Chapter 227

Chapter 227

Reality rippled around Matt as the Ascension flooded the planet with energy and he delved into the depths of his spirit. He dove past his cores and Talents, yet intertwined with them, following the meditation and practice Luna had guided them in. His awareness expanded into a white hole, unleashing an Endless amount of mana into his surroundings.

Knowing he was limited on time, Matt started to get to work.

Concept, Intent, Aspect.

The three portions of a Domain, and he was inside his Concept, wanting to build his Intent. There were a number of ways to actually do so, and Matt considered his plans as he began.

Technically, he could start with any portion of the Intent, his Phrase, Image, or Anchor, but he always considered himself a visual person. And frankly, he had no idea what his Phrase was. So, he decided to try and figure out his Image, or possibly Anchor, though the latter was a long shot. He had ideas, of course. His sword, his mana-concentrating mana stone, his heart of the black hole, his house the list was endless.

But that would be easier to test after Tier 20, when trying the wrong item wouldnt kill him. For now, he just wanted to get a vague idea of his image. Something that might work. And considering his end goal of solving his mana concentration issue, the obvious idea was a black hole.

He wouldnt be able to really try to form it, and to be safe, he was going to step back as soon as he felt any level of willpower overuse, but he could still get some information by figuring out if his spirit resonated with or rejected the image.

With that in mind, Matt imagined a massive black hole, the other side of his white hole, eternally pulling in all of its surroundings, pulling in mana and crunching it down into a single point. Endlessly absorbing, endlessly condensing.

And. nothing.

It wasnt a rejection, which was good, but Luna had warned him that something like this might happen. Hed hoped that it might actually be easy for once, but logic told him that making an Intent that was the absolute antithesis of your Concept would outright fail. It simply would not be a possible next step to ones Domain. But if he could frame it as a complimentary-yet-opposite next step, it was certainly possible.

It would just be hard.

And, from the looks of it, hed need to establish more resonance with his spirit while utilizing his anchor and phrase if he wanted to try and make a black hole his image.

Still, he didnt want to give up quite yet, so he instead tried imagining the moment after a supernova, the largest explosions in the universe Well, the largest natural explosions in the universe, when unimaginable amounts of mass and energy were collapsing, pressing in on themselves to fall into a singularly infinitely dense point.

He imagined his spirit wavering slightly, but with a sigh, he released the attempt. Even with the energy of the Ascension suffusing his very being, the image simply refused to materialize.

Not wishing to waste the opportunity hed been given, he started cycling through different possible images from his list, testing for any level of compatibility.

The unimaginable pressure of a planet's core, boundless physical strength, an unbreaking bulwark for his friends, an eternal sentinel, an unstoppable force, an eternal cry that he was more than simply his mana, a liquid drop of mana falling through the sky, mana sparking and becoming essence, a beam of light piercing the boundless sky, his mana flooding out and powering the world, an endless arsenal of talismans, eternal rivers of fire and lightning and ice and storms, the Empire growing and lasting forever, his house, countless stars in the sky, a white hole creating matter, a star burning forever with essence at its core, a never-dying flame, Minkalla and its ever-shifting tests, an everlasting winter, eternal night, everlasting day, a never-ceasing storm, an impossibly deep ocean, the infinity of space, the everlasting circle of life, him with a halo, forming his armor around himself, handing out mana stones to those around him, forming a rift within the palm of his hand

On and on it went. Some fit well, others were immediately rejected, and slowly, Matt built up an idea of possible ways that he might be able to take his Intent.

It all depended on the rest of his Intent, of course. Low-compatibility images could click into place with the right phrase and anchor, and even the most promising images may not work with phrases and anchors of his choice. And even something that felt promising could fail when truly put to the test, but he wouldnt be able to know that until he attempted to form his Intent with purpose. Considering he would be risking death to push that far at Tier 13, he had no inclination of doing so now.

Travis and Keith had what they suspected were good and likely-compatible Intent portions already, and were utilizing this Ascension to feel out their compatibility as a unit. Matt had a much easier job in that he was simply feeling out a single portion, but he wanted to try and make as much progress on that portion as was safe.

Matt picked one of his images that had resonated with him the most, albeit the most ambitious one, and sank into deep concentration. It was a nigh-impossible idea, but he would be an Ascender, doing the impossible was his entire purpose.

All Domains had some level of throughline. Most either narrowed to a single point or expanded their scope and intention in some way, while others meandered like a river or literally built upon one another. It was that last type that Matt was aiming for here and now.

After all, his Concept was a white hole, and he knew of exactly one white hole in the entire realm: at the heart of Minkalla, powering the entire world. And so, he would attempt to make Minkalla itself.

