Chapter 1165
New
Malcolm Tent
Monkey with a typewriter.
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The next day was a busy one for me. Firstly, because it was FINALLY time to cash out my next batch of scrolls (five hundred twenty of them this time), and secondly because I had arranged to escort Callie to the Curse Canyon to look for loot. I was excited to see the place, and to spend time with my wife, now that I'd finished my midterms.
As soon as I woke up and finished condensing my scrolls, I headed for Common City to meet up with my allies to get all my points in. More than just the ones I'd get from the scrolls, I should have netted a solid chunk after my showing in the midterms, and combined with my Wishmaster income I was betting I'd be raking it in this time.
Honestly, it was shocking how fast I was making it through B-rank, but then again, B-rank was just the beginning, and I WAS an intergalactic crime boss. Getting through A-rank would be literally ten times harder, and I wasn't looking forward to that at all, especially since I would presumably be out of the academy by then, and missing the prime income source of this place as I made my way through.
Of course, I WOULD presumably be netting a lot more points per scroll, so I wouldn't be moving too slow. Speaking of which, I had been hoping that I might have pushed my per scroll point limit up, but I'd managed to bully my stat screen into listing it recently and unfortunately, it was still stuck at 2500 points.
I chuckled as I slumped into a chair at my favorite bar to wait for my friends. I'd gotten the word out about my early visit, and a few of my allies had chosen to use theirs ahead of time. It was technically a new week, though it was generally a bad idea to do a weekend/weekday back to back visit like that because it would essentially screw you for the rest of the week. I wasn't too worried since I had two days off, and I was only planning to use one today.
"Well, don't you look excited," a familiar voice said as I turned to see my best friend drop into a seat next to me. "Let me guess, you did something crazy, or stupid, or both, and took first in your midterms?"
"That sounds like loser talk," I said as I glanced back over to where Abel had just sat down. "Did you hear a loser talking?"
He nodded solemnly. "I did, but to be fair, that's what all of you sound like to me."
I barked out a laugh. "I'll take a bottle of Drevaln Blue Rum," I told the bartender. I didn't usually drink, but rum was pretty tasty, as long as I only had a little bit. Granted, it cost me a hundred credits, but I had a bit of pocket money, and I could make that bake easy enough. We'd all passed our midterms, as far as I knew, so a small drink for everyone as a treat wasn't a bad idea. The guy passed me a bottle of shifting dark blue liquid with silvery stars suspended in it, and a few shot glasses at my request.
Pouring a bit into two of them, I filled one for myself and raised my glass. "To victory," I said with a grin. "Long may she reign."
"So," Abel said as he downed his shot and licked his lips. "You never answered the loser. You take first?"
"Of course," I said with a dignified sniff. "I AM the Wishmaster. I have to uphold a certain standard of quality when it comes to my comportment. If I don't set a good example for you hooligans how will you know what to do?"
I checked the door, confirming more of our friends filing in, and waved Bethy over as I spotted her. She didn't have her siblings with her this time, just her butterfly friend Casi, who looked way more terrified of us than anyone really should. Bethy spotted us all and cheered, zooming over and bodying Abel off his stool as she claimed it for herself. "Rum!" she cheered happily. "It's not wine, but it'll do. I thought you didn't drink, boss?"
"Seemed like a nice thing to do for the group," I shrugged. "Besides, I only had a tiny bit. And I have more effective Vitality than most peak B-rankers. And a regen ability. I don't think I actually CAN get drunk at this point, so it's not too big a deal to drink this for the taste." I smiled past her at her shy friend, who was all but curled up in a ball behind Bethy. "Would you like a glass, Casi?"
"Hell yes she would," Bethy whooped. "One for each of us!" She grabbed a pair of shots and poured the rum into them, tossing hers back and pushing the other toward Casi, who took it and sipped it gingerly.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't let her push you around," I told the shy girl seriously. "She can be a lot, but she doesn't really know it. If you tell her you're uncomfortable she'll back off."
Raising an eyebrow at Bethy, I nodded to the girl. "You bring her for a reason? Not that it's not nice to meet your friends, but she doesn't seem like she wants to be here much. I assume you had something in mind?"
"Actually was kind of hoping you might help rebalance her a bit," she said cheerfully. "She's got a pretty even spread of stats, but I think she could do with some specializing. I figure you need some stats anyway, and you usually don't focus too much on Creation or Fantasy, so it would be a good chance to help her fix her build."
