The Path of Ascension: A LitRPG Adventure, page 7
All these features came with a corresponding cost, a whopping fifteen thousand credits.
As Matt was about to walk away, an employee approached him. “Are you a sponsee and on The Path? If you are, you get 50% off all indicated prices throughout the store, and the first pad you purchase is 80% off.”
That information put Matt in a fantastic mood as he realized how much father his money would go. He felt Griff had undersold the benefits of staying under the curve and on The Path.
With that good news, Matt’s shopping spree began in earnest.
New pad, into the cart.
New boots, cart.
New well-fitting clothes both for delving and leisure, cart.
A new close fit backpack he could fit an emergency kit and water bladder in, cart.
Matt wandered the aisles and filled his cart with anything he thought would be useful.
As he was shopping, he found out what the gloves Dena had given him were. They were mage gloves. They let mana seamlessly pass through but blocked the physical manifestations from harming a mage; no burns from casting too many [Fireball]s. According to the packaging, they were a good unarmored alternative for melee fighters because of the same resistances.
He couldn’t even find the same gloves she had given him, so he wasn’t sure how much they cost. But he was, by examining the gloves, able to guess they were a higher quality than what they sold here.
The employee only suggested wearing them until Tier 3 because, after that, custom orders would be a better option. As at that point, enchantments would be available. It seemed like good advice, and Matt filed it away for later.
His final purchase was an essence accumulator. It was a thin bracelet that let parties share essence. It was what allowed mages and other backline fighters to collect essence without having to get in close and finish off monsters.
Matt was skeptical he needed it as a solo delver, but the clerk pointed out it improved essence accumulation, even if by only a few percent. It would still add up.
Pushing his overflowing cart to the checkout, Matt happily paid the five thousand credit cost and stopped by his room to drop off his goods. He then set up his new pad.
Once that was taken care of, Matt inputted his schedule. Before he could get too engrossed in playing with new features, he forced himself to change into his new combat clothes and head to the weapon shop.
When Matt entered, he noticed it wasn’t a store like he expected but a workshop with at least a dozen active forges. There were twice that number as well, all sitting cold and empty.
A resting blacksmith near the entrance saw his obvious confusion and waved him down.
“You new here?”
At Matt’s nod, he continued, “That means you’re new on The Path. Makes it easy, then.”
He waved at the surroundings. “The Path isn’t only for combatants. There is a separate route for crafters. It’s just as hard, but it’s about what you can make not how fast you climb the Tiers. Though that’s still a part of it. That’s irrelevant, though. What you need to know is how this works. There are around forty blacksmiths on the island right now. No clue on the number of alchemists or other professions, but the same basics apply to all crafters in all professions.”
He pointed at a screen in front of his area. “Any crafter has to have a sign with five pieces of information: their profession, their specialty, their Tier, the Tier of equipment they sell, and if they’re on The Path currently.
“Blacksmiths usually display a shield with the weapon or type of armor they specialize in. That's two of the requirements right there. The border of the emblem will be gold if they’re on The Path, silver if they were on The Path and fell off, and bronze if they never were on The Path. Then, they will usually spell out what Tiers they work with somewhere.”
The sign was a gold shield with crossed daggers inside with a stylized ‘3’ next to the arrangement. Underneath it was ‘Smith’s Ironworks and Enchantment.’
The smith is named Smith? What are the odds he changed his name?
Smith the smith smiled. “I’ve still got unenchanted works if you’re in the market for a shortsword or daggers. Until you’re Tier 3, I can’t sell you any enchanted pieces.” He gestured to a rack of beautifully made daggers.
“I will want a shield and some kind of single-handed weapon eventually, but I’m a longsword user first and foremost.”
“Welp. I don’t have those. If you want that, you should be fine in the rifts here with a longsword. No cramped spaces. Really, though, a dagger is always good to keep as a backup. I even have a leg sheath for you.”
