C_Mantis

Chapter 397

Chapter 397

Matt felt like he was walking on air as they exited the rift, and even Luna’s appearance while looking them up and down and circling them did nothing to ruin his mood.

Sending her a recording of their boss fight, Matt enjoyed the brief micro expressions that slipped through her control.

Aster laughed out loud in a sharp barking sound that almost sounded like she was in her fox form. “Oh, your face. You never expected us to do it, did you?” <...

Chapter 396

I just want to state that I hear the comments about the delving feeling like it's more lack of progress. That's not what I intended but if it's coming across that way it's good to know. I wanted to show some delving since we didn’t do so for so long but with the feedback in mind this will be the last delving we have for a while as the out of rift story beats start progressing.

Enjoy.

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Chapter 396

Despite the fantastic start to their delves, things quick...

Chapter 395

Chapter 395

Palustris, being a Tier 27 world, wasn’t exactly ideal to delve at with their abilities. But if they didn’t delve it while they were Tier 26 or Tier 27, they wouldn't get to delve it at all, so it was very much a now or never situation.

The planet did have Tier 28 rifts, but only a few, as any rift that was allowed to advance had to be a fire aspected rift. Then, any rift that was Tiered up had to remain fire aspected, meaning the actual amount of Tier 2...

Chapter 394

Chapter 394

They had been gone for a little more than a year and work had piled up, all of which needed to be cleared out before they could dive back into delving. The moment they arrived home, they all split up, having decided to dedicate a month to catching up before going back to advancing.

The first thing he and Liz did was visit their capital island, which was still floating in the ocean. 

Isabella and Cato both immediately went to check in on their resp...

Chapter 393

Tier 1 paterons read this: I’ve been sick all week and so I’ll be taking monday off to catch up on all the writing I didn’t get done. Sorry about this but I didn’t want to just not put out a chapter with no warning so taking monday off and burning a backlog chapter for today. I’m starting to feel better so it should only be a single missed chapter but ultimately writing is a thinking man's game and I just can't think well enough to write a good chapter right now.

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Cha...

Chapter 392

Chapter 392

Matt frowned as he watched the ongoing scene below the surface with his spiritual power.

The Empire's people were almost uniformly going in the wrong direction. If he was a more cynical man, he would have suspected that someone was messing with them. But even the Corporation people seemed to be heading in the wrong direction, if less so than the Empire’s people, thanks to their initial coordination between scouts.

Looking over to Aster who was snacki...

Chapter 391

6.5k chapter today. Enjoy.

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Chapter 391

Having settled on an initial method of settling the ownership of the planet, Matt did something he didn’t think he’d ever end up actually doing.

Leaning into his Ascender status.

They needed a lot of people to contend with the masses of Corporations mercenaries and the few tens of thousands that had gathered at Duke Plessi’s call weren't nearly enough.

At least not for the type of competition they ...

Chapter 390

Chapter 390

Head down, they delved for another five years.

They wanted to delve more to advance further, but they were called up by the army.

A Tier 15 world had drifted between Corporations territory and Empire territory, and both sides were claiming it.

They, being the highest combat prowess Ascenders available, were being asked to lead the expedition.

Lila, Aiden, Allie, and even Zack had declined the duty already, and since they were out of the off...

Chapter 389

Chapter 389

Aster's capital world was… interesting.

That was the best word Matt could describe it with, no matter how many times he visited.

When he and Liz had been slated a fire aspected world, Aster had been dreaming of an ice version, but that was so improbable it may as well be impossible given that there weren’t any known ice aspected worlds over Tier 15, which would have been the absolute minimum for a primary ducal capital. 

She had mostly t...

Chapter 388

Chapter 388

When Matt arrived back at Palustris he was immediately greeted by Liz, who hugged him before they shared a long kiss just enjoying being back near each other.

They didn’t give themselves the time they would have liked to enjoy each other's presence, however, and Liz got right to business just a moment later. “Anything you didn’t mention in the Ascender chat?”

“Not really, but I have been thinking about everything as I flew back. Something tha...

