Chapter 225 (Patreon)

Chapter 225

Matt watched the other team as Aster finished recounting the ‘official’ end of their adventures on the fourth floor of Minkalla. As his bond described in great detail how they fought dozens of other teams under the attacks of the Fae, he was able to see how his friends had changed over the years.

Mostly, it was subtle things.

Mathew clenched his fist at the mention of Liz targeting an enemy healer and shifting to be just a little closer to his wife. Kyle, in awe as Aster described her and Liz taking out forts on their own, Vinnie asking about how Minkalla’s restrictions actually felt, and endless questions about the planet itself. Tara was disappointed she wasn’t able to pick up any secondhand ideas from their interactions with Jill, the archer pair of the husband and wife team who they had made friends with in Minkalla. Samantha, at rapt attention when they described the magic the general was working. And Melinda, mouth thin as she asked about their tactics and injuries taken in the fourth floor, when they finally started facing other cultivators.

They seemed to soak in the information in preparation for their own delve into Minkalla in the coming years.

As they drifted on to other topics, Matt was quite interested to hear about what kinds of delves they’d been getting into. Unfortunately, they didn’t have many interesting stories to tell, and Matt hadn’t seen most of the movies Mathew and Melinda had been watching, or even heard of ReForge before Vinnie and Samantha started talking about the game at length. It made it difficult to really relate, as the game’s crafting system was so different from reality Matt simply had nothing to offer. Aster was fine with it, though, and the traitor seemed quite interested in learning how enchanting worked when it was someone other than Matt explaining it.

Tara was at least easier to talk to, as she was looking for some advice on starting to do some basic enchanting-work with her own arrows. Quality ammunition was expensive, after all, and while she didn’t have a crafting Talent or Domain, she was interested in being able to do some of her own repairs and maintenance, a topic Matt was more than happy to help with. Her growth quiver was good but not unlimited or perfect.

Liz had settled into a similar conversation with Kyle, discussing the respective alchemy they’d done on their blood. Oxygen became something less of a concern as you rose in Tiers, but Kyle had taken his third Tier Talent and used it as a baseline to hold more than just oxygen. So far, he’d managed to extend it to carrying other gasses, but from the sounds of it, he was hoping to get a blood iron of his own and become capable of carrying around several times his own body weight in solid steel.

When the conversation finally ended and Matt described his Inspiration in greater detail, they finally broke up the impromptu party, with Matt following Kyle out onto the attached balcony.

They stood in the predawn chill for a few minutes, listening to the city underneath them that didn’t seem to sleep with people walking or flying around.

Kyle finally broke the silence. “I want to enter Minkalla, but I don’t think it's going to happen.”

Matt was taken aback. “No? I mean, with Melinda you wouldn’t have to worry about the healing cooldown, you’ll be fresh the entire time. I mean sure, you’ll need to load up on mana stones beforehand, but that’s not too bad. And the rewards are pretty good, most cycles don’t have someone clogging up the fourth floor and throwing everything into chaos.”

Kyle just shook his head, “We wouldn’t make it far enough for the rewards to really matter. You three only made it halfway, what chance do we have? Besides, you saw the others. Melinda was terrified at the thought of facing an entire planet full of yous, Vinnie doesn’t want to go anywhere near that planet that could cut him off from his [Earth Manipulation], Mat doesn’t want to go anywhere that Melinda could be in any kind of harm, where her status as a healer doesn’t mean she’ll be protected, but actively aimed at. There’s no backup, nothing.”

He sighed, “I could get Tara to go, but really what’s the point? The two of us definitely wouldn’t make it past where you three cut your losses, and floor 5 is where the rewards start to be really good. We’ve all got our Concepts, we don’t really need more skills, and none of us really need to worry about being able to bench an extra three pounds or getting more growth items, we’ve got plenty between us already. Maybe just the two of us could get to the third floor, come out with a pile of skills to sell, but Melinda may well have a heart attack from stress if we tried.”

Matt didn’t really know what to say to that, and just stood there with him in what was hopefully a companionable, rather than awkward, silence.

