Chapter 212 (Patreon)

Ok this is the end of this book/arc. What a wild ride. So officially I'm taking a break for the next two chapters after this, buttttttt as I still owe you guys the last two floors of the Minkalla Chronicles those will come out instead. So the 10th will be Minkalla Chronicles floor 6 and the 13th will be Minkalla Chronicles floor 7. After that the next book starts and we will have our customary "see the wider realm chapter" to hint at the book on the 17th.  Then we are back to Matt and co as they come out of Minkalla on the 20th. So for you who just want LOOT worry not we will get the desired loot chapters in due time.

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Chapter 212

Emmanuel sighed in relief as he arrived back to the capital and saw everything was still in one piece.

After getting away with Hastor’s upgraded Talents, he’d had a looming sense that something bad had happened to the Empire while he was gone, and that feeling of dread only intensified as he got closer to his capital planet.

He had half expected to see the burning rubble of his Tier 47 world, but everything was fine.

As his spiritual perception invaded the planet's real space, he swept it across the entire star system and felt around for everything and anything.

There were a few bands of criminals noteworthy enough for him to notify local law enforcement, a few cases of domestic abuse, and a single instance of someone attacking down Tiers. Everything was normal.

Letting out the breath he had been holding, he swapped his Talents and performed a series of quick teleports to reach the bright light that was the Tier 47 system in chaotic space.

He chose to enter real space in his private palace, and spent a few moments with his wife before they headed off to the meeting that he had arranged on his way back.

He needed reports from his Royals and to share his own findings; both his new Talent set and the possibilities it presented for gaining Talents mid-ascension, as well as what he’d learned from just visiting the Republic’s capital. That Hastor had reached Tier 51 and formed his Authority was interesting from a theoretical point of view- Aiden would likely take the mere suggestion of someone developing their Domain so far as a personal challenge-  but thankfully, it was irrelevant to the upcoming wars.

Emmanuel had some reports, but relying on foreign relay systems was just begging for messages to be intercepted, so he refrained from transmitting anything that wasn’t public knowledge.

Entering the meeting room, he found his Royals chatting amongst themselves.

Leon was trying to reignite a poker game, if his mirrored sunglasses were any indication, while Frederic looked disgruntled and was refusing outright. A strong indication that Leon had swindled him out of something by creating fake reflections on the glasses.

Everyone fell for that at least once. Usually more than once.

Even once the trick was known, Leon sometimes let the real reflections through and other times changed them, meaning no one could tell when he was showing his true cards, or when he was baiting someone into a trap.

Mara was chatting with Harper and Rusty while Tur'stal was off to the side, silently waiting with a bottle of wine still mostly full.

As Emmanuel and Carissa entered the room, everyone stopped their conversations and turned to him with varying levels of inquiring looks.

Taking the head seat, he gestured to everyone else to sit down and said, “I’m back. How much of the Empire burned down while I was away?”

It was half a joke, but his question was still serious.

Carissa rolled her eyes and interjected, “Let's at least order our food now, so we can get an intermission in the debrief.”

Emmanuel wasn’t particularly hungry, but agreed nonetheless, as these meetings did tend to drag on, and a break in the middle would be good for general morale.

After everyone had placed their orders with the head chef, Emmanuel turned to Mara and Leon. “What is the general state of the Empire since I left?”

Mara shook her head slightly. “Nothing major has changed. The same general political squabbles, but nothing that breached a Duke level alert.”

Hearing that, Emmanuel took a deep breath and let out most of the stress he had been holding in.

If nothing else, that single bit of news meant the rest of the meeting would be acceptable.

Looking to Leon, the storm mage nodded as he added. “On the outward focus of the Empire, there have been new expansion requests submitted by an Earl Kale Liko and Viscountess Nicolosia de Fiorino, respectively, to sectors seventy nine and three hundred sixteen, to start their own vassal kingdoms. I gave them tentative approval for the moves, as neither has any major skeletons in their closets.”

