The Path of Ascension Chapter 480

Chapter 480

Matt felt unending gratitude to the Emperor when he teleported them to a border world instead of directly back into his office. That gave him a chance to look up additional information about Icliz before seeing his loved ones, who no doubt expected him to come back in a triumphant mood rather than his current jumble of emotions. A small part of him wanted to find hints that Icliz the Mad wasn’t as mad as he’d seen, but even with full access to the EmpireNet and historical records, there was no conspiracy.

At least not one that he could see.

He could see the changes made to so-called original information from what Manny had given him, and they didn’t change much. In fact, the only changes he could find were edits to Icliz’s doubling effect, which had been shifted to varying numbers as suited his station. They started him off at a measly 50% increase, going up to 90% before he stopped mentioning it at Tier 25, when he’d started marketing himself and his Tier 25 more than his Tier 1. At that point, the records seemed entirely unaltered, unless Manny was lying to him.

However, he didn’t let himself consider that. Without concrete proof, such speculations only led to paranoia and madness.

Closing his eyes, Matt tried to process what he was feeling. “Icliz was a monster. Killing people on the battlefield is one thing, everyone there agreed to fight. Honestly, I don’t even think he stepped over any lines when he asked to kill people already slated for execution. Getting value out of people who were already tried and condemned to death as part of a non-corrupt system wouldn’t even be a problem, but he stepped over the line when he pushed for more deaths. However, even Icliz doesn’t deserve to be trapped and harvested for his mana for over a million years. Using the excuse that he’s returning the mana of the people he murdered was a pretext then, and it remains one now. If he was conscious and agreed I don’t think I’d have any issue with that punishment, open ended as it is, but he’s not. It’s wrong, I don’t like it.”

Looking up, he met Manny’s gaze wanting to let the Tier 50 know how exactly serious he was. “When I can, I will correct this.”

“I’ll have your back.”

Hearing that, Matt silently thanked the Emperor before he forced himself to refocus on his armor. Manny would want to return home, and every minute he wallowed he was keeping him away.

For his moral failings, JR was a fantastic crafter and his redesign had been incredible. It improved everything Matt wanted out of his armor and then went ahead and added more. Personally, he still didn’t quite believe JR could do half of what would be required, but his belief didn’t matter as Manny had already paid, indicating his own confidence in the raven.

Now that he’d thought about it, Matt couldn’t help but ask, “How much did my armor cost? I’d say I’ll pay everything back, but when I can do that they won’t be worth a ton. But I still want to know.”

Instead of answering immediately, Manny stared at him for a long moment before saying, “He wanted ten Tier 50 items, but I argued him down to six and the gourd. Three up front, along with the gourd.”

Looking at his hands, Matt slowly clenched them into fists. While he didn’t like that the Corporations had a mana font, he didn’t have the power to change it. Yet. Eventually he would.

By blade or barter, he’d right that wrong.

Not for Icliz, the man was beyond pity, but for everyone who’d been captured under the precedence he inadvertently set. One’s value shouldn’t be enough reason for an eternity of anything.

Slowly uncleanching his fists, then his entire body, one muscle group at a time, Matt used one of his old therapy tricks to distance himself from the emotions.

After pulling himself together, Matt nodded to Manny and the two of them appeared in a sitting room, where his fellow Ascenders were lounging. Before he could verbally thank the Emperor, the Tier 50 was gone, not that he minded.

Matt felt his grin was about ninety percent natural as caught his friends up with everything. He kept to the armor and defensive pact, the positive topics, but the others knew him too well. The moment he’d finished describing JR’s redesign, Liz reached out and took his hands.

“What else?”

Knowing he couldn’t avoid it Matt explained, “I learned the Corporations have a mana font. He’s…” Eventually he finished, “Not a good person, but it hit me in a sore spot. However, I can’t do anything yet, so I’m trying not to let it ruin my mood. Honestly, I’m feeling a lot better after having a bit of time away from the situation. I swear JR brought Icliz up in the worst ways possible on purpose. I’m pretty sure he played me like a fiddle from the moment I arrived until I left but I just can’t see how.”

Allie twirled her growth daggers between her fingers offering. “Might be sooner than you think if we can locate his exact position. Didn’t JR say he was willing to let us come too? We make some waypoints now, and in fifteen Tiers, we jump in and start killing when we know the bird isn’t there. I refuse to be your friend anymore if you pay them shit.”

Liz held up a finger offering her own idea, “If we really can locate him, we might be able to do something earlier. A blood plague, for one, wouldn’t bother me at all.”

Not to be outdone, Aster threw out, “What about an illusion? Maybe we can trick whatever they have in place so they don’t know we’ve done it until we are far from the angry Tier 50 bird? I’d like to be far, far away when they notice something is wrong.”

Zack gave his own suggestion as everyone thought, “If he’s been drained for so long, such infrastructure might be open to sabotage and possibly even a lethal strike delivered remotely.”

Matt knew everyone else understood how unrealistic trying to murder someone under the ‘protection’ of a Tier 50 was, but that wasn’t why they offered their ideas. Instead of bringing logic to the situation, he went along, offering even wilder suggestions, showing the others that he really was okay.

In fact, Matt felt surprisingly good as he bantered with his friends. So good, he wasn’t all that surprised when he felt his Domain pulse as he came to a realization: Matt was the master of his own destiny. Similarly, Icliz had been the master of his own destiny until he’d been captured. H—

In fact…

Messaging Manny, Matt asked, “JR said Icliz is running upgraded [Regeneration] correct? And he’s woken up twice since his capture? How long was he up?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but long enough to cause a mess each time, so at least a few seconds, real time.”

The reply was almost instant, but Matt didn’t press further. Feeling most of his remaining misgivings slip away, Matt felt his Truth settle into place, ready for the rest of his Aspect to be made whole.

If Icliz had been captured not once, but three times, and continued to keep [Regeneration] running, knowing he’d be lobotomized, he was choosing a life of torture over death. Matt wasn’t exactly eager to die, but in Icliz’s position he’d much prefer that to a million years of torment.

Icliz, it seemed, disagreed, and that was his choice.

He apparently also chose not to ascend. However, it was unknown if his Aspect had been damaged, which might prevent him from escaping that way.

Matt didn’t think that made the imprisonment better, morally speaking, and he still intended to kill the monster in human flesh, but it did let him distance himself from the man’s million years of imprisonment.

After sharing the good news and using it as a reason to change the topic, they decided to leave rather than linger in the palace. Instead, they returned to the noble suite and joined in the ongoing celebrations, where Matt let himself enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Amusing to both Liz and Aster, the party really did cheer him up, despite his general disdain for such gatherings. In retrospect, he realized he was able to enjoy the success because of how disconnected it was to JR, the Corporations, Icliz, and mana fonts in general.

Best of all, they got to enjoy the fruits of their labor almost immediately, thanks to Manny pushing the effective date forward. Such news had immediately made headlines, both thanks to their resounding success and the Emperor’s unexpected return.

While the initiative was fast, the effects took longer to manifest, given the target audiences.

Manny’s return solved a lot of problems, in fact. But Matt really did feel sorry for him, as he was confident the Tier 50 immediately went back into a rift the moment he returned, as raw mana loans were slated to open only two weeks after his return.

With little actual control of the situation, Matt could only wait and watch as their plans rolled out, hoping they’d covered every potential bad angle and pitfall.

They hadn’t.

There were casualties in every industry, alchemists blowing both their equipment and themselves up, delvers who never exited the rift, and consumers who took their new power and used it badly. However, there were fewer than most of their projections, which he counted as a win.

It felt far too reminiscent of what he saw going on in the Corporations as Rosemarie took a butcher’s knife to the Great Power. Even separated as they were, few people in any Great Power expected their cutback to be so severe.