He pointed at a blade next to him on a shelf. “Here, for only three thousand.”
Matt was tempted but didn’t want to have to skimp on a longsword because he bought a backup weapon first. Matt only had fifteen thousand credits left on his card, and if the price of daggers indicated the price of a longsword, he would need all of it.
He was leery of dipping into what he had saved from Benny’s. If he needed healing, he’d be screwed if he had neither credit available nor liquid funds.
When Matt said as much, Smith pointed him in the direction of the smiths who specialized in longswords. Thanking the man, he promised to come back for a dagger if he had the credits. He was proficient with the smaller blade, so it wouldn't be a wasted purchase, and a close range back up weapon wouldn’t hurt to have.
Matt came to Tun’s area next. The sign was a shield with gold trim, along with a longsword inside and an ornate three next to it.
When he approached the smithy, Tun was hammering away, so Matt browsed the displayed longswords. Finding the section with the length he preferred, he proceeded to test each one for weight and balance, carefully performing a few swings in the open area.
After a few minutes of debating between two similar swords, Matt was still undecided, and his preference was wavering between them. Both were good swords that fit him well enough. One was a tad shorter than he wanted but had superb balance. The other was slightly blade heavy and a little more expensive, but it was his preferred length.
As he pondered, the smith paused his work and approached with a hand held out. “Tun. I see you’ve got good taste. They’re both good weapons, but that one was a commission where the other party never picked it up.” The smith pointed at the blade heavy weapon.
Matt shook his hand and replied in kind, “Matt. And I was wondering why it’s blade heavy. Clearly, it’s not an accident.”
Buttering up the person he was about to make a massive purchase from felt like a smart move, so he tried to flatter the man. He had enough practice with having to serve all the customers who worked at Benny's.
“Yeah, the guy wanted to have a heavier blade. Not a huge difference, but enough that it’s been sitting there a while. Not many styles need a heavy blade that’s not a bastard sword or greatsword.
“If you like it, I’ll cut a thousand off the price. Even throw in a sheath for it.”
The discount brought it down to the same price as the other weapon. Matt liked this blade slightly more than the shorter one, so that made the choice easier. He used blades balanced worse at Benny’s, so it wouldn’t be hard to change his style. The sheath was nice, but he would only use it while traveling as he wouldn't enter the rift without his weapon at the ready.
Still seeing Matt hesitating, Tun said, “Why don’t you take it and test it out a bit. There’s a small sparring room over here.”
Small was an understatement. It was barely a broom closet, but it served its purpose. There was only one training aid that pivoted to focus on Matt as soon as he entered the room.
Exchanging a few blows, Matt decided he’d take the sword. It was a blade made for attack, and it sacrificed defensive speed to do so. But his singular skill was defensive, so the combination should mesh well. He still needed to test exactly how much damage the skill could block, and how [Cracked Phantom Armor] performed in simulated combat. But he was confident enough in his skills to take the risk of the heavy blade.
After completing his purchase for ten thousand credits, he stopped by Smith’s and bought a cheaper dagger for a thousand. It was a simple curved dagger, so if his primary got stuck in a corpse, it would be easy to draw in a pinch.
Matt quickly scanned the provided map on his pad and found the training yard. It was a little after 4:30 p.m., and he wanted to get in a few hours of sparring and testing his [Cracked Phantom Armor] before tomorrow. Griff had suggested he wait, but the desire to finally progress after spinning his wheels at Benny’s was too great.
As he arrived, he was almost run over by a group of six who came out the door right as Matt was opening it.
“Sorry, dude, bad timing on our part.” The man in front was Matt’s height and a year or so older, if he had to guess. “Hey, are you new? Don’t recognize the face. Name’s Mathew.”
He ended his introduction by sticking out his hand.
“Mathew? Well, it's always nice to meet a fellow Matt.” The Matts shook hands and each laughed.