Getting Emmanuel's nod that he understood, Leon continued. “On the topic of expansion, the integration of The Alliance of Allied Queens has begun, and they are cooperating with all of the new changes in the integration process without a fuss. The head of state, Queen Diana, has indicated she wishes to step down along with most of her cohort, and allow another generation to take over the integrated High Dukedom. As that isn't an unusual request, it was approved with the understanding the integration doesn’t run into any major roadblocks. The Wisemar Kingdom has also officially finished its integration, and the rewards were sent out to Vespian in accordance with his Kingdom's progress and size. No complaints or hidden dangers were found in the Kingdom from internal or external sources.”

Emmanuel nodded and mentally noted that he needed to find some time to go tour the newest duchy in the Empire, as a welcoming gesture, in the next dozen or so years. It would help solidify the people's image as being truly part of the Empire proper, and help smooth any ruffles that might crop up in the coming generations.

Nothing Leon said surprised him, though, and he turned to Rusty, who started telling him about the situation with the Empire’s military.

“As you ordered before you left, we have increased recruitment of Tier 15 through Tier 25s by one percent, bringing in another fifty million recruits. We have also increased the militia forces in case of hostile takeovers of inhabited planets by five percent along the borders. Speaking of the outer planets, the battlefield planets out in the deeper parts of those systems have all been reinforced or otherwise built up in preparations for the upcoming war.”

Rusty looked up, catching Emmanuel's eye as he continued. “That has put a strain on the military budget, and we will need an influx of funds if you wish to carry out the rest of the plans we talked about. While our predictions were generally accurate, there has been an uptick in the price of military goods with the threat of war looming, pushing out the budget higher than anticipated sooner than we allocated for.”

Emmanuel narrowed his eyes for a moment and swapped to his father’s Tier 50 Talent, quickly rifling through time, checking for any outside interference.

It was easy to spot.

Entire swaths of the history in regards to civilian arms and armor providers had included purchase orders from higher Tier groups and individuals who were nothing more than frontmen for the other Great Powers.

He generally was able to predict such moves on the side of the enemy, but being so far away for so long, they were able to plan and enact such tactics before he could prevent them as usual.

Before he burned through a third of his mana pool checking the past, he had his AI list out the actors who had been pawns and the companies that had been taken advantage of before sending all of that to Harper and Rusty.

The former would look into the covert sides of the purchase order and see what information they could ferret out, along with looking into the companies not approached. They could be loyalists, and thus not to be approached, or they might be deep cover agents. To figure out where they lay, everyone needed to be looked into.

His father’s Talent was good, but it wasn’t perfect, and it burned through more mana the more it tried to predict, or the higher the Tier of the target.

It was also good training for Harper’s agents, which was a plus.

Rusty, on the other hand, could use this information and intercept some of the goods that would be sent out and eventually leave the Empire's borders. There was no reason to arm their enemies, after all.

Getting the packet of information, Rusty continued. “Otherwise, our combat capabilities are excellent in the Tier 26 through Tier 35 range. With Duke Waters acting as the tip of the spear, he has managed to decimate a number of Sect and Republic military installations along the border during his current—” Rusty paused as he searched for a word. “Meander.”

Hearing that Duke Waters was still out and about, Emmanuel frowned. He had told Rusty to rein him in before he left, but apparently, the battle junkie was ignoring orders to extend his little vacation to the battlefield.

Ascenders were a special breed, and he now understood his father's complaints about Lila. They were your greatest asset, but by their very nature had minds and wills of their own, even if they didn’t outright do as they pleased.

They were less soldiers to be ordered about, and more cats to be herded.

Sending a personal message to the Duke, he ordered him back, and to sweeten the pot, he hinted at the fact he’d learned some things about the stage of Domains beyond the Aspect.

That, if nothing else, would get the man running back.

If it didn’t work, he would go get the man himself before sticking Waters on terraforming duty, specifically in making worlds with shallow seas. Emmanuel personally liked terraforming, it was good, honest work, but Waters hated it, and preventing him from making oceans deeper than a mile would irritate him like nothing else.

“I’ve handled the Duke. He should be heading back once he gets my message. What else do you have to report?”

