I sucked in my breath as I suddenly felt vastly more connected to this world. Selena grasped my arm, staring intently at me to see if everything was okay, but I shook my head to let her know I was fine. It took me almost a full minute until I could speak again, but when I could, I showed the update to everyone, and Selena grinned.

  “House Renner is going to have a massive empire, but don’t you worry. I’ll take care of making sure we have the best administrators so you don’t have to bother yourself with that sort of thing.”

  I didn’t know how I felt about her newly revealed ambition, but knowing her background, it was only logical. There was a point to it as well. The best way to not be bothered was to be too powerful to be bothered.

  Once I’d caught my breath, I showed them the two items I’d started our conversation by mentioning.

  Enhanced Stat Boon (Artifact): An individual may only consume one of these potions during their mortal life. Each potion will grant a boost of +2000 to any stat chosen by the user. Most individuals could not survive consuming such a potion, but your progress towards ascension will serve you well in this regard.

  Note: this will translate into 2858 stat points under the Heavens System.

  Blood of the Herald: This is a crystallized drop of blood from Astonius Serrafin. It is infused with a trace of his ascendant power and his devotion to truth and order.

  Samvek was the first to speak. “Leave it to you to get nearly 3000 stat points from a potion. And just when I thought that Hunger might help me catch up with you.”

  I squeezed out a grin. “So which stat do you think I should use it on? And should I try to consume that drop of blood and see what it does with Blood is Life?”

  In sequence, Talia, Azuria, Samvek, and Selena gave their answers.

  “Mind, so you can make the most of your upgraded abilities.”

  “Don’t be foolish. Agility. You humans are so small, it’s important that you be fast to not get hit.”

  “Vitality’s your best bet, because it would work well with your cultivation, and who knows how much you might need to handle that drop of blood.”

  “Perception, because I read that book you were going on and on about. You know, the one where he bends the arrows in the air all the time. Jake says Perception is the best, so you should probably pick that. That, and it would likely help you further develop your new spatial abilities. Might even help with Terrakinesis.”

  I knew she was teasing me, but I still smiled. She’d read a book I suggested. It was kinda cool to realize the lengths she was going to in order to get to know me. I wondered idly if I was doing as much to get to know her, and decided that I needed to double down on that. “Well, thanks for narrowing it down. I was thinking about Agility or Dexterity, as they’re my only stats below 10,000. I’m hoping there’s some kinda title when I get them all over 10K, and maybe some intergalactic Broadway production, unless one of you can tell me there isn’t.”

  Samvek and Selena exchanged a look before he said, “Most people have to be beyond level 400 to have that many stat points, and frankly, people at that level rarely share the details. Most don’t spread their stats out that much, either. I know you have to because of your title, but it’s just something else that sets you apart.”

  “So you think it’s okay to experiment. I think I’ll put the points into Agility, then spend some of my free points to bring up Dexterity. It’s my lowest stat, and I can’t let it fall too far behind. It also gets the fewest points each level, so it will need some watching. I don’t want to lose that 20% bonus to all stats if I don’t meet the requirements for Balance in All Things.”

  With that decided, I popped the cork on the potion and swallowed it down. It filled me with a surge of power, and I quickly pushed it toward Agility. It shot up instantly, and I took stock of the rest of my stats while ignoring the notifications. I’d check them all at once. I applied 820 points to Dexterity to bring it to an even 10,000, leaving me with 738.

  The next order of business was to do something about the uneven numbers. I didn’t know why, but they bothered me. So I added 49 points to Strength, 72 to Agility, 69 to Vitality, 19 to Durability, 40 to Mind, 52 to Will, 24 to Charisma, and 82 to Perception. That left me with 331, which I pumped into Perception as well. It ruined the even number, but it was stupid to let my neuroses get in the way of utilizing all my stat points.

  There were three notifications waiting for me.

  You have reached the third threshold for Agility.

  Your title: Hear the Thunder, Ride the Lightning II has upgraded to level V. You will now gain +4 Agility with each level. Further, your base Agility stat is now 15% more effective.

