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

[Malcolm Tent]

Surprisingly, the other two were able to cross to my side of the floor pretty easily. The…formation? I didn't know what it was, but the trap floor seemed to sense directions, and it didn't take us long to notice that crossing AWAY from the exterior door was perfectly fine, and the other two decided to take me up on my offer.


I made one of the Abyss Wyvern steaks, making sure I still had plenty for Callie and I, and cut it into strips, grilling it in a slightly sweet sauce and serving it over a high quality cloud rice. Callie had been eating well with my grandmother, and insisted on snagging ingredients to stash in the companion rings.


"Anyone want a drink?" I asked as I fished out some recent beverage options. "I have a few types of soda, some high quality juices, and this stuff is called VOLT!!, it's an energy drink. I haven't tried it, but it's supposed to work pretty well. Apparently it's like lightning in a can."


I was wary of this stuff. Callie had passed it on from Benny, and my best friend had a nasty sense of humor. Dominic seemed like a tough guy though, so he should be fine.


He seemed intrigued, then popped the top and fell over backwards with a yelp as electricity surged into his face. "Shit!" he snapped. "What was that?" He looked into the can, but apparently saw nothing, searching the room for his 'drink'.


"It was lightning," I said helpfully. "In a can." I took the empty canister from him, checking the front. "Oh, my bad. That doesn't say like." I paused apologetically before asking. "So, how was it?"


He glared at me for a second, then shrugged. "Kind of spicy. I didn't hate it. I feel a little energized."


"So, since we're on the same team, what ARE you guys looking for?" I did my best to seem as calm and approachable as possible, which was admittedly tough when you're a giant in edgy black armor with a horrifying demonic visage. "And have you seen any of the others around here?"


Sable shrugged. "I thought I saw someone using birds to scout nearby. Might have just been local fauna. You?"


"Just this guy." I jerked a thumb at Dominic. "But good to know. But you didn't answer. What is the Peaceful Mourning Wreath?" These people couldn't be much more versed in Felicity's lore than I was, so they must have either been tipped off or done some specific research to find her dad's temple info.


"It was the wreath the goddess gave her father when her mother died," said Sable solemnly. "It has a number of abilities, not the least of which is the ability to draw emotional pain out of a person, healing deep emotional wounds that otherwise might never go away. These wounds are on a layer of the soul so deep most never even notice them, but they DO effect condensing a Saga. The Wreath provides a similar service to the rebirth that was offered in the selection, but for A-rankers."


Dominic nodded. "Which mean's it's fucking PRICELESS. Anything that can help an A-ranker condense a Saga is worth more than most star clusters. Power at the level tips the balance of whole factions. Most of the five faction alliance don't have more than ten or fifteen S-rankers."


I was well aware. The WCP were able to stand equal with the alliance because we had more S-rankers than any of the other factions. While the Wish power had almost no effectiveness at making Path or soul difficulties go away, it lowered the standard for accruing renown by a laughable amount. At the end of the day, the Path and soul were things you could only really deal with yourself, but there were fixes for them, the biggest barrier to ranking up had always been stat acquisition.


It was one of the reasons I focused so hard on stat points with my wishes. Especially now, when I had such a monumental amount of them to gather. I could get through D-rank faster than anyone else could come close to, and if I managed to become the next Wishmaster, that amount would expand exponentially.


Shaking off that tangent, I forced myself to focus. My worries about my progression speed had been substantial recently, but it wasn't the point here.


This wreath was powerful, and admittedly very useful, but it didn't seem like it was what I was here for. Whatever Black Sorrow wanted, it wasn't a trinket that the Lady had made for her father when she was younger. It had to be something related to Strakkenthar himself.


"Is there anything else here?" I asked them cautiously. "Some other artifacts that might be important?"


Sable nodded. "Three total. But the wreath is the only one we can touch. The other two are infused with Strakkenthar's power. It's highly corrosive and will kill anyone who comes near it. The Frightlord Scythe and the Disquietude Inkstone were two of his items of power." I hadn't heard of those before, so I cocked my head in confusion, indicating she should continue.


Sable shrugged. "The Saga can only take an S-ranker to five hundred Impact. Once you hit that level, the soul can't handle the strain anymore. Four other artifacts are needed to achieve godhood. Of course, the Saga is the sum total of an S-ranker's soul and body. If it's not strong enough to reach five hundred, godhood is impossible, but past that, more artifacts are needed to withstand the weight."


Fascinated, I asked her to elaborate. "How does that work? And how do you know this? I've never heard anything concrete about the process of achieving godhood, aside from needing a thousand Impact."


