Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

[Malcolm Tent]

I had Dantalion, Azazel, and Fate Sense go over the contract. It was fairly standard. There were a few tweaks here and there, and I contacted Callie through the bond to have her check with my dad just to be sure. I was almost positive that some of the traps in the contract were left there as tests for me, but I was reasonably sure I'd passed them all. Once that was done, we finished signing the documents and The Lady invited me to stay overnight in the castle while she sent for the B-rank parties from her own realm and Verdyn's.

With that out of the way, I headed upstairs, ready to embark on the next step in my own journey. Entering the legacy ruins at C-rank would be stupid. Anyone without a complete Chronicle qualified, which meant B-rankers would be abundant. I was going to need every edge I could get in there, and so I needed to be at the top of my game.

I took out the elixirs I'd gotten from Alara. With the treaty signed, not to mention that big show in the throne room, my reputation among the locals would be soaring. It wouldn't be enough to reach B-rank, but it should get me to the nine million that I had expected, and maybe a little higher. From there, I had however long the trip was to the Legacy ruins to make that final step into B-grade in preparation for our entry.

Based on what Callie told me, the breakthrough of the clocktower had DEMOLISHED the Void on the other side of the barrier on the warfront. It was so fragmented trying to move through it was like trying to climb through a meat grinder. We'd need to take the slow way to get there, and that was going to take MONTHS. The only upside was that the fragmented space would apparently delay the descent of the higher dimensional forces.

Interestingly, the delay didn't seem to matter. The legacy trial was set up for challengers, and it required a specific number of them to be initiated. And not just ANYONE below B-rank would do. There was a test to even enter, and based on preliminary assessments, the space inside the tower was locked in some sort of stasis. Until all nine hundred and ninety nine participants had passed the challenge, anyone who entered would be held frozen in time.

It was…suspiciously convenient, really. All of it. And not something I suspected Deveskane was capable of. It made me wonder if the Overgod who owned the trial was partly responsible for any of the things we'd been through. And if so, how many? How much of my life had been steered towards this point to prepare me for entering this trial?

But worrying about that kind of thing in this universe was a good way to go insane. Whatever the reason, it gave me and my friends a chance. I had Callie get in touch with my parents and pass messages to Benny and Jessie. I didn't know if they could prepare in time, but I also didn't know what the test entailed. Maybe it wasn't pure combat. For now, I'd done all I could. All I could do now was make my own preparations.

I counted the elixirs. Ten of them, one hundred thousand points each. The potions were strange and ethereal, shadowy smoke suspended in brilliant shimmering liquid. I was PRETTY sure Alara had sourced the base from the moonlight river that was suppressing Drexel's tower. Interesting.

There were a few variants. One Might, two Vitality, three Creation, two Perception, two Fantasy. I'd tried to focus on shoring up my weak spots, leaving the beefier stats behind a bit, only getting enough points to make it to one point five mil. I was reasonably sure I'd see an influx in those naturally anyway, given the renown income. Slowly, one by one, I tossed back each elixir, preparing myself for the surge of stats that was incoming.

Staggering them helped, and then I let the excess hit afterward, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results in more ways than one.

Wishmaster status. C-rank. Ability: Grandmaster Wish- Nine times a day grant a Grandmaster wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly achievable by the candidate's own efforts within a three day period with current statistics.

Grandmaster Path of the Demonbinder- The Domain of a Great King.

Wishmaster candidate points-1000

Might-1,832,421

Impact-155

Fantasy-1,461,238

Vitality-1,621,871 (x 3)

Focus-1,446,357

Perception-1,521,640

Creation-1,572,112

Progress to next rank:9,455,794/10,000,000

Soul strength- Tanzanite Soul Body

Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 10/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 1/9

Chronicle: Ten Demons Tome (pages bound:2- 1 Zagan, 1 Leviathan)

wish scrolls stockpiled: 288 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)

Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)

Weapon: Ten Demons Tree (reincarnation tree staff that lets him simulate alternate lives to perfect his forms, and when combined with the library lets him simulate and deduce techniques in a process called the "Wisdom of Solomon")

Stored: 0 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)

Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)

Court of Gehenna:

