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The Path of Ascension #12

The Path of Ascension 12: A LitRPG Adventure

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With the war over Matt, Liz, and Aster have to deal with the consequences.

Some are good, some are foreseen. Others are not.

Now that Aiden, Zack, and Allie have been bought out of the war Tiers they will not only have to juggle being dukes but also advancing to Tier 35 as fast as possible.

With new duties and responsibilities the trio will have to sharpen an entirely new set of skills if they want to come out on top.

Don't miss Book 12 of this action-packed fantasy adventure that blends everything you love about LitRPG with Xianxia.

About the series: This is a mix between LitRPG and Xianxia. It's like a car that looks like a LitRPG with dungeons and skills, but the interior and engine are all Xianxia. It features a magic system and progression system that are logically and internally consistent, as well as realistic fight scenes and a rational MC.

620 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2026

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About the author

C. Mantis

28 books355 followers

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Community Reviews

5 stars
587 (61%)
4 stars
220 (23%)
3 stars
123 (12%)
2 stars
21 (2%)
1 star
5 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Dale Smith.
238 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2026
info dump

I hope you like reading details about how the magic system works, and about the authors political system, rather than actual story.
All of that could have been condensed but I think the author needed to show everyone his entire thought process.
The additional viewpoints of various lower tier, random people were interesting though. Some could have been tied into the story better, toward the end.
152 reviews1 follower
August 16, 2026
The beginning of this book focuses more on Matt's rift research and the politics of Matt and Liz's duchy. It's more about the planets themselves then the typical politics between people. It does ask an interesting question of what would happen if our world suddenly got told magic people existed. It doesn't go that in depth with the question but you see some of it.

About halfway through the dungeon runs and fighting start for those interested more in that aspect. This is where a lot of grammatical errors begin to be found. It does stop towards the 70-75% mark but it felt like every paragraph had an error.
Profile Image for Cryos.
64 reviews1 follower
August 17, 2026
an absolute slog of a read

I’ve enjoyed this series and was looking forward to this book. Book 12 isn’t really a book in my opinion - it should be a 11.5 or something. Storyline where? Oh there are bits and pieces, here and there, but it’s mainly POV of different characters and how they handle getting incorporated into the Empire. They play with rifts and making auras. There is a lot of nothing going on in this book. You could skip this book and you would only miss irrelevant details. I hate leaving a bad review for a series I have liked until now. Hopefully the next book will be better.
173 reviews
August 13, 2026
Another great one

This book does a great job of exploring the characters and world. It feels a bit episodic, with a variety of smaller plots running in sequence rather than one focused plot. This serves the story's perspective on the life of a young immortal.

The opening 5% or so is a bit slow and doesn't feel like it builds to anything important or interesting, in my opinion. But the rest if the book is well paced and balances action and relationships well.

Overall, I would recommend reading this book.
Profile Image for Elena.
75 reviews
August 18, 2026
Massive data dump. I feel as though I could start my Master’s degree in aperology and create aura rifts tomorrow. Still, I’m enjoying the series, and I enjoyed Matt and Liz establishing their duchy with the different worlds from the various Great Powers, but totally different vibe than any other book in the series. However, just as you’re getting to the end a new discovery is revealed and the book ends. Damn you C. Mantis…take my money.
1,584 reviews6 followers
August 7, 2026
Fanfreakingtastic!

What an amazing book! I absolutely loved this book and such wonderful characters! I can not wait for the next book to come out!
11 reviews
August 12, 2026
feels like the series peaked in the prior book

I’ve really enjoyed the series but it felt like this book was more filler than substance. The lack of real stakes or overarching conflict made it challenging to really engage with.
Profile Image for Nick.
22 reviews4 followers
August 29, 2026
With every review you have the option to hide due to spoilers. Pointless option for this book because nothing happens. For those who gave it five stars you can’t deny that you could skip this book and not miss a beat in the plot. Some argue it’s a nice slice of life story. In my opinion an average slice of life story. The author has become transfixed from book seven on adding meaningless POV’s. I recently watched an episode of Invincible that involved one off characters and their POV it was masterfully executed. I can’t say the same in this book. It feels like empty fluff to add content to Patreon. The frustrating thing is I really enjoyed the series but it’s becoming less substance more and more empty calories. Save your self the time and money and pass on this novel.

