The Path of Ascension Chapter 342

Chapter 342

Matt took in a deep breath as they returned to the capital. Allie had teleported back most of Team Zero, the only exception being Arthur, who wanted to check in on one of his many-times grandchildren who intended on entering Minkalla the next cycle.

Just a moment after they arrived, Allie turned and waved as she started walking away. “Ok I’m off. I’ll check back into the Capital once a month for the next year, but then only once a year.”

Before she was able to teleport away, Aster pulled her into a hug, which bought everyone else enough time to give their wayward teleporter their own goodbyes.

Matt took the time to slip Allie a ring he had prepared right after the war ended and ignored the eye roll he got in return. He knew Allie was in a rush to go and venture through the Empire, but really she could have waited a few days.

Still, it was what she wanted to do and he supported that.

Allie was always one with a heavy wanderlust, and she had complained numerous times during the war about how sparse her waypoint network was anywhere not near the war front. Frankly, Matt doubted that she would be returning to a more settled life once she filled in the Empire, and he expected she would instead start sneaking into the other Great Powers and creating waypoints through their territories.

Which was exactly why she got a ring full of mana stones as a gift.

It cost Matt nothing, but that much mana in stone form was good for trading, fueling ships, or refilling their mana pools should any of his friends get in a fight and need the boost.

Two and a half billion mana should see even Allie out of any potential issues she might get herself in, and it had only taken Matt a minute to make.

As Allie vanished with a wave, Zack turned and bowed slightly. “I shall also take my leave. I have much to attend to before I begin my tenure as a Duke, but any of you are always welcome to contact me directly on my AI. I just need some time alone before I settle in.”

Aster draped herself over the man’s shoulders, resisting his efforts to shrug her off. “You better tell us when you’re getting married,” she said with a wink. A moment later, she yelped as a bit of purple lightning coursed across Zack’s arm, collapsing on the floor dramatically.

“That will not be for some time yet,” he said seriously.

Aster pouted, then shot an inquisitive look at Susanne, who gave a nod.

“Bah. You’ve known each other for… decades? Centuries? How long has it been?”

“That’s not that long,” Ai’la pointed out. “And Path marriages notwithstanding, it’s generally not considered a good idea to get hitched when you only know someone from a war setting.”

Aster waved her hand dismissively, conjuring and shooting a snowball at the crafter, who easily dodged it.

A few rounds of goodbyes, and one more stockpile of mana stones later, they were down one more member.

General Darrow nodded to everyone remaining. “It was an honor serving with you all. I wish you all the best as you advance. I can’t do much, but if you ever need anything, feel free to reach out.”

After checking the ring Matt handed him, Darrow protested, “I can’t take this. It’s way too much. I—” realizing what he was doing, he laughed lightly. “I’m being foolish. Thank you, Matt. It’s not much for you, but it will prove helpful as I advance.”

“If you need more, feel free to reach out. You know how little it costs me to help, and I’m happy to do so.”

After Darrow turned and flew into space, no doubt returning to High Command, Sebastian took his leave. His voice was quiet and he was clearly holding back a few emotions as he went around and hugged everyone.

“I’m going to miss you guys. Shame Morgan isn’t here with us.”

They all collectively sighed at their fallen comrade, who had so nearly made it all the way to the end of the war. Matt laughed as Greed reached out and grabbed the ring he tried to hand to Sebastian. Even as the other man flew away, he was bartering with his emotion to get the ring back.

Susanne sighed lightly as she looked out to the capital orbiting beneath them. “I guess it’s my turn then. I’ll see you around, I expect. I intend to stick around the capitals. I’ve been wanting to match blades with some of the experts since I reached Tier 25. Or at least I will be for the next five years or so. Maybe a decade, but if Zack hasn’t gotten out of his funk by then, I’ll go chase him down.”

Matt was thankful that at least one of their friends would be remaining close.

With just four of them left, Dena sighed. “I’m going to join a PlayPen, serve as the leader for a rotation or two. I enjoyed watching kids take their first steps to greatness, and it’ll be a good way to find my feet again. We had plans, but… Eric and I really enjoyed our time at our PlayPen, and I need something to do.”

Matt pulled her into a hug and tried to reiterate. “If you need a—”

“I know. I can come to you guys. I am doing better, I promise. At least well enough that I won’t fall apart. Don’t worry about me doing something stupid. Pace and I are working to collaborate for supporting each other, and Morgan’s family is giving her some pushback, so that’ll keep me busy in my spare time. I just need some time to adjust, is all. Check in on me, for sure, but you don’t need to worry about me.”

Matt was, in fact, worried about Dena doing something stupid, but not in the way she implied. She and Allie hadn’t exactly been subtle in their talks in the few months between the war ending and the ceremony. He just hoped she wouldn’t do something stupid in her quest for revenge. For all that he liked Allie, she would be happy to facilitate a hit in another Great Power, even if it would undoubtedly cause massive issues.

After giving her a ring full of mana stones, they were back down to the three of them.

It felt good. It felt right.

At least until Aster waved, and his stomach dropped. “Well. I’ll see you guys around. I—”

Aster snorted and ruined her act, which caused Matt to let out a breath of relief.

“You’re a shit head.”

“I know.”

Liz threaded an arm into Matt’s even as phoenix Liz went over and pecked Aster for her bad joke.

“Let’s go to the Moore estate and settle in.”

Matt fully agreed, and was more than happy to return to Mara and Leon’s estate in the Capital. It was exactly as it was before the war, and it was good to reset themselves.

