C_Mantis

Aster Plushie Launch!

Mid break surprise!

We have Aster plushies and they look great so if you want to get one you can pick it and a Biscuit from Hell Difficulty Tutorial at https://www.makeship.com/products/the-path-of-ascension-aster-plushie


You can check out his post (2026-02-14 02:06:27 +0000 UTC View Post

Patreon pause effective tomorrow.

Okay I’m going to take a month break.

I’m not quitting or anything, I just need a bit more than a week off (what I realistically get when I take a normal break and accounting for pre and post prep) after going strong for the last four years.

I want to make sure the next chapters/arc lives up to everyone's imaginations and I’d rather delay slightly than write something ‘bad’ that I regret later. I always hate when shows and such take a hard dip in creatively rath...

Chapter 483

Sorry about the sudden notice but I’m going to pause the Patreon for a month and take a bit of a longer break before we get into the upcoming arc. The story will continue but I acknowledge that I need a longer break and the best way to do so with the Pateron model is to pause payment for a month, so that’s what I’m going to do.

I’ll have more information about pausing at the end of chapter note but here is the link: 2026-01-16 19:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 482

Chapter 482

Mathew flinched away, confused before he saw the message Matt was now very glad he’d sent. From there, his motion reversed as he pulled Matt into a hug.

When they pulled apart, they simply swapped and Matt gave Melinda a hard squeeze as well before letting go and stepping back.

“Fancy seeing you guys down here.” Liz mirrored Melinda and Mathew’s earlier stance, threading her arm through Matt’s.

Nodding unashamedly, Melinda explained, “We ...

Chapter 481

Chapter 481

It didn’t take long for the first wave of explorers to return to their home stations once they reached settled space. Even the oldest immortals wanted to return home after more than five hundred years of absence, but it still took time for them to travel. Instead of rushing, they decided to wait, and the moment they got confirmation Lila had returned to her guild, Allie gathered everyone and teleported them over.

Matt expected a content and happy Lila, but wha...

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 hi...

Chapter 479

I really need to take more time off this break next year. I never get anything done during the break I say I will. I hope everyone had a good holiday season. 

Anywho, 9k chapter. Enjoy.

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Chapter 479

“Can I assume he's providing said mana against his will?”

JR nodded without hesitation. “Most definitely."

Hearing that caused the kernel of fear to blossom into a nugget of red hot rage as another bit of information suddenly made a lot more...

Chapter 478

10k chapter. I'll see everyone on the 2nd, enjoy.

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Chapter 478

Emmanuel exited his final rift with a sense of anticipation he hadn’t felt since he took the throne. They were done, and he could finally escape this prison. 

With a wave, he obliterated the Tier 48 rift, officially ending his delving.

The only one who was already finished was Tobias, but Emmanuel had already come to expect that and didn’t comment as he joined the turtle. Silent coe...

Chapter 477

Chapter 477

After a decade of campaigning Matt, Liz, Aster, Allie, Zack, the contingent of dukes, various CEO’s, guild leaders, and lower ranking nobles slowly but surely climbed up the palace's stairs in sync with sunrise. They were following customs older than the Empire itself, but that didn’t make them any less important. With not one, but two teams of Ascenders leading the procession they could have broken the tradition, but opening themselves up to unnecessary critiques...

Chapter 476

Chapter 476

Stepping through a [Portal] to the suite they were using as a base after his final interview, Matt arrived to find several of his co-conspirators lounging around the common area. Not that they weren’t working, rather, they were busy communicating with one of the many concerned parties after his latest round of interviews.

They’d planned for three, but they’d gathered more steam than expected, and they were hoping to use that to break the unified wall array...

Chapter 475

Chapter 475

After agreeing to work together, Matt and Liz spent a few days preparing before they grabbed a few of their people and joined the nobles on their way to the Capital.

One of those preparations was Matt trying to get Aster to join them. However, she was mid-experiment trying to formulate a stable Level five ‘Space Ice’ mana, and didn’t want to waste the travel time actually traveling. He, along with Zack and Titan’s Torch, helped as much as they could, but...