"Oh," I said with a blink. "I mean…yeah. I can't exactly give her every scroll or anything, but I don't mind lending a hand. You sure that's what you want, Casi?"
To my surprise, the previously shy butterfly girl met my gaze without flinching. "It is," she said immediately. "My main stat is Creation, with Fantasy as a secondary. But because of how my abilities work I've accrued a pretty solid amount of stats in every category, and it's starting to limit me. Bethy says that if I can specialize there's a chance my ability will evolve on rank up even if I don't mix anything in. I mean, I know that people say that, but at higher ranks it's almost impossible to pull off. If you can help I would owe you one, even beyond whatever point you'd get from me."
"Casi is SUPER tough, too," Bethy chirped excitedly. "Her Chronicle is all weird and it can store people's powers, and then she can like…turn them into butterflies."
Casi sighed. "That is a gross oversimplification, but I appreciate the vote of confidence."
I chuckled, and we dropped the subject for now. We needed to wait for everyone else before actually breaking out the scrolls anyway, because there was no way Casi would be able to support all those wishes by herself. It turned out once she had some time to warm up to people Casi was a surprisingly outgoing and charismatic person. She told us all about her time in the trait major, her goals, her family. It was nice getting to know a new friend.
Callie arrived pretty early on, and she pulled a seat near me, joining the conversation without a problem, as did Jessie after her. Finally, after everyone arrived, it was time to begin. I busted out my full stock of scrolls and passed them out to any of our allies who wanted them, excited to see exactly how much I would gain after the no doubt huge boost from my epic meltdown during the midterm.
Sure enough, aside from the one point three million I got from the scrolls, I raked in another FIFTEEN AND A HALF million or so. Between the midterm and my income from being Wishmaster, I was seeing a frankly staggering amount of gains here. Months of training had definitely had an effect as well in terms of getting my name out there, probably helped by the Gehenna court running rampant across Moment City.
Granted, it wasn't as much as I might have made earlier on, because a lot of the higher quality renown I would have gotten from high rankers had been soaked up already, but enough ants can eat an elephant and all that, and it was clear that even the smaller streams of income were still definitely adding up.
Wishmaster status. B-rank. Ability: Legendary Wish- Ten times a day grant a Legendary 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.
Legendary Path of the Demonbinder- The Domain of a Great King.
Might-9,825,421(x 3)
Impact-215
Fantasy-6,233,568
Vitality-8,521,871 (x 3)
Focus-5,824,853
Perception-4,941,640
Creation-6,843,143
Progress to next rank: 42,190,711/100,000,000
Soul strength- Obsidian Soul Body
Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 27/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 9/9, (Ruin Phoenix) 9/9
Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:9- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 9 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, 1 Limbo, 1 Overlay, 1 Mephistopheles)
wish scrolls stockpiled: 520 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)
Domain size: 35 miles
Soul supported stat number: 2500
Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)
Weapon: Pillar of Goetia
Stored: 10 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)
Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)
Frozen Moment Academy Credit points: 74,900
Archdemons: Kronos- Archdemon of Time- Tier 8 (Limbo, Overlay, Mephistopheles)
Honestly, I was blown away. I was right on the verge of passing the halfway point of B-rank. While a lot of this was definitely renown from being the Wishmaster, it was also a fact that the Frozen Moment Academy was just…amazing at what it did. Comparing it to the Academy back on Callus, the former barely deserved the name. I couldn't help but wonder if this was what it was like at the Aetherbright Academy back when it was still running, before it had been turned into a toxic experimental wasteland.
I shared my progress with my wife and my closer friends, though they all decided to keep theirs to themselves. Now that we knew the finals would be cross major, no one could say who would be on which team, and everyone was already shifting into the mindset of a friendly rivalry in preparation for those of us who would be on the other side.
We all enjoyed the day together, spending about half of it just talking, eating, and drinking. Finally though, everyone had to get back, since plenty of us weren't even intermediate and were working with a lot less downtime.
Once everyone was gone, Callie and I set off on our own adventure. I could tell she'd been all but bursting at the seams to leave for a while now, but she'd forced herself to stay calm and wait. After we separated from the others though, she was practically dragging me in the direction of the place the next moment, and I couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm.
When we arrived, we stopped outside a huge, imposing black gate, and I was surprised to see an actual guard waiting outside. We had to stop and get permission to enter, which made sense in retrospect, but it didn't take too long, and the gate opened before us before too long. "You ready?" I asked my wife with a chuckle as I watched her stare through the gate in awe. She didn't even stop to respond before sprinting inside. Though I guess that was an answer in its own way.
As soon as I woke up and finished condensing my scrolls, I headed for Common City to meet up with my allies to get all my points in. More than just the ones I'd get from the scrolls, I should have netted a solid chunk after my showing in the midterms, and combined with my Wishmaster income I was betting I'd be raking it in this time.
Honestly, it was shocking how fast I was making it through B-rank, but then again, B-rank was just the beginning, and I WAS an intergalactic crime boss. Getting through A-rank would be literally ten times harder, and I wasn't looking forward to that at all, especially since I would presumably be out of the academy by then, and missing the prime income source of this place as I made my way through.
Of course, I WOULD presumably be netting a lot more points per scroll, so I wouldn't be moving too slow. Speaking of which, I had been hoping that I might have pushed my per scroll point limit up, but I'd managed to bully my stat screen into listing it recently and unfortunately, it was still stuck at 2500 points.
I chuckled as I slumped into a chair at my favorite bar to wait for my friends. I'd gotten the word out about my early visit, and a few of my allies had chosen to use theirs ahead of time. It was technically a new week, though it was generally a bad idea to do a weekend/weekday back to back visit like that because it would essentially screw you for the rest of the week. I wasn't too worried since I had two days off, and I was only planning to use one today.
"Well, don't you look excited," a familiar voice said as I turned to see my best friend drop into a seat next to me. "Let me guess, you did something crazy, or stupid, or both, and took first in your midterms?"
"That sounds like loser talk," I said as I glanced back over to where Abel had just sat down. "Did you hear a loser talking?"
He nodded solemnly. "I did, but to be fair, that's what all of you sound like to me."
I barked out a laugh. "I'll take a bottle of Drevaln Blue Rum," I told the bartender. I didn't usually drink, but rum was pretty tasty, as long as I only had a little bit. Granted, it cost me a hundred credits, but I had a bit of pocket money, and I could make that bake easy enough. We'd all passed our midterms, as far as I knew, so a small drink for everyone as a treat wasn't a bad idea. The guy passed me a bottle of shifting dark blue liquid with silvery stars suspended in it, and a few shot glasses at my request.
Pouring a bit into two of them, I filled one for myself and raised my glass. "To victory," I said with a grin. "Long may she reign."
"So," Abel said as he downed his shot and licked his lips. "You never answered the loser. You take first?"
"Of course," I said with a dignified sniff. "I AM the Wishmaster. I have to uphold a certain standard of quality when it comes to my comportment. If I don't set a good example for you hooligans how will you know what to do?"
I checked the door, confirming more of our friends filing in, and waved Bethy over as I spotted her. She didn't have her siblings with her this time, just her butterfly friend Casi, who looked way more terrified of us than anyone really should. Bethy spotted us all and cheered, zooming over and bodying Abel off his stool as she claimed it for herself. "Rum!" she cheered happily. "It's not wine, but it'll do. I thought you didn't drink, boss?"
"Seemed like a nice thing to do for the group," I shrugged. "Besides, I only had a tiny bit. And I have more effective Vitality than most peak B-rankers. And a regen ability. I don't think I actually CAN get drunk at this point, so it's not too big a deal to drink this for the taste." I smiled past her at her shy friend, who was all but curled up in a ball behind Bethy. "Would you like a glass, Casi?"
"Hell yes she would," Bethy whooped. "One for each of us!" She grabbed a pair of shots and poured the rum into them, tossing hers back and pushing the other toward Casi, who took it and sipped it gingerly.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't let her push you around," I told the shy girl seriously. "She can be a lot, but she doesn't really know it. If you tell her you're uncomfortable she'll back off."
Raising an eyebrow at Bethy, I nodded to the girl. "You bring her for a reason? Not that it's not nice to meet your friends, but she doesn't seem like she wants to be here much. I assume you had something in mind?"
"Actually was kind of hoping you might help rebalance her a bit," she said cheerfully. "She's got a pretty even spread of stats, but I think she could do with some specializing. I figure you need some stats anyway, and you usually don't focus too much on Creation or Fantasy, so it would be a good chance to help her fix her build."
"Oh," I said with a blink. "I mean…yeah. I can't exactly give her every scroll or anything, but I don't mind lending a hand. You sure that's what you want, Casi?"