  You have reached the third threshold for Dexterity.

  Your title: A Precise Touch I has upgraded to level V. You will now gain +4 Dexterity with each level. Further, your base Dexterity stat is now 30% more effective and 40% more effective while crafting.

  You have reached 10,000 stat points in all stats prior to reaching ascendant tier. Your title Balance in All things III will be upgraded to Balance in All Things VI. The bonus from the title will be upgraded, as will the requirements. Instead of a 2:1 ratio between your highest and lowest stat, you will now need to maintain a ratio of 1.5:1.

  In turn, your bonus of +20% to all stats increases to +40%, and instead of gaining a bonus of 10 free stat points per level, you will now gain 30 free stat points from this title.

  My head was spinning after the last notification. Those bonuses were insane. I hesitated to share the notifications, but in the end, I believed in transparency with those closest to me, even if they were going to feel I was leaving them further behind.

  As expected, they were happy for me, but I could sense their concern. A party of equals was important, and easier to maintain than a party where one person was so much stronger. I couldn’t slow down, but I realized that I needed to find more ways to boost the people around me. That was fine. It fit with who I wanted to be.

  With that, I looked at my updated stats.

  Strength: 11,300 (+152%)

  Dexterity: 10,000 (+152%)

  Agility: 12,900 (+147%)

  Vitality: 12,900 (+154%)

  Durability: 11,400 (+154%)

  Endurance: 10,100 (+127%)

  Mind: 11,300 (+169%)

  Will: 12,700 (+174%)

  Charisma: 10,400 (+157%)(+20% Vitality)(+10% humans)

  Perception: 11,161 (+177%)

  Available Stat Points: 0

  Now we just had to discuss the drop of blood. It had potential upsides, but evolutionary powers were dangerous. And while Blood is Life was at ascendant tier, this was blood from an ascendant being—and not even one from the Heavens System.

  Ultimately, we decided that it was too risky to use it now because I couldn’t afford to be knocked out while we had the Order knocking on our doorstep.

  With that handled, we needed to move quickly on the plan. I grabbed Selena’s hand, and we teleported to the location where I felt that faint trace of ascendant power. The boosted effective Perception of nearly 31,000 had made my awareness of the power signature that much clearer.

  We appeared in the middle of the common room of an inn. It didn’t look all that different from the inn we had been staying at, but the differences became immediately apparent. For starters, everyone in the room had a silly grin on their face, and I was pretty sure it went beyond the fact that they served ale. Most people I could see were human, but they looked high and completely out of touch with reality. There were also half a dozen elves, all at level 150. Each was decked out in rangers’ garb, and instantly drew bows upon our appearance.

  At the back of the room near the fireplace sat a shockingly beautiful woman, reclining on an ornately decorated chair while a servant fed her grapes. It was hysterically over the top in a theatrical sense, but there was no mistaking it. That woman was the source of the ascendant aura.

  She grinned. “Well, well. This wasn’t what I expected, but I can work with it.”

  Chapter Seventy-Three: Intermediary

  I locked eyes with her and laughed. It wasn’t that anything she’d said was particularly funny. It was simply that laughing was what my instincts were telling me to do. Part of this plan had called for me to lean into my Charisma. I was never entirely comfortable with that, but it was necessary. And when you combined Charisma and Perception stats as high as mine, you could learn a great deal about a person.

  In this case, laughing at the fey princess was the best course of action, even if my rational mind told me it wasn’t the right tactic. Selena stood next to me, projecting quiet strength.

  As for Allanna—that was the name I thought I remembered Tad telling me—she didn’t take the laughter well at all. She was on her feet in an instant, and the look of disdain changed to one of rage. “How dare you, human! You could have served me with a smile on your face. Instead, you’ll serve me with screams. Do you have any idea who you’re laughing at?”

  I needed to play this cool. Rather than react to her threat, I confirmed what Tad and I had spoken about by leaning into System Sight with Identify. This time, I needed more than the minimal information I sometimes got.