1.Doom Sovereign- Tier 7

2.Valtek- Tier 2

3.Cooking- Tier 7

4.Inventing- Tier 2

5.Balam- Tier 3

6.Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- Tier 4

7.Piano- Tier 1

8.Guitar- Tier 1

9.First Aid- Tier 1

10.Angelic Bond- Tier 6

11.Dust Construction- Tier 5

12. Stone Limb- Tier 6

13.Moonlit Night- Tier 4

14.Consecration of Flame- Tier 6

15.Ripple Running- Tier 3

16.State of Grace- Tier 4

17.Steam Arrow- Tier 4

18.Afterburner- Tier 6

19.Pit of Despair- Tier 6

20.Mountain Stance- Tier 6

21.Heart over Body- Tier 6

22.Mercy Kill- Tier 5

23.Double Trouble- Tier 6

24.Touch of Tears- Tier 5

25.Flurry of Blows- Tier 3

26.Heavy Hands- Tier 2

27.Marked for Death- Tier 4

28.False Fatality- Tier 3

29.Blood Curse- Tier 4

30.Creeping Darkness- Tier 2

31.Final Strike- Tier 6

32.Overlay- Tier 4

33.Song of the Soil- Tier 3

34.Rhythm of the Wild- Tier 2

35.Eye of Revelation- Tier 6

36.Danger Sense- Tier 6

37.Piece of Mind- Tier 6

38.Empty Spirit- Tier 6

39.Belial- Tier 7

40.Abomination Engine- Tier 6

41.Mephistopheles- Tier 7

42.Cosmic Collapse- Tier 6

43.Circle of Damnation- Tier 6

44.Mephisto's Waltz- Tier 6

45.Mornax- Tier 7

46.Zagan- Tier 7

47.Life Nova- Tier 7

48.Genesis Burst- Tier 6

49.Bael- Tier 7

50.Beelzebub- Tier 7

51.Agares- Tier 7

52.Dantalion- Tier 7

53.Sammael- Tier 7

54.Limbo- Tier 7

55.Gluttony- Tier 7

56.Wrath- Tier 6

57.Pride- Tier 7

58.Retribution- Tier 7

59.Murmur- Tier 7

60.Leviathan- Tier 7

61.Behemoth- Tier 7

62.Glory- Tier 7

63.Abaddon -Tier 7

64.Wisdom of Solomon- Tier 7

65.Promethean Fire Soul Body- Tier 6

66.Fate Sense- Tier 7

67.Scent of Truth- Tier 6

68.Damnatio Memoriae- Tier 6

69.Dark Reflection- Tier 6

70. Asmodeus- Tier 7

71. Astaroth- Tier 7

72. Azazel- Tier 8

I was within spitting distance of B-rank now, and it wouldn't be long before I crossed the threshold, but that wasn't even what I found most exciting. No, what made me most excited was the final line of Gehenna. Azazel had reached tier eight. That meant I HAD a B-rank demon inside my soul already.

The purification and ascension of my body with the ember had also pushed the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation art up two ranks to tier four, which would cover me through my next two templates even if I didn't rank it up again anytime soon, which I sincerely doubted would be the case.

Outside the vortex, adapting to so much stat growth was exponentially more difficult, sadly. I ended up sitting perfectly still for an hour as my body finished letting me push adjust. Once that was finished, I moved on to my NEXT order of business. Contacting my wife. I'd used up all my Adherent Fire charges on the way back, and they had turned out to be extremely useful. "Hey, you have time to talk?" I asked through the bond.

Didn't take her long to respond. "Not too busy at the moment. The battles are currently at a standstill. I don't imagine that'll last. Even if the major forces cool off, there's too many scavengers loitering around here for it to stay quiet long term."

"Did your sister get there safe?" I asked with concern. She'd mentioned having a map, but that was before I knew that the Void was shattered near that area. I assumed Adam would have known though, so her map probably involved crossing into realspace before she hit the problem area.

"She did," Callie said wryly. "She was very excited to meet me. It was sweet. I'm having fun getting to know her, though I can tell she's chomping at the bit to start spreading my reputation. She MIGHT be a bit competitive."

I laughed through the bond. "Gosh, I can't imagine what that would be like. I don't know anyone competitive."

"Please," she scoffed sarcastically. "I'm so not competitive. I'm the least competitive person you've ever met. I bet you a hundred B-rank chits you can't find a person less competitive than I am. And if you can, I'll fight them. Then we'll see who's competitive."

I rolled my eyes at her bad joke. "Speaking of betting, I was hoping you could help me test something." I didn't need to explain anything, she'd been at dinner with me when Adam explained the whole body tempering connection. She knew what I was getting at immediately, and was more than happy to help me test it.

She had some scrolls on her, so she popped one open, and started making wishes. She started absurdly high, at like ten thousand points, which obviously failed, then continued downward until she found the current limit.

Nine hundred forty five points. Apparently my current physique was durable enough to convert pretty directly between millions and singles. I was only at first template completion, so that boded pretty well. My stats would continue to rise, and my ceiling for stat wishes would grow even faster. Callie got almost ten thousand points out of ten wishes and I got my ten saved Adherent Fire charges back. We could have done more but she wanted to wait and get them out of the way all at once after she started pulling in more renown from the battlefield with her sister. She had a lot of catching up to do, but she insisted she'd already closed the gap more than I might have thought possible. I couldn't wait to see how far she'd come during our time apart.

