Could you check to see if the noise goes away while standing up to pedal up hills?

If it does go away, this narrows things down. I mention this because the seatpost/frame interface can make a ticking noise like this due to moisture getting in there. It is a good idea to remove the post, clean the old dirt and grease off, apply new grease, then reinstall. The seatpost clamp bolt can also be cleaned, regreased then torqued to the correct specification.

Another possibility would be that the ticking only happens when standing and not while sitting. If this is the case, it would be beneficial to check your steerer tube/fork pretensioning plug. The threads on the bolt should be greased and it should be tightened down securely and the the same for the aheadset preload bolt. Same with the stem bolts, clean, grease then torque.

if you have a threaded bottom bracket in an aluminum frame these can become noisy when the B.B. threads are not fully greased and things not quite torqued down enough.

So there are 3 things to check other than pedals. Be sure to let everybody know the answer to the mystery.

BTW: when MKS say their new pedals come pre-greased this apples to the pedal bearings, not the pedal axles. The pedal axles where they mount to the cranks should always be greased or given anti-seize compound.