Chapter 94

    Much to his surprise and delight, Matt wasn''t placed on cooldown after being healed. He was close, but not quite over the edge.

    The good news ended there.

    The very night, after they arrived back into the city, they were welcomed with an assassination attempt. Someone was blending in with the wall along a corridor to their suite. A knife slid into Emily''s throat, killing her before anyone could react.

    Annie lost her mind. She beat the assassin until they were teleported away in a flash. They were sure that she would have continued until their skull caved in, had he not been rescued.

    As soon as the hitman was gone, she swore bloody vengeance on him.

    That trend continued during their time in the city. On the way to visit Emily, they were hit twice more. After the third encounter, they stopped caring for social niceties, and brandished weapons and armor as they walked.

    The next two attacks were thwarted by Conor reacting in time to block an arrow shot from the top of a statue, and Aster smelling someone creeping up on them using some sort of invisibility skill. Liz flooded the area red, revealing the individual standing not four feet away.

    They tried to run, but Matt was faster, catching up with two bounding steps. He grabbed them, placed his hand over their face, and squeezed. The message was clear, and the sound of their cracking skull served as the armys signal to remove them.

    None of them were in a good mood when they found Emily leaving the hospital, cursing up a storm.

    They got back to their suite without incident, but it set the tone for the remainder of their stay in the city.

    ***

    Team Bucket was forced to wait two weeks for Emilys healing cooldown before they could go back into the field. They technically could have gone on missions without her, but everyone agreed to wait. With time on his hands, Matt shelled out 50,000 points to hire a melee instructor from the army.

    The instructor was not what he expected. He arrived at the training room a few minutes before the appointed time, and at first he thought he was in the wrong room. The only other person there could be mistaken for a child at first glance. She stood a few inches over five feet, if Matt had to guess. But his AI registered them as the instructor he was supposed to meet.

    Sheila Benson, Tier 22.

    That was it. No other accomplishments or titles listed. But Benson was the instructor listed, so he shut the door behind himself and deactivated his armor.

    Hello? Matt called out, but the mass of brown curls didn''t so much as twitch.

    Matt continued to stare at the motionless woman for what felt like an hour, but was closer to five minutes.

    Finally, at some unseen signal, the woman pivoted on a heel and strode over to him with purposeful steps.

    She got within inches of Matt and glared up at him.

    Her first words to him were, You were early. I didn''t ask you to be early. I said 7 AM. Not 6:55.

    Matt was at a loss how to respond, but tried anyway.

    I didnt know if you intended to move locations, or something like that. I figured a little early was better than late.

    A weapon is no good if it''s not where it needs to be, when it needs to be. A strike should land precisely when it is best applied. Not too early. Not too late. On time.

    Matt saw where this was headed, so he attempted to avoid a lecture. My timing was right where I wanted it, which is control. The most important aspect of handling a blade.

    Sheila smirked slightly at his response. A weak answer, but an acceptable one. You hired me for two weeks. What do you want out of it?

    Matt had listed this on the request, but assumed that this was another test of sorts. Primarily, I want to work on my longsword skills. And maybe polish up my general weapons expertise, if time permits.

    The Tier 22 strolled around Matt and poked various parts of his frame. As she circled him, she asked, Who trained you, and under what schools of bladework?

    Matt shook his head. I didn''t have any formal education at any martial house or school. I was orphaned, and we were taught basic stances. I moved beyond that with the training aids. I also learned from a few of the trainers at my PlayPen.

    The woman knit her brows slightly. Well color me surprised. You have the frame of someone trained under the DaResh school of greatswords. Ive reviewed your last several fights, and you fight like it as well, if a touch sloppily in places. If you say you haven''t trained with a proper school, then well start there. Lets see how much is natural ability, and how much is training.

    A longsword sized to her smaller frame settled into her hands out of nowhere. She stepped back and took a defensive stance.

    Start attacking me. Once I get a feel for your abilities, Ill start retaliating.

    Matt summoned his sword and took his own stance opposite the tiny woman.

    Ten minutes later, Matt had a bruised hand, arm, and face to match his bruised ego.

    He expected to lose. The woman was Tier 22 and in the army. An ice cream bunny had a greater chance of escaping Aster than he did to even scratch her. What galled him was that she had spanked him while lowering her cultivation level to below his. During the spar, her speed, strength, and proprioception were all significantly weaker than his, but she still treated him as if she was playing around with a kitten.