To my surprise, the previously shy butterfly girl met my gaze without flinching. "It is," she said immediately. "My main stat is Creation, with Fantasy as a secondary. But because of how my abilities work I've accrued a pretty solid amount of stats in every category, and it's starting to limit me. Bethy says that if I can specialize there's a chance my ability will evolve on rank up even if I don't mix anything in. I mean, I know that people say that, but at higher ranks it's almost impossible to pull off. If you can help I would owe you one, even beyond whatever point you'd get from me."
"Casi is SUPER tough, too," Bethy chirped excitedly. "Her Chronicle is all weird and it can store people's powers, and then she can like…turn them into butterflies."
Casi sighed. "That is a gross oversimplification, but I appreciate the vote of confidence."
I chuckled, and we dropped the subject for now. We needed to wait for everyone else before actually breaking out the scrolls anyway, because there was no way Casi would be able to support all those wishes by herself. It turned out once she had some time to warm up to people Casi was a surprisingly outgoing and charismatic person. She told us all about her time in the trait major, her goals, her family. It was nice getting to know a new friend.
Callie arrived pretty early on, and she pulled a seat near me, joining the conversation without a problem, as did Jessie after her. Finally, after everyone arrived, it was time to begin. I busted out my full stock of scrolls and passed them out to any of our allies who wanted them, excited to see exactly how much I would gain after the no doubt huge boost from my epic meltdown during the midterm.
Sure enough, aside from the one point three million I got from the scrolls, I raked in another FIFTEEN AND A HALF million or so. Between the midterm and my income from being Wishmaster, I was seeing a frankly staggering amount of gains here. Months of training had definitely had an effect as well in terms of getting my name out there, probably helped by the Gehenna court running rampant across Moment City.
Granted, it wasn't as much as I might have made earlier on, because a lot of the higher quality renown I would have gotten from high rankers had been soaked up already, but enough ants can eat an elephant and all that, and it was clear that even the smaller streams of income were still definitely adding up.
Wishmaster status. B-rank. Ability: Legendary Wish- Ten times a day grant a Legendary 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.
Legendary Path of the Demonbinder- The Domain of a Great King.
Might-9,825,421(x 3)
Impact-215
Fantasy-6,233,568
Vitality-8,521,871 (x 3)
Focus-5,824,853
Perception-4,941,640
Creation-6,843,143
Progress to next rank: 42,190,711/100,000,000
Soul strength- Obsidian Soul Body
Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 27/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 9/9, (Ruin Phoenix) 9/9
Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:9- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 9 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, 1 Limbo, 1 Overlay, 1 Mephistopheles)
wish scrolls stockpiled: 520 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)
Domain size: 35 miles
Soul supported stat number: 2500
Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)
Weapon: Pillar of Goetia
Stored: 10 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)
Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)
Frozen Moment Academy Credit points: 74,900
Archdemons: Kronos- Archdemon of Time- Tier 8 (Limbo, Overlay, Mephistopheles)
Honestly, I was blown away. I was right on the verge of passing the halfway point of B-rank. While a lot of this was definitely renown from being the Wishmaster, it was also a fact that the Frozen Moment Academy was just…amazing at what it did. Comparing it to the Academy back on Callus, the former barely deserved the name. I couldn't help but wonder if this was what it was like at the Aetherbright Academy back when it was still running, before it had been turned into a toxic experimental wasteland.
I shared my progress with my wife and my closer friends, though they all decided to keep theirs to themselves. Now that we knew the finals would be cross major, no one could say who would be on which team, and everyone was already shifting into the mindset of a friendly rivalry in preparation for those of us who would be on the other side.
We all enjoyed the day together, spending about half of it just talking, eating, and drinking. Finally though, everyone had to get back, since plenty of us weren't even intermediate and were working with a lot less downtime.
Once everyone was gone, Callie and I set off on our own adventure. I could tell she'd been all but bursting at the seams to leave for a while now, but she'd forced herself to stay calm and wait. After we separated from the others though, she was practically dragging me in the direction of the place the next moment, and I couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm.
When we arrived, we stopped outside a huge, imposing black gate, and I was surprised to see an actual guard waiting outside. We had to stop and get permission to enter, which made sense in retrospect, but it didn't take too long, and the gate opened before us before too long. "You ready?" I asked my wife with a chuckle as I watched her stare through the gate in awe. She didn't even stop to respond before sprinting inside. Though I guess that was an answer in its own way.
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