This isn’t so much part of the review more of a plea to the author or rant to a faceless audience. For the love of all that is good and holy learn how to use multiple POV’s or avoid them entirely. You have introduced so many side characters who would make excellent choices for POV chapters. Yet you constantly choose to write pointless chapters for forgettable characters. You could do what Awaken Online did and have side characters novels and merge the storylines. Maybe follow Plum Parrot and have crossover novels. If you really want to be ambitious Wandering Inn has too many characters to have them all involved in each book. I truly hope this series is fixed before it becomes another DNF series.
398 reviews
August 14, 2026
4.5 stars for some reason I had heard the beginning 80% of the book. Matt going to his new planets messing up learning that integration of new planets from other powers takes time. They make mistakes.
Cool to see Liz dad beat up the lvl 40 on their behalf.
Excited to see what the ascension means and what the ruler of the empire saw. I am excited to continue to see the growth from Matt’s guild. Excited to see aster and her growth.
Very much a book about after the war. The main group leveling up and adjusting to being the powerful who others respect and are scared of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
102 reviews
August 7, 2026
I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous ones, but still enjoyed it enough to pre-order the sequel. I ended up skipping through large portions of this book. I was also annoyed that there was a chunk of the book dedicated to pronouns. It just seemed arbitrary and not needed. This is book 12, and nowhere in the previous 11 books were they every mentioned, so it seemed they were just inserted and didn't fit in with the already created world.
139 reviews1 follower
August 11, 2026
This is like a new series - the Path of Bureaucracy. It just kind of rambled without any purpose, with most of the book talking about politics and the things our new Dukes have to deal with. There were some fights and delves and catching up with old friends scattered throughout, but much of it seemed like filler. Finally, at the end of the book, something came up that might breathe some life into the next episode.
Profile Image for Scott.
1,524 reviews12 followers
August 21, 2026
Good Filler

This is one of those pause in between books where we see less action but do a good bit of filling in the blanks and expansion of the workd building.
Some great moments as we see just what the interests of our MCs will do to the future whilst we still gather slowly towards the true war. Be interesting to see exactly how we prepare in the next book and what discoveries will be prepared.
12 reviews
August 11, 2026
Always to catch up on Matt, Liz and Aster's path

This book is more of an in-depth look at how Matt, Liz and Aster start their reigns as Dukes. But it is a fun read that hints at what is coming.
For gamers like me that love the minute of world building, I found it quite the good read.
Profile Image for Kenneth Gentry.
72 reviews1 follower
August 24, 2026
I was disappointed in this book in the series. It felt like Mantis just took his world-building notes and wrote a book about nothing. If you love being an administrator, that is the premise of this entire slog. He gets another chance from me with the next release, but he may have jumped the shark with this one.
Profile Image for Will.
35 reviews
August 8, 2026
this book is so much better than the previous one

So glad this series is out of the war part of the story , that was just a slog to get through. I stop part way through book 11 and only went back to it to be able read this book. And glad I did .
98 reviews
August 25, 2026
Great series!

I love this series and hope it never ends.

Always new twists and turns, some cool political and economic stuff mixed in with delving and fighting. Really interesting and looking forward to the next one!
Profile Image for Mike Goodman.
1,712 reviews12 followers
August 11, 2026
Awesome Series

This story of an orphan to duke was a very interesting entertaining read. It’s implied that the next book will bring something new.
Profile Image for Steven Tapp.
22 reviews
August 12, 2026
warning, leaves on a cliffhanger

Really enjoyed this one, was interesting to see the perspectives of the mortals. But damn, did you have to leave it on that kind of cliffhanger?
Profile Image for Christian Harris.
5 reviews1 follower
August 21, 2026
A good read, a bit heavy on the magic science but overall a good addition to the series
7 reviews
August 27, 2026
The Bath continues…

Enjoyable continuation, if uneventful book developing the next story arc. Concepts hold up as it goes but lots of typos and grammatical clunks though.
3 reviews1 follower
August 30, 2026
A good slice of life addition

Not too much forward movement on this one. Nice to see how Matt, Liz, and Aster life is doing after the war. Can't wait for the next addition.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews