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

[Sp0rkG0d]

eh. Picking two relatives isnt that far off from picking one of them and one of your own people as far as it goes for trying to build connections. I feel like this should at least be addressed even if just offhand like 'damn that ability is broken enough that its worth losing the connections we'd get from picking someone with different connections' or having someone else point it out to him which would show how inexperienced he is in these things and maybe setup some future growth. At this point I'm assuming the story has already been written past that point though so I guess I just hope its the second.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

After I completed Astaroth, I headed for LeClaire's headquarters under Murmur. In order to use my new form, I needed to study LeClaire and his people. An understanding of the person I was mimicking was pretty much required.

Dantalion was all but made for this kind of thing, so as I settled in for my stakeout, I only had to create a parallel to manage things as I took stock of my new domain.

Astaroth had been complicated to create. Mainly because I needed to construct a complete framework for deception, and I didn't really have the base components for it. I'd considered for quite a while before I settled on the ingredients, and the final results had seemed pretty much perfect for my purposes.

I'd started with Double Trouble. Teleportation was only one of its abilities, and a useful one, but not what I was looking for here, at least not yet. Rather, the second portion of the subskill, the one that left behind an exact duplicate, had been the seed I'd needed to grow my masterpiece.

Secondly I'd used Murmur, the manipulation of the senses was its whole purpose, so that had been a no brainer, but my third choice had been a little unorthodox. Mornax for solidity, melted together with Adherent Fire tied into the spatial aspect of Double Trouble, all of it blending to create a unique deceptive framework.

Essentially, after I used Dantalion to create a profile, I'd trigger Astaroth, and the original me would vanish. Rather than changing my features with some kind of illusion, Double Trouble and the Adherent Fire shifted my physical form into a semi Void state, taking advantage of the Void's stealth capabilities. My Void self remained out of synch with reality as the illusion simulated the aura and physique of the person I'd copied, which, after solidification from Mornax, because a perfect duplicate that even higher ranked watchers couldn't identify without certain special skills.

It had taken an exceptional amount of creativity to create Astaroth, because unlike Stealth, which just deleted me from people's perception, Astaroth was designed to operate under scrutiny. The key to good Stealth was not being noticed, but Astaroth was another level of difficulty entirely because the POINT was to be noticed, and still pass undetected.

The project was one of the most complex I'd ever undertaken. Barring a few with special senses, it should withstand cursory scrutiny even from high ranked Ascendants. AND it would work even better in the Void, considering the nature of Adherent Fire and how it could intrude in realspace.

I'd been somewhat inspired by both the lessons learned from the old man's tome and by Callie's brilliant and unconventional approach to her own powers when she'd created her new form, and I'd been right, it was nice to stretch my creative muscles.

I was so excited about testing it out in the field, I barely noticed the time passing. Finally, my parallel informed me I'd gathered enough information to begin my infiltration, and that LeClair himself had just left for the night. I turned to Zeke. "You coming along for this? Or are you going to watch from a distance?"

He shrugged. "You don't need me underfoot. If anyone too scary gets the drop on you I'll step in."

I smiled at him. "You've been awfully quiet lately," I told him sadly. "Nothing to say?"

"I'm not sure how much right I have," he said after a pause. "I'm not your dad, Shane. Sure, I was always around, but you raised yourself. And now especially, with Eli and Sasha back in your life…you don't need another parent."

"No. I don't," I agreed. "But I still need an Uncle. You're not replaceable. Not even by my dad. I know you and him have a ton of history, but I barely know the guy. I don't need to be parented. Not by any of you. But that doesn't mean I'll ever stop valuing your contribution. I always want to hear what you have to say."

He smiled sadly. "Maybe. But you're growing fast. The day is coming when you won't need my protection anymore. You're almost as strong now as I was when you stepped onto the Path, and that's nothing to scoff at. Only a few short years and that dumb little introvert I raised is about to become the Wishmaster. I don't want to step back either, but it's about time you start learning to stand on your own. Not all at once, of course, but one day you'll turn around and I'll be far in the rearview, too weak to help. When that day comes I don't want you to get blindsided."

My chest tightened. He was right. I was C-rank now, and I'd be B-rank in time, and then I'd reach A. At the rate I was growing, there was no way Zeke would break through to S-rank before I caught up. And once I passed him…what would that be like? Zeke had never been overt about his protection, but he'd always BEEN there. No matter what I did I'd known I had him on my side. Supporting me. Keeping me safe.

"What are you going to do when that happens?" I asked him. "I know you aren't planning to desert or anything, but you and Stella have been getting closer with so much time together. Mom has been bugging ME to have kids, albeit subtly, I can't believe that someone your age isn't thinking about it."

Not that I assumed everyone wanted children, but Zeke…Zeke was good with kids. He'd seemed unreliable growing up, but over the years, the comments he'd made and the discussions we'd had made it clear that he'd always looked out for me. He'd be a great dad, and the way he talked about his family sometimes…I was pretty sure he wasn't opposed to the idea. Once he was free of his responsibilities to me and my dad what reason did he have to avoid it?

"I've considered it," he admitted. "Stacy, Stella, whatever name you want to use, she's just starting out on her path with Celia. But she's made a few comments that make me think she wouldn't be opposed. You were a surprisingly cute kid. I do kind of miss that."