"My great grandmother was a priestess for Verdyn back when he was still alive," she said with a shrug. "It's why I'm here. I'm a legacy. But Verdyn was never really my kind of deity. As for the objects, basically when you reach five hundred Impact you condense your Saga into a Domain. Any flaws or imperfections in your power and your Saga can't hold it all." Her tone was casual, like she wasn't literally telling me the secrets of the universe.


"Once that's done, you create a Domain seed and imbue it into an artifact, then water it with Impact. The more perfect your Domain, the more Impact each artifact can hold. Four is considered perfect, with five artifacts being a perfectly balanced Ascension to godhood. Once divinity is reached, all five parts of the Domain combine, and the objects of power become divine alongside their god."


I considered that. "Wouldn't less objects mean more power per object? What if you only made three objects? Or even two? A total of three domain bases would be more stable than five right? Assuming that less is more here."


She shook her head. "The strength of the original Domain is what establishes the seed. Your initial Saga would need to be exponentially stronger than anyone else's. The body and soul can't handle more than five hundred points of Impact regardless, but your Domain itself would need to be MUCH stronger than anyone has ever managed, and the Saga is the third part of that triad. It would need to bear a much larger burden, which means the deeds in it would need to be MUCH more impressive.."


My mind flashed back to a black fortress under a blood red sky. Was that why Lark had spent such a long time building and reinforcing his Domain? Why he'd destroyed all the other Vampires. He'd been able to contain a hundred S-rankers. Was the Vampire trying to Ascend with fewer than four objects of power?


While fascinating, this was something for future Shane to worry about. "Sorry, distracted. Really want to hear more later if there's more to hear, but can you tell me about the two objects that are here?"


"I don't know much," she shrugged. "Strakkenthar himself died a long time ago. I was able to get some information from my family library in some old books about the Lady. She and Verdyn were peers, so she's mentioned. Her father was before Verdyn's time though. All I know is that those two objects contain part of his power. I'm not sure what they actually do."


"What about Strakkenthar himself?" I asked hopefully. "I don't know much about him."


That seemed to perk her up. "I know a bit about him. Strakkenthar was the god of Endless Night. His Domain was based around the inevitably of darkness swallowing the world after the sun passed. His whole creation myth was about the unstoppable tide of darkness that would someday swallow all the stars in creation."


"Charming," I said with a grimace. But my mind wasn't on Strakkenthar anymore. Black Sorrow's Enshrining Darkness sounded eerily similar to that. Did the Domain seed have that much influence on her power?


Come to think of it, was that how she'd gotten the seed? Taken it from one of his artifacts? I could see how using someone else's seed as one of your four might help you Ascend, though the exact mechanics were a bit hazy to me. I just didn't know enough about the process. But what would she do with another? I didn't have nearly enough information about what was going on right now, and I didn't like it.


I didn't even know which artifact I was supposed to take. And what about the corrosive energy? Would the stone counter it? There was no reason to send me all the way out here to die, if she wanted to kill me she could have just done it. Which meant this really was a chance to get free of the sword hanging over my head, even if it was a casual and dangerous one that I didn't think she cared if I survived.


More and more I was seeing how little I understood about the world at large and my own situation in specific. Being D-ranked had seemed so huge and important before I got here, but now I just felt helpless and ignorant. Mastery really was where the real world of Ascendants began, and I was in the deep end.


In the end though, it didn't matter. I was sent to do a job, to help keep my family safe. I'd get it done, and worry about consequences later. Black Sorrow being slightly more powerful wasn't going to effect me in the short term, and in the long run…well, I'd learned quite a few things today, and I had a new goal. I wanted to create the strongest Saga I could, create a foundation for a colossal and powerful Domain, and outdo every other god who had ever Ascended.


I had a unique opportunity to create and lay the foundation for a powerful Domain by perfecting all thirteen of my pseudo Domains and merging them together into something truly terrifying. If I did it right, I might be able to do what I suspected Morgan was doing. Ascend with only three artifacts of power, a four part Domain, or even better, with only two, creating a three part Domain that my instincts told me would be the perfect configuration.


But I was getting ahead of myself. I only had three pseudo Domains finished, and I had a long way to go until my Saga. I'd need to focus on perfecting every aspect of myself before I reached that point.


For now, getting one of those artifacts and getting it Black Sorrow would give me room to grow. So I finished my food and stood up, brushing myself off. "Alright, well, I don't think the wreath is what I'm here for, so that's good for our agreement. You two can work out who gets it once we're through this. Until then, we work together." I gestured to the grid of floor squares. "Now, either of you know how the hell to get past this? Because trial and error is going to take forever."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"I have a few tricks that might help," Sable admitted as we stood at the edge of the grid. "I practice nature witchcraft. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept?" Her tone was businesslike and she didn't even bother glancing our way, as if she was sure we would be up to speed. Which…I kind of wasn't.


