The Path of Ascension

Chapter 7

Matt woke up fuzzy and light-headed. Opening his eyes he found himself pressed against a door.

As the memories came back he couldn’t help but groan.

After talking to the Emperor the seven of them had done as suggested and partied. Hard.

One too many drinks in, Melinda had tried to drag the older Mat off to ‘consummate their relationship’.

It took the other five to keep them away from each other and drag them to their own rooms.

Not five minutes after Melinda had been put into her room she had tried to sneak into Mat’s. That had left the boys sleeping in Mat’s room to stop him from doing the same.

Matt looked around and saw that everyone else was still unconscious. Checking the time he decided to get breakfast for everyone.

Returning from the dining hall Matt found Sam with eyes covered sitting on the couch. She peeked at him and made ‘give me’ hands to the bags of food.

Matt instead set the bags on the table and said, “Wake the girls please” but only got a hiss in reply.

After waking the boys up Matt set the table and started eating himself, slowly. As he was picking at the food the others trickled out of the rooms and to the table.

Mat was the first to speak. The older boy had the beginnings of a bruise on his cheek. “Who punched me last night? I don’t remember.”

Matt answered, “No one. You fell, and your face met a wall. So if you fought anyone it was a loss against a wall.”

Melinda pointed a finger at Mat and a green light danced to him before sinking in, quickly healing the bruise.

The healer repeated the move at all of them and as Matt felt the spell hit him it washed away his hangover. He could have used that spell before he went and got breakfast for everyone. The dining hall had been noisy and painful.

After eating they sat around the tv not having to do anything for a few hours more.

Trying to find something that wasn’t news coverage about the Junipers, they found a channel that was reviewing tournament videos.

“Light and Shadow are still crushing it in the Tier 23 to 24 groups despite being only Tier 21. Truly it’s remarkable to watch the people with the best chance to complete The Path of Ascension. It would be a first since Duke Water’s himself four hundred years ago.”

That got Matt’s attention. Someone was close to completing The Path? That was huge news. Sadly they had joined the program at the end and it closed out and new anchors replaced the last and a new segment started.

Matt turned and asked, “Do you know who they were talking about? Light and Shadow?”

Mat and Sam covered their faces as Melinda, Kyle, Vinnie, and Tara all spoke over each other.

“Yeah, how do you not?”

“They are only the best couple ever”

“Shadow is amazing, she’s the best.”

Melinda gave useful information, “Light and Shadow are a couple on The Path of Ascension. Just the two of them. They are Tier 21 and only 107 years old. At that Tier, they have until 138 before they fall off.”

Kyle interjected, “They won’t fall off. Duke Waters himself met with them and said he’d bet his Duchy that they are the next to complete The Path. He’s never spoken up for a person on The Path before. He can’t be wrong.”

Tara flicked a picture to the screen adding, “They are super strong, Shadow has some kind of shadow teleporting Talent. Most speculate it’s her Tier 3 but no one knows for sure obviously. But she is nearly untouchable because she also got a hold of [Shadow Control] at some point.”

She looked dreamy as she questioned, “How can you hit someone who disappears at will? Here is their Tier 15 Path of Ascension tournament. It’s the last sponsored tournament on The Path, after that, they compete in normal tournaments usually against a few Tiers higher. Watch this.”

On the screen, two parties line-ups were shown. On the left was a team of 5 listed with their names and positions. They had a normal composition of Tank, Melee damage, Ranged damage, Mage, and Healer.

The other side showed just two masked faces, one in the lightest of gray and the other the darkest gray without being black. The names Light and Shadow were under their portraits.

The fight started quickly as Tara jumped ahead of the commentary. The party of five was across a huge ring that must have spanned a mile across. They quickly turtled up but it did them no good.

Shadow simply melted into the ground before Light shot forward, the large man covered the mile in a breath. Light's weapon of choice was a hammer with a head that was at least 5 inches across. The way the Tier 15 handled it showed the massive weight of the hammer.

