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

[Malcolm Tent]

"So, dungeons," I said as we all settled into the Acheron. 'Are they all like the Moonsong Glade?" We'd just gotten off the damned ship, so it was annoying to have to get back on, giving up the firm security of real ground. I was never quite as comfortable in space as I was on a planet. My grandfather pointed out that ships were basically planets, and that he'd been on ships that were LITERAL planets, but it didn't feel the same.


My grandfather shook his head. "Not all of them. I assume you mean are they inaccessible to higher rank individuals? That was a fairly unusual phenomena, but not unique. Locked dungeons aren't the norm, but I'm guessing the one we're heading to is one of them."


"It is," my grandmother said in frustration. "I just pulled it up on the database. It's a minor D-rank dungeon, so I'd never heard of it, but it's spatially locked. Your friends are right, this is a trap."


I frowned in worry. "That seems…insufficient. A hundred D-rankers seems like a lot, but Raxus knows I'm strong enough to beat a C-ranker. He has to assume I can handle that. Sure, maybe he sent some other D-rankers that could punch up, but no way the god of Deception doesn't know I have friends with me."


"The ring you used is a rare and difficult to source enchanted item," my grandmother pointed out. "It's not UNIQUE per se, but it isn't something anyone your level should have access to. Spatially binding two objects across unlimited distance requires S-rank spatial manipulation abilities, if not outright divinity. My mother made those rings herself."


"Which means that since he probably has some method of divining that I haven't seen her yet, he might assume I still have the artifacts," I said grimly. "That's why she never got in touch with me directly. Do you really think this is a trap she set?"


She sighed. "It might be, but we should proceed on the assumption that it isn't. If she arranged this, she's planning to intercept Raxus personally. The gods have their own arrangements for countering each other. Chances are good that we won't see her even if this is her doing, and if we do it probably won't be for long."


"I don't enjoy being bait," I told her bluntly. "Your mother may be a god, but I'm not super fond of the way she does things."


My grandmother gave me a sad smile. "It's hard for gods to see us as people, Shane. Becoming a force of nature changes your fundamental perception of the world. I only barely understand it myself. They retain some semblance of who they were, but it's not…gods and mortals are the same kind of being, but they're made of different things. You've had a small taste of it at D-rank, but imagine crossing that watershed, only a hundred times more intense."


"Why do you make excuses for her?" I demanded. "I get that there's nothing we can do about her behavior, but can't I even complain? Is she going to snuff me out for daring to criticize? Because honestly, if she is I might prefer it to having to keep my mouth shut!"


My voice had risen, and everyone was staring now, my wife looking a little alarmed at the outburst. I knew that not questioning divinity was part of the recursion of the gods, but Black Sorrow just kept pushing and pushing. I would have to be an unfeeling machine not to get at least a little pissed after everything she's done.


"I love her," she said with a shrug. "She's my mother. No matter what she does, that won't change. She's still the woman who carried me across star systems to demand my father's disciple heal me when I got slightly sick as a little girl, who created a new species so I could have a pet after I saw a fictional animal I thought was cute in a book. She's complicated and arbitrary careless, but she loves me more than anything."


"Well, she doesn't love me," I said bitterly.


She shook her head. "No, she doesn't. But she respects you. The mission she chose for you, the tools she gave you. They represent an investment. My mother doesn't waste her investments. Sure, she needed someone who could handle the Enshrining Darkness, but it isn't like she doesn't have a dozen younger members of the clergy who are trained with it."


"So I'm supposed to be grateful she chose to fuck up my life instead of theirs?" I demanded hotly.


"No, of course not," she denied. "I'm just saying that if she does come to care for you, which I believe she might be, it'll be a great benefit to you. She's far from impartial. She directly favors those she cares about. My goal in acting as an intermediary has always been to try to add you to that list. Fighting my mother is an exercise in futility, even my father knows that."


My mom snorted. "I personally think she's wasting her time. But I do agree it would be better to have BS on your side than not."


"So you expect me to bow and scrape to her on the off chance that she might be willing to be nice to me?" I snorted. "Because I'll pass. I'm not stupid enough to be rude to her face but I don't want her good opinion."


Celia laughed. "Amusingly, that's exactly the kind of talk that would get it. I understand your position. Just…don't judge her only by the bad. Those rings are unique and precious treasures. She made them for you personally, albeit at my request. To her, that's already showing a lot of care."


"We're getting off track," Callie interrupted. I expected my grandmother to be annoyed, but she just ceded the conversation to my wife. "We need to know everything we can about the Screeching Shoals. If this really is a trap, it's not one we can worry about. At least not at the divine level. We need to worry about what's IN that dungeon, because Shane is right. Either there are way more D-rankers in there than expected, or they sent something truly nasty. Possibly both."


I grimaced. We had no real context for exactly what the forces of the vanished gods could do. I'd seen some scary people among them at the conclave, and during the trial, but those trial members weren't even REAL initiates. The strongest of the vanished god's forces would be those legacy Ascendants from inside their worlds, who had been cut off from the universe and training in isolation since their gods originally fell.


Thinking about the surge of powerful S-rankers that Lark had fought off, I couldn't imagine what the internal D-rankers from the various god worlds might be like. I glanced at Bethy, Abel, Callie, and all my other friends…and part of me was actually kind of excited. We had to be some of the strongest D-rankers for our level. Sure, we weren't peak D-rank yet, and there were probably some five faction bigwigs who were stronger in D-rank by virtue of higher stats, but I'd give us good odds against anyone close to our level.


"Before we can even worry about that," cut in Abel. "We need to get inside. If this is an ambush they might be waiting with high rankers at the entrance. While I'm sure you could all fight them off in a blaze of glory, sitting around in one place while we explore the depths of the dungeon, consistently repelling ever increasing waves of bad guys seems…suboptimal."


Celia nodded. "You aren't wrong. I can slip us past. The Acheron is my personal vessel, and while my husband is perfectly capable of pushing the speed up, its true value is only visible when it's in my hands. They won't see our approach if I don't want them to. More than that, even after you've gone in, if they have some method of contacting the D-rankers in there, they still won't be able to locate us. I could park this ship on the Vampire's nose and he wouldn't notice it."


"Obviously, if a god shows up, especially Raxus, they'd see it instantly," my grandfather warned. "But under these circumstances we should be able to hang around unseen and wait for you to emerge. Once you've come out we'll make our escape."


"That's all well and good," said my mother grimly. "But looking at this particular dungeon, I don't think it'll be that easy. It's not unstable, it's enfolded."


My grandfather bristled, looking at the database, and then cursed. "Fuck, I missed that. Ok, that's bad." Seeing our confusion, he explained. "Spatial locking comes in multiple forms. There are always unique ways to manipulate any force, given how diverse Paths and abilities get. You've seen unstable space before, essentially it's too fragile to withstand higher Impact, directly collapsing if powerful people enter."


"Enfolded space is different," my mother cut in. "It's a similar mechanism, but it's wrapped AROUND the dungeon instead of overlapping with it. While that may seem like a meaningless distinction, it isn't at all. Because while people of a higher rank can't ENTER, they can still EXIST."


My eyes widened. "You're saying my friends are stuck in there with native high rankers?"


She waggled her hand. "Some, maybe. Locked dungeons distort renown, it makes it harder to rank up. There are probably a few C-rankers, but there won't be anything higher. You should be able to handle C-rankers together. If you're careful. But it'll complicate things. There's a difference between a running battle with a hundred random D-rankers and a running battle inside an occupied dungeon with higher ranked natives."


"Ok, I don't want to be the one to say it, but is this really worth it?" asked Abel bluntly. "You just met these people. Like it's not nice to say, but is risking our lives for some people you hung out with a few times worthwhile."


Bella, who had been mostly quiet until now, bristled. She'd been pretty intimidated by all the new faces and had been trying to disappear into the background and avoid notice, but Abel's words, she stiffened and glared at my mentor. "Hey, shut up rabbit-guy!" We all turned to look at her, but she was too busy glaring to notice. "Elena is a mom. She has two kids. Emma and Simon. Simon is eleven and he was really sick until master helped him. We can't just let his mom die!"


"Elena is with them," I confirmed. "They talked her into going along for the resources. Dungeons usually have some decent treasure and Simon's medical care has mostly wiped out their savings. She could have used that wish I gave her for money, but she decided to keep it in case Simon had a medical emergency." I held up a rolled up piece of paper. "This dropped into my pocket as we were entering. It's all the information they could give about their location and who is with them."


I'd only had a chance to scan it before we started this little meeting, but it hadn't been relevant to entry so I hadn't bothered bringing it up.


Abel blew out a breath. "Great. Kids. None of you bleeding hearts are going to let this go. Fine, whatever, as long as I get to punch things I'm happy. I want to really show off my new form."


Despite his carefree words, his tone was somber. Abel didn't give a shit about most things, but he liked kids. He had offered to train Cass to help with her trauma after being kidnapped by the Heartrippers, even if he played it off like a whim. My mentor might be a violent menace, but he was good people.


"Alright, well, now that we've got that out of the way, lets dig into this dungeon a bit more." I cracked my neck, hunkering down for some serious research. We needed to be ready for whatever was coming, because somehow, I doubted the god of deception had set a trap for me without a few nasty surprises.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

It took less than a day to get to the entrance to the Screeching Shoals. Like my grandmother had said, the Acheron was a whole different beast when she was the one commanding it. I hadn't noticed a real difference before, but it was clear she'd just been letting us take the scenir route.


Not just in terms of stealth, but speed as well, the ship had completely changed, swimming through space like an invisible fish cutting through still water.


During the trip, I took the opportunity to pass out my scrolls to the crew members, seventy two in total, after figuring out which of them were willing to trade stats. After such a big boost to my stats my wish powers had grown in scope, and I was able to get a whopping fifty points per scroll, though based on the difficulty, I was pretty sure I'd hit my limit again until at least late D-rank.


Thirty six hundred points was nothing to scoff at, but even more impressive was the other sixteen thousand that had come in ambient renown.


When Black Sorrow had started spreading word of our connection, I'd known I'd be seeing a big upswing in points, but it hadn't been more than a month since my big windfall, and to be getting nearly twenty thousand points was going to be an adjustment. Even more of an adjustment was how little those twenty thousand moved the needle in terms of overall rank.


My rapidly snowballing fame wasn't going to be able to keep up once I hit C-rank, or hell, B-rank. I understood now why the Unlucky Thirteen had been created. Funneling renown to the most promising members of the younger generation through those titles was the only way to maintain the fast rank up pace that so many of us grew used to at lower ranks. It put even more pressure on me to deal with this damned succession war seriously.


Still, for the moment I'd need to survive the dungeon, and on that note, I took stock of the changes to my stats. The thirty six hundred went into Might, moving me up to just over ninety six thousand total, five thousand each into Focus and Perception, putting them near and past fifty thousand, respectively, and six thousand into Fantasy putting it almost fifty four thousand.


Might was looking a little stacked, almost twice as high as my other stats, but BS's stories were apparently playing up my cleverness and intuition rather than raw force, and I assumed the Fantasy aspects were because of the involvement of other gods. I found it all pretty unbelievable myself, so I couldn't blame the masses for that one. I was conflicted though, knowing that my great grandmother's influence was helping me keep up, and that I didn't like owing her anything.


Callie took my hand, squeezing it gently to get my attention. As I looked up, she smiled warmly at me. "Don't sweat the big stuff," she told me in a warm but firm tone.


"Pretty sure that's the opposite of the advice most people get," I pointed out wryly.


She shrugged. "You're not most people, Shane. You're involved in a whole lot of shit way above your paygrade. The affairs of gods are beyond our comprehension, isn't that what you told me? So follow your own advice. Focus on the trees, not the forest."


