The Path of Ascension

“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 be a headquarters of their duchy and a governmental hub.

Her mockup might be imposing but it was tacky as shit and made him cringe just looking at the mock up.

Liz gestured to the mockup the design team had made for him in return.

It was a robust and imposing castle with more than enough room for a full administrative center and space for them to have a private area thanks to the battlements built right to the edge of the island.

“That's even worse. It's just a battle fort slapped onto a floating island. We are not going to live in that, let alone rule from that. There is no way. We’ve joked about being evil overlords before but if we build this, it's no longer a joke. Tacky is better than that by a mile.”

Liz glared at the castle, and Matt glared at the estates.

The designer raised a finger and pointed to one of the other prebuilt designs. “We always have the original estate version. It’s quite popular. Or one of our other, more esoteric designs.”

Liz and he both groaned at the reminder.

She had originally championed the original idea but upon seeing the layout, she had asked for a dozen ‘small’ tweaks until she ended up with the tacky estate.

Matt hadn’t minded the idea in the first place but seeing it now, he really didn’t like it.

Through his [AI], he asked Liz once more.

‘Do we want to have the house absorb whatever we end up with? If we change our minds with that, it will change what we can add to the island.’

‘No. The house is better portable. I haven’t changed my mind on that.’

Matt agreed and so let the topic drop. They had discussed it but with the size of their island if they did have the house absorb it, the house would no longer be portable in the way they wanted.

Their house was their house. It wasn’t meant to be a duchy capital and turning it into that would taint the very idea of the house.

Not that they were sure it could eat the island once it was fully fleshed out in the way a duchy capital needed to be. The island wasn’t exactly a battleship, but it had a robust defensive system built-in by default. A system which wasn’t meant to be used in war and therefore didn’t follow the typical rules of combat restrictions. If the house was able to absorb the island and the built-in shields, they would probably be lowered to a Tier 26 level, which would defeat their purpose. The Tier 45 shields might be ‘in emergency only’ use thanks to their expense but for a few hours, they could withstand even the most robust attacks from even Tier 46s.

So long as they saw the attack coming that was.

Which was why Matt wanted to just lean into that. A full defensive castle would bolster the existing defenses, allowing them better passive defenses. They wouldn’t be as vulnerable as most floating islands who could do little if their shields were down.

“But it looks incredibly tacky. I don’t want to live in that, Matt. And defenses don’t matter. Look at Duke Cumulus. Aiden killed him before anyone could raise the shields. Reaction speed means our best defenses are our own power. There is a reason most nobles don’t bother with the higher-Tier shields.”

“That's an awful argument, Liz. Or at least it doesn’t make me wanting a castle incorrect. A castle would have more passive defenses, as well as strengthen half the full defenses, which would save us from a surprise attack.”

“Any Tier 45 will blow through the building's passive defenses and anyone weaker than Tier 40, our guards can handle. It's not necessary. This is a bureaucratic estate. Why are we pretending it's anything but that? No one has used a duchy capital in a battle for at least a hundred thousand years. They weren’t even really used when Agatha took over. It's just not done. It's not necessary.”

Matt threw up his hands in frustration, nearly knocking a napping phoenix Liz off his shoulder.

Apologizing, he walked out of the room and onto the balcony of the building they were in. Needing to move, he took to the air and went to get a view of the island in question. ꭆαƝỘᛒÊȿ

It looked odd with just their house on it, but he couldn’t imagine it with a bunch of gilded estates on it.

Ok, they weren’t gilded but they might as well be with the materials that were chosen and he wasn’t feeling generous enough to correct himself.

Using an illusion, he sketched the idea out.

He didn’t like it but he also didn’t like arguing with Liz and as dumb as this was, this was their largest argument in at least fifty years.

Did he really care that much?

The answer was easy once he contextualized it like that. He didn’t.

As Liz floated up next to him, he said, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry. I—”

Chuckling Matt pulled Liz into a hug to the protest of phoenix Liz who smacked human Liz on the head for taking up his shoulder space.