“Beyond the normal? Only one thing of note. Lieutenant Colonel Darrow has indicated his desire to move beyond the Tier 15 battlefields. He has stated he is willing to stay at that Tier for the upcoming war, but wants to progress both in Tier and rank once the war is over.”

That caused Emmanuel to pause as he considered the implications.

Lieutenant Colonel Darrow was a prodigy by any measure and, better yet, unquestionably loyal to the Empire.

The man had started as a Tier 10 cadet, and had proven himself an better than average combatant, a genius tactician, and formidable leader, culminating in a battle wherein his battalion was cut off from reinforcements during a pincer maneuver in the last war.

After a second, devastating battle where most of the senior leadership was lost or seriously wounded, the then-sergeant Darrow led the men deeper into Federation land before escaping detection and vanishing. That was until the battalion attacked the rear of the Tier 15 siege of a Tier 9 transit world that would have opened avenues deeper into the Empire.

When the war ended, Sergeant Darrow had requested and been granted a transition to the special forces, where he only honed his skills and leadership abilities as he decided to become an officer instead of staying enlisted.

Once he had reached the rank of Captain and the limit of growth he could reasonably see in the special forces, he requested a transfer back to the regular troops along with a promotion to Major.

Now, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was the single best battlefield commander in the low Tier bracket of the wars, with a particular gift for leveraging even mundane talent to its utmost. He preferred small-unit command, but could certainly lead larger groups. He just would reassign troops in his squads until each one had a given speciality when possible, giving him a wide array of specialized tools to call upon.

He hadn’t progressed in Tier, but his experience meant he was an easy solution to any battlefield in the Tier 15 through Tier 20 range.

Darrow had been content with his Tier for longer than average, and had more than earned his Tier up to 35 if he so wished, but Emmanuel had another idea.

In the end, he wouldn’t force the man if he wished to walk another path.

“Has the good Lieutenant Colonel indicated which rank he wishes to advance to?”

Rusty immediately answered, “He requested to Tier up to at least Tier 20, but from the reports of Brigadier General Greene sent up, she believes he had his eye on the leadership of Tier 25 Corpse Harvesters.”

Digesting that, Emmanuel ran the simulations with a set of Talents and his AI. Nothing came out that seemed wrong, so he tapped the table.

“Colonel Jackson will be transferring out of the Corpse Harvesters in a decade, in preparation for the war. Let Lieutenant Colonel Darrow know the position is his, along with the accompanying promotion if he so wishes. But—”

Emmanuel thought over his idea once more before mentally shrugging.

“Team Zero could use a commander, and I think he’ll be capable of filling the role. Read him in as needed and offer him the position.”

Rusty nodded, “Project Breach it is, then. I...”

The attention of the room shifted to Carissa.

Emmanuel did not like that look, and glared at his wife. She wasn’t a Royal, but he had wanted to take the Path out of the hands of the military and bring it under his more direct control, so he had given her a position where the Tribunal reported directly to her.

Everyone looking at her meant that there was something wrong with his Path.

“There may have been a few surprises that have come up since you left. Would you like to hear about them, honey dearest who I love so much?”

“Clearly, there is something I need to know, so yes.”

Carissa just smiled, as though surprises were ever a good thing.

“Light and Shadow reached Tier 24 ahead of our estimations, and both have accepted orders to not progress before we give the go ahead. With Intents, they are ready to complete the Path in as little as a decade.”

Emmanuel took in the report and tried not to brace for the bad news. The two of them were progressing better than expected, but that wouldn’t be why Rusty looked at Carissa.

“Good. Hold them there and rotate them back on counter-espionage duty for the next five years or so. I want to postpone their finishing the Path a little. That will be the casus belli the other Great Powers will use. We can't push it back too far, or they’ll declare anyway, but I’d like to squeeze an extra decade or two out of them if we can.”

Carissa continued, “Stick and Stone stepped off The Path as predicted, and are still adapting to full support. I hear they’re taking to their preparatory training like a leviathan to water, but that’s more Rusty’s thing. Supports that strong are rare, after all.”

At Rusty’s confirming nod, Carissa moved on. “Other Pathers are acting within our predictions, there were a couple of promising Tier 5s who crossed my desk, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Bloom stepped off before reaching Tier 22, but declined all offered positions.”

