The Path of Ascension Chapter 437

Chapter 437

 

Emmanuel flew through chaotic space, letting the second layer energies batter his physical body directly, unbothered by the small pricks of pain.

Behind him, Alister pushed the two of them forward, using a portion of his stored momentum to give them a slight speed increase.

Neither of them were going all out but the combined efforts of the two of them made traveling through chaotic space easier.

Emmanuel could focus on traveling and calming the chaotic space in front of himself while Alister carried them along. Together, they moved at a carefully controlled speed, faster than most of the others could comfortably keep up with.

Or rather everyone except Tobias, who seemed entirely unbothered by the increased pace despite having the largest size, which should have put him in the most danger.

He and Alister weren’t trying to outpace the others. Together they could have easily done so, even if Emmanuel didn’t use any of the better chaotic space Talents he had, but instead they were trying to slowly force the others to dip into their reserves.

If the others arrived at the Tier 46 world with half a mana pool or low mana storage reserves, he and Alister would have a decisive advantage.

Or the others would fall behind and the two of them could arrive earlier and have their pick of the real space world and its many natural treasures.

Even over a few centuries of travel, the difference would only be a few hours or days but that time would be pivotal at their Tiers.

Unwilling to accept that, the others could only increase their speeds.

It was an open ploy but an effective one.

At least that was the idea.

The others seemed mildly annoyed and had used various spells to keep up, but they could have been faking things. At their Tier and experience, they all had backups for their backups.

Except for Tobias.

The Monster Collective’s Tier 50 floated through chaotic space as if it was real space, casually flying with his legs tucked into his shell and eyes closed.

They were just inside the second layer when Emmanuel felt a spiritual perception brush past him. He was about to lock on but before he did, the Tier 33 died.

The monster was a menace that he was about to crush but Winter Hornet had gotten to it first, gathering the monster’s valuable parts in one smooth movement even Emmanuel found hard to follow.

As if mocking Emmanuel, the man threw the chaotic space resistance skin over himself, making it effortless for him to fly through space so long as the skin wasn’t fully dissolved.

Emmanuel couldn’t help but lament that Winter Hornet was in his generation instead of Hastor’s.

The two combat maniacs could have tied each other up nicely but instead, Emmanuel had to deal with him alone.

Seeing that things were apparently too easy on the others, Alister sped them up slightly. If they sped up too much, they might get attacked or risk one of the other Tier 50s turning back to threaten their Great Powers, but a small increase hopefully wouldn’t draw out any attacks.

It was all a subtle game of tactics with millennia of experience on all sides.

They still had a long way to go until they felt the Tier 46 world, even with it moving towards them. At their current speeds, they had at least a hundred and fifty years to intercept the world somewhere in the middle of the third layer, and that only held true if the world kept advancing towards them, which was basically impossible. It was already slowing down and would soon be caught in the third layer’s eddies and dragged away from them.

They’d still catch up with it, but they didn’t have time to dawdle.

***

They finally were getting to fight, and Matt was ready.

So deep into chaotic space that the danger was nearing the level of the true second layer of chaotic space, they couldn’t really risk fighting outside for long. Sadly, more often than not, it came down to direct boarding sequences to end such battles when the teams were of similar Tiers and one side couldn’t overwhelm the other’s shields.

They may technically be Tier 28, with Aster being Tier 29, but as Ascenders they were capable of fighting two Tiers up. Even lower-level Tier 30 elites were possible, if hard, fights, which meant random explorers were a great opportunity for Matt to test all of the things he had been working on for the last three decades.

If they could bait the teams into close quarters combat.

Their pilot dodged them to the side, keeping the Federation ship from darting in and escaping into real space immediately.

A number of groups, especially those with higher-Tier combatants, would often try exactly that, wanting to force a fight to leave the more dangerous chaotic space where they could leverage their personal power.

The Unsparing wouldn’t mind that, but it would be suspicious if they didn’t move to block at all.

There was no reason to scare their opponents away quite yet.

Their cannoneer fired two mid powered shots, letting it seem like they had used average weapons at their maximum capacity.

The deceptions wouldn’t last for long but this was a great testbed for future fights where they might be fighting dozens of other ships over a world.