    As he rubbed at his swollen jaw, Sheila motioned him to sit down, which he gratefully did.

    You''re not bad. Better than I expected when you said that you haven''t actually trained under anyone. Sometimes, people just imitate moves and such, but they don''t understand what theyre doing. You could go far if you want to lean into the art of the blade more.

    She waved her hand, and four swords appeared in a row floating between them. The first three were of a similar design, but the final was noticeably different. The first and last were both made from bronze, but the second was iron, and the third was polished steel.

    I participate in the mundane blade competitions, and Im pretty good. She tapped the last blade, whose shape contrasted to the other three. Got thirty-second place in the Empire-wide Tier 20 competition for shortswords. She waved a hand over the others and said, Worked my way up in the Vassal level fights to first place. It took over three decades before I even placed in the Empire-wide rankings.

    Matt knew of the mundane blade competitions; anyone who enjoyed melee fighting did. They were duels where no skills or personal gear were allowed, only cultivation. Even powerful Talents would be removed from play by giving participants armor and weapons that precisely counteracted their benefits. If the Talent was too broad or all encompassing and unable to be countered or turned off the cultivator was unable to participate.

    The competitions were held every five years, and people anywhere from Tier 1 to Tier 40 participated. The tournaments werent really considered serious until after Tier 15, where the participants had eons to perfect their craft.

    The fact that the woman had won a Kingdom-level tournament was incredibly impressive. That shed then gone on to place in the Empire-level tournament? Just scary. Even if she hadn''t taken first place, shed proven to be in the top fifty fighters out of millions of master competitors from thousands of planets.

    Inadvertently, he straightened his posture. From just that information, the dark-skinned woman in front of him was someone to respect. It also explained why she treasured the last bronze blade more than the steel one. Getting a top fifty trophy in the Empire was a wide step above getting a first-place steel weapon from any Kingdom. Matt also made a note to search for her fights and review them tonight. They would be somewhere on the EmpireNet, and he wanted to watch.

    I wonder if I can get an autograph? Would that be weird?

    He hadnt known the woman existed before this, but he was already thoroughly fascinated.

    So, what can I do to improve? He was eager.

    Sheila grinned at him. Well start with the basics and work our way up. Today, we''ll go over various sword forms with a variety of weapons.

    She popped to her feet with an alacrity that Matt couldn''t match, and started directing him through sword forms.

    The next two days were both the best and the worst of times. Sheila repeatedly pushed him to the brink. And if he didn''t show the results she wanted, she kicked him right off the edge more than once.

    A healer had to be called in twice when she cracked bones to punish him for repeatedly overextending.

    Similar to Annies instructor, Sheila was fair but exacting in her demands. From the way she composed herself, and the videos of her duels that he watched during the small breaks he was given, she expected more from herself as an instructor than she did from him as a student.

    He strove to meet her own expectations, and she responded by pushing him even further. For the first day and a half, he didn''t sleep at all, just relying on [Endurance] to carry him through. When he began flagging despite its assistance, Sheila booted Matt into a corner and commanded him to sleep.

    Five hours later, she woke him up and kept pushing him with renewed vigour. From there on out, she forced him to rest for exactly five hours a day. During those two weeks, he lived and breathed the training room, not seeing the outside at all. His whole existence was endless drills and exercises with Sheila.

    Matt was torn between feeling hed made zero progress, and seeing massive improvement. When he was dueling the Tier 22, nothing made a difference. She toyed with him while continuously calling out instructions. When he fought training aids or simulations, he performed at a completely different level than he had before.

    His instinctive reactions were being honed, even if it was slightly. He could tell that his predictions of moves were just a hair more accurate.

    The training only lasted for two weeks, so the improvements were small, but Matt was feeling good.

    ***

    Liz felt like shit.

    Her boyfriend had all but vanished for the last week and a half, only responding to messages once a day before passing out. Being away from him for so long with nearly zero contact was a new inconvenience, but it was one that she could accept. Although Matt didnt say it out loud, Talous greater melee skills had been a wakeup call for him. She was glad that he was working to better himself.

    To her endless annoyance, Talous reaction to their duel wasnt quite as mature. At first, he hounded her to find Matt so he could challenge him to another duel. Liz didn''t need to see the reports of him raging around once he got out of the hospital to know why he was mad.