Chapter 474

Chapter 474

Opening a [Portal] for Liz, the two of them stepped through his second [Portal], arriving next to the luxury yacht that was now orbiting Palustris.

Through their physical contact, Liz privately commented, “Well, aren’t they the definition inconspicuous.”

Knowing what Liz really meant, he replied the same way as a hatch opened up. “It's not forcing our hand, but if we end up disagreeing with them or not working together, it won't be as quiet as if t...

Chapter 473

Chapter 473

Upon coming back from their exploration, Matt experienced time in a way he hadn't before.

The ten years they spent taking over for their seneschal's was as easy as continuing the tasks already underway. While he and Liz had their own thoughts and plans, they needed their own breaks. As such, they implemented things with their seneschal’s identities, not officially letting their vassals know they had returned.

Both the smart and deceitful ones got the wor...

Chapter 472

Enjoy.

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Chapter 472

Having dealt with their ship based obligations, Matt observed the planet burning beneath him. That was good, and seeing it himself finally removed the small nagging voice that had started whispering in his ear any moment that became too quiet, after seeing people fighting over the Crystal aspected world.

Allie didn’t immediately teleport away as Matt expected she would. Instead, she flopped into Aster and went boneless. “I’m teleport...

Chapter 471

Chapter 471

Allie groaned as she slumped in her chair, panting heavily. Sure, fanning herself with Aster's tail was pure theatrics but Matt still made a note to make her a nice basket of pastries in a few months when things died down. She deserved it after her efforts in teleporting them and their items around.

From their chats in recent days they’d long since planned their steps upon returning but they had one important thing to do as the location of their loot was revea...

Chapter 470

Chapter 470

Tim gasped as he came up for air and consciousness flooded back to him.

Spluttering, he found himself in a tub full of ice, melted to the point it felt like slush.

The air was somehow colder than the water, but as Tim tried to pull himself out, he quickly discovered whatever burst of strength had pulled him out of his fugue had been as ephemeral as his memory.

Concentrating as hard as he could, he commanded his hand to grab the edge of the tub, but h...

Chapter 469

8k chapter part 2 Electric Boogaloo.

Enjoy.

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Chapter 469

Matt’s form changed as he responded to the newest incursion from what they were calling the Sword Sect.

That was to differentiate them from the Flying Sect, which was one of the two aerial-based teams still in the running. There had been a third from the Clans, but they made the mistake of clashing with the Monster Collective Swarm team.

No one had known they'd done it, but however ...

Chapter 468

8k chapter!

Enjoy.

***

Chapter 468

Entering the strange realm, Matt could have been convinced he was Tier 11 and back inside Minkalla.

After a moment, a pulse of light washed through the world and Matt found himself floating beside the rest of his team, but still unable to move or coordinate.

None of them had bodies but he could feel each of their minds, which made it very obvious who was who and he was happy to see the whole team, including the crew...

Chapter 467

Note/reminder: We will be taking a break on the 26th and the 28th of December for my birthday. That means 478 will be the last chapter for the year on the 22nd, and we resume with 479 on January 2nd. After that there shouldn’t be any (planned) breaks after this for a while.

***

Enjoy.

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Chapter 467

Hearing that people might fight and ruin an aspected world only weeks after having seen what such fights resulted in, Matt’s still simmering anger blossom...

Chapter 466

Chapter 466

When they arrived at their target world they were immediately accosted.

In rapid-fire Guild, the Tier 34 started barking at them, “The Deathly Due’s guild is in command of this world and its strange realms. We are charging anyone who wants to use one of the strange realms. We—”

Hearing the shakedown start to really get going, Matt tuned the man out, inspecting the two strange realms. 

The first was the most popular, judging by the teams ...

Chapter 465

Note/reminder: We will be taking a break on the 26th and the 28th of December for my birthday. That means 478 will be the last chapter for the year on the 22nd, and we resume with 479 on January 2nd. After that there shouldn’t be any (planned) breaks after this for a while.