The Monster Collective’s ships didn’t follow the typical script and immediately pounced.

Each ship fired massive cannons that should have never fit on ships of their size at both the Unsparing and the lone Federation ship. The Unsparing’s AI identified the ships as little more than floating guns. It was a semi-unique approach to exploration that was usually only used when an entire fleet was mobilized, as in their desire to look as small and unthreatening as possible, they lacked the storage a ship like Matt and team brought along with them.

Which meant they had a flotilla somewhere, and probably very nearby considering the observatory ship that had directed them here in the first place could have passed information to the Pack.

The surprise blow hammered their shields but didn’t punch through. The Unsparing’s shields were top of the line for their Tier and had an unexpected robustness.

The Federation ship, however, wasn’t so lucky and its shields went down after the hit. It only lasted for a few seconds before they reestablished protection. Still, that brief intermission in protection let chaotic space ravage the physical materials of the ship and forced the Federation ship to flee for the safety of real space.

Their pilot immediately followed the move, while their cannoneer fired back at the nearest Collective ship with a near-max power barrage of shots, forcing them to create distance so they weren’t subject to the same fate.

The Collective ship’s efforts failed.

Similar to what happened with the Federation ship moments ago, the mana shield was disrupted, causing immediate damage to the physical ship, leaving them to rush for real space as quickly as possible.

Their cannoneer didn’t bother to fire on the second ship. It immediately followed the first and gave it cover as they entered real space a moment ahead of the Unsparing.

By the time they reached the node and entered the Tier 21 world’s real space, Matt and the others were already near one of the exits in their full armor and ready for a fight.

The armor was all mass produced and effectively disposable but it was meant to be used when fighting in chaotic space. They deliberately chose to wear the armor despite fighting in real space so they wouldn’t reveal their identities too quickly.

The moment they fully fell into real space, Matt cast [Portal], putting them right next to the damaged Monster Collective ship which had already discharged five Tier 30s in matching cheap gear, similar to theirs.

They were already under fire from the Federation team who, after dropping off ten Tier 30s, started attacking the undamaged ship, seeming far more confident in its real space fighting abilities.

With their mana stores near full, the ship would be fine even if they came under direct fire from all three other ships for a short time. That taken care of, Matt attempted to settle himself in the right mindset to try and tap into the second level of his Power.

When just seven of them exited the [Portal] with the fluctuations of Tier 28s and a single Tier 29, all spiritual perception turned to them, assessing.

They must have been found wanting because both sides turned most of their attention to each other. Two from each group of Collective fighters turned to them, as did two from the larger Federation ship, making it almost an even six versus seven fight.

An elk-like humanoid ran at Matt, its antlers lowered and glowing, its hands extended ready to grab him should he try to dodge.

Matt suspected the idea was to press him to the antlers and burn through his magical armor, leaving him open to the Tier 30’s immense physical strength, where he would have little chance but to surrender or risk death.

It would have been a good strategy against a normal Tier 30, let alone a normal Tier 28, but Matt was neither.

He did however need practical experience trying to use his Power, so he didn’t instantly move to defeat his opponent.

Matt brought his blade down at a rate calculated to show that he was doing his best to react to speeds higher than his own Tier.

Seeing that, the Tier 30 got cocky and, with gauntleted hands, reached for his sword, wanting to muscle his way through the fight.

Matt hadn’t been able to add his neutronium ingot to his blade yet, as he was neither Tier 30, and so had no chance of using the sword at what its increased weight would be, nor could he find anyone selling the rare Natural Treasures the three Talented crafters able to add it wanted for their services. Given that two of the three wanted something that could boost their spirit and make it more robust, it wasn’t an easy request.

Hopefully they would find the treasures or be able to trade with people who did find them in the breach.

Still, he was able to fake it and, as the formation activated, his sword increased in weight until it was difficult for Matt to move it around. It wasn’t perfect but it gave Matt a good feeling for what a heavier sword would fight like.

His blade glowed with power as the mana stone at the core of his lattice blade surged.

Matt could have evaporated the hand that grabbed his blade but chose not to.

Instead, he reached inward.

To the core of himself.

To the part of him that was in perfect resonance, like a machine with no wasted movement.

