Infinite Ascension: 100,000x Amplified-Chapter 33: Crimson Rose

A few minutes before the clone arrived, the back office of Crimsonpeak Martial Hall had been running its own conversation.

Scarlet Ashcroft sat in the chair Tory usually reserved for important visitors, one leg crossed over the other, her crimson hair falling over one shoulder. She had the composed authority of someone who was accustomed to being the most capable person in whatever room she entered and had stopped finding that fact remarkable. Tier 5, Epic-tier support profession, guild president — she carried all three designations without needing to announce them.

Raina Quickstrike was not sitting. She had attempted sitting twice and abandoned it both times, currently perched on the edge of Tory’s desk with her bandaged hands resting on her knees and her short hair still slightly damp from the rain outside. Tier 3 Striker class, lean and athletic in her tank top and combat shorts, radiating the specific energy of someone whose natural state was forward motion.

Lyanna Stormweave sat in the corner chair with a teacup held in both hands, her lavender hair falling smoothly down her back, her ornate staff leaning against the wall within easy reach. Tier 4 Radiant Elementalist. She had been quiet since arriving, which was her default.

"Is he actually coming?" Scarlet asked.

Tory checked her device. "He responded within minutes. He’s close."

"Good." Scarlet’s eyes moved across the room with the focused assessment of someone running calculations. "I want to understand exactly what we’re dealing with before we make the offer. Kieran — Tory — walk me through it again."

Tory had already explained it twice. She explained it a third time without complaint — the first visit, the raw display, the first strike reading 67,300, and then the second strike with intent integration pushing past one million. She had been precise about the details both previous times and she was precise again now, because the details were what made it real rather than an exaggeration.

"One million," Raina said, like she was testing the weight of the words.

"With intent integration," Tory confirmed. "What I still don’t know is what his base strength reads now. That was days ago. He should have been training since."

Scarlet considered this. "You said he claimed his blood and Qi was between thirty and forty at the time." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"He said that."

Scarlet was quiet for a moment. "He most likely hid his talent at the awakening ceremony."

"Almost certainly."

"I investigated the ceremony incident," Scarlet said. "Abyss Cultists infiltrated the faculty. When their attempt failed, they self-destructed. Three Tier 6 cultivators detonating simultaneously — the headmaster contained the entire explosion. No serious casualties because of him." She looked at Tory steadily. "A talent powerful enough that hiding it under an E-rank filing is the safer option. The kind of talent that puts you on assassination lists before you’ve even registered with the Warrior Association."

Raina sobered. "So he’s smart about it."

"He’s careful about it," Scarlet said. "There’s a difference, and in this case the difference matters."

Tory’s device chimed.

She looked at it. "He’s outside."

She went downstairs.

The entrance doors opened with their soft automated chime and the clone stepped in out of the rain, closing his umbrella. Tory was already at the bottom of the stairs, and she saw the same thing she had seen when she first looked up to register him through the security feed — he had changed again. The height she had noticed at their first meeting had increased further. His hair was longer, tied back, the silver-white at the tips more pronounced. He moved through the entrance with a quality of presence that the hall’s space organized itself around rather than the other way around.

"You got taller again," she said.

"Seems to keep happening," the clone said.

"The president and the rest of the guild are upstairs." She gestured toward the stairs. "They’ve been looking forward to meeting you."

The office felt different with everyone in it when the clone stepped through the door. Not smaller — just more occupied in the specific way of spaces where multiple cultivators of significant rank were present simultaneously, each one radiating their own field.

Scarlet stood when he entered. The others oriented toward him with the particular attention of people who had been told something remarkable and were now measuring the reality against the description.

Tory made the introductions efficiently. Scarlet Ashcroft, guild president, Tier 5. Lyanna Stormweave, Tier 4 Radiant Elementalist — she inclined her head slightly, the teacup still in both hands. Raina Quickstrike, Tier 3 Striker — she was across the room in two steps with both bandaged hands extended and an expression of someone who had been exercising restraint for several minutes and was done with it.

"Finally! I have been waiting to meet you since Tory told us about the analyzer reading! You’re even more handsome than she described — do you have a girlfriend?"

"Raina." Tory’s hand found her collar. Raina was relocated to a respectful distance.

"Sorry," Raina said, not sounding particularly sorry.

Scarlet stepped forward and extended her hand with the composure of someone who had mentally filed the previous thirty seconds under ’standard Raina behavior’ and moved past it. "Scarlet Ashcroft. We’re glad you came."

"Nova Stern." The clone shook her hand. Her grip was clean and direct.