***

Chapter 465

Not willing to blow their covers for a single person out of a group, they allowed the Tier 32 to ‘subdue’ them. They put up a token resistance, but quickly capitulated as he w...

Chapter 464

Chapter 464

After two weeks of ‘relaxation’ in the rift instance they were hiding in, everyone packed up their various workstations and prepared to blend in with the exploration groups outside.

Matt felt he’d made significant progress with his mana tests.

Taking inspiration from the same original strange realm mana storage gems that caught his eye, the researchers who discovered that a particular mana weave barrier could increase mana throughput had never been a...

Chapter 463

Chapter 463

Matt's only thought as they stepped into the barrier was that it felt far larger than it had any right to be. He didn’t think it was only a spatial expansion, but he was fairly sure there was a perception distortion making the moment stretch into taffy.

It was almost like entering an isolation chamber and, in the emptiness, becoming hyper aware of oneself.

Reality reasserted itself as Matt felt his outstretched hand breach the other side of the ruin’s ...

Chapter 462

(Old note)Because I forgot last chapter here it is. The gang’s hopefully spoiler free character sheets(Defined by what the reader/cast would know):  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rp7INBG0Fq82Mb0kA8iL4lAcj-5mNzhHcLWzn3_fVx4

***

Chapter 462

Matt along with everyone else in their group prepared for a battle as Rah paused the moment ...

Chapter 461

Chapter 461

Matt’s anticipation of Aster’s reaction was spot on.

“How?! I was so fast. I broke out of every illusion as fast as possible. Or did you fail?”

Aster’s face fell in a burst of worry as she landed on the final possibility. The expression faded as quickly as it appeared when she inspected their bond, her eyes narrowing.

Seeing that, she went right back to her earlier indignation. “You’re smug as shit, there is no way you failed. You must ...

Chapter 460

NOTE: At the end of this mini arc (for the the Tier 15 pats), 470 (Nov 17th), I intend to take a small break on the 21st and 24th of November. After that we should have no more breaks until my birthday/christmas/new-year break at the end of the year. 

***

Chapter 460

The oddities in the breach bubble didn’t stop when they reached their next world.

Not because there was anything strange on the Tier 9 world, it didn’t even have a ruin, let alone a strange...

Chapter 459

Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 459

Having been given a warning on such behavior, Matt didn’t immediately return to working on his mana project, no matter how much he wanted to. He still had plenty of ideas he wanted to test thanks to the information packs Titan’s Torch had been able to pass back to him during Allie’s trips back to settled space.

He would have loved nothing more than to dive back in and see if there was any way he could copy the strange rea...

Chapter 458

NOTE: At the end of this mini arc (for the the Tier 15 pats), 470 (Nov 17th), I intend to take a small break on the 21st and 24th of November. After that we should have no more breaks until my birthday/christmas/new-year break at the end of the year. 

***

(Old)Note, a slightly longer chapter to make up for the shorter intro.

Enjoy.

***

Chapter 458

Matt cursed as one of the slivers of shattered space carved a path through his chest. He sprinted w...

Chapter 457

Chapter 457

Gervásio Mendes froze with everyone else in the pagoda as twelve new presences appeared in low orbit over the breachpoint. Ships had been arriving hourly and were mostly ignored unless they were Tier 35 or higher. A brief scan was normally all any group earned, but this was twelve people arriving where they shouldn’t have been. And as such, they got extra scrutiny.

While he himself kept out of it, content with observing from a distance, most didn’t feel the...

Chapter 456

I hope you guys had as much fun with this book as I did.

***

Chapter 456

Emmanuel stood above the wreckage of a continent larger than most star systems, surrounded by clouds of silver mist that hemmed them in. The result of the boss trying to trap him, which continued despite its death. 

The boss of this Tier 47 rift wasn’t in and of itself impressive, but its likely rewards looked spectacular, which was why Emmanuel had been running it. He’d even gotte...