He didn’t want to push them further than they were capable of, and Minkalla was dangerous. Sure, Melinda obviated a big part of that, but there were still floors where her healing would be negated, cut off from skills or mana.

He knew they were better at not relying on Melinda’s Talent now, especially when compared to when they were kids. But they still always had the knowledge Melinda could bring them back from damn near anything.

If they went into Minkalla and got a bad floor, some or all of them might not come out, which would make Kyle pushing the team into Minkalla for his own sake beyond selfish. He also didn’t want to push Kyle and Tara to try and brave the Forge on their own. They were part of a team and used to being part of a team, they just didn’t have the habits needed to manage that difficult of a delve as just a duo.

It was a hard pill to swallow that the team you had been with since you lost your family, the people who had become your new family, were now slowing you down and preventing you from doing something potentially beneficial for your own future growth.

“I don't have a good answer. Minkalla is called a slaughterhouse for a reason. I don’t regret going in, but we were almost forced to Tier up a few times, and our lives were at risk the whole time. I wish I had an answer for you… but I don’t.”

Kyle didn’t say anything, which eventually led to another few minutes of silence when Kyle started talking about his discontentment with them not going into Minkalla. He clearly didn’t want answers, and just wanted to vent, which Matt let him do for almost fifteen minutes.

After standing around for close to half an hour, Kyle shrugged and clasped Matt’s shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

When they went back into the room, the rest were watching a movie, and Melinda pulled Kyle into the spot next to her and quietly talked to him, even as the movie played in the background.

The next day was a blur as the twins Annie and Emily arrived with Conor, who joined their team after the Pather war so many years ago.

Emily and Tara seemed incredibly out of sorts for the first fifteen minutes or so, but as the awkwardness faded, they seemed to just… click with each other. Matt quickly understood how their relationship had survived nearly a decade apart.

Seeing two of his friends so happy together brought Matt a sense of happiness, and he couldn’t help but start pestering the others in Melinda’s team who were still single, prying for any hints of a relationship.

He was firmly put in his place and told to buzz off, but he didn’t let it get to him.

Eventually, he, Liz, and Aster left to reunite with Liz’s family and give the others some time to settle in.

They were coming back from a mini golf excursion with Daniel and Erin when Travis and Keith came out of their rooms in full armor.

Seeing them, they imminently beelined and grabbed Matt, Liz, and Aster, guiding them to their room. “Get ready. We want to spar, and the three of you are the closest to our combat prowess.”

Matt didn’t need to hear anything else, and quickly changed into his under armor and then summoned his armor to his body with his spiritual ring.

Aster was just as fast as him, but Liz hesitated. “I don't know if this is a good idea. If we beat you two, will you two be ok?”

Leah appeared from her room. “I’m the highest Tier, and I can ref!”

Mara and Leon came out of their room wearing clothes proclaiming their belief that Travis and Keith would win, but before Matt could make a joke at the corny shirts, another pair of Mara and Leon came out wearing even cringier shirts rooting for the three of them.

Travis poked Liz on the arm and grinned. “You can give up at any point, little sister.”

Liz narrowed her eyes and returned the grin. “Any stakes?”

Keith groaned, and Matt picked up Aster, already seeing that the two would get into an argument about what they should bet.

Fifteen minutes later, all the siblings were aware and shouting their suggestions for more and more ridiculous bets. Eventually, Liz and Travis settled on an agreement.

The losers would have to wear the pair of shirts Mara and Leon were wearing to cheer on the winners for a week. Matt and Keith shared a glance, but they both knew that they’d hardly be able to change the siblings' minds. They might even end up with their significant others wearing shirts with their own faces on them.

Considering how much worse that would be, neither of them said a thing.

They entered the combat room to see Kurt, Luna, and both sets of Mara and Leon waiting for them. The latter of which were, of course, in a fierce argument about which team would win.

Matt took his position standing across from Keith, with his warhammer and shield combo, and shifted his grip on his sword to take his stance, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

Liz was slightly behind him, and had her shield and spear at the ready to join the melee or engage in  a magical fight with Travis, who, like Aster, was well behind his frontliner.

Leah had been relegated to the stands, Kurt having taken her place as referee. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he didn’t allow himself the distraction as the silent man counted down.