"First of all," I said in faux outrage. "HEY! And second of all, you would be good at it. I can arrange for you to have a place to settle down here. Somewhere lavish and well protected. Assuming I don't lose this trial, get exiled, and then get brutally assassinated the second I step out of the Wishworld."

He snorted. "Are there no lengths you won't go to in your quest to evade responsibility?"

I just laughed at that. Trust Zeke to reassure me I'd be fine by openly mocking me. "The offer is open," I reiterated. "Now. If you'll excuse me, I need to go effortlessly bypass one of the most complex security systems I've ever seen with the poise and grace of a professional thief."

I stood up, stepped forward, and, with a slight shift of my perspective, triggered Astaroth.

There was a kind of…dissonance. The world doubled, like I'd gotten incredibly drunk of had my head injured. One of the sides stabilized into a normal point of view out of my eyes, albeit a little lower to the ground, and the other was my normal self.

I stood behind a figure, towering over them. The figure was shorter than me, with curly red hair and a mustache, wearing a wine red pea coat and orange scarf. He had on a pair of half moon glasses with smoky black lenses and his eyebrow was raised insouciantly, like he was defying your expectations just by standing in front of you, and was proud of it.

Raising my hand, I examined it, and the figure did the same. Zeke, who was standing where I'd left him, GAPED at me.

"Shane, what the actual FUCK?" he sputtered. He squinted, and I felt a sense of exposure. Zeke was one of those people with the unique senses to penetrate this kind of deception, especially as he'd just seen me use it. It still took him a minute to manage. "Gods, kid, that's…holy shit. I can barely see through that. What did you DO?":

I explained it to him, and he shook his head in awe. "That's kind of brilliant. Seeing through a disguise is easy, but that avatar ISN'T disguised. It's a construct, and it's made with excruciating detail. It's not foolproof, but it's nothing to sneeze at, even to someone at my level."

Which was a huge compliment. Zeke was an A-ranker. Two full ranks above me. I didn't know if it would hold in front of an S-rank Ascendant, but even if it didn't being able to do this much was incredible. The things I'd managed to learn from the tome, and the various unique power interactions I had access to, they were all coming together to form something unique and powerful.

Shooting him a grin, I saluted grandly and then turned to head over to the huge warehouse complex LeClaire used as his business headquarters. Sure enough, as I approached the gate, the guard snapped to attention. "Boss?" His voice sounded confused. "You forget something?"

"Yes, I left behind some of the shipping documents for the Renaud exchange," I said with a relaxed smile. While many high ranking Ascendants were assholes to their subordinates, the interactions between LeClair and his people were pretty harmonious. He was more carrot than stick when it came to those already in his employ.

The guard, Theo, chuckled. "Ouch, yeah, you don't want to mess that up. That miss Lacey was a scary one."

We shared a chuckle, and I strolled past him, heading inside. He didn't notice a single issue. Astaroth wasn't a simple disguise, it was a CREATED being deduced from the traces read by Dantalion. My information gathering form could unearth and deconstruct myriad phenomena, not just baked on observation, but on various psychic resonances and special senses designed to detect metaphysical information buried in the very aura of a place or thing.

Dantalion's model didn't just make a face, it made a whole body. Vocal chords, muscle memory, balance, gait. After reverse engineering years of interactions engraved in the very stones of this place, the construct I was currently controlling was so thoroughly like LeClair, I doubted LECLAIR could tell the difference, much less his guard.

I strode through his complex, ignoring all the workers except those few he would normally greet, and even those I mostly just dismissed with a nod. Finally, I stepped into his office, situated in the back of the lot.

Closing the door, I turned to the safe. Dantalion had, of course, deduced the code during my stakeout. But the code was only half the battle. I had to hope that the aura I'd copied was good enough to fool this thing. Which was no mean feat. This was an Archimedes Ten Didexotronal Temporal Script safe. It was top of the line. A B-class security device that should be completely impossible to fake or bypass.

I punched in the code without hesitation, following the muscle memory of the hands that had done this a hundred times before. The screen was a series of complex pictograms and each touch sent frissons of exploratory chill through me as it scanned my body, looking for any signs of deception. And found none. A solidified illusion projected through the Void and deduced from perfect information gathering. Flawless.

With a beep, the door opened, and I pulled it clear, sifting through contracts until I found Marco's. I didn't destroy it yet, not wanting to tip my hand. LeClair would notice when it went up. I pushed the safe door closed and headed out in the direction I'd mapped as Marco's lab. Time to go pick up my Master of Development.

 

[drake_azathoth]

My Void self remained out of synch with reality as the illusion simulated the aura and physique of the person I'd copied, which, after solidification from Mornax, because a perfect duplicate that even higher ranked watchers couldn't identify without certain special skills.

Click to shrink...

which, after solidification from Mornax, BECAME a perfect duplicate

Thanks for the chapter! Shane and Zeke's relationship remains one of the most inspiring parental relationships I've read lately. Half the love I have for this series is how realistic yet wholesome the relationships in it are. It's like bizarroworld xianxia. And Astaroth is scary stuff.