The Tank intercepted the blow with his physical shield and a larger copy made by some skill. At the moment of impact, a blinding light whited the screen out before the camera adjusted for the brightness. When the picture came back the fight was already over.

There was a replay that showed the events during the bright flash. The moment Light had struck the Tanks shield Shadow used the man’s own shadow and tore through the rest of the team. Every throat was slit with such speed that even slowed down Matt couldn’t actually see the blade appear from the darkness, only follow the clutching of throats.

The Tank who took the blow from Light didn’t fare any better. His shield was mangled and even his heavy plate armor was dented to such a degree that Matt was sure his chest was crushed.

Matt couldn’t believe it and had to ask, “That wasn’t an exhibition match? That other party was on The Path? No way they were defeated in one single attack.”

Vinnie answered with a huge grin. “Yup and a good party as well, they were Tier 15’s who delved rifts at Tier 16. There just isn’t anything to do against massive power differences.”

“Why didn’t they just counter the light that Light used then Shadow couldn’t have gotten into their entire team? Seems like an easy way to counter the duo. Light seems more like a support that enables Shadow than someone that powerful on their own.” Matt still couldn’t believe what he had just watched.

Tara scoffed at that, “Yeah people had the same thoughts as you before. Not hard to think of after all. It doesn’t matter though, Light could have handled that entire team himself. Look this was a 1 v 1 when Light was Tier 10.”

With a flick of her finger a new video started, this time two announcers talked before the pre-match introductions.

“Peper do you think Light has a chance here? His opponent is a peak Tier 10 and Light only broke through the Tier 10 wall two days ago.”

“I don’t think he has a chance. We’ve seen how he makes Shadow stronger and gives her mobility but he hasn’t done much himself this entire tournament in the party vs party. Now that it’s down to the 1 vs 1’s I think it’s the end for this half of the winning party.”

“I think he’s out of this match. His opponent is a hybrid tank with [Projected Bulwark] as his main skill. It’s going to be hard to break through that, in the team fights it was Shadow who took him out. Even damage heavy ascenders will have a hard time getting through that. I just don’t think he has the power to do it.”

The countdown ended and the man in full plate looked at Light and as the counter hit zero he pushed out his shield and from it, a ten-foot-tall replica made from mana appeared and he taunted “let’s see you get through this without your little whore in the shadows.”

Light pulled a longsword out from nowhere, Matt assumed it was a spatial device somewhere, and slashed in a lazy X pattern. From the blade, two crescents of energy shot out, racing towards the armored man. Then Light thrust out and a third beam appeared.

The first two [Mana Slash]’s cracked the large projection before the third energy attack pierced the [Projected Bulwark] and the man behind it.

The announcers went wild “Was that a thrust with [Mana Slash]? That’s impossible, the skill needs a slashing movement to discharge the stored energy. This is completely unheard of...”

“Effin...”

Tara paused the recording. “See? They. Are. Monsters. That was them at Tier 15 and Light at Tier 10. Now they don’t even have to try to win against Tier 23’s. And they are so young they aren’t even rushing the last few Tiers like Duke Waters had to.”

Melinda chimed in, “They are so strong, I wish I could have half of their power someday.”

Matt was aghast. That was how top Tier cultivators fought? Matt thought over the [Mana Slash] that had been used as a thrust. He wanted a small part of that power. That was where the peak was.

He did wonder about the masks so asked the group. Vinnie was the fastest to respond, “It’s not super common, but it isn’t rare either. Not everyone wants the notoriety of climbing The Path. So the masks.”

“So no one knows what they look like?”

Tara answered him, “Nope not even a little. Duke Waters killed like twenty people when they revealed his face during his climb. He was anonymous but someone snuck a camera into a private changing room. Then he couldn’t go anywhere without crowds blocking his way or assassins from the other powers. He’s made it very clear anyone who breaks the rule will regret it.”