"It would be easier if the forest wasn't on fire," I complained. "But I get your point. Honestly this dungeon might be good for me. Getting back to basics, fighting people our own level with the team." I squeezed her hand. "With you."


She leaned against me happily. "I missed you too, you big reckless idiot. I was learning so much and getting stronger so quickly, but all I could think about was the danger and the pain I could feel from you. I spent the last month or two scared out of my mind you were going to die. I don't want to be a widow before I turn twenty one."


"Then why do you dress like one?" I smirked at her. She let out a faux offended gasp and I triggered Double Trouble on Benny who was nearby, laughing at her squeak of outrage as she fell through my illusion. She didn't actually fall over, catching herself easily, but she blurred to her feet, flashing toward me almost too fast to track.


Benny, who hadn't noticed me appearing behind him, squawked and stumbled back at her sudden rush, and I dropped down into a crouch as he did, letting him flip over my back like I was a table.


Callie screeched a halt as Benny hit the ground, he faux fury derailed by the admittedly unprovoked and unintentional assault on my best friend. She covered her mouth, looking halfway between horrified and amused, but the giggles from behind her hand gave away the game as her body shook with suppressed laughter.


"What the fuck?" Benny spat, throwing his hands in the air. "I expect that from him, but what did I ever do to you, Callie?"


Her face turned red as her laughter redoubled, giggles making it hard for her to breathe. "Gods, I'm so sorry. I was chasing him and he teleported behind you." She turned to me with a weak glare. "Did you have to make me an accomplice?"


"Partners in crime, baby," I said with a wink. "It's me and you against the world." I held out a hand, pulling Benny to his feet, laughing as he glowered up at me. I patted his shoulder. "Thank you for your sacrifice."


At his confused expression, I gestured around us to where everyone was watching with expressions of amusement or exasperation. I saw when it dawned on him what I'd done, and he rolled his eyes. The atmosphere had been a little tense, and I'd seen a chance to lighten the mood. I made a mental note to slip Benny a day's worth of scrolls when I could, to make up for involving him in a stupid childish prank. Then I ratcheted that down to five scrolls, because it wasn't like he hadn't pranked me in the past.


"That was so cool!" Bethy squealed excitedly. "You teleported behind him and you were like "ouaggh" and then you were a table and he fell over. I didn't even think of using abilities to prank people! We should all start doing that!"


"No!" Everyone in the ship immediately shut her down, our hearts filling with terror at the idea of what BETHY would consider a practical joke."


Callie smacked me in the back of the head, scowling. "You see what you do? If I wake up with battery acid in my coffee or something I'm blaming you. Honestly, do you want to get us all killed?"


I winced. Bethy had very little understand of proportional response. I wasn't sure how much of that was her messing with everyone, but I WAS sure it wasn't all of it. I cleared my throat. "No pranks in the dungeon," I told the vampire sternly. "We can talk about anything else later, but we're going to be entering soon and we need to be on our guard."


She pouted, but eventually nodded with a sigh. "You got it bestie, super serious." She stuck out a pinkie. "Pinkie swear? Cass taught me this. She said it means you can't break your promise no matter what."


I laughed, but extended my pinkie, locking it with hers. Cass did take her pinkie promises seriously."


"As adorable as that is," drawled my grandmother as she appeared beside us. "I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this heartwarming moment short. We've arrived, and we have a problem. Come with me."


The laughter on the faces of my companions faded, replaced by worry, and we headed over to the other side of the bridge, where the screen that showed the exterior of the ship was positioned. Actually, the screen could change size and location, but prior to this there had been nothing but space outside, so none of us had been paying attention.


"Radiant slide frequency filter," my grandmother said calmly. One of the crew, sitting at a terminal, hit a few buttons and…something happened. There was a ripple across the screen, and where before nothing had been out among the empty stars, now there were quite a few things. Gaps in space that looked like nothing so much as warped vision from a very curved piece of glass floated in the void of space.


My grandmother pointed. "First of all, as I'm sure you can see, there are quite a few ships waiting for us. We can avoid those, the Acheron is undetectable with me running it provided no gods show up." She moved her fingers and pulled on the edges of the screen, zooming in. "Our main issue is this, however.


"As you can see, the folded space of the dungeon is visible in this spectrum, I won't bore you with the details of this filter, but this is concerning." She zoomed in on a large spherical warp, focusing closer until we could see what looked like flows and patterns in the twisting space. "This is spatial power, as I'm sure you could guess. Folded space dungeons have very stable spatial power. The exact stability is called the Vechner Coefficient, actually, but that's not important right now, what IS important is the speed and complexity of those ripples."


My grandfather cut in. "What she's trying to say is that someone has connected to the inside of that dungeon from the void. It doesn't change the facts of entry, even from that side, no one above D-rank can get in, but we have no way of knowing how MANY they sent. And they can keep sending them."


That was…suboptimal. There was a big difference between them sending a hundred people into the dungeon and having a back door through the void. Theoretically they could flood the entire dungeon with D-rankers. Who knew how many existed in worlds those gods were hiding in the void.


Obviously guessing my thoughts, my grandfather smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry too much. There's a war going on. D-rankers are the main combat force Ascendants use in large scale battles. They might have kept some of their strongest in reserve, but there's no way they're going to mob you too badly. Especially since there's C-rankers in that dungeon. The more they send the more they risk getting into a dustup with the locals, and that doesn't benefit anyone."


"Maybe," I conceded. "But there's still probably going to be more of them than we anticipated. Besides our own problems, I'm worried about my friends."


My grandmother nodded. "Understandable. But the question needs to be asked. Are you still willing to go in? We have know way of knowing exactly how many will be inside or what the situation is. I know you're determined to help, but this might be a very bad idea."


"I don't believe they can stop us," I said bluntly. "With Dantalion, Murmur, and all my various combat abilities I can run, hide, and fight better than almost any D-ranker I can name. With Bethy, Callie, and Abel there, our combat power should be some of the best in the universe for our rank."


If this was a pitched battle I might have been concerned, but we were dropping into a large scale dungeon. Murmur and Dantalion meant I could both hide and seek perfectly. They'd never catch us unless I wanted them to.


Sighing, she smiled sadly and pulled me into a surprising hug. "You remind me so much of your grandfather," she said as she squeezed me tight. "Hopefully you're better than he is at staying out of trouble though. Be safe, Shane. If things go wrong, have Calliope use her bangle to report to us. We can figure out some way to get you out." I nodded to her confidently and she sighed, turning to the screen.


With a flick of her wrist, I watched her tear a swath of darkness in the air, through the screen and into space itself. It was a dizzying effect, and trying to understand how she did it gave me a migraine, but she just gestured to the hole. "Alright, this will take you inside. But that's all I can do. Good luck, and take care of each other." And with that, we stepped into the dark, plummeting through space toward the Screeching Shoals.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Landing inside the Screeching Shoals was surprisingly anticlimactic. I was half expecting to be attacked right off the bat, but glancing around, it was clear that we weren't in any immediate danger. At least not from people. Environmentally though, there was still some hazards around, something that was pretty clear from the moment we landed.


We were standing on a rocky outcropping, something you might generously call an island, if you had read that word in a dictionary and had never actually seen one. The sea around us was dark and choppy, completely opaque and covered with a thin film of mist. Away from our outcropping, several long wooden walkways extended into the obscuring fog lit at the edges with small lumps of blue green flame floating in the air just above the edges.


"This place is super creepy," noted Bethy bluntly. "I don't love it. Not creepy like daddy likes things, but like…that weird kind of creepy where everything is secretly run by tentacle monsters."


I nodded. "Yeah, weirds me out too. A bit of advice that Desria gave me, stay away from the water. There are creatures in there, and I'm pretty sure they're mostly C-rank. Stick to the walkways, apparently they're protected."


"Good to know," said Callie grimly. "You have a general heading for where they are?"


I waggled a hand. "Sort of. I know the name of the town they were last passing through, but I don't have a map of this place. We're going to need to visit a city to check in. Based on what they told me, the whole setup of the shoals is kind of like a snowflake, radiating clusters of empty rock islands coming off small villages which themselves come off cities, which radiate away from a central continent type island."


"So…the whole place is on this creepy black ocean?" Abel said dryly. "Gosh, because that doesn't seem like a bad omen."


Mel rolled her eyes. "Honey, shut up. No one is under the impression that this is an ideal situation. Your sarcasm isn't helpful. At least wait until we get to somewhere less…terrifying." She shivered. "I'm cold. But not like, physically cold. There's this weird sort of spiritual chill that my flames can't seem to shake."


Chelsea stepped up next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. White purifying fire washed over our red masked friend, and she let out a groan of appreciation. Seeing my sister do her thing, I triggered Zagan, imbuing everyone within reach while she did the same. Making a quick and dirty technique to keep the fire clinging to them was easy enough, especially given Zagan's flame and its life force enhancing properties.


Abel, Mel, Chelsea, Bethy, Gabe, Serah, Holly, Callie, Bella, Dom, Sable, and Daysia. Thirteen people all told, for this trip. I'd really wanted to bring Benny and Jessie, but they were both still E-rank. Jessie was preparing for her D-rank breakthrough with a little help from Alyssa, and Benny was taking the fruit. He'd also caught the attention of Sebastian, who had become interested in Benny's ability and Path and their similarities to his own, so I was expecting a big bump in his combat power when we got back.


"Alright, everyone stick close," I closed my eyes, Dantalion flickering out…and I immediately slammed my Perception closed and dropped the form, staggering. Callie caught me, looking confused, and I tried not to collapse as my knees got weak. "Holy SHIT," I choked. "Ok, DEFINITELY stay away from the water."


The underside of the dark waves was…awful. The ocean was packed with horrifying twisted creatures, all of them starving and dying to feast on the flesh of humans. Some of them had fucking NOTICED me seeing them.


Trying to shake off the sensation of being stared at by a million hungry eyes, I picked a direction. "That way," I shuddered. "We need to go that way. It's had the most traffic, so it should take us to a village at least. Just…be careful. Stay away from the edges. And stick together, I don't like this place."


My boots crunched on the loose gravel as I led the way to the left hand walkway, the sound of my steps echoing strangely in a way they shouldn't out in the open. Everyone grimly lined up, following me carefully, and we made our way down the walkway slowly, taking extra care to watch for danger. The protections on the walkways held, but we saw tentacles and eye stalks rise from the dark water to follow us, tracking our movements as if waiting for us to slip.


In a literal sense, the trip across the first few bridges was probably only an hour or so, but it felt like eternity. When we finally caught sight of the larger island where the village was situated, we all sped up as much as we could without being reckless.


Arriving on the island, there was an immediate sense of relief to be back on solid ground where it was safe. Or at least safer. The first village we came to wasn't any less creepy than the rest of the dungeon, but it was more unsettling than terrifying, which was a win in my opinion. The village was, as the word might imply, small. A collection of run down dark wood buildings, mostly decomposing and clearly in heavy need of repair from constant exposure to the sea mist.


As soon as we stepped onto the island, we were noticed. Windows slammed shut, the only gap being the space needed to peek out.


Only one man emerged, coming out to meet us. He was old and gaunt, clearly not healthy and only E-rank. "What is your business here, strangers?" He asked in a reedy, shaking voice. "We have no food to share, nor gold to steal. You'll find robbing us a useless endeavor."


I stepped up, holding my hands palm out to show I meant no harm. "Whoa there, no one is here to rob anybody. I'm looking for some friends and got turned around. I just need some directions and we'll be on our way." I cocked my head. "You get a lot of robbers around here? You don't seem surprised to see us."


