The Path of Ascension Chapter 395

Chapter 395

Palustris, being a Tier 27 world, wasn’t exactly ideal to delve at with their abilities. But if they didn’t delve it while they were Tier 26 or Tier 27, they wouldn’t get to delve it at all, so it was very much a now or never situation.

The planet did have Tier 28 rifts, but only a few, as any rift that was allowed to advance had to be a fire aspected rift. Then, any rift that was Tiered up had to remain fire aspected, meaning the actual amount of Tier 28 rifts were lower than would be otherwise possible. They also only had five Tier 29 rifts, thanks to those same difficulties.

Their official policy was to Tier up a percentage of the rifts per decade as they were trying to Tier the world up, and the best practice was to do so slowly but steadily with a gradual increase. But even for them, it was an expensive endeavor.

Thankfully, as a capital of the duchy, Palustris had started to turn a small profit which they were able to reinvest into the planet. Other revenue streams were expected to start turning a profit as the businesses got off their feet and found their niches, but that was still a few decades away at best.

In fact, the duchy itself was just barely profitable, which was a bit of a surprise at less than a full century from its creation. Most of that profit was from the duchy’s’ aura harvesting business, but some of their other ventures were mildly profitable.

Their deal with the Dobrescus had also been paying dividends. Not because of the deals themselves, as they were mainly moving the aura potions at a set rate which, while profitable, wasn’t turning heads. Rather, it gave their people access to those same channels and shipping opportunities, allowing them to either send their goods far away or buy exotic goods otherwise not available locally.

That spurred on the transfer of money, which in turn enticed people to open businesses or just spend more in general, which led to profit for them.

Eventually, he and Liz would be entitled to a portion of those profits, though neither he nor Liz actually needed them, and they intended to simply reinvest their portions. Still it was eye opening seeing what their half sized and young duchy could create, and explained why so many people actually wanted to be nobles.

Most of the time, it felt like a profoundly thankless job, but even being a baron could ensure one was able to advance a dozen Tiers if they did a good job, just from the wealth they were able to accumulate.

It also explained why the hereditary nobles were so insistent on keeping their power and privilege.

He was still reviewing some of their businesses when Aster appeared, holding her nose dramatically.

“All the fire in the air is gross.”

“Aster, I’ve seen you sneak over for fire curry twice in the last week. You can’t convince me you haven’t actually come to enjoy some fire-related things.”

Aster gasped trying to look offended, but instead she just laughed. “It’s fun to play it up, what can I say? Speaking of fire themed food…”

She vanished for a moment, not going to a local shop but instead into their floating island’s wine cellar.

She came back carrying a full crate of some of their best wines from all over the Empire, including a bottle he and Liz had been eyeing for a while.

“A full crate? Come on. I—”

“Don’t give me that. I know what rift you want to enter, and if we are doing that, we are going in properly. And that means good wines.”

Matt couldn’t really argue, as he had been planning the same and just hadn’t gotten around to it. It was more that he was mildly offended she hadn’t brought any of her wines. He knew her cellar was as stocked as theirs, if not more so, with how much she and Allie flitted around the Empire following their stomachs.

Tsking, he got up and cast [Portal] to Erin’s, where he felt Liz was chatting with her sister and several of her harem members.

Popping his head through the portal, he said hello to his in-laws before Liz walked through and he recast the spell next to their destination. They didn’t have too much time to chat, as their cycle was about to start.

The rift was only Tier 27, which wasn’t too impressive for their combat power. But it was a rift Matt had been dying to delve as it was something of a local hit.

The Sects had mostly treated the rift as nothing special, but the Empire had taken to the rift with all of the fervor it rightly deserved.

Aster at least had dressed for the occasion and had sweatpants on, which matched his. Liz hadn’t gone for the comfy cloth route and instead was going with quantity, as there were already nine Lizzes out by the time they got through the portal.

The workers watching the rift nodded and the manager reported that the rift was cycled and full, so the second the instance timer ended they could enter.

Thanking the man, they flashed forward the moment the rift had cycled into a new instance.

They stood inside an oven and the heat was debilitating as it tried to flash fry them, but with their power, it was little more than annoyingly hot.

Not that Matt felt much of it, as after he appreciated the heat he cast [Cracked Phantom Armor] which blocked all of it, to Aster’s annoyance.

The second they stepped away from the rift’s entrance, a shower of spices rained down on them.

Cinnamon.

They didn’t bother to dodge, as while it was possible to avoid this, it was more efficient to fight with the debuff for both the reward and the essence at the end.

As the cinnamon settled on them, Matt felt his physical strength weaken like he had lost a Tier.

A bit more mana through [Archmage Presence] countered that effect nicely, but it also signified the start of the fight, and monsters started to form.

Monsters being a very loose definition, but still technically true.

Ten Tier 26 chickens dropped from the air and landed with a splat.

Not living chickens, but plucked and butchered chickens made ambulatory by the power and weirdness of rifts. They were also uncannily large and moved with disjointed steps and hops that remind him of badly made golems.

Matt flashed next to one, and after punching it hard enough to stun it, he threw it into a nearby but massive roasting pan. The second chicken, he ripped off its legs and had a taste, chewing with an appreciation of the perfectly cooked but cinnamon flavored bird.

Wiping his hands on his specially prepared sweatpants, Matt looked for his next prey, just to find that the Lizzes had eaten everything he and Aster hadn’t.

“This feels unfair.”

All ten of the Lizzes turned and blew a raspberry at him at the same time.

