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

[Malcolm Tent]

The ceremony was held at the same arena as the finals. A huge luxurious building (without even the wear from the battle, which they had repaired) and pretty huge. Forty thousand people weren't enough to fill the place up, though it was hardly empty with every one of the ten thousand starter teams having shown up. There were a few E-rankers here too, possibly for security, and to my shock, I saw a fucking B-ranker standing next to Midknight.

I turned to look at Zeke, who noticed where my attention had gone and chuckled. "Attempted invasions are bad for morale. They send an executive from the cluster branch to oversee the rest of this. I don't recognize her, but I'm guessing she's a heavy even among people at her rank."

The B-ranker was...impressive. A tall, dark haired woman in a pitch black body suit covered with shining stars. Her black hair shared the spacelike impression, as did her mask, and in the depths of her dark eyes I could see galaxies forming if I looked too long.

Callie, not surprisingly, knew her. "That's Asteria. She's pretty much my dad's bosses, bosses, boss. She has a star based spatial ability, though I don't know of anyone with the details. People who make her use it usually don't survive the encounter."

After a second of thought, Callie knowing a high end B-ranker made sense. The systems and clusters in the Conglomerate were feeders for the Unity to gain renown for their top members. I knew that renown was weighted, so normal mortals probably didn't rate the effort, but I was betting people like Midknight knew ALL the big name Unity capes, and he'd have drilled them into his daughters head.

Mel whistled. "I want to be her when I grow up. You can feel the badass coming off her in waves."

We'd managed to find plenty of our friends in the crowd. Sydney, Megan, Sloane, Wren, Lament, Teague, Alec, there were tons of us all crowded together, though most of the teams were talking to whoever was nearby, given how hectic things were longer distance conversations seemed unlikely.

"You all ready?" Asked Benny with interest. "I still don't know how this works. Is this just an excuse to draw more attention to the highest placing fighters before rank up? Or is there some sort of significance to ranking up all together like this?"

Zeke shrugged. "Opinion is divided on that actually, but ceremonies like this USUALLY have better yields. Whether that's because they put the rank up on display and draw attention or because of some weird resonance from all the Impact, I couldn't say. I do know that they're good for the planet. Not enough to take this one to a proper D-grade, but they'll push the process ahead for sure."

Benny looked annoyed. "Damn. Kind of wish I'd made it in time for this bit. But I'm still a hundred plus points short."

My best friend was probably building to a nice long whining session, but the poke in the ribs from the girl standing beside him shut him up. I gave Celine a grateful smile she couldn't see behind my mask for cutting that off, but before I could comment everyone got really quiet.

"Welcome." Came a surprisingly soft, melodic voice. Every eye in the place focused on Asteria. She was suppressing her aura, but she was letting something...else, out. Some strange aspect of herself that made her seem like more than us, even without the pressure. I wondered if Zeke had that, if he did, he was much better at containing it than she was. "My name is Asteria, and I am the vice Guild Master of the Axiom cluster."

She looked over us all slowly, the sympathetic look on her unnaturally perfect features seeming at odds with her tall, muscular physique. She looked like a war goddess, but she had such a peaceful gaze. Her galactic eyes were hidden behind a small domino mask with that same starry sky distortion as her costume, but somehow, it just pulled focus to their depths, like she was sucking us all in.

I felt a sharp jolt and turned to see Zeke frowning at her, withdrawing his fingers after having pinched her. "Sloppy." He muttered in annoyance. Her eyes jerked up to settle on him, and my uncle raised a brow, her porcelain cheeks colored a bit and things...shifted. It either hadn't been on purpose or she was embarrassed to be caught, but she seemed much less intimidating now.

Clearing her throat, she returned to addressing the now confused crown, all of whom were still reeling a bit like I was. "You've been through a great deal recently." She said gently, bringing us all back to the topic at hand. "You all show great bravery coming here, though you need not worry now. I'm here to keep you safe. I'll be staying on world for a while, working from Callus as a preventative measure, and I'll need to count on all of you that are local to support me."

Zeke snorted lightly, clearly not buying it, but this time she didn't react. Asteria continued on for a while, announcing the names of the final five, in order based on ability. She also announced the top ten, of which I was a part, and we were all called up to be shown off as the stellar example of heroism and ability that we were (her words, and I'm almost sure that there was a pun mixed in there secretly, which made me like her more).

Finally, she finished telling us all what we'd accomplished, passed out some monetary rewards for the top ten (I couldn't remember if those had been mentioned or if they were hush money but I got another hundred G-rank coins so I wasn't complaining either way) and then officially let us all know that we were eligible to rank up now. There was even a big countdown as we all got ready to accept the rank.

The actual shift in the world around us when we accepted the rank up simultaneously was MASSIVE. The feel of that much Impact shifting at the same time was insane. I knew that since it was qualitatively within the limits of the planet there was no danger of damage, but it still felt crazy. Like a hurricane made of hammers bludgeoning us all, rather than the single wall of force I felt from a B-rank aura.

I felt plenty of changes, and had to look over my stats to figure out what they were, but once I did I found myself flabbergasted. I'd gotten a staggering amount of points over the course of this tournament. Thirty in Might, thirty in Perception, twenty in Fantasy, thirty in Vitality, twenty in Creation, and twenty in Focus. Which left me staring at my new stat screen after rank up.

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

Might-250
Impact-32
Fantasy-200
Vitality-220
Focus-168
Perception-180
Creation-180
Progress to next rank:1230/10000

Stored:7 shadow attacks,10 Stealth charges, 0 fire attacks,9 triple strenth tranq blows, 7 triple strength density shifted attacks. 9 spider leg attacks, 2 heal bursts, 4 gravity attacks, 7 shadow clone, 22 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)
Pet- Wolf named Jin
Skills:Lesser Cooking Mastery, Lesser Inventing Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Lesser Balam Mastery, Minor First Aid Mastery,Lesser Paired Dueling, Intermediate Path of the Doom Sovereign

DS Subskills. Monk: Stone Limb, Moonlit Night, Consecration of Flame, Ripple Running, State of Grace, Steam Arrow, Afterburner, Pit of Despair, Mountain Stance.

Rogue: Mercy Kill, Double Trouble, Touch of Tears, Flurry of Blows, Heavy hands, Marked for Death

Diviner: Overlay, Song of the Soil, Rythym of the Wild, Eye of Revelation, Danger Sense

My results were staggering, leaving me almost a quarter of the way to two thousand points after just one tournament, but that was nothing compared to the changes Callie had seen. My girlfriend's rank up had brought not just new stats, but a new ability, taking into account her new Skill synergy from shadow manipulation (which she had apparently ranked up during all the down time as the tournament progressed) as well as her lean into Perception towards the end of her accumulation.

Calliope Reynolds: F-rank. Intermediate 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-218
Impact-32
Vitality-142
Fantasy-150
Focus-58
Perception-375
Creation-185
Progress to next rank: 1160/10000

Pet-Wolf named Rellia

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

Aside from the standard twenty points of Impact, she'd gotten fifty points of Creation, forty points of Perception, twenty of Might, and thirty of Fantasy. She was up to eleven hundred and sixty total, meaning she'd gotten a hundred and forty points off this rank up, but that was nothing compared to her Abyssal Infiltration ability.

Despite her control of shadows, Callie had never been able to fully enter them. She could, with preparation and concentration, HIDE things in her shadows, like she had with her bike, but she needed to spend a lot of time and materials making that possible and it effectively made it useless in combat. This new ability though, it more than made up for it. Not only could she meld into shadows, she could extend her Perception through shadows to spy on people, and it increased her versatility with the shadows she had.

After she finished telling me about it she threw herself into my arms and kissed me senseless. I could sense the happiness and relief through the bond. Callie, in a lot of ways, had been standing still since we met. It was easy to forget that while the rest of us had ranked up quickly to catch up to her, she'd been G-rank for years. Finally breaking that wall, not to mention evolving her ability to something truly amazing, made her really believe she could keep up.

I pulled back, smiling at her, and decided not to address her insecurities about being left behind. They were crazy, of course, but being told your emotions are dumb doesn't make you feel them less, and I'd learned enough being in a relationship not to make THAT rookie mistake.

I turned to Abel and Mel, both of whom looked pleased with their results, though they didn't share. We knew bits and pieces of what they could based on things they'd shared and that we'd seen, but we didn't have access to their stat pages and I wasn't going to ask. Callie could bring it up if she wanted, but I trusted them to tell us if there was something we needed to know.

Asteria cleared her throat, bringing all of us back to reality from our upgrade highs. "It seems you've all broken through to the next rank. Congratulations, both to my own citizens and to our visitors. As discussed, the departure will be in a month, any of our guests feel free to remain and visit, I assure you you'll be quite safe here." Translation: stay if you want to, I'll be watching you all.

With that she made her goodbyes and turned to stride out of the arena, Midknight trailing behind her silently. I didn't know if it was the real him or armor, but Callie looked worried as she watched him go. I knew she didn't forgive him, and shouldn't, but he was still her dad and she was a bit worried about him after seeing that armor demolished by those B-rankers. She didn't mention it though, and I didn't push. We had bigger worries anyway. We had a month left, or rather thirty one days counting today, to prepare and get Jessie and Benny ranked up. Good thing I had an extra daily wish. I'd need it.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

A month. A month of wishes, a month of stat gains. Slow and steady, constantly trying to build up my friends. Benny and Jessie were both within reach of F-rank. With Jessie's regular income of Might from her bond with Randall, not to mention my boost, and how close Benny already was, the seven hundred and forty four points I had to throw around for the month was more than enough to get them both where they needed to go.

Benny was first. One hundred fifty seven points. Seven days, six wishes each, though only half on the final day, got him to F-rank without a problem. Well, it would have been one short at a hundred fifty six (thirty nine wishes, four stats each) but Benny had been working on jobs pretty consistently, and had managed to snag a point of Creation despite only doing drudge work.

He was, of course, thrilled to reach F-rank like the rest of us, and had begun training with Abel nearly immediately afterward, trying to get the best out of his new abilities, especially since Abel had pushed his Ragam to Expert and was even MORE terrifying now.

Benicio Cortez- F-rank. Ability: Intermediate Mechanical Embodiment- Allows the integration of existing inventions into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them.

Might-405

Impact-32

Fantasy-16

Vitality-31

Focus-463

Perception-42

Creation-31

Progress to next rank: 1020/10000

Pet- Wolf named Rolf

Current integrated tech. 10/10. Torso: Extending rope. Right fist: triple punch. Left forearm: long range attack attraction. Left fist: minor slow acting tranquilizer effect. Right foot: Density shifting to create heavier kicks and more powerful jumps. Left Foot: momentum neutralization to allow stopping instantly. Head: slight cognitive boost to allow more thinking time. Back: ability to grow a shell to tank damage. Chest: Pair of golden G rank spider legs that arch up from the shoulders. Waist: Belt of spiritual calming

Skills:Minor Cooking Mastery, Intermediate Inventing Mastery, Minor Haggling Mastery, Minor Stealth Master

And of course, Jessie's upgrade was much easier to manage. Her Bond to Randall, over the course of the month, gave her fifty five Might, bringing the stat to an even one hundred fifty. The entire rest of her development, four hundred and thirty four points of it, was all Vitality. A whopping seven hundred and sixty two points of the stuff, making her an absolute monster with the stat and exponentially increasing the power of her ability.

Jessica Evans- F-rank. Ability: Intermediate Lifeweaving- Infuse living things with life itself and direct their actions while the users power flows through them. Control has limited effect on sapient entities. Prolonged exposure to life energy may cause lasting effects in controlled subjects.

Might-150

Impact-32

Fantasy-28

Vitality-762

Focus-25

Perception-15

Creation-8

Progress to next rank: 1020/10000

Pet- Wolf named Lily and bear named Randall(Beginner Beast Bonding with Jessie)

Skills: Intermediate Horticulture, Intermediate First Aid, Beginner Herbalism, Minor Flower Arrangement, Minor Beast Taming Mastery, Beginner Beast Bonding

Just under twenty days and one hundred and nine wishes for Jessie. Amusingly, after paying for the wishes with coins (the upcoming bazaar was going to be expensive) I ended up with four hundred and thirty four G-rank coins, the same amount of points Jessie had added to her Vitality. Out of all of us I think Jessie came the furthest. During all the downtime she'd been training non-stop apparently. Horticulture and First Aid both hit Intermediate, and Herbalism hit Beginner.

Her biggest change though, was one small subtle shift in her ability description. The loss of the words non-sapient when it came to her ability to permanently enhance her controlled subjects. Her actual life force control didn't work on sapient beings still, but the change represented her ability to control beings in other ways (like Beast Bonding) and permanently enhance them even if they developed sapience. It was a game changer for her.

My last thirty eight wishes I used for myself, a hundred and fifty two points sourced from the Beast Lord Garden crew. A hundred into Fantasy and fifty two into Focus, which was lagging behind, bringing those stats to three hundred even and two hundred and twenty respectively. Getting everyone up to snuff was difficult, time consuming, and frankly, exhausting. Mixed in with my own consistent effort to get used to my new Impact and adjust my fighting style, the month flew by in a blur of exhaustion and pain.

But eventually, it ended. On the last night of the month, thirty one days after the ceremony and the last night before we left, we all gathered for a meeting on who would be coming. Natalie, Perit, Valk, Abel, Mel, Benny, Jessie, Callie, and Mel. Natalie's last team member, whose name I couldn't remember for the life of me, was apparently not important enough to come with us, and Benny had lobbied shamelessly for us to bring Celine in their place.

The elf herself was here, looking a bit nervous, but Benny was holding her hand for support, and it said something about how close their trials had brought them that she didn't seem bothered by the public display. I was happy for my friend. Callie...less so. "Why would we POSSIBLY bring her?" Argued my girlfriend. She shot Celine an apologetic look. "Not that I'm still mad. You made peace with Benny and almost died, I'm happy to let bygones be bygones, but this slot is priceless. We could get paid through the nose to bring someone."

That...was actually fair. Everyone had come here just for this. If word got out we had a spare slot for the Glade everyone would be swarming us to try to get it. Benny nodded. "That's true, but you could do the same for Celine. Despite her choosing me over her family in the end, her sister is the only one who knows. Her family is desperate to get someone into the Glade. Nalia would look like a rock star if she pulled it off, and that kind of reputation would be worth downplaying or omitting a few...indiscretions."

I whistled appreciatively. "Damn." Everyone looked at me. "That's sneaky, not just leveraging the family into letting Celine come with us, but making use of that exact same leverage to patch things up with her family and get rid of any evidence that Celine ever screwed them. Two birds one stone. Did you come up with that?"

He grinned proudly. "Celine has been giving me lessons in political theory. Pretty good, right?"

"Excuse me." Interrupted Callie. "But we still haven't agreed. It would depend on exactly what Nalia is willing to offer. I'm sorry Celine, but this needs to be about what's best for the team. If that's you then I welcome you with open arms, but we need to shop around." I could sense through the bond that Callie wasn't COMPLETELY over the back stabbing, which was fair, but she was willing to put it to bed for benefits not to mention helping out Benny.

Not that he seemed to notice, my best friend was glaring hard at Callie, but she ignored it. She had to do what was best for the team. Celine seemed to understand though, because she just nodded solemnly. "Can I at least have a bit to call and try to get you some kind of benefits before you let anyone else know about the slot?"

Callie glanced over at Benny with a sigh. "Alright. I can do that much. See what you can get." Celine slipped out of the room and my girlfriend shot my best friend an apologetic smile. "Sorry Ben, I can't let an opportunity like this slip away. We need every possible advantage going into a dungeon." Glancing at Nat, she said. "Speaking of which, do you know anything about this place? Now that we have the entry permissions planning ahead would be a good idea."

Nat just sighed. "No. The Moonsong Glade isn't a dungeon people normally have access to. It's in an unstable area of space, similar to the unstable spaces Mad Madigan used to make that Labyrinth we lured the Cultists into. The space sort of fluctuates, which means access is only possible at certain times or under certain conditions. Same reason only F-rankers can enter. There ARE people alive who have been inside, but they're ancient, and chances are things have changed a ton."

"Then what DO we know?" Callie said in frustration. "Even out of date information is better than no information. It would give us a starting point."

Nat shrugged. "Not much. We know there were people inside, locals who lived on the planet as it developed into a dungeon. Lots of beasts. The Moonglow Dew is stimulated by external access, so it doesn't spawn except when the place is open. No clue why, something about Impact resonance. Other than that we've got nothing. It's been a VERY long time since anyone was in there."

Callie sighed in aggravation as Celine came back into the room, leaning down to whisper in her ear. Callie blinked in surprise. "Wait...really?" She looked up at us. "Nalia is willing to offer a Skill crystal of our choice as compensation. That would be a pretty huge opportunity, especially for Jessie. Life and beast Skills are specialties of the elves. Celine's woodcraft is a good demonstration of that. She can get something Vitality based that will massively help her combat efficiency."

"Ask for Shape of the Wild." Celine said immediately. "The crystal we have is at Intermediate, so Jessie should be able to learn it. It's a supplementary Skill for Beast Bonding that lets a person transform into their bonded companion. Given how strong Randall is Jessie would benefit from it a ton."

Jessie's eyes went wide. "I can be a BEAR? That's amazing!" She looked at Callie pleadingly. "Oh please let me be a bear. That sounds so fun. I can slap fish out of rivers and hibernate in caves!" We all looked at her and she shrugged. "It looks relaxing. Plus I might be able to actually speak with Randall. Minor communication through the bond is one thing, but being able to SPEAK BEAR? That sounds so cool!" Her voice was starting to run together as she talked faster and breathed less. If she hadn't been an Ascendant I'd have been worried about her suffocating.

My girlfriend's gaze was not amused. "Traditionally, when negotiating, it's best not to inform the other side of the negotiations that you can't live without the thing being negotiated over." Her eyes narrowed. "Which you're more than smart enough to know. You're trying to help Benny."

Jessie grinned back at her cheekily. "Maybe I thought he needed a bit of help. Come on. We like Celine. I mean sure, I was pretty pissed about her stabbing us in the back, but she did it for her family, and she changed sides in the end to help us. We would have had a much tougher time with the Burning Heaven Abyss without her. They had a Master Candidate."

Callie sighed. "Fine. I'll agree to her coming. The Skill crystal is a good idea, and I do appreciate the suggestion. Do you think you'll be able to work that into your next rank up? Because it kind of fits with your whole theme. I assume that Vitality plays a role in this Skill, by the way?" She asked Celine.

The elf nodded. "Higher Vitality means a longer transformation. The power of the transformation depends on the Bond itself and the relative power of the two subjects. In this case both F-rank, so that'll help." it would also give Jessie a Might bump from what turning into a giant bear would do for her reputation.

Nat said nothing about it, so she clearly didn't care, and Benny was thrilled as we sat and talked over details before finalizing things. Callie called Nalia personally to sort through things, and once it was all finalized Nalia had the crystal sent over, promising it would be there by morning. Then we all started getting ready. The next day would be our departure for the Moonsong Glade. It was finally time to leave Callus. We were going to enter the wider universe at last.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next morning, we all got packed up, ready to leave and prepared to set off. Cass was sobbing uncontrollably, hugging each of us in turn and begging us not to go, and I wasn't the only one whose heart broke as the little girl started promising not to feed her vegetables to the wolves anymore if we would stay.

I...hadn't been thinking about Cass when we decided to leave, but now that I was it tore my heart out. We'd been like her new family since we rescued her, and she was desperate to keep us from leaving. I wasn't the only one who thought so either, because she was so heartbreaking Zeke finally spoke up.

"You know...I could use an assistant." He said casually. "We're going to be waiting around in space for literal months with nothing to do. I mean sure, there will be other people around, but doing all the menial labor on my own isn't my style. Maybe if Cark wants to stick around I can pay him in advice or something. Give him a few pointers. He's not part of your pavilion so there's no conflict of interest there. As long as he commits to never joining."

Cark looked hesitant, but I could see the eagerness too. He was part of a faction here, but he spent more time around the house than anything, trying to be there for Cass, and Burning Fist had taught him a bit, but the guy wasn't like...a mentor. Not to mention he didn't need to quit the faction. In fact, training under Zeke at ALL would be a hell of an education for later. Leaving Sage would suck for him, but he spent more time around the house than he did with her.

Finally, he looked over at Cass, staring at him with big shimmering eyes, and nodded, taking off to call Burning Fist and gather his stuff. As he ran off, I turned to Nat. "Ok, so I never bothered to ask but...how are we getting off planet? I've never left before so I don't know how it works."

She shrugged. "Varies based on distance. There are ships that can transit between worlds, but they're mostly system locked. Anything bigger or more powerful needs to be made by a high ranking Inventor, which obviously makes them extremely rare. Even ones who focus on control when they reach Intermediate have trouble staying focused on singular projects for long. For something across the cluster I expect they'll use a Waywalker."

At my confused expression she chuckled. "Waywalkers are long distance teleporters. One of the clans has kind of a monopoly on the industry. Shipping and transportation often depends on stability, so having an organization with a standardized power that allows transport across space is key. They do a lot of work with the Merchant's Guild."

That sounded awesome. "So they just...tear open space? To anywhere? That kind of spatial power must be insanely expensive stat wise. How do they have so many high ranking members?"

She shook her head. "Nah, they use anchors. Send them to various planets and then connect the space between their current location and the anchor to open a portal. For a system level jump a D-ranker can manage. Cluster level would be someone in the C-ranks. Past that it can get dicey. Cross galaxy transport is extremely hard to arrange. The higher ups at the Waywalker Convergence aren't really interested in being people's ride."

Zeke snickered from where he was sitting on the couch watching Cass play with Jin (the wolves were coming along with us because the Moonsong Glade would be a perfect environment for them to grow). When he noticed us looking at him he smirked. "They really don't. We took a Waywalker here when we first came over from the Empire. Your Grandfather's branch is in Empire territory. This absolute ass named Charleston was our transporter. He was an A-ranker, but given our affiliation we were of similar statuses. Huge prick."

Everyone just stared at him in terror, remembering the power they'd seen in the arena and then imagining mouthing off to someone STRONGER than that. He didn't seem to notice. Finally Cark came back out with a bag, wincing slightly. "I'm good to go." It occurred to me that while they didn't seem super serious, telling your girlfriend you planned to take off for another star system out of the blue was probably not a fun conversation. I didn't envy him that, but I wasn't going to poke at it.

We all headed out to the car to drive to...wherever we were going. Callie knew, apparently, and told Jessie, before sitting in the back with me. "You ok?" She asked quietly. "I know you've never been off world."

I smiled at her attempt to ignore her nerves by focusing on mine. I could feel her nervousness through the bond, and I knew what she needed, so I just smiled and said. "Yeah it's going to be a big change. I'll miss a lot of people here." I put an arm around my shoulder. "But I'm taking all of my favorites with me, so I think I'll be ok."

Her shoulders relaxed a bit as my words sunk in, but I knew it would take more than that to make her feel better. She was leaving her mom, her uncle, the only place she'd ever known. I'd been steered toward solitude, at least looking back on my life, so leaving with the only people I cared that much about was nostalgic but not sad. Callie hadn't had the luxury of that kind of mindset.

I mean sure, I'd miss Maria, Stella, Ian, and plenty of other friends, but I wasn't leaving behind a piece of myself. Not like Callie was. She'd called Amelia last night to say goodbye, and I'd help her after they hung up as she cried her eyes out, but she wanted to do this. Leaving home sucked, but it was important, especially to someone as independent as Callie. At least this time she was doing it with her mom's blessing. And she'd told me she called Alexander and demanded he stop by and check in regularly. She hadn't cried after saying goodbye to him, but she'd been sad about it.

We talked a bit over the drive, keeping each other distracted so we weren't thinking about the trip. The closer we got to the Waywalker departure point the less sure of myself I felt. I knew that was just fear of the unknown though so I ignored it and focused on talking things out with Callie. We weren't the only ones nervous, of course, and after a few minutes Benny came to sit with us, bringing Celine with him.

Since Jessie was driving Celine passed the Skill crystal to Callie as she sat down. My girlfriend stashed it away and then glanced at Benny. " You doing ok? This is probably pretty scary for you too right?"

He sighed and leaned back. "Yeah. Leaving my family sucks. I mean Jessie is leaving Maria too, but they weren't really official and it's not the same. Not just her either. My parents are here. I know intellectually I haven't seen them since we visited home, and traveling further is just more of the Sam's. But it feels like a bigger deal."

I clapped him on the shoulder. "We'll be back, man. And we'll have stories to tell and souvenirs to give them. I can even give them abilities if they want." It would be too noticeable to start doing that to everyone as I was now, but when we came back I'd be stronger. It would be much less of a problem.

He smiled at that. "That would be nice." He still sounded sad about leaving, but Celine squeezed his hand and we lapsed into silence.

Before we could talk more the car slowed down. Callie took a deep breath. "Alright...we're here. Is everyone ready? Have everything you need?"

Benny snickered at that. "Yes MOM. Let's go." Celine pulled him up as she stood and the two of them headed outside. We all filed out after, and I was surprised to find us outside of an arena.

Zeke nodded. "Smart place to put it. These things all have decent protections on them." We headed inside and made our way down to the ring, where Midknight, Asteria, and surprisingly Frostbite were waiting. Rime was there, and we nodded to our former bodyguard. It would have been nice to take her with us, but our contract didn't extend that far. Not everyone wanted to leave the planet after all.

Asteria smiled as we approached. "Ah. Our champion and his party. Welcome. I trust you're all prepared to depart?" At our nods she gestured to one side. "Please take your positions." She tried very hard not to look at Zeke, presumably out of fear, which seemed to suit him fine.

We all lined up where she pointed, and she stepped forward, laying down a small stone with intricate carvings all over it. Tapping the top of the stone, she created a spark, which flooded the runes across the rock's surface. There was a flash of light, and then, before our eyes, the air CRACKED.

There was a shudder in space, and my head swam a bit as I watched the world itself tear apart, prying reality open until there was a portal sitting in the air in front of us. As it had opened, I'd been able to see the fluctuations of unstable space in the cracks around the edges, but now that it was open it was just a...hole.

Like looking at a window with no frame, on one side was one place, and on another a second. It was weird looking at the portal, because the portal itself was two dimensional and flat, but it was showing three dimensional space on either side. Zeke looked bored, but everyone else seemed shaken by the ability. It was a pretty impressive sight, I had to admit.

Asteria pointed at the portal. "Your path to the Moonsong Glade lies through there. The Glade isn't QUITE revealed yet, though it's accessible enough for them to arrange accommodations. You'll be dropped off on the floating city established outside the Glade while you wait for the other tournament winners and their teams. You will not be provided with a return trip, and will need to arrange that yourselves."

That kind of sucked, but it also made sense. This was an open tournament. There was a net benefit to the Unity from all the publicity, but once the winners left, it was hardly their problem. We were nominally members of the Unity, but only junior members. It wasn't worth paying for us to come back without some sort of benefit to them. Granted, I could probably have arranged a trip for some wishes if I wanted to pay, but we had a next destination after the Glade, so there was no point.

Frostbite looked mildly annoyed, but she was an E-ranker, and Asteria was the one who made decisions. I was guessing our ally had tried to lobby for better treatment and got shot down. Someone as strong as Asteria had probably met plenty of candidates, and while we theoretically had amazing potential, not all of us lived up to it.

Staring through the window, I saw a sprawling, massive city, with a night sky background somehow far too close to be believable. I reached down to grab Callie's hand and she squeezed back. I felt her nervousness and excitement in equal measure through the bond. With one last look around at the planet I'd spent my whole life on, I gave the others a short nod, then Callie and I stepped through the window together, emerging for the first time in the wider universe. As the others stepped through behind us and the window closed, I couldn't help but grin as my heart pounded. The sadness had mostly faded, all I could feel now was the anticipation. Now was when the adventure really began.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

When Zeke had mentioned the bazaar, I had assumed we would be attending some small gathering of stalls. Maybe some tents, a few blankets on the ground. The word invoked images of a temporary market that contained equally temporary sales locations. What we actually ended up walking into was...not that.

For one thing I felt...heavier. Like I was under pressure I hadn't been before. It was a strange feeling to experience, like I was suffocating even as I took a deep breath. Once I realized I was panicking about nothing and forced myself to calm down the panicked sensation went away, though the weight remained. For another thing though, the place we'd ended up was...amazing.

The close night sky in the portal made much more sense once I got to view it up close, since we were literally IN space. It looked like someone had torn a city (a very large one mind you) out of the ground and let it float among the stars. Buildings extended for as far as the eye could see, all of varying shapes and styles. "This is...temporary?" I said in shock. This place was just a random camp set up to wait on the glade, but it looked like it had taken centuries to build.

Zeke snorted. "They've probably got a high ranking Architect around somewhere. I've seen variations of that ability that can make entire countries with a snap of their fingers. There are a bunch of ways to do it. Though out in space like this they either had the rock shipped out or they hired one of the Fantasy based variants. The latter would be pretty damn expensive though."

There was a sound as a man cleared his throat, and we turned to see a short, burly man with curly dark hair and horns. His eyes were goat eyes and he had a small patch of facial hair that went well with his annoyed expression somehow. He held out a hand. "My tip?"

Rolling his eyes, my uncle started muttering something about Waywalkers, and fished out a chit he flipped to the goat man. The other ascendant caught the chit, then made a show of biting it while staring at Zeke, before nodding and vanishing into thin air in a blink. I was guessing since Zeke had been transported too, tipping wasn't a breach of contract, but I wasn't going to ask in case he'd just managed to slip that by the geass by not thinking about it.

"So...we're here." Said Callie slowly. "Wherever here is. Does this place have a name?" She looked around excitedly. "Actually, I can find out on my own. I should try out my new powers here. I can use them to spy on everyone around here to figure out all the important info. Learn the ins and outs of the city."

She stepped toward a wall, but Zeke held up a hand. "Don't!" He said quickly. When she stopped to give him a confused look he just sighed. "Don't forget that your ability, while amazing, IS Perception based. Anyone with a sufficiently high Perception can detect you even in the shadows. This place is full of random elders and faction management. Given the low standard of the cluster, I'm guessing that there won't be many B-rankers, if any, but a C or D-ranker is more than up to noticing you."

Wincing slightly she stepped away from the wall. "Ah. And you can't protect me because I'm not your charge. Speaking of, D-rank is the new level of protection you can offer right? If we run into any E-rankers and piss them off we're screwed." She sounded about as worried as I felt.

Zeke just waved it off. "Oh sure, but there won't be any here. Sending an E-ranker to this place would be stupid. Everyone else would be stronger, or weaker, depending on if they were entrants. With the Glade blocking anyone below or over F-rank, and any protectors being notably powerful, most of the people will be C-rank. Only lower middle class factions will send B-rankers. Strong enough to have them but weak enough not to trust their reputation to protect their people."

That seemed to put Callie back on balance. "That makes sense. This whole thing is its own kind of challenge. The chaperones will be seen as expressions of both power and confidence. Won't having you here make us seem weak though? You're WAY overkill for this place."

"Nah." Said my uncle casually. "I'm his sole protector, technically speaking. Stuff like this tends to be a gray area for candidates. If anything having a protector like me is bound to impress. Most candidates get rookies like her." He jabbed a thumb as Selka, who was standing next to a calm but interested Nat.

The other guardian bristled. "I'll have you know that I'm a talented combatant. You don't get chosen to be guardian unless you can handle yourself. Don't treat me like some punk kid."

Zeke just grinned maliciously. "Awww, it thinks it's dangerous. How cute. Here's the thing though, you ARE some punk kid. It become exponentially harder to rank up as you move up. You may never reach B-rank, and even if you do it'll take you absurd amounts of time to reach the point I'm at in B-rank. By that time I'll probably be an A-ranker." He paused. "Or dead. I might just be dead. Either way, respect your elders kid."

Her glare was almost funny, until I snickered and she turned it on me, at which point I shut up. "Anyway." Said Callie firmly, regaining attention. "Where are we going? Do we have some sort of...faction safehouse here? Are there other WCP branches here? Can we trust them if there are?"

"There are, and we can't." My uncle said firmly. "I don't know if there are other candidates, though if there are I would wager not many. Regardless, the WCP isn't cohesive enough for that. Maybe if it was another member of your branch, but there's no way to know at the moment. Too many people for me to keep track of, so I can't even check. Not that my geass would allow it."

Callie scowled. "So...maybe a hotel or something? Do we even have the money for that?" I hadn't paid much attention to join funds lately, but I knew I personally was just short four and a half E-rank coins. I was betting that would NOT be enough.

Zeke just gave her a pitying look. "Did you forget we're traveling with a pair of wishmaster candidates? They're basically walking piggy banks. You can trade wishes for nearly anything." He pointed over at Nat and I and I scowled at him in annoyance.

"Hey!" I said loudly. He just raised an eyebrow at me. I looked away, grumbling to myself. "You could be nicer about it, you know. I'm not just some asset to pay for things."

"You're a PAIN in my asset." He drawled. "But we can figure out where to go with an easy trick of the trade. I wish we had the location of a safe place to stay." I blinked at him. Zeke had never wished for anything from me. I could see how it was within his geass, since he needed a place to stay too. He paused as the words flowed across my vision. "Oh, payment." He pulled out a chit and flicked it to me. An F-ranked chit, which was pretty decent.

Wish detected. Grant wish? I confirmed, accepting the point cost which was much lower than my usual wishes theese days. There was a flash of electricity and I realized why there had been Creation points folded in. A piece of paper covered in a spidery scrawl flashed into existence, a map that showed all the nearby areas, including a single neatly marked X off to on side, with a caption over it saying. "Daylight Dreamer Inn."