He chuckled bitterly. "Robbers, Mistwardens, Pale Men, there are always unwelcome things in the mists. The Mistwardens are ostensibly supposed to protect us, but Malzareth only cares about his tributes. The robbers and the Pale Men stalk the shoals, taking gold and living flesh as their due."


Lot of information there. But not enough. "Who is Malzareth?" I asked cautiously.


This time his laugh was a full throated bark, though just as bitter. "Malzareth the Unceasing is the lord of Highhaven, the city to whom this village owes fealty. One of the undying generals under Skartaris the Weeper. You must be lost indeed not to know his name." He sighed, shoulders slumping. "Very well. You may come inside. I suppose I couldn't stop you in any case. You're all clearly at least at the Mistwarden level."


I got the feeling he was talking about our ranks. If these Mistwardens were consistently D-rank, that would probably make them the main fighting force of this dungeon's society. Malzareth would most likely be high D-rank or possibly C.


Shooting my companions a look, I gave a subtle nod, and all of us marched into the village behind the man. It wasn't a long walk, but he made it VERY slowly, so we had time to talk a bit.


The man's name was Wesley, and he was the mayor of this town, Rothook. They were apparently a fishing village, using some kind of net system to catch VERY small and innocuous creatures from the ocean. They caught enough to eat most of the time, if barely, but Malzareth charged them a monthly tribute. The fish from the black ocean was actually highly prized, especially their scales, which could be used to make fine but very durable armor.


He also filled us in a bit on the Pale Men, essentially robbers who had fallen into the ocean and survived. Something they saw down there had driven them insane, and when they emerged, they had new and unsettling powers and a hunger for human flesh.


I shuddered at the explanation, thinking of some of the things I'd sensed down there. I could see how some of those beings might be able to make a deal with a person.


The Mistwardens were Malzareth's guard, and they patrolled the shoals in the area adjacent to his city. They were supposed to hunt robbers and Pale Men, but they mostly just bullied the fishermen into offering them extra tribute. Fish from the black ocean didn't rot, apparently (which I found even more unsettling than the idea of eating them to begin with), so the smallest kind, called groush, were used as a form of currency.


Finally, we reached the house in the center of town. I'd have called it "nicer" but that would have implied it wasn't basically a shack made of rotten boards, so I noted that it was at the very least bigger than the other houses. I didn't say that out loud, obviously, I wasn't a monster. I just complimented Wesley on his home.


He seemed proud of it, and welcomed us inside. Apparently none of the other homes in the village would have been big enough to fit us all. Not just the ten of us and Wesley himself, but his wife Vanna and son Michael as well.


Vanna was a thin, nervous looking woman with intricately braided hair and dark skin. Despite her obvious uneasiness, she was a warm and welcoming hostess, offering us all a fish stew she'd been simmering for, apparently months. That was another thing that threw me off. Apparently since the fish didn't go bad, most families had a pot of stew boiling for their entire lives, adding new ingredients to it over the years and allowing it to cook down.


As D-rankers, we were pretty much unpoisonable by something an E-ranker could eat safely, so we accepted hesitantly, though I insisted on giving them some supplies from my ring in return, stuff like bread and veggies to eat with their stew.


To my absolute shock, the stew was delicious. It had this sort of uber permeated flavor that blended dozens of tastes in a way I'd never tried before, and I saw Callie looking regretfully at the pot, obviously wanting more but not being willing to ask. I mentally comforted her, telling her through the bond that I'd learn to make the stew myself.


Michael was about thirteen and fascinated by us, especially Abel, for some reason. The kid couldn't get enough of my mentor's stories. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend an evening, and the warmth of the stew helped chase away the chill of what I'd seen under the water.


Wesley passed us a map of the local area, though it only covered the shoals around Highhaven rather than the entire dungeon. Still it was a godsend, and I copied it gratefully before returning it along with some gold. Apparently they still used it here, and I had a pretty decent amount stockpiled from years of travel where mortal money was literally worthless.


Finishing up dinner, we bid them goodbye, deciding to head inward to Highhaven and try to get a hotel there instead of resting in the village. We were just getting ready to leave when we heard it. A twisted, horrifying scream. Wesley's head jerked up, eyes going wide with terror. "No," he whispered fearfully. "They're here." Turning, he bellowed back to the village. "PALE MEN! The Pale Men are coming! Retreat to your homes and light your candles!"


He turned back to us desperately. "Friends, please, come back inside. You can take shelter under the light of our candle. We need to go, quickly. They'll be here soon." He shot a terrified glance out into the fog, and through the mist I could see shapes moving, human shapes, walking along the surface of the choppy black water. From the direction of the shapes, another horrible scream echoed. Huh, so THAT was why they called it the Screeching Shoals.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The forms that emerged from the sea mist were only nominally "men". They had all the parts that made up a human: skin, eyes, even hair to an extent, but those parts were…lacking. The skin was too tight and wrapped around what looked like desiccated flesh, their eyes were shriveled and cloudy, and their hair was wispy and brittle looking, more like straw than healthy human hair.


In short, they looked super creepy. But what they looked like was nothing compared to the SOUND. The screams that came from their gaping, nearly toothless mouths wasn't just LOUD, it affected us on a psychological level. I was able to brush it off, as were Abel and Bethy, but those of us with less training dealing with psychological pressure looked spooked. We sent the rest of them inside with Wesley and his family, while the three of us waited out here.


Abel grimaced at the hideous Pale Men (weirdly they DID all seem to be men, which made wonder if the Pale Women just didn't exist or traveled in a different group), shaking his head in disgust. "I'm not even sure I want to touch those things long enough to beat them to death."


Bethy nodded. "Super gross," she agreed. "They look like overcooked chicken wings. You know, like when they cook all the moisture out and its just like shriveled meat and fried skin on a bone? They probably taste way worse though."


"No eating the sea zombies," I told her sternly. "You don't know where they've been."


Hesitating slightly, I triggered Dantalion. We were pretty firmly inland, so I didn't have to go through mind break as I stared into the endless abyss that was the ocean. I kept the radius of my detection penned in to a hundred feet or so. Dantalion would enable me to investigate the enemy and determine what exactly they were. Whether that would HELP us at all was probably anyone's guess, but more information never hurt anyone. Except me. Very recently.


To prepare, I triggered Sammael and Mornax too. Three forms was easy when one of them was Sammael, and now that I'd perfected my techniques enough to use them outside their forms, I didn't strictly need to be in Mephistopheles or Belial unless I wanted to up my damage output.


Next to me, I saw Abel vanish, replaced nearly instantly by a simulacrum of himself made of shimmering blood. I blinked at the transformation. This must be his 'Ragam Blood Body', the one he'd mentioned to Sebastian. He caught me watching and grinned toothily. "Pretty cool, right? You haven't even seen the most impressive part."


"I'd imagine it's the fact that you somehow folded and entire full body manifestation with your spatial powers and condensed it down into the appearance of a normal person." I said somewhat smugly. His expression fell and I laughed. "Dantalion is active, manifesting a form this close to me is just asking me to figure it out."


Still, the Ragam Blood Body WAS impressive. Despite appearing about five foot ten, Abel's blood body was actually hundreds of feet tall. He'd manifested his Path through Ragam and then used his ability to warp space to condense it, but it wasn't ACTUALLY any smaller. Because of that, any attacks on Abel had to go through what looked like a layer of blood energy but was essentially feet after feet of Path affected manifestation, essentially bleeding energy from every blow.


Abel's Path was The Infinite Blood Sea, a fusion of his Ragam, Path of Blood, and spatial abilities. I knew he'd been working on merging the last into a cohesive combat style, and his new form had definitely achieved that goal.


Even Bethy looked a bit impressed. "Wow, that's pretty cool," she said enthusiastically. "Can I lick it?"


He glared at her. "NO! I'm not stupid. I saw your dad eat plasma at that conclave. You think I'm going to let you LICK my infinite blood sea? We're about to fight zombies, I'm not weakening myself because you want to know what space tastes like."


"I bet it tastes like cotton candy," she said, clearly ignoring almost all of what he just said. "Or nachos. Space seems like nachos, right?" She didn't have a chance to explain that comment because her head jerked up excitedly like a hunting dog catching a scent. "Oh! First!" She vanished into a cloud of bats, and we both realized the Pale Men had made landfall.


"Shit," I cursed. "BETHY, leave some for us!" I flashed forward in a burst of black flame, the Ten Demons Tree coming to my hand as I appeared among the incoming wave of sea zombies. I crowed with joy as my staff whirled, the ends smashing into the bodies of my attackers, extinction events consuming body parts as I laid waste to the terrifying creatures. I saw Bethy reform amongst them , claws out and shredding muscles and ligaments as she whirled among the mostly dead, dancing to a rhythm only she could hear.


Abel was as brutal and efficient as ever, his fists shattering the air as he punched out in short, sharp jabs, crushing monsters with every blow. Each punch shattered a whole enemy into dust, clearly playing with the compressed space of his condensed form to unleash horrible strength across a larger area.


Between the three of us, it took us only moments to destroy them all, and we were left kind of…underwhelmed.


Bethy pouted. "That was lame. I was all excited, but they were super weak. Why don'-" her voice was cut off as a torrent of mist exploded up from the shredded bodies at her feet, funneling into her mouth and down her throat, sending her stumbling back, choking.


I cursed, flashing forward and triggering Zagan, bringing my hand up to flood her with purifying energy, but stopped as she held up a hand.


As we watched, Bethy, twitched a few times, growling, and her eyes flared red. She shook her head, blurring the space with how fast she moved, and the mist that had invaded her seemed to have trouble catching up, some of it left behind in the air. When there was a decent cloud of mist she whirled and hissed, striking like a cobra, teeth sinking into the mist as she savaged it, tearing into the incorporeal being with a snarling ferocity I'd rarely seen from her.


We heard a scream, and a body manifested from the mist, one of the stronger Pale Men, hiding amongst his brethren, hoping to possess someone. Dantalion identified him easily at this range. The transparent humanoid screeched an even more disturbing cry than usual, its ragged fingernails clawing the air as it tried to drag itself away from the vampire.


Bethy inhaled heavily, and as we watched, she sucked the entire spirit back into her body, gnashing her teeth as she did until it vanished down her throat, and then she swallowed loudly.


We just stared at her, panting heavily, eyes blazing red. I half expected to need to help her calm down, but she closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then suppressed the bloodlust. "Well," Abel said brightly. "That was fucking terrifying."


"Yup," I agreed. "And not just to us. There's another bodyjacker over there mixed into the crowd I killed. He didn't have time to get me and now he's too scared to try. Bethy, if you'd be so kind?"


Even as I spoke, the incorporeal monster screeched and exploded off the ground, trying in vain to streak away back into the misty sea. He didn't manage to get very far before Bethy appeared behind him, sinking her claws deep into his misty body and dragging him mercilessly back toward us.


"I got him," she said sulkily. "I can't believe I didn't notice that first one."


She tossed the monster spirit on the ground, pinning him with a sharp heel, then bared her teeth at him menacingly. "Hey, snack. You better answer my bestie's question or I'm going to gargle you with sparkle crackers." I hadn't had the fizzy candy she mentioned, but she's talked about them before, a favorite of hers as a child. Apparently, despite the lack of context, the threat was still effective because the struggling ghost creature froze, going completely still under her foot.


Nodding smugly, she glanced at me, as if passing the torch. I was already learning plenty from Dantalion, but nothing useful. I honestly didn't have many questions for this thing. It was a monster. It wanted to eat people. Not much mystery to its motivations. But I thought of a few things.


Since it used to be human, I decided to directly ask it about the area my friends were supposed to be. "Do you know how to get to Ashcrag?" I demanded in my coldest voice.


