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

[dxdragon]

So, is there any way to consolidate some of Solomon's skills without changing his ability (Wish)?

Like, he has so many miscellaneous skills that could probably easily be merged into 1.

Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery

Just make that a Lesser Music Mastery.

And what about his idea of getting memories of people's skills and stacking them up to get Lesser? He could be making contracts to rank up his skills to be more useful.

Also surprised that at no point the MC didn't get the Minor Woodcraft skill to go along with his "expected" ability to manipulate wood.
He could even merge Woodcraft and Music to "Sing" to the Trees just like Elves do, and shape them into what he wants to craft. Maybe he could do the same with Inventing? "Sing" with the same Harmonic Frequency Inventing uses to create stellar inventions?

 

[Malcolm Tent]

So, is there any way to consolidate some of Solomon's skills without changing his ability (Wish)?

Like, he has so many miscellaneous skills that could probably easily be merged into 1.

Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery

Just make that a Lesser Music Mastery.

And what about his idea of getting memories of people's skills and stacking them up to get Lesser? He could be making contracts to rank up his skills to be more useful.

Also surprised that at no point the MC didn't get the Minor Woodcraft skill to go along with his "expected" ability to manipulate wood.
He could even merge Woodcraft and Music to "Sing" to the Trees just like Elves do, and shape them into what he wants to craft. Maybe he could do the same with Inventing? "Sing" with the same Harmonic Frequency Inventing uses to create stellar inventions?

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You can synergize Skills with each other to make custom Skills yes, but it makes them infinitely harder to rank them up. Since custom Skills are kind of a personal thing it would mean even wishing for them to get stronger (if he could make wishes for himself which he can't) wouldn't even be an option. He's been focusing hard on DS Mastery in recent chapters, and more custom Skills (which DS Mastery is at this point) would just slow him down. He'll get to doing more with them later, but he's just had other stuff to do lately.

 

[Leroidumonde]

F rankers are more powerful than E, I think that may be a typo.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

F rankers are more powerful than E, I think that may be a typo.

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Nah, they have protection from E rankers from Zeke. F rankers are stronger but withing the two rank tolerance limit so they have to actually fight them.

 

[TheArgentOne]

is it the wish girl? Is his daughter a wyndham who's trying to oust him because of things happening? We've only seen male wyndham's other than her so it's not impossible for there to be a female one we haven't met yet, who's her mother.

Edit: clarification.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

is it the wish girl? Is his daughter a wyndham who's trying to oust him because of things happening? We've only seen male wyndham's other than her so it's not impossible for there to be a female one we haven't met yet, who's her mother.

Edit: clarification.

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Nah, it's more to do with the whole mess with Abel. She's not his daughter though, more of a childhood friend.

 

[Ranan]

She was a teenager who got manipulated by someone much more powerful than she was. The difference in Focus and Perception alone make the entire thing pretty shady on his part. I personally sympathize with her, but enough people disliked it that I scrapped the redemption arc. As far as I'm concerned he was the one who broke his vows, all she did was have sex with a guy she liked. Sure he was married, but that's his business not hers.

I've been cheated on before, and I didn't have any particular animosity toward the guy who did it. He didn't know me or have a reason to give a shit. I know that's not the average view on things, but I only really think people are responsible for themselves. The person in the wrong is the person who agreed to stay faithful and didn't. If my partner doesn't respect our relationship why would I expect a stranger to do it?

Regardless like I said people weren't fans so I scrapped the arc. She's mostly kind of faded into the background in the recent chapters.

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I honestly think the people who have been complaining are fairly insecure and immature, I'm of the belief that most of the fault lies with the person in a relationship. Also as of Chapter 101 nothing has been revealed as to what exactly Midknight may or may not have told her to convince her, ignoring the massive stat difference which even with a few dozen point difference has made Shane many times more intelligent so I assume Midknights high stats made manipulating her easy, we have no idea what lies he may have told or anything else. The people complaining obviously have little experience with real world relationships because they are trying to lay the blame on a victim rather than the perpetrator and are completely ignoring her own perspective and possible reasonings

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I honestly think the people who have been complaining are fairly insecure and immature, I'm of the belief that most of the fault lies with the person in a relationship. Also as of Chapter 101 nothing has been revealed as to what exactly Midknight may or may not have told her to convince her, ignoring the massive stat difference which even with a few dozen point difference has made Shane many times more intelligent so I assume Midknights high stats made manipulating her easy, we have no idea what lies he may have told or anything else. The people complaining obviously have little experience with real world relationships because they are trying to lay the blame on a victim rather than the perpetrator and are completely ignoring her own perspective and possible reasonings

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Yeah, that was pretty much my own take on things, but enough people disliked her as a character that I just scrapped it. Royal Road readers are way more conservative than people on QQ anyway, if it bothered people on there it would go over even worse on RR. She's around, but I nixed the plans for the redemption arc. Shame too because I like her.

 

[Pef]

I keep thinking about that F rank dagger...
Sure it would be useful during most of the adventures, only we never learned what happened to it, since it should have belonged to the MC as a loot from his kill. Plus some other loot for disguise, detection and so on.