    He told everyone himself. Loudly.

    At every opportunity, Talous told anyone who would listen about how Matt had cheated in their fight, and if he didnt duel him fairly, he wasn''t a real man.

    Liz found that funny. Matt had zero problems cheating in a fight, and using a trump card wasn''t cheating by any means.

    No, what she minded was Talous taking things personally, and creating a rift in the Pathers Union.

    He and The Princess had contacted all the Kingdoms top Pathers and offered them a better deal. In and of itself, that wouldn''t have been a problem from her perspective. The problem she did have was that their new deal changed the formula with which the Pathers general point share was distributed. They halved the one percent that went to everyone and redirected it to the top contributors. Now, the bottom half of the Pathers would get relatively fewer points for their contributions, and the top earners would earn more.

    Talous spun it as a great service to everyone, even the people he was screwing over.

    Few bought it, and there was an outcry about the unfair treatment. But enough of the top Pathers on the Kingdom side were swayed over by the promise of greater earnings, and switched sides. Albert was public about his anger towards the situation, and refused to make similar changes, calling it a greedy mindset. Privately, he seemed pretty pleased with Talous'' changes. The Kingdom was being flooded with requests to switch sides from lower ranked Queendom Pathers and independent crafters.

    Albert and Juni were happy with the trade, as the mass defections were nearly crippling the Queendoms crafting economy. All the independent crafters, still under Alyssas guidance, refused to work with the Queendom. More and more, the Queendom needed to rely on their own crafters, slowing their development plans. On the other hand, with a greater share of the top Tier Pathers, the Queendom forces were now hitting harder per person. Ultimately, the Pather split flipped into a forty sixty split, with the Kingdom having more people but the Queendom having the higher quality troops.

    Liz was still ticked off. Anyone with two brain cells knew that the Queendom was up to something, as they siphoned away a good portion of the Kingdoms above average Pathers. But as days went by, no one made any major moves. The leadership eventually eased back their alertness to normal levels. Eventually, part of her figured that maybe Talous just couldnt handle a loss, and this was his payback. But that seemed too simple and easy of an explanation.

    The truly amusing part, at least to Liz, was that the top fifteen Pather teams on the Kingdom side flatly refused to switch. As more mid-tier Pathers defected, the opportunities to earn points increased, and there was less competition for the highest spots. Sara tried to sway them with gifts and bribes, but none of them budged from the Kingdoms side.

    Liz was still inundated with work, trying to get all the new people into rooms and fending off assassination attempts. She was only caught unawares once. While walking to a meeting of the Pather Union, a potted plant turned into a person and stabbed her. Fortunately, she was able to twist enough to make it a nonlethal blow.

    Matt quipped as the thought entered his head, Maybe the captain was trying to keep all of you quiet on the trip.

    Kyle jumped at him and put him in a headlock. Ill show you ''keep quiet on a trip!'' And started to rub his fist into Matt''s head.

    As they devolved into wrestling, the partys mood returned to what it was before Lizs revelation.

    When they finally walked home, Liz was jubilant. They didn''t treat me any differently when I told them.

    She clung to Matt''s arm before bouncing off into a skip and a jump.

    They like me for me! Her shout echoed off the building and was eaten by the mostly empty streets.

    She came back and stole Aster to start a little dance with her as she jumped along.

    Finally, she settled down enough to walk normally next to Matt. Thank you for having great friends to share with me.

    Matt just put an arm around her. What''s mine is yours.

    Liz finished the quiet with a devious grin. And what''s mine is only mine!

    She tried to flee, but he caught her and started tickling her until she corrected herself with a lingering kiss. What''s mine is yours. She pecked his nose before hugging him and saying, You already have my heart. What else is there to give?

    To Matt''s relief, the assassins left them alone to enjoy the walk home. Nothing should have ruined their moment.

    ***

    The war settled down, with each side having taken the easy measures to earn points, and then blocking the other side from doing the same. As the weeks stretched into months, there were no large movements on either side, with only the occasional fort exchanging hands. There was also the odd skirmish that turned into a larger battle as more people flooded in from each side.

    All in all, the largest thing that happened at the six-month mark was a grand auction.

    The auction was once again held in the same underwater location as before, where they all sat in their auction booths. There were screens displaying various scenes of them fighting throughout the months. Nearly everyone had a moment where they shined, and anyone who rated a private box let it show.