I glanced over at Dominic, who shrugged back, and then tentatively informed her. "I mean, not really. I know Witchcraft is an ability that lets you affect things through links. Thaumaturgical links make things that happen on a small scale happen on a large one. It's really versatile, and one of my mentors growing up practiced Cosmic Witchcraft, but I never really got the details of how it worked."


"Basically like you just said. Small scale changes bring about large ones. It's a flexible ability that can mix well with most things." Reaching into a pouch, she pulled out a handful of seeds, scattering them on the floor in front of us. As I watched, the seeds started to crack open, buds extending out and intertwine, winding together as they grew to create some sort of root golem.


I wasn't sure how that was witchcraft, but clearly she'd done something. She gestured her golem, a humanoid figure made of densely packed wooden roots, onto the grid, and it stepped forward, taking two steps…and bursting into flames.


"Was it supposed to do that?" I asked cheerfully. "Because I feel like maybe you had other plans."


Dominic snickered, averting his eyes and actually whistling when Sable turned to glare at him. She sent another root golem forward, this one taking a different path. This one got impaled. Then one got cut up by wind blades. The next one got struck by lightning. One of them turned into a ghost and just sort of…faded away.


By the time she ran out, she was panting and glaring at the grid. We'd identified a path about halfway across (some of them needed to be jumped) but Sable had been spending her own energy on growing the plants, and it seemed like her power was reaching a limit.


I considered my options. I was keeping a low profile, but even on top of my mask, this temple was a divine structure that blocked at least my own senses. Chances were good scrying into here was a no-go, and I was so close to the end. With a sigh, I reached over, put a hand on her shoulder, and called Zagan.


A wave of bright green life fire washed over her, drawing a shocked gasp from the other Ascendant, but I ignored it channeling the power through her. Her haggard appearance receded, shoulder straightening and skin flushing with vigor. "That's…" she gasped. "I feel so alive. How did you do that?" Her eyes snapped to me, confusion evident on her face. "I thought you were a brawler?"


"What, was it the name?" I asked jokingly. "I'm a complicated person. I contain multitudes. Will that help, or not?"


She laughed breathlessly. "I feel like I could fly just by flapping my arms right now. So yeah, that'll help." She cracked her neck, glaring at the floor. "Round two. Let's see who gives out first."


She reached into the pouch, casting more handfuls of seeds. Great heaps of the things this time, splitting and intermingling and creating a fucking thicket of roots, from which sprang more and more golems. She rushed them forward, eyes blazing green, cackling madly as they hit the squares. One after another they were destroyed, wrecked by the defenses, and one by one they showed the way through the trap, giving us the squares we needed to proceed.


We started doing so, slowly following the path laid out, and Sable would throw her seeds onto the next empty square. Luckily the black and white marble squares of the floor weren't small, and all three of us could stand inside them easily enough (though I had to fold my wings). Seeing the endless wave of root golems spawning because of a few casual bursts of Zagan was kind of intimidating.


My healing and purification form, for all its limitations, was easily one of my most powerful forms, and having it boosted by Sammael made it even more terrifying. Working with an Ascendant who drained their own life force (I was pretty sure) to create plant golems, I could essentially fuel her army forever.


Of course, everything had limits. While her energy reserves were able to be topped up indefinitely, as I'd recognized with Jessie's power when I was starting out, mental strain wasn't something life force could treat. After about forty minutes, I noticed Sable swaying on her feet precariously, and we decided to stop in a middle square and sit down to recover a bit.


This was made even easier by Dominic taking out some kind of bowl and setting it on the ground, then just…stepping into it. Sable and I shrugged at each other and followed him in, finding the inside to be some kind of cave dwelling.


"Welcome to my Den," said Dom proudly. "D-rank portable dwellings are hard to find, because they have to be incredibly stable to hold multiple Ascendants of that rank, not to mention the material requirements for supporting that foundation. I got this one from the family when I reached Master."


I whistled as I looked around. "This is cool. What happens if the bowl breaks?"


"We get ejected," he shrugged. "It won't though. I told you, the material requirements to support this much Impact are crazy. It's still technically D-rank, but higher up the ladder. We're fine in here for now. The rest we can worry about later. For now, Sable, why don't you get some rest. You're stumbling around like a drunken bumblebee."


She snorted, but nodded. "Fine. But I don't know either of you, so forgive me if I don't trust you with my safety. Last thing I need is to get knifed in my sleep because I thought you big meatheads were too stupid to betray me and didn't take precautions."