 

[Fema]

eh, kinda dissapointed it turned out to be Stricture The loner that no one likes. I was rooting for Jessie the spymaster with high social skills and cute face no one will suspect, maybe it would have taught a lesson to Shane about not taking people at face value and thinking with his dick like he often does. Love triangles being trite and Harems so cringy.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

eh, kinda dissapointed it turned out to be Stricture The loner that no one likes. I was rooting for Jessie the spymaster with high social skills and cute face no one will suspect, maybe it would have taught a lesson to Shane about not taking people at face value and thinking with his dick like he often does. Love triangles being trite and Harems so cringy.

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I mean, there's not a love triangle or a harem. A lot of people made that leap on RR too, but he wasn't ever really pursuing Jessie. He thought she was kind of cute, they hung out once in what could have eventually become something romantic but it didn't end up working out that way because she vibed with Maria. Maria is basically the little sister Shane never had, so he backed off.

 

[Fema]

I mean, there's not a love triangle or a harem. A lot of people made that leap on RR too, but he wasn't ever really pursuing Jessie. He thought she was kind of cute, they hung out once in what could have eventually become something romantic but it didn't end up working out that way because she vibed with Maria. Maria is basically the little sister Shane never had, so he backed off.

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Thats cool, I am so done with harems outside of Porn, the wishmaker power its very cool and the universe setting is incredibly original and intriguing but I am afraid I am dipping out anyway, I just cant with reading all that sympathy for Annie(maybe you mean it in another way in your head, but by reading the text its most like "she is hot and sad and I have Daddy Issues so I am totally okay with her disgusting behaviour and will try to push Callie to forgive her eventually".

While the dad does gets the bigger share of the blame, unless Annie was outright mindcontrolled or blackmailed, fuck her. Her surprise and wounded act at Callie not wanting to sing Kumbaya with her, makes her incredibly Stupid(which I admit does deserve some pity) or super self centered(which I find utterly revolting), at least the Dad is openly dastardly and not trying to gaslight Callie into believing that poor Annie is the biggest victim that totally suffered the most, like Annie is doing with her victim act.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Thats cool, I am so done with harems outside of Porn, the wishmaker power its very cool and the universe setting is incredibly original and intriguing but I am afraid I am dipping out anyway, I just cant with reading all that sympathy for Annie(maybe you mean it in another way in your head, but by reading the text its most like "she is hot and sad and I have Daddy Issues so I am totally okay with her disgusting behaviour and will try to push Callie to forgive her eventually".

While the dad does gets the bigger share of the blame, unless Annie was outright mindcontrolled or blackmailed, fuck her. Her surprise and wounded act at Callie not wanting to sing Kumbaya with her, makes her incredibly Stupid(which I admit does deserve some pity) or super self centered(which I find utterly revolting), at least the Dad is openly dastardly and not trying to gaslight Callie into believing that poor Annie is the biggest victim that totally suffered the most, like Annie is doing with her victim act.

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I was heading that way but people in general disliked the idea of a redemption arc so I dropped it. I personally feel for her, as for outright mind control, having the Perception to read any microexpressions she makes and the Focus to process that information like a supercomputer, on top of being literal decades older really throws off the power dynamic there. Still, like I said I dropped the redemption arc because it was an unpopular direction.

 

[Hyperion47]

This is one story I will always want more of.

 

[Verdthandi]

Besides, I think she was as excited as I was to see what ability Maria ended

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This sentence needs to be finished (presumably "up with."); was that the intended stopping point?

 

[Malcolm Tent]

This sentence needs to be finished (presumably "up with."); was that the intended stopping point?

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I believe so yeah. I thought I added that. Sorry.

 

[Revanandfriends]

What a coincidence, I am also curious on what ability Maria will ended up with XD. Curious if it will be similar to Benny's in any way.

 

[Smol Duck]

It was a huge leather bound tome, and when he opened it I saw it was hollowed out and had a wooden box about the size of a brick in it.

He pulled the boy out, popping it open and withdrawing a few sheaves of paper.

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Funny typo

My opinions on the story so far (Chap 101). The LitRpg aspects feel disjointed especially considering that it's functionally a metric that exists only so that Shane can accrue power more simply via wishes. It doesn't feel diegetic even though it very much is meant to be.
This is further exacerbated especially with the how reliant Shane is on his Doom Sovereign Skill rather than his ability. This makes some sense considering that Wishing is best for accruing Skills and developing others, but Doom Sovereign has so little presence in the story it doesn't feel fitting. It'd be perfect if E-gaming actually had narrative influence in the story, but that isn't the case.

Also too much of the story is currently built around the status screens. LitRpg is expedited exposition but the story is currently built around training to get those numbers up. Meaning a lot of reoccurring exposition alongside other exposition. Very much tell rather than show. It's as if every scene is going for brevity to get us to the next scene quicker.

On the good notes I really enjoy the heroic cultivation and recursion aspects. And the best bits of combat was when Shane was first tasting the synergy between Doom Sovereign and Gymnastics.

If the elemental effects was from synergy between enchanted equipment or other skills, the discrepancy from having a video game playing skill resulting in what seems to be the most varied ability set wouldn't be as absurd.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Funny typo

My opinions on the story so far (Chap 101). The LitRpg aspects feel disjointed especially considering that it's functionally a metric that exists only so that Shane can accrue power more simply via wishes. It doesn't feel diegetic even though it very much is meant to be.
This is further exacerbated especially with the how reliant Shane is on his Doom Sovereign Skill rather than his ability. This makes some sense considering that Wishing is best for accruing Skills and developing others, but Doom Sovereign has so little presence in the story it doesn't feel fitting. It'd be perfect if E-gaming actually had narrative influence in the story, but that isn't the case.

Also too much of the story is currently built around the status screens. LitRpg is expedited exposition but the story is currently built around training to get those numbers up. Meaning a lot of reoccurring exposition alongside other exposition. Very much tell rather than show. It's as if every scene is going for brevity to get us to the next scene quicker.

On the good notes I really enjoy the heroic cultivation and recursion aspects. And the best bits of combat was when Shane was first tasting the synergy between Doom Sovereign and Gymnastics.

If the elemental effects was from synergy between enchanted equipment or other skills, the discrepancy from having a video game playing skill resulting in what seems to be the most varied ability set wouldn't be as absurd.

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The absurdity is kind of the point. DS Mastery shouldn't exist. It's a unique skill that would be nearly impossible to acquire without the ability to source intelligence from other players. Other Ascendants don't really play Doom Sovereign, because why would they? They have superpowers in real life. Since they don't play Doom Sovereign mostly, the ones who did end up getting to Minor at best, which as you may remember is peak mortal performance.

Nobody takes the time to train a Skill like Doom Sovereign Mastery to Lesser, which is where you start seeing any effects, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to reach Beginner with it without sourcing a bunch of experience from others like Shane or training their asses off for years. Doom Sovereign was every inch the lucky break for him because of his ability, and its existence is completely unique to him. Mostly because no one else would ever put in the time or effort needed to get it the normal way.

As for using it instead of his ability, that's absolutely true, mostly because the Wish ability, as you mentioned, is a support ability at its heart. Having another main Skillset is key, and focusing on his unique Skill is his best bet. As for the game not being popular, it IS popular, but only with mortals, because Ascendants have better things to do. Since Shane only interacts with Ascendants it's kind of faded into the background.

 

[Revanandfriends]

Giant glowing penalizing spider sounds like such a fun thing to fight... poor poor bastards.

 

[Verdthandi]

Of all of the ways I expected the fight to go, that wasn't one of them. Bravo on the surprise!

 

[Revanandfriends]

So...that happened. I don't think I'd ever be able to wear that mask again.

Sticks really well, looks like a normal object when unmoving, and eats people...Zeke makes mask mimics XD

 

[chrnno]

Probably because his father is not going to let this go, even if he doesn't really care about his son losing him alongside all the excessive protection he had in a public way is a slap on the face he will react to out of pride. And for that same reason do so overwhelmingly.

Also it occurs to me that Zeke's reaction might have been intentional, if he couldn't just kill this E-Rank outright he instead did the bare minimum so the E-Rank would feel like that was the case and feel confident in pushing it. Then either that was enough to allow for summary execution or, I think more likely, the mask is set to react to certain things on its own with greater freedom than Zeke has.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

By the time we rejoined the others, Mel and Abel had mostly managed to talk down the terrified members of the Pavilion, though most of them were still shooting fearful looks at my uncle. Zeke ignored them, of course, and was sitting with Alden, who had offered him a beer and was having a grand old time talking to the younger man. Although...I wasn't sure how true that was. Alden looked older, but Zeke was a B-ranker. For all I knew my uncle and parents could be thousands of years old.

Once they calmed them a bit though, Abel and Mel had distracted the others with the Skill Crystal, and they were in talks about using it to teach martial arts to all of them. I'd assumed Callie would be the one to imprint on it, but Abel made the very valid point that he was an Intermediate rank Master Candidate in Ragam, and would be able to help instruct the others even after they awakened the Skill and honed it with the crystal.

Callie joined in the discussion, and as she did I walked over to slump down next to Alden and Zeke. "You two look thick as thieves." I said wryly. "I should have expected the two drunkest people I know would have some things in common." I pointed at Zeke. "Him I get Alden, but aren't you worried about the tournament? Your disciples are going to be in it. Even if you aren't concerned for the two of us, there are other Master Candidates coming. Hell, might be more than a few, who knows how strong the other forces in the Gloryfire System are."

Zeke rolled his eyes. "Please. I'm surprised even a pair of Master Candidates popped up near here. Maybe if it was in the Unity Hub I could see a reason to worry, but the Gloryfire System is a wasteland. You might see more impressive people in the Glade Itself. This particular tournament is for the System as a whole, and all hundred of the Systems in the Axiom Cluster are going to be sending their best."

That brought up something important I'd been putting off asking. "Ok, so what the hell is up with all that? Clusters, Systems, Planets, how is all that related?" I'd heard plenty of that kind of talk in passing. All I knew at the moment was that we were in the Gloryfire System right now, and on a D-rank planet. "Actually." I cut in before he could answer. "Why is it happening here anyway? Wouldn't a higher ranked planet be better?"

That got a chuckle from my uncle. "No. Weaker planets work better, means the locals are less likely to try to assassinate the visitors. As for why it's happening here...well, let's just say that the WCP doesn't want anything going wrong and arranged for it to be in the territory of someone inclined to ensure that. The Gloryfire System is right on the edge of Cult space, as you may have noticed from their bullshit theatrics around here."