I grinned at him. "That's a good idea. I take it you want me to get more used to using my Wishes as an asset now that I'm stronger?'

He nodded amiably. "Yup. There will probably be another candidate or two around here, given the sheer scope of a cluster wide search. Even candidates who don't travel horizontally among similar scale worlds like Natalie probably got swept up in this mess."

Clapping me on the shoulder, he chuckled lightly. "More candidates means that your Wishes are both more and less valuable. You can use them more freely, but they aren't quite as limited a commodity as they used to be. You'll need to adjust to the new environment. Granted, it's pretty specific to places like this, but the Ruined Soul Temple will be one of those locations as well, so it's something to get used to."

I nodded, following Callie as she grabbed the map from Zeke and set off in a direction. Benny stepped up next to me. "This place is nuts, right?" He said, gesturing around us. "Because I thought Rajak was big, but this place has to be like...half the size, and they put it together short term as a place to hang out and wait? Architect or no that's insane."

"Yeah." I murmured back. "I feel that. I think I feel...slower here. Weaker maybe? Which is nuts because my stats are higher. This must be a higher level area than our planet. Probably just D-rank though. If we were more than a rank up right now I assume it would be much more obvious."

Zeke, who was ahead of us, turned to nod. "Yeah, D-rank. Since your planet is a psuedo D-rank world anyway it's less difference than you would expect. It won't have much effect at this level. Just a bit of suppression and a change to the strength of your abilities. Nothing too noticeable with all the recent upgrades."

"It's true." Celine said solemnly. "I've been on higher ranked planets before. Your combat efficiency doesn't drop much, considering it's a linear change across the board. The one difference is that the surrounding environment tends to be harder to damage. I doubt it would be a simple thing to destroy a building here, if we were even capable of doing so."

Which seemed like a big change from our psuedo D-rank planet, but then again, this place was much smaller. Maybe the Impact was more condensed here. Suffice to say I could understand why they didn't let anyone under F-rank off the planet. While this was only mildly stifling for us, I got the feeling that with twenty less Impact it would be much more difficult to bear with, even if still possible.

Finally we came to a stop in front of a large, tower like building. With cream colored walls and red tiled roof, the place looked like a vacation destination more than a run of the mill inn, but it was definitely upscale enough to be a feasible place to stay. Zeke looked it over carefully before nodding. "Decent security and top notch stealth. Probably a high C-ranker running the place. Not perfect but more than enough for our purposes."

I was curious how it had top notch stealth when we found it so easily, but I was sure I wouldn't care about the answer anyway. He said it was fine and I trusted his judgement. So we stepped inside, strolling up to the counter. The girl behind it had black hair in a ponytail, pale skin, and dark lips with a single ring in them. Her eyes were ringed with dark liner, and she mostly ignored us as we approached, engrossed in a leather bound book.

Knocking on the counter, I cleared my throat. She looked up. "I'm hoping to talk to your boss about accommodations." She pointed above her head at sign with pricing on it before returning to her read. Must be a fascinating story. I scanned the values and sure enough, WAY too many chits. I grinned, knocking again. "Tell them we're from the WCP. And we're willing to trade wishes." It was satisfying how quick she slammed the book shut. It's nice to be taken seriously.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The owner of the Daylight Dreamer Inn was not what I expected. Though to be fair that was probably more my issue than his. He looked younger than I'd thought, but reconsidering Ascendants were almost always young looking, at least once they were full grown.

Sindar was more the kind of person you'd expect to see at a club than in the office of an inn though. Handsome guy, dark skin, dark eyes, and long wavy black hair. He had on an expensive looking suit (which for an Ascendant meant it was enchanted) and had an easy smile that was belied by the coldness in his brown irises. I could tell he was trying to give off the impression of a friendly, amiable guy, and I could ALSO tell that if I believed that impression I was going to get badly ripped off.

Which was interesting, because he was at least at the peak of F-rank (probably one of the entrants), and he really should have had a Skill that would make it harder for me to spot that. It took me a second to realize that I'd picked it up through the bond, and that Callie, with her high perception stat, was the one who had noticed. It was a bit jarring how smoothly that had come through, honestly.

"So." Said Sindar. "I'm told you have a precious resource you're seeking to barter with." He folded his hands in front of him as he smiled at us cooly. Then he did...nothing. Damn it. He was waiting for us to make the first offer. I tried to consider who would be the best fit for this situation. Benny had the haggling Skill, but it was Minor, and there was no way it would useful here.

To my relief, Celine stepped forward, offering a cool smile. "Mr. Wyndham is interested in safe lodgings until the Glade fully opens, but we had some...concerns. Just a few questions we need to have answered before we can decide if your establishment is right for us."

I had to stifle a sigh of relief, and Callie felt the same, as we both turned to stare at Celine. Because of course being a noble she knew how to negotiate. I was suddenly extremely glad that we'd brought her along, because she clearly had a much better handle on this situation than any of us.

What came next was a master class in diplomacy. I learned enough to almost pick up a Skill just watching her I think. First she turned the tables on him with that initial reversal, forcing him to go on the defensive instead of waiting patiently for us to respond. Once she had him off balance she pretty much tore him apart.

Every comment he made was taken in the worst possible light, every open ended statement was looped around to be a negative. It was almost beautiful watching the character assassination of his inn, and by the time she was done, I don't think even HE considered the place worth staying at. She finished the negotiations with a one wish per day payment schedule over a single month, and he looked confused and almost nauseous when she was done.

As we headed up to our rooms, each of us with our own room key,we all turned to stare at Celine in horrified fascination. She just gave a small but smug smile. "Negotiations are an important part of diplomacy. As a noble I'm naturally quite experienced in the art of discourse. I hope that was helpful?"

Callie burst out laughing. "You smug ass, of course it was helpful, and you know it. But I appreciate the save either way. I'm glad we decided to bring you along. You're officially in charge of haggling and negotiations." As she saw Celine's smile grow, she countered it with one of her own. "I wouldn't be so happy about that if I were you. We're about to go to an interstellar market. You're about to get a pretty sizable amount of work."

The elf girl's expression fell as she realized she'd basically just been upgraded to a personal shopper for the foreseeable future, and Benny snickered at his girlfriend's dismay, only for her to whirl on him and shoot him a surprisingly expressive glare. "Oh, I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." She said sweetly. "I know you have the haggling Skill, and I plan to train you up so that we have more options in the future. You're going to be coming along everywhere I go."

His eyes widened in panicked horror, but sadly for him, his fate was sealed, Celine grabbed him by the wrist, wished us all luck with finding our rooms, and dragged him off down the hallway. Callie was smirking as she watched them leave, a thoughtful look on her face I didn't really like. The last thing I needed was my girlfriend deciding she needed to take a firmer hand in our relationship.

"Oh hey." I said desperately. "I forgot to ask you what you think about my weapon? I'm about to replace it. Zeke was talking about possibly picking up the staff so I could learn a martial art. What do you think?" She was startled out of her thoughts by the question, which was about weapons and therefore BASICALLY loot. Helping me shop would keep her distracted, and I also really wanted her opinion.

The others had scattered to their rooms, leaving the two of us alone to find ours, and she looked pensive as we walked. "That's a good question. I could see how a staff might work, but it seems...off. The length is wrong. Maybe I just got used to you with a cane though. If you think it would work I could see it though. Maybe take it further, try for the spear? Having a blade on the end of your weapon might be nice."

I shook my head firmly. "Hard pass. A lot of my Skills increase flat impact damage. A blade would mitigate some of the advantages, and it just...feels wrong. Not like me." Pushing through the door to our room, I looked around in surprise and enthusiasm, stopping the conversation so I could take in the new digs.

The hallways of the inn had been well appointed but small. About five feet across, with thick carpets, smooth painted walls and the odd bit of bric-a-brac or a painting hanging at eye level. I expected similarly meager sizes for the rooms, but when we stepped inside, I was blown away.

If the room had been some gymnasium sized palace with tons of marble and beautiful gold accents I'd have been pleased and amused but not shocked. Rather, ostentatious and huge was what I'd come to expect from Ascendant places. To my surprise though, this place was actually pretty homey. It wasn't a small room, fifteen feet by fifteen or so, and painted in dark earth tones.

The furniture was plush without being showy, looking a bit beat up but supremely comfortable. The only nod to traditional over the top Ascendant decorating was the absolutely massive bed, large enough for me to lie sideways and not have my head or feet stick out. Callie bolted across the room, throwing herself bodily through the air to land with a loud whump on the mattress with a giggle, making comforter angels as she groaned in appreciation.

"Ok." She said in a voice of utter bliss. "We're buying this bed, or we're sneaking it out when we leave. We'll have spatial rings, we can pull it off. I demand we carry this with us everywhere now. What rank is this?"

I glanced down at the bed, surprised based on how happy she was that it was only G-rank. I didn't see enchantments or anything, but for all I knew it was an Invention, some random interaction between materials making the perfect bed. I dropped my bag, dropping my mask on the dresser as I walked over to climb up onto the absurdly comfortable mattress.
Callie's earlier groan had been completely understandable, and I made one of my own as I pretty much melted into the cloudlike softness of the bedding. "Ok. Deal. This is ours now. I'm never letting anyone else sleep in this bed. It belongs to us and there's nothing anyone can say to convince me otherwise."

She rolled over to cuddle up next to me. "My hero." She stayed like that for a bit, and I was about to bring up the weapon again when she finally spoke up. "Doesn't this feel weird?"

With the bond and my own knowledge of her, I could tell exactly what she meant. "It does. Being on our own like this. Like, we were living on our own anyway basically, minus Zeke who doesn't count as an authority figure, but being out in the wider universe together like this...it feels like a big deal."

She looked up at me, bottomless blue eyes boring into mine. "Big in a bad way? Are you having second thoughts about us?"

Leaning down for a quick kiss, I shook my head, laughing. "Hardly. It just makes me amazed at how far we've come. From dancing around each other until you finally asked me out. I spent a while just dragging my feet and it makes me wonder if we'd have had more time together if I had just had the guts to ask instead of asking you on dates until you broke from the frustration."

That got a giggle. "It's ok sweetie. I don't mind that you made me work for it. Besides, I like where we are. We were friends before we got together and I think it made us more comfortable with each other. Without all those dates you probably would have been a squealing fanboy still." At my offended noise she grinned at me. "Oh please, I remember the first time we met. If your jaw dropped any faster it would have broken the sound barrier."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." I said with dignity. "I admit I always found you attractive, but I certainly never let it unbalance me."

Rolling her eyes, she kissed my cheek. "Owning my merch would say otherwise, but whatever you need to tell yourself, love." She paused. "You as excited about this whole Moonsong Glade thing as I am?"

"Probably not." I said mildly. "There's loot in them there woods. I'm surprised you're even lucid. I half expected you to be floating along a golden scent trail into the void with giant credit signs flashing in your eyes." Her glare was adorable, and I ignored it. "But...I am kind of pumped about all the new enemies. Not to mention my new earth and plant based divination skills will come in so much handy here."

She lit up. "That's TRUE! Oh I can't wait to get mountains of treasure and then sell some of it. I want a giant vault filled with chits with piles of magic items strewn throughout it. Maybe we can drag the bed into the vault and sleep on piles of our money." Her high pitched squeal of delight made me chuckle as I tried to imagine her as a dragoness sleeping on a hoard of treasure.

"Well." I said with a yawn. "I think we'll have plenty of cool treasures to see in the bazaar. You can have as much fun out there as you want. For now though, this comfy bed is making me tired. We should head take a nap, then we can figure out our next move after."

Snuggling into my side, she let out her own yawn, glaring at me for getting her started. "I guess we can do that. I am feeling a little sleepy." And I closed my eyes, letting the warmth of the bed and someone I loved lull me to sleep on a floating city in space above an alien world. My life could be pretty cool sometimes.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I woke up to the sound of pounding on my door. Not urgent pounding, granted, but someone wanted me to wake up. It was annoying and I tried to ignore it, but they were insistent and I eventually dragged myself out of bed, ignoring the annoyed whine of my extremely clingy girlfriend as she burrowed into the covers. When I threw the door open with a glare, I was mostly unsurprised to see Benny waiting for me, Celine looking mildly uncomfortable behind him.

"What!" I snapped, knowing it wasn't anything serious by the smug look on his face. I'm not a morning person almost ever, but being woken up before I've finished sleeping puts me in a bad mood every time. Even for naps, premature wake ups are the best way to piss me off if there's no special reason for us.

He just raised an eyebrow, long since immune to my bad moods. "You've been sleeping for like four hours, and I'm bored. We want to go to the bazaar now."

"I'd like it noted that this wasn't my idea." Celine said, raising a hand to get my attention. "Also hi Shane. I told him to let you sleep, but he's actually kind of excited about the shopping, despite how scared he was earlier when I told him that he'd have to learn to haggle."

Benny glared at her. "Don't TELL him that! Now he's going to think I'm a huge pushover."

"Oh please." I snorted. "That ship sailed years ago." I blew out a breath in annoyance. "I...guess we could go out. I'm up now so I guess it doesn't matter." I looked over my shoulder. "Hey, Cal, you up?" My girlfriend's only response was a hand with the middle finger out poking through the covers. Celine actually giggled at that, and I turned back to Benny. "Yeah, she's up. I wouldn't expect much civility from her for a while though."

There was a series of muffled words croaked out from under the blanket, and Celine went red as Benny blanched. "You can't say that to someone!" He squeaked. "Where did you even learn to talk like that?" Her hand snaked out again and pointed to where I was standing. My best friend glared at me. "You're a bad influence."

I just gaped. "I didn't tell her to say that!" I snapped indignantly. "She's got an even worse mouth than I do sometimes when we're alone." Sulking a bit, I huffed. "Go get ready or whatever, we'll be out in a bit to get going. You check with the others? Do they want to go?"

He shook his head. "Mel and Abel already left to explore, Jessie is cuddling with the animals, Natalie is in her room and Cark and Cass are in for now. I went to check in and I think Cass decided to follow in your footsteps and take a nap. Cark was hanging out reading some book Zeke gave him. Seemed pretty into it. Basically, it'll just be the four of us."

I hadn't seen a spot to put the animals, but this place was an Ascendant inn, so they probably had a basement for it or something. Shutting the door in Benny's face, I walked over to grab some clothes. There was an attached showed behind a hanging tapestry on the wall that I'd only just noticed. I poked Callie as I went by. "You want to join me?" There was some muffled muttering and I winced. "Not only is that not anatomically possible, even if it was I wouldn't do it. How about you wake up a bit while I shower and we can talk later." Her response was a muffled grunt that may or may not have been a four letter word.

By the time I came out, Callie was awake, albeit wearing the blanket like a hood. She'd managed to scrounge up a cup of coffee from somewhere and was sipping it, staring blankly into the distance. I snickered because I'd seen this before. When Callie was really tired, especially after partial naps, her brain kind of overloaded itself after waking up. She would stare into space while her thoughts ran for a few minutes, letting her mind catch up.

Despite that, when I walked in, wearing my armor, her eyes snapped up to me. "Shower." She croaked. And I just laughed and gestured that it was all hers. She downed the coffee like a shot, shook her head back and forth like she was trying to shake start it, and the stumbled into the bathroom, grabbing her clothes on the way. After she left I grabbed my mask off the dressed and popped it on my face, then I started stretching a bit to loosen myself up after that absurdly comfortable nap.

The hot water from the shower had relaxed me a ton too, and the combination meant I needed to warm my muscles up a bit to really feel like I was awake. As I was stretching, the tapestry pushed aside and steam billowed out of the bathroom. "Oh gods." Groaned Callie as she emerged. "I'm going to punch Benny in the throat someday when he isn't looking."

I just laughed. "Don't be so grumpy. The nap would have messed up your sleeping schedule anyway. Besides, I'll make you breakfast to make it up to you. In return make sure he IS looking when you punch him in the throat." She giggled at that as she dried her hair with a towel, not worried about normal water damaging her armor or anything. "Anyway, aside from the spatial rings, you planning to look for anything?"

She gave a hum of consideration. "I think I might look into some weapons myself. I raided the pavilion coffers before we left, so we'd have enough for rings, but I should have some leftovers for a dagger or something. My personal stash I'm saving for wishes, but I think it's about time for me arm up. If you remember I can imbue my darkness into items and control them like shadows. I did it with my bike, though it took years of imbuing and special materials."

"Ah." I said, understanding her point. "You've improved. Your new rank and all the stats will make it easier. Plus I bet having a smaller target would help too. Will you need to find a dagger with special materials for that? Or can you just brute force it with anything darkness related." I wasn't sure even a market this big would have her weapons if they were too rare.

She grinned at me. "Pretty much. I just...gods Shane, I never thought I'd be this strong at this age. It would have taken me YEARS in Valen to get to F-rank, if I ever did. I might have been able to do it in Rajak if I'd left with my dad originally, but I'd have basically been selling my soul. Now not only am I an F-ranker with a TERRIFYING new ability, I have a whole team of friends and I'm STILL growing. By this time next year I might be at E-rank at this rate!"

I wanted to tell her not to jump the gun but...she wasn't wrong. I didn't think it would be quite that fast. but still I could see her point. "So...you're happy then?" She gave me a flat look and I held up my hands. "Ok, forget I asked. I know we just talked about this. I just worry. I don't want you to regret coming with me."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such an idiot about some stuff. You're lucky you're so cute. Not much in that giant head of yours."

It was my turn to flip her off, to which she just giggled, then finished brushing her hair and dragged me out of the room. We met up with Benny and Celine in the downstairs entryway, and then the four of us set out to explore the city. As a cheat, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the map that led us here, but it didn't actually help at all. Lots of streets and buildings but nothing was labeled.

"Nice try." Said Zeke's voice from behind me. I jumped out of my skin, whirling to find m uncle leaning against the wall behind us. He gave a lazy wave.

"What are you doing out here Zeke?" I asked incredulously. "You're usually pretty hands off. Do you have something you wanted to pick up?"

He sighed. "This place has way too many C and B-rankers. I can cross a planet in a blink, but that only matters if my abilities are leagues above everyone else. If two equally strong B-rankers are attacking someone, the closest wins. Don't want to risk you pissing off someone who might be a genuine threat. After that big show I put on I figure I should stick close."

That hadn't occurred to me, but it seemed like a sensible precaution. "The mask won't work on high rankers. Right." I paused for a second. "Wait...is this mask made from a person? I know your other ones are..."

He snickered. "No. I have a limit to how many greater masks I can make. I can add little buffs and stuff to them with my Voltomancy easily enough, but soul binding a mask is complicated and time consuming, and I can't sustain too many of them. Thirteen at a time, give or take. I can make as many lesser masks as I want from lower ranked Ascendants, but I usually don't bother."

"That's a super creepy power." Said Benny matter of factly. "Just in case you didn't know. At least they're masks made of porcelain and not like...actual faces."

Zeke nodded solemnly. "Even I have limits. Anyway, you're all looking for the marketplace. What specifically were you hoping to find? I know spatial rings, but I also know Shane wanted a weapon. What kind of weapon did you settle on? I can point you in the right direction. Since I'm with you and don't feel like wandering around for hours it's only really helping myself."

I nodded. "I've been waffling, but I decided on a specific type of staff that has the properties I like. It's called a Bang. Some crazy Ascendant with a monkey trait used to use one a long time ago. It's a short staff made of wood with long iron caps on both ends. Small, heavy, and with good spin, plus it's compact and easy to carry on my back. There are some martial arts that use that kind of weapon, so I can pick up some new Skills with it and keep a similar style of combat."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I know the guy you mean. Way before my time obviously, but I think the original Wishmaster knew him. Gods don't age at all as far as I know, and he's been around a LONG time. Not that I can swear to it, I've only met the old man a few times. He likes to spoil the grandkids but attendants aren't usually allowed near him. Me and Eli were close so he got an exception made."

I stared at him in shock. "You...met the Wishmaster. The original? What was he like? I always figured he'd be really scary."

"He wasn't." He said simply. "But because of that...he was. Being a god and being able to hide your presence so thoroughly you seem like a normal old man? He looks to be in his fifties probably, and the one time I met him I couldn't tell. Not based on the way he moved, or talked, or even his senses. He just felt...regular. It was extremely jarring, because I knew he could atomize me with a strong thought."

He trailed off, seeming distracted, so I focused back on the task at hand. "We can talk about that later. For now, let's see if we can find my weapon. I assume you have a place in mind?" The grin he gave me in response made me a bit worried, honestly. I got the feeling this was going to be a wild kind of place.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"Well." I said uncertainly. "I wasn't expecting...this." Zeke smirked smugly as we stood on the stairs down into an underground chamber filled with tables and stalls. The whole individual vendor thing wasn't a surprise, since this city was supposed to be a bazaar. No, the surprise was the fact that the entire setup was built on a giant sword sticking out of the rock of the cavern.

Below us, I could see a yawning abyss, and off far in the depths, a few shining lights that had to be stars. The hole we were standing in dropped out the bottom of the city into fucking SPACE. Weirdly, the air here was fine, and I wasn't too worried about freezing to death or my lungs exploding, but even knowing that empty space was within sight was seriously freaking me out.

My uncle took in a deep breath, inhaling the smoky, metallic smelling air. "Titanblade emporium. The whole giant sword thing is a bit of a gimmick, but the family that runs the place are weapon fanatics. They're a unity wide organization, and have branches like this all over. I knew someone would have set one up here."

Benny raised a hand cautiously. "Um...what the hell is big enough to use THAT." He pointed at the sword. "Or is it just a platform made to look like a sword."

Zeke chuckled. "Nope. Every Titanblade emporium is built on an ACTUAL titanblade. Giant swords forged for the elders of the Kyros family. They're size shifters, some of the very best. Dakken Kyros, the S-ranker who founded their clan, is known as the Worldhurler. Because he literally gets big enough to THROW planets. Pretty high rank ones too."

I stared down at the massive sword and gulped, but Zeke just patted me on the back. "Don't worry so much. That thing is a push pin compared to one of Dakken's blades. I've seen the main branch of their emporium before. The sword is stuck in the side of that planet like a dart in a dartboard. The hilt reaches the atmosphere. I'd imagine this thing probably belonged to one of the C-rankers the family sent over."

Thinking of a blade that size was...terrifying. Especially since the emporium was probably on a high ranking planet, and they got BIGGER as you ranked them up. It was part of the reason for the gravity increase. Some of it was the weight of Impact, but massive planets had a stronger gravitational pull. You could probably fit a hundred Calluses lengthwise in whatever world that blade was stuck in.

Walking down the steps, we made our way onto a crystalline energy bridge that extended from the bottom of the steps, leading us out into the metal platform created by the huge blade. I expected the floor to shudder or make a hollow clang, but it was like stepping onto a normal metal floor. The only strange thing was that I could feel some of the Impact of this thing. It was much higher ranked than I was, though it seemed to be suppressed somehow.

Since my uncle didn't seem to know more about this place than where it was, it took some wandering around to find the shop we needed, but find it we did. One specific old man sitting at a blanket covered in a literal pile of staves, in front of a squat red tent. As we approached, I started looking through them, but since some of them were buried under the others I eventually got sick of trying to differentiate with just my eyes and turned to ask him. "Hey, I was wondering if you have a short staff with iron caps on the end."

The old man, white hair hanging in a braid down his back and hands folded in the sleeves of his long red robe with gold trim, sighed, muttering. "There's always one." His eyes focused on me. "Yes. I have a Bang you can buy."
"Perfect." I said with a grin. "I'm looking for and enchanted one that-"

"Changes size." He cut me off with annoyance. "I know. Like I said. There's always one. I don't have a size changing staff. They're pointless and not cost effective. You wouldn't be able to handle the increased Might requirements when using it, and even if you could, without some kind of specialized Skill for it, or a staff that was indestructible, it would either be impossible to control or just break under its own weight."

This had the air of a rehearsed speech, but despite how direct he was, I felt the need to point out the obvious. "We're STANDING on a giant sword."

He groaned. "We're standing on a giant sword MADE to be a giant sword. It doesn't change sizes. It's a huge blade made with the express purpose of being used by a huge person. That's why Titanblades are made like that. I can't sell your a size changing weapon, and if I could, I wouldn't because it's stupid."

I just stood there and blinked at him for a second before sighing. "Ok, fine. What does the staff do? And what rank is it? I was hoping for an E-rank weapon. Future proof my layout a bit. Do you have a bang that's E-ranked?"

Shoving his hand into the pile, he fished around for a second before withdrawing...power. The staff WAS E-rank, and I could tell it would be tough to get used to. I knew that people could use weapons and armor one rank above them, but I'd never asked what was required to actually do it. Judging from this sensation, I was going to need to train with this thing for a while just to be able to hold it.

The shaft of the staff was deep, rich brown wood, the grain seeming to form enchantment symbols on its own, though the symbols were never the same when I was looking at it too long. The caps on the ends were made of a greyish black iron, and I could see screaming faces in the metal, their empty eyes pleading for release in a truly chilling way.

"Ghost iron and Infernal Ash wood. Enchanted by an elven master. They have a peculiar way with wood based enchantments. The weapon can pass through solid objects if you focus. The ghost iron also has the interesting effect of absorbing minute traces of life energy on contact. The energy can't exist inside the necrotic metal stably, so it's stored and corrupted, and can be released and an explosive burst of death damage."

He offered it to me, and when I took it I almost staggered at how heavy it was. Not physically, but...in other ways. The Impact of the staff weighed on me, making it feel like I was standing under a great burden. I loved it. "It's perfect." I whispered as I ran my hands over it. "How much?"

He squinted at me calculatingly. "That's a lower end E-rank weapon, but it's made from the finest materials. I'd say fifteen E-ranked coins." I winced, since there was no way I could afford that, but when I went to argue, I was cut off as Celine stepped in.

I'd forgotten she was our go to for haggling so I back off as she issued her counter offer, and when it was rejected, tore into the old man. She started making weirdly accurate deductions about his social standing and effectiveness based on his placement in the market and the condition and organization of his wares.

Sadly despite my hope that our terrifying negotiator would be able to get him down low enough, He stopped at ten E-rank coins and refused to go lower. He wasn't an amateur like Sindar had been, and Celine's skills (or possibly Skills) weren't enough.

"Alright." I cut in once the haggling stalled. "How about this?" I wrote down a few lines on a piece of paper I was carrying
and passed it over, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw them, then narrowed in suspicion.

He glanced from me to the paper. "How many?" I held up three fingers. "And you want me to throw in six rings?" I nodded. His eyes gleamed with avarice. "I can use them as the actual payment, yes? Because if these are compensation I'm not paying twice."

"Yes." I said firmly. "If you have somewhere private nearby to go we can do the trade directly." I poked a thumb at Zeke. "Though be warned if you decide to try anything funny I'm not without protections." This guy didn't strike me as the type to watch tournaments, and even if Zeke couldn't intervene most of the time, there was no need for him to know that.

Zeke met his eyes, and there was a frisson of pressure, too fast and focused to jar the sword or alert anyone else. The old man's eyes went wide again, this time with fear. He was an F-ranker, which meant he was old as hell to look like he did. Like thousands of years old, but feeling what Zeke really was obviously scared him shitless.

He led us back into the tent, closing the flaps, then he touched a few runes that lit up with contact and turned to nod at us. I'd carried the staff in, but he plucked it out of my hands and dropped it on a pillow in the middle of the tent, fishing in a pocket and pulling out six rings. "As agreed. Three wishes. One for the staff, one each for three rings." At my nod, he grinned. "Good. I wish to be young again."

Wish detected. Grant wish? I was positive this wouldn't work like he wanted, but I confirmed, and sure enough. Insufficient stat points to restore youth to target. Requirements: NA reversing thousands of years or Ascendant aging beyond the capacity of Intermediate Wish ability. I'd assumed it wouldn't work, but I expected that message. It was the same one I got when Benny tried to wish for a Master rank ability when I was at Minor.

"That's not going to happen." I said bluntly. Before he could argue, I cut him off. "As in, I don't have the stats to do that. You're too high ranked and it's too much time. I'd suggest shooting for something a bit more feasible." I didn't suggest a wish, because I was paranoid about them not working if they knowingly benefited me too much, but with the hint I was confident the old man would think of something.

He looked annoyed, but then thought it through. "I wish for ten biological years of my youth restored to me." He said confidently. I confirmed when the wish came up but shook my head. "Nope. Too much, scale it back. That's three hundred and twenty years of life. Literally ten percent of your total lifespan."

He snarled out a curse and then snapped. "Fine! Three years. I wish for three biological years of my life back." He paused, waiting to be let down, but...huh. That actually worked. Maybe because of the three times modifier or maybe it was just a more reasonable ask.

When I told him he brightened a bit. Considering three times thirty two was ninety six, which made the three years I'd given him almost three more centuries of lifespan, I could understand why. He made all three wishes, then passed us over the rings and handed me back the staff. He looked sprightlier, albeit not to an insane degree. He'd probably been biologically in his mid nineties (albeit in extremely good shape because of Vitality), so taking him down to ninety two wasn't a huge physical change. Still I could tell, especially with my Perception being what it was.

I weighed the staff (apparently it was a Stygian Branch) in my hands, grinning madly at my new weapon and how much fun it would be to use it, and thanked the old man before we moved on. We had more shopping to do, looking for a weapon for Callie and possibly something for Benny to integrate alongside the new inventions he informed me he'd just finished. I was happy to shop though. I still had all my money to spend. This would be so much fun.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We didn't head back to the inn after the Titanblade emporium, as I'd expected, and having money on me to spend I decided to just enjoy it. I bought a giant bacon wrapped turkey leg from a street cart vendor, a small plush doll from Cass's favorite cartoon that would dance if you said its name and had a self repair function, and a hat with ears from some weird animal called a kangaroo, that I was positive didn't exist on Callus, but made Callie light up when I put it on.

None of this put too big a dent in my funds, obviously, but it was nice to just walk around and have fun. Doing dumb shit just to enjoy myself with friends. Benny had conned me into paying for food for him and Celine as well, which meant I had to pay for Callie, of course, but they got some strange cloudlike candy made of spun sugar (Callie let me have a bite, which for her was pretty much a declaration of undying love) and we just walked around enjoying the variety of people.

There were stores for everything I could imagine. I'd expected plenty of weapons and armor shops, but there were magical foci, ingredients, inventions, crafting of both the artistic and practical kind. Plus dozens of street performers and interesting musical acts. "Why is this place so...lively?" I asked Zeke as we walked.

He just shrugged, biting into his own turkey leg. "Oh, that. It's mostly an excuse to blow off steam. Dungeons can get pretty nuts, especially ones that are closed up for a long time. The locals can be a big surprise, and it's pretty hostile in there. This is a big excuse to party before getting serious. Plus there are the smart ones winding through the crowd, listening for information. I think your girl is doing that as we speak."

Glancing over at Callie I saw her eyes were kind of blank, like she was distracted. I took her arm to make sure she was ok and grinned at him. "Guess so. It's still pretty neat though. Is the dungeon really going to be that bad? I figured it would be like the scavenger hunt."

He waggled his free hand, stopping for a second to suck turkey grease off his fingers, then resuming the motion. "It is and isn't. One thing to remember, no matter what, is that you aren't there to win. The hunt was a competition, but this won't be. It might INVOLVE competition, and don't shy away from that, but at the end of the day the Glade is huge. There's more than enough resources for your limited timeframe. Don't get sucked into petty power game bullshit. Work the mission. Ascendants will turn anything into a pissing contest if you let them."

That actually sounded pretty on brand for them. It was a surprise to me to though, to hear Zeke advise me not to pay attention. He seemed to pick up on that, because he just smiled. "Let me guess, you're wondering why I didn't tell you to crush your enemies like bugs and cackle over their corpses?"

At my slight nod, he just shook his head. "Do you know what the most important trait an Ascendant can have is? For progressing and getting stronger? Flexibility. Recursion is the change killer. It'll turn you into a static parody of yourself if you let it. Sticking with your legend is one thing, but you need to find the break points, the parts of you that people don't talk about where your story gives you flexibility. Losing your ability to adapt is nearly always a death sentence."

"Why tell me this now?" I asked. "Why not ages ago?" I mean, he'd kind of hinted at it, and Callie had circled the point, but information this important should just be directly stated.

He just shrugged. "Because you didn't need to know. Callus may have seemed big, but it was a tiny corner of the sky. The recursion from that level of renown wasn't likely to be enough to warp your personality much. Now we're getting out into the wider world. You'll be getting more attention, enough to actually get some points despite your constant improvement with your wishes. It seemed important you know what's what."

"So you're saying that I shouldn't fight everyone." I said slowly. "Because people will expect me to? But not directly, so it's like a loophole?"

That got me a wide grin and a nod. "Exactly. And things like that will boost your renown too when others hear about it. Having a reputation for being unpredictable not only makes more people pay attention, it also grants you more freedom within your recursion."

I nodded thoughtfully, not feeling the need to respond. We walked for a while longer, but stopped as I got a text. I read over it and blinked in surprise. "Hey guys." I said, causing everyone to stop. "Nat and her guards left a bit after us. I guess they've been walking around and were hoping to meet up. Anyone down for dinner?"

Callie, of course, snapped her head up at the word. "Food?" Benny and I both started snickering and she just glared. "Shut up you idiots, I'm just hungry." Her eyes narrowed at me, her tone becoming sickly sweet as she asked. "Or are you implying I eat too much?"

Rolling my eyes, I just snorted. "I FEED you most of what you eat. If I thought you needed a change in diet I'd cook you something different. You can't intimidate me with your cliche girlfriend terrorist tactics, woman."

She looked pretty skeptical of that, which was probably fair, but I moved on. "Anyway, there's a high end restaurant around here that serves F-ranked steak." I grinned at her. "I believe I promised someone that I would try to find a way for her to try dragon again after she traded the memory. I bet a place like this would have it."

My girlfriend literally squealed with joy and hurled herself into my arms, and I was sure I'd have gotten a pretty enthusiastic kiss if I didn't have my mask on. She squeezed me so hard I felt like my spine would break, then just before that happened, let me go, grabbed my hand, and started hauling me off in a random direction. She was so excited she didn't notice she had no clue where she was going until a minute later, and then asked where the place was.

I followed the location ping my cousin had sent me (I didn't know if my scan ring could do that, but if it couldn't I was sure as hell going to get one that could) and we arrived at the steakhouse within a few minutes. Apparently Mel, Jessie, and Abel had gotten the same text, because they showed up just after we did, and my mentor gave Callie an excited high five while Mel and I rolled our eyes at our gluttonous significant others.

The good mood lasted until we got inside and were seated at the table Belloc's Steakhouse, and then it was derailed by all of us staring at Valk, who looked...not great. "What the hell happened to YOU?" Said Abel in apaled fascination. "You look like you fell out of a sickness tree and hit every branch on the way down. I can kind of see your BONES under all that sallow skin."

He wheezed out a laugh. "It's temporary, I'm assured. I made the incredibly mistake of picking a fight with a fucking Vampire. Drained off literally twenty points of my damned Vitality. Perit pulled it off me." He nodded gratefully to the tall blonde woman, who gave a placid nod of her own.

Zeke's head had snapped up when he heard that, however. "You...you met a Vampire here?" We all turned to stare in shock at the tone of caution in my uncle's voice. Zeke didn't worry about people. Definitely not F-rankers. But after hearing about the Vampire he seemed...unsettled. Not afraid, I wasn't even sure Zeke could feel that emotion anymore, but he sounded unhappy all the same.

"Yes." Said Valk firmly. "Trust me. You don't mistake that for anything else. I felt like she was...TEARING out a piece of me. Like she ripped out part of my soul. It's fading, and I'm healing as we speak, but the sensation." He shuddered violently. "It was the most horrifying thing I've ever experienced. The helplessness, the weakness. I'd rather die than feel that again."

Zeke nodded. "I got bit once. It's not something that fades with time. If there's a Vampire here, you need to be careful. Do you remember what I told you about vampires?"

Callie nodded. "Yeah, you said they're stupidly rare. All from the same family. I was surprised because vampire stories are common enough. Seemed like there would be tons of them."

"There used to be." He said emphatically. "Morgan Lark fucking ATE them. This was centuries ago, back when he was still young. He started hunting down all the Vampires his own rank he could find. He drained them all dry. Some people think that's how his ability became what it is, that he drained some sort of vampiric power from them one by one. Regardless, no one takes Vampire racial traits anymore, and if you get one, you fucking CHANGE it."

"Are you scared of this guy?" I said in surprise. "Because he can't be that much stronger than you are. And even if he is, he's not going to fuck with the family just for fun right?"

Zeke's eyes pinned me on the spot. "Morgan Lark is the strongest S-ranker in the universe. He is widely considered to be the being closest to godhood. He's so powerful he's literally fought the Unity in direct combat and survived. This was AFTER the Unity attained his divinity. The Vampire is a monster of the most terrifying kind, and anyone who ISN'T afraid of him is either stupid or VERY insane."

He let out a long breath, calming himself down. "That said, he's also a hands off parent. He isn't likely to pick a fight with us over a little dustup with one of his spawn. He doesn't have that many of them relatively speaking, but he's old as dirt, so relatively speaking doesn't mean much. He's in the triple digits. I'm guessing this one is a baby. Don't kill it if you can help it, maybe make friends, but it shouldn't be a problem either way."

I tried to imagine what The Vampire would be like, someone who would scare Zeke. Scare my dad. Scare the terrifying S-rank GRANDFATHER I hadn't even met yet, and the image was not a nice one. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Jessie plan a hand on Valk and start pumping life energy into him. It seemed to help at least, and I was glad to see the man filling back out from the living skeleton he'd been turned into.

Looking around the steakhouse, I took in the intimate, design. Dark wood walls, candle light, rich plush tablecloths. I nodded at my cousin's taste and made a mental note to bring Callie back her along for a date. Speaking of my girlfriend, the waited had finally made it out, and she was thrilled to see that dragon steaks WERE on the menu, albeit dragon variants that were probably easier to find.

She ordered, and I smiled at her cheerfully as I removed my mask. I was at dinner with my team, my family, I hardly needed it right now. Zeke was here personally and besides, it wasn't like anyone could recognize me by my face out here. She leaned up for that kiss from earlier, and didn't pull away until Benny started loudly clearing his throat to be annoying, and we were both grinning like loons as she did. Well, Vampires weren't that scary anyway. I felt better now.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The dragon steak was fantastic. Callie actually gave me a bite of hers (I got something called Infernal Lobster, it was huge but absolutely delicious) before she finished. Once we were done we ended up getting cheesecake to wash it down, and that was pretty fantastic too. As we ate, we caught up with the others about what had happened during their days.

"So." I asked between bites. "Now that you're feeling better Valk, what the hell happened? Like...was the Vampire just waiting in an alley to jump you? How did you even get her attention? Or is she just like some crazy monster who attacks anyone nearby?"

Perit snickered at that. "He wishes." The tall woman didn't talk nearly as much as Nat or her partner, but she clearly felt more comfortable with us now that we were on the same team.

"I...well, I was showing off a bit in the street." Valk said with a grimace. "One of my whips clashed with an opponent's attack and a bolt of energy slipped free. It didn't hurt her but...it kind of burned a hole in her dress. She...wasn't pleased."

He sounded more embarrassed than upset, despite having twenty points of his Vitality sucked out. It seemed like an overreaction to me, but then I didn't care much about clothes. I could understand being pissed about being randomly attacked by a stranger though.

Nat rolled her eyes. "This moron shouldn't have been doing party tricks for a crowd on the street. I can return the points, so no real loss. Even if losing twenty is a bit of a waste. That's almost a day of wishes."

Benny blanched. "Wait...is that enough to take him under a thousand? He's not going to like...die from that is he?" I hadn't actually considered that myself, but when he mentioned it I glanced to Zeke worriedly. Valk was a member of the team even if I didn't know him well, and he seemed like a decent guy.

"No." Said my uncle firmly. "Stat milestones let your soul know when it can handle more Impact, which lets it then handle more stats, but once you rank up your Impact and soul both qualitatively improve." He gestured to me. "Your soul is orange now, about fifteen percent of the way to yellow, like it was fifteen percent of the way to orange before. Losing stats won't change that. And it won't change your Impact, so you'll be fine."

That made sense. "What about losing Impact though?" I asked cautiously. "What will that do?"

"Kill you." He said bluntly. "Losing a point of Impact kills you unless you have some to spare. It's part of why you don't see people trading Impact with wishes at lower levels. Until you hit S-rank and have Impact to spare even a single point of it will bring most people below their threshold. Wishes require fair compensation, what's fair compensation for dying? Not just normal death either, your soul will shatter."

I blinked. I knew that Impact wishes existed and could work, but I hadn't really tried it except for with Benny and Amelia. Thought that brought up another question. "Wait. I've given mortals abilities before. They didn't have any Impact and I gave them a point of it, so can I give someone Impact just from my power?"

"Not possible." He said firmly. "Impact isn't like other stats. It's more...primal. You can't MAKE Impact. You can take it, hold it, trade it, but you can't make it. A mortal does have Impact, like they have other stats, it just isn't a full point. When you awaken someone as an Ascendant you're giving them a PORTION of a point of Impact. It works the same way Enchanting does. You can recover that over time. It pushes them to a point and then the universe does the rest."

Nodding slowly, I thought over everything I knew about Impact. "That explains why the WCP isn't mass producing gods. I know Impact has something to do with godhood, so aside from soul strength the need for Impact is probably a limiting factor. I guess stuff like the Moonglow Dew is an exception, right? If you have more than the rank limit in Impact you could trade it safely."

He waggled a hand. "Safely is a bit of an overstatement. Trading Impact HURTS. It's painful and diminishing. Finding someone willing to do it is difficult, and the cost is astronomical. You need extremely high stats to arrange an Impact trade for the most part. Theoretically though, yes, if you can afford the cost of the wish, someone with more than the baseline Impact for their rank could survive trading it."

Nat didn't look surprised by any of this, though Selka (who hadn't really spoken since we showed up here, presumably out of fear of Zeke) seemed intrigued that he'd mentioned all that to me. It was probably touching on secrets that candidates weren't allowed, though he hadn't crossed the line based on his lack of excruciating pain.

Gesturing to Valk, I asked Abel my last question. "What about the Vampire? Can he consume Impact? Can the others?"
Because that seemed incredibly broken. I wasn't sure why they wouldn't all be gods at that point. As expected, he shook his head. "No. Or at least, not most of them. Whatever Lark is, people believe HE can drain Impact, though judging by how long he's been in the S-rank not fast or reliably. Might be something to do with all the Vampires he ate when he was younger, or at least that's the prevailing theory. Regardless, the other only do stats, and the number of them varies based on both Vampire and target."

Nat finally had enough of the remedial nonsense and groaned aloud. "Oh gods, enough." We all looked at her. "I'm sorry, but I can only take so much of 'baby's first cultivation journey'. No offense little cousin. But spiraling over how scary the boogeyman of all S-rankers is won't accomplish much. If you want to meet a Vampire, I can introduce you with an apology as a pretext. I'll just offer her a wish in exchange for her dress. Now can we please get back to some proper dinner conversation?"

Abel started snickering around his own steak (some kind of shark or something). When we all looked at him he swallowed, looking around innocently. "What? It was funny." When we all kept staring he just sighed. "Alright, I guess I can share what we did during our day out. I..." He began with gravitas and suspense. "Got in a fight."

Something about the delivery, his serious expression, and the wait mixed together just broke me, and I cracked up, joined by Mel, Callie, Jessie, and Benny. "What my idiot means to say." Cut off Mel, still chuckling. "Is that we went out exploring and met up with some of the other contenders. Abel hit it off with some big burly guy with curly red hair named Craygen, and after yapping for about an hour they decided to mix it up in public."

Abel nodded. "It wasn't that weird of a call, there have been a LOT of street fights here based on what I saw. People just clear out a circle and throw down in the middle of the road. Craygen was a pretty tough guy, material shifting power, turned into some kind of gemstone. Super durable. It was a solid fight. He's much further into F-rank than I am, so I was able to really cut loose a bit."

I was about to ask how that was possible given the tournament requirements, but then I realized I was making assumptions. We brought Celine even though she hadn't been in the tournament. Granted, Celine was much closer to our rank because she had basically bribed Nat to grind her up to F-rank in that one month gap like I had done for Jessie. It made sense that the other winners would bring F-rankers who were stronger than the contestants.

"Anyway. Craygen lost, obviously, and he invited us to some crazy party tonight. All the other contestants will be there. Craygen's tourney winner got the invite from some imperial Ascendant who made it through their own tournament. It sounds like fun to me but I wasn't sure if you wanted to go."

It was a strange reminder that even though I was the legacy and Callie was the leader, Abel, for all his lack of care about it, was the real winner of the tournament. He was still our muscle, despite breaking through, and being able to take on a higher level F-ranker from this crowd just proved it. This party would be a damn good opportunity to meet some more of the people around here that were like him.

I looked at Callie. "I think that's a good idea." She looked pretty much poleaxed by the statement, knowing my hatred for parties and social gatherings, and I had to laugh at the expression. "Zeke said that we shouldn't treat this like a competition. These people aren't our enemies, even if they think they are. The mission is what matters. If we can make friends and be on good terms with the other entrants it could end up being a huge help for later."

She giggled at my impassioned speech. "Oh I know. I'm just shocked you're willing to go to a party. I think it's a good idea too." She glanced at Jessie, Benny, and Celine. "You guys in? Or you Nat, you're welcome of course. You're part of the team and we'd love to have you along."

My cousin smiled at her but waved her off. "Nah, I appreciate the invite, but we've had enough excitement for today." She jerked a thumb at Valk. "Besides, dipshit over there needs to recover. Even if he looks better after Agria topped him up losing twenty points of Vitality isn't something you brush off. He needs bed rest."

I could have sworn I heard the bald, red bearded man mutter. "Yes MOM." But if he did he did it so quietly even my Perception barely caught it. Nat heard it fine though, I guessed, because she whirled to glare at him and he looked away innocently, actually whistling as he avoided her gaze. She rolled her eyes at that, but I could tell she thought it was funny by her smile.

Benny cut in, answering Callie's question from earlier. I had seem him whispering to Celine, though they must have used a Stealth Skill to talk because I didn't hear what was said. "We're in. I want to check out some of the other entrants, see what we're dealing with. Plus it'll give me an excuse to stock my new artifacts. I made replacements for a few of my more outdated pieces of gear, I can't wait to show you guys."

I'd been wondering about that. He'd mentioned working on some things, but I wasn't sure if it was done. I never wanted to bring it up. Now that he was volunteering the information though I was excited to see what was coming. We decided to invite Cark, though I doubted he would come with us. Nat offered to watch Cass if he did though, my cousin was becoming just as enamored of the little girl as the rest of us.

As we finished dessert and headed back to the inn, I couldn't help but glance around the restaurant one last time, making sure to remember the details. I wanted to plan that date with Callie carefully. She'd adored that dragon steak, and while the place was a little pricey, it was worth it to see that smile light up her face like it had when she tried her dinner for the first time. Next time though, I'd get the steak too. That bite had been way better than my lobster.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Since this was a semi-show of force, we weren't wearing gaudy formal wear, instead we got to wear our costumes, which was nice.

I was more comfortable in my gear than in most outfits, and not just because of my badass coat. The sense of security from F-ranked armor was pretty nice. I was also glad we'd haggled to get a set of armor the next rank up, because it meant the gear wasn't already out of date.

We convened outside the building where Abel had been told the party was, and I had to admit, I was kind of impressed. Rather than a normal building with square floors on top of each other, this place seemed to have been made to resemble a stone whale.

The thing was absolutely huge, and the open mouth was covered by a single pane of F-rank glass.

Even for Ascendants, a giant stone animal as a building was kind of novel, and I spent a minute just taking it in when we arrived. I was cut off by Callie, who stopped us all to give a warning. "Alright everyone, just remember, these are elite combatants. The contestants in the tournament were tough, but every one of these people WON their own tournament, or was brought along as backup by someone who did. Be careful out there."

I grinned at her cheekily. "Now, why do I feel like your warning is going to be more specific than most people would expect? I take it you found some way to be able to effectively use your spying abilities? I thought Zeke said it was too dangerous here?"

She returned my grin with a proud smirk. "Only that first day. There was some paperwork I needed to do that he mentioned to me after our nap. I filled it out on my scan ring and submitted it over the network. I was okay'd for spying up to a certain range.

Apparently long term bans on powers like that is too much like coddling the juniors, you just aren't allowed to do it without restriction because while any sufficiently powerful Ascendant would sense it if they looked, there's an off chance you might accidentally hear important elder business before they notice you."

Which probably meant they had some kind of countermeasure to her power on a personal scale, and since they knew she was there they could work around it. It ALSO implied a substantially more cohesive leadership behind the place than I had suspected. I turned to Zeke, who was following us in a blank porcelain mask of his own design, presumably in case someone had caught his little show or was a candidate or empire brat who might know him. "Who is running this anyway? I don't think I ever asked."

He chuckled. "See, she's such a good influence on you. You didn't ask. But it's the Lakedeep clan. They're pretty powerful in the Unity's galaxy. The founder is a top executive in the Unity itself, Salara Lakedeep. I'm guessing your girl has heard of her. The higher up you go the more widely known an executive is. All of the Unity's S-rankers are pretty famous in this galaxy."

Callie's eyes were wide. "I...I do know her. Even in a backwater like Callus we've heard of the Kraken. Her summon is supposed to be able to pluck stars from the night sky and eat them. She's so in tune with it she can manifest its traits herself and use them at will."

Zeke nodded. "She's an S-ranker, so she can probably do both of those things, and she can definitely manifest traits. It's one of the more common high rank summoner ability variations. While abilities are highly customizable, there are some basic directions that usually have more benefit. With weapon masteries, manifestations are a common path to take, summoners usually make up for lack of individual combat potential by learning to harmonize with their summons. Not that a party trick like that is the end of the line for an S-ranker. She undoubtedly has much scarier powers than that."

I shuddered, thinking about how terrifying the fight between the B-rankers had been again. "So, the Lakedeep clan is running things and you got permission to use your ability from them." I said to Callie. "I take it you managed to find out the identities of some of the people we're meeting tonight?"

She grinned, pulling her focus back to the matter at hand. "Yup. Most of the others were talking about a few particularly scary standouts." Stopping her recitation she hurled herself forward, gripping me tightly as she squealed. "Oh I love my new power so much! I spent most of the day in the shadows whenever I had a spare moment. It took a bit to get used to filtering through so much input, but with my Focus I managed it just fine. I learned so much!"

I laughed, squeezing her back and grateful she was controlling her strength better. Though it might also just be the new Impact helping me out. "I'm glad to hear it, but that was all you. Most I did was help you get one extra Skill and focus your stats."

Laughing, she pulled back. "Yeah, because those are such inconsequential aspects of how I got my ability. Not worth mentioning." She rolled her eyes at me, but her smile stayed wide and happy, just how I liked it.
"Anyway, there are five people we need to watch out for, the Vampire being one of them. Her name is Bethany Lark. She's apparently the baby of the family, which isn't shocking considering how low rank she is. She's considered mostly stable and sane for a Vampire, though she's extremely touchy about her clothes. Has quite the reputation for it."

I winced. People with a reputation for one specific kind of behavior tended be heavily obsessive about that particular trait. It was actually something some people did on purpose, because weird and quirky people were more interesting, and it helped focus recursion in one direction. It also explained her draining those stat points out of Valk, presumably upset because he burned her dress.

That said, we could work with that, and I saw Callie notice how pretty easily, picking up my emotions over the bond and following them to their logical conclusion with a nod. "Yeah, I figure we can wish for a really nice dress she would like and offer it as a meeting gift. If having the idea first messes with your ability to do it we can just ask Nat, but I'm glad you were thinking the same thing."

Having my cousin around was damn useful, even if we couldn't engage in any wish looping after forming our alliance because of the family rules. She provided an easy source of wishes to work with even if she wasn't willing to be as creative with payment structures as I was. Sadly she charged points for points almost exclusively, so none us had really availed her of that service, but for utility wishes like this she was a perfect second option.

Callie waved me off. "We can think about it after, or just offer Bethany a wish and let her decide for herself, you still have three for today right?" I nodded. I'd traded three for my new staff and the six rings, one of which I'd slipped on immediately after filling it with all the odds and ends in the back we'd been using as a makeshift storage due to that magic box we found in the Necropolis.

"Good. Now, the other four standouts." She said, moving on. "One of them is a member of your family. Alistair Wyndham. His branch of the family is different as far as I know, so I doubt you're more than distantly related. I asked Nat but she doesn't know anything about him. Sadly most of the gossip about him is absurd nonsense about Wishmaster Candidates in general, about three quarters of which we know isn't true, so all I got was a name."

That was plenty though, it was good to know about the only other candidate around. I doubted I'd be lucky enough to meet two friendly ones in a row, and Nat was my literal blood cousin which I think had helped. Plus if he was from another branch he might not be as scared of dad, so I made a mental note to watch out for him.

"Flicker and Blink are twins. One of them creates clones and one of them teleports, and they seem to be able to share powers, which gets...obnoxious. They're higher level F-rankers with a Fantasy focus, which means their fate sense is pretty absurd." My girlfriend sounded a bit wary of those two, and I could see why, but hopefully like Zeke said we wouldn't need to fight every single person. We could make alliances and try to get help.

She sighed as she moved on. "The last one is a Crusader for the Red Revenant church. That's the fourth Job advancement in their warrior caste. Gabriel Brightlaw. He's more than halfway into the F-ranks, and he's supposed to be terrifying. He's a Master Candidate with the lance, and a summoner who can call up some kind of Celestial Charger he rides into battle. He's also an Adamant cultivator."

Zeke whistled. "That's...rough. Not a lot of those make it that far in a cluster this remote." At my confused head tilt he rolled his eyes. "You know, you should do SOME research. Your girlfriend is not a walking encyclopedia and neither am I. An Adamant cultivator is someone with a reputation for being unbeatable. Adamants become stronger, more skilled, and more...in tune with combat, the longer they last."

"So..." I said slowly. "Like Abel? Abel never loses."

"No." He said flatly. "Abel RARELY loses. Plus he's too quiet to be an Adamant. It takes a serious reputation for that kind of thing. You have to be in the spotlight from day one and win every fight with ease. I suspect Abel would find the idea of being an Adamant pretty boring. He doesn't need the help. And the idea of losing doesn't bother him." He shot a glance at my mentor, who nodded confidently.

I got his point, but it was worrying. "Can recursion make someone harder to beat? I know it kind of alters reality, but it doesn't actually MAKE him unbeatable, does it?"

Zeke shook his head. "Adamants can and do break all the time. They become functionally useless once it happens, which is why it's not a path people take often. Mostly that kind of thing gets purposefully derailed early on. The higher they go, the more precarious it is. They aren't invincible, though they are in kind of a zone all the time. Their recursion keeps them at peak form constantly, which combined with fast advancement because of their impressive skills makes them a pain in the ass to fight."

"The point is." Cut in Callie. "We don't want him to be an enemy. It might be worth telling him about your mother. The Star Queen is apparently a legend in the Church, and your grandfather being the Radiant Pope will earn you plenty of points too." She looked at my with a slightly jealous expression. "Having S-rankers for both grandfathers is pretty damned useful."

I laughed bitterly. "Yes, I particularly enjoyed the constant murder attempts because of my mother's side of the family. Nothing like having a Cult of bloodthirsty shadowy lunatics out for your blood to make you count your blessings." My voice was...perhaps a bit more edgy than I'd have liked, and combined with the bond, she actually flinched a bit. "Cal, I didn't mean-"

She held up both hands. "No. You're right. That was insensitive. Your family is a sore spot and bringing it up like that was shitty. You've had a lot of problems because of them. I should have remembered that." She leaned in for another hug, this one much gentler, and I felt the apology through the bond, no words needed between us. I squeezed her back so she knew I forgave her, but we were interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing.

"This is sweet, but can we maybe do it another time." Abel said mildly. "We have a party to get to. And I kind of want to fight this Adamant guy." We groaned aloud, and the rest of the trip inside was filled with the sound of Mel berating her boyfriend for being a battle maniac and an idiot. It really lightened the mood. It was pretty cool having such good friends, even if sometimes they were morons.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The inside of the whale building was less whale and more building, which was nice since it meant we didn't have to walk down a stone throat or something, but was disappointing because I'd been hoping for something more interesting. It was still nice to look at, with smooth marble floors and intricate wall carvings, but it was a pretty huge let down from the external facade.

Despite that, I was still pretty impressed by the sheer size of the place, with the whale interior all forming once huge room. The ceiling seemed to be a wide open sky, and miniature floating islands drifted among the clouds, containing hot tubs or small bars with different kinds of food. Loud music pumped through room as the sky above flashed a variety of shifting colors.

As we entered, a massive man with curly red hair who I didn't recognize strode up to us, throwing his arms wide in effusive greeting. "Apollyon! My friend! Good to see you." Boomed the friendly, accented voice of the large man I assumed to be Craygen. "I wasn't sure you would be coming tonight." He turned his head, calling to someone we couldn't see. "Cady! Come meet my opponent from earlier today. A mighty warrior who bested me in single combat."

The crowd shifted a bit and a girl appeared. Short and athletic, with pink hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing a stylish hat over a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a brown leather vest. She looked mostly annoyed. "Cray, we've been over this. You need to slow down in crowds this size. I'm short enough that I can't SEE which direction I'm going if we get separated."

Callie gave a groan of frustrated empathy. "Oh my gods I know right? I don't mind being short most of the time, stats make up for it. But crowds are the worst. It's so easy to get turned around." The pink haired girl turned, raising an eyebrow at my girlfriend, who grinned and held out a hand. "I'm Nightstrike. Apollyon is my teacher." She hip checked me without turning around. "The big lug in the long coat is my boyfriend Solomon, and that's Starbreaker, Agria, and Clockwork."

Nat had come along with Perit and Valk, but they had wandered off with Selka keeping watch. Zeke was around, I knew that somehow, but he also...wasn't. I couldn't see, hear, or really detect him anyway except somehow knowing he was nearby. I suspected even that last bit was him allowing me to notice him so I didn't go looking. His Stealth Skill was undoubtedly MUCH more sophisticated than mine or Callie's.

The rest of our group waved to the newcomer, who grinned widely. "I like her." Taking the offered hand she gave a firm shake, pulling back and then sweeping into a sophisticated curtsy the should have looked ridiculous in shorts, but that she somehow pulled of. "As you may have heard I'm Cady. Craygen is my older brother. He got all the height in the family, and I got all the brains."

The red haired giant scoffed. "She just tells herself that because she's not any good in a fight. She has a support ability, and she's jealous I have the strength to face my problems head on."

"You keep telling yourself that you drooling thug." She said loftily. "Anyway, come on in, you guys just got here and we would be terrible hosts if we just chatted with you at the entrance all night. We want to introduce you to some people. We can introduce you to a few friends of ours then leave you to mingle."

Leading us into the crowd, we followed close behind them, making sure not to lose their forms, despite Craygen's massive size being an easy enough way to find them again (for me at least). It made more sense to keep our eyes on them, and luckily we didn't have far to go.

They dragged us to a group of people standing under one of the miniature islands. There were four of them, a short dark haired girl. A blonde guy with his hair sticking up and a handsome face, and two dark haired men with identical faces who seemed to be twins, one standing on the shoulders of the others as he groped around the top of the island for food without being able to see what he was doing.

Can't pinched the bridge of her nose. "What are you idiots doing and where are the other four? We wanted to introduce you to our new friends."

"Hungry." Grunted the lower twin. "Trying to get food." His voice wasn't strained obviously, he was just lifting a person, albeit on with thirty plus Impact, and I didn't know how that effected things exactly. Still he sounded gruff and not very personable.

Cady just glared. "You have SUPERPOWERS." She said scathingly. "You could just teleport up there and get the food yourself!"

The top twin, who was still busy scrounging blindly on top of the barely in reach island, with drew a hand and pointed off to the side where we could see a shattered pile of rock and debris in an empty spot on the floor. "Tried that. Couldn't support my weight."

"I don't..." She just rubbed her temples. "It hurts being around you sometimes. How are you both so good at fighting and so fucking stupid at the same time. If not for the dramatic difference in size and hair color I would think you were related to MY brother." She sighed and turned to us. "Sorry you had to witness that. I can feel my Focus points dropping every time I talk to them, but I assure you it's just an illusion. I've checked."

"Rude." Said top twin, appearing next to her without moving. "We're always so nice to you, why do you say things you know will hurt us." He nodded to our group. "I'm Blink, that's Flicker." He said, jerking his thumb at his twin. The girl with the dark hair is Alice, and the guy is Chad. We came over from the Boundwave System. Chad was the winner in our tournament, but he lets Cady run things." He pitched his voice a bit lower, making sure it was loud enough to be heard even at a nominal whisper. "It's less trouble that way."

Said pink haired girl slapped him upside the back of his head. "I don't want to hear about trouble from you layabouts. I'm shocked Chad even managed to win the tournament." She pointed at the blonde. "Our hunky champion over there works out with my useless brother and these two menaces at one of the more upscale gyms on our planet. He didn't know who else to invite along so he extended us an offer."

I noticed Alice looking annoyed at Cady's description, and she stepped closer to Chad surreptitiously, putting herself in his personal space. He didn't seem to mind, giving a stoic, relaxed impression that reminded me a bit of Norman. Still, despite him being the winner, Flicker and Blink were among the five we were told to watch out for, so they were probably stronger. I didn't get the impression of terror and oppression that I did from Abel, but that was true of most people.

It was hard not to suspect that the more intimidating parts of Abel's personality and bearing were recursion based. The result of the terror and anguish of his enemies over literal decades. The only person I'd met with an aura like that was Lament, and she walked a similar path of fanatical bloodshed. On reflection it might be something similar to being an Adamant. I'd have to ask Zeke about it later.

Craygen, meanwhile, had taken over introductions. "Chad is pretty scary. He charges up off damage, and can burn it to fuel his strength. Alice's power is even cooler, though it's kind of weird. She can absorb attacks into a specially prepared box. The box holds one hundred attacks. Every time she opens it, a random attack comes out, if she guesses which attack it's going to be and gets it right it triples in power!"

I blinked, looking at the diminutive girl. "That's...really interesting actually. Can you absorb any attack? Because that sounds really powerful."

Alice flushed a bit, clearly embarrassed to have her abilities praised in a public setting. "It's not like...unbeatable. The box has to be made of materials that can withstand the attack. Plus I need to see it coming and activate my power with the box open. It doesn't work on surprise attacks or anything too strong."

"Still." Said Callie in an impressed tone. "That's a fascinating power. I just have shadow powers." Despite the self-deprecating tone I could feel her satisfaction at having more useful powers now. She was playing the game but Callie loved her new ability. Abyssal Infiltration was pretty much her dream power.

We all chatted for a while longer, trading stories about our planets. They'd actually been out into their system and checked out a few other planets. Their own planet was C-grade so they had a bit of an advantage, and when they found out ours was only psuedo D-grade, Craygen was even more blown away by how strong Abel was.

Cady whistled. "A Master Candidate one a psuedo D-grade planet? That's pretty damned impressive. It must have been excruciatingly slow going training your soul to that standard in such a backwater place. I bet it took ages." She seemed almost appalled by the amount of work, which, having made it a ways into my soul strengthening before ranking up I could totally understand.

Abel just shrugged. "It wasn't easy, but I wouldn't call it hard. Just took time and focus. One fist in front of the other, so to speak. For the most part, it was just battle. You want to get better at fighting? You fight. Training is great, but it can't beat the rush of single combat with your life on the line." He clenched his fists and I felt a bit of that murderous, stifling aura he emitted sometimes leak out. "I love being able to test myself."

That got a grin from the red haired giant, who held up his fist to bump Abel's. "Hell yes! I hope one of us gets picked for the random exhibition bout tonight!"

We all froze. As one, we turned to Abel, who was agreeing vehemently with the big man, and talking about all the powerful opponents they might come up against. When he realized we were staring, he turned to look at us. "Oh...did I forget to mention those?"

Mel's orange eyes were blazing...literally blazing, as in they were on fire slightly, her irises shifting color like flickering embers as flames spit from the eyeholes of her mask. Abel looked, for one of the first time in my memory, genuinely scared. "I swear honey, I just got excited and forgot. I didn't mean to trick you all. I promise!'

Before she could react, though I had no clue how that would go. the sky shifted from bright colors to pitch black, stars coming out as night fell. The moon, full and round, emerged and cast a spotlight across the crowd, falling on one person, and then a second.

As the booming voice came echoing from the dark, I winced as I processed what had just happened. I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose, I exhaled slowly. After a second, I opened them, and looked across the crowd to where the other party goers were pulling back from the first person chosen, just as my surroundings were being cleared by revelers to let me pass. I turned to glare at Abel, who had the good grace to look sheepish. "Well, shit." His said sourly. "I was hoping I would get picked. Oh well, good luck kid. You're going to need it."

Accidentally posted a chapter ahead today. This will be tomorrows early. Sorry about that, I'll renumber them.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I stared blankly at the other person under the light. A small, doll-like girl with onyx black hair and ruby red eyes, wearing a fancy old fashioned ball gown and smiling gently at me. Smiling just wide enough to show me the fucking FANGS she was packing.

Despite having never seen her, it was easy to figure out who she was, especially with Nat standing dumbstruck right next to her. She'd decided to extend the wish herself, since Valk was at fault, but it apparently didn't matter at this point. Because of COURSE I had to fight the Vampire. I swallowed hard, grateful for my mask since it would hide the look of absolute terror on my face.

"Hey, um...Apollyon?" I asked hoarsely. "How...mandatory, are the exhibition matches?" I wanted to give up. It would leave a bad impression, but then, so would having my spine snapped before a Vampire sucked out my marrow as if through a straw.

He hissed in discomfort, scratching the back of his head. "Completely mandatory? It's one of the conditions for entry. Everyone agreed to it when they arrived, at least from a rules standpoint." I turned to glare at him, and he gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Oh come on. What the fuck are the chances of this happening? You can't possible blame me for this."

I didn't say anything, just glared harder. We were Ascendants. Everything was always dramatic and unlikely. Fate sense might not be reliable, but most Ascendants had some small amount of it, and the pileup of all those different vaguely precognitive intuitions created a mess of complicated and dangerous nonsense that it would take a literal god with all their points in Focus to make sense of.

Sighing, I turned to Callie. "Well, upside I get to test out my new staff. If nothing else, combined with my own abilities I should be able to put up...some kind of fight. Vampire is a racial trait right? I'm guessing tons of modifiers and a couple of subskills? What should I be expecting here?"

To my shock, Zeke appeared next to me, seemingly out of nowhere. "Pretty much. Individual powers can vary. Lark himself apparently has tens of them, but the kids usually pick up one or two. That one probably has some kind of hypnosis or something. She looks like the type. That said, DO NOT blitz her head on. She'll crush you in a straight fight. Her sheer stat totals will be high into the F-ranks by now."

I winced. I'd been hoping he wouldn't say that. Nodding my thanks for the information, I stepped away from my friends and headed into the crowd. The other guests pulled back, creating a circle of empty space for us to meet in, and the tiny girl with the fanged smile practically skipped out to meet me, seemingly oblivious to any tension. She might have been a bit shorter than Callie, to be honest, though if so only barely, but somehow that only made her scarier. Like a little porcelain doll come to life to murder me. The thought made me shudder.

"Hello." She said brightly, her voice high and pleasant. "Looks like we'll be facing off against each other. I don't suppose you would mind waiting a moment while I change into something a bit less formal? I do so hate to ruin any of my dresses. Blood never washes out." I fought the urge to wince, especially when I noticed she didn't seem to be trash talking at all. She was really worried my blood would stain her clothes. Charming.

At my nod, she snapped her fingers, and a pair of twins with black hair and black dresses, both about five foot ten, melted out of the crowd. They pulled a pair of screens from their spatial rings (or conjured them I guess, but that seemed like a stretch) and set them up around her, touching a series of runes on the things so they became some sort of isolation field, then waited.

After about two minutes, she pushed the thing aside, stepping out in a set of dark leather light armor, her long hair up in a ponytail. "Thanks!" She said cheerfully. "I'll try to go easy on you for the favor." That was actually nice of her. I took up position across from her while her attendants took away the screens and cleared the way for us to fight.

"Alright." I said when we were facing each other. "Do we wait for them to tell us to start? Or is this something we decide ourselves?"

Before I could actually get an answer I heard a voice boom out the start of the fight from above. My eyes went wide, and almost on reflex I triggered Moonlit Night, State of Grace, and Double Trouble. I did NOT attack her from behind when I arrived, using State of Grace to bound backwards in case she spun to attack me.

That didn't turn out to be necessary, because the Stealth aspects of Moonlit Night hid me well enough not to be noticed, especially since she wasn't standing in the same spot by the time I finished moving, having blurred across the intervening space to my illusionary clone where she was currently shoving her clawed (where had THOSE come from) hand into its guts.

Apparently 'going easy' meant something different to me than it did to her. Sure, that wouldn't have worked on me because of my gear, but it still would have HURT. Plus she didn't know I had protection against sharp force trauma.

Deciding that I absolutely did not want to attack this woman head on, I triggered Pit of Dispair, actually earning a squeak as the ground beneath her turned to a hole full of silt. Before she could drop all the way in though, there was an explosion of movement as she DISSOLVED INTO FUCKING BATS.

I gaped as the winged rodents congregated in a spot five feet left of my pit and reformed into an annoyed Bethany. Ok, I was starting to understand the fear everyone treated Vampires with. How did that even work? Fantasy probably. Was that a Skill? Her red eyes scoured the fog fruitlessly, lips peeled back from razor sharp fangs in an unconscious snarl of annoyance and frustration.

"I hate the sneaky ones." She snarled, stalking forward slowly to try to find me. I slipped my staff free, nervously passing it from hand to hand like a baton. My Stygian Branch was a pretty interesting weapon, and I was excited to try it out. I focused and poison fire crackled through the wood, and I stacked a Mercy Kill on just in case. A Flurry of Blows and a Marked for Death were next, and I went ahead and stuck on a triple strength tranq blow for good measure.

I waited patiently until Bethany stopped stalking around and triggered Double Trouble, appearing behind her, staff already whirling as I brought it down on the back of her skull. I wasn't fucking around here, I was sure she'd be fine, but I absolutely couldn't hold back against someone this strong. Sure enough, she seemed to sense the blow and juked to the side, causing the impact to smash into her collarbone instead of her head.

Between all the boosts, the weapon's power, and heavy hands, the blow landed hard enough that I heard bone cracking, and she howled with rage and pain as it did. I dashed away as fast as I could, knowing she would retaliate and desperately wanting to avoid being gutted by those claws.

Sadly, that was about all that happened. The poison fire was barely spreading, the tranq had done nothing at all, and from what I could see from how she carried herself the collarbone was already mending. Her Vitality must be high, which was kind of ironic for a Vampire. "You know." She said conversationally. "Not many people manage to injure me when I face them."

I gripped my staff tighter as I circled away, feeling a slight hum of energy inside it. Life energy had been absorbed, though not much. I wondered what a death energy burst would do to a Vampire, but I decided against trying it. This was an E-ranked item, the attack might kill her, even without much buildup. While that was unlikely, I did NOT want her family pissed at me, so it was better not to take the chance.

My arms were also starting to get tired. This damned thing was heavy, and I wasn't used to maneuvering it yet. I hadn't had time to train yet. I triggered Double Trouble again, deciding to try to finish this as quickly as possible. As I expected, the move wouldn't work twice. She'd twigged to the feeling of my presence last time and was waiting for it. Whirling on my with claws extended, she was therefore completely staggered when I spat a Steam Arrow into her face.

She screeched, hurling herself backwards to bat at her face, and I followed, raining down blows as hard as I could, praying it would be enough to put her down. It wasn't. I managed about ten hits before she did...something. Her eyes became brighter, the red becoming overwhelming as it flooded my vision, drowning my world in bloody light.

When it cleared, I was standing on a dark, foreboding mountain, staring up at a terrifying dark castle under a blood red moon. I looked around slowly, not moving. This...was probably that hypnosis thing Zeke mentioned. Concentrating hard, I used Eye of Revelation, focusing my soul on pushing the skill to reveal the truth of my situation.

My eyes burned as the scene around me blurred, a ghostly outline of the party returning. Showing me everything around me was just some kind of illusion. It was a jarring feeling, trying to overlap the two radically different realities I was currently viewing. Of course, that was when I realized that I'd apparently been standing there longer than I had realized, because I suddenly noticed that Moonlit Night wasn't active anymore.

As soon as I realized the skill had ended I spun, trying to find any trace of Bethany. Sadly, I was too late. Her form appeared in that strange outline in front of me and tackled me to the ground, I felt the smashing concussive blasts of her punches as she pummeled me into the floor, but I don't think she was going all out.

Finally, the whole thing ended, and she let the illusion drop as a loud voice announced my loss. I groaned, happily noting none of my bones were broken at least, though several were bruised. Not my ribs, luckily. I didn't know why but I tended to break those far too often.

Bethany stalked up and loomed over me, arms crossed as she glared down. "You're sneaky." She said judgementally. She rolled her shoulder to loosen it up. I'd dropped the poison fire when the battle ended, so she'd probably healed it up all the way by now. Suddenly, her pout turned to a grin and she stuck out a hand. "I like sneaky."

I grabbed her seemingly delicate wrist and she grabbed mine (her grip was disturbingly strong) before yanking me bodily up out of the me-shaped dent she'd left in the marble. State of Grace was still active, so I did NOT stumble as I landed like an idiot. Thankfully.

Callie hit my side a second later, squeezing me tightly and burying her face in my side. Through the bond I could feel worry, relief, and...jealousy? I almost laughed. Clearly Callie had taken Zeke's warning seriously and knew Vampires were a threat. She was nuts if she thought I'd be attracted to that monster though. Bethany scared me shitless. I still thought it was kind of cute though. Callie was by far the more attractive of the two of us (though I wasn't bad to look at), so it always secretly thrilled me when she got jealous.

Something she seemed to pick up through the bond as she pulled back and glowered at me. I just chuckled and pulled her back in for a quick hug before letting her go. Bethany was talking, and I figured ignoring the terrifying monster who could almost definitely kill me if she wanted was a bad idea. "Anyway, that was a decent fight for someone so weak. I can tell you're not far into F-rank. Impressive. You guys want to come hang with us?" Huh, well, that was one way to make an introduction.

This was posted early by accident because ISP issues. If you've read this already go back to the last chapter for the new one, if not enjoy, this is Wednesday's posted early.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"That was WILD." Chirped Bethany as she dragged me over to where her friends were waiting. Callie was clutching my other arm, despite the Vampire girl not seeming romantically interested at all, and I was a bit worried I might get torn in half until she let me go, spinning back to me. "How did you see through my Mesmeric Gaze Skill? Daddy says I'm the best at that one for my age. I was just like 'zap, your mind belongs to me' and you were like 'pow, as if, this is my brain!'."

I blinked. "Um...I have a skill to see through illusions." I didn't, really, but it COULD do that. I was more thrown off by her demeanor. How had I possibly been afraid of this girl. Sure she was strong as fuck, but she was like a bouncing shimmying puppy. She'd had her handmaids put the screen back and changed back into her dress, which she was whipping around as she spun back and forth, clearly fond of the swishing.

"Wow." She said, eyes wide. "That's crazy. You have so many Skills. That's pretty cool." She stopped, thinking back over her previous statements and then smacked her forehead with her palm. "Duh, Bethy, rude. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Bethany Lark, but my friends call me Beth or Bethy." She narrowed her eyes at me, making the irises glow a bit. "Never Bessy though. I ate someone for calling me that. Who are you? Sorry about before by the way, daddy says I need to have the proper 'gravitas' as a vampire when I talk to strangers, but we fought so we're not strangers yeah?"

My eyes were glazed as I stared at her worriedly. If she wasn't a vampire I'd have been scared she might suffocate because she hadn't paused at all during that. Callie, far from being threatened now, was trying to hold back giggles, and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Bethy. I was impressed with you...gravitas, by the way."

Bethy nodded sagely. "Of course." Her voice took on the semi-formal cadence from earlier. "My dark father insists his children comport themselves with the utmost dignity before the masses." Then she winked. "But, like, now we're alone and my Vampire stealth means we can say whatever. Like 'whoosh, total secrecy'. " Smiling smugly she tapped her chest. "I'm pretty cool." Then she jumped again, her insane all over the place train of thought bringing her around to face her handmaids. "Oh wow, rude again! I didn't introduce you to Aida and Tracey. They're my besties. They're also my thralls!"

One of the twins (I decided to call left twin Aida and right twin Tracey) chuckled. "They don't know what that means Bethy." Her eyes, a sort of reddish chocolate brown, fixed on us. "Thrall is a job that you can unlock serving a Vampire. It's like the Knight job that some nobles can give. Thralls get bonuses based on their Vampire and can learn unique abilities."

Bethany rolled her eyes. "That's super boring Aida, they don't care about that." I was pleased to see I'd called which was which right. The vampire girl turned back to me. "That was so fun though. I was expecting you to be super week, I can kind of feel that stuff and you feel...spread thin. But then you totally put up an awesome fight!"

I grinned at her. "Well, glad I could oblige. Personally, I'm just happy you decided to change into the leather armor. I heard you don't take kindly to people ruining your clothes. How screwed would I have been if I had damaged that dress?" I asked teasingly, figured I'd get some throw away comment about her beating me up.

Instead, her face closed off, becoming cold and remote as her eyes blazed a lambent red. "I'd have ended your life on the very spot." Then she blinked, and she was suddenly all smiles again. "Which would have SO ruined the party!" She turned to Callie. "Oh, and speaking of outfits, I LOVE yours! That weird shadowy effect is so cool, you HAVE to tell me where you got it. I want to get a dress made like that. It would be like I was swooping around garbed in shadows!"

My girlfriend, still slightly off balance from the terrifying death threat, shook it off pretty fast, introducing herself and filling her in on the details of her costume. Of course, the Vampire wasn't remotely concerned about affording something like that. She just looked over to where a crowd of people was standing nearby. "That sounds so cool. Taylor!" She barked. A woman stepped out of the crowd, and Bethy pointed to her. "This is my tailor, Taylor. She goes EVERYWHERE with me. Tay, come look at this girl's clothes."

The tailor in question looked...normal. A tall, athletic girl, with a pretty face and a blonde ponytail. She was dressed in a black cocktail dress and heels, looking more party chic than most of the people here, who were almost all in costume. It was interesting that she was a tailor instead of a hero. I wondered how much renown she got just from being around Bethany.

She looked over Callie with an interested smile. "Oh hey Bethy. Wow, I DO like that. Some kind of conceptual filtration effect keyed to a static enchantment structure? Mental component maybe? Fascinating. Subpar materials, but put to excellent use." She hummed consideringly. "I'd say this came from a lower end planet. Maybe D-rank? No, psuedo D-rank. Someone put a lot into learning their craft but was hamstrung with poor materials."

We all blinked at her in complete shock. Bethany didn't seem surprised. "Well I want a dress like that. It would be so cool. You could work the fabric so it would like...float or something. Then I'd be swishing around clad in darkness. Daddy would be ecstatic to see me 'embracing my role'." She rolled her eyes. "He never stops going on about that. 'Fashion is a hobby Bethany, not a lifestyle. Vampires need to inspire terror.' Ugh. Like, Vampires are all chic and beautiful now. He's so behind the times."

It was hard not to be swept up in Bethy's massive personality, the tiny Vampire was easily one of the most energetic and cheerful people I'd ever met (aside from brief moments of being murderously terrifying). I couldn't reconcile her with the image of the Vampire monster that Zeke had described. I honestly felt almost stupid for being so afraid (though the threat of murder if I'd messed up her clothes helped) and I was curious about her family. "So...Bethy. Tell me more about yourself. You seem like an interesting person, are all Vampires like you?"

She snorted. "No. Most of my brothers and sisters are wannabe posers. Daddy is the real deal, and everyone is scared of him for it, but they all grew up wanting to be just like him." She put a hand beside her mouth as if to block the view of her lips and whispered conspiratorially. "I think that's why I'm his favorite. I don't suck up like the rest of them." Then she giggled. "Get it? Suck up? Because we're Vampires." She burst out into peals of laughter, almost doubling over at her own joke.

Aida and Tracey, who were standing stoically nearby, sighed, Aida pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. To my surprise though, she wasn't the only one laughing. "That was hilarious." Said the cheerful voice of Jessie, her face lit up with a wide smile. "You're awesome." She held out a hand. "I'm Agria." Bethany took her hand, pulling it to jerk my teammate into a hug.

"Oh wow I love your outfit! Are those like...leaves?" Jessie, who was normally the most cheerful and enthusiastic person I knew, looked poleaxed by the speed with which it all happened. Bethy pulled back, chattering happily about the construction of Jessie's costume, which my blonde friend enjoyed immensely, not having really been able to show off since getting it. She'd been wearing it around, sure, but she wasn't in the tournament and we'd all gotten new costumes.

I remembered how excited she'd been to show off when she got her first costume. How happy she was about it. It was nice she found someone so enthusiastic. I heard a throat clearing and looked over to find Nat, Perit, and Valk all waiting politely to one side, my cousin shooting me annoyed glare. I smirked smugly behind my mask at the expression. Nat was more experienced and confident about all this than I was. It was nice to come out ahead here without really trying.

Before I could comment though, or Bethany could respond, the entire party started shaking. Not in a figurative sense, but literally shuddering in place. Everyone in the hall looked off balance, in the literal and figurative sense both, and we all looked around worriedly to try to figure out what the hell was going on. "What's happening?" I called loudly, worried we might be under attack.

Abel was staring up at the ceiling, eyes looking past the sky and off into the distance. "Spatial ripple. Like someone dropped a giant ass rock into a pond. Something just changed in the nearby space, something big. This place is just floating around in the void, so it got shaken up."

"It's opening." Said Zeke from behind us. None of us jumped, too distracted to care much about my uncle's theatrics. We all turned to look at him questioningly, and he rolled his eyes. "The Moonsong Glade is opening. We've been waiting for the space to stabilize so you could all enter, that's what that was. It's stable enough to allow F-ranked passage now. Slightly more than F-rank, honestly. I'd say anyone with under fifty Impact could get through."

That meant we could actually use the Moonglow Dew if we found it. E-rankers had sixty two Impact, so none of them could get in, but it made me wary of the interior of the dungeon. How many people there had more than a normal F-ranker's Impact value. Zeke had said the Dew wouldn't reveal itself to those inside normally, but there had to have been SOME of the stuff. Were we going to be fighting people halfway to E-rank? What would that even be like?

I felt that old fire start to burn in my gut again. Excitement. I'd been...floundering, a bit, since I lost my fight to Abel. It had been my first real defeat and it derailed me something fierce. Now though, we were going to be competing for resources, and Abel was on my side.

"Alright." I said firmly. "So we need to go. Bit short notice, but we're already good on supplies and stuff right?" We all had our rings, I got my weapon, we should be good to go. "Also...how do we go? Because you said it's F-rank only, so how do we enter. Will there be a portal or something?"

Zeke grinned, gesturing for us to follow, and we all did. Every one of us walked out of the party, followed by dozens more people, and as we exited we stared up into the darkness of space over the city. Darkness covered with a series of rivers or celestial silver light, shimmering and twisting around the floating city. "Why do you think the Lakedeeps picked this spot?" He said with a grin.

Gesturing up at the rivers theatrically, he announced. "Presenting the entrances that flow through the unstable space. Starlight Slides. There's a special song you have to play to call them, but the process was started when the space solidified enough to support the slides. That's concentrated moonlight. It's where the Glade gets its name." He turned toward the city. "Now, let's go find you a musician and get you your own. You don't want to be the last ones to arrive."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We were running. Desperately trying to get to a musician before anyone else. As we ran, I saw dozens of others scattering in all directions. Not everyone. Some of these people either weren't here to enter the Glade or didn't care enough to try being early, because they just watched everyone else barrel around with smirks on their faces. Zeke wasn't leading, exactly, he'd just gotten us started running, Nat, however WAS pulling ahead to show us the way to the nearest person who could open us a slide.

We turned off into an alley and bolted into a small run down shop with a door hidden under an overhang, and Nat slammed the door behind us, barricading it before she informed Celine we would be contracting the old man behind the counter as our ride and to get us a decent rate. She shoved a bag of chits into her hand, probably because we were in a time crunch, and the elf girl sighed and got to work negotiating.

Callie pulled me aside, activating her Stealth Skill as we stepped into a dark corner. "You know." I said with a grin. "If you wanted to pull me away for some alone time your timing could be better. Honestly I think Stealth will make our absence MORE noticeable, not less."

She gave me a wan smile. "Sadly not where my mind was at. Shane...we need to talk." I blinked at her. That sounded...bad. I'd never had someone tell me that and mean anything good by it. I could feel discomfort, uncertainty, and fear through the bond, and I had a sinking suspicion I knew what this was about.

"Right." I said slowly. "Talk about what? Did something happen? Is this about the whole Vampire thing?" I wracked my brain for what she might want to talk about. We'd been pretty solid up to this point, and I hadn't felt and unhappiness through the bond. "Like if I did something wrong, we can talk it out right?" My stomach was in knots. Was that what this was? Was she breaking up with me?

Staring at me uncomprehendingly, she seemed to notice my creeping dread through the bond. Her own unhappy feelings evaporated like snow on a summer day as she finally realized what I meant and...burst out laughing. She was doubled over cackling at me, and my own fear was mitigated somewhat by annoyance. It wasn't MY fault she'd been so damned vague. "I'm sorry," She wheezed. "But I just realized what that probably sounded like. No, sweetie I'm not breaking up with you."

I threw my hands in the air. "Well, hell Callie, maybe don't lead the conversation so ambiguously next time. The bond was sending me tons of signals. If you aren't breaking up with me what the hell is this about? If it helps, just know that whatever it is will pale in comparison to what you just put me through, so thanks for setting the stage."

She had to try to staunch her giggles. "Right. Sorry, love. No, I wanted to talk about the group. Specifically, I wanted to talk to you about leading it. I think you should take over as leader."

Blinking in surprise, I cocked my head. "But...why? You're amazing at leading. You always have a plan, plus you have way more experience. Your years as an Ascendant-"

She cut me off. "Mean nothing anymore. I was a G-ranker in a tiny city on a tiny backwater planet. Sure, I spent some time learning how things worked, but my experience is so far behind where we are now that you couldn't spot it with a telescope. It's apples an Elephants, Shane. This isn't my world anymore. Literally. It is yours though. And you'll be expected to do more as we go on. To make your own faction. To lead."

"But." I floundered. I hadn't expected this. "I'm not...leadership material. I'm a thug. I just hit shit. I don't know politics and backroom deals and tactics. That's you. You're amazing at that stuff, it's one of the MANY things I love about you. Everyone is safer with you in charge."

Flicking my forehead through the mask with a dull thunk, she glared up at me. "You are not an idiot. You are not an animal. You are a smart, capable man with admittedly SOME impulse control issues. You CAN make good decisions. And I'll still be here to help and handle things if you can't. We're partners remember? But the things we're going to be involved in going forward are going to be all on you. Your family, your enemies. You need to learn to lead."

It was hard to argue that. But I just...didn't want to. I didn't want to be in charge, didn't want all that pressure. I wasn't just a thug because of my reputation, I was a thug because it was FUN. Turning off my brain and hitting shit until it left me alone was EASY. It also let me ignore what I'd known for a long time. I needed to make a goddamn decision about where my life was going.

Putting it off for so long had been convenient because of the messes we'd been in, but I needed a direction. I wanted to become the Wishmaster, but that was almost TOO big of a goal. It was easy to write it off as an overarching path and just ignore the trees for the forest. I needed a direction. We were doing this to get stronger, then strengthening our souls, but for what? Just to keep trying to prove ourselves to the family?

"And if I take over the group." I said quietly. "You'll be with me, whatever I decide we should do? No matter what?" I needed to know she'd be by my side, because I was pretty sure my new direction was going to be a bit more dangerous than the current one, at least in the short term.

She snorted. "Baby, if you don't know I have your back by now I don't know what to tell you. Barring you going insane from recursion and taking up a career punching babies, I'm with you no matter what."

I grinned, triggering the 'eating' function of my mask as I leaned down to pull her into a deep kiss. She grinned back against my lips, until we finally finished and I pulled back, panting slightly. She gave me a wink and I laughed. "Alright." i said breathlessly. "I'll take over. And I know what to do. It's not going to be a short term goal mind you, we have to finish this mess and then get through the trials at the Ruined Soul Temple but...I want to find my mom."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Really? I never got the impression you were too curious about her. She left even before your dad right?"

"She did." I agreed grimly. "But she might have had to. Zeke implied dad forced her, and even if he didn't...I need to know. I've spent a ton of time brooding about the parent I know, but I want to meet the one I don't. I barely remember my mom, and I want to see her again. It's probably going to be a big deal tracking her down. Somehow I doubt I can just roll up to the Church's back yard and ask to see her."

My girlfriend shook her head emphatically. "You can't. First off, A-rankers are the pillars of the main factions. Their locations are closely guarded secrets, and they change constantly. At least when they aren't locked up in the central stronghold of their factions. But there's no way we reach your mom in the Holy Dominion. I've been reading up on this stuff since we found out we were leaving, and I can tell you that for sure. Luckily your mom is a combat caste A-ranker, and they aren't known for cushy desk jobs. She's PROBABLY out and about."

I nodded, smiling at the news. "That's awesome. So we just need to find her. I even know who to ask. We can talk to that Brightlaw guy. He's a Crusader for the Church right? I bet he knows a ton about the combat caste. We can talk to him during our trip through the Glade."

"We can." She said cautiously. "But don't expect finding him to be easy. The Glade is a dungeon, one big enough to support local factions. F-ranker factions too, but most of the big names will have ingested Moonglow Dew. We're going to have our hands full." Seeming to notice her error she put her hands up. "Not that I'm saying to give up. Finding your mom is a good idea. If Brightlaw doesn't know, I bet someone at the Ruined Soul Temple will. The elites of the factions will be there for the trial, she might even show up."

I grinned at the thought. She was right. I had a direction to go in now. Somehow, having a plan, a short term plan that MATTERED to me, made this seem...less daunting. I could do this. I'd track down that Crusader and ask him what he knew, and if it was nothing I'd KEEP looking until we found my mother and I could finally ask her what had happened. I could finally get an answer from at least ONE of my parents.

Smiling sweetly, Callie leaned up to kiss my cheek and pulled away, letting the Stealth drop as she walked over to where Celine was negotiating with the musician. "Well." She asked loudly. "How are negotiations going?"

Celine turned to glare at her, or at least give her a mildly disapproving frown, which was the Celine version of screaming and falling on her like a ravenous chimpanzee. "Poorly. This...person." The way she said that made it clear she wanted to say a much less neutral word but wasn't willing to sully herself with such vulgarity. "Is insisting on overcharging us. He thinks he has leverage and refuses to compromise."

The old man grinned, exposing several missing teeth (though the rest of them were perfectly straight and white, so I suspected they'd been knocked out in a fight when he was younger or something). "S'right." He said smugly. "I want thirty F-rank chits for the lot of you. Three apiece."

Callie grimaced, turning to me. "Well boss man? First decision as group leader. What should we do? Are we going to eat the cost?" I could tell from the bond she didn't think we should, and I didn't either. If he was overcharging us I'd rather go look for someone else.

"Two." I said flatly. He opened his mouth and I held up a hand. "Nope. This isn't a negotiation. I'm not bartering, I don't have that Skill. You'll take two or we'll take our leave. I'm sure you can find someone else who wants to head down there. Of course, the chances are good that you'll run into someone a bit less...civilized than I am, and that their guardian might be less circumspect. You might end up getting threatened into taking nothing."

His mouth snapped shut. He glared at me, but I just stared him down. I didn't know if two F-rank chits per person was a good rate, but it was a better one, and close enough to the full amount that it wasn't TOO onerous to accept. Finally he sneered and nodded, and Celine smugly counted out the chits.

Callie gave me a proud smile and leaned up to kiss my masked cheek. I grinned, then turned to the old man, who had taken a pan flute out of his pocket. He played a note, and the window blew open, then he began to really cut loose. The speed complexity of the song were astonishing, and with each new note a moonbeam streamed through the window twisting in on itself. I watched in stunned amazement as the moonbeams wove themselves into a bridge, or rather, a slide. "Okay." I said aloud as I stared. "That was pretty cool."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The slide that materialized was mesmerizing to look at. Whirls of shifting silver moonlight woven into intricate spirals and shifting symbols I could barely understand. Some looked like runes, some looked almost like pictures, at least for a second, and some I had no words for. "That's...amazing." I murmured, reaching out to touch the silvery substance.

Zeke reached out and smacked my hand away. "Not yet. If you touch it you'll get sucked in. Make sure you have everything prepared before you make contact." I shook my fingers, glaring a little, but nodded.

"So...what is this anyway? Did he make this just now?" The music had woven the slide, but something about it seemed too...profound to have been made by the old man. Not in terms of Impact, it was only F-rank like we were, but in terms of complexity. It was like I was looking into an absurdly deep puddle. Even if it was the same size as other puddles in terms of width, the depth was leagues deeper.

Zeke shook his head, looking at it with interest. "No. More like...called it? He gave it a place to connect. The slide is part of the glade. An important part." He shook off the faraway tone. "Doesn't matter. You need to go. The slides don't connect for long, and someone will have noticed." He patted my shoulder. "Be safe kid. I'll be keeping an eye out, but I won't be any good out here." He looked at the others. "Watch his back."

I looked around. "Hey, where is Jessie? We can't leave without her." Our healer was the most important member of our group, especially in a place like the Moonsong Glade, which would be full of wild animals and nature.

Callie pointed out the door. "She's outside waiting for the animals. You didn't think she'd leave without Randall and the wolves did you? It was the whole reason we brought them. It's fine though, she texted them as soon as we got here,and if she went out to meet them they should be arriving any second."

I turned to Abel. "Can you help her get them to the slide? They're too big to fit through the door, but your spatial lubrication should help get around that. Once they touch the silver they'll be snapped up."

He just shrugged and went outside to help. I looked back at Zeke. "Alright. Once that's done we're leaving. Don't drink too much while I'm gone, keep up with Cass's training, and teach Cark a few things too." I paused. "And tell them I said goodbye and that I'll see them soon enough."

I debated telling him about my decision to look for my mother, but I knew he couldn't do anything in the Glade anyway, and I was worried he'd try to talk me out of it. I decided not to mention it. There would be time later. Unless I was dead and then I wouldn't care.

Giving my uncle a quick hug that surprised me almost as much as it surprised him, I stepped back and took up a spot near the silver slide. I saw the air warp as the spatial lubrication created a path to the slide, Abel leading it in so Randall could reach the stream of energy. With one last look around, I reached out and touched the moonlight...and fell.

That's the only word that worked for it. Falling. Despite the slide going straight up for a bit and then curving slowly, as I rocketed up it I felt myself picking up speed. It wasn't anything as simple as gravity reversing, because I didn't feel like I had a body at all, it was like my soul was being sucked down a tube, but the tube had a million curves and twists and turns and was straight as an arrow at the same time.

Every inch I traveled felt like I'd gone through a maze, but at the same time I not only didn't slow down, I picked up speed. Like someone was shoving the impression of having traveled a winding path into my head every inch I moved, but they were all different winding paths, and my brain was having trouble keeping up with them, and then, suddenly...I wasn't.

I was just standing in the forest. The trees were swaying, the leaves were rustling, and I was trying my best not to vomit. There was a flash of moonlight and Callie was there. I had barely enough presence of mind to step in and catch her before she toppled over. Abel was fine, oddly, and it made me wonder if soul strength made it easier to adjust. Benny seemed to do relatively well too.

Nat and her guards looked sick but managed to stay standing, and Jessie landed still on Randall's back. Having four legs presumably helped, because none of the animals fell over. Jin, Rala, Lily, and Rolf, our wolves, all looked oddly energetic and excited actually, and I felt bad that we'd been keeping them cooped up in the city. Randall would want to stay with Jessie, but I would be thinking about possibly leaving the wolves if they wanted to stay.

We were lucky they were able to come along at all, it had been a relief to find out animals didn't count towards our slots. Sapience was a big thing in this case apparently. "Alright." I said with a rasp, my voice not working right yet. "Is everyone ok? No one hurt?"

"Only mentally and emotionally." Moaned Benny. "I feel like I fell out of an existential dread tree and hit every branch on the way down. That was awful. I'm not sure if I feel like less than when I went in or more, or which of those things is worse because they're both somehow terrifying to me right now."

I grimaced. "Don't think about it. It sucked but it's over, and chances are we won't need to do anything like it again anytime soon."

"Speaking of being over..." Said Jessie from her perch on Randall's back. "Does anyone know where we ended up? Because I feel like the whole danger thing might just be getting started. The puppies don't look comfortable here, and they have pretty solid instincts."

Staring around us, I took in the trees. We'd ended up in a clearing, natural from the looks of it. part of me secretly hoped there would be some Moonglow Dew conveniently sitting around here, but there wasn't. Just darkness, shadow and foreboding thick between the trees. Which was when my brain caught up to the fact that we had our own expert on shadow and foreboding.

"Cal." I called, my girlfriend looking up at me as she tried to shake the cobwebs off from our entrance. "We're in a deep dark shadowy forest, think you could take a listen and get us an idea what we're walking into. See if there are any people nearby, or civilization maybe."

Shaking her head to physically rattle something loose, she grinned at me. "Sounds good. Give me a second." She knelt down, hand pressed to the shadow, and I saw her sink into the darkness beneath the tree, vanishing into the empty shade. I hadn't seen her do that exactly, I'd known she could, but it was still kind of crazy to watch.

As she slipped out, she shot me a frown. "Ok, there isn't much within my range aside from animals, but I did catch the very edges of a conversation somewhere nearby. Just at the edge of where I can listen, which means not close but not far enough for my liking. They're coming this way too. But since they're out of range I just got some noise and voices in a language I didn't know. Can't even give you a number. What do we do?"

I paused. We could run, but we didn't know where we were, and we could easily end up even worse off. Being solidly in place as well as having the numbers and power to protect ourselves, meant this was as good a time as any to run into another team. Worst case we could run away.

"We wait." I said firmly. "Callie, if you have the materials maybe set a few traps nearby, something we can avoid and lead them into if we need to get away." Just because we were going to make contact didn't mean we had to be stupid about it.
She nodded, pulling some materials from her ring. Nothing too fancy, her Trap Skill wasn't high enough anyway. She turned and got to work, and I prepared to greet the other team, whoever they might be. It would be nice to assume we'd know them but we couldn't count on that.

I half wanted someone to make an escape wish, but I might need the ones I had for bargaining. I started hearing them coming pretty soon after, breaking branches and crackling leaves heralding the approach of...I froze. Too many people. More than ten. More than twenty. I panicked, getting ready to tell everyone we needed to go, but as I triggered Eye of Revelation I realized we were already surrounded.

A man stepped out of the trees. Pale with dark hair, in plate armor. He glanced around at us for a minute, before speaking in, surprisingly, completely legible if heavily accented common, the language of the Conglomerate (and from what I'd seen most of the universe). "Outsiders. How...unpleasant." He sniffed disdainfully, and I decided I didn't really like him much. While I'd have like to mouth off because of that, I was the boss now, which meant everyone's safety was my responsibility.

Sadly, that didn't make me a politician or diplomat, but it DID mean I needed to be responsible enough to keep my damn mouth shut. I glanced to Celine, giving her a nod, and she stepped forward politely. "Pardon our intrusion sir. Might we impose upon you for our location? If we've trespassed on sovereign territory we heartily apologize, and would be happy to remove ourselves from your land."

The man's lip curled under his hawkish nose. "Remove yourselves? Why would we allow this. You expect Ladrigan to be the only kingdom without outsiders? Pelegar has already acquired four groups. We will not allow ourselves to be bested. You will come with us. The awakening approaches, and outsiders are the best possible source of the god Dew. You're all drawn to the stuff."

That...wasn't what I expected. Any of it. I knew there were locals, but not that they had fucking KINGDOMS. Not that they knew we'd be coming and wanted to use us as Dew detectors. I forced myself to calm down. We were safe, and if they needed us they wouldn't kill us, or hopefully hurt us if we played along.