It stared at me, shriveled ghostly eyes fixed on my mask. "He asked you a question," snapped Bethy, grinding her heel. The monster screeched again, and I winced as I felt the impact against my soul. That was such an unpleasant ability. Finally, after seeing its screams weren't working, it calmed down and moaned piteously, flopping limply to the ground. "Mercy," came a grating, warbling his. "Mercy for this lost one. Mercy, great things for poor Io!"


Suspicious but interested, I gestured for Bethy to ease up. "Well, I asked you a- DODGE!" I screamed the last as my Danger Sense, which had been silent since before we finished the fight, roared to life. I hurled myself sideways, Bethy and Abel following suit, just in time to avoid an arrow from the ocean headed right for my back.


The blazing missile of light crashed into "poor Io" with the white hot intensity of supernova, and the monster screamed in agony as his soul appeared to be literally annihilated by the impact.


I whirled, staff up, wings in front of my friends as I triggered Gluttony, but there was no followup. In the distance, out on the water, I saw a small wooden boat. On the boat sat a figure with a bow the size of ME, the string relaxed and no arrow knocked. When we spotted it, it stood, swept into a courtly bow complete with hand flourish, and then sat down, beginning to row away.


Bethy surged forward, ready to pursue, but I caught her arm tightly. "Don't," I said bluntly. "See that little green candle on the boat? That's the same fire we saw on the bridges. It's some kind of protection. You absolutely do NOT want to go out on that water without it."


She hissed angrily, but closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. "Right, that's fine," she said slowly, as if convincing herself. Releasing Gluttony but not Mornax, I put a hand on her shoulder, triggering Life Nova. Her shoulders slumped. "Sorry, sorry, I'm fine. That was…unpleasant. Attempted possession gets my back up."


Her voice was rough and ragged, far from the effervescent and bubbly chirp I was used to. I sent another surge of Life Nova into her, and that drew a smile from my "bestie". Abel cleared his throat. "Glad you're ok, fangs, but we've got bigger problems." He pointed at the destroyed spirit being. "That attack was DANGEROUS. I don't know about you, but I think it might have killed me if it landed."


"I could have taken it," she said thoughtfully. "But it wouldn't have been much fun. How bout' you Shane?"


I nodded. "Same. But you're right. That was…that was a powerful blow. I think we just met one of the D-rankers from the god worlds. I hope they were one of the stronger ones too, because if not, we might actually be in some trouble." That had been one of the strongest targeted attacks I'd ever seen from a D-ranker, INCLUDING myself.


Turning back towards the village, I frowned. I needed to talk to Wesley, see if he'd heard anything about them. If they were geared for sea travel they'd probably been here for a while. I didn't know when my friends had arrived, but the others might have been here even longer. This could pose a problem.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Callie was waiting with the others when we got back inside, and she tackled me in relief. "Shane! What WAS that? Those screams…" she shuddered. "I felt like it was drowning me in my worst fears. I kept seeing visions of you dying, my mom being killed, even Jessie getting murdered. I tried to use the bond to pull strength from you but I couldn't shake it."


I grimaced. "I don't know what it was, but I felt it too. I went through a similar experience back on Rackham, where a priestess burned me with this fear inducing ego fire. I think it gave me a tolerance."


"So you think I can resist it better next time," her face fell. "I feel like such a weakling having to run in here and hide, but I just…I couldn't think, the fear was suffocating me."


I looked around. "How about the rest of you? Are you doing alright?"


Chelsea, Serah, and Holly looked mostly fine. My sister grunted her annoyed agreement. "My purification flame helped, but it took a bit to work. The girls were able to resist by summoning their inner light but was a constant drain."


I glanced at Gabe, who shrugged. "I was actually ok. My Adamant Path makes me all but immune to mental effects like that. I have a responsibility to protect her ladyship though, or I'd have been out there fighting with you." He shot me an apologetic smile, but I just waved him off. I knew he had a job to do.


Mel seemed mostly ok, if a bit quiet, but Daysia looked seriously spooked. I was on my way over to talk to her, but Callie beat me there, wrapping the smaller girl in a tight hug. "Hey, don't worry so much, ok? The rest of us have been doing this for ages and we were just as scared. You're alright, we all are, and we can figure out where to go from here. Everything is alright."


"I…don't know about that," I said apologetically. Callie shot me a glare, but I shrugged. "Sorry, but we ran into one of the god world D-rankers out there, at least we think so. They were…they were really strong."


Danger Sense scaled with how much of a threat to my life an attack was, and it had been SCREAMING at me when I reacted to that arrow. In Mornax and Sammael both and wearing my C-rank plate, and I was still sure that shot would have seriously injured if not outright killed me. That had been a Solid Path attack, at LEAST, and it might have been supported by a Chronicle.


And this was just the first one of them we'd run into. Who knew how strong the others were, I'd been so convinced we could handle anything our own level, but I was starting to feel like this wouldn't be as easy as I'd expected.


Turning to Wesley, who was staring at us like he couldn't decide if we were monsters or saviors, I decided to broach the obvious topic. "Have you heard about any outsiders showing up recently? Really strong ones maybe working for Malzareth? The one we saw had a candle like that one in his ship. What is that, by the way?" I gestured at the green glame candle illuminating the center of the house. I had a general idea based on what he'd said earlier and the flames on the walkways, but it would be good to know WHY it seemed to keep things from the sea at bay.


He cleared his throat, trying to recover from his silence, or maybe just terrified of us now. "Ahem, sir, no, young master, no, great lo-"


I held up a hand. "Man, I don't even slightly have time for all that, just call me Solomon."


"Yes, Lord Solomon," he bowed his head and I sighed. "These candles are a special type of repellant that holds back the mist from the sea. While it may look harmless, in reality the mist contains vapors from the frothing waves, and it spreads the dark powers of the sea inland. The dark power of the water is repelled by these flames, and so we use the candles to keep ourselves safe."


I blinked at him, waiting for more information. "But…why?" At his blank look I elaborated. "WHY do they drive back the darkness from the water?"


"Ah, the darkness fears the light, as all darkness does," he said philosophically.


"So…all candles protect you?" I pushed, determined to get to the bottom of SOMETHING about these damned candles. I was sure that knowing how they worked would be useful, and I was getting NOTHING about them from Dantalion.


He shook his head. "No, just these."


I stoically ignored the snickers from my friends, though I was glad to see Daysia perking up a little. "Anyway, have you heard anything about newcomers?"


"No, Lord Solomon," he said immediately. "But we are a small village, and we don't receive many visitors. Leastwise not ones who still number among the true living. You may have noticed my suspicion upon your arrival."


I sighed. "Yeah, I got that. It's fine, we just need to head for Highhaven I guess. Anything we should be wary of when we get there?"


"Almost everything," responded the somber mayor. "Highhaven is a dangerous and violent place. Though, I suspect anyone who can destroy a wave of Pale Men should be capable of holding their own even in Malzareth's domain. If I might offer any advice, it is not to trust any local forces. Highhaven is Malzareth's personal plaything. Any forces that exist within its walls do so at his sufferance. Regardless of stated position or outward anitpathy, if they call Highhaven their home, they must bend the knee to Malzareth in private."


Malzareth who was PROBABLY a C-ranker. Lovely. "Noted. But we could use more information before we arrive. What can you tell us about his guards? Mistwardens, you called them?"


"The Mistwarderns are the dogs of Malzareth," he said caustically. "They can do essentially whatever they wish, and this abundance of power draws the worst of the worst. They wear specialized helmets that contain candles to drive back the mist, and they're supposed to ride the countryside, repelling Pale Men and robbers. Instead they only bestir themselves after a village is destroyed, unless you pay them an extra tithe to offer more protection."


Abel nodded. "Protection rackets are pretty common everywhere. Back when we lived in the WCP we saw them all the time. Not surprising that the weird haunted ocean hellscape has corrupt patrolmen."


"It's good to know in advance," I said firmly. "Means we can avoid them. Do you have any of the candles? Might make our journey a bit safer."


"Sadly, no," he said regretfully. "The methods for producing Mistbane Candles has been lost to time, at least as far as anyone out here knows. We buy ours from Highhaven. These are diminished, and can only last a year or two with consistent lighting. We suspect he has some method to melt them down and redistribute the power to create more inferior copies."


I examined the candle. I hadn't paid too much attention to the flames on the walkways, but after going back to double check it, they DID come from candles, but the candles seemed MUCH weightier than these. Still D-rank, but more than just entry level. He was probably right.


Thanking him, we asked if he had a place for us to stay. We'd been planning to head right for Highhaven, but knowing how hostile it could be, we decided to rest here for the night and make our approach during the day to give us more time to feel out the situation. While he didn't have much extra room where we were, he did point us to an abandoned shack we were able to repurpose with materials we had on us.


Once we settled in, we had a meeting. "Alright," I said to my friends. "This has been a lot to get into, but I think that given what we learned today, a bit of training before we go might not hurt. Specifically I think we should try to train your mental resistance in case we meet more Pale Men."


"Agreed," said Abel. "We weren't expecting it, but this particular weakness is a major liability, especially if there are more powerful Pale Men out there. But how do we train it?"


Bethy raised a hand. "Oh! I can help! I'm super good at mental manipulation, and my Domain makes hitting a bunch of people at once easy. I can be a little scary when I want, so we can just beat them into shape that way."


I laughed. "Good thought," I said with a smile. "But I think something a bit more targeted would be better. I'll create a mental protection technique, and then teach it to Callie through the bond. Teaching a technique to a normal person is a bit rough for me, because….well, you guys just don't really get things that come easily to me. But Callie should be able to translate fine, at least for a basic general technique."


Teaching a Skill like my staff art to Bella had been easy enough, but trying to teach her my mother's Supernova Step had been tougher than I expected. She learned it eventually, but I realized in the process that a lot of things I just naturally understood about technique usage were completely unintuitive to her. We didn't have time for me to create a complicated technique and dumb it down for everyone.


Callie perked up. "Oh, am I going to get to experience what it's like inside the Pride library? I mean, I've been there, but not during your creation process. That sounds like fun!"


"Glad you think so," I laughed. "Hopefully you can maintain that enthusiasm, because I feel like technique creation would be boring to watch otherwise. While we're at it, I can try to tweak your Dance of the Abyssal Fairy if you want, help align it with you a bit better." Our connection should let me use her techniques like she could use my forms, and being able to upgrade her capabilities was a benefit I'd never really considered.


Being part of such a unique experiment seemed to make everyone perk up a bit. Granted, most of them wouldn't be doing much, but it gave us all something to focus on. Daysia and Bella, the least experienced of our number, seemed to be most shaken, even if my apprentice hadn't been as open about it as our Dryad friend.


I could feel through the bond that Callie was excited too. Partly because she wanted to both get stronger and be less vunerable to the mental influence, and partly because she was excited to show off how much she'd grown since the last time I'd seen her stats a few months ago.


Of course, the actual process would take place inside my soul, so there wasn't much to watch, and after the two of us sat down and clasped hands, the others quickly got bored and went to sleep, with only Abel staying up, insisting on standing watch in case we got another wave of enemies.


Callie and I closed our eyes, retreating into Pride, where Callie had been before. When we arrived, she looked around, amazed by the construct. She hadn't been here long before, only for a bit during my Chronicle condensation, so she wasn't really used to it yet.


She glanced over at my staff, floating above the pedestal where the Ten Demons Tome sat, and then spun to face me, a determined look on her face. "Alright. Let's do this. How do we start?"


I considered that. It was an interesting question, because custom made techniques were usually based on my own personal abilities. I couldn't use Mornax as a base since most of them wouldn't be able to use it. I quickly came up with a plan, then focused back on my wife. "Alright, I think I know how to start, but before we do, there's one other thing. Let's see how much progress you made while I was gone." Between her godslayer rep and training with my grandmother, I was looking forward to seeing how much stronger she'd become.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Callie beamed at me as she called up her stats. Then paused. "Um…do you have some paper I could use?" She helplessly held up her hands. "This isn't the real world, so I can't bring my stuff in here, which means I don't have anything to write on."


Thinking about it, being able to carry objects into my soul and leave them there like the staff would have been useful, but probably pretty ridiculous. I cleared my throat and snagged a book off the shelf. I decided since I was custom making Callie a technique, adding her exact stats to it might make things easier. Strong reference points seemed to help.


After conjuring her a pen (I could make basic things in here, like my dad had made that chair when we were talking during my Chronicle condensation), I sat down and considered my possible options while she worked.


My techniques worked best when they had a baseline. I could make one up out of nowhere, but finding a way to embed Skills or forms let me bind it into my mythos, allowing me to make it a cohesive part of my legend. It was like adding rebar to concrete. Concrete by itself was pretty solid, but that strength was compressive, not tensile. Adding rebar allowed it to withstand other kinds of pressure.


This technique couldn't include my forms, because I needed to be able to teach it, but it COULD include Skills. DS Mastery was a Skill that other people could learn, which meant techniques based on it would be far more functional for your average layman than one based on my forms. I could probably teach Bella something like that, but everyone else would struggle immensely.


So what I needed was a defensive ability as a base, something with a mental component, and possibly something to amplify the effects. The last one was simple, Afterburner was my most consistently used Skill when creating forms or domains. As for the first, Mountain Stance would be perfect for this. My main issue became the mental component. So while Callie copied down her stats, I meditated on possible solutions.


I started with Mountain Stance. Defense was paramount here, and an important aspect of the technique. Mountain Stance was also a solid foundation to use symbolically, being the hard ground underneath the feet of the user. Next up I used an inversion of Marked for Death. It usually allowed armor penetration on the opponent, but in this instance my alterations turned that penetration inward, changing it from a literal armor piercing attack to a mental penetration ability.


My third ingredient was one I hadn't used much. Blood Curse. A rogue skill I'd gotten at D-rank, one which let me use blood to affect a target at long range. I didn't do much cursing, but the mechanism of the skill was thaumaturgy, and working with Sable had shown me the possibilities in that particular art.


Blood Curse linked something big with something small. In this case, using the penetrative power of Marked for Death, I was using the conceptual structure of Blood Curse to connect the physical body with the infinitely more complex mind and spirit. I started trying to put the structures together in my head, combining the various skills as perfectly as possible.


I failed. And then I failed again. And again. It wasn't a shock. This was the most complex technique I'd ever made by a large margin, and I had to structure it in a way that would make it simple enough to be used by anyone. My usual techniques involved using my strong soul and talent to bully reality into doing what I wanted. Since I got the library, I'd been learning to refine and improve them as I went, reinforcing the core structure that I used as a baseline.


I grabbed a book off the shelves, a blank one because I didn't need Callie's stats for this part, just for her reworked Dance of the Abyssal Fairy. For this I needed to start from scratch. To write my own brand new story. It wasn't complicated. A story of mind over body, of conquering the flesh with the power of the soul.


Since I needed this to be general application, I avoided my usual demonic imagery. This skill was all about human ingenuity. Or rather, the flame of human inspiration. I focused on that image, fire. I needed that as a connection point for Afterburner anyway, and it gave me the perfect foundation.


Prometheus, and ancient figure who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, lighting the fires of creativity in the hearts of humanity. It was a ubiquitous myth even now. It would be perfect as a foundation for this.


So I leaned into that. I wove a story about Prometheus stealing the flame and carrying it down to earth, once it arrived, he passed it to mankind, and through that flame humanity evolved. The spark lit the path that showed them how to take their earthly nature and transcend the mundane to become something more.


Mountain Stance provided the earthly foundation, Blood Curse the mechanism, and the inverted Marked for Death gave it the penetrative nature. Finally, with the structure completely formed and the spark lit, I poured Afterburner on the flickering ember, and it burst into a roaring flame. The book I'd been writing in shook, the Skill shuddering under the influx of power as it basically fault tested itself.


I made changes, small alterations to the story, wording, sentence structure, even the stats used for the individual words. Inside the library, the Ten Demons Tome's full power was instantly at my fingers, and Dantalion whirled in my mind, deducing various possibilities as I drew on that framework, truly pushing my creative abilities for the first time.


The potential of the library had never really sunk in. It was impressive and useful, but I'd never grasped EXACTLY why it had made my ancestor so unrivalled. Not really. Not until right at that moment.


The book fell from my fingers, slamming to the table as I released it, my mind spinning from the overwhelming task of deducing the technique I'd wanted. I felt like I'd just run a marathon with my brain. I'd simulated the technique, over and over again, slowly altering it, falling into the story headfirst in a way that I normally needed…I froze, my eyes flicked over to the staff quietly hovering above the tome.


My Ten Demons Tree, that was what had changed. Where before I could see and alter techniques easily with the books, I could only adjust them based on my intuition and technique. Now though, the staff had combined with the library. It had let me run the technique through a sort of testing program, over and over, working the kinks out slowly in a way that was even more terrifying than the library itself.


The Primordial Tree Sea hadn't lied to me. That staff was the PERFECT companion for me. This one ability alone combined with my library gave me an advantage that no one else in the universe could match.


Of course, it only worked with techniques because of their intrinsic nature, further specializing me away from hard skills, but that didn't matter. I'd long since shifted my focus to the Path based aspects of cultivation rather than hard Skill creation. That was my ancestor's path, not mine. I stared at the tome, almost in awe of it, slowly picking up the technique and passing it to my wife, who had long since finished her own work.


"I wrote out the Dance in the book," she said as we traded. "It should help give you a starting point for deducing it. This is the defensive technique?"


I nodded solemnly. "I call it the 'Promethean Fire Soul Body'. It's probably the most amazing technique I've ever made. Try learning it, and let me know if you have problems. I'll work on your technique while you do. Having some more detailed data on how your techniques work should help me refine it more to make it accessible to everyone."


She nodded, opening the tome and starting to study it. While she did, I focused on her own tome, opening it up to study the stats I'd been so looking forward to seeing.


Calliope Wyndham. D-rank. Ability: Master Abyssal Infiltration- Enter the shadows and emerge where you will within range, shape the darkness to your call, moving it as if it were part of your body, and even extend your senses through the shadows to spy on your enemies.


Might-67,550


Impact-105


Vitality-29,742


Fantasy-56,520


Focus-17,908


Perception- 36,375


Creation-27,485


Progress to next rank: 235,667/1,000,000


Soul strength- Amethyst Soul Body


Pet-Wolf named Rellia


Skills: Minor Tracking, Beginner Dual Dagger Mastery, Intermediate Stealth, Intermediate Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Expert Shadow Manipulation Mastery. Expert Paired Dueling.


Path of the Abyss-Illusory. Technique: Dance of the Abyssal Fairy


I was impressed. Even in my current high power deduction state, I had to stop and admire my wife's progress. I'd passed her by a solid margin, as I'd expected, but there was still only a fifty thousand point gap. Even with months of godslayer rep and becoming the apprentice of an S-ranker (and marrying into the royal family of the WCP) she must have been putting in a lot of work to gain that sort of recognition during her training.


But I shook that off. The Dance of the Abyssal Fairy was Callie's movement technique, and a powerful one at that, but it wasn't perfect. I went through the tome manually first, reading the story, making small alterations in places where I could see the stats making up the content weren't being fully expressed. Then, once I finished my first pass, I triggered my new state.


Mentally, I was calling it "The Wisdom of Solomon". The Ten Demons Tree shone in its place above the Tome and my mind began to whirl. I saw the Dance of the Abyssal Fairy play out, once, then twice, then a hundred times. And each time it got a little better, a little more perfect, slowly transforming, sublimating under the pressure of repetition as Dantalion became more and more familiar with it through the Ten Demon's Tree's simulations.


Finally, I finished, and I dropped the book, drained even more by the effort. I turned to find Callie waiting again, apparently the Wisdom of Solomon took a while. That was fine. We traded books again and she gave me her notes on what parts were too difficult or abstruse to learn without talent like mine.


I deduced it again. Then returned it to her. Then again. My brain was getting foggy, but Callie opened the bond, pouring her energy into me to reinforce my mental state. I smiled warmly at her, and we continued. Research and deduction, perfection and evolution. Until finally, the technique was done.


We emerged from the library and I pitched forward, Callie catching me and easing me down onto a nearby bedroll. "Watch yourself, honey," she said softly as she helped me get comfortable. "I've got you. Your part is done. Get some sleep and I'll work on teaching the others, ok?"


I was drowsy, but I forced myself to stay awake to make sure everything was done. "Are you sure it's done? You can teach it?"


"I've got it," she said firmly. "It's completely finished. Not only can I teach it, after reading that whole book I'm basically an expert. I can explain this thing in my sleep. You did an amazing job tailoring it. It's going to make all of us much safer." She moved my mask aside, leaning down to kiss me gently. "Go to sleep, love. You handled the hard part, now leave the rest of it up to me. Everything will be better in the morning." And you know what? I believed her. I was still smiling as I let myself fall into blissful slumber, Which was definitely different from passing out.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I woke feeling oddly refreshed. No pain, no exhaustion, if my memory wasn't so good I might have forgotten how I fell asleep in the first place. This feeling of refreshment ended nearly instantly as I opened my eyes to see a hideous fish staring right into my eyes. I shrieked, hands going up to protect my face as I rolled, hitting the floor of the shack in a clatter of armor and curses.


Leaping up, I spun, summoning my staff to find…Bethy, unconvincingly trying to hide a fishing rod behind her back. "Hey guys, he's awake!" she called innocently as the rod disappeared in a flash, presumably into her ring.


Callie pushed the door open, leaning inside to squint at her suspiciously. "Thank's…" she said slowly.


Chirping that it was no problem, Bethy turned into bats and blurred right past my wife, who turned to raise an eyebrow at me. "You ok? I thought I heard someone squeak," her face was concerned but I could feel the amusement through our bond.


"I didn't make a sound," I said blithely. "But I heard something too. Was more a manly bellow than a squeak."


She just laughed, stepping up to pull me into a tight hug. "I was a little worried for a second, but I figured out quick you were fine and just sleeping. Thank you for working on my technique for me. I feel so much…stronger," she clenched a fist, seemingly erupting with fighting spirit at just the thought of what she could do.


"I'm guessing you can use it instantly now?" I asked with a laugh.


"Yeah, I can tap into the tome through the bond directly," she responded eagerly. "It's just so much different than having to do it all manually. I have so much more room for control and adjustment when I don't have to juggle a dozen images in my head. It's not like I'm using an automatic ability either, it's more like…muscle memory."


I laughed, "It is pretty convenient. But don't keep me in suspense, the new technique I made, how is it?"


"It's…strange," she admitted. "It works great, burns away mental influence. Not just influence from outside either. We're PRETTY sure it increases soul clarity. Not a lot, but it does SOMETHING. Bethy said it helps her focus through her bloodlust better. We had to adjust it to our Paths, obviously, but apparently you made it compatible with most people."


That made me smile. That had been intentional, and had actually massively increased the difficulty. The Promethean Fire Soul Body was…frankly it was beyond my understanding at the moment. The Wisdom of Solomon and Dantalion combined had allowed me to make something that I was pretty sure I shouldn't have been able to create.


Some of the alterations and changes I'd made, in retrospect, shouldn't have worked. Marked for Death had been stretched well beyond its intended usage, as had Blood Curse, and the inversions and tweaks I'd applied should have made the skills flimsy and fragile. Not to mention the soul interaction aspect, which even beneficially I shouldn't be able to manage at the moment.


The only thing that explained it was the tree. The Ten Demons Tree's simulations had let me essentially run the library like a computer, making the alterations within the reincarnation simulation repeatedly, essentially living out the story a thousand times in a second to stress test the technique over and over, slowly smoothing out the flaws.


The deeper I'd gotten, the more entrenched Dantalion became. It was so effective I briefly wondered if it counted as a new domain, but according to my stat page it was just a power interaction with the tree.


I almost immediately wanted to go back in and start deducing my forms to a deeper level. I was sure it had some sort of limit, but I was just as positive I could increase the power substantially, or at the very least make them easier to use so I could run them more easily and use more at once.


Sadly, now wasn't the time for sitting around meditating, so I just sighed and followed her outside to where everyone was practicing. Well, mostly everyone. Bethy was obviously done with her training, and Abel seemed to have finished.


I wasn't shocked, they were both geniuses, though I was still reeling that my technique could clarify the soul, even a little. Techniques were more effective for soul interaction than skills, since Paths heavily involved the soul, but I'd never heard of one that could do that. Soul clarity was hard to effect, and usually took dramatic and powerful means to improve.


Even if the Promethean Fire Soul Body could only purify a thousandth of a percent per YEAR it would be a priceless technique. Feeling out the library, I was shocked to see that the staff seemed…tired.


Apparently using the Wisdom of Solomon wasn't without cost. Which made sense, if it could make techniques like that. It was a bit sad I couldn't just spam it in the background with a parallel at all times, but even this one technique was already a huge benefit, and the staff would recover with time.


Soul clarification was the process I'd undergone in the falls, rather than the one I'd undergone in my rebirth. There were layers of soul, and clarification purified the upper reaches. Still very useful, but not the same level as the wreath or the rebirth.


I needed to ask someone about that, I didn't understand half of what was going on with my soul, and given that it was one of my biggest advantages, I really should.


Speaking of advantages, I triggered the Promethean Fire Soul Body and Zagan, overlapping the two effects to see what it would do, and was blown away by how…clear I felt. It wasn't a cold clarity, or a robotic calm. I felt like I'd ascended to a crystal heaven, where everything was clear and calm and smooth. I knew without a doubt that no mental technique below B-rank would even scratch my mind, and the purification aspects of Zagan seemed to be internally strengthened by the technique.


I was so lost in the sensation it took me a minute to notice that I'd inadvertently created another domain. I had to organize my mind for a minute to properly categorize it, but finally I settled on a name.


Sixth circle of hell: Leviathan. Named after the invincible beast who couldn't be stopped. Granted, it wasn't a PLACE, but neither was retribution, and I thought confining my circles to specific place names was a limitation I didn't need. Leviathan was supposed to be a colossal monster, so being an entire circle of hell only seemed right.


"Shane," Callie said, obviously repeating herself. My head snapped up, so distracted I'd almost missed her comment. "You have that look. You just get a new power?"


I just laughed. "You know me well. But more like combined ones I already had. Regardless, it's a pretty cool one, I'll tell you about it later. Bethy and Abel already perfected their versions of it, huh?"


"Not exactly," said my mentor from where he leaned against the wall of the shack, eyes closed. "I'm trying to integrate it into my Ragam Blood Body. It's a useful effect, and I think it could qualitatively raise the level of my combat effectiveness. But it's kind of an abstruse technique, and I'm having trouble."


I nodded in sympathy. I'd developed that technique to its limits. On the surface it seemed simple and easy to master, and it was compatible with almost any Path, but the mechanics were so refined that any small alteration would ruin the structure. It reminded me a lot of the wish ability in that sense, though I had to admit that even with my staff it wasn't a millionth the complexity of something my ancestor could make.


Dropping down next to him, I decided to try to help if I could. Since he wasn't soul bonded to me, he couldn't access the library, but I could ask him questions and offer advice. "Well, how exactly does your Ragam Blood Body work? I can tell you got a lot stronger, but I'm not sure HOW exactly. It seems almost more quantitative than qualitative. Like your spatial energy isn't really any more refined, and your Path doesn't seem deeper."


"Because it's not," he said bluntly. Not all of us are freaks of nature who can refine and perfect a Path in real time. It takes most people decades to even REACH Solid Path, nevermind go past it. I don't think you got how abnormal you are."


Laughing, I just shrugged. "Maybe, but then how did you get stronger? What kind of training did you do with Lark?"


"Not training," he corrected. "Killing. You know that my Path is the Infinite Blood Sea. By definition the more beings I kill, the stronger I get. The blood sea increases in depth and scope, expanding as I fill it with the blood of my enemies, and it has no limit."


"Ok, but that's just an aura, right?" I asked bluntly. "Like I know it makes you scarier, but how do you weaponize that?"


He snorted. "Lark is one of the most powerful blood Path users in the entire universe. He found a way. By manifesting the Infinite Blood Sea with my Ragam Manifestation, I'm able to essentially solidify the sacrificial energy. The more of it there is, the denser it becomes, and the more sturdy my defense when I condense it down with my spatial lubrication. THat's the principal behind the Ragam Blood Body. An infinite ocean as a physical form."


I just gaped at him. That was…that was BRILLIANT. I wouldn't have even conceived of something like that. Lark had taken a few disparate pieces of relatively useful skillsets and forged a top tier form beyond anything I'd ever dreamed of.


I'd been sure that with Sammael, I was stronger than Abel could possibly be, but the Vampire had just casually slapped together a few Skills and abilities and made something that could most likely compete with my entire combat system all on its own. It was, without a doubt, a stark reminder of just how far I had to go.


But that didn't mean I couldn't improve it. I frowned at him. "Manifest your Blood Body."


He didn't question why, just did it, his form instantly replaced by a rippling humanoid sculpture of shimmering blood. I triggered Dantalion, making sure Sammael was active, and then condensed the whole thing down to a few feet, making sure Abel was covered. Then I told him to continue his attempts, narrating them for me as he went.


Without the Wisdom of Solomon I couldn't run instances, but I was still a genius with access to the library. I retreated to my inner domain, sitting down at a table with a book and leaving a parallel to parse his speech as I started to write. I couldn't deduce a whole technique down to a tome with just Dantalion, no matter how long I sat there, but I COULD use it as a framework and have him fill in the details.


I asked questions, poked and prodded, and just generally dissected his technique as best as I could manage. Story, stat construction, anything I could piece together. Then I started experimenting with the Promethean Fire Soul Body, slowly trying to integrate the two together.


Abel hadn't said it, but I knew why he wanted to do this. Not just for the power, I'd seen Abel in the grips of his Path before. Fully leaning into the blood, and it made him…colder. He'd been different since he got back, clearly unsettled by something he'd been made to do, and I suspected it had to do with all the killing.


The quick power up had obviously taken a toll, and integrating the Promethean Fire Soul Body and the Ragam Blood Body into one form would hopefully help erase some of the aftereffects. I didn't notice how wide I was smiling until about two hours later. I guess there was time for some sitting around doing research.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"I expected it to be more…on fire," I said lamely as we all studied Abel's new form. "Or maybe steaming? It looks the same." His Ragam Blood Body had been adapted by the both of us working together. As a former Master Candidate who had broken his shackles on pseudo D-rank planet and condensed an illusory Path long before I met him, Abel was obviously pretty talented in techniques too.


With our combined effort, some help from Callie, and the foundation of the two extremely powerful techniques we were using, we'd managed to integrate them smoothly, though I'd had to use the Wisdom of Solomon again to complete it.


Since it was just the last little bit, and the staff was just mostly exhausted not completely tapped out, I'd been able to push through, though teaching it to him after had been tough.


Now he stood before us, shimmering blood replacing flesh, and he looked…the same. Bella, who had been watching the proceedings with rapt attention, leaned in to squint at the form. "I think the blood is like…bubbling?"


Abel shoved her away, then waved his hands around him to drive us all back. "Alright you vultures, it's an INFINITE blood sea, a little fire isn't going to set it to a full boil. It worked, we're done, can we just go? We've already delayed way too long. I appreciate the upgrade help, kid, and I have no doubt it'll be useful, but we need to find your friends."


My expression became solemn. "You're right," I confirmed. "We've taken too long here. Everyone good on the technique?"


They all nodded. All around me, eyes began to burst into open flame. Some dark fire, some light, Chelsea had one of each, but it looked like they'd adapted their new soul bodies to their respective paths.


"Then let's go," nodding, I gestured for them to follow me, and we took off down the nearest walkway at a dead run. I wanted to fly, but without one of those candles it wasn't worth the risk, so I just sprinted at top speed. Even suppressed by the local Impact, we were still more than up to the task of crossing a large amount of space in a short time, and before we knew it, we were approaching the city.


We slowed down, obviously, to avoid being too attention grabbing, and approached at a normal walking pace as we crossed onto the much larger island that housed the city of Highhaven.


Highhaven was…gloomy. I'd assumed being a city it would be nicer than the village, but honestly it wasn't that much better, just bigger and more imposing. The whole place was made of dark ragged stone and had sharp pieces of broken iron sticking out of it in odd directions. I couldn't tell if the walls were supposed to have defensive blades or if there used to be a lot of decorations that just broke off in really unfortunate ways.


The whole city had a pall of grimness and unpleasant decay smothering it like a blanket, like we were looking at it through a depression colored lens filter. We approached the oversized, poorly forger iron gate, and were stopped by a pair of D-rankers wearing strange dark metal helmets with light flickering out of them. Mistwardens.


"Halt!" barked the taller of the two. "Who goes there?"


I raised my hand in greeting, calling back cheerfully. "I'm Solomon, this is my wife Nightstrike and our crew of friends. We were hoping to prevail on your lovely city for some fine dining and perhaps a place to rest on our journey."


The guard just…froze. I was pretty sure he wasn't used to people complimenting this depressing scrap heap without sounding obviously sarcastic. "I…yes, obviously," he said, regaining his momentum. "Highhaven is the jewel of the eastern islands, all of the weeping domain knows of our luxurious accommodations."


We all turned, looking up at the city and then back at the guard, and even the other guard tilted his head in confusion. But since I was the one who started the flattery, I just shrugged it off. "What will it cost us to enter?"


"Ten fish," he said bluntly. "No negotiating. One for each of you."


"But there are-" Bella started from next to me, but I covered her mouth quickly.


I continued smoothly. "There are so many of us and you've set the price so low, we can only thank you for your mercy." I glared at her, not wanting to pay the extra when she pointed out this guard apparently couldn't count past ten.


At D-rank, I had legitimately no idea how his Focus wasn't too high for that sort of thing to happen, but then again, maybe he was so mean and stupid that he'd developed some kind of idiot based recursion. I'd seen similar phenomena back on Callus, and this guy seemed even less clever than the Jerks.


We paid the fish, depleting the minimal stock that we'd gathered at the village, trading for other food, and then entered the city smoothly. In the background, I could hear the guard bragging about how stupid we were, and how he'd charged us an extra fish. I didn't even try to do the math on that one, and just assumed we got the better deal since we snuck three people in for free.


"Alright, now that we're here, we need to be careful," I told the group. "Wesley said that the inside of the city is nominally a safe zone. In reality, it's only safe from outsiders, friendly factions to Malzareth get a slap on the wrist if they're caught fighting, and they will absolutely ignore it."


Abel snorted. "If those idiots up front are their rank and file, we might not need to worry about it."