Huh...so they had set this up because Zeke was around? I assumed that was what he meant. I didn't bring that up in front of Alden though. He might know Zeke was powerful, but that didn't mean he knew everything. Zeke nodded approvingly at my silence when the bearded man wasn't looking, then continued. "You're right though. You should know the layout of the local area at least. The planets thing isn't necessarily important, every system has multiple planets, depending on their size."

He looked genuinely interested in the topic, and I listened with rapt attention as he informed me more about how the universe worked. "The Gloryfire System is a three star system, and every star has multiple terraformed planets surrounding it. There are several D and even C-ranked planets among that number. As I mentioned earlier, Gloryfire is one of a hundred or so Systems in the Axiom Star Cluster, and among those Systems there are other three star, four star, or even five or six star systems. The stars can, of course, be spread out and have multiple planets in their orbits that never intersect, though they all orbit a central star in the system, even if that star isn't easily visible from each planet."

Ok, that made some sense. So we were orbiting one of the outer stars, which were orbiting the interior star of the System. "So the Axiom Star Cluster is the territory controlled by the Unity? Star Clusters are the same thing as Galaxies right?" I'd looked that up when I heard the term System, though information about the actual political formations of Systems was obviously not available, the structure of the physical phenomena was common enough."

Zeke shook his head. "No. Not even close. A Cluster is a agglomeration of Systems, and a Galaxy is an agglomeration of Clusters. The Unity's territory is the smallest of the five factions, with only a single Galaxy to their name. This is because the Unity himself is the youngest god. Older and more powerful factions have several to even dozens in the case of the Empire and the Fairyland. Technically speaking the entire five faction alliance occupies a single Galactic Cluster, but we mostly just use the Universe as shorthand because there are no known civilizations outside the cluster."

"So the Gloryfire System is one of hundreds of Systems in the Axiom Cluster, which is in the single Unity Galaxy?" My head was hurting at the concept of how fucking big the world was, and how many planets that would have to be. He mentioned multiple planets around each star, which could mean into the double digits, and the scale as that went up was mindboggling. I knew farming renown was important, but still, to expand to that scale...

Seeming to see my shock, Zeke smiled. "Yeah. The Chiron Galaxy. Most people just call it the the Unity Hub. The Conglomerate is the managing government of the Axiom Cluster, to put things in perspective. Anyway, like I said, the 'geniuses' in this System won't be worth much. It's the ass end of nowhere and there are less than a dozen planets. Being able to spawn a pair of Master Candidates is already decent. You might see a few freaks with rare abilities or weird racial traits, but probably not many people on the level of Abel or the spear wielder. Maybe one or two more tops, since there are a few C-rank planets in the System." He said that like it was irrelevant.

"So you said that the Black Sorrow Cult's Galaxy is near here?" I focused on another relevant issue. The Cult were enemies of mine and especially of my mom who was a Saintess of the Red Revenant Church. From what I knew Black Sorrow and the Red Revenant were old enemies from before they ascended, and this had carried over to their factions. Being able to kill the son of a Saintess would be a huge coup for the Cult.

"One of them." Zeke said with a shrug. "They have like a dozen. As I mentioned, the Unity is the youngest of the gods by a large margin. Black Sorrow and the Red Revanent each control about twelve, counting their central and original territories, the Night Demon Abyss and the Holy Dominion respectively. Those are nicknames, like the Unity Hub. Most Galaxy names are pretty nondescript. Anyway the closest to us is the Extreme Void. The Gloryfire System is right at the edge of Extreme Void. Probably how the Darkling Institute made contact with the Cult in the first place."

Yet another reason to get off Callus. Zeke wouldn't be protecting me forever. Once I hit D-rank I'd be a Master ranked Ascendant and officially recognized as being able to take care of myself. Forgetting the fact that I couldn't even reach D-rank on Callus, even if I could I wouldn't dare to do it so close to the Cult's territory. I decided once we finished our adventure in the Moonsong Glade we'd go out on our own. Maybe visit the central Cluster of the Unity Hub, or even take a look around the Empire or Faerieland. The latter was pretty insular, but even they maintained decent relations with the Wish Curse Palace. Not having our own territory made it possible to be uniquely entwined with the entire five faction alliance. Though now that I knew how big the Universe (or Galactic Cluster I guess) was, I doubted 'no territory was exactly literal. We probably had a home planet or even a system. Just no Galaxies to our name. I really did know so little about the world as a whole.

Alden looked mildly fascinated by hearing about things at this level, but not as much as I'd expected. Sure enough he probably came from a larger force originally. Maybe not at the Galactic level like the factions, but still. Though that brought up an interesting question. "I've heard there are a lot of powerful clans. Are they all part of the factions? What about the WCP? We have a lot of branches don't we?" I knew anyone who reached S-rank like my grandfather was eligible to start a branch. Theoretically they could even start a new clan, though I was told that didn't really happen.

"They're all part of the factions. Or they live among their territory anyway." Said Zeke. "Most of the Galaxies outside the main Galaxy of a faction are controlled by an S-rank clan. They're top officers of faction. The Kings of the Empire are all S-rankers who serve the Emperor directly for instance. Not every S-rank clan runs a Galaxy of course, but they mostly have their own territory. Our branches usually operate at a Galactic level, working alongside S-rankers in that specific Galaxy. Sort of like how the Deacon of the Rajak WCP operates alongside the local Unity leader. Being spread out like that keeps us from being too big a threat and let's us get along with the other factions, though of course the Wish power certainly doesn't hurt our PR at all."

I decided that was enough learning for the day. My brain was already exploding with new information and if I kept going I wouldn't be able to focus on anything. I knew Zeke tried to ration the amount of this stuff that I learned to keep me from being overwhelmed and discouraged by the size of the Universe. I had a feeling you could take a century long class on global politics and force distribution and not even scratch the surface of the full picture.

Seeming to sense my train of thought he laughed and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "It's not good to get too caught up in that stuff. You only really need to worry about the here and now, kid. This planet, this system. Soon the Cluster maybe, but nothing past that. Galactic matters need Galactic power, and you aren't even close." He said this kindly, not meaning it as an insult, and I took it that way too. I didn't want to go swimming in deep water until I was a shark.

With a solemn nod I exhaled. "You're right. I just need to win the tournament and get that Moonglow Dew. Having the extra Impact will make me that much stronger compared to others my rank. Even if I run into some crazy monster with Master rank Skills at F-rank it's useless if they can't hurt me." Not that I was confident the Moonglow Dew could even DO that. That was a big gap to close. But it would definitely at least help. In the end, this all seemed complicated and scary, but it came down to the same thing Ascendant stuff always did. Want to be left alone? Get stronger. If I wanted to adventure and see the Universe with my friends I needed to have the muscle to back it up. I'd better get to work.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

In the end, Abel was the one to use the Skill crystal. Despite Callie's interest in trying it and passing on her Balam techniques to others more easily, Abel was a Master Candidate in Ragam. The martial art was extremely powerful and dangerous based on what we'd seen from him, and if we wanted the best possible results from the crystal our best bet was to let him do it.

Sadly, since it had been prepared for Callie, the crystal was only G-rank, and couldn't contain an Intermediate Skill. Abel was able to imprint only the Beginner rank insights from his martial arts easily enough though. The more important factor was that Abel would be around to actually TEACH them Ragam. With his high standards he was able to help them advance much faster than Callie could.

"Actually, I always wondered about that." I couldn't help but interject. "Where did you learn Ragam? It's not the same style that Mel and Alden use. I'd have figured if you used a martial art it would be the one your teacher uses. Alden mostly uses a grappling style that complements his gravity ability, but Ragam seems to be a striking art based on how you use it. Did you create it yourself?" I didn't think he had. I remembered Cicero's lackey telling me he used a powerful art and I was pretty sure he alluded to it being old.

Abel just laughed. We were all lounging on the steps drinking soda from Alden's cooler (except Zeke and Alden who were still drinking beer). "Not even a little." He said in amusement. "I found it in an old book. It was mostly just exercises and some insights. Only enough to get me to Beginner, but past that point you really need to make your own way in any case. Not that some guidance wouldn't have helped but...what are you gonna do, right? I picked the thing up for a few chits as a kid and became obsessed with learning it. Alden actually tried to talk me out of it more than once, but I was a stubborn little bastard."

"Was?" Muttered the red bearded man. But aloud he said. "I admit I underestimated you, boy. Even so, you got lucky. That book was a treasure. Still not sure how it ended up there. Probably some Fate sense malarkey. That doesn't mean it'll hold up against other geniuses though. That Spear Legion girl sounds like a legitimate threat to you, don't go assuming you're unbeatable because you're the biggest bully in a small playground."

Abel's grin was so feral even the wolves looked disturbed. "Oh don't you worry old man. Complacency is the last thing on my mind. I'm so excited for this fight I can't even sleep. There are so many things I need to test and confirm that no one close to my level can help me verify. Too strong, too weak, all the same problem. The chance to pit my Ragam against a true warrior on an equal footing..." He looked over to Callie. "How early can I face her? I know the layout of this thing will be team then single elimination but do we know anything about the lineup?"

Callie snickered at his childlike enthusiasm. "I've been asking around. As far as I can tell there will be eight rounds in the team battles, with ten thousand contestants spanning twenty five hundred teams. Final count with bys and everything will be forty teams making it to single elimination. Five rounds of that to pick the top ten. That'll be the main tournament that will have all the spectators. The thirteen rounds prior will be split up all over the city and happening all at once mostly, otherwise there would be no way to get it all done in any reasonable timeframe."

"Thirteen rounds, and then a top ten elimination tournament." I said excitedly. "We're working as a team for the first eight at least, so that should help our chances. personally I can't wait for the five solo rounds. What are the chances we'll fight each other early into that?" I sucked at math, so it was more convenient to just as one of the others. Focus made your brain work better, but mostly at stuff you already used it for.

Benny surprised me by answering. "Gets higher the longer it goes on, but in the first round, not that high. Single digit percentages. If you add in all the other people we know and assume that they'll make it far enough to be an issue we start seeing much higher chances of running into someone that could pose a problem. How far you get is a matter of luck as much as anything. If you run into a Master Candidate first round you'll be pretty much fucked."