Once they separated Liz gestured out at the island. “If you really want the castle, I can agree to it.”

Matt sighed and rubbed his face. “No, that's not fair either. It’s your home too. What if we just settle on the original estate design? We can spruce it up a bit more if you like, and if we use better materials and add a few defensive formations to the design, we can beef up our passive defenses.”

Liz nodded and they went back into the building where they intended to limit themselves to two design changes each.

That idea ended up being not needed as the designer had whipped up a model that was a fairly nice blend of what they both wanted.

The center of the island was based around a smaller castle raised up fifty or so feet above everything else with buildings built in and around the castle before surrounding the whole thing with a wall that would act as a formation barrier. With the buildings poking out from over the wall, it would have space for everything they needed.

It wasn’t perfect but Matt could live with it and it was good enough that both of them were fairly happy with the end product.

That was marriage, though.

Compromising and working through their issues.

If only everything could be so easy.

They were both too busy to dwell on their floating island with a thousand and one things to deal with.

Matt took advantage of Allie being only an Ascender chat away to beg a ride to Frederic’s capital as he had been putting off that meeting for almost a year now. He didn’t know exactly what the royal wanted to talk to him for, but with Liz watching over Palustris, he took the opportunity to finish up an errand before they gathered their nobles together for their official inauguration now that their final worlds had arrived.

That meant it was now time for Aster to start getting her worlds, and Matt was excited for her. He was also excited to poke fun at his bond when she complained about her ducal responsibilities as the minutiae set in.

With the way they intended to connect their duchies' capitals together, they would thankfully be just a teleport away going forward. Having their capitals on the border like that rather than in the center wasn’t the wisest move, as their advisors repeatedly reminded them, but they collectively decided they didn’t care. The duchies were keeping them separate enough already, no way were they adding months of travel distance between themselves.

Or he would be a teleport away if Frederic’s request didn’t pull him from his ducal duties. He had no indication what Frederic wanted of him; Leon had no idea what the other royal wanted but Matt had a feeling it wasn’t going to be an easy request.

After getting Allie to promise that she would check in on him to take him over in a few hours, Matt was dropped off at King Frederic’s capital in an alley near a busy downtown section of a city. They were suspiciously far away from any bakeries which made Matt consider that this wasn’t actually Allie’s normal teleport location but he had no proof.

Taking a few moments, he let his spiritual perception spread across Frederic‘s capital. It was everything Matt hoped Palustris would be in a few generations. Prosperous, peaceful, and populated.

The planet, being a non-aspected high-Tier world, had a population in the trillions and it even had natural lands preserved and protected spread out so anyone could enjoy them. Sure, they were more garden than true wilderness but it wasn’t like the Capital of the Empire which was an ecumenopolis in the truest sense of the word, where any wilderness only existed in spatially expanded buildings, around rifts, or in rifts.

A moment later, Aster arrived and kicked him to the ground, sending a spray of dust at him. “You inconsiderate dick. I would have needed to make my own trip if Allie hadn’t complained about you getting her to teleport you here to me.”

Confused Matt asked, “Wait? Did Frederic ask you to speak with him as well? Leon didn’t mention that?”

“Mara did and as I haven’t seen Leon in a while, I’m not surprised. Still, you should have assumed I'd also be called up.”

Grinning and in a much better mood, Matt pulled Aster into a hug. “How are you? I feel like we haven’t had a chance to talk since our trip.”

“Busy. There are a million and one things to do and it feels like if I’m not overseeing things myself, something inevitably goes wrong. It’s uncharitable but I feel like the only competent person. Or at least one of like ten. But I don’t want to complain seeing you for the first time in person for so long.”

“Tell me about the—” Aster pretended to gag, “fire world.”

Instead of heading directly for Frederic’s floating castle which had landed near the coast of the capital city, they took a walk through the city just taking it all in while he and Aster caught up.

