told them to report in after they were healed, taking most of the Chess people away with him with the data dumps from their [AI] and Matt’s armor’s own sensors.
Colonel Galanodel just blinked at Matt when he handed her the storage ring that housed his armor. “Where is the rest of it?”
“That's all that survived.”
“Survived what? There is only a third of the armor left.”
Matt flicked a finger at her and sent her the recording. “Cameron Chime, a Federation Archwarrior, decided death was the more important part of valor and detonated his core in melee range. I think he weaponized the backlash from a botched Aspect formation as well, but it’s hard to say.”
Colonel Galanodel tsked at the report, but took the ring and moved to Eric, collecting what was left of his primary armor. Killing a pinnacle elite and capturing three more, along with a dozen peak elites, was more than a good enough excuse for coming back with such damage, but none of that seemed to mollify Colonel Galanodel.
Allie, who had summoned an apple fritter to her hand at some point, mumbled, “She’s just pissed because she just got done fixing Ai'la’s and Arthur’s armors from our missions.”
That certainty explained some of her irritation. While Team Zero got a few mandated days off between missions, the groups weren’t always so lucky. If their armor was destroyed, it was up to the crafters from Firmament to get them back in working order in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. Due to how complicated their arms and armor were, that was not an easy feat, requiring round the clock work by everyone.
With that in mind, he made a mental promise to try and do something nice for them. That, unlike promising his armor would be in better shape after his next fight, was within his control.
When Colonel Galanodel finished gathering everyone's armor, he sent her a message listing a few things he’d like to change on his armor in the next iteration. Nothing major, but thanks to the repeated combat, he had found a few pain points in the otherwise fantastic armor.
Once that was taken care of, the healers of Kudzu descended on them like a pack of wolves on their prey.
Matt tried to insist he was fine with just some lingering residual spiritual damage, but they ignored his wishes and dragged him to the hospital, where they spent a full hour poking and prodding him.
As much as he wanted to complain and protest, he had it the easiest out of everyone except Joy, who hadn’t been injured at all. Not counting whiplash, of course. She spent fifteen minutes bragging to the staff about her capture of an Archwarrior until, after an inspection, they kicked her out. Her grin told him she had done it on purpose, just to escape, which made Matt contemplate throwing his weight as an Ascender around.
In the end, he decided to stick around and just went into Aster's room to hang out. He would have visited Liz, but she was still getting de-cursed in a fortified healing room, which was both unpleasant and would require her full attention in helping the healers find and destroy the afflictions. There was some interesting tech involved, but apparently it wasn’t a good idea for him to study curse receptacles, even before they were filled.
Though, Matt almost wished he had, as Aster made him watch a movie about their time in the vassal wars while the healers were inspecting them for anything nefarious that might be lingering in them.
As it turned out, ‘When Sun’s and Daughter’s Bleed’ was significantly better than he expected. Instead of exaggerating everything like movies about Ascenders were wont to do, it was fairly grounded, and told a variety of compelling stories about the war. It heavily focused on the three of them, but quite a few old faces made appearances and had their own stories told.
“Wasn’t she so good? I’ve watched it like five times since it came out.”
Matt perused the information about the actor, Cynthia Sinclair, that Aster sent him and could easily agree she had played Aster to perfection. His own actor, Marcus Burtop, had done a fine job, but he had played Matt a little too stoic and heroic for his own taste. It wasn’t excessive, but Matt didn’t have the level of gravitas the actor had put into every word now, let alone when he was sixteen.
“Yeah, she really captured the young you. What’s your angle though?”
Aster blinked up at him even as her tail started swishing harder. “I have no idea what you mean. Why would I want or have an angle?”
Matt didn’t believe her for a second and grabbed the floofy tail which still tried to swish out of his hands. “Spill.”
“Fine, fine, fine. If we follow the typical Ascender time frames, we’re going to be sent on a press tour in the coming months, and things would seem far more authentic if you mention how well she did a time or two in the interviews. I talked her up a little before we had our ceremony, but if I overdo it, it will look inauthentic.”
Matt saw where she was going and ruthlessly shut her down. “They’re going to make movies about us no matter what we say. Why get involved?”
Aster pouted something fierce, and Matt almost caved. “Because they were supposed to make a tv series about my time at the bond academy, but they pushed it back because of us being Ascenders. I want my own show! Do you know how cool that would be!?”