Chapter 387

Chapter 387

The Dobrescu duchy was a two month jaunt across the Empire, but that was only because Matt was able to use a real space crossing they controlled to cover most of the distance. A border duchy between Rusty’s and Harper’s respective kingdoms, they were in a strategic economic zone for goods that came from the border regions to the Capital.

Something they had done as much as possible to take advantage of their various shipping ventures that moved goods ...

Chapter 386

Chapter 386

The following week passed far too slowly for Matt’s liking, but he understood it was a hectic one for his lawyers.

He hadn’t seen a single one of them drop below their maximum perception speed for even a second while they got the guild ready for the metaphorical war they were about to enter.

And war it would be.

Falker Industries seemed determined to prove that they had independently developed the engine with such fervor that Johannes feared ...

Chapter 385

Chapter 385

Matt stood amongst the flames of another burned out thieves guild and pondered just what exactly he had been finding.

This was his tenth raid on those who had hit the cargo ships, but so far, each of them had only been fed details on one of the aura potion shipments, with no information about the supplier or that multiple shipments’ information had been sold. Any thief with a brain would naturally think twice before stealing something that could be conside...

Chapter 384

Chapter 384

Hearing that over a dozen of their aura shipments had been hit immediately set alarm bells ringing, and Matt flew down to their floating island that was currently pretending to be a more standard island on one of Palustris’ seas as it was being renovated.

Liz was already there and waiting for him, which meant he couldn’t even really enjoy Palustris as he descended to ground level.

Matt hadn’t expected how much he liked seeing something under his ...

Chapter 383

Chapter 383

While Ra’thala was being questioned and interrogated by the people Matt had assigned to work on the tentatively named ‘Skills for All’ task force, Matt had other things to work on at the guild.

He would much rather help with the skills project than essentially slam his head against the wall, but he so rarely had time to work on his sword that he couldn’t justify putting it off any longer. 

The idea had started as part of an idle conversati...

Chapter 382

Also fyi this book is about to start speeding up but wanted to slow roll the new guy but this arc is going to start kicking into gear.

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Chapter 382

Ra’thala couldn't help but look to where Ascender Shadow, Allie, had vanished. He and Ascender Titan, Matt, were dozens, if not hundreds of planets away at the Ascender’s own fiefdom and traveling to his guild, but none of that was at the front of his mind.

Like a specter of the night that sought to take h...

Chapter 381

Chapter 381

Matt had to rein himself in after their spar with Ra’thala, and he could tell that everyone else felt the same way.

The fight had been so… different, they all wanted to go another round or five.

Ra’thala’s spells felt unique, and each cast carried with it a surprise as their patterns of energy differed from what they were used to, not to mention just how strong some of the spells were.

His big attack that warped both time an...

Chapter 380

Chapter 380

Rusty watched as a dozen people filed into his throne room. Next to him were Frederic and Tur'stal to round out the meeting. Now that the Emperor had stated this was his final offer to the Knight revival program, they were either going to move forward or the effort would die here.

It had taken almost fifty years after they officially presented the proposal to reach a hopefully mutually acceptable agreement. But now, it was time to convince the ...

Chapter 379

Chapter 379

Ra’thala had never minded fights, spars, battles, or even death feuds where only one side could walk away. They were a part of gathering power and influence. Friendly fights could also be a good way to learn about someone, and these Ascenders seemed interesting.

If he was understanding the bits and pieces of information he had picked up correctly, these people were the strongest fighters in this Realm at their cultivation level. That would have been reason...

Chapter 378

Chapter 378

Matt couldn't help but look at the ascender in awe as Manny talked to him. It was just so strange to think of someone ascending into their Realm.

They didn’t get many people from lower Realms, as there weren’t any Tier 25 Realms directly connected to this Realm, but they still tended to pop up every few generations as the complex currents of inter-Realm cosmology pulled someone off-course. Weirdly, they knew a lot more about higher Realms than they did l...

Chapter 377

FYI to all readers. My birthday break is coming up and this will be the schedule.