Nineteen Tier 45 mega corporations collapsed under the audits, with outlets reporting it as one of the largest cutbacks in five immortal generations. Their destruction was nothing compared to the plethora of lower Tier businesses that went under.

Every time Matt heard a reporter mention the sixty percent cutback, he kept waiting for someone to blame him, but no one did, leaving him all the more confused. Why solicit his opinion if not to throw the blame his way?

Unable to do anything but watch, Matt found himself taking notes. For all JR’s ruthlessness, individuals were rarely hit by the damages. A name he recognized, ‘Timmothy Vrest’, was one of the exceptions, but as the man’s various grifts and shady dealings became clear, few had sympathy for those who were targeted.

When the Corporations took action, they did so in three stages. After the initial audit and seizure were performed, they immediately moved to sell anything slated to be sold, and they did so at bargain bin prices. Any of the companies who survived and had enough liquidity to expand, or individuals who wanted to get their feet in the game, picked up deals as small scale infrastructure was cleaned out.

The following two stages revolved around selling the remaining assets after set periods had passed, allowing for the less opportune a chance to ride the waves.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Having heard Matt’s inadvertent part in the escapade, his friends had a blast betting on which corporations would fail and which would succeed. Though they silently refrained from doing so with the Empire aura related companies they were watching at the same time.

In comparison to the Corporations, the Empire companies had it easy, and Matt wasn’t the only one to notice. The companies that managed to fall in the Empire‘s much smaller upheaval only had themselves to blame.

Not that the market didn’t shift drastically with the changes. Volume, and therefore popularity, became much more important metrics than the rarity most had been chasing up until the change. Sure, a Level 3 Ash aura potion would be amazing and worth a lot, but few people wanted or needed such a rare mana type as the bias of their Domain. On the other hand, a new subtype for one of the more popular level 1 or 2 mana types had widespread appeal and flourished in the expanded markets.

Thankfully, their side had accounted for that and had added rewards for isolated producers to make aura rifts that were rare in their sectors. They hoped that, at most, someone wanting a rarer type might end up paying more and waiting for delivery. But eventually anyone would be able to get even the less popular types within a reasonable timeframe.

Demand for aura surged after the changes, as both aura potion and enchantments’ investment rose. That predictably left the farms understaffed but they’d planned for that.

It just wasn’t enough.

Their clauses allowing the farms to buy aura from normal teams helped, but it was ultimately a decree from the Emperor that solved the most urgent problem, by offering a small personal tax credit based on the amount of aura extracted from the rifts for non-affiliated delving groups. With the extra incentive, teams looking for Tier 4 and higher rifts started to look towards farms first, even with the additional complications and difficulties that came with harvesting aura.

The nobles were even happier than them after getting called to talk with the Emperor one on one a few weeks after his return. In a surprising move, Manny gave the nobles Letters of Commendation for their initiative, and more importantly, their ultimate success.

While the commendations wouldn’t be enough to cover treason, the letters acted as rubber stamps for future initiatives the nobles might want to take. They were still responsible for their actions and any resulting consequences, but they’d proven they could be trusted.

Typically, only Ascenders received such letters as dukes, because they were going to do what they wanted anyway, but that only made their success stand out all the more. Having received such privileges and getting them so early in their reigns stabilized the nobles’ positions in their factions more than almost anything else could have.

However, before they could do anything attention grabbing with their letters, a new news story swept through not only the Empire but all of the Great Powers. The highest Tier explorers had returned after ten years.

***

Emmanuel dropped onto the couch next to Carissa, letting out a soft groan.

“How did it go?”

“Better than I’d have expected, worse than I hoped. All and all, about right where I guessed. Matt is pissed after learning about Icliz, but he’s processing it. I nearly shit myself when he threatened to walk away from the deal. JR is… himself.”

Peering through the walls, Carissa nodded. “I can tell. Poor boy is moving like a rusty automaton.”

Opening an eye, Emmanuel peeked through the walls himself to see no such thing. Sighing, he flicked Carissa a summary of the meeting as he lay down on the couch, using her lap as a pillow.