Snorting, Matt caved. “Sure, I’ll help.” Pausing, he cocked his head and inspected his smug bond and poked at her through said connection. “How did you even figure that out?”
Aster tried to seem aloof, but he just stared at her until she gave in. “Ugh, so I might have received a thank you message from her after I complimented her performance in the movie and after some chatting we became sort of friends. As I got back to Empire space, I got a message from her where she complained about the project being indefinitely pushed back for larger group movies.”
Matt sighed and shoulder bumped her. “And how are we, or more specifically me, supposed to do anything here? It sounds like she has the role, so what good is complimenting her acting going to do? And why is she so certain she is getting the roles? Aren’t the actors usually cycled?”
Aster perked up just to wince as a healer shoved a glowing hand through her chest. “I made a few public statements that she should get first dibs to play me in any major movies right before the ceremony.” Matt hadn’t known that, but it was typical Aster. “And before that, you know I made it clear that I don’t just want random bloodline foxes playing me in major productions. It's gotta be something cold. As for what good this will do, I have a seven step plan on how to drop hints about my time at the academy. Step one, they are going to ask questions about the missions you two did when I was at the academy, and I intend to bring up my time at the academy anytime they do that. Step two—”
Aster kept rambling on until Matt agreed to help. He wasn’t sure it would work, but he was interested to see a show about her time in the bond academy. He had gotten messages from her, but they had been cut off for a decade, and no amount of stories could make up for that. Seeing it acted out could be fun, and if her plan didn’t work, he had his own plan.
Message a studio and tell them to do it.
He knew Aster was worried about throwing around the title of Ascender thanks to some of the rumors about her not earning the title, and while he wouldn’t use it for his own ends, he had no issues throwing his title around for his younger sister.
The moment he saw an opening, he tried to distract her. “What about changing your bloodline to aurora? Do you need anything for that?” Seeing the excitement on her face, Matt corrected himself, “Do you need mana or mana made things that I can help with? I’m not going to be an errand boy.”
Aster pretended to wilt, but he felt her excitement underneath it. “I will need aurora natural treasures, so—”
Matt held up a hand in protest. “I can’t make a Tier 25 aurora rift, let alone inside a rift. Aurora might be rare, but it's not unheard of, get Chess to get you some more natural treasures.”
“If you had let me finish, you wouldn’t look so dumb. I already had them get me some treasures. I also had them get me an aspect adjustor. It’s stupid expensive to use, but with a few billion mana, you can add a mana type to a natural treasure. Aurora is just adding illusion to winter mana, so it should be easy.”
Matt sighed and leveled a flat stare at her, “No, it’s not. It’s very carefully balancing illusion and light mana in concert with the base winter mana, then stabilizing the entire thing with mist and space mana. Do you know how hard it is to use a level four supporting element? If it required more than a drop, it would make the entire thing level five. It’s only because we have samples of aurora mana that it’s even possible. Heck, you know about the struggles that Erwin has been having, trying to synthesize a new level three element. How would you like it if I described your smithing as just ‘shoving one bit of metal into another,’ and… you’re just having me on.”
Aster smiled and innocently looked to the side, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Matt just grumbled.
His bond reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder, “But seriously, thank you. I don’t tell you that often enough. Yeah, I have what I need for now… but if I’m going to cultivate my bloodline, I’ll need a really robust sense of aurora and everything it can manage. There’s just not a whole lot out there, so I’ll need a lot of natural treasures to work with. It’s not a rush, but if you can just poke at it somewhat, I’ll be really grateful.” Matt started to agree, but Aster wasn’t done, “After the war though, when I’m making that last jump to space ice… that’s when I’ll really need your help. And Zack’s. And Erwins. And well everyones. You are still making a guild right? Dedicate a team to making space ice for me, thanks.”
Matt couldn’t help but laugh as he asked, “Is there anything else you would like to order while you are at it, princess?”
When Aster looked like she was seriously contemplating the question, Matt shoved her off the table.
They were settling into a good argument when three bedraggled Lizzes came into the room.
One Liz moved sluggishly through the body of human-Liz as blood, the second was a phoenix with drooping wings collapsed on the shoulder of human-Liz, and the final one was human-Liz herself, practically dead on her feet and with a spirit that looked like a wrung-out dishcloth.