Melinda added, “It only happened once and he kept his word about it. A team at Tier 7 got outed and he went in and slaughtered the entire company.”

“That’s not true he only killed those who ordered it and did it. He only killed like three people. That bullshit about him slaughtering everyone is propaganda against him.” Vinnie countered Melinda’s statement, Matt tuned out the bickering.

He wanted that power. How would it feel to smash everyone, even Tier’s above your own? His resolve to delve and climb The Path of Ascension just grew every time he pictured that sword thrust.

***

Matt had just entered the rift and could tell something was wrong.

He had proof in the first room where one unclothed and shoddily armed goblin should be; he found three goblins armored in the scale armor only found in the last room with the champion.

Matt had been planning on using a shield and mace for this delve but quickly put them in the sack and drew his longsword.

No reason to risk something new without my best weapon.

Matt debated leaving to report the anomaly but then he would lose out on his chance to delve. And it wasn’t like these goblins could hurt him with his [Cracked Phantom Armor] active.

What do I have to fear?

At worst there would be three hobgoblins and then he could retreat to the entrance.

Matt advanced. It took more time but through every room, he found three times the amount of goblins he usually did.

Halfway through he thought he had an idea of what was going on. He’d heard about something rifts could rarely do, a rift challenge. If Matt was remembering correctly it could happen to any Tier of rift but was incredibly rare.

It had been covered in his introduction information but Matt couldn’t remember exactly what had been explained but the statistic one in a million stood out to him.

Matt did know one thing, the greater the relative risk the better the reward. It was always mentioned when delvers made daring risks and became legends overnight.

The catch was that greater rewards came with greater challenges.

If his memories were right a Tier 1 rift going through a rift challenge put its power at Tier 2 strength but the rewards would dwarf any Tier 2 rifts normal rewards.

That thought pushed Matt on. He could take a Tier 2 rift if he was careful and slow.

Would Light and Shadow have run from this? No. They are so strong they would have done this without breaking a sweat. This is my chance, I could get Tier 2 mana stones. If I’m lucky I could get a Tier 2 essence stone. Or maybe something better?

Matt knew greed was driving him forward but couldn’t stop. Risk was paired with reward. That was the one constant of the rifts.

When he was one set of rooms away from the final encounter the enemies changed from fully armored goblins to the normal hobgoblins.

That almost made him turn around but hesitated.

If the boss was just a training monster now? What’s waiting for me in the final room?

Matt decided he should at least see what was waiting for him.

Even if I turn around now I’ve still got more essence than in three normal delves, and way more gear to sell. This is profitable either way. But let’s at least check the final room.

Matt finished off the three hobgoblins with little difficulty. He had been fighting them for almost four months now. He could predict every one of their moves.

Peering into the final room Matt froze up. Instead of the normal five goblins and one hobgoblin, it was five hobgoblins and what Matt was pretty sure was an orc.

The large tusked monster stood at least 6’5” and was so wide even at that height it looked stocky.

Matt looked from the pile of armor and weapons he had dragged here and back to the orc, then he looked to the reward distortion.

It shone with whitish-blue light to his spiritual sense. It spoke to Matt, it whispered of power and fame.

In his mind, he could see Light and Shadow fighting, could see a single blow of Lights crush a tank at his own Tier who was also on The Path at Tier 15. Crushing someone most thought of as the best of the best, in a single blow.

The Emperor’s words from weeks prior rang in his mind, “In a few hundred years I expect great things from you.”

Looking back felt cowardly, Matt wanted greatness, wanted the power, the fame.

He looked at the reward distortion, he wanted that item. He craved it.

Matt stepped into the room.

***

Things didn’t go well when Matt stepped through the entrance. The hobs who Matt now saw were in much better armor than usually charged at him. The orc pulled a throwing axe off his belt and threw it at Matt.

Matt sidestepped it but the wind of its passage and the spray of chipped stones from the wall stressed [Cracked Phantom Armor] in a way that even the boss hobgoblins never did.