Wanting to extend their time together, they wordlessly stopped for a snack, a deep-fried chocolate on a stick paired with none other than a cup of ice cream from a local branch of Aster’s company.

Knowing it would irritate Aster, he bought plain vanilla ice cream.

“I hate you. Do you know how much work went into our special flavors?” Aster gestured with her chocolate berry blend. “This took close to five hundred people ten years to make it perfect and another five years to ensure we could produce the ice cream locally without compromising on flavor due to local variations. And you, like thirty percent of all ice cream eaters, just buy vanilla. Not even one of the blends that uses vanilla as a base. I know you would enjoy the banana split but did you buy that? Noooo. I hate you and everyone else. Vanilla is a solved flavor. It's been perfected long before my time. It's boring. Ughhhh!”

Matt listened to her rant, trying not to laugh as this wasn’t the first time he had heard this exact thing. The moment she paused he interjected, “But it pairs well with the hot snack.”

Aster just glared at him. “I repeat, I hate you.”

Laughing, they continued their meandering tour of the city.

By the time they reached Frederic’s floating island and administrative hub, Matt was feeling… good. Not relaxed because there was a sinking feeling that refused to go away but it wasn’t so bad when covered by ice cream and banter with his bond.

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Before they reached the platform to take people to the island, an impeccably dressed Tier 45 woman appeared next to them with a bow.

“Ascender Titan, Ascender Wraith, King Frederic is expecting you two.”

Nodding, he let himself be guided through dozens of checkpoints and security checks.

There were in fact so many of them he started to question his and Liz’s floating island’s security. Did they need more? Harper’s people had been the ones to set things up in the design phase so it should be as secure as possible but he was now second guessing everything, seeing a much more robust setup.

Those thoughts were shoved aside when they were led into Frederic’s office.

It was surprisingly spartan, with no decorations beyond a few tasteful wall pieces. The only luxuries in the room were the massive window that gave a commanding view of the city next to them and the desk that rippled with power almost like a natural treasure.

Bowing slightly, Matt greeted the King. “Good to see you, King Frederic. How can I be of assistance?”

The moment he finished, Aster said the same thing.

They didn’t need to pay obeisance as Frederic wasn’t their direct liege but he did outrank them, so a level of deference was to be shown.

“That will never not be strange.” Seeing Matt’s expression Frederic explained. “Last month when I spoke with Aiden, his greeting was ‘sup Fred’.”

Dropping a little bit of the formality to match Frederic’s Matt said, “I’ve been told that being too friendly is off putting and running contrary to my intentions so…”

Frederic had a knowing smirk flit across his lips. “Kees, no doubt. How is he working out by the way?”

“He's running the guild better than I could have hoped. To be frank, he’s good enough I worry about him leaving. I’m trying to entice him to stay but he’s adamant on ascending and how can I really argue with that? I give you my thanks for your recommendation. I don’t really want to think about how much worse things could have gone if he wasn’t running things. I even tried to bribe him with a full package of cheese. Didn’t work sadly.”

Turning to Aster, Frederic asked, “How are you settling into your business ventures Wraith? Difficult aren't they?”

Their small talk went on for another few minutes until the woman, one of Frederic’s assistants, knocked on the door and set a box Matt couldn’t see through with his spiritual perception on the desk before leaving with a bow.

“And this is the major reason I asked you to come see me. In my official capacity as King of Finance, I’m giving this to you Titan.”

With a finger, he pushed the box over to Matt who flipped it open.

The first thing that grabbed his attention was the box itself, inscribed with both depleted and enriched metals in a dizzyingly complex array of overlaid runes that either was some advanced technique he had never encountered before or was the product of a Talent and someone very practiced with it to boot.

Once the box was opened, Matt saw an unadorned golden ring nestled in a rich purple fabric.

Plucking the ring out, Matt felt the magic of the ring intertwine with his spirit. It was trying to bind with him like a growth item. Not exactly, but the process was similar just without any actual binding process. After a moment, the ring seemed to retract its tendrils which was when Matt was able to access the insides of the spatial ring.