She then paused and tapped her fingers on her leg in a way that caused Emmanuel's blood pressure to skyrocket. It meant she was contemplating, and there should be nothing to think about in this situation.

“Oh yes. I almost forgot. The only other thing of note to report is that Quill, Torch, their bond, and Queen have emerged from Minkalla as Tier 11s after a full run.”

Emmanuel slowly closed his fist as he resisted the urge to slap the table in front of him to display his anger.

It would be an unbecoming display for an Emperor, even if he was only in the presence of people he considered friends, and it would also destroy the table, which would be annoying. Their dinner was coming soon.

Looking across all of his Royals, he asked with a flat voice, “Explain.”

Mara was the first to speak up. “Luna said they had a good chance of making it through at Tier 11, and at worst, they would have to Tier up to Tier 12. With Queen assisting them, their odds went up to eighty two percent.”

Leon added with a tap on the table, “And they succeeded in proving her correct and showing that they are the best of the upcoming generation. You know you would have approved the decision with that information.”

They were right, of course. He would certainly be having words with the meddling cat, but he knew that he would have agreed. And even if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t truly have ever stopped them from entering The Forge. They would absolutely crave the rewards it could provide, and he wouldn’t deny them their request.

He was not a tyrant, and would never become one.

Minkalla was simply an aggravating entity beyond even his reach, no matter what Talents he tried to use. But even if knowing of their entry would bring nothing but anxiety, he would at least be forewarned, which was better than learning about it after the fact.

Emmanuel cooled his simmering anger. He trusted his wife and his friends to make the right decision, but sometimes letting go of control like that could be hard. To help take his mind off of it, he checked what cycle they’d gotten for their effort.

A starting Eternal Darkness, then Genesis Cultivation, Back to Basics, Courtly Warfare, Taxing Skills, then finishing out with Folded Reflections and Mind Over Matter.

It was certainly a good set, Genesis Cultivation and Back to Basics in particular caught his eye, and two Concept-related floors at the end provided a solid basis for their future development.

Besides, he couldn’t truly be too hard on them for attempting Minkalla at Tier 11, not without being a hypocrite. But that was how he knew exactly how dangerous it was to do so…

Releasing his breath, Emmanuel listened as Carissa broke down the highlights of the two teams’ merged delve.

Honestly, he was impressed with what they accomplished, and filed away the information about a secret way to gather Genesis Energy in the final floor.

That had several uses, most notably giving a team a massive boost into their next Tier, but his wife and The Seven knew their job well enough that he didn’t need to tell them how to leverage that information in the future.

“Very well. That is fantastic news. I wish I could have been informed, but it would have presented a security risk and would have been impractical besides.” If nothing else, Emmanuel could admit when others had made the right call.

As Carissa continued talking about the rest of the Pathers they were watching, Emmanuel swapped to his split mind Talent to best keep track of their longer reaching plans.

She eventually finished her report, and Emmanuel turned back to Rusty. “Back to Lieutenant Colonel Darrow. Do you believe he’ll accept command of Team Zero?”

Rusty snorted. “The man’s a brilliant tactician, loves leveraging unique resources to their fullest potential, and is hoping to expand the scope of his work. We so much as mention Project Breach to him, and even you couldn’t pry the offer from his cold, dead hands.”

Emmanuel mentally jotted that worry off his checklist. Lieutenant Colonel Darrow would do fine, and they just needed to ensure he had the people to complete their missions.

He was moving on to Harper when Rusty kept speaking, “To continue with the good news, Project Ironvine has had a major breakthrough recently.”

Emmanuel felt his mood sour slightly once more.

Project Ironvine was a disaster he had inherited from his father.

He would have never allowed such a project to be greenlit in the first place, but it was close to showing success every time he was going to order funding halted towards it.

The idea was simple. Recreate a growth item that they could give to anyone.

In practice, their creations were more akin to a parasite. Modeled loosely off of plant-virus hybrids that populated a few rifts, they would infect and bind to a host’s body and spirit, growing with and theoretically strengthening their symbiote. In practice, most of the early iterations inflicted madness not dissimilar to that which rift monsters experienced, and those few which didn’t left their hosts more crippled than strengthened.