This might have been a terrible idea.

There was no more time for regret as the hobs were on him. He was able to bait out and punish an attack by the closest hob and drew his sword under its helmet slitting its throat.

He sidestepped to keep the orc from throwing another axe at him while he was open but as the hobgoblin blocked his view Matt saw a smirk on the orc’s tusked face.

Matt threw himself to the side.

As he came up from the roll he saw a hob take the projectile to the back. It was buried to the shaft, through the armor. The power of the axe sent the hob into his two remaining brothers and Matt took the chance to finish the downed opponents before they could stand.

The hit monster was a grim prediction of what Matt would look like if the throwing axe landed.

As he stabbed down Matt heard the woosh and rolled again. The throwing axe bounced off the wall and Matt looked to the orc as it lifted a shield and spear and came at him.

Quickly retrieving his longsword Matt deflected a probing thrust of the spear to almost catch a shield bash when he stepped to the orcs left.

He looked to the entrance to escape, this wasn’t a fight he could win, but the orc had curled around and was blocking his retreat.

The pull of the reward and promise of glory were gone. All Matt felt was terror at his fate if he made a single mistake in the fight.

Matt flicked a strike at the orc’s legs as it was pulling the spear back after a light jab. The orc just stepped back and thrust again with the spear, shield raised and at the ready.

This orc is keeping me back with his height and weapon length advantage. What do I do? What can I do?

Matt deflected the spear again, but instead of using the flat of his blade, he used the edge. He’d be spending money to have the blade fixed from striking the hardwood but it was better than dying.

As Matt repeatedly attacked the haft of the spear he waited until he felt enough damage was done and dodged to the left and chopped the head off the spear.

He went to press the advantage but the orc reacted quickly, discarding the shaft and covered himself with the shield while retreating.

Matt drew his dagger with his left hand and threw it at the orc’s face. The dagger was going to miss but the orc instinctively raised his shield to block the thrown weapon and Matt thrust with his sword.

He caught the orc in the guts and when the weapon was inside pulled with all his might to try and eviscerate the monster.

The orc was faster than Matt predicted and slammed its shield down and ripped the weapon out of Matt’s hands and its guts.

That’s when Matt noticed a red haze appearing around the orc. He knew what the skill was and immediately retreated leaving his sword on the ground.

It was [Berserker's Rage] a skill rarely used by humanity because it relied on taking injuries to fuel stronger attacks and speed increases.

The skill had the nasty side effect that any wounds were much harder to heal when active so only the crazy used it. Or monsters, Matt had heard it was fairly common to see used by melee monsters. He just hadn’t expected a Tier 1 rift even one under the influence of a rift challenge to produce a Tier 3 monster.

Matt turned and ran to where a thrown axe had bounced off the wall.

He heard a whooshing sound from behind and tried to dodge but was hit by the thrown shield in the left side and arm. Matt felt the arm and several ribs break under the hit. [Cracked Phantom Armor] flickered as it consumed the channeled mana to rebuild the skill after the massive blow.

Matt was sent sprawling, his skill off long enough to scrape his face and good hand along the stone floor. Quickly he forced himself to stand through the pain. The only good thing was he had landed on the axe and as he stood he swung it where he expected the orc.

The orc was faster.

Under the suicidal influence of [Berserker's Rage] it had charged with arms spread intent to take Matt down to use its weight and strength advantages by grappling.

Matt's wild swing had cut into the outstretched hand but the pain meant nothing to the monster with [Berserker's Rage] active. Unable to get completely out of the way Matt was bowled over and only [Cracked Phantom Armor] kept the impact on landing on his left side from overwhelming his senses.

Scrambling to his feet he turned and ran before the orc could orientate towards him for another charge.

If that brute gets a good grip on me I’m done for. I’ll never break free before he crushes me [Cracked Phantom Armor] or no [Cracked Phantom Armor].

The orc had already proven even a glancing attack was strong enough to overwhelm the skill.