“Well, now that I know you have good taste in names, we have to be best friends! So, new best friend, I’m assuming this is your first time at the training center?”
At Matt’s nod, the older teen continued, “Well, let’s give you the tour before we leave. By the Emperor’s balls, we could have used a guide when we started.” He then shook his hand back and forth. “Though we came on season, so it was slammed with Pathers and non-Pathers alike.”
A tall blonde behind the older Mathew poked his side. “You’re supposed to introduce the rest of your party, dumbass. I’m Melinda, that’s Kyle, Sam, Vinnie, and Tara. Since Mathew is rude, I’ll do the introductions. We are a sponsored team, high Tier 2.”
After her introduction and handshake, Mathew looked sheepish and murmured, “I got excited at the name thing,” before wilting further under Melinda’s glare.
Melinda turned back to Matt. “You have new gear, and that’s good, so you’ll want to break it in.” She pointed toward a hall lined with rooms. “That hall has the melee training rooms. So long as you’re on The Path, they are free to use. And those…” she then pointed to another adjacent hall, “are the skill-testing halls. You can sync up your pad with the room to get training metrics and analysis of your fighting abilities and actual skills, if you have any. It’s useful, but if you want real improvement, go to that counter and hire a personal trainer.”
Before Matt could say anything, she proceeded, “If you need a skill analysis, you need to talk to the front desk. They have testing rooms where you can get hard numbers on any skills you have.”
Well, that’s good to know.
“And that info is confidential, right?” Matt said before she could pass that comment by.
Mathew answered this time, “Yup. Only your sponsor can see that info, and only if you give them special permissions that they have to request.”
“Thank you. You guys have been super helpful, I would have bumbled my way around until I figured it out myself, so thanks for the time save.”
That put sheepish looks on the entire party. “Yeah, we were in your shoes and, well, we try and help where we can.”
Mathew asked, “When is your first delve?”
“Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.”
Melinda jealousy said, “Ugh, lucky. Our Tier 1 was at 4:00 a.m., and I hated waking up that early. You got lucky coming during the off season.”
“If you eat around 6:00 p.m., find us at the dining hall, that’s when we’ll be there, and we’d be happy to talk to you about the Tier 1 rift. You know, share our experiences.”
Matt was touched. It was far more than strangers had to do after bumping into him and happening to share a name with one of them.
“I’ll take you up on that offer, though I don’t know if I’ll make it tonight. I need to practice my skill and break in the new gear.”
The older Mathew looked like someone had kicked his puppy until the other girl of the party, Matt thought she was introduced as Sam, said, “Then take our notes about the Tier 1 rift. It’s nothing the official information doesn’t have, but they have good tidbits about what we figured out that worked for us.”
“There’s an official guide?”
Melinda asked, “Didn’t you get one when you checked in? With the check-in classes? Who was your guide?”
When Matt said Griff, they all winced. Obviously, they had also been subjected to his baby craze.
“Well, that explains it. If you see him, run the other way. We got stuck looking at baby pictures for like three hours once.” The entire group shuddered at Melinda's statement.
“Yeah, well, now that you’re on the PlayPen, there is a local network that has a bunch of good information. From guides on all the rifts to a ton of general information about Tiers. It’s a mini-EmpireNet in a sense,” she added with a shrug.
“Well, I’m glad I ran into you guys. Thanks. Who knows when I would have found that on my own? So, what’s your party’s name?”
That was the wrong thing to ask. Everyone but Melinda immediately started bickering. With a strained smile, she said, “We’re still deciding.” She pulled out her pad. “Let me send you our notes, and then I have to settle this.”
He quickly got the file and escaped the conversation turning into a bigger argument with every new word added.
Matt went to the desk Melinda had pointed out and was led to a testing room by the receptionist. Once the door was closed, he pulled the room’s testing options upon his pad and selected ‘Defensive - Full Evaluation,’ The prompt stated the room would stop before he was injured, and it would give him a detailed breakdown on the skill’s capacities.