"That sounds fine." I said cheerfully. "We'd be happy to help our new hosts, and we appreciate your hospitality. We're quite lost, so it's kind of you to offer us a place as your guests."

His eyes widened, and then narrowed, his face contorting as he presumably started to contradict me, when a musical voice cut him off. "What amiable intruders." Said a girl, stepping from the trees. She had long, cascading aqua hair, and pale blue skin, as well as ears as pointed as Celine's. "But very well, if it will smooth things over, guests you shall be." Her eyes turned to the pale man. "Drakov, escort them to my carriage. I'll bring them back personally."

Her accent was much milder than his, barely noticeable, and somehow much fancier. She gave us a warm smile, her completely blue eyes (no iris at all) glinting like spheres of ice blue metal as she stared at as, then she turned and strolled away, expecting us to follow. I had no idea what the hell that was about, but I was betting it was complicated. Joy.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I did NOT ask why the woman who picked us up was blue. It was tough. I was pretty sure she was some kind of elf, and I REALLY wanted to know more about her. Luckily, despite my politeness, I did get those answers, because Celine was kind enough to bring it up. "I find it astonishing to meet one of my water touched cousins." Said our diplomat, sweeping back her hair on one side. "Are you a Naiad?"

The blue woman, who was apparently a Naiad, smiled. "I am. At least on my mother's side. Our people are rare here, my father became quite entranced with my mother and decided to take her to his bed." She smiled bitterly. "Sadly, my siblings are far less enthused about my heritage, as none of them share it."

Celine winced. "Ah, I presume your line is...expansive?" Her voice sounded sympathetic. More so than I'd heard it before.
"Of course." The Naiad smiled, her voice dripping false sweetness. "Father has to find an heir worthy of the crown. An inborn racial trait is quite a coup, though sadly my gifts don't lie toward combat. Are you a wood elf? I've never seen one before."

I was intrigued. I knew Celine was an elf, but I didn't know there were subspecies of elf. I also didn't know you could be born with a racial trait, though given Celine was from a family of elves, I probably should have guessed that. I wondered how that worked, since the racial trait took the spot of an ability. It was something to ask around about later, just out of curiosity.

Sadly, now wasn't the time. Celine was our diplomat, but I was in charge now. Which meant I needed to at least make an effort to improve our position, especially since it was my fault we were in it. I wasn't entirely sure I'd made the wrong call making contact, granted, but still. "The crown?" I interrupted as politely as I could. "So you're a princess of this kingdom?"

She smiled at me widely, and I learned that Naiads apparently have razor sharp rows of small jagged teeth. "I am. Anna-Maria Deville. Fifteenth princess of the kingdom of Ladrigan. Daughter of Salara Vorenas, whom her loyal subjects have termed 'the fishwife' behind her back." Her tone had a bite to it, and I got the impression that she didn't care for her 'loyal subjects' overly much.

"They sound like dicks." Said Benny matter of factly. Celine sighed, pinching her nose, but Anna-Marie burst out into giggles. My best friend just shrugged. "What? Racist peasant farmers aren't exactly top of my 'to hang with' list. I'm just saying."

Anna-Marie's smile at Benny was much warmer, despite showing nearly as much teeth. "That is nice to know. I too find them objectionable company." My best friend preened a bit, but was treated to a merciless pinch from his girlfriend and jerked back with a yelp.

Celine kept a calm and pleasant expression on her face, but her eyes locked on Benny for a minute, and he crossed his arms, hunching down in annoyance to entertain himself without talking. I didn't think Celine was jealous or anything, more that Benny was NOT a diplomat, and while I had seniority to give me an excuse to talk, he was just saying random shit and messing up her dialogue.

Still, her face was sympathetic when she turned back to the princess. "It sounds like you are having quite a difficult time. Might I be so bold as to ask how we might aid you with that? You seem to have some use for us."

"To be frank." Said the Naiad princess. "We all do. The awakening happens very rarely, the last one wasn't even in my lifetime. My father was able to procure some of the god Dew from a prior awakening, and it was the support of that power the enabled him to claim the throne of Ladrigan. Should one of us acquire the treasure, our chances of securing the crown when he passes will be nearly assured."

I still didn't get it. "So...just go look for it? I was told that it exists here all the time, I'm sure you guys have plenty of opportunities to find it."

She shook her head. "The Dew requires energy from the moons." She pointed out the window up at the MASSIVE silver sphere hanging in the still daylit sky. The moons can only be seen during the awakenings. The amount of the material increases exponentially during awakenings, but sadly, natives do not seem drawn to this substance as the outsiders are. Therefore, whenever outsiders arrive, the royals all scramble to recruit as many as possible."

"This is some kind of...inheritance test?" I was obviously familiar with the concept. "But why doesn't the king just gather the Dew for himself. Actually, will we even get any? He could just take all of ours away."

Her eyes went wide as she shook her head, aqua hair bouncing furiously. "Oh no. We would never do such a thing. There have been dynasties in the past who tried such tactics. They flourished for a few centuries, but upon the next awakening terrifying outsiders fell upon them in droves to exact retribution. As for my father, god Dew becomes less effective the more you use it. He's ingested several drops already and has reached his limit."

That made sense, couldn't have the locals killing people from major factions. The limit made sense too, otherwise everyone powerful here would just grind right up to the edge of E-rank and stay there. "Ok." I said firmly. "You want to use us as your...what? Champions? To find Dew?" I wasn't sure why they couldn't find it themselves, maybe something about being around the stuff their whole lives made their fate sense ignore it?

"Yes." Said with relief. "Other outsiders will no doubt be courted by my siblings. Though some will attempt other methods for finding the Dew. As you saw earlier, not all of the natives are enthused about outsider visits. Drakov, for instance, had two reasons to act as he did. First is prejudice, which I tend to shy away from for obvious reasons, and second is because while he is nominally a castle guard he owes allegiance to my brother Mulciber."

I winced, happy I had my mask on. I really didn't like politics, and while I was up to being in charge, this sounded like it would be a lot of that. I looked at Celine, giving her a nod so she'd know she could take over from here. My elven companion folded her hands in a businesslike manner and gave a practiced smile. "Well, that certainly sounds like a tricky situation. So what exactly can you offer us to side with you?"

Anna-Marie chuckled. "I suppose it was foolish to hope it would be that easy. Honestly, I don't have much to offer other than the same things my siblings could. Protection from our citizens, supplies where needed, my own support as well as those of my guards and other allies. I'm hardly the favorite for the throne, and my retainers aren't exactly numerous." She sounded depressed just talking about it, and I could see why.

Callie reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it and looking at me beseechingly. My girl had a heroic streak, and poor Anna-Marie was in a bad spot. Honestly I wasn't against the idea. We had no real reason to accept teaming up with anyone, but if we had to go with somebody, a person who had helped us out and who seemed like she would have our backs if needed (out of necessity if nothing else) wasn't the worst option.

This might be a bit premature, but I knew that sometimes, doing something subpar was better than waiting fruitlessly for a perfect option. It was unlikely any of the royals would be perfect allies, so we might as well go with the devil we knew. "Alright." I said, surprising her and Celine both. "We'll help you." The others all looked surprised, except Callie who beamed at me with such approval and pride I actually blushed.

It was strange to see a pair of eyes that were just blue metallic orbs 'shine', but they did. She look ecstatic as she literally cheered. "That's amazing! Thank you so much, I promise I won't let you regret this. I'll do everything I can to support your group!"

Smiling, I nodded at her kindly. I believed she would though I still had my own means of gathering support and materials. My wishes were a perfect method for that. "That sounds good, because I am absolutely exhausted. It's been a long night for us and we could use somewhere to rest." The party had been later in the day, and combined with the adrenaline of bolting for a magician, the ride here, and the rest of the day's activities this had been one of the longest I'd ever had, and that was saying something.

My thoughts were cut off, however, as I felt a lurch in the carriage. Looking out the window I saw that we'd come to a stop. The massive box of dark shining wood had been even larger on the inside, a large, comfortable sitting room lined with bench seats that had comfortably fit all ten of us, the princess, and even the wolves. Sadly Jessie and Randall had to ride outside, because even bigger on the inside Ascendant shit wasn't built for giant bears.

Luckily this carriage was pulled by horses, horses who were ALSO F-rank like Randall, and not nearly as high into it as he was, so the bear didn't have trouble keeping up. Sometimes it was easy to forget how fast and strong F-rankers could be, even being one myself. Animals like horses or bears who were naturally predisposed to physical power tended to accrue lots of Might, and that high stat made crossing long distances a matter of minutes rather than hours.

I assumed this planet was relatively big, given that the gravity seemed similar to what I'd felt in the bazaar (granted there wasn't the pressure from Impact, but still, the gravity here felt heavier than on Callus). So we must have covered a ton of ground for the trip to take fifteen to twenty minutes. I tensed up, making sure that I was prepared for all of what was to come. We could run into other teams at any minute, and that was without the whole 'locals hate you sometimes' thing.

Climbing out of the carriage, I was taken aback by the newest building we saw, an absolutely monumental castle...kind of. I turned to the princess. "Did you guys...carve this out of a mountain?" It was hard to describe, but it looked like the castle was all one piece of dark stone, from the towers and parapets to the tall imposing base of the building. It was BIG obviously, given it was made out of a mountain, and I was betting a whole city worth of people could live here. Not a small city either. Especially given the almost inevitable larger internal space.

Anna-Marie beamed at me happily. "We did. My great grandfather was an earth-singer. He found this mountain in his travels and discovered it to be some of the toughest F-rank material in the kingdom, and so decided to found our dynasty here. It is the Ladrigan seat of power. Blackrock Spires."

Despite not being a fan of her people, she seemed enthused and excited about kingdom history. Clearly she loved some parts of her homeland. I also noted she'd said F-rank, so language wasn't the only thing we could find in common.

Aside from some of them speaking something different, it was clear higher ranking people spoke the same tongue as us, and they had similar methods of defining power. Anna-Marie's smile dimmed slightly, and her eyes became a bit cautious. "Now, I'll be happy to get you rooms to rest in, but first, we must make a stop. All outsiders must meet the king. We need to go see my father."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I'd been expecting to be escorted to the king directly by a bunch of guards, but we only got a retinue of four armored figures to escort us. The closed in around us, silvery armor clanking as they formed a sort of guide box, forcing us to move in a specific direction and not to deviate. The armor was shimmery to an absurd degree, but more than that, it was also seamless over their whole bodies. It had lines to give it shape like normal plate, but seemed to be made of one solid piece in reality.

"I wonder if they need can openers to get undressed at night." I said conversationally to Callie, who giggled as one of the guards stumbled slightly, then tried to pretend it hadn't happened while the others huffed in annoyance.

Stepping up next to Anna-Marie I pitched my voice low, using Stealth through my bond with Callie. "So what do we need to know here exactly? I'd rather not get executed because I used the wrong spoon for soup or something."

That got a giggle. "Etiquette is formal and respectful. Address my father as your majesty, don't speak unless spoken to, and be polite. Other than that you should be fine. He'll tell you what he wants, just agree respectfully and you'll be fine."

Annoying because I'd hoped to possibly bring up wishes, but it sounded like that would be impossible without risking offense. We walked for about twenty minutes before finally stopping at a pair of absolutely massive double doors. Next to them, a single smaller door opened and a man came out to meet the guards. They whispered to each other for a minute, then spoke to Anna-Marie, all without me hearing. I supposed the man had a Stealth Skill.

Then he went back inside and the double doors began to creak open. I stepped inside onto a long, plush brown aisle carpet, at the end of which sat...a man. Now, when we arrived we'd been surrounded by guards, and so had Jessie though I hadn't seen it at the time. They'd been walking behind us, and I'd heard them so I hadn't worried about it, but the inside of this place was big enough for she and Randall to walk in side by side with us.

All of which is to say that when I said the king looked like a shaved bear, it was definitely accurate because I had an ACTUAL bear to compare him to. The man from before stepped up beside us. "Introducing Solomon of the Starchaser Pavilion and Retinue! All kneel for his majesty Crighton Deville, fifth king of Ladrigan, Mountain Crusher, Lord of Cracking Bone, Fist of the Kingdom, and Bearer of Unyielding Force." The man who was apparently a crier bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Crighton, for his part, just stared at us coldly. Huge and blocky, with broad shoulders and a stocky build despite being tall, he had coal black eyes and long silver hair. There was a crown of beaten black iron adorning his brow, making his gaze all the more eerie, and his large protruding jaw made him look like he might bite into me at some point, his eyebrows thick and pulled down in displeasure.

We knelt, obviously. Because one look at this guy and I knew he could fucking murder all of us. Not only was he obviously at the peak of F-rank, but he'd used several drops of the Moonglow Dew, as his Impact was much higher than ours. I had no real way to gauge it, but I'd have pegged him at somewhere near forty Impact. Which meant he was chronologically probably close to four THOUSAND, because this guy was very obviously incredibly old.

Most old people I'd seen tended toward being just grizzled versions of their younger selves, Vitality keeping them in good shape until the very last minute. Crighton was no different. He looked like a really buff old man, an aged version of who assume he'd been as a youth. I could very well imagine the huge, bearlike man towering over his subjects, brown hair falling like an avalanche down his shoulders, instead of the lank silver mane he had now.

I knew why Anna-Marie had said he got his drops from a prior awakening, because I didn't think it was the last one. Maybe the one before? I wasn't sure exactly how long it had been since last time the Glade opened. No wonder he was looking for an heir.

He stared down at us coldly for a minute or two, the silence seeming to crush down on us, before a voice like breaking rocks at the bottom of a steep cliff boomed out from that barrel chest. "Outsiders." He mused. "Young. Though aren't you always. I find myself...unimpressed. Still, you won't be the last. I assume my daughter has enlightened you on the situation?" That question was addressed to me, and I nodded, since I didn't want to run my mouth and screw us over when I had nothing to say except 'yes sire'.

"Good." Rumbled the king. He picked at the sleeve of his well tailored brown doublet. "Then you know you will choose one of my children to support. Traditionally, the child who finds the outsiders has first claim, but you may wave it should you wish for someone more..." His eyes raked Anna-Marie. "Useful." His tone wasn't scornful really, just dismissive, but I felt Callie bristle as the blue skinned princess wilted under his apathy. "Make your choice."

She did NOT, thankfully, say anything. I was pretty sure we'd die if we tried to fight our way out of here. The guards might not be higher Impact than us, but they all seemed to be far into, or even at the peak of F-rank. And suddenly...I just didn't care. I wasn't going to be disrespectful or actively hostile, but I just didn't have it in me to be afraid of this giant Ascendant bully.

I looked him dead in the eye without flinching, and said firmly. "We already have. We're with Anna-Marie." Even if we hadn't agreed to that already I'd have said it. I wouldn't give this dick the satisfaction. It was funny, because when I first came in he'd intimidated me a bit, but that one action had shown me what he really was. Just a big fish in a small pond who thought he was important.

My tone wasn't derisive either, but it had enough edge to raise one of those thick woolly eyebrows. I could see him deciding if he should take offense, but he needed us and we were the first group of outsiders his kingdom had found, so he ended up deciding to be amused. His lips spread, exposing large blocky teeth that looked like they could grind diamonds. "Very well. I look forward to your performance. You have a spine, if nothing else."

He looked away from me then, over our shoulders and off into the distance, like we'd ceased to exist. I knew that was a dismissal, despite him not saying it, and smiled as we were ushered to our feet and out of the chamber, Anna-Marie trailing behind us, looking a bit shell shocked.

She'd been expecting us to change our minds I think. So used to being written off by everyone that even when we told her she had our support she didn't really believe it would happen. Callie stepped up next to her, putting an arm on her hand. "Hey. Don't let him get to you. Our parents don't decide who we are. Even if they may decide who other people are sometimes. We're here to help you."

I nodded. "Damn straight. Speaking of which, I need to know a LOT more about all this. I need to know how much Dew we get and where we get it from. Like is there some kind of flower or tree it collects on?" If there was we might have an advantage, because my plant seeking Skill should be damned useful for something like that.

Callie turned and kicked me in the knee sharply, causing me to yelp and hop back. "We don't need to talk about that right now." She said firmly, glaring at me. "We can worry about those things tomorrow. Tonight you can just show us to our rooms and you and I can talk for a while. You seem like you could use a friend."

"And you can cuddle with Randall." Chirped Jessie cheerfully. "He gives the best hugs. Normal teddy bears have nothing on snuggling with a real life chonky boy." The bear snorted loudly and she rolled her eyes. "No I'm not calling you fat. You're proportionally chonky."

Anna-Marie giggled at their antics. Celine looked like she wanted to weigh in too, but I saw her pull back with a sigh. She and Benny would probably want to befriend the princess too, but she clearly didn't feel like part of the group still after her betrayal and subsequent atonement.

Valk was also seemingly feeling protective, having stepped in closer to the princess, looming slightly in a menacing way that wasn't aimed at her. Figuring those members of our group had it covered I didn't try to interject. I wasn't the most comforting person to anyone except my close loved ones. I was curious about one thing.

Slipping back, I came to a stop next to Abel. "So..." I said slowly, making sure to use Stealth so we weren't overheard. "The king. He was pretty strong. Do you think you could have-"

"One punch." He said shortly. "He'd have crushed me with a single blow. I've seen F-rankers at the peak before, like Rime, but he...he reminded me of an E-ranker. A gulf you just can't cross." He grinned widely, showing all his teeth. "It was fantastic. I can't wait to get my Impact to the same level."

I shook my head. "I know she said the drops give diminishing returns, but I'm guessing he's had a LOT of them to get to that level. Probably past the point where most people would have given up. I'd be shocked if we could make it to thirty five Impact, and that guy seems to be at forty."

There wasn't MUCH Dew in between awakenings, but the king would definitely get what there was to get. I suspected he was pretty much at the limit of what could be done even using way too much of the stuff though, otherwise he wouldn't be looking to prepare an heir. I wondered how many drops it would take, and how many we would get. We'd have to share with Anna-Marie, so we'd need to be going all out to accrue the stuff too, since there was ten of us.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that we came to the rooms before I even noticed, having to pull myself up short to stop from running into Randall's giant furry ass. "Well." Said a much happier Anna-Marie. "These are your rooms. Three couples rooms and four singles."

Jessie frowned at the door to hers, popping it open and then sighing with relief. "The hallways here are huge, but I was worried the rooms might not fit Randall. looks fine though, even if the door is a bit of a squeeze." She looked at Abel. "Hey Apollyon, you mind helping me out here?"

Muttering about not being a bear delivery service, Abel slouched forward, ignoring his giggling girlfriend as he helped use his spatial lubrication to slip the bear through a door half his size. Once Randall was through I could see inside the room and noted that it WAS plenty big for him. This huge mountain castle seemed to have been made with a bigger is better attitude in mind. With a thank you to the princess Callie and I headed into our room, where we promptly collapsed into bed. It had been a hell of a day. I was unconscious before my head hit the pillow.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I was feeling much better when I woke up. This bed wasn't nearly as comfortable as the one at the Inn, but it was still pretty nice. Sleeping in my armor wasn't ideal, but with my Vitality it wasn't exactly going to give me problems. I got up, stretched a bit, planning to change the clothes under my armor to something clean (because I didn't want to have to wash the coat and the leather armor every day) after a shower in the fairly huge connected bathroom.

There was probably something insulting about being relieved there was a shower here, but I honestly didn't care. I'd been terrified for a minute when I woke up that I'd need to have servants fill up a tub for me like some kind of ancient barbarian. Cleansing water should rain down from above like the tears of heaven, smoothing away the cares and worries of your life. Soaking in your own filth was disgusting, and I held no appreciation for baths.

Sadly my daily communion with the gods of falling water was interrupted by a banging on the door. "Shane. We're busy today, you can't just sit in there for two hours like you usually do."

"I always get things done!" I yelled back. "I only shower on my downtime. Can't I have five minutes of peace?"

Callie, who was interrupting my attempt at inner peace, groaned. "I have to shower too, and you're...well I don't know how much hot water there is, but you've been in there an hour. Get out so I can get ready." I did, grumbling the whole time about controlling girlfriends who don't appreciate the finer things in life.

She just rolled her eyes, shoving past me rudely, and I rolled my eyes as I went to get dressed, first in new clean clothes and then in my armor and coat. My mask I waited on, because I really preferred not to wear it as often as possible. It starts to fuck with your sense of self when you see a blank piece of wood every time you look in the mirror.

After ten minutes or so Callie slipped out, throwing on her own clothes. She had to wash hers daily since you can't really wear an outfit under it. Since we left places with accessible clothes washers, she'd picked up a box at the bazaar that did the same thing, some kind of water magic item she kept in her spatial ring that could clean everything in five minutes or so. Sadly it wasn't made for leather stuff like mine.

"Oh don't pout." She chuckled as she looked at me. "You can take another one before bed tonight, stay in there for a nice long while since we'll be done with everything for the day."

I shrugged. "Fair enough. I wasn't really that upset about it, it's just early and I felt like sulking a bit." I winked at her. "Gotta save the little fits of pique for alone time now that I'm the boss. Wouldn't do to have me people see me as undignified."

"Lucky me." She drawled sarcastically. Still, she strolled up and kissed me good morning. "Oh, by the way. Thank you, for everything with Anna-Marie. I know you didn't do it for me, but you made the right decision with no hesitation. It's really sweet." She blushed. "I know it's lame but she kind of reminds me of me in a way. I feel bad for her. Her dad is a controlling dick and she has no confidence."

I chuckled. "Not that I object to the gratitude, but she seemed like she needed help. " I hesitated before saying gently. "Although if you insist on sympathizing with every person in the universe that has a shitty dad, we're going to get sucked into a LOT of bullshit."

"I know." She winced. "I'm working on it. Being away from home helps, out on my own I have to think about it less. Plus the thought that I'll probably be stronger than him next time I go home. I think in this case it worked out for us though. But hey, you're the one in charge now, so you can make sure I don't go overboard. It's a win win."

My smile melted into a frown. "We're still partners you know. Paired dueling, and...you know, us." I reached out and pulled her against me. "You always listened to my ideas when you were in charge, and honestly I don't think I could do most of the things that need doing without you. Your understanding of politics and just people in general. I mean, Celine helps, but..."

"She does though, right?" She said emphatically, her voice tinged with shock. "Like, damn she's useful to have around. I was just doing Benny a favor, but she's helping a ton."

Our conversation was cut off sadly, as ANOTHER knock came, this one from the large door to our room rather than the bathroom. I headed over to pull it open, and found Anna-Marie waiting outside with a pair of guards. She smiled brightly at me. "Oh, Solomon. It's nice to see your face. I admit your mask can be somewhat unsettling. Knowing there's a person under it is...a relief."

I cursed internally as I realized I wasn't wearing it, but honestly it wasn't like secret identities mattered. It had defensive properties, but I didn't really need them in my room. Still, I pulled it out of my ring and slipped it on both saddened and secretly relieved to be wearing the damned thing.

"Sorry I can't stay like that. Safety thing." I said wryly. "But I'm glad to put you at ease. Anyway, what can we do for you? We just woke up so we haven't really had time to eat or anything yet."

Her face brightened even further. "Oh! That's why I'm here. I wanted to invite everyone to breakfast in one of the feast halls so we might discuss the awakening."

"That sounds lovely." Callie cheered as she shoved me out of the way. I rolled my eyes as she bulled past me to snag the princess's arm, noting that Valk was towering off to the side, the red bearded warrior having been the first person she picked up apparently. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he huffed and averted his eyes. Interesting.

It took us all of five minutes to get everyone else, though we had to stop for Abel first so we could get Randall out of Jessie's room. Apparently there was also a balcony off the room he could theoretically use, but the weight of a giant bear falling from several hundred feet up would leave a huge hole, even on the off chance that it didn't hurt Randall given the extra gravity here and the hardness of the stone below.

My State of Grace would actually be perfect for getting down from there, and I filed it away as an emergency exit if we needed one, though I hoped it didn't come up. When we all made it to the feast hall, we sat down and servants began to bring out heaping plates of food as Anna-Marie chattered animatedly, telling us all about the castle and the kingdom.

Once again I noted she spoke more about history and landmarks than current citizens, not that I blamed her there. She loved the kingdom, clearly, even if she could take or leave the people in it. It made me wonder exactly what kind of ruler she would be if we helped her get the crown. She seemed like a sweet person so far, and mixed in with her history lessons there were some pretty interesting political ideas (at least to me) so that was a good sign.

Finally, I decided to get us on track. "Anna-Marie, I'm really enjoying the stories and the information about the kingdom, but I think maybe we ought to talk about the actual awakening. We don't know much. How do we harvest the Dew, how much will we get, and how many chances? Not to cut you off, but we want to make sure to get as much as possible for both of us. Speaking of, what kind of distribution did you want?"

She winced. "Well, the standard is half, because of the resources needed to ferry the outsiders around and the guards we lend them." Her eyes went wide and she hurried to add. "We can talk it over though. I'm open to changing things. As for the rest..." She sighed. "I'd wanted to wait until after breakfast since it can be a bit involved." She took a dainty bite of her breakfast, some kind of filleted fish breakfast sandwich, chewing and thinking before finally swallowing to speak.

"The god Dew spawns from flowers. Specifically Lunar Cascade Lightblooms. They're extremely rare, and they die after being harvested." She closed her eyes, as if trying to remember a lot of information. "They tend to concentrate in high places, require dense humidity, and are obviously nurtured by moonlight. Outside of awakenings moonlight is difficult to come by, the sky becomes dark and turbulent. We get the occasional streak of moonshine breaking through, but they rarely happen to coincide with a patch of flowers, hence the rarity of the Dew in normal circumstances."

This was useful info, though not the kind we needed now, so I waited for her to continue. "The flowers are incredibly difficult to find, but we've noticed over the years that outsiders seem to be drawn to them unconsciously. We believe our attunement to the planet makes us too accustomed to the energy they use. Fantasy can draw one toward opportunities, but the flowers aren't opportunities for us. They're slightly unusual but they do pop up and then die with some frequency, even if they aren't saturated with moonlight at the time."

"That's pretty fascinating." Said Callie with interest. "I didn't know fate sense worked like that. I could see why you'd need us then. What are the flowers like exactly? And how much Dew do they produce."

The princess winced. "Not much. Six drops per flower patch, usually, sometimes a bit more, sometimes less. The ones we find will also most likely be contested. Maybe by our own, maybe by the teams from neighboring kingdoms. They're most often found in the mountain ranges north of Ladrigan, which act as a sort of core for the ring of kingdoms. " She pointed out a window at the end of the room. "Those mountains, actually. The castle was placed here as a defensive rampart against invasion, though the mountains are treacherous enough that few try."

That didn't sound ideal. "Define treacherous. Like...slippery and with poor visibility?" I wasn't sure how those things would dissuade an army of F-rankers though, so I suspected it wasn't that.

"There are monsters that roam the mountains." She said apologetically. "Arctic werewolves, Yeti, snow women, ice goblins, and dozens of other creatures at home in the frost. Some of them have harvested the flowers themselves and grown strong. There's even an ice wyvern nesting somewhere up there, though we aren't sure where."

"No wonder they want to send us." I said with a wince. "You mentioned resources earlier though. What kind of resources? Some kind of enchanted gear to make travel easier?"

She nodded in relief, clearly having expected me to flip the table and storm out when I learned we were being used as fodder. Not like I expected much better from someone like Crighton. "Among other things. Warming enchantments, certain antidotes to frost poisons common up there. The list is...extensive." She looked troubled. "But I have nothing to trade for the necessary resources. We'll be at a huge disadvantage."

Having slept and gotten back all my wishes (though I was pretty sure I'd forgotten to use one or two of them in the hubbub yesterday) I just grinned at her behind my mask. "Well maybe I can help with that." I said mischievously. "Tell me, what do you know about the Wish Curse Palace?" I wasn't going to tell her the whole story, but claiming to have access to wishes had worked before, no point not using that excuse again.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

My favorite part of being the boss was delegating. I think Callie should have done that more, because I didn't see any reason to take all the small stuff on myself. For instance, resupply was not something I had any real desire to learn, so we left it to Celine and Benny. Sure, I had to sit in on it, but it was still a relief not to have to try to think of every little eventuality. I was just the purse strings here.


Which was how I found myself in negotiations with one of the other princes right now. Wulfric Deville was the third prince of Ladrigan, and one of the better connected. His mother was the king's current wife, and a transplant from a kingdom on the other side of the ring called Eledar. She had a lot of political sway, and her son used it to great effect, being one of the favorites for the heir position.


Not that it mattered. He saw Anna-Marie as pretty much the opposite of competition, and the chance to get some wishes was too good to pass up. To his credit, he was fairly polite to her so far during this meeting, but it was clear he didn't think she was a threat. "Anna." He said with a grimace. "Must you be so stubborn? You and your friends could trade these 'wishes' for money, power, influence. You don't need to get involved in this hunt. Even if no other outsiders are found in the kingdom, you could still back out. I would be willing to act as their patron, I can fulfill any commitments you made."



I bet he would. Luckily Anna-Marie wouldn't budge. Celine cleared her throat. "Your generous offer is noted, Prince Wulfric, but as of this time we are determined to continue. In this scenario it would be in both of our best interests for you to meet our needs. After all, such a connected person will obviously be able to recruit his own team of outsiders, and having us as allies would be advantageous in the field."


That was probably going to happen. The other royals had begun scouring the surrounding areas for teams, and I was sure one would pop up soon. There were a hundred teams of ten in this dungeon, and only ten kingdoms total in the ring from what I knew.



Seeing he had no chance of convincing us he sighed. "Alright. I'm told you have six of these wishes in your possession. What exactly are you asking?" I'd decided to give my daily limit as a hard cap. I'd use one day's wishes here, but I could just pretend to not have any more and keep the others to myself for the moment. If I had to contradict myself later I'd just claim to have lied, which I hadn't actually done technically, except by omission, so if anyone with truth detection powers was around I could feasibly get away with both statements.



Anna-Marie had spoken with us at length about our needs here, so we'd made a pretty comprehensive list. "We want fifteen pounds of summerspark crystal, eight bottles of frost antidote, sixteen ice goblin teeth traps, eleven snowstep enchantments, ten stonestrider goats and a blizzardbane ward." I said firmly. We were going to need to negotiate, Anna-Marie had been clear that this was the absolute best possible haul we would get, but that it was nearly impossible for us to get it all in the quantities we wanted.


Wulfric hissed in dismay. "That's absurd! I don't even HAVE fifteen pounds of summerspark crystal. And while I do have ten stonestrider goats, that's ALL I have. I'd be depriving my own forces of valuable mounts. Five pounds of crystal and three goats. We can discuss the rest as we go. But those two are easily worth a 'wish'." He wasn't peak F-rank or anything, but I knew eight points wasn't a huge deal. Luckily wishes weren't limited to points, and while stats were all important, sometimes you needed a more subtle solution.



"Wishes aren't so casual a thing." I said gravely. "Haven't you ever had a Skill you couldn't find? A location you wanted to discover? Wanted to look different? Perhaps change the ability of someone you know? I can do all these things and more." My voice was low and soothing, trying to lull him into daydreaming of the possibilities. I saw his eyebrows crease in uncertainty.



He looked down at the list. "I...that is...ten pounds. And five goats. I really can't do any more than that. I'll be dangerously underprepared with just that, so you can take it or leave it."


I looked at Celine, and nodded subtly. "Then that is what we shall accept." She said with a smile. "Wonderful, two down and four to go. Now, we can assume the blizzardbane ward will be acceptable, we only want the one, but if the goats are going to be halved the snowstep enchantments will be twice as necessary." Anna-Marie had been pretty sure we wouldn't be able to get the goats. The snowstep enchantment allowed you to walk on the top of a snow drift without sinking in or slipping.



Sadly, it was consumable, hence the numbers we asked for. But without the goats to navigate (stonestrider goats apparently had absurd balance and never slipped) some of us would need to walk, and we would need two of them at a time for Randall, since he'd be making the trip with Jessie on his back.



Wulfric sighed. "I can part with the ward. I'd prefer to downgrade it to a coldgap barricade, but if you're set on it I can make do. The enchantments...I can do ten. That really is as far as I can go though. Fifteen traps are all I have for trade, and the antidote...I can part with that. I want you to be safe after all." He smiled warmly at Anna-Marie, who actually seemed a little touched.



I didn't know if they had a good relationship, but she clearly thought well enough of him to believe he had her best interests at heart. Celine, doing her job, retorted with a counter offer, and they bickered for a while until they finally settled on ten traps and six antidotes in exchange for two more goats.


Once that was done, Wulfric looked nervously at me. "So...how does this work? I just say what I wish and you can make it happen? No matter what it is?"


"No." I laughed. "Even pre-made wishes like the ones I was given have limits. It takes stats to grant them, and I have a limit to what's loaded into these." I actually wasn't sure if it worked that way, since I couldn't make wishes like that until D-rank.



Which made me excited to think about. Wish scrolls were essentially currency, and unlike wishes themselves, there were no rules about their use or trade. Paying for things at D-rank would become much simpler, not to mention none of my wishes would ever go to waste again.



Sure, there were downsides. I wasn't positive stored wishes were limited by the creators stats but it did seem likely. Even with that though, it would be damned useful to have the option.



Swallowing hard, Wulfric nodded. "Right. I wish for the Subtle Persuasion Skill. Beginner rank." He had been warned I couldn't do Intermediate Skills already I guessed. Or he was just hoping to upgrade things his own way.



Wish detected. Grant wish? I confirmed, and after a moment got the stat requirements which I met easily. I was an F-ranker now, I didn't need to worry about paying for Beginner rank Skills.



I felt that familiar charge on my skin as the electricity built, and I reached across the table to set it free. I could contain it if I wanted, let it burst free into the ether like it did for things like luck wishes, but hands on was simpler for me. The prince stiffened, gritting his teeth as the sensation of my power poured through him, and when it faded he was panting and sweating.



He was also grinning. He'd clearly gotten what he wanted, not that I was surprises. Having the confirmation made him excited for the other wishes though. He'd paid the first with summerspark crystal, and we crossed it off the list.



We went down the list. Each new item paying for a wish, slowly stockpiling what we needed as the prince got more powerful. Or at least developed the potential to do so. He'd been wishing for Beginner Skills, which were a bit behind F-rank, but long term he was clearly making a good choice.



Finally we finished, and he wasn't the only one sweating and panting. I'd used up a lot of energy binging them all like that, but it was worth it. The prince rose on shaky legs, smiling wanly at me as he bid us goodbye, then staggered out of the room.



I looked at Anna-Marie. "So. How did we do? You know the value of this stuff better than we do. Did we get ripped off?"



Not that I expected her to say yes. But asking her to confirm it would make her feel valued, and would remind Celine of her role in things. Callie said little acknowledgements would help me with the group, letting everyone know I noticed how much they did.



Shaking her head, she shot me a grin. "We did excellently. Granted, it's hard for me to measure value for something as ephemeral as a wish, but we got what we needed."



"Preaching to the choir." I said emphatically. "But fair enough. Celine?"



The elven girl smiled at me subtly, as was her way. "I think we did well. In the future, it might behoove us to offer a cheaper wish as a demonstration and negotiate from there. The effect of seeing such an impressive ability clearly swayed him, but we'd already settled on a price."



That was a good point actually. It was also possible we might not even need to. The prince had gotten his wishes and that might get around. Then again it was also possible he would keep a lid on it. I probably would if I were him. Even without more wishes as a motivation, wanting new Skills to be a surprise was only natural. They'd make a bigger splash that way and be much more effective.



As we talked, servants tromped in and out carrying trunks and boxes. Some large, some small. None of them contained goats, much to my relief, I suspected those were outside. We stashed the materials in our spatial rings and once they had been packed up I turned to Anna-Marie. "I think we're ready for a trial run. Is there a place nearby where we can enter a nearby part of the mountain range?"



She nodded with a worried smile. "Yes. As I mentioned this castle was built on the edge of the ring. There's a back entrance that is fortified against assault. We have patrols running through the immediate area to prevent ambush attempts. We'd have to travel away from the castle to enter territory where we might find the flowers, but not too far."



"That's perfect!" I said excitedly. "We can make it a day trip, Since it'll be short distance a few of us can even double up on the goats. That way we won't need to waste the enchantments early."



Her face lit up at my enthusiasm, and she started filling me in on helpful tips. I couldn't contain my grin. Adventures were almost as much fun as battles. I couldn't wait to look around and see more of this place.



I glanced over at Callie, whose eyes were burning with glee and intensity. I had a feeling my sensing Skills would be getting a workout, not just the plant one either. There was treasure up in those mountains, and I was damned sure we were going to find some of it.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

It had sounded like an easy enough task in the abstract, but getting out of the castle and into the mountains at the core of the ring was much more time consuming than I had expected.


The guards on the rear exit weren't the issue, as much as one might assume. Mostly the problem I ran into was actually GETTING there.


The castle wasn't just a whole mountain hollowed out, it was a space expanded mountain. Aside from that, it seemed almost specifically designed to be difficult to traverse, with a mazelike layout sectioned off in layers meaning we often had do descend into the depths of the mountain to cross into a different section, then climb almost to the peak to move onto the one after that.


Between the two design principles at work we ended up needed to traverse miles and miles of complicated hallways and dead ends, and because of crowded design and the large number of people and buildings along the way we couldn't exactly run it at top speed.


"The person who designed this place should be shot." I huffed as we descended for the eighth time, drawing closer to the back exit.


"Oh he was." Said Anna-Marie. We all looked at her quizzically and she blushed an odd shade of lilac. "Not for the design. It was unrelated. He tried to poison one of the princes at the time. Apparently the royal poison taster had killed his brother. He figured the taster would intercept the attempt and die. The taster was out sick that day. Food poisoning."


Benny burst out laughing. "Oh that socks. Hope the prince was ok."


The princess just shrugged. "Got a little sick. He was obviously much stronger than a random food taster. Being royalty comes with some benefits." It occurred to me that she was F-rank and around the same age as us.


I'd been wondering about all the smaller kingdoms, but thinking about it I understood. Sorting people into smaller areas made generating the needed renown easier, and the king and his family had effectively managed to funnel it towards themselves. Not just their own kingdom either, they would be infamous in neighboring kingdoms, as would their best and brightest soldiers.


Considering how big the planet was (not to mention the size of the mountain) there was probably a LOT of people in this kingdom. Hell, we'd passed tens of thousands so far in the last hour or two.


That set off a little story time, with Anna-Marie telling us the more absurd and unusual stories of things that had happened in the kingdom. Some were funny, some sad, and some left us blinking at the sheer stupidity.


Finally, we reached the last segment of the mountain we needed to traverse. The entrance was at the bottom of the mountain, deep in the earth.


"Alright." Said Anna-Marie. "This is the bulwark. The section directly abutting the exit out into Hopecrash mountains. The entire section of the mountain is designed to be a death trap for invaders, riddled with traps and choke points, and even supported by entirely separate magical supports so it can be collapsed in emergencies. The ramparts outside are effective, but knowing this is here has prevented most attempts to bypass them."


As we stepped from one segment of the mountain to the next through a door at the bottom, I could see what she meant. Gone were the massive expanded halls lined with shops and bars. Gone were the crowds of people. The hallways and staircases of the bulwark were tight corridors made of dark mountain stone, lined with enchantments and tight turns to cut line of sight.


Callie reached out, sliding her fingers into the shadows as she closed her eyes and whistled. "I can sense some of the traps, where shadows have gathered inside, and I somehow doubt that's all of them. This hall is a deathtrap."


Anna-Marie looked smug. "Yes. It's one of the finest defensive constructions in the world." She pointed at the door we'd come through. "That's one of the most durable F-rank enchantments ever made in the kingdom, and it's tied into the structure of the whole segment. The supports for this area of the mountain are tied to the defenses. This entire section of the mountain would collapse on your head before you managed to break through it. Millions of tons of stone and traps dropped right on anyone who managed to survive the gauntlet of deadly traps and elite units stationed along the descent."


The layout was mindblowing, and I couldn't help but be impressed. Based on the trip the mountain was laid out in rings itself, with each segment being circular and surrounding the core cylinder where all the important people lived. The bulwark though, didn't connect to the rest of the layout, being its own separate chunk of space designed to be collapsed at will. It was like an addition on a house, but bigger and way harder to survive.


It begged the question if the hollowed out mountain had even had a section like that, or if some Ascendant had slapped it on later. It seemed rude to ask though so I kind of left it alone.


The trip UP the bulwark showed us a LOT of what she'd been talking about. Going from the bottom up meant we saw the defenses in reverse, getting to see the choke points and kill boxes from the defenders sides. It gave us a firsthand view of exactly how fucked anyone trying to break in here was as we spotted various instances of cover and side chambers made for ranged attackers and spearmen.


The traps were, as Callie said, not all obvious, but even with my low level of trap understanding (I no longer had the Skill) I spotted about fifty hatches and holes for boiling oil and acid to pour out onto unsuspecting passersby.


Finally we reached the top of the bulwark, and after going through several VERY fortified checkpoints, we stepped out onto an absurdly narrow bridge overlooking a VERY deep canyon between this mountain and the next.


The bridge was manned with multiple checkpoints, and based on the design of the mountain I was guessing it could be collapsed. "Isn't this all kind of overboard?" I couldn't help but ask. "Like it's impressive, but is it necessary?"


Anna-Marie nodded. "The castle is the only one of its kind. The rest of the kingdoms built their fortification away from the mountains. We're uniquely protected because of the natural fortifications, but we're also uniquely vulnerable. The defenses prevent that vulnerability from being exploited. Ladrigan is not the most powerful kingdom in the ring, but we are the best protected. We've never been breached."


The truly scary part was that despite them not existing here, I was pretty sure this would kill an E-ranker. Perhaps even a peak E-ranker. This was my first time seeing large scale defenses enacted by an F-rank faction, and unique environment or not, this would be enough to hold back a real army.


I was so used to the idea of needing a powerful Ascendant to counter another that I'd never even considered something like this. As much as I'd like to say this was unique to the Glade because of the limitations, I knew there was nothing stopping a larger faction from doing this on a larger scale. I wondered if there were fortress worlds built with the cooperation of everyone on the planet, massive fortification of C-ranked defenses made to stop B-rankers or armies from other factions. The universe was much more dangerous than I'd imagined.


I felt Callie through the bond, having the same realization, and gripped her hand tightly as we crossed the bridge. To an outsider we might seem nervous about falling, but I could feel her awe and intimidation as well as my own.


Besides, if we fell I'd be able to use State of Grace to save us. Though I wasn't sure what was at the bottom of the canyon. It seemed far too deep to be natural. So I decided to ask about it. "By the way, what exactly is down there." I pointed off the bridge.


"That's the maw." Said Anna-Marie solemnly. "It's a natural moat surrounding the Hopecrash mountains. Spans the entire edge of the ring. Most of the kingdoms have natural bridged across. It's one of the reasons for the founding locations. Crossing any other way us nearly impossible. The gravity over the maw is massively amplified without the stone of the mountains around to nullify the effect."


I looked back. "I thought you said Ladrigan was the only kingdom with natural fortifications like this?"


"Oh it is. But there are connecting paths in multiple places. Mountain passes and things like that. They just aren't fortified like the castle. Like I said, most kingdoms build further back. They have camps set up at the passes, but it's not nearly as effective. We're not completely cut off of course. There are normal mountains like spokes on a wheel along the ring, but they're not impossible, just hard to navigate. We have to watch out for invasions from either side still."


The more I heard, the weirder this whole world seemed. I couldn't imagine this being natural, someone had to have designed it. But why and how? Was there someone with an earth manipulation Skill at B-rank that could make planets? Probably. There was probably a clan where you could have them customized. The unstable space could be done with abilities too, like Mad Madigans mazes. But it would take a whole bunch of powerful people working together to make a place like this I was betting.


Was it some sort of funnel for the moonlight to create the Dew? Sadly, this kind of question was so far above my paygrade I might as well not be asking, but it was interesting to think about.


When we finally finished crossing the bridge, we met a relatively large force with Wulfric, waiting for us beside a series of incredibly weird animals.


Goats, to be exact. Well, sort of. They had goat heads, but the bodies of hooded kangaroos kind of, with long bunched up hind legs and weirdly sharp claws on short arms that looked good for hooking into rocks.


Ten of the things, meaning these were our rides through the mountains. Wulfric gave us a nod as we approached. Sadly we hadn't figured out a way to get Randall through the Bulwark. Large animals normally had to climb the outside of the mountain through specialized protected trails that we didn't have time for, so Jessie's best defense had needed to stay behind.


To compensate all four wolves were with her, and they growled menacingly as we approached the goats. A gentle touch with glowing green fingers calmed them but their chests still rumbled with unhappiness. We thanked Wulfric and climbed aboard the goats, Anna-Marie having her own goat already independent from our ten. Then we set off into the mountains.


The goats were able to traverse the snow easily, hooves gliding over the frozen drift without really sinking in. They leapt and bounded up onto outcroppings and rock faces, moving almost unimpeded in the dangerous terrain, and I saw immediately why Anna-Marie had been so insistent we get them. These were an invaluable survival tool.


Once we got a bit farther away, sure we weren't followed, we stopped and my team turned to me expectantly. Closing my eyes with a grin, I reached into my Path of the Doom Sovereign and felt around until I discovered what I wanted.


With a click of intent, triggered one of my new skills, letting Rhythm of the Wild roll out over the nearby mountain pass to delve deep into the snow and the cracks in the earth for any plants as I looked for the flowers we needed. I came up short after just a couple dozen feet and sighed with a good natured grin. "Well good news is I found something good. Bad news is...this is going to take a while." I hadn't found the flowers I needed. I'd found another rare plant. Still, hard to complain about good fortune. Best get harvesting.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The mountains were huge and gorgeous, and the goats were amazing, hopping us around like they were spring loaded, but I was much too distracted to enjoy it because of one factor. It was so fucking cold!

I felt my hands tingle as I dug in the snow, annoyingly high enough ranked to actually bother me. Much like the stone, the water from the sky came from sources on the planet, which meant it was F-rank like the rest of this place. How or why this presumably F-rank planet was more powerful spot for spot than Callus, which was pseudo D-rank, I had no idea, but I suspected it had to do with the nature of the restrictions.

Nothing here could surpass F-rank, but as the number of F-rankers on the planet rose, that renown had to go somewhere. Apparently it had been seeping into the planet, slowly raising the power. In that environment even more F-rankers broke through, and the cycle continued.

Was this a factor of being a dungeon? I'd been told dungeons were different than normal planets somehow, was this process linked to this planet's dungeon status or was it a result of the spatial turbulence that caused the limitations. Hell, was the TURBULENCE a factor of this place being a dungeon?

Whatever the cause, my hands were freezing even through my damned gloves, and I was going to start losing feeling if I didn't warm...I froze, cursing myself for an idiot. I triggered Consecration of Flame on my gloves, sighing as the warmth soothed my aching hands. I grimaced as I accidentally burned a rare plant though, and sighed, letting the Skill drop. I couldn't afford to waste these things.

Blissroot was apparently an extremely powerful pain relief plant that sold for quite a bit in Ladrigan. Slipping it into my ring, I stood up and turned around to survey the area. "Ok that's all of them nearby. There's a field of powerful plants in that direction." I pointed to my left tiredly. "But I need a minute to gather my strength."

It was funny, despite the relative lightness of the snow to my enhanced body, the conceptual weight of it seemed to tire me out, much the same way lifting my staff did over a long period of time.

There were murmurs of agreement from everyone else as they all slumped down onto the backs of their nearby goats. Callie inched closer om the back of her own mount, her tony form adorable burrowing into the thick fur for relief from the cold. "You think we're close?" She said hopefully, teeth chattering in the freezing wind. "Because I can't take much more of this. At this point I want to get in a fight just to warm up."

I laughed breathlessly. "I couldn't tell you. The skill I'm using isn't quite so exact. We've gotten a ton of materials though, which we should be able to sell for a pretty credit." I paused. "Actually...what currency does Ladrigan even use? I mean they have to use something, but considering chits are regulated by the merchants I don't see how they would be made or traded here."

Anna-Marie overheard the question, which wasn't surprising since I hadn't stealthed when asking it. She glanced over with an embarrassed smile. "Ah, right. I should've perhaps adressed that during my little history lesson. Ladrigan uses royals, a type of coin made from heartstone. It's a special mineral that can be used to strengthen earth based materials. The coins are extremely low quality, so you need quite a few of them to have an effect, but they allow an increase in defensive potential for the homes and territory of those in the castle."

That was interesting. I wondered how it worked. Was the stone actually being turned into something else? Or was heartstone just some kind of side effect of the Dew, a method of slowly an minutely increasing Impact in quantities too low to detect. Either way it was a reasonable currency for the absurdly defense focused Ladrigan.

Benny seemed to have a different thought though. "Wouldn't you run out? If they're consumable I mean. It can't be easy to find more of the stuff, even if you're alloying it to make coins with a low percentage of the stone." That was a good point, and I looked to Anna-Marie, who shrugged.

"Heartstone recovers. Active versus inactive coins are tracked, and they're cycled out as they're used up, tossed in kingdom vaults to refresh their effects. It takes quite a while though, and the effects have diminishing returns, so most people stockpile them for a rainy day unless they need to reinforce a new territory or they have a surplus."

"Fascinating." Murmured my best friend absently, his voice remote as he lost himself in a bit of an Inventors fugue. "I could see how that would be an invaluable resource. No wonder the mountain seems so solid. Even more than the normal rocks here. It must have been heavily reinforced over the centuries or even millenia." He shook his head, as if clearing away the cobwebs of Inventing physically." Anyway, I take it we'll be able to pick up a pretty huge bundle of the things with all these fancy plants?'

She nodded with a bright smile. "Oh yes. Each of these is difficult to procure because of the environment. This would normally be the haul of herb gatherers working for a week at least. Granted, they have their own Skills for sensing plant life, but it doesn't have the same range or specificity I've seen from Mr. Solomon's Skill."

That was gratifying to hear, though I was guessing there were upsides to their abilities that mine didn't have. The spcificity she spoke of was only the ability to detect rough value. Herb gatherers probably had the power to tell what exactly the plants they were picking up were.

Still, I had a good feeling about the flowers being close. I could sense the rarity of plants to an extent, and the patch I sensed now was definitely rare as hell. Now that we'd had time to rest up a bit, I stretched to loosen my muscles and adjusted my seat on my own goat. "Well." I said firmly. "That skill says we're coming up on something big, so keep an eye out. If it's the flowers chances are good we might run into another group of outsiders."

We'd been traveling for hours, hopping from plant to plant and collecting them as best we could. Knowing our speed and the goats agility chances were good we were deep enough into the mountains to be in general territory. I led the group up onto a thick ridge of rocks, climbing the outcropping with speed so we could look out in the direction I'd detected the plants.

When we got to the top, I froze in awe. "Those...those would be the flowers I'm guessing?" I said quietly, feeling the urge to keep my voice low out of some kind of inherent unwillingness to break the tranquility and harmony of the scene before us.
The flowers were beautiful, or course. They looked like liquid silver hammered into the shape of petals, set on black glass stems with glowing golden pistils rising from among them. No snow or frost, and even a huge area of grass around them in their little valley surrounded by stone outcroppings and shielded from the weather. That wasn't what rendered me so stunned though. No, what shocked me was the MOONLIGHT.

Vortexes of lunar majesty swirled above the flowers, not just singularly, but mixed together into a seething see of rioting silver and rainbow sheened light. Inside the moonshine, I could see worlds and galaxies being born and dying, see my dreams coming true as I watched versions of me accomplish every goal, and others fail their life's missions and be left broken and bereft of joy.

This wasn't just magic, or renown. This was IMPACT, the moonlight cascade tainted by the weight of raw creation and reflecting the possibilities of a million legends. Anna-Marie swallowed hard, before whispering. "The Lunar Nexus." She sounded shocked, almost disbelieving. "I...I'd heard the stories. But this one is stronger than most. Larger, more complex. It's awe inspiring. There must be a dozen drops of Dew down there to create a phenomena this intense."

That was shit ton based on what we'd been told. That was six drops for us and six for Anna-Marie. She was already moving forward, but my hand shot out to catch her arm. "Who there princess." I said firmly. "Take your eyes off the prize for a second and look around. We're not the only guests at this party."

Her eyes widened, snapping up and around to take in our surroundings, and she realized what I meant. "Three other groups." She said, voice hushed again, not that it would do any good at this point. I didn't recognize the others, but I could remember some faces from the markets back at the bazaar. These people were outsiders like us, at least some of them. It made sense since they'd been drawn here like I had, though I was guessing it had been a much less productive trip for them.

Since we'd been speaking unstealthed, they would know we were here, of course, but that wasn't my issue. "Why haven't they gone in?" I asked quietly, staring across the field of flowers at the competitors. I wished I'd known some of them, we could have maybe worked out an alliance, because I had the sinking suspicion we weren't going to be able to pick these particular flowers on a leisurely stroll.

Abel answered. "That whole field reeks of bloodlust. I'm more sensitive to to the stuff than most. A LOT of people have died in that little valley, and most of them went badly."

Jessie nodded. "The life energy down there is way too thick to just be flowers. I can't sense bloodlust or anything, but there's a creature in that field, and it's pretty big from what I can tell. I just don't know where it is. The energy is spread out in a weird way, like it's part of the earth somehow, but I know the difference between plant and animal life force. It's a...flavor thing. That's an animal."

I grimaced, but gave them both nods of thanks. It was good information to have. It was ALSO enough to go on for my Eye of Revelation to probably pick up some clues, so I triggered the skill, using my ability to see that which was hidden to reveal the truth of this place.

Unfortunately, when you open a hidden eye, sometimes a hidden eye opens back. As I stared down at the field, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, near the base of the flower patch, a pair of eyes opened in return. Big ones. The ground rumbled, and I swallowed hard as the flowers began to move, not one at a time like they would in the wind, but all together, as the ground itself rose up into the air.

"I think." I said faintly. "I figured out why they didn't move in to take the flowers. And ALSO why there was no snow around the flowers down there."

Benny gave a strangled scoff. "No shit." Said my best friend. "Do you think it might have been because of THAT?!" He jabbed a finger at the creature that had just finished rising from the dirt.

A massive stone stingray, its bottom covered with a hundred separate mouths full of jagged gnashing teeth, hovered above us, the flowers situation on its back as it loomed over the valley menacingly. "Yup." I said in a worried voice. "That was going to be my first guess. Anyone have any idea what that IS?" I asked desperately. When no answer was forthcoming I sighed loudly. "Yeah, I was kind of afraid of that."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The monstrosity floating above us was probably the scariest thing I'd ever seen. Even the Bone Wyvern, the previous holder of the title of 'creature most likely to make me piss my pants' didn't stack up to the sheer overwhelming horror of the monster. It wasn't just the shape or the size, or even the pressure from the flowers, there was something...awful about the thing. Each of those many shaped mouths had darkness behind those teeth. Not just normal darkness either, an empty gaping abyss that reminded me of staring into the void of space.

I found myself hypnotized almost, drawn into the depths of the yawning chasms littering the underside of the ray's stone underbelly. Then the thing SCREAMED, and I saw literal cones of sonic force explode from the mouths, overlapping and combining into one massive sonic blast that flew right at us.

Before it could hit though, a massive avatar of Abel constructed of blue gel appeared above us, intercepting the attack and shielding us from harm even as it disintegrated. As that happened I came back to myself enough to spur my goat back from the rocks and yell for the others to do the same.

The mounts bounded off the outcropping, down into the snow, giving us a bit of cover as the ray let out an unearthly howl of rage at being thwarted. "Shit." I panted as we moved out of the strike zone. "How the hell do we get the flowers off...that."

Benny looked at me in astonishment. "Seriously? That just happened and you're worried about FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS?" He glanced at Jessie apologetically. "No offense, Jess."

She just snickered. "Some taken. But I get your point. We can find the Dew in other places? Is challenging...that, really worth the short advantage?" Her voice was gentle, but I could hear an undercurrent of stress and worry causing it to tremble.

"Yes." I said firmly. "For a few reasons. First, we aren't getting out of here while that thing is after us. We'll need to put it down anyway before we can run. Second of all I have a plan, and third of all if the other teams get their hands on the damned Dew it'll make it that much harder for us to deal with them later. And if WE get it, it'll make us that much safer going forward."

I saw them pause and think it over. Benny didn't look convinced. "I mean...I can't really poke any holes in your logic. But it FEELS like a really bad idea." His smart ass tone was not appreciated, despite him having a small point, and I responded in kind.

"Let's not confine ourselves to things you think feel like a good idea." I said acidly. "I doubt the ray is going to collapse in defeat from starting a band or convincing all its friends to wear those stupid orange shoes with the springs in them you talked me into buying when we were fourteen."

Benny's indignation was somewhat muted by the giggling of all the other nearby party members, but he still found it in himself to to glare around at them until realizing no help was forthcoming. Then he crossed his arms and sulked, playing it up a little bit for attention.

Celine, who clearly knew my friend pretty well at this point, just rolled her eyes and ignored him, turning to Anna-Marie. "You're our local guide, princess, do you have any ideas? Any rumors of a creature like this? And information we might use. A plan is wonderful, but it behooves us to gather as much information on our enemy as possible."

When she shook her head, I nodded to myself, cracking my neck as a hopped down from my goat. "Ok. So my plan is pretty simple, you'll all need to be on alert for when it starts. I'm not sure how well this thing can hear, so I'm going to to put the first steps into action and let you guys pick it up afterwards."

I turned to Abel with a grin. "So let's get started. Do me a favor and throw me at the stingray." I tried to project confidence in my plan with my tone, but everyone else whirled on me, Callie and Nat both yelping exclamations of surprise as Abel grabbed me in a giant hand and HURLED me at the thing in less time than it took to blink. I'd already triggered State of Grace, luckily, and did the same with Ripple Running, planting my feet in the air to guide my now much more slowly soaring body.

Of course, the ray turned slowly to face me, and I worried that this MIGHT have been poorly planned, until a giant fist slammed into the thing, knocking it aside as Abel smashed it with Expert ranked Ragam. It squealed in pain and rage as it was knocked askew, and I stepped lightly three times, changing my direction to land on its back. State of Grace allowed me to stay on as I bolted around to the field of grass outside the flowers.

Dropping to a knee, I glared at the grass in front of me and triggered Pit of Despair. It was HARD. I had to push against the resistance of the ray, but my soul was strong enough that the earth skill was able to create the silt pit. A ten foot hole was punched right through the stone creature, and I had to roll sideways to avoid its tail as it whipped up to smash me.

Leaving the rest to the others now that I'd distracted it, I bolted for the flowers, crashing into the field to collect them before any of the other teams got up here. Hitting the crazy warping mass of Impact infused moonlight was...weird. Like running through a hundred worlds in sequence, each step taking me somewhere else without moving me at all. But it didn't matter. I started snatching up flowers and stuffing them in my ring, not bothering to be careful.

Some of them seemed to have more pistils, and I made extra sure to get those, but I couldn't see the special ones that collected the Dew, so I had to hope I'd get lucky. Which I did. I was picking a specific flower without looking too hard, and there was a pulse of power. The moonlight cascade condensed into a cloud, the flower rapidly becoming more moisturized as it did so, until three drops of mercurial liquid moonshine gleamed on the petals.

I grinned as I put it away, diving for more, yanking them up to try to create the same effect. The ray shook, and I almost fell off, grabbing a few more flowers and managing to accumulate ten drops. There was still moonshine floating above a small portion of the field, but I sadly couldn't go for the whole enchilada because my Danger Sense twigged hard.

I threw myself sideways, Ripple Running helping me change direction twice to make sure I was clear, as a massive waterfall of cerulean gas slammed into the back of the ray, gouging a HUGE hole in it. I stared at the tall woman with canary yellow hair in shock as she snarled something at me too far for me to hear in the ruckus.

She tried to tag me as I retreated, and for a second I worried she would, but Valk's blue gel appeared in front of me as a hand construct swatted aside the resulting frozen attack. I redirected my fall, landing on the rock outcropping with a grin and hopping on the back of my goat. "Let's ride!" I bellowed gleefully. "I got ten drops and they were NOT happy."

"You LUNATIC!" Screamed Callie as we booked it in the other direction. "You could have been killed. What kind of plan was that? Tactics require forethought and consideration. Planning isn't just thinking 'I bet if I do something stupid, this will happen'. That's just madness!"

I was cackling with joy, adrenaline flooding through me as my heart pounded. That had been intense. Callie's words drew me up short, and I was derailed completely as Benny rode up to smack the back of my head as we escaped. "Hey! Stop gloating and listen, asshat. That was stupidly dangerous."

Sighing, I let my rush recede as I looked at things objectively. I MIGHT had rushed a bit. "Yeah." I said with a wince. "It might have been. I should probably have given you all the details before going. I ju-" Danger Sense BLARED again. "MOVE!" I bellowed, urging my goat to hurl us sideways. The others listened to me, avoiding the attack as a massive war axe made of crystallized sunshine smashed into the ground where we'd just been.

The snow hissed, steaming away as we turned to face the new enemy. A short black haired man with wide shoulders and olive skin grinned at us, an axe just like the sunlight construct hefted up on his shoulder. His eyes burned with golden light, and I saw his feet scorching the grass under the recently melted snow as he walked.

"Hello there!" He called cheerfully. "I'm afraid I can't just let you walk away with those drops." He looked over his shoulder. "Hows about you let me take them off your hands nice and easy, and I'll owe you a favor. Christina distracted that thing with her Azureblaze Fog, but it won't hold her team for long. I'd rather be gone before she gets here."

I pointed back the way we'd come. "Well that thing still had flowers on it. Why not go grab some of those. What makes you think we're the easier option?"

He shrugged. "Christina and I had a run in at the bazaar. She's a nasty piece of work. I'm Raul by the way, if it matters. I hope me taking those drops won't make things too tense. I don't enjoy sewing enmity." His smile was apologetic as his grip on the axe tightened, but he took a menacing step forward anyway.

"Wow." I said with an impressed tone. "That was the politest way anyone has ever tried to rob me." I glanced at Abel. "You think you can take him?" I could sense that Raul wasn't at the peak or even midway through F-rank, so there was a decent chance.

My mentor grinned, strolling forward to stand between us and the threatening axeman. "Never know until you try. I've been dying to test out my Expert level Ragam Mastery."

Raul glanced at him, eyes flicking away then jerking back as that tangible feeling of terror and violence that Abel projected when he was serious. "Shit. You're not the Adamant I heard about are you?" His eyes narrowed consideringly. "No, I don't feel perfection. More...pure violence. You don't walk the Path of the Adamant. You're on the Path of Blood. You must have spilled a LOT of it to get that kind of aura."

He sounded worried. Which was a good sign for us, but despite that, he set his feet, clearly preparing to engage. I had to give him credit, I knew how terrifying Abel could be, and facing him as an enemy had to be even worse. My mentor didn't bother to wait, he blurred forward, body splitting as Cicada Stacking Step condensed multiple images of him.

Unlike the last time though, he was an Expert now. The images weren't brief flashes of combat capable construct. They were real clones spreading out to surround the axeman before surging inward all at once to attack. I glanced up at the battle in the distance, seeing the ray snapping weakly at a massive snake made of Azure gas and cursing.

We didn't have time for this, if they ganged up on is this would be bad...and that's when I remembered something important. We'd all come into this dungeon in teams of ten. I activated Eye of Revelation and groaned. They ween't moving yet, which was why my Danger Sense was silent, but we were definitely surrounded. Joy.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

It was a testament to how distracted I was by the attackers that I didn't notice Jessie vanishing. Luckily, no amount of distraction was enough to make me miss the giant fuck off BEAR exploding from the snow at one of the hidden attackers. Apparently Jessie had noticed them and used her Shape of the Wild Skill to attack the closest one head on with all the animal fury of her big fuzzy companion. Or would that be animal furry?

Either way, the ambusher wasn't expecting that shit at all, nor was the one to his left expecting my girlfriend to step from the darkness cast by his shadow and jam a black bladed dagger into the base of his spine (enough to paralyze him but not beyond Jessie's ability to fix). Sadly, expecting it wasn't necessary when you were wearing armor, and the dagger skidded off the thin breastplate with a shower of sparks.

Callie's outline blurred as she activated her armor and then vanished in a blur of motion as six clones of hers took off int six separate directions, her victim freezing as he became spoiled for choice. My cousin had faded out of existence, I'd seen her flip her hood up and somehow render herself invisible rather than just concealing her face. I had no clue where she got that, but it was pretty cool.

My own staff came free with a swish, toxic flame crawling down it as I imbued it with my standard skill combo. I could feel the death energy humming inside it, but I could also feel it was nowhere near full. I had no interesting in burning my strongest shot early, so I'd charge it up more before I dropped the hammer, so to speak.

Valk had backed intercepted a trio of fighters alongside Perit, and seeing those two actually fight in conjunction was kind of terrifying. And finally Celine and Benny were backup up Mel, the three of them fighting a pair of big fighters who looked like brothers, leaving me with two fighters of my own to handle. We'd gotten the drop on them mostly, I was glad to see. Jessie had initiated and the other revealed themselves through sheer surprise.

The two I needed to fight were distracted, not having focused on me yet as they reacted to the mass attack. I triggered double trouble, bringing my Stygian branch up and around in a whirling smash aimed at the taller of the two's head.
Rather than block, which I could have phased through with my weapon, the tall man dropped boneless, the staff flying over his head as he hit his hands in pushup position, then kicked up his long legs in a whirling attack aimed at my neck.

With State of Grace still active, it was easy to slide aside, triggering Moonlit Night in the surrounding area. The fog filled the space around us, completely translucent to me, but more than enough to obstruct their view as I took them both in for weaknesses.

The tall one I'd attacked was a pale man with long crooked teeth and stringy hair. The other one, who was circling around us, was a pretty dark skinned girl with long wavy hair and big hazel eyes. She ALSO had a really disturbing smile on her face, and her fingers appeared to be literal knives, at least at the moment.

She dove in for an attack, and I whirled my staff into position, grinning internally as her claws sparked off one of the metal endcaps and I felt the thrum of life force entering the storm of converted power inside the staff. It was almost unnoticeable, but I'd realized over time that the staff had been slowly adapting to me as I used it.

The weight had been lessening, my grip seeming more sure, and the power seemed more in tune with me the more I worked with the item. It was a powerful and dangerous weapon, and I absolutely loved how it felt as I got more and more used to it. It still wasn't LIGHT, granted, but it almost felt like it was learning to suppress its Impact most of the time, only releasing it when in combat.

My pondering was interrupted sadly, by the big guy lashing out with a pair of whips made of ACTUAL blood, which seemed to be on fire as it flowed freely in crimson rivers from his open wrists. The scarlet flames were pinging my Danger Sense hard, so I knew touching them would be a bad call.

Rather than dodge normally, I planted my staff and shoved off, using the combination of force and State of Grace to soar up into the air. They continued attacking the same spot, though once they didn't land a hit they eased up, and I realized that they'd seen the beginning of my dodge as I activated my concealment and they'd inferred my destination from that. They couldn't ACTUALLY see me in Moonlit Night, which was a relief.