I said goodnight to my wife and settled in to sleep, knowing tomorrow was going to be busy. I had to meet all the B-rankers we'd be bringing back with us to the WCP, then we'd be setting off for home. It wouldn't be long before I'd be back with all my friends, then only a few months til I was back with my wife and we were all together again. After that, it was on to the next adventure, and I had a feeling this one was going to be a doozie.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next morning I stocked up on scrolls as usual, bringing me to two hundred eighty seven barring the emergency fund, and headed down to meet up with Dayna and the others. Rather than stay in the Domain, since we were safe and had a place to sleep, Chloe had chosen to stay in the guest quarters, and Brad had followed suit, insisting on exploring for himself now that we were out of danger.

Still, they were all promptly on time when I arrived at the Priory, and several new faces (not to mention some old friends) had arrived alongside them to make up our party. As mentioned, The Lady had contacted Verdyn to have him send a team, and his team surprisingly included Dayna's big brother Marius, who looked incredibly enthused to see us, giving us each a big hug.

"Little sister! And friends!" he cheered. "Lovely to see you all. Isn't it a beautiful day? The sun is shining…I think. The sky is really red here. It's hard to tell. Actually, is it daytime?"

Dayna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yes, Marius, it's daytime. Are you going to introduce us to the others? I don't recognize anyone except…" she stopped, grimacing at the man standing behind the other cloaked figures. "You brought BOBBY?" she said in a tone suspiciously close to a whine. "Dear gods, WHY? This is a diplomatic mission."

"Mama wanted him to come," he shrugged. "He's been aimless lately, nothing important going on, and she worries."

"He's been aimless because he has no FRIENDS," she hissed. "Because everyone hates him and avoids him like the plague. Because he's a scumbag who never has a nice thing to say about anyone but Mama."

The short blonde man the with ruddy face and the patchy goatee she'd been glaring at glared back. "I heard that," he called across the courtyard. "And it's not my fault you lunatics wouldn't know how to have a proper conversation if it ripped the nose off your face and spat it back in your eye. I'm not the weird one in the family. Everyone else in the lodge is INSANE! Mama is the only decent human being in the whole place."

"Sure," Dayna scathed (I literally couldn't describe the vitriol she imbued into that word as any other action). "Everyone else is the problem. You're the only reasonable person in the whole world."

"YES!" he screamed in exasperation. "I am!"

Marius sighed. "Alright you two, no fighting in front of our allies, please. Anyway, these others are the cream of the crop from the Lodge. Nasya, Drenk, Fala, Bellia, Eric, and Dan. Nasya and Bellia are twins, and god children to boot. Lord Verdyn's direct granddaughters, actually. But don't worry about them following orders, Lord Verdyn put me in charge personally, and everyone knows how crucial this mission is."

Chloe brightened. "Oh! Can I introduce ours? I know everybody. Most of them are friends or people I grew up with!"

A tall, silver haired woman smiled dotingly at her. "I think we should introduce ourselves, Chloe, I'm sure you'd rather be looking over there at that beautiful butterfly." She pointed casually and Chloe's eyes followed her finger…and she was gone. Brad sighed and followed behind her, making sure she wouldn't get into any trouble. "She means well," the woman apologized. "But I think things will go a bit faster if I make introductions. I'm Rosaline, a fellow member of the Order of Mercy. Sister Bernadette spoke quite highly of you, Mr. Mephistopheles."

I chuckled ruefully. "Please, just call me Shane." After the alliance was finalized, my identity had been officially recognized. As an honored guest, I was under The Lady's direct protection here, and given her recent return to power, no one would be stupid enough to try to take a shot while I was in her realm. She and Verdyn had also arranged S-rankers to accompany the strike team back to the WCP as an extra layer of security, even if it was unlikely anyone had time to worry about us when so much was going on up at the front lines.

"Shane, then," she nodded, her smile beatific. "My friends behind me from the Order of Mercy are Shenna and Dirk. From the Order of Abomination we have Treck and Dennan. And of course, Pardek from the Order of Punishment." She said the last like she had a bad taste in her mouth, which made sense given the Order of Mercy's antipathy for the punishers.

I nodded to everyone. "Welcome, all of you. We'll be traveling to the Wish Curse Palace in Wishworld, my home territory, and you'll all be my guests. I was led to believe there would be a couple elders coming along for security?"

Rosaline chuckled. "Father Michael will be accompanying us. He's notorious for being late to things."

"Lady Skara is going to be our escort," Marius chimed in. "She's waiting out on the Void Road. She prefers to remain out of sight, but she's dependable. She's Lord Verdyn's direct disciple, and was sent along to keep watch on the twins."

Dayne looked poleaxed. "L-Lady Skara…the Silver Sorrow?" she all but whispered the name. "I wasn't aware we'd have such a famous guardian."