"In addition to those present, we have two other members," Scarlet continued. "One male, Tier 3 Guardian. One female, Tier 4 Assassin. Six total currently." She let that settle briefly. "I’ll be direct — our guild’s primary gap is a damage-focused attacker with genuine offensive output. Tory told us what she observed during your first visit here. Given that was your situation days ago, and given that you’ve advanced to Tier 1 and LV2 since then, we wanted to see your current numbers before discussing terms."

She gestured toward the analyzer in the main hall below. "Would you be willing to demonstrate?"

They all came downstairs.

The clone approached the analyzer and stood before it for a moment. Through the consciousness link, Nova’s main body was receiving everything in real time — the layout of the hall, the positions of everyone present, the quality of their collective attention. He noted that Scarlet was watching the setup rather than the machine, reading the clone’s posture and breathing and the quality of stillness before the strike rather than waiting for the number.

She was better at this than most people.

The clone drew his fist back. Base strength only. No laws, no Spatial Control, no Eternal Shadow Dominion, no Vibrational Force amplification. Just the raw physical output of a body that had been refined by the Eternal Chaotic Origin Scripture to Peak Stage 1 Chaotic Origin Energy Lifeform while running Limit Break’s passive 10x amplification.

He struck.

The machine shuddered through its full frame. The impact sound was not the sharp crack of a fast strike but the deep resonant sound of overwhelming force meeting rated resistance. Warning indicators illuminated across the surface. The floor transmitted the impact in a wave.

The number settled.

750,000

Tory made a sound. Raina grabbed the nearest solid surface, which happened to be Lyanna’s arm. Lyanna looked at Raina’s hand on her arm and then looked at the display and apparently decided the grip was understandable.

Scarlet said nothing. Her eyes were moving between the display and the clone with the focused calculation of someone who had prepared for a significant number and received a number that had exceeded the preparation.

Because they knew. All of them had been briefed — the previous reading with full intent integration had reached one million. But what they were looking at now was 750,000, and the clone was standing with his hands at his sides in a relaxed posture with absolutely nothing activated. No intent integration into his attack. No law signatures radiating. No talent output detectable. Just pure physical strength.

He was stronger than his intent-enhanced reading from days ago with nothing active, Tory thought, and the thought was clearly visible on her face. How many days has it been.

Raina was doing the math aloud. "My absolute maximum with everything I have activated my intent, talent and my stamina burning is around 160,000, that is tier 4 combat power while I am still a tier 3 warrior. But He just—" She stopped. "That’s tier 5 combat power and base power at that. No intent or law or talent or technique. And you are telling me he is just at level 1."

Lyanna had set her teacup down at some point without appearing to notice she had done it.

The clone turned around and looked at all of them.

"Look," he said. "I don’t mean to brag."

Raina made an expression.

"But if I go all out, I’m probably stronger than all of you combined." He said it simply, without performance. "I’m also not interested in money — I’m already rich. What I want is to enter high-grade dungeons and farm EXP." He paused. "I can’t do that the normal way. I’m Tier 1 on paper. The regulations restrict dungeon access by official tier classification regardless of actual combat capability. But my battle power is well ahead of where my tier says I should be, which makes the standard progression timeline useless for me."

He looked at Scarlet directly. "So here’s what I’m proposing. You help me access high-tier dungeons by bringing me in under guild party authorization — your Tier 5 status gives you that authority for supervised training exceptions. In exchange, I help you elevate your guild’s rank and reputation by contributing my actual combat output to whatever expeditions you need. Your guild gets a damage dealer who can carry Tier 5 and 6 content at LV2. I get dungeon access that matches my real capability instead of my official classification."

He let it sit for a moment.

"Deal?"

Scarlet looked at him for a beat. Then she looked at the 750,000 still displayed on the analyzer. Then she looked back at him.

"Deal," she said.

Raina punched the air. Lyanna picked her teacup back up. Tory exhaled.

"Welcome to Crimson Rose," Scarlet said, and extended her hand again. This time the shake was different — not an introduction, a commitment. "I’ll pull together the dungeon access documentation this week. We can do the formal contract signing now if you have time."

"I have time."

They went back upstairs.

As Scarlet pulled out the contract documentation — guild membership agreements at the highest tier were not simple, requiring verification seals and authentication protocols that reflected the obligations on both sides — the clone settled into the chair across from her desk and reviewed the terms with the unhurried attention of someone who had already made the decision and was checking the specifics.

Fifteen kilometers away, Nova’s main body sat in lotus position running the Eternal Chaotic Origin Scripture, receiving everything through the consciousness link in real time.

High-tier dungeon access, he thought. One clone farming experience constantly while the main body cultivates. Two paths running simultaneously.

He returned his attention to the cultivation cycle.

Let’s see how fast I can reach Tier 9.

The path to absolute power had just accelerated dramatically.

And nobody except Nova himself understood just how dramatically things were about to change.

The Martial Aptitude Examination was less than three weeks away.