“Curse free?”
“Yeah, but I almost wish they had left the curses in place. That sucked.”
Phoenix-Liz let out a strangled squawk of agreement.
Melinda stepped past Liz and shook her head. “Oh, don’t complain. It was fun! I got experience with three new types of curses today.”
“Matt, save me!”
Matt didn’t recognize the older healer behind Melinda, but his AI did. Silvermore a healer who had earned their reputation fifty thousand years ago. “You may leave once I examine the other Ascenders.”
They’d already been pronounced clean, but Matt just shrugged and proffered his hand while he inspected Melinda. “So how have you been?”
Melinda just shrugged. “Same old, same old here. Nothing interesting happens inside the rift. It's only when you guys come back that we really get to do anything. Most of the rest of the time, I’m just practicing my skills or enabling research stuff.” She patted his arm and added, “That makes it seem worse than it is. It's a little repetitive, but it's not bad. I’m even going to get to Tier up soon, so that's fun.”
Matt knew Melinda was taking her Tier ups slowly to give her Tier 3 overhealth Talent time to adjust and grow, but he was kind of surprised she was getting to Tier up after so long. He had half expected the healers to keep her at Tier 15 for a thousand years or so first.
“Congratulations are in order then. I’ll have to cook you and Mathew something nice in celebration.” Thinking over the things he knew they liked, he asked, “Did Mathew ever remove his allergy to mustard?”
“Yeah, we took care of that ages ago. What are you thinking of cooking?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I wanted to make sure I can get a little wild. Ok, let me know when they are doing your Tier up and I’ll try to coordinate a dinner around then.”
By the time he and Aster were cleared, Liz had poured her blood body back into her main body and her phoenix body had groomed itself back into something presentable, and the three of them escaped to their rooms to sleep in their own beds.
Sadly, nothing was ever easy, and while they were eating breakfast, General Darrow set a meeting for a more thorough debriefing for just a few hours later. Matt really wanted to complain and point out they hadn’t been given their two days of rest after a mission, but knew this was a special situation.
Aster had been chatting with Allie and the other Ascender had informed them that their half of Team Zero had hardly had a week inside the rift since they had split back up. The war was raging, and they were all busy, which meant they needed to be ready to sacrifice.
The debriefing was thankfully short. Chess simply wanted to confirm a few things about the operations they had done. After only four hours, they were free to return to their breaks.
Knowing Aster wanted more aurora natural treasures, Matt talked to Scry and requisitioned one for his own research before joining Zack and Erwin in their mana testing chamber. While they were gone, Erwin and his group thought they had isolated a new arrangement of a stable fast mana, and he was eager to get his hands on it.
Matt had had a good time in the Guilds, and he wanted to go back when they weren’t fighting in a way, but he was glad to be home.
***
Gan Le shouted into the near vacuum of the planet as spells slammed into him and the sect fighters around him, courtesy of the final spot of resistance on this world, a reinforced command center set on a hill. The spells, which should have rent flesh from bone and severed limbs, left little more than flesh wounds. Though they did add some strain to his spirit.
Junior Sect Leader Su Yi shouted, “Charge in close!” which sent everyone forward, Gan Le included.
A dagger slammed into Su Yi, but when the blade was removed, it left a tiny wound no thicker than a needle might have. In return, Gan Le drove his fist into the face of the Empire soldier.
Bones shattered and blood sprayed, but it wasn’t Gan Le’s.
As the Empire dagger wielder was sent flying, Gan Le saw an Empire General holding her hands close together with purple lightning arcing between them, all while staring at Su Yi.
Attempting to throw himself in between the two, Gan Le intercepted the attack by putting everything into his Talent and Revelations.
I endure what others can not.
Combined with his Talent for reducing damage to himself, and thanks to his Tier 25, anyone in his spiritual perception he chose to extend it to, the spell that threatened to crumble a warship left nothing more than a small burn on Su Yi’s back.
Gan Le might not have been able to intercept the blow himself, but his Talent ensured that the Junior Sect Leader wasn’t harmed. That was why he had been brought onto this team, and he knew how to do his job.
Panting, he watched as the Empire General was slain before turning his attention to the rest of the battle.