    Talous still irritated the hell out of Matt. He hounded him both privately and in public for months about a rematch. To get back at him, Matt widely shared his recording of him nearly cutting the man''s head off. Above their auction booth, it was shown on a large screen, playing on a short loop. There were more dramatic and visually impressive clips that he could have shown from the siege, but none so satisfying to share as Talous execution.

    He''d already received seven threats from the man, and each one brought a petty smile to his face. After everything the jackass put Liz through, he wasn''t above showing off the man''s only death to everyone watching.

    Of course, Talous wasnt one to sit and do nothing in response. He retaliated by having Matt''s single death displayed above the box of the man whod killed him. Considering that Matt was sitting on the top floor now, and that fighter was near the bottom, he didn''t mind. Besides, Matt was pretty proud of that death. It showed him killing two people and beating a third to death while being repeatedly stabbed in the back by a half dozen people.

    The impact wasn''t the same as having a sword shoved through your head in single combat.

    If the man werent such an asshole, he would have happily accepted the duel. Matt had learned a lot with Sheila, but he needed to fight opponents nearer his own level to truly realize his gains. Talous would have been the perfect sparring partner.

    But with how vindictive the man was, and how mad he was about not getting his way, Matt enjoyed refusing the requests all the more.

    He smiled and waved over at the box where he knew Talous was, then chuckled as the man scowled and flipped him the finger.

    They were all relaxed in their box; assassinations were strictly forbidden during the auction. Not that it mattered. The attempts had come to a halt after Annie personally and viciously took revenge on anyone who tried to take them out. She didn''t just hunt down anyone who attempted to make a hit on them. She hunted their friends, their family, and their bosses. All without mercy. Each time, she made sure that her victims knew exactly why they were suffering in the slowest and most torturous deaths she could get away with, before the army would step in and extract them. After two weeks of knife-work on her part, the constant attempts on their lives had completely stopped.

    Emilys assassin had, very publicly, opted to leave the war right before his two week healing cooldown ended. His nerve had broken after watching his teammates, friends, and commanders end up in the hospital, mutilated and screaming for mercy. Each one had carried a message for him from Annie, with promises of his fate to come. This had earned her a title from the Queendom fighters: Calamity Annie.

    At the entire teams insistence, she started seeing a therapist. None of them were comfortable with just how far shed been taking the kills. Annie had only acquiesced when her sister confronted her about how hard she was taking Emilys death, and how extreme the level of revenge was.

    Matt could understand Annies feelings, but definitely agreed with the group. Her methods dove a little too far in the revenge category for his taste. At the same time though, she had watched her sister get knifed through the throat for a tiny bounty. That wasnt something hed handle any better, so he could sympathize with her.

    If this wasnt a game with army watchers, Emily could have actually bled out right then and there. As would Annies later victims. There was a good lesson here for the other side; anyone they killed might have loved ones willing to go to extreme lengths for revenge.

    Matt just didn''t want to see his friend lose herself in the shadows.

    Annies attitude improved after some time away from her personal wetwork, particularly with the end of the constant attacks. Here at the auction, they were perfectly safe. The army made it clear that any violence on the auction houses grounds would result in the perpetrators being kicked out of the safety bubbles, and no one would be rescuing them. The only place people were allowed to fight was the dueling arenas.

    That rule allowed everyone to relax and focus on the auction, which was the entire point. No business wanted their potential customers too afraid to buy things.

    Emily was still bitter about her point loss, but had come to accept it. Her death meant that she only had about 200,000 points from the teams passive gains, along with a few missions, by the time the auction rolled around. However, the rest of the team had offered to help pay for any items or training she wanted, so she wasnt left destitute.

    As item after item passed by the auction block, they mostly ignored them. Prices had skyrocketed with the accumulated points people now had to spend. Items that went for 5,000 points in the first auction raked in ten or more times their previous value. Other people were still spending their points, but Team Bucket needed little. Their team never left the top five earners, ensuring a good flow of points from the daily stipends. But with the lack of large movements on the war front, they were unable to save up enough for what they really wantedthe chase items.

    Annie was gazing longingly at the store entry for [Side Slide]. But at a cost of one million points, she was still a ways away. Additionally, she and her sister were aging nearer to twenty-seven as each day passed, pushing them ever closer to needing to Tier up to stay on The Path. The moment they did, the twins would be Tier 7 Pathers, and booted from the war. Having just had their twenty sixth birthdays last week, they only had a year left.