Matt’s eyebrows went into his hairline as he saw what was inside, which caused Frederic to laugh lightly.

“A beauty, isn't it?”

“Is this what I think it is?”

“I’d imagine so. You might not realize this but your mana is starting to become an actual issue. Harper can’t have so many agents purely on your mana duties, as even they can’t be told of what they are moving, which means they need to be cycled every trip. Don’t get me wrong, it's a good problem to have but a problem nonetheless. To that end, I was tasked with creating a fix. And here it is. A storage ring that has the teleporting swap function of a planetary tether perfectly functional inside an expanded space.”

Frederic sighed as he looked at the ring with the two of them. “That took nine of the Empire’s best crafters to make. So long as you are within any kingdom-level capital world or your own duchy, you will be able to make deposits to a hidden secure location without the need for anyone to see you arrive or people visiting you. Once you reach Tier 35 or so, we want to upgrade the formation to tie into the planetary tethers themselves to just teleport things directly to the Capital but your spirit isn’t strong enough for that and the costs are… mindbogglingly expensive.”

Matt whistled in appreciation even as Aster created illusions of him pouring mana stones into the ring. He had no idea how the ring functioned and even his [AI] had no idea beyond ‘throw crafting and enchanting Talents at the problem’. The tethers that connected worlds were already complicated technology but they explicitly didn’t work in spatial folds or compression, which the ring obviously had.

Concentrating, Matt created mana stones in the ring like he did with his current ring and nodded as the internal formations churned, arranging the mana stones into nondescript boxes automatically.

“The teleport costs about one hundred billion mana or twenty minutes of your current generation to activate the swap function but as you Tier up further, that will become negligible. Our mana problem is just a logistics job now.”

Frederic looked pleased as he answered a few other questions Matt had about the ring.

“Now before you go, there is a second topic I wanted to talk to both of you about before you return. Not in an official capacity but I’m looking for support for an initiative the hereditary faction is trying to push.”

Matt shook his head. “I can’t give more mana. Most of the hours of my day are already spoken for.”

Aster shrugged next to him. “I'm not sure what I can do? Do you really need snacks ordered?”

Frederic smiled as he leaned back and waved away their concerns, but the action only raised Matt’s warning bells.

“We don’t need mana or snacks. If either of you really like the idea and want to donate, I’m not so foolish as to say no but we are seeking your political support more than your considerable financial or desert support.”

Matt had already opened his mouth to decline, but the answer caught him off guard and piqued his interest. “Oh?”

“This is a joint venture by myself, King Rusty, and Queen Tur’stal but before we get into that, let me start by saying I took it upon myself to mention this to you as I know I stand for something of a…” Frederic searched for a word before settling on, “representative of what you see as the worst of the hereditary noble faction.”

Matt slowly nodded in acknowledgment even as he felt Aster flex their connection to give him support. He didn’t need it but it was nice. “I can admit that. I actually like you as a person, but the people you represent are—” Matt changed his mind and cut himself off. “Let's just agree that I don’t have the best view of a large portion of them and their ideals.”

“And that is why I’m the one bringing this up. If you reject this proposal, you hopefully won’t feel as bad as if you were rejecting people you have a better relationship with. If you aren’t wholly opposed to the idea, can I give you our proposal?”

Matt wanted to just reject him outright but Frederic was being upfront and honest with him. He was also incredibly helpful with things like the new ring.

“Sure. I’ll hear you out.”

Frederic turned to Aster who nodded and he started speaking. “Do you know much about the Knightly Orders?”

Matt shook his head in unison with Aster who said, “Not particularly. I remember it was something before the dynasty changed. Something about noble elites.”

“Correct. Empress Agatha took a… let’s call it a negative outlook on the program and those who survived her usurpation of the throne understood they should keep quiet about their status if they didn’t want to end up on suicide missions. While technically not outlawed, all imperial funding of the program was redirected to the Path and its expanded faculties. With the treaty limiting the size of the Path, we’re experiencing a glut of military funding which we are seeking to use, at least in part, to revitalize the Orders. It will both maintain a major part of our history before it’s too late and increase the diversity in our elites.”