I nodded grimly, but that reminded me. "Speaking of Master Candidates can't we start looking into the other teams more? The ones not in Doomtown will be around in Rajak to feel out right? Cal, do you have a way we could bump into them? I'm not really a social person but they have like...gala's and stuff to celebrate big events right? No way they miss the chance to wine and dine the bigwigs from the more powerful planets in the System right?"

Callie's face lit up. "Oh! That's a great point! I got so used to thinking about things from a martial point of view I completely overlooked that we can go to parties!" Everyone looked at her and she blushed. "I...I like parties. Big fancy galas were kind of a family thing for my mom and I when I was younger. They're good memories."

"I'm glad to hear it." I said with a smile. "Because I know jack and shit about formal galas. I'll need plenty of help from you, Benny, and anyone else who we can rope in to be presentable." I looked at my best friend. "Speaking of being comfortable with formality, is your girlfriend available for etiquette lessons?"

If there was one person we knew who would definitely be able to help with political maneuvering, it was Celine. Callie had learned some of that stuff by necessity growing up, but Celine was raised for it. From what Benny had told us, her mother was a high ranking elven official, and even though Celine wasn't her only child, or even one of the more important ones, she'd been brought up to be chess piece in that kind of environment.

It actually bothered Benny a lot. As someone who essentially blew off every attempt his mother made to force him to play the good little rich boy, knowing Celine did everything her mother said frustrated him. He'd confided in me that he wished he could just help her see that it was all bullshit because she deserved to be happy, but in the end it wasn't his choice to make. She did what she did, and he cared about her so he was along for the ride.

As such, my suggestion that we embroil her in a bunch of political intrigue was met with annoyance, but not outright rejection. He knew Celine would most likely want to take part, he just didn't particularly like that I was getting her involved in the first place. Eventually he sighed. "Fine." He spat. "I'll bring it up and let you know what she says. But you need to try not get her sucked into an asssassination plot or something."

"Hey." I said in protest. "I'm not some kind of magnet for assassins..." I paused. "Actually, now that I think about it that's fair. I'll make sure we keep an eye out. Damn, I am a magnet for assassins, when did that happen? Other Ascendants get into cool fights and punch monsters and I have to worry about getting backstabbed by crazy cultists. That's unfair as hell." I complained.

Callie snickered, patting my shoulder. "Just the price you pay for being awesome. Who told you to be so good looking and talented." He tone was solemn and sympathetic, but there was a sparkle of amusement in her eye. "You've attracted the envy of the universe." I glared at her for a second before her twitching smirk broke down into peals of laughter. My expression made it worse and she almost fell off her seat cackling.

"I never mock you for your pain." I grumbled. But I was smiling too. I was glad to have friends who would make light of this kind of shit. Otherwise I'd turn into some angsty edgelord who spent all his time whining. I had fun being an Ascendant for the most part, and I wanted to keep that going. It was why I had a team in the first place. Everything was more fun when you did it with a bunch of friends.

Jessie rolled her eyes at our antics. "I can help too. My brother took me to a few galas during our visit here, and when we were younger I got plenty of lessons on etiquette from Harvest. She's surprisingly socially conscious for a hermit that lives in the woods and plays with dirt all day."

I laughed at that harder than I should have probably. Turning to Callie, I waited for her verdict. As team leader she would be making these calls, even more so since I knew nothing at all about politics. She was in a better position to decide who would be allowed to help out. Even my question about Celine was just a suggestion, though the two of us were in sync enough that I doubted she would shut it down.

She seemed to mull it over for a bit before nodding. "Jessie and Celine helping should be fine. We're going to be in Rajak proper, not some dark district. Rajak has laws and rules. Even if villains sometimes break them, none of them will be stupid enough to attack a high ranking Ascendant gala with most of the Unity leadership there." She grimaced at that last part, and I knew why, but she forced herself to move on. "Anyway, the WCP should be sending a delegation too. They're one of the major organizations on this planet, so they won't miss the fun."

Which meant Alexander would be there to act as support when she had to deal with her dad. I hadn't met Midknight yet, and honestly wasn't looking forward to the experience. My own issues with his behavior aside Callie wasn't going to have an easy time seeing him after so long. I reached out to grab her hand. "You can always skip this you know. You don't have to deal with him."

She shook her head. "No. I'm sick of letting him control me. Not just directly, but by avoiding him I'm just giving him more power. I may not be up to his level in terms of ranking but I'm already strong enough to stand on my own. I'm part of a team and I'm not afraid of him anymore." She squeezed back, and I felt her fear and resolve through the bond.

"Alright." I said. "But if things get too heavy let me know and we can bail. There's no reason to torture yourself if it's too much. You can always face him again later. Whatever you need to do." Midknight shouldn't be willing to throw away his rep by trying anything overt, and even if he did Alexander could stop him. If he attacked me it would go even worse. Callie deserved the chance to say her peace in a safe environment and I knew if she didn't get it she would be bothered by it for a long time.

Knowing this had gotten too serious, we changed the subject, chatting about all the potential events and which to go to once we found out when and where everything would be. We still had a week of relaxing to do, and plenty of wishing, but nothing said we couldn't be productive and relax. Who knew what this next week would bring, and then after that...the tournament would finally begin.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next week flew by in a blur. We did end up talking to Celine, but on consulting her we decided to wait to attend a gala. According to her none of the really impressive forces would bother going to the pre-party because they hadn't shown off their strength yet. Without proving what they could do it would be harder to operate from a position of social superiority. Celine estimated that ninety percent of the important guests would wait until the end of the first round to make an appearance, so they could pressure the others with their performance.