The moment the fight started, Matt lunged at Keith with his longsword, [Shadowstrike] lengthening the blade and preparing him for any counterattacks.

He had never fought Keith before, but he knew the strategy of fighting warhammer wielders and wanted to keep just out of the hammer's range while utilizing his own reach advantage.

Keith was no amateur, though, and immediately twisted to intercept the blow with his shield, letting the tip of Matt’s blade skitter along the shield.

He immediately followed it up with a hammer blow blazing through the air, fast enough that Aster’s [Headwind] preventing the parting of air in front of it was actually relevant. A skill started to spark on the head of the weapon, but Aster’s area [Dispelling Wind] ripped the magic to shreds before it could properly form. He stepped back with a pulse of [Air Slide], then reversed course as Aster swapped from hindering to helping the weapon’s strike, and the sudden change in momentum threw Keith off-balance. Matt took the opportunity to strike at the man’s neck with a heavy blow.

With the speed borne of a four Tier advantage, Keith twisted, but Matt was just fast enough to land a glancing blow on the older man’s shoulder. It wasn’t a decisive blow, but Matt excelled at dragging out fights.

Keith was near the peak of Tier 17, after all, and had his own buffs. Fortunately, he also had to fight Aster’s area debuffs, and Matt’s physical enhancement suite was substantially stronger, but even still Matt was at best just keeping up with him. It was like fighting a mage-type monster, but one with better skills and far more experience than rift monsters usually had.

While they felt each other out, Liz pushed forward and tried to rush down her brother.

In a fight of more equal Tiers, a three versus two would make all the difference, but Travis wasn’t the son of a phoenix for nothing.

The moment the fight started, he burst into flames and [Flame Body], becoming a vaguely bird-shaped being of blue flames. Every flap of the phoenix’s wings sent waves of blue flame through the air, and Matt could feel the increase in ambient heat even through [Cracked Phantom Armor].

Liz thrust with her spear, a second copy of the weapon materializing for a moment before flames swallowed it, leaving no trace. The wave of flames met Liz’s new shield, recently arrived and raised to Tier 14, and broke against the black metal.

From Aster’s tail, a light blue ray shot towards Travis. While he was in his elemental form he was especially vulnerable to other elemental attacks, especially ones of counter elements, but he didn’t even move as a wall of fire rose and destroyed the [Polar Ray].

Matt teleported in front of Aster to block a massive attack with [Bulwark], then cast [Sword Twin] to fight off Keith attempting to circle him, meeting hammer with sword once again.

Their fight lasted almost half an hour, but eventually, their numbers advantage wasn't enough to let them win and they went down after Matt took a hit from Travis he wasn’t able to fully block.

After that, they reset, but having learned more about each other, the next fight turned into a brutal slug fest. Matt went after Travis and had to deal with his Concept-powered blue flames, strong enough to eat through even max-MPS [Cracked Phantom Armor] if he didn’t reinforce the spell with his Concept.

A flame mage going for pure damage wasn’t anything unusual or new, but Travis had the bloodline of his mother’s form and the resulting Talent that increased his fire capabilities. From what Matt remembered of Travis’s Talent, it wasn’t even that crazy, with just a flat increase in control over flames for his Tier 1, and a small but growing increase in fire damage from his Tier 3.

Even as Matt ran the mage down with [Bulwark] and [Cracked Phantom Armor] taking the brunt of the damage, he was mentally aghast at the beating his armor was taking. Without a Talent or dedicated fire defense effect, most people near their Tier would find themselves burnt to a crisp under Travis's flames.

The second fight once more went to the older couple, after they managed to eliminate Aster early on. Without her assistance in closing the power gap, Matt and Liz quickly found themselves overwhelmed.

The final fight almost went to the older couple when Travis transformed into his phoenix form fully, but Matt and Aster teamed up to freeze the bird in place, battered in high winds and unable to use any skills, long enough for Matt to grab Travis’ claw and slam him into the ground like an oversized pillow. After he was pulled from the fight, Keith put up a valiant effort but ultimately stood no chance.