As Matt reached the center of the room and turned, axe raised to see the charging orc just feet away. The monster’s stance was low with arms over its head, protecting itself from the raised axe.

I don’t want to die here.

I can’t lose in a Tier 1 rift.

Matt firmed his will. Panicking wouldn't do him any good, he needed to take advantage of his one advantage. The orc was using [Berserker's Rage] and that made it less rational.

The monster approached with bounding strides, it was so fast Matt only had a moment to make a decision.

I will be endless.

Matt had an instant of clarity, the world sharpened and the pain of his broken arm faded.

He could see his overhead blow wouldn’t work so he dropped the axe and with his right hand picked up the broken haft of the spear, wedging its iron-clad butt into the stony ground.

The enraged orc ran onto the weapon, impaling itself on the broken remains of its own weapon.

Dying hands tried to get a grip on Matt as they went tumbling, but [Cracked Phantom Armor] gave enough defense to outlast the orcs final, desperate struggles.

Matt felt a massive amount of essence enter his spirit. It felt like he had eaten far too much but instead of his stomach being bloated it was his spirit.

On his back, Matt gazed past the ceiling before starting to laugh.

That had been exhilarating. He felt truly alive. He had fought a monster that was probably at Tier 3 and he had won.

Still laying on the cool stone of the floor, Matt looked to the orc a few feet away. He was pretty sure that only monsters at the very peak of Tier 2 or Tier 3 had skills.

Matt laughed again but the pain in his left side stopped him from doing so.

Looking down Matt saw red staining the insides of his [Cracked Phantom Armor].

Huh? [Cracked Phantom Armor] keeps my blood inside? Why?

Matt carefully stood up and fetched the axe he had baited the orc with. He was taking a trophy. With careful maneuvering, Matt decapitated the orc and proceeded to gather the armor from outside and all the metal from the final room.

His sack was nearly too heavy to lift, only with great care and finagling did Matt get everything into the sack without aggravating his injuries too much. He still felt foggy and the pain cut through the little relief it gave him.

Matt was damned if he was going to leave a single thing behind. Even if he got Melinda to heal him, healing was expensive and he refused to take advantage of his friends. He had seen best friends turn to enemies at the orphanage over items worth far less than a healer’s skill.

Gingerly he moved the pile of loot to the exit rift and looked to the final reward. Now after the fight was over it once again called to him with blueish light.

He paused, some instinct told him this was a pivotal moment. Matt waited, the pain in his side growing as the adrenaline faded.

He knew there was no proof that a reward wasn’t already set when the rift was created but Matt felt the moment wasn’t quite right.

Matt sent out a pulse of essence. Nothing had changed but he felt that was the moment.

In the place of the small distortion was a... Matt wasn’t sure what it was. It looked like a fist sized egg made of ice.

He knew about bondable creatures but he had only heard of them as pets to be bought from breeders after Tier 5 because of the spirit contract the creature made with a human needed the human to have a minimum strength.

Matt hated that so much information was kept from the low Tiered ascenders. He sighed, there was nothing he could do about it now except get it scanned and evaluated.

Looking at the orcs head at the top of the sack made Matt smile again.

The risk was sky high, my reward should match that.

Matt pulled out his pad and typed a message to Melinda to ask for her help. The message would be sent once he left the rift and he could deal with broken bones for the time it took to get to the living quarters on the edge of the island.

He was not looking forward to the ride back from the center of the island but if he was going to pay a healer’s outrageous fees he wanted the money to go to a friend and not a stranger. Broken bones weren’t life-threatening.

Matt placed the large egg next to the orc head and lifted the sack, hissing as the weight put pressure on his broken ribs.

Stepping through the portal Matt was quickly seen and helped by the waiting guards. As he was led out of the room Matt declined the offer of healers saying that he had one on the way.

Before Matt could make his way to the check-out desk he heard Melinda.

How is she here so fast?