  Allanna, third daughter of Ajasanna.

  Ascendant, estimated level equivalency: 620

  Affiliation: Summer Court

  Rank: Princess, Envoy

  Personality: unstable, insecure

  Allanna is the dismissed princess, often overlooked by Queen Ajasanna and looked down upon by others. Her competency is in question, and she has always desperately sought the approval of her mother while simultaneously being jealous of her elder sister, Adrianna. She is known for her lack of self-control and her decadent or even perverse habits.

  That was more information than I was used to, especially with an opponent who was this powerful. It was hardly a full dossier, but it gave me a decent summary. More importantly, it told me how to deal with her.

  “I do. You are Princess Allanna of the Summer Court, and unless I miss my guess, you are here on orders from Queen Ajasanna to collect your nephew, Tad.”

  Her rage softened, then morphed into something bordering on flirtatious. “Then why do you tempt a slow death full of suffering if you know who I am? I must say, though, you are not what I expected. Human, but not of this system. Mother has spoken about other systems, but I never paid too much attention. Suddenly, I wish I had, especially when such an interesting specimen pops into the room in front of me.”

  “He’s mine.” Selena snapped.

  Allanna laughed, genuinely amused. “Oh, don’t worry, pretty little girl. You look delicious, too. My tastes are not so narrow as to not appreciate a matched set.”

  “You aren’t looking deep enough,” I said. “I’m about as close to a plain human as Tad is. Take another look.”

  I could feel that she almost snapped at me, but then her curiosity got the better of her, and I felt her aura rush over me. It was far more controlled than what I’d sensed from Kalix, and much more like what the matriarch had been like. It was clear to me that while she was a natural at aura control, she hadn’t put the work in. She had none of the sophisticated layers to that control.

  Still, I supposed it would do the trick. I almost felt naked before her as she looked me over in more detail, seeing both my body and soul. In this moment, I sorta understood what many women must have felt over the years while being leered at by a man, but I stood there stoically.

  Each time she discovered something new about me, her eyes widened as she muttered to herself. “Primordial… touched by the Ways… System Mediator…” Then she finally locked eyes with me again. “Fine, so you’re more than you seem.”

  The way she said it reminded me of the Merovingian acknowledging that Neo had some skill. It didn’t seem like it was going to change her intentions, but might cause her to reevaluate her tactics. “Yes, and I’m here as an intermediary between the Twin Prince and the Summer Court. Tad isn’t opposed to meeting his family, but he also needs something from you.”

  She sat back down. “Making demands already.” Then she waved her hands, and two chairs formed on the floor in front of her throne-like chair. “Have a seat. I’ll have some refreshments brought around, and you can tell me what it is my nephew thinks he can demand from me.”

  Selena and I exchanged a quick look, then accepted the seats. I was a little taken aback, because I had barely sensed any mana. Certainly, there’d been no spatial warping—Selena’s confused look had confirmed that. Whatever she’d done to create those chairs hadn’t taken even a fraction of the amount of mana that should have been necessary to create the chairs out of nothing.

  Ironically, it was my new upgrade and the add-on from the Ways which told me what had really happened. She’d used something similar to Terrakinesis. If I had to guess, it was based in her authority as a royal fey within the Fey System. She had simply willed the chairs into existence. She was far more experienced at it than I was.

  I replied a moment after I sat down. “That should be apparent. He needs to remove the Order from Basetown. That wouldn’t present much of a problem for us but for their ascendant. Having met Arbiter Kalix and now you, I can already tell you’re the more powerful of the two. It shouldn’t be much of a stretch to ask you to protect your nephew from the sworn enemy of the fey, who seeks to kill him.”

  Something about her expression told me that I’d missed the mark. It was as though the idea of combat bothered her. “Wouldn’t the best way to protect my nephew simply be to drag him back to the Summer Court and the waiting embrace of Adrianna?” The disdain she felt for her sister positively dripped out of her words.

  If nothing else, it was refreshing to see that even on the other side of the multiverse, some family dynamics remained the same. She might have been an ascendant, but she had the emotional maturity of a sixteen-year-old girl.