By then, Travis and Keith were exhausted, both magically and physically, and declined a fourth round. Matt and Liz, meanwhile, were ready to go after just a few minutes to recover, especially after they tracked down Melinda to Overheal their bruises away, and that led to an entirely new set of spars with the Unbroken and the other half of Team Bucket.

They even tried fighting with suppressed cultivation, and Matt grew a newfound respect for how difficult it was to truly act as though he were a lower Tier. He couldn’t even imagine what it would be like, trying to compensate for an Intent or Tier 25 talent, it was hard enough limiting himself to a half or quarter of his current mana regeneration. He’d shifted his tactics to account for the higher MPS, after all, and his skills didn’t rearrange themselves, or lower their expanded but less efficient throughput, to accommodate a temporarily lowered power source.

Travis and Keith even took it upon themselves to spar with the others though they were more practice dummies that pushed their opponents weak points than proper opponents.

Hours later, when everyone was sore, Luna sat everyone down in the sparring room and started talking about Domains. Even Keith and Travis joined them, as they hadn’t fully created their own Intents even after all this time.

“Domains are our connection with reality. Concepts, as the first step, serve to establish your relationship with the realm, your place in existence. An Intent, meanwhile, is the declaration of how you will affect reality. Just as with a Concept, you will need a phrase for direction and an image of where you fit into reality, but so too will you need an anchor to connect your domain to material existence.”

Luna’s hand stretched out, and a small, scalpel-like blade appeared in it. To all of Matt’s senses, it looked completely ordinary and mundane, despite the fact that the damage across its dark, wooden handle and gleaming silver blade should have left it in fragments. “This is a penknife, and it is my Intent’s anchor. It is utilized to trim quill nibs to ensure they stay perfectly sharp, and I pulled it into my Domain countless years ago,” she explained. “Much as Concepts have internal and external variants, Intents are what we refer to as either claimed or created. Claimed intents utilize an anchor that was once a fully real, fully physical object. Created intents, meanwhile, are the result of taking a portion of the domain and permanently manifesting it as a part of reality. Both forms of anchors result in approximately the same output, an item which is fully real and yet comprised wholly of willpower. This is why my penknife appears so damaged at the moment, it is a reflection of my as-of-yet unhealed Domain. It retains full functionality, however; the damage is merely cosmetic.”

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the penknife vanished, leaving no trace it had ever existed.

“Created intents are usually focused more upon the created item itself as a tool for enacting one’s Intent upon the realm, whereas claimed Intents serve as more of a lens into reality, and more easily have an impact upon reality other than the anchor. In this way, some draw a parallel between created Intents and internal Concepts, and claimed Intents and external Concepts. Yet any trick which either internal or external Concepts are capable of managing may be accomplished with any form of Intent the most obvious of which is flight.”

“What happens to a claimed item?” Aster asked. “Does it stay at your Tier, or does it stay at the Tier it was at when you first created it? And what happens if it breaks later?”

Luna nodded. “The answer is somewhere in the middle. The material itself grows in strength corresponding to your willpower, in such a way as to keep approximately on-pace with Tier advancement, but any enchantments will not grow. There are many a Tier 40 or above whose Intent anchor is a functionally-mundane weapon, as the material grew in strength but the enchantments faded into irrelevancy. And no, most claimed anchors are no better at serving as a skill channel than any other object.”

Matt winced lightly. At higher Tiers, enchantments grew all the more important for combat relevancy, and having a wholly mundane weapon that didn’t have the skill magnification abilities of a Concept manifestation would be about as useful as a pool noodle against properly-enchanted armor.

“However, you do not need to worry about them breaking,” the penknife reappeared and Luna snapped it in half, tossing the two parts off to each side. They vanished from midair, and there was suddenly an identical penknife within Luna’s grasp once again. “While they are fully real, they also only exist at your will, and you may recreate them as easily as simply desiring it to be so. Many people do utilize growth items as their anchors, providing resiliency scarcely seen outside of Minkalla’s rewards.”

Matt frowned. If enchantments didn’t scale then why-

Luna answered his question before he could even formulate it. “Growth items are the only true exception to the guideline against utilizing enchanted objects, as their enchantments grow organically, so long as they are fed the appropriate materials. Once again, the anchor is fully real, and as such retains all physical properties it had before it was taken into the domain.”