Matt couldn’t understand, he had taken much longer than usual to finish the rift, it should be well after they usually finished their rift. Even after becoming Tier 3’s they never took more than three hours to finish a delve.

Matt was grabbed by Melinda and as her hand touched him he felt her skill [Ranged Heal] soothing the pain.

When Melinda’s face moved in front of his, he didn’t understand. Her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out.

“Deactivate your skill, it is interfering with my healing.” Matt felt the fog lift in his mind and stopped feeding mana to [Cracked Phantom Armor]. As he did he felt wetness moving down his side.

Matt felt hands guiding him to the ground. He tried to protest but was overruled and manhandled down.

As he felt more gentle soothing energy washing the aches and pains away Matt became more clear-headed.

“You back with us Matt? What happened?”

Melinda was kneeling over him and an older lady in healer’s robes stood behind her.

“Yeah I’m good, think I had a concussion.”

“No shit, and your left side was all fucked up. You realize you had a two-inch chunk cut out of your side?”

“I think it was a rift challenge. It was way harder than it should have been.”

The older healer interjected, “That’s a bold claim young man, do you have any proof or are you trying to save face because you fucked up?”

That irritated Matt, who was she to judge him? She was implying he couldn’t handle a Tier 1 rift.

“Look in the sack and tell me what you think. It should be all the proof I need.”

Matt got the shock he expected but not for the reason he thought, instead of pulling the orc head out the healer removed the large egg made of ice.

“I’ll give you a million credits for this,” she said and started to tuck the egg away.

Matt shouted, “Fuck no.”

The healer hesitated but looked at the guards before saying, “ten million.”

Matt struggled to get up, “Give it back.”

Who did this woman think she was?

Matt's commotion had drawn the guard captain to see what was wrong and he said, “Iris you know that pressuring a sponsored individual is against policy and trying to lowball a prize is even more of a crime.”

“It’s not like he would make good use of it, the idiot almost got killed in a Tier 1 rift. He should take some money and go live a normal life.” The healer holding his reward tried to step away after saying that.

The guard captain walked over to the sack and pulled the orc head out. “Sure looks like to me and my spiritual sense that this ‘idiot who almost got himself killed in a Tier 1 rift’ killed a Tier 3 orc who was using [Berserker's Rage] before it died.”

Matt was startled, how could he tell all of that? Was his spiritual sense that good or was it something else?

It represented the power he wanted, if he had power this arrogant healer would never dare to try and steal what was his.

The guard captain continued, “You know as well as I do that a Tier 3 can only appear in a Tier 1 with a rift challenge. And you want to try and steal from someone on The Path? Someone on The Path that can kill a Tier 3 at Tier 1? If the Empire didn’t hunt you down, how long do you think before he did?”

As he finished Griff suddenly appeared “And I already reported this incident.”

The healer looked pale but still tried to defend herself. Matt’s egg clutched to her chest. “This is wasted on him. Ten million is more than fair. I...”

Griff interrupted her, “Iris you know stealing from someone who is on The Path while working at a PlayPen is a capital offense?”

Iris tried to speak but Griff cut her off, “and ten million for that egg is stealing. Iris, you know it and so does everyone here. Now, how about you put...”

“It should be mine. I've been healing these brats for so long I deserve this. If I can’t have it he sure ca...”

Matt’s heart stopped as Iris moved to smash the egg but before she could do more than raise her hand Griff had already moved. He was holding her raised hand, his entire arm through her chest.

With a shake, he took hold of Matt’s egg and dislodged the dead healer. “Captain I’m sure you and your men will act as witnesses for the investigation, the cameras should have gotten everything but we'll still need to go through the motions.”

Griff with one arm covered in blood looked at the seven on the floor. “Why do you all insist on making my life difficult?”

He handed the egg to Matt and peeked at the orc head with a nod.

“Well, the events shouldn’t be that hard to explain. Matt, I’m assuming that you found yourself in a rift challenge and decided not to leave?”

Matt now having been completely healed and only sore, nodded.