“We had a breakthrough using Razorback Ankylosaurus as the base. There’s some interaction with the host that we don’t fully understand, which limits the normal side effects to something manageable without a decrease in power. To make a long story short, the team is requesting to move to full human testing within the next twenty years, and I believe it's the right call.”

Emmanuel didn’t like it, but a new breakthrough was what they needed to deal with the upcoming wars.

At his nod, Rusty continued, “We even have a volunteer. Corporal Evelyn Nore. Corporal Nore’s Talents inflict physical harm in place of using mana, but compensates with an increased effectiveness of healing cast upon her, including a lessened cooldown. We believe she would be the best test subject. She is used to dealing with immense amounts of pain and heals better than most. In the worst case, we believe she can survive the forceful removal of the parasite.”

“Ensure Corporal Nore knows all risks involved before testing, but otherwise, you have approval to move ahead. Keep me informed with all news about the project going forward.”

At Rusty’s confirmation, Emmanuel turned to Harper. “How are our spies doing, and what are the other Great Powers doing?”

“We have caught a swell in anti-monarchy sentiments along with a number of terrorist cells being funded by the other Great Powers. So far, we have managed to catch a number of them, but I’m sure some have slipped through. For now though, everything is stable internally. Externally, I have been able to plant a few teams of spies in the Sects and turn a few others. Our real victory was your talk with First Shepherd Toby. We’ve had a few inquiries about the Dragon blood, and talks about an official defensive pact are looking promising for after the war. If we are more generous, I believe we might be able to sway the Monster Collective to join the war, but the price they are asking for that is exorbitant at best. I think it would be better to ensure their neutrality in the upcoming war, and then tie us together with more benefits once we have shown we are able to weather the storm. But before the war we suspect will happen after this one.”

Emmanuel thought over what Harper said and finally asked, “What about the Corporations? Managing Director JR seemed open to a trade when I mentioned it.”

Harper shrugged one shoulder. “So far, all of my inquiries have been like throwing a stone into a well. I suspect the other side has upped the benefits to a degree he simply can't say no to. I suggest that we save the blood to either get them out of the war early if we are losing, or use it to tie them to us going forward once we win.”

After Harper went over a few reports about various other spies and information that their people gathered, Emmanuel moved on to Frederic.

“Anything interesting in the academies?”

Frederic shook his head, “Not since you left.”

Hearing that he nodded and moved on. “And how is the economy?”

His newest royal was more formal as he reported this time. “Your majesty, we have had an upsurge in economic spending, but our budget is tight with the war looming over us. Once we start diverting more resources to the front lines, the economy will take a downward turn, and I don't see how we can afford to keep up a number of the social services we provide, such as Tiering up planets to Tier 5. That is the largest expense that we can cut without too much pushback, as long as it is couched as a temporary war measure. There are a number of other things we could cut, but their cost benefit ratio isn't nearly as high as that particular case.”

After they discussed a few other matters, Frederic looked to Harper, who asked, “There is also another topic that I would like to bring up, your Majesty. What of the [Bandage] rifts? We have been approached by all of the other Great Powers with the desire to buy sets of five hundred [Bandage] skill shards for their own attempts at making a rift that produces it on their own. The concessions they are offering are generous to say the least. Frederic and I believe there are some good political and economical maneuvers possible through brokering some agreements.”

Emmanuel thought that over before answering, “I had a few ideas in mind, but nothing quite serious yet. I was going to give the green light to create a few more spread throughout the Empire. I’d like to keep those to ourselves for the meantime, though.”

As he paused to think, Frederic had a response ready. “It seems like a wise decision, your Majesty. We could always open up trades after the war.”

Emmanuel simply nodded. He knew the situation of the economy better than anyone, and what Frederic said fell in line with what he knew and had planned before.

While he suspected the man had ideas to remove more of what he would call 'frivolous spending', his mind went in another direction.

“I have other ideas about trade, but first, I’d like to hear from Tur'stal. How is the home front?”