The biggest change that happened was obviously that I managed to max out my G-rank cultivation, reaching exactly one thousand points. I needed sixty points to do this, and at three points per wish that ended up being twenty wishes from the Beast Lord Initiates. It brought me up to a nice round one hundred and ninety in Vitality. Since I had thirty five wishes to burn over the week, that left me with fifteen, which I of course used to bring Callie up another forty five points before the tournament.

Callie decided that her Perception had been slipping, and since she was going to be synergizing a new ability on rank up, she wanted to stack her highest stat as high as possible to see if she could stumble into some amazing ability like Jessie. The forty five points brought her Perception up to a full two hundred and twenty, with plans to take it even higher as she went. Perception was one of the main components of her build, even with the addition of her Shadow Manipulation Skill. You had to be able to keep track of fine details to manipulate and adjust them.

Paying them off was an issue, of course, but we managed to come up with a pretty solid compensation. Callie often used her powerful Stealth Skill to hide us, but since it was more powerful than mine and I found it useful she was able to use stored Stealth charges to pay off her debt, giving me ten and promising another five. In fact, I was over the moon about the discovery, because having used two of those charges (leaving me with three left on top of the base ten I could hold) I realized something amazing.

Experiencing a higher level of a Skill I already had at a decent point let me increase my understanding of it. Not to the level of ranking up immediately, but I was pretty sure if I kept using these I could get my Stealth Skill to Beginner and even to a high level of Beginner like Callie's extremely quickly.

It opened up an entirely new way of training for me. Granted, the circumstances were pretty specific, since I was positive it wouldn't work with Skills I'd granted myself, but I was sure I could find some Skills my friends had that I did too and experience them so we could learn faster. Hell, we could probably do it with Paired Dueling if I granted some wishes to Abel and Mel, at least if I hadn't used up all my wishes for the day already. I was going to focus on Stealth for now though, at least until Callie hit her cap. We needed her there by the end of the tournament after all.

Regardless, we were in our best condition, and that was why we were all extra excited to find ourselves standing in the Varia Coliseum in Rajak, waiting for the announcement of the beginning of the tournament, as well as the selection for everyone's first round battle. It wasn't just us and our team either. Aside from our two fellow fighters, Benny, Jessie, Alexander, Sloane, Cark, Melinda, Baric, Croll, Lament, Wren, Sydney, and several other friends from Doomtown were all crowded together in the stands of the massive white marble structure, staring down at the circular stage in the center.

"So." Benny asked curiously. "What is the point of this huge extravagant ceremony? Because I feel like they could have just picked the lineups out of a hat and send us all a text."

Celine snorted out a laugh at that from next to her boyfriend, getting shocked looks from everyone who actually knew her. She gracefully ignored them before clearing her throat. "It's a sign of status. A show of the resources and manpower that the Unity can bring to bear as hosts. It's-"

"It's dick measuring." Cut in Callie, the only one of us who didn't seem happy to be here. I knew she was expecting to see her dad, so I didn't blame her. "They want to show everyone how impressive and grandiose they are. It's a petty attempt to save face preemptively because they know their teams are going to get crushed." Some of our Doomtown acquaintances who didn't know Callie's story seemed surprised by the venom, but the rest of us weren't.

Alexander nodded under his darkened cloth wraps. "Midknight has always been very concerned with appearances. In some ways it makes him a better Ascendant, and in some ways it limits him. While reputation is certainly important to us, you can only make so much of an impression with a carefully curated image. To truly inspire awe or even terror, one must step outside the conventional and do things the masses wouldn't ever expect."

That drew a snort from where my uncle sat behind us. "Shock and Awe vs. PR is an age old debate among Ascendants. I personally hold to that school of thought myself though. A real legend grows in the telling, trying to prune every branch of your story to perfection just slows it down. Only cowards who are afraid of recursion bother with that much image management. It's a sign of subpar willpower."

Cass, who was here with the group, turned to glare at him. "Hush uncle Zeke it's starting!" Despite yelling at a literal force of nature, Cass seemed completely unworried and turned back to watch the stage as a dark figure climbed it. Callie tensed up as Zeke shot Cass a fond smile. I stared down at the black armored form that I was pretty sure had to be Midknight, as he strolled to the center of the stage.

The man had presence, I'd give him that. Granted, so did every E-ranker I'd ever met. You needed to be something special to make it to the peak of cultivation for a planet, even when that peak was as low as it was here. Midknight strode across the white marble stage, swept along on a carpet of rolling shadows that spilled from his pauldrons, tumbling to his feet like a cape only to buoy him aloft like some sort of ghostly warrior general.

I took Callie's hand, letting her grip my fingers so tightly I lost feeling in them as she glared down at the man attracting all of the attention from the now silent crowd. Midknight stopped in the center of the stage, glancing around slowly as if choosing his targets, both in terms of words and who he would address. Finally, he spoke. "Conflict." He intoned. "War, by another name."