"You're mean when you're exhausted," I said in a faux hurt tone.


She rolled her eyes, then took out more seeds, scattering them around. She winced a bit at the effort, but soon enough a big dome of roots wrapped her up, completely shielding her from sight. The layers kept stacking too, interweaving to create and extremely dense shield. I didn't take it personally, I didn't trust either of them that much either. I still had my C-rank plate to keep me safe though.


Dominic, to my surprise, didn't seem to worry about it either way, just flopping down on his back and going to sleep. With a shrug, I sat down, crossed my legs, and trigger Piece of Mind so a parallel could monitor my body while I took a nap. The parallel could hear and react, so it would be able to wake me up if anything suspicious happened, and at my rank, having my eyes shut wasn't exactly an impediment anymore.


Unsurprisingly, I was awoken what seemed like minutes later by Dom letting out a loud booming yawn. My eyes shot open, my parallel alerting me immediately, and my head snapped over to track him, but he just gave me a lazy wave.


He reminded me of kind of a weird combination of Abel and Punchin' Carl. Just a big simple battle maniac who wanted to fight. He wasn't as crafty as my mentor though, though he might be as ruthless. He HAD tried to sneak attack me when we met. Still, I was a little bit biased towards liking him because of the similarities.


Sable, meanwhile, didn't remind me of any of my friends. She'd been mostly pretty aloof and semi-formal until her power boost, then she'd been a lot more blunt. I didn't really mind either, but I had to admit her power was impressive.


I was also sure she wasn't showing me even a tenth of what it could do, because making plant golems wasn't Witchcraft as far as I knew. Chances were good she had some kind of doll or puppet she'd made that she was connecting to them. Maybe the seeds were from the same tree as the doll.


I'd tried doing some research into Witchcraft back in the day after we met that witch at the Conclave, but the fact was, it was so vague and versatile that it could do basically anything. Witches could heal, control, curse, enhance. Any connection two people or even a person and a thing could have could be amplified or subverted. At higher levels witches could be fucking SCARY, but it was a resource heavy ability set. You needed special materials that could withstand the linking and be used for symbolic avatars.


Because of that, and because Ascendants were glory hounds and Witchcraft tended to express itself more subtly and from a distance, it had fallen out of favor in the mainstream. My mom had been surprised to see it for that exact reason.


With our nap out of the way, we all emerged rested and ready, and resumed our journey through the grid shaped room. With some rest, Sable was able to withstand the boost from Zagan much more easily, and it wasn't long until we made it across the room, emerging on the other side of the grid none the worse for wear, though presumably minus a LOT of seeds.


"Finally!" groaned Dom as we stepped off the grid. "That was fucking tense. I kept worrying one of them would have a delayed trigger and blow us up or something."


I'd actually worried about that too, but I'd decided to trust my instincts, Fatewalker might not be perfect but it was better than going in blind. I hadn't gotten a particularly bad feeling, though my Danger Sense had obviously been screaming the whole time, given the pervasive risk of just being in this fucking place.


On the other side of the room, there was only a single thing. A door. Or rather a set of large double doors, carved from the same stone as the temple. Unlike the smooth glassy walls, the stone had been etched with intricate designs, a story actually, and a quick glance told me that it was about Strakkenthar.


It was also almost definitely propaganda, based on the very optimistic tone, portraying the psychotic night god as a benevolent savior arrived to save the universe from war and sorrow (I was paraphrasing, because it was all images, but the last thought made me chuckle at the irony).


So we ignored the doors, placing our hands against the dark stone and pushing as hard as we could, revealing the room behind.


Inside was another water chamber, and I braced myself for another puzzle, but to my surprise, it didn't seem like there was one. The chamber was full of peaceful, tranquil liquid, and in the center, equidistant from each other and the walls, were three islands.


One island held a massive two handed scythe. It was jagged and menacing, and floated in a beam of light, rotating slowly as if displaying itself to the world. In the center was a pedestal on which sat a single night black stone, and opposite the scythe was a black plant wreath covered in white flowers.


Even from here, I could feel some sort of heaviness in the air. Not Impact, that was being restrained, or we'd probably have been crushed, but just a sense of weight and meaning beyond normal objects.


Taking out my stone, I held it up, and to my complete lack of surprise, the arrow spun and stopped on the central pedestal, where the ink stone sat. "Well," I said wryly. "Good news. I can definitely confirm we aren't after the same thing." The question was would Strakkenthar's corrosive energy make it impossible for me to accomplish my mission. I supposed we'd have to find out.