Amusingly enough, they didn’t even spend any real time in their rooms, instead taking over one of the kitchens where Matt cooked a dozen meals, with Aster working on desserts.

It was a good way to burn a day before their seneschals arrived, which was the main thing they were waiting on.

They all had plans in motion that they needed to check in on via their seneschals, as they had been distantly involved at best while the war was active.

While they were waiting, Matt checked in on one of their other Ascender benefits, the Horizon class cruise ship they had been given.

They each had one, and currently they were simply sitting in orbit. They were fully furnished with the best the Empire had, but for the first time since they got them over a hundred years ago, they expected to use them as they traveled to their duchies.

Checking in on that, Matt leaned forward, causing Liz to slide off his shoulder and the phoenix Liz and fox Aster to slide off his lap in a flurry of wings and tail.

“What was that for?” Aster followed up her question with a bite that Matt ignored.

“I was just checking when our first planets will arrive. It’s been updated, and well, look.”

Aster flicked her tail in a shrug. “My first planet won’t be arriving for another six years, it says. That’s kinda fast I guess? I don’t really have a frame of reference for these things.”

Liz’s eyes widened as she found what he did. “Not ours. Our first planet to be delivered is apparently a Tier 3 world from the Republic, a place called Soerilia, and it will arrive in just over a year. That’s so fast. Too fast.” Raising an eyebrow at Matt, she asked. “Think it’s a mistake?”

Matt shook his head, “I doubt it. Look at the rest of the delivery schedule. A glut of worlds will be arriving soon, and we are slated to get all of them. I—” Matt paused as he thought he realized what was going on. “Aster, send me your assignments.”

While he and Liz were content to share a duchy together, Aster wanted and got her own. It was just a good thing they could share, as with his guild, Matt was going to be very busy and he didn’t want to be an absentee lord. Between himself and Liz they should be able to make enough time in their projects that they equaled one standard Duke.

After comparing the lists, he nodded. “I bet I’m right. Allie and Zack both had a bunch of things they wanted to do outside of their duchies, so they’re skewing the faster deliveries to come to us, because we’re already ready to start managing them.”

Aster nodded her understanding and crawled up onto Liz’s lap, just to get sent flying again as Liz stood up a heartbeat later.

Phoenix Liz pointed a wing at Aster and laughed, all that got her was getting tackled as Aster righted herself and the two started to wrestle.

Matt’s attention was pulled from the show as Liz spoke. “Look deeper Matt. Did you see our capital world?”

Matt hadn’t and indicated as much, to which Liz laughed. “Tier 27 fire-aspected planet from the Sects. That’s so rare. Not a ton of infrastructure, what with it only being settled for a millennia, but still! It’s so friggin cool.”

“Pretty sure it will be quite hot.”

“Har har. But really, this is awesome. Mom’s going to be so jealous. I bet we can get a flight of phoenixes to settle at our capital as well. They love fire aspected places, and an entire planet will be like paradise for them. Really, all fire aspected bloodlines. Ventuslisa is their current favorite planet in the Empire, but that one’s only Tier 23.”

Aster pretended to gag. “Disgusting, wretched, abominable, detestable, disgusting! A fire planet? Where is my ice planet? My duchy is slated for being a normal world. Oh it’s Tier 30 though. Never mind. Ha, ha. My capital is better than yours.”

Even in her fox form, Aster managed to gloat, but Matt hardly minded. Planets with an essence attribute were incredibly rare. He had seen a nature-aspected moon when he visited Amelia Galley, but that was the only example he had personally seen. It was hardly the only planet in the Empire with an elemental aspect; there were thirty two in the Empire, but that was a fraction of a percentage of the total planets. They were also incredibly in-demand planets, with anyone who had that elemental bloodline or those who aspected their mana to that element flocking to the worlds in question. Their environments were cultivation paradises, and seeing as they were going to get one, a fire one in particular, warmed Matt’s heart.

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Considering most of these rewards were probably from Zack, Allie’s, and Aiden’s payout and they were getting it, it was clear they had been given the planet as a gift.

It made Matt wish he had given everyone more mana stones before they had left, but there was always next time.

Both Lizzes bounced around. “Oh, I’m so excited. I bet we can find so many unique rifts in the world. I looked up Ventuslisa a while back as a place to visit and I loved the images of the fire rain forest. It looked so pretty with the unique flora and fauna the abundance of fire essence creates. Sadly it’s on the far side of Tur’stal’s kingdom and would take years to travel to.”

Phoenix Liz paused in her bouncing to cock her head and squawked. “Oh, maybe we can turn one of the planet’s moons into Ichor? Have one for lightning and blood as well. Have the trifecta of what makes up Ichor. That would be so cool.”

Matt pondered the feasibility of the idea and shrugged. “I doubt it’s that easy to do, but I’ll put it on the list of long term goals. If it was easy there would be more than a handful of planets with aspected essence, so I’m sure there is something that makes it harder than just dumping in a load of elemental mana to make elemental essence.”

That didn’t seem to bother Liz at all, and she pulled him down for a kiss before springing off. “Oh, this makes me so excited. Maybe I can convince mom and dad to move the planet faster? It’s slated to be one of the last to arrive.”

Matt had already looked into why it was taking so long and pointed out the reason. “Nah. If they untether it now, it’ll start drifting closer to the Clans. Until the chaotic space currents shift in a couple decades, you’d need to pull it upstream, and I doubt anyone short of the Emperor himself could pull a Tier 27 world that far upstream.”