He had once been a Young Master, and with his defensive Talent, he had been quite fearsome until his offensive skills had failed to keep up with his peers. Said peers had been wholly unable to kill or really injure him as his Tier 3 Talent grew stronger and reduced damage to him, but his first Revelation had only cemented him as a defensive fighter.
That earned him accolades on battlefields like this, as he was able to keep any group with him much safer by spreading his Talent to all of them, but it had seen him lose his place in the system when he was just unable to keep up.
Still, he didn’t regret it.
It wasn’t flashy, but there was strength in keeping one's teammates alive through even withering spell fire. And it fit him. His Revelations proved that. He was a stone, hard and sturdy, you could break him down, but no matter how small the pieces, it was always stone. That combined with his second Revelation, which expanded on the idea he was a hard man to kill.
Su Yi walked over to him and nodded deep enough it was almost a bow, but not quite. “Thank you Gan Le. That was an impressive move. I could have survived, but it would have wasted a treasure, so I app—”
Gan Le tuned him out. Su Yi wasn’t a bad sort as these things went, but he was a bit too pompous for someone less than a thousand years old. Yes, it was impressive that he had reached Tier 25 this quickly, but his mother was a Sect elder in a Tier 40 sect, and she doted on him. It would be more impressive if Su Yi had failed to reach this height in a thousand years, but he wasn’t the worst leader Gan Le had fought for in this war.
He just liked to talk a lot.
“In fact, I recommended you to my mother and she took note of your impressive abilities. She wants to offer you a great opportunity.”
Gan Le cursed inside even as he kept his outward expression calm. He didn’t want praise or commendations. That led to promotions and being given labels. Labels that led one to fighting peak and pinnacle elite fighters. That led to death more often than not.
Gan Le liked his place in the mid elite Tiers of the wars as a no name fighter.
Still, he had to be tactful in his refusal.
“Ah, Junior Sect Leader, I don’t deserve such praise from one such as your esteemed self.”
Gan Le really meant that. He didn’t want such praise from someone who was going to throw themselves into a fight they couldn’t win one day and die, but he couldn’t say that out loud.
Su Yi didn’t hear the double meaning in his words though, and simply nodded as he received his due praise.
“As true as that may be, my mother said if you do well on this attack, she would consider you for a special mission she is overseeing.”
Gan Le hid a frown. Special missions were never a good thing. Special missions were filled with the unknown and danger greater than anyone was ready for. He was strong and sturdy, but he was also a realist, and knew his limits.
“Junior Sect Leader, I simply can’t accept. Your honored mother would, ummm, would be disappointed by my abilities.” He saw a weird expression on Su Yi’s and knew he had pushed things too far in being humble. “I may excel in some minor skirmishes like this, but when the damage gets too high, my Talents and Revelations simply can't keep up. Then I would disappoint your honored mother and get kicked out of her important business. How could my honor recover from such a blow?”
Gan Le thought that would end the discussion, but contrary to that, Su Yi’s expression only got stranger until he gave him a weird, gazing look. “Gan Le, do you not know who that was?”
When Gan Le looked confused, Su Yi pointed to the black mark on his armor. “Ester Van was a peak dao child with damage that could injure pinnacle dao children if she was given time to charge up her signature spell. And despite taking a direct hit, I only took a small burn on my armor. That's not a level of power that gets you rejected.”
Gan Le cursed internally and wondered if he should have let Su Yi get blasted harder. He could have probably controlled his Talent well enough so that he was only injured and not killed. Probably. Maybe.
Mind racing, Gan Le tried to find a way to deny his participation and came up with a perfect answer. “If she was so powerful, it clearly wasn’t me. It was just your armor and life saving treasures, Junior Sect Master. How could I compare to your glory?”
Gan Le was proud of that deflection, as even Su Yi started looking conflicted. He was inherently prideful and wanted to claim the honor for himself, but it seemed he wasn’t so prideful that he was blind as he shook his head.
“I think you are just too modest, Gan Le. Weren’t you—” Su Yi pounded a fist into his hand as he realized something. “Brother Gan Le, you were a Young Master at the same time as The Drowner. It makes sense you are comparing yourself to him, but that makes you seem too weak and lowkey. You are clearly much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
Gan Le blinked at Su Yi, not comprehending how the kid had made that connection. Yes, he had been in the Young Master program at the same time as The Drowner, but Gan Le wasn’t an idiot. He didn’t compare himself to that freak.