Matt didn’t mind and instead looked up to see what the next spice would be, but instead flew to the side as the oven they were in had a pot of water rise out of the ground.

It was empty, and according to the rift information, could be used to wash off the accumulated spices which would reset the monsters’ scaling strength as well as the accumulated flavors.

The rift being a wave based one meant things could get interesting, culinarily speaking, given enough time. And for those who entered for the food aspect, it was recommended to wash off the spices every few waves to prevent flavor clash as well as keep the monsters fairly weak.

That was not their plan.

The next spice rained down from the sky.

Cilantro.

Matt felt his mana pulse, but whatever mechanism the rift was trying to limit clashed with his Talent and lost, leaving him unaffected. Checking on Liz and Asters statuses with his [AI], he found their maximum mana had been reduced by about ten percent.

That was less than ideal. Not because it would hurt them, but because the percent debuffs were the ones that stacked the worst in the rift.

Where the cinnamon had simply weakened them by almost a quarter of a Tiers physical power, it was also preventing other similar spices from doing the same, meaning all other flat physical reducing effects were effectively free spices. The percent based weakening spices didn’t conflict with each other and instead worked together.

Flaring his Concept, Matt ensured they were boosted by his mana generation, which would help compensate for their lost capacity. He had it on so often, it was a habit to ensure he hadn’t forgotten to add the two of them.

A flurry of carrots dropped down from the air, fifteen this time, and they dove in on Matt, who made sure to grab two even as he punched and kicked several others, killing each with a single hit.

They were perfectly cooked to his preferences, and he enjoyed the odd combination of flavors as well as the food, even though his first went into the pan to join the chicken.

The following three waves were just as easy, with them not really needing to put much effort towards killing the monsters, allowing them to just enjoy themselves as the wine was passed around and guzzled before things started to get difficult.

However, after the fifth wave the rift around them shimmered and changed, and the oven opening up into the kitchen proper.

According to the information, they could go practically anywhere in the oversized room, and where they went decided what type of foods they would encounter and would also change the other areas.

Scanning the room, Matt found his target and pointed. “To the stove top!”

Together, they landed in what would end up being one of the most annoying areas in the rift for anyone trying to push deeper into the waves.

A giant stovetop steamer with each of the holes leaking steam.

Steam which threatened to remove all of their hard earned spices.

Seeing they would need to spread out, Matt poked Aster. “Wine please.”

“I don’t know what— Fine. You could have brought your own wine.”

“I did bring it. It’s just in your ring. You’re my pack fox. Like a pack rat but more devious.”

“That makes it my wine now.” Aster couldn’t help but preen at the not quite compliment.

Not that Matt let her get away with it so easily. “That logic is terrible.”

Aster took a swig from the bottle in retaliation before she handed it to him, but he didn’t mind as the next spice rained down.

Thyme.

Now that was interesting.

Culinarily speaking.

It didn’t clash too hard with their collected spices, and could easily mix with other flavors going forward.

Practically, it meant a resistance to moving, which was more of a problem as once the monsters reached proper Tier 27 speeds it would start to hamper them quite a bit in terms of explosive moments.

Snakes of spaghetti plopped down from the ceiling as jets of steam exploded out from some of the holes on their makeshift floor.

They dodged the steam and started killing the now mid Tier 26 monsters, but it still was hardly a challenge and they mostly relaxed and stuffed their faces and threw spaghetti into the nearby bowl. The next wave, they made a sauce that joined the spaghetti and ended up quite nice. Nice enough they had to force themselves away from the bowl or risk ruining their run.

Five waves of camping out on the steamer completed, they looked around and Matt saw the prep board and they flew into it.

Knives slamming up and down chopping mountain sized vegetables acted as environmental hazards, perfectly willing and able to kill them as they helped the rift make a salad. What they were more interested in were the spices that appeared on the cutting board.

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Matt didn’t personally agree with the idea of seasoning one’s cutting board, but he didn’t hesitate to roll around on the pepper for even a second.

It was actually somewhat of a buff as it damaged anything near him, both enemies and allies alike.

For the peak Tier 26 monsters it didn’t really matter, but once they reached the Tier 27 monsters it would come in quite handy.

The break point between Tiers was one of the more dangerous parts of the rift, as instead of another wave of monsters, it was a mini boss named chef by the previous delvers. He wasn’t actually killable and was more of a test between every three waves of the rift.

A giant, faceless, and genderless humanoid appeared in the kitchen, and upon seeing the dishes they had completed from before, it seemed to notice them. In a very rude fashion, it shouted at them and threw a [Fireball] their direction.

Except, it was more like a meteor or other higher Tier fire spell, as it was the size of a moon. The second it left the boss’s control Matt and Liz grabbed control of the spell, halting it mid air and causing it to implode.

The mini boss pulled a cleaver from out of its apron and slammed it down at them. They scattered and Aster fused the cleaver to the countertop with a wave of snow.

The boss didn’t seem deterred and instead wrenched its knife out of the counter, causing kitchen utensils to go everywhere, which Matt fixed with a quick flex of [Telekinesis].

Or mostly fixed. A paring knife even stuck in the fridge next to them and wobbled, but thankfully didn’t fall.

The giant chef threw a few more attacks but when he saw he couldn’t kill them he grabbed the bowl of salad and walked out of existence.

Wave complete, the rift’s difficulty increased twofold as the Tier of the monsters increased to proper Tier 27s.

Most guides recommended resetting one’s spice at this point, but they pointedly avoided the cups of water and wet rags as they went to the spice rack.