Matt visualized his Power like braids of cable, interwoven and entwined. Each part of himself was a strand of the greater whole. His physical body was one cable but inside that were cables that represented his speed, flexibility, healing factor, and everything else. Every part of himself down to his Talent was a cable and his to empower.

According to Luis, that was a fairly standard visualization but that was where Matt hit a wall and his first real hurdle. Given that the others hadn’t even made that much progress he should be happy with his stuttering

Each braid was in sync and moved in the same direction as the whole, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were perfectly clean and without tangles.

Theoretically that didn’t matter. He was at full harmonization no matter what his mental image might imply, but he struggled to actually empower part of himself.

Not that it was easy. Most never managed the visualization and even more failed to ever exemplify a part of themselves enough to boost it, even with thousands of years of practice, but Matt had higher expectations for himself.

In theory, it was as simple as focusing on one part of the whole, one cable in the strand. But the moment when Matt tried to focus on one of the strands and boost that part of himself, he fell out of harmony entirely.

Being stuck for less than a hundred years on such a step shouldn’t have bothered Matt. Most people who got to the visualization stage stopped right there. But he had never accepted ‘as good as most people’ as a standard for himself.

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He always learned best with a blade in his hand and actually pushing his limits, which was exactly why he was so eager to fight opponents who he was fairly confident in beating. He could only hope these opponents of chance and opportunity were good enough to push him.

Concentrating on the strand that represented his body as a collective whole, Matt imagined it pulsing with power. Being a collection of strands, it should have been easier to amplify without destabilizing himself as he was amplifying more of himself, but the moment he tried to push Willpower into the strand in the way he had been taught, instead of becoming stronger, Matt felt himself grow weaker.

It wasn’t much weaker, but it pissed Matt off as he was pulled to the antlers glowing with power. Combined with the smirk on the elk’s face, Matt decided to force himself to fight from a disadvantage as penance.

That didn’t mean he’d go down without fighting back. He punched out with his left hand, aiming at the antlers, his weapon kept away from the elk man’s grinning head with a raised hand.

The expression vanished when Matt’s first blow landed.

Like an engine with a clogged fuel intake, Matt once more tried to amplify his physical body. The boost sputtered but Matt shoved Willpower into his body as hard as he could and, for a moment, just a single moment, his body was greater than the sum of its parts without destabilizing the rest of his harmonization.

His opponent was sent reeling back, his right antler shattered as his head snapped hard enough to crack his spine, which made him let go of Matt’s sword.

At the same time, the sputtering engine of Matt’s Power failed and he fell out of harmonization, forced to rebuild his mental image from the ground up.

His opponent’s spinal wound quickly healed itself but the elk man’s follow-up attack was far more hesitant, as if expecting Matt to lash back out with titanic power once more.

His single rack of antlers continued to glow visually but the feeling they gave off in Matt’s spiritual perception changed dramatically. Instead of absorbing outside energy, it was gathering energy like a mana cannon about to explode.

Matt dodged the reaching hands, keeping his speed a hair slower than the Tier 30’s, letting his battle instincts guide him, trying to speed himself up with his Power but failing.

Still, despite the self-imposed limitations, it was a good fight. They had been delving against monsters for too long, even before their thirty year break, and he had missed this more cerebral back and forth between people.

That pleasure ended as he felt the elk man was growing frustrated and suspected he was about to call for help.

Instead of allowing that, Matt went on the offensive.

Thrusting, Matt slipped past the man’s guard, tapping his blade to the man’s lower chest.

To his credit, the elk tried to grab Matt’s blade and shove it away at the cost of a hand. In doing so he fell for Matt’s small muscle contractions trap that made it look like he would redirect the attack up to his head, which would have been a lethal strike.

Instead, the moment his blade touched the elk, Matt unleashed his [Mana Thrust], sending out a blade-thick beam of energy that cut through the Tier 30’s armor and body alike, punching over a mile into empty space.

Heart and lungs mangled, the elk started sending signals for help from anyone nearby, including the Federation explorers.

Matt watched the horror in his opponent’s eyes grow as he realized everyone fighting the seven of them was struggling and none of them could help him.

All of the Ascenders were using their opponents as training partners and exploring the things they had been working on during the trip.

Each were taking their time as Matt had.