No, he kept a lowkey profile because he didn’t want to die. He wanted to seem weak so any battlefield he was in wasn’t a danger to him. He only had five hundred years left of this contract, and he would complete his enlistment to the Sect army and would be granted access to the resources he needed to progress to Tier 36. Then he planned to get a cushy job in a Tier 40 sect teaching children. Maybe even counting items in a supply depot, or if he was really lucky, he would find a wealthy Tier 45 woman who wanted a boy toy.
He wanted risk-free ventures.
This ‘great opportunity’ sounded like anything but a risk-free venture.
He shouldn’t even be fighting in this war. With The Drowner in the Empire, the Sects should have never gone to war with them, but the stupid Empire had to not only have another set of Masters, but two more in his Tier bracket. He had contemplated Tiering up to escape their bracket, but statistically, Masters rarely fought in their own brackets. Besides, there were three times as many Tier 25 battlefields as there were Tier 26 ones, which meant those poor fools in the Tier 26 battlefields were more likely than him to face a Master.
No thank you, he was happily going to stay as a Tier 25.
He even contemplated Tiering up right now, but he didn’t think he could spin that as anything but avoiding this responsibility. It was still tempting.
Thinking about the Masters he would be three times more likely to face if he did Tier up, Gan Le gnashed his mental teeth and hoped luck was on his side.
Su Yi threw an arm over Gan Le’s shoulder and walked them over to one of the command stations.
Elder Han, one of this battle Sect’s leaders, looked at them and nodded. “Gan Le. It's good to see you. I saw how you blocked Ester Van’s attack. Very impressive. That more than satisfied Elder Su’s requirements.”
Gan Le wanted to reach back in time and strangle his past self for doing his job so well.
“Thank you Elder. I don’t think it was that impressive. Really. There is no need to bring it up.”
Elder Han nodded. “Such modesty will serve you well. Your mission here is done. You should report to Sector Seven.”
When Gan Le plotted that area, he blanched. It was a section of territory that bordered the Republic and the Federation. That did not sound like a quiet assignment. It sounded like a team up, and even an idiot could figure out what three Great Powers were teaming up to deal with in the Tier 25 bracket.
Making up his mind, Gan Le nodded firmly and pounded his chest. “I am more than willing to complete such orders. It's an honor to get Elder Su’s recommendation and will make her and the Sects proud. To that end, I will be on my way immediately. I have quite a fast personal ship and can be there in just five weeks.”
That was fast enough he’d need to make some risky jumps between teleport tethers, but it was faster than any troop transport and it would get him alone. Then he would Tier up en route and blame it on an inspiration. It would be a little hard to fudge the recordings of his ship, but he could always find a reason to get that blown up in a battle before anyone tried to dig into the logs.
Some people would definitely doubt him, but there would be no proof, and that was all that mattered.
Elder Han shook his head. “That's not fast enough. A special courier will be arriving tomorrow to get you there in a week.”
Gan Le blanched. If he was around other people, there was no way he could fake an inspiration.
Mind racing, he agreed and tried to find a way out.
A day later, when he was escorted into the courier ship, he was still thinking.
Comments
Tony Norman
I think the made up term "voluntold" might be appropriate
Nicholas Grey
Gan Le is clearly an Isekai protagonist - OP cheat ability, but just wants to live the Slow Life. However, people keep noticing and piling up “rewards” on him.
Blightdad
Gan Le just like me
Scout Mills
Well Aster does specialize in Chillin so that make sense
Bob Bryan
Going to have to disagree here. Maybe someone will be captured but I don't think aster. There is a lot of talk from the enemy with them saying she is a fake ascender do to her "simply" being Matt's bond. Plus matt and Liz will be there and it's not like they will just let them take her away.
Phillip Hunsicker
I think DicedOnions is correct. I also going to predict that Aster is captured, but they kill several of the people on the ambush team are killed, increasing pressure on them to get Aster back. I can honestly see Matt loosing it and doing things like cracking space time like those over tier 35 do by building an attack that is too big, revealing his talent and throwing even more fire on the war, but I really just see a chapter of talking him down. Also I can see a chapter or part of one of the ambush team discussing who gets aster to ransom or to kill her(as several will want to based on her killing their friends)
Ahppy
Come on Gan Le. Defect and tell the Empire about all the bullshit the Federation is trying to pull.