Luna’s purple eyes pierced each of them in turn. “Any questions, before I move on to the creation of the Intent?”

“Excellent. Now, Melinda. You believed you had your image and phrase for your Intent since you were Tier 6, is that correct? Have you attempted to form your Intent since that time, and if so, what did it feel like? Please, do not attempt to do so now. Simply answer the question.”

Melinda jerked in her seat slightly, thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I have, once or twice, but Kurt warned me against pushing for it. When I did try, it felt like I was pushing against the entire realm while being wrong about something. Which, I suppose must have been the fact that I was missing my anchor, but I always thought that I had my phrase or image wrong.”

“Both can be possible. But, that resistance you felt? That’s important there. You all remember when you were first forming your Concept, yes? And how if you came close but not quite exactly to your phrase or image, you would forget immediately afterwards? Good. The resistance to forming an Intent is similar to that, but much stronger. For your Intent, if you get too close to forming a portion of your Intent and you fail, you could literally die. Your Domain could be overtaxed, your spirit torn to shreds, and your body would literally fall apart around you.”

“Now, there are a few ways to mitigate this risk. If your essence has been fully converted by your Concept, it is easier to form your Intent and thus reduces the chance of backlash. If you focus upon learning about your Intent, rather than trying to create a portion of it, it becomes more likely that you will succeed once you do attempt to form it. Lastly, increasing in Tier will reduce the backlash immeasurably. By the time you are approximately Tier 19, even a spectacular failure in forming your Intent will not be instantly fatal, though may still require a healer’s intervention. By Tier 21, it is wholly safe, and by Tier 24, a failure is unlikely to result in anything worse than a headache and perhaps a nosebleed.”

Emily raised a finger, and Luna nodded for her to proceed. “What about Aspects? Shouldn’t you be teaching us about those, so we can prepare for them? Also, what Tier is it safe to develop them?”

“Ah, Aspects. Do not worry about them for now. In fact, it is best to not consider them whatsoever while attempting to form your Intent, as attempting to establish your Intent as a mere stepping-stone not only leads to the Intent being harder to form, but also the Aspect. There was one boy a few thousand years ago who, in the infinite wisdom of a child, decided that he wanted an Aspect reaching and covering all weapons. He succeeded at creating a Concept for bladed weapons, then created an Intent covering all melee weapons after substantial difficulty, but found himself incapable of developing his Domain any further as a result. He is still attempting to break through, to the best of my knowledge, but I do not anticipate him to succeed for a very, very long time, if he ever does. Once you form your Intents, you will be presented with what is required for an Aspect, but for now, leave them from your mind. An Intent is a key part of your Domain, not a mere waypoint to your Aspect.

“As for when it will be safe to attempt to form your Aspect, it is usually accepted that Tier 40 is when all but complete and utter incompetence will not be fatal, though the risk is manageable as early as Tier 35, due in large part to many generations of efforts to support those still able to participate in wars. Now, it is well-known that Duke Waters formed his Intent at Tier 17 and his Aspect at Tier 23. This is, shall we say, not advisable. The man should be dead half a dozen times over from attempting that stunt, and it resulted in many a sleepless night from those in the know at the time. Yet, he managed the equivalent of pinning a fly to a wall with an arrow from hundreds of miles away on his first attempt, multiple times in a row. Attempting to mimic his accomplishment would be just as fatal as attempting to delve a Tier 25 rift at Tier 1.”

Matt took a deep breath. He’d heard that what Duke Waters had done was impressive, sure, but he hadn’t quite realized the sheer scope of what his predecessor had accomplished.

Luna looked around and pointed at Melinda once more. “Now, in terms of preparing you to maximize the use of this ascension, we’ll cover essence conversion. Melinda’s Concept manifested wholly organically, with her coming into it without even attempting to create it, which means her speed of conversion wasn’t just fast, but almost instant in comparison to the rest of you. All of you can check how far your Domain has changed your essence by looking into your cores and feeling your Concept. It should feel like it's grown out of the very center, and is seeping into the rest of your essence.”