Of course, attempting to recreate the ever-changing planet in its entirety would, even if it did work, would simply result in a muddled and unfocused Intent that would theoretically be an excellent base to develop into any number of potent abilities, but would, in practice, simply be so generic as to be useless. Similar fates had befallen people who attempted to create reality Domains or magic Domains. Attempting to do everything was the same as attempting to do nothing, and even less effective.

But, the framework of Minkalla, what it represented, was perfect for Matt.

It was a place of improvement, an entity which could never be truly predicted. Seven floors and seven abilities was probably a bit too ambitious, but the core idea could work.

After all, his Talent allowed him to do practically anything, which meant he was spoiled for choice most of the time. But even then, he still had his preferred styles that he liked to use.

If he could establish some form of mode-shifting within his Intent, where with meditation he could change the abilities he had access to, he could come into each situation with a new set of powers. Modular Domains were a known phenomenon, if rare, and while usually associated with an armory or library of some kind, there was no reason he couldnt be as Limitless as Minkalla if he set it as his goal.

Of course, Intents were as limitless as Concepts, in theory, and while the abilities they granted tended to be much more potent and comprehensive than their predecessors, it was as hard, if not harder, to expand their abilities into something unrelated to their initial gifts.

A flexible, modular Intent, meanwhile, would make him much more capable of doing anything. Perhaps not all at once, but he could live with that.

He needed mana Concentration? That could be one of his powers. Would he need to make his skills able to handle more mana? Another setting of his Intent. Making his armor as resilient as possible? Just develop a new floor and activate it.

His main struggle would be the incredible difficulty with establishing a modular domain. Everyone wanted one, but few possessed the compatibility or right framework to do it. Matt was, in his own estimation, in a perfect situation to deal with both of the problems.

That didnt mean hed succeed, but he wanted to give it a shot with the Ascension to assist him.

There was no reason not to shoot for the stars, after all.

He might just hit them.

Using his Concept and its white hole as the metaphorical core, he started to recreate Minkalla in his own Image.

First was the white hole itself. That was simple enough, only requiring his Concept as a base. From there, a pillar of indestructible crystal stretched out from the center, which he thought of as a channel for the Intent's power.

Next, he started building the rest of the planet around the idea that there were multiple distinct floors that could be changed or put away at a whim. As he tried to solidify that idea, the entire structure of the Intent's Image fell apart, and he was forced to start over.

This time. he pondered what Minkalla actually did with the floors it wasnt using.

He had seen the planet as it changed cycles. and knew that it absorbed the floors, but that didnt explain what it did with that much mass.

It took him a few minutes, but he realized his understanding was probably wrong. Minkalla wasnt pulling floors out of nowhere. It wasnt even made of floors, not how he thought of them, at least.

Inside Minkalla, everything felt like a solid entity, but it wasnt. That was an illusion built by the floor themes and interconnected ruins. A floor of Minkalla was a theme placed over the floor that changed the rules of that floor. He didnt need the floors of his Intent to change out like pieces of a puzzle, but rather he needed them to be able to accept any theme he placed over them.

Starting over, he started to sketch the outline of a planet surrounding his Concept and filled it in with floors that could channel power through their layouts. The deeper the floor, the more dense the power, and therefore, more potent, letting him recreate a facsimile of Minkalla and its increasing rewards for deeper floors.

He struggled on actually making the idea of floors that channeled power, but eventually had the idea to make the floors shifting containers, not unlike the ruins in Minkalla. But instead of ruin filled monsters, he made each ruin a rune.

Between talismans and general enchanting, Matt had come to both appreciate runecraft and love its possibilities. Making each floor a dense network of runes both fit him and worked on a more practical level. Denser clusters of runes were generally more powerful than widespread runic structures, which gave him the framework to build the idea that the deeper the floor he put an Intent power on, the more powerful it would be.

Still, he wasnt having any luck getting his spirit to accept or reject anything beyond the pillar of indestructible crystal encasing his Concept, but there was enough stirring to indicate that there was something there for him.

But given how little energy was remaining in his spirit, the Ascension was coming to an end. Some other time, hed give his phrase and anchor some effort, but before he finished, there was just one idea he wanted to test.

Hed had the humorous idea that he could just take Minkalla itself as his Anchor, but that would be a bad idea, even if it were possible. Whatever he chose would have to have a weaker and smaller spirit than he did, which the massive planet certainly didnt.

It didnt matter, though, as even meditating on the idea of making Minkalla his anchor, even a Created simulacrum, was firmly rejected by his spirit. Even if it was possible, it seemed that it wouldnt be a good fit for him.

As he woke up, he found himself still sitting on the couch with Liz and Aster next to him and curled on his lap respectively. Keith was next to him on the other side, with Erin and Daniel farther down on the couch.

Spreading his spiritual sense, he found the others who had clearly finished up sitting in the kitchen chatting. He couldn't hear anything, but figured they had sent up a soundproofing barrier to give the rest of them their privacy.