Bob Bryan
His codename will now be bee gee.
Bob Bryan
I do think it will show Allie's talent but not sure if it will permanently kill anyone on team 0. I do think it is possible that someone is rendered to near death, Allie teleports them back to Malinda and later on when they make a full recovery the enemy wonders how they are still alive and back so quickly and start trying to find information on malinda.
Jacob Cox
I agree with your assessment, though the author has surprised me before. I predict Allie herself won't survive, with Zach being a close second option. No more that 1 ascended dead, but hit or miss for everyone else.
Martin Banks
I love that there are actually sane cultivators in this universe - every other novel about cultivation the general populous is like 'yes give me the maximum danger or I will not grow!!!' This Gan Le chap knows how to keep growing... stay alive 😆
DicedOnions
I feel like Team 0 will do some serious damage to the joint ambush but have to teleport out revealing Allie's talent (possibly loosing a member of the team). However, the joint ambush will loose unit over members of the team screwing over others. I feel like this will crank up the intensity of the war leading to a bloodier next book. Also super worrying that the Republic has a tier 46 willing to openly threaten to break the laws of war.
Mario Morales
Han De and the vampire. Two best side characters in this story.
CringeWorthyStudios
I think it’s less he wants a GILF and more than he wants a sugar mommy. 🤣
CringeWorthyStudios
He’s one of the other two who I actually like 🤣
Envoy
Honestly, it would make for some interesting chapters if Gan Le was to defect. I could definitely see him surrender as soon as he sees Matt and then he just tells them everything they want to know for a peaceful life in the Empire lol. He would get what he wants 500 years faster than expected.
Tener
Sects are imperialistic and stuck up... but the nazis are way worse, IMO.
Tener
It would be a too easy way out, I'm sure. But realistically, there is no way they would trust anyone from any other great power to get into their most secure stronghold just like that. Even Luna had to pull a lot of strings to get on-board. But maybe with enough merit that may work? That being said, the dude looks positively non-brainwashed and may well defect in the heat of battle if he decides it makes his odds of survival higher. He may also have an opportunity to do so with a splash: he can protect people at will, meaning he can save lives of important people, maybe even Ascenders.
0x0F
Federation is the only true evil we have seen. The Republic is mostly similar to the Empire, but with tierism. The Sects kinda suck, but seem like you can get to higher tiers without being a terrible person. Federation has a caste system, with no way to get out of the caste, and is all about killing bonds or people with bloodlines. Virgil isn't helping with "her children".
austin kutz
They probably aren't allowed to fight in a war during which they defected. Maybe he can be Matt's sparring partner or something
austin kutz
I'm thinking he's going to throw himself at Matt's feet and beg for mercy after Matt nearly detonates him with raw power
Nathan
Ah nothing like being voluntold
JoshCalmick
Lmao I love reading the sect sections. This chapter was a joy to read. I adore Aster and Matt's relationship and I kind of miss seeing it all the time! It's really nice to have chapters like these of them just chillin together some
MikeL
So is Gan Li joining team Bloody Hand?
MikeL
He still hasn’t received his gift from the T50 Crow. So hopefully the new shiny item will be helpful.
MikeL
What?! Are you forgetting about Han De.
MikeL
Yes, she now has to do big high budget blockbusters instead of a nice TV show.
M van Dongen
Ahhh "Volunteers"
da Finnci
What's worse than facing an Ascender team? Facing 2 Ascender teams. What's worse than facing 2 Ascender teams? Being the dedicated tank that faces them. RIP Gan Le, may your surrender message spread fast and loud
Blorcyn
Lol yeah. I remember it in the actress’s echoes chapter but didn’t saying anything. I look forward to seeing it again :’).
CringeWorthyStudios
Same, though admittedly that’s out of… three(?) people from the sects who are actually decent so far so it’s not a high bar…
Jeff091
hi, thanks for the new chapter typo That certainty explained some of her irritation. certainty-->certainly -->That certainly explained some of her irritation.