Matt did as he was told and looked at the center of his cultivation cores where his Concept was, and then looked at the essence at the center of his core. Or rather, the Genesis Energy at the center of his core, thanks to Minkalla. He could see that, like Luna said, his Concept was like paint dispersing through water all the way to his eleventh Tier of cultivation.

“As long as your most recent Domain is at least halfway through your cultivation, you are fine to start trying to make your next step, but the farther along it is, the easier it is. The same applies for when you are trying to make your Aspect.”

When everyone was paying attention to her once more, Luna continued. “All of you are at that point, which is why this Ascension will be so useful for you. Now, even if you were high enough Tier to genuinely attempt it, a single Ascension completing or getting close to completing your Intent is so unlikely, you'd be more likely to see another Duke Waters rise this decade. While it's just as useful, the amount of energy needed to make an Intent is miles beyond what is needed to make a Concept. An ascension is like a cup of water. A cup of water which is more than enough to fill another cup and very useful, but that's only until it's compared to the ocean you need to make an Intent. It's even worse for an Aspect, which is, to continue the metaphor, like needing a sun's worth of water, and still only getting a single cup's worth from an Ascension.”

Hearing that, Matt had to ask, “So what makes all of this so worthwhile, if we won’t be able to make any substantial strides towards our Intents, and in fact we shouldn’t even try? I thought it would be far more useful than it sounds.”

Kurt stepped in and wrote, “It is useful, in particular at the very start and very end of the process. Because your Intent is all about beginning to connect your Domain to the realm directly, being able to interact with the increased malleability of reality during and in the wake of an Ascension gives it first practice, then later it will make it easier to manifest your final Intent. For now, just focus on trying to feel where your Domain is trying to lead.”

Luna stepped back in. “As I mentioned, for now, just attempt to feel out where your Intent is leading you. Most people tend to start with either their phrase or image, as they’re familiar with that from their Concept, but don’t let that constrain you. If you begin meditating on it now, you’ll be in a good position for when the Ascension actually happens.”

After that, Luna answered some questions from everyone before leaving them to the training room.

The rest of the family came in, and Leah, Sam, and the others who had already created their own Intents gave some more advice about the reasons for the directions they took their own Domains.

Through all of it, Matt wasn’t sure he had an answer that really suited him, and continued to feel that way despite meditating on it.

With less than a month to the actual Ascension, Matt felt like he was at a crossroads, but with no directions.

He wanted to protect himself and his friends, but he also knew that wasn’t all that he was.

Him being endless seemed so easy and obvious, considering his Talent in the early days. But now, at almost forty nine years old, he didn’t have the surety of youth that he had back then. He had lived so for so long and done so much in those years, he felt things had become muddled.

Though, he was already halfway through Tier 13 at his current age, where The Path only demanded someone reach Tier 13 by age fifty-five.

With their progress, they could reach Tier 14 before they were fifty three. Though with Luna’s plans, it was probably more reasonable to expect them to reach it by fifty five.

Staring at his hands, Matt sighed.

He had done so much, but had he lost himself in the intervening years? He didn’t know.

He didn’t have an easy answer, which seemed to be something of a theme considering his lack of headway in making an Intent.

Two weeks before the start of the Tier 10 tournament and Ascension, two large events were happening that helped him take most of his mind off the issue.

The first was Aunt Helen arriving in the Citadel system, and the second was Liz’s fiftieth birthday, which they were celebrating early.

Thankfully, both of those events were related to each other, as Liz had already made it clear she wanted a simple family and friends event for the birthday party.

Having known this, Matt completed most of the planning with Mara and Leon when they first arrived. After checking in with them one last time about another matter, he went to visit Aunt Helen at her request.

He didn’t know why, but he expected her to be older than when he had last seen her, despite knowing she was immortal and hadn’t aged in millions of years.

As he entered her floating house, he was met with one of the clone-like butlers who silently took his coat before showing him where he could store his shoes.

Following the sound of chopping and clinking, he found Aunt Helen in her kitchen and moved to join her, seeing that she already had an apron waiting for him.