  “I’m assuming that if you could do that easily, it would have already been accomplished. So either something about the presence of the ascendant has you nervous, or you can’t exactly locate your nephew. Perhaps both.”

  “Let’s just say that I’m a lover, not a fighter. I’d be happy to give you a demonstration. You’d both enjoy it, I’m quite sure.” She winked. “If you were impressed with a couple of chairs, wait until you see the beds I can make.”

  “Not what we’re here for. We don’t even need you to fight Kalix alone. Given the resources we have, I believe we can kill him ourselves. The problem is that while we are doing that, some of us are likely to die as well, and many of Tad’s people would be killed. You might not care about humans, but don’t you have any concern for the elves and gnomes sworn to Tad?”

  “Hmm… so we’re both afraid of fighting Kalix. Perhaps you’re more of a lover, too. A tantalizing prospect, with your Endurance.” She gazed deeply into my eyes again, then shook her head. “Ugh, no. You’ve got the feel of a battle maniac all over you. I know the look all too well, and while one would think the skill set would be similar, that’s rarely the case. I take back my previous offer. I’m not interested in you. Too much blood on your hands. Perhaps we don’t have anything to talk about. And why would you ever think that you could take on an ascendant? Mortals always get so full of themselves once they reach a certain point.”

  I smiled, then pulled on my connection. An instant later, Urg appeared beside me.

  Allanna’s eyes shot wide open. “An Astral Lord? Here? How is that possible?”

  I grinned. “I got a special exception. You should see our dragon too.”

  Her hands tightened on the arms of her chair. “Now you’re just bluffing. I’ve seen a wyvern, you know. Quite recently, I might add.”

  I shook my head very slowly while maintaining eye contact. “Nope. Not a wyvern. We have a former demon prince, three warriors who are far beyond what our levels would suggest in terms of power, Urg here, a dragon who is bonded to my mentor, and your nephew, who seems particularly adept at killing the Order. I like our odds, but don’t like what it will cost. You could change the tide of that battle. The tide of history. And best of all, you’d impress your mother with the way you drew disparate forces together and rescued your nephew.”

  It was a guess based upon the limited information I had about her, but I was fairly confident that would be a trigger for her. From the way she looked down and then back at me, I knew I’d framed it in the right way. “Very well. Show me what you two can do. Just the humans, not the Astral Lord.”

  As quickly as she spoke, flames started to dance along her hair and skin, as though she were being showered in it. A smile lit up her face.

  Allanna struck before we could respond, not with a gesture or a spell, but by letting her aura expand. It rolled over us like heat from an open forge, heavy and intimate, carrying command rather than rage. Within it, I could feel all the complexity of summer. It was a time of growth, but also heat. Memories of riding my bike down a dirt road on my way to jump into a pond filled my mind. Her aura was everything that I’d expect from an ascendant, and it hit me at a core level. The air thickened and my lungs fought for purchase, as if the room had decided I was an inconvenience. I answered on instinct, flaring my own aura hard enough that the pressure stopped being absolute. I could not overpower her, but I could refuse to be erased. Mightier foes than this had tried that and failed.

  Fire followed, shaped by her will. Whips of flame lashed across the chamber, curling and snapping with predatory intelligence, seeking angles of ingress. I raised force constructs in rapid succession, letting them shatter to bleed momentum while I folded space to divert the worst of the heat away from Selena. Lightning answered my focus in tight, controlled arcs, not meant to burn through her flames but to disrupt their cohesion. Each strike made the fire stutter, just long enough to matter.

  Selena moved the moment an opening appeared. Reality bent under her feet, distance collapsing as she closed with Allanna in a blur of intent and motion. Twin hooked swords flashed, their paths impossible in any normal geometry, forcing Allanna to retreat a step as steel kissed the edge of her presence. The blow did not wound her, but it connected, and that alone changed the tone of the room. I felt Allanna’s attention sharpen, curiosity edged now with irritation.