Tener
How defections in war work? Gan Le looks like a fine fellow 😂
Patrick Brennan
I agree the the upper echelons for those two are terrible, but it's the whole mindset of everyone involved with the sects. From the bottom to the top, I have not read of anyone with any redeeming qualities. When in Minkalla, Charlie company had some folded reflection lives where their origin were exposed and one felt sick to their core that they wanted to leave. We later found that one of those even defected when he could not stand what was going on. I believe if this happened in the sects, the 'experiments' would go back and want more done to them so they can increase their personal power
MinE
I’m hope the sects surrender policy has changed b/c I don’t think his talent is strong enough to withstand Matt. P.s It would be kinda funny if he was able to tank Matt’s full power attack, but Matt managed to kill the rest of the team so it doesn’t matter.
MinE
For me it’s the Republic with the Feds being a close second. The republics leader is an idiot for trusting her assumptions on people’s personality based on her interpretation of their talents. The Feds are more creepy and scary, but you can’t help but feel bad for all of them besides mother of the year, tier 50 genocidal war criminal who I managed to forget the name of.
Havokk
If they get to do a press tour please let Lily be one of the stops.. It would be fantastic to see the Baroness and the Planet just celebrating them and that in turn would help Lily which we all know Matt would be very on board with
MinE
Hopefully he manages to surrender,or they let him go; I can see Matt feeling okay killing someone who is obviously being forced to fight.
Thomas Brusilovsky
Hey its actress fox from the echoes chapters! Glad to see she’s doing well
Patrick Brennan
I think I hate the Sects more than anything / anyone else in the story so far. Everything about them just makes me mad
Havokk
I Love that you brought Cynthia and the movie back in and that Aster is so excited about the possible series. That Matt is willing to just call the studio and give them the "Ascender" talk to get it going shows how much he loves his little sister. Im thinking the poor sect guy is going to send Matt a defection and surrender request the very instant he thinks he can get away without being insta killed by the sects.
Teatime42
The second member of the sects I've liked, feel so bad for the guy. XD
Leander
YES! That was painful to read.
Derze
If I were him I’d prepare my surrender message and blast it to everyone that would be willing to listen as soon as it was clear it was unwinnable fight. Poor dude just wants to chill
hachetnif
Poor sect guy just wanted the easy life of bullying people that were weaker than him and then retire but no he was too good at his job so he got drafted into the suicide mission
Alex
If I were fighting in the war I'd do it like Gan Le. I don't want to die. And then id feel guilty if people died cause I held back. But if you go all out the enemy knows you and maybe even more die. Loose loose
Bunny Waffles
Gan Le has become my absolute favorite person from the Sects.
LeapoldJKLOL
The way the Team is shaping up its going to be can Team Zero surrender fast enough to not all get killed. The Enemy GP team is looking kinda like the stronger one so far.
alex bozdog
yeah... remember the advice they got from the ascended dragon? If possible, accept surrenders because you get more out of them, except the Sects... they detonate their own cores after they surrendered to deal damage once captured so kill all of them. So yeah I don't think anyone takes Sects prisoner except Waters
James Faulkner
Poor sect man who just wants a gilf and a normal retirement haha
ForTheAfro
Allie is the absolute best. And the new character great, suffering from success
Tetrasimplex
It's funny to see someone who doesn't want to get to the top like this. Nice!
Phil
I like this Gan Le guy lol, it’s one of the first times we’ve seen a Sect member being so grounded and not kill/die happy. If he encounters our team I hope he surrenders before dying, I could even see him willingly switching sides to come out alive, as that seems his main goal and doesn’t care about ‘glory’! Thanks for the chapter!
Matt H
Probably not right now since things are a bit busy. I wouldn't be surprised if he picks that back up once the war ends or settles down for a while, though. Now that he's off The Path he can probably get better, more powerful talismans from people with dedicated Talents than what he can make at the moment.
C_Mantis
its like that from the echo chapters yeah
C_Mantis
well get a few more of them once I can rebuild my backlog of normal chapters.
Blorcyn
Enjoyed the chapter. ‘When Sun’s and Daughter’s Bleed’ the possessive apostrophes distress me so much.
Istyatur Elestel
Poor Gan Le 😂. Smart though. Does anyone know if there are more echos? I vaguely recall there being 10-12 planned, but that might be a dream.
Sezra_
Thanks a bunch! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔゞ゛
edgardo rossi
Thanks for the chapter. Is Matt still trying to make talismans with his tier 25 talent? I don't remember if it's even possible.
dakota downey
Oh hey finally a smart sect member lol
Kasamuri
Thanks for the Chapter