I bounced off nothing, Ripple Running still active, though that was my last step with it, and landed softly on the grass behind them. Tall guy didn't notice, but claws girl whirled and lashed out at me with her knife fingers. Knife fingers which created literal TEARS in the air that rushed toward me, even temporarily clearing small lines in the fog. They sealed themselves right after, but the girls grin told me she'd noticed it too.

So I had to spend the next five minutes dodging hails of air slashes as she did her best to tear enough holes in my fog to be able to spot me, which she didn't because any time she tried I just jumped over them and her both. I considered closing in, but I'd triggered my overlay here, and I could see the ways my attacks would probably fail if I went in too soon.
So I just waited, letting her tire herself out and accidentally cut up her buddy at least once, much to my amusement.

He seemed much less amused, and after the third time he lashed out with one of his whips, and she yelped as it cut into her. Eyes wide with rage, she whirled on him and lunged, and I took the chance to put her down. I used Double Trouble, arriving in the air behind her back as she dove forward, parallel to the ground. I triggered Mercy Kill, Marked for Death, and Flurry of Blows, then slammed my Stygian Branch straight down into her spine, doing my best to avoid any vital organs.

I managed to do that, but I did NOT avoid pinning her to the ground like a butterfly on a card. She screamed, and the other guy lashed out with the whips, only for me to use double trouble again and appear behind him. The whips didn't hit the girl, he had way too much control, and he yanked them back once they passed through the space I should have been in.

Backing off, I kept an eye on him as he crept closer to her to check on his fallen teammate. She was lying on the ground, eyes wide and pained, shuddering like she was cold as her lips basically turned blue.

It took me only a minute to realize exactly why. The staff drained life force on contact, and I'd driven it INTO her. It had been sucking up life energy until I vanished, and while she was clearly still alive, it had obviously not been a pleasant experience. I winced in sympathy, but the roaring of deathly power in my staff had grown louder by a substantial amount.

Apparently that was a faster way to absorb the stuff. I didn't bother to use the death burst on the tall guy. He was disturbed and alone, and it only took me a few minutes to smash his elbows and knees in one at a time with hit and run tactics.

Moonlit Night made stealth attacks more deadly, and the staff was heavy and brutally powerful. It was a deadly combination. Once my battle ended I looked around to find the others mostly done. Abel was still going, but the rest of them had already subdued their own, or driven them off. From counting some of them had clearly run off, which was amusing, but it also meant they could come back at any moment with backup.

I let Moonlit Night drop, striding out of the dispersing fog as I stowed my staff. Above us, Palms and fists crashed against a giant axe phantom, and seemed to be getting the upper hand. Expert vs Intermediate was a big gap, even if I suspected Raul had higher stats. I looked around, finding Callie leaned against a tree, wincing and holding her side. I was next to her in an instant.

"Are you ok?" I asked in a panic. Her face was pale and bloodless and her eyes were a bit hazy. I planted a hand on her shoulder and triggered a scan heal and heal burst combo. She shuddered as the energy flowed into her, and I felt the break in her ribs through the scan as I watched it mend. I sighed in relief then looked around. "Ok, where is Jessie? Why didn't she come fix you up? Is she still fighting?"

I couldn't see my friend for a second, but that was because I expected her to have turned back. It only took a quick look to notice she had NOT done that, and was currently mauling a tree viciously while ignoring everything else. I blinked at her savage attack on the local flora for a second before realizing what had happened.

Jessie had put down her two opponents and even managed to keep herself from killing them (though she hadn't been gentl judging by the bloodstains and the two trails leading off into the mountains), she had not however, had full control. She was attacking the tree to keep from attacking anything else.

After I made sure Callie was healing (it would take some time, my heal bursts were G-rank still, at least until I refilled) I strolled over to the massive ursine form of my friend. "Jessie." I said calmly as I arrived next to her. She glared at me, snarling madly before returning to her tree murder. I sighed, slipped out my staff, and infused it with a tranq blow before slamming it down on the base of her bear skull with everything I had.

She yelped, stumbling away. Instead of whirling and trying to kill me like I'd half expected though, she started shaking her head. One shake, then two, trying to clear out...something. Finally, she fell to her haunches and threw back her head for a roar that turned into a scream of pain as she changed back. "Fuck!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as she slumped back into the snow clutching her head. "Ow, ow, ow."

I winced. Bear or not that wouldn't have been pleasant. "Sorry." I said sympathetically. "I thought it might help."
She shook her head roughly. "No. It did. That was...fine. Maybe next time just punch me. How did you know that would even work?"

I just shrugged. "You looked like you were going crazy, figured being calmed down might help. Sedative and all."
"Well it did, thanks." She grunted. "My head is killing me, but at least its not full of bear rage. Seriously. Bears are REALLY angry. Not like...some kind of blood rage. Just grumpy and pissed off almost all the time. And it's not very easy to ignore. Remind me to give Randall a hug for being such a good boy."

I laughed, helping her up and walking with her over to Callie. "Cal got messed up pretty bad. I did what I could but my heals are weak. Older stuff you know. Can you look her over?" She smiled gingerly and nodded before kneeling next to my girlfriend. Above us the sunlight axe shattered under a barrage of punches. I hoped she hurried up. We needed to go before the ray went down. I didn't want another fight so soon if I could help it.

Heads up. My novel is being published, goes to audible and Amazon on the 8th, and because of Amazon's rules on content exclusivity I'll be taking down the first volume (the first 36 chapters) from all sites. You'll be able to read them on Kindle Unlimited in a few days, but I can't keep them up here or on RR or SH, or even Patreon. Hope everyone is enjoying the story!

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We managed to get away before the others showed up, happily. I was fairly exhausted. While my staff wasn't heavy all the time anymore, it did unleash its potential when I was in combat, which was a strain.

I didn't mind though. It was a good ache, like the kind you get post workout. I mostly hovered over Callie, or at least as close as I could on the goats. I'd gotten a sliver of the crystal we'd bargained off Wulfric for her, and despite her annoyance at being treated like glass, she really enjoyed the warmth when she triggered the effects.

Even a sliver of the stuff was enough to create a bubble of pleasantly warm air for ten feet or so around her (which definitely wasn't at all part of why I stuck so close). She seemed to notice that though, and smirked at me in amusement as we went along.

As for me...I'd been scared out of my mind. It wasn't like none of us had been hurt before, it happened sometimes, but seeing her like that, slumped back against a tree, had terrified me. I'd realized that I was in charge now, and the only thing keeping my loved ones alive was ME.

Being the leader added a whole new dimension to battle. Responsibility. It was easy to put aside my worried and trust whoever was in charge, to just focus on the battle. But when anything that happens is your fault...it was brutal. I felt terrible for putting pressure like this on Callie for months without knowing.

Sensing through the bond what I was thinking, she sidled closer, reaching out to grab my hand. She winced, ribs still tender despite Jessie's boost to the healing I'd given her. She gave me a warm smile, and I felt the love and concern from the bond as she said gently. "If you don't stop blaming yourself for my actions I'm going to push you down the mountain."

I burst out in a surprised laugh, and she grinned at me mischievously. "There he is. I was going to ask if you'd seen my boyfriend. He's a pretty upbeat guy, and the brooding self flagellating thing isn't nearly as hot as some people claim. I prefer his particular brand of optimism."

"I don't think you can call it optimism when someone just bulls into everything without thinking it through." I said wryly. "I'm just trying to be a more responsible leader now that I'm in charge."

She snorted at that. "Shane, baby, you just had Abel THROW you at a giant monster without warning anyone. You're not trying to be a more responsible anything. You're being an overprotective worrywart. I got hurt and it scared you. And that's ok. Do you remember how terrified I was when you got injured in the necropolis? Because I sure as hell do. And when the bond fried in the tournament. I love you, and you love me, and being scared for each other makes sense."

I groaned in frustration. "It's more than that though. I'm in charge now. You getting hurt is my fault."

"Yup." She said mercilessly. I blinked and gave her a hurt look she didn't need to see because of the bond. "What? I'm supposed to argue? Not like you would listen if I told you it wasn't. So, assuming your completely absurd claim that my own actions are your responsibility is even technically true, you could theoretically claim that you screwed up by not making a plan for engaging the enemy."

That annoyed me. "I didn't even ATTACK them. Jessie did. I had only just reali-" I trailed off at her smug look. "You know you get like...ten percent less cute when you're a know-it-all."

Her smirk turned sarcastically sweet. "Honey, I can feel your emotions. We both know that isn't true." I flipped her off and she cracked up, cutting off the laugh almost immediately with a groan as she strained her broken ribs. The amusement snapped off on my end too, replaced with concern. "Callie! Are you ok? Just breathe." I reached out for a scan heal to check on her, but she batted away the hand.

"Fine, love." She wheezed. "Just hurts a ton to laugh. The feeling of my bones grinding together is...unpleasant. Worth it though, since I got my guy out of his head." She reached out to squeeze the hand she'd just batted away and I felt a rush of warmth flood through me. I adored this girl, annoying sarcasm and all.

Once she straightened up again and the pain had faded, I glanced over to where Jessie was running with the wolves. "How long do you think the healing will take? Should we look into buying something to help? Jessie's heals are damned effective, but some medicine might compound things. There are probably high F-ranked Vitality medicines with thousands of points of effectiveness. Even with her absurdly overpowered Vitality Jessie is still new to the rank."

She shook her head, and I noticed how ginger the motion was, like she was trying not to move her torso at all. "No, it's fine. I'll be good after a night's sleep. She wrapped them for me too, that first aid Skill came in handy. I'll be fine tomorrow, between your heal to stabilize things and her treatment there should be no problems."

I exhaled in relief. "Ok. Sorry, I'm just..." I shook it off. "So, what did you think of...that?" I gestured back at the mess we'd left behind.

"I think it worked out extremely well for us." She grimaced. "Your plan wasn't...terrible. Just not very well thought out. My main issue was you not bothering to tell us before you did it. If you're in charge you need a better communication strategy than 'hold my beer'. If we need a shorthand or something we can develop one, but impatience isn't a reason to leave the team in the lurch like that."

Rather than reassure or placate her...I thought about it. She was right. I needed to do better. I'd gotten lucky this time, but the gods forbid something happen to one of my friends, I'd feel terrible either way, but knowing I'd made a mistake and caused it would be even worse.

I was pretty surprised when Nat rode up next to me, my cousin giving me a sympathetic smile. "It's a bit overwhelming huh?" I blinked at her, cocking my head so she'd know I was confused even through the mask. "Being out on your own. I've been out and about for ages, but when I first left my home planet I was definitely pretty confused. I had a hell of a let less people counting on me too. It's ok to be a little overwhelmed."

Blowing out a breath, I shrugged. "I get that, but it's not ok to let that feeling force me into making stupid choices, which...I kind of just did. When Callie was running things she always found time to include us and ask what we thought. I didn't even really consider that. I just got excited because being in charge meant I could do things my way without letting anyone stop me."

"Yeah." She said comfortingly. "You're a weird guy." At my noise of offense she just grinned. "What, it's true. Wishing is a support power. Nine out of ten candidates are hands off back ranks types. Even the ones who go the leadership route usually play armchair general at best. Running headlong into danger isn't exactly our style. The only person in the family I can think of who fights like that is the current Wishmaster, and he cheats."

He did. I tried to imagine what that would be like, supplementing a completely separate ability with my Wish power. Maybe specialize in a specific kind of wishes to boost one stat above the others. It would limit my ability to grant wishes at the same level, but I could make up for that with combat efficiency, not to mention I could still grant wishes to lower level clientele with Impact offsetting the cost.

It made me even more interested in our trip to the Ruined Soul Temple. Getting another ability would be...amazing. Who knew what I could become with something like that. But that was a tangent, and an obvious attempt to sabotage my own self reflection, so I forced myself to refocus. "So what do you suggest I do?"

"Think." She said simply. "We came out here to gather information. To see what it was like in the mountains. So use it. Figure out a strategy for moving and working out here safely. Then apply that strategy. You have information, resources, and time, those are all the things you need to lead properly. That and the ability to care about your team, and you definitely have that too. You'll do fine if you just sit down and put some thought into things."

She was right. I was making this much more complicated than it needed to be. I didn't need to come up with some brilliant scheme to justify being put in charge. I just needed to go slow and steady and keep my friends as safe as possible.

"You know." I said with a smirk. "For an ally of convenience you're pretty supportive. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're worried about your little cousin and trying to go out of your way to make me feel better."

Shrugging, she just gave an embarrassed laugh. "You're not wrong. You're a good kid, and you seem to care a lot. I'd started to internalize the family's cutthroat mentality a bit too much I think. It's nice to have a relative who actually gives a shit and doesn't want to use me as a human shield or a patsy."

I winced at the statement. Honestly that sounded like a nightmare to me. Even dad's cold rational approach to parenting was at least slightly based on my personal wellbeing. "How long ago did you awaken your ability?" I wasn't sure if the contract dad had sent was something usual for the WCP, but I got the impression it wasn't. Some sort of method of waking my ability early, which outside wishes I'd never heard of anyone doing.

"A few years now. Maybe half a decade. I lose track. I was like you to start, until I got in touch with some of the other family memebers and learned how it all works." She shrugged. "The candidates tend to accumulate over time once the competition starts. It runs ten years, giving everyone time to gather forces, and then when the time is up they call us together for the inheritance conflict. We have some time before that, thankfully, but you'll want to make damned sure to be ready. If someone can BE ready for something like that."

She sounded tired and afraid, and I winced sympathetically. This whole thing was so...brutal. I didn't mind some hard fights, but doing this kind of thing to your own family, just because it had worked before. Sending kids away from their parents, away from their homes, to be raised by strangers and tested through combat. It was all awful, and if I became the Wishmaster, I was going to put a stop to that.

In fact, while finding my mom was my primary goal, that was good motivation to aim for the top. To save my family, even from itself. To make sure no one lived the life I did, or Nat did. I felt something inside me shift slightly as my purpose became even clearer. I found my way forward, and another thing to push toward. Granted, it was a longer term goal, but I was going to work toward it either way. I'd find my mom, ask her why she left, and then I'd save my family from its own bad choices, whether it liked it or not.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"I can't believe we survived that!" I whooped as we came over the last ridge back toward the bridge. "That was fantastic!" I glanced over at Anna-Marie. "So what's the allocation deal for these drops? I got ten, so five you five us, do we get paid or anything for the ones we turn in? Because we paid for the materials and everything, so it would only be fair for us to be compensated for the drops."

The princess giggled. "Eager, aren't you? Yes, you'll be paid for the drops, we'll need to head into the central cylinder to get your coins." She seemed to be in the same kind of giddy mood as the rest of us. The extreme danger followed by the escape had been energizing, and I wasn't the only one grinning like a loon. It was odd, we'd been in trouble like this before off on our own, but being here inside the dungeon with no supervision to bail us out made it more...visceral.

I felt like I was getting emotional whiplash, going from the joy of battle, to guilt, to the glee of escape. Everything just seemed...more. More vibrant, more exciting, more important. Taking a moment, I felt myself almost buzzing with energy, and glanced at the others. "Hey, do any of you feel...weird? Like in a good way?"

It hadn't hit me right away, but this seemed different than my usual emotions. Callie nodded. "Yeah, I can feel it through the bond. It isn't affecting any of the rest of us I don't think though." She smirked at me. "It stopped your pouting so I consider it a net gain."

I muttered a nonsensical comment about catching HER in a net, but she graciously ignored it as I turned a questioning gaze on Anna-Marie. The Naiad princess looked lost for a second, then her eyes widened. "Oh! It was the lunar event. You passed through the cloud. Must have been dense enough to absorb into your skin. It can take time to hit you. I've heard rumors there are some vintages of wine infused with that effect, they're supposed to be lovely."

That sounded pretty delicious, but I didn't think it would be affordable at all. Probably more expensive than the insane drink Abel had tried to con me into buying for us back in Doomtown. Still, I didn't mind the effect. Nat rode up next to me, leaning in to mutter. "You might want to be careful wandering around semi intoxicated like that. Easy to make mistakes or deals you shouldn't."

When we reached the bridge, a pair of men in thick black suits of armor stopped us, crossing their spears in front of us to block the way. "Halt." They said, somehow not snickering at the cliche. "State your business."

Anna-Marie glared. "My business is none of yours. Unless bridge guards are suddenly of a standing with members of the royal family? Or do you suspect that the fact one of my brothers paid you to harass me will protect you from my father's vengeance should he hear of your disrespect to crown and country?"

They visibly flinched, stepping back quickly and lowering both their spears and heads. Hopping down, Anna-Marie handed the reins of her goat to the closest guard and gestured us to do the same. "I'll consider you stabling these for us you recompense for being so presumptuous. Should they not make it to their destination, I may forget to be magnanimous. I suspect this bridge would be as well served with your heads on those spears as warnings as by incompetents such as yourselves."

Apologizing profusely, they grabbed the reins and took the goats, running off toward a well hidden shack in the distance. She shook her head. "Idiots. Involving themselves in politics out of greed. My brothers don't care if a few guards get beheaded. Sadly for them I won't be passively bullied anymore."

I raised a brow. "You'd really have them beheaded for getting in your way?"

She shook her head. "No. Not unless it was a repeated offense. But they don't need to know that. My father WOULD kill them for it though, if he found out. Respect for the royal family is a paramount value in Ladrigan. To disrespect a royal is to disrespect the blood, which is disrespecting the king himself. Not that it stops us from harassing each OTHER, but it means games like this need to be subtle."

Celine nodded in comprehension, making an understanding sound from her place on the other side of Benny. "Ah. Being at the bottom of the barrel made you easy picking for things like that before. Now that you have, or are at least going to have, access to the drops, you're in a position to actually enact punishment going forward, and need to start acting the part."

Our guide nodded as she led us further down the bridge. "Indeed. It is important to know one's place. Premature retaliation would have signaled my readiness to enter the political arena, which I was very much not. With this kind of head start though, I'll be more than capable of holding my own, as well as passing some of the drops to important loved ones who support me like my mother."

I was about to ask if a point of Impact made that much of a difference, but considering a single point made you an Ascendant I was willing to believe it. Plus if things went well this would just be the start. Before we went out looking for trouble though, I was going to get us paid, and look into possible protection we could buy, beg, or hire.

When we reached the doors back into the bulwark, we received no further trouble, and the trip back down took MUCH longer, as we had to carefully navigate the traps from the enemy side, making stops to give passwords, take back passages, or request admittance.

Finally, we got through the bulwark and back into the ringed part of the castle, which made things much easier. To my surprise, once we hit the rings, Anna-Marie brought us a different route, using a series of secret passages to bring us through without having to scale up and down. I couldn't help but ask. "Why didn't we take this route last time? Wouldn't that have been faster?"

She just chuckled. "Yes, but these passages only take you to the cylinder. They can be sealed in an emergency, and automatically shut down completely when the bulwark collapses, but since you can't use them to LEAVE the cylinder, they can't be used to reach the bulwark."

I wondered why they would set it up like that, but figured it was probably some inane political reason I wouldn't care about, so I refocused on our entry into 'the cylinder'. Stepping through the final passage, we entered a short hallway with guarded doors. I could see a ton of defenses here, just in case, but it was still nicer than most of what I'd seen. Anna-Marie waved off the guards, and they opened the doors for us, allowing us to enter...a whole new world.

The cylinder ran through the entire mountain, and as such was absolutely huge. Based on the dimensions I was betting it was spatially enlarged, because I could see miles and miles of space inside the thing that didn't match up with it being the smallest area in the mountain.

I had to try hard not to stare. I'd seen plenty of things as an Ascendant, and they all had their own special kind of impressiveness, but the huge underground city was a new kind of amazing. Above us floated a glowing blue orb, close enough to white not to tint the light, and large enough to cast the whole cavern in what seemed like natural moonlight.

Silver trees festooned the entire area, and I could see skyways crisscrossing the distance in seemingly impossibly ways, somehow holding up islands of stone in the air without supports, though all small enough not to really impede the view given they were spread out and at different heights. There was dark grass beneath our feet as we walked in, and I saw foliage and shrubbery along the neat path leading toward the ground level city.

"This." She said proudly. "Is the cylinder. Most of the important people in the kingdom live here. We even have weather systems set up to water the plants and filter the dirt. The cylinder's interior is fifty miles across, though I know it can be hard to judge scale from so far away. It's a bit of a hike to reach the city, which is much bigger than it looks. Shouldn't be too much trouble for an F-ranker though."

That was fair. At top speed I could run seventy five hundred miles per hour at this point. Well, on a normal planet. This one was huge and had much heavier gravity so it was probably less. Still, even at a brisk walk it wouldn't be hard to get there relatively quickly.

I held up a hand, stopping everyone. "Wait." I said firmly. "I'm interested in heading in there, but I don't want to go at a disadvantage. We have an arrangement for half the drops, and I'd like to distribute them now. Will we get much effect from the first one?"

She nodded. "You will. First drop will give you a point. You'll need five drops for a second, and it pretty much doubles from there." I was appalled at exactly how many drops of Moonglow Dew the king must have used. He'd gotten himself about eight points. Knowing how rare the stuff was outside awakenings...it was terrifying. I guessed he WAS thousands of years old, and had been involved in the last awakening too.

"Alright." I said firmly. "Then we distribute it now. I want us at our strongest when we go in. Which means our strongest get first dibs. Callie, me, Abel, Nat, and Valk." I gave Mel a shrug. "If I had a sixth it would go to you, but I think this maximizes our capabilities. With Nat and I both getting one it'll make our abilities more useful, and Callie's recon abilities will be key out here where we don't know anyone."

Mel chuckled softly. "I get it. Just like I'm sure Agria and Clockwork do. It's not a bad lineup. But I want first dibs on the next round."

"Deal." I said with a grin. Pulling the others off the path we headed into the silver trees, finding a clearing before I reached into the ring and removed the drops. I left the flowers in, bringing the Dew out on its own, but to my relief, that was fine. It just floated above my palm like some kind of mercurial star.

The dew itself was...confusing. Silver mercurial liquid, shifting constantly and reflecting scenes of infinite possibilities from within. I passed the first over to Nat, then Callie, then Abel, then Valk. I'd gone out of my way to make sure to give them some of the first drops, because I wanted the team more cohesive, and because coming here had been mainly their idea. I could tell they were happy to receive them, especially Nat who looked like she was having her first christmas.

When we all had ours, I took a deep breath, and the mask slid away from the bottom of my face like it would when I ate. I popped the thing into my mouth like some kind of liquid pill and swallowed hard as the explosion of indescribable sensation washed over my tongue and plummeted into my throat like a waterfall of living lightning. As the power exploded behind my eyes it occurred to me it might have been a better plan to go back to our rooms for this. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The feeling of having your impact rise naturally through rank up was odd and hard to describe. It was interesting, and even notable, but it wasn't exceptionally dramatic in the grand scheme of things. It was something people were designed to do, a natural part of our evolution, and you had the stat points to act as a foundation for the Impact. It was like building a tower. You had a level of stats, then Impact to act as support for the next section.

Having Impact added independent of that was MUCH more intense. The lightning storm coursing down my throat spread like wildfire, singing through my veins and out into my muscles. My body felt like arid ground, hungrily consuming the energy as it spilled out, rolling through me and somehow filling every individual cell. I could feel the change to every single atom of my body, but not consecutively. All at once, like I was a million people at the same time, each completely perceiving a change to a single cell.

My cells were singing to each other, belting out operatic harmonies as they ascended to a greater state, to a higher plane of existence, and carried my million brains along with them. I couldn't tell if I was screaming, or crying, or if I'd never make a sound again. I was in unbearable agony, and suffused with the most exquisite bliss I'd ever felt, and hollow and empty and so full I was about to explode.

And then it was over, and I was just me. Just standing around as a single person, heart pounding, body coated with sweat, muscles twitching as I fell against a tree, wheezing and panting. "That." I gasped breathlessly. "Was so fucking weird. Gods, is it like that every time? I...don't even know how to describe that. Did I hate it? Did I love it? My brain hurts."

Callie groaned from next to me. "Yeah, I was getting some of that through the bond. I think it was worse because we were sharing it. I was getting the highs as well as the lows simultaneously because we were alternating."

I paused, thinking it over. "That...shit, that might have been happening to me too. It was so hard to tell, everything was confusing the shit out of me." I cocked my head at her. "You doing ok? I'm starting to settle down I think. Or maybe I'll never settle down again? I can't tell if I'm wired or exhausted."

She let out a bark of laughter. "I feel that." She looked at my cousin, Abel, and Valk. "How about you guys? You feeling ok?"

Abel shrugged. "That was weird, but I've had worse. I'll be fine in a minute, just need to get my head on straight."
Nat shuddered. "I'm less sanguine about the whole thing. I can't really say it was awful. But also I can. It was definitely the best worst experience of my life. As little sense as that probably makes."

"As much as anything else that just happened to me." Valk croaked hoarsely, standing to his full height from where he'd been hunched against the dark bark of a silver tree. "I feel like a wrung out toothpaste tube made of chewing gum stretched between the two ends of sporting field."

"That!" Said Nat excitedly. "That's exactly how it feels. Like...to a T." Weighing the words I nodded, as did Callie. He was right. Like I was empty and stretched in a weird way that I couldn't exactly put my finger on.

Anna-Marie looked interested. "That's fascinating. I suspect I'll want to space out my consumption in that case. Who knows what multiple drops at once would do to a person. Do you feel well enough to continue?" The princess had been watching us like a hawk since I'd mentioned what I was going to do. Her eyes were wide and focused, desperately trying not to miss anything.

If I had to guess, the king wasn't the kind of guy to do something as risky as dropping Moonglow Dew in front of his kids, or pretty much anyone barring his most trusted guards. This was probably her first time seeing the process up close, and given how big a part of her life it was going to be, I was guessing she wanted to know as much about it as possible. She wanted every detail before her first drop, though I was skeptical we'd been helpful with our descriptions.

"Jessie." I said calmly. "How about you hit us with a little pick me up?" My teammate had been a bit quiet since her time as a teddy bear, but not upset exactly. She seemed more pensive than anything, and at the sound of her name her eyes jerked up to me. She shook off her thoughts and nodded.

"Sure. I can do that." She sounded as chipper as ever, so I wasn't too worried. I was sure she'd talk to use when she was feeling upto it. She stepped forward, her hand on me as she flooded me with green lifegiving energy. I felt my body fill with power and vitality, and it synergized well with the wired feeling the drop had left, leaving me bursting with energy.

She did Callie next, then Nat, then Abel, and Valk last. The big bearded man looked a bit more jittery than the rest of us, so I think she wanted to give him extra time to settle before she shoved a live wire into his brain, so to speak. Once that was done she smiled widely at all of us, stepping back to lean against Lily, her wolf, as the other puppies surrounded her. Energizing all of us had taken it out of her, and I could see the sweat on her brow, but she'd be at the back with us all surrounding her so I wasn't worried.

I bounced in place a bit, letting the energy flow through me. I felt amazing. Not just vital, but...more. The recovery and the extra Impact really were a hell of a combination.

"I think we're good to go." I glanced down at Jin. "Take care of her will you? You and the others." My wolf gave me a deadpan look and a sniff of disdain, as if telling me not to make stupid unnecessary comments. I got no respect.
The puppies circled up around Lily, making a triangle formation as Jessie rode on her wolf's back. Oddly, they seemed more...maybe not intelligent, but more aware. I suspected Jessie's rank up had allowed her power to boost them in a less restrictive way.

We headed back out to the path, following it along to where the city waited. There was a huge black stone wall around the perimeter of the place that I hadn't been able to see from further away. There was an iron gate cutting the path off from entry, and two guards stood waiting there for us to approach.

To my surprise, Anna-Marie didn't just wave them aside, stepping up and pulling out a cerulean token carved from some kind of gemstone. "We seek entry into the Spiral Grove." I could literally hear the capital letters on those last two words. The guards took the token and there was a surge of energy the caused it to light up. A pattern shone on the dark wall, and the guards stared interestedly at the patterns for a minute before nodding and stepping back to allow us entry.

As we walked in, I couldn't help but comment on the token. "That was pretty cool. What was it? Some kind of light key or something?"

Anna-Marie smiled. "Royal seal. Every member of the bloodline gets them. They're made of a special type of living crystal that shifts randomly over time. The guards here and on the royal chambers have samples of the crystal that shifts in the same randomized pattern. Anyone outside the bloodline has to go through a careful vetting process when entering or leaving the Spiral Grove."

"That's awesome." I said appreciatively. "Probably the best security system I can imagine. I guess they check the patterns daily to make sure they know what each seal is supposed to look like?" She nodded in amusement and I put a pin in the idea for later. Might be a neat idea for my own faction later down the line. "So, I take it this is the Spiral Grove?" I said, waving around at the massive city we'd only just entered. Buildings festooned the area, some on the ground, some in trees with walkways between them. I could see some of the walkways leading up to the islands in the air I'd seen before, too thin to have been visible at a distance.

She grinned. "The heart of the capital. All our highest ranking officers, nobles, and even foreign dignitaries hang their hats here." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the clean, fresh air. "One of my favorite places in the world."

I could see genuine fondness on her face as she opened her eyes again. It was always so strange to see the dichotomy of how much she cared about her country and how little she seemed to care about the people. The idea of Ladrigan, the places, the construction, the culture, it seemed almost sacred to her. But the citizens were almost an afterthought, like they just got in the way of all the things she loved. Like they were just unpleasant additions to the kingdom itself.

As we strolled down the main street from the gates though, I couldn't say I didn't understand at least the first part. While the rest of the castle was utilitarian and brutal, the buildings down here were beautiful. Carved stone etched with bas relief scenes of ancient battles and heroic deeds, all set in the forest and inset with silver to give it depth and impact.

It was beautiful, and I couldn't help but notice that the Spiral Grove, hell the cylinder in general, was almost a mirror image of the rest of the castle. It was like they took all the beauty they were forced to forgo elsewhere and shoved it all in here so they could enjoy it in private. She walked us along the path, showing us buildings and sculptures and parks that were a feast for the eyes.

Finally we came to one large but fairly squat building with massive silver doors. Anna-Marie strode up to it and shoved the doors open, leading us into a huge marble foyer with a large desk on the opposite end. The desk had windows along it, and the whole thing was heavily reinforced. A bank.

Strolling up to the bank window she withdrew her seal and slipped it into a gap in the window. "I'd like to withdraw ten hundred-coin markers. Infused, not blank." She turned to me. "I'm offering two hundred heartstone coins per drop, along with future considerations. The infused coins are worth more, obviously, and a thousand is plenty for the deal we've made so far."

I glanced to Celine, who nodded. She'd been looking into the economy here during her downtime, while we'd been working on trade deals and such. The banker nodded, passing over a dark wooden case. The princess opened the case to find a series of long thin tokens made of dark stone with red glowing cracks running through it. "Each of those can be traded for one hundred infused coins. Just bring them to the bank to trade them in, or spend them as is."

That worked for me. Carrying a thousand coins would be substantially more trouble, and since we'd probably be spending in bulk the markers would do for now, plus we could always swap if we needed to. Once I received the markers, she gave me a wide grin. "Now. You can hand over the drops and then I'll take you somewhere to eat before you start shopping for the longer trip." I chuckled at the forwardness, but didn't disagree. That sounded like a plan.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I groaned in enjoyment as the stroganoff hit my tongue. "This is amazing." We were at dinner with Anna-Marie, and Callie and I were sharing a local dish called Plazkish. Which was stroganoff. Like...almost exactly. It was also amazing, with fresh juicy mushrooms, smooth handmade pasta, and a delicious creamy sauce so well made it felt like the noodles were almost slithering down my throat without me needing to do anything.

They WEREN'T doing that, obviously, because that would be horrifying, but they were so easy to eat they almost gave that impression. Callie was just as enamored with the dish, and moaned her agreement as she slurped her own noodles, neither of us caring that the others were staring at us. Well, some of the others. Abel, Mel, Jessie, and Benny had all eaten with us before so they didn't much care.

Looking up at the horrified and fascinated face of the princess I swallowed and cleared my throat. "Sorry. I'm weirdly hungry after gaining that extra point of Impact. Did you say something?"

She giggled a bit at that, and Callie finished her own bite and washed it down with a sip of wine, looking embarrassed. "I said." Repeated the princess. "That I was wondering exactly what you're looking for in terms of preparations for the next trip. We're going to be staying out much longer next time, right? Did you get a good grasp on what we're going to need for the journey? We'll most likely need to get deeper into the core this time."

I nodded thoughtfully. "We still have the herbs to sell, so that should get us a bit more money. Just the sheer volume should get us a decent chunk of coin. What we can get should vary based on how much we have, but I have a few specifics in mind. First is shelter. I'm hoping to pick up some portable housing. Maybe tents at worst, though I' hoping for something a bit sturdier."

That got a beaming smile. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." Said the princess cheerfully. "I'll most likely acquire some lodgings of my own. You can accompany me to the shop I'll use. I'll make sure the owner knows you're good friends of mine and to treat you with respect."

Giving her a grateful nod, I smiled internally. I figured she'd do that. Part of the future considerations she mentioned. If possible I wanted to find some kind of portable cabin or bunker, specifically one that had defensive enchantments on it. A portable and stable home base was invaluable, the latter having been made clear during the scavenger hunt. Sadly an invented building wasn't likely to be viable in this instance. Too likely to end up in enemy hands.

Nat too a bite of her chowder, nodding along. "My suggestion would also be to buy some sort of mapping item. Something to show us where we've been and where we're going." She raised an eyebrow at Anna-Marie. "Do you know if they have anything like that in town?"