Frederic paused letting Matt and Aster think everything he said over.

“Are you just looking for a mouthpiece to push the program for public support?” Matt nodded his agreement to Aster's question.

“Not quite. Between myself and my fellow Royals, we have enough political power to push through the initiative but it would be costly in political terms.”

“Is Manny against it?” That idea immediately raised Matt’s hackles. “I also want to know what you’re getting out of this and why you’re coming to me of all people before we go too much further. I get Aster. She enjoys politics but why me?”

Frederic shook his head. “No, nothing like that. If he was truly set against it, we wouldn’t bother. He's taking a politically neutral stance. If we can force it through, it will cost us and weaken our position for other arguments. Besides, the Orders aren’t entirely outlawed, they’re just largely vestigial, sharply in decline, and lack most of what they need to operate. I, Rusty, and Tur’stal can and intend to grant them most of the legal permissions required even without full Imperial support. But, there are a few things which we can’t provide, and it would be far simpler as a full-Empire initiative regardless.”

Mollified, Matt leaned back as Frederic added. “As for why I want you two? The Emperor is neutral, which means Mara and Leon are neutral. Harper will remain neutral unless someone sways them but all are happy with them remaining neutral. I could bring them over to my side, but the cost-benefit calculation doesn’t work out in favor of that. Given this is a military initiative, that provides an additional dimension to the calculation. Rusty is working to persuade the Academies and their Graduates it would be a benefit for them as well, and I’m looking for support among Ascenders. Allison and Zack don't care enough about politics to give much weight and Elizabeth is in a delicate position, so I’d rather not put her in a spot where she would publicly oppose her parents like this. That leaves you two, Aiden, and Lila. Aiden is too irritable right now while in recovery to be properly persuaded for something like this, and while Lila has already expressed her support, she has politically aligned with the hereditary noble factions often enough that her support is less valuable than it could be. With the two of you and her both supporting the initiative, however, that would be bipartisan Ascender support, and would sway a substantial number of existing fence-sitters.”

Matt pursed his lips and thought over the proposal. Frederic was being honest with him and he appreciated that. If Manny didn’t care enough to deliberately block this initiative it couldn’t be all that bad and Frederic’s logic for not asking Liz made sense.

He however, could support the idea but the question was did he want to?

Matt’s initial thought was to just decline, he wouldn’t call himself a loyalist but he wouldn’t argue if someone else did.

Manny was about as good a ruler as could exist outside a vacuum and genuinely did his best for the Empire and the people inside of it. That didn’t mean the hereditary nobility was inherently bad but Matt had a distaste for them having grown up on Lilly and in some of his recent interactions as a duke. He could at least logically recognize his homeworld was an outlier in how badly it was mismanaged but that didn’t change his feelings on the matter.

He could also feel that Aster would follow his lead if he vehemently rejected the idea which he deeply appreciated.

“I’m not going to say no, but I’m not familiar enough with the Knightly Orders to commit either. What are they, and why were they originally cut back?”

“Much like most pinnacle elite programs, the Orders are about concentrating as much power as possible within a single person. So much power, in fact, that the person underneath the power barely matters. For the Knightly Orders in particular, that comes in two forms. The first is a specialized natural treasure, frequently imbued within a child from birth. The Everflame Order was the most prominent Order for centuries, using Eternal Embers to create fire-based elites with some truly impressive skills.”

“From birth? As in, using Natural Treasures before awakening? That’s possible?” Aster's ears wiggled in surprise.

“Yes. While not all Orders managed it, and those that did kept the ‘how’ as an incredibly close secret, the greatest ones were able to manage it with some regularity. It worked quite well, though, and having such potent magic as a child tended to drastically influence their Talent and Domain in a beneficial way.”