Test settings prepared, and with great anticipation, Matt directed mana into the skill structure resting in his spirit.
At once, his reflection along the wall was wrapped in a mist-like covering. [Cracked Phantom Armor] was an opaque grayish silver with a tint of the blue of mana. It was vaguely shaped like full plate armor.
Searching, he couldn’t find any gaps where normal joints would be. The skill covered everything, including his face, although he could see and breathe as though there was nothing in the way.
As Matt moved about and stretched, [Cracked Phantom Armor] didn’t restrict him in any way, nor did it seem to weigh anything. So far, it was a perfect armor, with all the advantages of plate’s coverage and none of the added weight or restricted movements.
With building nerves, Matt initiated the testing.
A flat voice called out, “Please, hold still. Defensive skill test engaging.” A bladed arm extended from the ceiling and proceeded to swipe at Matt’s chest. The strikes started feather-light and slowly increased in force until Matt was afraid it would pierce [Cracked Phantom Armor] and carve him up. He could actually feel the skills structure in his spirit destabilize as the hits grew in strength.
When Matt was about to stop the test, finally, the blade pierced the misty armor and was retracted before it could touch him.
“Physical slash testing complete. Analyzing results… Results determined. Skill will protect up to low Tier 2 slashing attacks. Any attacks that break through will have damage reduced by that flat rate. Please, increase mastery with skill or increase mana expenditure to increase the effect.”
Matt was elated. One mana a second was a lot of mana for his Tier, and it showed he would be near-invincible in the Tier 1 rift. Even better, the Tier 2 rift would only be half as dangerous.
Talk about an amazing advantage.
His shit-eating grin froze as the flat voice announced, “Proceeding with piercing test.”
For the next twenty minutes, Matt was poked, smashed, set on fire, frozen, electrocuted and, finally, even attacked with void.
The last one terrified him. Void was the most destructive known affinity, cutting through defenses at its Tier like they didn’t exist. Matt was delighted to learn that [Cracked Phantom Armor] was slightly resistant to the element. While it wasn’t immune, it outperformed any Tier 1 defenses not specialized in defending against the type. To his shock, the armor was nearly impervious against attacks composed of pure un-aspected mana, though a strong enough strike could still destabilize the armor and pierced through with force alone.
[Cracked Phantom Armor] was everything Matt hoped for and more. The original [Phantom Armor] was a stored skill meant as a life-saving measure, and its conversion into a channeling skill was just as resistant but permanently active.
Matt was happy he had chosen to take the risk and swipe the skill shard. Even if he didn’t get more mana at Tier 3, he would still be able to improve his mastery with the skill and, therefore, its effectiveness. It would be a slow process, but he could put in the hard work.
Feeling like he was floating on air, Matt went to the training room and sparred with the training aids until almost 9:00 p.m. With [Cracked Phantom Armor] active, he was able to trade blow for blow with the Tier 2 training aid. What would have been deep cuts were turned into light scratches and bruises instead of broken bones.
He felt like a new man.
While eating, Matt reviewed the information Melinda had sent him. With that and the official guide, he felt ready for tomorrow.
5
Matt stood in front of the rift and just stared at it. It was a jagged tear in the fabric of reality, at least to his spiritual sense. It was only a slight shimmer to his physical senses, like a multi-colored heat haze.
Wrongness, hate, and discontent screamed back at him. He wasn't sure if that was what everyone felt, or if it stemmed from his loathing of the things that ravaged his city and slaughtered his parents.
The rift was enclosed in a building with three guards, two melee and one ranged fighter ready for a rift break. It was redundant. This rift was delved so often it needed extra mana added to it just to keep it from dissipating.
At least the Empire has more sense than the Junipers.
Matt pushed thoughts of the local nobles who ruled Lilly out of his mind. He drew his sword off his back and braced himself.