Checking the time, he found that close to a day had passed, but despite that, Matt felt good.

Joining the others, Matt was almost immediately given a plate of food from Leah, who asked, How did it go?

Matt nodded even as he shoveled a forkful of potatoes into his face. Good. I managed to find a resonant image, and while I was only able to get the very start of it established, I have a fairly decent idea about potential ways my Image could go. No luck with a phrase or anchor though.

Mara pouted as she stored a pile of food back into her spatial ring, while Leon just pushed a glass of lemonade to Matt. Care to share?

After he swallowed his next mouthful, he explained his thought process with his Intent's Image.

While impressed with his ambition, their primary reaction matched that of Lunas, reiterating that he needed to be extremely careful until at least Tier 20. Matt assured them that yes, he wasnt interested in killing himself, and turned the question around, asking if theyd had any luck with their own Domains. He was met with predominantly shaking heads.

Leah sensed she was close to finishing her Aspect, and just needed to find a suitable phrase. She had compatible pieces of everything else required, but hadnt hit upon the right phrase to make everything resonate with the other components.

She didnt seem worried, and neither did anyone else, which matched with Matts recollection that a lot of Tier 45 and 46 individuals were working on getting their Aspect, so they could safely ascend and keep advancing.

Aster woke up not much later, joining the group at the table, and was immediately served a dish courtesy of Leon.

Ive got good direction for my phrase, something like The Bitter Cold, and a few other backups in case it isnt compatible with the other parts.

Allie generally left such speculation to the professionals, but had to wonder if he was selling the shares for a reason, or if it was a diversion. She had offered the idea that he wanted out of the entire business, but Zack and the other analysts had disregarded that idea, as Frederic wasnt selling enough to indicate such.

He had close to eight percent of his family's wealth in mana storage centers due to his fathers, and his own, efforts in buying small interests in almost every company with mana storage capabilities. To directly undo that work himself seemed contradictory to his own motives, and the leading theory was that he was getting out of specific mana storage centers, not all of them.

Allie wanted to dig into the situation and see if they found anything juicy, like an affair, child, or corruption. If they found that kind of dirt, things could get interesting.

Not that she'd actually get to do the blackmailing, but it would still be fun to be a part of it.

Anything interesting? Zack joined her, but from the way his eyes were flicking, she was confident that he was already reviewing their logs.

Nothing. The entire city went quiet for most of a day, and then the higher Tiers woke up faster than everyone else. Everything is normal.

Zack flicked a finger and set a recording of two higher Tiers breaking into a shop and pilfering a load of weapons and armor. This isn't interesting to you?

Allie shrugged. Not really. It's clearly an inside job. Insurance fraud, I'd bet, but really could be anything. If not insurance fraud, it's the owner's kid doing the robbing. Look at how quickly they hit the place and leave, but also manage to avoid the bait gear. I reported it as possible blackmail material, but otherwise, it's meh.

Zack eventually agreed, but then brought up a ship orbiting in space. Like so many others in the system, it was a repurposed food hauler meant to move mid to high Tier foodstuffs from the outskirts of the Empire inward, where the populations gathered.

Did you see that this hauler continued moving operations while the ascension was underway? His question was a good one, as the event had been an oddity, but one she had looked over.

Nothing there. Captain of the boat just formed her Intent last week and decided to work while everyone else was conked out. She cleared it with local space and air control, with the promise shed personally be piloting each carrier remotely. She got a fat bonus for the timely drop off by the company, and dropped off the smuggled goods easily. Before he could ask what smuggled goods the captain had brought in, she flicked a finger bringing up the relevant file. She was smuggling a number of those [Flexibility] skill shards from the Clans. Nothing really interesting.

Zack settled back and sighed with her.

Well, at least we get to watch the kids again. It was fun, last time, and we never know if there will be someone interesting coming up the Path.

Allie groaned. Ugh. Speak for yourself. I just want this whole tour to be done, or at the very least give us something interesting. Maybe something in the Federation, or the Sects? Its just not the same without the thrill of death.

Zack shrugged. We will return to more thrilling assignments in time, you know why management is keeping us here.

Allie summoned her dagger and flicked it into a set-up target. Yeah, and Im sick of being stuck on information gathering. Low-level information gathering, at that.

With an effort of will, she ripped the dagger out of the target and called it back to her hand before throwing it once more.

Yes, well, once the war starts well be plenty busy.

Allie tipped her chair and let herself fall all the way back to the floor, where she lay just looking at the ceiling.

She hated it when Zack was right.

Yeah. Yeah, we will. And I certainly dont want it to come faster, but

Zack interrupted her. Did you see the report that Mara and Leons youngest is getting married?

Allie perked up and jumped to her feet. She had not seen that, and it seemed like prime gossip.