Tur'stal tapped her wine glass. “Well, all things considered. We have added another eight point two trillion people to the Empire in the last decade, along with forty two Tier 5 and below planets. Most of that population boom has been in low Tier planets, but we’ve also caught and settled two Tier 20 or higher planets in various kingdoms. People are flocking towards the frontiers with the benefits and tax breaks we have been offering, but we need to be careful that we don't have any splinter cultures popping up. I suggest we slow the benefits to a degree, using the war as our reasoning, and focus on digesting what we have gained for the next thousand years or so. That will ensure our expansion doesn’t become a hidden danger, with so many mortals being born away from firmer central governance.”

Emmanuel was about to agree when their dinner came in, and they put a pause on the work talk for the duration.

Conversations that avoided work topics were easy with Mara and Leon there, even more so thanks to their being prouder than peacocks about their children’s achievements in Minkalla. If someone was only listening to this conversation, they would have believed Mara and Leon had been the ones delving into Minkalla with how they retold the stories. Or rather, restating their stories as they started to create illusions to play out the more dramatic moments.

Eventually, once the conversation reached the end of their delve and the plates were cleared, they returned to business.

“Tur'stal, get me a plan with your suggestions for consolidating our recent gains and ensuring no splinter cultures appear in the meantime, while also dealing with the war. We can’t allow it to distract us from our internals.”

Taking a deep breath, he mentioned his biggest gamble.

“How is the Farm?”

Tur'stal jerked slightly at the unexpected question, along with everyone else in the room, including his wife.

Carissa, like usual, understood him best, and had immediately seen where his mind went with just the one question if her widening eyes were any indication.

The rest were only moments slower in realizing what he wanted to do. As he watched the horror dawn over their faces, he took a perverse pleasure in the moment. It was so rare that he managed to surprise any of them.

Tur'stal answered like each word would be the trigger that brought a trap down on her. “The next batch of Tier 40 planets will be ready for harvesting within a decade, and we already have the next set of planets ready to be seeded as they become the newest generation of the Farm.”

Tur'stal looked at him like he was crazy, as she carefully didn’t mention what he wanted to do.

Emmanuel understood and felt the same way. Even the idea was taboo, but he believed it was both the best and the smartest move.

The Farm was where almost a third of the Empire’s revenue went. With the scaling of the Tiers, a Tier 47 rift alone just wasn't enough to reach Tier 50 in any reasonable time frame. Definitely not in a short thirty thousand years.

But they still did it.

And the Farm was the answer.

They took a few planets and started Tiering them up as fast as possible. Once they started growing, they repeated the process with a new batch of planets every millennia or so.

It still took ages for a planet to go up a single Tier, even with the frankly absurd amount of resources dumped on them, but as long as the farm was well tended every century, they would have a few Tier 40 planets ready for harvesting by the end of the cycle.

Harvesting the essence core of a planet was highly illegal for anyone but the Emperor themselves, or their direct representative, for whom it was a necessity. Without a stockpile and steady stream of cores, they could never raise up a new Tier 50 in short order. Combined with delves from the rifts, they would always be able to get a Tier 50, but the price paid would be heavy.

He had eaten quite a few cores while delving to reach Tier 50, and it was his duty to ensure his many-time descendants had planets to harvest for their own race to Tier 50.

Or, that was what his father had impressed into him.

But that was only an issue because they didn’t have any Tier 50 rifts. A single Tier 50 rift would mean they had no need of the hundreds of planets sucking down resources.

His idea— the idea the others understood— was simple.

“Cut off the resources to the Farm and redirect them to the rest of the Empire. The war effort gets first priority, but spread the rest out.”

Leon was the first to speak. “Is this a good idea, your majesty? It's a massive gamble.”

Emmanuel wanted to scoff. He knew that better than anyone, but they needed mana to spend, and that was a massive drain on their resources that was slated to be useless with Matthew and his unlimited mana.

He had considered the idea before he left for the ascensions, but not seriously.

With the information that Matt had already entered Minkalla and exited safely, he had no more reservations.

It was time to roll the dice.