“I remembered they were rare an...”

Griff sighed and cut him off, “They aren’t actually that rare, solo delvers find them more often, one in say ten to twenty thousand delves. It’s the rifts way to get a free kill. They get stronger with every death inside them.”

That was common knowledge, rifts could grow slowly over time but deaths accelerated the process.

“Rifts aren't alive, but they do run like magical code with a lot of IF statements. If the group that enters is stronger than it, the rift uses as little essence as it can to not waste resources. If the group is weaker than it, it will send the normal monster. Because why waste the essence?”

“But there is a grey spot between the two. If the rifts calculations think it can get a kill if it boosts the power a bit and it thinks that it won't spend more on a rift challenge than it would get for killing the delvers it can do one.”

“Most solo delvers are smart enough to back out and just re-enter. It’s essence expensive and the rift can't recycle the monsters. Rift challenges have a survival rate of about one in a million for solo delvers. It’s better for those on The Path because most are stronger than average but it’s still near one in five hundred thousand. The rifts only do it when the math adds up in their favor. So please explain why you were stupid enough to actually attempt it.”

Matt suddenly felt very foolish. The information Griff stated cleared up the confusion he had. He had thought that there was a one in a million chance to get a rift challenge, not one in a million chance to survive one.

“I... Ugh... Misremembered it as being one in a million to find one and... Ugh... didn’t want to pass the chance up.”

Griff ground the heels of his hands into his eyes, not noticing or caring about the blood covering his hand. Then he wordlessly screamed into his hands.

Matt suddenly felt really scared. Would Griff hurt him if he snapped?

After he stopped screaming Griff took his hands off his face and said “I can’t even accurately prove to you how dangerous that was. I just hope you remember that in the future the difference between Tiers is larger. Tier 1 to 3 is manageable.”

The bloody handprint covering half his face made each word menacing.

“Not by everyone, or even most people. But it’s not completely unheard of. As you ascend to higher Tiers it takes more essence to advance and that makes the gaps wider. There is a reason those that complete The Path are so rare. It’s a race where you have to fight two or more Tiers above yourself and at Tier 20 and higher, it’s nearly impossible to cross Tiers. That’s why those that can are so highly valued.”

Griff was working himself up and even the guard captain had retreated. Matt felt frozen and vulnerable on the ground with just Melinda and party directly behind him.

“There has been one person, ONE FUCKING PERSON to do it in the last one thousand years. One thousand fucking years. Can you imagine how many people have been born in the empire in the last millennium?”

Matt didn’t think he was supposed to answer that but when Griff paused he began to open his mouth before Griff’s eyes refocused and said. “I just looked it up. About one hundred and fourteen billion per year. Give or take some. One hundred and fourteen billion people per year over the last millennium not a single one has managed to replicate Duke Waters feat. YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. You are not better than the ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN TRILLION people before you.”

Griff took a deep breath and sighed he looked aged ten years.

“And the worst thing is you got rewarded for your reckless behavior, tens of millions will die trying to get the same reward as you did. If you care at all you’ll keep that's” he waved at the egg in Matt’s hand, “source a secret.”

“Just say you got lucky in the normal rift, or better yet don’t answer. Because if it gets out that it was from a rift challenge every new person on any PlayPen for the next decade will try instead of escaping like is recommended. They will attempt to repeat your feat and so few will make it out alive, and even fewer will make it through alive and victorious as you did.”

Matt felt terrible, he hadn’t thought his actions out that far. What was this egg? Was it so valuable to send people to their deaths to risk getting something similar?

The icy egg suddenly felt heavier than the orc corpse had when it tried to end his life with its own.

“Melinda, is he ok to move?”

Melinda just nodded at Griff’s question, not daring to speak.

“You can all go home. I beg you not to talk about this. I really do. I just had to kill a Tier 8 Healer because of it. Please don’t get more people killed, I’m so, so very tired of watching children die.”

With that Griff was gone.