    Matt made a note to send Annie a [Side Slide] if one ever appeared during his rift experiments. She was a good friend, and the skill would do wonders for her.

    The auction closed out with a gauntlet that increased melee damage. As that last item was wheeled away, the junior auctioneer in charge of the auction gave a flourish. In his place,Javier, the Tier 29 representative of Deep Sky Auctions, took the stage.

    Good evening, my friends! Good evening. Today is a special day. He paced around, nodding. Yes, it is. It most certainly is. Today marks the six-month anniversary of the start of this vassal war!

    A slight cheer rose, but Javier waved his arms, prompting the crowd into a roar. Yes, my friends, you have worked hard! You have learned! You have died.

    The crowded hall quieted at that, but Javier just grinned. Around this time, in most such wars, things tend to be slowing down to a grind. To help push past this, the Empire likes to provide a little extra encouragement. For the fighters on the ground, there are new rewards in the contribution points shop! Next month, even more new surprises will appear in the auction house. Im sure they will interest a great many of you. As for your daring leaders...

    He waved, and both Sara and Albert were highlighted with orbs of light that raced from his hand. To the two young generals of the war, the Empire offers these....

    On the podium next to him, two Shards of Reality sparkled into existence on a plush cushion. Two perfectly preserved Shards of Reality. For those that dont know, these are the echo of an Ascension, preserved for later use. Anyone who cultivates under their influence is all but guaranteed to form at least part of their own Concept.

    At the murmurs of appreciation, he nodded. But that is not all! Not remotely. We will also provide the chambers needed to ensure that the maximum benefit is squeezed out of them. This is a rare treat! Yes indeed! Shards of Reality are not cheap. No, they are not! Ascensions are rare, and Shards of Reality do not last forever, no matter how much we may wish for it. But the Empire has purchased a few just for this vassal war.

    Javier nodded at the two rulers as he said, Just ask the King and Queen. I''m sure they tried to purchase one, but only a thousand or so are produced per Ascension, and theyre quickly snatched up by those there. These treasures are not easy to get your hands on.

    Both royals nodded in affirmation at the man''s words, but they didn''t look particularly interested. On the other hand, both Albert and Sara stared at the two shards like ravenous wolves being held back by sheer will.

    What is required of my young friends to earn these prizes? Now that is the question, isn''t it?

    He grinned. Simple! Just fight. Move your troops and make progress. When each side earns twenty million points from new, active sources, these are yours. Send your people out to raid! Send them out to take a city! Prevent a city from being taken! You simply must do!

    Matt grinned as well. This meant that things were going to kick back off, which meant more chances to earn points. These last three months had been far too slow for his taste.

    Javier turned as if to leave, before pausing and adding, Oh! I almost forgot about these beauties in all the excitement. The two royal rewards, the staff and the gauntlet, flashed into place on either side of him. The two grand prizes for the benevolent rulers!

    He displayed what Matt could only call a predatory smile. Each respective side is just under halfway to earning these trophies for their monarchs.

    With that, both he and the items poofed away. The Queen simply placed a hand on Saras forearm, but the King turned his head towards his son like a loaded cannon ready to fire. Both of their reactions were still visible on the projection. The look aimed at Albert was borderline hostile. That face held more than simple, naked greed; there was a rabid hunger there that made Matt shiver.

    Matt opened and flipped through the new additions to the contribution point shop, still sorting them from most to least expensive by default. The first item he saw froze him solid. Tier 14 upgrade orbs were available for the low cost of half a million points. They were limited to one per person, and only fifty total for sale. A minuscule number for the millions of people participating in the war.

    He couldnt believe his eyes. A lot of contradictory things was said about these orbs, but one thing known for certain was that they were incredibly rare rift drops. Luckily, the store description provided more information directly from the Empire. The Tier 14 upgrade orbs only dropped from Tier 14 to 25 rifts, and could upgrade any Tier 8 or Tier 14 skills to improve them.

    They appeared every two ranks of skill shard drops, and were able to upgrade any skill at an appropriate Tier or equivalent once. Each upgrade used made the Skill eligible for the next available Tier of upgrade orb too. So a Tier 8 skill like [Cracked Phantom Armor] could be upgraded up to four times. First with a Tier 14 upgrade orb, then with a Tier 26, then a Tier 38, and finally with the theoretical Tier 50 upgrade orbs.