20th: Chapter
23rd: Chapter
27th: No Chapter
30th: No Chapter
3rd: Chapter

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Chapter 377

Ra’thala swallowed as he listened to headman Tiu’ja talking to the other village elders. There was an uneasy feeling lingering in his gut that told him something bad would happen today.

He didn’t know what, but it was something in the soldiers’ eyes. It was som...

Chapter 376

Chapter 376

Emmanuel stood up from his desk and stepped through space to arrive in one of the palace's personal gardens. It wasn’t one of his or Carissa's favorite ones but it was empty and he needed to think.

The Empire’s economy was… not great.

Fighting a war nearly alone against three opponents was not easy, and it surely wasn’t cheap.

They had been digging deep and at most, they had another century before they would have been forced to throw in t...

Chapter 375

FYI to all readers. My birthday break is coming up and this will be the schedule.

20th: Chapter
23rd: Chapter
27th: No Chapter
30th: No Chapter
3rd: Chapter

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Chapter 375

Returning back to Palustris, Matt immediately went to Liz and discussed Frederic’s request. In the end, they decided that it was a good idea for no other reason than to give themselves more political relevance. 

Honestly, a major portion of that was interest in ...

Chapter 374

Chapter 374

“Liz, I don't like this. It looks… dumb.”

Matt gestured at the mockup of their floating island.

In front of them lay a fully decentralized layout that looked more like an opulent estate than a proper governmental administrative center, which is what their floating island would end up needing to be.

It would be great if it was just for them and family to live on and they wanted to flaunt their power and wealth, but the island was supposed to...

Chapter 373

FYI to all readers. My birthday break is coming up and this will be the schedule.

20th: Chapter
23rd: Chapter
27th: No Chapter
30th: No Chapter
3rd: Chapter

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Chapter 373

Matt and Liz moved to meet the two Ascenders in space, but Wun Miloan skipped on golden air and arrived down at the front door of their house before they could do so.

Raising his hand, he politely knocked while pulling out a bottle of wine.

Rolling his eyes, Matt...

Chapter 372

Chapter 372

With the sects properly cowed, Matt turned to where Cui Ming and Lang Ru were convalescing.

With a step across folded space, he and Liz appeared next to them, and as the medic tending to the pair gave them space, Matt added the duo to his Concept’s whitelist. He felt Liz chortle on his shoulder at their reaction to just how much mana their spirits were suddenly being inundated with, and had his own turn to chuckle as the other phoenix Liz hopped off Liz’...

Chapter 371

FYI to all readers. My birthday break is coming up and this will be the schedule.

20th: Chapter
23rd: Chapter
27th: No Chapter
30th: No Chapter
3rd: Chapter

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Chapter 371

The Rage Within sect and Dancing Flames sect leaders floated in the middle of the valley a dozen feet from each other. There was a familiarity between the two but a tension that refused to leave, even when they were the only high-Tier allies each other had left. If Ma...

Chapter 370

Chapter 370

Matt whistled as he and Liz watched chaotic space swirl past them, letting his hand idly run through her hair as she leaned into him on the couch as they watched chaotic space pass by with their spiritual senses.

They were both in excellent moods, the ducal meeting having gone exceptionally well, contrary to their expectations. Both of them had expected some kind of incident or challenge to their authority, considering they were weaker than the typical Tier ...

Chapter 369

Chapter 369

Leon split into two and took Matt a short distance away from Liz. 

At first, Matt felt profoundly awkward about talking to Leon about the Soerilia incident. If he hadn’t come in spells blazing, Matt might have felt a little better about talking to his father-in-law as an understanding ear. But the serious King Leon was someone he wasn’t used to, and he didn’t want to explain a massive failure to him.

Still, he did it.

“I fucked up. I...

Chapter 368

Chapter 368

Stepping out of the portal, Matt let out a deep breath.

That was less than ideal. They— no, he— had fucked up, but the only thing he could do was to try not to do it again.

Checking his calendar, Matt found that Cato had cleared some of his more immediate tasks, which gave him a few days before he and Liz needed to go check in on the worlds they had received in the last decade while they were away.

Their duchy had gone from a handful of plane...