His voice was deep and resonant, almost hypnotic. I'd expected him to sound weasely. Guess I had been making assumptions. He continued speaking. "Some would say this sentiment belies our purpose here today. To gather in celebration and pit ourselves against allies. They would speak of peace. Of togetherness. Of...Unity."

That got a bit of a chuckle, though it was diffuse. People were too wrapped up in what he was saying to laugh. It wasn't really going in an obvious direction. "Fools!" He barked, making everyone jump. "War does not make a mockery of alliance. It lends it strength. It does not contradict peace, for even in the tamest peace must we do battle with our inner selves. War is our nature. Our purpose. Our core."

"Is he serious right now?" I whispered to Callie, making sure to use Stealth to prevent my voice from being overheard. Apparently my Stealth Skill wasn't good enough to hide my words from someone at Midknight's level, because the blue eyes in the helmet, the ones that looked so much like Callie's, snapped to my face.

Far from being agitated, my girlfriend...well, smiled would be a generous description, but she bared her teeth in something approximating the gesture. SHE didn't bother to use Stealth when she responded. Or keep her voice down. "Unfortunately. The old man has always loved to hear himself talk. Shame he's too self involved to notice no one else likes hearing his voice as much as he does."

You could have heard a fucking pin drop. Every single eye in the whole arena swiveled to fix on Callie, who was still baring her teeth at Midknight in that same not-smile. The man sighed. "So many years Calliope. Yet you remain so disrespectful. Your mother's influence I assume. Amelia never did know how to keep her mouth shut. Silence yourself girl, I'll deal with you when this is over."

"The FUCK you will." I snarled. I'd like to claim that I was trying to lure him into attacking so Zeke could smash him like a bug, but honestly I hadn't even known I was speaking until I said that. I also hadn't noticed myself standing up. "You come near her and I'll fucking kill you. I might not be able to fight you in a head on conflict, but I bet you'd have some real trouble surviving an E-ranked spike of metal through the eye while you sleep."

I admit. That wasn't the most...diplomatic thing to say. But I could feel Callie's rage and hate through our connection, not to mention my own because I LIKED Amelia, and fuck this guy for blaming her when he'd been the one who humiliated and left her. I expected him to get angry, to try to lash out at me, but fortunately for my anonymity, someone else had something to say too.

"Enough, Paul." Said a quiet murmur from our side. "This is enough. Have you really become so pathetic and pompous that you need to poke at your own daughter's wounds for all to see?" I noticed he used Midknight's real name this time, and realized it was because Midknight had done the same to Callie. Alexander was letting his brother know that anything he did to her The Nothing would pay back in kind. He was offering her protection.

Not to be outdone, Melinda snorted from the other side. "Please, like there's anyone on the planet who doesn't know Midknight is a brownnosing rat bastard who sucks up to the public and treats everyone around him like shit when no one is looking. If there's a Hypocrisy Skill his is probably at Master rank." Her mocking sneer was so unlike her I had trouble even processing it for a second.

On second thought though the Unity and the WCP were public enemies. Not to mention Melinda was allied with our Pavilion and I was a guest elder of her Garden. She was making her stance clear, probably because if Midknight chose to make an issue of this he would be effectively challenging THREE E-rankers, Melinda, her companion Travis, and Alexander himself.

The man's blue eyes bored into our group, icy with rage, but to my surprise, he just chuckled. "Criminals and trash will always show their true nature. By all means, put on your show, clowns. I'll accommodate you. I imagine our guests would love to see such a comedic performance." Melinda looked livid, but Alexander made a gesture. With a bedgrudging nod she sat back down, and they all stared at each other for a minute before returning to the matter at hand.

I winced. Midknight was good. Any further provocation would vindicate him and make the other two look like children. It was the same thing the triplets had done back in Valen. He'd diffused that way too easily. Still, I wasn't stupid enough to think this was over. His cold blue eyes had locked on Callie and I as he resumed his speech. We'd challenged his authority, and he wasn't going to let it pass. That was fine. I might not be able to fight him, but I had ways of making his life harder. He could bring it the fuck on.

 

[Revanandfriends]

Always love airing family laundry to a massive crowd of people XD.

 

[Wickian]

After looking at the post history I can see this author has made almost daily updates for over a year. Is he really a flesh and blood man like the rest of us?

 

[RainwithPromise]

ABout my mom. I just...gods Shane, I can't tell you what that would mean. How important it would be." I leaned over the table to give her a quick kiss and pulled back with a wide smile.

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What chapter was this again? theres a bit too many to find the specific chapter.

She reached up and put a finger to my lips, trying not to snicker as she stood up and strolled over to the door after cutting me off, she opened the door. "Well? Are you coming or not? As for sleeping..." She shrugged, giving me a wicked grin. "We don't have training until later tomorrow. We can afford to sleep in." I blame the pain for tripping as I scrambled to my feet and bolted after her. That was definitely the reason.

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such a shame this ain't a NSFW work would've gotten a lot more attention and you make good smut oh well still enjoyed this one tho.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

After looking at the post history I can see this author has made almost daily updates for over a year. Is he really a flesh and blood man like the rest of us?

Click to shrink...

I post two chapters a day except on Saturdays, where I technically post one but I tend to write it the day before and take the day off lol. One on this and one on one of my two YJ stories, or my ultimate marvel OC on Sundays.