"Of course!" Said the princess brightly. "And that's a wonderful idea. Returning home would be so much simpler with a nice map to rely on."

"It is." I agreed. "As well as having some sort of emergency defensive measure. Some kind of portable shield spell we can trigger. I'm curious, are there any E-rank items in here? I mean, I know people can bring them in. I...saw some people wielding them." I decided not to mention my own E-rank weapon. It seemed like information they didn't need, especially since it was suppressed most of the time. Maybe they'd noticed it in battle, but no reason to help them along.

Anna-Marie nodded gravely. "There are, but they're in the treasuries. E-ranked items are considered national treasures, and they can only be redeemed for extreme merit. Even that only happens at wartime usually. We have powerful spells made by those with higher than standard Impact though, and we usually call them half step E-rank. No one like my father, of course, but some powerful crafters can trade for or gather god Dew between awakenings like the royals do."

"They don't just take it?" Callie asked in surprise. Which made sense given how closely they controlled the stuff.

"Well, sometimes." Admitted the princess. "Not all of it though. It's a similar setup to yourselves. If they seized it all the finders might hoard it and never let anyone know what they'd found. By rewarding them a share it makes them more likely to come forward. Usually not half, usually more along the lines of a third. But still, it's a tempting reward. Mixed with the fact that it's detectable when you use the Dew, and it's common practice to come volunteer your supply."

Celine looked dubious. "Isn't that just forcing them though? Since you can tell when it's used, what possible way would there be of keeping it secret."

"Defection." Said Anna-Marie flatly. "Before it became common practice to share it, people who found a stock of god Dew would defect to other kingdoms. They would use it all up before arriving. Since the Dew can't be retrieved once used, the other kingdoms had the option of turning away a perfectly good Ascendant with higher than normal Impact, killing them out of spite, or letting them stay."

I nodded in understanding. "And since any powerful fighter for their side would be a benefit, they had no problems taking them in. I can see why you would do things the way you do. Anyway, I'd love to see some crafting from some of those half step E-rankers. A stronger defense can only be a benefit, and maybe we can find some other spells to suit us."

She gave a cheery nod. "Of course. Giancarlo Spirella was going to be my first stop in any case. He's the most well respected crafter in Ladrigan. Some people claim he's already a Master." Which was interesting, because it meant Master Candidates existed here. Though I didn't know what you'd call one that had already reached mastery. Still, it was useful information, especially about a crafter.

Wolfing down my food, I got prepared to leave as the other finished, and once everyone was done I gestured for Anna-Marie to go ahead. "Lead the way to this Giancarlo guy." I paused. "Wait, can he buy the herbs?"

She nodded. "He buys basically everything. He's an enchanter but he does some work Inventing as well." I shot Benny a look. My best friend looked intrigued. I knew he was always looking to make new gear, though he'd already made some that I hadn't even seen yet. I resolved to set some time aside to talk to my best friend. It had been a while since we'd really hung out.

"Of course!" Anna-Marie seemed thrilled to share more about her city with us, her cheerful demeanor already pretty infectious, helped along by the fantastic meal. Leading us out of the bistro, she walked us back onto the main thoroughfare. "Giancarlo's studio is in the oldest district in the city. He's got one of the treehouses, and there's no ground access." She led us to a seemingly innocuous if huge silver tree, knocking on the black bark in a specific spot and smiling widely as the trunk slid open to reveal a too large shaft with a spiral staircase.

As we climbed, I was forced to marvel at how...integrated, the city was. So many different moving parts, so to speak, all working in harmony. This setup must have been incredibly difficult to put in place. Between the external defenses, the cylinder, the islands, the trees, and all the walkways, this place was basically a complicated ecosystem.

When we reached the top we stepped out onto one of the walkways, which seemed to have much more room than one would expect based on the ground view. I wasn't sure if that space was more spatial manipulation or if it was just the angle and distance, but seeing the city from up here made it even more striking. Sparkling gems of light polka dotting a sea of silver leaves, buildings peeking from behind the cover intriguingly.

She led us in a seemingly random direction as she smiled happily around us. "Most of the popular shops are up here. Ground level tends to be reserved for residential places. There are so many trees around that there's always room for another building in one if needed. Houses on the ground level get exceedingly difficult to acquire as you move inward. The central district of the Grove is the oldest, and where we're headed."

It was hard to keep track of things like directionality when surrounded by nearly identical foliage, but when she mentioned that I did kind of notice we were heading inward. It didn't take us long to reach the interior, and once we did the foliage started to thin, revealing more treehouses grouped close together and creating almost a second city above the treeline.

We stopped at an extremely intricate house made of white wood, seasoned with age but still extremely sturdy looking. The wood presented a strong contrast to the bark of the tree, though it blended well with the silver leaves. Anna-Marie strolled up to the front door and knocked politely, waiting for a minute before a polished older man in a crisp suit opened the door looking politely disinterested.

When he saw the princess his expression got a lot more polite and a lot LESS disinterested. "Your grace." He said with a bow of his head. "An honor to see you. Please, come inside." He stepped back, gesturing us in, and Anna-Marie gave him a winning smile.

"Thank you Humphrey." She said sunnily. "It's wonderful to be back, and I brought some new friends. I assume Gio is around?"

He nodded solemnly. "You've come at the perfect time. Miss Zelda was sick today, so Master Giancarlo arrived late. Lady Sandra was otherwise engaged, but she was able to relieve him just an hour ago."

Her sunny demeanor dimmed. "Oh. I do hope Zelda feels better." Glancing at us, she clarified. "Zelda is Giancarlo's daughter, she's twelve. His wife, Sandra, is a healer at the local hospital, so Zelda is in good hands. Zelda is a lovely young lady, and it's a shame to hear she's unwell. Her curiosity and intelligence always brightens my visits."

Humphrey smiled softly. "Which is why you are his favorite customer. So often they simply ignore or dismiss her. You always make time to talk to Miss Zelda."

"Yes." Rasped a high pitched voice, clearly rough with disuse. "She does at that." We turned to see a tall, tan man with wild brown hair sticking out in all directions. He gave us a wild smile, eyes wider than a normal person's. "Anna dear. Lovely to get a visit from my most loyal customer. And you've brought friends. What can I help you with today?"

The sunshine was back on Anna-Marie's face. "Gio. It's good to see you. I was just telling Humphrey to give Zelda my well wishes. My friends and I are actually here for a few things. We have herbs to sell, and then we were hoping to look into some defensive spells. Something powerful and portable."

It was impossible to miss that the man was radiating the same kind of Impact I'd sensed from the king. Perhaps not quite as much, but he was head and shoulders above all of us.

"Well then." He cackled excitedly. "I suppose I'll need to break out my best." He turned, gesturing us back through the door he'd come through. "Please, follow me. I'll take a look at what you have, and we can find the best fit for all of you for your magical needs." Looking at Nat and Callie uncertainly, I shrugged. At least she hadn't brought us somewhere boring. I had a good feeling about finding what we needed.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The room Giancarlo came out of was...weird. Which was to be expected, he was a powerful Enchanter and Inventor. But still, even expecting it, the massive variety of random objects in jars and bottles lining the walls was surprising. Boxes full of materials were stacked at the base of the shelves, with metals and wood stuffing them and carelessly written names scrawled on stickers slapped across their sides.

"Oh! You've cleaned recently!" Said Anna-Marie in delight. We all turned to gape at her as we looked back around. The place was nominally organized I guessed, but it was packed so full of random nonsense that it wasn't possible to apply any adjective to the place except 'cluttered'. "We brought you quite a few interesting herbs and flowers, we'd love to hear what you have to offer. Solomon, if you could set them on the counter?"

She gestured to a flat countertop, probably the only non floor space clear enough to see more than a foot of. Shrugging, I waved a hand over the counter, swiping my spatial ring with a thumb to access it and dump all the herbs out onto the surface. I blinked as I did, not having quite realized how absurd the number of herbs we collected was. There was a huge variety of color, shape, texture, attribute, and any other measurable quality you could name.

Giancarlo had somehow appeared behind the counter, which was a neat trick since I hadn't seen him move. He nodded sagely, reaching behind the counter and pulling out a huge complicated set of goggles. They were made of pure gold and had about a dozen lenses made of what looked like ruby, sapphire, emerald, and other precious gems set along its side, each on levers that allowed him to swap them in and out, whether individually or stacking them in groups.

He flipped through the settings, looking at the herbs through various lenses and combinations thereof, making humming noises and interested sounds as he picked up, fondled, licked, sniffed, and in one notable case, bit the herbs. Eventually he slipped the goggles off and looked up at us impassively. "A hundred coins for the lot. I have a marker on hand. Can't do any higher."

I saw Celine open her mouth, but Anna-Marie cut her off. "Of course Gio. I know you don't haggle, and that's a more than perfectly fair price. Thank you for your generosity." She didn't emphasize the words of say it with deep meaningful tones. She didn't have to. It was clear she'd just saved us from possibly alienating the old man.

Nodding my head, I gestured that I accepted, and he swept them off the counter into a box, passing over one of the black stone markers with the red energy cracks. I smiled at him, not that he could see. "I'm looking for defensive enchantments. Something portable probably, and maybe some sort of portable shelter if you have anything like that. Lets start with defenses though, we can pick the shelter based on what those will cover."

He grinned at me. "Smart boy. Too many try to do it the other way. Picking your defenses to suit your home means you only get what works best with that home. If you do it the other way you can pay for the best. You might end up a bit less comfortable, but you'll also end up much less dead."

"Well that's the idea anyway." I laughed. "So what do you have in the way of mobile defensive spells. Do you even make anything like that? I'm not exactly an expert."

He just scoffed. "Of course I do." He reached under the counter again, withdrawing a crystal orb made of what looked like a thousand chips of slightly different diamond, each with a unique rune on it. "This one is popular. Sovereign's Sanction. Creates a powerful defensive bubble. Useful but not mobile, and once deployed nothing enters or leaves until it runs out. Good for bunkering down to wait for backup."

I took it from him, weighing it in my hands. I was fascinated, but it wasn't what we were looking for exactly. "The mobility is a big thing for us. Unbreakable defense is great, but we don't really HAVE backup, at least not reliably. You got anything that moves with you?"

Nodding, he pulled out a bracelet. "Abjuring Ring. When activated it creates a circle of protection around you that keeps out enemies. Moves with the wearer, and works well for setting up temporary camps. Sadly it only works on actual beings, not attacks, and it's not foolproof. Ranged assaults aren't covered and the strong willed can force their way past it, though it takes active effort to maintain position, so they're weakened inside."

That one was more interesting. "I like it. Put that one aside for possible purchase? What's your most powerful defense. Not popular, you showed me that, what's the most unbreakable spell you have on hand."

He sucked his teeth. "You don't mess around, do you boy?" Reaching down, he pulled out a box made of old worn wood. Reaching into his shirt he pulled out a key and put it into one of the locks on the box, pulling another from under the counter where it appeared to be literally chained down. He turned both and opened the box, revealing a large, glimmering ruby pendant the size of a baby's fist. It practically radiated malice and death.

"Blood War Pendant." He said solemnly. "Half step E-rank. It creates a field of blood shades, manifestations of those killed by the attackers, the defenders, anyone inside the circle. The shades reform endlessly, and are always at the rank they occupied when killed. Only way to stop it is to wait it out or break the pendant, and anyone who dies inside the circle becomes part of the spell. It's a bit situational, but it's damned powerful in the right hands. It costs four marks. Because I'd be a fool to sell it for less than four hundred infused heart coins."

I weighed the possibilities with the item. It wasn't perfect, if only because most of us were going to be spawning G-ranked blood shades. Still, there would be a decent amount of F-rankers from Abel I was pretty sure, not to mention any incoming attackers most likely. Even if not, an army of G-rankers that couldn't die would be useful.

Four marks was a decent chunk of our money, but I could see how that would help immensely. "How mobile is the pendant? I assume the circle of effect moves with us? Otherwise why make it a pendant."

He nodded solemnly. "It works for an hour a day, and it can move. It's shockingly effective, even for those who aren't too steeped in blood." He nodded to Abel. "I don't think that will be a problem for your group."

Setting a mark down on the counter, I flipped open the box and laid three next to it. "Apollyon, you'll wear this one." I gestured for him to take the pendant.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Ok, I can guarantee I have nothing that goes with that."

Mel rolled her eyes. "I'll wear it." She pushed her hair back. "Between the link and our proximity, not to mention our long partnership meaning I'm almost as blood drenched as him, it should be fine, right?"

I shrugged. She wasn't wrong, plus now that I looked the Ruby pendant actually DID go with her mask. "Fine whatever." I turned back to Giancarlo. "Any other impressive bits of enchanting?"

Staring at me for a minute, he sighed and pulled out another box, this one made of bone. Flipping it open, he handed me a finger bone suspended in amber. "Bone wall. Single use and not mobile, but a huge interlinked wall of F-rank bones is a hell of a defense to pop instantly."

Another ruby, this one brighter and mounted in a ring, came out of the space beneath the counter. "This one is a flame ward. Basically a mobile wall of fire. Not perfect since you can go over or under it, or even push through if you resist fire."
I mulled over the options. "Ok. If we did the Bone Wall, Flame Ward and an Abjuring Ring, what would our best bet be for lodging, and can we get a deal for the lot?"

His eyes narrowed, but he didn't reject the request exactly, weighing his options. "Landrock Bunker would be the easiest to defend. Bit of setup time when you move it, since it reinforces itself with natural stone. Still, I could do....ten marks for the lot. Including the Blood War Pendant. Take it or leave it."

Three defensive items, the bunker and the Blood War Pendant, which was four on its own, seemed like a solid buy. Based on what Anna-Marie had said before I resolutely nodded, and he grinned. "Smart boy. And since I like you and you're bringing my Anna along, I'll even throw in one of these."

He tossed us the Sovereign's Sanction, his most popular defense. "Wow." I said in surprise. "Thank you. We appreciate that. What exactly are the specs on that, if it's alright to ask?"

He just chuckled. "Don't be daft boy. Never be afraid to ask what you're getting. Every one of those chips came from a different type of F-ranked diamond. The Sanction erects a spherical barrier with the durability of all one thousand combined."

I whistled at that. No wonder it was popular even though it didn't move. That was some serious defense, and if we had actual backup it would be amazing. Even without it though, I wasn't going to complain about free defense. If nothing else we could use it to recover energy during a huge fight.

Stowing it all in the spatial ring (except the Blood War Pendant and Flame Ward which we gave to Mel) I looked to the last item on the pile. The Landrock Bunker. "Any chance you could give us more info on how it works? Just so we can make sure to pick the best possible location when we use it."

Giancarlo chuckled. "Of course. It's not complex. Stab the rock focus of the bunker." He pointed at the sharp spike of stone on the counter. "Into the earth, and it begins to grow. It leaches the durability from the surrounding rock and when you pull out the spike it slowly drains out over time. My only advice is to find a place with lots of exposed stone. It will spread furthest that way."

That did seem easy. "How big is it. On the outside I mean. Most buildings this level are expanded inside."

"True." He said with a smile. "The bunker is a twenty five foot square. The defensive enchantments built in are uniform, but if you want to take best advantage of all of those defensive spells, I'd personally suggest somewhere with a backdrop. Against a cliff wall or some such location. It will enable you to make the most of the bone wall."

Slipping the last mark into my ring, I thanked him packing up everything we bought. "One more thing." I said intently. "We were hoping to buy a map, something auto updating, and if you can give me some advice, what's the one thing you suggest any adventurer take on a long journey." He reached under the counter and pulled out two things. Once of them was a rolled piece of paper, and the other was a cantine.

"Water." He said firmly. "Clean drinking water. You would think with the snow around it would be plentiful, but it isn't always. The cantine refills passively and will last centuries. I'll take ten coins for both. Consider it a discount for asking a wise question." I passed him the last mark, and he returned me a bag with ninety infused heart coins. With that done, we turned to head out to look around more, and then we'd be staying at Anna-Marie's manor for the night. Tomorrow we set off again.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We slept at Anna-Marie's manor in Spiral Grove. We actually met her mother, a full naiad who resembled her daughter strongly with the sole exception of being a deeper blue.

Where Anna-Marie had a sort of blue tinge that reminded me a bit of blue lips from cold or lack of air, her mother was more of a cerulean blue, and all the more beautiful for it. Her features were aristocratic and incredibly delicate, like she'd been hand sculpted by a master glass blower, but a single touch would shatter her.

Of course, that was ridiculous. She was a peak F-ranker, and a dangerous and powerful Ascendant. Anna-Marie had waxed on for ages over dinner about her mother's accomplishments in battle, and it was easy to see how proud the princess was of her mother.

"So." Said Salara, Anna-Marie's mother. "Tell me about yourselves. My daughter so rarely brings home friends for dinner." Her wide smile managed to occlude the razor sharp teeth her daughter inherited, seeming warm and supportive rather than intimidating or challenging.

She had the same shining blue eyes as Anna-Marie, those metallic blue orbs with no iris or pupil. Oddly, her orbs seemed somehow more ethereal, less solidly colored. It was fascinating, and I had to tear my eyes away from them so I didn't get lost in their depths.

I left Celine to answer, and our diplomat fielded the question with aplomb. "We've been so grateful for her assistance since we arrived. Your lovely kingdom is so novel for us, it was lucky we met such a generous and knowledgeable guide." I blinked at that. I couldn't imagine a less revealing answer. She'd essentially just said literally nothing at all except things Salara already knew.

The naiad's blue lips quirked up in something more akin to a smirk than a smile. "You are just the cutest thing. But unlike my tree dwelling cousins I'm not one for politicking. I tend to say what I mean, and if people have a problem with it we...address the situation in an up front and direct manner." She winked at Celine. "See, I can be diplomatic too."

Anna-Marie groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Mother. Can't you ever play nice?" Even when she was embarrassed though, I could hear the note of pride in her voice. No wonder she detached herself from the locals so much. She was trying to emulate her mother, but the duties of her royal blood pushed her to at least consider the country itself important. "Please forgive her." She said apologetically. "My mother is known to be...forward. It's one of the reasons my father was drawn to her."

She snorted. "I assure you Crighton was drawn to much less nebulous aspects of my person." Another wink. "But my forthright nature has kept him at least occasionally entertained as well. My personal power doesn't hurt. I'm an accomplished warrior in my own right, and the two of us are a dangerous pair when operating in tandem."

I was surprised she didn't have any extra Impact herself, but it seemed rude to bring it up. Plus it wasn't my business who Anna-Marie gave her drops too, since I'd already been paid. Her statement made me curious though. "Are you? Anna-Marie mentioned her inborn gifts don't lie in that direction."

Salara nodded solemnly. "Quite right. My girl has an aptitude for the subtler arts of the waves. Healing is her strong suit, along with some fairly impressive alteration abilities. Naiad's are expert shapeshifters, not just of ourselves, but of others as well. Anna-Marie inherited that talent, and can make anyone look like almost anything."

That was...interesting. The princess shrugged. "It's not a useless talent, per se, but it's hardly necessary in my daily life. I can't even shift myself, only other people. My abilities with healing are more of a side effect. If I weren't royal I could make quite a bit of money offering fleshshaping services, but such mundane activities are below my station, so I can't even put my abilities to THAT much use."

Her mother nodded. "She isn't wrong. It's frowned upon. I think it's a wonderful talent, and I'm proud to see her inherit it. Born a hybrid, she has access to a diminished version of all the naiad standard abilities, but her first Skill was what determined her specific talents. It's sort of like our version of an ability."

That was fascinating. All the racial traits I'd seen involved the transformation process via alchemy. I'd never dealt with anyone born with one aside from I guess Celine. "So...are you worried about her going out with us?" I asked impulsively. I was curious to see what a real mother would think about something like this.

"Oh a bit." She said lazily, waving the question away. "Not too much though. Children need adventure to grow. Anna-Marie has been held back far too long by Crighton's silly rules. Take her out and get her into some trouble for me. She's plenty strong, she just needs a chance to figure that out for herself."

The princess blushed, and I smiled approvingly. That sounded like something I wish my mother thought about me. Salara was a lovely person so far. Callie clearly thought so too, because my girlfriend was quickly pulled into conversation about customized combat styles and how they fit into advancing Skills like her Balam Mastery.

Turning to Nat, I saw my cousin looking curiously at the blue skinned older woman. Her expression was almost sad, and I recognized it easily. It was the same on I wore sometimes when I saw families together. I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly to reassure her. She chuckled a bit and nodded at me.

We finished up dinner and retired to our rooms to sleep, and the next morning I went to find Jessie before I did anything. Yesterday had been a long day and I'd used up my wishes trading, but today I had more, and I planned to stock back up on healing charges with the new power upgrade while I had the chance.

To make sure I didn't have some dud charges lying around, I used my last heal burst on Abel, who wasn't as worried about getting to sleep as the rest of us and decided to take a pass on rest tonight. Which officially meant no more heal bursts in reserve, and I could replace my whole stock from Jessie in one shot.

Naturally I could only hold ten of them, but I was able to backlog plenty as advance payment. Those kinds of things work better when I need them most, so setting up a bunch of advance charges would let me drop a lot of points on her. In fact, I decided to try pushing my four point cap to five, given all the upgrades to my stats since I last tried.

My blonde friend, Callie, Celine, Benny and I were all in mine and Callie's room before bed. Jessie was fretting at not being able to go up and check in on Randall, but we'd decided bringing him down here wasn't worth the time, and had sent word to have him taken over the mountain through their animal paths so we could take him with us on our long trip, which mollified her a bit.

"I just worry about him." She was saying with a pout. "I don't like leaving him alone for so long. What if he gets sad or lonely? I should be there with him."

"Can't you feel that stuff? With your bond?" Asked Callie. "Like I don't know how your bond works versus ours, but I can always feel when Shane is upset. At least when we're close enough. Is your bond not active at this distance? Because I could understand why it might suck."

Jessie waved he hand in a fluttering gesture that could mean literally anything. "Sort of. It's complicated. I can feel him but not well. Our bond is pretty strong, and different than yours at least partly because of the stat impact. Like I've gotten twenty five points of Might from Randall since my rank up." She glanced at me. "I'd like all Vitality from you by the way. Though I guess that needs formalizing. I wish for thirty points of Vitality in exchange for thirty heal bursts."

Wish detected. Grant wish? I confirmed, and was greeted with the requirements as usual, which she did meet. Five points per wish was valid after all. It also confirmed that her heal bursts were far more valuable with all that Vitality behind them. I accepted and held out a hand as the electricity built. Jessie snagged it and the power leapt from me to her, funneling the points into my friend.

Because of the incredibly small percentage of both total stats and Vitality those thirty points represented, adjustment was instantaneous and pretty much unnoticeable. Jessie sat through all six wishes before walking over and slumping onto the bed. Apparently the wishes still took it out of you even if the stats weren't enough to shake a person. "You good?" I asked cautiously. I'd made assumptions. I probably should have spaced them out.

She groaned. "Yeah, just a little fried. Still, worked like a charm. Just eight points of Vitality shy of eight hundred. It's a far cry from my one hundred seventy five Might. I'm definitely a specialist. Still, it works for me." She whistled. "Lily, sweetheart, carry mommy to her room, I'm too lazy to walk." The large wolf chuffed, once again seeming smarter than she had before or than a wolf should. She walked over to the bed and Jessie slumped over the huge beast's back.

"I'm going to go get changed before breakfast, see you guys down there." She burrowed into the wolf's fur like she was a big snuggly stuffed dog, and I had to chuckle.

Callie looked amused and long suffering. "That girl." She groaned. " We'd be lost without her for sure." I laughed at how accurate that was. Not just because of her amazing power, but also because Jessie kept us all sane. She was the heart of our group, the one who kept us happy and focused on the positive.

Looking at Celine and Benny, I decided to double check. "You both ready for this trip? We'll be gone for a long while. That summerspark crystal will help keep us warm, and we have defenses, but still, this is a bit more than a camping trip. We'll be out in the wilderness alone for weeks, possibly months."

Benny shrugged. "I'm already on a strange new world. Why not take the whole novelty angle to extremes. Who needs a city. We'll have a house to sleep in anyway, so it's all the same in the end." He looked at his girlfriend. "How about you, Cel, you feeling good about this?"

She gave him a soft smile, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm here when so many weren't able to come. I feel blessed to be brought along and every day here is a gift."

Callie rolled her eyes. "Booo!" Jeered my girlfriend. "Political answer. We're friends, you don't need to be so formal. Complain a bit, say you're pissed the sheets won't be soft enough. You're making the rest of us look bad." She had a big smile on her face, and Celine looked amused and touched in equal measure. I thought it was really sweet how she was trying to make Celine feel like part of the gang.

"Alright." I said with a laugh. "Let's go down and get some breakfast before we leave." I gestured to my girlfriend. "You don't want to see this one when she's hungry." I climbed out of the chair I was reclining in and headed for the door, eager to get some food and be on our way. The truth was, I was nervous about the trip, and the sooner it started the less time I'd have to worry. I found that was always the best attitude to take on adventures.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Setting off on our second expedition was a bigger deal. Not just for us, Salara decided to send actual guards this time, a pair of peak F-rankers to watch over Anna-Marie.



The princess herself had taken her drop, possibly a few of them. She'd given one to Salara and taken one, but it seemed like she'd taken the other three herself and had managed to make it to thirty four Impact total, making us the most durable of all of us.



As we met Randall off the back of the mountain after his trip over, I turned to Anna-Marie to ask her about what the deeper parts of the core were like. "So, what can we expect out there, going deeper?"



She bit her lip in thought. "Well there are a few old fortresses and encampments out there that have been abandoned or reclaimed over the years. Every kingdom on the ring has some kind of operating base that's been lost. Some still have active defensive locations, though Ladrigan doesn't."



I made a contemplative noise. I could see how that would play out. People would try to take the fortresses to use as staging grounds for their operations. It would turn into a war for positioning. Since the flowers appeared randomly it could take time, which meant they needed a good place to deploy from.



It was a solid way to force competition, but there was definitely room for cooperation. I wished we knew where any of the people we'd met before were landing. Bethy would be a hell of a teammate to have right now, hell, I was betting we could talk Brightlaw around if we needed to. But I hadn't seen a single familiar face since we'd arrived.



We'd reached the other side of the bridge and mounted up on our goats, and were now heading out along the same path we'd taken before. Not because it would lead us anywhere important, but so we could fill in the map we'd picked up. It would only fill in as we traveled the route with it in our possession, though interestingly, it DID interface with my Song of the Wild skill to mark down herbs and plants, and I suspected the skill that found metals would work as well.



We didn't have the time to make a survey sweep right now, but we'd definitely be coming back after we'd gotten entrenched and set up a command post in the central core. "So we need to be careful." Said Anna-Marie. "The mountains make up the ring and the outer areas of the core, but most of it is a bit more...complex. If we keep traveling we're going to hit the central area after we leave the mountains and that'll be much more complicated to navigate."



"Sounds like it." I said flatly. "What should we be expecting down there? Aside from the fortresses. Are there any locals living in the core area?"



She nodded. "Yes. No kingdoms, but there are wandering bands of nomads who have broken off from ring kingdoms to hole up there. It's extremely dangerous and there are thousands of terrifying monsters down there to contend with. There are also ruins of...older things. Wizard's towers, temples, the core is the oldest area on the planet and has resisted all attempts to properly settle it. We usually don't even enter outside awakenings."



"Well, guess we know where to head." I said with a grim smile. "That'll be where everything happens."" It honestly sounded kind of amazing. In particular I had to ask about one thing. "You said there are...Wizards towers? What are those?"



She shrugged. "Places you learn magic. Books and crystals for Skills that can manipulate elements, transform things, and other similarly powerful tricks. Those who possess Wizard, Necromancer, and Cleric jobs can develop unique and interesting Skills, both from their inborn abilities and from training."



I blinked at her in shock. That was...I hadn't really considered there might be MAGIC jobs. I knew jobs would relegate an inborn ability to a Skill, and that those could be taught and learned, but it never occurred to me that might mean there was an entire subset of people with Skills aimed in that direction. It sounded amazing, and I desperately wanted to learn some of those and then mix them into my DS Mastery.



Callie was as excited as I was, and I had to smile at the thrum of excitement from her as she heard about the possibilities. The goats carried us forward at speed, and it didn't take us nearly as long to reach the area where the last patch of flowers had been without needing to stop constantly for plants and flower picking. When we arrived at the spot we'd last seen the Ray, I had to stop and stare.



A sword. A massive blade of pure crystal was pinning the flying Ray to the ground where the dead animal had been clearly harvested for parts. A crumbling mountain of formerly living stone lay in the place of the beast that had tried to kill us. I whistled loudly at the sheer power behind the kill. "Guess they had backup. Or one of them got sick of holding back. I'd say we should avoid that group in the future."



"No shit." Said Benny in a hushed tone. "I don't want that to happen to any of us."



Nat shook her head. "It won't. We'll be fine. Killing animals like that is one thing, but remember this isn't a slaughter. We're in competition for resources, and it's more trouble than it's worth to kill off a bunch of juniors from a powerful faction. Don't fall into the trap of thinking all we have to do is kill everyone. It leaves you vulnerable."



Celine nodded. "She's right. This is not going to be a straightforward war or scavenger hunt. People will make alliances and connections. Not just with other factions but with local kingdoms. It's going to get complicated. And we'll still be in danger. The kingdoms won't be quite as circumspect, and more than a few of the factions involved might use them as an excuse or as cats paws to take out competition without doing the deed themselves."



I turned to Callie. "Keep an ear out as we move? Try to use your shadows to get as good of an idea of incoming threats as possible. We want as much warning as we can get, and when we find anyone in range who doesn't know we're there I want you to spy on them for a while before we make contact. That work?"



She gave me an approving smile. "Sounds like a plan." I had to admit, it warmed my heart hearing the pride in her voice and feeling it through the link. I grinned back even if she couldn't see it and led everyone to continue. We rode for another few hours, and I made sure to detect all the plants and metals even if we didn't stop. It was fun watching the map fill with treasure we could pick clean on the way back.



Slowly though, the snow began to thin, the crags became rockier, and the paths became steeper and oddly easier to traverse on the goats. They were all terrain animals apparently, at least as far as mountains went. Eventually, we came over a rise and came to a stop, staring down off a massive cliff at what I could only describe as...a lost jungle.



The core, because that was definitely what this was, extended out before us for further than the eye could see in every direction. It was absolutely massive, and filled with thick green foliage and massive trees. Intermittently I could see gaps where there had been buildings constructs, buildings I was sure were the fortresses we'd heard about earlier. I could also see slight disturbances in the trees that I was almost positive were ruins.



"Ok." I said with a wide eyed stare. "I don't know if we're going to be able to actually find any flowers. Is it really completely random?"



Anna-Marie chuckled. "Mostly. They tend to be at least NEAR massive animals or important places. We check near the ruins and we're likely to run into other teams and eventually some flowers. Of course, we need to be able to keep what we find, so our first job will be taking one of these fortresses and possibly finding allies to help hold it."



Benny looked at her in confusion. "Wait. Didn't we buy our own mini fortress for that?"



I shook my head, knowing the answer before she said it. "No way. That's for overnight trips, but if we try to hole up in there with a bunch of Dew we're going to fall under siege, and no way it holds up. All the defenses are designed to be temporary." I paused. "Maybe not the bone wall. We can probably use that on the main fortress."



Callie stepped forward. "We're pretty damned high, but I might be able to extend my range in a straight line if I push it. Going to put some strain on my soul, but that closest fortress is within reach if I do that, and I can get us some info on who and what is in there so we can take it."



"You sure?" I asked worriedly. "That kind of strain is dangerous." I paused to think over her suggestion. "Though I admit taking the closest fortress to the paths toward Ladrigan will give us an extra advantage. If we end up managing to call reinforcements it'll make things easier, not to mention we can hold the cliff so no one tried to sneak back along our path. The neighboring kingdoms can still cross over, but it could definitely be worse."



She waved me off. "I'll be fine. Just keep an eye on me while I'm distracted." She hopped off the goat, kneeling to stick her hand in the shadow of a rock. Her hand passed through the solid ground and into the darkness, just a bit, like she was testing a bath with her fingers, and she closed her eyes to focus.



I hopped down after her, looming next to her with my staff in my hands. The necrotic energy thrumming in the wood was comforting as I waited for any sign of attack, though none came. Eventually, she opened her eyes. "Alright. The fortress closest to us is lightly defended by the kingdom of Kargath. Fifteen F-rankers, five locals on the higher end and ten outsiders. No one I'd heard of."



Looking around, I counted our own force. Pretty similar in size, honestly. Our ten man group and then another five locals. Four guards and Anna-Marie herself.



I remembered what Zeke had said. This wasn't a fight, it was about resources. That didn't just mean we avoided lethal fights though, it meant we had other methods of entering and taking them out. "Callie." I said after a minute. "How long can you hold someone unaware with your shadows?"



She bit her lip. "Maybe a minute if I get them good. Depends. My Might isn't low but it's not high, especially compared to some others. If I wrap them up without any leverage it'll make it much harder to break free. Why?"



I grinned at her and leaned in, pulling on her Stealth Skill as I told her the whole plan. My girlfriend gave me an evil grin. "That." She said with relish. "I think might work. You have eight of them right? Will that be enough?"



As I went over my resources I nodded purposefully. "I can make it work. Once we take out the strongest we can switch tactics. Seven on fifteen should work out fine." We began to discuss details, the others looking on in confusion as I mentally rubbed my hands together. This was going to be a lot of fun.

Sorry folks, wrong chapter, fixed it.