"Malzareth is probably C-rank," I reminded him sternly. "And that means we have almost no chance of beating him head on. Do NOT give him a reason to come down on us. We can't afford it."


Even if we could escape, it would waste too much time. Abel had been right earlier, I'd dragged my heels helping him and the danger the others were in had increased. We needed to find some kind of lead on them and soon, with the god world D-rankers running around, who knew what kind of trouble they might run into.


"Wesley said there's a force around here that specializes in information gathering right?" I asked Callie. She'd chatted with the mayor and his family for a while while I was working with Abel, she liked to get a handle on local politics whenever we went somewhere.


She nodded. "The Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower. It's not just a local force either, they exist all over the Screeching Shoals. Apparently they're run by the a mysterious advisor to Skartaris the Weeper. Don't think that just because Malzareth is considered 'a general' he's particularly strong. Skartaris has one hundred generals, and Malzareth is one of the weakest."


"A hundred?" I frowned at that news. A hundred C-rankers. At least. And that didn't even count the ones in the oceans or any high ranked Pale Men. Granted, the Shoals were huge, so a hundred was actually a pretty small number spread over that kind of area, but it meant locally there were at least a few more, and there were probably a BUNCH where Skartaris held court.


The central city in this twisted snowflake shaped hellworld was in the main continent, and was called Mournehold, because of course it was. Skartaris ruled the city, and was, based on all accounts, a PEAK C-ranker, most likely with a Chronicle.


In other words, he was way too much for us to handle and should be avoided at all costs if we didn't want to die instantly. I did have a few tricks up my sleeve, like the defensive token from the Lady, but I didn't want to waste a divine ranked lifesaving treasure on someone below B-rank.


"Well, where is this Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower?" I asked her with a sigh. "That's clearly the place to be, though I don't know if we can afford anything there."


Fish were the local currency, and we'd spent ours. Did they take chits? If not maybe we could barter. I'd stockpiled my eight wish scrolls for the day. In an isolated place like this, they might not have even heard of the Wishmaster, so trading them might be safer here. That was a last resort though, and if we did it I would go in on my own and leave in stealth, just to be safe.


But it was a bit early to decide that, instead, we should go and check out the tower, and make sure they even had the information we wanted.


Callie led the way, referring to a small map that she'd drawn based on Wesley's descriptions, and we quickly arrived at a strange looking building. The place was layered white stone, with eaves at about every ten feet to create a sort of pagoda effect. The eaves were made of what looked like obsidian, except it had barnacles all over it and eerie blue veins shot through the stone.


On the front of the tower was a white sight, showing a black bone snapped in two, from which emerged a dark ghost outline with a fierce expression. "I think we found it," said Bethy helpfully.


I snorted in amusement, but didn't respond. I stepped forward, rapping on the large black doors, and after a minute, they swung open and a small man with a ratlike face and bags under his eyes poked his head out. "What?" he snapped, rotten teeth exposed by his sneer. His Vitality must be extremely low.


"We're here to buy information," I told him bluntly. No reason to beat around the bush.


He squinted at me. His eyes took in my expensive armor, then the weapons of all my friends nearby, and he eventually nodded sourly. "Fine, come in. Don't dally."


Throwing the door open, he hurried us inside. He slammed it shut as soon as we were through, barring the entrance quickly. I wondered what exactly he was on guard against, given his boss was supposed to be a huge bigshot. But maybe the individual towers weren't a priority. He handed me a ticket with a number on it. "Wait til you're called," he said shortly, then turned and vanished behind a counter.


"Friendly place," I said dryly. "Nice to see the customer is always king."


Rather than laugh though, my friends froze, all of them tensing as the looked over my shoulder. I didn't feel any Danger Sense, but I knew that this place was protected, so that didn't mean much. I turned to see a small group of belligerent looking men and women, all smiling at us unpleasantly.


"Well, isn't our luck fantastic tonight," said the leader, a long haired dandy in a foppish blue velvet waistcoat. "Our target has shown himself."


One of the taller young men, a bald guy with a handlebar mustache and very little shirt covering his frankly absurd muscles, surged forward, but the dandy held up a hand, stopping him in place with just a gesture. "Not yet, Declan. This is neutral territory, and even we don't want to pick a fight with the tower master."


One of the women, a pale girl wearing a blue ballgown, sneered. "When Damien breaks through, it won't matter who's protecting them. Count your days, thieves, our eldest initiate is at the edge of C-rank, and once he forms his Solid Path you'll all be fish food."


I tensed. That…that was the worst case scenario. God world initiates were geniuses, so they didn't have reason to remain at the peak of a rank. But a few of them having bad timing meant we might be dealing with a much bigger series of threats.


"Friends," came a smooth voice from beside us, and we all jumped, turning to see what appeared to be a floating cloak full of congealed darkness hovering in front of us. "The tower is a tranquil place, there's no need for harsh words." The figure waved an empty sleeve and another identical cloak manifested beside it. "Now, why don't you tell old Whisper what you seek?" And without another word, one of the figures led each of the groups away.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We followed the cloaked figure into a long hallway, then up a flight of stairs into an office. Most of us were led to a waiting room, with only me, Callie, Abel, and Bethy following the figure inside. "Please, come in," they said cheerfully. Walking over to a coat rack, they gestured for us to sit down.


"Sorry, let me get comfortable first," Reaching up like they were about to remove the cloak, the figure instead grabbed the darkness underneath it, pulling to reveal a human shaped blob of shadow the now empty cloak hung on the rack before drifting over to settle on a chair across from us.


"Magic cape!" squealed Bethy excitedly. "So cool! I want one. Are you like, a person stuck inside a cape? Or were you animated from cloth? Ooh, are you some kind of higher being, and you're not really a cape but our puny mortal minds can't comprehend your true form?"


I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Bethy, do you remember the conversation we had about filters? What did I say?"


"To think about any of my questions for ten whole seconds before I ask them, in case they might offend someone" she recited dutifully. "But that's pretty boring. Plus, he's a MAGIC CAPE. Do you have any siblings? Do you have a sister? Is she a MAGIC DRESS?"


The animated cloth waited patiently for her to finish, before finally interjecting calmly. "I…am a CLOAK. Capes are nonsense clothing whose only purpose is drama. Cloaks are useful and sturdy garments that provide protection from the elements and warmth during travel. I do have siblings, they are all cloaks. In fact, the branch managers of all the tranquility towers are cloaks. Except the one in the capital, that one is run by our maker."


"Alright, well, that's good to know," I said slowly. "But we're actually here for a specific reason. First, do you accept chits?"


The hood bobbed. "We do. Our organization often trades with external forces. Chits are still useful for exchanging goods with outsiders. As I'm sure you've noticed, while it is impossible to enter the Shoals after advancing beyond D-rank, items of that rank can still pass through the barrier." He gestured to my armor, which made me pause. I hadn't actually realized that.


Depositing a few D-ranked chits on the desk between us, I stared at him intently. "I'm looking for some friends of mine. I suspect those people from earlier are ALSO looking for them, and I'd prefer to find them first."


Ray, Vesper, Cavallo, Elena, Mnemosyne, and Chess had all entered together. They were among the ones I'd given wish scrolls to, but they'd mostly used them for contact. Still, there should be a few left, and I had to have faith that they would be able to use them to avoid being discovered in the short term.


His response was…well, it was hard to tell. No amount of Perception can help you read the body language of a floating curtain. But…I did have another potential avenue. I triggered Dantalion.


I kept it pretty low power, throttling the effect to prevent myself from being overwhelmed, and he didn't seem to notice the state.


When I tried to puzzle him out though, I realized I couldn't sense anything. While the cloak himself was D-rank, the power that made him up was a core of C-rank technique. Presumably his maker's energy, it was too high level for me to parse.


The floating garment sat motionless for a moment, finally responding. "I can help you. I can even prioritize your matter over theirs. My other self is currently interacting with your enemies, and I must admit I find them a bit obnoxious. They reacted with far less aplomb to the revelation of my origins, treating me with disdain. As a proud Heaven Draping Cloak, I naturally find this unacceptable.


"However," he continued, cutting off my grateful response. "This is but one small branch of the tranquility tower. I can't promise other towers won't aid your enemies based on the information I help you gather. Ultimately, we all serve the Rag King, and even he serves at the pleasure of Skartaris."


I understood what he was getting at. Any info I gave him for the search would be accessible to everyone involved with the Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower. "Would it be possible to purchase general information and keep that purchase confidential? As long as I don't ask you to conduct an active search?"


He hummed (somehow, despite having no voice box or even a skull) "Perhaps." His voice was hesitant, but not outright dismissive. "It is at my own discretion to report the distribution of local resources. Things like maps or general tips on local environments would technically fall under that umbrella. You understand, of course, that such an action would be an inherent risk, and would require more…thoughtful compensation."


In my head, I heard Callie snickering about me being extorted by a tablecloth, but I avoided reacting. He'd mentioned local resources. I'd originally wanted to ask about a map to find my friends, but chances of them having moved already were high. What I needed was someone who knew the area, and local resources should include that kind of information.


"Do you know of any local forces who might have contacts in Ashborn?" I gave him the name of the only village I knew of near where they'd vanished.


There was a whisper of paper, and a large scroll slid from an umbrella stand next to the desk and unfurled itself across the top of the surface. The cloak bowed over it, eventually nodding. "Within the domain of Ironreach, which is under the sway of Dezcarta. She's one of the higher ranked generals, probably top twenty these days, though it can get hard to keep track."


With a snap, the scroll rerolled itself and then flipped off the desk to land back in the stand. "You'll want to speak to the Ordinary Citizen. He runs the Casual Friends, a deceptively named group of extremely malevolent robbers who use a facade of harmlessness to avoid harassment by Lord Malzareth. The Citizen is, at the very least, quite open about his penchant for bribery, so getting his help shouldn't be much of an issue if you have the coin."


"Except we don't," I said bluntly. "Because we spent all our fish getting into the city. Don't suppose you convert chits to fish?"


"We can, but I don't recommend it," he said bluntly. "While fish are heavily traded among the peasantry, the elites use a slightly more functional form of currency." A drawer opened, and a small scale floated out and dropped onto the desk. "As you surely know, the fish in the dark ocean are prized for their powerful external protection. However, low rank fish actually don't condense too many decent quality scales. On an entire fish, you'll usually only get one above base quality, which equates to early D-rank."


The scale slid across the surface, and was then joined by a second, much more lustrous scale. While both were black, the second was more glossy and had a nice shine to it. "Above base quality are fine scales, which are understood to be worth about a hundred base quality scales. Your average lower D-rank fish condenses one or two of these, with the condensation accelerating as they climb the ranks."


I picked up the second scale, turning it over in my fingers. Picking up the first, I compared them, and it was clear the base quality scale had a lot less give, and was much easier to scratch. "So the more these fish progress, the more of these fine scales they condense? I assume there's a level beyond fine?"


"Well reasoned," he said cheerfully. "Yes, traditionally, the deeper a fish's territory in the sea, the more powerful they become, and the more lustrous their scales. A fish with all fine scales is a fine fish, and they have a chance to condense exotic scales, beyond exotic is the even more prized unique. Base fish scales are a single unit of currency, but are more accurately a sub unit. Similar to the concept of 'change'. Fine fish scales are ten units, exotic is one hundred, and unique scales are a thousand."


That was an interesting system. "So, the currency can be directly forged into armor? That's certainly novel. But what's the exchange rate for scales?"


"D-rank chits are formed of pure Creation stats. They are rare and difficult to find in the shoals. I'd be willing to part with a single exotic for one." I could tell from his tone that this was his bottom line, and we weren't getting any better.