Shes already Tier 15? Allie was pretty sure that wasn't the case, as she had seen the girl just ten or so years ago at the Tier 10 Pather Tournament they had spied on. There was no way the girl was Tier 15 already, and noble families, even the non-hereditary types, adhered to the Tier 15 marriage age. So either the girl was bucking tradition, or had a serious red flag.

Both seemed promising.

No, shes mid Tier 13, though the wedding isnt going to be for a few decades. Apparently, her and her now-fiance went into Minkalla two cycles ago, probably either at peak eleven or mid twelve. Either way, they got their faces heartily kicked in and ducked out after the fourth floor.

Ah, that would do it. Bit of a brush with mortality, wanted to tie the knot quickly?

That, and her partner has a bond. Ice fox, smart for her Tier by all reports. Theyll be stepping off the Path at Tier 15 when she goes off to the Academy, and my guess is theyll be getting married right before then.

Oooh, that was a brutal Minkalla cycle. The Sword Chick, PenBoy, and Spicy Whatever Her Name Is, no wonder they got out early.

Her partner had been in charge of that information gathering, and she was now curious.

Queen, Quill, and Torch, yes. First, anything actionable about Elizabeth? Zack prodded her.

Hmm. Oh, thats odd.

Zack raised an eyebrow, and she elaborated, Theres a pretty straightforward paper trail following them for most of their careers on the Path, though a little messy, and they participated in a lot of low-Tier training events. But after they took part in a training war in one of the vassal kingdoms, the number of events with any records drops dramatically.

You think it might be fabricated?

If it is, its beautifully done. There are even just enough missing records as to be believable, and not in any kind of pattern either. They just have far, far fewer confirmed public events since then just the tournament. Any records of them actually going into Minkalla?

Zack shook his head. No leaks of entry records in the past century. Its only a bit of family gossip that indicates that they were in Minkalla, not that thats much of a surprise.

Still. Its interesting. They dont have a manager, so a quiet trip to Minkalla is a bit unusual. Well, it might be worth passing word along to a team to sniff them out. Corruption on the Path could certainly be an interesting tidbit to pass along, especially after that inspiring speech by Tallow. Now can we talk about the Mightier?

The Mightier?

Well you know, the pen is mightier than the sword, and a torch that burns twice as bright burns for half as long and royals are strong? And theyre all really strong. It checks out!

Zack massaged his temples, You didnt think that through at all, did you?

She had, actually. And it had worked perfectly. No comment. Have there been any other sightings of our little threesome?

Not since Queens last tournament, no. Presumably, theyll be on the planet somewhere for the Ascension. Assuming it was Quill who had an inspiration after completing Minkalla-

It totally was. You saw the reports. Luna herself, blocking the inspiration? She retired centuries ago, who else would they have dragged her out for if not for scalding letters?

Assuming it was Quill who had an inspiration while leaving Minkalla, we would expect them to be about peak Tier 13, if trying to push their advantage, or mid Tier 13 if stalling.

And let me guess, nobody matches that description on the planet?

Zack just raised an eyebrow. Do you hear yourself? There are six billion, four hundred and seventeen million, nine hundred Tier 13's here currently. I

Okay! I get it, theres too many people they could be. Bleh. Not that it would actually help, all of these sightings are basically just gossip fodder, not

Not what you expected youd be doing when you agreed to this post?

Exactly!

Torch, Quill, and Queen were high on their, and everyone else's, priority to dig up information. Two separate elite teams who entered Minkalla together at Tier 11 and emerged a substantial way into Tier 12, probably, but the Empire had done a remarkable job at keeping their whereabouts quiet in the aftermath. If there were any records of them leaving the Minkalla system, they werent anywhere that they had access to. Even in her most recent tournament, Queen had withheld enough of her capabilities while utterly dominating her competition that nobody could tell when she had Tiered up inside the Forge.

Strength of extra Concept powers was a great indicator, but only until they started to strengthen said Concepts themselves.

She personally suspected they had gotten to the seventh floor before having to Tier up. Everything their information channels said the final floors of that cycle were a dumpster fire of teams killing each other, after being bottled up on a fourth floor Courtly Warfare.

Before she could get lost in her daydream, Zack pulled her back to work.

Help me go through the information about the Tier 10 Pathers. Our scanners got a lot of good passive body scans, which we can use to try and match with other information.

Trying to avoid the unfun part of the job, she made an attempt at distraction. Want me to go get us something to drink?

Zack pointed his finger and summoned a pitcher of energy drink. Outsmarted but content, she poured herself a cup of the colorful liquid and sighed at the intense flavors.

Flipping through the information, she started creating profiles for each of the Pathers and then compared those profiles to what Zack made, then added their combined profiles to their spies profiles.

Sadly, no one in this batch of Pathers even seemed interesting, which put a damper on her excitement.

At least their last Pather mission had had three standouts.

Still, work was work, and Allie was good at her job.

She just couldnt wait until it got fun again.