"Get used to it," I grinned at her. "Don't forget, you're in the Wishmaster's circle now. We're interacting with the peak of the powers in the universe these days." I didn't make fun of her for geeking out, I'd had the same reaction to meeting some of my childhood heroes back in the conclave.

Within ten minutes Father Michael showed up and all of us were ready to set off. I couldn't help the surge of excitement at the thought of going home after such a long time traveling. I'd left to find us allies and end the war and I…kind of had. Maybe this wasn't how I'd expected things to go down, but I hadn't failed my mission either. I couldn't wait to see the faces on the council when I brought home the news of the legacy trial and set off with my cabinet to challenge the Overgod inheritance.

I was…conflicted about the results. From the perspective of the family, I had done my job, and done it well. I'd come back with THREE divine allies, not one, and the legacy ruins were an opportunity for us. Wyndham descendants all had a ton of stats, but the reason we only had a few more S-rankers than anyone else was because stats became both less and more important as you advanced.

More important in the sense that you needed exponentially more renown to move forward, but less in that you couldn't break through past D-rank without talent and ability. Your Solid Path, Chronicle, and even your Domain, were all things you decided for yourself rather than just pumping them up with wishes. With the legacy presumably geared at that form of advancement, the WCP in particular was in a position to benefit greatly from this mess. But it WAS a mess. A big one. That I caused.

The higher up I went, the murkier things got, and the less control I had over what happened around me. At this point, even the old man probably didn't know what was going on. We lived in interesting times, and that was good for growing but bad for peace.

But…was that mine to worry about? With this accomplishment under my belt, I'd be able to leverage the council to push through some of the reforms I had been thinking over. Maybe not enough to cancel the fosterage program yet, but enough that I could genuinely make things better for my relatives across the board. Was the danger of Drexel and now the legacy really too high a price to take care of the people I was responsible for?

As we made our way out onto the Void Road, I couldn't help but consider exactly where the universe was heading. I trusted the various factions to balance divine power enough to prevent universal ascension, at this point no one was going to want that. But what about AFTER this point? What about when the legacy trial closer, or was completed, or whatever would happen? Would the war just restart?

I'd bought us time, and I planned to use it wisely, but I couldn't help see the shadow of deeper things behind all this. I'd always thought that becoming stronger would give me a voice to speak and a higher vantage point, and it had, but as I swam into deeper and deeper waters, I could vaguely make out the silhouettes of great beasts swimming below. Not the sharks I had been watching for, but deeper and darker things, waiting to rise and swallow anything in their way.

Somehow, it felt like everything I did was stepping further and further down a path I didn't understand and couldn't see the end of. I was following road signs in the mist and I didn't know where I'd end up, and it was becoming increasingly clear that the people making the signs were working off an incomplete map.

My mind whirled in circles as we walked. Brad and Chloe chatted with Marius and the others joined in once in a while, but I didn't register the words. I couldn't stop thinking. Worrying. Planning. But every plan I came up with I had to just throw away. Countermeasures to threats I wasn't sure existed, contingencies for scenarios that would never happen. As I fretted though, I remembered something Zeke had told me once.

Bad things were going to happen. People were going to plot my downfall, enemies would try to kill me, and random danger would rear its head and do its best to take me out even if they didn't. But worrying about that would just be letting those forces beat me. If it was coming anyway, why double the time I spent suffering by worrying about it. I needed to be ready, but not dwell on it. React, don't anticipate.

The older I got, the more I understood my uncle, and the more I wish I didn't. This world was so dangerous, and my friends and family were in so much danger. When could I finally find some peace? Was becoming the Wishmaster not ENOUGH? Didn't that buy me even a second of breathing room?

I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder, and turned to see Dayna smiling at me sadly. "You know, you need room on your shoulders for your head. If you keep putting the weight of the world up there you're not going to have any space."

Chuckling, I said ruefully. "I was just thinking about-"

"I can guess," she cut me off. "Or at least I have a broad spectrum of guesses. But you don't need to be. This is over for now, and there's more on the horizon. Take the quiet moments when you have them. If you're waiting for the universe to stop kicking you when you're down, you'll be waiting the rest of your life. You have to MAKE your moments of peace."

That…that was true. I blinked at her in surprise. "That's surprisingly reasonable for you. Your big brother talking some sense into you?"

She snorted. "The opposite, if anything. No, that bit of wisdom was from…" she grimaced. "Bobby. He might not be completely pointless all the time. Even if he's frustrating and obnoxious."

"I have relatives like that," I laughed. "I know exactly what you mean." I glanced around us. "We're almost home. You ready to go back to working for Bethy?"

"Is anyone really READY to work for someone like Bethy?" she grinned happily. "I think it's more something you just accept. I definitely miss it though. And I'm looking forward to introducing her to my brothers. Let THEM deal with being badgered to the point of insanity." We laughed together, then settled into an easy, comfortable silence as we continued our trip. We were almost home.