“I'm sure. We need to plan for the True War. If we win, we don't need the Farm, and if we lose, it won't be as simple as being defeated. We will either be victorious or a footnote in history. Those resources can bolster our highest Tier fighters along with the retirees. Better to start spending that budget now, rather than later.”

Rusty was the first to break the solemn atmosphere. “I like it. All or nothing. No one will expect us to have that much excess funding.” He looked to Frederic. “Can we hide that much mana?”

Frederic pursed his lips. “Give me a year to work on a plan, but I believe we can obfuscate most of it. Be aware, we can’t hide it. It’s just too much mana and other resources to be hidden. The other Great Powers will definitely wonder what is happening, but I don’t think any of them would even suspect we pulled the funding of the Farm. It's madness. We could even make it semi-public, and watch the spies run around madly trying to figure out what that’s a cover for.”

Mara laughed. “It's madness unless you know someone who makes way too much mana. With Quill safely out of Minkalla, he’s guaranteed to reach Tier 24 within a century.”

That set everyone else off into a discussion where Emmanuel mostly listened to what his experts had to say and suggest.

Once the initial shock of the idea wore off, he could see the excitement of the decision get to them. The sheer excess of funds could be utilized in a million or so ways, and it was of utmost necessity that it remained a secret that was used efficiently.

Two days later, they had the framework of an idea hammered out, and he finally moved to more traditionally interesting topics, namely Hastor’s Ascension and accompanying Authority.

That caused quite the stir, with plenty of speculation as to what was required to form it, but Emmanuel had no new insights into the process.

When they settled down, he smirked. “I also learned a few interesting things about Hastor’s Talent. The first was what they are, but the latter is how they improved with Ascension.”

It took a moment for the import of his statement to dawn on those present, but while most of the room had their eyes go wide, Carissa’s narrowed.

“Wait a moment. You said Hastor had an inspiration when he created his Authority. He ascended as a Tier 51. Not a Tier 50. Can you even use the Tier 3?”

Emmanuel and everyone else froze for a moment before he realized what she meant.

And she was right. He always had the ability to take people's Talents if they were stronger than him, even if it was limited to five Tiers up which is when the difference between his spirit and the one he was trying to copy became too large. It had just been millennia since he had needed to concern himself with the spiritual weight of something stronger than himself. Hastor’s Talent as a whole wouldn’t have that issue being within his acceptable range, but the Tier 3 carried its own complication.

With a thought, he found a low Tier weapon shop and grabbed half a dozen swords out of their inventory, and dropped them on the table.

Picking one up, he swapped to Hastor’s Tier 3 Talent, and the sword rippled as it Tiered up, growing from Tier 7 to Tier 50, then Tier 51 in mere fractions of a second. Already, Emmanuel could feel the realm trying to rip the blade from his hand as it rejected its existence. He could probably resist it for a moment, but with a sigh he allowed the blade to vanish in a flash of light, leaving an awkward silence in its wake.

Talents he stole were copies of the original, and therefore it would make a Tier 51 weapon, as that was Hastors Tier.

The silence was promptly broken by his wife’s laughter. “Goodness, dear! A mere thousand years of playing Emperor and you forget you aren’t all-powerful. Stabbed yourself in the hip there, losing out on a Tier 50 weapon of your own.”

“On the contrary, my dear,” he countered, “I now have unlimited Tier 51 weapons, each of which I can use for a single devastating strike.”

His wife smirked at him and called his bluff. “You just thought of that. Don’t lie.”

Emmanuel shrugged his most indifferent shrug. “I planned it all. I know everything, always. You know that.”

Her snort told him exactly how much she believed it.

Leon thankfully saved him. “How long can you resist the ascension?”

That sent them into a round of testing, but as they discovered, it seemed impossible for a Tier 51 material to last in the realm for more than a moment.

Still, a moment was all he needed if he changed his Talent at the last second. A disposable Tier 51 weapon that could be made from lower Tier weapons? He’d take that trade any day of the week, even if he hadn’t intended or expected it.

After some more testing, everyone split off to their respective kingdoms while he ignored some paperwork to spend some time with Carissa.

It was good to be home.