    The level types of the orb were only theoretical, because there were no Tier 50 rifts to delve, and thus no Tier 50 rewards to earn. If previous trends held, the Tier 38 upgrade orbs were dropped until Tier 49. But the Empires highest rift was only Tier 47, so there was no way to know for sure.

    Matt was close. With the passive points he had earned from being in a top five team, he was sitting on about 450,000 points. But if he was so close, that meant others would be too.

    Even as he was looking, the number available dropped to forty seven, a gut wrenching decrease that spoke volumes for how fast they would disappear.

    Using the reference provided in the store description, he quickly researched how upgraded orbs affected cracked skills, and checked the most common upgrades for [Phantom Armor].

    Cracked skills could be upgraded, but didn''t have set rules they followed like standard skills. Their upgrades were far more varied, and hard to precisely predict. Generally though, the upgrade would somehow parallel one of the upgrades available to the base skill.

    [Phantom Armor] was a historically popular choice, with a single, well-established upgrade. The first orb always granted the ability to store a second distinct charge in the skill, which gave the user the chance of blocking up to two life-threatening attacks in one fight.

    Matt wasn''t sure what that would mean for [Cracked Phantom Armor].The upgrade could range from something that forced him to reset his entire fighting style, to something that made him invincible. There was just no way to tell beforehand.

    Even with risk in the randomness, he salivated at the thought of upgrading it.

    As the group headed to the dining hall, Matt checked the known upgrades for the rest of his skills, to cover his bases.

    [Mages Retreat] added a large increase to running speed. The skills name was actually derived from this upgrade. At one point, an infamous mage demonstrated this upgrade so thoroughly and effectively, it was widely reclassified as an escape skill for spellcasters. Matt passed on that for now.

    [Endurance] simply helped enhance the body''s physical fitness while in use. The user could get a work out simply by channeling mana into it. No other effort needed. The effects were permanent, but not something Matt needed, so he put it to the side as well. He already went to the gym and enjoyed it. Getting fit through a spell wasn''t on his radar of needs.

    [Hail] was a weird one, with a trio of possible upgrade paths. But Matt couldn''t find any information on how to choose, or if you even could. Two of the options were particularly common though. The first made the chunks of ice sticky, causing them to bind to an opponent and slow them down as the weight of the ice chunks gradually built up on them. The second made it so the shards of ice contained pockets of hyper-cooled liquid water, and would rupture on impact. It would soak the target in freezing water and cause severe frostbite. A third and much rarer upgrade made the hail blades sharper, and interspersed the storm with massive chunks of ice. However, it would lower the diameter of the spell.

    One excelled at crowd control, the other increased the cold damage, and the last upgrade made the skill great against unarmored opponents. The first two were interesting, and possibly very useful for Aster. None of them were anything that Matt particularly cared about more than boosting [Cracked Phantom Armor].

    [Fireball] had an increased range, damage, and explosion size on impact. That was more tempting, but still not amazing for Matt as he currently stood. He intended to eventually replace the [Fireball] in his spirit anyway, once he had enough mana to afford a version with the increased base cost and damage. It would outpace the lowered cost version he had now by miles.

    [Flamethrower]''s upgrade made Matt pause in deliberation. It increased the fire damage a little, but more importantly, it changed the nature of the fire. The skills output gained the quality of a sticky, flaming liquid that lingered on anything it touched, and could be spread on contact. Now that was a nice upgrade that Matt could see a million uses for.

    Matt warred with himself over the options. [Cracked Phantom Armor] was his primary skill that had taken him so far, but the cracked nature made it a risky and random choice. The improved [Flamethrower] would be a solid, immediately useful, all-around upgrade. The fact that he intended to shift to a more mage-like style just made the decision more difficult. [Flamethrower] was a short-to-mid-range skill that he wasn''t willing to use without [Cracked Phantom Armor] anyway.

    He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and enjoyed his floating dinner with his friends. There was no point stressing over it until he had the points anyway. He would talk it over with Liz and Aster as well. This was a big purchase that could affect them as well.

    He added the rest of Team Bucket into the conversation. With the upcoming push, he was sure they could all afford it sooner than most.