“I can imagine….” Matt tapped his chin in thought, “But you mentioned two forms? What was the second?”

“Their Squires. A given Knight would have a dedicated support team who specialized in helping them specifically, rounding out their weaknesses and enhancing their strengths, and forming a cohesive group far greater than the sum of the already impressive parts. Some Squires would even go on to become Knights of their own, but that’s another conversation.”

Matt mulled that over with a few silent fluctuations of his and Aster's bond to see how she felt about it. “I have a few concerns, but nothing that would cause me to reject it. Why were they disbanded, exactly?”

“Politics, mostly. The Orders very definitively sided against Empress Agatha during her coup. She also had personal issues with many of the existing Knights. Then, noble families closely entwined with an Order tended to have undue power, which she sought to curtail. Combined with the absolutely abysmal state of the Orders, most of whom were absolutely rife with incompetence and corruption, she saw it fit to sweep the board of them all. A modern revival would be without most of the excesses and abuses of the old system, hence the lack of true opposition from even the Emperor.”

Aster asked a good question Matt hadn’t thought of though. “I can see why you personally are supporting these but why are your political blocs backing you in this? Seems like they would lose influence as proportionally their power decreases with new strong players entering the field.”

“A good question. The famous Orders were massively influential that is true, but often lost to history were the numerous smaller Orders funded by a few noble families who were in turn helped by the Orders giving the families a wider influence. That direct support ensured the nobles were invested in the military strength of the Empire in a way they aren’t currently and is part of what we want to replicate.”

They asked a few more questions but he didn’t see a reason to say no. Not directly. He actually agreed with Frederic that nobles should feel more invested in the Empire. Any such investment would be a net positive but empowering a faction he didn’t particularly like didn’t sit right with him.

He suspected he would end up agreeing but he’d need to talk to Liz no matter which way he leaned. Even if she wasn't publicly supporting it with him, there would be some bleed over.

But ultimately the major reason was that the Empire needed unity. It needed to see that despite differences, all sides were still a unified whole working for a greater whole even when they disagreed.

Matt didn’t like politics but he was aware of his image enough to know he was something of a poster child for the anti-hereditary noble faction.

Frederic, Rusty, and Tur’stal could do this without his or Aster's help but even with Lila’s support, it would be a decidedly one-sided endeavor. His and Aster's support could even, if not tip the scales, add some weight to making it a bipartisan effort of all nobles, not just hereditary ones.

That was undoubtedly a good thing never more obvious than having Kees as his vice guild leader. As a former hereditary noble working as his second-in-command and leading day-to-day operations, his clear oppositional political stance from Matt kept a lot of issues from manifesting. Thanks to his influence, Titan’s Torch was largely apolitical and even more surprisingly, people believed and trusted that.

In their working on setting up the guild, he and Cato had suspected and created dozens of plans for when the inevitable politicization of his guild happened but even though they were still in the early years, there were zero signs of that happening, which could be directly laid at Kees’ feet.

There was a weight to bipartisan support.

He had questions, though. Many.

One thing he hammered down was what the Empire was supposed to be providing? Frederic surprised him by not wanting for mana directly, though there would be some level of support for nobles with low-Tier worlds. They wanted access to the resources, namely legacies and rare skill modifications, the Empire typically saved for Pathers and Academies. There were also a number of statutes which the Order’s traditional ‘raise a child with access to powerful magic’ broke, and they’d need specific legal consideration for that, but even without support from the central government, the Royals had enough leeway to make it work.

There were other things, but that was the major sticking point as far as Matt understood it.

Once they were done, and had full documents of the ideas tucked away for further review, Matt and Aster stood up and shook Frederic’s hand. “I don’t know if I’ll agree, but I’m leaning that way. I need to talk to Liz, but I understand and agree with a lot of what you said.”

“I would expect nothing less. Either way I would like to thank the both of you for hearing us out.”

Matt’s mind didn’t stop racing even as he and Aster hitched a ride on the Allie Express.

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