The Succubus

9

The vibration of his pad woke Matt up. It was 3:55 a.m.

Panicked, Matt clumsily tapped around the pad, finally opening a video to hear nothing. Sighing, he flopped back to his bed.

All was well. The skill shard hadn't managed to run off in the night somehow. It hadn’t all been a dream. Still exhausted, he forced himself to get moving. Midnight had been rolling around when he’d finally fallen asleep.

I can nap during the day in the maintenance room.

Despite his weariness, he arrived at the training room only a smidgeon late. According to his schedule, today was only flexibility training. If it had been a strength training day, Matt didn't know how he would have done anything. Stretching was a perfect way to wake himself up before Dena and Eric came down to spar.

When they arrived, both headed straight to his corner. Matt was surprised. Eric had recently said his control training was almost done, so he was doubling down on the practice to get it over with quicker.

As soon as they got close, Eric announced, “Matt, Dena and I talked it over last night. You have talent, and it's wasted here. We want to help.”

Matt started to say it wasn't necessary. He didn't want to take charity from them. They were too kind. It would make him feel dirty.

He thought back to last night, the skill shard he’d swiped. Did he still even deserve help after that? If it had been theirs, he knew he wouldn't have stolen it. The arrogant stranger was another matter.

Before he could get anything out, Eric continued, “It's not charity. You’re going to earn it in a spar. Unless they have a Talent that boosts physical cultivation, a Tier 1 fighter just landing a hit on a Tier 3 is more than enough to earn them a guild invitation. Anywhere but here, at least. It's actually a pretty standard test in the Empire proper. Though they usually make the fight against a peak Tier 2 with a 70% split.”

Dena returned from the weapons rack with a pair of blunted daggers.

Instinctively, Matt wanted to reject her offer. On the other hand, though, this might be his best shot at escape from this shit hole city. He wouldn't need to spend another nine months slaving away. He could escape with his stolen skill shard all the sooner.

Dena clearly saw his internal struggle because she preempted, “Remember, this isn't charity. You're either going to earn the hit or not. And I’ll be fighting at Tier 3 strength and speed.”

The hesitation didn’t completely disappear from Matt's face, so Eric followed up, “We won't force you, but sponsoring a young talent isn't unheard of. It's really not that uncommon in the Empire proper. You're hardly the first person to ever come out of the Awakening with a…less than ideal Tier 1 Talent. The Emperor doesn't want potentially strong people to languish in the gutters because they were born on low Tier planets or with weak Talents.”

“That's where the Path of Ascension comes in. A sponsor even gets rewarded if their sponsee does well. Make it to Tier 5, we get some small rewards. Make it to Tier 10, we keep getting more and more, all the way up to Tier 25.”

Eric looked wistful as he continued, “The Empire wants powerhouses, needs them. But it also won't waste resources on those who won't put them to good use. This system helps all involved, but we won't recommend anyone if they don't have the drive to advance.”

Matt swallowed. It didn’t sound like he’d be taking advantage of them. But what would happen if he didn't do well?

Dena anticipated his question. “If you stop advancing or die before Tier 5, you simply get marked as a failure. If a sponsor has too many failed recommendations on their record, they lose the ability to sponsor more people. That's really just in place to stop people from recommending everyone they see to play the odds.”

A final bit of reticence held Matt back, so Eric added, “This moment right here, this is exactly how we got started, two street rats from a Tier 5 planet. Someone saw potential and gave us a chance to prove ourselves. There are thousands of low Tier planets in the Empire, Matt. More great people than you probably think come from places like this.”

He and Dena shared a smile, reminiscing on their own beginnings.

That decided it for Matt. “All right. I'll do it. I'll rise all the way to Tier 25 eventually and get you those rewards.” Matt tightened his grip on the training longsword. Who didn't want to complete The Path? Who didn’t want to be a legend?

Dena laughed. “That's the spirit!”

With that, she lunged at him and started the most intense fight of Matt's life. She moved faster than in any previous spar. Matt strained his eyes just trying to make out some of her movements. They were mere flickers that left lines of pain in their wake.

As the five-minute mark passed, Matt realized there wouldn't be rounds between engagements to catch his breath in or rethink his strategy. This would only end when he gave up or landed a hit.

Matt's resolve hardened. He hadn't chanced stealing the skill shard because he was afraid of a risk or a challenge. He could take some risks in a spar. So, he concentrated on keeping his movement defensive, disregarding Dena's strength and speed advantage. Her Tier 5 endurance meant she could just attack at full speed until he collapsed. Even if she kept her speed to a Tier 3.

Matt sent out more attacks, probing his opponent. His was the longer blade, so offense was his best defense. When she closed in, her more maneuverable daggers had the advantage. One could tie down his blade while she got in vicious stabs with the other.

Switching his attacking pattern bought Matt some breathing room. With a moment to think, he concluded Dena’s lack of skill with her staff did not extend to her daggers. The woman had mentioned she preferred them as her main weapon, and it showed. She was intimately familiar with her range and light on her feet, which let her evade every blow as if she saw the future.

Matt stayed patient. He wasn't trying to kill her just land a single blow. Not an easy feat on someone with much higher physical abilities than a Tier 1 like him. While each Tier didn't quite double the power, if two people had the same allocation ratios, the difference was significant.

Higher Tier meant more essence. More essence meant more power.

The golden rule stated total essence distributed equaled increased power. It was the reason the higher Tiers required more than ten times the essence to rank up and was also why the higher Tiers had such massive jumps in power between them.

After another few exchanges, the fight stalled. Dena was content with sending probing attacks or blocking with her daggers or forearm guards.

The more the fight dragged on, the more the fatigue and desperation set in. His energy was flagging. Running himself dry would spell the end of this chance. There was only one choice left; he had to go for broke, attacking with everything he had left at once.