Seeing there was a massive pile of peppers that still needed to be cut up, Matt silently pulled out his cooking knife and got to work.

They worked for almost fifteen minutes when he finally asked, “How did you know I needed to talk to someone?”

Aunt Helen smiled. “Everyone asks that, and I’ll give you the same answer I give them. Spend a few million years rebuilding your Concept and spending all that time outside rifts and amongst people. You get a sense for these things after a while.”

Matt chewed on a pepper piece that had a bit of black on it and nodded at its flavor. “I spent a life as a chef. My family was alive, and even Aster was my little sister, being born shortly after the incident Minkalla cooked up to stop the rift break. I got really into cooking in that life…” Matt continued to tell Aunt Helen about his first Minkalla Folded Reflections life until he got to the moment when he woke up from the dream. “I actually woke up when I heard you would be at a competition I was going to.”

Aunt Helen reached out and ruffled his hair, despite him being nearly a foot taller than her. “I’m honored to have been able to help. You said you worked for Chef Abdul. You know he actually got a Red Feather from me about five years before you went into Minkalla?”

Matt hadn’t known that and was intrigued. “Oh? So Minkalla didn’t make him up completely?”

Aunt Helen shook her head, feathers bouncing. “Minkalla lies, and lies often, but most of its lies carry some grain of truth. Some say it’s to be more cruel, but I believe it’s because even Minkalla finds it easier to borrow from what’s real and change it than to invent something wholesale. That's how even the best illusionist do it as well after all.”

They continued to talk until the soup Aunt Helen had been making was set to simmer.

Matt looked at the older woman and frowned.

Seeing that, she laughed. “Spit it out, Matthew. I’m sure it's nothing I haven't heard before.”

Matt shrugged helplessly. “It feels almost cruel to complain about me not being able to make my Intent to a woman who is rebuilding her Concept.”

Aunt Helen looked surprised for the first time all evening and laughed. “Oh honey, you're sweet, but you don't need to worry about that. Tell me your problem, and let's see if getting it out in the open can help. I thought you were having some other issue. Intents are easy.”

Saying that, Aunt Helen smiled. “What do you want your Intent to be?”

Matt opened his mouth, but Aunt Helen shook her head. “No, no, no. I’m not asking what you think your Domain will turn into but what you want it to be. Disregard your Concept and your Aspect. Disregard everything that you think is limiting you. What do you want your Domain to be? What do you need it to be?”

Matt mulled that idea over, opening and closing his mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say but, in the end, came up with nothing.

“I don’t know. If I’m—” Matt cut himself off and asked a different question. “Can you see what my Tier 25 Talent is going to be? Is it any more clear?”

Aunt Helen pressed a hand to his navel and then his back before shaking her head. “It's not in your mana pool. I can tell you that. I can't really tell you more than that, but it won't solve your mana concentration issue.”

Matt jabbed his finger at the table. “That's it. If I have one thing I want, I want to be able to solve my mana concentration problem myself. I know the Emperor is working on something, and I’m grateful he’s spending resources that I can’t even imagine, but I don’t want to be beholden to someone else. I want to be able to stand on my own. Be able to protect my friends and do good, yes, but I want to be self-sufficient. I want to be a sword fighter and a mage. I want... I want too much.”

Aunt Helen laughed. “It's that easy, Matt. You say you had too much choice and couldn't make an Intent as easily as your Concept, but Matthew...” Catching his attention, she flicked him in the forehead hard enough to send him jerking back. “Listen when people tell you an Intent is not a Concept. Matt, you're not finding your place in the realm any more. You already found it when you made your Concept. It's called an Intent because it's about declaring where you want to go. You say being older means you are too muddled to have such a clear idea about yourself, but I say you have the experience to deduce what you want to be. You decide your own Path. Not me, not Luna, not Emmanuel, not Liz. Not even Aster. Those are people who can help you, but they aren't you. Set your own goal and go for it, my dear. Almost anything can be realized with a flexible enough mind.”

Matt mulled that over and stood up to give Aunt Helen a warm hug, which she returned.

“Thank you. You were right. I was getting in my own head. I chose my Path. I just need to figure out how to get there.”