But I didn't really need him to. Rather than take out the D-ranked chits I had on me, I pushed forward one of the three I'd dropped originally, and then stacked eighty one E-rank chits, my entire sub D-rank reserve, on the desk. "I'll take a hundred and eighty one fine scales. That should be enough for a decent bribe, right?"


"Indeed," he said, all three of the coins smoothly sliding into the drawer as stacks of scales poured out. They were quickly stacked up in neat piles of fifty, with an extra stack of thirty one beside them, and I swept them all into my ring. "Unique scales are rare and valuable, and are generally kept for armor. Exotics are the highest useful denomination, and paying them out in lower quality coinage is usually safer."


We didn't discuss the other party. I wasn't even sure they were going to ask anything now. They seemed to have been looking for us, so I was more concerned about being jumped as soon as we left town. I'd paid my bribe and got my info, so I stood up to leave, but before I could finish exiting the room, I stopped.


"Would it be possible," I said slowly. "For me to get you help with a little…practical joke? On those other adventurers you didn't like so much."


The hood lifted sharply. "It would depend on the joke. I can't give them false information. The reputation of the Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower is paramount. Nor can I help you poison or attack them."


"Nothing like that," I assured him. "Rather, if I give you the information about when and where we're going to leave the city, can you make sure they get it? It will be accurate."


There was a pause, and then the cloak chuckled. "I suppose as long as I believe you intend to leave the city at that time and place, it would be accurate information. Any additional knowledge left out at that point would hardly be my responsibility. To clarify, you're planning to ambush them outside city limits, yes?"


"That was my intention, yeah," I acknowledged. "You want to help?"


A dark chuckle emerged from the empty hood. "One of them just called my other self a 'glorified dishcloth'. I do believe I can be of assistance. However, I think just giving them the information would be suspicious. I'm an expert at dissemination, leave that to me. What time should they be expecting you, and which exit."


We had a general idea of the gates, but Callie had done the map, so I consulted her. After a brief discussion, we gave him a time and place, tomorrow and went on our way, heading back to meet up with the others.


Once we were out, we followed some directions that Bella had managed to chat out of a local and made our way to a reasonably safe inn called the Brutal Dullard. It wasn't fancy, but it was cheap and clean, and for the low price of thirty one fine scales we got food, drink, and lodging for the night and the next morning. Once we had a place to stay, we headed out into town to look for the Casual Friends. We still had plenty to do today before bed.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We stopped in front of the building we'd been directed to, and I couldn't help but stare. "Friendly Bar," I read aloud. "I can't tell if this person is really lazy or a recursion genius," I said with a laugh.


"Might be both," Callie said cautiously. "So be careful. Honestly the recursion might already be working on us. I feel…a bit too relaxed. Remember what the cloak said, these people are violent thieves. That's why we left most of the others behind. Honestly, I don't think we even NEEDED Abel."


"Hey," protested my teacher in an offended tone. "I resent that. Everyone needs me."


I shrugged. "He's loud and aggressive. Seemed like a good fit for the mission. And before you say it, yes Bethy is louder and more aggressive, but she's also chaotic, and we're trying to keep this relatively low key."


I chuckled, but rather than go in, I just stared at the sign for the bar. The Casual Friends were just another example of a powerful force created by a powerful person. Maybe not the same tier as someone like Zeke, but it was still a likeminded group of people. They were all dedicated to the Ordinary Citizen, to advancing his Path, and something about that…resonated.


My eyes fixed on the sign more intently, and Abel opened his mouth, only to be cut off by Callie. Inside my soul, the Ten Demons Tree spun, an indescribable energy falling on the Ten Demons Tome, strengthening it in a way I couldn't really describe.


In front of my, my Path stretched out, superimposed over the world around me, and within it, I could see more than I ever had before. Not everything, but more. Why did Ascendants create groups? Why did the candidacy require an organization? Some people might say it was just to spread fame, to use recursion, but it was more than that.


Renown had qualitative difference, and it influenced the makeup of stats. Higher ranked beings gave more renown, but more than that, even the individual units were important, their construction meaningful beyond the obvious structure of skill and form.


Culture. Context. Meaning. These things permeated the world. A dragon was just a big lizard, but because of its power and cultural significance, dragons commanded respect. Draconic recursion had effects beyond just the obvious, just like all other recursion. It wasn't just obvious things either. In some cultures, people venerated the turtle, prizing its defense, and in some they held up the monkey, which was fast and agile.


Ascension wasn't just about stacking stats, or even putting them together in new ways. It was about STORIES. Stories were inexplicably steeped in culture and context. When they told us to create our own factions, it wasn't just to gather power, it was to establish a foundation.


Even as I watched the world shift slightly, I could feel my staff emitting an almost invisible aura. It was like the skills and abilities I had were containers full of individual stats. You could increase the container size by ranking up, or you could increase the complexity and fill the container with more pieces, but eventually you would run out of room. Once you did though, you could still pour water into the container, and fill up the gaps.


Something in this revelation spoke to me, and I realized what it was. Bloodlines. Divine Skills, inborn abilities. My grandfathers purification flame was just…MORE than other skills the same level. I didn't know why. It wasn't necessarily complexity (though it WAS more complex than my own skills). Even skills which were made similarly complex seemed to fall short. It was why Zagan was so damned powerful. Why Sammael was.


That was this same energy. That culture. That context. That intangible force I'd just felt seeping into my tome. In fact, I was pretty sure that was the key to properly opening a Domain once I hit S-rank. Something about it called to me in a strange way.


And then it was over, and I was staggering to the side, winded by the experience. Callie caught me, looking concerned. "You ok?"


"Fine," I assured her. "I think…I think I just had an Enlightenment? Like you did when you first touched the Abyss. I'm pretty sure the staff helped. I don't know, I've never really experienced anything like that before. Usually my epiphanies happen during big dramatic moments with lots of power being thrown around."


Abel looked impressed. "Interesting. If I had to guess, I would say it probably noticed you were coming up to a threshold and pushed you over. There are trees and plants that can do that, help with enlightenment, and they're mostly soul related."


"Well, I don't think we have time for me to process what I learned," I laughed. "But it's not like I could forget it. I can parse what it means later, for now we have a meeting to get to. Be on your guard."


I was kind of reeling, but I adjusted quickly. That had been…intense. But it was also essential. I'd caught the edge of something vital to my progress. It was something I was sure I'd need. That force was necessary for someone like me, who wanted to open a massive Domain. I needed to figure out how to gather it, and I was pretty sure the succession war was meant to help with exactly that.


But that was a problem for another time. For the moment, I just triggered Mornax, making sure Sammeal was reinforcing my defensive ability as much as possible.Then, squaring my shoulders, I strode across the road and knocked on the door of the bar.


The door was pale, tidy wood. Well cared for and expertly maintained, the only disruption in the pristine surface aside from some low spots from probably sanding and buffing was a single nail, holding a sign that said simply 'Closed', hanging from a single rope hooked into each of the top corners.


There was a slight pause and then the door opened, showing a large, heavyset man with a thick beard and small, beady eyes. "What?" He said bluntly.


"Hello, we came for a friendly conversation," I said politely, reciting the passphrase. I was six and a half feet tall and wearing terrifying black armor, so I decided to try being nice. Being intimidating was great sometimes, but some people had adverse reactions to being afraid of someone. Normally, I wouldn't be against scaring a scumbag a little bit to speed things up, but this guy seemed like a bit of a bully. If he caved under the pressure that would be fine, but if he locked up because he thought I was trying to humiliate him it would probably have the opposite effect.


He squinted at me suspiciously, and I briefly wondered if that had been my Fatewalker intuition helping smooth the way, because he eventually nodded, opening the door to let us inside. "Right, come in then. The Citizen is in the middle of his usual friendly card game."


We entered the bar, and found it more crowded than expected. The Casual Friends were here in force, talking and drinking and shouting, all watching the card game in the middle of the room. A group of men sat around a bloodstained table, one of them was currently holding a cleaver over his outstretched hand, a manic grin on his reddened face obscured by his large mustache. "Two fingers lads! Who has the guts to pony up?"


Another man, smaller and more fine boned, slammed both hands down on the table. "Damn it, what's there to be scared of? None of these are my originals anyway. I've got some spares at home I can swap out if I need them."


I cocked my head at our guide, who just grinned. "They're playing a hand of poker," his voice ws smug. "We'll wait until they pay out before I take you over, we can just wait over here." He gestured to an empty spot next to a big table of rowdy drunks.


One of them, a sloppy looking man with mutton chops, saw us coming, and turned to grin at us. Or rather. He turned to grin at Callie. "Well aren't you a spicy little thing?" he slurred maliciously. "You looking for a seat, precious? I can share my chair."


My knuckles cracked, and I debated caving his skull in with a Mornax hardened fist, but I knew Callie could handle it, so I just waited. Sure enough, she smiled sweetly at him and said "Get lost". And then he was just…gone.


As was his chair, it took me a minute to realize what had happened, and by the time I had, everyone had stopped laughing and cheering. The whole bar got really quiet as they took in the shadow their friend had just fallen through, then turned to look at us dangerously. I ignored them, glancing at my wife. "Where'd you send him?" I asked in amusement.


"Nowhere," she said with a smile. "He's just falling in the dark. He'll pop back out once I'm out of range, but my range isn't exactly small these days. Maybe some time alone to think will help him reevaluate his manners."


The man with the knife had stood up, and he stalked over to where we stood. Despite knowing she was capable of handling it, I couldn't let that particular offense go, and I stepped between them, my wings spreading a bit to push back all the surrounding figures. The man, who I realized was seven feet tall at least, towered over me, squinting down at us menacingly. "Do you know who that was?"


"No?" I said uncertainly, expecting some diatribe about how that was his brother or something.


He deflated. "Damn, I was hoping you had some idea. I was going to kick him out, but I doubt I'll remember to find out his name." He beamed at us, hand slamming down on my shoulder and then Callie's. "A drink for our new friends lads," he crowed. "For taking out the trash!"


Everyone cheered, their drinks shoved into the air in celebration (I got the impression they were more excited to have something to celebrate than for our actual actions) and within moments we had big mugs of some kind of beer shoved into our hands as we were herded to the central table, which had been cleared off.


"Sit, sit," the Citizen said cheerfully. "Guests are always welcome at the Friendly Bar. Now, what can this humble Citizen do for you? Such a charming couple, and their dashing chaperone, of course." He winked at Abel. "I get the impression you're just our kind of man, like can recognize like you know."


Abel grinned. "Oh trust me," he said in amusement. "I know."


"We were actually hoping for some help," I cut in, deciding to interrupt their showing off. "I'm looking for some friends of mine who went missing in Ashborn. I heard you've got some connections around there."


He nodded jovially. "Aye, that I do. I've got friends all over. Always better to make friends than enemies. Of course, friends have to build strong relationships, which requires a bit o' give and take. Tell me, new friends, what exactly are you plannin' ta give? To establish this wonderful new relationship?"


I'd been expecting this. I decided to start low. "Fifty fine scales," I told him, dumping them on the table. "A welcome gift for a new friend."


He barked out a laugh. "See lads, this is the kind of friend I like to make. Smart and generous." His smile dropped. "But of course, that's a shallow basis for a friendship. To arrange passage out to Ashborn, and I presume a guide, we'd need to be much better friends than that. I trust you're not finished?"


Another fifty scales fell out, joining the first set. "An exotic," I said bluntly. "And that's as far as I'm willing to go. Now, you going to take it or leave it?" The whole bar went silent again as everyone took in my direct challenge, and the Citizen's lips split in another, darker smile. I really hoped my instincts didn't just pick right then to stop working.